AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 11: THE SAN DIEGO AUDITIONS

AKA: YOU CAN SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS!

Ship shape!

Kristen the Yellow Lab and I are shipmates!! After all, what better way to celebrate the American Idol Season 11 auditions in San Diego, California?  Anchors aweigh, mateys! For THIS is American Idol!

All hands on deck! Here comes the skipper!  Oh wait, it's just Ryan. He's here to tell us that this episode is filming on the USS Midway, an impressive yet incredibly noisy audition spot.

Three hour tours given here!

The judges arrive, topside!

"Avast ye, landlubbers!"

Steven is  wearing old-timey pilots glasses.... sort of a Red Baron on the junk.

Salty as a sailor!

The show opens with one Jennifer Daily, 19 years old, from Columbus, Ohio who arrives in her skivvies.

"I can't really sing, but I do have other talents. Like washing a car in slow motion while wearing my bikini."

Ryan, like an officer and gentleman, has her walk up and down the steps a few times so he can watch her behind.   Ryan is trying to pretend to be all about this:

When we know he's really all about this:

Jennifer Daily cannot sing, so she is not passed along to Hollywood.  However, we're sure there's a Maxim spread awaiting her in the future.

Ashley Robles is a lovely 26 year old woman with an adorable 5 year old daughter.  She performs Whitney Houston's version of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You. She doesn't quite have her sea legs at first, but really brings it at the chorus.  She gets three solid YESES and is off to Hollywood.  Steven says, "Ashley Robbins, you are going to be big!" Let's hope. But, let's also hope others get her name right.

Jayrah Gibson, 26 years old, babbles about not having a B plan.  "Because if you have a B plan," he tells us, "well...you know what happens!"  (Um... you can make enough money to pay rent and buy food??) He sings an original hip-hop song called "Shake Your Money Maker."  Jayrah? Your "money maker" is most definitely not in your rapping skills. Next, he performs Music Soul Child's Just Friends. Kristen and I find it a tad nasally with a side of melisma. We'd throw him overboard, but the judges advance him.

Yarrrr! You'll walk the plank soon enough, matey!

20 year old Aubree Dieckmeyer is excited to become America's Next Top Model!! 

OMG! Um...like.. WRONG SHOW?? OK??

Once she gets her bearings, she performs  Feeling Good, a song she believes is by the immortal Michael Buble. Ha! Every Idol fan knows it's actually by Adam Lambert. 

And stay off my staircase!

 At any rate, she has a sweet voice, and manages to hold the key.  It's a delicate version of the song, but brings little  passion. It could play well on jazz-lite stations.  She makes it through.


19 year old Ali Shields actually got her start on Ellen Degeneres.  Ellen called her upstage, and she performed a song.. Afterwards, Ellen let her work the red carpet at one of the music awards shows. There, her best friend announced to Usher.. and the world.. that Ali had never been kissed! Usher kindly obliged.  Playing on that theme, Ryan has her kiss various crew members and passers by.  Oh dear.  Remember, Ali, "Loose lips sink ships!." She's perky like this:

She does a hideous rap, then a goofy ghetto dance.  She's fun.  Fortunately, she can also sing as she proves by singing  Corinne Bailey Raes' Star.   She's Hollywood bound!

Frat boy, Kyle Crews, 19, is considered quite the ladies' man on campus. Pre-audition, he tells Ryan he is focusing on JLo's face... especially her lips.  He dedicates Monica's Angel of Mine to JLo. He has a nice enough voice, but nothing special.  In fact, it's a bit quivery in the lower register.  But, he is in-tune. Kristen and I think he's more midshipman than ranked officer. He has a way to go.  Oddly enough, the judges go crazy over him.  He makes it through. 

Jane Carrey, 24, tells us she is a huge ham. She comes by it honestly, as she is the daughter of  Jim.  Alrighty then! JLo remembers her as a tot from her days as a Fly Girl on In Living Color. Jane is sweetly pretty and has a decent voice.  But, much like frat boy, there's nothing spectacular. JLo wants her to work on her performing skills, and Jane says she is gung ho!.  All three give her a YES and it's off  to Hollywood! She calls her dad to share the news.

The last audition of the night belongs to a fellow named Jason who goes by the nickname Wolf.  Kristen is impressed! He is 24, and has a big ole lumberjack vibe about him. He opens with CCR's Midnight Special. It's weak and a bit of a disappointment.  Steven needs to hear something else. Wolf asks if he can play his "git-fiddle" (his "folksy" name for his guitar.)  He goes into Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues. It starts off very ordinary until he asks the judges, "Do you want to know how I do it?" They say, "Yes." Off he goes into a bluesy, rich version.  This is his niche!  The judges send him through. 


And that's it for San Diego! Kristen and I are declaring victory!  It's full steam ahead as we move on out to Aspen, Colorado to see what comes down from those mountains!