Okay, here's my theory on why the LA and New York auditions don't yield many decent singers. In both cities, there are so many opportunities for good and great singers to work already. One of the rules on AI is that you can't have had a record contract before. If you've got great chops in NY or LA chances are you've had some kind of contract, even if it's with a group. I think if you've got an agent, you're working and doing well, then sleeping on the sidewalk for three days to get on AI doesn't seem too appealing. Just my guess, since obviously there are thousands of knock-you-out voices in NY and LA.
Poor Mr. Hung! He so clearly loves music and was so sincere. Hopefully he'll make his mark in civil engineering or whatever his major was, and in the meantime, he'll get married, have kids, and pass on to them his love of music. He seemed like the kind of guy who would make a loving and fun husband and father. Plus he took Simon and Randy's criticism graciously.
The ones who get me every season are the people who sing in so many keys in one song it's mind boggling, yet they absolutely refuse to believe they're anything but the greatest singer who ever lived. Don't they tape themselves? Can't they hear what they sound like? I can understand an actor not getting that they can't act, or someone being unable to see that they can't really dance. But I just wonder, if you can hear how great a singer is, why can't you hear how bad you are if you tape yourself and play it back? I guess the human capacity for self-deception really is infinite.
Then there was the girl in San Francisco who did the closed-mouth version of "Doo Wah Diddy, Diddy Um, Diddy Ay" and had her own personal "Simon" to train her to be ready for his criticisms. It was her second time auditioning and since what she heard when they rejected her the first time was "Not what we're looking for" she seemed to focus all her changes on the outside. When security finally kicked her and her "Simon" out and her "Simon" told her to sing anyway, she had a pretty good voice. It seemed to me that she was trying so hard to be "what they wanted" that she couldn't be herself and just sing. I think if she had forgotten about the gimmicks and focused on her voice, she might have at least been invited to Hollywood.
BTW, considering how many people try to audition and don't get in, the ones who just get a pass, and the ones who get in front of R/P/S, I think we're talking about 10 to 15,000 people per city. If we only get two or three real howlers per city, that's a very small percentage. And ITA with my Twinnie that the producers throw a few guaranteed whackos in there just to make the "best of the worst" shows. I bet 98% of those who make it in front of RPS sing quite well in terms of singing on key and having decent tone. Obviously RPS are looking for some spark, something unique, some something that makes someone seem to have real potential. Of the 300-350 that go to Hollywood, they have to cut that down to 12. Maybe Mathman will do the math for us
for I would guess that the final 12 represent less that 1/10th of 1% of the total number who try to audition.
Anyway, of the singers who were invited to go on, I liked the ones best who came in just as themselves and let their voices do the talking. Who can forget what Clay looked like in his audition? But neither can we forget how he sang.
BTW, Toni, do other Clay fans really give you a hard time for being psyched for AI3 and for agreeing with Simon a lot of times last season? That's terrible. It doesn't mean you don't love Clay any less.
The Crooner sticks out for me so far, but we haven't heard everybody. The things that always get me into AI is that you never know how people are going to develop--or not--and seeing somebody gradually transform from a complete unknown into a star before your eyes.
Rgirl
noooooooo kidding! 
