Tonight’s American Idol auditions will be in its backyard: Los Angeles. I guess that means you don’t exactly give golden tickets, but more of golden bus passes. The judges don’t say “you’re going to Hollywood!” with such gusto. Maybe “you’re going over there!” followed by a finger pointing towards where the Hollywood rounds will be aired. But that’s just me nitpicking.

Los Angeles, as we all know, is home to a lot of Idol’s biggest names: Katharine McPhee, Allison Iraheta, Adam Lambert, and surely I’m missing a few names. Still, I find it a bit odd nobody who auditioned in Los Angeles made it quite big. The three names I mentioned auditioned in San Francisco. Oh, does anybody remember if William Hung did it in LA? I think so, right? There goes your big name. Not that it’s a big deal, really. I just wanted to point that out. Tonight’s guest judges are two big names in pop music. One of them had me jumping around a decade or so back. The other didn’t, because at my age I shouldn’t be jumping around unless I want to look ridiculous.

The first name I was referring to: Avril Lavigne, that Canadian pop-punker who wondered why we have to make things so complicated, tried to make her skater boy boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend jealous, and begged some guys to be her boyfriend. She became big, of course, with her 2002 debut Let Go, which made her the biggest-selling artist of that year, and earned her eight Grammy nominations. And then there was 2004′s Under My Skin, and 2006′s The Best Damn Thing, both of which were also hits in their own right. She’s currently working on her fourth album, although we’ll surely hear from her again when Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland rolls around: she’s doing the theme song. Oh, and she also co-wrote Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway”.

The second name’s a more recent one: Katy Perry, she who kissed a girl and liked it, only to break many men’s hearts (mine included) when she announced her engagement to British comedian Russell Brand. She started her career at the same time as Avril, but it took a while for her to make it big–Columbia Records dropped her before she could release an album in 2004. She did make it big, from the viral hit “Ur So Gay” in 2007 to her first album, One of the Boys, the following year, giving us earworms like “I Kissed A Girl” and “Waking Up In Vegas”, as well as her distinctive style and surprisingly good vocals. She was nominated for a Grammy (and lost), recently released a live album, and is working on her second album.

We’re not going to see much of these two, however–imagine sharing one hour together with Simon, Kara and Randy, and many, many Idol wannabes. Fingers crossed those wannabes won’t disappoint. I don’t want humiliations. And I don’t want to be bored, like last week…

Source: Buddy TV