Tonight’s post about the American Idol auditions in Seattle won’t be nearly as long as last night’s because Seattle was, well, weird. There was no guest judge tonight (if there had been they probably would have been frightened away) and almost no interesting sob stories tonight. We didn’t even see someone make it through until over 30 minutes into the show.

What do I mean by weird? Let’s see… there was the Taylor Hicks “look alike”; people with their dogs; not to mention the usual odd assortment of costumes and people who think they can sing, but they can’t, but they just keep starting another song and another and another…

The first glimmer of hope was Thomas Daniels. He sounded like he knew what he was talking about in his pre-interview, but sometimes that just fools you. When explained that this was his third time to audition and that he had slept behind garbage cans waiting for the audition, I started to get a sinking feeling. But he was actually quite good, and all three of the judges sent him through to Hollywood.

Blake Lewis was a beat boxer from the Seattle area. He’s actually part of a group called Kickshaw that performs in the Pacific Northwest area. He looked like Travis from “So You Think You Can Dance”. He was pretty good, although the judges were more impressed with his beat box abilities than his singing. Simon seemed like he didn’t particularly care for him. If you really like him, his website is still up (linked from his name above). There’s not much there, but there are samples from a couple of songs.

There was a brother and sister pair who chose to audition separately, instead of together. Shyamali (pronounced Shamalee) and her brother Sanjaya both made it through to Hollywood. I hope they continue to love each other and don’t get overly competitive with one another.

The final singer on day one was Rudy Cardenas. He looked like he would do a good job and seemed very relaxed about the audition. He sings with a band in the Los Angeles area. You can visit the group’s website or myspace site if you’re interested in hearing and seeing more. It’s an acapella group. He made a risky choice, choosing to sing a Journey song. He did a decent job, though and made it though, even though Simon didn’t care for him. He did get the best line of the night when he told Ryan “Simon’s had a bad day”.

The second day we saw lots more weirdness and sixteen year old Jordin Sparks. I’ll be surprised not to see her in the final 12. She has a very big voice. It’s not really the kind of singing I particularly care for, but I think she’ll do well, and she seems like the kind of person who could command a large following.

All in all, fifteen singers made it through. Considering how bad the auditions seemed, I was amazed there were that many. Next week they’re off to Memphis. Hopefully, things will be better there.