We’ve made it!  Hollywood!  Hollywood!  And this year is my first season blogging from Hollywood! (Well, Hollywood, Florida, but close enough, right?)

Another first is Ellen sitting at the judges table.  I <3 Ellen, but I hope this stays about the singers rather than a stand-up routine.  I also think it will be hard for people to take her seriously.  I don’t want to make any snap judgements yet, though.  I am rooting for her to be awesome.

Hollywood is my favorite part of the whole season.  We see front-runners emerge, and I think we get the most raw authentic performances of the whole season.

Will they do group rounds this year?  Will we have legendary performances, like “White Chocolate” from last year?  Perhaps a Frenchie/K Lo moment?  I am excited to find out!

First, we have groups of 8 in a sudden death round.  They can sing acapella or with an instrument.

We see Katie Stevens sing “For Once in My Life” and the judges like her.

Skiiboski is up next and sang “Aint Too Proud to Beg.”  Ellen thinks heis creepy, and he gets cut.

Andrew Garcia sings Paula’s “Straight Up” which is a brilliant choice!  It would have been a good song even before the Paula drama, and even better now.  GREAT rendition.  Ok, this guy is a front-runner.

Vanessa Wolf sang some Blind Melon, but she didn’t cut it.  Too bad, because she had a good story.

Janell Wheeler sang “American Boy” which was another great arrangement.  Props to the good arrangements!  Idol is going the direction of not only being a great singer, but being a creative song arranger.  Some might argue with me, but I think it is a very good thing.  It is way more entertaining for me, and produces very memorable performances.

Haeley Vaughn sang Revolution (Is that the name of that song?) Change by Taylor Swift, and how awesome is this little girl?  All sorts of adorable.

Mary Powers sang Pink’s “Sober”, and I really like her.  But she is probably a one-trick pony.

Lilly Scott sang “Lullabye of Birdland” by Ella Fitzgerald, and she has a very unique tone.  She is another one we need to watch.

Michael Lynche sings John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” and it was another awesome performance!  And he followed Michael Castro off the stage.  So did Castro make it?

Tim Urban sings David Cook’s “Come Back to Me”, and I think he is just ok.

Justin Williams, aka, 1/4th of White Chocolate, played the piano, but didn’t sound that great.  He got cut in round one this year, so no group performances for him!

Maddy Curtis sang a song that I just don’t know about.  And kind of blew that audition.  Too bad.  But my money is on her coming back next year.

Casey James sang some country and rocked out on the guitar.  He is good!

DiDi Benami sings “Terrified” as written by Kara, apparently. She is cute, but I feel like I need to see more from her.

Crystal Bowersox, who needs to get her teeth whitened, is really great! She has good range, and sounds a little Kelly Clarkson-ish.

Crystal was the last profiled singer of the day, and tomorrow we get to see the group round!  They cut the group form 187 to 96 today ( so how many will they cut after the group round?)  Group round is fantastic, and I can’t wait.  bring it, kids!!

Justin Guarini, of course. He is almost as ubiquitous as Seacrest!

Seacrest doing what he does best. He jetted out faster than he jetted out

Next up, indoor shots. I need to conserve the battery on my laptop so those will come in a bit. Video to come after I leave. The talley so far is 23 people have made it. For a constant bombardment of info, follow me on twitter: twitter.com/idolreview18

DANNY GOKEY NEWS:

Via iheartdannygokey.com, a performance on Milwaukee’s Fox affiliate by Jamar, and Danny gets glasses and Kopp’s Custard, which makes me so hungry:

A few Danny fan photos:

KRIS ALLEN NEWS:

Kris gets two keys to two cities, and the female anchor is so annoying and a complete fangirl. Also scroll through to find his performance of Come Together unplugged – FAN FREAKING TASTIC.

Kris performing at the Amphatheater in downtown little rock via annaolson on twitter:

Kris performs She Works Hard For The Money:

Falling Slowly:

Ain’t No Sunshine:

ADAM LAMBERT NEWS:

He is on west coast time, so a little bit behind the other two, but you can link to some local fox coverage (the video is too big to embed here).

And the crowd waits at Adam’s high school.

Adam sings Black or White (partial):

Mad World (with a streaker!):

The big discovery of the last two days is someone forgot to heed my reminder last week of the need to purchase 1-866-436-5713.  DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER.  It is porn.  Unless of course you are into that.  Then fire away.

The kids are singing Michael Jackson tonight.  It is hard to remember before the freakshow of a person that is left today, but he actually used to be pretty hip and cool, huh?  And he had an entire nose, rather than the half of one he has now.

But enough of me blabbing.  Onto the music!

01. Lil Rounds		“The Way You Make Me Feel” – Ken Warwick is desperately trying to dispel the rumor that the first contestant to sing will go home.  Lil takes the dead-man’s spot tonight and gives a pretty rocking performance.  She has a thing for changing up the lyrics to suit her needs, she was wearing a hot outfit, and her vocal performance was solid.  I have no complaints, but wasn’t ecstatic, either.
02. Scott Macintyre	Rating:+1/2	“Keep The Faith” – This was exactly what I expect from Scott.  He chose a song that he can pull off, arranged the piano to enhance it, and delivered it with conviction.  That said, his voice is really not the best, and I wonder how long the commodity will last.  I do think he has a loyal fanbase, but I also see him getting old and boring quickly.
03. Danny Gokey		“PYT (Pretty Young Thing)” – Personally I am not a fan of this song, but his performance was very energetic.  His voice did fall off a bit when he was intensely concentrating on the dance moves.  And at least he admits he has a few things to learn about dancing.  I wasn’t banging cymbals like the judges were, but this should keep him safe.
04. Michael Sarver	+1/2	“You Are Not Alone” – I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by Michael tonight.  The song was a little boring, but he did what he could with it. He was on pitch.  But not jumping off the couch.
05. Jasmine Murray		“I’ll Be There” – I think Simon’s comment about being robotic was right on.  She had no emotional connection to the audience or to the song.  That comes along with being young.  That said, it was a decent vocal.  Plus I like the song.  And I like that she chose a Jackson 5 song because she is young.
06. Kris Allen	Rating:	“Remember The Time” – His energy with the guitar steps it up a notch, but I didn’t find the song exciting.  He already played his Michael Jackson card in the semis, so maybe he was singing his second choice. The vocals were a bit flat.  I like the Jason Mraz vibe.  Plus he has a cute wife, who looked pissed when Simon said he should have kept her hidden for a few weeks!
07. Allison Iraheta		“Give In to Me” – I love her vibe, I love that she is young but has a seasoned way about her, even if her stage banter is more awkward than Archuleta.  She seems fun, she can sing, and she stands out.  Her vocals were pretty great, too, despite a few bum notes.
08. Anoop Desai	+1/2	“Beat It” – Paula said it was Karaoke, but honestly, that is what Anoop is.  I see him more as an entertainer than a real vocal artist.  That is why they put him through, so it should come as no shock.  The vocals were average, but his energy on stage is amazing.  His fan base should pull him through.
09. Jorge Nunez		“Never Can Say Goodbye” – There were parts that were decent, and notes that were off.  He is a bit long-winded with his stage banter.  I didn’t hate it as much as the judges, but it was not the highlight of the night.
10. Megan Corkrey		“Rockin’ Robin” – I will probably say the same thing about her every week until she goes, but knack for song choice and personal style is right on, and she uses that to compensate for her weak vocals.  That said, her vocals are painfully weak, and I don’t know how long she can ride the wave of “quirkyness.”
11. Adam Lambert	Rating:	“Black or White” – Am I hearing the same performance as the judges?  His voice is grating.  GRATING. And honestly, there were parts that were grossly off-key. Maybe he comes off amazing in person, but on tv it sounds manic, spastic, and just plain bad.  I don’t know, but I completely disagree with the judges.  His stage presence is amazing, but I would expect that from a prefessional actor.
12. Matt Giraud	+1/2	“Human Nature” – What can I say, I really enjoyed it.  I think he has a knack for picking the right songs, too.  I enjoy his style at the piano much more than Scott, but that is just me.
13. Alexis Grace	+1/2	“Dirty Diana” – I thought it was fantastic.  The judges are a little crazy tonight.  I was impressed–she has a lot of personality, and I think she is coming into her own.  Nice work, Alexis! (remember, she is 1-866-436-5736)

Just a note that they got rid of the mosh pit, and replaced it with a platform where they project the contestants’ faces.  I don’t know which is worse.

Paula was actually hard on people tonight!  Go Paula–way to become relevant again!

Ryan promises that they are going to change up the competition this year.  I do not like the prospects of this, because I think the judges will be able to override the elimination.  It is like the electoral college, and I am not a fan of this checks and balances for the people’s vote.

Since two are being eliminated tomorrow, I think it might be Kris, Megan, and Jasmine in the bottom 3.  Michael Sarver may have pulled out enough tricks to survive this week.  What did you think?

More than 20 American Idol luminaries will be attending next week’s premiere of the American Idol Experience attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney officials confirm. Along with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest, current winner David Cook, former winners Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks and Carrie Underwood, and past contestants David Archuleta, Bo Bice and Justin Guarini will participate in the invitation-only festivities Thursday, Feb. 12.

As an official stalker of the show AND of Disney, there is nowhere I would rather be. I was invited to go to this awesome event (though I’m sure I would have crashed the party even if I wasn’t invited!), so obviously I will be there, and I am super pumped to possibly get to meet Carrie. *freaking out*

• As you may know Kelly Clarkson’s 4th album, All I Ever Wanted,  is coming out March 17th.  She just did an interview with Popeater, in which she divulges she is not influenced by Katy Perry, and has never been in love.  We need to find her a nice boy–any takers out there?
• Although not creating as much buzz as Kelly, Melinda Doolittle’s album, Coming Back to You, was released yesterday!  I heart Melinda.  I need to go listen to this album now.
• The spoiler list for the top 36 has been reported by votefortheworst.com.  Go ahead, spoil yourselves!
• Kellie Pickler will be touring with her BFF Taylor Swift.
• If you were living under a rock last weekend, there was a little football game that was played.  Our girl Jennifer Hudson sang a kick butt rendition of the national anthem.  Well, she did lip-sync it, but it was still her voice.  it was her first public appearance since her family tradgedy last fall, and her performance [watch on youtube] was amazing!

So who is ready for Hollywood-Group-Drama tonight?  I am certainly not, but I am ready for awesome group performances, perhaps similar to those I talked about in my Best of Hollywood post.