The show is over and now I can weigh in on the rest of the performances. I was so moved by Sundance Head’s performance that I just had to pause the show and do a write-up right then. He’s definitely my first pick for top twelve. Head wasn’t the only star to shine in Memphis as more than twenty contestants received their passes to Hollywood. In addition to Head, four others were spotlighted; Danielle McCulloch, Sean Michel, Melinda Doolittle, and new father Phil Stacy.
As is the case with every audition show there were some standouts on the opposite side of the spectrum – yup, those that can’t sing. Two of the many featured ‘no vote’ contestants stood out – 20 year-old Janita Burks from Memphis, TN and 21 year-old Robert Lee Holmes also of Memphis, TN. Janita was up first and well let’s just say we’re lucky the show didn’t end up with an R-rating from too much bounce. She was wearing a very low-cut number and wasn’t secured safely inside, if you know what I mean. She chose to sing “Disco Inferno” and snapped her fingers rather loudly throughout the entire song. I wanted to tape her fingers together, seriously. After the judges weighed in with criticism she wanted a second chance and couldn’t even get three words out without the judges cutting her off and sending her on her way without a ticket. Thankfully her ‘girls’ managed to stay in during the entire performance.
When asked about his voice, Holmes went on to say “I sound just like Elvis. I can sing one rock-n-roll song, that’s Burning Love by Elvis Presley” and with that he showed us his version of Burning Love. We have yet another finger snapper. What is it with the loud snapping, it’s really quite distracting from the vocals. Granted it was nice to be distracted from the vocals in this case, but that is really beside the point. This show had quite a few loud, distracting finger-snappers. Folks, you want your voice to shine, not the snapping of your nerve-induced sweaty fingers.
Now I usually try to highlight the good performances of the night but I really couldn’t pass on these two snappy folks.