American Idol 2008 Audition

We're back! OMGEEEEE....what a trip! Courtney and I left Sunday afternoon at around 4pm and got down to Dee and Robins around 9pm and was worn OUT! We had to be up at 3am so we could go get in line at the arena in Jacksonville as early as possible..that was fun! Actually it was! We met alot of really nice people. We had our wrist band and tickets for Wednesday's audition by 8am so we had the rest of the day to...sleep!

So, the next day, Dee and Robin took us to this really neat restaurant in downtown Jacksonville on the river...the James River.

The food was great and it wasn't even hot there! The waiter asked us if we wanted to eat "Al Fresco"...No, I told him, I wanted a cheeseburger! BAH-HAAA...I didn't know that meant eating outside! Why don't they just call it that..."Wanna eat out yonder by the river?" Makes alot more sense to me! Who's Al Fresco anyways?

So, I then took Dee, Robin and Courtney's picture by the river. There was supposedly some dolphins in there, but I think the waiter only said that. Who ever heard of Dolphins in a river. Geeeze.

So, then the next morning, it was back up at 3am to head back to the arena to get back in a LONG line to get back inside. And BOY did it rain...we were absolutely DRENCHED by the time they opened the doors.

So, first we had to dump all our food we brought out into the dumpster. We couldn't take it inside. We had like, Oreo's, cookies and peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches. GOOD stuff. Then we went inside and found out seats and people started filling up the stands.

The arena never filled up...wasn't even half full, but we sure was a rowdy bunch! They had a guy down on the arena floor getting everyone all roused up and singing and dancing and hollering.

THEN, Ryan Seacrest came out there and they filmed some scenes all round.

Then after about 2 hours of all that, the auditions began. We had gotten our tickets and arm bands early Monday, so Court was one of the first 500 or so to audition out of 6000.

Court did real good. She sang the Bee Gee's "Words" and even tho she wasn't chosen, she was told that she did great, but didn't meet the needs of the show. They had to get in rows of 4 people and step up to the producers table and sing about 30 seconds of a song...one at a time. This is her in the line. There were some REALLY great singers there...REAL good that didn't make it. From what we saw, they were mostly letting thru guys and black females. There were alot of "weirdos" they let thru, like this guy who dressed like James Brown and a girl in full fire-fighter uniform. We were reminded at the beginning of the audition that it was a TV show and they had a certain critera they were needing to fill and that's who would get thru. Vocal abilities had little to do with it. OH well...their loss!

Court was disappointed, but not for long. A LOT of very talented people didn't thru and she saw that and that made her feel better.

Now it's back to reality! She still has alot to look forward to, including being in a band singing her favorite country music and going to Hiawassee, Georgia in October to sing. The band is SOOO excited to have her and they can't wait to have her join them. They're a traditional country music band and they are great. The pianoist is fantastic as is the steel guitarist. I'll tell ya'll alot more about that as I find out.

Well, I'm off to bed and up to work in the morning. OH...today is Ashley's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!! The Officers on the ship woke her up this morning singing to her, then the whole ship sang to her and another boy's whose birthday was also today, Happy Birthday! She celebrated by sanding all day on the ship, then going to Virginia Beach and playing Volleyball. What a life. If you're reading this, Ash, CALL ME!

Joan