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Review: 'USU Idol' a winner despite
issues with sound and judges
STYLIN': Contestant Jessica
Harris gives it her all at USU Idol. / Photo by
Gideon Oakes
By Ben Hibshman
March 2, 2007 | With American Idol making
its way to the top of the charts in its sixth season,
how could you go wrong trying to imitate it?
The members of USU's Kappa Delta sorority should probably
leave the idol finding to Fox.
Playing for a packed house, a group of 10 contestants
performed Wednesday night. They performed for three
judges in the first round. The judges were no Paula,
Simon and Randy.
"The judges made me extremely uncomfortable," said
Riley Holgate, an undeclared freshman.
Getting through the first round seemed to be tough
enough, with the acoustics in the ballroom bouncing
off of every wall and the sound technicians not really
knowing what equalization (EQ) means. To the untrained
ear this may make no difference, but to the trained,
it means the world.
"The acoustics were a little reverberated," said
Tony Lake, an undeclared sophomore.
Throughout the competition, the contestants sang well.
A few hit a couple of pitchy notes, but nothing too
extreme. They're just lucky they weren't put in front
of Simon.
The highlight of the night was when contestant Calvin
Kenley erratically ran on stage and explained that he
drank a ton of water to keep his voice fresh. He had
to hurry and sing, so he could go to the bathroom.
At the halfway point of the contest, audience members
were also able to participate. A raffle was set up with
prizes such as a coffee mug, a blanket and a $40 gift
card to Smith's. This was one of the few highlights
of the evening; the crowd seemed to cheer more for the
prizes than for the actual show.
When the finalists were announced, the crowd seemed
happy enough that the contestant count was knocked down
to five.
The final round went a lot better than the first.
Contestants came out with guitars, and one even was
accompanied by a cello and piano.
USU student Jordan Ah Loy took home the grand-prize
guitar after the audience voted him as the winner. His
winning performance was a pretty little finger-picking
pattern on the guitar while he sang above it. Ah Loy
played a song on the ukulele in the first round to land
him a spot in the final.
"I really liked Jordan's teeny, tiny guitar," said
Roque Stutz, a junior majoring in interior design.
USU Idol was a success. The best man won,
and a bunch of USU students left with cool prizes.
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