As I write this, Week 7 of the summer's top-rated TV show, America's Got Talent, is about to begin. The really creepy acts—including 76-year-old Fantastic Fig, who carried a cat on his shoulder and performed awful magic tricks—have been axed, and the hundreds of contestants have been whittled down to an almost manageable 48 including Professor Splash (a shallow water diver) and Snap Boogie (a street savvy dancer).

But this year, as in previous seasons—and going all the way back to AGT's spiritual grandfather, Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, which premiered on NBC radio in 1935—everyone is buzzing about the singers.

Emotions are running especially high for Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., 36, the carwash guy from Logan, West Virginia, who sings like Frank Sinatra. Sort of. I like Murphy's exuberance and rich voice but he has intonation problems. Or, to use that dreaded American Idol word, he's a victim of pitchiness. As for the Sinatra comparisons, you can judge for yourself by watching a "duet" with Ol' Blue Eyes and the Carwash Guy that someone posted on YouTube. I'm keeping my money on Frank.

'Duet' with Frank Sinatra and Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.


There's also a lot of buzz about Dani Shay, the 22-year-old female singer/guitarist from Orlando, Florida, who looks and sounds like Justin Bieber. Then there's Anna Graceman, an 11-year-old singer/pianist from Juneau, Alaska, who sang and played the heck out of Alicia Keys's "If I Ain't Got You." Last but not least is Daniel Joseph, the 19-year-old cashier from Texas who is openly gay ("Growing up I tried to be normal. It never felt right," he said before performing his first song for the judges,
Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance") and has the talent and 'tude of a young Liberace.

So who's going to go home with the million dollar prize? At this point it's anyone's guess. The only thing I know for certain is that it won't be the male pole dancer...or the bird that sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Dani Shay, the "Bieber girl"

11-year-old Anna Graceman

Daniel Joseph