American Idol Wraps Up Auditions in Salt Lake City and Omaha

American Idol wrapped up its auditions on January 29th and 30th. Harry Connick, Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keither Urban made the dreams of 30 people come true in Salt Lake City, and here are 5 of them:

Blake Branscom sang “I’ve Always Been Crazy,” a country song by Waylon Jennings. He told Ryan Seacrest that he fishes for blue gill and women, and has more success with blue gill. That wink at J-Lo in the middle of the song was totally cute though.

Casey Thrasher performed “Believe” because he had previously met Keith Urban and was inspired by him. The judges were impressed with his performance and his drive as a family man with 2 kids and no bedframe and he got 3 thumbs up.

We only got to see a small part of the auditions of Keith Sanders, Michael Simeon and Tessa but they all got tickets. How about that Tessa, hmmm? She made the judges look up right quick.

The judges picked up 21 more success stories in Omaha. Here are 5:

Madisen Walker sang “Before He Cheats.” J-Lo couldn’t believe she was 15. Keith didn’t think she did anything to make her Carrie Underwood cover stand out. Harry Connick appeared to be taken with her looks. That changed things up in her favor though after she left, Keith warned that the hurt she would go through later wouldn’t be worth this one victory. We agree with Keith but J-Lo pshaw’ed that, insisting the experience would be great for Madisen.

Alyssa Siebken sang an acoustic version of Waka Flaka Flame’s “No Hands.” J-Lo was down with it but Harry wasn’t. Heh, we have to wonder what his problem is. Alyssa’s performance was far better than Madisen’s from where we’re sitting. Keith gave her the thumbs up so she got that Golden Ticket and a celebratory selfie with Ryan Seacrest, the second part of her dream.

Andrina Brogden impressed Keith Urban and J-Lo with her cover of Beyonce’s “Halo,” although J-Lo sensed her nerves. Harry wanted to give her the boot but Keith overruled him because he thinks Andrina has a lot going for her. We do too.

C.J. Jones, who looked like a Corey Feldman impersonator, sang “Stand By Me” with Harry standing right next to him the whole time.

Tyler Gurwicz said he’s been singing for 10 years. He almost got the boot because Harry thought he was a one-trick pony and Keith said it was painful to watch him sing, even though he has a great voice. Harry offered him a second chance, a rare honor from the man who seems to have a lot of contempt for those who “beg” for one. Tyler got his ticket.

So now they have a total of 221 hopefuls headed to Hollywood and they warned everyone that things have changed in Hollywood Week. They showed coming attractions where the contestants are put through some kind of “Sudden Death” round. So never mind who you like — how would you feel if you got a Golden Ticket to Hollywood, only to be sent packing?