I bashfully admit I was slightly star-struck when my husband Jimmy and I attended the “American Idol Stars in Concert Celebrate Motown!” Sept. 25 in the Historic Yuma Theatre. I’m a big American Idol fan so I jumped at the chance to go to the concert (with thanks to Adrianne for the tickets!) and the meet-and-greet event afterwards. American Idol finalists LaKisha Jones from season 6, David Hernandez from season 7, Michael Sarver from season 8 and Gina Glocksen, also from season 6, performed Motown favorites.

Although my husband loves music and is a musician himself, he’s more of a homebody, so normally I would have had to drag him to such an event. But this time he went willingly, not only to please me but to see Michael Sarver perform. After we got married a couple of years ago, I introduced him to American Idol. Rather, he had nowhere else to go when I tuned into the television. When Sarver, a roughneck on an oil rig in Texas, got on the show, my husband was a big fan. Me, I voted for Danny Gokey.

So my husband happily accompanied me to the show and the meet-and-greet. I have to say that LaKisha, David, Michael and Gina know how to put on a show. The show was spectacular. Michael was very likeable and sincere on stage, and to tell you the truth, he sounded better than I remember. David, who was born in Phoenix and grew up in Glendale, Ariz., also surprised me. He seemed very serious on the show, but at the concert he was very outgoing, joking and playing around with the other performers.

I later told him he seemed more serious on American Idol, and he said he’s heard it before. He said he’s normally more outgoing and his manager told him he should have smiled more on the show. I guess nerves got to him. Gina also surprised me. I was expecting more of the rocker that we saw on American Idol, but she was dressed down, softer and very sweet. But she still has those red streaks in her hair!

But I have to say Gina knows how to entertain a crowd. Although she admitted to being sick, she did a good job of keeping the energy up. She was very playful and what a voice. I couldn’t believe she was sick. I would have loved to have heard more from her. But she and David performed a beautiful rendition of “Endless Love.”

LaKisha, on the other hand, seemed very subdued. She’s a great vocalist, not doubt about it. She blew us away with her cover of Midnight Train to Georgia. But she seemed a little low-key. She might have been fighting a bug too, but I remembered Simon Cowell telling her to brighten up, that’s she was no longer a backup singer.

All the Idols were very friendly at the meet-and-greet. They seemed flattered by the attention and behaved more like friends than concert stars. I was especially endeared to David who embraced us and talked to us like longtime friends. He even pronounced my name correctly, saying, “Hey, I’m Hispanic.” He talked about his family, his hometown, what’s he’s doing and future plans.  We almost didn't capture the moment because we forgot to bring the camera. But my resourceful husband ran to the nearest drug store and bought a dinky little digital camera. Although the photos are dark and low-res, at least we have digital memories.

A special treat was a surprise performance by the winner of a talent show held earlier that day. The Idols judged the “Bring on the Yuma Talent” competition sponsored by the Yuma Visitors Bureau and held at Alexander Ford on Saturday afternoon. The winner, 13-year-old Kay-Lanie Lemmon, blew us away as well as the Idols, who praised her profusely and expect great things from her. Like Michael Sarver said, “To think we were all here at the beginning!”