Friday, May 09, 2008

One of our reporters, Maria Villasenor, covered the Murray High School event so I could be back at the ranch to write until my little fingers fell off.

Here's her posting of what happened in the afternoon:

No, David Archuleta didn't ride off in a hot-air balloon.

Instead his send-off included fans releasing several orange and black
balloons into the air, while his people tried to keep the throngs of
admirers from crushing the Murray High School junior as he left the
stage.

After receiving praises from political bigwigs and singing three
songs, Archuleta was led by his minders from the football field and
into the high school, which security guards blocked off to all the
tween and teen girls.

But that didn't really stop many of them from trying to race to the
back of the building and find Archuleta's escape route.

Those girls were fierce.

I had an inkling of the Archie craze this morning when I opened the
doors to our office building at the Gateway and heard the distant
roar of his fans lining up to get a glimpse of him.

But at the pep rally, my eardrums were nearly shot when I stood in
front of the fence keeping the girls back from the stage. I didn't
think it could get louder than all the screams when - after the hour
of waiting - the girls first heard Archuleta was finally here and
making his way around the track on top of his convertible. But then,
there was the first glimpse of his spiky black hair as he reached the
west section.

That was the switch from excitement to hysteria.

Does anyone else hear that ringing?