American Idol: Season 9 Slowly Begins in Boston

A sea of umbrellas is all that could be seen as the morning began for the Boston auditions.  Simon, Randy, and Kara arrived but the new judge, Ellen Degeneres, wasn’t there.  Instead, the beautiful Victoria Beckham was the guest judge.  Victoria,  in my opinion, is a better choice for replacing Paula Abdul.  She is a platinum selling pop star and fashion icon among other attributes.  Her sweet personality is a good contrast to Simon’s unfeeling honesty.

The auditions began with the bouncing belly of Janet McNamera.  Someone should really inform her that she should not wear shirts that show her belly roll.  Not in shape at all, it was hard to pay attention to anything other than her horrendous attire and her gut hanging out.  From Somerville, MA this 26 year old played the American Idol video game and honestly believed the game when it told her how wonderful she sings.  The game is so wrong.  She was horrible.  Not only was she bad, she must not follow American Idol news that Paula is no longer a judge.  Janet pointed to Kara and called her Paula, making the mistake several times.  Kara’s decision, “absolutely not” to put her through to the next round.

As the skies cleared, the next audition tugged at our heart strings.  Maddy Curtis, 16, from Bluemont, VA, is the 9th of 12 children in her family and has always put her family first.  Her brother has Down’s Syndrome as well as 3 adopted brothers who also have Down’s.  She had a sweet demeanor as she sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen.  She sang beautifully and stayed in key, her voice gave goosebumps to the skin.  Kara called her voice, “old soul, coming from your heart.”  With 4 yes’, she is on her way to Hollywood.

The morning’s worst audition was performed by Pat Ford, 17, from Derry, NH.  He attempted Britney Spears’ ‘Womanizer.’  Wow!  Was he…entertaining!  He yelled at the top of his lungs, belting out a horrible noise.  Anyone watching would beg him to just stop,  and that’s exactly what Sassy Simon (as Pat referred to him as) asked him to do.  Randy told him to “stop singing forever.”

The girls were dominating the morning auditions.  Others to make it through were Jennifer Hirsh, 22, from Manhattan, NY; Claire Fuller, 23, from Philadelphia, PA; and Jess Wolfe, 24, from Brooklyn, NY.  By noon, only girls had made it through.

Then came Mr. Italian Pride, Amadeo Diricco, 28, from Providence, RI.  He sang a great version of Hoochie Cooochie Man by Muddy Waters.  When he announced that he would be singing that songs, the judges just laughed but he surprised them!  It was Randy’s favorite audition of the day and Kara felt like she was, “home with her cousin.”  Amadeo has a huge, passionate voice and may just go far in this competition by just having a huge family (and a great voice).

What do you get when you cross Chris Brown and The Eagles?  I don’t know but it’s not Derek Hilton, 19 from Bellingham, MA.  But that’s exactly how he explained his singing.  Derek sang, “Sorry seems to be the Hardest Word,” by Elton John, straight from his nose.  Simon said it sounded like there were “20 of you and all horrible.”  It was laughable to say the least.

Following that was an Anime freak named Mere Doyle, 24, from Walpole, MA.  Her rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Take Another Piece of My Heart” was actually scary!  She seems to be yelling the song instead on of singing it.  Simon was kind when he said it was “verging on terrible.”

The waiting game is all part of these auditions but Andrew Fenlon, 25, from Boston, let his annoyance show when his turn came up.  He walked into the room with an attitude that Kara picked up on right away.  Simon called him a “smartass”.  When telling the judges that he’d be singing, “House of the Rising Sun,” he asked, with attitude, “do you know that song?”  Are you kidding me.  Wow.  Kara didn’t hold back that his attitude pissed her off, she doesn’t like him at all, and he needs a spanking .  Simon said he had bad energy.  Simon would have said yes to him going through, had he not had such a bad attitude and who knows, he may have made it through to Hollywood.  He was an ass.  But, he ladies!  He’s single!  Go figure.

Ashley Rodriguez, 21, from Boston, had the whole package.  She had some strong pipes and a commercial look.  She was Victoria and Kara’s favorite of the day.  She is beautiful and has a great voice to match.  Simon said she may have it. Another fashion hit of the day was Tyler Grady, 19, from Nazareth, PA.  Apparently, he likes to climb trees but trees do not like him.  He just broke his wrist and ended up with some titanium plates and screws in his wrist after falling out of a tree.  But his 70’s look caught the judges attention.  He has a good voice but personally I didn’t appreciate the attire and hair as well as the judges did.  I hated his look, he needs a haircut, then I might like him.

Day 2 brought more people closer to their dream of being the next American Idol, but that was not the case for Lisa Olivero, 24, from Billerica, MA.  It wasn’t her singing that Randy and Simon appreciated, actually they thought her singing was horrible, but they really liked watching her leave!  Lisa was wearing some shiny black tights and stilettos that showed off her rear-end.  She may have been sexy but she stinks at singing.

There were 2 touching stories told on day 2.  The first comes from Katie Stevens, 16, from Middlebury, CT.  She just wants to realize her dream of singing before her Grandma, who has Alzheimer’s,  forgets who she is.  She sang wonderfully and impressed the judges.  Randy said she had good natural talent.  She is definitely one of the best girls to come out of Boston.

Justin Williams

The guy who is definitely is the best thing to come out of Boston is Justin Williams.  Gorgeous, hot, and sexy…and he sang well, too!  He has beautiful eyes and a wonderful smile.  His story is also moving.  At the age of 20, he found out that he had cancer and 7 years later, he is now a survivor.  He received four yes’, of course!

….And the award from worst everything goes to….Norberto Guerrero, 18, form Reading, PA.  Was this guy for real?  He walked in with huge, long, curly, voluminous jet black hair and a sparkly silver sequence vest on with matching shiny shoes!  Big, bushy eyebrows and a beard.  He attempted to sing Cascada’s “Everytime We Touch.”  Not only did he forget the words, he sounded like a girl.  Simon said it best when he said Norberto “sings like a 3 year old girl, dress like Latoya Jackson, got a beard, the whole thing is just weird!”  Well put Simon.  Thank goodness, he received 4 NO’s.

Randy’s favorite of the day was Leah Laurenti, 22, from Medford, NY.  She sang “Blueskies” and did a wonderful job.  She had a nice soulful voice.  And that was the end of day 2 in Boston. 31 were chosen to move on.  Overall, Boston didn’t bring out their best.  While there were many nice singers, there were only 3 or 4 that stand any chance…..now off to Atlanta, Georgia!!!