Our own PJ was visiting LA and got into the Idol performance rehearsal on Tuesday, attended TV Guide’s Idol Tonight on Wednesday, and waited in the standby line for the Idol results show and managed to snag a spot in the mosh pit…
Read PJ’s behind-the-scenes re-cap right here..
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I won’t go too much into rehearsal since everyone saw the actual show, and I shared some tidbits in that thread. However, it did cement my love for Allison and Adam. It wasn’t Allison’s best performance, but her voice is amazing. Adam is just electrifying on stage. OMG!!!111!!!! My least faves were Danny and Lil. Everyone sounded better live than on tee-vee. Since I wasn’t at the performance show, it’s hard to say if that is a result of nerves or just the acoustics. FUN. CarieB rocks, BTW.
Wednesday was consumed by all things Idol, which was fun, but exhausting. Sometimes, one gets tired of being told to be enthusiastic. Just sayin…
My friend got us tickets to Idol Tonight… that’s the TV Guide show that’s hosted by Kimberly Caldwell and Justin G. I guess that other chick (Rosana?) is not on anymore??? I don’t know b/c I don’t get cable and thus no longer TV Guide channel. Anyway, our tickets instructed us to show up around noon, so we did. We were towards the end of the holding area and kind of in the back. The producer (forget her name) asked everyone in advance who they were fans of and if they wanted to be on television. I didn’t volunteer and ended up in back where they filmed the interviews with one of my season six faves, Brandon Rogers. So I fear my position landed me on television. They would bring the fans who volunteered to speak on their faves behalf back to the back and instruct the rest of us posers to crowd around them. Most of those conversations were on the fly. In between segments Brandon would sing along and dance to whatever music was playing. He shaved his head and he looked REALLY good in person (pardon my fangirlyness). I thought about telling him that I voted for him until he got the boot, but instead decided to tell him that I really liked his pre-Idol track “Out of Style.” He seemed a little surprised by that and told me his album is coming out May 26 and that song is on it. :-) For those who don’t know me, Brandon is the reason I try not to watch or listen to pre-Idol music anymore. I don’t want to get invested in voices; I want to them to show me more on the show. That said, Brandon seemed really nice and friendly and his voice is awesome when he’s singing right next to you, so everyone should go out and buy his album on May 26th, mmmkay? Oh, I didn’t ask what label. I’m guessing indie.
Elliott was one of the guests, but up front with Kimberly and Justin (both of whom got hair and make-up every time the cameras were off. LOL. Seriously, does Justin’s fro need teasing?) E was at the front of the crowd (it wasn’t a big crowd for this show… maybe 100 peeps or so). Elliott commented on various segments. If you watched the show, he mentioned that he knew Adam before this season, but he didn’t know how well Adam could sing. I’m guessing their paths crossed at some point in L.A. Elliott seems to be on the Adam train (sorry Lu! Heh). Megan Joy was there too and cawed for the crowd.
The only reason we went to “Idol Tonight” was because the tickets say that you may be able to get into the results show if they have room. Turns out that anyone can get into the results show if they have room and stand in the “standby” line. I don’t regret going, but I may have skipped that had I known. It was almost too much Idol for one day for me, to be honest. But, Brandon was adorable, so that kind of made it worth it for me. Plus, it’s fun to see how these things work behind the scenes. Elliott was pretty much whisked in and out, but Brandon went out of the way to secure Elliott’s autograph for some lady near us.
After that we wandered over to the Grove and had a drink and shopped a bit. We got into the standby line around 4pm and barely made it into the results show. I was put into the faux mosh pit to the right of the judges (stage left, I guess) near the contestant couches. I believe Spense said someone saw me on TV, but I’m not sure that’s possible. I’m short and was surrounded by taller peeps. I enjoyed being close to the couches though. I haven’t watched all of the vids that MJ put up from the results show yet, but I did watch when Anoop was sent into the bottom three. There’s a close up of him saying something like, “Come on, Ryan” or something, but it missed his hand gesture where he pointed to the stools of doom. He seemed way over the mind f**k and ready to deal with whatever his fate was. Lil and Matt were the most nervous, as much as I could tell by watching their expressions and body language during the commercial breaks. There was a little girl who was a Lil fan and she said going to Idol was the best thing she’d done in Hollywood, so Cory the warm-up guy gave her an iPod touch and also had Lil sign it for her. Lil has a beautiful smile and seemed genuinely touched by the little girl’s love.
Danny was the one who interacted with the audience the most. You can view that as good or bad depending on your disposition, but he kept making his hands into a cheesy-ass heart shapes (I had noticed him doing that during rehearsals, too). Danny loves the crowd and the crowd seems to love him. We met a woman in line with a sign that said “This Cougar Hearts Danny.’ She seemed fine with her cougarness and was pretty nice, so you go girl! Honestly, everyone seemed exactly like they are on television, so I can’t really comment too much on how the kids acted off camera. If live-audience support means anything (not sure it does), Danny and Adam are the faves. Everyone else has fans, but not at the same level. Although the little girls LOVE Allison. ;-) I will say my Adam love has grown. He really does seem to be the “camp counselor” as mentioned at Idol Extra. The kids really DO seem really close, even when the cameras are off. Allison seemed more nervous for others even after she was declared safe. Can you tell I was focusing on the Idols? Being short and in the mosh pit means you can’t see a lot, but I had a great view of the couch area!
We weren’t far from the judges, either, and they really do leave for each commercial break? WTF? I mean 3 minutes? Is Simon out there smoking somewhere? My friend who was behind me in the “pit” and closer to the judges high-fived Simon after they announced the save. Heh. Simon really seemed to be having fun. Not bored as usual. As for the format, I was a little bummed they didn’t make someone choose between two groups, but I guess they were saving the dramz for the “save.” All the safe contestants were yelling “save” as was most of the audience. I highly doubt they would’ve saved Lil, though.
Whew, I’m losing interest in this long-winded recap. No doubt anyone reading it is also. :-) Let’s see. After that we had tickets to Idol Extra. In fact, somehow were were VIP thanks to my friend and were seated on the front row next to a bunch of tweens. *blush* Anyhoo, before we went in we chatted with Ace’s brother for about 15 minutes. He said that while everyone is on the Adam train, the one he would like to get into the studio (he does production, I guess) is Allison. We also talked about the poor state of the music industry, and he said that you really have to love music and be persistant to have a shot. He says Ace is working on music every day (not sure if he meant writing or what)? No plans for another CD right now. Anyway, he was super nice and personable. Must run in the family.
Once we went into Idol Extra, it went pretty smoothly. Again, the Idols didn’t act any differently when the cameras weren’t rolling. It was a tad chilly and Adam was rubbing Lil’s arms as they waited to take the stage. I totally see him in the “camp counselor” role. Kara’s segment was filmed towards the beginning, not at the end because she had places to go and people to see. Heh. It was fun, but as usual, we were told when to clap, etc. It really does look different on screen than in the audience. My one (unscripted) squee was when Michael Johns said he was working with James Morrison (I adore James Morrison). If you watch the vid, Johnsy reacts to my fangirlyness over James Morrison. Heh. Sadly, Michael John’s performance wasn’t live. We had to watch it on the screen like everyone else.
