Lauri’s Oakland American Idol Tour Re-Cap

Lauri was Rickey’s cell caster last night, and was able to “interview” all the Idols out at the buses for Rickey’s excited audience.   Let Lauri tell you what what down last night…

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MY OAKLAND AI TOUR SHOW & “BUS-CAST” SEMI-RECAPS:

Hi MJ and other AI fans on this blog: I had the joy and privilege to be at the amazing Oakland Idols Tour show last nite (my first and only show).. and to do the second half of Rickey’s cellcast from Oakland last nite — as well as the now-relatively-infamous (and hugely fun!) “epic bus-cast” outside the Arena after the show.. I’ve posted a few partial recaps onto Rickey.org on the page he’s set up for the “Bus-cast”, which I’ve edited and posted here below.

Here’s the link to the ‘bus-cast’

Rickey.org bus-cast

MJ, did you catch my shout-out to you towards the end of that ‘bus-cast’? I was talking to Rickey about how much I appreciate your blog and his and how they give me a balance in my crazy life as a law student I was so lucky to be very close to the stage, and was incredulous to witness such a great show.. I became converted into a Danny & Matt fan, after seeing how great they both were in their performances.. Really impressive!

Lil was also so much better than on the TV show.. I’ve been a major fan of Adam & Allison up til now, and really like Kris too but previously less so… but last nite, seeing Kris live was incredibly dynamic.. he’s really quite the virtuoso musician, besides being a great singer.. Adam is beyond belief… I kept pinching myself & thinking how much I want to get his new CD and see him in his own full-length show (same for Kris and Allison too, of course!)

The 4 other friends I went with and I all commented what a wonderfully diverse audience was at this show – just sitting in the row in front of me were ages 2-82!

We all were disappointed that there’s no room for an Encore, but we just didn’t want it to end!

Also, must give a shout-out to Dave “KO”, the band/music director/keyboards, and the incredible band members.. they were fantastic.. and the 2 backup singers as well – excellent!

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SEMI-RECAP #1 FROM LAST NITE:
I’m finally home and still in a state of shock from that amazing “buscast” (didn’t know it had a name!)

Just looked at my wonderful t-shirt where Adam signed it – above where it says “ADAM ROCKS”…
I still can NOT believe he literally had his hands on my chest (he had to straighten out the shirt in order to sign it with his Sharpie), all the while I was holding the phone out to him to talk to you guys – hilarious

I’m so thrilled that I was able to get everyone on the phone with you.. btw, Allison DID do a shout-out, it was just really quick, like Adam’s. I think they both were in a bigger hurry than the others cause (I was told by Aaron Spears, the wonderful drummer), that they both had a lot of family visiting them tonite…

How great it was to meet Adam’s gorgeous & wonderful mom Leila before the show, who delivered my gift to Adam (the Guatemalan black jade earrings), and then he told me he loved the gift… Doesn’t get much better than that for a crazy happy fan like me…   (I’m still laughing to myself thinking of Adam doing his erotic dance with the mic stand during Whole Lotta Love, and thinking of Leila and his other family there watching! I’m sure this is nothing new for them with their beloved son.. LOL.)

AND … in the finale of “Don’t Stop Believin’”, Anoop was wearing the Warriors basketball cap I gave him (sent it to him via Danny before the show), and he wore it under his hoodie while he did the line by the buses afterwards

Btw, I met a wonderful woman named Courtney on the train home just now… She got a lot of fantastic photos of all the Idols from the “buscast” and she’s going to email them all to me – and I’ll send them to you to post with this blog as soon as I get them

What a huge adrenaline rush and what a fantastic evening this was: first the show (VERY close to sold out) and then the incredible experience meeting the Idols after the show, and having them all talk with you… Beautiful weather, everyone in a great mood, what a tremendous treat this was… We are so lucky and so blessed!

P.S. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I became a real Danny Gokey fan tonite – he was so good, and won me over! & gave me 2 great big hugs! Lil & esp. Matt also really impressed me… wow! Get these people away from that TV broadcast, and they really shine…

Kris’s new song by The Killers is such an excellent replacement for that clunker.. how great of Kris to persuade TPTB to let him substitute No-Bo with “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier”… whew, that was superb…

Okay, I could keep recapping for hours, but I’ve GOT to call it nite…

xo, Lauri in Oakland

SEMI-RECAP #2 FROM SUNDAY MORNING:

A couple of clarifications and replies to comments from Rickey’s… (with a clearer mind this morning here in Oakland!):

Both Adam and Kris had 2 bodyguards, and they came out at the same time.. Kris was just as mobbed as Adam… Adam seemed to really enjoy all the contact with the fans, and I totally disagree that the “other 9″ are “neediest” – that’s frankly ridiculous, imho, and if you had been there in person, you’d see that your judgments and comments about “cutting Adam a break” are really inconsistent with the reality of his experience with the fans…

I had a great talk with Adam, even tho it went by very quickly… I actually did not run after Adam, which is how it came out in the ‘bus-cast’… I walked a few feet away from my “post” on the line (which was sort of a low rope ‘fence’), to see what he was doing near me; and then when he was walking back, I thought I’d see if he’d like to talk again on the phone… He saw me holding the phone up for him again, and waved at me as he was walking back to the bus on the other side of the road in front of us, but the security guys prevented him from coming over to me again..

IMHO: Adam is a mature adult performer who doesn’t need our “empathy”. He has bought into this world, and knows very clearly what he’s gotten himself into.. He’s friendly and gracious, as were all of them.. He knows how much he is loved and appreciated.. there was huge love and excitement for all of them, in fact…

My only frustration was how quickly Allison ran down the line; her interaction with the fans seemed much more abbreviated than even Adam and Kris, and Megan was right next to her, also going by us very quickly.. I had hoped Allison would be as interactive as the others…
Everyone else spent a lot of time interacting with fans, and it was so inspiring and fun to watch them too…

I loved talking with Katy, who was really cool, and was happy to hear from Kris that he really liked the Oakland A’s baseball cap I gave him..  

I’ll post more recaps later..

P.S. Just an fyi about my mention towards the end of the ‘bus-cast’ about being a law student, and how all MJs, Rickey’s, and all this AI stuff feeds my soul and keeps me balanced!

I’m actually on a Public Interest track in school, and my focus is international human rights law.. I hope to use my persistence, verbal skills & persuasiveness (all of which you heard during our wacky bus-cast!) to be an advocate for protecting environmental activists around the world from human rights violations… not ur typical law student, obviously! LOL…

I’ve also been a fundraising consultant for nonprofits for many years and work with documentary filmmakers; Maybe i can advise the Idols on their charitable giving and foundations… that would be cool.. Really admire Danny for that work he’s doing

Okay, gotta go; off to the library to study for a final exam next week – yikes!