Marisa's American Idol Audition Training Blog

It's Over!!!

I'm surprised how many people are surprised that I'm not still blogging about American Idol. Like all endurance projects, this one had an end in mind, and like this season of the show, this project has come to an end. Of course, now that the season's over, some of my contractual obligations have loosened, and in three months I'll be eligible to sign a record contract. So, please, keep those offers coming! Like most blogs, this one is organized with the most recent posts at the top. If you want to read the entire three-month diary of my American Idol Audition training, scroll to the bottom and work your way up. If you just want to peruse the greatest hits, check out some of my fondest training memories, like the time I went high heel training, the time I toasted myself at the tanning salon, the time I campaigned in front of Fox HQ, my practice interview with Tabitha Soren, my solid gold weight training, and of course, the behind the scenes pix I took until they stopped me... Meanwhile, this is my absolute final post (sniffle), so I'll bid you a fond farewell and thank you for reading. It amazes me how many people I connected with over this silly site--even if my family thought I was crazy! Big ups to those who came to my show at 667 Shotwell (especially Chris Sollars, who helped me shoot a fictional re-enactment video of my audition)! Be sure to check out this blog and its iPod translation in the Rhizome Artbase 101 show, at New York's New Museum of Contemporary Art, June 23-Sept 10. {Update: Here is the NY Times review of the show.} Hugs and kisses in the key of E, marisa.

No More American Idol Secrets

By now the cat’s out of the bag:
I got rejected!!!
I made it all the way to the Executive Producers, only to be turned down. After eating, sleeping, and breathing American Idol for so many months, one might ask, “Was it all for nothing?” I think not. In short, this was not so much an effort to become an Idol contestant as it was a performative exploration of the norms bound up with the show. I also thought of it as quite political—I wanted to get young people thinking about the practice of voting in the lead-up to the 2004 Presidential elections, which ran parallel to the lead-up to my audition. This, I think, worked. (How fun that my audition aired on the night of the State of the Union!) Over 6,000 of you wrote me to vote on what I should wear and sing and since then, another 10,000+ of you expressed your solidarity. This, to me, has been profound and I do thank you, sincerely. I’ll admit that this whole process affected me deeply, and as I progressed through the auditions, I found that I had to put many of my own stereotypes and assumptions in check.

The one thing that remains is that I love to sing and I always will. When I sang for Nigel Lythgoe, one of the two Executive Producers, he told me that I had “about as much chance of becoming the next American Idol as [he did] of becoming the next Picasso,” I was shocked. First of all, I was elated that he’d use an art reference to diss me, since this was an art project about the relationship between fame & talent. But, I’ll confess that it shook me. It took me a few days to have the confidence to sing in the shower, again. But I’ve been performing and playing with friends, since then, and I continue to love it. I may not have a body like Christina Aguilera, a voice like Mariah Carey, or a wardrobe like Beyonce Knowles, but I’m comfortable with myself. I hope that any aspiring Idol reading this will be equally as comfortable with themselves (so many of you wrote me about your insecurities), and know that while the show is great at packaging talent, it is not the only road to success. My training took the form of attempting to stand out, yet often resulted in bruises, rashes, and heartache (see above, and below). In the end I stand out anyway, and I love it here in my little corner. Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. I wanted to post some kind of update right away, but if you want to read a longer explanation of my reasons for going into training, keeping this blog, and auditioning, come back shortly for a behind the scenes diary, a statement on “why I did it” and notes on the aftermath of my American Idol audition experience. (Remember that I'm on the West Coast, so I'm posting this ten minutes before the San Francisco auditions even air, here. OOPS. UPDATE: I just saw the auditions and mine didn't even air--despite the fact that a cameraman followed me around quite a bit...) For those who are local, send me your contact info and I’ll add you to the invite list for my upcoming exhibit at 667 Shotwell, which will dig more deeply into the whole process. Go Mo!

Tattle-Tale Tuesday

Well, today is the first official day that American Idol auditions will be aired on TV. They'll continue tomorrow. I'm actually not sure if the San Francisco auditions will be on tonight or tomorrow. I'm feeling a little nervous about what will actually air. A camera crew followed me around, a bit, between auditions, and (unlike most people) all of my auditions were on-camera... By the time I made it to the Executive Producers, I was completely exhausted, my sense of hearing was wrecked by the sensorium of the Cow Palace, and I was pretty sick. I even went in for emergency surgery, the next week... Oh well. We'll see what airs. Afterwards I'll post my final updates about the auditions & I'll try to get a home movie of what airs up on your screen.

TOP SECRET: For those of you who just can't wait, you can check out an interview I gave with Jon Brumit, of NPR (Neighborhood Public Radio). Click here and scroll down to the October 20th episode of Catch & Release. The show was a contribution to The Way We Work, at Southern Exposure, which made it to Pamela Lee's Top Ten of 2004 List, in Artforum. YAY!

Powering Up

Hello, friends. First let me say thank you to those of you who have written, since my American Idol audition, to wish me well & check in on my progress. Between all of my rigorous training exercises and the massive attention drawn to my blog by the New York Times, MSNBC, Yahoo, and Rhizome.org (not to mention other bloggers!), this has been an amazing adventure. It's been exciting to be in touch with all of you in the course of my own transformation and I continue to appreciate your support and advice.

The new season of American Idol begins in January and I must, sadly, wait until then to post my update on the auditions. I will, however, be dropping some strong hints in a performance I'm giving at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive on December 8th. All of the details about my PowerPoint Presentation are here. If I don't see you there I'll see you back here in January.

Quick Update: Here's a Wired article about the performance at the Berkeley Art Museum. The writer calls me funny. Yay!

Stay Tuned...

Whew. I cannot remember the last time that I was this exhausted. I made it through months of training, hours of standing in line, and several auditions songs... I'm not allowed to tell you much, at this point, but I can tell you that my ears are ringing to the tune of a Whitney Houston song. If you've not had a chance to do so, please do visit my moblog page, which includes over forty photos taken over the last few days. And, meanwhile, thanks for your continued support and words of wisdom. Stay tuned to find out how I did...

Mo Goes Moblogging

The producers of American Idol make all would-be auditioners sign contracts that, among other things, limit how much info one is allowed to disseminate about the audition & competition processes. To this end, I have no idea what I'll be allowed to document, from this point out, but I want to continue bringing you info about my personal experience, so I am going to try to moblog from Cow Palace. Unfortunately, I've had a bit of trouble moblogging here, so I'll sadly have to redirect you to another site. Click here to see what, if any, updates I'm allowed to post from the audition line. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me!

Sleepy Time = Nerve City

I’m trying to hit the hay a little early because I have to get up way early. People are allowed to line up at 6am, tomorrow, for Tuesday’s auditions, but something tells me that there will be a line to get in line, so I’m going to try to get there around 4am. And I am not a morning person… Meanwhile, my nerves are killing me. Remember when I told you that I was going to meet with two-time SF-Idol-Auditioner Mike Garcia? Well, I left a phone message for him on the day that he was supposed to come meet me at my gallery and he never called me back or showed up. Then, two days ago, he sent me this e-mail:
Hey marisa,
Did not get to meet,but regardless to that I wish the best for you on tuesday.If you heard to not stand out you heard wrong...You are being judged on how diferent you are to the other contestants,you personality, your look and style and song selection.If i were you i would re-think your plan and make a 180 turn.It was advised to me that those who have been picked in the past have been those who picked songs not outside of the mainstream. You have the brains...think marisa, think.I was not a fan of your song choices...You want to stand out,not blend in.
Best of luck!!!!
Mike
Now I’m not sure if he’s messing with my mind or if I’m doing everything wrong, in which case my 3 months of training would have been entirely in vain. Ugh! I think I’m going to pull some of that Benadryl out of my bag so that I can get to sleep…

Workin It

I logged on to the Cow Palace website, in order to research the facilities, and I noticed that they rent out offices and dressing rooms! I called to see if I could get one or the other, if not to stay on top of my workload, then at least to have a door with my name on it (and a sparkly gold star, of course!)... but no one called me back.

Soul Survivor

Today it's all about the double entendre. I am working on "soul preparation" in order to sing soulfully... (get it?) I checked out my horoscope in a few different places. The first one said that I need to "Develop [my] ability to process technical data," which is true. In fact, I should apologize to the regular readers for not having posted sound clips in a while. I've been having technical difficulties, but they're on their way. The second horoscope promised a "destiny report" and even said it would tell me whether I will be a star, but it didn't really deliver. In fact, it mostly offered criticism of my stubborn Taurean personality. However, it did say that I have "a deep rapport with nature and its rhythms." Let's hope this helps me at the American Idol Auditions!

Practice, Practice, Practice

I've calculated all 10 of the votes from last week's poll and Janis Joplin beat Norah Jones in a landslide. No one voted for poor Bette. Thanks to those voters who did turn out. I wanted to use this as practice for some upcoming polls... Soon I will be asking you to help me decide what to wear on October 5th, what to sing, and how to do my hair... I really need your help. It's no secret that my generation (which is, ironically, also the demographic for American Idol) has a record of shamefully low voter turnout... I hope we can amp-up use of our voices, this fall, no matter which song, hairdo, or candidate you're voting for...