WBKR’s “American Idol” Expert Reviews San Diego Auditions

On Sunday night, following the Giants/49ers game, Fox aired the San Diego auditions of American Idol. And the talent pool was overflowing with everyone from Jim Carrey's daughter. . . to a man named "Wolf," who rocked out Johnny Cash on his "git fiddle." When it was all said and done, over 50 contestants got "golden tickets" to Hollywood! WBKR's Idol expert, Steve Thompson, tuned in and rated the cream of the crop.

Moon and I chatted with Steve this morning on The WBKR Waking Crew and rellived some of the highlights from last night's show. LISTEN!

From Steve Thompson:

This may have been the most pointless exercise in the 11 year history of this franchise. You have to wonder if the Powers That Be intentionally set up some of the lesser performances because the majority of folks on the East Coast would've tuned out after the Giants-49ers game. I didn't see anyone tonight particularly memorable-- not even in in a dark horse candidate kind of way.

I guess the idea of setting the auditions aboard the USS Midway was an idea that sounded good on paper, but someone missed (excuse the pun) the boat about the noise from the clarions of the passing ships, helicopters, and assorted military planes. There was so much interference from the noise that the show attempted to make a lame series of jokes about it-- but the contrivance seemed to outweigh accident.

Well, first we saw Jennifer Dilley dressed for success at the Hawaiian Tropic model competition. Yeah. Another one that would've probably been given a pass if Simon was still involved in the show. Frankly, maybe she should have been somewhere else on someone else's reality show. We could've been spared a lame attempt at Mariah Carey.

Ashley Robes decided on the Whitney Houston version of I Will Always Love You. This seemed too much an impersonation. Ashley has probably seen The Bodyguard one too many times in her relatively short life. I wasn't that impressed with her singing. There was nothing there that we as fans and faithful followers haven't seen a dozen times before.

Jayrah Gibson was seemingly anointed as a singer to watch by the judges. I'm beginning to think all of the loud noises they experienced may have severely damged their hearing. I heard nothing from this guy to even remotely suggest he made it further than the first day in Hollywood. I couldn't even tell what this song was by the time his audition was over.

Aubrey Dieckmeyer sang Feelin' Good by Michael Buble. What is wrong with the state of music appreciation these days? This song is older than Michael Buble, yet everyone on these talent shows thinks it's his song. Oh, well... I know I shouldn't worry about things like that, but there's gonna come a day that people will forget the original singers. (For what it's worth, Feelin' Good was written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricausse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd. Nina Simone had the first big hit on it. Mr. Triva has spoken. LOL.)

Ali Shields was the girl who appeared on Ellen a while back and ended up being used as a correspondent at one of the music award shows. She is given a golden ticket and, to paraphrase a great old Jackson Browne song, the girl can't sing. At 10:30 I was regretting waiting around for this show at all.

Tylerism of the night: (speaking of the second day of auditions): "40 people singing Adele for 6 hours straight."

Kyle Crews sang Angel of Mine by Monica. This was the first voice that showed some promise, but I'm concerned about his attitude. At first, I thought he was just being disingenuous about his singing ability. The more I think about it, he may have been quite serious. This may not bode well for his continued success.

Jane (daughter of Jim) Carrey sang Something to Talk About. Children of celebrities should have just as much chance of anyone-- but I may have to join the chorus of folks who wonder why she is taking this route to becoming discovered. I admire her if she didn't want her father to pull strings-- but then again, here she is and everyone knows who she is because of her father. To quote the King of Siam: "'tis a puzzlement."

Jason "Wolf" Hamlin sang train songs. The Midnight Special is an old folk song that has been recorded from everybody from Leadbelly to Johnny Rivers. I guess Creedence Clearwater Revival had the version that might be considered the most rock. Folsom Prison Blues. Well, as a Johnny Cash fan all of my life I don't have to tell you how much I appreciated any shout out to the Man in Black. Was it truly that great? Not truly.

Well, 53 people received tickets to Hollywood from the San Diego auditions, but I think the audience may have been cheated tonight. Of these that we were actually given the ability to see, perhaps Aubrey Dieckmeyer may have the best chance to go further-- but I also doubt any of these we saw tonight will get anywhere near what the producers call their Green Mile (the top 24.)