America’s Got Talent – My Adventure and Dream Come True

3 Days and 1,000 miles for a 90 second opportunity.

Auditioning for Americas Got Talent was the best time of my life. It all started when I brought up the idea to my parents a few months back, and I’ve been practicing ever since.  It has always been my dream to be a rock-star and the only way you can be a rock-star is by getting exposure.  What better way to get exposure than being on T.V?  Plus I could win $1,000,000.

So on Friday, the 22nd of January, me and my dad packed up the car and were off to the LA Convention Center.  I was so excited and nervous at the same time, but my dad always made me feel better about it.  He would say things like, “have fun, smile, you’ll do great.”  If it wasn’t for my dad, I couldn’t have done this.   He drove me 1,000 miles, he spent money on two hotels, and he spent money for gas and also food!  He is definitely a great father.

On the first night, we drove for about 2-3 hours and got a hotel in Los Banos.  It was pretty nice.  Then we got up in the morning and drove for about another 6 hours.  On the way there, we went through everything you can imagine… hot weather, freezing weather, rain, and even snow.  It was the most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken!  (Except the long and flat highway 5 of course)  But me and my dad made it all worth while in the car.

At the end of the long drive, me and my dad drove into this parking lot with the nicest and biggest hotel I’ve ever seen.  It was the Marriott Hotel in Manhattan Beach.  It was so nice. We had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted, like going to the beach, and going out to eat sushi, and then just chill in the hotel.  For the rest of the night I thought I’d better practice.  The next morning I had to get up at five thirty, and since I was sleeping in the most comfortable bed ever, you can only imagine how hard it was to get up.

So we packed everything up and got a quick bite at McDonald’s, then started driving again.  When we arrived at the Los Angeles Convention Center, this is when my heart started to pound and I got really nervous.  Once we got in to the building, there were only like 30 people in line and we were very surprised and happy.  When we told the guy at the desk we had just came in from the garage, he said, “you have to go outside and get in the line.”  The rest of the time, it seemed like all we did was wait in lines.

There was just a little line inside the building, we didn’t see the other 3,000 standing outside.  You can only imagine how surprised  me and my dad were.  While in the long line, there were guys from AGT coming around to give me and my dad colored wrist bands.  They also gave me a sticker with my audition number on it.  5,o42,164 WOW that’s a big number, and one I’ll never forget.  We wondered if that’s how many people had auditioned before me?

After about a good 2 hours of waiting, we got to the front of the line where a man told us to go up into this BIG waiting room at the top of the escalators.   There were about ten huge rooms up there, and then another guy told us to go into the first one and wait.  There were about 250-300 people in that room easy, and there were another ten rooms just like it (not including all the smaller audition rooms) Man that LA Convention Center is massively huge!

Next, they had us all go outside for a photo shoot kind of thing.  Oh my gosh, we were out there for like 3 hours.  They were making us do a lot of different stuff like go up and down the stairs and walk by the cameras.  Scream and shout for the camera and yell out all kinds of stuff and cheer.  By the time I got back inside, I was exhausted.  But I would do anything just to get to that audition.  With all the stuff they recorded us doing on video, I’m sure you’ll see us on TV.

Finally they called out a group of numbers and we had to go wait in another line, and then another line, and finally the time came.  It was my time to audition.  I was so nervous.  I got into this room, and there were 7 people in there.  Six judges or producers, and a guy video taping all of it.  We weren’t allowed to take in any cameras, so my Dad only got to use his iPhone to take all these pictures outside.

There was 8 other guitar player/singers in front of me who got to go first.  Then they were asked to leave the room.  Now it was my turn.  My Dad helped me setup my amp, this was it!  When I got up there to play, I smiled and introduced myself and just did my best.  When I was done, the first thing that the main producer said was “WOW how old are you and how long have you been playing?”  I said I was thirteen and I’ve been playing for about two years.

He said, “you remind me of Van Halen.”  When he said that, it made me so happy.

Then the producer told me he couldn’t tell anybody if they passed their audition until March, and that they’ll send me an email, but I think I have a good chance.  With that, we packed up everything, and began our long drive back home.  3 days and a thousand miles for a 90 second opportunity.  Wow, Thank you Dad.

Even if I don’t make it,  I’ll never forget the best time and trip in the world!

…But If I do make it past the audition, and I get on the show, please vote for me.  Thanks.