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Burnell, Charlie among best voices on Thursday's 'American Idol'
Published: 1/24/2013 8:33 PM
Last Modified: 1/24/2013 8:33 PM

Forgive me, "Idol" fans, but I was thrilled that tonight's auditions show was only an hour.

I was even more thrilled that the auditions were in Baton Rouge, which was almost sorta kinda like being home. 

Skipping straight to the sweet spots, my favorite of the night was Charlie, the red-headed kid from Little Rock. Totally didn't expect him to sound as good as he did, and it was a great surprise.

"Love your voice ... (It's) not of a gender," judge Keith Urban said, comparing him to David Bowie.

My heart went out to him because of the whole "socially awkward" thing, so I was cheering him on -- especially when he did "Nature Boy." Can't wait to see where this kid goes.

Also enjoyed Maddie, whom Randy surprised the night before at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans. Her cover of The Beatles' "Oh! Darling" was great -- a powerhouse voice (although a second or two I thought she could have the potential to wear out the ears with her vocal pyrotechnics if she sang much longer). But onto H'wood she went.

Of course, Burnell was the talent standout, singing "I'm Here" from "The Color Purple." In addition to a fabulous voice, he also seemed comfortable performing, which may have prompted Keith Urban's comment about there being a spotlight waiting for him somewhere (pardon the paraphrase). He even made Mariah Carey cry -- Burnell, that is, not Keith. No, that doesn't happen until their big cat fight in OKC (kidding).

Also enjoyed Megan, aka Miss Baton Rouge, who didn't let an impending surgery prevent her from making an "Idol" audition pit stop; Paul Jolly, who made me tear up talking about his recently passed grandfather; Chris "Mushroom" who, despite NOT going to Hollywood and not being able to sing well, was more comfy in his own skin at his age than I was; Dustin the country firefighter (who caused my phone to blow up a bit while he was on); and Calvin the resident physician who tackled a Maxwell song and scored.

I hope next week's auditions in California and Texas go as smoothly -- and quickly.

Peace, love and Baton Rouge ... XOXO


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Living Wright

While other kids were watching "The Smurfs," Scene Writer Jason Ashley Wright was tuned in to "Style with Elsa Klensch." By fourth grade, he knew he wanted to write, and spent almost three years publishing a weekly teen-oriented magazine, Teen-Zine -- circulation: 2. After earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi, he became the medical reporter and teen board coordinator for the Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, a Gannett newspaper. Eight months later, with visions of Elsa dancing in his head, he applied for the fashion writer position at the Tulsa World, where he began working on Aug. 3, 1998. He is now a general assignment reporter for Scene.

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