Everyone should get at least one Lee DeWyze Day
Did "American Idol" finalist Lee DeWyze deserve the adulation and attention he got for one day last Friday? Actually, a better question is, doesn't everyone?
DeWyze's advance into the Top 3 contestants on one of television's most popular programs ensured he would get an enthusiastic greeting at an Idol-manufactured homecoming. But all this? Hundreds of people turning out at every stop? Thousands mobbing his convertible in a four-block parade? The newspaper tweeting out his every move and an audience of more than 41,000 turning out to hear him sing what they'd been told would be just three songs (though he actually moved it up to 10)?
Even DeWyze himself seemed genuinely embarrassed.
Such a turnout for a suburban native - DeWyze is from Mount Prospect, if you haven't heard - couldn't help but attract the attention of his hometown newspaper, and the Daily Herald, with assistant managing editor for local news Renee Trappe leading the way, put on a full-court press to provide coverage. We had reporters and photographers everywhere he went - including a downtown TV studio, two radio stations, a phone store, two schools, a parade, a paint store and the concert topping it all off - and sent out tweets all day to hundreds of people following him on Twitter. We updated Web stories throughout the day Friday and wrote a completely new story for print on Saturday. We produced videos at various locations, and our slide show encompassing the entire day has remained the most popular item on our website every day since DeWyze's visit.
Don't get this wrong. We know (indeed, many of us in the newsroom repeat the fact regularly) that we're not talking about the pope here. We know that a musician's homecoming hardly compares in importance even to the story of an official's mishandling of public funds that appeared on the Saturday front page along with the DeWyze coverage.
But news coverage isn't always about what's important. Sometimes, it's just about what's popular. Sometimes, as in this case, the two mesh in unexpected ways. For the DeWyze appearance wasn't entirely about Lee DeWyze. People know too little about him yet to go so far out of their way to shower him with acclaim.
But they do know some things about him. They know that just a few months ago he was in a humble job just like theirs, dreaming, as most of us do, of making something more of himself. They know that he has more than a passable talent and a humble, grounded demeanor in the midst of effusive praise. Above all, they know where he's from - their own hometown or very nearby.
In short, he could be them, and at the very least, he's attracted favorable attention to them. He is a representative of the community at its best, as well as a source of its pride. That is surely something important to celebrate.
Of course, you can see it at some level almost every day in the newspaper. Next week, Naperville native Evan Lysacek, winner of Olympic gold just months ago, could win Dancing With The Stars, another of the nation's most-popular television shows. The Blackhawks are skating their way from near hockey obscurity a couple of years ago to the doorstep of the Stanley Cup Finals.
But often such cases involve people who are accustomed to public attention. DeWyze may be such a person one day, but last Friday he was just one of us. A hardworking, likable guy from down the street who suddenly had thousands cheering him just for doing his best at something he loves.
Everyone should have such a day at least once in his life. I look forward to helping chronicle it when you get yours.
• Jim Slusher is an assistant managing editor at the Daily Herald.