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).