Okay, here we go, it’s group day on American Idol.  As AI regulars, you know that this is the day where all the drama plays out.  We’ll learn who the pros are and who the whiners are.

I hope you watched the rehearsals because I can’t describe to you what was going on.  Groups were feeling the competition of rehearsing next to each other.  Some groups weren’t agreeing.  Some groups were resentful that one person was trying to take control.  Some groups stayed up all night.  Other groups went to bed.  In other words, the same thing that happens every year.

It’s morning now and panic is setting in.  Crying and yelling is the norm.  The words are disappearing from their minds.  Yikes!  In between all this, Big Mike’s wife is having the baby.  He’s able to listen to the delivery and hear the baby cry for the first time.  I HATE knowing what happens to this guy.

The first group Ashley Rodriguez, Charity Vance and Michelle Delamore (don’t check my spelling!) are great and they all move on to the next round.  I like all three of these girls.  They sing well, they are professional and they all have a great look.

It’s time for Big Mike’s group.  I enjoy the four guys Michael Lynch, Tim Urban, Michael Castro and Seth Rollins.  Randy divides them into two lines Michael Lynch and Tim Urban in one row and Michael Castro and Seth Rollins in the other.  After the commercial Big Mike and Tim Urban make it through to the next round.  I liked all four of them so I was a little disappointed to see Michael Castro go home.

Next AI highlights the drama of one group feeling that another group took their idea of singing acapella.  They are both singing the same song and the competition and jealousy between the two groups is strong.  Liz Rooney, Thaddeus Johnson, Jessica Cunningham and Paige (last name?) are first to perform.  All four kick butt and move on to the next round.  Up comes the second group Todrick Hall, Theri, Jareb Liewar and Siobham Magnus.  Their performance is a bit more theatrical and includes a somersault by Todrick.  In my opinion, if it was a face off, the second group would win.  All four move on to the next round.  Jareb Liewar is very interesting to me.

The Denver group Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose (weird glasses), Mark Labriola (computer geek), Kimberly Kerbow and Danny Jones  (nice hair but Idol doesn’t even highlight him in this segment) perform.  Tori and Maddie do well.  Mark doesn’t.  Kimberly forgets the words.  Not surprisingly, Tori and Maddie move on and the other three don’t.  Mark begs for a second chance and I feel bad for him, but what was he doing during his first chance?  It’s do or die and he goes home.  I don’t know why we don’t get to even hear Danny Jones sing, but that’s the way it goes on Idol.

The group including Ben Honeycutt, Jeff Goldford, Moorea Maza and Jermaine Sellers lose their fifth group member at the last minute.  She says she know she was going to do a bad job and doesn’t want to humiliate herself.  Moorea Maza forgets her words and gets no pity from Simon.  Jeff and Jermaine move on, the other two go home.

Remember Matt Lawrence who auditioned in Orlando?  He was the guy who spent four years in jail and is now trying to change his life.  His group is a disaster…they aren’t in tune, they don’t know the words, etc.  The judges stop them and quickly dismiss them.  I don’t know what these people are thinking when they get to group round!

Janelle Wheeler, Jermaine (sorry missed his last name) and  Casey James are really talented and they move on. I would have liked to hear more from the group including Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens,  JB Ahufua and did they say the name of the fourth one?  Sometimes I think American Idol hides the really, really good singers so that we will be more surprised later on down the road.

The last group of the day includes the twenty-eight year old rocker mom Mary.  Throughout Group Day, American Idol has been highlighting this group as the most disorganized and catty.  They clearly don’t mesh and of course that means the group can’t possibly pull off a good performance.  Randy is actually cringing during some of the singing.  Simon asks if they can cut off one of the microphones.  I thought it was surprising that Mary, Hope and Alex all make it through to the next round.  Sometimes your reputation proceeds you, huh?

That’s it for the dreaded (and for good reason) group auditions.  We have 71 contestants moving on.  Don’t forget only 12 female and 12 males will make it.  Ryan quickly skims through a number of contestants that we have seen previously that are still in the running.  Some I recognize and some I don’t.  No one is standing out as a clear favorite for me yet, except for Andrew Garcia.  Stay tuned as AI whittles down to the final 24!  Bloggergal1