This morning – and I’m not making this up – I had a strange little dream.
I found that I was a guest judge on American Idol. I was sitting right next to Simon.
It must have been the early audition rounds, and they changed the form a little so that they were holding them in the large auditorium with an audience, rather than individually in a small room. The one nice young lady stood, told us how great she was going to be, and then proceeded to essentially speak the lyrics of her song with a very slight, almost undetectable attempt to put a little sing-song medley behind her words. I gave her advice that when she comes to a singing competition, she should try to actually sing the lyrics. Simon smiled and let my comment stand without adding any more.
True to the form of the show, the girl got upset, complained that she had a cold, wanted another chance. Then a little different, she ran to the side of the room, found an LDS hymnbook, and started searching for a song she knew. Unfortunately, she did not find any song that she was familiar with, and her audition was over.
Then the end of the show came. From my view on the stage, I could see Ryan Seacrest standing in front of the cameras, and the producers giving him his queues. I was caught up in watching the process of seeing the TV program made. Then Ryan pointed to me, thanked me for helping guest judge today, and said we have a minute left in the show, so would I like to sing a song?
I stood up, and began singing the first song I could thing of, The Star Spangled Banner. I knew I only had a minute, so I sang the song a little bit faster than normal. I sensed confusion from the audience, but then they soon stood up, and sang along with me. We finished the first verse just as the show – and the dream – was over.
What does it all mean? I have no idea. But happy Independence Day everyone!