WHEN: July 22, 2011
WHERE: North Charleston Coliseum
American Idol held auditions here in Charleston on Friday for Season 11 of the show. Registration was open Wednesday and Thursday and auditions were performed all day Friday. As if the fierce competition wasn't enough for the contestants to deal with, temperatures rose to the upper 90's this week, with heat indicies around 110°F. Although Ryan Seascrest was in town Friday, the judges were not and auditions were performed in front of the producers of the show.
I still remember watching Season 1 with Stacie in the summer of 2002. I remember watching a couple episodes on a 10" black & white TV outside on her patio. We (along with the show's producers and country as a whole) had no idea how big the show would become. We watched the first and second seasons but stopped watching it for several seasons afterwards. It wasn't until 2008 (Season 7) that we began watching it again.
American Idol also held auditions in Charleston for Season 7. Those auditions aired on January 23, 2008, two months after I had visited Charleston for the first time and two years before we ever knew we would live here. We had just moved to North Carolina the year before and I remember that episode well. Stacie and I watched that episode again this spring before it was even announced Charleston would be an audition city for Season 11. Since we got back in to the show (during Season 7) I have recorded Seasons 7-10 on DVD. Out of the 398 episodes to date that have aired, I have over 100 of them recorded. But after last season and some of the poor choices the producers made (like asking Lady Gaga to perform...in her underwear...twice), we may have hit a dry spell yet again with AI. American Idol does do some good things (like Idol Gives Back) but recently they have invited some less-than-notable role models on to the show - a show which is largely marketed to and highly consumed by teens and pre-teens.
Dry spell or not, this could have been my season! Not only did they come to the city I live in, they came the same year I turned 28, which is the oldest a contestant can be. If I was ever to have my chance to audition, it would be for Season 11. Nevertheless, it's an opportunity I won't regret letting slip by. I stopped by the North Charleston Coliseum Thursday on my way home from work to snap a few shots and see what was going on. That was the closest I ever needed to get to the AI spotlight.
Auditions were held in Charleston this week at the North Charleston Coliseum
North Charleston Coliseum
Contestants registered for their auditions on Wednesday and Thursday. Auditions were held Friday.
Season 11 American Idol winner??
Not out of the question. Throughout the show's history, seven of the ten Idol winners, including the first five, have come from the southern United States. That's right y'all!
There's geography to be found even within American Idol. :) Geography is everywhere!
Season 11 airs on FOX, January 22 - May 23, 2012.
1 comments:
Always have to be throwing that geography education in our faces, huh?? Ha ha, this made me smile Jesse :) You could have auditioned, had they held a competition for belching. I'm certain you would have wrapped it up!
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