Adventures On the Road

Remember when I was SOO excited to be a “grown up” and be able to choose to be a ridiculous flighty teenager at the GLEE concert?  Well…I may have forgotten that whole ‘grown up’ part and turned into a ridiculous, screaming (well…I raised my voice) GROUPY. Some would even say that I fit right in with the 10 year old boys screaming for Simon and Ryan Seacrest.

Kidding.  Definitely Kidding.  I was not screaming for Ryan Seacrest (but I did take a picture of his car).

But I did manage to find my way into the Nokia Theater while I was in LA to watch the American Idol Finale performance show.  It’s just called, ‘being in the right place at the right time’.  Or, ‘eavesdropping on your booth neighbour and demanding that he find 2 tickets to the show and telling him that you were going to be his new BFF’.

Regardless of how it happened, I made it into the Nokia Theater, watched Lee and Crystal battle it out live and I’m embarrassingly admitting that I ran like a little school girl to the back of the theatre (with my new BFF saying, “Traci I ran for you, now pick up the pace”) and stood at the gates waiting for somebody (hopefully famous) to come through those back doors.  Well, we didn’t have to wait very long before Ellen and Kara came out and actually came up to take photos and sign autographs.  I was not properly schooled in the art of celebrity chasing so I awkwardly stood by the gate, half-heartedly called their names and unsuccessfully tried to take photos with them.

I did manage to get someone to sign my “Official American Idol T-Shirt”; however at first I didn’t know what her name was or which season of Idol she was really from.  But, it was a start.  From there we went to the front of the theatre where the current season Idol’s were making the rounds, taking photos, signing autographs and being interviewed.  After 30 minutes of hanging around I started to come out of my Idol frenzy and I thought to myself, “what am I doing?  I am NOT this person.  I’m not a groupy.  I have GOT to get out of here”.

After I slept off my Idol high, I headed back to the convention for the final day and tear down.  As soon as I got to the Convention Hall, which just so happened to be beside the Nokia Theater, I saw the media barricades, the red carpet and I started to feel a little tingle of excitement.  I mean, who finds themselves in the heart of the American Idol frenzy and doesn’t participate.  Don’t worry – I came prepared this time.

With my sharpie and American Idol T-Shirt in one hand and my camera and flip video in the other, I met up with my partner in crime and together we spent 3 hours at the back gates of the Nokia Theater.  I know, it’s a long time.  But you feel like you put so much time in that you should stay, and then you feel like if you leave you’re going to miss someone really good!!!  We saw a lot of people – Christina Aguilera, The BeeGees, a WHOLE bunch of past Idols, Alanis Morrisette, etc.  This time I committed to one primary goal – Autographs.

Here is the final list:

Kelly Clarkson, Kris Allen, Brooke (someone or other), Alanis Morrisette, Robin (from the BeeGees), Jordan Sparks, Reuben Studdard, Nick Cannon (America’s Got Talent host OR Mariah Carey’s husband), Orianthe, Kimberly Clark, AND Ellen Degeneres (however she only put on a dot because she couldn’t write on the shirt- but I swear it was her).

Well, I don’t know if I’ll ever do this again, but at least I can say that I did it.

Check that off the list.  And I did get a couple of photos…