//American Idol Mini Recap – Kansas City Auditions//

The second night of the two-night premiere of American Idol’s eighth season is done. This time we followed Simon, Randy, Paula and Kara to Kansas City, Missouri as they looked for the new American Idol. We were reminded constantly that this is the city season 7 champ David Cook hails from. So, there has to be some DC sized talent out there, right? Right!?

Eh. Still not overwhelmed by the talent pool. There were a few stand outs, if not for their talent, then at least for who they were connected to–season 7 fourth place finisher Jason Castro made an appearance with his pink-haired younger brother.

26 people got their golden tickets to Hollywood (though, some totally didn’t deserve it…). Let’s take a look at some of the people we were moved by–not all in good ways:

Brian Hettler – His voice sucks, but there is something to be said about a guy who came dressed like David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider, looks like he swallowed Robin Thicke, and stole one of Simon’s V-necks. Hawt!

Ashley Anderson – This girl knows how to win them over. She picked a song by Leona Lewis, an artist Simon discovered on X Factor, and a song co-written by Cowell, too. Double smarticles! Even though she kept flubbing the lyrics, we totally dig her voice and awesome Demi Lovato haircut.

Von Smith – We just knew all was lost when Von’s voice cracked big time as he started to sing “Over The Rainbow.” Turns out it was only a quick mistake. He has a huge soulful voice. It was a bit showy but he can get over that.

Michael Castro – As we mentioned earlier, Michael is the little brother of Jason Castro. He totally sucks at giving interviews just like his brother and honestly isn’t the best singer, much like his brother, but he has this cocky “I don’t really care but I’m going to do this because you’re all gonna love me anyway” attitude. Plus he performed “In Love With A Girl” by Gavin DeGraw. Sold! His pink hair has got to go, though! And was it just us or was Jason like ULTRA dreamy!? Swoon!

Jessica Paige Furney – Our first true love in Kansas City! She lives with her 93-year-old grandma who pops pills and can’t hear well (she’s so hot!), and she has a killer voice! She scored big performing “Cry Baby” by Janis Joplin. A little frumpy, but she’s a real contender. Her golden ticket was the ultimate b-day gift–she celebrated her 20th year on earth on audition day.

Danny Gokey- The big emotional story of the night. But the widower isn’t just a sob story; he’s an enchanting soul singer with a great personality. We’d really like to see him go far.

India and Asia Morrison – The mismatched looking sisters started their audition with an original rap about cookies dedicated to Randy. Looks like he dug it, but maybe he should have been a little offended. Asia, the bigger and less talented sister, performed an unidentified song–and maybe that song chose to be anonymous because homegirl sucked! Her sis India performed “Love” by Musiq Soulchild and was quickly stopped, but still got the golden ticket. We can only guess it’s because the judges enjoyed the sister act so much because her voice was soooo just OK, dude.

Asa Barnes – Not much to Asa. He has a good voice. Kinda reminds us of Chris Brown in a few years visually–he’s so tall and sorta goofy looking. But why he deserves the ultimate mention: his daughter looks just like Raven-Symone circa The Cosby Show era. Savory!!

Denis Brigham – He looks just like Cinna Mon–that new, sorta racist Apple Jacks cereal spokesdude. He was given a hard time by the judges after singing and dancing to Chris Brown’s “With You,” but we don’t know why. It was honestly not that bad (he sounded better than Chris does most nights on tour). Hoping for another shot he started singing John Legend’s “Used To Love You” and, again, another not so bad performance. He begged his way to a golden ticket. We’re usually hard on the ‘just ok’ singers but we kinda feel like he was given a hard time not just because his voice was only OK, but because he’s beyond not hot. If he came in there with Chris Breezy face, he so woulda been through without the begging. Unfair!

Until next week!