Quick update (and a bit of rambling), 1/21

Bucky Covington on stage during the GAC tour, photo by the very kind Honeygirl. Click the image to enjoy her fantastic Flickr photoset. Thanks again, Honeygirl!

This weekend could be the calmest one since the Lyric Street news hit the internet very early on New Year's morning--but this time, the calm is filled with smiles. Bucky Covington and his fans can celebrate a single entering the Top 50 in its first official week of release (on both Mediabase charts, as of this morning), a coming Opry appearance, growing airplay (new stations in Pittsburgh, Phoenix and Ft. Pierce are among those newly on board) and the prospect of a truly beautiful new video in an undeniably gorgeous setting. No wonder we need a bit of a breather to soak it all in!

If you're looking for a way to catch up on some of last week's excitement, the kind folks at the awesome BuckyCovingtonFans MySpace are here to help--links to Bucky's recent radio interviews have been freshly added, and the page has been updated and streamlined for a sleeker look. Add them as friends, stay in the know with bulletins, blog posts and updates, and have fun!

And on the radio front, there's a sweet feeling in the air as Bucky's single steadily and naturally picks up steam nationwide. (It's been fun to see the Yes.com list become busier by the day.) Requests do matter! Even if the station has a strictly dictated playlist--as many do--requests for a new song are a tangible way of measuring local buzz; add that buzz to a "Hot Shot Debut", and a song becomes much harder to ignore. Kathy at Team Covington has a fun mini-post today about a DJ's comments at Sirius New Country--if you thought your phone calls didn't really matter, think again...

Finally, here's a quick reminder about tonight's Idol-themed retrospective special on the TV Guide Channel at 8 ET/7 CT (Bucky's face flashed by in the promo--reason enough to peek in), and an heads-up on an intriguing Idol-themed discussion at MJ's Big Blog. MJ's thoughtful entry about this New York Times article (registration required) on Idol impresario Simon Fuller is good reading.

"Interesting that he’s upfront about the fact that a contestant needn’t win to spin a successful career off American Idol." MJ writes. "How does an admission like that affect the urgency of the contest and the fans who vote for their favorites? Will there be fewer Cingular Go phones purchased this year when the fans figure out that not only is it not necessary to win, it may be better NOT to win..."

(Screencap shamelessly stolen from Kathy of Team Covington a long time ago. Click the image to enjoy her Fokti gallery, or here to read her excellent blog. Thanks for letting me --ahem--"borrow" this one, Kathy!)

Bucky's name didn't come up in the article itself, of course, nor (so far) in the comments at MJ's. But it's rather revealing to look back at our first reaction back in April, after Bucky's 8th place finish, and compare our thoughts then to the fun we're having now. I might be biased, but even today, those comments seem to be pretty much unified in their "we're bummed, but Bucky's gonna be around, y'all" sentiments. Could it be that we Bucky Covington fans simply had a little more time to figure out what many Season Five Idol fans now know, and Simon Fuller now freely admits?

Take a smart, talented, engaging performer, give him a national stage on which to shine, and if that performer recognizes that opportunity and gives it his all, chances are excellent that he will find an audience--and an industry--willing to embrace and support him. Post-Idol, that 8 just doesn't seem to matter, one way or another. But we sure are loving that number 50 this morning...

More later today!