I was born and raised in Gilroy, so if anyone should be the first Garlic Idol superstar at the Garlic festival it should be me. Not to sound snobbish, but having a native from Gilroy win this competition would really make our town stinkin’ proud.
These days I’ve been edgy and irritable – really, ask my eight younger siblings and my fed-up parents. For five days I tried to become one of the five finalists via the radio station Mix 106.5 call-in contest.
I awoke at 5:30 every morning and spent time listening to Bill, Marla and “Producer” Tim on the radio with the phone in my right hand and the other hand on my stomach, which was churning with butterflies. I felt so vulnerable singing over the phone and waiting for three people to judge me on how well I sounded.
One of the judges spoke in a funny exaggerated British accent and made sour comments about most of the callers. He was quite funny at first, until he said he was scared of my singing.
“I think I’m afraid now,” he said Tuesday, in an accent that reminded me of American Idol’s Simon Cowell.
I wanted to punch him.
Rejection attacked my self esteem, but eventually I made it to the semifinals the last day of the call-in auditions; so at least two of the judges liked me at one point. For half an hour I studied “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Voting began at 9am. I was up against three other contestants who I’m sure were getting others to vote for them. My sisters, uncles, aunts and friends called in to vote for me, but still I was not selected as a finalist for that day.
I comforted myself with the thought that persistence is key and that I was learning as I got rejected – over and over and over again.
It was humbling.
How could they say I wasn’t good enough? What did they know about music? I blamed the voting process. Something really needs to be done about the voting aspect or else it will always be a popularity contest; but sadly that’s exactly what “American Idol” is all about.
That doesn’t stop me from enjoying the adrenaline rush that I get from competing.
Why am I trying so hard for this Garlic Idol contest, you ask? A thousand gallons of gas sounds attractive and also the opportunity to represent the Gilroy community. In being optimistic, I forced myself to take my pitiful defeat over the radio as a learning experience.
I learned that I need to study a song before I sing it. Yeah, I know it sounds obvious, but for some reason I thought I was Linda Ronstandt and would only study a song for five minutes before I had to call in again. Unfortunately my vocals are stubborn and demand proper warm ups, lemon and lots of honey.
I also learned to be persistent and when the urge to quit comes, I must talk myself out of my doubtful feelings even if people look at me funny.
This story does not have a sad ending – well, at least not yet. Today is my last chance to try out for Garlic Idol. Only the first 50 people to register can audition. I can imagine myself wiping beads of cold sweat off my forehead – not because of the 110 degrees, but because standing on stage in front of hundreds of festival goers has my knees shaking.
But if I got up at 4am in the morning to sing through a phone for the American public, this should not be too difficult. I will try to be the first Gilroy-born Garlic Idol even if I have to get up at 4am in the morning to get in line at the Garlic festival entrance.
Wish me luck.
