Meg Baier

Ashley Simpson Audition

In 2005 I was signed to a record label called Sedona Records.  As the name indicates, this label was based in the beautiful and mystical red rock town of Sedona, AZ.  I will tell more about that experience in a later blog, but for our purposes here we are going to focus on an audition I got through the owners of the record label.  An audition to be Ashley Simpson’s keyboard player and back-up vocalist.  

The owner of the label, who we’ll call Martin for now, had been based in Los Angeles for many years.  His claim to fame was playing trumpet on the original cast recording of Jesus Christ Superstar and being the first person to record the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  However, neither of those can be proven.  I met him in Sedona through my dad’s girlfriend at the time.  They had been friends in LA ages ago.  

I was actually planning my exit from the label when they offered up this last ditch effort to give me something of value.  An audition.  They had received word that Ashley Simpson was looking for a new keyboardist.  I believe the former keyboardist was her good friend, who had left the band to pursue her own solo career.  I was not a fan of Ashley Simpson, but I was familiar with a few of her songs, mostly through the music videos.  Back then MTV still played videos and had not fully succumbed to the lure of reality television shows.  

I said yes to the audition, which was to be held in Los Angeles.  I was asked to learn the song “Shadow” and play and sing it for her and her band as if I was the main character.  I remember driving to Cottonwood to buy the CD so I could learn the song.  The sunset on my drive back to Sedona will forever live in my head.  Was this it?  Was I about to get a chance to be a part of a band that could potentially connect me to big wigs in the music industry so I could pursue my solo career?!  My mind went wild with imagination of what the possibilities were.  It didn’t take me long to learn the piano part, and the vocal was simply a matter of memorization.  I played and sang it over and over again for a few days until I felt confident in my ability to perform it like a rockstar.  

I remember going to my girlfriend's house and looking through her wardrobe for something cool to wear.  After many different stylings my friends and I agreed upon a strapless, tight, gray striped top with a pair of Amercrombie jeans.  I was so lean at the time I could slink into anything, and I felt like hot shit in the outfit. I had booked a flight to Los Angeles where my mother picked me up.  Thanks mom.  I stayed with her in Long Beach and she drove me to the warehouse where the audition would be held.  

I walked in and was struck with how cool the space was.  There was a stage with full lighting and tech for performers to rehearse.  “Is that where I’m auditioning?”, I asked the handler.  “No, you’re gonna be back here” they said.  They took me to a small, all white room with one lonely, cheap, keyboard setup.  No microphone for vocals.  There were two dudes in there waiting for me.  Members of Ashley’s band.  The first thing they said to me after introductions was that Ashley would not be there.  Bummer.  I was told she would be there so that was disappointing.  We had about 90 seconds of chit chat before they were like, “OK, show us what you’ve got!”.  

I went over to the keyboard and played and sang “Shadow”.  The only note they gave me before I performed was to play it as if I was on stage.  They wanted to see exactly how I’d come across in a real performance.  So I belted out the song and nailed the keyboard part.  I didn’t make any mistakes.  I thought I did great, despite a tiny bit of shaking from nerves.  They guys shook my hand and said, “That was awesome, great job!”.  And I left.

We never heard back from Ashley’s people.  I remember looking out for her and her band to see who they ended up hiring, and you know what?  Ashley didn’t perform again with a band.  At least not within those next few years. (I stopped following).  It wasn’t that I wasn't hired, it was that nobody was hired.  And that’s the way it goes in this industry.  I paid for my flight, took time off work, made all the effort, and nobody even had 30 seconds to call and say they were, “Going in a different direction.”  Oh well.  

Anyhoo…

In the spring of 1998, a popular radio station in Los Angeles, Star 98.7, held a contest.  The contest claimed that the winner would be an opener for the Lilith Fair.  A Sarah Mclachlan produced music festival that lifted up female singer/songwriters and captured the essence of the late 90’s with its audacity to focus on women artists.  

The assignment was to send in a tape of your original music to the station, and they would pick 20 applicants to perform at the El Rey Theater.  After which a winner would be announced. I had just recorded some of my songs with a friend at my local church, and therefore felt excited that I could actually participate in the contest! 

I rallied my father to help me get the tape sent in to the radio station. A few weeks later I got home from school and saw a message light blinking on our answering machine.  This is one of those rare moments in life where I somehow knew that it was the radio station, and that I had been chosen for the contest.  Indeed, I was correct.  A woman whose name I no longer recall, left a message saying that I had been selected to participate in the top 20 showcase at the El Rey Theater.  A few days later they made the announcement on air at Star 98.7 - I recorded the announcement onto a cassette tape (so 90’s). Hearing my name “Megan Baier” read aloud over the airwaves was exhilarating!  Friends and family were very excited for me, and I recall feeling like perhaps it was the beginning of the story of my dreams coming true.

I remember I wore a black sparkling tank top that I had originally purchased to pair with a big shiny maroon skirt that I would wear to the school formal.  For this show, I matched it with a pair of jeans and with my guitar in its case, carried it across busy streets to get to the theater.  I stood in a line with the other artists, and an interviewer with a cameraman worked their way down the line, asking questions to the contestants.   I was so excited to be interviewed, but alas, they skipped me!  That bummed me out, but chin up, I still had to perform.

Sarah played a few songs at the beginning.  I was brought down to a waiting area near the front of the stage, and met by the woman who had left the message on our machine.  She asked, “Is your dad here?”  and I said, “Yes, he’s back there with my family”.  She said, “Oh, I would really like to talk to him - I appreciated his letter”.  I thought, letter?  I did not know that my father had written a letter to the radio station in addition to the audition tape.  She handed me a large white plastic bag full of information on ASCAP and a few other items.  Then, I was suddenly backstage and ready to go out and play, and I saw Sarah climbing a set of stairs going up to what I assume was the green room.  I then become completely parched and ask Ryan Seacrest for some water.  I heard him say, “The talent needs water”, which was the first time I had heard the term “talent” used to describe a person who is the performer.  

I sang a song I wrote called, “Figure It Out”.   A take on popular culture’s influence on women and how it makes us hold ourselves up to unattainable standards and the damage that causes.  I played second. For the rest of my life I could say I played 2 slots after Sarah Mclachlan!  The winner’s name was Tia Texada.  She was the only one of the artists that had a career already in full swing.  It was clear she had management and agents, etc.  I always found that suspicious.  There is a brief mention of her appearance at the 1998 Lilith Fair on her Wikipedia page.  

I still do not know what my dad said in that letter…I am so grateful to have a father who will go above and beyond for me.  His letter gave me the opportunity to be one of twenty people chosen for this contest out of thousands.  I still have the call sheet and will always have the memory of coming home that day to a blinking light on the message machine, and thinking, “this is it!”.  I wish I could have played the Lilith Fair back then - how cool would that story have been!  Currently, my cover song act is called “Lilith Fairy”, as I continue to love and respect so many of the artists that graced the stage at the Lilith Fair. I attended with my mother in 1997 and saw Tracy, Jewel, Paula, Sarah, Shawn, Sheryl, and so many more.  

Anyhoo…

American Idol Audition 2002

The first audition was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Me and my friend Eulis from music school went together to take a chance on our “big break”.  We were two of thousands of people waiting in line to be heard and hopefully chosen for the show. The energy in the line was buzzing! People singing their hearts out, dance circles and chants. We saw Ryan Seacrest as he went into the stadium and I yelled, “I love you Ryan!”

We eventually made it onto the field where a line of about a dozen interns stood - using their thumbs to let auditioning singers know if they were excused or invited to the second audition. After ten seconds of singing, right thumb over the shoulder meant, go get info for the next audition, and left thumb over the shoulder meant goodbye.

Both Eulis and I got right thumbs and went to get info for the next audition - which was the next day at a hotel in LA.

At that audition we got numbers, like marathon runners.  We were put into groups of five and called into a small room with three people at a table- the next tier of judges, perhaps low level producers or high level interns.

For me, the second audition at the hotel was disappointing. I belted out Jewel’s “Foolish Games” for the second time. My gaze shifted away from the judges and into the corner of the room. One of the judges followed my eyes to the corner, made a face, and wrote something down. Out of the five of us in the room only one got the green slip. The guy who wore a fedora and did dance moves with spins and hat tricks.

After 2 days of being around the other singers auditioning, it became apparent to us who the great singers were and who was most likely to be sent home for lack of talent. To our great surprise, we saw many participants leave with green slips (invites to the third audition) that were clearly not qualified, and singers with mad chops cried in the bathroom because they were not selected.  It was a lesson in what the industry is about - entertainment. American Idol is not a real contest it’s a TV show. The folks you saw on there who were torn apart by Simon and clearly not good singers, were there to be made fun of and provide a good laugh and entertainment for the average American. Sad really.

To the best of my recollection, the third audition was with higher up producers and you didn’t actually get into the room with the TV judges, cameras and all, until  the fourth audition. It appears on the show as though everyone waiting at the Rose Bowl met Paula and Randy and Simon. Not so. 

Although there are a few successful graduates of that show, how many American Idol winners can you name from the last 5 years? Not even Kelly Clarkson could name one in a recent interview.

Anyhoo…