The crowd in Bothell was huge. I managed to get a couple of great pictures as Blake pulled in to Bothell Landing from a parade through downtown Bothell.

The crowd was so packed it was hard to get pictures once he got to the stage. You can see people at the top of the next picture watching from the other side of the Sammamish Slough and a few fans on a boat. Not the greatest view from behind though.

It’s a miracle that we were able to get any pictures at all once he started performing.

Of course Bothell declared May 11 as “Blake Lewis: Bothell’s American Idol Day.” In addition Blake was presented with a special Seahawks jersey by Matt Hasselbeck and sang a bunch of songs.

While Blake has done fine so far, the voting system for American Idol is still severely flawed. I have prepared a petition to change the voting system. You can sign it here.

Blake Lewis returned home to Seattle for a busy day around town before heading back to Hollywood for the American Idol semifinals. I managed to get a couple of pictures and videos on my phone. A bunch of the pictures turned out well but the videos are questionable. I may post more pictures and the videos later. I have a number of pictures from the Bothell appearance as well from my real camera that are much better that will be on my next post.

The lame Seattle Mayor didn’t show up so a council member had to read the proclamation that May 11 is Blake Lewis Day in Seattle.

While it’s nice to see American Idol performances, there is so much that Blake does well that he can’t do on the show. He performed with all his equipment, with his band and with guest performers. One of the highlights was when Blake’s beatboxing accompanied Sir Mix-A-Lot while he sang Baby Got Back. Blake also performed with Patrick Monahan of Train and with the great Seattle band, Common Market.

Speaking of American Idol, their voting system sucks.  Read my previous post where I introduced my voting reform petition, or just sign the petition here.

As promised in my previous post, I have created a petition to request that the voting system on American Idol be changed.  The results each week are questionable because of the ability to place an unlimited number of votes. Sign the petition today if you are as fed up as I am.  If I receive more than 1000 signatures, I will pass them on to the powers that be.  I am hoping to bring back credibility to American Idol before it turns into a bigger joke than it already is with the voting issues.  Let’s limit the number of votes per phone line to a reasonable number.  Leave a comment, sign the petition, and have a nice day.

Someone always lasts longer than they should on American Idol.  This year was no exception.  It was a relief to see the end of the Sanjaya spectacle but I was not happy seeing Blake Lewis in the bottom three.  The last few weeks have been so frustrating after seeing some of the worst performances rewarded time and time again by votes from those who attempt to sabotage the voting results by voting for the worst singer. 

In response, I will post a petition here on my site which will be forwarded on to producers and executives of the show if it ever receives 1000 signatures.  The petition will call for a revised voting system that limits the number of votes from any telephone number to a fixed number.  This will severely limit the impact of the few who make hundreds of votes each week to keep the worst performer safe on the show.  It will also prompt millions to vote (like me) who don’t because their 1 or 5 votes mean nothing compared to the 500 or more votes of an obsessed voting sadist.  The contestants who stay on the show will seem more legitimate and the show may even prevent a seemingly inevitable decline.  The only benefit in allowing unlimited votes per person is the ability to say that they receive over 38 million votes.  Nevermind that they came from 500,000 viewers or less.  What I would like to see is the number of unique voters the 38 million votes represents.