I haven’t talked about it yet in Red Belly Radio, but I won a contest. Several months ago I learned that celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck was going to be opening a restaurant in Dallas. It was going in to the Reunion tower, which is a Dallas landmark; it rotates 360 degrees and has wonderful views over looking the city. The trouble was Wolfgang needed a name for his newest property so he held a contest.

A Coworker of mine told me about it, and I thought about it for a day or two and submitted my ideas. A couple of months later I got an e-mail informing me that my name was selected! Cool! I am going to get to eat there once a month for a year, some cookware, and other stuff. But the fun part was the fancy party simply for e-mailing the name: 560 by Wolfgang Puck. (In reference to the height of the tower)

After hanging out with (and interviewing Wolfgang for a future edition of Red Belly Radio) I was talking to my friend Laura, the one who told me about the contest to begin with. Who comes walking in the swankest new place in Dallas? Jason Castro! He’s the singer with the dred locks who got fourth place on American Idol in 2008!

Cool! I’m in with the in crowd!

Being a huge American Idol fan, I had to approach Jason. But what to say? I know, I’ll tell him that I am heading to Disney World and am going to the new American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. Of all the possible answers he could give, he said, “So am I!”

Okay, now I know I’m hip. First podcasting for the world’s greatest airline, now this!

What are the odds of my winning the contest, which enabled me to meet Jason to have a chance to see him again two days later as part of the team to represent Southwest airlines at Walt Disney World? I need to go to Vegas, no wait, I just got back from there and I lost $134. Maybe that doesn’t work.

Southwest Airlines is a partner with Disney and I am at the resort showcase. That is where media from around the U.S. and UK and Canada come here to learn about all the new features that Disney is offering this year. I’ll be blogging and recording for future Red Belly Radio episodes so stay tuned. Later tonight, we will get to go to the American Idol Gala. I’m sure Simon and I will be hanging, and I’ll be able to ask Jason to come over and Simon will be impressed that I know him. Well, met him once.

I am here with one of my Coworkers from Southwest Airlines named Bruce Campbell. (In the picture on the right) He is one of those Flight Attendants who likes to make his plane laugh. Very funny, quick with a come back and does impersonations such as Dr. Evil, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ross Perot ,and several more. This morning, Bruce was interviewed by Mitch (on the left) from the Daily Buzz—the nation-wide morning show and has been doing interviews with radio stations all morning.

There is a cool feature that Disney is calling the Dream Player.
There are videos featuring Bruce, and Disney will be adding new footage from the American Idol Gala tonight. I will be recording and trying to get interviews with the really beautiful people—those who flew Southwest to get here!