Apollo Amateur Night Auditions

It's been over a month since I last updated my blog, so here we go:

I camped out overnight for Apollo Amateur Night auditions! Yep, I slept (well, not really) on the streets on Harlem, outside of the legendary Apollo Theater. I was the first person in line and got there at 930pm on Saturday, April 10th, for auditions that were to start on Sunday, April 11th at 10am! I was first in line, but then quickly arrived a father and his friend who were camping out for his daughter, and a mother and daughter who flew to NYC just to audition. More people later trickled in, but the first three acts were the only ones who were given Apollo wristbands. YAY!

It got cold outside overnight, a stark contrast from the nice spring-like weather we had earlier on. Throughout the night, there were bums asking us for money, hoodlums wanting to start fights, and giant RATS were running around. Who said that trying to get your chance at stardom was supposed to be glamorous??? There were no bathrooms around, so people had to go to White Castle to use the bathroom, but you had to buy something to get in. White Castle in da 'hood was quite an experience!

Before we knew it, the sun finally started to rise, and it was morning. YAY! I was excited that Starbucks was now open so I could get my Zen tea with honey (my usual "Before Audition/Performance" beverage of choice). Everything seemed all nice and calm in Harlem, and then a man who claimed to be "Owner of the Apollo" went nuts, knocking over things, and handed random people in the line a $20 bill. When he approached me, he knocked over the barricade next to me, and put the $20 bill in my hand! I NEVER get any free money, EVER!!! And some kid in line asked me if he could have it. Uhhh....NO!!! So I was $20 richer! He ended up doing another crazy things, like getting into the middle of the streets and taking off his shoes, knocking on peoples' car windows and giving them a $20 bill, and getting on top of cars and kicking down the trunk. A whole bunch of cops appeared out of nowhere, so that was fun! A typical morning in Harlem.

NY1 covered the auditions, and since I was the first person in line, they interviewed me and had me sing and play for them (at this time I was delirious from no sleep and being awake at this point for 22 hrs). I was also interviewed for a book that's in the works, and the section of the book I was interviewed and photographed for was about "Artistic Passion" --- since obviously, you have to be passionate about your art if you're going to camp out overnight in Harlem! It was pretty cool getting interviewed for stuff, so I guess me being completely nuts for doing stuff like this somewhat pays off!

It was about 930am, and they started to hand out numbers to everyone. Mine was #1! They only were seeing the first 300 acts, so that's why I made sure to get there as early as possible. They had us all get into the building in a calm, organized manner, fill out some paperwork, and off we go!

They brought in 15 acts into the audition room at a time. It was a large room that was painted completely black, with pictures of Apollo legends in the background. There were mics set up, so they station you at one, do a real quick sound check on you, and you do your thing. Since I was singing and playing ukulele, they had a lower mic for my instrument as well as for my voice. I sang "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (at this point, being awake for over 24 hrs and absolutely delirious), and then I was told afterwards that I was done. I had no clue if they wanted me to stand to the side, or start walking out of the room, so they had people walking me out. NY1 was also filming the beginning of the auditions, and the reporter asked if i could stick around so she could interview me. So I walked out of the room, and waited, not sure what my fate was.

After waiting for a little bit in the exit they had me leave out of, I found out the NY1 people left the building, and the reporter actually was expecting me to wait for her OUTSIDE. (Once again, over 24 hrs of NO SLEEP, and DELIRIOUS!) So I went out there, and this kids dance troop was being interviewed with their Apollo "golden ticket". Hmm...so I figured, "Yeah, I didn't make it." I got interviewed, and said that this wasn't my time for the Apollo. Turns out that this interview ended up being shown on NY1 on a loop A DAY that day! Well, even if I didn't get selected by the Apollo, at least I got my 15 min (or 30 seconds!) of fame!

I let it go, and figured, well, maybe I should've done something more poppy, like Celine, or Mariah, or Whitney. But I figured, they probably get sick of hearing the same songs over and over and OVER again. So I figured to go with something a little different. Though I realized that "different" sometimes doesn't pay off.

On April 21st, I got a call in the afternoon, from Kathy at the Apollo. I'm thinking "Oh, they're calling me with my official rejection phone call." She continued talking, and then told me that I was SELECTED TO PERFORM FOR AMATEUR NIGHT AT THE APOLLO! I was just so ridiculously excited, I even said to her "Are you serious???" cuz I just still didn't believe it! She gave me all the info I needed, with the date of August 18th, sound check info, etc. I was THRILLED!

I have a tendency to be really hard on myself (what performer ISN'T???), but sometimes when I DO end up getting to notate a "success" in my "Performing Career Journal," it's just that much more rewarding and exciting. And yes, I've been keeping a journal to keep track of all auditions and "successes" just to see where I'm heading in my career since I started this crazy journey in January! It's something I want to be able to one day look back on as a reference, and see what I had to do to get where I will hopefully end up!

Life is full of challenges. If you don't succeed, try, try again. Or just...as hard as it is...try to MOVE ON. Go out and wow some other folks. Sometimes you'll get those magical phone calls when you least expect it. :-)