Idol Picks - Top 36, Group 3

A mild show last night that left the impression of two or three adults blowing away the remaining crowd of pretty children. Lil Rounds, of course, must advance. Confidence, poise, pipes, graciousness. "Thank you so much! Opportunity of a lifetime," the mother of four gushed, putting the evening in perspective.

Why oh why did the producers lower the applicant age to 16 a couple of years ago? The high school kids are way out of their league against mom Felicia Barton, who sang Alicia Keys' "No One" really well.

My other pick is obviously Scott Macintyre, whose compellingly heroic story can distract us from his pretty good voice. We all know half the battle is in your head and when good-natured and sight-impaired Scotty gets behind his familiar piano, he might get into a groove that helps us forget his disability and hear his music.

But the real story for me tonight is about numbers.

In both of the last two weeks, the third place contestant was male, leaving us with the possibility that tonight could follow the same pattern (Is the idea of Ju'not Joyner or Jorge Nunez advancing any less surprising than Kris Allen's dark horse win last week? Even Allen looked shocked.) In that case, the Wild Card Round would be all women! Boo hoo, no second chance for my Anoop or Matt Girard! No chance of a surprise appearance by Danny Gokey's friend Jamar Rogers!

But let's think positive and give tonight to Lil, Felicia and Scott so I can make my co-ed dream list of call-backs to the Wild Card Round:

Anoop, who is the only non-advancer I want to see from Group 1. (Judges, producers, please, don't feel you need to select an equal number from each group!)
Matt Girard who will probably sing "Georgia on My Mind" but I half hope he doesn't.
Jesse Langsmith of the red hair and "Bette David Eyes."
Mishavonna Henson and Jasmine Murray, even though at 18 and 16 respectively, they are polished, but lacking the depth of the singing young parents we've seen. Hmm... maybe this topic is worth a Chicago Moms Blog post....
Megan Joy Corkrey, of the clear skin and "Girl, Put Your Records On."
maybe Taylor Vaifanua, if she promises to sing a different song than last night.

Idol Picks - Top 36, Group 2

My favorite so far was in this group - I say "was" even though the results are not for a few hours cause he fell off the pedestal last night. Cute, dynamic, untrained Matt Giraud, with the jutting jaw and curly hair, looked great in the early footage wailing away on his piano at his night job - some kind of super campy and fun dueling pianos gig. And he picked "Viva La Vida" for last night which seemed young and current. But he ran out of breath. Couldn't support the tone. Does dude know how to use the diaphragm? Judges did not like it. I want to see more of this guy. Keeping a candle lit.

On to the sure things: Redhead 16-year-old Allison Iraheta had the girls' performance of the night. In interviews she is painfully adolescent, alternating goofy mugging and monosyllabic responses to Ryan, but she picked the right song, Heart's barnstormer "Alone," and she killed it - even the tough low beginning - and she was fun to watch.

Adam Lambert, duh. He's had a pass to the top 12 ever since they noticed on his resume that he was in Wicked. Ryan Seacrest tries to play it so cool when he talks to him, but you just know he's sweating and working hard not to call him Fiero. Maybe we'll get "As Long As You're Mine" on musicals night.

So that leaves third place. (Do you think they will evenly line up boy-girl-boy-girl, or will the judges need to even out the lineup on wildcard night?) Tonight's results will show the power of Vote for the Worst if Nick/Norman Gentle makes it through. Everybody was wondering what he was going to pull out, but he sang an old song! We've heard "And I Am Telling You" from him before, although he did add some new shtick.

I love it when a karaoke contestant takes an old chestnut and makes you hear it in a new way - like Clay's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" or most everything David Cook did or Marty Casey's "Hit Me Baby One More Time" on Rock Star... and I felt that revived freshness when Jesse Langseth did Kim Carne's "Bette Davis Eyes." It was slinky and cool and I've been humming the song all morning, but I don't think she'll make it through. Cause Megan Joy Corkrey is just too darn pretty. They're both single moms, funny. Wouldn't it be great if they both got through, as third place and as wildcard, and Norman took his show on the road?

Idol Picks - Top 36, Group 1

The rules are all shifted this year in interesting ways. The top 36 are divided into groups of 12 each week and only the top guy, top girl and the next top vote-getter will advance. And of the 27 who are left, the judges will pick three wild cards. Or four, since we have the new judge?

This week, top girl is Alexis Grace, no contest.

For guys, Danny Gokey is a sweetheart with the sympathy vote and a nice voice, Anoop Desai didn't pick the best song, but he's really well-spoken and sounded super in all previous bits. LOVE Michael Sarver's smile and his big tree-trunk thighs.