Tuesday night is Jacksonville's night on 'Idol'
American Idol 11 started with a line that stretched away from the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena on past the baseball park, on past the football stadium. Thousands of hopefuls with stardom on their minds. Click Read More below for the rest of the story...
Looking for a great deal ? AND a Free way to support this website? Click the link below...
Get a 14-Day free trial to Rhapsody Unlimited then pay only $12.99 per month. 
There were actually three sets of auditions in the Jacksonville area.
An estimated 11,000 or more started lining up outside the arena in the predawn hours of Aug. 13 to audition in the first round.
"American Idol" would not say how many passed that audition, but about 450 were at the next round, held two weeks later at Amelia Island Plantation. That lasted two days.
A week later, the 100 or so who made it through that round went back to Amelia Island Plantation. That's when the four judges that we see on TV - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi - showed up for the first time, along with the cameras.
The producers did not let the public or the media know about the two rounds on Amelia Island. But what you'll see on TV tonight will likely be a composite of the first and third rounds. You'll see the long lines outside the arena that dark, rainy morning in August. You'll see the crowd inside the arena, cheering and singing on cue.
But the actual auditions in front of the judges - the good, the bad and the ones we're not sure what to think about - those came three weeks after the first ones. But on TV, it'll just look like one big audition.
"I don't really like how they make it seem on TV like the judges interview everyone," said Christian Dumond. He's a 17-year-old senior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. He made it through that first audition. He got in line at 3 a.m. and didn't sing until 9 that night, but he made it through.
At Amelia Island two weeks later, he sang in front of about 10 producers, he said.
"They all had laptops," Dumond said, "and I think they were all instant messaging each other."
He sang "Trying to Get to You," the old Elvis Presley tune, but he only lasted about 30 seconds before they cut him off and sent him home.
"They all seemed like they were interested in it," he said. "So I don't know."
Kaneswa Finnie, a 17-year-old sophomore at First Coast High School, did make it through that day at Amelia and came back a week later to face the real judges, including the dreaded Cowell.
"When I got in front of them," Finnie said, "he tried to have an attitude, tried to get smart. He asked me, 'Who tells you that you sing well?' and I said, 'I do.'
"He was just Simon being Simon."
Finnie said she only made it about 20 seconds into Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture of Love" before she was cut off. They called her mother, Paula Counts, in and asked her why she thought her daughter was so special. They sent her home, but not before she got her glimpse of the stars.
"Paula was so sweet," Counts said. "I caught her in the bathroom, and we took pictures of her. And Randy, we got pictures with him. Simon, he's nothing but a cream puff. He's so soft; he's got a heart of gold."
There's no word on how many of the 100 or so who sang before the judges made it on to Hollywood. Fox isn't saying. But reports from other cities puts the average at about 25 to 30 per city.
Those who did make it signed a contract with Fox not to talk to the media. The Hollywood round was filmed in November and will be aired over four episodes the first two weeks of February.
Looking for a great deal ? AND a Free way to support this website? Click the link below...
Source
Get a 14-Day free trial to Rhapsody Unlimited then pay only $12.99 per month.
