Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Welcome to the first Idol Chatter live blog of Season 9.

First off, know this. I’ve declared my blog a no-spoiler zone. If you want to know, before the show even starts, who gets a golden ticket or who makes the semifinals, go elsewhere.

There are plenty of spoiler blogs out there. I’ve read some of them. I’ve listened to the music of several of the supposed Hollywood contestants.

Wow!

If those blogs are right, there are some incredibly talented performers among the Season 9 cast.

Especially female singer-songwriters. Four or five who are way too talented to be singing cover songs on Idol … except that they need the show as a launching pad to a successful career at what they do best.

As those contestants — and others — get their golden tickets, I’ll try to tell you more about them and point you to their music. That will be the primary purpose of these audition blogs.

But until they hear, “Welcome to Hollywood,” I won’t name names.

Hey, I’ve been watching this show since year one. Part of the fun is watching and wondering. For instance, would the judges give in to the begging and let the comedian known as Nick Mitchell advance to Hollywood? (Stupidly, they did.)

Some other points …

* If you tuned in to watch Ellen DeGeneres tonight, you’re going to be disappointed. She won’t join the judging panel until the Hollywood Round (which is being filming right now, but which we won’t see until February.) Lots of folks Tweeting today seemed to think they’d see Ellen in action tonight.

* I’m going to try not to talk about Simon Cowell’s imminent departure in this blog. Quite frankly, I’m all Simon-ed out. If you want to read about Simon, here’s what he said on Ryan’s radio show this morning, here’s what contestants are saying about his departure, here’s what fans are saying about his departure and here’s why I think the show will go on.

Whew! That’s a lot of Simon.

* Finally, if you haven’t heard, Idol is returning to the old semifinal format this year, which is one reason I’m really looking forward to Season 9. Last year, 36 contestants made it to the semifinals, and 23 got cheated by a format under which their Idol fates were decided by a single 2-minute song.

This year, contestants are going to have to sing three times to earn a spot in the finals. And a contestant who doesn’t get much airtime during the audition or Hollywood Week rounds will have three chances to prove they still belong.

Hooray for that change, Idol.

Oh, anyone who wants an update on the top 37 season eight contestants can go here. And I recently finished interviewing one of season eight’s most memorable contestants, Tatiana Nicole Del Toro. Here’s http://ydblogz.com/chatter/?p=7089″>the link to the first part of that interview.

Hmm, we just met a school bus driver. A clothing store employee. Lots of other average folks who want to be the next American Idol.

Believe only part of it. Remember, Brooke White was introduced us as a nanny. We weren’t told she’d already released an independent album. Same for David Cook, who was introduced to us as a bartender.

And guest judge number one is Victoria Beckham, formerly known as Posh Spice.

I was shocked by the number of Idol fans today who sent out tweets about how much they love the Idol audition shows, especially watching the people who think they can sing but can’t. Must admit, I was surprised by that. But those folks should be loving season nine’s first contestant, a gal named Janet.

So, the first episode of American Idol season nine is over. Who impressed you? Feel free to comment below.

I was a bit surprised by how talented the singers were. In a Friday interview, Randy Jackson had seemed to indicate Boston wasn’t one of the better cities in terms of talent.

I mean, tonight’s episode featured its share of delusional folks who thought they could sing. But, hey, every audition episode includes those.

The two contestants who caught my eye and ear were Ashley Rodriguez and Justin Williams. Both have the voice and look to go far in this competition.

Ashley has performed as Ashley Makailah. She earned a full four-year scholarship to the Berklee School of Music out of high school and graduated from Berklee in December.

She traveled internationally while performing with the gospel group Overjoyed, according to her http://www.myspace.com/ashleymakailahmusic”>MySpace page, where you can listen to two songs.

She also sang at the Berklee Performance Center with artists such as Philip Bailey, Chaka Kahn, and Berklee alums Lalah Hathaway and Paula Cole, according to that site.

Justin, 27, of Sandy, Utah, overcame a bout with cancer that required six months of chemotherapy and multiple surgeries at age 20, according to his feature segment on Tuesday’s show and his http://www.justinwilliams.com/cms/category/news/”>Web site.

Talk about credentials. That site indicates he was the winner of a John Lennon Singer/Songwriter competiton, earning him an opportunity to perform in Japan, and also performed at the MGM Grande in Las Vegas as the winner of a national talent competition (the site doesn’t say which one).

It also says he was working on an album called “Familiar Stranger.” Anyone know if it was ever completed or released? This photo looks like an album cover.

Justin’s not new to Idol. At least I think he’s the same Justin who made it to Hollywood last year. If you want to hear more from Justin, you can head to that Web site and click on music for what look like several original songs plus covers of “Crush” (the David Archuleta hit) and “Russian Roulette.”

Idol’s blue bar identified Justin as a vocal coach.

Among some of the other golden tickets recipients we met were (and please, bear with me, I’m stitching back together the live blog I’ve been working on all evening based on my final impressions):

* Maddy Curtis of Bluemont in Loudon County, Va. She was the first recipient of a golden ticket on Tuesday’s show. She has a younger brother with downs syndrome named Jonathan, she’s 16 and the ninth of 12 children in her family. She earned her ticket to Hollywood with an understated performance of “Hallelujah.”

* Jennifer Hirsh, who attend the Berklee College of Music and released an EP named “Sweet Words”in November 2008. According to http://www.myspace.com/jenniferhirsh”>her MySpace, “it’s a collection of intimate songs that capture her experiences in real life and true love.” She grew up in Agoura Hills, Ca., and plays the New York City music scene. And you can listen to six of her songs on that aforementioned MySpace page.

* Josh Blaylock, 28, of New York, was identified by Idol’s blue bar as a business development manager. Simon initially called him “forgetable,” which prompted the other judges to urge him to prove he could be assertive by saying, “Simon, shut up.” Josh’s version: a timid, “Simon, shut up, please.” Still he got four votes for Hollywood after singing Rascal Flatts’ “Bless the Broken Road.”

* Katie Stevens, 16, of Middlebury, Conn., who was featured in a segment helping care for her grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease. She blew the judges away with a version of “At Last” that belied her young age.

* Mike Davis, 18, of Boston, who described himself as “very confident.” He’s apparently an actor on a tourist attraction, a speedboat called Codzilla.

* Jessica “Jess” Wolfe, who has been singing since she was 6 according to http://www.myspace.com/jesswolfe”>her MySpace. She classifies her music as folk, acoustic, soul. She attended the Berklee College of Music and “in May of 2007, walked (ran, haha) away with a dual B/A in Music Business/Management and Vocal Performance. Equally passionate about both business and performance, I moved to Brooklyn, N.Y to make these little dreams, big realities,” she writes in her MySpace profile. She has five songs on that site.

* Benjamin Bright, who according to his MySpace, is a singer/songwriter out of Potsdam State, and a recent graduate of the Crane School of Music. He teaches general music and chorus at Cumberland Head Elementary School. His sets include original songs — none of which are on MySpace at the moment — and well-known covers from a verity of bands.

* Lea Laurenta, 22, of Medford, N.Y. Identified as unemployed on the Idol blue bar. In her Idol video, she admitted there have been times she thought “maybe I’m not doing the best thing by pursuing a music career.” The judges seemed to think otherwise after hearing her sing “Blue Skies.”

All told, 31 contestants garnered golden tickets Tuesday night. If I can track down YouTube peformances from any of those contestants, I’ll post those in a separate blog tomorrow.