American Idol Getting Down to the Last 50 Contestants

This year American Idol had changed the format a little. When an artist gets to Hollywood week they have the benefit of a band and the use of their chosen instrument. There were quite a few guitars and just as many keyboards. One guy even played the drums. It didn't help, he was just not good at all. It did help one person. Josiah is an 18 year old that got the golden ticket at the Atlanta audition. He has been living in his car as a show of independence and playing his music and performing when he can.

His initial audition was good and last night he took the stage with a keyboard. He performed a song that he wrote and arranged himself and it was good. It was different and definitely had the "it" factor that ol' Simon is alway looking for. Unfortunately in his last interview he dismissed the band in order to be able to do his song his own way. This was a mistake because he came off as arrogant and his nerves effected his performance. He pulled off a miracle though, on the strength of previous performance they put him through to the last 50 contestants.

Then we had Kyle perform. This kid was a throw back to Kevin Covais of "Chicken Little" fame in the 2006 season. He is a nice guy and is just a tad nerdy. His first performance was described by Paula as corny but his second performance was actually really good. So Kyle made it through for now, but will he make it through to the final 24?

Other stand out performances came from the Harley riding nurse, Amanda Overmyer. She channeled Janis Joplin and was very good but will she be able to stretch her style or will she give us the same song over and over again. David Hernandez did a great version of Stephen Stills song "Love the One You're With" and I feel sure he will make it through to the final 24 if not the final 4. He is that good.

As usual there were those that were just not good enough. Amy Flynn was a dance captain at her high school and she was all about preaching abstinence. Okay but could she sing? She even had someone from a previous season that didn't make it through helping her as her voice coach. But in the end she didn't make it. Her performance just was not strong enough.

Simon was really clear: "Don't forget the words." Needless to say that nerves snatched the words right out of people's mouths. One gal actually forgot the words and improvised by saying "Kill me now". It was funny but I am sure it wasn't funny to her. Another young lady from Philly, Brooke, was a teen beauty queen and while her voice was adequate that is not good enough here. She was sent home and her overblown confidence was shattered. She really believed that she would get through, However this is "American Idol", not "American Mediocrity".

There was a whole string of broken hearts last night. Perry Cataldo is a young father trying his hand at Idol in order to support his son (really cute kid by the way) and Suzanne was another. She wanted to give her little girl a better life, unfortunately she was done in by her nerves and she went home last night. To these folks i want to say, keep at it, there is always next year. As for the final 24, tonight we will find out who they are.