Song Bird Adventure III

"I'm Number 19! I'm here!"

A lady in her mid 40's rushed into the hallway. Her floral pink dress made look like a strawberry. And this strawberry had a bag of food in her hand.

"I went to get lunch. Sorry."

The registration lady smiled at her and took her into the filming room.

Compare to Fanny's face to Ms. Strawberry, made my heart burst.

Fanny looked so disappointed. I felt so bad, for giving him such high hope, and encouragement to participate in this contest.

"Oh well, that's that. I'm done." He sighed.

"Did they ask you to sing a second song?" Asked David.

"No. After the first song, they let me go."

"Why? Why?!" I had to ask.

"They don't like the song I picked. They said it's too religious."

"What about your voice?"

"They didn't say anything about my voice."

And I was upset by the fact, that the judges were judging the contestants by the song choice, not the quality of the voice.

Further more, Fanny told us that the old lady before him sang two traditional country songs. The judges didn't like her, but asked her to do animal sounds. There was another lady, she was asked by the judge to sing a song by Teresa Teng (legendary Taiwanese Singer) and after she sang, they asked her to go.

Then, the article that I read while in the waiting room, popped up in my head. How this competition will produce one Asian Idol out of contestants from all US, and then will compete against the one from Asia for the ultimate prize. William Hung will be the guest performer at the final competition. And don't forget, there will be clips of behind the scene, where we get to see contestant's messed up performance, their raw talent, and many other funny scenes.

It seemed to me that when the judges don't like a certain contestant, they would amuse themselves by humiliated or ask the contestants to do stupid stuff.

I was on fire. And I was ready. I got nothing to loose. I wasn't here to compete. I'm here to cheer. I'm here representing all the contestants who left the room with shattered dreams.

"Number 21 to 26, please come in."

Following David, all of us went into the room.

There were two men and one women sitting at the judging table.

They seemed bored.

"Okay, Number 21."

David went up to the stage. He looked at the judges, and didn't know what to do next.

"Should I just start?"

"No. Introduce yourself first."

"Okay, I'm David and I'm from New York....." (And he went on to say where he lives, the name of the song, the artist, etc.)

Then he started to sing.

It was my first time meeting David, and the first time hearing him singing.

Very nice. That boy can sing!

The judges were quiet. They were all concentrating on David's performance.

Ding.

The first judge rang the bell. And followed by the critics from the rest of them.

"You have a great tone. But there can be a better song choice."

"You need to sing louder. I can hear your voice well when you hit the high note. But I had to really concentrate to hear the rest of the song."

"Try singing something that's more common."

Then the first judge asked him to sing a song that I couldn't identify.

David, being a karaoke go-er, sang the song right away.

Then the judges asked David to come back for round two, at 3:00PM.

David thanked the judges then was lead outside of the room.

I watched David left the room as the announcer said "Number 22, please come up."

Took a quick deep breath, I stood up from the chair and walked up the stage.

I looked at the judges, smile, and said. "HI. My Name is Wayne, and I'm here to sing The Birthday Song!"

The three of them seemed shocked. Especially the female judge.

Without giving a damn, I started to sing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

HAPPPPPYYY BIRTTTHHDAAAYYYY TOOOOOOOO YOUUUUUUUUUU (and I did the Xtina hand gesture)

There was a split second of silence before judge number 1 said..."Uh... Birthday song. Why Birthday song?"

"This is the song that I'm familiar with. I'm comfortable with this song. Why should I pick a song and try to high that freakin' high note when I know I can't?"

"Is there anything that you can show us? Another talent?" asked judge number 1.

"Sure. I was doing this outside while waiting..."

Then I started my tummy rub head pat pat routine.

Judge 1 and 3 giggled.

The female judge, looking rather pissed. (Probably thought I was unprofessional)
She Asked if I have another song that I can sing.

I replied, "Sure. How about Happy Birthday in Mandarin?"

Judged number 1 laughed.

"Anything but the Birthday song!" She glared at me.

"I noticed you were doing a little Jazz in your performance. I'd like to hear more of your voice." (F**KER, what the F**K are you talking about? What Jazz? It's DIVA-QUE!)

"Well, what song do you want me to sing? I don't want to pick a random song that will make you guys telling me that I made a bad song choice."

"Ooooh...." Judge number 3 made a sound.

"How about XXXXXX? (a song title that I've never heard of)" said Judge number 1 as he smirked at Judge number 2.

Damn Bastard.

"Oh, Sure. I sure hope that song was made during my generation so that I can find it at the record store down stairs."

Judge 1, laughed again.

"Wayne, why don't you come back at 3:00PM, with any song. So we can get a better understanding of your singing technique?"

"Okie Dokie. Thank you."

Then I went down the stage, and out to the hallway.

Fanny, asked how I did.

"They asked me to come back."

"Are you?"

"I don't know. Let's go eat."

Then we went eating... After lunch, Fanny decided to go home. David, wanted to take a nap before Round 2 of the competition. And I, went down to the subway station.

I had a Wigstock to catch.