Welcome to Pure America's Got Talent

Update: Word is that they might not be an air guitar band after all, but a real band. Funny that the show would name them the Airpocalypse Wannabes on their site then.

I got a note from a member of the air guitar group that was on the last season of America’s Got Talent: Airpocalypse. It said:

Hi All! Obviously, we think this is great… http://americasgottalentauditions.com/new/node/309 Airpocalypse Loves You! ~X

To save you having to click the link. It has a picture (seen below) on the official AGT audition website of what’s labeled “Airpocalypse Wannabes.” I guess we should have seen it coming. I think Piers (if he’s back) will have a field day ripping them in favor of the originals. Although, I have to say that the note from the original Airpocalypse shows what classy guys they are. Makes me feel good they made it as far as they did.

It seems like my post about Christina and Ali has brought out some people who disagree (which is totally fine). Although, I was pretty excited when X from Airpocalypse stopped by Pure America’s Got Talent and left the following comment about Christina and Ali:

Jason L. Cheung a.k.a Air Guitar X:
I feel I must comment here. I had the honor of competing (with? against?) Christina and Ali in Week 1 of the Top 48. I am a proud member of Airpocalypse, and I am compelled to confirm that Christina and Ali are two of the nicest people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I’ve heard that Courage is Grace under Pressure, and I hope that should I ever have to confront the challenges that these two young ladies face on a daily basis, I hope I can have a fraction of the Courage that they have.

Am I bummed that I am not in the competition still? Hell yes. Am I bummed that they are in what could have been my place?

Nope. Not at all.

Yes, there are acts that I think we should have gone ahead of. However, this is not one of them. Best of luck to them. If you pray, (to whoever), pray for them. And if you don’t, you must recognize the fact that you are watching one of the most inspirational things that you may ever see.

~X

First, it’s nice to hear from someone who has had first hand interaction with Christina and Ali. Second, this says a lot about Airpocalypse and the type of people they are.

UPDATE: Here are some comments submitted by Jamison (from Blue Sky Canopy)

Although our my act never made it to air-time, in Vegas I was in the ‘duos’ category with Christina and Ali, so after spending all that time with both sisters and their parents, I also feel the need to comment here.

For Christina and Ali, this isn’t about winning. They carry a message with them greater than anyone else on the show – and instead of telling it, they’re SHOWING it. Follow your dreams, no matter what.

Not to say they’re the only courageous people on America’s Got Talent – many others have come from hard backgrounds/lives, but after knowing them personally, I can tell you with complete honesty: They deserve everything good in this world.

Sympathy votes? No. I believe people over-think the title of the show too much. It’s not solely about who the most talented person/act is. It’s about who people like personally. Remember, they’re looking for a Vegas “show”, not “just singing.” Professional performers need to be personable with their audiences, like-able, relate-able, and inspiring. So, whether it’s their amazing talent, courage, inspiring story, beauty, humbleness, or grace, people will continue to vote for Christina and Ali because THEY DESERVE IT.

What they portray on the show is NOT some produced persona the show made up for them – what you see/hear is who they REALLY are. They are angels. I spoke most with Ali (she was closer to my age), and every time, I would feel a warming light radiating from her smile, eyes, and sincerity.

Christina and Ali, and Michael Grimm, are the most genuine acts I met during my experience with the show. They deserve it all, and I hope they get it. God bless them.

-Jamison

UPDATE 2: Here’s the comments from Iron Horse about Ali and Christina:

I’m 100% behind Jason on this one! We spent time talking with them and their parents in Vegas and Hollywood and the whole time they were always cheerful and full of good things to say about every act.

I think it takes talent to be able to sing like they do with the breathing problems that they have. My brother and I both have had pneumonia for the past couple weeks and I know first hand how hard it is to sing with fluid in your lungs… not saying I know what it feels like to have CF, but I know what it feels like to not be able to breath properly and try to sing at the same time. Christina and Ali are not only brave enough to devote their lives to something doctors have told them they’ll never be able to do properly, but they are extremely brave to do it in front of millions of Americans on live television.

They may not be the most talented singers in the world… Many may not even feel they deserve to be this far in the competition… it’s not my place to say. But give them credit for what they are doing.

Just my two cents…

-Carl
Iron Horse

Hello all! Here it is the long awaited music from the Las Vegas call backs!

If you do not see a song here that you’re looking for, please let us know and I will do all I can to find it, but no promises, but I promise I will try…

Las Vegas Callbacks DAY ONE

Straight to Hollywood – Katy Perry: Waking Up in Vegas

Magicians
Michael Grasso – Telepopmusik: Breathe
Murray Sawchuck – Pussycat Dolls: When I Grow Up
Chipps Cooney Intro – Bach: Air on G String

Acrobats/Movement Acts
AscenDance Audition – Master of Confusion: Dinner
Rudi Macaggi – Bond: Señorita

Classical Singers
Prince Poppycock – Giuseppe Verdi: La donna è mobile (from the opera Rigolleto)
Hannibal Means – Luciano Pavarotti: Caruso
Carlos Aponte – Man of La Mancha: Impossible Dream

Dance Acts
Hot Shot Tap Dancers Audition – The Ting Tings: Shut Up and Let Me Go
Studio One Young Beast Society – Group 1 Crew: Transcend
Lindsey Sterling – Black Eyed Peas: Pump It
Style Pros Crew – Black Eyed Peas: Rockin to the Beat
Wreckless – Kesha: Blah Blah Blah

Female Singers
Mama T – Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels: Devil with the Blue Dress
Alice Tan Ripley – Tina Turner: Proud Mary
April Lane – Whitney Houston: I Have Nothing
Debra Romer – Jewel: Foolish Games

Youth Acts
Common ft. Pharrell – Universal Mind Control
Lil Chris – The Temptations: Stand By Me
Connor Doran – Alexandra Burke: Hallelujah (?)

Novelty Acts
Intro – Entrance of the Gladiators
Sally Cohn – Judy Garland: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Close – Frank Sinatra: Young at Heart

Male Singers
Paul Safy Jr – Ray Charles: Georgia
Keith Urban: Stupid Boy
Taylor Matthews – Smokey Robinson: The Tracks of My Tears
Michael Grimm – Otis Redding: Try A Little Tenderness

Results
Rob Dougan: Clubbed to Death (Matrix OST)
Leona Lewis: Run

Las Vegas Callbacks DAY TWO

Danger Acts
Nick Pike Audition Flashback
- Black Eyed Peas: I Gotta Feeling

Jeremy Vanschoonhoven
- Audition Flashback – Kevin Rudolf: Let It Rock
- Audition – Taio Cruz: Break Your Heart

Dance Groups
RNG Audition – Black Eyed Peas: Imma Be

Musical Groups
Auditions
- The Temptations: Ain’t Too Proud To Beg
- Rascal Flatts: What Hurts the Most
- Muse: Feeling Good

New Directions Audition – The Temptations: The Way You Do the Things You Do

Cristina & Ali
Audition Flashback – Miley Cyrus: The Climb
Audition – Carrie Underwood: Temporary Home

Novelty Acts – Quincy Jones: Soul Bossa Nova

Bands
Strange Familiar
Audition Flashback – Pretenders: I’ll Stand By You
Audition – Joe Cocker: Have a Little Faith

Harmonik
Audition Flashback – Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah
Audition – Josh Groban: You Raise Me Up

Auditions
Johnny Cash: You’re My Baby
Katrina & The Waves: Walking On Sunshine

Airpocalypse Audition
- Carmina Burana: O Fortuna
- Ram Jam: Black Betty from 1977

Male Singers
Auditions
- Righteous Brothers: Unchained Melody

Justin Hopkins – Peter Gabriel: In Your Eyes
Cody Joe Tillman – Dirty Vegas: Days Go By (Acoustic)
Luigi Seno – Amos Lee: Sweet Pea
Nathaniel Kenyon – Rob Thomas: Someday

Close – Coldplay: Fix You

Las Vegas Results – Leona Lewis: Footprints in the Sand

So according to the unscientific poll here at PureAmericasGotTalent.com you chose the following for the four acts to move on:

Fighting Gravity: Performance Act
Nathaniel Kenyon: Guitar/Singer
Cristina and Ali: Sister Singing Duo
Future Funk: Hip Hop Duo

How did you guys do?

First though, tonight’s musical guests:

Selena Gomez: Round and Round

Rock of Ages: I Wanna Rock
Twisted Sister: I Wanna Rock
Rock of Ages: Don’t Stop Believin’

Read more…

So the first group of twelve is up… how are they going to do? Out of this twelve America is able to choose their favorite top four to move on.

Feel free to leave your comments… I apologize for the delays for the music, the computer I usually use is occupied so music from Las Vegas week onwards is going to be delayed.

You are able to choose up to four acts.

As a quick note: Twisted Trystan and Krystan had to drop from the competition, so Nick Pike was brought in one week prior to filming to fill out the Top 48. Interesting that they chose a danger act to replace a danger act.

Many thanks to Björn for helping me find the missing ones…

KungFu Heroes
- Marilyn Manson: Rock is Dead

Cristina and Ali
- Rascal Flatts: Bless the Broken Road

Airpocalypse
- Europe: Final Countdown
- The Knack: My Sharona

Hot Shot Tap Dancers
- Madcon: Beggin’

Paul Safy Jr
- Ella Fitzgerald: Cry Me a River

Future Funk
- Walter Murphy: A Fifth Of Beethoven

Sally Cohn
- Mariah Carey: Hero

Nick Pike
- Scooter: Fire

Rated Next Generation aka RNG
- Rihanna: Disturbia

Maricar

Fighting Gravity
- The Glitch Mob: How to Be Eaten By A Woman

Nathaniel Kenyon
- Hinder: Lips of an Angel

Well eleven spots are left the Group B “Stand bys” have a tough job to try to prove that they have what it takes to be part of the top 48.

Like in the Part Two post, I will have only the acts that made it through to Hollywood, with links so you could find more information about them. The acts will also be broken down into the groups as notated by the show…

Danger
- Kung Fu Heroes: Martial Artists (Los Angeles)
- Jeremy Vanschoonhoven: Bicyclist (Portland)

Dance Group
- Rated Next Generation aka RNG (Portland)

Male Singer
- Luigi Seno (Final Auditions)
- Nathaniel Kenyon (Orlando)
- Paul Safy Jr (Portland)

Comedian
- Ronith (Los Angeles)
- Airpocalypse (Portland)

Music Bands/Groups/Duo
- Iron Horse (Portland/Chicago)
- Strange Familiar (Portland)
- NU Covenant (Chicago)
- Cristina and Ali (Portland)

So there you have it:
- 10 acts that were guaranteed a spot in Hollywood and as thus didn’t need to audition in Vegas
- 27 acts that were guaranteed an audition in Las Vegas to prove their muttle and made it through.. also known as the Judges Favorites
- 11 acts that were “stand bys” and eventually were given a chance to shine and earn their spot for Hollywood

That leaves just ONE act left… which came from the YouTube Auditions. If you had forgotten, the producers of AGT chose forty acts for you to sift through and vote on. The YouTube act with the most votes is guaranteed a spot in the top 48 in Hollywood.

The voting phase has ended but the vids are still up, so head over to YouTube.com/AGT and look through the acts and see if you can guess you made it to the show.

The YouTube act will be revealed on the August 10th!

Portland auditions… this is new, isn’t it? It was an interesting show overall… I did notice that one of the acts that passed through to Vegas actually auditioned in Chicago (I would know, I was there)… so knowing that kind of makes me wonder how much editing is there over all?

Just some food for thoughts.

As always the acts below are the ones that passed on to Vegas with any links that I was able to find right off the bat. If you have any information to add to the below feel free to either leave a comment or contact us.

Portland Auditions Day One:

Jeremy Vanschoonhoven – Cyclist Stunt Man

Bhangra Empire – Indian Cultural Dance Group
- Facebook Page
- Twitter
- YouTube Channel
- LinkedIn

The Strange Familiar – Singing/Musical Duo
- Facebook Page
- MySpace Page
- YouTube Channel

Northwest Dance & Acro – Dance Group
- Facebook Page

Airpocalypse – Air Band
- Blogger
- Facebook Page

Iron Horse – Country Band
- PureAGT’s Page: This group actually auditioned in Chicago, so go to the PureAGT post for information about this group.

Connor Doran – Indoor Kite Flier

William Scott Anderson – Magician

Sally Cohn – Hand Whistler
Sally’s Book on Amazon: A Handwhistler: Memories of Creativity and Activism