American Idol 2011-Week One - The Cultute of Pop, DVD, Movie, TV, Pop Culture Review

American Idol 2011-Week One

Posted: Sat, 22 Jan 2011 5:52:15 PST

Season 10-Episode 2

“Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans”?-Louis Armstrong

Usually, the opening sequences of all American Idol audition episodes are pretty interchangeable; we're happy to be back, we found so and so here, this many people successfully went to Hollywood thanks to this city, and so on....But my ears perked up like a dog reacting to a special frequency whistle when Seaquesty remarked that it had been 7 long years since Idol auditioned in the town that gave us Louis B. Armstrong, Dr. John, Harry Connick, Jr. and everybody's favorite dawg, Randy Jackson (who's actually from nearby Baton Rouge)

Bless their hearts, this city could have used a little Idol Gives Back in 2006, don't you think? But that's just me (and Keith Olberman who says hi...and that he needs a job).

But enough social commentary...let's hitch a riverboat ride to “the good side of the city” and relive the high watermarks of audition night number two of Idol: Season 10...

Jordan Dorsey, 21, was our lead off man singing a song that Katherine McPhee made her own a few seasons back, Over The Rainbow. At first, JD's arrangement was ho-hum, but a verse in, he started snapping his fingers and giving it an Al Jarreau kinda' feel. Steven, J-Lo and Randy dug it, so did I, a plane ticket awaits for the sky (call me Dr. Seuss). Seriously though, if Jordan can control his vocal tics and just sing, I think we could be seeing him in the top 20. Good start for the night.

Sarah Sellers, 28, our not so old maid of all auditions thus far did a lovely job on the Bob Dylan masterwork, To Make You Feel My Love with an effective blend of power and gentleness....and as my late night idol David Letterman would say, she was “easy on the eyes”. Steven evidently thought so, too...but I think Randy and J-Lo concentrated more on her voice (get your mind out of the cellar with the rats, Tyler).

Batting third with two on their way to Hollywood and nobody out? Jovany Barreto, whose day job is quite a good one for his locale: Ship building. But could his voice “sail on down the line”? It did so fairly nicely, not to mention a refreshingly different audition in Spanish. After getting a unanimous three way vote to la-la land, did he run out screaming like all the other kiddies? No way, Jose....Senor Barreto decided to audition for American Chippendales!

Yes, Sister Lopez, I heard ya (“What the heck just happened in here”?); Steven, Randy and a Marc Anthony wanna-be exposing their rib cages; I'm surprised she didn't pull out a stack of bones (aka dollar bills for the lingo challenged)...a moment that made me realize that perhaps it's a good thing our semi-missed Simon's moved on....because I don't think his mid-section would have been as cute as Randy's or washboard ready like Steverino's.

Hmm, a partially shirtless Cowell....the mere thought makes me shiver like Burl Ives hiding from the Abominable Snowman in Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer.

In the clean up position, batting fourth is the lovely Jacquelyn Dupree, 24, whose voice isn't as great as her name thus far, but she belted out a pretty passable version of I'll Stand By You by rock goddess Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders. She also brought some memory trinkets for hometown dawg Randy from his high school days (way to use those personal connections, kiddo...it could be your version of the Judge's Save! For a few days in Hollywood, maybe).

Up next? A kid that looked like the long lost drummer for Uriah Heep (not): Brett Lowenstern (whom many felt favored Mick Hunknall from Simply Red which is not too far off the mark), a pale, skinny, red headed kid who looks like he's going to be just godawful...but he delivers a fairly competent version of a very, very difficult song to pull off: Queen's 45 RPM masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody. Didn't come close to Glambert's version two years ago, but not bad. But, can he sing straight pop and beyond. This one man jury is still out, but I look forward to seeing what he has to offer.

So far, cool! Is New Orleans really gonna be vocal train wreck free? Not so fast, William Hung...

Like baseball legend Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak, all good things have to come to an end...but for the love of God, did it have to come in the form of Gabriel Franks, 24, who brought the golden ticket train to a screeching halt with a pitch free rendition of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance.

Gabe? Congrats, you've just made Gaga's hair stand up in a fright wig style with no help from her fashion team. I hope you're happy.

Wait, there's more. We must pay for the abundance of good to great talent we experienced early on. Next to come off the rails? Alex Attardo, 18, a likeable enough kid who proudly proclaims his graduation from Idol Camp several years back...hmmm, sounds good....But did HE sound good?

All I can say is Leonard “Mr. Spock” Nimoy? All is forgiven for your rendition of Proud Mary, which sounds positively Pavarotti by comparison....and Alex, consult your nearest lawyer and get your (so-called) Idol Camp funds back. Have a nice day.

Okay, smart-ass mode off for our next entry, 15 year old Jacee Badeaux who chubby body reminded me of a young John Candy, but whose voice was as sweet as a young Michael Jackson's while delivering a very, very good version of Otis Redding's Dock Of The Bay. All three judges were equally over the moon, but Jacee seemed strangely shy and subdued upon getting his Idol slip to ride. Either hasn't hit him yet or he's got that shy deal going on like Rod Steward did while lead singer of The Jeff Beck Group where he'd literally hide behind the amps in the early days.

But look at how good he turned out, eh? Jacee's definitely one to keep an eye on...and such is certainly the case with our final contestant, who provided perhaps the most emotional back story in the history of this program.

Paris Tassin, 23, had to put her dreams on hold at a very young age due to getting pregnant in high school. Such a scenario is dramatic enough at one of the most pivotal times in a young person's lifetime, but pre-delivery, Paris got word that her baby had hydrocephalus, which in non-medical terms means excessive water on the brain that can cause a matter of severe problems from enlargement of the skull to mental disability.

Urged to abort her unborn child, Paris courageously decided to have it. Unfortunately, daughter Keira was born with severe hearing loss that already requires her to wear hearing aids at age 4. But thankfully, her problems aren't as challenging as perhaps feared.

So, what a set up eh, kids? For only the third or fourth time in the history of this show have I been moved to cry at a back story...and the girl hadn't even sang yet, for Pete's sake...here I am, in a living room doing what many other folks across the country are doing; looking toward the heavens praying, “Please let her be good, please let her be good”....and the set up segued into Paris' heart tugging, beyond emotional take on Carrie Underwood's Temporary Home, a song chosen because (in Paris' words, “it has meaning”).

Like much of the television audience, Jennifer started crying...and I could swear I saw Steven and Randy holding back tears as well. Ryan looked equally moved, prompting Randy to ask him if he was okay; a very sweet moment...and a heck of a way to wind up a very satisfying hour of entertainment, with a lovely scene of Jennifer departing the audition site only to run into Paris and her daughter, bringing out the mother in her as she appeared to do something akin to sign language. No matter what, such a nice, human moment for a show that some deemed a little too harsh in recent years for demeaning talent deprived rejects.

Speaking of which, isn't it ironic that this “kinder, gentler” Idol is falling short of ratings expectations? To me, I think the mainstream press is making something out of nothing. For if you look at the big picture, we have two new judges, more competitive time slots, a natural decrease in audience totals normal for shows that have been on air for multiple seasons, and perhaps, a loss of non-returning loyalists let down by the weakest top 12 in the show's history.

Like FOX, I'm not concerned in the least about the out of the gate ratings, because if you think about all the factors above, American Idol Version 10.0 is not unlike a new show debuting, just like it did with Randy, Simon, Paula, Ryan and Brian (didn't forget ya, Dunkleman) way back when...and like then, I strongly suspect that with mostly positive reviews, good word of mouth and viewers that have always chosen to tune in once the nitty gritty of the live shows commence, that Idol will regain its foothold as television to get us talking.

Next Idol stop: Home of the Cunningham's, The Fonz and the Brewers: Good 'ol Milwaukee.

-J.R.

Jeffrey Rosado is a pop culture historian, writer, performer and all around nice guy...until he has to take out the trash during a sub-freezing winter that may never end.

Follow Jeff on Twitter: marquee_man