America's Got Talent -- Season 4

[MovieWes]

Somehow I knew it'd be Kevin Skinner, but I voted for Barbara Padilla 5 times. I voted twice for Kevin Skinner, twice for Lawrence Beaman, and once for the Texas Tenors. Three of my top four placed (even though I voted once for the Texas Tenors... I thought they were a sure-fire top 3 ... so sue me), so I guess it's all good.



Edited By MovieWes on 1253153657

[MovieWes]

I'd rank them:

1) Barbara Padilla
2) The Texas Tenors
3) Lawrence Beamen
4) Kevin Skinner
5) Recycled Percussion
6) Voices of Glory
7) Drew Stevyns
8] Grandma Lee
9) Hairo Torres
10) The Fab Five

The funny thing is, I liked all of them. If I could, I'd put them all through, lol.



Edited By MovieWes on 1253068872

[Greg]

The finals competition was by far the best of the season with all acts giving performances that would make them at least non-embarrassing winners; but, the magic continued with opera singer Barbara Padilla again giving the best performance. She repeated the song she sang for her audition, O Mio Babino, Caro.

My preference for the reast of the performers are:

2) The Texas Tenors (singing trio; My Way was the best song choice of all of their performances)

3) Voices Of Glory (singing trio; outstanding harmonizing)

4) Drew Stevyns (singer, guitarist; moving interpretation)

5) Kevin Skinner (singer, guitarist; charismatic performance)

6) Hairo Torres (contortionist dancer; even more amazing contortions)

7) Lawrence Beamen (singer; smooth velvety voice)

8] Fab Five (clog dancing group; more creative than earlier performances)

9) Grandma Lee (even though a few jokes fell flat had some hilarious jokes, such as "My children are sweating more than Ryan Seacrest watching Brokeback Mountain.")

10) Recycled Percussion (junk percussionists; quite energetic, but a few seconds of dead time)

[MovieWes]

I voted for Barbara Padilla 10 times, and I hope she wins. I've never voted on a TV talent show before in my life, but her performance moved me to tears.

I think it would be really cool if she won, especially considering that last year's winner, Neil Boyd, is also an opera singer. Maybe they'll do a duet one of these days.

[Greg]

This time, the top five vote getters all went through to the finalists, making for a total of ten; and, all five top vote getters exactly matched my top five preference: Barbara Padilla, Recycled Percussion, Hairo Torres, Lawrence Beamen, and Drew Stevyns.

[Greg]

Yesterday was the second and final semifinalist night. Again, opera singer Barbara Padilla stole the show. She sang Ave Maria; got another set of standing ovations from all three judges as well as the audience; and, seems almost assured to win the seaon four competition.

Here is a video of her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6sUaRagfDA

My preference list for the remaing nine are:

2) Recycled Percussion (junk percussianists; quite imaginative but still sounded great)

3) Hairo Torres (contortionist dancer; amazing body positions)

4) Lawrence Beamen (singer; very soulful)

5) Drew Stevyns (singer, guitarist; a great deal of emotion, but some parts still a little too hoarse)

6) Erik & Rickie (dance duo; nice rhythm, but weird song choice)

7) The EriAm Sisters (singing trio; some parts a little screechy)

8] Jeffrey Ou (pianist; played a song that had too much dissonance)

9) FootworKINGz (dance group; boring moves)

10) Mario & Jenny (danger jugglers; for some reason Mario only got around to juggling a few balls and balancing a flaming drum on his chin)



Edited By Greg on 1252520031

[Greg]

The top three vote getters were Kevin Skinner, The Texas Tenors, and Grandma Lee. Fourth and fifth vote getters were Voices Of Glory and Fab Five, with the judges deciding to let both go through to the finalists.

[Greg]

The first semifinalist show, which had the ten acts voted through from the first two quaterfinalist shows, was an overall decent lineup.

Here's my preference list:

1) Kevin Skinner (singer, guitarist; electrifying, even for someone like me who does not like country music)

2) The Texas Tenors (singing group; great voices and much better song choice than in the quaterfinals)

3) Acrodunk (acrobatic basketball players; used fire to bring surprising sense of danger to baketball playing)

4) Voices Of Glory (singing group; a slightly shaky start, but the little girl is a real star)

5) Tony Hoard And Rory (dog act; much batter than in the quaterfinals with all frisbees caught)

6) Fab Five (cloggging dancing group; moderately interesting moves but very energetic)

7) Arcadian Broad (dancer; exciting but repeated a few moves too much)

8] Grandma Lee (standup comic; some jokes fell flat)

9) Paradizo Dance (athletic dance duo; fun, but could have been a bit more imaginative)

10) Drew Thomas Magic (magic group; a big let down from the quaterfinals with just a few fairly old-hat illusions)

[dreaMaker]

Btw, it's a shame Kari Callin dropped out so early. Her first performance was fantastic.

[dreaMaker]

Shit. I wanted Mia to get through. She has a really nice voice..

On the other hand, Barbara is amazing, i want her to win.. Well.. She probably will.



Edited By dreaMaker on 1251407918

[Greg]

The top four vote getters were Barbara Padilla, Recycled Percussian, Drew Stevyns, and The EriAm Sisters. Fifth and sixth places went to Mia Boostrom and Erik And Rickie, with the judges picking Erik And Rickie.

[Greg]

The fourth and final live performance show brought by far the best performance and the season's one instance of true magic. Opera singer Barbara Padilla sang "Time To Say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli and received a well-deserved standing ovation from all three judges.

Here's the video:

http://www.nbc.com/america....1150561

My preference list for the remaining 11 are:

2) Ishaara (Bollywood dance troupe; fun, well-coordinated moves)

3) Erik And Rickie (dance duo; something special about seeing an 8-and-9-year-old doing a good job at a tango)

4) Pam Martin's Top Dogs (dog act; very well-trained dog)

5) Recycled Percussion (junk percussion players; unique and flashy)

6) Mia Boostrom (singer, pianist; nice voice)

7) Drew Stevyns (singer, guitarist; passionate, but voice was kind of hoarse)

8] The EriAm Sisters (singing group; had enunciation problems)

9) Matt & Anthony (guitarist and tap dancer; energetic, but could have been a little more creative)

10) African High Flyers (acrobatic group; gymnastic moves were a little old hat)

11) The Lollipop Girls (burlesque act; beautiful women, but boring moves)

12) Coney Island Chris (fireeater; the only awful act, surprisingly boring)

[Greg]

The top four vote getters were Lawrence Beamen, who I think gave the best performance on the show so far, Hairo Torres, Mario And Jenny, and Jeffrey Ou. My guess is a lot of poeple voted for Jeffrey because he wasn't given a fair chance to be evaluated and shouldn't go home for a technical problem that wasn't his fault. Fifth and sixth were Pixie Mystere and FootworKINGZ, with the judges selecting FootworKINGZ.

[Greg]

The third live performance show was by far the best so far with several great acts.

There was one big technical problem. When Jeffery Ou, a pianist, was playing a dancer kicked off a cable and the audio went out. It was impossible to hear his piano playing for more than the last half of his performance. I hope they give him a chance to play again, as there is no way to fairly evaluate him.

My preference list for the 11 performances that I can evaluate are:

1) Lawrence Beamen (singer; chillingly emotional, a star is born)

2) Pixie Mystere (gymnastic dancers; extremely energetic and cute)

3) BRI (singer, pianist; excitingly soulful)

4) Hairo Torres (breakdancer; must be triple-jointed to do some of those moves)

5) Marcus Terell And The Serenades (singing group; great voices, especially falsettos)

6) Mario And Jenny (fire jugglers; thrillingly dangerous)

7) FootworKINGZ (dance group; very good coordination of moves)

8] U4RIA Dance Crew (dance group; also very good coordination of moves)

9) Dave Johnson (comedic singer and guitar player; his erotic ode to The Golden Girls wasn't all that funny)

10) Jay Mattioli (magician; illusions could have been more imaginative)

11) G Force (singing, guitar and drum group; sang off key)

[Greg]

The top four vote getters were Voices Of Glory, Paradizo Dance, The Texas Tenors, and Fab Five. The huge surprise was, that when the judges had to decide which act of the fifth and sixth vote getters would go through, they chose Tony Hoard And Rory over Chales DeWayne. Tony and Rory is a dog act where Tony throws Firsbees to Rory; and, there were actually several Frisbees missed in the performance.