StoneRose Valley

Here it is, the long awaited Wild Card Round.

Jesse Langseth has the unfortunate position of going first. She’s singing…I didn’t catch it, actually. I like Jesse a lot, but I don’t think she’s got what it takes to move on here.
Randy didn’t think she sung it that well.
Kara likes Jesse’ swagger though, declaring she was “not the same girl in the little packages”.
Paula is impressed with Jesse’ tenacity and determination.
Simon told Jesse that she was totally a last minute pick when selected for the wild card round, and said he was glad they did pick her. “You were a lot better than the last time you performed. Possibly the wrong song though”.

Matt Giraud has the second slot in the night. Singing “Who’s Loving You”, Matt showed some smarts in picking something with a little more soul than last time. Unfortunately, it sounds kareoke to me.
Kara was wowed, welcoming back the “bluesy soulful Matt. You can riff amazingly. Great vocal!”
Paula thought it the right zone for Matt. “Don’t go against what you’re great at. Amazing job. No doubt America is loving you right now”.
Simon thought it a million times better than Matt’s last. Unfortunately, Simon thought he saw bits of Taylor Hicks coming back. And not in a good way.
Randy thought Matt sang to give competition and everyone else a run for their money.
Apparently, I was out-voted on this one.

Megan Joy Corkrey chose to sing “Black Horse & the Cherry Tree”. Her dancing is a slight improvement over the last time.
Paula thought she picked the right song.
Simon always liked her and still does. “You are current. You’ve got originality”.
Randy thought it wasn’t the best vocal ever heard. But it was the right song choice.
Kara thinks that Megan is needed this year in the competition; “You give variety to what’s already out there”.

Von Smith is next. My boy picked “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word”. He sounds breathy tonight; could it be the nerves? I think this wasn’t a good song choice for him.
Simon said he “love’s that song, but it didn’t start very well. You’re beginning to become a bit boring. A bit too serious. It sounded quite ordinary”.
Randy thought the pitch was a little off at the beginning and wasn’t crazy about the song.
Kara told Von “You do have great vocal ability. You just haven’t dialed it in yet”.
Paula gave this advice; “When you are too concerned about the technical stuff, you aren’t letting the essence of Von out. Forget about that other stuff and just sing. You really are a brilliant singer”.

Jasmine Murray is singing “Reflection”. This girl really does have a great voice. She is using this second opportunity very well. Great talent, great job.
Randy thought it 100% better than her last performance.
Kara said she “didn’t know you even had that big a voice. Wow. You have this voice that just came out of nowhere”.
Paula thought Jasmine was very determined, saying she did a “wonderful job”.
Simon thinks Paula did not give enough credit. “Very brave song choice. Compared to what we heard before, huge improvement. You just put yourself back in the running”.

Ricky Braddy comes to the stage with “Superstition”. I was surprised to say the least. This wasn’t the Ricky I thought I knew. Still a great vocal. So no complaints there. Ricky is just showing that there are many sides to this fellow that we haven’t seen yet.
Kara wouldn’t have picked that song, but thought Ricky held his own. “Good job”.
Paula said Ricky nailed the song, but was also surprised by the song choice.
Simon said the song was a bit kareoke and lightweight, “you didn’t really make the impression you could have”. But Simon did say he thought Ricky had some chops.
Randy thought the song a bit indulgent. But a good vocal.

Tatiana Del Toro is singing “Saving All My Love For You”…again? Really and truly, this girl has an amazing voice. But couldn’t she come up with a new song like all the others? No denying, she is wonderful performer and vocalist.
Paula is not a huge fan of people who repeat songs, she said. “It started a little shaky, but you then went into your power voice. Good vocal”.
Simon why she didn’t perform a new song.
Randy thought it started off really rough. “There were some good moments and not so good moments”.
And Kara didn’t get a chance to share any thing due to Simon.

Anoop Desai is closing the show, singing “My Perogative”. The start was pretty bad. But he did pull it up a few notches as he went.
Simon thought this night’s been a very strange one. “You’re not the best singer but you have a huge likability factor. You have a lot of personality to compete with but that was the Anoop we liked”.
Randy thought he did better this time than the last Anoop performed this.
Kara called it the “best you ever did! I wanted to get up and dance and I don’t do that”.
Puala called Anoop “quite the show man. Every one loved that performance. You stayed relevent. Glad you went back and did this song  because it was better than Hollywood”.

Now we are into the results.

Jasmine is up first. And welcomed into the top twelve! Congratulations, girl! So proud of you!!!!!
Ricky is next. Apparently, he did not “show enough”. He doesn’t get to continue, and I’m so dissapointed. This guy truly is one of the best vocalist’s we’ve seen.
Megan and Tatiana are the next two up. Megan will be continuing on the show. Tatiana will be going home. Paula had some warm farewell words for Tatiana.

We now have four more contestants waiting to hear, and only one spot left open. I wish it could be Von continuing, but I’m afraid it’s going to be Anoop; popularity and likability factors here.

More results. Jesse is up. We are told that she nearly made it into the top, but didn’t. I think that made her fairly happy…but hard at the same time to miss it by that little.
Von is next…and is told he was enjoyable. But he didn’t make it through.
Matt and Anoop come up for the final spot. And it’s Matt that takes the last spot.
But, for Anoop, Simon tells us, they made the decision to make this years format, a top 13!!! That’s amazing! I’m sure he’s ecstatic! They’re both in!! Wow…this is a first ever.

Well, I’m not completely happy with the top 13…but baring those few (Von Smith, Ricky Braddy, Tatiana Del Toro, Jesse Langseth & Kristen McNamara–all either really deserved a spot, or are just some of my favorites), I think this is a great group. I’m excited to see them progress through the next couple of weeks. I only hate that we hardly know any of them following the new top 36 format this year…these guys will all have to really wow and bring everything to the stage, but I’m confident that many will rise to the occasion; showing us all why they should be in this competition.

So, what do you think?

Well, here we are. Tonight we find out the final three to move up into the Top Twelve. Well, the final three voted in.

They opened the show with Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold”. Not my favorite group song they could have done. I thought they did a tremendous job with the choreography though. That’s a hard thing to do when you can’t see; and they arranged it perfectly so that you hardly realized that they had that issue.

As always, they recapped last night, and I thought they were unjust with a few of the contestants.

Here come the results.

First up, we have Lil. And she’s safe as completely expected!! Plus, we get to listen to her all over again. This gal really does have a tremendous talent in her voice.

Next; Arianna, Taylor, Kendal, Alex, and Scott are called to stand, and only one is through to the top. Of course we are left hanging till after the commercial break. Has to happen sometime, and Fox figures you’re more likely to return (or possibly even sit through the commercials) if you have the great incentive to return such as hearing who the next contestant to progress is.

We are back after the commercial break. Arianna is not in the top twelve. Taylor (are they going to do each one individually?) also is told to sit back down. Alex is next, and is also not in the top. He made the comment that he’d rather lose being himself, and he’s happy with what he decided.
Now we’re down to Kendall and Scott. Kendall will be leaving us; Scott will progress on. So happy for him; I think this is the right decision. No, he is not great, but he is quite good. He has great tone to his voice, and he knows how to work it well-better, in fact, than many we’ve heard in the last couple of weeks. We will definitely see this young man grow in the coming weeks.

More results. Kristen and Nathaniel stand up. My gut tells me that they’re both leaving, standing up so soon by themselves. And I was right.

Taylor and Von are next. And I’m not happy to see him up there right now. Not a good start. Both are given no’s. I’m really dissapointed here.

Now it’s down to Ju’Not and Jorge. I’m going to call it early and say that Ju’Not is the final contestant tonight. But we’ll have to wait till ‘after the commercial break. Not really. And, here I am wrong; Jorge is actually the final contestant.

I guess we don’t get to listen to Jorge again tonight. But we will find out who are the Wild Card Round picks for tomorrow’s show. Yeah! At long last!

My hopes are in Ricky Braddy, Von Smith, Kristen McNamara, Jasmine Murray, Anoop Desai, Jesse Langseth, Tatiana Del Toro, and Ann Marie Boskovich. We’ll see though.

We are told that there will only be eight performing tomorrow night…follows the information that I’ve been able to glean.

Randy reveals one first; and that is Von Smith!!! Yeah, I’m so excited! Very happy about this.

Now Kara reveals one. Jasmine Murray!! The hometown girl! Glad she gets another chance.

Paula announces the decision to bring back Ricky Braddy. Great choice!

So far, so good. Three of my personal picks are through to tomorrow night.

Simon is next; he calls Megan Corkrey. I know a lot of people will be happy with this choice; I just can’t help feeling that there are a few others that deserve the chance just a little more. But I am happy for this girl.

Four more will join the four on the couch. The first one to join them is…..Tatiana Del Toro. I think that she really deserves this chance; Tatiana is an amazing vocalist. She does need to learn to restrain the emotional theatrics a bit first.
Next, Matt Giraud joins the group.
Jesse Langseth also gets to perform tomorrow night.

Only one more spot left. And it’s given to Anoop Desai.

Overall, a good group for tomorrow night. Very dissapointed that we will not see more of Kristen McNamara-I really like that girl and her incredible range.

And…we do get to hear Jorge again; he closes out the show.

So now; all the mysteries of the Wild Card Round are laid open for all to see. It’s going to be another tough night; these last eight are really going to have to fight for the last three spots open. Bring it on.

Well, my poll indicated that Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, and Megan Corkrey would be our top three tonight…most of you now know that it was almost completely correct…well, two/thirds correct. Adam, Allison, and Kris Allen will all be moving on to the coveted top twelve.

No, I still don’t get all the hype surrounding Adam…maybe it all boils down to personal preference. I did like his performance tonight much more than last nights. And I liked his audition and during Hollywood week he sounded stellar. Maybe that’s why I was so dissapointed last night; because it was just so different than the Adam I had previously seen and enjoyed.

Allison and Kris, to me, didn’t perform as well as they did last night. But they both completely deserve to be in the top twelve…and, upon reflection, so does Adam. Sure, I didn’t enjoy hearing (or seeing) him perform “Satisfaction”, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has incredible range and good vocals. So, yeah, tonight I’m very happy with the results.

I am sorry (though not surprised) that Jasmine did not make it through. The judges did hint that we’d be seeing some of the same faces from tonight in the wild card round…maybe we’ll see Jasmine again?

Speaking of the wild card round…I understand that the following might possiblly be the case: The judges each pick two of their favorites to come back to perform for the wild card round; from which three are then chosen (as in the auditions) to progress up to the final twelve.
Who will be in this wild card round? Well, without having seen the last group, it is certainly too early to tell. But here are a few of my guesses. Ricky Braddy (absolutely), Anoop Desai, Megan Corkrey, Matt Giraud. With possibly one of the following thrown in there somewhere; Tatiana Del Toro, Anne Marie Boskovich, Jasmine Murray, and Jesse Langseth. “But that’s nearly all of them!” you say. Yeah, I know. There’s a lot of talent this year.
Of course, we havn’t heard the last group yet, so as I said, it’s still too early to tell.

And that leads me on; the last group of twelve. They are, in alphabetical order:
Alex Wagner-Trugman
Arianna Asfar
Felicia Barton
Jorge Nunez
Ju’Not Joyner
Kendall Beard
Kristen McNamara
Lil Rounds
Nathaniel Marshall
Scott MacIntyre
Taylor Vaifanua
and Von Smith

My early predictions are that we’ll see (and hear) some great stuff from Lil Rounds, Scott, and Von Smith…those three are going to be hard to beat. But anything is possible (gah-I sound like some cheesy comercial!) at this point. I think Alex and Felicia may come in swinging…and honestly, I don’t remember either Taylor or Arianna, so completely possible that they could take me by surprise.

One things’ for sure, I am (and probably all of the contestants are too) so ready for next week to be over! Then we’ll know our top twelve…but I guess the pressure’s still on then…the consequences aren’t quite so severe, though, in that only one will be leaving per week versus the nine so far.

So much for this week, now we’re on to the next!

As always, I welcome your feedback! (hint, hint–Come on, I know there are a number of you, surely someone has something to say!)

I regret to inform you that I will be posting my opinions…thoughts…or whatever they may be, later tonight than usual. I have a business meeting that my class is required to attend…and that just happens to be at the same time as American Idol airs.
But, some good friends of mine (also my sponsor-check it out) are going to Tivo it for me, and let me come by after my meeting so I won’t miss anything! So, check back here around, say, 9:00 or 9:30 and I should have my comments up. Hope all of you enjoy watching tonight’s show! Personally, I’m keeping my fingers crossed…

So, whaddaya think? Who is going to be our top three from this group?

Hurry, this poll will close before the results show tomorrow night!

Here we are again; another twelve hopefuls will be performing tonight. I will be typing this review up in real time…adding each contestant as they finish their performance so you can follow right along with me!

Jasmine Murray will be starting off the night with “Love Song”. The start is kind of iffy. Her performance is fairly good, but really does not stand out. I don’t think this night will turn out good for her. I do like Jasmine and think she is quite talented, but this year might be too early; can she and Stevie Wright come back next year?
Randy thought it was the wrong song choice, and a little pitchy at times.
Kara thought the range was too low for her; not her best performance.
Paula has to agree with the others. But likes her confidence.
Simon likes her. But he thinks it’s a couple of years too early to really see what she can do.

Matt Giraud comes next. Singing “Viva La Vida”; honestly, I wasn’t too sure about this song choice. There is something I like in his voice…but I don’t like how breathy his tone is. The song just isn’t right for his voice.
Randy thinks Matt has ‘mad talents’. His advice: “Go for Ray Charles. Chris from Coldplay wouldn’t be singing Ray Charles–Matt, you can!”
Kara thought the bluesy soulful guy was lost in the song.
Paula really liked him a lot in Hollywood. She thought it a risky song to pick. She saw his rehearsal and thought Matt’s performance tonight was far better than the rehearsal.
Simon thought it verging on a horrible performance; “You turned from someone very cool to a wannabe pop star.”

Jeanine Vailes is next up, performing “This Love” by Maroon Five. Honestly, I’m already put off, as I really dislike Maroon Five. But she sounds pretty good. Well, the verse was good. The chorus sounded pitchy to me. Was daring at the end. But overall….ah. This is a not-so-good night for these contestants.
Paula didn’t get anything out except that Jeanine has good legs…? This is a singing competition, not a beauty pagent Paula!
Simon thought it was terrible for Jeanine. “Everyone is choosing the wrong songs tonight!” he exclaimed.
Randy agreed with Simon that it was the wrong song choice.
Kara called it overdone.

Nick Mitchell is next….oh, this guy really gets on my nerves. He mentioned having an identity crisis–yeah! He makes me think of another Taylor Hicks….he might be entertaining from a stage, but come on, honestly folks! would you buy an album of his? Would you not change the radio station if you heard this come on? My sister compared him to a floor show…and I think she’s right. Please, people, don’t cause one of the better singers to leave by keeping this floor show fellow in the competition!
Simon prays he does not go through to the next round. He called it “one of the most atrocious performances we’ve ever had; it was like a horrific comedy!”
Randy thought it one of the most entertaining performances ever.
Kara laughed; “at least we remember you. You wear the same shirt like Simon every week. You’re not a terrible singer, I don’t see you in the music market but I enjoyed you.”
Paula contributed this to the conversation; ‘This is America and we get all types of singers. You are a true performer, this may not be the stage for you, but there is a [proper] place for you.’
PLEASE!! Vote him into some comedic platform…he is really good at what he does, but this is not the competition he should be in.

Allison Iraheto, only sixteen, is singing “Alone” by Heart tonight…Ramiele Malubuy sang this last year extremely well. Allison reminds me a bit of Gina Glocksen. I like this girl-definitely the best of the night so far! I love her husky tone; very nice performance indeed.
Randy thinks this is a funny show tonight. “Now we have real singing. You’re jumping it off tonight!–blew it off the box; hottest of the night so far!”
Kara thinks Allison doesn’t even know how good she is. “Keep getting comfortable on stage. With the right song you can have a big hit on the radio.”
Paula brought back this familiar phrase from last year “You can sing the telephone book. By far the best of the night!”
Simon disagrees with Randy-”Randy said you might be the best of the night-no, you ARE the best. You need a little more confidence and to show a little more personality. But that was good.”

Kris Allen is one of my early likes. Singing“Man in the Mirror”, he is, in my opinion, the best of the guys so far. Really enjoying this performance. He puts me in mind Chris Richardson from season five. Oh, yeah!! This guy is good!
Kara thought the back half was way better than the front; and thought it was the wrong song.
Paula disagreed completely with Kara. “You showed personality; and nailed the song! You looked harming up there.”
Simon agrees with Paula! YES! Saying Kris is “not the best singer in this competition, but what you did tonight was good. You made an effort. I was quite proud of you!”
That’s the review I’m looking for! Quite a hit!
Randy thinks Simon was partly right. “You can do it without the guitar. Nice jump-off.”

Up next is Megan Corkrey singing “Put Your Records On”. This is another of those ’safe-songs’. But it is suited to her voice. She lacks stage presence, but no denying she has a good voice. I would like to hear a little more support beneath her voice though. So far tonight, I’d place her in the top three.
Paula; “You won us over in Salt Lake. Picked the right song; you did everything right tonight. I loved you.”
Simon called her “a funny little thing. It started off really well. But you oversang the second part of the song.” Simon said he hopes that America votes for Megan; but just wished the vocals were a little bit better tonight.
Randy loves the smokey jazz tone of her voice.
Kara said Megan is “a packaged artist. With the right song/video, you could do really well.”

Matt Breitzke is singing “If You Could Only See” by Tonic. To me, his performance seems to lack passion. I was a bit bored. Nice vocals though.
Simon really likes Matt. But hated that song. “I’m frustrated because you were one of the few guys I remembered. This was boring and didn’t suit you.”
Randy thought the performance was boring and didn’t show “the great Matt from Hollywood. But I like you. Good luck.”
Kara agreed; “we all like you, but this didn’t show us any side of you. You can sing, so this was about poor song choice.”
Paula echoed everyone else, saying “you have a real nice voice…just not the right song for you.”

Jesse Langseth, a single mom, chose “Bette Davis Eyes”. Well, she’s better than many others we’ve had tonight. She, like Megan, has that bluesy-jazz quality to her voice. I like her actually. But her performance was also a bit boring. I wanted to see her move about a little more; draw us in.
Randy thought it an ok performance. “But it wasn’t really exciting. I want to see you stretch yourself.”
Kara said “this is your best look…You also took some risks tonight; this wasn’t the most rangy to show yourself off, but there were some moments.”
Paula told Jesse “I have found you captivating throughout. You have an identifiable sound; I remember you. You’re cool.”
Simon disagreed with Paula, saying “I think you’re forgettable. You have quite a nice voice though.”

Kai Kalama is singing “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted”. Nice vocals…but I’m bored so far…is getting though. Kai does have some good tone. But this is just a safe performance.
Kara told Kai “I just like you; you’re a really good guy. There were some pitch issues, and it was a little old fashioned. But there were some moments.”
Paula said she could tell Kai likes the throw-back songs, calling him quite the performer. “You have the chops to do really do well in this business if you work hard.”
Simon thought it very old fashioned; comparing it to a hotel performance. “There was nothing distinct, original, or memorable about it. You’d make a good back up singer.”

Mishavonna Henson, with “Drops of Jupiter”, has a very different voice from what we’ve heard so far. Love the verses, but the chorus has been fairly bland. Until that last one. That was nice.
Paula is a fan of Mishavonna’s voice, but that song wouldn’t have been Paula’s choice for her; “That song just didn’t excite me.”
Simon said the song was a great one, but thinks Mishavonna’s too serious; though technically a really good singer. “But that left me very cold. I want to see a younger and funner side of you.”
Randy thought Mishavonna feels so much older than 18. “And this song didn’t show your voice off.”
Kara didn’t mind the song but wants to see her loosen up a bit.

Adam Lambert chose to sing “Satisfaction”…and I really don’t know what to say. I don’t like his song choice. Has a good voice….but I really don’t like this. I’m very dissapointed.
Paula doesn’t even have words to express…”I feel like I’m watching the Adam Lambert concert. In a league of your own.”
Simon said “I am really finding this difficult. There were parts that were terrible, and parts that were quite incredible.”
Randy loved it! “Here’s why, you’re one of the most current artists we’ve seen. You gotta’ watch, don’t overdo it though. It was the bomb!”
Kara told Adam “Your vocal technique is outrageous. You have a crazy range in a good way.”

My top two guys would be Kris….and Kris. Was really dissapointed in the guys tonight. But I’m going to predict Kris and Adam as the top guys. As for the girls…Would definitely be Allison and Mishavonna.

I would love to hear what your thoughts on tonight are; leave me a comment!

The next group of twelve to perform (Wednesday night-not Tuesday) consists of

Adam Lambert
Allison Iraheto
Jasmine Murray (go girl!)
Jesse Langseth
Kai Kalama
Jeanine Vailes (I think)
Matt Brietzke
Matt Giraud
Nick Mitchell
Megan Corkrey
Felicia Barton
Kris Allen (I remember liking him)
and Mishavonna Henson

I hope it will not be every Wednesday/Thursday from now on…bad timing. As far as this group is concerned; some good singers in here. Though this group isn’t quite as tight as last weeks. It’ll be close to call…so I’m not yet. I’ll wait till I actually hear them.

Check back here Wednesday at/around 8/7c as I hope to post in real time for you to follow along with. I will also open a poll to see who’s the popular pick for the top three!

Tonight was tough for many young people. For others, it was the start of the realization of a dream.

Here are the top thirty-six:
Anoop Desai
Von Smith–I think he has a great voice, but is far too dramatic; if he can just tone it down a little.
Alex Wagner Trugman–was one of those who were required to participate in a “sing-off”.
Adam Lambert–No surprise there!
Taylor Vaifanua
Jasmine Murray–Don’t know her personally, but I am really excited to see her progress through this competition; she is, after all, representing my hometown!!
Arianna Asfar
Casey Carlson
Megan Corkrey
Mishavonna Henson
Stevie Wright–this girl was a favorite of mine from the first.
Joanna Pacitti
Kendall Beard
Kristen McNamara–one of the unfortunates picked for the “sing-off”.
Alexis Grace
Scott MacIntyre–I really like this guy.
Lil Rounds–great talent.
Jesse Langseth–another of the “sing-off” victims.
Allison Iraheto
Danny Gokey–Danny is my early pick absolute favorite!! I was so happy to see him progress; and heartbroken with him when Jamar didn’t make it.
Ricky Braddy
Matt Giraud
Jo’not Joyner
Jorge Nunez
Brent Keith
Stephen Fowler
Nick Mitchell aka “Norman Gentle”–I think he is capable of quite a lot…but at the time, I’m under the impression that he’s a joke. Could not believe he made it through when David Osmond did not….
Tatiana Del Toro–She really does have a good voice. I feel sorry for her; she doesn’t seem too well liked. I think she’d find it extremely helpful to tone everything down a bit. Too emotional and loud. But real talent in her voice.
Jackie Tohn
Nathaniel Marshall–another “emotional”. And somebody needs to give him some style advice.
Jeanine Vailes
Kai Kalama
Anne Marie Boskovich
Kris Allen
Matt Breitzke–was in a “sing-off” with Michael Sarver….and both made it through.
Michael Sarver–another of my favorites…he is such a nice, gentlemanly fellow. I fell in love with his voice and who he is.

Those who deserve acknowledgement but didn’t make it through to the top thirty-six:
Cody Sheldon
T.K Hash
Chris Chathem
Regg Beasley
Jenn Korbee
Frankie Jordan
Felicia Barton
Ashley Hollister
Devon Baldwin
Jamar Rogers
Shera Lawrence
Derik Lavers
Jackie Midkiff

*My apologies if I mispelled any names or left anyone out in the acknowledgement.