Written By Mary
American Idol is back......and all I can say is thank God! With the writers strike my Tivo has been hungry to tape something worth watching for several weeks now.

American Idol is into their 7th Season which commenced last week with visits to Dallas and Philadelphia. Tuesday night's episode took place in sunny San Diego, but much of the singing wasn't very sunny from where I sat. I love American Idol....it's one of my all-time favorite reality shows. But I take no pleasure in listening to tone-deaf vocalists. I'm such a harsh critic when it comes to singing that even if a church choir is bad, I won't return for services the following Sunday!


In any event, there were three vocalists that stood out in my opinion. Perrie Cataldo, the single Dad from Phoenix, Arizona who I'm sure won everyone over not only with his voice, but with his son who was just about as adorable as he could be. Then there was Michael Johns from Los Angeles who was white but sang, as Simon put it, "like a black soul singer". The last one that caught my eye was David Archuleta from Murray, Utah who recovered from a paralyzed vocal chord and is only 16 years old. His rendition of John Mayer's "Waiting For The Word To Change" was right on. I'm sure there were others that were memorable in San Diego, but obviously we won't get to see who they are until Idol returns to Hollywood.

The weirdest performance of the night goes to contestant #8000 � Alberto Hurtado from Chula Vista, California. Although his singing wasn't memorable, I'm sure the big green "fan" he brought with him to the audition will be!

Best line of the evening? Simon says "I don't think you're as good as you think you are." Now c'mon Simon......don't you think that's true for all 12,000 vocalists that auditioned, even those that can really sing??????

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