As mountainous songs go, "The Star Spangled Banner" is kind of the K2 of public singing -- a challenge that daunts even the best professional singers, and with good reason because it's awfully difficult to pull off. But if you think you have what it takes, the Durham Bulls are looking for a few good anthem singers to inaugurate home games for the upcoming 2013 baseball season, which opens April 8 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Auditions happen March 16 at the Streets at Southpoint; check here for details.

Raleigh is getting all kinds of attention from network TV shows lately.

A few weeks ago, NBC announced that a new singing competition show called "And the Winner Is..." will be looking for talent at the Longbranch in Raleigh on Decemeber 8. Now, NBC's "America's Got Talent," a competition reality show judged by an ever-changing roster of celebrities, will follow them to town.

Talent scouts for "America's Got Talent" will be in Raleigh on December 15 in search of contestants for their eighth season.

If you missed the big "American Idol" auditions in Charlotte last week, you might still have another chance to impress the show's producers.

Fox 50 is hosting a contest at Crabtree Valley Mall on July 7, and one local winner will get a guaranteed audience with 'Idol' producers. Registration will begin at 10 a.m. on the lower level of the mall close to J. Crew and Sears. The best singer not only gets a guaranteed audition with producers, they also get airfare and hotel accommodations for two in New Orleans for the July 17 auditions there.

Here are the rules:

The last time “American Idol” held auditions in North Carolina -- Greensboro in 2005 -- the state ended up with three singers in that season’s Top 10.

The Tar Heel state will get another chance to load the deck with homegrown talent on June 19, when “Idol” makes an audition pit stop in Charlotte.