Boston American Idol Auditions--Why So Early?

The powers that be announced the dates for the only Northeast audition stop a few days ago....Boston...and under normal circumstances, I wouldn't give a crap. My 16-year-old daughter and I have been planning to make the trek during the summer, wherever the closest site turned out to be.

However, a monkey wrench has been thrown into the whole thing by the fact that instead of the auditions being in July or August, they're NEXT WEEK (June 12, 13, 14). While that may mean nothing to most of the country or anyone out of high school, the school year is not yet over in much of the Northeast. And while one of the registration days and the actual audition days are on weekends, parents like myself have to decide which is more important--preparing for exams and finishing out the school year or crushing your kid's American Idol dreams for this year. In my case, it's crushing the dream because there's just too much riding on her schoolwork. Add to that the fact that we'd basically have to devote most of the weekend in terms of hotel, travel time and the AI experience itself two days before two big exams.....

It's just venting...I know...but why the hell did they push everything up a month? It won't faze the potential Kris Allens and Adam Lamberts, but for the 16-18 year olds trying to strike a balance between school and their dreams, it just plain blows.

Well said Phyllis. Any loser can finish high school- only one person wins American Idol!

Dream crusher!

I would suggest she wear something unflattering/uber slutty/or some kind of chicken suit, thus maximizing her chances of getting on tv.

You do realize it should still be a non-issue, that the only right answer is that she not skip school and that she completes her exams, right? Perhaps you can be more helpful by reframing the issue as the "American Idol fantasy" rather than "her dream."

I know in our culture we're spoon fed the phony "dream narrative" all the time - if you want something bad enough you'll make your dreams come true - but you'll help her out more in the long run if you help her see that the timing is off and she has other responsibilities that must be prioritized. Perhaps you can limit the amount of moaning you do with her over the bad timing of the try out schedule and reassure her that opportunity does not knock only once per lifetime.

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Why not wait a year or audition in another city later in the summer?

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Stockard--we're in upstate NY so unless we feel like laying out a healthy chunk of change to go to Chicago, Boston's our only option. Next year is definitely more workable and realistic.

And thank you Namo...that's the way I feel now. She has ten years of audition possibilities and only one year left of high school.

Maybe it's their way of keeping out kids who are too young?

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I'm pretty sure the show isn't called High School Student Idol.

If you really loved your daughter, you'd move somewhere where her school schedule wouldn't interfere with her waiting three days in a chicken suit schedule.

Chicken suit only got a couple minutes. Bikini Girl has been on several times AND made it to Hollywood. How does your little angel look in a Bikini?

Why in the world would Taylor Hicks go sign CDs at WalMart? I mean, just because they sell more CDs than any other store in the world, maybe? And it looks like he drew 200 people or so. That's a pretty good days work in my opinion.

Really? Poor Rue. 7 years on a hit TV show and you wind up working at Target.