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By PAULA OUELLETTE
Contributing Writer

Whew ... where do I start? My Mom, my Aunt Betty & I got to Joe Louis Arena at around 6 pm, and we had to go right away to the box office to pick up our new seating arrangements and our backstage passes. We got them, and we waited in line for about 30 minutes to get into the arena.

Once we got into the arena, we went to get souvenirs. I bought a programme, an 8 x 10 glossy photo of each Idol for them to sign, a keychain, and 2 pins (one Kimberly Caldwell and one Clay Aiken). I waited to meet up with a friend of mine named Emily (Stuff_Like_That from Live Daily), but I didn't realize that I was waiting on the wrong floor until right before the concert. We never got to meet up with her, since I had to go back down to the main level to get to our new seats ... .Section F-3, Row 14! AND ... .we were sitting behind a celebrity (but we didn't know that he was a celebrity until Ruben pointed him out in the audience!), gospel singer, Fred Hammond! He spoke to me and was so nice!

The show began with Randy Jackson on the screen, introducing little Charlie Grigsby! Damn, is that boy (Charlie) full of energy, or what! *LOL* He sang a song called, "What Do I Do?", and it was AWESOME! He danced and sang his way through the song, to finish by introducing Julia Demato.

Julia has REALLY improved since her days on the show. She sounded better (as if that was possible), and has lost the stage fright she seemed to have on the show! She sang "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, and beautiful it was! She introduced the next performer, Rickey Smith.

Rickey rocked the house, with his number, "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson. He was amazing, and his presence is incredible! And he's TALL, too! He introduced the next performer, which was my girl, Kimberly Caldwell.

Kim came out onstage, singing "Stuck" by Stacie Orrico, and I thought she did a WAY better job than Stacie herself does with the song! Bet you didn't know that the girl can dance too! She pretty much OWNED the stage when she was up there! She went on to introduce Carmen Rasmusen.

Carmen sang "Up" by Shania Twain, and I'll tell you, her vocal ability has REALLY improved! She did a GREAT job with the song, and she had incredible stage presence! The first think I noticed about her was how incredibly skinny (and short) she actually is! She is beautiful though! She introduced Trenyce.

Trenyce sang "Proud Mary". She's got an incredible voice, although I would like to have seen her choose a different song for her solo. She rocked out though, and did her "thang" with the song. She introduced Kimberley Locke.

Kimberley is even better than I ever thought she would be! She is another one of them that owns the stage when she comes out. She sang "Band Of Gold", and did an amazing job with it! She really is beautiful too! She went on to introduce her "new best friend", Clay Aiken (cue the screaming!).

Clay came out, and EVERYONE in the entire arena went NUTS! He sang "This Is The Night", and he was just AMAZING! He introduced Ruben Studdard.

Ruben came out, and sang, "Superstar", and "Don't Wanna Stop" by Luther Vandross. He was excellent on stage, and you can tell that he enjoys every minute that he has onstage! After he sang those two songs, they had about a 20-minute intermission.

When they came back, they started the group songs with the guys singing, "The Lady Is A Tramp", followed by the girls singing "Bootylicious". It actually ended up being a medley of sorts, because both songs were mixed together.

Ruben & Clay then sang "The Girl Is Mine" by Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson, which ROCKED! The guys really know how to ham it up onstage, and pretend they were fighting over a girl named Kelly! *LOL*

Kimberley Locke came out next, and nearly had everyone in tears when she sang "Inseparable". She did a beautiful job with it! She introduced the BeeGees Medley, which everyone came out and sang to.

Kimberly Caldwell, Trenyce, & Clay then came out to introduce Ruben, who was about to sing his new single, "Can I Get Your Attention?", but before that, Kim & Trenyce challenged Clay to a dance match. They performed a dance move, and clay had to do it just like them ... it was priceless! They then split the audience down the middle to say 205 to introduce Ruben.

Ruben sang his new song, and it was AWESOME! I can't wait to get that song on CD! He really moved his booty during that song, and proved that he can dance too!

Charlie & Rickey then came out and sang the Prince hit, "Let's Go Crazy", which rocked out. Carmen then came out and sang, "Let's Hear It For The Boy", from the Footloose soundtrack, which she really did well with.

Clay came out, and sang "Can You Feel The Love Tonight", and really did the song justice! Kimberley Locke then took the stage to sing her song from the American Idols' Greatest Love Songs CD, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", which was beautiful.

Next up were Julia & Carmen, with Kim Caldwell on leads for "Feel Good Time" by Pink, which was an AWESOME display of special effects! Kim's voice was PERFECT for the song!

The next songs went as follows: If I Never Knew You- Rickey & Julia, I Have Nothing- Trenyce, I'm Every Woman- Trenyce, Julia, Kim C., Carmen, The Best Things In Life Are Free- Ruben & Kim L., & I've Had The Time Of My Life- Everyone. BUT ... the show wasn't over yet ...

Clay came out wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey (he said, "The people of Raleigh are spitting mad at me right now!") and sang a song from his upcoming album, which was a real treat to all Clay fans. The song was called "Invisible". He introduced Ruben to sing "Flying Without Wings", and then everyone came out to sing "God Bless The USA". At this point, I had moved to front row, so that I knew where to go when it was time to go backstage. We were told to meet at the back, and we'd then be given further instructions.

We were lead into a restaurant at the Arena, called The Olympia Room. We waited for about 10 minutes, and Ruben Studdard was the first to walk in. He was SO TIRED, you could tell!

Rickey Smith was next to enter, and when he did, I yelled out to him, "Can you do HERCULES for us?" He looked up at me with his trademark grin, and said, "Oh, Lord!" Then we yelled out, "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE?' He then did it! It was awesome! He's too cute ... SUPER-nice!

Charlie Grigsby entered next, and he's so short! He sat with his friends for a minute, and then got up and started mingling with the fans there.

Carmen Rasmusen came in next, and she's SUCH a doll! She right away started mingling with the fans there, as well as a few friends that she had brought with her to see the show!

Kimberly Caldwell came in next, and when I saw her, I yelled, "CALDWELL! 30 MINUTES!" She looked around, and said loudly, "Alright, where my girls at?", meaning myself and another fan named Kristin, who runs a Kimberly web site. She gave us both a hug, and we started talking. We didn't even notice Clay Aiken slip in.

By the time I noticed Clay, security was starting to drag him away, so I didn't get a picture with him or an autograph. I did, get a hello, however from him, as I said hello before he left. He said he'd be back ... but he never came ...

I went back to see Kim, and give her the gift I had bought for her (it was a Teeny Beanie, named Kool Katy, since she's from Katy, Texas), and she loved it! She signed my glossy, and then I asked her to write a note for the fans of her fan club, so she did that as well. When she was finished doing that, I decided I wanted to walk around and mingle with the other Idols too.

The first one I saw was Rickey Smith, so I asked him for a picture. He smiled, and happily obliged. REAL gentleman! He then signed my glossy.

I then approached Ruben Studdard, and asked him to sign my glossy photo. He did, and didn't say a word, and then I asked him to take a photo with him. My Mom then noticed how tired he looked, and she asked him, "Are you tired Ruben?" He looked at my mom and said, "Yes, ma'am!" He looked at my Aunt & I, and said, "Let's go", so my mom could take the picture. I knew he was tired, but I was kind of disappointed when I met him. He barely spoke to us, and just seemed like he wanted to get it all over with, like we were bothering him.

I walked up to Charlie Grigsby after that, and he was sitting at a table, signing people's programmes. A little boy walked up to him, and said he was sorry for bothering Charlie, Charlie smiled, and said, "You're not bothering me, that's what I'm here for!" When I got up to him, he smiled, and asked me my name after I asked him to sign my glossy. I told him, and he smiled at me, and said, "Like Paula Abdul! Geez, I haven't talked to her in weeks!" I gave him a hug and thanked him, and he posed for a picture with me. He has the BEST smile, and smelled so good when I hugged him!

I caught up with Carmen Rasmusen next. She looks like an angel, and was absolutely sweet! She signed my pic, and I got a picture taken with her. Since there were no other Idols that I hadn't seen yet at the party, I made my way back to Kimberly.

I asked her for another pic, and she said, "*sigh* Paula, you're such a pain!" We then laughed and joked with each other. We sat and chatted about stuff, like her Maxim photo shoot ("Do I really look like I have huge boobs?"), and her high heel boots (Me- "How do you walk in those things?" Kim—"I don't. I die."). When Kim & I were talking at the table, a guy approached her that Kim seemed to know. He had made it to the Top 100 in Pasadena last time, so while him and Kim talked about Pasadena, and I got in on the conversation. I mentioned to him that I'm a singer to so he sang to me, and it was AMAZING! Then I sang a tiny part of "Beautiful" for him, and Kim nudged me, and said, "Oh, you sing so pretty!" The guy was amazing though, and he said he's going to try out again!

A fan approached Kim WITH the Maxim magazine in hand, and asked her to sign it. We looked at the pics, and picked apart everything while we were looking at the pics, not noticing that a little boy about 4 years old was standing there, waiting to get her autograph. Kim spotted him, and immediately closed the magazine. She said," You can't see that!" She asked him for a kiss, and at first, he was shy to give her one, but she PROMISED to close her eyes, and he kissed her on the cheek! It was adorable!

Once the little boy had left, we re-opened the magazine, so that Kim could sign the magazine, and when we got back to the page, she took a piece of paper, and said, "Gotta cover that cleavage there!" After she signed that mag, security FINALLY came in, and told all the Idols that they had to leave. Kim was the last to leave, wishing both Kristin and I a safe trip home, and gave us a final hug. It was DEFINITELY a night to remember!