January 20th "American Idol": Second Show from New Orleans Rates a "B"

Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, 8 PM (ET) '" "American Idol's" 2nd night of competition shifted the stage to New Orleans, Louisiana. The first night's contestants were culled from contestants who gathered at the Meadowlands in New Jersey, but the 2nd night had a distinctly Cajun flavor.

I'm still wondering why---when both of last year's Finalists (Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox ---came out of the Chicago auditions, the Windy City was bypassed for auditions. (Crystal Bowersox, who placed second, was from Ohio; DeWyze, who won, was from Mt. Prospect, a Chicago suburb). This year, the Midwestern city (next week's audition location) is Milwaukee. To state the obvious, Milwaukee is no Chicago, musically-speaking. (No offense to Wisconsin or Milwaukee.)

The Premiere of Season 10, staged on Wednesday, January 19th, was an "A." Thursday night's follow-up was, at best, a "B." Although 37 contestants were passed on to Hollywood from New Orleans with golden tickets, those we saw on Thursday night were not as strong as those we saw on Wednesday night.(The show has a history of "saving the best for last," so we may not have seen all the good contestants.)

There were, however, a few bright spots, including one contestant with talent and a backstory: Paris Tassin, 23, from New Orleans, a beautiful brunette who gave birth to a daughter, Kira, when only 18. Kira, who is quite cute but has hearing problems, was born with hydrocephalus (informally referred to by the contestant, her mother, by the less scientific name "water on the brain.") It didn't hurt any that Paris sang "Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood, a touchingly apropos song that brought J-Lo to tears. Golden ticket to Hollywood for Paris.

Others who were sent through and were good:
Jordan Dorsey, age 21, from LaPlace, Louisiana, who sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."
Sarah Sellers, 23, a marketing analyst with big lips from Richardson, Texas, who sang a Bob Dylan song.
Jacqueline Dupree, 24, from Mississippi, who brought old high school pictures of Randy Jackson's high school days (including his actual old high school football coach) and sang "I'll Stand By You."
Brett Lowenstein, 16, from Boca Raton, who sang "Bohemian Rhapsody," had Carrot-Top red hair, and made a touching anti-bullying case, based on his bad experiences at Spanish River Community High School and in elementary school.
Jovanio Barreti, 21, a shipbuilder from Cuba who told Jennifer Lopez "You're a goddess in my eyes" and went on to remove his shirt and sing in Spanish.

This final contestant makes me wonder if we're in for a barrage of Spanish-language music, a la Ricky Martin. It is true that "Jenny from the block" is married to Marc Antony and both are Spanish-speaking icons. Ay carramba! [Get ready.]

There were a lot of bad contestants (Jarrell Brewer, Blake Patterson, David LaRocca, Alex Attardo ---sang "Proud Mary," looked like a bird---, and a bunch of nameless screamers. One contestant who sang "Bad Romance" (Lady Gaga), Gabriel Franks, 24, of Baton Rouge, was singled out for his facial resemblance to Steven Tyler and/or Mick Jagger. He was weird, but he wasn't that bad. He was not put through.

On the other side of that coin, Jacie Badeaux of Lafitte, Louisiana, a 15-year-old chubby eunuch-like singer who looked and sounded like a girl or a member of one of those boy groups whose voices haven't changed yet sang "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" and caused Steven Tyler to say, "You sing so good." Steven took his approval even further and said he voted yes "with a double helping of ooh, yeah." O -- -- -- -- .K -- -- -- -- -- . Not voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by Yours Truly and the girls are looking better than the boys, so far.