You couldn’t make this stuff up. Neal E. Boyd’s beloved mother couldn’t afford a plane ticket to Los Angeles, so the town of Sikeston bought her one, and she was in the audience to see him perform Tuesday night. He sang to her (I don’t know what the song was; maybe you do) and again turned all the judges, including Piers Morgan, into gushing softies. Piers told Neal’s mom that all her sacrifices had been worth it, that her son had a real chance of winning “America’s Got Talent.” There was hardly a dry eye in the house. (Except mine. Although I think he’s incredibly talented, and unbelievably lovable, I hated that song. Clearly, I’m wrong.) Listen to some of Boyd’s songs on his web site.

Also performing Tuesday night, in the hope of making it into the Top 10, was Cadence, the drum group from Missouri State University in Springfield, featuring Brandon Alexander (Lutheran South HS, 2003). They are cute boys, and there was a lot of high-pitched shrieking from the audience. Even the judges seemed to come around a bit, praising them for taking criticism and improving. My guess would be that both Neil and Cadence make the Top 10.

By the way, some of the other performers still in this thing are terrible! Yikes.