Spent the weekend hanging in Vegas with my buddy, Cristobal.  The highlight was seeing my best friend JC perform at his new gig at Planet Hollywood right on the strip.  In case you’ve been living under a rock (or haven’t been keeping up with my blog), JC’s group “The Texas Tenors” made it all the way to the Top 5 of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” a few months ago.

Now JC is performing alongside some of the other finalists in a Vegas-style stage show hosted by Jerry Springer.   JC’s success has been a long time coming and it’s been a privilege to watch the ascension of his shooting star.  The show is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll … give or take some weird acrobats, a contortionist and an octogenarian female comedian.  It’s like Cirque du Soleil on acid.  The show doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, so it decides to be Sybil.  Springer is the glue that holds the show together.

You could have literally knocked me over with a feather when I was walking down the Vegas strip and there was JC’s picture on a flashy neon billboard that, I swear, was at least 10 stories high.  (Uh, I think it caught JC a little off guard too.)  We both stared at that sucker and then looked at each other.  Now I know what The Beatles must have felt like when they heard their first song on the radio.   It was a really great “moment”, one I was proud to share with my dear friend.

Overall, I thought the show was — odd.  The eccentric mix of entertainment is like a bad episode of the old Donny & Marie Show (who coincidentally ALSO have a show on the strip).  Each act gets 5 minutes to showcase their shtick.  It’s a family friendly-show and perfect for someone with ADD.  If you’re bored with any of the acts, the next one is just four minutes and thirty seconds away.

The winner Kevin Skinner is a country crooner who hails from Paducah, KY.  Of course, I just spent two weeks in his neck of the woods … er, his holler … and so we chatted about that briefly.  Before winning the $1 million prize money, Kevin was a chicken farmer.  He was pleasant and humble and still has a gee-whiz, aw-shucks all y’all attitude.  He’s about as Podunk as you can get. He’s like a hybrid version of Opie Taylor and Tom Sawyer … except he can play guitar.

How anyone can go from complete obscurity (and herding poultry, no less!!) to winning a major talent competition is beyond me.   It proves the American dream can come true.