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September 22, 2008

Two locals try out for 'American Idol"

Two local vocalists try out for 'American Idol"

By RYAN HUTCHINS

PLATTSBURGH -- Ever thought about trying out for "American Idol"?

Have you wondered what it would be like or if you could make it to Hollywood?

Amber Elethorp has. So has Sean Wood.

"I always wanted to try it," Elethorp, a Hartwick College student from Ticonderoga, said during a recent phone interview.

She didn't want to go to be silly, though. Elethorp doesn't even watch the auditions on TV.

"I usually skip the first hundred or so episodes," she joked.

Wood, a young Dannemora man who works in Plattsburgh, said he, too, takes singing seriously and wanted to try out as a test of his talent.

He's been an aspiring hip-hop and R&B performer for five years now. His tryout for "American Idol" commemorated a year since he stopped smoking and a year since his mother died.

Elethorp wanted to go to see how the singing voice she'd been polishing since age 7 stacks up. She did want to make it to Hollywood.

"I'd say, Oh, I can do that. I can do that,'" she recalled of watching the show. "So, I did."

She saved up the money, found a friend's house to stay at and headed for East Rutherford, N.J., last month. It was the last of the auditions for the eighth season of "American Idol" and the same one Wood took a stab at.

And what did Randy, Paula and Simon think of Elethorp and Wood?

The show's famous judges weren't there, actually.

Producers said that prospective contestants go through several rounds of auditions before meeting the show judges.

What the two local people, who have never met, did encounter was a big group audition. Everyone had to learn the two same songs and practice them for hours.

"It felt like my voice was probably going to stop moving, at one point," said Elethorp, who was initially a music major in college.

Both of the local performers made it through all that and on to the second part of the audition.

Elethorp described a theater with about 10 tables in the front, with one or two judges at each. Possible contestants were called up in groups of four, and each sang a song of their choice.

Elethorp sat, waited and watched for about an hour and half.

"Some of them are really good, and some of them suck," she said.

Wood echoed the same sentiment.

"They were sending home people that were twice as good as me. They were sending home Jessica Simpsons and Whitney Houstons."

Elethorp watched for a while before a hint of anxiety set in.

"I wasn't nervous until about two rows away, when we were about to go," she said. "Then my stomach just fell through the floor. "¦ Even if they were bad, it still made me nervous."

Finally, it came time to go. She sang "At Last" by Etta James.

"I can probably sing that song in my sleep," she said.

But she didn't make the cut. Neither did Wood.

"At first, I was very upset and angry, and I wanted to punch the judges in the face," Elethorp said. "But I don't regret it because I learned a lot."

Wood said he doesn't regret it, either. He said it was difficult because of all the people who had given him money to fund his trip and who had believed in him.

"That was the hard part, having to go home and tell everyone I'm not going to Hollywood."

But all those people weren't disappointed in him.

"When I came home, people were, like, At least you went. At least you tried.'"

He'll be trying again next year if the show runs a ninth season.

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