I hope this one is only a rumor but it is being said that Michael Lynche was disqualified for violating a confidentiality contract. Apparently his father told St. Petersburg Times that “his 26-year-old son had survived the “Hollywood round” of auditions filmed last week in Los Angeles — where singers plucked from the location tryouts are whittled down to 24 semifinalists” before the results were aired. That’s not poor Micheal’s fault! We have grown attached to the giant teddy bear who just became a father on national TV.

Michael Lynche on Idol

There will be a lot of upset people if he gets the boot!

See the article here at St. Petersburg Times that was released on January 21, 2010.

Season 9 audition showed up in Atlanta, Georgia, the birthplace of Ryan Seacrest.  The guest judge was Mary J. Blige, empress of soul, and a 9 time Grammy winner.  She didn’t hold back when she laughed at the poor, talent-lacking performers, even having to fake being upset and crying at one point to attempt to hide her uncontrollable laughter.  Watching her, it was difficult to tell if she liked the audition or not because of the smug, bored look on her face.

The best part of the Atlanta auditions came at the end of the day on day 2 when General Larry Platt, 62, from Atlanta, GA.  He had everyone singing his catchy, personally written song, “Pants on the Ground.”  This adorable elder was perhaps poking fun at the younger generation who wear their “pants on the ground, looking like a fool with your pants on the ground, gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, pants hit the ground…”  The song has already hit Youtube and been Twittered like crazy!  Unfortunately, the age limit on American Idol is 28, otherwise he would have taken the whole show!  He even attempted a bad version of break dancing while finishing his tune.  Viewers are going to have this song stuck in their heads when the awake in the morning!  General Platt had a room full singing his ditty, even Randy Jackson was dancing and singing his lyrics!  Props to you General for creativity!

Pants on the Ground

Back to day one, we met Keai Johnson, 26, from Memphis, TN.  She won Miss Congeniality at the Miss America competition.  She belted out,  “My Heart Will Go On,” Celine Dion.  She added her own originality and won the judges over.  Simon said, “I like you” and with 4 yes’, she was through to Hollywood.

Later in the day, Jermaine Sellers, of Joliet, IL, was introduced.  This sweet church boy won the hearts of the judges by singing, “What if God Was One of Us,” by Joan Osborne.  He gave a great interpretation of the song.  He is definitely someone to watch out for.  Sellers had the judges digging it and swaying in their seats.  They said he had the best vocals of all the cities!

The last audition of day one was by Vanessa Wolfe, 19.  From the tiny town of Vonore, TN, this little country girl finds fun in jumping off bridges into water…the only thing to do for fun in her town.  She’s never even been on a airplane.  With obvious nervousness, she surprised the judges and was through with 4 yes’ but will she be able to handle the pressure of the fast-paced big city?

The bad for day one began with Dewone Robinson, 27, from Atlanta, who wrote his own song.  Note to people writing their own songs for Idol, don’t write a duet that required both a girl and guy singing!  Robinson took on both parts, beginning with the girls part.  He attempted his pathetic attempt 3 times before they finally kicked him out.  Kara put it politely when she said, “Oh please God!” begging him to stop. Surprisingly though, he was not the only man singing like a woman.  A few clips of men with high pitched voices  crossed our screens before the end of the day.

On the same pathetic note, we witnessed Christy Marie Agronow, 25, a TV producer from Atlanta attempt a rendition of Pat Benatar’s, “Love is a Battlefield.”  Besides being WAY too perky, her singing was terrible!  So, no, she didn’t make it through.

Day 2 began with Jesse Hamilton, 26, from Anniston, AL.  This poor guy was so bad but such had a sweet personality that you could help but feel his pain.  He declared that no one had ever heard him sing other than his mom.  He was going to sing Garth Brooks’, “The River,” but froze and forgot the words.  Randy suggested singing another of Brooks’ song, but it came out sounding like a goat singing.  Mary J. Blige took no pity on him, laughing so hard she was crying.  Poor guy.

When Mallorie Haley, 20, from Winters, SD, stood singing a nice version of, “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart,” Blige couldn’t have looked more bored and annoyed but, it turns out, she liked Haley.  Simon said she was, “fearless.”  Haley has a good look, cute and sexy.

Blige didn’t understand when Holly Harden, 20, from Rockmart, GA walked into the audition dressed like a human guitar, even with guitar sunglasses!  This charming girl with a southern bell accent wowed the other judges.  She received 3 yes’ from Kara, Randy, and Simon, but Mary “just didn’t understand it” and would have said no….guess she couldn’t get past the look.  Harden has a great personality, Randy called her “hilarious,” and Kara called her a “ballsy girl.”

And then there is Antonio ‘Skii Bo Ski’ Wheeler.  Is this guy for real?  It’s not that he was a bad singer, because she was actually surprisingly decent, but he had ‘American Idol’ shaved in his hair, missed spelled his name on his shirt, and made absolutely no sense when speaking.  He sang “Grape Vine” and did a nice, soulful job but then he opened his mouth and said, “I’m like the Dollar Store, even with the Dollar Store, you can have everything you want in that one package and it don’t cost you more than a dollar.”  Translation, please, anyone?  Skii Bo Ski actually made it to Hollywood with 3 yes’ and a no from Simon.

Annoying little girls were next.  Carmen Turner, 19, (the blond one) and Lauren Sanders, 18, (the brunette) are BFF’s!  OMG!  How freaking annoying.  Both are from Baxley, GA.  They came up the elevator to the judges together, Lauren performed first.  Her attempt at singing quiet and boring.  Then Carmen began and, wow, she actually did a good job!  Thank goodness the judges said no to Lauren and separated these annoying wanna-be barbie dolls.

According to Randy, “a singing police officer is hot, dude!”  Bryan Walker, 25, from Sevierville, TN is just that!  At first glance, one would not expect to hear a good singing voice come out of that boy.  He was great and someone to look forward to this season.

While Walker had good energy, Lamar Royal, 20, from Goldsboror, NC had a lot of negative energy.  Going up to his audition, he claimed he would respect the judges opinions and loves constructive criticism…yeah, right.  He did an almost decent job at Seal’s, “Kiss From a Rose,” but he painfully yelled more than sang and had bad pitch.  Underneath the yelling and within his many other attempts to let the judges hear his voice, there was some potential in there.  When the judges attempted to tell him that he wasn’t bad, he would interrupt them, sing more, and snap back at them.  So much for loving constructive criticism!  He wouldn’t listen to a word the judges said in their attempts to help him.  Eventually, security was called and they had to remove the menace.  As he was being escorted out, he yelled, “I wish Paula was here!” and cursed up a storm.  Really, dude?  Settle down.

Others through to Hollywood:

• Miriam Lemnouni, 25, from Atlanta, GA.
• Noel Reese, 16, from Sophia, NC.
• Tisha Holland, 18, from Riverdale.

Idolwire.com would like to congratulate Jennifer Hudson on her receipt of the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in Dreamgirls. With this win Hudson has secured her place as the ultimate American Idol contestant even though she didn’t win her season. She can now place her Oscar award on her shelf next to her Golden Globe and SAG (Screen Actors Guild) awards for the same role.

Jennifer Hudson just keeps on climbing the ladder; her latest step is as Vogue’s cover model for the March 2007 Power Issue. Hudson is only the third African-American female to grace Vogue’s cover in over four years; Halle Barry was the cover model in December 2002 and Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede took that spot in May 2005. Come on Vogue, get with the times. Hudson was interviewed by editor-at-large Andre’ Leon Talley; Vogue has a special video interview with Talley on Hudson – watch it now.

Hudson was photographed by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz is probably most known for her Rolling Stone cover photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken on the morning of the day on which Lennon was shot and murdered. I tell you, Hudson has really done American Idol proud – no one could have predicted the heights she has reached. I don’t think she’s done climbing though, I foresee Hudson a regular in blockbuster hits for years to come.

Idolwire.com would like to congratulate Jennifer Hudson for yet another Best Actress in a Supporting Role award – the latest being a SAG Award. The Screen Actors Guild Award is a highly-respected award as the voting body is made up of the nominee’s peers. Upon acceptance of her award Hudson said, “Thank you so much, what a welcome, wow” then went on with the remainder of her acceptance speech.

Perla Meneses’ performance in Minneapolis is still getting a lot of attention, but the reviews are hot and cold. The general consensus is her heavily-accented rendition of Blondie’s “Call Me” was average, at best. Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly went so far as to say “Worst of all, though, was Perla Meneses. Okay, her hips may not lie, but they also do not mask one of the weakest voices to make it to Hollywood in the last few seasons. Unless, of course, you dig cut-rate Shakira impersonations.” Now in Meneses’ defense I’d like to say that she purposely chose not to sing a Shakira song in hopes of avoiding the comparison. Unfortunately that idea went down the drain as soon as Randy Jackson asked her to perform a bit of her favorite Shakira song. Now the comparison is inevitable, both have long curly locks, hips that don’t lie and hail from Colombia.

Jon Peter Lewis (American Idol season 3 finalist) is standing in as a resident AI expert for Rolling Stone Magazine and giving his opinion on this year’s crop of hopefuls. Perla Meneses was on his good list. Not being one to hold back what he thought, Lewis said “She’s from Colombia and can sing ‘Hips Don’t Lie,’ so she’ll be known as ‘the Latin girl.’ She seems to have the right T and A; the survival story…and her voice isn’t bad. She sounds like Shakira, and Simon seemed to like her.” So my question is does Lewis mean that Simon likes her voice or her T and A? I’ll let you decide that one for yourself.

Speak your mind in our American Idol Forums.

The staff at Idolwire.com would like to congratulate Jennifer Hudson on her Oscar Nomination for her role in “Dreamgirls”. The Oscar Nominations were just announced live on CNN. She is up against Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi (Babel), Cate Blanchett (Notes on A Scandal), and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). The 79th Annual Oscars will be awarded live on February 25, 2007 at 8pm ET on ABC. Good luck Jennifer Hudson, you’ve come a long way from American Idol. Girl, welcome to the BIG TIME!

For those living under a rock, Jennifer Hudson (season 3 finalist) had a breakout performance in the smash hit “Dreamgirls” and went on to win a Golden Globe award for Best Actress In A Supporting Role. Entertainment sites across the country are filled with anticipation over tomorrow morning’s Oscar nomination ceremony (5:30 am PT); will Jennifer Hudson receive a nomination? The consensus is yes. The step from American Idol to Golden Globe winner is huge but with Oscar looming on the horizon Hudson fans are ecstatic.

In addition to her Golden Globe win, Hudson was also nominated for a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Award. The SAG Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on Sunday, January 28, 2007 on TNT and TBS. Idolwire would like to wish Hudson the best of luck with the Oscar nominations tomorrow as well as the SAG Awards on Sunday.

Have I mentioned recently that I adore Entertainment Weekly? For all of you holiday procrastinators, it makes an absolutely fabulous gift – I think I’ve given an EW gift subscription to someone for the past five years. They never fail to have the best interviews – and I’ve read a zillion of them from Fantasia over the past few weeks – and not surprisingly, this is my favorite. I tried to pick out some of the best excerpts to print here, but I ended up with the entire article, so here is the EW link. Better still, why don’t you pick up the issue and take care of some Christmas shopping while you’re at it? I promise, you won’t be sorry…

The interview takes place in Fantasia’s hotel suite in New York city and the conversation runs the gamut: Her new boyfriend, her father’s lawsuit, her new album, her upcoming tour, losing “Dreamgirls”, her struggles with anxiety and fame, and her new puppy, King. It’s mind-boggling when you realize she is only 22-years-old – I can’t wait to see how her career plays out. She’s got miles and miles to go, and if her newest CD is any indication, I’d say we can look for “Life Really Is A Fairy Tale” on store shelves very soon.

I am currently signed up for approximately 90 Google alerts – all American Idol related. When I signed on this morning, I had 205 emails – about 150 of those were trash – and most of the rest were for Jennifer Hudson. The amount of press she is receiving is astonishing – I can’t remember the last time someone received THIS MUCH BUZZ for a debut film role. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of the last time there’s been this much buzz about ANY film role. I’m sure someone will email me or comment and tell me who Oscar’s last paramour was, and I’m sure it will be someone totally obvious, and I’m also sure I’ll feel like a big idiot for not remembering. I’m kinda used to feeling like an idiot, so please help me out and let me know.

In this latest JHud interview from Newsday, author Gene Seymour paints a glowing picture of a confident, composed, and secure rising star. Jennifer is supposed to be in the limelight – right here and right now. You know how you feel when something is just right? You just feel it in your bones – there is no fear, no doubt, not even overwhelming excitement. It’s just a calm knowing – it’s the most wonderful experience! I love it when it happens to me and I am thrilled it is happening for Jennifer.