If you, like me, hate yourself enough to sit through sixteen hours of American Idol “auditions,” watching three mildly annoying industry types (and sometimes Victoria Beckham!) make faces at dozens of bad singers who you will never see again, then you might be excited about the new season that kicked off on Tuesday.  And if you, like me, are an Italian-Cranstonian, then you might be even more excited to see Amadeo DiRocco, the local boy (Cranston East ‘99, woot!) who got the golden ticket to Hollywood after singing a so-so version of Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man.

Maybe trying to tap the Jersey Shore market, the producers went to DiRocco’s mom’s house for a big Italian dinner with the whole family, despite the fact that there were no heartbreaking stories about cancer and/or old people like there were with those few other auditioners deemed worthy of a housecall.  MTV Tr3s points out, maybe correctly, that “the way “Idol” portrayed DiRocco and his homemade-wine-and-sausage-and-cheese-consuming family was far more problematic than anything broadcast on MTV’s “Jersey Shore.”“  Which, you know, seems like an odd comment to come directly from an MTV subsidiary, but hey.  (Also, can you blame Idol producers?  Jersey Shore’s gained more of a word-of-mouth buzz of any TV show since, uh, The Sopranos?)

Beth apparently keeps a camera by her television and snapped a few shots of DiRocco, who I remember from high school but only really vaguely and not enough to have any interesting stories about.

Even his yearbook photo is kind of unexciting:

Stacy DiRaimo, who I don’t remember from high school even a little, is included here as a perfect example of the classic “awkward crossed hands under the chin” yearbook pose.

Oh, by the way East Greenwich native Ellery Bonham also made it through to Hollywood, though producers did not deign to film her family having dinner.

Tags: amadeo dirocco, American Idol, Cranston

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