Such drama was prominent in three of the groups they focused on for the first half of the show. Remember Tatiana from the San Francisco auditions? The psycho with the annoying laugh? Well, watching her try to play nice in a group was just painful. She quit her group, joined another one and then went back to her original group, pissing off everyone along the way but then trying to act like she’s not the crazy one. There was also the group that included Rose and Katrina, a.k.a. “Bikini Girl,” a group that had exactly one singer worthy of advancing, but more on that later. Finally there was the group Tatiana was part of for five minutes….the one with Nancy, Kristin and Nathaniel, who called themselves The Divas. Yep, pretty much.

Well, Katrina was tired from her high heels, and tried to catch a few hours of sleep while her group was trying to rehearse. Then she even told her group she was quitting the competition, and naturally had second thoughts and returned.

Before everyone took the stage, Simon Cowell told them that if they forget the lyrics, it’s automatic dismissal. Yikes. Personally I don’t think that’s fair, because your nerves are already poking out of your skin at this point of Hollywood week, but I’m not a judge on the show.

Then it was on to the show. The group White Chocolate went first, and they were awesome. All four made it through–India, Justin, Chris and Matt……the next group was, as Simon pointed out, “a mess,” but two of them, Jorge and Nick, made it through to the next round….Action Squad was next, and while I thought they were all pretty bad, two of them made it–Alex and Marie, while Ryan and Emily were sent home, Ryan saying Paula Abdul had an evil glare in her eyes while telling them the news.

They then showed how Simon was on the warpath, using words to describe performances such as “excruciating,” “dreadful,” and again, “a mess.” Dude was in rare form for sure.

And then the best performance of the night–Jamar, Danny, Taylor (I don’t remember the fourth) sang Queen’s “Somebody To Love.” It was amazing…all four of them were great singing solo, but they also did some nice backing vocal work. All four went through….they then showed a medley of a few groups singing “Some Kinda Wonderful,” most of them continuing on….and a surprise was peppered in when they sent David Osmond packing.

Then it was the dysfunctional groups’ time to perform. Rose’s group was not as bad as you might have expected, but Rose, Katrina and Lauren were all going home, while Jasmine made them all look like total amateurs. Keep your eyes and ears on Jasmine, I’m telling you now….amazingly, Tatiana’s group all made it to the next round…..finally, The Divas were up. They all huddled in prayer before hitting the stage, with Nathaniel offering this beauty: “God, I know we haven’t been the best of friends, but….”….anyway, Nancy was just awful, and when the judges sent her home while letting Nathaniel and Kristin through, Nancy was very bitter, letting everyone know it on the way out.

In all, 75 made it to the next round, and Seacrest said that after next week we will be down to the final 36. I’m not sure if that means the semi-final round has been expanded from 24 to 36, but if it does, I have mixed feelings. It’s good because more contestants have a chance for America to keep them around, but bad because it waters down that part of the competition, and makes me have to take more notes. Cue the violins!

Anyway, this thing is heating up….and by the way, where is Jason Castro’s brother? Thanks for reading and let’s do this again next week…

THE BAD

Tara Mathews, a 21-year old local Goth girl (a Goth in Salt Lake is like a peanut in Italian food) said that she had ESP powers. Well that’s good, because she sure can’t sing….they only showed a few seconds of this girl Aleesha, who I’ll call vibrato girl, but her audition made me laugh out loud…..there was Chris, who brought along his friend Greg the Rabbit. Greg wore a pink bunny costume, and Chris said that Greg was his “good luck charm, like a rabbit’s foot.” Ugh, what these people won’t do on national TV. Chris wasn’t bad, but not good enough…and the rabbit was as funny as it was a dumb stunt….there was Andrew Gibson, a 21 year old who sang a Gospel type song and was just not good…..finally, since they only showed these clunkers, they blazed through a medley of bad auditions, something that I’m sure made all of you as happy as it made me.

THE GOOD

The show kicked off with 28 year old David Osmond, whose dad is Alan Osmond of Osmond brothers fame. Alan has multiple sclerosis and David has battled it too, but he is out of his wheelchair and seemed to be doing great. He also has a hell of a voice and is moving on….Frankie Jordan, a 24 year old from Hollywood, sang Amy Winehouse and looked a bit like Amy too (at her most sober), and was really good and unique. Frankie won’t have to commute very far for the Hollywood round, but I could have done without Ryan Seacrest saying “Frankie goes to Hollywood”…really now Ryan?…..Megan Corkery, 23, is a recently divorced single mom and decided that she would take advantage of her newfound freedom and audition. Megan has a massive tattoo on her right arm that was distracting, but she has a cute natural look and a great voice. She sang some old standard and has a unique quality about her, something Simon Cowell in particular said he would remember…..Austin, a 17 year old dude, sang a Train song and was barely good enough to get through….Taylor, who is 16 but acted more like 26, sang “Joyful Joyful” and really has some natural talent, especially for her age. Randy Jackson said it was one of the best auditions this season so far….finally, Rose Flack, a cute 17 year old blonde girl from Idaho, was the heartwarming story of this round. Rose lost her dad four years ago and her mom two years ago, and is living with a friends’ family. Her dad instilled a passion for music in Rose, and apparently an amazing vocal ability. Rose sang Carole King’s “I Feel The Earth Move,” and not only did she do a great job, but she has such a likability about her. I don’t know how Rose will handle Hollywood, but she is someone I’ll be rooting for.

So now six audition rounds are done, but FOX is throwing a curveball at us…..there is a bonus episode tonight, in which they will combine the New York City and San Juan auditions into one final audition show, and this one too is only one hour! Then next week the Hollywood rounds begin. I have to say, I like the way they are doing this, because every season Hollywood week cannot come fast enough. See you all tomorrow…