Feb 4th: The Fredericksburg Idol annual contest got underway and Ryan went to the WYSK radio station studio and sang his heart out Friday, February 4th.

Feb 7th: He barely missed the vote by only 8/10ths of 1%... but Frank Wells of WYSK announced Ryan as his Wild Card pick on Monday with these very gracious and kind words: "I got a lot of emails from family and friends... the guy has got an incredible voice and the rest of the folks in the competition, you'd better watch out. You'd better practice hard. Because Frank's pick, and Niche's pick... you had a chance to hear this guy via his website ("Yes! He is amazing.")... we would like to congratulate the final wild card pick: Ryan French!" [Thank you Frank Wells and Niche... Ryan said he won't let you guys down.]

Now Ryan has a shot to win $1000 (dad's putting it in his college fund) and 10 hours of recording time (for his Christian rock band Absolute Zero without Christ®) at the Wally Cleaver Recording Studio. This happens this Friday (Feb 25th) at 7:00 pm when ten people sing for the title 'Fredericksburg Idol' at Buffalo Wild Wings in Central Park. Please come early to find a seat and bring people with you.

Feb 25th: And bring people they did! BWW was packed tonight. It is safe to say, Ryan had somewhere around 50-75 screaming friends, family and fans in attendance tonight... and would have had more but his high school (Fredericksburg Christian School) had a major basketball play off game. Never have I heard normal people scream and hollar and carry on so loudly in my life. Ten contestants sang from 7-8:30. When Ryan was announced the crowd erupted. They just went nuts as he ran to the stage. Ryan sang "Cold" by Crossfade. The place went ballistic. The judges were polled and had some very nice things to say. When the final judge said, "If you stick to what you just sang, you can make something of yourself... but you will never make a living singing about Jesus!" The crowd booed until Ryan asked for quiet. He then took the mic and said, "I just want to say that when I'm in heaven with the Lord Jesus, I won't care where I'm at with my music." The crowd of family and church supporters and friends from Fredericksburg Christian School went absolutely over the top. The noise of cheers and applause and support for his gutsy statement was deafening. (My own hearing may never fully recover) Seven of the ten contestants were eliminated and three remained: Mike Setti, Jenn Ballard, and Ryan. Mike had sung an awesome song that had Ole Dad sweatin bullets. Jenn had brought the house down with her song and really impressed the judges. Mike (age 25) placed a strong third. It was between Jenn (age 29) and Ryan (age 17). Frank Wells of WYSK started to announce the winner at least three times only to be diverted each time! Mom was at the point of fainting and Dad was reaching for his bottle of nitro glycerin heart pills when Frank FINALLY announced the winner of Fredericksburg Idol... the winner of $1000... the winner of 10 hours of recording time at Wally Cleaver Recording Studios (one of the best on the east coast)...

R-Y-A-N F-R-E-N-C-H !!

The people went just plain crazy with insane cheering and screaming. It is hard to explain how the whole place seemed to erupt... even many people who had come to support others were cheering their lungs out.

I will try to put a copy of the song on the website tomorrow for all to hear.

To all those who came out to support my son... thank you for your support. It means a lot to him and to his mom and me.

And Ryan... I want you to know that I am very happy for you, dude. Yes, you can sing. You've got "pipes" as Frank puts it. But more importantly, you have a personal relationship with the One who gave you pipes... the Lord Jesus Christ... and you are not afraid to lay it all on the line and risk it all for the sake of your testimony. Before you went up I told you, "Leave it all on the stage." But you did even more than that. You've got guts, my son... and I am very proud of that.

Congratulations! You have represented your family, church, friends, school and Savior very well. Well done.

-- Ole Dad

Movie of Contest (broadband)

Movie of Contest (dialup)

PS -- I didn't find this out until Sunday when Ryan told our Sunday School class the following: "Before I went on to sing, I knelt down there on the floor beside the juke box and prayed. I said, 'Lord, if You can make some way that I can bring glory and honor to your name right now, I will do it.' He did just that, and I took the opportunity He gave me."