Audition Day!

My day started with me getting up at 3:45am. We got in line at about 5am. The line was the most entertaining part of my day. People watching is quite fun for me. It was still nice and cool outside and I met a really nice man named Alan, an Arena employee. He was from Austrailia and totally hillarious.
So camera crews from different news stations and different tv shows were there. Justin Guarini or whatever his name is was there representing the TV Guide channel. Girls were screaming for him and squeeling, which as you can probably imagine, didn't annoy me whatsoever at 5am. Ha!
Marshall's sister called over to him to get a picture with him, so I snapped that picture. Then this girl in a quite----- um, interesting outfit hunted Justin down. She pretty much made him give her a TV interview. He asked her to sing Amazing Grace, and in her very valley girl tone and dialect said, "Um, I don't know that song." Blah, blah. Anyway, this interview was right next to me and at one point I noticed that the camera wasn't even filming. So I don't know if she will get what she wanted out of that process!
At about 8am, we start piling into the arena. We then find our seats and at that point the Fox workers have the crowd singing, Get Ready by The Temptations. We were all yelling, singing and screaming. This went on for about an hour. Then they finally busted out the audition tables and told us the rules. ....
4 people went up at a time to a judges table. 1 person at a time would step up, sing your song until you were given the hand to stop singing. Then the next one would go. After everyone was done, everyone stepped forward and they either said yes or no. If you were told no, you got your wristband snipped and out you went. If you got a yes, you had to go to a different area and spend about an hour or more being filmed and filling out paperwork.
So at about 1:30, Marshall and I got down to the floor, and at about 1:45 or so, stepped up in our line of 4 and auditioned.
I was really torn between singing Beautiful Disaster and At Last. So, when I stepped forward, out came Beautiful Disaster. I feel I did very well. I wasn't even nervous at all, (since you all know how much I wanted to be there anyway.) At this point, I was starving, had to pee and wanted out of that arena. While I was singing, the judge wouldn't look at me. In fact, she never looked at anyone while they were singing. So she called us all up to the table, told us "Thank you for coming. It's great that all of you were here. We couldn't do the show without you and you had some pretty solid performances. But we are looking for stronger singers this year for season 8. Have a good day."
So, as we walked out, (feeling completely relieved), Marshall starts screaming, "I'm free! Whoooooooo! As you can imagine, I was just loving being seen with him during his stupid moments. Well as we walk out, we get a camera slammed in our face asking us what we thought about auditions. Marshall continues on screaming in his obnoxious way, talking about how he needs to pee etc. Meanwhile, I'm shaking my head, completely embarrassed by him and saying something like, I really hope I don't get stuck on TV with him. The auditions were fun, its a long day and I'm ready to go home. We then had to hike up 8 flights of stairs to get out. lol.
So that is the end of the American Idol journey. I would never want to do it again. But it definitely is an experience, that's for sure!
Now I have to survive another 10 hour drive stuck in a car with Marshall. Pray I make it home safe.

So, on the news today and in the newspaper, I was informed that Randy, Paula and Simon WILL NOT actually be here in Salt Lake!!!! How annoying! So this is what happens.
We show up at 5 am to get inside the building at who knows what time. I don't know how they determine who auditions and when. All those details are unclear.
There are 4 rounds that you have to get passed on through while here in Salt Lake. IF, you make it through all the rounds, then you sign a contract stating that you will return in September to appear before the judges. You sign that you will keep the same hair style, clothes and won't be tanner or lighter than before, etc.
So, I am feeling slightly annoyed at this process. I don't think it would be so bad, if people new what to expect. It's weird. Anyway, I'm off to bed. Must be up soon.

American Idol

So on Sunday, July 27th, I stood in a line waiting to register for American Idol auditions. It took less than an hour. I got a nifty little red wristband, and a seat ticket to enter the Energy Solutions Arena. (Formerly the Delta Center)
I have to be in line tomorrow at 5 am. Doors don't open until 8 am. I have no idea what is going to happen tomorrow. We were told we had to learn 2 "audience participation" songs. Those are: Ain't no mountain high enough by Marvin Gaye and Get Ready by the temptations.
You know each season when they show all sorts of people singing the same song, random clips, I'm POSITIVE this is why we have to learn these songs. So I may be on the lame people clips, because I have no intention of trying to learn these songs by heart. I have some serious practicing to do ahead of time!
I will keep everyone posted!