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Jackie Evancho on Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Last night, Jackie Evancho made her first talk show appearance on the Tonight Show! Jay chatted with her about fifth grade, cheerleading, and more in the clips below. And of course, she sings another song!

Jackie Evancho on Tonight Show Part 1

Jackie Evancho on Tonight Show Part 2

September 24, 2010 I Written By

Michael Grimm Proposes to Girlfriend Lucy Zolcerova on Ellen

When I did my interview of Michael Grimm, a reader of Pure America’s Got Talent asked me to find out if he had a girlfriend. He told me that he did have a girlfriend of about three years. Well, she’s not his girlfriend anymore. Now she’s his fiance. Check out this video of Michael Grimm propose to Lucy Zolcerova on Ellen.

Congrats to Michael and Lucy and best of luck in the future!

(Props to Marianya who found it)

September 19, 2010 I Written By

Congrats to Michael Grimm – Winner of America’s Got Talent 2010

A big Congratulations to Michael Grimm, winner of America’s Got Talent 2010!!

As I look at the final 4, I can’t help but agree that Michael Grimm was the most talented person in the top 4. He knows who he is as a singer and the entire season he stuck with what he did well. I honestly don’t ever see Michael Grimm becoming a superstar since he has such a strong niche style. However, he’s going to be very strong with that niche and have tons of amazingly committed fans coming to see him perform.

Personally, his niche isn’t my favorite, but I could actually say that about all of the top 4. I did think this tweet that I was sent by @amberdawn7 was pretty interesting:
“How crazy was it that of the 3 fascinating acts on America’s Got Talent, plain old vanilla ice cream won it?”

I’m not sure which 3 fascinating acts she meant (maybe the other 3 in the top 4), but it is an interesting observation. Something I bet the producers of America’s Got Talent really don’t like. I’m sure they would have loved for anyone that wasn’t a singer to win.

I guess as I think back on this season of America’s Got Talent, I was thoroughly entertained. Although, I think they went a week (or maybe two) too long for my liking. I’ll probably write more about the season later. Not to mention, Marianya is itching to write about the past contestants and what’s going on with them since being on the show.

For now, Congratulations to Michael Grimm and I wish you the best of luck!!

September 15, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent Season 6 Auditions

America’s Got Talent is really on the ball this year in having the auditions for season 6 of America’s Got Talent ready to go. So, if you are looking to audition for America’s Got Talent 2011, then you can get all the info on the official America’s Got Talent Audition site.

They’ve announced the following audition cities: Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago. Click on the city to see more details for those specific cities. You can register for those specific cities if you want to audition in one of those cities.

If those 3 cities don’t work for you, then it looks like they’ll be holding auditions in New York City, Atlanta, Seattle, and Houston and possibly other cities as well. The official site has a place where you can sign up for alerts for those cities. If they do like in past years, you’ll get an email with the details for the city near you.

As always, we’ll be covering the auditions of America’s Got Talent as much as possible. We’ve kind of become a fan haven for discussing audition experiences and helping those who audition learn what will help them be most successful at the audition. In fact, Jackie Evancho’s mom visited this site two seasons ago when Jackie first auditioned.

Let’s hear about your experiences and plans for the auditions!

Disclaimer: This is just a fan site and is responsible for the content and does not represent America’s Got Talent, NBC, or Fremantle Media. As if this wasn’t obvious already, but in case anyone wondered.

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Final America’s Got Talent 2010 Voting!

We’re finally here. This is the final America’s Got Talent 2010 voting. Now that we’ve seen the top 4 perform, it’s time to vote for who you think will win America’s Got Talent season 5. I’m not sure the performance tonight will make that much difference, but I guess we’ll see. So, start voting for your favorite.

September 14, 2010 I Written By

Final America’s Got Talent 2010 Top 4 Performances

Well, season 5 of America’s Got Talent is coming to a close. I’m kind of sad about that since it really has been an interesting season. The talent on this season of America’s Got Talent has had more variety and has been more refined and professional than in season’s past.

That said, I was right that the top 4 has kind of been a disappointment for me. I’m not sure if it’s the top 4’s fault or AGT for having so many episodes to finally make it to the final. Either way, the top 4 are talented, but the TV show just wasn’t all that exciting for me.

Ok, enough in general, here’s my specific thoughts on the top 4:

Prince Poppycock – Piers is absolutely right to buzz him. Ok, maybe it’s a little distasteful to do it in the finale, but that’s his job as a judge to do it. Prince Poppycock is as much about show as he is about singing. Tonight he chose to take away half of his talent by really just singing. Ok, he gets some partial points for the costuming, but the costuming is really just meant to accentuate and underscore his performance. The song just doesn’t match the Prince Poppycock persona. Two weeks of generally disappointing performances is not looking good for him.

Michael Grimm – With singers so much of it is choosing the right song. Michael had chosen good not great songs up until the finale. The songs fit his voice, but didn’t really compel the masses to love him. I think tonight’s song choice was a great choice. It fit his musical style. It had the right amount of energy and excitement that is needed for a show like AGT. Very well done. He should be very happy with his performance. I still have some doubt that his style and genre will have enough mass appeal to get him the win.

Jackie Evancho – I thought it was an interesting choice of music for Jackie. Although, I think the music plays perfectly for most of her fan base. As I listened to her tonight I think I was most impressed with her ability to really nail the pitches and create such a beautiful and consistent tone. We’ve seen some amazing kid singers on the show, but one of the challenges they usually have is hitting the right pitches (what people call pitchy) and being consistent in their singing. Jackie has been pretty flawless in that regard and that’s talent. Although, I think her special X factor is that she’s just adorably cute.

Fighting Gravity – I was glad that we got another chance to see Fighting Gravity perform after last week’s relatively weak performance. Tonight’s performance was back up to the Fighting Gravity level. I’m not sure the mistake that Piers pointed out will matter that much. I do think they were kind of missing that next level of WOW that would have given them a chance to win AGT. However, Howie is spot on that a black light theater show is going to be in Las Vegas. It will also likely be branded Fighting Gravity. When Terry Fator got to Las Vegas, he worked with some great talent and really took his show to the next level. I think the same thing will happen with Fighting Gravity and it will become one of those must see shows that I tell people who visit me about. I’ll be the first one at their premiere to let you know about it.

As you can see, my bet is on Jackie Evancho winning, but as I said in my previous AGT 2010 winner post, it is so close that tomorrow we could be surprised. The suspense will be pretty intense. I can’t wait to see what happens!

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America’s Got Talent Season 5 Winner Prediction

When we posted this America’s Got Talent Winner poll last week I would have never been able to guess the results that we’ve seen. Usually, there’s a pretty clear cut result in the polls that we post on Pure America’s Got Talent. In fact, you, the readers, are amazing at predicting the outcome.

Plus, almost always there’s one that’s in the lead and a second one that’s close to the person in the lead, but well ahead of the rest. That’s what makes the results of our poll for the America’s Got Talent top 4 so amazing. Check out the results as of this posting:

Plus, when I checked this morning the voting was even closer. All 4 of the acts were within 24 votes of each other. This was even after a few thousand votes. Pretty amazing.

Let’s just say that this might be the first year that it really is anyone’s game on who will win AGT 2010. Of course, I’m still waiting to see the performances tonight. Many of you may have already seen it and have an opinion. I’ll post mine after I see the acts.

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Top 10 Acts to Perform on America’s Got Talent Tour

Many of you (and us) have been wondering who will be performing on the America’s Got Talent Tour. Well, I got word from AEG (the group that puts on the tour) that they posted the pictures of the acts that will be going on tour on the official AEG website.

The interesting thing is that on the AEG website they have the pictures of the entire America’s Got Talent 2010 Top 10. That’s right: Anna and Patryk, Christina and Ali, Fighting Gravity, Jackie Evancho, Jeremy Vanschoonhoven, Michael Grasso, Michael Grimm, Prince Poppycock, Studio One Young Beast Society, and Taylor Mathews.

I emailed them this question:
“I checked the site. It has pictures of all the top 10. Does that mean that we’ll get to see all 10 acts in every city of the AGT tour?”

Here was their response:
“Yes, all top 10 acts will be performing in every city. The line up is subject to change though.”

There you have it. The entire America’s Got Talent top 10 will be going on tour. I imagine they’ll do like other tours where the tour will favor acts from that area. For example, when Michael Grimm comes to the Las Vegas show he’ll probably get a few more songs since he’s from Las Vegas.

You can see the full list of tour locations below or head straight over to ticketmaster to buy your tickets now. Read more..

September 13, 2010 I Written By

Vote for the America’s Got Talent 2010 Winner

We now know the America’s Got Talent 2010 top 4. Next week will be the last time to vote, but the good thing is that you can vote for who you think will be the winner of America’s Got Talent 2010 right here and now. It’s always interesting to see how well the Pure America’s Got Talent readership is at predicting the winner of America’s Got Talent.

Ok, it’s time to vote!!

September 8, 2010 I Written By

America’s Got Talent 2010 Top 4 Thoughts

It’s hard for me to believe that next week will be the finale of America’s Got Talent 2010. My wife however thinks that this season has gone on forever. I hope that’s not because she thinks I spend too much time blogging about America’s Got Talent. It is my job after all;-)

Well, we’re down to the final 4. If you’ve been reading Pure America’s Got Talent the past few days, then the results show won’t have been a shock at all. Especially the way they announced it. Based on our polls, they should have put the Michael’s head to head and we wouldn’t have really known which one was going to make it. Instead, the whole thing was pretty anti climactic for me.

Enough about that. On to the final 4. Here’s my thoughts on the acts:
Fighting Gravity – America really fell in love with this group after their first couple performances. However, I think this last performance soured quite a few people to Fighting Gravity. Let’s be honest here. The lasers were cool, but it wasn’t nearly as good of a performance as they’d done before. I think it will be hard for them to bring back the original magic and wow factor again in the finale. I hope I’m proven wrong though, since the dark light theater concept is brilliant.

Michael Grimm – I’m not sure about Michael Grimm myself. I think he has a decent sized group of incredibly passionate fans that love him and love the style of music he does. Then, there’s the rest of the audience who doesn’t really dislike him, but also don’t love him either. It will be interesting to see if his group of passionate fans will be enough to get him the win.

Prince Poppycock – I believe that Prince Poppycock is the most polarizing figure in the finals. There’s a bunch of people that adore what he does and a bunch of people that hate what he does. There aren’t that many people in between. Although, like Fighting Gravity, I think he took a bit of hit in his popularity with his last performance. The good part is that most of the hit he took was from people who probably weren’t going to vote for him in the first place. Marianya learned that his final performance will include a bit of John in it along with Prince Poppycock. I’m interested to know how he plans to do that.

Jackie Evancho – It’s going to be a real challenge for Jackie to match her last performance. Between the song choice, the ethereal stage production and her performance she’s going to have a hard time matching that in this next performance. I wonder if she peaked one episode too early. Where does she go from here? If she does execute a similar performance to her last one, she’s going to be a hard little girl to beat.

Overall, it is interesting that 3 of the final 4 our singers. Although, it’s kind of hard to classify Prince Poppycock as a singer. If he just got up and sang, he would have been gone long ago. He’s so much more than a singer. For the variety aspect I’d have loved to have Jeremy in the final 4 instead of Michael Frimm or even Michael Grasso, but it is what it is.

My biggest concern for the finale is we have 4 acts left that are more or less predictable. We know almost exactly what we’re going to get from Michael Grimm and Jackie Evancho are going to do. If you like it, then you’ll be happy to hear more of essentially the same. Prince Poppycock will be a similar over the top routine and Fighting Gravity will have to pull some crazy rabbit out of the hat to really have the WOW factor.

I guess that means I’m predicting a talented, but less than extraordinary final 4. What do you think?

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