Hey everyone!  Just got back from American Idol a few days ago and what an amazing trip!  Met so many awesome people, got very little sleep, but it was worth it even tho I’m paying for it now with a cold.  Anyway, here’s a quick rundown of what happened.

 The first night I got there, Sunday, we had a welcome dinner in the hotel rooftop restaurant.  Caught up with a bunch of DJ buddies.  Idol flies in radio jocks from all over the country to broadcast live.  It was fun to see old friends and meet new people.

Woke up Monday morning and did the show live with Eddie, Jobo and Erica.  In total around 26 stations came and about half of them were up and running at 3:30am! 

Later, I headed to my radio table located at the Nokia Theatre where the the finale was being taped.  That afternoon Fox had planned for us to interview contestants 3-12 from this season.  I had the opportunity to talk with Syesha, Michael Johns, Jason Castro and Carly Smithson. 

 After about 3 hours of interviews, we had a fun event in collaboration with So You Think You Can Dance (one of my fave Fox shows!)  They set us up outside with about 100 dance mats, like the ones used for Dance, Dance Revolution.  They gathered enough people for us to break the record for Most People doing a Dance Mat routine together!  We went for just under 10 min and made it into the Guiness Book of World Records!

Later that night, we had an event at a club called The Edison.  It was a really cool feel there, with black and white films being projected on the walls.  A few past AI contestants were hanging out and Ace Young did a short acoustic performance. 

Tuesday we had more interviews all day long.  One person I got to speak to was Kimberly Caldwell…she was originally on season 2 of Idol.  Now she hosts an Idol show on the TV Guide Channel.  Well, looks like she’s dating David Cook…he asked her out live on her show.  I’ll keep you posted on the couple.

At 4:00p we ran to the Idol taping.  Just a few behind-the-scenes tidbits:  Before the show starts and during commercials a super-hyper guy named Corey comes out to rev up the crowd.  He brings people on stage to dance, sings, starts cheers, etc.  During the commercial breaks, Simon, Randy and Paula get their make-up reapplied and sometimes even leave the set…no one really knows where they go but they make it back in time for the show to start.  There’s also a stage manager who directs the crowd when to clap and when to be quiet and she also directs Ryan Seacrest where to go when throughout the theatre.

Later, that night I went out with some of my buddies to a Mexican restaurant called Cabo Cantina. 

Wednesday: Fox gave us the day off so it was just the taping of the finale.  First off, when the Idols did the opening number in their white outfits, the pyrotechnics must have malfunctioned b/c when the fire went off Jason Castro jumped nearly ten feet in the air.  Everyone else had just finished the number and were holding still in their positions.  Jason was laughing and grabbing his back….seems like it must have hurt a bit. There were some great performers on that night as well.    Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Jonas Brothers (who the crowd went crazy for when they came out), One Republic and George Michael.  When Ryan Seacrest announced David Cook won, the crowd let out a shriek that nearly broke my ear drums.  It was exciting for sure.  I was so glad he won!

Afterwards, we went to an afterparty.  It was right next door to the Nokia and some celebs showed up.  Jerry Springer, Lori Loughlin, Jordin Sparks, Sanjaya (I didn’t say A-list celebs) were there just to name a few.  The real after party though was about 30 minutes away at a hotel bar called Sky Bar.  I went with my DJ friends Nina and Kelly.  Before going in, we ran into Britney Spears’ manager Larry Rudolph.  He said Brit was in studio recording at that moment.  David Cook showed up, Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, Carrie Underwood and more were all there.  The night was long and I was exhausted for my 9am flight the next day but definitely have some great memories.  Check out my Scrapbook page for all my pics!

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