Boston auditions, part 3.

Hello,

Your intrepid musicaddict is back the third and last part of my review of the "American Idol" auditions from Boston.

On my last blog I ended with Andrew Fenlon's audition where Kara made herself the center of attention. Shame on you Kara. Fenlon is an alleged comedian, he obviously trying to go the Norman Gentle route. Next up were the horrendous auditions of Bill Bloom, who took the bloom off of a Seal song, and Michael Ryan.

Next it was back to the good contestants with Ashley Rodriguez. Dang it Arod already has been taken as a nickname. Rodriguez is the attractive singer that has the Julia Roberts mouth and the whitest teeth ever. She also gets bonus points for singing one of Alicia Keys' songs, "If I Ain't Got You". Easily one of the best songs of last decade. Oh yeah and she has a very good voice. Ellen previewed her on her Tuesday afternoon talk show. Ms. Arod has a lot of potential. 5/5

Tyler Grady was up next with Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On". (Remember how Kara had to take a cold shower after Matt Giraud's version last season.) Grady did a very good version of this song, this seems this is a very fun song to sing. 4/5

Lisa Olivera was only notable for her hourglass figure and Randy and Simon's appreciation as she was leaving the audition room. She was followed by Ryan Keane's brutal version of "Ring of Fire", Simon's judgement an "unequivocal no".

Mike Davis, the driver of the boat Codzilla, sang "Yesterday" by the Beatles. On Day 2 of Boston, he was the first to make it through to Hollywood. Randy said "no" to Mike Davis, but he still moved on.

Katie Stevens -16- sang Etta James "At Last", just like another youngster, Stevie Wright, in the auditions last season. Stevens has a bluesy, raspy voice and sang a very difficult song. Again how will she do once she gets to Hollywood? With Hollywood week going on right now, has she already been sent home. Another could be a concern, I had to go to youtube.com to remember her performance. 4/5

Joshua Blaylock -28- sang Rascal Flatts "God Bless The Broken Road". I remembered him without going to youtube.com. Simon didn't like him, but I certainly did. I like his voice and I liked his song choice. Although we had to watch the protracted thing of him trying to be assertive and telling Simon to "shut up". 4/5

Next up was Season 8 retread Justin Williams, 27 from Sandy, Utah. He's the cancer survivor and best of all he's now cancer free. He sang "Feelin' Good" at this year's auditions. He also was part of White Chocolate last season during the group rounds in Hollywood. Along with Matt Giraud, Kris Allen and India Morrison that was one of the highlights from last season.

Next up was space filler Norberto Guerroro. That's enough said about the Latoya Jackson look a like with a beard. -infinity

We close out with two more good singers. First of all Bosa Mora, who's one of my favorite singers so far. I love his voice and his take on George Strait's "You Look So Good In Love". The way he changed the song you couldn't tell originally it was a country song. I like Mora's version better than Strait's. Simon called him "good but boring" and said "no". 5/5

The night closed out with a very good performance by Leah Laurenti who sang "Blue Skies". I think she did a good job, but I think she over sang it a bit. She has a powerful voice, but does not need to use it all on each song. Sometimes a touch of restraint is a good thing. She reminds me of last season's Von Smith (or as ew.com's Michael Slezak called him "Shouty McShouterson) in the over singing department. That's the only similarity I see, she isn't annoying as Shouty. 5/5

Here's a quick review of the judges after one show. Simon Cowell gets an A as always. Victoria Beckham was an okay addition, but didn't really add anything. Randy Jackson gets an F as always, he's completely worthless. But in no way will he be as bad as Kara Disregardia, she disregards talent, taste and music knowledge. I'm giving her a very generous grade of Z. A generous grade even though I would grade her lower if I could. I hear she pulls some more stupid tricks in Atlanta. Dear "A.I." producers please fire Kara Disregardia.

My top five:

1) Luke Shaffer easily is my #1 singer from Boston and it's not even close. I look forward to him in Hollywood.
2) Ashley Rodriguez is also awesome. I love her voice and the song she chose of Alicia Keys.
3) Tyler Grady: I like him as much for his voice as for his song selection.
4) Benjamin Bright has a very smooth, soulful voice as he sang "All My Lovin". I would like to see him go a long ways.
5) Katie Stevens: The 16 year old singer with that bluesy, raspy voice. I just hope she doesn't flame out. If it does not work out this year, she can try out for X Factor in a couple of years. ("AI" will be off the air by then.)

I'll probably be watching the Atlanta auditions tomorrow and hopefully posting that blog the same day. So far there are no contestants that remind me of the annoying and overrated Adam Lambert, David Archuleta, Danny Gokey, Sanjaya Malakar or the painful Tatiana Del Toro.

themusicaddict