Times Colonist Published:"Sunday, September 30, 2007 To give you a sense of the sheer bravery of singers at the Victoria Idol auditions yesterday, let's first set the scene. You're standing on this stage right? It's a square, wooden box covered with gray carpeting and it's sitting in the middle of The Bay Centre smack between a kiosk selling cellular phones and another offering Things Engraved.
Behind you, two glass elevators filled with bored shoppers go up and down every few seconds. Somewhere, a clock occasionally chimes; you can't be sure when. View Larger Image Felicia Harding, a 23-year-old songwriter, gets to the next round in the third annual Victoria Idol contest yesterday.
John McKay, Times Colonist Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * All around, people are sitting, standing, or leaning over the second-floor balcony, waiting to hear what you've got. Or worse, they're wandering from store to store, cackling at some private joke, paying you absolutely no attention whatsoever. No problem, you say.
You'll be able to block out everything once the music starts, right? Wrong. Because there is no music, unless you count the background babbling of the mall's water fountain.
No, you have to get up in front of everybody, in front of the three judges, and -- a cappella no less -- belt out Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under in your best teenage voice. I don't care if you're Shania Twain and your boots have actually been under somebody's bed, that's tough to do. Yet dozens of Victoria singers did just that yesterday to kick off the third annual Victoria Idol fundraiser for the Prostitutes Empowerment Education and Resource Society.
Why, you might ask? Why in the name of Elvis would anybody put themselves through all that for the right to record a three-song demo worth $3,000 and donated by the Audio Garage on Discovery? "It's just my passion," said Debbie Thomson, a registered nurse at Royal Jubilee Hospital.
The 40-year-old mother of two spent the morning coaching her son's soccer game before heading downtown to croon Wind Beneath My Wings as her children and friends watched nervously from the sidelines. Nice tone, the judges said. A few pushed high notes.
Come back next week with a different song, same time, same place to see if you make the final cut. It was like that for four hours yesterday as the judges -- Michael Burke of Cordova Bay Records, Elaine Baglo of Dale Baglo Broadcast Inc., and Gordie Cheney of the Audio Garage on Discovery -- tried to whittle 68 entries down to 48 before the seven-concert series begins Oct.
26. Unfailingly kind, the judges nevertheless had to gently let down teenage and adult singers alike, while ushering others on to the next round. Felicia Harding, a 23-year-old singer-songwriter and Victoria High School grad, earned a spot in the final 48 with a voice that reminded Cheney of The Cranberries and Bjork.
Monique Lane, who made the semi-finals last year while pregnant, advanced again while five-month-old Xander listened from his stroller. And two-time finalist April Reidie, 26, impressed the judges for the third straight and, she hopes, breakthrough year. "It's my turn," she said.
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