My American Idol Audition for Season 8

We've all seen or heard of American Idol. If you didn't, here is some information about the show.

American Idol debuted six years ago,on June 11th, 2002. Since then it has been one of the most highly anticipated and most popular show to air on Fox. The soul purpose of the show is to find the best performer/singer in the nation. The auditions are held around the country and later the competition is determined by a voting system done by phone from viewers.

The show is hosted by E!'s Ryan Seacrest. The judges consist of pop singer and choreographer Paula Abdul, music executive Simon Cowell, and record producer Randy Jackson.

I would like to share with you my American idol experience. I can assure you it wasn't a pleasant one. American Idol is very good at withholding some very important information to the public as well as the auditioners.

I was up late on the night of August 17th 2008. Up doing what I usually do, checking my email, facebook, myspace, etc., when all of a sudden my phone rang. The call was from an old friend that I had graduated grammar school with. Anyway she called and we talked and caught up on lost time. Later in the conversation she mentioned to me that she was going to audition for American Idol. I was very interested. I always told myself that if the auditions came close to home, I would audition.

So she tells me that the auditions will be held in two days. And that on this day the (17th) she was to get registered and pick up her wristband and tickets. I said that I would like to audition as well, just to try it out. I mean what did I have to lose?

So a few hours later we drive to the Izod Cent in East Rutherford, NJ to pick up our wristbands and receive our tickets for the audition day, held on Aug. 19th. So we get there, EARLY, and there must have been about 5,000 people in the line. We're waiting in line, making friends, I'm handing out my acting contact cards. People in the line have a look of excitement on their faces, people are belting out Jennifer Hudson's "And I'm telling you, I'm not going".

It was nice, we were in line for about 2 hours. We received our wristbands, tickets and two instructional papers telling us what crowd song we were to memorize. As well as what to bring the day of our audition, identification materials and whatnot.

Finally after much anticipation Aug. 19th rolls around the corner. Its our audition day! Its our audition day and I don't have a song to sing! I started to go into panic mode. I had a laundry list of songs in my head but I just didn't know which one would showcase my voice the most. We get to the Izod Center once again only to wait in line 2 1/2 hours. The stadium doors opened up around 8:30 AM. The people flooded into the area. It reminded me of something out of an apocalypse movie, were the city was taking refuge in a center of some sort.

OK, so we get seated, the roar in the stadium is unimaginable. We see photographers, and video cameras everywhere. We are seated in the very front and are told to sing the two songs we were to memorize. We sing, and shout, and sing some more. Cameras are getting a panoramic view of everyone! We scream we love New York, because after all that's where the auditions are to be held.

We are told to be seated and that there was someone that wanted to say something to us. All of a sudden the crowd roars, I look around, and standing right in front of me was Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks. She wishes us good luck, and says that this will be a life changing experience. She waved and was escorted out.

Finally the part we've all been waiting for, the auditioning process had finally start to begin. The stadium floor is set up in rows of 13 or 14. They lined the parameter with black curtains. A table and two chairs each row. For the producers. We only get about 15-20 seconds to give it our all. As the hours went by, I noticed one alarming thing. People with the amazing voices were getting sent home. It was so sad to see people's dreams being crushed, the tears, the sobs and screams of disappointment. It was a heart wrenching thing to see.

So yes, you read right, the people who had the talent were being sent home, and the people who made a fool out of themselves were told to stay and they got the green ticket to go on the the next round. You see, a lot of people don't know this. Before seeing Randy , Paula and Simon you have to audition twice before a panel of so called producers. Then if you're lucky, you get to audition for Paula and the gang.

This was my first time auditioning and I had no idea the show was set up like this. So going on to the clowns. I saw people that screamed to the top of their lungs trying to hit a note, it sounded horrible, but they were let through. This one man stripped all the way down to his speedo, and danced around the producers, never sang once, but yep you guessed it, he got a green ticket too.

Is anyone else following me? This is not a competition, this is a joke. American Idol doesn't care about talent, They care about ratings.

My turn rolled around, I sang "Turn your lights down low" by Bob Marley and Lauryn Hill.

As I sang, I looked the producers right in their eyes. They weren't even paying attention to me. They were literally twiddling their thumbs, looking up in the sky, trying their absolute best not to make eye contact with me. I found that extremely disrespectful. They told us to take a step back, and they brought their clip boards to their faces. Motioned for us to come back, and that's when they said we're not ready for season 8.

Now I can sing, I know I can, I am very seasoned in the auditioning process, I mean I'm an actor for crying out loud. Don't get me wrong I'm not writing this because I'm upset, or dislike American Idol.

I just wish that they were more truthful with whats going on.

So no I didn't make it to Hollywood. I cant wait to see all the "talent" this season!