Welcome to Pure America's Got Talent

Ok, so we all kind of know that America’s Got Talent is a show that’s produced. That’s why they have people called producers that are working to produce the most entertaining television possible. Plus, we know that shows like this have writers that’s job is to help the producers reach their goal. Despite knowing this, it gets incredibly annoying when it’s completely obvious that the show has been scripted.

In this case, I’m referring to the judges comments. Piers and Howie have actually done a great job not showing this and so props to them. However, Sharon Osbourne has been TERRIBLE at this for this entire season. Has anyone else been as annoyed as I have?

I keep thinking every show that they’ll finally tell Sharon to stop looking down at her card and reading what she’s suppose to say. How obvious is it that she continually has to look down at her queue card to read what she’s suppose to say to the acts? It seriously bugs the heck out of me.

At least tell me a story that you took a few notes about their performance and that’s why you’re looking down. Maybe even just do what most people would do and read what you’re suppose to say while Piers is making his comments. Can you really not remember the 2 or 3 points that you’re suppose to say about the acts?

If you haven’t noticed it, watch it again. Sharon will make a point…then look down at her card…read…then look back up to start making her next point.

Personally, I’d love to see America’s Got Talent bring over the female judge from Britain’s Got talent: Amanda Holden. She’s fantastic on that show. A great mix of honesty and she doesn’t just get bulled over by the male judges on the panel. Doesn’t hurt that she’s pleasant to look at as well.

I’ve already posted a poll where people can vote for the America’s Got Talent 2010 top 4. If you haven’t voted already, go and vote. The following are my thoughts on the AGT Season 5 top 10.

I must admit that after doing interviews with all of the AGT top 10, I saw them in a different light as they performed. I felt a unique connection to them and really wanted them to succeed spectacularly.

Anna and Patryk – How impressive was it to see Anna just get up after her fall and kill that routine? That’s really hard to do and she nailed it despite the fall (It’s already on YouTube). Although, in some weird way, Anna falling might have been the best thing that happened to them. She had me in tears at the end when she was fighting back the tears. The only thing I don’t get is why they would choose to do a quickstep for their performance. They call that dance the kiss of death on So You Think You Can Dance. Unfortunately, I think that’s going to be the case for Anna and Patryk too.

Christina and Ali – I think there’s little doubt that this was their best vocal performance to date. Plus, Christina knocked it out of the park in a couple places. However, I think the song choice wasn’t that great for them since I don’t think the song matches their voting base. Either way, their growth on the show has been amazing.

Fighting Gravity – Their performance tonight for me missed the wow factor. The lasers were cool and could be really cool with some more work. However, this performance was pretty disappointing. That said, America still loves them and so I’m sure we’ll be seeing them in the top 4.

Jackie Evancho – What a perfect song choice tonight and executed perfectly. I’m sure technically there were a ton of mistakes, but most of America won’t know the difference. They’ll just remember this heavenly sound coming out of such a little girl. Plus, I think Jackie has a bit of advantage having won the YouTube voting as well.

Jeremy Vanschoonhoven – Piers was correct that Jeremy is a crowd favorite. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s going to make the top 4, but I won’t be surprised if he’s asked to go on the America’s Got Talent tour. His act is unique and has that fear factor that they would love to have on the America’s Got Talent tour. Unless they don’t want to cart around his huge set. Jeremy was perfection tonight in his performance and so you really can’t ask him to do more.

Michael Grasso – At first I thought that Michael Grasso’s trick tonight was going to be a real disappointment. I thought he’d just appear in the box and I’d think, I’ve seen that before. I think the image of him in the box in his initial package helped with that deception. So, I was excited when he wasn’t in the box, but had made the switch. I selfishly want him to make it into the top 4, because I’d love to see his magic on the tour.

Michael Grimm – I enjoyed Michael’s performance tonight. Although, it started off a bit stale for me. Him on a pedestal wasn’t really working for me. Once he got down and started moving and grooving to the song it took off for me and you could see him being a star in his genre. I’m a little tired of the grandparent storyline, but I’ll be really surprised if he’s not in the top 4.

Prince Poppycock – Speechless is the right word. I’m not sure the song choice was best though. He actually sang the Star Spangled Banner very well, but I think some people might think it’s taking something very important lightly. Plus, Yankee Doodle Dandy was awkward for me. However, his persona of Prince Poppycock still oozed through and America LOVES it. Definitely a top 4 lock.

Studio One Young Beast Society – Great performance with some great tricks. I loved how they tossed that little girl from feet to hands to who knows what across the stage. They hit it hard and it was an enjoyable act. Only problem is that compared to the over the top acts in the top 10, I think most people aren’t going to remember it.

Taylor Mathews – I really didn’t think that Taylor had much of a chance at the top 4. I still think his chances are slim, but his performance was Taylor at his best. It showed off him and his talent for making a song his own. Plus, the screaming girls in the audience make me think that he might get more votes than we first imagine.

Ok, those were my thoughts. What did you think of the America’s Got Talent 2010 top 10 performances?

A whole lot of people have been waiting to purchase their America’s Got Talent tour tickets. Although, this week more and more people have started to buy their tickets. It seems like many people are trying to secure great seats for the America’s Got Talent tour before it’s too late and all the good tickets are sold.

Plus, it’s not like the only act going on the America’s Got Talent tour will be the winner of America’s Got Talent. In fact, all or almost all of the top 4 will be going on the America’s Got Talent tour (at least that’s what’s happened in past seasons). If you want to know who will be on the AGT tour, just take a look at the Pure America’s Got Talent prediction. Of course, those poll results could be off a little, but personally I’d be excited to see any of the top 5 on that list perform on tour.

You can see the full list of tour locations below or head straight over to ticketmaster to buy your tickets now.
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Last week we posted the poll to predict the America’s Got Talent 2010 winner and even posted the results from the AGT 2010 winner voting. However, that was before we saw the America’s Got Talent 2010 Top 10 performances. Plus, you could only vote for one person in the America’s Got Talent top 10.

Thus, the following America’s Got Talent poll where you can vote for the America’s Got Talent top 4. Since 4 acts will be going through, you can vote for up to 4 acts you think should go through to the finale of America’s Got Talent. Let’s see who will be making it through to next week. Vote now!

Last week after we found out the 10 members of the America’s Got Talent 2010 finals, we posted a poll to predict the Winner of America’s Got Talent season 5. I’ll be posting another poll now that we’ve seen the America’s Got Talent top 10 performances, but I thought it was interesting to see which acts readers of Pure America’s Got Talent think will be in the top 4 and performing in the America’s Got Tlaent finale.

Here are the AGT 2010 voting results from the poll started last week:

This poll has been really interesting. The initial voting had Jackie Evancho, Prince Poppycock and Fighting Gravity the clear runaway favorites. Then, Michael Grimm and Michael Grasso were battling it out for fourth place. However, after that initial voting (just within the last day or two) Michael Grimm has really pulled away and passed the other early favorites. Readers of this site have done a great job in the past of predicting the favorites, but I think tomorrow will be pretty exciting as the acts battle for that fourth spot in.

Pure America’s Got Talent had another chance to interview the America’s Got Talent finalists. This time Marianya took care of the interview. It was a short 10 minutes and so she was only able to talk to half of the finalists: Taylor Matthews, Michael Grasso, Prince Poppycock, Fighting Gravity, Jeremy Vanschoonhoven, and Jackie Evancho. You can hear the interview below which I’ve made into a video so you know which finalist is speaking. Also, sorry for the static in the recording. We’ll work on that for next time.

So John ended up having to meet up with someone in real life for an appointment that he couldn’t delay, so I (Marianya) ended up taking this last interview with Prince Poppycock.

However, it wasn’t Prince Poppycock that I had the pleasure of speaking to, it was John Quale, the man behind the mask.

John didn’t seek out America’s Got Talent initially (although he claims that he may have done so this year regardless). Instead it started when his significant other uploaded a video of John as Prince Poppycock without his permission onto YouTube. The people of America’s Got Talent saw the video and contacted him to be a part of the show. So he flew to New York for his audition and the rest, as they say, is history.

He made a very good point about reality shows like American Idol, America’s Got Talent etc… where America in general questions the longetivity of talent “discovered” on these shows. But because of the staying and star power of Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert, it would seem that America is more open to a talent “discovered” via television talent competitions.

Prince Poppycock came to fruition as a one shot gig that John Quale did. He was to sing Largo Al Factotum from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, and he was to wear a wig. However, as he pointed to me, most people who sing arias don’t always understand the lyrics of what they are singing. So John took the act a step further and create the character of Prince Poppycock to really fit in with the story of the song… and everything just kind of snowballed from there.

Although John’s passion is opera, he is well versed in a multitude of styles (as evidence of his latest piece from the semifinals Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen) and desires to show America that it isn’t simply opera that he can sing, but other styles as well. So there is a little bit for everyone.

What John enjoys about being Prince Poppycock is that Prince Poppycock is by far more outgoing, extroverted, boisterous while John, by natue, is softspoken, introverted, and a bit shy. As Prince Poppycock he feels that he is able to reach out to the audience a lot more than as himself. His wide span of musical tastes seem to reflect this, as John he would write dark music while as Prince Poppycock the music is much more lighthearted and fun. Obviously, the difficulties of Prince Poppycock is the hours of costuming, makeup and grooming that takes place. A small price to pay for so great a character.

Another advantage that John enjoys when being Prince Poppycock is that when he is around town looking like himself his not as “known” as the Prince Poppycock. He loves working on his music and entertaining the audience and the crowds and the fans… however, the fame aspect of it he could do without. Thus being Prince Poppycock allows him to turn into a new person and could be anonymous when Prince Poppycock isn’t needed.

As a singer/songwriter (he defines himself as a singer rather than specifically an opera singer) he enjoys the classical feeling of the piano and was sad to see the classical pianist leave the competition (Maestro Alexander Bui), because he knows just how much hard work a pianist puts in to get the music perfect and read for live television. Alice Tan Ridley is another act that he was sad to see go. During Vegas Callbacks, John got along well with Chipps Cooney and had looked forward in having more conversations with the comedic magician in the future, alas that never came to pass due to them not being in Los Angeles at the same time. He enjoys the acts that he join in the Top Ten, particularly Michael Grimm and Jackie Evancho. Getting to know the other acts has been a thrill and he looks forward to the ride for however long it lasts.

Being in Hollywood has been a thrill as he was able to connect with other artists, like Adam Lambert. He recently connected with a youth organization that aids in the artistic endeavors of youths within the GLBT community. He hopes that he would be asked to be a part of the tour b/c none of the finalists at the moment are making any money, while as being part of the tour they would be.

Should Poppycock make through the next round then perhaps in the end we would finally be able to see a little bit of the man behind the make up on stage.

Similar to the other dance crew, I only interviewed one member of Fighting Gravity named: Caleb Sharp. He was really articulate and a great representative for Fighting Gravity.

I asked him how they decided to audition for America’s Got Talent. Caleb said Fighting Gravity first did it at Va Tech university for a sorority and fraternity night. Turns out Caleb joined it later and wasn’t part of that first performance. They put the video on YouTube and it did well and they were invited to perform at the Espy’s after party in LA. Then Caleb said they were looking for other places to perform and decided to make the trip to NY to audition for America’s Got Talent.

Caleb made an interesting point about what it’s been like for them being on a show that’s been seen by millions of people. He said they’re unlike other acts since they’re kind of anonymous in their performance. So, when they go out in public no one realizes that they’re members of Fighting Gravity. Unless of course they’re wearing the Fighting Gravity shirts and then they get a little flavor of what it must be like for the other contestants on the show.

Caleb did acknowledge openly that they’re not the first dark light theater group even though the show kind of made it out to seem that way. However, he said that most of it is not in the US. Plus, he said that most of the dark light theater is comedy and Fighting Gravity is doing more of a dance style and trying to provide a fresh new take on it.

When asked about leaving school to be on the show he said school can wait. They’ll be going back. He then commented that it’s amazing to think that 6 months ago he would have thought he’d be in a math class doing problems he didn’t know the answer to. Now he’s in LA on America’s Got Talent, but that the chance only comes once in a lifetime and so they had to seize the opportunity.

I also couldn’t help but ask Caleb to pick the winner of the best opening week college football game: Va Tech vs. Boise St. He predictably took Va Tech. Although, he said it’s kind of funny because Christina and Ali have a connection with Boise St and so there’s a bit of a competition between them and the boys from Morgantown. Caleb even said that many of them had tickets to the game that they wouldn’t be using and that would be hard to miss. Since Va Tech lost to Boise St, I’m pretty sure Fighting Gravity is glad they’re in LA doing their thing.

I’ll be interested to see how they take this to the next level. They’re a definite fan favorite and the concept is unique and fantastic. They certainly have a decent chance of winning.

Michael Grasso was a really great interview. It’s really unfortunate that I don’t have the audio from the interview since he did a great job discussing things about Magic and performing magic on TV. I’ll do my best to summarize what he shared.

A reader asked me to ask him whether he’d be returning to Magic X (a group of Magicians) or going solo after his time on America’s Got Talent. Michael Grasso said he does not plan to go back to Magic X after the show, but plans to go solo and would love to incorporate some of the people from Magic X in his acts if he goes on tour and in his future acts.

Michael loves to do the slight of hand magic since it’s really the core of magic. When asked about being passed up in Las Vegas for an act like Chips Cooney he said it was really hard for him to not make it through in Las Vegas. Michael said he wanted to mix it up and show them something different in Vegas. He’d done the big Magic Trick in his audition and he wanted to show the more subtle side of his magic in Las Vegas, but he learned they want the big stuff.

Michael also mentioned that he’d done magic in big colloseum size venues in Asia and done the slight of hand tricks with no problems. The key was that these arenas have the big jumbotrons where the up close video of what he’s doing can be shown for everyone to see.

Michael said the hard part of America’s Got Talent for magicians is that you have to do a big “closing act” every single time you perform. Plus, you have 6 days to put it all together, build the set and at some pretty major expense (he said he had to pay for the sets).

I asked him about magic on TV and how it felt unauthentic to just use the camera switches to hide the way the trick is done. Michael said that some people are using that and other methods to do their magic, but he didn’t understand why since there wasn’t any need to do it that way. He said, magic on TV has to be done right and usually with one camera that continuously shows the shot and doesn’t cut away.

I also asked him about the girl that we always see with him and never have had a chance to learn about. He said her name and she was from the East Coast (sorry I don’t remember exactly where). He said that she was a theater arts performer. Michael said that he didn’t just want a girl that looked good up there, but always wanted his assistants to bring something special to the stage, to have a presence on stage. He gave her a lot of credit for being a part of the performance and also telling the story and selling the trick as well.

I could tell that Michael Grasso had a lot more stories to tell and experiences with Magic. It was unfortunate that I only had 10 minutes to get to know him.

I only had a short time with Anna and Patryk, but they were just about as I expected. Anna is the dominate one and Patryk is a little more reserved.

I asked Anna what her future plans and goals were with dancing. Anna quickly said the she wanted to one day be on Dancing with the Stars. I suggested to her that it would be really cool for them to have a kid star on Dancing with the Stars and she could be their partner. How cool would that be? In fact, I’m planning to write about this idea on my DWTS site.

They told me that their parents suggested that they audition for America’s Got Talent and see how it went.

Anna told a story about them going to dinner once and someone noticed that they were Anny and Patryk from America’s Got Talent. Turns out Patryk had his shoes in his hands and so the people realized they were the ballroom dancers from America’s Got Talent because of the shoes.

Patryk said that if they won the million dollars, he would want to use the money to pay for dance classes cause they’re so expensive. Then, Anna said, “And for Charity.”

Their favorite act in the top 10 besides their own was Fighting Gravity.

Anna’s comment about Charity was so cute. I’ll never forget how matter of fact she said it. Ballroom dancing on TV has definitely been very popular with Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. It’s great that Anna and Patryk have brought it to America’s Got Talent as well.