Armenian Superstar!

I used to be a big American Idol fan. I watched the first season pretty much from beginning to end, AND season one winner Kelly Clarkson was my favorite from the get-go. Too bad the music she chose to record after winning was so insipid. Anyway, I was really excited when I walked by this poster on Mashtots Avenue a few weeks ago:



It was an advertisement for a live concert by the stars of Armenian Superstar. Clearly, I had to go. So, I talked a couple of girlfriends into attending with me, and we bought the cheapest seats they had, up in the balcony. (What's sad is that, while you can get front-row tickets to the opera for 3,000 dram - about $8 -- front-row seats for Armenian Superstar cost three times that.) It was worth every penny.

The show was in the Aram Khachaturian concert hall, which is the big concert venue in town.



This guy was my favorite, and he was only in the back-up band.



They started the show with a Mickey Mouse Club-style rendition of the Scorpions' hit "Wind of Change," about the fall of communism. First two people sang, then two more, and by the end, all 11 of them were standing in a semi-circle swaying back and forth and singing.





After that, they each came out one-by-one to sing their own songs, in their own unique costume choices.

Pop tart:



Requisite rocker:



I call her Christina Aguilerian:



Here she is again:



Richard Marxian or Corey Haimian:



I think I'm in love. Sorry, Jeremy: