Finale Night

Finale night was incredible. It was an incredible, incredible show to be a part of. I didn't get to see it because of press and stuff after the show, but it was awesome to see from backstage and the group performances had an energy to them that they never had during the regular season...might've been that there so many more people at the Kodak than at CBS.

All the celebs were incredible. I love Kelly Clarkson and her band - in fact the keys player used to be in the original version of Sonicflood (one of the first rock worship bands to be popular). I hung out with those guys for most of our wait time (it was a long day). Her bass player Einar (I think is how it's spell) was the bass player for the Dan band I saw on Saturday night...he was really cool, too. Kelly was really, really nice, too - always taking the time to stop for the Idols and talk when she could.

Carrie's band was really cool, too. The guitar player's name was Ed and he was freaking awesome. We talked for a while about me moving to Nashville and writing songs, etc. I find myself having more fun hanging out with bands than I do with singers...don't get me wrong, I love singers, but my heart is with the band. I love bands.

Anyway, all the celebs were cool. The show ran really smooth. The group numbers were really fun. We all gave Sanjaya a hard time for forgetting some dance steps in the Smokey Robinson number....it was hilarious, Chris Rich and I were doing out little dance routine and we look up and Sanji is just standing there smiling. I almost broke out laughing but remembered the rest of my dance steps, thankfully, then we all died laughing off-stage. Sanjaya was a great sport about it - and we all laughed about different moves that we forgot. As a side note: I just watched the performance over at rickey.org and you can barely tell (unless you're looking for it) that anyone missed the steps, so the gaffes happened at the perfect times with camera angles.

I guess that's the cool thing about being in something like that is that you know all the little things that happen that no one else even notices or cares about. Missing dance steps was funny to us...most people wouldn't even notice it.

I have to say that, honestly, I was a little jealous of Sanjaya to be able to perform with Joe Perry. I have been a huge Aerosmith fan since I discovered rock and roll. But as Phil and I watched Sanjaya, I turned to Phil and said, "Dude, that guy has turned into the best performer on the show." It was a really cool moment to be able to realize that you've seen someone grow from a kid to a great performer. He's not Blake yet, but man he knows how to work a crowd.

The dressing room was a lot of fun. We got some cool clothes to hang onto, and we all had fun hanging out. Phil, Chris, Blake and I all bought PSP's and several games each so our 19 rep was making fun of us all sitting and playing video games every chance we got.

We pretty much watched the whole show from backstage. It was interesting watching Blake and Jordin running around back stage to change clothes.

My favorite moment of the night (outside of the group numbers) was watching Blake and Doug E. Fresh beatboxing off each other. I thought Blake outdid the legend, but I guess I can't admit that. He was incredible though.

The Beatles number was a lot of fun and I was so thankful to have gotten some solo parts...the vocal coaches were very kind to me. The Beatles are in my top 5 favorite bands of all time, so British Invasion was tough without them. But it was really cool to be able to do the medley, especialy some of my favorite songs from the Sgt. Pepper record. Anyway, it was great.

Anyway, the next few days are busy, so I don't know how much I can write, but know this: all is well and it's been great. I am having the time of my life. Thanks so much to all the fans who got me to the top 10. I am so thankful to you all for voting.