A few thousand down, 28 to go.

At least that’s the way it stands for one Marvin Calderon Jr. this morning on American Idol Season 12.

Calderon, a San Diego State student, advanced Thursday night as the top male singers, which started in the thousands who originally tried out, were whittled down to 28. It was supposed to be 20, but those oh so crafty (yawn) AI producers felt a need to toss a monkey wrench into the proceedings and tell the anointed ones at the end of the show that they had actually retained 28 sted of 20 male finalists and that number will be sliced by eight and revealed next Thursday.

Idol Chatter probably could find out Calderon’s fate since the show was actually taped back in December, but for our entertainment value and yours we will just wait and find out later along with the rest of the viewing audience. More fun that way.

Nonetheless, Calderon, who originally auditioned in Long Beach, has proven he can sing. He received about a 30-second shootout Thursday night doing “Jar of Hearts” where he was approved after judge Keith Urban commented, “I love your voice. I really do.”

Martin can sing and he can also jump up and down as he demonstrated after the good news of his passing another Idol hurdle.

Next week we see a similar duo of shows on Wednesday and Thursday with the female contestants doing first group numbers and then solos as they try to advance.