News roundup, 7/30 (updated)

(Tour program portrait scanned by Mike/Sciortino11 of IDF.)


Edited to add a link to the Fayetteville Observer, who spoke to Rocky about tonight's concert:

Bucky Covington’s Rockingham relatives will also be at some of the Idol shows. A caravan of his family members plan to attend the Greensboro show as well as a show in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday.

“All of my family is going,” said Covington’s twin brother, Rocky. “My mom and her husband, my dad and his wife, my wife, and Bucky’s wife are all going. It should be cool.”

Rocky said he expects that many of Bucky’s Rockingham fans will also attend the show.

“He has gotten a lot of support,” Rocky said.

Bucky was the eighth-place finalist, but his Southern country-rock and optimistic attitude appealed to many. His fans kept him in the competition long after the judges and other critics thought he would go.

In May, the town in Richmond County held a welcome-home party for Covington. About 5,500 attended, Rocky said.

After the Idol tour Bucky plans to head to Nashville to pursue a recording career, Rocky said.

“He will just keep working on his music like he’s always done,” he said.

Tonight's the big homecoming concert for Bucky, Kellie and Chris--the energy at the Greensboro Coliseum should be immense! If you'll be there, please leave a recap after the show and tell us all how it went...

Meanwhile, here's some news to start off your Sunday:

Newspaper reviews of the Richmond and Washington D.C. shows are popping up online; Bucky and the rest of the Idols take a bit of a drubbing in the Washington Post (no link; why encourage them?) but the Richmond Times-Dispatch writer seems to give him some (guarded, grudging) affection. (Hey, it'll make his post-Idol success all the sweeter...)

Of course, no performer ever made his or her mark selling tickets and CDs exclusively to newspaper writers; it's the fans in the seats who matter most, and from the sounds of things, a great time was had by all this weekend. This cute story from a fan who met Bucky after the show is guaranteed to raise a smile, and it looks like there may be photos coming to that thread soon, too. (Speaking of photos, more concert snaps are turing up all the time--another kind poster at the Fox boards has photos on the way from Pittsburgh, and there are new ones at IDF as well.) And a young fan who met Bucky in Pittsburgh--she says "if you thought he was sweet on the show, he's even sweeter in person"--gives a fun, long-form recap here.

Last, but never least, MJ's Big Blog has much "Patience" goodness for you--MJ was at this weekend's shows, and her coverage of Elliott Yamin's home-coming is ongoing and excellent, as usual.

More later--enjoy the day. (Especially if you're in Greensboro!)