American Idol Season 6 Blog

Well with the Memphis auditions turning out to be relatively normal (compared to last week's), New York was anything but.

Paula, Simon, Randy plus guest judge and legendary songwriter,Carol Bayer Sager sent 35 lucky people to Hollywood tonight, but not without some truly bizarre and disturbing auditions.

What was with everyone in New York being so overdramatic?! The soap opera 'Days Of Our Lives' thing with "Ashanti" was priceless, who just couldn't take no for an answer and was begging the judges to let her stay without them getting a word in edge wise.

Are they twins or just BFFs?.. from New Jersey came two girls *so* into themselves, but thankfully could actually sing too. Amanda Coluccio and her BFF Antonella Barba both made it through to Hollywood, with the big irony being that the judges thought Antonella was better than Amanda. Amanda has taken professional lessons; Antonella has not.

There was also the VERY emotional Kia Thornton who despite being named after a Korean car company, belted out an Aretha Franklin song with almost as much grace and panache as the diva herself. Kia couldn't stop bawling her eyes out though when the judges told her she was going to Hollywood. Hard not to be anything but thrilled for her.

On Day Two, after an overall dismal Day One, expectations were running high for the first contestant who walked through the door. Jenry Bejarano (yes, that's Jenry NOT Henry) didn't disappoint. The extremely good looking guy delivered a beautiful rendition of "I'd Give Anything To Fall In Love." Paula practically melted into a puddle in her chair.

Day Two of the New York auditions also kicked off without Simon; he was late for the first half of the morning. We later found out (through a rejected contestant's freak out on camera) that the crew were out drinking until 3 a.m. the night before. Tsk tsk Simon.

Who could forget the girl who was horrendously bad and off-key, trying desperately to convince the judges that you don't need to be a singer to be an American Idol? I thought the best part was when they told her to look at the wall behind her and pointed out all the past American Idols, ALL AMAZING SINGERS. *snap,* now go away.

Canadian-born American Idol-crasher Jory Steinberg was a surprise. At first when she started bragging about all the time she spent meeting the Queen, the Prime Minister, blah blah blah, I was thinking here we go again. But she actualy turned out to be one of the best of the day with her peformance of Tina Arena's "Chains." Jody was born in Ottawa, Ontario but now lives in Santa Monica CA.

Simon Cowell met his mirror image at the auditions too.. a guy who looked just like him, and apparently also George Michael, as he wouldn't shut up about. Oh, and he's a BIG Kelly Clarkson fan. Every season, why does an extremely, obviously gay man sing "Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson in a woman's voice??? I swear it's a conspiracy or something.

Rachel Zevita walked onto the audition floor with three voices and seemingly, three different personalities. Lucky for her, they were all pretty good, and the Opera singer was sent to Hollywood.

Virigina boy and Justin Timberlake lookalike/wannabe Chris Richardson was VERY good, with Simon predicting" "You could surprise us in the next rounds." Great voice and a great look. Imagine him and Timberlake going head to head on the charts!

Finally there was Nicholas Pedro, who you probably recognized from last season of Idol. You see, last year he MADE it to Hollywood -- and then dropped out!!! He couldn't remember the words to "Buttercup" during the group trials, so he dropped out of the competition and regretted it ever since. Lucky for Nicholas, his voice is still golden and he was sent back to Hollywood this year. Definitely one to watch.

And that folks was tonight's New York audition show. Next week, Birmingham, Alabama!