Missouri's got talent

America's got talent. And it comes from Missouri.

Authors, artists, musicians -- Missouri has names under every artistic category.

A walk down Main Street will show you proof. At night the music dances out of the bars and right onto the street. During business hours or window shopping you can see the creative visual talents harbored in this inland cape.

It is not our small shops or our lively, welcoming bars that earn us national acclaim -- not yet, anyway. The national eye is caught by those brave souls who subject themselves to judges far more critical than a couple out for the night or a sidewalk shopper. It is those souls on reality TV shows.

It was a few shows into the "American Idol" season before I realized David Cook (siiiiiigh) hails from the Kansas City, Mo., area. That just sealed the deal.

Now it seems the state is churning out more voter-driven reality TV show stars. Neal E. Boyd's debut on NBC's "America's Got Talent" solicited a standing ovation from not only the crowd, but Piers, Sharon and The Hoff were on their feet as well. The wide-eyed Sikeston native has done and can do the area nothing but proud.

This area -- and admittedly many small towns -- takes care of its own and takes part in their lives. Everyone shares in their neighbors' successes. That was brought to full light by a conversation I had with one of Cape Girardeau's original success stories. Judith Farris pointed out that when she moved to New York after college and worked her way onto Broadway, friends and the newspaper kept up with her story and accomplishments.

She was so moved by the support, she moved back here in 2005 to help Southeast Missouri State University grow its performing arts program. Now, while scanning the "America's Got Talent" clips, we can also keep up with Farris' other success story: her son, Matthew Piazzi.

Matthew scored face time on the television show for his impressions. We'll be keeping up with him as well.

Historically, Missouri contributed several well-known names to the arts scene: Mark Twain from Hannibal, Mo.; Walt Disney from Marceline, Mo.; Charlie "Bird" Parker from Kansas City and Ginger Rogers from Independence, Mo. There's a whole wall devoted to them and others.

In fact, I'm quite glad Cape Girardeau decided to erect that wall to honor and list all the talents of Missouri. Some would argue the wall went up to protect the town from the mighty Mississippi, but let's not split hairs here, people. We are relatively dry, and our cable is intact. We can easily watch -- and vote -- to add yet another Missouri face to the national scene and maybe the floodwall, too.