| American Idol 3 Auditions San Francisco September 22 & 23, 2003 |
| Our success on Tuesday started with a very frustrating Monday. I knew that the AI3 auditions were being held at Pac Bell Park that day, but I didn�t realize that there was going to be another round of auditions the next day. Monday morning I heard that Simon, Paula, and Randy would be in town for round 2 on Tuesday, which also meant a good chance that Ryan might be there too. Unfortunately we had NO information about the second round other than it was at �a hotel in San Francisco� which is like finding a needle in a haystack. After mildly freaking out in the morning about the Ryan possibility, I emailed his assistant in the afternoon asking if he would in fact be in SF for the auditions. Surprisingly I received a response within 10 minutes saying that YES Ryan would be there. Mildly freaking out turned into MAJORLY freaking out. Ryan was going to be HERE for sure � I had to find him. When I got home from work I called Debi so we could decide on a plan of attack. Problem #1: We didn�t know where they�d be. Solution: Call hotels to find out. Considering that there are over 400 hotels within a 1 mile radius in SF, this was not a simple task. Debi and I both went online to find information about likely hotels and then proceeded to make lots of phone calls. We guessed that no one would tell us if Simon, Paula, Randy, or Ryan was a registered guest, but they might tell us if the auditions were being held at their hotel or not. Unfortunately it seems that the only people in the country who DIDN�T watch American Idol all work at hotels in San Francisco. Call after call we got, �American what?� It was totally frustrating! Hello � American Idol the tv show that millions of people watched! I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle someone! After nearly a dozen calls and being put on hold time after time, an angel at one hotel said, �No they�re not here, but I think they�re at _____.� ALLELULIA!!!! A LEAD!!!!! We called the hotel she mentioned and sure enough they told us that the auditions would definitely be there the next day. This didn�t mean that anyone important was actually STAYING at the hotel, but it was definitely a start. Problem #2: We didn�t know when Simon, Paula, Randy, and Ryan were getting to town. Solution: Wait around hoping to catch someone. We figured that they�d be there on Monday night so they could start auditions first thing Tuesday morning. Unfortunately the hotel had absolutely no information about the times of the auditions so we didn�t know exactly when the judges had to be there. We also guessed that Ryan couldn�t get to SF before 9 pm because he was on the radio in LA until 7. So I drove to Debi�s house and then we drove into the city. The hotel was surprisingly easy to find, so we planted ourselves in the lobby around 9:30 pm and waited� and waited� and explored a little to find the audition hall and a restaurant and then waited� and waited� until 12:30 am. NOTHING. Either they weren�t staying at the same hotel as the auditions or they weren�t in town yet. *sigh* Determined and stubborn, we decided that we had to go back the next day because we KNEW they�d be there then. Of course Tuesday was a work day for me, so I couldn�t do anything until the afternoon. A stalker�s worst nightmare: knowing exactly where your target is but not being there � TORTURE! All day I tried to get confirmation about whether Ryan would be back in LA for his radio show at 3, but I got nowhere. Regardless, we�d still be looking for the judges and Ry being there would make it even better. Debi was able to meet me as soon as school got out at 2:30 and we headed back to SF. We hoped that the auditions would still be in progress by the time we got there. Our efforts on Monday night paid off because we knew exactly where to go, which turned out to be very very important. After a minor traffic issue which we luckily managed to avoid, we arrived in the city around 3:45, parked the car, and walked a few blocks to the hotel. As we were about to enter the front door, Simon walked out! *shock* Even though that�s what we were there for, it still totally caught us off guard. We hadn�t even gotten in the door! Simon was with his girlfriend and a few other people. They put their bags in a waiting car but then walked away. We didn�t know what to do so we watched where they went and followed a little � very little, like 10 feet � we were scared of him. lol They walked to the corner and crossed the street towards the main shopping area. As we kept an eye on them from a distance, we noticed something even more shocking � Simon had stopped to talk to RYAN! He was on the street walking towards us with a camera crew, and I recognized him by his cute spiky hair. lol My guess is that he was filming something at the cable car turn-around station, which was at the opposite corner. Of course we�re not scared to approach Ryan because he�s a total sweetheart, so we crossed the street and walked towards him. He and Simon ended their conversation, Simon walked in the opposite direction, and Ryan continued on towards us. I hadn�t even thought about what to do or say if we saw him, so it was definitely a �think fast� moment. As he approached us with his entourage (camera crew and a couple other guys), I said something like, �Ryan, we�re missing you on Star today. We listen over the computer.� (I have no clue why I said that, first thing that popped into my head) He stopped and turned to talk to us, which was awesome because he could have just said �Thanks� and kept on walking, but he didn�t. Have I mentioned that he�s a sweetheart? lol He responded, �Oh are you from LA?� and we said that we were from SF and listen online. Duh Ryan, I already said that! He told us that he was still on the air because he pre-taped his show that morning. One mystery solved! I said that we met him at Star over the summer and he said, �Oh yeah! I remember.� It could have just been a line, but he seemed sincere, not like some other people I�ve met who�ve said that and seemed fake. Besides, how could Ryan forget his psycho stalkers? lol Now for my obligatory �I can�t believe I just did that� moment � I flicked the collar of his shirt open with my finger and said, �Yeah, I think you were wearing the same shirt that day too.� lol I guess I feel pretty comfortable around him to do THAT! He laughed (chuckled according to Debi lol) and said that he probably was and we should go back and check our pictures from that day to make sure. (this makes me believe that he really DID remember us because we didn�t mention anything about taking pictures with him before) I asked him how long he was going to be in SF, and he said that they were actually leaving for the airport right then and he had to go. For some reason that neither of us can remember, we let him walk away, but for some reason which we�ll never know, he didn�t cross the street. He and the other guys stood a few feet away talking. I still wanted a picture with him so I forgot my manners and approached him again. �I can�t believe I did that� moment #2: I walked up behind Ryan and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt to get his attention like a child pulling at his mom�s skirt. lol I felt bad about interrupting him again, but I know he�s nice enough to not get offended. I said �Excuse me� and �I�m sorry to interrupt� and he was totally polite. I asked if he had time for us to take pictures with him and he was very friendly and happy to agree. I took my turn first and then Ryan made his classic �We can swap� comment again as Debi and I were switching places. We walked half a block back to the corner where we had last seen Simon and wanted to head in the direction that he walked in, but sure enough he was walking back directly towards us! Talk about freaky timing yet again! We were both nervous because he seems intimidating and possibly unfriendly, so we didn�t know if we should say anything or not. But just as he was walking past us I said something like, �Hi Simon, do you have time to stop for a picture?� He said that he was in a hurry but that he would, so again we took turns taking pictures. As I handed my camera to Debi, it got caught and fell on the ground and Simon commented, �One less camera.� Luckily it still worked so I took my picture with him and then Debi had her turn. As Debi was posing with Simon, a homeless man held out his hand begging for money and Simon�s bodyguard (or whoever he was) moved the homeless man away. Also while Debi was standing with Simon, an official photographer started snapping pictures. We later asked him what they were for, and he said that they were for a story about Simon in America. (the photographer was from England) Who knows, Debi and I could turn up in some British tabloid! lol After our pictures with Simon, we thanked him and he rejoined his group (including his girlfriend). As he was walking away I said, �Good luck this year,� and he shouted back, �Thank you!� He was actually much more pleasant than I expected, which was a nice discovery. Simon and his entourage crossed the street to the hotel, got in their waiting car (the same one they put their bags in when we first saw them), and drove away. We took advantage of the 1 hour photo developing store across the street from the hotel so we could get our pictures back ASAP. We were thrilled that they came out so good! Everything happened in less than 10 minutes � a complete whirlwind! Talk about fantastic timing!!! That was probably the quickest celebrity encounter I�ve ever had, although if you figure in waiting around for 3 hours on Monday night, then I guess it wasn�t all that quick. Our research, time, dedication, and stubbornness definitely paid off! In hindsight, I wish I had remembered to congratulate Ryan on his tv show or ask Simon about this year�s AI contestants, but everything happened so fast that I didn�t have time to think. Everything was great though. Simon was approachable, Ryan was a doll as usual, and we accomplished exactly what we set out to do. :) |
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| After the pictures we thanked him and said goodbye. We watched him rejoin his companions and cross the street to a waiting car in front of the hotel. After a brief cell phone call, he got in the car and drove off to the airport. Still stunned about what had happened in the past 5 minutes, Debi and I had a brief freak out moment and then tried to regain our composure to find Simon again. |
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