Ah, home sweet home. My home, that is — California. Although American Idol referred to this episode as the Los Angeles auditions, it's not quite accurate since it seems that part of the auditions took place at the Rose Bowl, which is in Pasadena. Anywho, there's a quick reminder that Katharine McPhee is from "Los Angeles" which is again a misnomer since technically she's from Norwalk, if I recall correctly. Los Angeles is a big city, but it's not that big, people.
We have a guest judge. It's Olivia Newton John, and looking at her mini-montage, she hasn't aged much in the last 25 years. Olivia sits between Paula and Randy and wait for the first auditioner of the day.
Now, I don't know if this is a "Los Angelenos are weird people" message that the AI producers are sending out, but the very first person the judges see is the second Freak of the Week. He is Martique Manoukian, also known as "Eccentric". He's dressed in full punkass uniform (bandana, cornrows, basketball jersey, baggy pants), and kind of looks like that shitbag Kevin Federline — or as I like to call him, Fed-Ex. Martique has high hopes. He'd like to be a singer, songwriter, rapper, model, actor, dancer, and director. Oh, and did I mention that his speciality is mimicking a panther? I kid you not. There's actually footage of him crawling up the stairs panther-like. My eyes roll in the back of my head. Let me assure you that not all of us in L.A. are like this!
"Eccentric" walks in the room and wordlessly starts some sort of stupid routine: he flings a notebook to the ground, takes off his jacket and shirt, and continues to strut around the room. Paula is laughing her ass off. "Eccentric" then gets on all fours and crawls towards the judges like a panther, gets up and claws the air while growling. It pains me to watch this. He continues to growl and claw until Simon has enough and tells him to sing. "Eccentric" does a weird squeaky rap-sing sort of thing which sucks, and the judges tell him no. Outside this proud idiot tells Ryan that he's going to become bigger than Michael Jackson. Where the hell do they FIND these people?
.jpg?t=20130517094513)
Article comments
1 - Jimmy
Hi Kaonashi. Just read your article. For your information, Katharine McPhee is from Sherman Oaks, which is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles.(It's in the San Fernando Valley.) So Katharine is from "Los Angeles," technically. Also, a memorable Asian-American from American Idol who sang well was Jose "Sway" Penala, who was a much better singer than Kevin "Chicken Little" Covais, who beat Sway to get into the top 12. We all know about William Hung, but he's a joke, a rich joke, but a joke none the less. Thanks for reading.
2 - Kaonashi
Hello Jimmy,
Thanks for correcting me on McPhee's hometown. I just remembered that there was a "k" in it :) Yes, I definitely remember Sway Penala, and yes I definitely agree that he was much better than Chicken Little. How that little runt ever made it to the Top 12 is beyond me. Oh, and there was also Camille Velasco from Season 3. She was good, but in the end her nerves did her in.
3 - Kishi Martin
Camile Velasco made it to the Season Three top 12 two weeks before Jasmine did and she is a great entertainer.
The only Asians to make it to the semi-finals round have been Brad Estrin (Season 1), Jordan Segundo (Season 2), Camile and Jasmine (Season 3), Melinda Lira (Season 4) and Sway Penala (Season 5).
The first South Asians to make Hollywood in AI are two siblings, Sanjaya and Shyamali Malakar . Most of the world doesn't consider Indians as Asians, but I think that's ridiculous.
4 - Kaonashi
Kishi- I never saw Season 1 and I don't remember who Jordan Segundo is from Season 2. Was he in the Top 32? I almost forgot about Melinda Lira and how unfairly she was treated. She had a point about never having any airtime until the last minute, unlike people like Constantine and Carrie.
As for the Malakar siblings, I chose not to count them for now since I don't know yet what will become of them. Lots of people get eliminated during the Hollywood round.
5 - Lisa
Mostly, all the asians that do advance to the next round/make it to top 12 are filipinos. What happened to the rest? Anyways, there are two asians that advanced to the top 24 Paul Kim is one of them (finally, another asian besides filipino) and Oliva Jasmine (Filipno)
6 - Kaonashi
Lisa- Awh, you spoiled it for me! J/K. I'm glad that Paul Kim made it. I don't know who Oliva Jasmine is, but I hope we get to see her tonight. I'm concerned that she hasn't been featured on any of the episodes so far. I don't want her to suffer the same fate as Melinda Lira.