America’s Got Talent Finalists Interview
If you’ve been following me on Twitter or in the comments, then you know I had a chance to be able to interview the finalists of America’s Got Talent. It was interesting, because originally they said it would be all the finalists, then they told me it would just be Grandma Lee. So, I just prepared for Grandma Lee. Then, when I was on the call Grandma Lee, Barbara Padilla, Kevin Skinner, Drew Stevyns (and they said some other name, but I couldn’t make it out) were on the call. Very cool experience.
Of course, the biggest problem was that they only gave me 7 minutes for the interview. Yes, that’s right. I had 7 minutes to interview 4-5 finalists for America’s Got Talent. Plus, I’d only planned questions for Grandma Lee. So, basically I was pretty flustered with what to do. You’ll hear below, but I rushed through Grandma Lee so I could talk to Barbara and Kevin. Listening back I acted like such a fan boi of Barbara and Kevin, but what can I say. I only had a few minutes to think what to say.
All in all, I think you’ll enjoy hearing from some of the America’s Got Talent finalists. I need to find a better way to embed an MP3 file (maybe I’ll make a video out of it), so until then here’s a link to download the AGT Finalists interview. Please excuse the bad recording at the very beginning. I promise it gets better. Also, I’ll put a quick summary of my thoughts from the interview.
Grandma Lee – It was interesting that she’d already toured the country as a comedian. They make it sound like she’d never done this before until America’s Got Talent. Another storyline ruined;-) Granted, if you’ve read this blog for any time, then this is nothing new.
Barbara Padilla – She was so gracious and kind and her accent was beautiful. I almost felt bad for discounting her previously. I guess maybe it’s just not me being a huge opera fan. It is interesting that I think she’s going to get a good part of the women vote, cancer vote, hispanic vote and opera junkie music fan vote. That’s a lot of good people backing her.
Kevin Skinner – I loved talking with Kevin. He really is what you see on TV. I loved when he talked about bonfires not happening in LA.
Drew Stevyns – I had to dig him for kicking out my EriAm sisters. Like he says, it’s entertainment. Sadly they cut the interview off as I started with Drew. He’s very personable though.
Overall Impressions – Interviewing these people was a lot of fun. Far too short, but still worthwhile. Talking to them like this really made them real to me. I guess when you see them on TV the show kind of makes them what they want them to be. Talking to them gave me a feeling that these are good people just trying to do what they do.
Let me know what you think of this interview. Just be kind. I was shooting from the hip and I don’t do this very often. Also, I’m really subconscious about hearing my own voice so take it easy on me.
Hey, you did quite alright! Although you spent way too much time with Barbara Padilla and not Kevin and Drew!!! Ha, just kidding. I think you did an excellent job and don’t be subconscience about your voice. It’s a good interview voice. You sound like a radio DJ. Excellent job, John. You sounded natural and relaxed and it was very enlightening that Grandma Lee has been “on the circuit”. Not such a sob story as we are led to believe. She wasn’t all that on the money with her routines in the first place but we all figured “ah give her a break, it’s her first time” Now that I know she’s an old hand at this, I think she’s worse than I originally thought. LOL
I loved how you asked her to give that “Crap” line. Very clever.
Kevin is for real and I’m even more dedicated to voting for him now. The others were kind of…..meh. Barbara was excited and has such a beautiful voice, but she really had nothing to say. She took up a lot of time to say nothing. Oh, I’m just awful tonight. Sorry. I kept picturing that yellow dress. It reminded me of Scarlett O’Hara’s ridiculous dress made out of curtains. She had to hold the layers of that dress over her arm on results night and it looked like she was getting ready to hang some curtains. Better yet, it reminded me of Carol Burnett’s parody of the Scarlett O’Hara dress. Have you ever seen that skit? it’s hilarioius. Anyway, I’ve gone on way longer than I expected to. Wonderful job, John. How did you get the interview in the first place? Very impressive.
Thanks StevieCat. You’re right, I should have gone longer with Barbara. She had more to say I’m sure.
The interview was a bit of luck and finally getting connected to the show pretty good. I’m actually working on getting some presence at the finale. I can’t make it myself, but I have a colleague that is going to go if I can get access. We’ll see how it goes.
I also need to find a PR contact for the America’s Got Talent’s show in Las Vegas. We’ll see how that goes.
Why not interview eriam sisters? I want to know what these young girls think about their experience and if they would do things differently
gonbe,
Trust me, I’d love to interview the EriAm sisters. If someone has connections to them please let me know.
Didn’t have a chance to listen to interviews — cannot listen at work and was pretty busy on the weekend.
I thought I’ll just comment on that “I think she’s going to get a good part of the women vote, cancer vote, hispanic vote and opera junkie vote. ”
I think getting “opera junkie” vote will be difficult. Maybe popera junkie, but not all opera junkies. I’d imagine “opera junkie” votes are likely to be split — some people may just vote for her because they like the total package (music, voice, etc.) and her basic voice and her looks and the fact that she is a cancer survivor, and they don’t like anybody else. But many will not. “Opera junkies” are very picky. We have heard world’s best singers of all times, and we are used to criticizing Met stars (who are on a completely different level than Barbara Padilla) for small flaws in interpretation or technique. When judged by that standards, Barbara Padilla is just not that good. Her instrument is beautiful, but in spite of her degree, she isn’t using it that well. Some of her notes are actually quite shrill and in opera every sound has to be beautiful …. As someone commented last year about a shrill high note from a Met star singing Norma (the role she shouldn’t have sung, but this is beside the point) – “this type of a sound doesn’t belong on a professional opera stage”. (This was not the particular star’s only problem, though, but it’s irrelevant; she was singing one of the most difficult opera roles ever written and her voice wasn’t up to it; Barbara Padilla is yet to sing anything demanding). Plus Barbara Padilla really has to be more expressive and actually communicate what she sings. I have to admit, that sometimes I am a bit more positive in my comments about her than I’d like to be because I don’t want to alienate her fans – for some reason the POPera fans are very touchy and they intensely dislike “opera snobs” – so I am trying to be diplomatic. Besides, she is better than Neal was and in reality, this is AGT and not the Met.
Also, many opera fans are frustrated how these crossover singers get that much fame and are called “opera singers” when there are so many really good opera singers out there these fans of “opera singers” on AGT/BGT aren’t interested in listening to. There is also a worry that people will hear some of the shrill notes of Barbara Padilla and decide that they don’t like a sound of operatic sopranos when this is a poor example. So it is unclear what percentage of “opera junkie” votes Barbara Padilla will get.
For a sample of an opinion of a professional operatic soprano, look at the comment at the bottom of this page by JoAnna: “http://www.rickey.org/?p=22328”
kitty,
Fine points. I shouldn’t have said Opera junkies. Although, a certain number of them will vote for her too since there isn’t much better. I changed it to opera music fans. People like my dad who think they know what they’re talking about, but have no clue. So, they say they like Opera, but don’t really know the difference between good and great opera. This I believe is most of the opera music fan audience. The real opera junkies that know the difference are few and far between (at least when looking at the entire US).
Good going, Kitty. Loved the remarks left by Joanna at the link you left. It’s so obvious that the producers and judges are pushing for her to win right down to that ridiculous platform and that ridiculous yellow dress. Yes, she’s a nice person, and I hope nobody takes issue with my comments because I don’t mean it as a reflection on her as a person, just her talents as an “artist.” I thought her performance of Ave Maria was as corny a choice as the singing cowboys with the Proud To Be An American song. It was just less obvious.
Hey remember everyone. AGT is on TONIGHT not tomorrow.
What the heck happened to the show this year??? NOW I remember…There used to be a top FIVE in the finals, remember? Remember last year, there was Neil Boyd, Eli Mattson, Queen someone, the guy singer with the big face and Nuttin But Strings in the finals. FIVE , not ten. What the heck????
P.S. I didn’t vote for anyone tonight. So many of them deserved to win but Kevin needed the win. I didn’t want to vote for 3 contestants because all I’d be doing is canceling out my own votes, KWIM? And even though I always wanted Kevin to win because he needed it so badly, I think tonight Hairo needed my votes because he made a poor performance choice. I understood his reasoning and the beauty and the story he was telling in his dance, but he needed the rest of the dancers to make it more professional looking so it didn’t work. And if I voted for him, then I’d have to vote for Voices of Glory and also Fab Five because both of those groups lived up to their names tonight. I thought Lawrence hit some flat notes and was out of breath from nerves while he sang, Drew was dreamy but not great, Grandma Lee….well what could I say to that? and the cowboys were cheesy (did you notice that the blonde guy’s hair was brown in the pics with his father? hmmmm) and by the time the percussion guys came on, I was so done. The 2 hour shows are too long.
Can’t wait to see Susan Boyle on Wednesday though. Hope she doesn’t get burned out and disappoint us and not show up. I just love her.
Anyway, back to my original question….wasn’t it just a top five last year????
Oh, and I forgot about Barbara Padilla. She looked beautiful tonight and her dress was gorgeous, but I wasn’t going to vote for a dress! LOL
Yes, it was a top 5. This year has been quite different. No doubt America’s Got Talent is trying to find the right mix. This year if they had done top 5, it is possible that the top 5 could have all been singers. That’s not good for the show.
StevieCat,
I’m glad you finally saw the light and didn’t vote for Kevin.
As usual, I disagree with you on most points;-) However, I will say that the 2 stand out acts for me were Fab Five who were spot on and interesting again. I’m still not sure they’re right for Vegas, but they were fun to watch for a short time on this show.
Also, the biggest highlight of the night for me was Drew Stevyns. He’s 2/3 on performances where I literally thought, I would pay to go and hear this guy sing. The third one wasn’t horrible either. However, the other 2 performances (his first one and then again tonight) were both spot on for his voice. The travesty is that we only got to hear him 3 times and didn’t even get to hear his audition.
I was so bummed. I should have checked the schedule. I thought this show would start at 9:00 as have ALL THE OTHER LIVE SHOWS, so I got home at 9 and started watching, only to realize I’d missed half of it, including my beloved Hairo Torres!! Did Piers buzz him?
I have to say though that Drew Stevyns was vastly improved, and the music seemed to come out of him more easily. Grandma Lee was also much improved, and she departed a little bit from the Piers material. I thought she was much funnier. Kevin Skinner I thought was significantly worse, poor thing.
I hope they re-show the acts prior to Wednesday’s finale, so I can see them all in their entirety.
Sharon’s jewelry had also improved. 🙂 And the Hoff looked positively natty.
Do the tenors ever sing anything that isn’t completely hokey?
Donna,
Go and watch it on NBC.com All of the videos are available to watch. Even the full episode if you want to watch it in its entirety.
The three tenors are cruise ship singers. So, I think the answer is no.
Donna, Hairo Torres in all probability blew his chances of winning. I thought he did a superb and emotional dance, but by deciding to leave out any other dancers and just do it alone, it somehow gave the feeling of an audition instead of a show piece. But his moves were intricate, superbly hard and anything but amatuerish. The judges didn’t feel that way however. I have to admit, as much as I was rooting for him, I think he made a big mistake. The stage was too bare. He needed something else to make it work. It was enjoyable to watch, but you got the feeling definitely that something was missing because he had added so much to his previous performances. The stage was too bare. It’s a crying shame.
StevieCat,
I actually liked that Hairo went back to just him. The other dancers distracted from his talent. However, I think he’ll lose because the others are such power houses.
[…] of having this blog is that I sometimes get access to some pretty cool stuff. Like I got to interview 5 of the America’s Got Talent finalists. I also got to go to the opening night of Terry Fator in Las Vegas at the […]
John, don’t misunderstand me, I loved Hairo’s dancing, I just felt that the audience (as well as the judges did) felt something was missing. I concentrated on his expression and his interpretation of the dance moves representing his quest to make it as a dancer, but I think it went over their heads and he blew his chances. That beautiful dance would have been a show stopper had he put an act behind him. I’m just saying…..
I can’t even listen to the judges now (too produced). So, I don’t believe much of what they say. It might have been better with more dancers, but it wouldn’t have been because of his talent, but the other dancers talent is my point.
I worked hard for you:-) to find the connection you need to interview my favorite singers EriAm Sisters. Here is the e-mail and phone I found:
[removed] or call [removed] and ask for [removed], apparenlty their manager (I hope this info is correct and get to hear from the girls again)
By the way, I read that the city they come from gave them the “key to the city” award and proclaimed September 21 as The EriAM Sisters Day. How cool is that!!!
Thanks gonbe.
I’ll definitely contact them and see about an interview.
I also removed the info in case they didn’t want EVERYONE in the world to have it.