I'm sure I've forgotten some things, but here is my more detailed recap of St. Joe Idol: A Night For Make-A-Wish.
The night got off to a rocky start when I got to the theater ("will call" envelope under wrong name, no actual tickets in the packet) but the nice volunteer ladies straightened it out and I ended up being seated in front row center, one seat in from the aisle. Next to me was "the security chair." Clean cut security guard guy sat in the seat during the wait for the show to start, and we had a very nice chat (first rule of concert photography: make friends with the security guards).
The theater is beautifully restored with painted plaster and Egyptian themes. I am kicking myself because of all the photos I took, duh, I didn't take any of the theater itself. You can see some here, though:
www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/parks/theater.cfm
The show started with a local TV guy as emcee.
He announced last year's winner, Merlynne Hughes, who sang the National Anthem and then (coincidentally?) "Get Here."
Merlynne was not only a good singer, but it turns out she's also a good person, too. Two local muckety-mucks came on stage to give her a special citation and thank you gift for her work with local organizations.
After Merlynne, the two St. Joe Idol finalists performed. The first was an exchange student from Moldova. Let's just say that she looked pretty and her singing style was probably a cultural thing that made her a big hit back home.
Next was local boy John Goolsby, who by day is the worship leader at a church. I want to say he sang "At Last," but I don't think that's right (Kristen, do you recall?). He picked up steam as he went through the song and ended strongly. I had a heck of a time catching him with his eyes open, but finally succeeded, sort of:
Then, Kim came out on stage and took over the emcee job.
First up, her good friend Mikalah Gordon.
Mikalah is a funny gal. She sang some rock songs, but the real hit of her set was her interaction with the audience. She brought up two young brothers, who proved to be as witty as she was.
Eventually, she had a stage full of youngesters, dancing along.
Second, Brandon Rogers.
Brandon is full of energy. He sang two of his own songs and a nice acoustic version of "Time After Time" with someone he introduced as his "friend, Zach," doing an excellent accompaniament on guitar. (I liked the first song Brandon did, "My Joy," which he wrote about a crush he had. If he keeps working on it, he could probably do well.)
Then, Kristen came out and introduced Kim. Since I don't have Kristen's permission to put up her photo, I'll put up Kim's reaction to it.
Kim sang three covers, talked about her shoes hurting (but they were purty), and talked to folks in the balcony who were yelling at her (Kristen's friends??).
Kim now introduces Justin. The audience had been appreciative of all performers, but of course when Justin's name was announced, the shrieks erupted. Justin gives Kim a big hug before bounding to center stage.
Justin thanked everyone for coming and supporting the cause. He had to get a good look at the balcony.
He didn't banter as much as the others, instead pretty much launching right into Let's Stay Together. The video is from my digital camera, and when Justin is in front of my seat, you get some lovely up-the-nostrils angles, LOL. But you can hear it clearly.
Let's Stay Together Video:
(Right click on the thumbs and save the video file)
It was funny, with the other Idol alums, they seemed to know where the photographer was sitting and played to me quite a bit. They didn't really hit the far right side of the stage. Justin, as we all know, loves to roam, and he spent as much time there as he did on my side. About half way into "Easy," he noticed my camera, and you'll see him come over and wave and talk to it. Sadly, I was trying to watch him live instead of through my camera screen, so I didn't realize at first I was cutting off most of his head. It's toward the end ~ you'll see it. Plus, he's worked on his air guitar since the last time, LOL.
Easy video:
Next to me in the front row were these twenty-something guys. I thought, "uh-oh, I wonder how this is going to play." I didn't expect them to be "into" Justin Guarini. But you know what? He got them into it. Between Easy and the next song, Lady (I think it was then), the topic of the location of the local bar came up (how??). Justin, showing his commitment to charity as well as his love of a good beer, commented that if it took drinking to raise money for Make-A-Wish, well, then, he'd make the sacrifice.
That probably broke the ice with the front row guys. They were bobbing their heads in time to the music and having a good old time.
Lady Video:
As you know, Justin and Kim finished up by doing a duet of "I Can't Make You Love Me." My camera decided to get fussy, so I'll link y'all to Kristen's version on youtube.
I Can't Make You Love Me video
It was a very nice duet. They spent most of the time singing to each other, which is sort of what you'd expect from two people singing together on stage, you know? Their voices do sound good together, with her slight rasp and his soul-rific tone.
The night closed with the announcement of John Goolsby as the winner.
He did two songs, the last of which showed a style that really works for him. It was an old country blues song called something like "Dig-Diggity." I liked it alot. Brandon came out and sang backup/second verse. Then, Justin, Kim and Mikalah came out. John invited Justin to come to the mic, and Justin (who didn't know the song) riffed along with him a little bit. We were all standing and clapping, so I didn't get photos off this part.
Then the show was over, and we had a meet and greet. The whole group was very gracious.
I've already commented on my conversation with Justin (I'll copy it here):
link
All in all, it was a fun night. From what I understand from Kristen, they raised a lot of money. I think Kim said something on-stage that suggested both Make-A-Wish children will get their wishes granted. How great is that? Everyone involved (Kristen included) can be so proud of their contributions.
One more random observation. At Flint and again here, it was wonderful to see the diversity of the crowd that went wild for Justin. He is a true "cross-over" artist, and I love that we can all share this musical interest.
Whew. One last hurrah of summer. I'm glad I went.
The night got off to a rocky start when I got to the theater ("will call" envelope under wrong name, no actual tickets in the packet) but the nice volunteer ladies straightened it out and I ended up being seated in front row center, one seat in from the aisle. Next to me was "the security chair." Clean cut security guard guy sat in the seat during the wait for the show to start, and we had a very nice chat (first rule of concert photography: make friends with the security guards).
The theater is beautifully restored with painted plaster and Egyptian themes. I am kicking myself because of all the photos I took, duh, I didn't take any of the theater itself. You can see some here, though:
www.ci.st-joseph.mo.us/parks/theater.cfm
The show started with a local TV guy as emcee.
He announced last year's winner, Merlynne Hughes, who sang the National Anthem and then (coincidentally?) "Get Here."
Merlynne was not only a good singer, but it turns out she's also a good person, too. Two local muckety-mucks came on stage to give her a special citation and thank you gift for her work with local organizations.
After Merlynne, the two St. Joe Idol finalists performed. The first was an exchange student from Moldova. Let's just say that she looked pretty and her singing style was probably a cultural thing that made her a big hit back home.
Next was local boy John Goolsby, who by day is the worship leader at a church. I want to say he sang "At Last," but I don't think that's right (Kristen, do you recall?). He picked up steam as he went through the song and ended strongly. I had a heck of a time catching him with his eyes open, but finally succeeded, sort of:
Then, Kim came out on stage and took over the emcee job.
First up, her good friend Mikalah Gordon.
Mikalah is a funny gal. She sang some rock songs, but the real hit of her set was her interaction with the audience. She brought up two young brothers, who proved to be as witty as she was.
Eventually, she had a stage full of youngesters, dancing along.
Second, Brandon Rogers.
Brandon is full of energy. He sang two of his own songs and a nice acoustic version of "Time After Time" with someone he introduced as his "friend, Zach," doing an excellent accompaniament on guitar. (I liked the first song Brandon did, "My Joy," which he wrote about a crush he had. If he keeps working on it, he could probably do well.)
Then, Kristen came out and introduced Kim. Since I don't have Kristen's permission to put up her photo, I'll put up Kim's reaction to it.
Kim sang three covers, talked about her shoes hurting (but they were purty), and talked to folks in the balcony who were yelling at her (Kristen's friends??).
Kim now introduces Justin. The audience had been appreciative of all performers, but of course when Justin's name was announced, the shrieks erupted. Justin gives Kim a big hug before bounding to center stage.
Justin thanked everyone for coming and supporting the cause. He had to get a good look at the balcony.
He didn't banter as much as the others, instead pretty much launching right into Let's Stay Together. The video is from my digital camera, and when Justin is in front of my seat, you get some lovely up-the-nostrils angles, LOL. But you can hear it clearly.
Let's Stay Together Video:
(Right click on the thumbs and save the video file)
It was funny, with the other Idol alums, they seemed to know where the photographer was sitting and played to me quite a bit. They didn't really hit the far right side of the stage. Justin, as we all know, loves to roam, and he spent as much time there as he did on my side. About half way into "Easy," he noticed my camera, and you'll see him come over and wave and talk to it. Sadly, I was trying to watch him live instead of through my camera screen, so I didn't realize at first I was cutting off most of his head. It's toward the end ~ you'll see it. Plus, he's worked on his air guitar since the last time, LOL.
Easy video:
Next to me in the front row were these twenty-something guys. I thought, "uh-oh, I wonder how this is going to play." I didn't expect them to be "into" Justin Guarini. But you know what? He got them into it. Between Easy and the next song, Lady (I think it was then), the topic of the location of the local bar came up (how??). Justin, showing his commitment to charity as well as his love of a good beer, commented that if it took drinking to raise money for Make-A-Wish, well, then, he'd make the sacrifice.
That probably broke the ice with the front row guys. They were bobbing their heads in time to the music and having a good old time.
Lady Video:
As you know, Justin and Kim finished up by doing a duet of "I Can't Make You Love Me." My camera decided to get fussy, so I'll link y'all to Kristen's version on youtube.
I Can't Make You Love Me video
It was a very nice duet. They spent most of the time singing to each other, which is sort of what you'd expect from two people singing together on stage, you know? Their voices do sound good together, with her slight rasp and his soul-rific tone.
The night closed with the announcement of John Goolsby as the winner.
He did two songs, the last of which showed a style that really works for him. It was an old country blues song called something like "Dig-Diggity." I liked it alot. Brandon came out and sang backup/second verse. Then, Justin, Kim and Mikalah came out. John invited Justin to come to the mic, and Justin (who didn't know the song) riffed along with him a little bit. We were all standing and clapping, so I didn't get photos off this part.
Then the show was over, and we had a meet and greet. The whole group was very gracious.
I've already commented on my conversation with Justin (I'll copy it here):
Quote:
Justin was his usual loose and happy self, having a ball on stage. I spoke to him after the show, and he said he is going into the studio next week to record a 7 song demo. A few other things in development at the pitch stage (tv shows).
I asked about the hair. (It looks . . . normal in person ~ the Red Carpet photos don't capture it well.) I told him we recently re-did our graphic and if he cut it off, we'd have to find him and hurt him. For some reason, he found that hilariously funny (heh, I could do it, you know).
Oh, yes, and he said to make sure to say, "Hi" to everyone. So, "Hi!"
link
All in all, it was a fun night. From what I understand from Kristen, they raised a lot of money. I think Kim said something on-stage that suggested both Make-A-Wish children will get their wishes granted. How great is that? Everyone involved (Kristen included) can be so proud of their contributions.
One more random observation. At Flint and again here, it was wonderful to see the diversity of the crowd that went wild for Justin. He is a true "cross-over" artist, and I love that we can all share this musical interest.
Whew. One last hurrah of summer. I'm glad I went.
How about when he says come on sing with me, this song is way to long. 
He's just downright Awesome!!! And again he made me laugh. 
for pulling this together not only for the idols' fans but for the Make-A-Wish foundation. I'd like to see the videos of the other performances so let us know when they're up!
Very nicely done! 
