American Idol - the experience

This had to be a separate blog, as it really was a lengthy experience. We did not realise how long this process would take and unfortunately it took up half of our day at Hollywood studios, so we did have to come back to this park and finish somethings off on our last day.

Back to our Idol experience though, As we were on our way past the American Idol studio we saw a gentleman standing out the front with a 'come and audition' sign. Not one to shy away from this kind of opportunity, we gathered some information off the gentleman and then was quickly whisked around the back of the studio to go through the full process of auditioning for a real live American Idol show that was going to be filmed later that day. Now I'm not sure if many of you know, but I auditioned for the very first season of Australian Idol years ago and after a lot of effort from people waiting in line for hours overnight, I sang a great addition in front of these two ladies that did not take their eyes off the wheelchair and when I had finished they looked up at me and said "sorry you're not what we are looking for". So maybe it is that I still hold this little grudge inside of me about my Idol experience and I thought that I might be able to change it around here in the States.

It was a 2 tiered audition process. The first audition was in front of a lovely lady who was very enthusiastic and welcoming where I had to sing 30 seconds of my favourite song a cappella. I decided to belt out my favourite karaoke song "Don't let the sun go down on me" and I gave it my absolute all in this small 4x4 interview room. She liked what she heard and took me off to sing in front of the so-called professional music producer. His room was set up with a giant flatscreen TV, studio speakers in every corner as well as cameras in certain positions to film this part of the audition to see if I had the right qualities to perform on the American Idol stage in front of a real live audience. Once again I sang the same song but to a backing track and I tried to shmooze up to the cameras as much as possible. He was also mightily impressed with tears in his eyes. The producer before letting us go explained why it was such an emotional moment for him. You see this producer used to be the producer of the stunt show at Hollywood studios and one of his stunt men had an accident during a practice run that left him with a severe spinal cord injury and sadly he didn't pull through it. He said that watching me make something of my life after this kind of accident was such a personal inspiration to him. Then with a Cheshire cat smile on his face he played the official Ryan Secrest invitation to perform in the American Idol filming for that day. Mel and I were both very excited (especially me because I had got further than I did in the Australian version). We had to come back later in the day to do make-up and hair (alright, I know I'm bald!), have a singing lesson with a professional vocal coach and then get prepared for the live performance show.

We came back at the call time and we decided that Mel should watch from the audience and I will do the backstage stuff. So Mel took off with Roxy and I was given the 'royal performer' treatment. They did a very good job in recreating what it is like to perform in this kind of competition format. There were two other singers that I was performing against in this heat and the winner would come back later that evening to perform in the finalists show. We each had 10 minutes with the voice coach and the hair and make up ladies, and then we were taken on to the stage for a full dress rehearsal to practice our song and get used to the lights and cameras.

I felt pretty comfortable with everything in regards to the technical elements as well as the performance, but the young girl that was also performing was nervous and scared out of her brains. It probably didn't help that she had quite the stage mum by her side everywhere she went, but there seemed to be a lot of pressure for her to perform and succeed. The other lady had actually done this a couple of years earlier so she knew what to expect at least.

This was going to be a lot of fun. The set was great, and it was kind of cool knowing I was going to be singing on the same set as the past American Idol winners had performed on. And I love a bit of a competition to get the blood going. This was my kind of ride.

After about half an hour of sitting in the green room nervously chatting to each other we were introduced to the Ryan Secrest impersonator/host of the show, and then we were ready to go. We could hear the live audience start to shuffle in to the auditorium. Mel was meant to be sitting in the front row in the VIP section because I was in the show and unbeknownst to me, they would not allow her and Roxy to sit in the front row because of the moving cameras so she was put right up the back, which was a shame.

The show began and the other two competitors sang first. It ran exactly the way Idol does, with the three judges giving their opinions at the end of the songs. These judges were cast very similar to those you see on Idols around the world, with one mean one and the other two trying to add in their whimsical comments. They had even gone out into the audience prior to the show and recorded a group of audience members shouting my name and sending me a good luck message. The young girl contestant even filmed a the 30 sec 'journry' clip that played before she went on.

I was introduced onto the stage, I found my mark on the floor and once again tried to belt out my best Elton John/George Michael version of 'Don't let the sun go down on me'.

I got a great response from the audience and even the judge's comments were very kind and constructive. The Simon Cowell impersonator tried to make a joke about " if there was a musical of the X-Men, you would be my first choice as Doctor Xavier".

The three competitors stood in the middle of the stage while the audience got to vote for a winner on their own personal keypads on their seats. I even saw a some cheeky kids running to empty seats and pressing numbers to get some more votes in. Just as long as they were my number I was thinking.

The host went through the whole schpeel of recapping what the judges said, and played quickly edited versions of our performance. Then it was time to open the envelope and read the results.

"The person with the most votes and the winner of American Idol is .................. Tim McCallum"

YEEEEEEEHHAAAAA. A quick shake of the hands to the other contestants then it is off to centrestage spotlight to enjoy the applause from the audience and dance with the judges as the credits roled behind us and the lights came down.

I must admit that it still was very nerve racking being up there, and I was hoping that I would win, but at the end of the day it really was a fun experience and one that I can highly recommend to any of you out there who visit Hollywood Studios to either audition or attend as an audience member.

I decided not to go back later that night to perform in the finalists show as 1) it wouldn't have been fair if I had won the evening show, as the winner got a gold ticket to be able to jump the queue at any American Idol audition in the States, so I wouldn't have been eligible anyway. and 2) this had already taken a whole chunk out of our day and I really wanted to see the rest of the theme park.

What a ride though!