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The judges were happy to be in LA instead of on the road. The first guest judge of the night is Avril LaVigne. 10,000 hopefuls vie for a chance to sing for this panel and potentially beyond.

The first person we see tonight is Neil Goldstein. He claims to have a 168 IQ and somehow thinks this will help him. They are spending some camera time with Neil and the vibe I'm getting is that despite his claims to the contrary, he really isn't taking this very seriously. He looks like he is enjoying an inside joke. Neil says he is 19 but he knows he looks older (uhhh - yeah). He sings "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" by MeatLoaf. Or almost does. He sings "Remember everything that I told you" then abruptly stops because --- he can't remember the words. The judges encourage him to go on but I still feel like the whole performance is "fake". It sounds atonal. Maybe 2 or 3 notes repeated over and over. And he is another contestant who claims he is not leaving. Oh oh. Eventually Simon asks him if he would prefer an escort out the door and he wisely chooses to leave on his own. Finally put that 168 IQ to work. Outside the room, he claims that this whole scenario occurred because while he was waiting for his turn, Simon came out into the hall and accidentally hit him with the door; he looked at him (Neil) like he didn't exist. Neil says he was so rattled by the indifference Simon showed him that he couldn't relate to the panel. Alrighty then.

Jim Ranger is a worship pastor with a wife and 3 kids. He gets some camera time. For his audition, he chooses an original song (usually not a good idea) that he calls "Drive". I like his voice; it has a nice tone. As expected, the song doesn't do anything for him but he's good enough to overcome that. Simon votes yes and Avril says no. Kara expresses her concern about how he can handle the rigors of a musician's life while being a minister and raising a family. Next thing we see is Jim exiting the room with his golden ticket and he is overcome with happiness. I didn't like it that they made such an issue about how he'd be able to juggle it all; they could have that conversation with almost everybody in some form. I think it's up to the contestant to figure that out.

Three more guys go through very quickly. Jayson Wilson is singing "All By Myself" and it's too high for him. He's screeching. Jesse Chang does a little "Kung Fu Fighting" and it's more like a reading than singing. Martin Perez is trying to look like Elvis but I don't recall hearing much if any singing from him; he was mostly stomping his feet. None of these guys get through. (Did I really need to say that?)

Martial Arts enthusiast Damien LaFavor demonstrates his skills for the camera. He reaches for a note and falls short, then tells us he has worked for years to reach that note and hasn't done it yet. He says it's his nemesis. It's not a good sign that he can't remember the name of the Righteous Brothers song he plans to sing, but at least he won't try to sing that note he's never reached, right? It turns out to be "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". It isn't horrible I guess but it sounds so contrived, like he's acting like a singer rather than being one. He's having a really good time though. That is, until he faced his nemesis and it bit him on the ass. Can't believe he went there.

We get a glimpse at some of the young kids who hang out at the auditions with their mothers/sisters/brothers/cousins/etc. There are some cuties along with some outspoken ones. One 8-yr-old girl is there with her mother, Mary Powers. The little girl says she likes the mean one, Simon. In the audition room, Mary, who is clearly a rocker chick, sings Pat Benatar. I'm digging her voice: it's lower pitched, strong, has a slight tremolo, nice tone. Yeah, she's great. Of course, I like the rockers so there's always that. Mary gets 4 yes votes and her ticket to Hollywood. Ryan brings her daughter in to the judges and tells Simon that she likes him because he's mean. Simon quips "Are you sure she's not my daughter?" He is very sweet to her.

Adam! Idol shows a brief clip of Adam Lambert singing then several different shots of him throughout the Season 8 run. They said they had several try to imitate him, then show a montage of supposed wannabes. I recognized Michael Castro in that bunch which tells me they were only demonstrating a general look, not necessarily a singing style. Don't try it guys; there is only one Adam Lambert.

AJ Mendoza is supposedly one of the Adam "clones". He claims to have sent a tape to Adam to which he got positive feedback. He is going to sing "Cult of Personality". Here is another one who sounds fake to me. What is it with these guys tonight? It's as if no one trusts being themselves. He is hitting the notes but the presentation is unacceptable. The judges vote no. In fact, Avril says "absolutely not". She's not shy! And Simon says it sounded like he's been to the dentist and was still loaded up with Novocain. It did look like that since he barely opened his mouth. So AJ goes empty handed.

The guest judge is changing for the rest of this episode. Avril leaves and Katy Perry steps in. She appears ready to take over this panel. This could be interesting.

Austin Fullmer looks like he is going to be a strange one and in that regard, he doesn't disappoint. His shirt appears to be red strips of patent leather on black. It's impossible to ignore. His song is Cheap Trick's "Surrender". It's hard to listen to the singing with all the gyrations going on. And that's a good thing as it turns out because it's awful! No. No. No. No. Outside he tells his friends that Katy Perry was really in to him and his audition. His friend tells him he will probably hear from her soon. Riiight.

I can see a long string of the rejected, maybe 15, and many of them are quite upset and reacting in a big way - crying, sobbing, pushing people away, and so on. And look - it's the Crying Girl (remember Sanjaya and the Crying Girl in the audience?). Here she is and she's - what do you know - crying. I don't know if she tried out and didn't make it, or if they just had her come by and furnish some additional crying footage.

Andrew Garcia is featured next. He gets considerable camera time. His parents talk about how worried they were for him because of the gang influence around them. He is married now and has an adorable baby. He sings Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning". Andrew is smooth; he really sounds great. Simon is raving about him, saying he is a genuinely good singer, and Katy Perry says he gave her chills. He gets a solid sendoff to Hollywood.

Tasha Layton is the second minister of the day. Her choice is "Baby Baby Baby" by Joss Stone. Now here is someone who sounds natural. I like her tone and she is quite enjoyable to listen to. With 4 yes votes, she is on her way to Hollywood.

OK, this guy seems creepy. Jason Greene is a 21-yr-old student who has a very high opinion of himself and his powers of sexual attraction. His song is the Divinyls' "I Touch Myself". (Of course it is.) Predictably, he is all attitude with no voice. Jason says they got him on his knees and Simon says he knew he would get there eventually. Jason invites Simon to join him, and generally continues hitting on Simon. Katy says he makes her feel dirty, to which he replies that she makes him feel dirty. Katy says it takes a lot to make her feel dirty and Jason says he bets it does, especially in that top. He thinks he is uber sexy and he is just so not. After he leaves, Simon says, "that wasn't comfortable". (We're with you, Simon.) Outside, Jason gives his phone number to Ryan. Millions of people are thinking of taking a bath right now.

Apparently Katy has no problem saying what she thinks. She is shown saying "no" with no hesitation or guilt to a lot of people. Is she auditioning to replace Simon next year?

The last singer featured is Chris Golightly. Chris was raised in the foster system and says he has lived with about 25 different families. He's hoping for something good to happen in his life. He has long curls that make me think of Justin Guarini from Season 1 but the resemblance ends there. Chris doesn't have the charisma that Justin has. He does have a nice voice though. He chooses to sing "Stand By Me" and the first thought that pops into my head is Danny Gokey. Not that he actually sounds like Danny but his version last year was nice and it's hard not to compare. I don't think Chris is great, but he is quite good. He put a lot of emotion in it and he interpreted the song with such nuance that you could really relate to it. Randy and Kara give him solid yeses but both Katy and Simon gave him "small yeses" (not that they don't count just as much). He has a good chance of being around a while if he can continue to improve upon this solid base.

Altogether, 23 people got through from Los Angeles. Tonight we saw just 3 guys and 2 girls out of that group. Pitiful. Other than those, we saw 8 other guys who were rejected (5 full auditions and 3 quick ones). I would sure like to see more singers than that! Next up - Dallas.

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