Mariah Week on American Idol (Part 2)

5. Because my good friend Nico works for the show, and he's real friendly and everyone loves him, not only did we (me and Michelle, his girlfriend) get tickets (pretty good seats too, thanks to Kathleen Sheets!) and not have to line up for hours at the main gate, the guard gave us these VIP wristbands too, which gave us access to the VIP room, this little lounge where they serve refreshments and some food while you wait for the show to start. All we had was water coz by the time the food came, it was almost time for the show. I wish I tried the food, though, just because it would've added to my whole American Idol experience: yknow, knowing what they serve VIPs, tasting what they serve VIPs, the actual experience of having eaten what they serve VIPs. Hahah. Nico also showed us the show's production area where they... I dunno, plan the show and do all the work, I guess. The performers/contestants aren't allowed in that area, so I guess it was cool that we got to see it. Met quite a lot of people working on the show, none of whose names I remember (except a Bristish guy named Joe because he was the first one I met and Kathleen coz she was the one who hooked us up with the tickets and she had a nice sweater). I also met the idols' voice coach, which was awesome. Gobbled down a slice of pizza and a cookie from the pantry too: got a taste of the food the production staff eat. Hahah.

6. After the show, there's a sort of little meet and greet line at a studio entrance. Nothing big, just an awning and and some ropes behind which fans could wait. Yes, I did the whole fan/tourist thing, and why not? I am a fan and a tourist. I met David Hernandez before heading to that area, and then I met Mr. Brooke White (Brooke's husband, who joked, "My last name isn't even "White." But yknow what, maybe I should start a website, mrbrookewhite.com."), whom I recognized before Nico even said who he has because he's shown on TV a lot. I didn't get a picture with him, but I wish I did, coz he's cute and semifamous. And I don't mean cute like I like him. I just mean cute like... he and Brooke are adorable. I wish I coulda had a picture of me sandiwched in between them, kind of like their Asian adopted child, only about the same age as them. Hahah. And I met most of the remaining idols (with the exception of little David because he was there for like a second), Chikezie too, and had pictures with them, yay! The judges and Ryan didn't come out, though. Woulda wanted a picture with Simon. Ahhahahah. Fun fun.

7. The show, just like this post (including part 1), was not done in order. Well, not entirely, anway. The show went in this order (I think):

• a) Top 7 performance
• b) Jason, big David, Carly, and Kristy were called out
• c.1) Elliott Yamin's performance
• c.2) Syesha and Brooke were called out
• d.1) Phone calls to American Idol
• d.2) Mariah Carey's performance
• e) Little David was called out, and the bottom 3 was announced
• f) Someone (not saying in case someone hasn't watched yet) sang one last time

*Items with the same letter were shown as one segment, meaning, no commercial break in between.

But this is the order it really happened:

• a. Mariah's performance (d.2: pretaped)
• b. Calls to American Idol (d.1: pretaped)
• c. The rest of it, in the order shown (live)

Ahhah! So, I don't know why they pretaped the performance. Maybe so that they could redo it if something went wrong or if it sucked. Or maybe so Mariah could leave early, perhaps so she could avoid any run-ins with the audience and the little people working on the show on her way out. As for the calls, apparently they always pretape them in case a caller says something nasty that they wanna edit out. So much for live TV. Also, they ask everyone to hold up their posters before taping the live stuff in case there are any mean messages. Case in point: there was one person whose sign read, "Bye-bye Kristy." Mean! I actually agree, but I wouldn't do that.

A glitch! Seen on TV! And I don't know if I only noticed coz I was there when they taped it, but here it is.

So, they taped bMariah's performance, with a platform to one side for the drums, a platform to the other side for the guitar and keyboards, three mic stands just a little behind and to the side of Mariah for the backup singers, Mariah's bling-embedded mic stand front and center, and the idols on the couch. There was a break, all the equipment was taken out and replaced by a small table with a phone and laptop, and the idols left the stage and then returned to the couch but sat in a different order. And then they aired the two segments continuously and in reverse order.

The results:

• a) During the calls, Carly and big David were seated next to each other somewhere in the middle of the couch. Camera on Ryan to introduce Mariah, camera back on the idols clapping, and all of a sudden, big David is in the middle of the couch, and Carly is on the end. The excuse: they could have switched around during those couple seconds. Really, they could have!
• b) During the calls, there was a table with a laptop and a phone onstage. Camera on Ryan to introduce Mariah, camera on the idols clapping, camera back on centerstage, and all of a sudden, in a matter of seconds, there's a drumset, keyboards, guitars, musicians and backup singers, and Mariah's glittering mic stand. The excuse: maybe the calls and the performance happened on different stages/areas of the stage. The calls were flashed on a screen, and Mariah's album cover (I think) was flashed on a screen (that split open to reveal her diva-ness, and out she came carrying her glittering mic), but hey, it might not have been the same screen, right? Maybe the two stages both had screens. Very possible.

Ahh, movie/TV magic.

8. When Carly was called out from backstage, people cheered. When people were done cheering, some crazy person yelled, "You're awesome!" although the words didn't come out so clearly on TV. The reason I know what was said even if it wasn't clear was because that crazy person was me. Me! I was heard on national (international!) TV! By millions of people! It's not much, but hey, it's a start. Ahh. The whole hand model thing (watch Zoolander) comes to mind. Only, my claim is more pathetic, and I didn't get paid to do what I did. But it was wonderful and such fun!

Hmm... maybe next week I'll wear a sweet little cocktail dress and get all dolled up (it seems to be a requirement for the moshpit) and line up at the main gate. Hahah.

Mariah Week on American Idol (Part 1)

I got to watch it live! Not live on TV, but live live! The following will probably be interesting only to those who are into the show.

1. Mariah Carey is sexy, beautiful, and has nice long legs. She is also quite a diva: bronzer with real gold bits; humidifier in her bedroom for added moisture to her skin; crystal/diamond-embedded mic, mic stand, and ear monitor. No one gets to see her come in and out of the studio; they only see her onstage, during the soundcheck and during her performance, both of which are just one run/take. Even the crew couldn't get her picture or autograph because her bodyguards kept everyone away. The studio audience couldn't get stolen shots either because cameras and cellphones are not allowed: they have a metal detector at the entrance to make sure that no such gadgets make it through. She also seems to be a bit of a bimbo and very into herself. But she also seems very sweet and nice, and I think she might be smarter than she seems.

2. The studio is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It looks huge on TV! People are also a lot closer (physically) to each other than it looks. (Like on TV, the judges look like there's a lot of space between them, but there isn't really.) Also, the layout surprised me. The audience with tickets have seats, which are near-ground-level if you're up front and get higher and higher the farther back you get. From one side of the studio to another, there are four sections, with aisles in between. The middle sections have about 15 rows, with maybe 8 seats per row, and the side sections have about 20 rows, with maybe 5 seats per row. There's an aisle too between the first five rows and the rest; I think the former are for guests of the performers, contestants, judges, Ryan Seacrest, and maybe the musicians and other production bigshots. (I was at the right-middle [all occurrences of "left" and "right" here are oriented facing the stage], about the 10th row). In front of the seated audience is a platform with a long table and three swivel chairs: this is where the judges are seated. In front of them and right by the stage is the moshpit: the people without tickets who line up at the CBS main gate to watch the show (they stand throughout). The stage is a kind of wide U shape with a half circle jutting out of the open part of the U: the couch of safety is on the right. The stage also has a balcony on the edges of the U. On each side of the stage, there are pillars with spiral steps winding around them that you can use to go up to the balcony. (You know when singers start a song/performance on stairs? These are the stairs.) The balcony is where the band is: orchestra on the left, drummer in the middle and bongo/percussion set guy right beside him, keyboardists and guitarists toward the right, and Ricky Minor (bassist and band leader) at the extreme right, at the pillar. There is a hill-shaped screen at the back-center of the stage, and this can split apart vertically down the middle so performers can enter and big pieces of equipment (like the platform with the drumset used during Mariah's performance) can be taken offstage.

3. Simon is actually not bad-looking in person. He and Paula look pretty friendly. The whole cast seem pretty friendly with each other. Ryan is not bad-looking either, and he's not all that short. Maybe shorter than the average American guy, but I didn't look at him and think short. Nigel (from So You Think You Can Dance?) was there too, and he seems friendly with the American Idol people. His right arm was in a sling; wonder what happened. The contestants are skinnier in person (for example, Carly looks a little thick--not fat or even chubby, mind you--on TV, but in person she's not, not even a little). And when you see them live, especially during commercial breaks, you realize that they're really just people. I mean, of course we know that, but on TV, we don't really see that.

4. Speaking of people being just people, let me return to the subject of item number 1: Mariah's Carey. Her soundcheck, although the volume and and echo and all that weren't steady because the tech people were tweaking, was flawless. She talked a bit too during the song to ask if she could be heard, to say it was too loud, etc. And then, during her actual live performance, she was a little... different. She seemed a little nervous, and there were a couple glitches in her singing, although they weren't very noticeable, especially to the untrained ear and to one who didn't hear her soudncheck. I could see a bit of a struggle trying to recover from those glitches too, though I don't know if someone who doesn't sing and know what it's like would have caught that. She was still awesome though. What I got out of that was, even big divas who've been at the top for the better part of 18 years get nervous and aren't perfect, and that makes me feel a whole lot better (about myself and my music/singing).

To Soar: Step 1

Jump right back into that neatly packed away mess of emotion. If there's one thing you should not procrastinate on, it's retrieving and dealing with feelings put on hold and nudged aside until they've been pushed so far back and so hard against the wall, they've been compressed and need to be sorted out and restored before they can be made sense of. Numbness is, thus far, the hardest habit to break out of and the toughest shell to break through.

Sunday Night at the Chancos'

GEM

A finger poking her shoulder. She turned away from her food--a mini feat for her--and glanced to her side to find her niece, pudgy, with a double chin and a hard round stomach: so much like her, which made her feelings toward the child a screwed-up mix of affinity and disgust. The girl had her mouth open and was pointing to a loose milk tooth and a permanent tooth jutting out of the front of the gum, pushed out of its rightful place by the milk tooth that had overstayed its welcome.



JILLIAN

She had held her tears, not because she was trying to be brave, but because she was waiting for the right time to unleash them. She was going to let them go, not because she was afraid and thought something was seriously wrong with her teeth, but because it got her attention and special treatment. And now, now that her aunt was looking into her mouth and telling her not to be scared because it was no big deal, in that loud obnoxious voice that ensured that everyone's attention was on them, she knew: this was the time. With everything she had, she squeezed tears out of her eyes and began to bawl.



JOAN

Her husband's niece seriously always tried to take the joy out of any celebration. She did not mind not being the center of attention every once in a while, even on her birthday, but what she did mind was the fun having to stop, and she was not about to let that happen. And so, seeing an opportunity for another impromptu performance that would earn her a few laughs--all-out laughter if she was lucky--she grabbed a pair of tongs and approached her niece and made like she was going to pull out her loose tooth with them, her trademark silent-comedy face on.



EDWIN

His youngest daughter making a scene, his sister soothing her, and his sister-in-law provoking her: what else was new? But he was the father, and he was the oldest brother, and although no one believed in him much, it was time to take control. He asked for a piece of thread, and he tied it around his daughter's tooth and then gently pulled.



TIM

What kind of family had he married into? He loved his second set of children, and they got along so well with his first, but his wife, her similarly shaped niece, and the rest of her family were the most exasperating bunch. He watched as the niece was rewarded with money and ice cream for her lost tooth and then as she spat and cursed at her father, apparently blaming him for everything. Shaking his head in disgust, he silently wished his wife would be true to her word and leave the country--and him--already.



JACY

She watched her father, saw his tiredness and utter dislike for her stepmom and her family, and wondered if he wished he had stayed with her mother: she thought the answer was yes. She wondered vaguely if there was any chance of her parents getting back together: she thought the answer was no. She wondered if her siblings still hoped for it: she thought the answer was maybe. And then it was time to go, and she worried a bit because the place they made her park her car was teeming with roaches. But they were gone: the whole tooth ordeal took so long, the roaches must've fallen asleep. Or died.