By M. Giant
Time now for Make You Believers, the group that includes tent-dweller and "Patient Zero" Amy Brumfield." They were all feeling fine when they woke up this morning, but on the way to the stage, the group's other girl, Jacquie, collapses suddenly, and we get to see a clip of her picking up Amy and spinning her around last night, after warning Amy not to get her sick. So there's some question as to whether Jacquie will be actually singing with her group, but all four of them head out onstage together.
Scraggly Dustin, however, presents the first problem, as he totally forgets the words to Boston's "More than a Feeling" right out of the gate. Amy steps in and does better, getting further than Dustin did before she forgets them too, and then chokes on a high note. Tall guy Matthew gets through his part, but Jacquie's fumbling with her big glory note at the end has even my seven-year-old M. Edium declaring, "They're doomed." Jacquie still thinks she might have a chance when she's asked to step forward, until Amy is asked to step forward as well. You can see on her face, that's the moment when she knows she's done, which must have been a really uplifting moment for Amy to see on TV back in her tent. Dustin is also out, so Matthew is the only survivor of Make You Believers. 178!
Noon already, and the people in the on-deck chairs in the wings are knots of tension drawn so tight you can smell the stress-sweat through the screen. We see a group of four unfamiliar girls faceplant on "Son of a Preacher Man," and Jennifer takes them to task for not helping each other out before, presumably, they're all cut loose. That's just the beginning of a whole montage of Don't Forget the Lyrics, and all the tricks the contestants tried to get away with it, none of which work. But at least I think we just got rid of Tripster the Hipster.
Time to catch up with Those Girls and That Guy, the group that charm school Ph.D Alisha bullied her way into, only to see That Guy Christian have to spend the whole night vomiting. But they insist, "We're not getting cut." They go out and sing "Stuck Like Glue" after Alisha attempts to bully the audience into having more fun. But some of them don't even stay awake all the way through. Probably because in their rendition, the "t" in the song title proves utterly extraneous. They're ejected en masse, but not without Alisha pausing to offer personal security to anyone there in the future. Which someone might take her up on, if she can provide it from a distance. No more than 174 left now!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
By M. Giant
He ultimately ends up leading the band through a jazzy version of "Georgia on My Mind," both singing and drumming flawlessly. Okay, anyone who can pull of a last-minute hail-Mary like that, I hate.
After the ads, Skylar Laine is ready to go, after being one of the people who's been to the hospital and back in the ambulance. I assume Cedars-Sinai just has a shuttle at this point. Skylar sings a country song I don't know with even more twang than is necessary, but she hits all the notes and has a good time, so much so that Steven forgets the no-feedback rule.
is Rachelle Lamb, the single mom who brought her daughter into the first auditions at St. Louis, who sings one line of her song before stopping and saying, "I think I just messed up." I think so too. They let her start over, and she recovers well, although it's nothing spectacular.
Then it's Adam Brock, the soulful shouter who looks like a dude from Barenaked Ladies but sings like Elvis Costello morphing into Teddy Pendergrass. In case we haven't heard enough of "Georgia on My Mind," he's got his own version that sounds awesome but looks weird coming out over his sweater and tie. Randy asks him about the hanky hanging from his pocket, which turns out to have belonged to his late grandfather. And then also, Steven wiped sweat off himself with it earlier that day during the sound check. "I say it's doubly blessed," Adam concludes, which is pretty generous to Steven.
And that's a wrap for solo day, with Steven not looking remotely chastened at having swabbed his old-man puss with a Brock family heirloom. So now the top 98 has to sit and sweat it out. Not everyone is confident. In fact, not even Heejun can commit to his usual pessimism.
The three judges are alone in the auditorium now -- except the camera and sound people recording them, of course. They do the whole elimination thing with the Polaroids on the table, with that kind of magical editing that makes us feel like we're listening in without actually hearing anything.
Time for the remainder to get split into the four rooms. Room 1 includes, among others, Creighton Fraker, Jen Hirsh, Erika Van Pelt and Hallie Day. Room 2's crowd contains Phil Phillips, Eben Franckiewicz, Skylar Laine and Shannon Magrane. Room 3 includes Rochelle Lamb (who flubbed her words), Brittany Kerr (the NBA cheerleader we haven't seen all night), Jennifer the Alpha-Betty and some guy I don't remember seeing before. Sucks to be in Room 3, I think. And Room 4 has a bunch more girls we haven't seen all night, including Stephanie Renee, Baylie Brown, Brittany Kellogg and Angie Ziederman.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7