Life is Sweet

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity - but overall, such a joy! 

Waiting outside the arena on Tuesday around 6 a.m.

I've been attending BBQs, bonfires, Pops in the Park (where the Symphony plays outdoors), and art crawls in NoDa.  On Saturday night, I went to my friend Jessy's son's first birthday party.  Ben (her baby) is so precious and it was so much fun watching him experience a frosted cake for the first time.  By the time he was done with his miniature cake, all that was left was crumbs and a little boy COVERED in frosting and squished cake.  But boy oh boy, the look on his face - what triumph!  You'd think he'd just uncovered the treasure of Atlantis.  Though I guess I can't really talk - food makes me awfully happy as well. :)  To make it even better, I brought my friend Scott with me to the party and he's a photographer and took some AMAZING shots of Ben, his 3-year-old brother Jack and the other party-goers. 

Jessy and other Idol hopefuls.

That night I spent the night at Jessy's because we were to get up at 4 a.m. and go to American Idol registration uptown.  We got in line about 5:30 a.m. on Sunday and were given our wristbands and her registration papers at 8:15 a.m.  Now many people were absolutely scandalized that I was not also planning to audition, but let me just say that when I sing, people say "You're such a good singer" - when Jessy sings, people either get chills or cry.  Not joking. So anyway, you can only bring one other person with you to register and then that same person can accompany you on audition day - and she picked me. :)

Jessy with Steven Tyler. ;)

So on Monday night, I spent the night at Jessy's again, and we were outside the Bobcats Arena in a RIDICULOUS line about 5:30 a.m. waiting to be let into the arena.  They had told us to be there at 5 a.m. - but as it turns out, we could have gotten there at 8 a.m.  They just tell you to get there early so they can get good camera footage of a tremendous crowd outside waiting to go in.  However, we had an enjoyable morning making new friends and meeting an 18-year-old kids whose name was actually Steven Tyler.  At one point, he started singing, "We Will Rock You" and everyone around joined in with clapping and for the chorus and WOW was he good!  A few minutes later, this girl came up to him and said, "I heard you singing and I think you're going to be famous some day.  Will you autograph this for me?" and handed him a paper.  It was so adorable watching his disbelief.  After hearing all this, Jessy decided that we must get Steven Tyler on TV, so when the camera crews came around, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him to the front of our section of the street and screamed "This kid's name is really Steven Tyler and he sings like Steven Tyler too!"  So the camera crew came over, and had Jessy introduce him, then had him sing.  I really hope they'll air it on the show!  Then, the woman asked Jessy to say "North Carolina has the best girls in the world!" and have a bunch of girls crowd around her (including me next to her) and blow a kiss to the camera and then start cheering.  So, maybe we'll be on TV too! 

Scotty McCreery turning to look toward us.

Right before they finally let us into the stadium, we looked back and saw that on the other side of the railings keeping us in line, Scotty McCreery (a former Am Idol winner) was there talking to fans.  Jessy totally freaked out and screamed at the top of her lungs "I love you Scotty," which got him to turn around so I could get a photo.  Unfortunately, I was using her camera which doesn't have a very good zoom, and the picture quality is very low. 

Side note: I don't think I mentioned why I didn't have my camera.  While at Ben's first birthday party (at Jessy's house), my camera disappeared.  We still cannot find it.  I'm trying not to think of it because, if you know me, you know that camera is like my right arm.  During our cross-country road trip, Enrique continually referred to it as "my baby." All I know is that I took some photos of Ben eating his cake, then threw it into my open purse in Jessy's room before brushing my teeth.  I didn't look for it again until that night when I was preparing my bag for Idol and realized it was gone.  We can't figure out what happened.  Either Jack (her 3 year old) picked it up and hid it, or one of her friends stole it, which I find unlikely.  But seriously? Her house isn't that big and she has searched high and low...

Inside the arena.

So anyway, once we got to our seats, we realized they were pretty good - we were 11 rows from the ground floor.  Scotty came in and led the whole stadium in singing "Be My Girl," then joked around with Ryan Seacrest for a while, then they got serious and started setting up 12 tables in the middle of the arena which were separated by thin black curtains.  They explained that two judges (i.e. - producers who may or may not know anything about singing) would sit behind each table and 4 people would go up, hand them their registration forms, and each sing 30 seconds of a song.  Afterward, the judges would tell those four people if any of them had progressed to the next level of producers, or if they were out.  Only 100 out of almost 16,000 people would progress to the next round.  From there, maybe half would then get to see "the big three" (Randy, J.Lo, and Tyler). They called people down in sections and, thank goodness, we were the first section to be called.  Guess getting up at 4 a.m. on Father's Day paid off. 

The people were funneled into a line about 7 people wide, and then ushered, about 10 people at a time, to one of the 12 tables.  So, when you get up to sing your 30 seconds of song, you have people behind you, to your left and right (singing loudly on the other side of the thin curtains), the judges in front of you, and an entire stadium of people watching you from above.  Talk about nerve-wracking! 

Scotty McCreery and Ryan Seacrest talking in the arena.

I was a nervous wreck when Jessy went up, and I saw her audition and it looked like she did such a great job (presence-wise), though obviously I couldn't hear her.  But then, I saw her get rejected and walk out toward the exit.  My heart sank. 

Meeting her outside, I found her amongst a group of other singers who had heard her try out and were absolutely scandalized that she hadn't been chosen.  And then it hit me - I have a theory on how they choose people.

If only about 100 people go through to round 2, then each of the tables is probably told they can pass up to 10 people of a certain type.  (Example: country, pop, crazies who can't sing, indie rockers, rappers, etc.)  Because think about it - there were thousands of amazing singers there, so if you a fantastic pop singer but go to the country table, they aren't worried, because the pop table will have no problem filling their quota.

They told us all to flash our cameras while they filmed us.

We were outside by about 11:30 and walked to Mertz Soul Food for some good ol' comfort food. I tried to boost Jessy's spirits by reminding her of all her many, many blessings.  She has an amazing family that loves her, she's a great writer (she also freelances for the paper and for some magazines), she has a gift for fashion and design - she really does have it all.  And I think, if she'd gotten too much further, it may have caused more heartache than joy.  She can't stand leaving her children for very long - what would she do if she made it on the show?  But in the end, I think it was a good, if not somewhat disillusioning, experience.

The tables of "judges"

As I drove back from Jessy's house that afternoon in eager anticipation of my bed, I got a call that I just missed picking up before it went to voice mail.  It was from a number I didn't recognize, so I waited until the voice mail came through and listened to it.  It was from Dr. Fauchier - the Global Studies Director at Providence Day School - asking me to come in for an interview on Thursday morning!  I was SO SO excited. I called him back right away and set it up, and when I got off the phone I screamed at the top of my lungs.  I think the last time I did that was when I got notice that I received the Phillips Travel Scholarship my senior year at UNC.  And before that it was when I got accepted to UNC. 

Jessy waiting to go to the judges tables.

After my nap yesterday afternoon, I went to Charlotte ONE and it was so good to see all my friends again. (Charlotte ONE only happens once a month over the summer, so I haven't seen many of these people since April).  I sang karaoke and just had a generally fantastic time.

So right now, I'm feeling like life is pretty good...even if my camera is missing and I still feel sleep deprived. lol