cactus i.v.

By Cathy Sokolowski
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
Why did A.I. bother to go to San Francisco in the first place? We didn’t see any talent and one co-worker described watching the show “As exciting as watching the Yule Log.” We did see three hopefuls who may have been on our lists of 12 but they each only got […]

By Cathy Sokolowski
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
I was very surprised to see that the format hasn’t changed from previous years. I heard all kinds of rumors about not seeing the antics of the non-singers any more. Well, they were all there. We loved the very hyper Aundre a.k.a Xray and wondered if Elijah Scarlett might have […]

By CATHY S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
I heard that one of our readers had a Ryan Seacrest sighting on Tuesday. Apparently he was sneaking out of work early (his day job as host of his radio show) because he was sick. I had to find out if he was as short as he appears on television. LP e-mailed me […]

by Cathy S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
The four were asked to choose two of 500 Hall of Fame songs to sing this week.  The judges were asked to comment after each performance.  I guess the producers didn’t want to confuse Paula again.

Most of us reluctantly picked Jason to go home this week.  My mom and her friend, on the […]

What was that all about is all I can say?  Neil Diamond week was more about Paula than about the contestants.

The consensus is that Paula was on some good drugs this week and we all want some of it.  Another idea was that the show is not really live so Paula did see Jason perform […]

By CATHY S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
The group of six was asked to sing Broadway hits written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The judges called it “the toughest night of the season.”
Syesha – One reader thought she had the best outfit of the night but was disappointed that she wore the same earrings she had worn once before. We […]

The group that is left are all technically good singers so we are starting not to judge by who sang the best, but who we enjoyed the most (or the least.) This week we all agreed with Simon who said “The guys won the night.” The judges did comment though that the girls […]

By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com 
In the spirit of Idol Gives Back (I hope many of us did give), the hopefuls were asked to sing a song that was inspirational to them. Most of them picked songs that they felt were an inspiration for them to work hard and never give up their dream of winning this year.
Syesha – […]

By Cathy S
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
 
The only Dolly Parton song I know is 9 to 5 from the movie also named 9 to 5.  I thought so anyway.  Who knew Dolly Parton wrote and recorded I Will Always Love You?  You learn something new every day I guess.
 
Ramiele – was everyone’s guess for the one to go this week. (We’re […]

By Cathy S
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com

First of all, congratulations to Josiah Leming for signing with Warner Bros. You might remember him from his audition in Atlanta. He was the boy who lived in his car and had the English accent when he sang. So many of us felt really terrible for him when his run […]

By CATHY S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
What did you think about it being another Beatles week? I love the Beatles, but one week was enough. What did we think of the performances?
Amanda Overmeyer – It was always the exact same performance week after week. She sang the same four or five notes, as Randy pointed out, while doing her “hunched-over dance,” as a couple […]

By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
The top 12 were asked to select a Beatles song this week. Some of us were disappointed when the hopefuls did not sing the songs we were hoping to hear. One cactus i.v. reader didn’t have a favorite for the week because, she thinks, “she doesn’t like anything by The Beatles.”
Our guesses for who […]

By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
The Top 12 have been decided and they are off to the “Big Stage.” I picked 4 of 12 correctly this year. A lot of us have four picks left. Three people have their one and only choice still in.
Picks for who we thought would not make it into the top 12 were Luke […]

By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
I became a fan of Jason Castro last week when he sang The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Daydream. I thought he was an adorable performer and I enjoyed his vocals. A cactus i.v. reader told me that he was one of her choices for best of the night. What a difference a week makes. One co-worker predicted that he […]

By Cathy S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
The top 24 are selected.  Are any of your favorites still in? I have four casualties already.  My top 12 are (or were) David Cook, Leo Marlowe, Chikezie Eze, Danny Noriega, Josiah Leming, Michael Johns, Angela Martin, Brooke White, Amy Davis, Katie Malloy, Alexandrea Lushinton and Samantha Sibley.
Josiah was one of my favorites so […]

By Cathy S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com

The auditions are over.  We saw Atlanta’s on Tuesday and The Worst and the Best on Wednesday.  Hopefuls we picked this week for our lists include Brooke Helvie, Amanda Overmyer, Josiah Leming, Amy Davis, Cardin Lee McKinney, JoAnne Borgella, Chikezie Eze and Danny Noriega.  See their bios below in addition to the bios […]

By CATHY S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
Rob Knappman, 28, from Wilkes-Barre, PA is a 2008 A.I. hopeful who was featured in the Pennsylvania show.
Unfortunately, he did not make it to Hollywood, but he did get his 30 seconds of fame. He was featured in a montage of singers singing Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘n Roll. […]

By Cathy S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
Has anyone noticed that there are a lot of semi-pros trying out this year? We saw Melanie Nyema audition in Philly where she told us she was a backup singer for Taylor Hicks.
Angela Martin called herself a full-time singer. Pia Easly is a model, musician and background singer and Colton Swon […]

By CATHY S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com

Is Simon a little less harsh than previous years or am I just getting used to him? The worst comment he made to anyone, and he used it on two contestants, was that they were creepy. I did have to agree with Simon though. At least for Milo, 39, who […]

By CATHY S.
Sokocathy(at)gmail.com
Hey, it’s me, Cathy S., back at the cactus. Yes, it’s that time again. Time to prove to all of us that you can spot talent when you see it. Time to get out your paper and pencils and jot down the name of your guess of who will be […]

By LISA SOKOLOWSKI
cactusiv(at)gmail.com
Dear Blake Lewis,
You beat boxed your way into my heart.
I saw you at your American Idol audition, and although your dye job was a little too pretentious for my liking, I liked you.
I didn’t pick you for my top picks when the cactus made our picks. I blame the hair — and the […]

By LISA SOKOLOWSKI
cactusiv(at)gmail.com
For someone who was unknown a year ago, Jordin Spark’s self-titled debut did well. But, as far as American Idols go, she bombed.
Sparks’ album came out the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, setting her up for big sales on Black Friday. Those didn’t happen.
Sparks, the youngest A.I. winner, has crafted the Worst Album Debut By […]

Today we give the “Newsmaker of the Day” award to Blake Lewis, the runner-up on the most recent season of American Idol.
Lewis, known for his beat boxing, releases his debut album, Audio Day Dream, today on Arista/J Records. As of 5:20 p.m. today, it was ranked No. 18 on the music charts on Amazon.com.
I don’t […]

If I knew where to find Jordin Sparks, I’d have her sing to Cathy S. today [[although she’d probably rather Chris Richardson]].
Today, our favorite American Idol writer celebrates her birthday.
She’ll be back writing again when the next season starts in January, but let’s declare today ‘Idol’ Birthday Day and wish Cathy S. a very happy […]

By DA SOUTHERN
dasouthern(at)gmail.com
William Shakespeare, I believe, said it best when it comes to the discussion of the reality show Kid Nation on CBS. The season is barely two weeks in and poor Kid Nation garners no respect at all. The show premiered before the rest of the Fall season got under way, and it […]

By TY FREER
ty_freer(at)yahoo.com
This past weekend, I took a cross-one-third-of-the-country road trip to North Dakota with my girlfriend, Kim, to attend her friend’s wedding (in which Kim played the bridesmaid role). That’s Indiana to North Dakota. By car. 1000 miles each way. 34 total hours of driving. Plus one flat tire.
Needless to say, we had some […]

By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
JORDIN SPARKS!
A cactus i.v. reader told me that she was glad that Blake didn’t win because if he had to release This Is My Now as his first single, that would be the end of his entire career. You have to admit that it was a perfect song for Jordin though. […]

By CATHY S. and LISA SOKOLOWSKI
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
(I was enjoying a high school spring concert while you were home enjoying the A.I. concert on Tuesday night. I did try to record the show but my VCR is broken so I needed help and turned to our e-i-c.)
We’re down to the final two: Jordin Sparks and […]

By CATHY S.
sokocathy(at)gmail.com
Four months ago we were wondering if we could pick out the next A.I. from a crowd of thousands. Now that we are down to the final three, I can tell you that most of us have one of the three remaining contestants on our original list of favorites. One […]