AUDITION DAY (WELL EARLY MORNING!)
So Wednesday was the day of doom, running on 4 hours of sleep, we left the house at 4 and embarked on a day full of people, singing and craziness. We walked up to a line of people at around 5 and stood for about 2 hours. Then i heard a disappointing statement from a woman wearing a bright pink dress and matching hat.."it's raining!". And just as she predicted, it was so. It started to sprinkle, then drizzle and then pitter patter on our faces.
It was cold, it was windy and now, it was raining. My mom ran to the car a couple blocks away, only to find that we in fact, lacked all of the HUGE umbrellas that we thought we had. So here's the scene.. people, huddled around together in their little clusters, covered by huge canopies of shelter... and in the middle of all this, the two of us, with our backs to the wind, huddling to our purses, getting poured on. No one had mercy and no one would invite me into their clusters. I tried winking at some guys in an attempt for a offer, but that didn't even work. Then the American Idol people decided to let us come in, at around 7:30...
(do not forget though, that even before we could enter the arena, we had to stand in the street and shoot a little "promo" of us saying.. "rain or shine" like a bunch of goobers for a camera.)
FINALLY IN!
So now we are in the arena and rushing around covered in wetness and trying to find our section. Girls are all around me, yelping about their makeup running or OMG my hair is frizzy! i didn't have to worry, for i had worn my trusty black hat and it has shielded my face from the gargantuan drops of rain.
We make it to our section, 112 and find our seats, and sit down and take a breather. Soon the seats start filling up all around the arena...until eventually, the above picture is what i saw from my seat...(its rather blurry and small because it was taken from muh phone) I was told that there was a total of 10,000 hopefuls in that place, the biggest in Idol history.
FIVE MINUTES OF GROUP FAME
So then begins the American Idol "whoop whoop" as i call it.. we were getting all pumped up by one of the main producers (who much to my dismay and unknown to me would be the producer i would try out to). He was making us practice the songs that we were told to learn on monday. "Get Ready" by the temptations and ironically enough, "Walking on Sunshine" by Kasey and the waves... (i hate that song). Then Ryan Seacrest pops out of the door and runs around like a fool.
Here in begins the little shoots we did for the Jax episode.. we did a "Welcome to Jacksonville!" and a "Welcome to Florida!" and then on to.."Rain or Shine, Send me to Hollywood!" We did them all, scenes of us shouting and then to us singing and dancing. It was fun, im not gonna lie..but when the camera came to my section i was thinking, i hope that we have a sweet line for the episode, such as "What up fool!" or "Bring it!" or something...but noooo, we had to utter " Welcome to dawg town Randy!"...what is that? oh well, if its in the episode, you may see me, yelling it out, but you will know, i hated every minute of it.
THE AUDITIONS
Then came the Auditions, they stared assembling the little tryout sections, on the floor of the huge arena. 12 little "room"s that contained a small partition, table and two chairs. We had a perfect view of about 9 of those little rooms so i was excited. They took you down section by section and you would line up with 4 other people in a horizontal line in front of the table of assorted judges (producers). Then one by one you would step out in front and start singing until they raised their hand (kinda like Hitler) and you would stop and go back to the line and the other 3 would do the same.. AND THEN
the two producers would take their clipboards (of privacy) and cover their mouths, whisper things about you all and then ask you to step forward. Then they would either say "Thanks, but no thanks" or tell 3 people of your line adios, and ask you to stay. If you were asked to stay then they would mark your wristband with a kiss of hope and hand you that GOLDEN PAPER, called the golden ticket and you would exit to the left and out the "Winners door" while you new friends would immediately have their writs bands cut off and would walk across the arena infront of thousands, then out the "Losers Door" and told to leave the arena out of a small door out back. brutal? yes, brutal.
HOW DO YOU EVEN PICK?
A mystery to us all in the stands, was how do these producers weed through ALL of these people. Answer...they get rid of just about everyone.. i added up and the ratio to advancing to the next round was about 1 out of 200. It was a tough business down there and i was not looking forward to it.. Luckily, my section was about 10 sections away from the first hopefuls, averaging about 4-5 hours away...so at this point you just wait around, practice your song, get some food and just await your fate...
i watched and listened to hundreds and thousands of people, stand in their lines, sing their song of choice and get sent out. one after the other after the other... it was QUITE entertaining, but so disheartening at the same time. We had been there for sooooo long and all just to walk down there and go straight out the door (but remember, i was just doing this for the experience, i had no expectations ATTTALL!)
WAITING AND WAITING AND WAITING
So mom and i chatted some, listened to good singers and bad ones too. Laughed at some of the characters down there and made friends with those around us. Shared out opinions on people that got passed (and rejoiced with them as they proudly pranced across the floor with their "golden ticket".. we muched on crusty concession stand food and walked around...
--although, it was almost unbearable in the hallways, because every foot there were people practicing thier songs on the phone, in the bathroom, in line getting nachos, up against the window... GAH! it was like a huge mummer of aretha franklin and the star spangled banner!
*but it was fun
MY TURN TO GO AUDITION
So, here it was, the big moment of complete and utter hilariousness..it was around 3 o'clock p.m., just to letcha know how long i had waited. here i was, about to sing before a random group of producers and basically in front of thousands of people that were going to watch my every move.. i was singing a song i hardly knew and kept forgetting the words to (which will kick me in the buttocks later) and me with my " i don't really care" attitude.. it was rather funny.
The whole day i had sworn i was nervous, and i truly wasn't, until i handed the lady my release form and was walking across the arena.. wow oh wow oh wow, i felt so silly. A man assembled my into my group of four and directed us to our "room-of-no-privacy" i was with two girls and a guy and we were all sharing our nervousness. All of my group had lovely R & B hits to sing, and i was like uhhhh, for i was singing "Love, where is your fire?" but Brooke Fraser, a sorta soft and folky song. But as we were walking to "room 8" i was wondering, who would i be auditioning for...and who would have thunk it, the african american singing freak man and his other african american girl friend. I was surely doomed.
Me and my floral dress, vest and hat, doomed..and my knees were shaking as we walked up to the line. The first girl went, and then the boy, he sang... "I swear" by Boys to Men and i couldn't help but sing along and dance (hello "Just friends" the movie) and then it was my turn and so i walked up and started to sing my song, until i got the the third line of the verse and i blanked out. totally. BLANK... so i stood there and flashed a smile and moved on, with grace to the chorus and then stopped when his hand raised up. GRRRRRRRRRR, i had, up to this point, not cared at all about the actual audition part, until that one moment. I wanted to badly to stand up and throw the table over and say "I can sing, i can!" but instead i just smiled and awaited the "Please come forward"
OH MY DEAR, NO GOLDEN TICKET FOR YOU
The said, first of all, we would like to thank all of you for coming and singing for us, unfortunately, we have a lot of people to listen to and choose and we don't think you guys are ready fir season 8 of American Idol. Then the woman turns to me and says, "oh, but honey, i love love love your hat".. i just smiled and thanked her for my hat and then walked out of the room and straight to the henchman with the scissors to rip me of all of my American Idol ties, my yellow wristband...
---then it was out the "loser door" and out the even worse "exit" door and straight out into the POURING rain...
PLEASE MA'AM, WE NEED YOU TO EXIT
so i walked out and accepted my Idol fate, into the hard hard rain until i was under the covering of the arena entrance and looking for my mom. Several officers came up to me, soaking wet and kinda let down, and told me that i had to leave, i couldn't stay under the coverings. I was thinking....oh the nerve. But anyways, found my mom, who assured me of my singing voice (ha) and let me know how proud she was that i even tried. So we were pushed back out into the hurricane force rains and winds and walked several blocks to the car. Got in, dripping wet and miserable and oh so tired, but we had to laugh.
what an experience! I did it, and even though to some it may look like failure, true failure comes with not trying (a church marquee once said)
and so we drove home and got showered and dried off and then SLEEP SLEEP SLEEP.
it was fun and im so glad that i did it, as well as being able to be on the local news stations and all over the Jacksonville episode of Season 8 American Idol.
COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS AND OTHER THINGS
- you go in front of Paula, Randy and Simon and sing your heart out. (im afraid that doesn't happen until the next round of the tryouts)
- you get to bring 12 of your closest family members with you to see it all (you are allowed one parent or guardian or friend, tis all)
- they pick you if you have an AMAZING voice (uh, lets just say, they are smart producers and if you make good t.v. ooooh buddy you are so gonna get on, as well as being able to carry a tune)
- what about all those jokes-of-people that are on with Simon? (I saw several instances where there were CRAZY people, who could sorta sing, but they were something else, get past and the producers knew what they were doing.. its kind sad when you think about it though, cause they think they are getting past because their singing voice is spectacular, when really, they are what draws people to watch the show. ha)
- Trying out for American Idol is easy... ( No Way Jose'! it was a hassle getting up early and quite scary singing in front of all those people, as well as the paperwork and all that jazz...but its worth it and lots of fun, but not easy!)
So thanks for reading, hope i filled you in and was able to give you THE INSIDERS LOOK!, i'll defiantly be watching Season 8 and awaiting the next person to make it big.
FUN STUFF
-Jordyn
