The Final 3, Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis have a busy weekend ahead.Â
They’ll be filming hometown visits in the next couple of days. The video packages will be included on next Wednesday’s results show.  The Top 3 sing 3 songs on Tuesday–one they pick, one chosen by media mogul Clive Davis, and one chosen by one of the judges. Each contestant is assigned a judge who picks a tune for them.
During the visits–at least this is how it’s gone down in the past–a political official will announce the contestant’s judges choice song.Â
Season 5’s #3 contestant, Elliott Yamin will also be on hand Wednesday to perform. That’s gotta be sweet, ’cause a year ago he was eliminated from the competition at 3rd place. Thank you TPTB for finally bringing back an Idol to perform on a results show. That will make up for being force-fed Simon’s X-factor winner, Leona Lewis, who is also slated to perform on Wednesday. Bleah.
Here’s the schedule for each Idol:
Blake Lewis (press release)
- An interview and live performance on Q13 FOX News during the 8:00 a.m. hour.
- More live radio interviews
- Blake performs a mini-concert free to the public at Westlake Mall Park at 12:15 p.m.
- Blake travels to his hometown, Bothell, WA for a city-wide celebration beginning with a parade at 4:00 p.m. on Main Street.
- He performs the national anthem before the Seattle Mariners home game vs. the New York Yankees at 7:05 p.m. at Safeco Field.
Jordin Sparks (More here)
- She’ll appear on Fox 10 Arizona Morning at 7 am
- A pep-rally at her high school begins at 1:30 pm
- Another pep-rally begins at 3:30 pm at the Westgate center in Glendale with performances by former “Arizona Idol” winners.
- A “procession” with Jordin at 4 pm
- She’ll perform several songs she performed on the show.
- Mayor Elaine Scruggs and the Valley’s five professional sports teams are expected to take part in the event.
 Melinda Doolittle (more here)
- Melinda will appear at the Wildhorse Saloon  between 7 and 8 a.m. on the local Fox 17 show Tennessee Mornings. The first 200 people will be admitted to the show.  Bucky Covington will be there too.
- A free homecoming celebration starts at 10:30 am at Belmont University. Melinda graduated from Belmont in 1999.
- She is scheduled meet Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen at an afternoon press conference at the state capitol.
It seems Melinda’ hometown visit is being kept pretty low key compared to the other two. Tin foil hats anyone?
It may be just that The Tennessean doesn’t have all of the info, Jersey. Part of the problem is that even though Melinda lives in Brentwood, she didn’t grow up there. I used to live there so would love to see something happen in Brentwood. The trouble with the Nashville area is that there are so many music stars that AI may not be that big of a deal but hopefully a lot of people will turn out so it won’t be another sad one like Kat’s. I found this from the Melinda board.
Melinda’s schedule sure sounds more modest than the other two — but, if so, that could be a smart move on her part. She is the “pro” after all, and she is probably more focused on sparing the voice and sparing her performing energies so she can concentrate on what she needs to get done on Tuesday night. Of any of them, Jordin would probably be smarter to rest her pipes as best she can, yet her schedule says she is performing “several” songs today. My hunch is that Melinda wouldn’t trade her schedule for Jordin’s.
Sorry to hear that about Melinda.
I hope it is just a shortage of information.
On another board I visit someone brought out the fact that, actually out of all the contestants, Jordin has more professional experience than anyone else.
Jordin has been a plus-size model,
toured with Michael W. Smith,
been on TV,
sung the National Anthem at stadiums,
and has a high-powered voice teacher
(who also taught Mary Hart and Kristin Chenoweth).
“Jordin is a painstakingly developed, widely marketed product–with a manager.”
the image of melinda and a “wildhorse saloon” brought a HUGE smile to my face. all the best to you melinda! gooooooo mindy-doo!!!!
I am so happy for Blake…
I am sure he will freshen up with this home visit… It will be good for him.
Hey he’s already signed up to sing the National Anthem at the Mariners-Yankees game! How cool is that! Go Blake!
LOL, me too! However, I’m not surprised Bucky’s gonna be there. Sounds like his kinda place. :)
Blake’s parade is only four blocks. I wonder if they will make it seem HUGE on teevee. I guess Bothell is pretty small. :)
ETA: Jordin has a lot of experience, not doubt about it.
I hope they do something else with Mindy doo.
BTW is is true that somebody from the south has always won?I’m curious about that :)
I think that is true, BetterChicken. However, if I remember correctly, I think someone once said that AI tends to put more southerners through to the voting rounds, so the odds are in favor of a southerner winning (not sure if that is true every year).
Yeah, Kat’s homecoming was truly sad
http://www.tvgasm.com/archives/american_idol/002192.php
Maybe having Bucky show up for Melinda will bring out more AI fans in TN. I’m happy to hear Elliott will be on next week. Gives me a reason to tune in and stay awake since I fell asleep through last week’s show!
Maybe Melinda will SHOCK the judges at the saloon! They all say they are waiting for it! Go melinda! Show them you are marketable!
I read somewhere that Jordin won on Star Search when she was younger. Anyone else read that?
YAY, Elliott!!!! Finally, something to look forward to in AI6! I agree with the previous posters and MJ who think we need more background and more hollywood next year. I think that’s been the major downfall of season 6. I’ve enjoyed it alright….but haven’t been obsessed like the last two seasons in particular. I literally couldn’t wait for Tuesday to get here every week and was on pins and needles waiting for the results, but this year I’ve had a lot of “oh yeah, its tuesday” moments when the TiVo clicked on to record the idol. Too bad, really. I feel like its shortchanged the contsetants this year.
Jordin is polished and professional, very much so for someone who is only 17. Oops, I said it :)
Blake’s local Fox affilliate is adding pictures as Blake’s day unfolds. They also have a video up on the main page. One of his interview and the other his performance.
Here’s the pictures. Looks like lots of peeps are waiting for his 12:15 mini-concert in Seattle.
http://q13.trb.com/news/kcpq-051107-blakevisit,0,2889137.story?coll=kcpq-news-1
Forget the semi’s.
Im PUMPED that Elliott is going to be there live on Wednesday.. Paula is going to go crazy. Good for him, man. About damn time.
Blake lucked out and got a gorgeous day for his homecoming. The rain has been miserable and relentless this year (more so than usual) and there hasn’t been much sunshine at all. People in Seattle will be looking for any excuse they can find to get out and smell the flowers this warm afternoon.
Blake was bound to get a lot of fans anyway, but so much more appealing for him to appear in front of happy crowds waving their hands in the air than a crowd of people hunkered under umbrellas while he looks like a drowned rat on stage as the rain spits down on him (plus, it redeems Seattle after those auditions…2 out of 3 in the Final 3, baby! Worst audition city ever. Ha!)
LOL, Kirsten. Glad the weather is good for him. His voice sounded a bit hoarse in the radio interview. ETA: new pic is up and the crowd looks HUGE. Yay for Blake!
Melinda had thousands of admirers today according to this article.
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/ENTERTAINMENT06/70511019
I’m happy for her. :) She meets with the Gov this afternoon. I guess that’s when we’ll find out her song choice.
Yeah, Melinda’s already been home. They said “several thousand” people turned out for her celebration, she cried a lot, and a street was named after her.
Here’s the link to the article:
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/ENTERTAINMENT06/70511019
Edited to add: Sorry. I didn’t realize that someone had already posted the link. Oops.
I have to say IMO it’s really irritating that Leona Lewis is going to be taking up air time Wednesday that could be put to better use - i.e., an appearance by one of last year’s finalists. Kellie has already appeared. Taylor will be on the finale, Chris on the final performance night and Elliott appers next Wed. All fine. But why foist Leona Lewis on us? I’m not the biggest Kat fan in the world, but fair is fair - she was last year’s runner-up. If they find airtime for Leona Lewis and not Kat, that stinks.
Maybe Kat will be on the finale - OK. Then how about giving a performance slot on Wed to Paris or Bucky or Ace? I’d MUCH rather see any of them in preference to Simon and Clive’s lastest Whitney wannabe, who’s got the promotional backing of her own show.
Ummmmmm, way to generalize about an entire state.
I would say “several thousand” is a pretty good turnout for Melinda.
Great to hear that Elliot will be back. That top 3 results show last year was the best of the season, and Elliot’s homecoming segment was amazing. Man, there was just so much enthusiasm last year for all of the contestants.
I agree, Leona Lewis seems a little out of place at this stage. They could’ve stuck her in any epidode of the last 12 weeks, when they were just giving us meaningless filler.
Yes, Kat should definitely be given some air time. Or Paris, or Bucky, or Ace. As a huge Taylor fan, he’d better be there too!
Here’s another article about Melinda’s homecoming. There are pictures as well, and she is also scheduled to go from Belmont University to Nashville.
http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/007115.html
I go absolutely crazy when people say all the winners are from the south. ugh. Oklahoma is the southwest and it is more west than south. Texas is also the southwest. I live there and consider it more west than south. I have also lived in north carolina so I’ve lived in the south too. although, i considered n carolina south east. yes, alabama is the south. but oklahoma and texas. that is a stretch. wonder where on the map they consider a state not in the south if it is in the lower part of the us. if you do a region search, most of them list oklahoma and texas as southwest. some are so detailed, that they list from houston over as south and from the other side of houston as west. lol. guess we will have to look and see where burleson falls. Lol.
Heck to add to my rank, St. Louis is the gateway to the west. lol. I also lived in Ohio and that was considered the mid west. lol. it was plain ole east as far as i’m concerned. So if Ohio is midwest how the heck is Oklahoma not west.
I live in Texas and would consider it more South-Central than plain south. It’s right in the middle of the Southern US.
To me, this is the most exciting part of the whole season. I always look forward to the Idol Homecomings! I’m wishing all 3, a fabulous day!
No spoilers yet on the judges pick of songs?
MJ, did you watch Blake’s performances on that Q13 site? He seems a little sick, but so awesome! He had his whole looping thing going on and he was so comfortable and sounded amazing.
Yeah, I did. It will be interesting to see what kind of album he makes.
No info yet on Melinda’s song choice from the judges? That should be announced at her meeting with the govenor…
I am also surprised Randy chose a Whitney song for Melinda since they always mention to the contestants to steer clear of the Mariahs and the Whitneys and the Celines. But I guess since Melinda is our RESIDENT PRO, Randy thinks she is more than capable of singing this song. Even if it is a crappy song, everyone knows Melinda is our RESIDENT PRO and will sing the heck out of this song. She’s the most consistant. She sings the same way each week, never changes her style, and even puts on the same wig each week. That’s what you call a RESIDENT PRO. She has this thing in the bag.
I’m really looking forward to Leona “taking up airtime” coz she’s gonna show up the current crop for what they really are… probably the poorest collection AI has had in it’s history. Melinda can sing “old style” stuff… but is bland… what was she thinking in “dedication week” dedicating her song to her stylist. Blake is an interesting character but lacking chops… and Jordin real does have a spark… but she needs a coupla years to grow up a bit (not literally of course). Season 4 was the best in my book. Still, when Leona performs it will be an eye-opener as to what real talent is, and this season NEEDS a real dose of talent, both vocally and visually. (Thumbs up to Elliot…. one of my faves too!!)
Last season was the most successful season Idol has ever had, in terms of ratings. Also in terms of quality, as far as many people are concerned. That success was driven by the diverse talent and engaging personalities of last year’s finalists. The show would do well to thank them by giving them an opportunity to perform on this season’s shows to promote their current albums, tours, etc, or simply to acknowledge the talent that made last season such a good season.
So far only one Season Five finalist has appeared. Yes, I do think the show should give preference to last season’s Idol finalists instead of someone who won another TV singing contest. Yep - I think Leona Lewis, whatever her talent, is taking up valuable airtime that should go to someone else.
As for Leona herself - I’ve seen some of her X-Factor performances on the net, and frankly, in light of the grandiose claims made for her, I’ve been underwhelmed. But we’ll see what happens Wed night. Apparently she’s gonna choose a great song and blow everyone away. OK - I’ll be waiting for that.
Response to pj
>>>Blake’s parade is only four blocks. I wonder if they will make it seem HUGE on teevee. I guess Bothell is pretty small. :)
Not sure why my message got cut off but continuing… the population of Bothell is approx 35,000 and spread out over two counties, as well as being a suburb of Seattle. Small compared to some but not like pj is trying to make it sound. We work hard at keeping our downtown area “quaint” looking (and BTW it is closer to 8 blocks long and the celebration also spread over into Bothell Landing.) We don’t need to resort to fake photography since over 7000 of us came out to support Blake on a work day afternoon! Sounds like sour grapes like maybe your contestant isn’t winning. Sorry about that but ours IS and we hope to keep it that way. But win or lose we have nothing to be ashamed of in our support for Blake or in our city… mock us all you want for being “pretty small” but we were there in screaming force for our local boy hitting the big time. We are proud of him and proud of Bothell! :)
The real thing :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQFJWB8U8Nk
Oh and here is the rest of the crowd… and BTW is YOUR city this gorgeous? :)
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/american-idol-blake-lewis-day-in-bothell/
The real thing :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQFJWB8U8Nk
Oh and here is the rest of the crowd… and BTW is YOUR city this gorgeous? :)
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/american-idol-blake-lewis-day-in-bothell/