PureAGT Season 8 Audition Round Rundown #7 – A Little Bit of Everything!

And so ends the auditions rounds this season 🙂 Tonight’s episode seemed to be a hodgepodge of auditions from each of the cities – saw some from San Antonio, some from New York, some from New Orleans, some from L.A…not sure about Chicago, but there was probably a few from Chicago, too. Overall, it felt like a nice close to the audition rounds…now who’s ready for Vegas week??? 😀

Mestizo Ballet Folklorico – ages 3-11
The act: Three young brothers doing a mariachi dance with machetes (butter knives for the little one 😉 ).
The verdict: Judges gushed about how cute the littlest one, Mateo, was – and sent them through to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: Can someone please clone Mateo and let me have one??? My god, that kid was adorable – that cute little voice, and how happy he was dancing with his brothers with his little butter knives 😛 The act was cute, but I’m not sure they can really do a whole lot more with it – I have a feeling Vegas will probably as far as they get. But as long as we get to see more of Mateo, I’m good.

Aquanauts
The act: A synchronized swimming act.
The verdict: Judges said yes to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: We only got to see a brief clip, but it seemed entertaining enough. Not sure if it will translate well to the live show, but I guess we’ll see.

Kevin Downey Jr.
The act: A stand-up comedian that cracked jokes about peeing in pools.
The verdict: He’s through to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: I didn’t think his joke was particularly hilarious, and of course we only got to see that one joke. Probably the weakest we’ve seen in the comedy category – I doubt he’ll make it past Vegas.

Tavi & Antonio
The act: They’re male aerialists that performed a love-themed aerial act.
The verdict: Judges loved it and put them through to Vegas – and Howie & Howard were inspired to get a little lovey-dovey themselves.
Court’s thoughts: While I wasn’t particularly impressed with the aerial stuff they were doing (the acrobat category is REALLY strong this season!), I do give them props for going against the grain and having a male-male aerial duo – not only is it unexpected, but it also probably gives them an edge in what they can do, since they have two people with a lot of upper body strength.

Timber Brown – age 28
The act: He’s an aerial pole artist that performed a series of dramatic strength moves and drops on a really tall pole.
The verdict: Mel recused herself from voting, since she knew him from when she did Peepshow in Vegas a few years ago. The other 3 said yes.
Court’s thoughts: This is the strongest pole artist we’ve seen since Steven Retchless two seasons ago – and this guy seems like he could be even stronger. Excited to see what else he’s got up his sleeve 🙂

Skilyr Hicks – age 14
The act: She played the guitar and sang an original song called “Brand New Day”, which was inspired by her father’s death a few years ago.
The verdict: Judges loved her voice and her songwriting talent – and put her through to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: She reminds me of a young Natalie Merchant – she’s got this gentle, unique-sounding voice, and she’s yet another talented songwriter…this year has really become the year of the songwriter! I think she could probably use some work on her stage presence, since she seemed quite nervous; however, I think she’s got more natural talent than Olivia Rox, who I forsee her being pitted against for a spot in the live shows.

Dr. Bob Baker – age 61
The act: He’s a gastroenterologist by day, and a ventriloquist with a talking colon puppet by night.
The verdict: Howard recused himself from voting, since Dr. Bob was actually his doctor. The other three thought it was kind of funny, but not right for AGT…and gave him 3 no’s.
Court’s thoughts: As someone with a mother who suffers from Crohn’s disease, I’ve seen my fair share of gastroenterologists – and I can appreciate one who has a good sense of humor 🙂 It may not have been AGT-worthy, but I thought it was a cute, amusing little ditty.

Lindsay the Hula Belching Girl
The act: Pretty self-explanatory – she belched really loud while hula-hooping.
The verdict: 4 swift and emphatic no’s from the judges.
Court’s thoughts: Just…WHY???!

Jesus B-Ball
The act: I didn’t quite understand what exactly his talent was, but I guess he had studied the physics of shooting free throws and had discovered the formula for a perfect one.
The verdict: Jesus brought up two guys (who I think were college basketball players) and had them each successfully shoot a free throw using his technique – however, when he attempted it himself, he missed. Consequently, judges said “no” to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: Sorry kids, while I acknowledge that it takes a lot of talent to be a good teacher, I don’t think teaching the audience how to do [insert task here] is really a talent that works on AGT. You’re better off just doing it yourself…and poor Jesus just couldn’t.

Secrete Emotion
The act: She’s a sort-of beat poet that recited an erotic poem as Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On” played.
The verdict: Judges seemed a little uncomfortable, and Nick got a little hot ‘n’ bothered – it was a no to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: I’d rather read my erotic smut out of a drugstore romance novel in the privacy of my own home, than to have someone else recite it to me in front of a live audience.

Milton Patton – age 21, from Arkansas
The act: He performed a cover of “Whiskey Lullaby” by Brad Paisley.
The verdict: Judges loved his country vocals and his connection to the song and put him through to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: I think this is one of those pleasant cases of “WOW! That’s not at all what I expected him to sound like!” Admittedly, upon seeing that he was an African American guy singing country, I think in my mind I automatically thought he’d sound like Darius Rucker – basically more of a soul vocalist just singing country songs. But this guy is a legit country vocalist – he’s got the right twang to really sound great singing country. I think nerves and emotions may have gotten the better of him, because he sounded a little shaky at times, but I’m excited to see what else we’re going to hear from him. I daresay Marty Brown & Jimmy Rose just found themselves some big competition!

Jetta – age 63
The act: She sang “Hot Stuff” by Donna Summer.
The verdict: It was terribly off-key and I think even Jetta knew it – then again, I think she only auditioned so she could meet Howard. It was a no to Vegas.
Court’s thoughts: Oh well. I can deal with one act per season that only tried out so they could meet one of the judges 😛

And that’s it for the audition rounds! Who were your favorites from tonight? Keep an eye out in the coming days, as I’ll be doing some Vegas week predictions before things kick off on Tuesday night 🙂