Here's Casey's:

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/05/casey-james-american-idol-dallas-fort-worth-texas.php

part of the article:

"The media appearances came hot and heavy. He spent his morning with the folks at Fox 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth, where the home page now proudly sports a "Casey" tab. On the immediately insufferable "Good Day" show, screeching fans held up double-sided signs that said, alternately, "Casey Is Cool" and "Casey Is Hot."

Casey is also asked the awkward relationship question, and he reveals he's single. He also talks about his basset hounds, mustard and his job as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken"

and "The Weatherford Democrat says Casey will perform his mini-concert at 4 p.m. in the Fort Worth Stock Yards. According to the Dallas Morning News, he'll also sing at the opening night of the Wildflower! Festival at 9:35 p.m. Friday, opening for the B-52's. "

• RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 03:16 PM, 05-14-10
  • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 01:10 PM, 05-17-10
• RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 03:21 PM, 05-14-10
  • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,mtb002, 09:44 PM, 05-14-10
    • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,Tummy, 12:10 PM, 05-15-10
    • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,Estee, 07:28 PM, 05-15-10
  • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 11:16 AM, 05-17-10
    • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 12:59 PM, 05-17-10
      • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,vince3, 04:44 PM, 05-17-10
  • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,frodis, 02:50 PM, 05-19-10
    • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 03:39 PM, 05-19-10
      • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,frodis, 04:22 PM, 05-19-10
• RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 01:20 PM, 05-17-10
  • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,mtb002, 11:22 PM, 05-17-10
    • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 00:43 AM, 05-18-10
      • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,zazzy, 00:44 AM, 05-18-10
        • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,Tummy, 04:07 PM, 05-18-10
    • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,BlueIris, 02:59 PM, 05-18-10
      • RE: Final 3's hometown visits,mtb002, 06:54 PM, 05-18-10

Here's Crystal's:

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/05/crystal-bowersox-toledo-ohio-american-idol.php

"Crystal's return is also OMG BIG NEWS!!! at the Toledo Blade, which has sharpened its home page with links to a "live Crystal Bowersox blog/chat" and a creepily washed out graphic linking to "All things Crystal," which I believe is also a shop in Williamsburg, Va., that my mom likes.

Anyway.

A Crystal concert is scheduled for 12:30, the Blade reports, which Fox Toledo will no doubt cover live. She played a few songs on the air, including two of her own compositions, "Holy Toledo" and "Grey Hair Rock Star," according to the Toledo Free Press.

She'll also sing the national anthem before the Indianapolis Indians/Toledo Mud Hens game, Fox reports. "

More on Crystal's hometown visit:

http://www.independentcollegian.com/news/bowersox-visits-toledo-area-1.2266544

...including a fan wanting a tattoo of her signature--go to the link for that part of the article.

Here's part of the article:

"Bowersox encountered thousands of other fans during her brief stop in Toledo.

“It means everything,” Bowersox said during a brief press conference on Friday. “It’s not something I can put into words. I’m exhausted from the emotional roller coaster and just all the love. Everything that everyone has done for me is just incredible.”

She began her visit on Thursday night, heading to the Fox Toledo news studio for an appearance immediately after arriving at Toledo Express Airport on a private jet. Bowersox performed three songs, including her originals “Holy Toledo” and “Grey-haired Rock Star” by request.

“I started playing when I was 10, and I have never in my life, as long as I’ve been playing, heard that big of a cheer for one of my songs,” Bowersox said.

Her Friday morning began with radio interviews from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. before heading to the AT&T store. During her appearance at the store, she received a text message from Ellen DeGeneres informing her she would be singing “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney during tomorrow’s show.

Bowersox and her motorcade then headed to downtown Toledo for a parade and brief concert. After receiving the key to the city from Mayor Mike Bell, she performed two songs. She was overwhelmed by the crowd during “One Hand in My Pocket” and forgot the lyrics to a verse.

On her way home to Elliston, Ohio, Bowersox made an unannounced appearance at Papa’s Tavern where she used to perform.

Before her “Bowerstock” performance with her former bassist Frankie May at Ottawa County Fairgrounds, Bowersox spent time with her family and participated in another parade.

She concluded her day in front of a record-setting crowd of 13,200 at Fifth Third Field for the Toledo Mud Hens game.

“I actually need to get some more Mud Hens swag to bring back to L.A. for some friends on tour who want some,” Bowersox said.

She was driven around the outside of the field in a Mustang then threw the ceremonial first pitch. She also sang the National Anthem while holding her 11-month old son Tony.

“He did good,” Bowersox said. “He tried to eat the microphone after it was done.” "

Here's Lee's:

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/05/lee-dewyze-chicago-american-idol.php

"Part of Lee's hometown throwdown included the requisite interview with the Fox Chicago on-air team — a confab that was awkwardly conducted at the newsdesk, making me wonder if Lee was going to give us traffic and weather together on the eights."

and

"And holy crap. I was kidding about traffic and weather a paragraph or two ago, but it turns out they actually did have him do the weather with Portly Jolly Weather Guy. Lee actually seems to be having a good time, which is surprising given his usual reticence to ad lib when he's on "Idol." Also, his Chicago accent is out in full force. Oh my gyad."

and

"He'll have a parade through his neighborhood of Mount Prospect at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Fox reports. He'll give a sold-out mini-concert in ##### Park at 6:30.

In other DeWyze news, the Chicago Sun-Times' Dave Hoekstra looks at how the members of the group formerly known as the Lee DeWyze Band have weathered their namesake's success. Apparently, they're doing just fine: An album they recorded with Lee went out nationwide to Wal-Mart outlets this week, Hoekstra reports."

----------------

Yep. The Lee DeWyze Band. At a Walmart near you.

"Yep. The Lee DeWyze Band. At a Walmart near you."

Snicker.. Can Estee call 'em or what?

Let me pose a question though, in all seriousness. Is it worse to name the band after yourself, or to shoot for a cool name and fail (We Are the Fallen..cough)?

A. At least B shows some creativity.

It's even worse when you use your first and last name as the band's name.

I'm just that good.

Accurate reality-based predictions to date: five.

More on Lee's hometown visit--he played 10 songs for over 40,000 people. Hmmm. That reminds me of the reception that Kris got last year.

Article and video at the link:

http://www.examiner.com/x-42084-Chicago-Nightlife-Examiner~y2010m5d16-a

Part of the article:

"As if having a street shut down in his honor wasn't enough, Mount Prospect’s Mayor, Irvana Wilks, presented the hometown hero with the key to the city during his concert at ##### Park Race Track. The proud mayor declared May 14, 2010 officially Lee DeWyze day. Visibly shaken, Lee wiped his teary eyes proclaiming, "You guys have just as much to do with this as I do," pointing out to the sea of 41,369 screaming fans.

The fans were treated to a welcome surprise, "American Idol, say hi to Illinois," DeWyze beamed, "We're actually only supposed to play three songs but we're going to play more!" Lee tuned his guitar and launched into a set of 10 complete songs that included Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," Dave Matthews Band's "Crash" and Hinder's "Lips of an Angel." He even gave the crowd a glimpse of his own personal collection with a medley of original pieces. At one point, Lee stopped midway through “Hey Jude” and requested, "Can you do a favor for me? This has actually been a dream of mine my whole life, to get a bunch of people clapping at one time to see what it sounds like. Can I get every single person in here clapping for this song right now?" All 41,369 fans erupted into a thunderous synchronized clap to the Beatle's classic, bringing the singer to tears."

Why is the name of the race track ##### 'd out?

It's Arlington, which a long time ago was put on the bad word list because of scammers and some such........ just put a pair of brackets inside the name and you'll get it to appear......

So, I went. The place where we order Chinese take out is about a block and a half from the humble paint store, so I figured that if it's close enough for egg rolls, it's close enough for me to make an AI pilgrimage. Plus, the weather was amazing and it had been raining all week so it was nice to just go out.

The parade started right at the MP train station, and Mr. Fro's train was scheduled to arrive at 5:15 (the parade was supposed to start at 4:30) so it all worked out for us.

I parked down the block a bit to avoid the throngs of crazy people in bright tshirts. First I saw a flock of bright neon green VOTE4LEE tshirts, then a gaggle of electric blue. There were yellow ones, too. It seemed like everyone had one. I did not. There were plenty of enterprising people set up with folding tables selling homemade VOTE4LEE gear, though. Shirts, buttons, assorted miscellaneous swag. (No, I did not buy anything.)

I pulled up next to LePeep and made fast friends with a few people who were there more for the spectacle than the subject.

The crowd was mainly comprised of:

- small miasmas of teenaged girls who moved and squealed and text-messaged as a unit and had a propensity for sporting the most VOTE4LEE swag

- older folks, mainly wearing VOTE4LEE shirts. Some had the good sense to have children with them who might reasonably have been assumed to be the ones driving the attendance, but most were just there with their folding lawn chairs and dark wrap-around sunglasses.

- Moms. (hi.)

- Assorted people who were there for the spectacle, casually holding a cup of Caribou coffee as if visiting Caribou were the sole reason for their having ventured into MP that afternoon.

I got there around 4:15. Shortly after I arrived a few helicopters appeared in the sky and the crowd got all squealey, but we were in for a wait. I found out from one of Mt. Prospect's finest that there was a DeWyze DeLay of anywhere from a half hour to 40 minutes. I meandered around a bit and eventually wound up in a roped-off parking lot that was about a foot behind the crowdline. It was raised up a bit and crowd-free and since I didn't want my obituary to read "trampled by American Idol crowd" I figured it was the best spot for me.

The parade started around ten after 5. There was a band and cheerleaders and flags and hooplah. Then Lee's car went past to lots of screaming and fanfare. He looked stunned. I actually wondered for a moment if he was going to cry or pass out.

Then, as the car proceeded down the street, the crowd wrapped in behind him and followed down the street pied-piper style. The parade route was only about a mile long, ending by Lee's paint store. I noted the day before that it seems to have gotten a fresh coat of bright white paint on the outside and the Benjamin Moore lettering has been spruced up to a very bright, cheery red. It's gonna be on TV, and they knew it.

I walked back across the street and met Mr. Fro's train (which arrived 5 minutes after the parade) and we all went out to dinner.

LAST EDITED ON 05-19-10 AT 03:39 PM (EST)

Thanks! You're the first person I've "known" that has gone to one of the AI hometown visits. Cool. Bet the crowd reaction was worth it. Should we look for you when they roll footage tonight?

I remember Kris and Danny having that overwhelmed look last year. I don't recall Adam having it, though.

From all I have read, it sounds like Lee had huge hometown support.

There were a lot of TV cameras, but I don't recall any of them pointed in my direction. If they show a shot of a bunch of cheerleaders in blue and white doing a LEE chant, well, I won't be in the shot, because I was standing right behind the camera man, trying to open a bag of animal crackers for my 1 y.o. son who was not impressed with the goings-on.

The cheerleaders and the marching band were staged in the roped-off parking lot behind Mr. Submarine, and after the camera people took their shots of the cheerleaders milling around being cheery, and they vacated it to line up for the parade, I went and slipped into the parking lot to get myself and the stroller out of the tramplezone.

I did take a few pictures which I have to upload.

More on Casey's:

http://tvwatch.people.com/2010/05/15/casey-james-idol-texas-homecoming/

Here's part of the article:

"At 6:40 a.m. Friday, James hopped into his stretch SUV limo and waved at the gathering crowd before heading off to the first of 10 scheduled appearances.

“I love everything about Texas,” he said, as he waved at fans in cars with cameras chasing his limo despite a massive police escort. “It is good to be home.”

Starting out at a local television station, the Idol finalist was met with a red carpet of screaming students from his alma mater, Millsap High School, and fans of all ages holding signs and screaming at his arrival.

“I’ve gotten several marriage proposals today,” he said, laughing.

With a day packed with emotion, perhaps one of the most intense visits took place at Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital, where James treated six years ago after a life-threatening motorcycle accident where he suffered a broken wrist and femur.

“Thank you for saving my life,” said a teary-eyed James to his former orthopedic surgeon Dr. Cory Collinge, as his weeping mother looked on. He presented the doctor with a black electric guitar and personally thanked all the staff. “I am hugging everyone in this room today because I wouldn’t be here,” he said, “and I certainly wouldn’t be playing the guitar if it wasn’t for all of you.”

And there was music, too.

James pulled out his guitar at Keys Lounge, a packed Fort Worth club, filled with more screaming fans. “I used to play here all the time and no one came,” he said afterward. “And now, the place is filled to capacity … This is completely surreal.”

James and his family were reunited at his house –- which he built himself –- and enjoyed a Texas-sized picnic. Then it was time to face the public again -– this time at the Fort Worth Stockyard, where he was given a key to the city and other souvenirs.

The next day, James headed home to Cool, Texas, the only of the top 3 finalists to have two full days of public appearances, which included a concert at the town’s tiny community center. But the day culminated in a bigger concert at his high school stadium, where 4,000 fans were eager for his performance. "

Anybody who still thinks Casey doesn't belong in the top 3 or the finale should head to YouTube and check out the Keys Lounge sets. Gravity and Drowning on Dry Land are exquisite. It might be enough to rekindle an old flame for some on this board (I'm looking at you, MC). He may not have the same vocal power as Lee or Crystal, but he's probably the best musician to ever hit that stage as a contestant.

Thx 4 the heads up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP4BAVtOSfY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAa4YX9_dO0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0EnpEm-SQo&feature=related

LAST EDITED ON 05-18-10 AT 00:49 AM (EST)

!!!!
"Drowning on Dry Land"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XgJkXEJQuU

Wish he'd do this on Tuesday night! "Ain't Looking Back"

http://cache02.casttv.com/video/964r8j1/mov06133-mpg-casey-james-americanidol-contestant-hometown-ft-worth-texas-keys-lounge-rockin-out-video

If you like blues guitar....Casey's got it in spades!

As Siobhan would say - That was wicked good!

Wow. I wish he'd play like that on Idol.

Wow.

thanks Capn2patch

He can't, he only gets 90 sec per song. And as Simon loves to point out, it's a singing competition. So he gives us little glimpses of what we'd get and hopes we can musically extrapolate and vote for him. I have a new respect for how hard the time restriction must be for all of them.