Decamping to Atlanta

It's mid-August, so you know what that means ... time for tens of thousands of hopeful vocalists to gather en masse for a chance at disposable fame. We've been through this before. And if it's okay with you, we're gonna do it again - for soon after I finish typing this, Shannon Smith and and I are decamping to Atlanta for one more headlong trip into the surreal. The last time Shannon prowled the edges of the Georgia Dome, she stumbled across a saucy homegirl named Fantasia. Two years later we huddled elsewhere with a chrome-plated brooder by the name of Chris Daughtry, who thought he might like to sing for a living. Can it happen again? Will another unknown Tarheel native rise up and become a fleeting household name? Not bloody likely! But if there's anything I've learned in my last few years of making television, it's 'Never Underestimate American Idol'. So bear with me, readers, as I suffer the slings of ambition and psychosis while attempting to blog about it along the way. The chance to sing for the first of many anonymous judges is still a full day away, but from the looks of this picture taken by Rodney Ho just hours ago, the melee outside the Georgia Dome is well underway. I'd better get going...