Week 2 of our experience on America's Got Talent live shows was proving to be a real test.   We all knew something was different this week.  The producers seemed to have lost that happy-go-lucky,warm attitude and that was replaced with a tangible air of tension.  Labor Day weekend proved long and tedious, with the anxiety about the next performance coloring everything we did and every conversation we had.  The boys still enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool every chance they got, and the girls worked on their tan, but we had to really fight the temptation to snap at each other and be short-tempered. To pass the time that weekend, we took a trip to Santa Monica and walked along the pier.  The southern California coastline is so beautiful, and different from what we have on the east coast. This was a welcome respite from the stress.  We had dinner that night in Santa Monica and got back to the hotel tired, but refreshed. 

Tuesday morning dawned and we were up with the chickens.  We had an 8am call time at the studio and went straight to wardrobe.  Getting dressed first was good for preserving your hair and makeup, but it made for a really long day of being rather uncomfortable.  It was great seeing all our friends in hair and makeup again though, and by 10am, we were looking pretty good.  Again, we went on stage for our dress rehearsal in big curlers, which is rather humiliating.  But you get used to it.  We were all getting extremely nervous by this time, and as we walked on stage for the final dress rehearsal, the knots in our stomach were almost paralyzing.

There is a 2 minute commercial between acts, which allows the stage crew to set up, and then there is a 30 second video clip of our previous performances and judges comments.  We sat in place, in the dark, on stage, during that clip - not being able to see it - and waited nervously.  I can only imagine how nervous Emily was during that time.  She was waiting all alone on the stairs, wondering if her shaky legs would carry her down.  Again the stage manager started the countdown, and the dry ice billowed smoke across the stage as the lights came up and the crowd went crazy.  Normally, having an enthusiastic crowd is so electrifying that it gives you new energy and makes things much better. But on that night, the audience was so loud that the boys could not hear their cues in the headsets.  I was sitting at the piano, looking up at them, knowing that I certainly couldn't hear anything in my headset, and that this could not be good for them.  Thankfully, our music arranger had warned us that this might be the case, and had actually counted off the beats instead of just hearing rhythmic taps.  Jack was able to catch a little sound in order to know when to start, and his absolute pitch saved the day.  He gave the boys their pitches and they started.  My heart was now beating at a very unhealthy rate, but I was hoping that the bullet had been dodged and the rest of the performance would be smooth. 

Emily started down the stairs singing, and almost tripped on a mic wire which she couldn't see because of the dry ice.  Another crisis averted.  She and Jack did their duet and sounded great.  I was feeling better at this point.  And helping us all was the enthusiastic audience response.  There were three standing ovations during that song - good for the soul to be sure - but that wasn't all the happened during the song.  For those of you who did not watch the episode, things went down hill quickly.  As soon as Emily and Jack finished their duet, Gretchen joined Emily for the bridge.  For some reason, Gretchen's microphone was turned up way too loud and the balance was really off.  It was just the thing Piers Morgan had been waiting for, and almost immediately, he pressed that awful button that resulted in the horrifyingly loud buzz.  Nightmares were coming true right there on stage, but we just kept singing.  The audience went crazy at the end, and when Piers made some critical comments, he was boo-ed mercilessly.  Sharon loved us, as she always did, and tried to make up for the unpleasantness, but David was also rather critical. 

What I couldn't see was that during this horrible, inhumane comment segment, Emily was breaking down into tears.  Jerry Springer, who we have all come to adore, saw her face and tried to comfort her.  But she was devastated.  She felt the brunt of their comments were all directed at her, and she could barely walk off the stage.  There was no consolation.  What had been a dream come true had suddenly become a nightmare.  And then to make it worse, if that was possible, they took us upstairs for interviews following the performance.  Jack volunteered to go up with me for this, as the others were just too upset.  Jack showed real courage and character during it all, and was a constant source of encouragement as we tried to sort through all of the disappointment. 

We dragged our weary selves to the wardrobe room, took off our beautiful clothes and transformed ourselves back into the real Taubls, then walked out to a large group of fans who so desperately wanted to meet us. Smiles were painted on, and we heard ourselves saying, 'We did our best.  And it will all be fine.  Everything will be fine."

To read about the results, and to find out if everything would turn out fine, check back on March 9.