Portland: Ho Hum...

Our final week of audition episodes (Yes, it’s true!) began tonight with a ho-hum trip to Portland that produced some sappy stories but few superstars…

Here are some of my thoughts on what we saw tonight…

#Tylerism Alert: “I’m much too young to be this old.”

So who else was positive that Brittany Zika (“The Story of My Life”) was going to be bad? I’m glad Tripster the Hipster could actually sing…

The auditions like Ben Purdom (“Born This Way”/“Super Bass”) are the ones that hurt me the most. He really thought the only thing that hurt him was his lack of falsetto. But the producers went over the top by doing that video that gave him his “falsetto.” That was wrong…

I love that Jermaine Jones (“Superstar”) was so mega nervous. Some of these people are way too polished…

Did anyone else get the feeling that JLo could relate a little to Britnee Kellogg’s (“You’re No Good”) story about her cheating husband? And Britnee’s family was awesome…

Sam Gershman (“I’m a Woman”) certainly knew what to wear for Steven…

#Tylerism Alert: “Could you have been any more perky?”…

I fear that Romeo Diahn (“I Wanna Love You…”), the guy from the Liberian refugee camp, is going to get chewed up and spit out in Hollywood…

Naomi Gillies was pretty gutsy for singing “Cryin’” in front of Steven Tyler. If she hadn’t have done it in such a high key, he probably would’ve sung with her…

What was that weird smile Ben Harrison (“Somebody to Love”) kept flashing? Did anyone else think it looked like Chucky?...

Jessica Phillips (“Again”) had a great story, but I don’t know if her voice is strong enough…

Did anyone else feel like they were REALLY stretching tonight? Thank goodness it was only an hour…

I was a little surprised to hear 45 people made it through to Hollywood. Based on what we saw, I thought it would be a lot less…

Tomorrow, we head to St. Louis for the final (Thank goodness!) auditions episode. And then we’re off to Hollywood! WOO-HOO!!!

And don’t forget tomorrow we’ll also see a special preview of Madonna’s new music video…