Gabe Brown of Marion (American Idol photo)

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia

I love the way Eastern Iowans keep capturing national and world stages. Move over Ashton and Sole Survivor Denise Stapley. Gabe Brown is singing his way through “American Idol.”

We saw him make it to Hollywood Week a couple of weeks ago, after nailing his Chicago audition. Last night, the popular talent show and star launcher showcased the top 100 guys, winnowing the field to the top 40 guys.

Brown, 22, of Marion, made the cut. He survived the first round, a sudden-death lineup where the qualifiers were brought in 10 at a time to sing a little something, then found out right away whether or not they would advance to the group round.

Producers then divided the guys into groups of three, four or five and gave them 24 hours to come up with a group name, choose a song from a list of 20, learn it, devise choreography and perform pretty much dog-tired after staying up all or most of the night to complete the assignment.

As judge Randy Jackson said, “This will separate the men from the boys.”

Some crumbled under the fatigue and pressure, others rose to the occasion, and others proved their mettle by vamping right through the lyrics they were flubbing or forgetting.

Brown was in a foursome called the Math Heads, belting out Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” All four — Brown, Mathenee Treco, Nick Boddington and Matheus Fernandes — wowed the judges and advanced to tonight’s solo round.

So tune in to your local Fox channel tonight (2/7/13) at 7 to see if Brown’s odyssey continues or ends.

Next week, the ladies take the stage, with Alisabeth Von Presley, 25, of Cedar Rapids, ready to rock the socks off of judges Jackson, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Mariah Carey.