Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NATIONAL PHENOMENON: Giving It Their All

Las Vegans enter final round of 'American Idol' tonight

Mikalah Gordon, a Cimarron-Memorial High School junior, is one of the 24 finalists on Fox TV's "American Idol." COURTESY PHOTO "American Idol" finalist Amanda Avila of Las Vegas performs in "Sirens of TI" at Treasure Island. COURTESY PHOTO The 24 finalists from the Fox television show "American Idol" begin competing this week for votes from viewers. Men performed Monday night and the women take the stage tonight. Four of them will be voted off on Wednesday.

How is Mikalah Gordon feeling these days?

How about "exuberant," which happens to be a word the high school junior learned during a vocabulary lesson last week?

Amanda Avila is feeling pretty exuberant these days, too. That's because Avila, a performer in "Sirens of TI" at Treasure Island, and Gordon, who attends Cimarron-Memorial High School, both are finalists in this year's "American Idol" competition.

Gordon, 17, and Avila, 23, both were announced last week as two of the 24 finalists who now are poised to go where Kelly, Ruben and Fantasia have gone before.

America can begin to become acquainted with Southern Nevada's two "American Idol" contestants with today's show, which airs at 8 p.m. on KVVU-TV, Channel 5. In this year's competition, finalists are divided by gender. Twelve men competed Monday night, with the women strutting their stuff tonight. Viewers will vote after tonight's show, and two men and two women will be eliminated during Wednesday's 9 p.m. results show.

Gordon, the daughter of Rocky Gordon and Victoria Cavaricci, was born and raised in Las Vegas. She performed with the Helen Joy Entertainers from the ages of 6 to 14, and once sang at the White House.

However, September's "American Idol" tryout in Las Vegas marked the first time she had auditioned for the megapopular talent search show.

When she learned that she had made the initial Las Vegas cut, "I was so excited," Gordon says.

Gordon adds that when she received word several weeks ago that she would be announced as one of the show's 24 finalists, her biggest challenge was not telling anybody about it.

"Obviously, I have the biggest mouth in the world," she said last week during a telephone interview, "so keeping it under wraps was hard."

Cavaricci says she's always known her daughter is talented. However, she admits she's surprised that Mikalah is receiving such high-profile recognition at such a young age.

"She's very funny, she's very witty and she's not intimidated, so I knew that she would be successful at some time in this type of career but, certainly, not at this age," Cavaricci says. "And certainly I didn't think `American Idol.' "

"It's just amazing," Gordon says. "We had some photos shot yesterday and it was so -- surreal is the most perfect word. Yet, it's fabulous. It's everything you want."

"Exuberant" is a good word, too, and one that Gordon learned last week. While away from her classes, "I have to do three hours of schoolwork every day," Gordon says.

And, she jokes, "what a feeling it is to be doing a photo shoot one minute and, the next, doing my vocabulary work."

"You say, `What is this? This is not the life of a star!' But know what? It's still great."

Avila, who plays Harmony in "Sirens of TI," has been singing and dancing since she was 2. She was born in Rowland Heights, Calif., and her resume includes touring in a musical about the late singer Selena and singing backup for Smokey Robinson.

Now, Avila is taking a leave from "Sirens of TI" while appearing on "American Idol."

"They're really excited for me," she says. "They're very supportive."

Avila, too, found it difficult to keep secret the news of her selection as an "American Idol" finalist. Particularly hard, she concedes, was not offering any hints to her fellow cast members.

"They were so funny," she says. "They're all, `You wouldn't be back if you hadn't made it in, so you must have not made it. But you're so happy, so you must have made it.' "

Avila actually appeared on an updated version of "Star Search" on CBS in January 2002. But, Avila says, "I lost."

That turned out to be OK, though.

"'What's funny is, I always say nobody watched `Star Search' that night because they were all watching `American Idol' " Avila says. "Everything happens for a reason."

Avila says she was "just overjoyed" when she learned that she'd been selected as one of the show's finalists.

"I was just so darn excited," she says. "I could have jumped out of my skin," she said.

Avila and Gordon have spent the past several days since last week's announcement rehearsing for tonight's broadcast.

"It's just watching your voice and making sure you drink a lot of water and get a lot of rest, because you wouldn't want to blow it now by being sick," Avila explains.

"Plus, just enjoying the moment," she adds. "We're all here, and all of the contestants are so sweet.

"It's fun, because people expect there's going to be cattiness and ... people poisoning each other's drinks. But there's none of that going on."

In fact, Avila says, all of the finalists received a copy of the "American Idol" magazine and spent time a good part of last week collecting other contestants' signatures.

"It was like signing yearbooks," Avila says.

Gordon, the youngest of the 24 finalists, says it feels as though "I have 11 moms and dads.

"Everybody here is so talented and we're all different in our own way. That's what makes this competition what it is. You've got 24 completely different people."

It is, Avila adds, "definitely intimidating. I've heard everybody sing -- we all hear each other sing -- and everyone is amazing. America has a very tough job."

On the other hand, Gordon says she's already been getting at least a taste of what stardom might be like.

"Now we're doing rehearsals, and people are starting to notice you a little bit," she says. "We were in the airport a couple days ago and (passers-by) were like, `Hey, you're that girl!' "

It's likely that more than one Southern Nevadan's TV viewing schedule will be set for the next few weeks, and if things go well valley residents could be cheering on a local favorite when this season wraps up in May. Among them, Avila suspects, will be a few faux pirates who work on the Strip.

Last year, Avila says, "we would watch the show and run from the ships to the dressing room and watch and vote."

Now, Avila continues, her fellow cast members are "like, `I can't believe that, now, we get to do the same thing to you up there.' They tell me they'll have to cancel the 8:30 show so they never miss it."