American Idol 8: San Francisco Auditions

San Francisco is Tuesday night's hot spot for the American Idol auditions. I've never been to the land of Rice-a-Roni, but I'd love to travel there someday. The street cars and catching a Giants game at the beautiful AT&T Park on the Bay would be fantastic! Would they produce another Katheryn McPhee (va-va-voom!), or even another pop culture icon like William Hung in Season 2? Let's only hope!

What's with all the questionable talent passing through already. It's fine, as long as we don't end up with another Sanjaya staying on the show long past his welcome! Tatiana Del Toro, 23 of San Juan, Puerto Rico was not necessarily a terrible singer, but her annoying laugh and pompous attitude were grating! She claims to be a singer, actress and model, however she can't catch a break. She'd be fine if she didn't have to open her yap, but that's tough as a singer or actress. As for modeling, what is she selling? Advice on how to cackle and drive everyone nuts?!

27 year old family man, Jesus Valenzuela, of North Highlands, California, relied on his cute kids to secure him a spot in Hollywood. It certainly wasn't his performance. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't terrible, but he wasn't special either. I don't see him advancing any further.

I was amazed that 45 minutes into the show, only two people had advanced, and both were very iffy. Then out of nowhere they barrage us with a quick 30 seconds of three singers that did advance. The peppering of golden tickets had me lunging for the TiVo remote to rewind. John Twiford, a 27 year old music teacher from Sherman Oaks, California, was very good. I get sort of a Jason Castro / Constantine Maroulis vibe from him. Unfortunately the 10 second clip wasn't long enough to grasp his personality.

If you thought John had a short clip, 16 year old Allison Iraheta really got the shaft. They played maybe 5 seconds and I wasn't overly impressed. I did, however, catch a very raspy laugh at the end. I hope that raspy-ness isn't from smoking at 16!

*HOTTIE ALERT!!! 28 year old waitress / bartender Raquel Houghton is burning it up! Her audition clip was very short, but her legs were plenty long. Her gorgeous, flowing brown hair has me keeping an eye out for her!

For the last 18 months, the next performer has been serving as an understudy for the character Fiyero in the traveling production of Wicked. Adam Lambert, was very theatrical in his performance of Bohemian Rhapsody, but what other way is there to sing that Freddie Mercury classic? He has awesome vocal range, but his Hollywood persona and peculiar look are still up for discussion. Check out the pics on his MySpace band page and you'll see what I'm referring to (http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewTaggedPhotos&friendID=29158867).

The last performer, Kai Kalama, a 26 year old aspiring musician from San Clemente, California, was the feel good story of the night. Kai has taken the last year off from pursuing his dreams in music, to take care of his ailing mother. His classic, tender offering of The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters portrayed a velvety timber. Could be interesting, and I love the crazy hair.

My Top Contenders, in order of their auditions:

Deanna Brown (Phoenix)
Scott MacIntyre (Phoenix)
Danny Gokey (KC)
Anoop Desai (KC)
Lil Rounds (KC)
Adam Lambert (San Fran)
Kai Kalama (San Fran)
Ashley Anderson (Honorable Mention: Hottie)

Tomorrow night the nation's attention shifts to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Considering only 12 came out of San Francisco, there is likely to be about the same from the home of the Kentucky Derby. Catch you on the flip.