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Path to 'Idol' stardom begins this week

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By WALT BELCHER wbelcher

@tampatrib.com

Published: July 6, 2009

Let the songs begin. Thousands of wannabe singers will be flocking to Orlando this week for the "American Idol" auditions. The media will be there, too.

When "Idol" auditions were held in Orlando in 2003, more than 5,000 showed up. This time, 10,000 are expected.

The auditions are Thursday at the Amway Arena in downtown Orlando. Registration begins at 7 a.m. Tuesday and runs through Wednesday. You have to register to audition.

Those who make it past the first screening on Thursday will be called back to audition again before the executive producers. And sometime in August, at a place and time to be determined, they will go before the famed judges: Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi.

To register, you need two pieces of ID and, if under age 18, a parent or guardian must be present.

Typically, 100 to 200 people will make it through to be judged by Paula, Randy, Simon and Kara. Among those will be delusional people who have no chance of making it but are needed to make the audition rounds interesting for television.

The show's producers say that in the first round on Thursday singers have 15 to 30 seconds to impress the judges. So it's best to show off the voice with a quick snippet of a song.

If they like it, you may be asked to sing something else, so it's good to prepare three to five songs in various styles to demonstrate range. More information is available at www.americanidol.com/auditions.

CHANNEL FLIPPING: Looking for some summer filler to waste time? VH1 has a new series, "The Great Debate," debuting at 10 tonight. B-list celebrities crack jokes as they debate pop culture questions such as which is better: The Beatles or the Rolling Stones? "Star Trek" or "Star Wars"? Ginger or Mary Ann?

WEIRD STUFF: When the Sci Fi Channel becomes SyFy on Tuesday, the network will launch a new mystery/comedy/fantasy series, "Warehouse 13," at 9 p.m.

The network name change signifies that the network is branching out from just science fiction. "Warehouse 13" is about a large secret storage facility hidden in the South Dakota Badlands where supernatural and paranormal objects are stored.

Overseeing the operation is a quirky little man named Artie (Saul Rubinek). In the two-hour opening episode, he recruits two Secret Service agents to help him retrieve and protect the bizarre objects.

Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) become his Mulder and Scully, or his Booth and Bones. In later episodes, computer whiz Claudia (Allison Scagliotti) joins the team.

The episode available for preview involved tracking down a haunted hair comb that once belonged to Lucrezia Borgia.

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