American Idol Convert - At Least For Now

Before I get to the topic of this post, for those who are curious about the "Guess What This Is" in Tuesday's post the answer is at the end of this story.

Now, on to American Idol. I have not been a big fan of the show, especially the first few weeks of showing the auditions. Those can be torture! But this year Jerry and I faithfully watched most of the gruelling moments looking for a very talented young man we met here in Branson. Of course in this area of theaters there are plenty of terrific entertainers, some very famous and some not --- yet!

A restaurant that we like to frequent is called "Mel's Hard Luck Diner". All of the servers and the cooks are singers. They take turns walking around the diner singing and entertaining the customers. These folks are good! We've gone back to the diner several times for the entertainment and fun; the food is really good, too!

During the holidays we went in on a very quiet night. Only about 4 tables were full. (Ususally there is a line out the door to get in!) A young singer named Jason Yeager was our server, as he had been on previous occasions. We had a chance to talk with him since he wasn't very busy. That's when he told us that he was going to Hollywood for the semi-finals of American Idol 7. We promised to watch and wished him the best of luck.

Knowing that he had auditioned in Dallas we especially watched that show, but didn't see his audition. There was just a quick glimpse of him in the recap at the end of the show. Then came the Hollywood semi-finals. Again they didn't show his audition, but we knew he had made it into the top 50. Tuesday night Randy, Paula and Simon narrowed the field from 50 to 24. Finally we saw some candid shots of Jason, but again not his audition. It's a good thing that I already know he is a very talented singer, because again he was given no air time. What the....? As the terrifying trio called each of the 50 hopefuls in to learn their fate we saw many of the artists who had been showcased over the past few weeks. Some went on, some went home. Again, no sign of Jason. They were choosing 12 guys and 12 girls, but I had lost count toward the end of the show. Finally, for the guys, finalists #9, 10 and 11 were flashed across the screen very quickly. Jason was one of them!! We let out loud "woooo hoooos" and will be following American Idol 7, cheering him on every week.

Now, some sites I've looked at today snickered that those who didn't get much air time must be just mediocre at best. What naysayers! That's a bit premature, I think! How can one judge someone they haven't even seen yet?! I believe that Jason has a very good chance of going to the top. Just watch and see!

Good luck Jason!

Answer to "Guess What This Is":

Thank you to "Anonymous" for guessing ice on the windshield of a car. That was close. The first two pictures are of ice on the side of my black Chevy Avalanche. The third is ice on the tonneau cover over the truck's bed. The picture of the truck is for reference and from a previous ice storm that wasn't as severe.