Six Flags over New England
April 24, 2004
by claysession

I just thought I'd share some recent pictures with any of you who might be fans of Justin Guarini. He was at Six Flags New England last Saturday, 04/24/04, as a guest judge for their first ever American Idol New England competition. I must admit that I didn't watch AI1 except for the last show, and would not call myself a fan of Justin's. That being said, I did decide to make an appearance at the stage area since my daughter and I already had plans to go to Six Flags that day anyway - and I felt that we should help support Justin while he was here in the area. Also, my daughter was a bit excited about the thought of getting to meet him.

Well, Justin sang beautifully! I was very impressed with him and his charismatic stage presence. I was even more impressed with him when we met him personally. He was very friendly and out going with all of the fans - really taking the time to chat with people and pose for pictures, etc. He was very personable with my daughter (age 7), and was quite surprised when she presented a pink sharpie for him to use to autograph her little McDonald's dog that she had brought with her. He asked "where in the world did you learn to carry around a sharpie?"....to which Sophie replied: "you never know when you might run into Clay Aiken". (Sophie is a huge Clay fan!!!). Justin just laughed hysterically and didn't seem to be offended at all by her statement about Clay. Later, he said to her that he hoped that she might carry the sharpie around with her in hopes of seeing him again as well as meeting Clay.....to which she replied: "Okay, but I also want to meet Kelly and Kim Locke too." He wished her luck in her pursuit. Also, he did make some wonderful comments about the drive and intelligence of Clay's fans. He said that he is quite impressed with the Clay fans and thrilled for Clay that we are the driving force behind his amazing talent. (I thought these statements were very kind and he was very genuine).

I wanted to add one more thing about Justin being so friendly. After we left Six Flags later that night, we decided to get a late dinner at a McDonald's about 25 minutes south of the park. As we pulled into the drive thru - guess who's tour bus was there? There was also a huge van/limo vehicle that had about 5 young guys in it also. My daughter saw Justin and called out to him. He came right over to the car window and said hello. He asked her if she was getting a friend for the dog that he had signed? Then he joked about asking if he could have her dog/toy from her Happy Meal. Sophie hesitated and the Justin said that it was okay, that he would try and get his own Happy Meal. We soon had to go since we were tying up the drive-thru line. I suggested to Justin to spread the love down the line and he and one of his buddies went up to the car behind us. He was just so nice!

One more thing to add: When we met Justin the first time, I asked him if he would have another album out soon and he said that he is writing music now for one and he is hopeful that it will be released in a year or sooner. Knowing that we were Clay fans, he asked if Sophie and I might buy his album, and I said that I was looking forward to it and would definitely purchase it.