The Lone Star State Shines Brightly, as Idol Visits Dallas

I knew it was going to be a great show, as Idol visited Dallas tonight, right from the beginning. How can you go wrong, when the judges are welcomed by the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders? 11,000 hopefuls waited patiently, as the judges, including guest judge for day 1, Neil Patrick Harris, ("Doogie Howser," "How I Met Your Mother,") settled in for what they hoped would be a good first day.

Unfortunately, the first contestant bombed, and refused to leave after getting a solid no vote from the panel. So the night started the same way as the L.A. auditions, and I moaned, not wanting a repeat of that fiasco. The night quickly brightened though, as Lloyd Thomas, a Dock Worker, and Father of 2 girls, blew away all 4 judges.

The show went on to making a point of Neil and Simon voting opposite on a lot of contestants, and the night was on. Neil complained that Simon should treat his guests a little better. This was interrupted by Kimbery Carver, who actually sang an original song. All but Simon voted yes, and she was on her way to Hollywood.

After the producers showed the usual amount of bad contestants coming, going, and crying, Erica Rhodes rescued us from more of the same. As a child, she perfomed on the "Barney and Friends show." Of course, the judges asked her to sing the Barney song, which she did, following that with her own song choice. While I wasn't impressed by her, the 4 judges were, and she received her Golden Ticket.

Quickly showing us several more Golden Tickets being passed out, we were introduced to Dave Pittman. Dave suffers with Touretts Syndrome, which does not effect him when he sings. We'll see more of him during Hollywood week.

Day two brought us a new guest judge, Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. It also brought us Todrick Hall, who, like an earlier contestant, chose to sing a song he wrote just for Idol. The song was actually good, and he showed good range. Randy called him "One of the best, " and Todrick got his Ticket.

Several more Tickets got handed out quickly, including one to Megan Wright, who's biggest story was her cute little Brother. She became Kara's favorite of the day. The final Golden Ticket went to Christian Spear, who bravely shared her story of having Leukemia half of her life, being in remission for 8 years. The now 16 year old will be joining the 31 other contestants who got Golden Tickets tonight.

Next week, Idol moves on to it's 6th city of seven stops, Denver. We'll soon see if the altitude brings an attitude also. Stay tuned.