Welcome to Hollywood.  147 people have made it through to Hollywood week and will preform on the stage at the Kodak Theatre.  It’s a very fast paced and straight forward episode.  They stand in stage in lines, they sing for what seems like only a few seconds, the line is split into front row and back row and one row is through and one is home.  Same ol’ same ol’.

The show starts with Simon telling the auditioners they have only one job this week and he wishes them luck.  Ryan reveals a “twist” – bootcamp.  For the first time ever there is an idol bootcamp.  During idol bootcamp contestants receive make up and wardrobe tips and help.  They also spend quite a bit of time with a vocal coach who helps them with just about everything vocal.  There is also a surprise mentor for American Idol bootcamp: Barry Manilow.  We see Barry Manilow talk and we see the contestants going through bits of the bootcamp in blips.  (I always feel like they try to show so much that we see nothing during Hollywood week.)

On to the auditions …

First we see, from the Kansas City auditions, Lil Rounds and Dennis.  Lil Rounds sings first.  Her song of choice is “I will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston.  Kara stands up to clap after Lil is done singing.  Kara tells Lil that she liked her the moment she first saw her.  Next up we see Dennis.  He sings “For Once in My Life”.  Simon did not like his expressions.  Randy tells Dennis “it wasn’t good.”

Told to step forward: Asia, Alexander, Lil

Front row stays, back row goes home.  Dennis did not make it through to the next round.  Dennis remains on stage after the others have left.  He is not going to easily accept defeat.  He tells the judges that he disagrees with them and he really deserves to go through to the next round.  He begins to sing some more.  He is told to stop singing … he then tells the judges they suck as judges.  As he is walking off stage he insults Simon’s clothing and lets them know how he feels about their decision.

We now get to see a quick blip of the half of the contestants not auditioning on day one.  They will be auditioning on day two, but for the first day they get to sit see and hang out in Hollywood.  We see a little bit of some of them site seeing and goofing off.

Back to the auditions …  We see, from New York, Nathaniel Marshall he sings “The Anchor Holds” by Ray Bolts.  Paula tells him, “You have beautiful vocals, but you picked a song today that stayed here (she makes a level motion with her hands) the whole time.”  Simon asks him the inspiration for his song choice.  Nathaniel tells him that ith everything he has been through in his life music has been his one anchor.  The one thing he could hold onto and count on no matter what he was going through.  He is very emotional during all of this.  Paula tells him he is a real “talented guy” and Nathaniel continues to weep with emotion.  Next we see from Kansas, Anoop and from Jacksonville we see Jasmine.  Kara tells Jasmine that she has raw natural talent.  Last in line we have Rose.  She introduces herself to the judges by saying, “Hi guys, it’s me, Rose.”  She is the contestant who is young and has lost both of her parents.  They show parts of bootcamp where she is having trouble rehearsing.  After some rehearsing she has a break down and she shares that she feels like she’s letting her dad down.  On stage she sings, “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding.  It is very stylized, but I like it.  Simon tells the whole line of contestants that they are “all in the same boat” and that they can all stay where they are, in Hollywood.

Next bunch of people to audition … Steven Fowler he sings, “Superwoman” by Stevie Wonder.  Paula tells him that he nailed it.  Randy says that it’s a hard Stevie song and he’s wowed by it.  Jorge sings and Paula tells him it was beautiful.  It’s Von’s turn to sing and he has chosen “If the Rain Must Fall” by James Morrison.  I didn’t think a human’s mouth could open that wide .. but his does and he goes crazy with the ooohs.  Simon says, “I thought it was indulgent nonsense.  A horrible song, a horrible performance.  Annoying.  Something a child would do when learning to sing.”  Steven, Jorge and Von are all told to step back.  Kara asks, “How does the back row feel about staying in Hollywood ?”  The front row goes home.  We see Von and he is not overflowing with joy, no, instead he is quite humbled.

There is a blip about song choice, how the judges feel it isn’t the voices sending people home, but their song choices.  We see some of the people who did not make it to the next round.

And next … Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle.  We see him after his first audition, he is throwing his Norman Gentle clothes into a dumpster.  He says goodbye to Normal and says he is going to Hollywood as Nick.  But, sigh, it is Norman who apears on stage in Hollywood, during the auditions.  He takes out a pitch pipe and makes an awful sound with it.  Paula compliments it.  He begins to sing, running around the stage in a very exaggerated way.  He yells for the balcony to sing with him and he yells for Ryan to sing with him.  Randy tells him that the funny thing about him is he is entertaining but “the thing is, you can sing.”  Simon doesn’t know what to make of him but tells him with the outfit on he is a joke.  Paula wants to hear him sing the song,  “all stripped down” and then says, “no no no, I don’t mean you strip.”  She tells him without the gimick he has talent and skills.  “Nick/Norman, you’re going to have to do this all over again, you’re going through !”  Scott and Frankie make it through with him.

It’s now day 2 and the second half of the contestants now get to take the stage.  We see Jackie and she sings.  I find her to be overboard and obnoxious.  Randy likes her and tells her she’s kinda wild and it was like she was just alone singing in her room.  Paula tells her that she likes her and would miss her.  Jackie is told to step forward.  The front row is staying and the back row is going home.

Now we see Danny and Jamar.  Danny is starting a new chapter in his life.  We see Jamar talking about Danny’s loss and how he’s coped and how he’s healing.  Jamar sings first, he sings, “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and the Papas.  Randy tells him, “I’m a big fan of yours.”  Me too Randy, me too.  Danny sings next and it’s “Kiss From A Rose” by Seal.  He does an excellent job and you can feel his passion.  Darn near brought the hairs on the back of my neck up.  Paula stands up to clap.  She tells him that she loves him and he is already ready to record records.  Danny and Jamar are through to the next round !

We now get to see a bunch of the people who went through in quick bursts.

Next up is “Bikini Girl” Katrina … we see her spat with Kara from her first audition and we see many of the times she has planted kisses on Ryan.  She sings “Breathe” by Faith Hill.  It sounded crazy fake and pretentious to me.  Kara talks first, “We had such a fun time last time, didn’t we ?  When you started I thought maybe I was wrong but as it went on, maybe I was right.”  Paula agrees that the beginning was better than the ending.  Simon and Randy say they disagree with Paula and Kara.  Katrina says she is better with music and Randy and Simon agree with her on that.  Everyone from Katrina’s line (yes including Katrina, sigh) are through to the next round.

Care taker Jessica Ferney, Shara, and Patricia are all shown going home.

Next we see Jeremy and Jesus.  When Jeremy sings Randy tells him that he is “one of the best” and the other judges agree.  Jesus sings his song.  Jesus is told to step forward and Jeremy is told to step back.  The back row (Jeremy) is through.

Now we have the last line of the day.  We see David Osmond, Erika Wesley and punk rocker Emily.  Emily was well liked during her first audition.  She is shown during bootcamp to have chosen and rehearsed the 1940’s version of the song, “I Put a Spell on You” but when she gets on stage she has changed her mind last minute.  She decides to sing, unrehearsed, “Excuse Me Mr” by No Doubt.  Kara is disappointed with her audition.  Paula tells her that they fell in love with her during her first audition.  All of the judges just didn’t like her song choice.  Told to step forward are Alex, David and Emily. The front row is through to the next round !  Erika goes on the stage to disagree with the judges.  She wants to convince them that she belongs there and should stay.  Simon and Paula argue about the decision that was made.  Erika tries to guilt the judges by telling them it’s her husband’s birthday.  They aren’t hearing it.  Simon and Paula fight more about Simon not being able to read what Paula had written.

We are told these people also made it to the next round: Alexis Grace, Brent Smith, Anne Marie, Adam Lambert.  104 contestants stay in Hollywood through this round and onto the next.  We see a whole bunch of happy dances and celebration.

Wednesday night is the infamous GROUP DAY !