With new app, it’s Amateur Night at the “App-ollo”

It’s Amateur Night at the "App-ollo."

Performers at the legendary "Amateur Night at the Apollo" don't have to contend with just the "boos" of audience in the theater anymore - but also anyone with a smartphone, thanks to a new mobile app.

"Amateur Night Digital" gives fans of the 78-year-old show from around the world the chance to watch, comment, and even boo performers from their cell phones and computers.

"The audience can make their cheers and boos heard from around the world," said the Apollo's Digital Media Manager Dexter Upshaw.

"When they're booing in the seats, people can pull out their phones and chat about the performance."

The app is also aimed at the theater's worldwide audience, who can watch and vote for their favorite acts when the videos are posted the following day.

Since its launch at tnike custom tennis shoes
he start of the 2012 season on February 1, more than 375,000 fans have visited the Amateur Night Digital page.

"With the app, it's all about the audience experience," said Upshaw. "[The performers] are putting themselves on the stage, and now in front of the world."

Contestants who didn't win their night's competition but also didn't get booted, now have a second chance to rally votes in the new "Remix Round."

While Amateur Night stars like Ella Fitzgerald and Stevie Wonder only had one shot to impress the notoriously tough Apollo crowd, the "Remix Round" gives performers a second chance to rally their virtual fan base and make it through to the final "Show Off" round.

"I was kind of feeling down hearing people in the audience trying to boo me on the stage," said Latrell Phoenix, a 23-year-old asblack and gold nike basketball shoes
piring singer from Philadelphia who performed in Amateur Night last Wednesday. "Then I looked on the app after the show and realized, 'Oh, people actually like me.' "

While Phoenix fell short of winning his night's competition and making it to the next round, he hopes that the digital app will be his ticket to a place in the spotlight.

"I was surprised to see how many people went anike 6.0 shoes online
nd voted the next day," said Phoenix, who currently leads the pack of remix contestants from his week with more than 3500 views. "It's given me a second chance."