the final finale

as much fun as i had taking the teen, lilcee, and the bean to watch "american idol" tapings, i was pretty stinking excited to bring the hub as my date to part 2 of the finale.  it'd been quite a while since we'd had a date night, and "idol" was one of the few shows that we watched together on the regular.  plus, with MIL in town to hang out with the girls, everyone was happy.

when we arrived at the l.a. live complex, it was fun to see two completely different events happening just across the street from one another.  at staples center, playoff hockey:

and of course, "idol" at the nokia theater.

remember how lax i found security to be about cell phones on night 1?  well, i sure hope i don't get in trouble for bringing mine in this time around.  hey, i didn't tweet any pictures or spoilers out before the west coast got its chance to see the show.  and because we were way up in the upper mezzanine, it wasn't like my trusty iPhone and i were going to get particularly fabulous shots.  does it sound like i'm totally trying to justify my rule-breaking ways?  heh.  so at the risk of getting yelled at by katelin & crew, here's a handful of really bad, super far photos from my final "idol" experience.

view of the red carpet from the top level of the theater:

we also managed to get to the window in time to see the final two contestants arrive in their idolmobiles:

the view from our seats.

by the way, after watching countless folks whip out their phones and take photo after photo and even video of the performances, i didn't feel so bad about having mine in hand.  event staff wasn't doing a thing to prevent the shutterbugging action, either.  so, whatevs, right?

the hub and i were super amused at psy's antics.

although i'm not really as much of a mariah fan as i was back in the day, i was still pretty stoked when seacrest announced that she'd be delivering a live performance later in the show.  i mean, she's been around forever.  and she's got that voice!  so i was admittedly pretty excited to hear her sing live.

except that i...didn't.  because as it turns out, that ginormous line that had formed around the theater the night before ended up being the ones treated to mimi's sultry singing.  i suppose maybe she wasn't down with the notion of live television, risking the possibility of a less-than-perfect performance.  and so what you watched on your tv screen at home was also viewed by the studio audience...on the jumbotron.  wah waaaaah.

i was a little disappointed to find that keith urban went the same route for his song as well.

although i'll give him credit - he redeemed himself when he came out onstage along with randy jackson for one of kree's songs.  also performing live (and kicking some serious vocal ass) was surprise guest jennifer hudson.  she was phenomenal as she duetted with candice.

okay, so i admit it - i like pitbull.  so i cheered pretty loudly when he popped up onstage to do his part in j-lo's current song.  dale!

also?  j-lo is a pretty damn good entertainer.  she's great fun to watch live.

finally, it was time to reveal who would be crowned the newest american idol.  kree and candice held hands and stood together nervously as seacrest did his typical slow-envelope-opening.

since it's been days since this aired, i don't think i'm spoiling anything with this picture at this point.

super fun date night!

we made our way out of the theater and headed a block away to have a lovely dinner here:

it was fabulous.  i kicked it off with a jumbo lump crab cake as my starter:

followed by a beautifully prepared filet and their signature asparagus fritti.

the hub was most amused when i chose the bag of warm doughnuts as our dessert.  they were covered in cinnamon sugar and served with raspberry and chocolate sauces for dipping.

it was a perfect ending to a fun night out.

disclaimer:  “I attended this event as a guest of AT&T, and was in no way compensated. All opinions are my own.

finagling the finale

so after two weeks straight of attending "american idol" tapings, i figured i was pretty much done for this year.  after all, they were down to the final two contestants of the season.  but then i got an e-mail from my friend katelin, who'd learned that she had some extra tickets for both nights of the 2-part finale extravaganza.

you know what happened next, i'm sure.

here's my date for the first night:

do you love the ensemble?  she picked it all out herself, and was excited to carry her own purse.  she scurried into her room just before it was time to go and stuffed it full of necessities.

after all, a girl's gotta accessorize, right?

the AI finale is always a bigger deal than the weekly live shows.  instead of the small CBS studio i'd been to before, these shows were being broadcast live from the nokia theater at l.a. live in downtown l.a.  this actually worked out better for me, being just a bit closer to home.

based on my experience at the other tapings and being a rule-follower in general, i was a good girl and left my phone in the car.  i always hate being phone-less - it's like missing a limb - but i didn't want to risk having to check it in with security and stand in a stupid long line after the show to retrieve it.  but security was most definitely much less strict here.  they did glance inside my purse, have us walk through a metal detector thingy, and then as our tickets were scanned the attendant halfheartedly told me to be sure to turn in my cell phone if i had one.

well, even if i did have one, no one was checking for it.  had my phone been in my purse, it could have easily stayed in there as we breezed right past on our way to the escalator to the loge section.  i may have filed this information away for future reference.

as we sat down, i thought it would be a good idea to let the bean know what to expect during the show.  i made sure to take her to the restroom first, too, just in case.  and when the screaming and cheering began, her eyes grew as big as saucers and she clapped both hands over her ears.  awwww, poor little delicate flower.  pssshhhh.  she got over it as the lights and music and excitement began, and forgot how much she hates loudness as she danced along.

i was also pretty relieved to find that unlike the previous shows that had lasted for two hours, this was only a 60-minute program.  the timing couldn't have been better, since it was still a school night, after all.

i found out later that rob schneider was in the audience, and because he's apparently a VIP, was allowed to bring his phone inside.  i swiped this from his twitter feed:

along with kree and candice, the final two, we were treated to a live performance by carly rae jepsen - or, as i explained it to my date, the "call me maybe" girl.  she came onstage in a bright yellow jacket and sang a song that had apparently been assembled via her adoring fans, who voted on lyrics via coca-cola's "perfect harmony" program.

i cracked up when she turned to me later in the show and said "i already voted, mommy."  i was all, "huh?  what are you talking about?"  she sat back and said "yeah, i voted for the girl in the yellow top.  does she get a trophy?  do we get to see her get it?"  funny girl.

when the show was over, i decided it would be easier for us to just get home and grab something for dinner instead of sitting down somewhere and lingering downtown.  on our way, i caught sight of this crazy long line just outside the theater we'd just exited.

i'd heard people saying something about mariah carey as we scampered past them on our way back to the car, but i didn't really pay attention.  i just wanted to get the hell outta dodge.

part 1, check!

disclaimer:  “I attended this event as a guest of AT&T, and was in no way compensated. All opinions are my own.

"is this LIVE on the east coast?"

so, remember the karaoke/american idol viewing party i got to attend a while back?  well, it led to something even better:

yup, my new friend katelin came through and fedexed me those tickets just in time to head down to cbs studios to watch a live taping of american idol.  the teen was pretty excited too, although she admittedly isn't a huge fan of the show.  we've watched it together on and off over the years, and hey - it only took till season 12 for me to worm my way into the show.

because the show is aired live for our friends on the other coast, we had to have our asses firmly planted into our seats by 4:30 in the afternoon.  as soon as the hub got home to hang out with the bean, we were out the door.  on our way to hollywood, we made two quick pitstops - one for food and another so that i could make this:

the biggest bummer was that cameras and cell phones aren't allowed into the studio.  you have NO idea how much this was killing me.  well, actually...yeah, you probably do.  anyway, we parked at the grove as instructed and walked the short distance around the corner to cbs television city (collecting some free shampoo samples along the way from a demo going on at the grove that afternoon).  we stood in a fairly long line in the hot sun for awhile and then were finally granted access into the cool, dark studio.

when you see the show on tv, that studio looks ginormous, doesn't it?  but in real life...not so much.  the stage does take up a majority of the room, and then you have the famous table for the four judges, and then a relatively small audience area.  i'm not the greatest judge of numbers here, but there were maybe 200 seats in there?  pretty awesome, and provided a fantastic view regardless of where you were assigned.  as for us, we were off to the right side and probably about 10 rows from the bottom.  we were a couple of happy campers.

the warm-up dude was cheesy and silly, which is what you'd expect from a warm-up dude.  he brought people up on stage to do beyonce's "single ladies" dance and rewarded the winner with certificates for sandwiches from jersey mike's.  he attempted to dance along, which was kinda uncomfortable to watch, and cracked silly jokes and got the crowd all riled up.  basically, he did his job.

we were pretty amused to note that most of the folks seated around us were rather, uh, elderly.  like, when the first performer was doing her thang down on the stage i looked over and the man across the aisle from me was hunched over and taking a serious siesta.  it was comical.  and just before we went on the air, the teen and i watched another older gentleman behind us wave down one of the production assistants and whisper very loudly "is this live on the east coast?"  heh.  as for recognizable folks in the audience, we had babyface, mary murphy from "so you think you can dance," harry connick jr., haley rhinehart from AI season 10, and mariah carey's mama.

it was also interesting to note that the friends/family members for each contestant are basically shuffled in and out of the same seats when their loved one is on.  there's a camera focused on them during the entire performance, and then they're moved somewhere else so that the next group can sit and watch their person.

as for my sign?  well, it was rather glow-in-the-dark.  and pretty darn sparkly, if i do say so myself.  but i was a little shy about holding it up - mostly because i didn't want to block the view of anyone who was unfortunate enough to be seated behind me.  i'm considerate, yo.  i really really wanted some sort of acknowledgment from my lovah seacrest, but it was not to be.  however, when the teen and i watched the show on the DVR the next day, i was rather gratified to see this:

YES.

disclaimer:  “I attended this event as a guest of AT&T, and was in no way compensated. All opinions are my own.

idolatry

out of the blue, i received an email last week inviting me to attend an american idol viewing party sponsored by at&t (i found out later that i had the monkey to thank, who passed my info along).  and because i love this kind of stuff, i managed to work things out so that i could go - and dragged my partner in crime, lilcee, along for the ride.

the venue was in hollywood, at sadie kitchen & lounge.

there was no question about whether or not we were in the right place.

we were asked to sign a waiver:

and then we were free to grab drinks and relax at the bar or in a booth.

i opted for the "hollywood," but this lightweight couldn't handle the toxic level of alcohol and switched to plain ol' coke instead.

although i was no slacker when it came to the tray-passed hors d'oeuvres.  i gorged on delicious flatbreads and ahi tuna stacks and whatever else came our way.  and then when the buffet opened, lilcee and i headed over and made a lovely plate o'yum.

we'd chosen to sit at the bar, which turned out to be a great spot to watch the show when it started.

i love me some ryan seacrest.  this is not news.

after enjoying delicious food, meeting some really cool people, cheering for the contestants, and laughing at the judges' comments, watching "idol" at home on the couch isn't going to be quite the same anymore.  while karaoke was one of the offerings at the party, no one took the bait - but we all enjoyed taking part in the trivia game during commercials.  i managed to win a prize early on - and to be perfectly honest, i think mine was the best in the bunch.  while others won things like water bottles and at&t gift cards, i got this:

on our way out, we made sure to thank katelin, who'd sent me the invitation.  she was super sweet and i liked her a lot.  not to mention, it looks like she'll be granting me one of my biggest "idol"-related wishes - entry to a taping of a live show!  and if it works out, the teen may be able to join me for once, since the minimum age for audience members is 6.

oh em gee.  could this possibly lead to my all-time biggest-ever "idol" dream - meeting seacrest in person??

i'm all aflutter just thinking about it.

disclaimer:  “I attended this event as a guest of AT&T, and was in no way compensated. All opinions are my own.