American Idol: And the voting begins!

We LOVE American Idol! Tuesday and Wednesday nights (every night really!) we can be found in front of the TV. We didn't start watching until the season that Carrie Underwood won. (Season 4?) Once we started watching though, I got pretty serious about it - I have a legal pad that I take notes on the performances so that when we vote, we know we didn't forget anything and have narrowed it down to our favorite performance(s) of the night. I really like that we are going to get to be more involved in the decision making process this year. The judges narrowed it down to 36 contestants, and then divided them in to 3 groups of 12.

Tonight we got to see the first group perform, and then we vote for our favorites. Tomorrow night they will reveal the 3 contestants that got the most votes. The Female with the most votes, the Male and then the contestant with the next most votes overall will advance to the Top 12. They will do this with each group of 12, and there will be 3 "Wild Card" contestants that the Judges will choose to complete the Top 12.

Since this is the first season of Idol since I began my blog, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the performances! We can compare notes if you like - I'd love to hear your thoughts! Here is my take on tonight's show. The 12 contestants tonight performed hits from the Billboard Top 100.

Jackie Tohn started us out tonight with "A little less conversation" by Elvis Presley. I would hate to have to go first! I am sure she was nervous, but I really didn't like this performance. I can't say I was too crazy about her outfit either, although Randy, Paula and Kara all carried on like she looked great. I have to say that I think Simon had this one right, I don't think Jackie will go any further. No Vote

Next up was Ricky Braddy. His parents were sporting their "Braddy Bunch" t-shirts - a little cheesy! Ricky sang "A song for you" by Leon Russell. I thought this was very good, and in the end Ricky got one of my three votes for the evening.

A cute little blonde named Alexis Grace was next. Alexis chose "Never loved a man" by Aretha Franklin. WOW! That tiny little thing can SING! She definitely got a vote.

Brent Keith went country with us, and sang "Hick Town". I read somewhere that Brent was on Nashville Star a few seasons ago. I think he should have gotten the message when he didn't win there! It wasn't horrible, but I didn't think he was Top 12 material. No Vote.

17 year old Stevie Wright chose Taylor Swift's "You belong with me". Such a cute girl, but I completely agreed with the judges - it was a train wreck. She's young, so hopefully she'll try again. No Vote.

Anoop "noopdog" Desai performed "Angel of mine". I was on the fence with this one. He was good, and almost made my cut, but was edged out in the end. Hopefully he'll be one of the wild cards. No Vote.

Casey Carlson was next. She wanted to perform a song that made her feel good, so she chose "Every little thing she does is magic" by the Police. So Sad! Her facial expressions drove me nuts and her dancing, if you could call it that, was robotic. Cute little thing, but I think she's done. No Vote here.

Michael Sarver works on an oil rig and wants a better life for his family. He chose "I don't wanna be anything other than me" I like his story, and tried really hard to like this performance, but it just didn't work for me. (Dawg!) I loved when Bo Bice sang this, Michael - not so much. No Vote.

Anne Marie Boskovich sang "Natural Woman". I got nothin'. No Vote.

Stephen Fowler. Stephen. Stephen. Stephen! Poor song choice. During Hollywood week Stephen forgot the words to his solo song, but had impressed enough to make it through. Everyone had high hopes for him tonight. And then he went and chose "Rock with you" by Michael Jackson. Stephen, you are NOT the King of Pop. No Vote.

Tatiana (Psycho) Del Toro sang "Saving all my love for you" by Whitney Houston. This girl was featured A LOT during the tryouts and Hollywood week and we are pretty much convinced that she is not playing with a full deck. So you can imagine how surprised I was when she actually did a pretty good job with this song. This is "her dream" and she won't let anything get in her way. She is definitely passionate! No Vote though.

Danny Gokey was our final contestant of the evening. Danny's wife passed away about a month before the auditions, and I immediately loved this story. He is a Church music director, and he had a very good friend that went with him to audition, and made it through to Hollywood with him. He (the friend, Jamar) was cut in the final eliminations last week. I completely disagreed with that decision, but I digress. Danny chose "Hero" by Mariah Carey and OH! MY GOSH! I had tears in my eyes. Just a beautiful performance. I was so proud for him! VOTE!!

So tonight my top 3 are Danny, Alexis and Ricky. I can't wait to tune in tomorrow and see if America agrees with me! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think! Do you watch? Or are you one of those that just "don't get it"?