America's Got Talent Auditions

So, there I am pulling up to the Gaylord parking lot on Friday around 3 pm and what do I see? "America's Got Talent Audition Parking." I heard my friend/real estate agent Wes talk about this show before so I call him to get some advice. After talking with him, I decide to audition. Since this was a last minute decision, I didn't have anything prepared. What was I going to do? My rap ... of course. It is called, "Wind Goes" and was written by myself and some students from one of my elementary schools. As I walked into the main entrance for the audition, I saw that there was no line. I was thinking it'd be no problem to be finished by 5:15 which was when I had to be ready to start playing buckets. The next step was to walk upstairs to the main holding room. Unfortunately for me, there were more people than I expected. My number was 342 and they just called numbers 281-300. I thought, 'this could be a big opportunity ... I should wait untill the last minute, and maybe there will be time.'

Fast forward to 5:05 ... I ask one of the people working the event, "if I come back tomorrow do I have to wait in line." And he says, "yes." I explain to him that I am performing at the hotel in 10 minutes. He said, "Let me see if there is anything I can do." He talks on his ear piece and directs me to an audition room. I was excited.

There I was in front of 'Brian' (the audition person) and a video camera. I told him I wanted to rap and that it was written by myself and some of my elementary school students. I perform it with energy and enthusiasm. When I was done he asked, 'What are you performing here at the hotel?' I said that I play with a group that is similar to STOMP. I let him know where we are performing, and that was the end of my 1st audition.
By that time it was 5:12. I briskly ran down the stairs, changed, and was ready to hit the buckets right @ 5:15. I was still excited about my audition in the midst of performing. While we were doing our bucket and ladder act, one of the AGT people started to watch us. After we finished she asks if there is anyway AGT can bring their cameras down to record our act. We explain that we don't own the show and that we would have to get approval from Brother Entertainment.
We make a few phone calls to see what we can do to have them record us. But the show must go on, and we only had a five minute break. The next thing I know, I'm about to sing to three tables at Moonbay and all of a sudden, a person in an AGT shirt tries to get my attention. But I'm about to sing to smiling faces. (People are normally smiling and wondering what we are doing, because we walk into the restaurant playing kitchen utensils while wearing chef uniforms. ) I didn't think it would be right to stop working. I told the gentleman, "I'm sorry, but I can't talk right now." He walks away, and that was my last contact w/ AGT on Friday night at the hotel.

On my way home, I talked with Mari and Gene and told them what happened. They both were surprised that I rapped and did not play the drums. So I decided to text the person from AGT to see if I could audition on Saturday playing trash cans. She texted back ... "Sure, come to the registration desk @ 10:30."

So I show up @ 9:30 for my 10:30 audition, and then I'm escorted along with a male A capella group to a holding room. It seems there is a way to receive scheduled auditions. I did not have to wait in the holding room with the people who came to audition like I did on Friday. I go in and audition for a different person. I improvised a short piece on a large plastic trash can, a small metal trash can, and a shredder bin. They asked me a few questions and then asked me to wait outside. I waited for about 10 minutes and then I was escorted to a second audition room. That was the most exciting part of the audition, knowing that I had moved on to another audition.

There they took my picture before I auditioned again. I performed my improv junk percussion piece for the 2nd time. The first time it was much better. I explained to the person how I rapped yesterday but my friends encouraged me to play the drums instead. He asked to hear my rap. After I was done he said, "I've heard worse." He then asked me if I had seen the show, I said no, so he explained how the show works. After that he asked how people respond to my performance. I could only think about responses to the Gaylord show, but I think he meant my 1 man junk show. So I'm not sure my answer made sense to him. I packed up and he said "cheers." He was from England.

After that I went into another room where they asked me a few questions (one of which was what is the closest airport to you). They made a copy of my license.Then they said, if you are selected a producer will contact you, and then I went home.

I had seen other contestants being videotaped and telling their stories to people who looked like producers. They didn't do that to me, so I am thinking I wasn't chosen. However, it was a great experience to make it to the second audition. Two days ... three AGT auditions.

Thanks for reading about my America's Got Talent story. After the audition I took Mari to a very relaxing Bed + Breakfast where we celebrated Valentines Day in Hagerstown.