David Archuleta - Archey Report - Evansville, IN - 09/11/08

(Here's the Archey Report from Micara in Evansville, IN! Thanks!)

Idols, Part Deux

So apparently, one road trip, one Idol concert, and one sweating-and-standing-in-in-extreme-heat episode is not enough for yours truly, so I decided to take my measly $600 "gift" from El Presidente and do it all over again.

Originally, since my mommy is in Alaska, I was going to force my partner Dan to chauffeur my daughter Meg and I to Evansville, Indiana (4 hours away), where he could sulk and be antisocial while Meg and I met the Idols again. Thankfully, my dear friend Mandy saved us all from that particular fate when she volunteered to come along. Yay- girl's trip!!

Now, those who know me well know that I hate to drive. I am very bad at it. I tend to get road ragey and hit various stationary objects. Now I was literally thrust into the driver's seat. I seriously had doubts about whether or not we would make it to Evansville.

Nevertheless, I took my Aveo by the steering wheel and off we went, listening to my "Girl's Night Mix" cd and Archie's "Crush" single on repeat, much to Megan's chagrin.

The trip to Evansville was fairly uneventful. We arrived at the Baymont Inn no worse for wear.

This morning, we set out for Roberts Stadium to meet our Idols. I was much wiser this time- I had strategized for this meeting like a general prepares for battle. I armed myself with bottled water, suntan lotion, spearmint gum (for minty breath), and a card for each Idol. I had hit up the Cardologist a couple of weeks ago for some humorous cards in which I put pictures from the St. Louis concert, so they could have them for a scrapbook or sell them to the Enquirer or whatever.

We were among the first to arrive at the stadium. In all my planning I had forgotten chairs, so Mandy sportingly ran down to Walmart to get some. It was sprinkling on and off, but for the most part it stayed gray and humid. Thankfully I had decided to wear my hair in it's natural, curly beastlike state.

I was sweating like crazy, so I changed my clothes in the parking lot. Great planning, General Michele.

We met up with some awesome fellow Idolators- some girls throwing a birthday party for Chikezie and handing out beads; a couple of ladies sitting next to us, one named Michele (awesome name!); and a girl named Carrie who was there by herself since her friends (foolishly) didn't want to go.

We hung out for about 2 and a half hours. It went very quickly though! And then came the buses!

First out was David Archuleta. He looked almost ethereal in a turquoise shirt. He is perfection. Sorry, I will stop now. Unfortunately, he started at the end of the line, and we were closer to the beginning.

Next was David Cook, sporting a Kansas City Chiefs hat. He also started at the end. I started getting impatient and whiny.

Then there was... Kristy Lee Cook! KLC is always nice and polite to us fans, but I am sure it's hard to be there when most of us are drooling over the men. She started at our end and was my first autograph and picture of the day!

Then came... Castro! A bunch of his fans were there as usual- some of them were actually toting his head on a stick. Not his actual head, sorry. I should clarify that. I like Jason- he's not my favorite, but I do like him a lot. He always looks good. His hair is awesome, and he has the bluest eyes and the whitest teeth. He was wearing a white shirt and denim cutoffs- and no shoes! He looked really, really good. He is always very nice and down to earth too. He signed me an autograph and took pictures with all of us.

Then... Michael Johns!!! He looked hot. Woo! And he started at our side! As he was walking up, he saw Megan and said to her "Aww!" about her Puppy Johns sign and then "Nice to see you again!" He recognized her from St. Louis! Meg and I about DIED!

Then... calamity! Archie and Michael Johns got to us at the same time. Actually, Archie got there first. He is so awesome. First I said, "This little girl is SO jealous of you! You have to win her over!" as I pointed to Meg. He said "Really? Why?" And I said "Oh, she thinks I love you more than her, which is ridiculous." And I think he like laughed and nodded. It's hard to remember! I told him she had just started piano lessons and he seemed really interested in that. Then my mouth took over. I showed him my framed picture of the 2 of us from St. Louis. He signed it. I said, "I have this sitting on my desk at work." and he said "Really? Where from?" and I thought he meant where do I work, so I said "A newspaper." and he said "This was at a newspaper?" and I said "No, I work at a newspaper; this picture is from my desk there." and he said "Where was it taken?" and I said "OH! St. Louis! I thought you meant where did I work?"

Yeah, I'm an idiot. And I sure felt like one. We were like 2 people who were fluent in the language of Fluster. It was ridiculous. I am cringing just writing about it!!!

THEN- to further things, Michael Johns walked up during all this and proceeded to skip us! As I was getting my picture taken (again) with Archie, I yelled "Michael Johns, you get back here!!!" Like I was his mother or something. Sheesh.

He yells back (jokingly) "Hey! YOU skipped ME!" but he came back over. He talked to Meg about how he remembered her from St. Louis. "In the parking garage. I hopped up on the cement block for her." Incredible!

So I said to him, "Can I have my picture with you? I did my hair and everything!" and he says, "You did? In this humidity?" He is a riot.

Not too long after that, Cook got to us. I made him read my sign, which said "Gimme Cookie!" and had a picture of Cookie Monster on it. I asked him to sign my pics of him from St. Louis, one of which I had tried to photoshop and make it look like a comic. He said "What happened to this one- did you spill something on it?" and I said "You know? I was trying to be all artsy and it obviously didn't work." He laughed. In his pictures with Meg and me, he is making some crazy faces. If I had known he was doing that, I would have made one back at him instead of smiling like a mindless idiot.

I got really excited because I saw Carly, and she was the one I missed in St. Louis. She apparently had some friends there who gave her a birthday party, since her birthday is tomorrow (well, now today.) She spent a lot of time with them, and by the time she got to us, I asked her for a picture and she said "I'm not doing pictures. I have to go do press. I am the only one doing press today." I was kind of stung by that. She was a little, well, grouchy. But what made me mad was then she went down to her friends again for about 20 more minutes. Whatever. When she walked back by, Mandy said to her "Thanks for taking time (to sign us autographs) Carly" and Carly just ignored her! And I know she heard her.

Soapbox time! I think it's absolute BS that the Idols have to take time away from the fans to do press. We are the ones spending the money, buying the tickets and souveniers, buying the cds, calling in votes which gets AI their big advertising revenue... take time from someone else, but not the fans!!!

Then there was... Chikezie. I cannot say enough about how Awesome Chikezie is. He is such a sweetheart. He takes time for everyone- he gave everyone who handed him something a hug. He actually had to stop after me to go do press (I thought Carly was the only one doing press?) but HE came BACK after press and picked right back up with Carrie where he had left off. HE is truly awesome!

Last but not least was Brooke. She sounded like she was a little under the weather, but other than that she was her wonderful self. She talks to everyone and is very personal and grounded.

Ramiele and Syesha were no shows. I gave their cards to Brooke to take to them.

Concert Time!

Our seats were INCREDIBLE. I guess it pays to buy from a scalper, no matter how much I hate the idea.

The show was pretty much the same as St. Louis- everyone sounded awesome. There was a special tribute for 9/11 of one of the band guys playing his trumpet. It was beautiful.

Michael Johns really went beserk during Please Don't Stop the Music. It was awesome! They did the Mavid! WOOHOO!

My memory card filled up during Syesha's performance, so I had to hurry up and delete off all the blurry pics. Mandy let me borrow her memory card for the final few numbers. I will post what I have probably tomorrow.

We made it back to Springfield in 3 and a half hours, and that included a severe thunderstorm, complete with what we thought was hail, AND massive fog. Yeah. I rock!

All in all, all the time, effort, money, driving, and sweating was worth it. I don't know when I will ever see an Idol with this much talent. And there will never be another Archie for me- not ever. I"ll close with what I wrote in his card.

"I am not a religious person, but hearing your voice is the closest I've come to being moved on a spiritual level. This season for me wasn't about who won, it was about the way I feel when I hear you sing. Thank you for that."