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Would-Be Stars Line Up in Portland to Compete for Spot on 'American Idol'

Patty Wight

The popular TV singing contest program "American Idol" sent its scouts to the Maine State Pier in Portland today, where would-be stars braved the blazing sun and long lines for a chance to compete.

The show's producers are on a bus tour to select contestants for its next season, where winners score a record deal and a chance at singing stardom. The stakes are high, as are the hopes of many who came to try to chart a new course in their lives.
 

Credit Patty Wight
Idol contestant John Bernard.

Competing for a chance to be on American Idol is tough from the very start. The tryouts in Portland officially started at 9 a.m., but the line that snakes back and forth along the Maine State Pier formed long before. John Bernard drove here from Massachusetts late Tuesday night and slept in his car. By 10 a.m., he's been waiting in the hot sun for about four hours.

"I got like a drop of water left," he says. "I'm, like, trying to survive in the Sahara out here."

But Bernard says he's here for a chance at a new start. He says he works long hours at two jobs - one at a grocery store, the other making airplane parts.

"I want to do something else with my life besides just work all the time," he says. "So, here I am now, trying to make something happen, you know?"

He's been writing his own songs for years, and he'll perform one of them today for the judges.

Others made personal sacrifices to get here, getting up in the middle of the night, postponing family vacations. It's a small price to pay for the chance to get on American Idol, says 16-year-old Caroline Carter of New Hampshire, who points to the successes of past Idol winners.

"You saw it change Carrie Underwood's life," Carter says. "She went from being just a farm girl in Oklahoma, I think, to being one of the greatest musical artists that we have today. It can really make someone's life so much better - like music can literally save lives."
 

Credit Patty Wight
Sydney Atkinson, left, with her mother Stephanie Atkinson.

The prospect is both exciting and nerve-wracking. Some here get their jitters out by singing with others they befriend in line, others sing quietly to themselves, like 15-year-old Sydney Atkinson, of Hollis, who turns up the volume on request.

"I spent hours every day for a week finding songs, and finally settled on 'If I Were A Boy' by Beyonce," Atkinson says.

All of this effort is for about a 30-second shot to show two judges under a tent that you've got what it takes to be a star. It's a moment that evaporates quickly, says Melissa Blasek and Hannah Dempsey, just after their tryout.

"It wasn't even an entire section," Blasek says. "Yeah, it wasn't," Dempsey says. "You kind of had to just step up and go for it," Blasek says. "I don't know, it wasn't really what I expected at all."
 

Credit Patty Wight
Idol contenstant Lyndsey Miller.

Most who try out are told that they're not quite what the show is looking for. They walk back toward the waiting crowd with pursed lips, shaking their heads. But others stay upbeat. Twenty-four-year-old Lindsey Miller sings in the Portland band Fighting Fiction.

"You know, I can't live a life of 'what ifs,' " she says. "I have to live a life of, 'Oh well.' And so, the fact that I didn't make it, oh well. I'll be back and I'll try again."

But a lucky few are handed a piece of paper to advance to the next round of auditions, which aren't yet scheduled. Twenty-six-year-old Maine native Tom Emerson, who sings as a side gig on weekends, is still in shock at getting the thumbs up.

"When they said, 'Yes,' I was like, 'Are you sure? Can I take this piece of paper from you? Are you changing your mind? They have cameras back there - do I look OK, or can they take this back?' "

After some paperwork and video shots of Emerson singing, he's free to go celebrate - but the show does not allow those selected to sing for other news media.

Music has always been the dream, Emerson says, but he never thought it would happen through American Idol. If he makes it past two more auditions, it just might.