Wednesday night’s Group Night/Sing for your life show started with 185 contestants. By the end, the pool was down to 70. Twenty three of my top twenty five are still hanging in (we lost my sixth ranked Trippy McTrickster Brittany Zika, who forgot the words on group night; and twenty first ranked Rachelle Lamb, who forgot when to come in during her round three performance). We also lost Apple Cheeks, Tent Girl, Face Plant Girl and Big Voiced Frog Samantha Novacek (she was the blonde in the group with the lady cop).
I have the full top 70 list. I won’t bother listing all of them now, since 28 of them will be gone by my next recap. There are twelve contestants left that I know have tried out in previous years. I’ll go ahead and list them, with some information from last year if we haven’t been seeing them all the way this year:
Aaron (Sanders) Marcellus
Baylie Brown
Brielle Von Hugel (she sang with Pia last year on Group Night. I didn’t like her much last year, too green. She didn’t sound good at all when she sang with her group this year, and she was outed as a diva by her stage Mom)
Caleb Johnson (Belter/Shouter from last year, got tossed on group night)
Chelsea Sorrell (Karaoke singing Carrie Underwood wannabe, made the final 61 last year)
Colton Dixon
Deandre Brackensick (Hawaiian kid, part of the kiddie group that blew up “Somebody to Love” on Group Night, just missed the final 24)
Hollie Cavanagh (Cried for her golden ticket last year, then almost made the semifinals. Pure power belter the last time we saw her)
Janelle Arthur (Parking Brake Girl from last year, tossed on Group Night)
Jen Hirsch
Schyler Dixon (Colton’s little sister, spoiler has her out after tonight’s show)
Scott Dangerfield
Group Night Notes
– Jacquie Cera was the girl that welcomed Tent Girl into the group, saying “just don’t make me sick, ok?”, and then got sick right before they went on. Did anyone else notice the look on her face when they told Tent Girl to move forward next to her? She knew she was screwed. Is there any chance in hell that she doesn’t contemplate, in the dark hours, a trip out to the woods with a flamethrower and a shovel?
– The group that sang “Mercy” was smart. That’s the perfect sort of song to pick for a Group performance. It’s easy to sing, and it sounds impressive. All of the singers from that group are still alive. The groups that sang “Hit ‘em up Style” were insane. That song sounds like a train wreck unless it’s perfect, and it killed just about everyone that took it on.
– Johnny Keyser continued to sing with Imani in his lap, after she collapsed right in front of him. What was he thinking? He is being roasted to a crisp on the internet, and his chances of winning are probably gone. Can he redeem himself? I don’t see how.
– Guy who quit his day job with a pregnant wife got tossed, as I expected. He’ll be doing well not to get tossed by his frigging wife when he gets home.
– Phil Squared, I just don’t get it. Everyone loves him, and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he CAN’T SING. I don’t mean that he’s out of tune, or that he can’t find his rhythms, or he’s more of a Joe Cocker or a Willie Nelson, or that he’s the new Dave Matthews or something. He’s just….. the man can’t sing. He pushes so little air that, if he sang into the mouth of a CPR patient, the patient would die. Love the guitar, though…..
Round Three Notes
– Joshua Ledet has a terrific tone and tons of power. He could be a moment machine during the live shows, or the new Jacob Lusk.
– Colton Dixonsang the same song he did last year. All that really does is tell us that he wants to be Chris Daughtry.
– Phil Squared always sounds better with his guitar on. Love the guitar…
– Jen Hirsch always borders on caterwauling, doesn’t she?
– Creighton Fraker does a terrific impression – of Creighton Fraker. Dude’s got a voice, though.
– Shannon Magrane….. I’m starting to think that she’s this year’s Katie Stevens: Huge voice, driven, smart, but just not quite experienced enough.
– Reed Grimm is always entertaining, but I’m not sure if I’m thrilled that I finally got to see a contestant play the drums during a performance – or concerned that Reed Grimm might be a total fruitcake. I guess it’s a little bit of both.
– Skylar Laine has a better shot than I gave her credit for at her audition. I give her huge props for her toughness and her professionalism after this performance, and she hit some notes that I didn’t know she could hit. She was just about the only contestant that got sick and didn’t get tossed from the competition. J-Lo compared her to Reba, but to me she sounds more like Miranda Lambert.
– Rachelle Lamb has the voice and the personality to be a dammed good country singer, but she blew her Idol shot when she missed her cue. I really liked how she said “I think I just messed up”. She reminded me of Sara Evans already, and she sounds just like her when she talks, too. The burp heard round the world later won’t help her post-Idol career, though.
– Fat Gokey sang well. Woo hoo…. I’m not sure if I’ll ever like him. He seems smarmy and too full of himself. He’s really good, though.
– Once the rooms were set it was pretty obvious which one was getting the bounce, and like everyone said most of the semifinalists are going to come from the contestants in room one.
Bob Gregory's Gallery of Renown 