Welcome to Pure America's Got Talent

Camille and Kennerly Diebold are identical twins that seem to do everything together. They are models, actors, martial artists, marksmen, volunteers and harpists. The harp is their first love and their passion. Their goal is to bring the harp to the mainstream… but other than being two gorgeous women how are they planning to do that? By arranging mainstream music so that it can be played upon two harps.

And that was what they did for their act. Played a mainstream song on a harp.

But how did the judges take it? We’ve had an act come through a couple of seasons ago that did a powerful classical rendition of a mainstream song. Can this duo act do the same?

You can find out more about the twins at their website, show your support via their Facebook Page or follow them on Twitter! To hear some of their music just head over to their YouTube channel.

Stay tuned for the Chicago Audition episodes rumored to be showing in mid-June! And don’t forget that Season 5 of America’s Got Talent begins on the First of June!

Band Number Two of the evening: Gentlemen of NUCO. The members of the band are comprised of:
- Henry Wang on Violin
- Hugh Palmer on Violin
- Yoshi Nakano on Viola
- Charles Asch on Cello
- Josh Fink on Bass
- Corey Bertelsen on Percussion
- Patrick Slevin on Percussion
An eclectic group of gentlemen that mesh pop culture music with classical sounds. What started out as part of the Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra… this group of young gentlemen created their own group to play the mainstream music that they enjoy with the music that they are very talented in.

Coming onstage with their own rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone (instrumental, since there are no vocalists in the group) the mix of classical and mainstream works seamlessly together.

Although to this blogger their personality seems to stem through their music, the judges believe that their stage presence leave much to be desired going so far as to tease them for jumping in sync on beat during the song… but is their talent going to be enough for the judges to pass them on to Vegas?

Go and visit the Gentlemen of NUCO on their website via their bass-man, Josh Fink. To show your support, join The Gentlemen of NUCO on either their Facebook or MySpace pages. To listen to some of their music simply head on over to their YouTube channel to see what else they have covered.

And finally you can listen to samples of their album: Radiohead’s OK Computer, now available via Amazon.com and iTunes .

Here it is, the round two of the acts that auditioned in Chicago on Tuesday evening… As in with the last post, the acts where I could not find information about online or information online is confusing are clumped together into these “nameless” posts.

So if you happened to have any information about the following acts, please either contact us or leave a comment so that we may give that particular act it’s own post.

Again, a quick reminder, that this short series of posts only cover the evening tapings of Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday Evening’s Taping (POSSIBLE SPOILERS):

Read more…

This group of dancers specializes in the realm of steppin and hip-hop.

Originally met and banded together at Florida A & M University to create the group the FAMU Strikers they were invited to participate in the show: America’s Best Dance Crew (Season 3) some of their videos could be found on YouTube.

However, their group consisted of over the requisite seven and a few members opted out for the good of the group during that season and the Strikers moved through the weeks until they were eventually eliminated on Week 6: The Battle of the Sexes Challenge

Now they are back and ready to take on America’s Got Talent. During their audition their transition from steppin into hip-hop was seamless. Throw in a little bit of extra that they learned from ABDC and they have a charismatic and strong package. Piers being one that dislike things being “mixed-up” told them that either they are dancers or tumblers and to simple choose one. Sharon and Howie disagreed and enjoyed what they brought to the stage and potentially to the show.

So what do you think? Do they have a chance to Vegas? Or do them mixing things up going to hurt them in the end?

Show your support by joining their Facebook Page or their MySpace Page. You could also view some of their videos on their YouTube channel or follow them on Twitter.

If you want information on their time on America’s Best Dance Crew, go to their Facebook Page dedicated to the Strikers All Stars as seen on ABDC

Blue Sky Canopy is a band based out of Minneapolis, MN. According to their Facebook Page, the band consists of four friends:
- Jamison Murphy: Lead Vocals and Piano
- Brian Johnson: Guitar and Vocals
- Matt Peterson: Bass and Vocals
- Grant Gibeau: Drums

However, only Jamison and Brian were in attendance at the Chicago auditions which makes one wonder, what happened to the other half of the band? In any case, these two handsome college students go to separate universities and create their music with one another via the internet (what a way to use technology). They have a couple of LPs (self-titled and Real) that are available on Amazon.com and iTunes, and when they have free time it is used primarily to work on their music together (versus via the Internet).

The Fray – You Found Me (Cover)

So when these two friends came to Chicago for the AGT auditions they sang a known cover that the audience loved and enjoyed. In fact the audience loved it so much that they cheered, applauded, danced in the rows from the moment they started singing and well after they were done with their piece. The audience applause was so deafening that the judges were unable to listen to the majority of the act. However, what little that Piers and Sharon were able to hear seemed to indicate that Jamison was clearly the stronger of the two and in order for him to move on he would have to drop his friend along the way.

The audience nor Jamison – needless to say – did not agree with this assessment. Howie even said that it was difficult to hear them over the audience noise. For a long while, Piers and Sharon tried to convince Jamison that the best thing for him right now to continue growing as an artist is to drop his friend and go out as a solo act, because in him they saw a star.

Jamison, loyalty taking over, insisted that wherever he goes, his friend Brian will go with. He even tried to negotiate with the judges that he’ll go solo as long as he could take Brian with him. As it appears, Jamison seemed a bit stage shy or nervous, but when he has his friend on stage with him, he’ll be alright. Jamison even said that Brian’s harmonies are “out of this world”. It would appear that Jamison wanted the judges to give his friend a fair shake in the close confines of Las Vegas, to hear them without the noise and distractions of the audience before making a final decision on them.

He was stubborn but adamant and willing to turn down a chance to move on to Vegas if it meant leaving his friend behind. Howie said that he doesn’t know what Brian is capable of, but basing off of comments from Piers and Sharon he has decided that they should NOT go to Vegas. Next up Piers… Piers thought about it for a long while, throughout all this the audience chanting Vegas, Vegas, Vegas. And finally declared that it didn’t hurt Ringo Starr to be with the Beatles, so it’s not going to hurt Jamison to have Brian with him. A split decision! Last was Sharon… who stared at Jamison, continuously saying that he was being stubborn and that stubbornness could eventually hurt him in the end… but she also said that it is that stubbornness that could help him too.

So which side would Sharon choose? Would she choose to side with her first instinct and not send them on to Vegas? Or would she give Brian the second chance and send them through?

Either way you can keep up with them on their website: BlueSkyCanopy.com and show your support on their Facebook Page. For those of you that prefer MySpace over Facebook, they have a MySpace page with some of the their music available to listen to or even keep up with their tweets on Twitter!

They also have a couple of YouTube channels here and here for you to enjoy as we all wait for the premiere of America’s Got Talent Season 5.

So what is a laryngospasm? According to Wikipedia and other websites – medical or otherwise – it is an uncontrolled reaction (aka spasm) to the vocal chords. So I suppose if you’re singing, that’s one way of looking at it.

But the other, lesser known definition of Laryngospasms (or Spasms for short), is the male singing quartet of practicing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists.

The best way to describe this group is that they take popular songs and create musical, medical parodies of them. Case in point in a Christmas party many moons ago a couple of the original members were singing Breaking Up is Hard to Do by Neil Sedaka , and thanks to a suggestion from an audience member, created a parody called:

Waking Up is Hard to Do.

With a couple of albums and videos on YouTube. They have gigs throughout the country all while still keeping their day jobs!

So with a steady gig going on, a chance to go on America’s Got Talent seemed inevitable. As it turns out, their act was all fun and campiness, but is there a spot for them in the mainstream music scene?

No matter the answer, this has been an established group for almost two decades running and have gigs scheduled throughout the United States through 2011. Just go to the The Laryngospasms website for more information. Listen to their music, find out where they are singing at next. Or head to their YouTube channel to see music videos that they have created as well as a video about their trip to the America’s Got Talent auditions in Chicago. Finally if you’re a Facebook junkie, just join their Facebook page to show your support.

Hello all! So after a week or so of digesting and relaxing I’m finally ready to give you all a sneak peek on acts of that could potentially be on television during the Chicago Auditions that were held on April 27 and 28.

Over the course of the next month, PureAmericasGotTalent.com will provide you with information of acts that that have gone through the Chicago auditions, some of the judges comments/expressions, the audience’s expression and any online information in regards to the group for you to enjoy.

However, as always there are some groups where information is scarce or impossible to find, in which case you the reader could help us out. If you have any knowledge of any of the acts feel free to leave a comment or simply contact us and let us know so we could honor them with a post for others to see.

Keep in mind that although AGT Chicago had four tapings, this blogger was only able to make it to two of the tapings, which adds up to thirty-one acts! One per day. =) So enjoy.

This first post is dedicated to the nameless acts where information was scarce or confusing online:

Tuesday Evening’s Taping (POSSIBLE SPOILERS):

Read more…

Hello all! Back from Tuesday and Wednesday evening shows, I needed some time to digest everything before posting.

According to the warmup act America’s Got Talent started their tapings from Los Angeles… then moving north to Portland, Oregon… moving east to Dallas, Texas… then south to Orlando, Florida… heading back north to New York City and finally ending in Chicago! From these taped cities a small number of acts are sent to Las Vegas to be weeded down further and the lucky chosen will get their chance in the spotlight.

But I digress… let’s talk about what happened in the past couple of days!

First off… as expected those that called in for groups of twenty or more, have VIP access, or are fans of the acts that are being shown during the showing were seated first on the orchestra (ground) level. Everyone else ended up filling in what seats are left in the orchestra level and then most ended up seated in the balcony section of the theatre. Anyone else that showed up but were unable to get tickets online were welcome to stand in line and wait patiently until all those that have tickets have gone through first… and should there be seats remaining they let anyone else in to fill the top seats of the balcony (there were still seats available when they started taping on both nights).

Upon entering they did a bag check as well as wave you down with the metallic wand… There are places inside the theatre where one could go and purchase snacks and drinks (including alcoholic drinks), they were LONG shows. Show/taping started at 7:00pm and it began with the stage managers asking the audience to do a few takes of applause, a few takes of standing ovations and a few takes of boos. Once these are done there is a warmup act that fills in the dead time in between acts as the stage crew help with setup and dismantling of equipment.

Then comes the intro of the judges…. Piers had to come in twice at the taping on Tuesday due to technical difficulties… When Sharon headed towards the judges area she immediately kicked off her shoes and spent the rest of the evening barefoot… Howie (the David replacement) got a Howie chant as he entered the main area. On Wednesday instead of walking down the aisle, the judges came from the backstage area.

Finally it was time to start the first act….

In total there were fourteen acts on Tuesday and seventeen acts on Wednesday, after about half of the acts went first, then there was an intermission where the warmup act had people come up and put on a mini-talent show and then we saw the remaining acts for the evening. The tapings ended anywhere between 10:00pm and 11:00pm depending on length of time per act (from walking on stage to walking off stage after judgement).

There was a decent variety of acts… from bands to duos, circus acts and magicians, from pop to opera to rap… There was even some oddities that will undoubtedly make it into various montage scenes. We got to see acts of loyalty and acts of defiance. We saw someone overstep their bounds and were immediately put down by the judges (even Howie got in on the action!).

Howie Mandel is undoubtedly the “nice judge” this year. He used his buzzer the least while Piers and Sharon tied for most. He gives compliments and sugar coats criticism… unless the act was so bad that he couldn’t find anything good about it. There seems to be very good chemistry between the judges, Piers jumping on Howie with a “Howie? Deal, or No Deal?” whenever Howie talks to much and hasn’t gotten to the point yet.

In special cases Nick would intervene to either help out an act if he feels the judges were unnecessarily harsh or confront an act should they overstep their bounds. Nick seems to be very comfortable with the judges if he’s willing to push them if necessary.

Just after intermission on Tuesday night Nick did some tapings from the balcony that had to be retaken due to the audience interrupting once or twice or thrice.

So there are some ideas of what happened during the evening tapings of America’s Got Talent. Did anyone else go to the various tapings throughout the U.S.? If so what are your impressions of the tapings?

Today is the day, America’s Got Talent has arrived in Chicago and there are four chances to come by and watch the auditions as an member of the audience! I’ll be there Tuesday (today) night and I hope to be able to come back with news and a low down of what went down… within reason.

If you haven’t gotten tickets yet, I hear that there are still tickets available for the evening showing on Tuesday as well as the afternoon showing on Wednesday at the Chicago Theatre. Just go to this link and follow the directions to reserve your ticket.

In other news leading into AGT 2010. John may be able to give you a sneak peek into Las Vegas auditions… so stay tuned for details!