Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Tonight apparently marks the final audition episode for American Idol season 10.

There’s good and bad in that.

Good because, after tonight, we can stop wasting our time watching crazies who have no chance at the season 10 crown. Everyone had enough comic relief after the L.A. episode?

Thought so.

Bad because there are still tons of talented singers we haven’t had a chance to meet, and I thought we might meet them in an extra “Road to Hollywood” episode. Like last year, when we weren’t introduced to Crystal Bowersox or Aaron Kelly until that final, extra audition episode.

Oh, well, you can go here to check out lots of Hollywood-bound contestants who we haven’t had a chance to see on the show. I’ve compiled bios and photos of more than 170 so far. Plus video of them performing, wherever possible. I’ll post the rest as quickly as possible.

And if you want to meet three contestants we should have met during the L.A. show, go here.

Lets just say Idol has sure stocked season 10’s Hollywood Week with a ton of talent.

Which should ensure us a great cast for the rest of season 10. Unless the judges haven’t done their homework and pick poorly in Hollywood.

Or unless producers sabotage the season with some sort of silly youth movement.

That’s actually my bigger fear, especially after the needless pimping of Brett Loewenstern, Lauren Alaina and Jaycee Badeaux at the start of the L.A. episode.

Hmm, promising start after last week’s yuk-fest, huh?

I’ll reserve judgment. This is, after all, the city where Idol discovered Adam Lambert.

* Inessa Lee: Great, another belly-dancer. Who also dances. Who’s 22. From the Ukraine. And who is charming. And cute. And, somehow, Steve Tyler manages to say no. Well, the judges promised to be tougher tonight. Maybe they weren’t just joking. Earlier on in the audition process, I’m pretty sure she would have made it through.

* Britanny Mazur, Lara Johnston, Matthew Nuss: We get quick glimpses of three Hollywood-bound contestants, including Britanny, a former Miss Outstanding Teen in Arizona and current Miss Tucson Valley who sang as her talent in both of those competitions.

* Stefano Lagone: He survived a near-fatal car accident in May 2009. Doctors told him he’d never be the same. He shows up in the Idol audition room wearing a piano-belt buckle and singing a tired old tune (for Idol), “I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” But, you know what, this guy can really sing. Probably better than any of the males we heard from last week. J-Lo compliments him on his looks and his star quality.

* Clint Gamboa: A guy who calls himself June-Bug, who grew up singing in gospel churches and who has hosted karaoke at a California bar for the last four years auditions with “Billionaire.” And he proves those folks who kept telling him he should try for something bigger knew what they were talking about.

Hey, Idol is on a little more of a roll tonight.

But, hold it, here come the crazies. Right on cue.

And now we get a guy dressed as a transformer, signing “Born To Be Wild,” complete with the “get your motor running” line.

At least Idol isn’t wasting lots of time on the crazies, though, moving them in and out, with a quick “no.”

* Julie Zorilla: This dark-haired beauty is auditioning on her 20th birthday and she’ll sing “Summertime.” She has an interesting back-story. Her family fled their mountaintop home in the Andes in the face of guerilla violence. No one told her Fantasia owns and always will own “Summertime” on Idol. And that hair-flip was a bit much. But the vocals were better than many who have advanced, so it’s not surprising Julie is heading to Hollywood.

* Emily Anne Reed: We’ve seen snippets of the gal with the southern accent on previous Idol episodes. She’s the one who lost her home in a fire just days before auditioning. She displays a unique voice, one that wins over Randy instantly, convinces Jennifer, but doesn’t do much for Steven … until he hears her sing while playing guitar. And she, too, is Hollywood bound.

* James Durbin: Tonight’s final contestant is a 21-year-old from Santa Cruz. His dad was a musician, a bass player, who was always away and whom he really didn’t know because he died of a drug overdose when James was 9. Turns out James was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome and a high-functioning type of autism. Now he has a love named Heidi and a child, but no job. He displays remarkable range on a pair of rockers, including Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” Note that he avoided the shriek at the end. And James, too, is going to Hollywood.

I’ll bring you more on tonight’s top contestants in a few.