Golden Tickets!

 Congratulations to all of you who have completed auditions so far this season!

I have been receiving e-mails left and right from those of you who are getting golden tickets!   Here's an excerpt from someone today who got a golden ticket in Houston:

okay, so I've been reading your blog

 I actually got a golden ticket today in Houston

 You said "stars" are special, if there is a star it means something

 I also got a number "2" on the top

 When I walked into the winner's circle room, the first table looked at my ticket and said "you're a 2, you're going to get a surprise"

 I asked, "what?"

 and got

 "trust us it's a good thing"

 

So, my question for all of you.... what kind of marks have you gotten on your Golden Tickets?   Y, N, K's?   or 1s and 2s?  or both?    Start submitting pictures of your tickets (I will black out your name and contestant number) to truedat504@gmail.com  or make comments on this post about what you got. Hopefully we will figure it out!  

Audition tips

I've been getting a lot of e-mails from you guys asking for audition tips...  and they are the same questions over and over (I don't mind)... so here are a few answers to them, and I will try to update this when I can with more Q & A.

1.  Should I sleep over / camp-out in line?
      NO.   There is no advantage to doing this.  Worst case scenario, you'll end up sick, or hoarse, and tired and unable to perform.  Best case scenario, you'll make the "front of line" shot (10 seconds of airtime) and will get to sit inside 20-30 minutes earlier than other people.   What's better, 20-30 minutes of A/C or 6-8 hours of A/C by sleeping at home/hotel the night before?  I got there at 6:30 on ticket day and 4:30 on audition day and it was more than sufficient.

2.   Any other tips for camping out in line?
     YES!   Bring things to entertain you (duh)... but things that are easy to move.  I brought cards and board games and it was awful because I kept having to pick up and scoot when the line was moving.  Try things like iPads and headphones and guitars.  

3.  Any other tips?
   YES!  They did not allow in outside food or drink (because the arena sells it to you) but it's all overpriced and crap and not foods for singers (ie, they sell nachos with cheese and carbonated beverages, and not tea and bananas).    So, I snuck in food inside a shoe box (because most contestants bring an extra pair of non-comfy shoes for the audition, right?)  I put a few bottles of water, a banana, some apple sauce, and some nuts inside the shoe box and covered it up with the tissue paper that comes inside the shoe box.  When they searched my bag, they didn't see it.