An Idol Connection

I received the note last Tuesday afternoon from my longtime friend Bobbie Huguenin. It was a forward, addressed to more than 100 recipients. Seems one of this year's American Idol finalists has Sandpoint connections. When Bobbie explained who the contestant was and that her grandmother was a long-time family friend of Bobbie's mother, I sat up and took notice. I was pleased to see that the famed six degrees of separation were alive and well.

Idol finalist Katharine McPhee is the one to watch, at least if you're from Sandpoint and if you know the Jim Brown family. And if you're from Sandpoint and you know Jean Brown's old friend Gloria Burch, you've got more reasons to pull for Katharine and dial her number when she competes again tonight.

When I saw in the note who Katharine's grandmother was, I immediately called my mother. Back in the late 1970s, Patty Brown (Bobbie's sister) called me and wondered if I knew anyone who had enough horses for some friends of her mom's to ride for a couple of weeks. Of course, I knew someone. There have always been plenty of horses around the Tibbs Arabians for as long as I can remember.

Three of Jean Brown's friends were heading off to the Grand Tetons for camping and horseback riding with their husbands. They hadn't been on horses for most of their adult lives, so they wanted to reacquaint those muscles with the feeling of sitting on a saddle and plodding on down the road. When Patty called, I assured her my mother would probably be happy to take them on some rides, which she did.

Tillie Paulson, Patsy Bacon and Gloria Burch, who spent their summers in Sandpoint, came out to the Boyer farm several times over the next few weeks. They hit it off with my mother immediately, and she was delighted to take them on jaunts around the neighborhood on those warm summer evenings. Lots of talk and a good friendship evolved out of those rides. Mother has continued to keep in touch with them off and on over the years, although it's been a while since she's seen any of them.

As a peripheral part of the group, who gathered up horses and helped with some saddling, I, too, enjoyed getting to know the ladies. A few years later, while I was watching the Donahue Show, a lady asking a question looked mighty familiar. It was Gloria. We had her telephone number, called her and learned that she and her two friends had attended the taped show a couple of weeks earlier. Gloria lived in Chicago at the time.

So, now her granddaughter has followed suit as a TV star with a little more media hype. I remember when Katharine made it through the auditions. She did seem to have something extra with her voice and her beauty, but until last week in my mind, she was just another one of those fortunate few who've emerged from all the throngs of hopefuls. And, now we'll watch her with a little different perspective.

I was hoping to provide some exclusive grandmotherly observations of Katharine today. If I do hear from Gloria, I'll tuck 'em in at the end of this post later in the day. In the meantime, it's always fun to know somebody who knows somebody-----especially when it's connected with something so addictive and so grand as the American Idol phenomenon.

I remember writing a post about American Idol a year ago and trying to figure out why it continues to be so successful and why it attracts views from teenyboppers to grannies. I still haven't come to any conclusions other than we can participate in the outcome and that we can follow our favorites through their journey, hopefully to the end. I did pick Carrie Underwood last year and was happy to see her win.

This year, I know who I won't pick. I'm not particularly fond of that goofy gray-haired guy who does all the stupid antics every time he performs. He seems a bit over the top in trying to be everybody's teddy bear nice guy. Other than that, I think there's a great and diverse field of competitors and would be happy to see any of them win.

So, I'll keep watching (Fox28 at 8 p.m. PST tonight). I'll definitely pull for Katharine cuz I know her Grannie Gloria and just how proud she must be.

By the way, if you know my friend Bootsie Reynolds, wish him a happy birthday. He's OLD today. Really old.