American Idol 9 - Los Angeles Auditions

When you’re auditioning for American Idol in Los Angeles you don’t have very far to go when you get sent through to Hollywood. On the other hand, it hurts just as much when you’re cut!

Tonight’s auditions showed us L.A.’s finest – and worst – with guest judge Avril Lavigne on the scene to give her opinion. By the way, she looked adorable in her horned hoodie which was from her own line, Abbey Dawn.

Los Angeles kicked off with a cringe when Neil Goldstein, a self-proclaimed “big geek” sang “Rock and Roll Dreams Come True” by Meatloaf. First of all, he forgot the words right after the first line, never a good start. Second, he was just hilariously bad to the point that it was kind of stunning really. Simon said “I don’t think you’re suited for this business” and Neil disagreed, flat-out refusing to leave without a gold ticket. When Simon asked if he wanted to leave on his own or with an escort, Neil finally gave in and walked out. Yikes!

Luckily Idol made up for Neil by presenting us with Jim Ranger, a married pastor with three kids. I loved that he seemed like such a great dad in his brief clip, but was hoping he was going to be good. He did an original song called “Drive” which he wrote for his wife. I thought he had a really fun country voice and enjoyed the song a lot. Simon said that he seemed very authentic, which he liked. I was a bit annoyed when Avril basically lectured him on how hard being on the road is and how he’ll have to give things up; I’m sure he’s aware he’d have to stop certain things to pursue a career in music. Avril said no but Simon, Kara, and Randy all said yes so he was through!

We saw a quick string of some pretty bad audition attempts but I had to mention that I had a really good laugh over Jesse Chang’s really funny “Kung Fu Fighting” performance!

Damien Lefavor informed viewers that his first real passion is martial arts, something he had been doing for years. He demonstrated up on the roof and as an ex-marital artist myself I can tell you his form was terrible so that should have been a sign as to what his singing would bring. It didn’t bode well when he couldn’t even remember the title of the song he wanted to do, which ended up being “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”. Let’s just say even Tom Cruise did a better job with that one. He was over dramatic, ridiculous, and outright terrible. Simon shook his head and said, “you should just go” and luckily he did.

Next we saw Mary Powers who was a rocker girl from head to toe. When she sang Pat Benetar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” she lived up to her last name; her voice was powerful and had a great tone. Simon said she looked like a cliche but liked her voice so she got four votes. Before she left, Ryan brought in Mary’s eight-year-old daughter who loves Simon because it was her life’s dream to meet him. She was ecstatic and Simon joked that maybe she was his daughter.

It was bound to happen and tonight they confirmed that they saw a lot of Adam Lambert wanna-be performers. We saw AJ Mendoza who had the Adam look down (minus the hot factor) and assured us that he had sent his demo to Adam personally and had received great feedback. Either he was lying or Adam was just being nice because his attempt at Living Color’s “Cult of Personality” was really weird, pitchy, and not good at all. When they asked Avril whether she said yes or no she went with “absolutely NOT” and that was the end of AJ.

When day two rolled around, Avril was gone and we were treated to guest judge Katy Perry who was ridiculously adorable – but she warned that she’s brutally honest so I knew not to let her cuteness fool me!

Austin Fullmer kicked off the second day with a horrid performance of “Surrender” by Cheap Trick. Watching him strut around the floor was like watching a really bad imitation of Mick Jagger (Katy mentioned a resemblance to Iggy Pop as well). He got four no votes right away. After he left Simon referred to him as “one disturbed man” and Katy nervously asked, “Are people frisked before they come in here?”

Andrew Garcia had one of those tear-jerker stories that had me muttering, “please be good, PLEASE be good” because I liked his personality immediately. He talked about wanting his son to have everything he didn’t and how his parents had been involved in gangs when he was a kid, eventually moving away to keep him safe from that lifestyle. His family was very emotional, his father crying because he was so proud. Luckily for my heartstrings, Andrew had a beautiful R&B voice with a great range and he immediately became my favorite of the entire L.A. auditions. Simon said Andrew was the only one he believed to be a genuinely good singer. Naturally he sailed through to Hollywood.

It was a night of people of faith because Tasha Layton arrived saying she was an administrative assistant by day but a minister by night. She sang “Baby, Baby, Baby” by Joss Stone and had a wonderful, very clear voice. I think she has great potential and she got four yes votes. She was really cute outside, yelling, “I’m going to Hollywood! Um… now what?”

Jason Greene didn’t win a gold ticket but he won a prize for biggest creep factor. He came in and sang “I Touch Myself” by the Divynls while writhing around on the floor. Needless to say it was not a good audition at all. Katy was a bit shocked and stammered, “I feel dirty. It takes a lot to make me feel dirty.” Jason replied with, “I’ll bet, especially in THAT top.” He was not put through but he did try to give his phone number to Ryan Seacrest on the way out, assuring him that he could call any time. Uh huh.

The final audition in Los Angeles came from Chris Golightly who had another emotional, tear-jerker of a story. After the age of 18 months he grew up in foster care, living with about 25 different families over the years. I fully confess that I teared up when he said that he’d always just wanted to be loved. He added that music was something that gave him comfort. He did “Stand By Me” and I thought he had a nice voice, interesting range, and a good arrangement. Kara said he was one of her favorites all day. Simon told him that he wasn’t jumping out of his seat but that he’d give him a small yes. Either way, Chris got four yes votes, and said it was his first “something” in his life. Very sweet.

In total, 22 gold tickets were passed out in Los Angeles.

Tomorrow we move on to Dallas where we’ll be joined by guest judges Joe Jonas and (the one I’ve been waiting for) Neil Patrick Harris. Stay tuned!

Images: Image:Michael Becker / FOX