Freedomtown IC

Merry Christmas, everyone.

I had about the best holiday ever. Spent the entire day sitting around the tree with my gorgeous girlfriend, my daughter, and my newborn granddaughter, opening gifts, singing, and watching Christmas movies.

Best day ever, folks.

And to anyone who enjoys my singing, I thought I'd do this as a surprise for you all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOBszJltua4

Thank you, sincerely, to everyone who voted for me. I'm obviously shocked and saddened to have been eliminated this week, but I plan to continue pursuing a career as a pop singer.

I wish nothing but the best to all of the remaining performers, and I'll see you all again when we reunite at the finals.

After a video recap of Week 1, including the reactions of the two contestants that were eliminated and a few of the judges' opinions of the remaining contestants, a spotlight shone on Benjamin Bale, standing again in the center of the stage.

After introducing himself, and giving a quick explanation of the show and the prize, he took a moment to introduce each of the four judges, before turning the stage over to this week's performers...

Universal Idol opened with a huge pyro display, complete with oversized video walls showing photos and bios of all the contestants, with a voiceover welcoming all viewers in attendance and watching at home.

The camera finally panned over to Benjamin Bale, wearing dress jeans and a black suitcoat over a vintage Van Halen "5150" tee. 

"Hello everyone, and welcome to Season 2 of Universal Idol! Two contestants will be eliminated each of the first two weeks, with one elimination per week afterwards, until we are left with one winner, who will receive a guaranteed recording contract with Full Moon Entertainment and promoted throughout seven planets."

He pointed to the video wall, where pictures of each perform were shown.

"This year, we bring to you:

Alex Manes!
Craig Manning!
Audrey Rose!
Kevin Van Warren!
Ally!
Maya Matlin!
Olive Penderghast!
Queen Barb!
Rachel Berry!
Neveah Dean-Ramirez!
Spencer Quill!
Tilde Tyler!

And of course, the show couldn't be complete without our panel of judges...

Returning from last season, she's the vocalist of A Woman Scorned, an sctress, and the owner of The End Zone... Full Moon artist Rachelle Martin-Bale!

Also returning from last season, the woman some have called the heart and compassion of the show, Full Moon recording artist Meredith Delany!

New to the program this season, someone who is no stranger to knowing how to entertain, actor Kyle Sutherland!

And finally, also new this season, a woman as whip-smart and entertaining as she is beautiful, head bartender at The End Zone and longtime associate of Full Moon Entertainment, Kayla Barnes!"

After the introduction of each of the four judges, the rules were then explained to the viewers:

Each contestant will sing one song of their choosing on the first episode of the week. During each performance, a number would be shown on-screen for viewers to send a text to in order to vote for that performer. After taking a day off to compile the votes, the second episode would then announce the two performers with the lowest vote totals. Those two will be eliminated from the competition.

((OOC: Each week, the starter post will go up on Sunday. The contestants will have until Tuesday at 5pm EST to get their performances posted. Not posting a performance will be an automatic elimination, and the performance will hand-waved. The judes will then have until Thursday evening at 8pm EST to get their critiques done, at which time the eliminations will be announced via a new post. ))  

Spending my Saturday night getting in practice for Universal Idol. I always treated singing as more of a part-time thing.... but now? I'm playing for keeps.

Private to Evie
Just making sure... with everything that happened... we're 'together' now, right?

Private to Chloe Van Warren

CHLOE. Shit. I know you got the Grand Opening tomorrow and everything, but you got a few? I'm spazzing out a little and as the sister closest to my age, it falls on you to be my advice-giver.

I know this is something that's not exactly going to come as a surprise to many people (God knows I think my family's suspected it since I was 13), but... it's still a big step for me, so be kind.

We're in a new world, with new beginnings, and it's Pride Month.... so I'm going to finally admit it to myself and everyone else.

I'm bisexual, and I'm not going to hide from myself any more.

Happy Pride, everyone. Let's all love and accept ourselves and each other.

Now that I'm settled in, got Amy all settled in, and have let the novelty of being here wear off some, it's starting to hit me:

I am so freakin' bored.

I really gotta start meeting people.