My America's Got Talent Adventure Part VI

So, we waited and we waited. People were practicing quite loudly and some would burst into applause. I think the adrenaline and anticipation were taking it's toll on all of us. There people going back upstairs to buy nachos. We were getting up to get little glasses of water. People would go outside to smoke. I saw an Elvia impersonator leaning against the back wall. The 4 year old break dancer was in our group. Nearby, were was a lovely black young lady with her little girl and her mom, there was a young black lady and her guitar waiting with her boyfriend. There was a black young rhythm and blues singing loudly against one wall with young men loudly clapping and showing their support. There were many over-confident people. Over-confident? I don't see how. There were THOUSANDS there. Some are selected because they are so bad - like William Hung. Some are selected for their novelty factor. Some for being young. Some for being old. Some for being weird. I saw no need for over-confidence. I was there to simply do my best and through my luck into God's hands. So, we waited and waited and I was tired and grumpy and sleepy. I wanted a hot meal. Joanne and Alex were the real troopers. Patient and interested in the immense variety of artists.

At some point, staff came in and rearranged the way some of us were sitting. They pulled all the pretty young girls to sit behind another young woman who was dressed like a prostitute. A band-aid of a dress and high heels so high you needed a ladder to climb into them. All the staff seemed to be British. It seemed a rather absurd interview of this young hooker looking young woman, but had to remind myself over and over that this was AGT. The interviewee was rather animated in the interview and the interview lasted about an hour. I was a bit jealous and incredulous until I reminded myself that perhaps the only reason she was interviewed was because she was dressed so provocatively. I thought of Susan Boyle and how she never would have made that interview or even been considered eligible to be a prop behind her.

The pretty young girls positioned as props were growing tired of being props. They, too, were contestants after all. The interviewed a large group of black musicians. One held a Sousaphone. Behind me, they interviewed a middle aged Ecuadorian car salesman. He reminded me of that guitar hawker - Estevan. He was dressed in a suit just like a car salesman and was (to me) pretentious in his speech. "When I sing, I am not an artist. I am a man singing from my soul." Or it was something cheesy and hokey like that. He reminded me of the man in the Dos XX commercial about the most pretentious man in the world.

We waited and waited until finally, they decided were could quit being props. I was in the first group called. 1900 to 1950. They pulled us out to this hall and we waited some more in chairs. I decided it was time to hook up my Honey Tone to my belt and start building my adrenalin. It was cold and it took me a while to tune up. I then set the sound on my Honey Tone (a smaller than a toaster amp) and started my pacing and warming up my voice quietly. While I had blended into the crowd before, now all off a sudden I existed.

They then pulled us into a hall and separated us by singers, singers with pianos, singers with guitars, and dancers. We waited in our line some more.

They wanted some of us to sing "The Heart of Texas". They pulled a few of the more flamboyant ones and ran out. So, I took the opening to say, Hey! I wanna do it! So, they said sure, come on! I walked to the camera and did the one verse I could remember. "The sage in bloom is like perfume - Deep in the Heart of Texas". I was proud of myself for my ballsiness. I hope they include it in the spliced version of the song they air.

They separated the lines. They pulled out the singers with guitars and put us in an another area. They separated us into 5's. Finally, they called us in to audition. It was now about 4pm. 8 hours after we'd arrived.

They lined us up against the back wall. There was a table with 3 judges. Each had a laptop. I guess they taped us in their laptop. We were instructed to stand on the X and give our name, age, place of residence, and song we were doing.

I was first. My luck...well, maybe it was good luck...

I walked to the X. Told them my name and age and told them I lived on an Island in a little town called Port Aransas. My song was Love the One You're With. They said I could start anytime.

So, I went. I sang my heart out standing up. I did my little acoustic rock guitar moves and looked at the judges in the eyes. My 90 seconds just flew by as if it was only 5 seconds. I was done.

Next was a very nice young college student from Fort Worth who played a ukeleli and sang and song my a modern young singer like Feist or someone like that. She sat down and it was nice but not extremely impressive but she did the whole thing and didn't miss notes and remembered all the words.

Next was a young man whose hair I had an almost uncontrollable urge to wash. He was the proverbial hippy. He sang a John Denver tune and played well and had a nice voice.

Next was a the young black woman who sat nearby and played acoustic guitar. She sat and played and sang a song by Alicia Keys. I really liked her voice and the way she did that song. I was really impressed. If I was Simon Cowell, tho, I would say she could've put more feeling into her singing, but, nonetheless, I thought she was great.

She was followed by a 13 year old boy who played guitar and sang. He sat and it was clear he was scared to death. Still it was pretty courageous of a young boy that age to try out for AGT. You have to start sometime and I can only imagine how good he'll be by the time he's 20. He also did well, but could have been a better singer. It had a monotone kind of feel to it. Tho he went all the way, didn't forget the words, and got all the notes.

It was over. They marched us out as I hustled to be sure to tell the Ukelele player and the Alicia Keys girls how much I liked what they did. They were equally kind to me.

We all breathed a deep sigh of relief, said our good-byes, wished each other luck and all went their own way.

I had adrenalin to burn. Grateful we had a ways to walk, we walked thru the huge halls and across buildings to find Joanne's car. We loaded up and decided were wanted hot food and drove out of the parking lot.

What an experience. There is so much talent in Texas. Amazing. Next year? I dunno....

How many times can you do a thing like this?

So, this is the end of My America's Got Talent Adventure Part VI. Unless they call me in March and then I'll have a bunch of new tales to tell. I have as good a shot as anybody there.

Please say a prayer and cross your fingers.