This week "America's Got Talent" had its auditions in Tampa, Florida. The Sunshine State was heated up and ready to go for the panel of judges. The first act was singing group Inspire the Fire, an organization that reaches out to youth by way of the arts. The group wore matching neon cardigans and sang with angelic voices then broke out into tight hip-hop style choreography. The audience cheered as the group strutted its stuff and proved that it was worthy of moving on to Vegas.
The leggy blondes of The Bikini Bombshells from North Carolina were greeted with cheers as they made their way across the stage. Unfortunately things went very quickly downhill as they fumbled the lame choreography to Salt-n-Pepa's song "Push It." Howard Stern put it best when he said, "My aunt Sally…at 95, she moved better than you!"
It was at this point in the show that the audience was accosted with a series of very weird acts; A strange hairdresser who cut hair with scissors on his fingers, a bearded stripper in lingerie, and a male ballroom dancer who danced on his own.
The surprise of the night was a burley, all-male clogging group called All That!. The group was hoping to win and get a show of their own in Vegas. The group may actually get their dream because they were amazing! Their amazingness was completely unexpected as they clogged completely in sync and with awesome energy.
The talent streak continued with a hula hoop artist, a magician who switched places with his assistant in a cage, and contemporary dance group who danced with emotion and passion.
The disappointment of the night went to Michael Griffin, an escape artist who asked Howard Stern to tie him up with rope. He then completely over acted as he dramatically wiggled out of the rope. The judges were completely underwhelmed and Howie Mandel said, "I guess your niche is that you escape from nothing." Needless to say, the escape artist would not be moving on.
The Distinguished Men of Brass from Tampa, Florida, was formed when many of the members lost their jobs during hard economic times. The big band not only played a mean tune, but danced, entertained, and exuded an infectious joy that got the audience clapping and dancing along with them. Howard Mandel said, "There is one word to describe this, and it's 'fun.'" The group moved along to Vegas with three "yeses" from the judges.
Ulysses, a 49-year-old singer wearing a Cosby style good-luck sweater, charmed the audience with his friendly attitude. Jaws dropped as the unassuming fellow sweetly crooned the lounge song, "The Love Boat." Howard Stern was not sold on the likeable singer, but Sharon and Howard were won over -- so he went ahead to Vegas.
Audiences can look forward to more talent tomorrow night!
