Submitted by: kirkland on Thursday August 10th, 2006 at 01:08 PM EST

About 10,000 "American Idol" hopefuls showed up at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday with wide-eyed dreams of becoming the next Taylor Hicks or Carrie Underwood.

After waiting all night and standing in line for hours, most contestants got less than a minute to sing a few bars -- and then the boot.

Pasadena was the first of seven cities where producers of Fox TV's talent show planned auditions for the upcoming sixth season. Approaching the Rose Bowl, roads were clogged as auditioners hurried to meet the deadline to line up. Outside the stadium, early arrivals gathered _ some huddled under blankets, some wearing headphones and silently mouthing lyrics. Others did last-minute makeup checks.

The generally subdued early morning crowd roused itself occasionally, once when sample breath mints were tossed into the crowd and other times when TV news crews went on the air.

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