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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2007 > September > 12 > Entry
9/12: Idols live meet and greet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sitting in the exact same spot here at the Gwinnett Arena I did last August to kill time between the meet and greet (which was at 3) and the concert (which starts at 7.). It’s on the second level near the smoking area, out of harm’s way. Nobody bugs me here.
For the media meet and greet, the show producers typically brings out four or five contestants. They gave us Chris Sligh, who I already interviewed; Haley Scarnato (ditto); Gina Glocksen; and Chris Richardson. In other words, none of the top 5. Oh, well
I spoke with each of them for a few minutes and didn’t get anything earthshattering, not that I’d expect it.
Chris R. (above) did say that the turnout at Greensboro last night was poor. That’s probably because there was no hometown love this year in the form of Clay Aiken or Chris Daughtry. He also said he will be doing some beatboxing tonight with Blake, which should be amusing. He said he had beatboxed before but he purposely avoided doing so on the “Idol” show because he didn’t want to be a copycat.
Speaking of copycat, he said he has hung out with Justin Timberlake and almost ended up on Timbaland’s new album but he got onto “Idol” instead. (He and Timbaland both live in the Hampton Roads, Va. area.)
I asked Richardson about the VMAs. He missed Britney but saw Chris Brown. “He’s fantastic. He did a great job being as young as he is.” I agree!
Sligh (above), who wore a Boston Red Sox shirt (he’s been a fan since he was seven years old), said he regularly checks my blog and MJs blog and said he had posted a link to my interview Monday night and asked his fans to post comments. And he thanked me for the interview, noting that he’s had reporters who seem to troll web sites like Television Without Pity and conclude that everybody hates him. He said he literally had some reporter ask him why everyone hates him. (Hate him? Why Chris? Sanjaya is the one a lot of people hate!). And he said one reporter took his most negative quote out of a 15 minute interview and used it. I said that’s just part of the territory and the fortunate part of doing this blog is I can be far more comprehensive and provide more context.
I didn’t get much out of Gina Glocksen (above) beyond the fact there is so little drama backstage and everybody likes each other, yada yada. No shock there. She does look like she’s lost weight and seems quite personable. When I told her about the USA Today story noting that attendance is way down from past years, she said this tour is getting better reviews than past ones. That’s probably true although that didn’t really address the issue of lower attendance.
Haley was better looking in person than I thought she was on the show
“It doesn’t bug me,” said Haley (above), about the lower attendance numbers. “We made tour. That’s a blessing in itself. We get to go out and it doesn’t matter if it’s 10,000 or five.”
I had a contact at Marquis Jet, Lisa Senters, who provided me access to that company’s meet and greet with all ten contestants. I decided to use that as a venue to take pictures. I got shots of nine (except LaKisha, who didn’t show up for some reason to the meet and greet) while they signed, scattered throughout this blog entry. Sligh had a sign made saying he can’t talk, doctor’s orders, which was amusing. (Then again, he did talk to me, so he did technically defy the doc on that front.)
ABOVE: I forgot to have my flash on so this shot blurred. I should have taken another one.
After the signing, the Marquis Jet/NetJet folks got to mingle with the contestants with food and drink for a few minutes. Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks hung around the longest talking with the little kids. They were struck by Frances Mitchell, an adorable 7 year old from Atlanta who looks like Annie. They asked her to sing something and pretended to be the TV judges. She softly sang “My Favorite Things.” Melinda and Jordin then applauded like Paula. It was cute.
I spoke to Sanjaya for a few moments and asked him if he saw Chris Brown at the VMAs, who did a nifty Michael Jackson move during his set. Unlike Chris Richardson, Sanjaya hadn’t. He didn’t know about that. I then asked if he did the same and he just kinda grinned. I then told him Clay had sung “The Way You Make Me Feel,” too, which surprised him. I forgot to ask if his sister was around because she’s been at several tour dates.
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