My Brief Return to Junior High

I almost titled this blog something else since it refers to my recent American Idol concert experience, but I was afraid if I did I would make the authorities nervous. Those of you who know me well know what I mean.



This is my sister, my mom, and me at the concert last night.

I'll admit it. I'm an American Idol geek. I live for the start of the season and spend the next few months working feverishly to clear up my Tuesday and Wednesday nights (thanks to Karin and Hannah for being understanding this season - we had to rearrange violin lessons, something I don't allow students to do, to accommodate AI on Tuesdays). My fervor intensified this year due to the amazing, talented, adorable, DAVID ARCHULETA.

I couldn't find our digital camera yesterday, so I showed up at the concert with a disposable 35 mm and the camera on my phone. My phone camera is really crappy, so I got absolutely no pictures except two. Seriously, I took hundreds in an attempt to get a couple of digital shots and they all turned up as bright pillars of light:



In case you can't tell, that is a picture of Jason Castro singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

So anyway, I kept taking pictures even though it appeared futile. To my great astonishment and wonder, two pictures ended up being remotely identifiable, and BOTH OF THEM WERE OF ARCHIE. I guess this proves that it pays to live right (or something like that).



This picture is when he first started singing. They brought him up to the stage on a platform, sitting at a grand piano. He sang 4 songs, and the crowd didn't stop screaming until he yelled into the microphone that it was David Cook's turn to sing and then turned and walked off the stage (sweetly and politely of course). I doubt the crowd would ever have stopped screaming. In case you can't identify him in the picture, he is in the bottom right corner sitting at the piano. I have no idea what's on the jumbotron (center of the picture).



This is a picture of him on the jumbotron. I think you can actually identify that it's him in this picture. Well, sort of.

Besides listening to him sing, there were two other highlights of the evening. First had to do with Michael Johns. His picture:

Well, I can't upload the picture because blogspot is having issues. Either that or my computer is. But imagine the picture of Jason Castro, and pretend it's a picture of Michael Johns. Anyway, he was wearing a jacket during his first two songs. He said that it was getting hot so he took off his jacket, revealing...

a t-shirt saying "I VOTED FOR DAVID ARCHULETA!"

So cute!

Last highlight: What is the worst part of going to any concert? That's right, road rage in the parking lot after it's over. Well, when we bought the tickets online we paid $25 for a parking pass so we wouldn't have to worry about it that night. What we didn't know is that it was for PREMIUM parking, which ended up being really cool. We parked right at the E-Center and were 5 rows from the exit. We figured it wouldn't take too long to get out, so we were excited. We also got our own entrance into the concert so we didn't have to wait in the long lines at the REGULAR people entrance.

It turns out that our seats were the first seats we came to when we entered the arena (from our private entrance). We were on a riser on padded chairs, and were right next to the vestibule thing where you enter. We literally couldn't have been closer or more convenient to our car (we also had an absolutely perfect view of the stage because we were raised about two feet from the floor and there was no one in front of us). So when the concert was over, we booked it to the parking lot, got in the car, and left the concert all in LESS THAN 5 MINUTES. From the moment we left our cushy, padded seats until we were on 3100 south headed for home was less than 5 minutes. I kid you not. It was the most amazing driving experience I've ever had, and it was all complete luck. Now that I know, however, I'll be sure to repeat that amazing convergence of circumstances the next time we go to the E Center.

One last thing of note, and this is going to prove what a total geek I am because it's bringing tears to my eyes even now. I loved Brooke White, and not even because of the whole Mormon thing. I think she is an amazing singer and has one of the most beautiful, distinctive voices I've ever heard. I was really looking forward to hearing her sing. She sang "Yellow" by Coldplay, which is a favorite song of mine. When she got to the chorus, she sang, "You know I love you so... Utah I love you so." I don't know why that touched me so much, except she realized that she has a huge fan base here and acknowledged it.

The concert was awesome and we had a great time. I'm sad it's over because I've been looking forward to it for so long, but hopefully some of them will be back. And I have to say that I have more respect and appreciation for David Cook now. I noticed he had the initials AC on his guitars, and wondered if they were for his brother - the one who tried out with him and didn't make it. I found out that the initials are for him (Andrew Cook), but also for his other brother Adam who has terminal brain cancer. As a rule I don't like David Cook because he took the title away from Archie, but I was impressed by his love for his brothers and touched by his tribute.

So now it's over and the only thing I have to look forward to is Eric Clapton sometime in August. Sigh.