ROSEMONT, Ill. � It's just past 1 p.m. when a convoy of unmarked luxury tour buses pulls up to Allstate Arena, disgorging 10 "American Idol" finalists in search of a career.
(Michael Becker/FOX)
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A adult hiss from the carriage door. Into the wilt humidity steps Chikezie Eze, who raises a jade eyebrow in greeting. Behind him is Ramiele Malubay, lugging baggage that's about as tall as she is. "I feel like Santa Claus," she groans.
Michael Johns has a spring in his step, merely it's deceiving. "I can't sleep on this thing. I preserve thinking it's going to crash," he says.
Brooke White frowns as she looks down at her whiteness pants. Big spot. "Oh, well," she says, sighing, striding toward the arena's backstage entrance. Then she looks stake. Big smile. "Welcome to madness."
The Byrds posed the musical motion 40 age ago: So you want to be a stone 'n' roll star?
The Idols Live term of enlistment tries to grant that wish. The old-fashioned way.
Dues are being paid here, a tryout by route trip fire that's soothed by both a paycheck and crowds that typically are 10,000 strong.
The Idols pump out intimately a concert a day for 2� months. Nights on cramped bus bunks, mornings in anonymous hotel rooms. Noon-to-midnight shifts split between sign language autographs, performing and sign language more autographs. Sleep, wash, rinse, repeat.
On their rare days off, some surge back to Los Angeles to work on albums. Others hammer away at new songs they hope to record before their 15 minutes of Idol fame are up.
This gig in the flight path of O'Hare International Airport is show No. 13 of 53 identical performances that enclose up Sept. 13 in Tulsa. Surely, camaraderie-mauling strife is bandaged to creep into this grueling picture. Inevitably, the tabloids volition have their headlines ("Michael battles Jason for groupie love!").
Right?
A
