Just got word from people back home about one of our classmates, Michael Gregory, appearing on American Idol this past week. He went down to Atlanta to audition for the show and ended up seemingly baffling the judges:
For those people who knew/know him, Michael is quite a character. He always has been–I remembered in elementary and middle school that he was rather quiet but would occasionally have his moments of randomness. He became more “out there” in high school and most knew him as an excellent musician at first. My brother used to hang out with Michael a lot and they would film funny videos together.
I have lost touch with Michael, save for the fact we are friends on Facebook. I was surprised to hear about his little stunt on American Idol and figured, like most who know him, that his stunt was that: merely a stunt. His attire and the way he sang Akon’s song was just hilarious–you can tell that the judges were probably wondering “What the heck?”
Anyway, from this little morsel of news, I also thought about the aftermath of this small 15 seconds of fame: I bet Michael is getting a lot of friend requests and some sort of Internet celebrity status just from this short stint on television. I checked out his Facebook profile and it seems that a lot of people from our high school commented and congratulated him–I am betting most people who commented had not really talked with Michael for quite awhile before the American Idol episode aired. It’s just amusing to me to watch this unfold; I’m sure most everyone in our hometown knows about this by now. After all, news spreads fast in a small town.