Here's what happened at the auditions, for your entertainment.
It's actually not quite what you see on tv. (Surprise surprise.) The process takes place over 3 days. The first two days are devoted to registration. I went on day 1. I got there at about 6 am, to find a lot of people had been there for a couple of hours. And the doors weren't supposed to open until 8 am. No biggie. I had snacks and a book. A couple times, we filmed segments welcoming people 'back to American Idol' but other than that, nothing very exciting happened. Once I did get inside, I had to go to one of several tables containing Idol people. I showed them my ID, then was given a ticket (for my seat in the arena where we were) and a wristband to prove I hadn't stolen my ticket, along with two pieces of paper with the rules and what to expect/do on audition day.
Among those things was learn the crowd song, and not to get my wristband wet.
Since I had registered day 1, I didn't have to come back until audition day, day 3. This time, I *had* to be there by 5 am (so said my papers). I did get there, and got to be further up the line this time. Eventually, around 7 am, we were moved to the front of the arena. At this point, the press started doing interviews with people in line and taking pictures. That was kinda cool - I got to sing "Sweet Home Alabama" into one of the cameras with some people. Then we were herded inside.The arena was MASSIVE - and nearly every seat was full. They then brought out the official Idol cameras, and had us filming more "welcome/welcome back" segments. Then we sang some songs ("Heartbreaker" and "When You Wish Upon a Star") and cheered. Then people actually got to sing for the producers around 9 am. I was far back in the lineup, so I didn't get to sing until around 1:30 pm ish. My row got called down to the arena floor, then we were lined up in groups of four. We were then sent before 2 producers. When they pointed at a person, person X had 30 seconds to sing. Then, after all 4 had sung, they discussed for a moment, then determined whether or not anyone would go on. My entire group got the following comment:
"Your auditions were good, but you're not right for American Idol."
With that, we were dismissed. I went out, got my ride, and headed away.
And there you have it.
This is a news photo taken from the roof of the arena. I'm on the left side of the picture, under the last flag pole. (In the bigger picture, I found my aqua skirt.)
