"American Idol" rejects Stratham teenager Julie Dubela

Julie Dubela, a 17-year-old Stratham resident, appeared on Fox-TV’s “American Idol” on Wednesday night. She did not advance from the audition round to compete in the finals in Hollywood.

All three judges — Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson — voted against the local singer. Cowell said Dubela was “over-indulgent” in her performance of the Janis Joplin classic “Me and Bobby McGee.”

The performance was recorded in 2007, when Dubela was 16.

Dubela said on the show that she had turned down a chance to sing the national anthem at a Boston Red Sox game that night in order to audition for “American Idol.”

Dubela was a semifinalist in 2003 on “American Juniors,” a spin-off of “American Idol” for younger singers. She has sang the national anthem at Fenway Park in the past, as well as at Gillette Stadium for a New England Patriots game and at TD Banknorth Garden for Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins games. In 2005 and 2006, she appeared on the Discovery Kids and NBC show “Endurance: Tehachapi,” a show similar to “Survivor.”

Dubela sings the national anthem regularly at University of New Hampshire athletic events.

source:seacoastonline

Simon gets extra cranky in Miami on ‘Idol’

This has generally been a feel-good season for “American Idol,” with Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell offering helpful advice as often as biting criticism from their perches behind the judges’ table.

From the first auditioner in Miami, it was obvious that this city would be different, and it’s possible that the culprit wasn’t the lack of talent, but the proliferation of nighttime entertainment.

Shannon MacGough began the day singing “Cry Baby,” by Janis Joplin.

The 18-year-old seemed to have a lot going in her favor, like a camera-friendly job working for her parents in their meat market and a copious amount of background footage that aired before she sang. But right after she finished, Simon laid down the hammer.

“I had a late night and I’m not feeling great anyway, and you just made it a lot worse,” he said.

That was a sign of what was to follow, as a lot of Miami hopefuls got an extra-large dose of sarcasm from the judges.

Rejects run the gamut
Ben Hausbach had the best lyric switch, singing his own version of Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” where “I remember when rock was young, me and Paula had so much fun.” She wasn’t impressed, and he got the boot.

Richard Valles sang a little Rascal Flatts, but his rendition of “Bless the Broken Road” was cringe-worthy. Randy tried to imitate the nasally sound, then gave up and sent him away.

Grant Rhea’s voice was a little to high for Simon’s taste. “I’m tempted to say come back in a dress,” the judge said, overcoming his temptation as he did so. Not surprisingly, Rhea got denied as well.

Brandon Black provided the humorous badness, doing a weird comedy/singing routine that ended the Miami auditions and saw the judges walk out while he was still finishing up his performance. “The audition was verging on desperation, from the weird wig, the horrible dialogue you used, the terrible singing...” Simon said, before running out of words entirely.

But Julie Dubela had the rudest awakening, perhaps because she labors under the impression that “American Juniors” is remembered fondly by the “Idol” faithful. She made the top 20 in the short-lived and unsuccessful spinoff four years ago, and now that she’s 16 she figured she would come back and wow the judges again. “I can take what I’ve learned from that and use it now to my advantage,” she said.

The judges weren’t impressed with the resume, although they were straight-faced enough with their criticism to fool her. “That was a very interesting show,” Randy remembered. Simon said he wore out the DVDs of all the episodes because “I just love hearing kids that age sing!”