American Idol Finale with Phil Stacey

Yesterday I saw on Twitter that Season 6 Idol Contestant Phil Stacey was going to be in Charlotte.  I tried to reply and ask if it was a public event but I unsuprisingly did not get a response.  So Google to the rescue.  I pull up our local Christian station and see they are doing a private meet and greet today.  It included dinner, Q&A, autographs/pictures and the 2 hours Season 8 Idol Finale.  There was a form to fill out to win but I figured that they certainly would have picked the winners of the tickets by then.  But I fill the form out anyway.

Today I was finishing up work about 4:15, I get ready to get my hair cut at 5 and just as I am getting ready to leave about 4:30, I get a call from the radio station saying that someone had backed out, could I come that evening?  It “just so happened” that the place was no more than 2 minutes from where I was getting my hair cut and doors opened at 6:30.  It really couldn’t have worked out better.  Especially since Danny was not in the finale and I didn’t have to worry so much about getting it all screencapped and such for the web site.  It worked out perfectly!

We all know I wasn’t looking forward to it much but this completely pumped me!  How cool is it that I got to watch an Idol Finale with a former contestant??

When we got there, there literally was a meet and greet.  We were able to talk to him for a few minutes.  Of course within the first two minutes I got out that I was a big Danny Gokey fan.  He’s apparently a friend of his.  We both agree he needs to do Christian music and his label wants to sign him.  We also found out that we have the same Church of God background.  And he went to Lee University, where Heather went for a year (?) and also the same school that our old church, Central Church of God supports and whose pastor frequently speaks on campus.  We all love Pastor Livingston.  Seriously, look up their podcast.  You won’t regret it.   So things were off to a great start!

We ate dinner, catered from Qdoba then.  The meet and greet was held at a stone company.  It sounds odd but their showroom is absolutely gorgeous.  There were 5 or so tables that are set up for customers and each have a cabinet with a flat screen at the end of it that were all tuned to American Idol.  Phil chose our table that also had a woman and her two teenage daughters, one of which also is attending Lee University.  It’s a small world, people!  Obviously we talked a lot about Lee and the group Lee Singers that he was a part of and used to visit our church.  He told some really funny stories.  I was crying I was laughing so hard listening to some of the stories.

With what little time we had left, he answered questions and played his single off his new album coming out in August.  It is a GREAT song and I definitely can see it being a hit on Christian radio.  And I’m picky!

Once Idol started, we all gathered around our respective TVs.  During the commercials Phil would give little tidbits of information about behind the scenes of idol.

It was a lot of fun watching Idol with a group.  I loved meeting Phil.  I was telling her he seemed like our kind of people.  We could definitely hang with him and feel right at home.  He is a super sweet guy, very personable and we did get to hear snippets of him sing live and his voice is amazing in person.

As for the finale itself, I just have to say it was the best finale in a long time.  Kara’s bikini segment was my favorite Idol moment EVER.  And to top all this off, Kris actually won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like I need to give a note about the pictures…I have a dumb look on my face at dinner and my hair is so flat!  My hairdresser always insists on flat ironing it to pieces!