Too big to put all in one post, so I'm breaking it up. Still too big, but whatever.
Some of this is faithful note-taking from the day, the rest is added recollections.
3 Am-ish – According to Rachael, I talk in my sleep. Apparently I was also rather belligerent when she tried to get me to stop. The moral of the story? Better to let me just run my mouth when I’m on a roll.
A wake-up call followed soon thereafter, then a brief encounter at the hotel valet stand with a teen version of Fabio and his yuppie dad, who didn’t look all that thrilled to be up at 4:30 in the morning to watch his son audition for a freaking reality show. We didn’t realize this was the smartest person we’d ever met in our entire lives.
5:34 AM – It was only 30 minutes in line before Rachael, with utter sincerity in her voice, finally answered the question “What are you singing?” with “I don’t know. I’m trying to decide between Whitney or Celine.” It took every cell of my body to avoid cracking up. In retrospect, that brief moment was the outstanding highlight of the day for me.
5:42 AM – The moment I know, for absolute certainty, that we have been duped yet again by those wily Idol producers. We don’t need to be in the stadium for hours and hours but they have put the fear of missing the audition into us, and so we are here at 5 am, 3 and a half hours before they will even let us in, just so they can get some good shots of a crazy line. Bastards. Sweet, naïve, innocent Rachael is still convinced there is an important reason we needed to be there this early. Worry not. She’ll jade quickly.
6:09 AM – Rachael is taking this all very seriously. She will not reveal what she is singing nor does she want to tip her hand in any way to her competition. I realize, tragically, this means there will be no sing-offs. The $2.99 echo microphone we bought at rite-aid will never see the light of day. Rachael shushes me for some innocuous comment and I proclaim, “You’re no fun anymore. I think you’ve been drinking the cool-aid.”
6:21 AM – We spot our first Idol freaks – a terrifying mime and her mariachi back-up. Many more to follow, including 2 insanely drunk UK lads handing out business cards belonging to a mortgage broker named Eva. These two boys will be among the first to get through to the next round.
6:22 AM – We realize I’ve left my camera in the car. Even though we won’t move for another 2 hours, rach is terrified if I leave the line something important will happen. Our fans will have to settle for camera phone pictures.
6:43 AM – I realize that in the entire span of this crazy Idol adventure, Rachael has not sung one single bar of Celine Dion. This is certainly a blessing to count. I am content.
6:51 AM – The line is getting to Rach. She announces “Trying to get famous is hard.”
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