Many local folks will be tuning in to “American Idol” on Sunday and Monday to see if Vancouver pianist and singer Mac Potts gets featured on the popular talent show.
One of those curious viewers will be Mac Potts himself, who said he has no idea if, when, or how big or small a spot it might turn out to be.
“I might be shown Sunday night. I might be shown Monday night,” he said. “All I can tell everyone is, ‘I’ll be watching too.’ ”
“American Idol” films well in advance but wants to maintain suspense, so Potts is sworn to secrecy about his experience. But he told The Columbian about auditioning last fall for the show’s current celebrity judges in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and winning a Gold Ticket to Hollywood and the show itself. It’s that Hollywood experience he’s not yet allowed to reveal, he said.
Meanwhile, here’s the backstory. Potts had already auditioned for a previous season of “American Idol” in Portland, he said, but was promptly rejected. Then, last year, a talent scout for the show reached out to him. He auditioned online and then was invited to audition for Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan in person.
Complicating that great opportunity was a month-old baby in Potts’ life — and the fact that he is blind. His wife, Hailey, drove her husband and infant to Coeur d’Alene. They found themselves waiting outdoors in 25-degree weather, he said.
But everything warmed up quickly when the family got inside. Judges Perry and Richie swooned over the baby. “Everyone was pretty much snuggling her,” Potts said. “Hailey and the baby were supposed to leave, but they wanted them to stay. That wasn’t supposed to happen. We expected her to fuss, but she didn’t. She wasn’t asleep, either. That baby was totally chilling.”
Not so much Potts, though. He didn’t realize he was supposed to tell the judges his whole life story before starting to play, he said. He had nothing prepared and worried about being a “nervous chatterbox,” he said.
“Who knows what’s going to happen when I open my mouth, sometimes?”
So he stumbled through an introduction, headed for the piano and sang “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” by Jennifer Hudson, from “Dreamgirls.”
“I enjoyed that moment” despite being nervous and under-slept, he said. “It was crazy. It was stress, but good stress. I was thinking, ‘Ooh, no matter what happens, this is going on my bucket list.’ ”
He’ll certainly never forget Katy Perry’s reaction to the clean-cut Potts’ passionate performance: “Wow, you’re like an IT guy, but you have so much soul when you sing.”
“I guess that’s kind of true,” Potts said.
Richie turned out to be the most critical and the most helpful of the judges, Potts said. He challenged Potts to display his whole vocal range. Potts sang some high-up lines from “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Then the judges wanted to hear something low — like what he sings to his baby, they suggested.
So Potts sang in his softest, lowest register the Disney lullaby “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Aria was right there to hear it.
Time for the judges to vote. “Katy and Luke said yes,” Potts said. Then Richie, who had questioned and challenged Potts the most, turned out to be “the most excited. He said ‘Definite yes’! He said, ‘I think you’re ready for it. You have big dreams and you know what you’re doing.’ ”
“I walked out with a Gold Ticket,” Potts said. “I was going to Hollywood.”
