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So of course when my friend Kelsie found out that idol was coming to New Orleans, she said she would make me try out. I complacently agreed but still thought it'd actually never happen.
We found ourselves travelling to New Orleans about a month later. After getting the arm bands and tickets, all of a sudden it hit me... it was really happening. We kept having bursts of excitement just thinking about it.
the next night we got a hotel and went out to eat on bourbon street. It was (handsdown) the BEST food I've ever eaten. shrimp, grits, fried green tomatoes. pulling out allll the stops
As we were coming back into the hotel, a man on the elevator asked about my red armband. So I reluctantly told him I was trying out for American Idol. I knew what was coming next... he asked me to sing for him. Figuring it'd be good practice for the next day, I agreed. After singing the first verse and chorus to "don't know why" by norah jones, he asked for my name and gave me his card (he was a lutheran reverend) and excitedly left thinking he'd met the next american idol. He promised prayers coming my way and I was grateful for having run into him. I mean hey, we can never have too many prayers!
After being giddy with excitement after getting my first fan (besides kelsie, katelyn, amy, blair, and our families of course) we fell asleep. but not for long. we woke up at approximately 3:45 AM and got ready to go. After getting in line at the crack of dawn, we waited. and waited. and waited.
I overheard one woman on the phone saying "there has to be at least a million people here"... but I'm pretty sure there was only somewhere barely north of a thousand. It's amazing what camera angles can do. Seeing the real life event and the TV version of the same event really opened my eyes to show biz. We were informed when to scream/cheer/dance, and people were kicked out the crowd if they weren't enthusiastic enough. The whole time I was thinking, if people don't wanna cheer for Ryan Seacrest, he just must not be that cool... why do we have to be told to get excited? (sidenote-- ryan seacrest really is a tiny man, but he seems pretty nice). It was sort of like finding out your childhood hero was just a fictional character. Sort of a letdown.
The strange people there almost made up for this let down though. Dearest readers, I could tell you about all of the crazies I saw at such a place, but I'm afraid I don't have all the time in the world. Such a strange group of people there (I guess I'm included in that group...) But I must tell you of a few of the notable characters.
However before I begin to try describing these interesting people, I must first describe the typical person at the tryout. Almost every person there had traveled far to finally fulfill their destiny and hit the stardom they were certainly born for. You could have talked to pretty much anyone there and been convinced you'd met the NEXT AMERICAN IDOL! this was serious business, people. And if you had the opportunity to talk to their fans (mom? dad?), you'd most certainly know just how talented that person was.
Too cool for school. The first odd bird we encountered was a super cool guy. he was wearing sunglasses at 5 am. The sun wasn't out yet, but it'd be far too mainstream to not wear his sunglasses right? hmmmm. Him and his male companion were playing guitar and sitting indian style in the middle of the crowd. If you had looked at them, you would have thought they were jamming loudly, but you couldn't even hear them at all. Maybe singing loudly was far too mainstream as well. who knows.
Sargent Loudmouth. The next source of entertainment (or frustration) came from an obnoxious man dressed in an army uniform. Contrary to what you see on tv, the crowd outside of american idol is actually very quiet (besides the low hum of people practicing their songs). But this guy was nothing but quiet, he yelled and put in his two sense for everything. Definitely memorable. especially at such an early hour.
Voodoo Woman. As we were walking into the New Orleans arena (finally!!) I heard a daaaa da da daaa da da daaa coming from what sounded like a tribal drum. Sure enough, right in the middle of the crowd was a woman dressed in strange clothes wearing a big headdress. She was surrounded by her band of drummers and had a huge snake (not the friendly kind..) and was dancing with the snake. This might have been one of the strangest things I've seen in a while. However, I definitely didn't want to let on to that for fear of being put under some sort of voodoo spell.
Don't Forget the lyrics. This one poor guy completely forgot the words to his song. He was completely awkward and shy, and I can just see someone telling him he was a good singer for the sole purpose of humiliating him. However, he believed it, and he was there trying out his luck on idol. The judges sent him through for the cruel purpose of making fun of him. this just hurt my heart.
Shake your booty gurl. This girl was not afraid to shake what her momma gave her. She proudly danced her little heart out and shook what she owned basically in the faces of the judges. Of course she made it through as well
Tiger man. This man's whole face was a tiger. he even had pointed ears and whiskers and such. 'nuff said.
The next destiny's child. I encountered this particular group of girls right before I was called up to sing. The only reason I noticed them was because they let me go ahead of them, just so they could be together in line. It was interesting though because they had all just met each other that morning, but they were now all bff's. They all sang songs with lots of emotion and lots of ooooOOOoooOOOohhhh yeaaaaahhhhh's while the other three swayed in the background. When they all four got denied, they huddled together for support and stood strong as they saw their dreams fade away. At least they had each other, right?
When it was finally my turn to get called up to the judges, I tried my hardest to make eye contact and work some charm on them. I had been listening to the other singers all morning, I couldn't hold a candle to many of them so I knew I had to bank on my personality. After singing, they told me "Not this year, but keep singing cause you have a unique voice. You just need to practice singing in front of people" Which makes sense... since i've actually never really done that. (unless you count family jam sessions?)
I walked away smiling. I did so partly because I had a peaceful feeling of accomplishment (I had just crossed off a major item off my bucket list!!) but also because the camera man was filming me and I wanted to be shown on TV as the "Well many dreams were made today here at American Idol, but many weren't so lucky que dramatic music" part of the show. my fifteen seconds of fame!!! or less... hey it's better than none.
But anyway, I was smiling not only because I had just done a pretty courageous thing that I've wanted to do for a while, but I also had a ton of fun.
At the beginning of the day Ryan Seacret told us, "there are no losers in idol". I believe this is true not only for idol but for life. While there were certainly a large number of weirdos (including myself) in that crowd, everyone has something to bring to the table. As my friend says all the time, "There's something beautiful about every single person." Cheesy, but definitely true. And I have to say a whole arena filled with courageous people taking a chance on their dreams is not only entertaining (as seen above), but it's actually pretty beautiful.
I'm so thankful my friends pushed me to try out. hey I might have met THE NEXT {dramatic pause}AMERICAN IDOL
fingers crossed
I overheard one woman on the phone saying "there has to be at least a million people here"... but I'm pretty sure there was only somewhere barely north of a thousand. It's amazing what camera angles can do. Seeing the real life event and the TV version of the same event really opened my eyes to show biz. We were informed when to scream/cheer/dance, and people were kicked out the crowd if they weren't enthusiastic enough. The whole time I was thinking, if people don't wanna cheer for Ryan Seacrest, he just must not be that cool... why do we have to be told to get excited? (sidenote-- ryan seacrest really is a tiny man, but he seems pretty nice). It was sort of like finding out your childhood hero was just a fictional character. Sort of a letdown.
so close I could touch him... by the way that is a very short woman
The strange people there almost made up for this let down though. Dearest readers, I could tell you about all of the crazies I saw at such a place, but I'm afraid I don't have all the time in the world. Such a strange group of people there (I guess I'm included in that group...) But I must tell you of a few of the notable characters.
However before I begin to try describing these interesting people, I must first describe the typical person at the tryout. Almost every person there had traveled far to finally fulfill their destiny and hit the stardom they were certainly born for. You could have talked to pretty much anyone there and been convinced you'd met the NEXT AMERICAN IDOL! this was serious business, people. And if you had the opportunity to talk to their fans (mom? dad?), you'd most certainly know just how talented that person was.
Too cool for school. The first odd bird we encountered was a super cool guy. he was wearing sunglasses at 5 am. The sun wasn't out yet, but it'd be far too mainstream to not wear his sunglasses right? hmmmm. Him and his male companion were playing guitar and sitting indian style in the middle of the crowd. If you had looked at them, you would have thought they were jamming loudly, but you couldn't even hear them at all. Maybe singing loudly was far too mainstream as well. who knows.
Sargent Loudmouth. The next source of entertainment (or frustration) came from an obnoxious man dressed in an army uniform. Contrary to what you see on tv, the crowd outside of american idol is actually very quiet (besides the low hum of people practicing their songs). But this guy was nothing but quiet, he yelled and put in his two sense for everything. Definitely memorable. especially at such an early hour.
Voodoo Woman. As we were walking into the New Orleans arena (finally!!) I heard a daaaa da da daaa da da daaa coming from what sounded like a tribal drum. Sure enough, right in the middle of the crowd was a woman dressed in strange clothes wearing a big headdress. She was surrounded by her band of drummers and had a huge snake (not the friendly kind..) and was dancing with the snake. This might have been one of the strangest things I've seen in a while. However, I definitely didn't want to let on to that for fear of being put under some sort of voodoo spell.
Don't Forget the lyrics. This one poor guy completely forgot the words to his song. He was completely awkward and shy, and I can just see someone telling him he was a good singer for the sole purpose of humiliating him. However, he believed it, and he was there trying out his luck on idol. The judges sent him through for the cruel purpose of making fun of him. this just hurt my heart.
Shake your booty gurl. This girl was not afraid to shake what her momma gave her. She proudly danced her little heart out and shook what she owned basically in the faces of the judges. Of course she made it through as well
Tiger man. This man's whole face was a tiger. he even had pointed ears and whiskers and such. 'nuff said.
The next destiny's child. I encountered this particular group of girls right before I was called up to sing. The only reason I noticed them was because they let me go ahead of them, just so they could be together in line. It was interesting though because they had all just met each other that morning, but they were now all bff's. They all sang songs with lots of emotion and lots of ooooOOOoooOOOohhhh yeaaaaahhhhh's while the other three swayed in the background. When they all four got denied, they huddled together for support and stood strong as they saw their dreams fade away. At least they had each other, right?
me and the twins awaiting tryouts
When it was finally my turn to get called up to the judges, I tried my hardest to make eye contact and work some charm on them. I had been listening to the other singers all morning, I couldn't hold a candle to many of them so I knew I had to bank on my personality. After singing, they told me "Not this year, but keep singing cause you have a unique voice. You just need to practice singing in front of people" Which makes sense... since i've actually never really done that. (unless you count family jam sessions?)
I walked away smiling. I did so partly because I had a peaceful feeling of accomplishment (I had just crossed off a major item off my bucket list!!) but also because the camera man was filming me and I wanted to be shown on TV as the "Well many dreams were made today here at American Idol, but many weren't so lucky que dramatic music" part of the show. my fifteen seconds of fame!!! or less... hey it's better than none.
But anyway, I was smiling not only because I had just done a pretty courageous thing that I've wanted to do for a while, but I also had a ton of fun.
At the beginning of the day Ryan Seacret told us, "there are no losers in idol". I believe this is true not only for idol but for life. While there were certainly a large number of weirdos (including myself) in that crowd, everyone has something to bring to the table. As my friend says all the time, "There's something beautiful about every single person." Cheesy, but definitely true. And I have to say a whole arena filled with courageous people taking a chance on their dreams is not only entertaining (as seen above), but it's actually pretty beautiful.
I'm so thankful my friends pushed me to try out. hey I might have met THE NEXT {dramatic pause}AMERICAN IDOL
fingers crossed
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