This Week Today In American Idol: 6 February 2007

* Breaking: Most Americans cannot sing like Idols:

Tuesday night was the final round of localized auditions. On Wednesday, Idol will run a "remainders" show with auditions from all of the locations.

I should probably point out here that this post contains a clearly-labeled SPOILER ALERT. AI fans will find out about this soon enough, but I'm just sayin'....

So, back in San Antonio, here are the names of the auditioners [with the songs they sang if I could identify them]:

Bryan Kyrish, "Rebel Yell"
Haley Scarnato, "I Can't Make You Love Me"
Jasmine Holland, "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here"
Baylie Brown, "Stronger"
William Green, "Amazing Grace"
Akron Watson, "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Let's Get It On"
LaRisa Curry
Deborah Tyler, "Vogue"
Sandie Chavez, "Black Velvet"
Ashlyn Carr, "Feelin' Good", "Inseparable"
Jacob Tutor
Jimmy McNeal, "Another Saturday Night" / "Cupid" [medley]

Eric over at deathbycamera got me thinking about stalking searching for the auditioners in cyberspace. And since he seems to have lost interest in doing it himself, I decided I would give it a crack.

Eric found many of the auditioners from the first three rounds in cyberspace. I don't know if the auditioners from the later rounds are cyber-unsavvy, or if it's just me [okay, it's probably me], but I have not had much luck finding these people. But here's what I found from San Antonio....

MADE IT TO L.A.:

* Haley Scarnato -- Haley sang Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't make You Love Me". Haley is a professional singer but strangely does not seem to have her own website or bandsite or MySpace or anything on line. However, I did find the website of another musician on whose record she appeared. Yes, I know that's weak.

* Baylie Brown -- Of course, it has to be spelled "B-A-Y-L-I-E". Baylie also is a professional singer who has released her own CD. And she has her own website.

Baylie describes herself as a "traditional country" singer. Which made her choice of audition song a little odd, I suppose. I can't think of anyone who would describe Faith Hill's "Stronger" as "traditional country". But it is one of the best songs on her absolute best album, Cry, which cannot in any way, shape or form be described as "traditional country". But Baylie nailed it anyway, even if "traditional country" radio would never get near it:

Faith Hill - Stronger [mp3, via YSI]
Faith Hill - Stronger [mp3, via zShare]

Simon commented that Baylie was exactly what the record labels were looking for in new talent, by which I think he meant that she's a great singer, she's very attractive, and she has a nice personality. Baylie Brown will go far in this competition. Write that down. [*cough* Carrie Underwood *cough*]

* Akron Watson -- Akron first sang Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come". He sang it well, but the judges told him he was "lacking in personality", and they weren't inclined to send him through to L.A. So Akron gave it another shot with Al Green's "Let's Get It On". Again, he really nailed the song, but the judges were skeptical. Somewhat reluctantly, they let him through.

* Ashlyn Carr -- Ashlyn sang "Feelin' Good", "by Nina Simone, but the Michael Buble version". Like Akron, Ashlyn sang the song well, but the judges all picked up on mysterious and unspecified "bad habits" they said would derail her early in the competition. Simon also complained that she sang the "Michael Buble version" more like Nina Simone. They told her no, and she left the room crying. Then the judges thought they might have been a little hard on her, and they called her back in. They told her they would give her another chance. Simon suggested she try something by Gladys Knight. Ashlyn then sang "Inseparable", and nailed it as well. The judges warned her about her "bad habits" that she would need to break, but they decided to let her through.

I couldn't find Ashlyn online. I did find a few references to her performances at State Fairs and such, but no MySpace, YouTube, etc.

* Jimmy McNeal -- The last on-air auditioner of the night, Jimmy McNeal immediately connected with the judges with his bubbly personality. He sang a medley of Sam Cooke hits, "Another Saturday Night" and "Cupid". The judges all said he reminded them of AI2 winner Ruben Studdard. They easily passed him through.

I couldn't find Jimmy online either. Not a good night for my online stalking.

Recap -- Wait, was this the San Antonio show from 2.6 or the L.A. show from 1.31??? Let's go to the tape: Professional singers? Haley & Baylie -- check! Sam Cooke audition songs? Akron & Jimmy -- check! "Feelin' Good"? Ashlyn -- check!

Maybe next season's hoepefuls should take note of the last two audition shows???

DIDN'T MAKE IT:

I looked but couldn't find anything about any of the failed auditioners. Sue me.

* Breaking: SPOILER ALERT!!!

I didn't mention anything above about the results of my online searches for Akron Watson. He is online, but not in the way he would've hoped:

" Immediately following his greatest triumph, Akron received a phone call from one of the show’s producers. American Idol wanted to send a crew out to Akron’s [Dallas-Fort Worth] home to put together a feature about the young singer that could be used during the show. Akron was excited by the opportunity to share his background with the American Idol viewers, and tell everyone about the obstacles he had already overcome in his life.

" “We talked about everything,” says Akron. And that included his days of skipping school, chasing girls, drinking, and even pleading guilty to possession of marijuana after a police officer found no more than a doobie’s worth of pot in his car. It also included the personal wakeup call Akron got when his brother died, and his dedication to being a good Christian from that day forth.

" In the weeks after the crew came out to interview Akron, he received numerous e-mails from producers at American Idol with information regarding his trip to Hollywood for the next round of auditions. Naturally, Akron grew more and more excited by the opportunity to become the next American Idol as the Hollywood round neared. But then, less than a week before he was supposed to get on a plane headed for Los Angeles, Akron received a disturbing phone call from a representative of the show.

" “I was supposed to leave that Monday, they called me on a Thursday,” explains Akron. “They said we’re not gonna let you go. And I asked ‘why?’ And he said ‘Well I’m not really sure’… and then he gave me some alternatives for what I should say to people if they asked why I was kicked off … He told me to tell people that I was now an alternate ... That would protect [me] and protect the show.”

. . .

" Yesterday, I spoke twice with American Idol PR representative Alex Gillespie to see if the show had any official explanation for why Akron was not allowed to tryout in Hollywood. When I first talked to Gillespie, she told me that she would find out exactly what happened for me. Then when I spoke with her later in the day, she apologized and told me that the show would not ever be giving a reason for Akron’s elimination from the competition.

" As the Fox network’s air-date for the American Idol San Antonio search nears, Akron Watson has no clue whether they will even show his audition on television. His dream has been taken from him. Worst of all, he still doesn’t know why and maybe never will. "

Alan Cohen, UPDATED: DFW native booted from American Idol days before Hollywood round

Cohen's article does note that other Idol wannabes have been allowed to continue in the competition even after "worse" things from their past have come to light. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? Is there a stricter "something-like-zero tolerance" policy in place this year? Or is AI's out that this came to light before the L.A. round got underway, when there is still a pool of about 200 competitors in the field?

Akron Smith does now have a MySpace site, called "Bring Ak Back". As I write, he has 263 "friends". I definitely feel for the guy, but I think he may be overplaying his hand a bit when he lists "Simon, Randy, & Paula" in the "Who I'd like to meet" section of his profile.

Until tomorrow...