Conway Hoping for an 'Idol' Upset

Kris Allen

By NOAH TRISTER
Associated Press Writer

It's lunch time at a restaurant in Kris Allen's hometown. A few sports-focused TV screens are on overhead, a brief respite from the "American Idol" fever that has swept through the area.

Then someone walks over to the jukebox and puts on "Apologize," the song Allen performed on Fox singing competition earlier in the week.

Everywhere you turn in this city of 55,000 in central Arkansas, there's some reminder of Allen's run on "American Idol." He's one of two singers who will compete in next week's finale.

Windows are decorated with supportive messages, shirts and signs are everywhere, and last Friday a crowd estimated at over 20,000 packed the streets when the 23-year-old contender performed live downtown.

"I'm definitely rooting for Kris not just because he's from Conway," said 19-year-old Jansen McGuire, who works at an Old Chicago restaurant downtown. "He has talent."

Read the rest of the article here.

Bittersweet Refinements: XXII-XXIII

Bittersweet Refinements is another book that I have been given to publish. If it gets to sounding an awfully lot like a broken player stuck on repeating the same old wrong song over and over again that is because it is to a fairly great extent. For most of it contains rewritten parts of the Bitter/Sweets that were published here before. Hopefully, it will get to sounding a lot better to you very soon, and for the benefit of those who do not have access to multiple versions of our Heavenly Father's Holy Bible, numbered Scripture references in the text (for example, [1]) provide links to such through Bible Gateway this time around. The same also applies to verses included in the text. Please go [here] to consider Chapters XXII-XXIII.

Sites To See

This is the new version of FIVE FOR FRIDAY. As with the former, it is the SOLE purpose of this weekly series to call attention to sites that I think many would find most interesting—in one way or another. Please, go see for yourself, and [this week] such sites can be seen as:

Congrats, Kris!

Congrats, to Conway's own Kris Allen on being in the
Finals on American Idol.
Arkansas is pulling for you, Kris.
We ♥ you.

WhiteHeart Wednesday

Link: [WhiteHeart - Who Owns You]

TWO FOR TUESDAY

Not every song that will be featured here will be what is generally considered as being “Christian” in the eyes of this world. For some will be anguished cries from the pit of despair, and others will be quite obviously ferverent rants of rebellion. Nonetheless, be assured that they will all be of our Heavenly Father (in one way or another) and I hope that you have been given ears to hear the message. [Our Lady Peace] is in the spotlight this week.

Come Monday...Rusty Rose

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about, websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time. Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.” This is subject to change, however. In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while. For rants promote change, and change can be good—right? Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told). A review of [Rusty Rose] is posted this week.

Music Monday -- Slade!

Hell yeah!

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be DELETED without prejudice.

A Sunday Drive

Back during my childhood, our parents would often load up my brother and I after Sunday morning church services for a leisurely drive around where we lived. Even though we were seeing mostly familiar sights, it was still good to see them, and this is why “A Sunday Drive” sounded about right for the name of a weekly series revisiting familiar sites that are well worth seeing again and again. Go [here] to see more of such sites as: