Congratulations to Colin Firth on winning his first Academy Award tonight. He took home the Oscar for lead actor for his role in The King's Speech. The movie also captured best picture award.

This shot is from December 7, 2009, after Firth's appearance on Regis and Kelly.

You can catch him performing Sunday night during the Academy Awards, but tonight, Randy Newman was in St. Louis, Missouri.

Newman, an Emmy (3-time), Grammy (5-time), and Academy award winning singer/songwriter, was in town to perform at a Friends of the Sheldon Concert Hall benefit. Newman stopped for this photo and to sign a Toy Story "You've Got a Friend in Me" compact disk single (already signed by Lyle Lovett) as he arrived back at his hotel following a late afternoon sound check.

Newman will be performing "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3, nominated for "Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media" on Sunday.

It was a road trip to St. Louis yesterday. Unfortunately, the day didn't get off to a great start since the first stop, Rickman Auditorium, had posted a "cancelled" notification on their marquee. Ronnie Milsap's concert was the victim.

After turning around, I stopped at the Fox Theater to catch American Idol runner-up Diana DeGarmo following the matinee performance of the stage production "9 to 5." Several of her cast mates mentioned she be napping between performances. However, when I asked another member of the cast, he offered to get her from the dressing room. Sure enough, a few minutes later, she came out to greet me and sign an 8x10 of us taken last year in New York at her play, "Hair." She also inked a playbill, posed for this shot, and talked about how much she enjoyed her trip to Pappy's the day before.

A couple blocks away at Powell Symphony Hall, trumpeter Chris Botti was set to perform with the St. Louis Symphony. Despite arriving just 25 minutes before show time, he stopped to sign and to pose. Looks like he might have been practicing on the way to the show. If you look close, you can see the mark from the trumpet on his upper lip.

The day concluded with meeting three of the original members of the 70's southern/country group, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. I met them at their hotel following their concert at the Argosy Casino.

Here's John Dillon and Steve Cash.

And, here is Michael "Supe" Granda.

I was excited to get to meet them as the band is semi-retired. They only perform about 6 to 8 concerts a year.

It was a busy Thursday and Friday in Bloomington and in Peoria.

Thursday night, the Lyle Lovett/John Hiatt Tour was in Bloomington for a show at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.

Lovett greeted me warmly as he exited the venue to his tour bus about an hour before the show. He posed for this shot and signed a CD.

About 20 minutes later, Hiatt and his wife pulled up to the venue after a pre-show dinner at a local restaurant. Hiatt gladly signed a CD and photo before hopping on his tour bus to prepare for the show.

On the return trip home, I stopped by The Center in Springfield just in time to catch comedian Rodney Carrington as he finished his show. After a quick post-concert meal of ribs and pulled pork on his tour bus, he came out to pose for this shot. He even apologized for the wait.

Friday night, it was off to Peoria. First up was the Micheal W. Smith/Amy Grant double bill at the Civic Center Theater. Micheal did a run-off at the end of the show, but I did manage to get him to stop at the door of his bus for this quick shot.

Amy exited about 30 minutes, along with a rather large entourage of security guards, tour personnel, and her mom. While she promised she come back to take a picture as she boarded the tour bus, it didn't happen. However, her tour manager did take my CD on the bus for her to sign.

Jenny Gill, daughter of country artist Vince Gill (and his first wife, Janis), is a vocalist on the tour. She stopped to chat with fans and took this photo.

Before departing the River City, I stopped by the Fire on the Mountain Festival at the East Peoria Convention Center to catch Grammy award winning bluegrass legend Peter Rowan. Rowan and his Bluegrass Band had just started their set when I walked in the door. He performed his hits, along with new songs, such as Jailer, Jailer from his latest release. Following his set, he gladly signed a CD and posed for this shot.