'America's Got Talent' hopefuls vie for spot
Amateur comedian Odie Bucholz offered a wry assessment of people who gathered this weekend for "America's Got Talent" auditions at the Indiana Convention Center.
"I guess the freaks don't necessarily come out at night," he said.
Standing in what the TV show calls its "holding room" — an impressively illuminated, thumpingly amplified space where 5,000 acts stopped and waited on their way to official tryouts — Bucholz had plenty in common with the straitjacket escape artist, the pop-locking zombie and the marching band of clowns.
All attempted to launch a trip toward the $1 million grand prize that "America's Got Talent" will award at the end of the NBC show's ninth season.
"There's people from all walks of life right here," Bucholz said.
"AGT" is the first network reality show to bring open auditions to Indianapolis, and The Star featured Bucholz and two more Hoosier hopefuls before the tryouts. Although rock band Polyester Starfish, vocalist Jaimeson Wright and stand-up comic Bucholz didn't learn if they advanced to the next round of competition (congratulatory phone calls may arrive in a matter of weeks), each act expressed optimism after performing for producers.
"I felt like I nailed it," said Bucholz, a member of the Indy United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame since 2009.
The 58-year-old Beech Grove native said his best-received joke was a send-up of overindulgence:
"I saw a fast-food commercial for a sandwich they were so proud of," he said. "They were talking about three quarter-pound patties of pure ground beef, four slices of cheese, eight slices of bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion rings, special sauce — all wrapped in cookie dough and deep fried. I thought, 'Enough is enough. I don't even like lettuce and tomatoes all that much.'"
Benefiting from a "front-of-line" pass distributed by radio station WYXB-FM (105.7), Bucholz arrived at the convention center at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday and wrapped up his audition by 12:15 p.m. Polyester Starfish made a more protracted journey on Saturday (8:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.), as did Wright on Sunday (12:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.)
Polyester Starfish vocalist Tony Rollins said he felt good about hitting all the right notes during a rendition of Annie Lennox's "Why," but he criticized a passage in which his voice "went dry."
Bandmate and violin player Tim Rickard supplied post-audition encouragement: "Tony, it's like when you're driving and you run over a nail. You don't even notice it."
Polyester Starfish keyboard player Melissa Randolph described audition day as an eye-opening experience.
"You saw the different levels of talent as you came through here," she said. "It maybe got in your head a little bit: 'I can do this, right?'"
The band, a quartet of Rollins, Rickard, Randolph and guitarist Mike Soper, plans to release its debut recording this year.
Wright, a 23-year-old corporate sales manager for Jonathan Byrd's catering, watched a parade of vocalists belt out practice songs in the holding room for "AGT" cameras. Her contrasting strategy? Save it for the audition room.
"I want to keep that energy inside," she said. "If I go beyond giving a happy face to everybody, there's a possibility that I'll get in the audition room and be deflated."
For her audition, Wright sang an excerpt of John Mayer's "I'm Gonna Find Another You" and didn't use all 90 seconds of her allotted time — a decision made to avoid an awkward mid-verse conclusion.
Wright said she enjoyed her day. And with no entry fee for auditions, it's difficult to find a downside to trying out, she said.
"This is like something that's a bonus at the end of a test," Wright said. "If you do well, you get extra points. If you mess it up, it's not going to go against you."
The upcoming season of "America's Got Talent" is expected to air this summer on WTHR-13.
Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.