Homecoming

By On 05/11/2007 · 41 Comments · In American Idol

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The Final 3, Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis have a busy weekend ahead.  

They’ll be filming hometown visits in the next couple of days.   The video packages will be  included on next Wednesday’s  results show.  Ãƒâ€š  The Top 3 sing 3 songs on Tuesday–one they pick, one chosen by media mogul Clive Davis, and one chosen by one of the judges.   Each contestant is assigned a judge who picks a tune for them.

During the visits–at least this is how it’s gone down  in the past–a  political official will announce  the contestant’s judges choice song.  

Season 5′s #3 contestant, Elliott Yamin will also be on hand Wednesday to perform.   That’s gotta be sweet, ’cause a year ago he was eliminated from the competition at 3rd place.   Thank you TPTB for finally bringing back an Idol to perform on a results show.   That will make up for being  force-fed Simon’s X-factor winner, Leona Lewis, who is also slated to perform  on Wednesday.   Bleah.

Here’s the schedule for each Idol:

Blake Lewis (press release)

  • An  interview and live performance on Q13 FOX News  during the 8:00 a.m. hour.
  • More live radio interviews
  • Blake performs  a mini-concert free to the public at Westlake Mall Park at 12:15 p.m.
  • Blake travels to his hometown,  Bothell, WA  for a city-wide celebration beginning with a parade at 4:00 p.m. on Main Street.
  • He  performs the national anthem before the Seattle Mariners home game vs. the New York Yankees at 7:05 p.m. at Safeco Field.

Jordin Sparks (More here)

  • She’ll appear  on Fox 10 Arizona Morning at 7 am
  • A pep-rally at her high school  begins at 1:30 pm
  • Another pep-rally begins at 3:30 pm at the Westgate center in Glendale with performances by former “Arizona Idol” winners.
  • A “procession” with Jordin at 4 pm
  • She’ll perform several songs  she performed on the show.
  • Mayor Elaine Scruggs and the Valleyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s five professional sports teams are expected to take part in the event.

  Melinda Doolittle (more here)

  • Melinda  will appear  at the Wildhorse Saloon  Ãƒâ€š  between 7 and 8 a.m. on the local Fox 17 show Tennessee Mornings. The first 200 people will be admitted to the show.  Ãƒâ€š  Bucky Covington will be there too.
  • A free homecoming celebration starts at 10:30 am at Belmont University.   Melinda graduated from Belmont in 1999.
  • She is scheduled  meet Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen at an afternoon press conference at the state capitol.

 
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  • weelassie

    I go absolutely crazy when people say all the winners are from the south. ugh. Oklahoma is the southwest and it is more west than south. Texas is also the southwest. I live there and consider it more west than south. I have also lived in north carolina so I’ve lived in the south too. although, i considered n carolina south east. yes, alabama is the south. but oklahoma and texas. that is a stretch. wonder where on the map they consider a state not in the south if it is in the lower part of the us. if you do a region search, most of them list oklahoma and texas as southwest. some are so detailed, that they list from houston over as south and from the other side of houston as west. lol. guess we will have to look and see where burleson falls. Lol.

  • weelassie

    Heck to add to my rank, St. Louis is the gateway to the west. lol. I also lived in Ohio and that was considered the mid west. lol. it was plain ole east as far as i’m concerned. So if Ohio is midwest how the heck is Oklahoma not west.

  • GwendolynD

    I live in Texas and would consider it more South-Central than plain south. It’s right in the middle of the Southern US.

  • NOLA

    To me, this is the most exciting part of the whole season. I always look forward to the Idol Homecomings! I’m wishing all 3, a fabulous day!

  • jersey

    No spoilers yet on the judges pick of songs?

  • jnd1221

    MJ, did you watch Blake’s performances on that Q13 site? He seems a little sick, but so awesome! He had his whole looping thing going on and he was so comfortable and sounded amazing.

  • http://myspace.com/girlgeek mj

    MJ, did you watch Blakeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performances on that Q13 site? He seems a little sick, but so awesome! He had his whole looping thing going on and he was so comfortable and sounded amazing.

    Yeah, I did. It will be interesting to see what kind of album he makes.

  • http://www.myspace.com/swood1104 Sarah

    No info yet on Melinda’s song choice from the judges? That should be announced at her meeting with the govenor…

  • GeminiDolly

    I am also surprised Randy chose a Whitney song for Melinda since they always mention to the contestants to steer clear of the Mariahs and the Whitneys and the Celines. But I guess since Melinda is our RESIDENT PRO, Randy thinks she is more than capable of singing this song. Even if it is a crappy song, everyone knows Melinda is our RESIDENT PRO and will sing the heck out of this song. She’s the most consistant. She sings the same way each week, never changes her style, and even puts on the same wig each week. That’s what you call a RESIDENT PRO. She has this thing in the bag.

  • AlterEgo

    I’m really looking forward to Leona “taking up airtime” coz she’s gonna show up the current crop for what they really are… probably the poorest collection AI has had in it’s history. Melinda can sing “old style” stuff… but is bland… what was she thinking in “dedication week” dedicating her song to her stylist. Blake is an interesting character but lacking chops… and Jordin real does have a spark… but she needs a coupla years to grow up a bit (not literally of course). Season 4 was the best in my book. Still, when Leona performs it will be an eye-opener as to what real talent is, and this season NEEDS a real dose of talent, both vocally and visually. (Thumbs up to Elliot…. one of my faves too!!)

  • SODF

    Last season was the most successful season Idol has ever had, in terms of ratings. Also in terms of quality, as far as many people are concerned. That success was driven by the diverse talent and engaging personalities of last year’s finalists. The show would do well to thank them by giving them an opportunity to perform on this season’s shows to promote their current albums, tours, etc, or simply to acknowledge the talent that made last season such a good season.

    So far only one Season Five finalist has appeared. Yes, I do think the show should give preference to last season’s Idol finalists instead of someone who won another TV singing contest. Yep – I think Leona Lewis, whatever her talent, is taking up valuable airtime that should go to someone else.

    As for Leona herself – I’ve seen some of her X-Factor performances on the net, and frankly, in light of the grandiose claims made for her, I’ve been underwhelmed. But we’ll see what happens Wed night. Apparently she’s gonna choose a great song and blow everyone away. OK – I’ll be waiting for that.

  • misti

    Response to pj

    >>>Blakeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s parade is only four blocks. I wonder if they will make it seem HUGE on teevee. I guess Bothell is pretty small. :)

  • misti

    Not sure why my message got cut off but continuing… the population of Bothell is approx 35,000 and spread out over two counties, as well as being a suburb of Seattle. Small compared to some but not like pj is trying to make it sound. We work hard at keeping our downtown area “quaint” looking (and BTW it is closer to 8 blocks long and the celebration also spread over into Bothell Landing.) We don’t need to resort to fake photography since over 7000 of us came out to support Blake on a work day afternoon! Sounds like sour grapes like maybe your contestant isn’t winning. Sorry about that but ours IS and we hope to keep it that way. But win or lose we have nothing to be ashamed of in our support for Blake or in our city… mock us all you want for being “pretty small” but we were there in screaming force for our local boy hitting the big time. We are proud of him and proud of Bothell! :)

  • misti

    The real thing :)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQFJWB8U8Nk

    Oh and here is the rest of the crowd… and BTW is YOUR city this gorgeous? :)

    http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/american-idol-blake-lewis-day-in-bothell/

  • misti

    The real thing :)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQFJWB8U8Nk

    Oh and here is the rest of the crowd… and BTW is YOUR city this gorgeous? :)

    http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/2007/05/11/american-idol-blake-lewis-day-in-bothell/

  • ruru
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