AI- San Diego Auditions

Mark my words, in The Great Final Reckoning, Maria Carey will have much to answer for.

For the third time in a row, the show opened with a strong auditon, though I'm with Simon- Tetianna wasn't as good as she thought she was (and her reaction to his comment was very telling). I thought she, and almost all of the other *girls* (as they call them on this show, no matter how old they are) oversang everything.

Young single Father Perry was only okay, but he has such an adorable little boy that I'm glad he made it through (see Producers- your obvious stacking of the deck works).

I really liked Michael, the Australian soul-singer, though he doesn't have the gravel I loved in Taylor's voice. And I also liked David, the 16 year old who had vocal cord problems- he didn't seem to be like most of the 16 year olds on the show (he's not a prodigy, he's not a throwback, he's not whatever Sanjaya was- he just sings well).

I was surprised that the Sister Simon Lover Samantha was that good. I expected her gimmick to outweigh any talent (and I loved Simon's mispronunciation of *Obama*).

So, we finally got to see Carly, the Irish Singer. I have heard rumors about her for a couple of years, and Interweb types are calling shenanigans on her audition for having had an unmentioned huge recording contract in the past, but she was a good singer and we'll see how far she goes.

Fingernail and Fan Boy (sounds like a knitting pattern, doesn't it?) was so over the top that even Gay Stereotype over in the corner, told him to tone it down just a hair. I didn't believe him or his schtick for a minute.

All in all, a good show, though as always, I would have jettisoned the whackos (especially Fanny) in order to see more good singers.