Posted on 04/05/2011 6:02:17 AM PDT by silent_jonny
I thought the same thing you did regarding the jackass and the Navy swimmer. I picked the winner when they first introduced them. The back story was pretty good, too. I liked how Top Shot waited until the end. Too bad Idol doesn’t do the same.
Shoot, forgot. Will have to check out Axe Men. Watched a couple of episodes of Coal. Deadliest Catch has been kind of a let down so far this year.
Woo-hoo!!!!
Lauren’s from Georgia.
*Tennessee versus North Carolina.*
Yep. Hers is kind of interesting. Rossville Ga, is only about 2 blocks from the Tennessee border (about 1000 ft). In fact her homecoming took place in two states.
Lauren Alaina’s Big Day In Chattanooga, Fort Oglethorpe
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_201299.asp
When Lauren Alaina Suddeth arrived in Chattanooga on Friday night for the first time in almost three months, she was unable to sleep in her own bed at her Rossville residence.
—snip
“She’s not just the pride of Rossville anymore, she’s the pride of America,” Rossville Mayor Johnny Baker said to the over 10,000 in attendance at Ms. Suddeth’s Coolidge Park rally while presenting her with the key to her hometown.
—snip
Ms. Suddeth was also presented with the key to the city of Chattanooga by Mayor Ron Littlefield but she was especially touched by the gift of her portrait painted by 15-year-old Julia Maddalina of Rochester, N.Y.
—snip
After the Coolidge Park festivities, Ms. Suddeth was treated to her second parade as she traveled down Battlefield Parkway to a rally at LFO where she would see many of her classmates for the first time since she has become a celebrity.
—snip
Ms. Suddeth ended her very busy day by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch and singing “God Bless America” at the Tennessee Smokies-Chattanooga Lookouts game at AT&T Field.
—
I wonder if she is the first contestant to have two parades, receive the keys to two cities in two different states?
” I wonder if she is the first contestant to have two parades, receive the keys to two cities in two different states?”
Either way she’s very deserving of the recognition, and handled it very naturally and gracefully.
Yes, I just wondered if these were more ‘firsts’.
Oh, OK. Close enough.
I didn’t even know her last name is Suddeth!
My attention span was not good this season.
Not really. The two states are nothing alike.
The rural parts are exactly alike.
I should know...I just watched “Smokey and the Bandit.”
;)
I guess you’re right. Whenever I meet someone from West Virginia I invariably think I’m talking to a Pennsylvanian.
Don’t worry about it. She didn’t even sleep in Georgia during her homecoming. According to the above article she stayed in Chattanooga. At least half maybe more of her homecoming took place in TENNESSEE.
You always do good and helpful research!
Lauren Alaina Was A 12-Year-Old Karaoke Diva Before ‘American Idol’ Youngest finalist in show’s history also turned heads while singing at her Rossville, Georgia, pizza-shop job.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664146/american-idol-lauren-alaina-hometown-visit.jhtml
The 16-year-old “American Idol” top three contestant and former high school cheerleader got a gig at CiCi’s Pizza last year, and manager Mike Wild said he knew right away that she was not your run-of-the-mill teenage slice-slinger.
“The first time I ever met her face to face, she asked if she could sing to me, and when she did it, she was looking into my eyes and ... it would just bring you to tears,” Wild said. “She’d be stocking the salad bar and singing, and people’s heads would just turn.”
Though he said Lauren didn’t know it at the time, Wild had a feeling when his newest employee told him she was going out to audition for “Idol” last summer, so as a joke he asked her to take a picture with him in the CiCi’s kitchen for posterity.
Wild said the perky, positive Lauren you see on the show is exactly the girl he knows: one who comes from a good, down-to-earth family of “regular folks.”
“You can tell when someone is genuine and has a God-given talent, and that’s what she has,” he said about his most-famous employee, who has not yet officially quit her job at the restaurant.
Another place Lauren made a huge impression was at the local bar and grill, Magoo’s, where she had a standing karaoke gig every Wednesday for three years. Owner Jennifer Lawhorn — who is related to Lauren’s mother by marriage — said the “Idol” finalist first came into the bar when she was only 12 years old, just a few months after Lawhorn bought the joint.
“She came in and sang karaoke, and she was just amazing for being just 11, 12 years old, so I asked her family if she could come in and do a two-hour show,” Lawhorn recalled.
When they agreed, the then-13-year-old singer started what would be a three-year engagement of two-hour Wednesday-night gigs, which were packed from day one. Playing to a crowd of more than 130 customers, Lauren is the only local karaoke star who has ever had a regular weekly gig at Magoo’s, making Wednesday night the second busiest of the week.
“What always struck home for me was the first time she sang ‘Famous in a Small Town’ by Miranda Lambert,” Lawhorn said. “And as I ran her sound, I was thinking, ‘This kid’s gonna be famous in a small town! You don’t realize how talented you are!’ The audience just loved her, and she would sing and mingle with them, go table to table and talk to them in between songs.”
Star quality=generous spirit
love the link
Awe thanks. Slow day today, so looking around.
Scotty McCreery’s Pals Thought ‘American Idol’ Was ‘A Far-Fetched Idea’ ‘Scotty is a genuinely nice kid, a good Southern boy,’ one classmate tells MTV News.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1664156/american-idol-scotty-mccreery-hometown-visit.jhtml
Alec Hulmes, 17, has known McCreery since preschool, and they’ve lived in the same neighborhood and played baseball together their whole lives. On the eve of Scotty’s top-three performance, he told MTV News that ever since they were in elementary school, he remembers McCreery singing Elvis tunes on the bus while doing that “little eye thing.”
“I think Scotty is a genuinely nice kid, a good Southern boy,” Booth said. “He always cares about everyone else and is respectful to others.”
Before he was picked for the show, Scotty had talked to his pals about maybe doing “Idol” one day. “We didn’t think anything of it, because it seemed like such a farfetched idea,” Booth admitted. Once McCreery did try out and made the show, his teammates saw the huge reaction and realized that it could turn into a very big deal.
Yes, there’s the fame and the TV love and the potential recording contract. But preschool friend Kyle Tobin, 18, said there’s another fringe benefit that would warm the heart of any 17-year-old boy. “He used to joke about not being able to pull women,” Tobin said. “But [when he came home last weekend], all you could hear was women’s voices.”
He might seem like a quiet, unassuming Southern boy on the show, but Booth said during football and basketball games, Scotty was always the loudest fan, yelling his support for the home team and ripping off his shirt even in cold weather. “He’s normally a pretty quiet kid if you don’t know him very well,” Booth said. “So whenever you see him at a football game screaming at the other team, it’s pretty funny.”
Considering that he’s already heard some original compositions that were “far beyond” Scotty’s 17 years, Booth predicted that if his buddy wins (actually, when he wins), McCreery will make a true roots country record that would stick to the style he’s fostered on “Idol.”
McCreery will compete for ‘American Idol’ title
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/05/20/2310647/scottys-fans-cheer-for-the-idol.html
“Scotty Mania” has swept through Garner in recent weeks, reaching a crescendo last Saturday, when Scotty had a homecoming trip and performed a concert at Lake Benson park for a crowd estimated at 25,000 to 30,000 people. Now, Scotty is in the home stretch of his “Idol” journey, and the town’s residents intend to cheer him on to a huge victory.
“I think everyone loves him!” said Kelsey Bryan, a freshman at Garner High. “He’s just down to the roots.”
Scotty has been an “Idol” favorite since trying out for the show in auditions held last summer in Milwaukee, Wis. Producers obviously saw something special in the Garner High junior with the deep voice - they sent a camera crew to film background footage in Garner even before this season began airing in January.
Along the way, he also became a heartthrob to legions of preteen and teenage girls. Others appreciate the wholesome, Christian image he has projected during interviews.
“He’s a great role model for the kids in a world where there are not many role models,” said Melissa Hinton of Garner, who was at the high school viewing party Thursday night with daughter Carmen, 8, and son Bryan, 2. All had on T-shirts with Scotty’s image on them.
Paulette Disbrow of PKD Screen Printing has been selling the Scotty shirts for months, with profits going to Scotty’s favorite charities. At Saturday’s celebration at the park, she sold out of 1,840 shirts before Scotty even took the stage.
GARNER For months, Scotty McCreery had been ringing up customers just like any other high school cashier at the Lowes Foods in Garner.
But one day last February, store manager Terry Mascaro noticed that everything had changed. Scotty had just been featured on TV as a singing hopeful for this season of "American Idol," and Lowes patrons had taken notice.
"Once they realized who it was, they all went to his register," Mascaro recalled. Four checkout lines were soon empty, while Scotty's stretched 30 customers deep - all the way to the back of the store.
Scotty, 17, patiently posed for pictures and signed autographs for all of them. But the scene was a stark reminder that the life he had known - high school baseball player, member of the school chorus and the church youth group, afterschool employee at the grocery store - was going away. He was on his way to celebrity and would soon be singing for a national audience on TV's top-rated show.
Most of the stories describe Scotty as a wholesome boy next door - but one who always had something special about him, too. Jaime Baker, Scotty's kindergarten teacher at Timber Drive Elementary School in Garner, remembers a self-assured youngster who shook her hand on the first day of class and said, "My name is Scott McCreery. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Baker."
Cathy King, who taught Scotty in eighth grade at West Lake Middle School in Apex, had her students write a biography of themselves. She still has part of Scotty's: "My philosophy of life is simple. Please God, work, provide for your family and help others."
Scotty also showed his musical side back then. King remembers him bringing his guitar in and performing during an eighth-grade awards ceremony. The song choice foreshadowed Scotty's future: "The Time of My Life" by David Cook, the winner of the seventh season of "American Idol."
As he grew older, Scotty performed often at church. He won "Clayton Idol," a local singing contest. And he starred last year in Garner High's production of the musical "Bye Bye Birdie." Scotty played the role of Conrad Birdie, a thinly disguised version of Elvis Presley - Scotty's own childhood idol.
His performance was a revelation to many who hadn't heard Scotty sing yet, Garner High Principal Drew Cook said.
"My wife ... looked over at me and said, 'Who in the world is that?'" Cook recalled.
” Along the way, he also became a heartthrob to legions of preteen and teenage girls. Others appreciate the wholesome, Christian image he has projected during interviews.”
He also has a great sense of humor, and deft timing on his delivery.
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