Check out the American Idol press conference for season 10. Check out the judges and Nigel Lythgoe is back. My initial reaction is that Steven is a joke. I can’t believe that they brought him on as a judge. His brain is so fried it’s going to be horrible. Jennifer Lopez should be great though.

I’m really excited to tell you about 2 giveaways going on between American Idol, Coca-Cola and Domino’s Pizza. I’m not sure who here has tried the new Domino’s Pizza. I was visiting my sister in California recently and the only pizza place where she lived was Domino’s. I hadn’t heard about the new crust, but when we got the pizzas my wife and I both looked at each other and said, “This crust is Amazing!!” It really was that good.

Without further ado, here’s the 2 American Idol, Coca-Cola and Domino’s Pizza giveaways:

FREE Trip to American Idol Finale
First, from now through May 2nd if you add a Coca-cola product to your Domino’s pizza order, you’ll have a chance to instantly win one of two trips for four people to attend the “American Idol” Finale in Los Angeles this May.

“American Idol” fans can also enter for free online at www.dominos.com through May 2, 2010. The ticket to Hollywood will be delivered to the winners’ door by a Prize Patrol Team along with their prize-winning pizza and Coke. Consumers who don’t win the Grand Prize “American Idol” Finale trips could win a First Prize — an ATT Samsung Mythic™ phone package (I could use this) and a $150 Domino’s Pizza gift card.

FREE $20 Domino’s Gift Card
That’s right, I’ll be giving away a $20 Domino’s gift card to a lucky reader from this site. Yes, I did just say FREE PIZZA!! Here’s how you can enter:
1. Leave a comment on this site saying your favorite Domino’s menu item
2. Click here to Tweet this post out to all your friends. Make sure to include @tvblog in your tweet so I can track it
3. Write a blog post about this giveaway and link to this site
4. Link to this post on your Facebook. Be sure to leave a comment on this site telling me to check your Facebook
5. Do something else cool that knocks my socks off and I’ll enter you again

That’s all. Start entering to get your Free Pizza!! Also, if you win the trip to the AI finale, remember where you learned about this;-)

Full Disclosure: NMS and Domino’s provided the free pizza giveaways for this post including giving me some free pizza. Although, I’ve been a huge fan of pizza for a long time.

This is Los Angeles and….THIS is American Idol!

The guest host is Avril Levigne who, we are told,  is young enough to be a contestant herself.  As the episode unfolds, we see this for ourselves.  She is wearing a silly hoody with some kind of devil ears on top and she wears the hood throughout the audition day.

The first contestant is Neil Goldstein and he states his IQ is 168 (like we care).  I don’t know about you, but without knowing my own IQ, I’m smart enough to know that this is the first delusional of the night and he is going to stink to high heavens.  His hair is long, then it’s short, then it’s long, then it’s short.  What, did he get an awful haircut while waiting on line to audition or is he like one of those dolls where you push a button on his back and his hair grows?  Anyhow, he is very taken with himself and his singing comes from his heart, to the point where he draws a picture of a heart with lipstick on the mirror in the men’s room and puts his face in the middle of it.  Need I say more?  He IS going to stink. Big Time.  And he does.  He gets all sweaty and grosses out the women judges, talks to them ending each sentence with some glicky sound from his mouth and then starts to “sing” a song that goes “Remember all the things that I told you” and then he completely forgets the next line.  Simon said “Ironic”.  Of course he gets the boot, he insists he is NOT leaving, and of course it is all Simon’s fault because hours ago Simon came out of a room and the door hit Neil in the back so he blew the audition….whatever.

Jim Ranger is a worship pastor with a family and even though he sings great, young little devil hoody Avril votes “No” because she questions whether or not he can be a pop star with a wife and 3 kids.   He gets the gold ticket despite the guest judge’s better judgement.

Jayson Wilson, Jesse Change and Martin Perez….all No’s.

Next up is Damian Lefavor, marshal artist, doing his thing on the roof of the hotel.  If he sings anything like he kung fu’s, he’s done for.  And he is.  He can’t remember the name of one of the two Righteous Brothers songs that he’s going to sing and the judges give him both names and he picks one.  In his own words, “I choked badly.”  Off he goes into the sunset.

Mary Power comes in dressed over the top trying to look punky.  Avril chewing gum in her devil hoody loves the look, the older judges don’t.  Mary sings Love is a Battlefield and WOW, great voice.  Four yeses.

The next delusional up is A.J. Mendoza who claims he made a demo and shopped it to Adam Lambert who told him he was great.  Makes you wonder which one of them was lieing.  He does some crazy movement with his mouth as he sings and Simon compared him to someone at the dentist with novocaine and dental stuff in their mouth. 

We’re done for the day and I’m so done with Avril.  Bring on Katy Perry.

Austin Fullmer goes all spastic with Mick Jagger facial expressions.  He is one disturbed young man.  One of his friends later tells him “Don’t be surprised if Katy calls you later.”  More delusions.

Then 14 cry babies.  Then Andrew Garcia.  His father cries at the kitchen table through the interview, they were involved with gangs, Andrew is a fine young man. Gosh I hope he can really sing for his father’s sake!  Yey, he doesn’t stink.  In fact, he’s GREAT.  Simon calls him a “genuinely genuine good good singer.”  Four yeses.

Tasha Layton, the personal assistant by day and pastor by night, is really good.  Four yeses.

Now for the delusional of all delusionals:  Jason Greene, “I Touch Myself”. All I can say is one word….Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.  My 12 year old son said “Save me Mom, take the mad man away!”  LOL   Jason starts posing all over the place with himself and I’m thinking “Oh, Man, get a room….by yourself!”  Katy feels dirty and he is sent packing.  He gives Ryan his phone number and Ryan tells him “Believe as much as you may want of what you read but..” and then gives Jason’s number to the huge bouncer.

There’s a car commercial staring that guy who won last year.

OK, so now I totally love Katy.  For reasons that we’ll never know because they’ve been edited out of the show, but Katy is now feuding with Kara and putting her down big time.  Kara tries to mock her by singing “I kissed a dolphin and I liked it” and Katy goes “I want to throw her coke in her face”.  Go Katy, so do I.

Last audition of the show is Chris Golightly (I wonder if he’s a relative of Johnny Comelately?).  Poor Chris grew up in 25 different foster homes and it’s heartbreaking, so I’m hoping he can really sing.  He sings Stand By Me and it’s beautiful.  Kara makes some remark about what a tough life Chris has had and Katy goes “This is not a lifetime movie sweetheart.”   I’m telling you, I love Katy!!  Four yeses.  Chris goes to Hollywood.

Well, see you tomorrow for the Denver auditions.

As if there is some kind of force keeping poor Angela Martin from ever competing on American Idol, her mother has disappeared!

If you recall, the first time she made it to Hollywood, her father died.  The second time, she was forced to leave to answer a legal summons for parking tickets.  Now this year, just when you’d think NOTHING can stop her, and she is in the last year that she is eligible to participate (age 28), her mother vanished the day after Christmas.  According to the article I read, she never arrived at her other daughter’s house and her car was found on New Year’s Eve in a different neighborhood.

Here is a link to the story.

This poor poor girl!!  I’m sure that by now they are already in Hollywood for Hollywood week.  Just how much more is going to happen to keep Angela from a career that she so richly deserves?  I hope and pray that her mother is found alive and not a victim of foul play.   I would also hope that the producers give her special dispensation should she need it and allow her some extra time once this situation is “resolved” one way or another to allow her some time off while not kicking her out of the competition.

Well, there goes an hour of my life I can never get back.  With only 13 golden tickets being handed out over the 2 days of auditions, you would think they would show all of them instead of a few of them and, yes, back to the old formula, they showed mostly the awful auditions.  I know, I know, some may think well, what choice did they have with so many thousands of awful auditions? but one of the choices would be to show all 13 of the good ones as well.

They opened the show with many contestant hopefuls dropping the F Bomb and giving the Double Finger, the gratuitous Frank Sinatra “Chicago” song playing in the background and the equally gratuitous Obama shot.   I’m already ready to turn the show off.

Kara tries not to show how jealous she really is by overdoing it on how much she “loves” Shania.  Shania tells us how she peed herself once during an audition and I think I could have gone my entire life without ever having known that.  I wonder if she knows Fergie?

Despite that,  Shania Twain is both lovely and intelligent at the task at hand as guest judge.  I really enjoyed her tonight.

Broken Home Girl is up first (Kaitlin Epperly).  I couldn’t help but root for her to be really good, good enough to win, so that when she does, her dad can kick himself in the butt the same way the father of Fantasia’s little girl must have when he watched her win $1,000,000.  hee hee hee, I’m sooooo bad.   Kaitlin is not only pretty, but she’s talented and gets 4 yeses and is “going to HOLLYWOOOOOOOOD” as they all say.

Amy Lang….what can I say about Amy?  Her talent appears to be some awful thing she does with her boobs.  She starts her audition with a fake dead faint then starts singing then does the boob flex and proves in the end that she’s just a boob.  Out she goes.

16 year old Charity Vance sings Summertime and is REALLY good.  HOLLYWOOOOOOOD here she comes.

Then we have the crazy accordion lady, the bride, the screaming Asian guy and the girl in the pretty yellow dress and pink shoes whom Simon told was “A complete and utter waste of time.”  And I’m thinking “Oh, Man, I promised Janet that they weren’t doing this stuff this year and convinced her to watch the audition shows again.  She’s going to kill me tomorrow!!”

Then there’s Angela Martin.  Remember her from Season 7 (her dad died while she was at the Hollywood rounds), she has a beautiful daughter with a disability, Season 8 (she had to leave Hollywood to answer a summons for not paying her parking tickets) and now Season 9…..Just Fine!!  She’s through.  Here’s hoping the third time’s a charm for her.  I hope she makes it through.  She’s sweet, pretty and talented and enough is enough already.  She’s due for her big break.

Back to the bad stuff.  “Curly” Newborn left Moe and Larry outside and “sang” in such a high voice that the dogs in my neighborhood were all barking.  In fact, Simon asked him if all sorts of animals gather around his house when he’s singing at home.  Inbred yellow toothed Brian Krauss is up next.  You just know he’s going to act like an idiot and he doesn’t disappoint.  After a lame attempt at phony respect (“Mr. Cowell, Mr. Jackson, Miss Twain” and I can’t spell Kara’s last name…), he sings Tiptoe Through The Tulips and is even worse than Tiny Tim if you can imagine that.  (Oh, Janet, forgive me please.)

Harold Davis says he’s tired of microwave dinners and wants steak and he holds a note for like…..forever…and that’s not a good thing.  He has a not so great voice with way too much vibrato, gets 4 No’s and cries his eyes out.  Seriously, he broke down crying.  I hope his friends aren’t watching.

John Park…FINALLY one of the 13.  He sings beautifully at the “bottom end, has nice lips and a beautiful voice”, all this according to Shania who loved him so.  4 yeses.

Paige Deschausse has asthma and almost died.  While that was a sad yet happy ending story, I’m getting tired of people using, as another blogger named Jacob put it, “the victim card.”  She sings Long Time Coming by Sam Cooke.  She sang it while holding her red asthma inhaler.  Makes me wonder how that’s going to work if she wins and plays Madison Square Garden.  Anyhow, Simon bites his nails over the ensuing debate to put her through.  He was really funny.  Her voice wasn’t strong enough, but she’s through and I predict she won’t make it past Hollywood boot camp.

Justin Ray, very bad wig or else even worse real hair, makes it through as does Keith Sample and Marcus Jones. 

Here’s hoping that Wednesday night’s show will have some more of the talent, at least in equal proportion to the bad ones.

As everyone by now knows, General Larry Platt stole the show at the Atlanta auditions of American Idol with his  “Pants On The Ground” performance.   But what you might not know is that General Platt is not just some old lovable kook with a catchy song.   In fact, he in the 1960′s when he was a teenager, he was a crusader in the civil rights movement in Georgia.  And, he was a student of Martin Luther King.

General Platt was honored in Atlanta with Larry Platt Day in September of 2001 for his “priceless and immeasurable contributions to society….and…his great energy & commitment to equality and the protection of the innocent…”

Check it out:  http://www.puretvnet.com/2010/01/13/pants-on-the-ground-video-on-american-idol/  There’s also a link within that story to a picture of him as a teenage civil rights crusader.

So, let’s hope we see this piece of gold known as General Larry Platt on the finale show in May.  He deserves to have a little fun and I, for one, admire him and his Pants on the Ground song.  He’s not an old codger or a baffoon…. he’s just trying to get his message out in a way where people will hear it.   I’m not saying he’s right or he’s wrong.  I mean, when I was in my teens, it was white lipstick, hip hugger bell bottoms and halter tops.  I’m sure my grandfather would have written “Pants Below Your Belly Button” if he had the General’s personality and talent, but hey, each generation is entitled to their own breakout style.  But the other generations are also entitled to their opinion of it.  It’s what makes the world go round.

*West Coast Spoiler* This video from the end of American Idol has to be one of the most memorable parts of this episode of American Idol. In case you missed it, check out “Pants on the Ground”:

Those people looking for the lyrics to Pants on the Ground, hopefully this will help:
Pants on the ground, pants on the ground.
Lookin’ like a fool with ya pants on the ground.
With da gold in ya mouth, hat turned sideways
Pants hit the ground, ya call yourself a cool cat
Lookin’ like a fool, walking downtown
With ya pants on the ground
Git it up
Hey!

It’s now official that Paula Abdul is quiting American Idol. Here’s the tweets that Paula Abdul sent out on Twitter about leaving American Idol:

With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to #IDOL. I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all..Cont’d…

I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent,but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon.

What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me

It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month

I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all

Of course, American Idol’s loss might be So You Think You Can Dance‘s gain. Nigel Lythgoe has been making a bunch of overtures to get Paula Abdul to come on So You Think You Can Dance as a judge and/or choreographer. Needless to say, I think Paula’s going to be ok after leaving American Idol.

UPDATE: Fox put out the following official statement:
“Paula Abdul has been an important part of the American Idol family over the last eight seasons and we are saddened that she has decided not to return to the show. While Paula will not be continuing with us, she’s a tremendous talent and we wish her the best.”

Danny Gokey, ‘Dance Little Sister’ by Terence Trent D’Arby
Kris Allen, ‘Apologize’ by OneRepublic
Adam Lambert, ‘One’ by U2
Danny Gokey, ‘You Are So Beautiful’ by Joe Cocker
Kris Allen, ‘Heartless’ by Kanye West
Adam Lambert, ‘Cryin’ by Aerosmith

Special Guest Performances for AI top 3 results show:
Jordin Sparks sang “Battlefield”
Katy Perry sang “Waking Up in Vegas”

I previously posted about the American Idol 2009 tour. American Idol tour tickets are just now going on sale on Ticketmaster. All American Idol 2009 tour tickets go on sale on May 9th at 10am with the exception of the July 8th date in Vancouver, BC. Tickets for that show go on sale on May 9th at 12pm. However, if you get a presale code (looks like you can get American Idol Tour Presale Codes on eBay), you can buy AI 2009 tour tickets today.

The top 10 American Idol tour members are: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy, Michael Sarver, and Scott MacIntyre.

Buy American Idol 2009 tour tickets on Ticketmaster
Buy American Idol Tour Tickets on eBay

Here’s a look at the entire list of American Idol 2009 tour dates, locations, and venues.
July 5 Portland, OR Rose Garden
July 7 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
July 8 Vancouver, BC General Motors Place
July 10 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
July 11 Oakland, CA Oracle Arena
July 12 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion at San Jose
July 14 West Valley City, UT The E Center
July 16 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
July 17 Ontario, CA Citizens Business Bank Arena
July 18 San Diego, CA San Diego Sports Arena
July 20 Glendale, AZ jobing.com Arena
July 23 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
July 24 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
July 25 N. Little Rock, AR Alltel Arena
July 26 Memphis, TN FedExForum
July 28 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
July 29 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center
July 31 Duluth, GA Arena at Gwinnett Center
August 1 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena
August 2 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
August 4 Washington, DC Verizon Center
August 5 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
August 7 Atlantic City, NJ Boardwalk Hall
August 8 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
August 11 Long Island, NY Nassau Coliseum
August 14 Hamilton, ON Copps Coliseum
August 15 Rochester, NY BlueCross Arena
August 16 Hartford, CT XL Center
August 18 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
August 19 Albany, NY Times Union Center
August 20 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
August 22 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena
August 23 Cleveland, OH Wolstein Center
August 25 Columbus, OH Schottenstein Center
August 26 Auburn Hills, MI Palace at Auburn Hills
August 28 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
August 29 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
August 30 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
September 1 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
September 2 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
September 4 Madison, WI Alliant Energy Center
September 5 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
September 6 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
September 8 Reading, PA Sovereign Center
September 9 Wilkes Barre, PA Wachovia Arena
September 10 Bridgeport, CT Arena at Harbor Yard
September 12 Portand, ME Cumberland County Civic Center
September 13 Providence, RI Dunkin’ Donuts Center
September 14 Syracuse, NY WarMemorial at OnCenter
September 15 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena

Buy American Idol 2009 tour tickets on Ticketmaster
Buy American Idol Tour Tickets on eBay