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In July 2004, we were just an typical family from Ohio. My husband and I had just celebrated our 30th anniversary (okay, maybe that makes us not typical) and we had four children (okay, maybe not typical again) and five grandchildren. In August 2004, typical went out the window!
On Saturday, August 14, 2004, my son, Scott, and I took a 5-minute ride so he could pursue his dream. Little did I know that the 5-minute ride would end up lasting for 9 months! In those 9 months I think I saw and heard it all!
On August 3, 2004, American Idol held auditions at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. 15,000 people showed up for this audition. The crowd started arriving on Monday, August 2nd and spent the night outside the stadium.
Two people in the crowd were my sons, Scott and Michael. Scott was there to audition and Michael was there for moral support. This was a 2 day event. Scott made the first round and went back the next day for round 2. Of the 15,000 people who showed up on Monday, only 150 were still standing on Thursday. Scott was one of them! He made it through to the next round.
The next round was auditioning for the American idol judges; Simon, Randy and Paula.
On August 13, 2004, my husband, Eddie, me, our son, Scott, and his friend and minister, Andrew off at the Intercontinental Hotel at the Cleveland Clinic at about 7:30 A.M. We entered the hotel and got in line with all the other contestants in the hallway. Everyone stood around talking to each other until 8:00 A.M. when they came out and lined up the contestants in numerical order. Scott's number was 502 and he was the 20th contestant in line. We gravitated toward the families of the two contestant's behind Scott: Christina (from Columbus) and Frank (from Akron) and spent the next 45 minutes talking with this group.
Finally (about 8:45 A.M.), they started letting the contestants and their families through the door. The contestants had to register and the rest of us had to go through a check point (security, of course). At this point, we were directed through a large lobby to a hallway where we were to enter a large auditorium (the "holding" room). After everyone was seated, they allowed us to go to the bathroom, get something to drink or just take a break (which we all did)! During this whole time, they couldn't/wouldn't answer any questions (such as "How long will this take?" "Will we break for lunch?" "How many contestants are there?") Although, they did explain the basic process: the contestants would be going in groups of 5 to the "focus" room, returning to the "holding" room, then going (with family and friends) to the audition room.
When everyone got back to the room they rearranged the seating so that everyone was seated in numerical order. It seemed that as soon as we all got seated, they had us all file out to the front of the hotel for a photo session. Then it was back to the "holding" room. Once back in the "holding" room they announced that the room was now locked and NO ONE was allowed to leave unless it was a medical emergency! Oh, Oh!! Of course, that message immediately caused my bladder to overact! About 15 minutes later there was a lot of fuss down front (the executive producer and a few cameramen came in) and then the celebrity judges came in to talk to everyone in the room! They gave their speeches and then everyone was free to leave! Believe me, I was out the door and down to the bathroom immediately!!!
One of the workers came in and said they needed contestant number 502 (Scott) so we got up and went outside, while the contestants with lower numbers were all asking "What about us, our numbers are lower?". The producer wanted to do an interview with Scott!!! (Andrew and I weren't allowed to go with him, though, so we stayed upstairs and waited to see the results from the early auditions.) Then they came looking for me and I went downstairs and they had Scott and I go outside the hotel so they could film us "arriving" for the competition. Just as we finished up, they came looking for us, since it was Scott's turn to get in line for the auditions.
While you couldn't hear what was going on inside the audition room, we were able to hear a few of the contestants, so we knew that at least some of them were singing two songs. Andrew and I had seen some of the earlier contestants going in and coming out of the audition room (contestants only) so we knew that once Scott went into the room, we were to stand outside the door so the camera could film our reaction. Earlier, we had seen most of the first 10 contestants and knew that only 2 had made the cut. The reactions of the contestants and their families varied, a lot of screaming for the ones who made it and anywhere from "oh, well" to tears from the ones who didn't.
Finally it was Scott's turn! I was so nervous standing outside that room!!! Would I make a fool of myself when he came out? Would I be crying, laughing, happy, sad? Scott went in and Andrew and I stood outside the door. I was able to see enough through the crack in the doors to know that Scott raised his arm and then I heard him singing! What a sweet sound that was to my ears. But, he had only gotten started when he stopped! NOOOO...why isn't he singing anymore? Why did they make him stop? I was so scared for him at this point. Then I heard a yell and Scott came running out with his "Golden Ticket"!! Scott made it...he was going to Hollywood!!!! We jumped and screamed, hugged and yelled "Thank you, God!". Then there was chaos as you can imagine.
The following is what Scott related to us about his audition (as best as he could remember). He began by talking to the judges, giving them a brief bio about himself, that he had been singing since he was five simply because he loves to sing, and that his Dad had never been very encouraging. Then he started singing. He said the only reaction he saw was from Randy...his eyes got big and his eyebrows raised! The reason he stopped so soon was because the judges started clapping...they had heard enough! Simon then looked at L.L. and asked what he thought. L.L. looked at Scott and said: "I never thought I would hear that coming out of your mouth! I would love America to hear what you have." Simon then asked him "Hollywood?" and L. L. said "HOLLYWOOD!". Randy and Paula also said "HOLLYWOOD!". Then Simon said: "Well, I guess you just proved your Dad wrong, because you're going to Hollywood!".
In November 2004, Scott left for his first trip to Hollywood. Approximately 150 contestants from the various auditions were making this trip. At the end of the week only 24 would be left.
While we knew the results from this "Hollywood" round at the end of this week, we were bound by the contracts we had signed and could not tell anyone if Scott made the cut until this portion of the show aired in January 2005. Talk about being stifled! Anyone who knows me, knows I love to talk. Being silenced for 2 months was the hardest part of all for me!
Scott did, in fact, make it through the Hollywood round and would return to Hollywood for the main competition. But, the taping from November aired while Scott was still in Cleveland and it was fun watching it with him and hearing about all the scenes that were "staged" as well as his comments about other contestants.
On February 14, 2005, Scott left for his second trip to Hollywood. From now on his fate was in the hands of his fans. The judges no longer decided who stayed and who went. From this point on the contestants would be eliminated based on the phone in votes from the public.
You can visit Scott’s American Idol page here.
The "live" shows began on February 22, 2005, with the "guys"
perfoming on Mondays and the "girls" performing on Tuesdays and
eliminations shown on Wednesdays during the first several
weeeks.
This is where I will write about what happened to our family back in Cleveland while Scott was in Hollywood for the competition.
This is where I will write about what we did on perfromance nights.
This is where I will write about what we did on elimination nights.
This is where I will write about how we interacted with fans on the American Idol Message Boards; which we were NOT supposed to visit.
This is where I will write about our trips to Hollywood to see Scott perform live.
This is where I will write about Scott's elimination & how it affected us as well as his homecoming to Cleveland.
This is where I will write about how our life has changed since American Idol as well as how some things never changed.