Canadian Idol Craziness Back Again
By Laurel E. Anderson
Kourier Standard Friday, January 21/05
Humour me and think Eminem for one second when you read the next sentence or two
and be a sport and hum to the muzak. Guess who’s back? Back again? Idol’s back.
Tell a friend. Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s
back…. Canadian Idol is back. You get the drill right? Not that you’re ever
gonna see anyone quite like the master of controversy himself on Idol but last
season’s ratings say that just doesn’t matter.
One of the most successful Canadian shows ever is back with an expanded audition
tour hitting cities never before blessed with the presence of judges Farley,
Jake, Sass and Zack. Yup, the same celebrity talent judges are back along with,
for better or for worse, big Ben and right-hand man Jon Dore. Seems big Ben, Jon
and the jury of four has proven to be a mix of success for this Canadian show.
A whirlwind season three promises to be bigger and better with an extended
audition tour making more stops than last season. But for talented Ottawa
residents who want to show Canada what they’ve got, they’ll have to trek to
Montreal, the closest audition city to Ottawa.
It’s nothing personal-not stopping in the nation’s capital. Sources at CTV
confirm a great experience in Ottawa last year and say that they want to give
other untapped talent from other parts of Canada an opportunity to audition that
they might not have if Idol wasn’t coming their way. New audition cities
introduced for this year include Whitehorse, Saskatoon, Sudbury, London, Moncton,
Charlottetown and Sydney. Repeat cities are Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg,
Toronto, Montreal and St. John’s.
It’s an extensive 13-week cross-country trek to 13 cities – 4 more than last
year and it begins February 11 in Vancouver. Last year, almost 10,000 hopefuls
auditioned over a nine-week period in Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg,
Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and St. John's and if sales of Kalan Porter’s
debut cd, entitled 219 Days, is any indicator of Canada’s appetite for more
Idol, bring on the dessert!
Laurel is a frequent contributor to Runge Newspapers who worked on the Ottawa
auditions of CI last year and wrote a series about it. Stay tuned for Idol
updates because while Idol won’t be coming to Laurel, she may be going to them!