Deal?

Is an announcement, at long last, at hand?

From The Washington Post:

And a Visit With Mom

Fresh off the "American Idol" tour, Elliott Yamin is ready to get to work after a short pit stop in Richmond.

The "Idol" finalist took a breather in his home town this week to hang out with his mom, Claudette, and is currently pondering offers from two music labels, his publicist told us yesterday. Yamin plans to head to Birmingham, Ala., Monday to rehearse with Taylor Hick s's band, Limbo, who will back the singer during his first post-"Idol" concert at the Virginia State Fair on Oct. 8.

Yamin plans to release an album early next year.

Elliott Behind Bars!

I can't resist collecting these photos of Elliott Yamin taken by fans outside various concert venues of the American Idols Live tour and organizing them into a series of what I like to call "Elliott Behind Bars!" Well, he's really signing autographs for fans who hang out to meet the buses and they're separated by security fences of some sort. Still, some of us Yaminions enjoy the portrait of him as a "southern thug" who has to be punished.