During all the time I’ve spent in Hollywood (it must be coming close to a week’s worth of days in my 28 years on this planet), one thing has become abundantly clear: If your’re somebody, you don’t have to prove that you’re somebody. That is to say… if you’re a cool guy, you don’t have to prove to people you’re cool, you just are.

I’ve come to realize that this is blatantly demonstrated in the ancient art of the red carpet walk. Sure, there were plenty of stars seen walking into the big season finale of American Idol… but once the show got underway, you begin to realize that there are a LOT of people there that didn’t bother with the red carpet formalities. Fortunately, many of these A-listers made their way into the “Media Room” (AKA the basement of the Nokia Theater) during the show, and Photocalypse photographers were there to capture the magic!

Now let me start this off by saying that Aerosmith’s Big Ones greatest hits album was one of the first CDs that I ever bought as a lowly 6th grader trying to figure out what music was cool. That being said, I was pretty stoked when judge Steven Tyler walked in and stood feet away from me, ready to address the Media Elite.

Now, being in the presence of this rock god, I noticed many new things that I never noticed before (aside from the ridiculous crotch on his pants…)

As I snapped away at this legend, I discovered that as each second passed, the man expressed a completely different emotion. No two photos were the same, and each could be interpereted differently. Don’t believe me? Take a look for yourself…

And frankly, none of them looked happy… so I’m sure glad I didn’t have to sing in front of the guy! As he was walking out of the room, I said “Thanks Steven”, and he looked at me and nodded. It was a special moment.

But not about to be shown up, two little Irishmen known as Bono and The Edge came swaggering in… along with “Spider-Man”? Damn, beat that Steven!

As I’m sure you all know, the finer half of U2 has been working on the music for Broadway’s tragedy-stricken Spider-Man musical, which was showcased during the finale. After nabbing a front row seat in the media room, I didn’t hear much of what they were saying, because I was kinda freaking out that I was sitting right next to Bono and The Edge. Anything I said or did, they would react to… which is to say I was way to shy to ask any questions.

As they wrapped up, The Edge looked at me and smiled. Much like the time Kobe yelled at me, it was a very surreal experience. When you’re so used to seeing these people on TV, it’s very strange to see them in person, and acknowledge that you exist.

It was all very odd, to say the least.

Then, as the show was wrapping up and the two finalists came on stage to announce the winner (we were watching on TVs), the audio cut out in the media room as a voice announced, “We now have Tom Jones for you”. To this, the audience of media monkeys started shouting and booing, as the winner was being annoucned at that moment. Yes, Tom Jones got bumped. It’s not unusual… and so forth.

After the winner was declared and the show ended, Tom finally came out… but no one was really paying attention because they were all scrambling to get their headlines written. Sorry, Mr. Jones.

So that pretty much wraps up the Great American Idol Adventure of 2011. Friendships were made, ancient bonds were broken and sleep was deprived to countless journalists. But hey, all in the name of News!

See y’all again next year? We’ll see… but hey, me and Steven go way back, so they’ll probably send me again! If not… perhaps Alfonzo can just go in my place. I hear he works cheap and he’s non-union.