American Idol Season 6: Memphis

8:00 pm
Here we are in Memphis and they start by making it look like the city was empty, implying everyone was auditioning for Idol. Anyhoo, the lame joke finally done, we start with Frank Byers Jr., a cheerleader from Southern Adventist University. He gets a montage, making me think he's in since he doesn't look crazy. And the kicker? His nickname is "Frank & Beans"... yeah he'll need to change that. Except that he's not that good... and he's not making it, getting 3 nos. But the band and cheerleaders don't seem to care about that and start playing and chanting "Franks & Beans."

8:09 pm
Timika Simms from Chicago is next and since we've already been treated to a bit of her audition, we know this is doomed from the start. She's auditioning with her backpack on, which just can't bee good. The best part of her audition is her conversation with Simon where she tries to say she could be like "Amaya" and Simon keeps asking "A Mayor?". Her voice is nasally and she just keeps at it after repeated rejections from all three judges.

Chris Rivera, with some "Awesome 80s" style jeans, continues the barage of umm... lets say interesting singers. Finally, we have Alexis Partee with her bracelets sounding like a tambourine as she sings... Randy put its well when he says "it was a little strange for me." Do I even need to tell you that none of these people make it?

Next, we have a fella with a good speaking voice named "Sundance." His real name is, Jason Head, and he is humble (saying something to the effect of, "they'll hate me and I'll be on TV leaving the show") enough so I'm pulling for him. And he starts singing with a great voice. He's definitely this seasons Scott Savol: a big guy with a voice, except that he's even better than Savol. And of course good ole Sundance Head is through.

8:20 pm
Coming back from the break we have Wandera Hitchye, with an interesting hairdo and a good voice. The judges say she's too generic... and give her three nos. She breaks down as she leaves, and this leads into a barrage of rejections and cruel comments. We finish with Travis (missed the last name) doing a crazy breathy rap/singing thing. Of course, he's headed home though.

Danielle McCulloch is up and she has a good voice, like Wandera. Unlike Wandera, though, she's got some personality while singing so she'll probably make it through. Randy says no, Paula says yes and finally Simon puts her through. I think Randy is right in that she'll be gone pretty quick.

8:30 pm
Day two in Memphis starts with Christopher "Topher" McCain, a big fan of Paula Abdul. A sad story, since his cheating wife left him and he thinks when he becomes the next American Idol she'll want him back... but he says he's not taking her back. He gets a little vengeful when Simon asks her about his wife, calling her something that got bleeped out (probably "b*tch"). His voice isn't terrible, but certainly not good. And he's fairly quickly rejected.

Janita Burks is next, and she almost falls out of her top... like Topher she isn't terrible but, once again, not good. Until she tries to sing again... her second shot was terrible.

Sean Michel, a Fidel Castro look-a-like who already has 2300+ friends on myspace, is next and he's got a pretty good voice. I'm sure a bunch of guys have as a good a voice but he'll probably make it because of the look. He gets three yeses and Randy gives him his first "You can blow!"

8:43 pm
Melinda Doolittle, a professional background singer with a good speaking voice, is next. But she picks Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life" (breaking my first rule of American Idol) and she does pretty darn well but she doesn't do anything special/different with it. She definitely deserves to go to Hollywood though, and... she through with a "One Million Percent Yes!" from Simon.

Robert Lee Holmes comes up and says he sounds just like Elvis. Hmmm, we'll see... he's going to sing "Burning Love." Entirely expectedly, he sounds nothing like Elvis and his rejection leads into a montage of people singing "Burning Love" with a bunch of people who have already been rejected.

8:54 pm
We enter the last break (Idol gets truncated by the State of the Union address tonight) with Philip Stacy, a new father. He starts off a little sharp but he cleans it up. He's got a Taylor Hicks quality to him... and Simon points out that he starts off his songs a little rough. 22 contestants make it out of Memphis and tomorrow we'll be in New York tomorrow, so you know you can expect a bunch of weird stuff.