The penance for being a reader of this blog, is my occasional dip into American Idol coverage. However this season, with the new kinder and gentler Simon, and this new judge Kara DioGuardi , who seems to be a sober and bitchy version of Paula Abdul, my attention span may ebb early. But I will be sti...

The first week of auditions is over on the eighth season of American Idol .  What did you think?  Any favorites emerge for you? From the Phoenix tryouts, I liked the following people the most: Emily Wynne-Hughes (age 21) of Los Angeles, California sang Heart’s “Barracudaâ€� and did an ...