American Idle

One of the reasons I write in this blog is to give some honest insight into my job for people who want to know. Fresh off an American Idol performance last night, I will attempt to recount yesterday's events leading up to our performance on live TV in front of 40 million people so you, the blog fan, can get a glimpse as to what it's like to be a "pro musician."

Overall the day consisted of a very lot of one thing: nothing.

*All events are Pacific Standard Time*

~ The band wakes up at 7:30am to try on suits for the show. This is pretty much the most we will do all day.

~ 8:00am - 1:00pm - We argue over what time "afternoon" ends and "evening" begins. We conclude that although it seems to be subjective for each person, Wikipedia says it starts at 6pm and that sounds about right to all of us. After this, we eat mashed potatoes.

~ 1:00pm - We run-through S.O.S. for the dress rehearsal. This takes approx. 2 minutes and 38 seconds. I see the two potential American Idols pacing backstage nervously. I'm tempted to pull both of them aside separately to tell them they won, but decide that's slightly too mean.

~ 1:03pm - 5:00 - Because there are so many performers on American Idol, we're sharing a tiny room with other band's musicians and dancers. To stay out of everyone's way, we kill time in some VIP lounge area inside the venue. We're the only ones there for a while, which is nice. But as the show's kickoff gets closer, socialites begin to show up in gowns and expensive suits. We bask in the glory of the stares and scoffs we're receiving for being present in that room (who are those kids in t-shirts reading magazines? ugh.) Other highlights during this time include me drinking a bottle of water. You get the point, not much happened:

~ 5:00pm - 6:15pm - We make our way to the dressing room to get changed and fill out paperwork for the show. We watch the other performances on a closed circuit TV. Right before we go on, we all pray together and walk to the stage. As far as what it 's like to actually be up there, well, it certainly is weird. It's like looking into my childhood television shows and having them look right back at me. I see Teri Hatcher, Lori Loughlin, and Mike Meyers - all actors from successful 90's television. It's like the American Idol stage is some freaky pop culture time machine.

~ 6:30pm - We leave and I call my mother to see what she thought. I order room service at the hotel and watch the rest on TV. the end.

The running theme of yesterday, and most days when there are televised performances, is boredom. You usually sit in a concrete room for hours upon end until things get crazy for the 10 minutes leading up to the performance, and then you're back to wondering what to do with the rest of your day. Hurry up and wait.

It's definitely fun, but it's not all glitz and glamor. As Andre 3000 once sang, "I'm just being honest."


...he also once sang "shake it like a polaroid picture."