The X Factor – Chicago and Seattle Auditions

Night three of the X Factor and we are in Chicago. They start off with a re-cap of the best singers we have heard (and some not heard) thus far. Hoping tonight we get more greatness and less badness!

Chicago is a great music  town - let’s see if they can bring it. What do you think of Steve Jones? My daughter thinks he sounds like a leprechaun! I rather like him – so I hope he gets to show some personality in the live shows. It looks as if Cheryl Cole is back for the Chi-town auditions – bad editing.

Makenna Sulinger (22) and Brock Wade (18)  - Colder Weather (Zac Brown Band) aww…he loves her and she doesn’t know it. She’ll find out tonight, I think. There is a definite singing chemistry between the two of them. I actually think that he is the stronger of the two (though she apparently wears the pants). I am pretty sure they are going through. They are bringing country to the competition and they are in with 4 yes votes.

The show started nicely but then the unfortunate bad people came to perform.

*Skyelore Anderson (16) – I Must be Doing Something Right (Billy Currington) - a young, black teenager that sings country music – he wants to be a star. I love his humble quality. This young man is scrappy, his music stopped in the middle of his first audition ever. He waited a moment – took a pause and then started singing acapella. He has a nice tone and the judges were impressed by him. 4 yes votes.

J. Mark Inman (31) – Creep (Radiohead) - a graduate student who is getting his doctorate in philosophy. I hope he is a good one and not just a nutty one…ah – less than 4 seconds for the nuttiness to appear. They might put him through because of that nuttiness. The audience gave him a standing ovation. Blech.He got 3 yes votes – Simon said no.

Commence the freak show segment…

THE X FACTOR: Josh Krajcik, from Columbus, OH, performs in front of the judges and thousands of audience members on THE X FACTOR airing Wednesday, Sep. 28 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. CR: Ray Mickshaw / FOX

*Josh Krajcik (30) – At Last  (Etta James) – he brings his very enthusiastic mom who is clearly his biggest fan. He works at a burrito joint and he is tired of smelling like onions!  Simon is clearly shocked by his song choice and his mom is so nervous she looks as if she is going to un-swallow…he has an amazing Joe Crocker thing going on that just makes me smile. I love his presence. This guy could be a star. Simon said he was blown away as were the other judges. 3335 yes votes!

The auditions go back to Seattle and Nicole returns…gah! Poor Cheryl Cole!

*Drew Ryniewicz (14) – Baby (Justin Bieber) – this is a hometown (Chino Valley Arizona) girl. This is a song that I don’t particularly like – but maybe she can change my mind. She apparently changed it to make it her own and LA put her on notice. Slowed down and accompanied with only a piano she really did make the song her own. My daughter sat silently watching her and really dug it – that is saying plenty since my child is a true Bielieber!! 4 yes votes.

Peet Montzingo (21) – Billionaire (Bruno Mars) he wants to be the next teenage heart-throb (though he is 21). He is the above-average sized child of dwarf parents. He charmed the pants off the judges. He has heart but no voice at all. Pretty sure he is not going to make it through. Also weird that he changed the word “billionaire” to “famous”. Simon called it “horribly honest”.  4 no votes but they all believe he can be famous doing something else.

*4Shore (20-23) – End of The Road (Boyz II Men) – singing a song that LA actually wrote. Are they the new BIIM?? They may be…great harmonies, they had the audience on their feet and LA was loving it. When the track dropped out and the whole audience clapped to the beat and the harmonies didn’t fail – it was the clencher! 4 yes votes.

*Elaine Gibbs (53) – You’ve Got A Friend (James Taylor) – this 53-year-old grandma took the judges to church with her rendition of this song! I got chills from the first note! Amazing! 4 yes votes! Francesca Duran (17) – Hero (Mariah Carey) – she brought it and is through with 4 yes votes. It was nice a great big YES montage.

Phillip Lomax (21) – Fly Me To The Moon (Frank Sinatra) – he has a bit of a hipster thing working. This throwback Sinatra’s seem to be the next big thing. The young man who recently won America’s Got Talent was a Sinatra afficiando. I love Sinatra – but he was only meh for me. Simon loves his self-belief and that helps him get to the boot camp round.

Tiah Tolliver (19) – Impossible and It Don’t Mean A Thing – after a lot of shooting down of female singers (especially by Paula and Nicole) along comes Miss Tiah to do her thing. I love that she is an alto. Her first song was fraught with nerves. Once she got into it – she seemed to get into the pocket. After the first song Nicole and Paula say no. The big issue seemed to be that hearing her sing acapella didn’t work for the ladies. With a split vote LA asks if there was anything else she could sing anything else to change at least one no to a yes…she does. Nicole gives her the yes she needed.

Tomorrow is the last night of the auditions. Tonight was pretty great overall. I have placed an asterisk by my favorites.