Idol Chatter & Voice Views

In spite of all the talk of American Idol’s demise and plunging popularity, aspiring singers still are turning out in the thousands for the auditions.

Depending on the source, between 15,000 and 17,000 turned out for Tuesday’s auditions in East Rutherford, N.J. That’s the closest the Idol auditions will come to central Pa. in 2010.

These are preliminary auditions. Anyone familiar with the process knows the singers aren’t performing for the real judges yet.

Good thing, since no one — including Ryan Seacrest — seems to know who is and isn’t going to be part of the real judging panel for season 10.

(As an aside, check out this review of a Steven Tyler radio interview by Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly.)

But this seems certain. When the callback auditions are held, a young lady named Jenna Schmalhofer from nearby Lancaster will be among the auditioners.

The Star-Ledger of Newark snapped a photo of Jenna hugging her mom after surviving the preliminary auditions Tuesday. Here’s the link to the story and photos.

So, what do we know about Jenna?

* She qualified for the 2010 Miss Pennsylvania Scholarship Pageant, where she was named Miss Congeniality.

* She graduated from Lancaster Catholic High School and attended Messiah College, where she sang with the concert choir, jazz singers and chamber choir.

* She has worked at the Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park for seven years and eventually became Princess of Dutch Wonderland, promoting childhood literacy through that role.

* You can head here to hear and watch her sing “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”

* You can head here to watch her perform with the Messiah College JazzSingers.

* On her Twitter profile, she says this: “I’m passionate, hopeful, wide-eyed and ready to change the world.”

Hey, with an attitude like that, I can only wish Jenna the best in her Idol pursuit.

I haven’t heard of anyone from York County who traveled to East Rutherford for the Idol auditions.

Have you?

If so, let me know by commenting below.