OT: AGT Judge Cuts Day 4, July 20, 2016

[Nancy Dooley]

Heidi has on the same dress as last night. But Mel B has changed into a short multi-colored dress with tiers and a bustier. Howie and one of the acts tease her about it being a pinata.

Guest judge is Louis ("Louie") Tomlinson of One Direction. He is a cutie, but my god, the screaming! Sheesh! Do those idiot girls think he will go for someone who does that? Anyway, he has a girlfriend and a new baby.

Do the judges each have a favorite extra pick? I can't remember, but by the end of this show, it didn't sound like it. I get the competitions mixed up.

(Uh-oh, pierced guy is shown backstage....Giggles, even Louis says it makes his nipples hurt to watch, later on.)

1. Annie and Andre, trapeze artists without a trapeze. This duo is absolutely fabulous and one of my favorites. They have exactly the kind of show that could be a successful headliner in Vegas. I loved it.

2. Campbell Walker Fields, 14 yo, adopted by 2 dads. He is singing for his mom; he hopes she knows he thinks she did a good thing by giving him a life that was good. Good voice, but didn't make me emotional.

3. Flip, a girl dance crew. They are good; in synch and have a new routine. But still just another dance crew.

4. Shane and Shannon, ballroom dancers. Not really very original or spectacular. He mostly held her in different positions. Give me a Hough couple any day.

5. Outlawz, a dance crew of 5 boys. They were sloppy in places, but the audience liked their back story. I wasn't impressed.

6. Ary hill, singer. Nice voice, but that's all.

7. Avonlea Martin, singer. See # 6.

8. Jayna Brown, 14 yo singer. Very competent and controlled voice and song. THE best female singer so far in this competition, IMO. She made me cry. The judges gave her a standing O. And Louis hit the Golden Buzzer, so she is through to the live shows.

9. John Hetlinger, 82 (Heflinger? I dunno.) He screams like some heavy metal rock star, but there is no singing involved. It was terrible.

10. Nathan, 6 yo comedian. He has very clever jokes, age appropriate. And he is quick with his retorts. He and Simon are going to rule the world, they say.

11. Viktor Kee, juggler, but really, a performance artist. He is just fabulous. He does things I have never seen. His routine was intricate and beautiful and a tribute to his 50-year old brother who died of a heart attack shortly after his first audition. His brother pulled him out of school to learn juggling. I love him.

12. Sos and Victoria, quick change artists. They don't do as many changes this time, but they were all expert.

13. Jon Bernhardt, actuary-comedian, playing the theramin. He got 4 Xs and went home. Them's the rules.

14. Jonathan Nosan, contortionist. We didn't see much of this routine; it was better before he invested in a mirrored body suit.

15. The Amazing Armando, a very bad magician. I felt sorry for the little bird.

16. Musicality, a mixed group of South Side Chicago high school students who meet and practice after school. For me, they sounded just like every other large choral group. Not my thing....

17. Oksana Grishina, contemporary dance/gymnast. We didn't see her whole routine.

18. Baron of the Universe with girlfriend (Ludmilla, I think). This is the gross pierced guy. I don't know what he did, I didn't watch. Simon seems intrigued by him, saying because he is so sick.

19. D.J. Demers, comic. Not really very funny. I don't think we saw him before.

20. The Clairvoyants, Emily and Tommy. She reads objects people hold. She read off all the numbers of a serial number on a $$ bill Simon got out. She couldn't possibly have seen them, even if she weren't blindfolded. I don't know how she did it unless she takes cues from what Tommy says in his intro to the trick. Curiouser and curiouser.

Going through were: The Clairvoyants, Musicality, Sos and Victoria, Viktor Kee, Jayna Brown, Outlawz and Annie and Andre. I think the judges picked the best ones they could from the group. I am glad they didn't put the pierced guy through. He already lives in Vegas and certainly probably has some kind of a show without AGT.

What did you think? Live shows start next week with the first 12. My TVGuide says the following week (I think it is), 3 of the Golden Buzzer acts go head to head.

I can't remember all my favorite acts but if Annie and Andre, Victor Kee, the arrow-shooting contortionist, Jayna Brown, Daniel Joyner, and Brian Crum all make it through again, I will be a happy camper. I hope I got their last names right. I probably didn't pare my list down enough though. ;-)

N.

[Giggles]

On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 9:36:10 PM UTC-5, Nancy Dooley wrote:
> Heidi has on the same dress as last night. But Mel B has changed into a short multi-colored dress with tiers and a bustier. Howie and one of the acts tease her about it being a pinata.
>
> Guest judge is Louis ("Louie") Tomlinson of One Direction. He is a cutie, but my god, the screaming! Sheesh! Do those idiot girls think he will go for someone who does that? Anyway, he has a girlfriend and a new baby.
>
> Do the judges each have a favorite extra pick? I can't remember, but by the end of this show, it didn't sound like it. I get the competitions mixed up.
>
> (Uh-oh, pierced guy is shown backstage....Giggles, even Louis says it makes his nipples hurt to watch, later on.)

I waited and waited and....

>
> 1. Annie and Andre, trapeze artists without a trapeze. This duo is absolutely fabulous and one of my favorites. They have exactly the kind of show that could be a successful headliner in Vegas. I loved it.

That amount of scary is about my speed. As I sat here with an aching back and achy arms, I wondered how long he would be able to swing her around. For the sake of his body, I'd rather see them as part of a group of different performers.

>
> 2. Campbell Walker Fields, 14 yo, adopted by 2 dads. He is singing for his mom; he hopes she knows he thinks she did a good thing by giving him a life that was good. Good voice, but didn't make me emotional.

He was good. Better than most people on the radio today. But he needs to be more than his back story.

>
> 3. Flip, a girl dance crew. They are good; in synch and have a new routine. But still just another dance crew.

I must have blinked. I don't remember them.

>
> 4. Shane and Shannon, ballroom dancers. Not really very original or spectacular. He mostly held her in different positions. Give me a Hough couple any day.

Maybe I dozed off. Don't remember this either.

>
> 5. Outlawz, a dance crew of 5 boys. They were sloppy in places, but the audience liked their back story. I wasn't impressed.

They've had better dance groups.

>
> 6. Ary hill, singer. Nice voice, but that's all.
>
> 7. Avonlea Martin, singer. See # 6.

6 and 7 got the wham bam thank you ma'am. Blink and you missed it. So it's hard to know for sure how good they were. Did they just show the beginning when nerves usually get to them? Or did they just not have a good back story so they swept them off as quick as they could?

>
> 8. Jayna Brown, 14 yo singer. Very competent and controlled voice and song. THE best female singer so far in this competition, IMO. She made me cry. The judges gave her a standing O. And Louis hit the Golden Buzzer, so she is through to the live shows.

Love her!

>
> 9. John Hetlinger, 82 (Heflinger? I dunno.) He screams like some heavy metal rock star, but there is no singing involved. It was terrible.

There's no singing in heavy metal. It would be fun to see him perform with a heavy metal band.

>
> 10. Nathan, 6 yo comedian. He has very clever jokes, age appropriate. And he is quick with his retorts. He and Simon are going to rule the world, they say.

He has a quick wit. I wish we could have seen more of him.

>
> 11. Viktor Kee, juggler, but really, a performance artist. He is just fabulous. He does things I have never seen. His routine was intricate and beautiful and a tribute to his 50-year old brother who died of a heart attack shortly after his first audition. His brother pulled him out of school to learn juggling. I love him.

I loved it too! I wonder if they sell that leotard for women? I'd wear it to work! LOL

>
> 12. Sos and Victoria, quick change artists. They don't do as many changes this time, but they were all expert.

Don't listen to Simon! They were better last time.

>
> 13. Jon Bernhardt, actuary-comedian, playing the theramin. He got 4 Xs and went home. Them's the rules.

Why did they let him pass the last time?

>
> 14. Jonathan Nosan, contortionist. We didn't see much of this routine; it was better before he invested in a mirrored body suit.

I missed it somehow.

>
> 15. The Amazing Armando, a very bad magician. I felt sorry for the little bird.

That was almost as painful as the nipple guy.

>
> 16. Musicality, a mixed group of South Side Chicago high school students who meet and practice after school. For me, they sounded just like every other large choral group. Not my thing....

They were good but they need to do something to stand out. Be different.

>
> 17. Oksana Grishina, contemporary dance/gymnast. We didn't see her whole routine.

I must have blinked.

>
> 18. Baron of the Universe with girlfriend (Ludmilla, I think). This is the gross pierced guy. I don't know what he did, I didn't watch. Simon seems intrigued by him, saying because he is so sick.

....Simon was not inspired. Old Simon is gone again.

>
> 19. D.J. Demers, comic. Not really very funny. I don't think we saw him before.

I don't remember him.

>
> 20. The Clairvoyants, Emily and Tommy. She reads objects people hold. She read off all the numbers of a serial number on a $$ bill Simon got out. She couldn't possibly have seen them, even if she weren't blindfolded. I don't know how she did it unless she takes cues from what Tommy says in his intro to the trick. Curiouser and curiouser.

Why was she on a swing?

>
> Going through were: The Clairvoyants, Musicality, Sos and Victoria, Viktor Kee, Jayna Brown, Outlawz and Annie and Andre. I think the judges picked the best ones they could from the group. I am glad they didn't put the pierced guy through. He already lives in Vegas and certainly probably has some kind of a show without AGT.

I would have put through the 6 year old comic over The Clairvoyants.

>
> What did you think? Live shows start next week with the first 12. My TVGuide says the following week (I think it is), 3 of the Golden Buzzer acts go head to head.
>
> I can't remember all my favorite acts but if Annie and Andre, Victor Kee, the arrow-shooting contortionist, Jayna Brown, Daniel Joyner, and Brian Crum all make it through again, I will be a happy camper. I hope I got their last names right. I probably didn't pare my list down enough though. ;-)
>
> N.

I can't remember all my favorites either. This season may be the comics season. But as we saw with one promising comic, they could bomb in the next round.

[Zob]

On Wed, 20 Jul 2016 19:36:05 -0700 (PDT), Nancy Dooley
<ellor...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Heidi has on the same dress as last night. But Mel B has changed into a short multi-colored dress with tiers and a bustier. Howie and one of the acts tease her about it being a pinata.
>
>Guest judge is Louis ("Louie") Tomlinson of One Direction. He is a cutie, but my god, the screaming! Sheesh! Do those idiot girls think he will go for someone who does that? Anyway, he has a girlfriend and a new baby.

Nancy, you must have forgotten what it was like to be young, lol. You
sound like my father did when the Beatles came to America and he
couldn't understand what all the girls (and some of the boys) were all
screaming about and swooning over when they were on the Ed Sullivan
show. :-D

>Do the judges each have a favorite extra pick? I can't remember, but by the end of this show, it didn't sound like it. I get the competitions mixed up.

IDK

>1. Annie and Andre, trapeze artists without a trapeze. This duo is absolutely fabulous and one of my favorites. They have exactly the kind of show that could be a successful headliner in Vegas. I loved it.

Wow. This was amazing; this is a unique talent. I might not have
wanted to watch if I didn't see that they had about 3' deep of
padding, probably air cushioned, beneath them. It didn't take away
from what they were doing though.

>2. Campbell Walker Fields, 14 yo, adopted by 2 dads. He is singing for his mom; he hopes she knows he thinks she did a good thing by giving him a life that was good. Good voice, but didn't make me emotional.

Did me. I thought he was great.

>3. Flip, a girl dance crew. They are good; in synch and have a new routine. But still just another dance crew.

Get the hook.

>4. Shane and Shannon, ballroom dancers. Not really very original or spectacular. He mostly held her in different positions. Give me a Hough couple any day.

Meh. They were OK; we see better ballroom dancers every week when
DWTS is in season.

>5. Outlawz, a dance crew of 5 boys. They were sloppy in places, but the audience liked their back story. I wasn't impressed.

They really improved over last time. I hope the make it to the live
shows. I like that they are actually amateurs. I wouldn't mind
seeing them go through.

>6. Ary hill, singer. Nice voice, but that's all.

ditto

>7. Avonlea Martin, singer. See # 6.

ditto

>8. Jayna Brown, 14 yo singer. Very competent and controlled voice and song. THE best female singer so far in this competition, IMO. She made me cry. The judges gave her a standing O. And Louis hit the Golden Buzzer, so she is through to the live shows.

OMG, she was so good that I was wiping away tears and blowing my nose
too. Wow. She deserved that golden buzzer. She really has it all:
the voice, the look, the personality, the likeability. She has a
maturity about her that seems well beyond her years; she is not one of
those precocious young singers that I usually can't stand. As Louie
said, she has a recording voice. Hard to believe she's just 14!

>9 John Hetlinger, 82 (Heflinger? I dunno.) He screams like some heavy metal rock star, but there is no singing involved. It was terrible.

He never should have made it this far.

>10. Nathan, 6 yo comedian. He has very clever jokes, age appropriate. And he is quick with his retorts. He and Simon are going to rule the world, they say.

Clever? Maybe. But he annoys the crap out of me. I think I'd pay to
NOT have to see him in a show. GET OFF MY LAWN!!! ;-)

>11. Viktor Kee, juggler, but really, a performance artist. He is just fabulous. He does things I have never seen. His routine was intricate and beautiful and a tribute to his 50-year old brother who died of a heart attack shortly after his first audition. His brother pulled him out of school to learn juggling. I love him.

That routine really was beautiful. Graceful and beautiful. He is
talented almost beyond belief. Every time I see a juggler-type act I
think of Piers Morgan who would hit the buzzer if a juggling act made
the slightest mistake. I think even Piers would have loved Viktor's
routine. I love him too; I would pay to see him perform in person.

>12. Sos and Victoria, quick change artists. They don't do as many changes this time, but they were all expert.

They were very good. But the bloom is starting to fade from the rose
for me where they are concerned. I guess because basically all quick
change artists are the same. They wear many layers of clothing with
quick releases so they either come off revealing the outfit
underneath, or the released layer covers the old one. I guess it was
ruined for me when I watched a YouTube video showing how it's done,
and it kind of makes it not so interesting now. I know I would never
pay to watch quick change artists on stage.

>13. Jon Bernhardt, actuary-comedian, playing the theramin. He got 4 Xs and went home. Them's the rules.

He was awful. He played the theramin horribly. I would love to have
seen him come out and play a beautiful old standard, I checked out
some of the YouTube videos of theramin players and the range of music
that they can produce is nothing short of amazing. Jon just didn't
have the talent for it.

>14. Jonathan Nosan, contortionist. We didn't see much of this routine; it was better before he invested in a mirrored body suit.

He was good in his first audition. I guess he thought a fancy costume
was "stepping it up." No, ramping up the talent is what the judges
want to see at this point. Fancy costumes can come in the finals for
those who make it that far.

>15. The Amazing Armando, a very bad magician. I felt sorry for the little bird.

Gong!

>16. Musicality, a mixed group of South Side Chicago high school students who meet and practice after school. For me, they sounded just like every other large choral group. Not my thing....

I loved this group! And I don't usually care for large singing
groups. To me they sounded very Glee-ish, which is a very good thing!
They are in my top 2 or 3 acts so far tonight.

>17. Oksana Grishina, contemporary dance/gymnast. We didn't see her whole routine.

She was on the wrong show. She should have been on SYTYCD. It was too
frenetic for my taste. She'll never win this show.

>18. Baron of the Universe with girlfriend (Ludmilla, I think). This is the gross pierced guy. I don't know what he did, I didn't watch. Simon seems intrigued by him, saying because he is so sick.

FF. I have no desire to watch a gross freak show.

>19. D.J. Demers, comic. Not really very funny. I don't think we saw him before.

Wait, how did you miss him? He's been one of my favorite acts in this
entire season and is one of the reasons that I said I thought a
comedian might win this year. Why didn't we get to see his whole act?
They just showed a short clip and Simon telling him that it wasn't
good enough. (I'm guessing that Simon has no idea what the swimming
pool game "Marco Polo is). I thought it *was* funny -- the little
bit that we saw of it. He was one of my favorites in this whole
season. That sucks dead donkey balls.

>20. The Clairvoyants, Emily and Tommy. She reads objects people hold. She read off all the numbers of a serial number on a $$ bill Simon got out. She couldn't possibly have seen them, even if she weren't blindfolded. I don't know how she did it unless she takes cues from what Tommy says in his intro to the trick. Curiouser and curiouser.

What a hokey act. They try to play it up as if she is really psychic
which of course, is not the case; it's all tricks.
I don't know what the trick is, but I've seen this exact* same serial
# routine done by other stage "psychics." Chris Angel does this. It's
a obviously a trick, made melodramatic with blindfolds, props and
dramatic music in the background. But how it's done... who knows?

_____________________________________________________________

My favorite acts tonight were
- Annie & Andre (trapeze artists)
- Campbell Walker Fields, 14 y.o. singer
- The Outlawz (contemporary dance)
- Jayna Brown, 14 y.o. singer (golden buzzer)
- D.J., deaf comedian
- Viktor Kee, juggler
- Musicality (high school singers form Chicago's South Side)

>Going through were: The Clairvoyants, Musicality, Sos and Victoria, Viktor Kee, Jayna Brown, Outlawz and Annie and Andre. I think the judges picked the best ones they could from the group. I am glad they didn't put the pierced guy through. He already lives in Vegas and certainly probably has some kind of a show without AGT.

So all but two of my favorites made it though tonight, not bad.
I guess they had their quota of either comedians or gay men so the
quick change artists *yawn* got put through instead of D.J., my
favorite comedian. I might not be so cynical except that they only
showed a short excerpt of his comedy routine tonight and edited out
the rest, as well as all the judges comments except for a portion of
Simon's. These are the kinds of things that are pre-decided behind
the scenes by the producers I guess. It sucks dead donkey balls.

>What did you think? Live shows start next week with the first 12. My TVGuide says the following week (I think it is), 3 of the Golden Buzzer acts go head to head.

>I can't remember all my favorite acts but if Annie and Andre, Victor Kee, the arrow-shooting contortionist, Jayna Brown, Daniel Joyner, and Brian Crum all make it through again, I will be a happy camper. I hope I got their last names right. I probably didn't pare my list down enough though. ;-)
>
>N.

So, so far for the season most of my favorite acts made it through
from all 4 judge's decisions (last week and this week). I can't think
of them all now, but I think the live shows will be good this season.
Lots of great talent! (And plenty to throw under the bus as well).


Thanks once again Nancy for doing this.

[Zob]

On Wed, 20 Jul 2016 20:47:01 -0700 (PDT), Giggles
<giggle...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 9:36:10 PM UTC-5, Nancy Dooley wrote:

>> 19. D.J. Demers, comic. Not really very funny. I don't think we saw him before.
>
>I don't remember him.

You'll instantly recognize him from his first audition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIuCuaYtTkY

He was one of my favorite people in the whole competition this season,
I was so disappointed that they only showed a short clip of his
"judges cut" routine along with just part of Simon's comments, then he
was never mentioned or seen again.

Wish they'd have a wild card and bring him back.

[Nancy Dooley]

I do remember him now...by the deaf description.

Musicality would ramp it up instantly (unlike the contortionist) by finding
a uniform dress code, like all white, or white and red, or just the usual
inexpensive black bottoms, white tops and a black tie. I like me some
conformity in such large groups.

Zob, while you are cruising YouTube, check out a 1905 recording by a
soprano named Adalina Patti. My grandmother was her "dresser" for a
time.

N.

[Zob]

I just checked it out; listened to "Home Sweet Home." I even read the
comments that you left on the video!

I love listening to those old recordings. For years my father had his
mother's old, very heavy record albums with original recordings of
singers like Lily Pons (the "Swedish Nightingale"), Enrico Caruso as
well as Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and such all from around just
after the turn of the century and shortly thereafter. They were the
old one-sided albums that played at 78 RPM, very thick and heavy. I
think the reason record albums were originally called "albums" is
because they were stored in very heavy hard-cover albums similar to
photo albums to protect them and eventually the term came to mean the
recording itself. Just my guess.

Anyway, I know this is way off topic now but listening to Adelina
Patti triggered a bunch of great memories I hadn't though about in
years. Thanks for sharing that. It's very cool that your grandmother
knew her, and that she gifted some jewelry to her! She must have
thought a lot of her.

BTW, unfortunately all those old recordings that my father had passed
down to me were lost in a move about 25 years ago. I bet those albums
would be worth a small fortune now!

Oh, just one other thing as long as I'm rambling. In your comment on
Adelna Patti's recording you (I think it was you) said the timeline is
hard to believe because Adelina was born in the 1800's.
Well, it's really not so hard for me to believe. My grandfather was
born in the 1860's. He was about 60 years old when my father was born
in 1922! (I get a chuckle when I think that this was long before
Viagra was invented, lol). He died in the 1940's about 10 years
before I was born. So three generations have so far spanned 144
years. And counting! It's probably not all that unusual.

[Nancy Dooley]

I did it again...it was my great grandmother Emilie who was married in Berlin
in 1872. My grandmother came shortly after. She wouldn't have been old enough
during Adelina Patti's time, to be her dresser.

N.