American Idol- what happens at a taping?

Yesterday was an experience. I was able to get tickets to see a live taping of American Idol (AI). I brought all of the varsity cheerleaders that could come, my friend Rebecca, and last minute we had a girl not be able to make it so we brought another kid from school- male. The only male in our bunch- he survived:-) The girls were so excited. We left Vista around 10:30 am and headed up to LA. We had lunch at a pizza place on Rodeo Drive. It was really good, organic, whole wheat pizza but very yummy. Then we headed to the CBS studios for our “live taping”. It was super exciting. The girls were so excited- which really made it fun. We made it into the “pit” area. We were in the front. Actually some intersting things about the taping…1) There is a guy that comes out during the commercial breaks and at the beginning to help get us pumped up. He was great. Very funny and he definitely made it exciting2) They like to keep the “young people” closest to being on camera. Luckily Rebecca and I still look young. When we were coming in they moved 1/2 of us including Rebecca and I to right in front of the stairs next to the stage. The other group of girls were actually 2nd row center of the stage. But here is what is so funny- one of the many people with headsets kept coming to our area and behind us was a group of older people. She kept asking them to take 2 steps back and 2 steps to the right (away from the stage). Then she proceeded to continue to put other “youngens” in front of them. This is what I think of typical LA3) We were told how to clap, good things we were cheerleaders b/c clapping we have down. But arms had to be above our heads, as well as swaying with slow songs. If you didn’t do it correctly you were moved as well. They wanted what looked good for the audience.4) The performances are even better live. The group did amazing. I really enjoyed hearing them live as well as the production, there was tons of energy during the performances.5) Paula Abdul is so very nice. She made an effort to head down to the pit area at almost all commercial breaks- hugging all of my girls (who could not have been happier) and then spraying us with perfume. How nice and personable she was. She literally hugged a ton of people- real hugs not just pats on the back hugs.6)We saw Simon Cowell coming into the taping in his Rolls Royce. He stopped right in front of our group (we had to line up on the sidewalk, for a while). He was also nice and asked us if we were heading to the show. Leaving we saw Ryan Seacrest (who is pretty short) leaving in his aston martin. He had changed quickly out of the suit into a ball cap and t-shirt and jeans- a look I love:-)We ended the night we dinner outside of Graumans Chinese Theater. The girls and Kenny had an amazing time so that made it worth it!