American Idol auditions

Wow, I am so behind on my posts. We've been kind of busy, so there are a few things that I need to catch up on. First things first... American Idol auditions. Ash and I got up to Salt Lake and were in line by 6:30 am, and we were towards the end of the line. Mind you, everyone already has their tickets and seat numbers, so there is really no reason to be at the front of the line, so why these people got in line at 5 am, I have no idea. But it was fun to chat with people around us, and let me tell you, we had some characters around us!

Waiting in line outside, the morning of

We saw Justin what's-his-face, Guarini or something?, from season one.

Once you get inside, you find your seat and they did a bunch of taping. They had people say "Welcome to Salt Lake City" and all that good stuff. It was kind of annoying, because we weren't in the section that they were filming most of the time, so we pretty much just sat there while these moronic girls kept messing up their lines. Hello... it's not that hard! But it was fun to see how that all works. Then they explained stuff and started the auditions. Ok, so the way this worked...

Everyone is in their seat number according to when they checked in and got their wrist band the two days prior to the audition. They started on one side and worked their way around. We were about 1/3 of the way in, so not too bad. After they did some auditions, Ryan Seacrest graced us with his presence, and they did a bunch of "we'll be back, after the break" and "this... is American Idol" takes, and then he left and they got back to the auditions. They probably started the auditions at about 8:30 am, and Ashley auditioned at about 3:00 pm, and like I said, we weren't even 1/2 way in, just to give you an idea of the long day the rest of the people were in store for.

Mr. Seacrest himself... not a very good picture, but it's him You can see him by the way he stands, and he's wearing a blazer!

So, they would take one section at a time, and lead them down to the floor, where they would proceed to put them in rows of 4 across. They would then send the rows of 4 to one of 11 audition booths, where the producers would listen to them sing one at a time. One person would sing, then step back and the next one would sing. After all 4 people were done, they would discuss and then call them up and tell them yes or no. I was SUPER shocked by how few people they let go on to the next round. You couldn't hear people sing, but you could always see when someone got through, as they would give them a golden ticket, and the person would then proceed to wave it in the air, soliciting applause. By the time my sister was up, they had probably let 40 people through, most of those being guys. And we're talking about 40 out of about 1000 people. I always had the impression that if you could sing, you would at least make the first cut, but tis not so. There were LOTS of talented people, as you could hear a bunch of them practicing, but I guess they have something really specific that they are looking for. After watching people audition, I am guessing that you have to either be good and really unique, super amazing, or really hilarious in a bad way. Even though, like I said, we couldn't hear the people singing, I was so fascinated and entertained just watching the people go through. I always like to guess who they were going to let through, and it really was so exciting when someone actually got to go on.

Waiting. How cute is my sis? They were crazy for not taking her.

By the time my sister went, they were only listening to about 10 seconds of people's songs, so I imagine it was really hard to show them what you can do in that short of time. Ashley said they smiled at her and seemed like they enjoyed her voice, and she also said that no one else in her row could sing. Sadly, she did not make it through, however, after seeing how few people were getting through, we weren't that surprised. It was still a fun day, and really fascinating to watch the process. It was fun to chat with and get to know the people sitting around us, and being bummed with them when they didn't get through either. Probably one of the funniest parts of the day, was when I was in line to get a ridiculously priced hot dog, there were these 2 guys next to me practicing, get this... I need thee every hour... a duet with harmonies. WOW! Only in Utah. I could be wrong, but I don't think that's what FOX is looking for.

Hard to see, but that's Ashley auditioning, in between booths 4 and 5, wearing a black sweater.