American Idol Night Two: Family section!

Update: Ooh I got a shout-out as having the "Odd Sign of the Night" on E! Online's "What You Didn't See"!

After my Idol-buddy Eric called last night (with Kris Allen on the line) saying he had two extra tickets for me to attend for the second night in a row I thought, shit I would love to....but I have plans with my dad and it's his last day in town.......

My dad doesn't understand celebrity. Doesn't get why people read Us Weekly or People Magazine. Doesn't care about TMZ or read Perez. And he deeeeefinitely has never watched an episode of American Idol.

So I brought him.

And this time my handicapped-ness managed to finagle us some blue tickets in the family section!

2nd row. Right behind Kris Allen's family.



I made him carry the Simon sign.



But because our seats were much more conspicuous this time around, I didn't manage to sneak too many pictures.



It was fun though. The music was great. The group performance decent.

Brad Paisley performed.

Ryan threw a water balloon at Simon but completely missed and hit a girl in the front row.

And there was a surprise David Cook performance.



Dad actually enjoyed it somewhat. Though he did still manage to doze off at times.



But the best part?

Was watching them announce Kris Allen's results.




And becoming an honorary member of Kris's family!!!!



I befriended Kris's mom and his pretty wife Katy.

They liked my "Kripples 4 Kris" sign, which was very much appreciated because most of the signs in the crowd were for Adam or Danny.

Eric tried to score me a picture with Kris, but right after the show the kids were rushed off to Camarillo to take a private jet to Detroit or something, so there just wasn't time.

His dad didn't even get to say goodbye to him.

I still have hope though.

Someday I will get my Kris pic.

.....................................................

Being at Idol for the second night in a row, I was kind of blown away by the immense power of this show.

It's surreal.

Really it's just a fancy stage in a big room. But the stage is much bigger than the audience section.

And when the performers are performing, they're performing for the couple hundred people in that room. They don't see the rest of America. They see us. Right there. In the room.

Sure there are a ton of cameras. But how do you really wrap your head around the fact that 30 MILLION people are watching you perform at that very second?

Talking with Kris's parents, seeing the way the contestants and judges all interact with each other off-camera, everyone's just really....normal. What they're doing and saying isn't even necessarily extraordinary. But the transformative power of those cameras in that room, taking their images and voices and turning it into instant superstardom, is nothing short of incredible.

.....................................

Of course, leaving the sound stage, I also realized that though the show has created household names such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry, and David Archuleta...

You sometimes also end up with people who are complete jokes...

...like Justin Guarini.