Phoenix/Kansas City Auditions - Week 1 Recap

Let's recap what we saw last week, shall we?

We start off in Phoenix with Ryan Seacrest nearly plumetting into the Grand Canyon which would have totally brought the lolz but, alas, he regained his footing in time to say "THIS............................................................................................. is AMERICAN Idol!" And off we go!

Here's who we see get their golden tickets in Phoenix:

Emily Wynne Hughes - she's the girl with the pink and blonde hair with all the tattoos who doesn't ever want to work in an office. She's the lead singer in a band called Go Betty Go, who is just about to kick off a European tour but she's willing to throw them under the bus for a shot at Idolness so she can be the next Daughtry. I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding her reasoning there but HEY whatever floats yer boat right? My sources say she gets the boot in Hollywood week because sometime between her audition and H-week she gets cited for DUI and gets placed under house arrest... a "No No" with Idol producers. But that's okay because she screamed "RINGER" to me, anyway and you know how I HATE those ringers!!! I wonder if her bandmates will kick her out now for being such a bad girl!

J. B. Ahfua - A 16 year old who was very nervous, sings "Flying Without Wings". I liked him and I'm interested to see how far he makes it. It seemed like his whole family was there to support him.

Arianna Afsar - 45 minutes into the Season Premier, we see another 16 year old high school student. Arianna heads up a Grandfriends program where teens befriend the elderly in a local nursing home and be their friends. She's cute and has a pretty decent voice. She sings "Put Your Records On" and the judges loved her.

Stevie Wright - who was named after Stevie Nicks, is ALSO 16, sang "At Last" She's cute and bubbly and Kara and Paula love her to pieces so, with her name plus girl power behind her, I'm sure we'll hear more about her in Hweek.

Michael Sarver - A 27 year old Oil Rig worker and father. He sang "Thank You" and did a nice job.

Katrina "Bikini" Darrell - Auditioned in her bikini and did a passable version of Mariah's "Vision of Love". She royally pissed off Kara and Paula who hated her from the start mostly because she was wearing a bikini. Kara got into a vocal pissing match with her but she walked with the ticket anyway. Then she hunted down Ryan and stuck her tongue in his mouth while "I Kissed A Girl" played in the background. It was classic!

Now about an hour and 30 minutes in we see Brianna Quijada who sings "Let's Hear It For The Boy" and forgets the words to "Killing Me Softly". She's super bubbly and the judges think she has a great personality but she almost didn't get through. I don't think she'll make it past H-week.

Deanna Brown - is up next and has no friends and no family. Poor Deanna. She's been trying to make it in this business for a few years but hasn't had the right opportunity, she says. The judges all like her voice so, on she goes to Hweek! YAY Deanna!

Cody Sheldon - This year's Danny Noriega, likes to make horror films with his mom's video camera and he sang "Wonderful World".

Alex Wagner Trugman - The geeky guy who taught himself to sing in his closet but then got really sick because there was black mold growing in the closet so then he had to come OUT of the closet, but not in the way you think, he had to LITERALLY come out of the closet... Yeah. He sang "Baby Come To Me" pretty well but he was kind of awkward to watch. So I shut my eyes and it stopped bothering me so much.

Scott MacIntyre - After about 17 previews of The Blind Guy we finally get to see him audition. And he does a good job singing "And So It Goes". I'm sure we'll see more of him during Hweek because he's inspirational and has a decent enough voice.

All in all there were 27 tickets handed out in Phoenix.

On to... Kansas City! Here's who got the Golden Tickets in Kansas City:

Ashley Anderson - Sang "Footprints In The Sand", which Simon wrote. She did it pretty well but kept screwing up the lyrics. Simon, of course, loved her.

Casey Carlson - Sings "1,000 Miles" and something about her says "ringer" to me... Kara likes her a lot. The judges all think she's pretty marketable.

Von Smith - after several attempts to clear his throat sings "Over The Rainbow". You might remember him more for his hat and reallly loud voice and weird arm movements than anything else. To me, it seemed like a LOT of effort and I'm not sure how that will translate in Hweek, he'll probably be cut. Just my opinion.

Michael Castro - You know him, he's Jason Castro's little brother. After accusing Jason of being the "girly" one, not remember how old he is, and admitting to having the Bad Interview gene, he sings "In Love With A Girl" pretty well but I hear he, too, gets the axe in Hweek.

Matt Brietzke - Another family man, has wife and daughter, sings the bar scene, wants to do this for his family. He sings "No Sunshine When She's Gone".

Jessica Furney - has a 93 year old grandmother, plays the guitar, and seems like a real talent. She sings "Cry Baby" and the judges see something in her. I was cracking up when she was explaining that her grandmother is old and can't hear and then you see her screaming "GRANDMA! DO YOU KNOW THAT I SING??" Cute! I want more of Grandma! She wants to share her music with the world. Good luck Jess!

India - of the Asia & India rapping duo gets through I think mainly because the judges were afraid Asia might beat them up if they didn't put her sister through!

Jamaar Roberts - He sings "California Dreamin". I didn't think it was so great, but he got through. And here's why...

Danny Gokey - Jamaar and Danny are besties and Danny needs a buddy right now. This is the poor guy who's wife passed away from a heart condition. If my spouse died only 1 month prior to these auditions I'm not sure how eager I'd be to spend those weeks providing photos and interviews to the Idol producers for a segment on the show. That was awkward. Anyway, he's a music teacher and he sang "Grapevine" pretty well, and I'm glad he got through but I will hate to see him milk his tragic and personal story for all it's worth.

Anoop "Dog" Dasai - Did his dissertation on BBQ and sang "Grateful" pretty well. Not sure what Hweek will hold for him but he seems kind of like a cool guy and didn't freak out on Simon for the BBQ joke.

Asa Barnes - He's a band leader and father and did a pretty good audition with "The Way You Make Me Feel".

Dennis - I can't remember his last name or what he sang but it wasn't very good. He begged for a ticket longer than he sang and for some reason the judges caved and gave him one.

And last but definitely not least, Lil Rounds who has been hyped on the previews for this season like she's already won the show, makes it through after singing "A Little More Love". I wasn't that impressed. I really expect a LOT more from Lil after all the hype. She was a little off key and it took about 15 seconds into the audition before she hit the right note. She's a mom and she's married and her hubby isn't all that interested in her success and a tornado blew her house away and her family is living in a hotel. I'm sure with all the hype she'll be featured in Hweek but I'm not sure how she'll do there.

Hopefully there were better contestants than the ones we saw go through. I'm not sure why they don't show more of the good people. The rumor was that this year, they were going to focus these audition weeks on the people who actually get through and less on the short-bus weirdos who dance and sing about bananas but so far that doesn't look like it's actually going to happen.

I was kind of unsure whether or not I was going to bother doing blogs for these audition weeks but I think I'll go ahead and track who gets tickets, who I think are the possible ringers, and see where they all end up.

We have 6 more cities to go, so stay tuned! Feel free to leave me your comments and opinions below!! Peace!