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Canadian Idol Season 2 Appears Promising

Starfishy

2004-06-02 04:36:49

Canada got its first peek at the first 45 hopefuls in the race towards Canadian stardom in the season premier of Canadian Idol. Ottawa and Toronto were the first two cities showcased in the preliminary audition show. Ryan Malcolm (last year’s controversial winner) showed up in Ottawa to wish contestants well as they prepared to meet the show’s four judges: Farley Flex (concert promoter and artist manager), Zack Warner (“Simon Wannabe” and president of Toronto-based Venus Management and Venus Records), Sass Jordan (Singer-songwriter and obligatory Canadian 80s icon) and Jake Gold (artist manager whose clients include super-Canadian rockers The Tragically Hip).

Front and centre were host Ben Mulroney and kooky sidekick Jon Dore, who shamelessly spent the first five minutes of the show promoting Winterlude – a HUGE winter festival in Ottawa - with a goofy romp skating down the world famous Rideau Canal (the world's largest skating rink!). Ahhh… but back to the contestants! What can we expect this year?

Ottawa saw 22 finalists receive “gold tickets” that would see them to Toronto where they will take their place in the top 100. Some folks that received a lot of positive attention from the camera and the judges included:
· Katie Bernard, a rock chick extraordinaire
· Anmary Legault, a drop dead gorgeous electrician/construction worker who was described by the judges as “someone with a natural, graceful personality” who has “Star power,” but is not the best singer.
· Andrea Gal, who – being the last contestant of the day- was so impressive, Jake stated that her audition was the first time that day he felt truly inspired.

Toronto saw 23 finalists move through to the next round. International Idol winner Kurt Nielson entertained the crowd as they waited for their chance to dazzle the judges. Random acts of dodge ball and mambo lines broke out as the day wore on. Toronto saw more men come through the competition than Ottawa, but they also had the more defensive crowd. Of course, being Canada, the harshest come back came from one contestant who accused Jake of wearing pants that were too tight.

Those showcased from the Toronto round (thus, indicated by the producers as the ‘ones to watch’) included:
· Dianne Archer, a woman with a ‘Lauryn Hill-like’ voice who was warned by the judges that she needed to make the songs her own, although she had them by the second note.
· Amy Baillard, who sang something from the Littlest Mermaid and had a Betty Boop quality to her voice (in my opinion she got in on her “cuteness” and obvious theatrical talent. I can see her getting on people’s nerves in a hurry)
· Mohanza Kelly. Supported by his high schoolteacher who waited for him as he auditioned, Mohanza was told by the judges that he was the first “real” singer of the day.
· Joshua Seller (My pick so far!) who sang “Where the Streets Have No Name” was called the best singer in the competition thus far by Zack.
· Brock Groombridge is a Clay Aiken dead ringer. This 16-year-old farm boy caused the most controversy amongst the judges. Jake declared he would not survive past the next round, to which the other three judges strongly disagreed. I guess time will tell….

Tomorrow night, CTV will air the second episode where Idol auditions from Eastern Canada (Montreal, Halifax and Saint John’s) will be shown. The moral of tonight’s show seemed to be DON’T sing “A Whole New World” when auditioning for Canadian Idol (evidently the judges heard enough versions from Ottawa alone to last them a cryogenics induced lifetime).

What I liked best about what I saw tonight was that presence and vocal ability were clearly being judged without a search for the most marketable “model” who can sing; although, at least two of the women showcased tonight probably got in on their looks and not on talent. Last year’s watchers may remember the unique folksy Jenny Gear who made it into the top ten with her talent that actually brought the male judges to tears when she auditioned!!! This year looks just as promising.

It was striking to me tonight how different Canadian Idol is from American Idol. There is less of a “Pop” quality to the show and the judges seem to encourage other genres of musical talent into the competition. Our 80s icon (Sass) is also not afraid to be honest (unlike Paula). Similar to American Idol, though, are the weirdoes who came out in full force, as predicted. I believe William Hung may have competition from one fellow who screamed a very painful version of “Rhinestone Cowboy”. The best line of the evening, however, belonged to Zack who said to one particularly tone-deaf contestant, “You don’t have a future in singing, but you may have a future in moose calling”.

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Article Closed

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Jeremy ( VIP )

2005-04-03 05:55:38


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