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The January 13 episode in Atlanta saw fewer talented singers than the Boston round and witnessed more attitude from a foul-mouthed contestant and a wacky 62-year-old.Day two in "American Idol" audition for season 9 took place in Atlanta with Mary J. Blige sitting in as guest judge. The city that brought out Fantasia Barrino, Clay Aiken and Jennifer Hudson spawned 25 golden tickets including for one of its police officers.
Bryan Walker is an officer who loves his job but dreams to be a singer. He auditioned in the second leg where Simon Cowell was not present, singing "Superstar" and amazed the judges. Kara DioGuardi immediately said, "This is what I love about this job" and Randy Jackson said Walker didn't appear like a singer but was able to surprise them with his voice.
Earlier that day, a former Miss America contestant Keia Johnson also earned a golden ticket when she belted out Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." Mary said Keia can sing and Kara said her personality shines through when she sings.
The other tickets went to church singer Jermaine Sellers, small-town girl Vanessa Wolfe, girl-in-guitar-costume Holy Harden, country girl Mallorie Haley, and the man who goes by alias Skibo Ski. There was one time when BFF Carmen Turner and Lauren Sanders auditioned together. The former got through but Lauren did not.
After several montage of "No"s, the show put the spotlight on contestant Lamar Royal. A 20-year-old, Lamar has problem listening to others' opinion. He insisted his "Kiss From a Rose" version was a good one and was not acceptable when Randy said it was not good enough. He cut the judges' words by singing again and had to be escorted out by securities. He yelled the "F" word several times on the way out.
The last act of the day was Larry Platt who added General in front of his name. He was clearly off the age limit at 62 but he brought out a self-penned song "Pants on the Ground" which Simon thought would be a hit.
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