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American Idol Elliott Yamin was back in Richmond Friday 5-12-06 with the Fox film crew. Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks were in their respective home towns as well this week.  Being from Richmond, I personally attended one of the Elliott Yamin Events.  The picture throughout this post are ones I took on 5-12-06.  Below is a story from the Richmond times dispatch highlighting Elliott’s day in Richmond Va.

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I’m the same ol’ E,” Elliott Yamin told Richmond radio listeners yesterday.

You wouldn’t know it by the entourage. Or the fans who mobbed his limousine as it tried to turn into The Diamond.

Security, cameras, reporters — plus a sea of fans and posters. They were everywhere Yamin went yesterday, his first time home since his “American Idol” whirlwind began three months ago.
This is also the first time local fans had the opportunity to show their devotion to Yamin, the former “AI” underdog who is now one of the show’s three finalists — and they turned out in hordes.

An estimated 4,000 fanatics crammed around the James Center plaza for Yamin’s lunchtime appearance. The cheering throng, packs who were lined along the roofs of nearby parking decks and office buildings, waved signs reading “Elliott Go to Prom With Me,” “Virginia is for Elliott Lovers” and, quite specific to Richmond, “Name the bear Elliott.”

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder, there to present Yamin with a key to the city, proclaimed the scenario “out of sight.”

“I’ve been living in this city for a whole lot of years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Wilder said before Yamin took the stage to sing, appropriately, “Home.”

Hours later, more than 11,000 people packed The Diamond, where Yamin took batting practice with the Richmond Braves, received a personalized jersey from the team, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and offered another short serenade — “A Song for You.”

Capturing it all on film was the “AI” crew hanging onto Yamin’s every word and photo-op for footage to air on the Fox reality series.

We were there, too.

6:40 a.m.: After little sleep — Yamin and his mother, Claudette, arrived by private jet after midnight yesterday — Yamin was at the WWBT/WRLH TV studios. He had spent the night at The Jefferson Hotel. Claudette slept in her own bed for the first time since mid-February.

When WRLH anchor Curt Autry asked him if he ever thought he would make it to the final three “AI” contestants, Yamin said he’d be lying if he said yes.

“In the back of your mind you want to be confident, and I always have been. But I think I’ve grown more confident as the season has progressed.”

7:38 a.m.: Yamin’s stretch limo rolled into the Clear Channel parking lot, where Yamin did interviews on radio stations WRVQ and WTVR.

Close to 200 fans were waiting with signs and cheers. Among them, Kirsten St. Clair Oliphant of Greensboro, N.C., who carried a 1993 Douglas Freeman High School yearbook with her. Included among the freshman class pictures is one Efraym Yamin — Yamin’s actual first name. He’s better known by his middle name, Elliott.

“I feel like I’ve already won. I’ll feel happy with whatever comes my way,” he told the Q Zoo’s Darrin Stone and Melissa Chase. “It’s inevitable; someone is going home.”

He also told the Zoo that he “misses everything about this place. It feels like I’ve been gone for years. Then it feels like I just left yesterday.” Later, Yamin told Lite 98’s Bill Bevins, “This is the longest time I’ve spent away from home.”

While Yamin prepared to leave the building — a process complicated by fans, security and the ever-present “AI” camera crew — his mom talked to a few reporters. (The print press is kept away from Yamin, bound by Fox’s rule that he can’t be interviewed by them until eliminated from the competition.)

“That’s my boy,” she beamed as Yamin’s rendition of “A Song For You” conveniently played on the radio.

Claudette was most impressed by the Fox plane that flew them from Los Angeles to Richmond — after stopping in Birmingham to drop off Taylor Hicks, one of the two other “American Idol” finalists.

“We had such a luscious meal,” she said of the in-flight sushi.

Apparently, the marble bathroom was worthy as well.

“Talk about a throne. It was great.”

10:10 a.m.: Yamin could now be heard on WCDX, the hip-hop radio station where he was an overnight disc jockey several years ago.

He told story about being recognized recently by brothers Damon, Shawn and Marlon Wayans at a Los Angeles bookstore. “Shawn said I had more soul than his whole family put together.”

11:35 a.m.: Yamin paid a visit to Westbury Pharmacy on Three Chopt. He was working there as a clerk before making the final 24 of “AI.”

The “AI” camera crew carefully circumnavigated the aisle as Yamin worked his way to the back where a phalanx of pharmacists waited with cameras and hugs.

Westbury is a stone’s throw from two other Yamin haunts: Douglas Freeman High School, where he went to school; and Melito’s restaurant, where he worked as a line cook about eight years ago.

12:15 p.m.: Running about 45 minutes late, Yamin arrived at the James Center in jeans and sunglasses. Beaming and appearing stunned at the turnout, he bounced on stage next to Wilder, there to present him with a key to the city.

“This is . . . the happiest day of my life,” Yamin said, clearly at a loss for words. “I feel it now more than ever. . . . I never knew how powerful a voice could be.”

Wilder called him “an ambassador for all of us” and read aloud a fax he said was sent by Paula Abdul, who said she has chosen Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love” for Yamin to sing on Tuesday’s show.

Yamin grinned wildly and held the little blue box with the city’s key overhead and pumped it in the air.

Backed by the Susan Greenbaum Band, who entertained the crowd for more than an hour before Yamin’s late arrival, Yamin sang Michael Bublé’s “Home,” which he performed on the show a couple of weeks ago.

“I’m already home,” he sang, holding his arms out in an embrace of the crowd.

1:15 p.m.: Yamin arrived at Cabo’s Restaurant where WRLH, Richmond’s Fox affiliate, has arranged a lunch for Yamin’s family, friends and station clients.

“It’s so fun watching your support,” said one Claudette fan, leaning into Elliott’s mom who was trying to get in a few bites of food before the next scheduled stop, the Executive Mansion.

3 p.m.: Fans started lining Boulevard in preparation for Yamin’s ride to The Diamond. Many waved signs asking to “honk for Elliott,” which even some rig drivers did.

5:30 p.m.: A parade of six police cars, sirens blaring, crawled toward The Diamond — brought up in the rear by Yamin in a convertible. Fans swarmed the road, momentarily blocking traffic until the cavalcade pulled into the ballpark.

5:40 p.m.: Yamin sprinted onto the field wearing an R-Braves baseball cap and T-shirt with a caricature of himself and the message, “the next Idol.”

For 10 minutes, he took batting practice with Braves bullpen catcher Doug Budryk, hitting a few line drives and some fouls, but garnering huge cheers every time he swung the bat.

“It was hard for me to tell what speed he wanted,” Budryk said. “He was out in front of some pitches. I really wanted him to hit one out.”

Claudette stood a few feet from her son, getting wrapped in a hug from the Diamond Duck.

6:10 p.m.: An indefatigable Yamin bounded up the stairs by the Diamond Bar & Grill, surrounded by police. Taking a seat at a folding table, he smiled endlessly while carefully swirling his loopy signature on T-shirts, homemade signs (”Can I be your other mom?” read one), a few diaries and even a phone receiver.

“Oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness,” Cassidy Fowler, 9, gasped with a dazed smile after walking away from the table, clutching her autographed picture like the treasure that it is to her. “He’s been my favorite all along.”

6:30 p.m.: After leaving hundreds of fans disappointed that he didn’t have time to sign more autographs, Yamin retreated to The Diamond tunnel to rest in the “family room” usually the space for player’s families to hang out — where chicken wings and vegetable trays were delivered.

6:45 p.m.: Politely sidestepping the police presence outside the room, Yamin walked outside for a smoke and to smooch and hug his pretty brunette girlfriend, Amanda.

6:50 p.m.: Yamin rolled onto the field in a convertible, quickly removing his cap when passing a small military lineup.

As one of his final duties of the long day, Yamin threw out a perfect first pitch to Braves player Jonathan Schuerholz, then ducked into the dugout to sign autographs for the team.

7 p.m.: Yamin returned to the pitcher’s mound to sing. After the first verse of “A Song For You,” his crooning is finished. As the crowd erupted one more time, Yamin broke into his double-fisted air pump, throwing his body into a trademark move that is fast becoming familiar to 30 million TV viewers a week.

Partial source: www.timesdispatch.com

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