Scotty wins 'Idol,' continuing N.C. dominance

In case you live under a rock, then you are not aware that Garner's Scotty McCreery won season 10 of "American Idol" last night. Congratulations to the guy that has been described over and over and over again as a wonderfully genuine young man.

McCreery joins High Point's Fantasia Barrino (season three) as winners of the singing contest, while Raleigh's Clay Aiken was runner-up in season two. Others from N.C. that have done well include Chris Daughtry of Lasker (third place in season five), Kellie Pickler from Albemarle (fourth in season five), Bucky Covington from Rockingham (eighth in season five) and Anoop Desai of Chapel Hill (sixth place in season eight).

Needless to say, North Carolina was pretty excited for McCreery, according to WRAL.

More than 8,000 of those fans packed into the RBC Center in Raleigh for a viewing party Wednesday night. They made a thunderous roar when "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest named McCreery as the winner.

Three of his biggest fans – childhood friends and part of the Blue Crew, a student fan club at Garner Magnet High School – were at the RBC Center Wednesday.

The trio was also at the first viewing parties when fewer than 100 people gathered in Garner to watch McCreery at the start of this season of "American Idol."

"From that to last night at the RBC Center, home of the Wolfpack and the Hurricanes, 8,200 people screaming for Scotty – it doesn't get much better than that," Garner High student Colin Perry said.

McCreery's friends said they can't wait to see him again. McCreery has said he doesn't know how his world will change, but he hopes to get home soon.

"I'm going to have some fun and celebrate with my family, and I can't wait to get back to Garner," he said.

'Sir Robin (Clay Aiken) bravely ran away'

Clay Aiken has admitted recently that he thought Monty Python was a person, not the legendary British comedic troup.

Aiken has been forgiven, apparently. After all, he has scored the role of "brave" Sir Robin in Broadway's "Monty Python's Spamalot," the play based on the great movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

"One of the reasons that it intrigued me was that it was so different," Aiken told the Associated Press. "Nobody I think would have expected me to show up in 'Spamalot.'"

Aiken, 29, has taken over the role of Sir Robin, the cowardly knight that [Eric] Idle once played on film and David Hyde Pierce originated when the Tony Award-winning musical debuted in 2005.

"I think I'm probably just like the character -- kind of chicken, afraid of everything and likes to sing. This particular character becomes a knight because he really just wants to sing and dance. He's so surprised when he finds out there's fighting involved. That kind of silly stupidity? -- yeah, that's me."...

Associate director Peter Lawrence says Aiken has been no idle diva; the singer asked to be treated like any other company member and has been surprisingly fearless.

"Clay really surprised me. When you meet him, he's this sweet kid from North Carolina with an accent. And you think there's no way he can do Cambridge material. And then he does," says Lawrence. ...

Aiken, who got a degree in special education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, was teaching grade school kids with autism before he tried out for "Idol" in Atlanta. He was a former member of the Raleigh Boys Choir, and occasionally sang at weddings and at church.

"There's not really a market in North Carolina to sing for a living. There's not that career path for people. So I never really assumed or had any dreams or aspirations to sing," he says.

That changed in the seventh grade when his mother took him and a friend to a local production of the musical "Big River," starring Martin Moran as Huckleberry Finn.

"It was the first time ever that I looked on stage and saw people -- you know, adults -- singing. And I thought, 'Wow, wait a second. You can actually sing for a living?' " he recalls. "From that point on, I kind of allowed music to be a part of my what-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up scenario." ...