Any Alter Bridge Fans Out There?

It'd be great to see if there's any DC fans here who are also huge fans of Alter Bridge as well. I won't lie, as much as I love David, I love Alter Bridge and lead singer Myles Kennedy more. In my opinion, Myles/Alter Bridge cannot be rivaled. Regardless of, and I hope I didn't offend anyone as that wasn't my intention, both Myles and David are great performers who put so much into their music, are humble, and also give back to their fans and I feel that I get double the fun being a fan of the two of them. Also, I'd love to see David and Alter Bridge do a collaboration one day. I'm a member of the AlterBridgeBand.net forum and there's someone there who interviewed David on the MusicEqualsLife site prior to him being on Idol and if I remember correctly, he stated that David is aware of Alter Bridge and likes their music so that's nice to know.

So if there's any Alter Bridge fans, please let yourself be known. I'm such a huge fan of them and would love to know if there are any other diehards out there.

DC David Cook shoots, scores national anthem gig

http://news.bostonherald.com/track/inside_...p;position=also

David Cook shoots, scores national anthem gig
By Herald wire services
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

“American Idol� David Cook may be a die-hard Chicago Bulls fan, but last night he knew his performance singing the national anthem before Game 3 was going to be part of hoop history.

“It’s the Lakers and the Celtics [team stats],� said the new Idol and all-around sports fan. “I think this is one of those quintessential rivalries in sports. I’m just honored to be here.�

Got any predictions, Dave?

“I think its going to go seven games, and then it’s whoever shows up,� he said, adding that he did hope to say hey to Celtics’ Big Ticket Kevin Garnett last night.

The Missouri boy, who grew up Idolizing Jeff Hornacek, said pulling the oh-say-can-you-see duty at the NBA Finals is among the Top 3 coolest things he’s done since being crowned American Idol.

He put visiting a children’s hospital in New York and appearing on the “Tonight Show� with Jay Leno as his first and second picks.


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There's also a pic of DC on the page itself where the article is featured.

Best Week Ever - June 1

Anyone catch it? I just happened to flip just in time where Chuck Nice started off the Sizzler segment of the show and Chuck said something, very giddily, I might add, like "American Idol Winner David Cook - tell them what this is!" and David came in with a microphone in hand, got all rowdy, and shouted to the top of his lungs "SIZZZZLLEEE SIZZLLLLLEEEEE SIZZZZLLLLEEEE SIZZLLLEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Ya know it!" Just rocked out the place! And then he apparently kicked Chuck in all his excitement. It was so freakin' FUNNY! And then they went about the different topics on the Sizzler (without David) and then Chuck came back in and said "Hey, David, help us close this out" and David came in on a stool and softly said "And that...was the....(sings all softly and holds a note) Sizzleerrrrrrr!" And then he looked around the room and said "Thank you, I appreciate this, thank you so much" a few times. It was so funny. And then when the show ended and the credits rolled, they showed the screen that says "This has been a production of" and on the side was David doing the "Thank you" thing again (it was the exact same one). It was pretty awesome. I just wish I had time to catch all of it. I recorded all of the parts except the first time he came out and went buck wild!

So did any one else catch that appearance?

In fact, here it is in case you missed it:

http://www.vh1.com/video/play.jhtml?id=158...&vid=237825

ROTF LOL!!!!

About Time I Share My Thoughts....

You know, over at the wrestling board, we have a thread on Idol and I'm always talking non-stop about DC and wrote all of this stuff up that you're about to read. I couldn't say all of these things and NOT share it with you all!




I started watching American Idol during its third season when such potential artists as Jennifer Hudson, George Huff, Diana DiGarmo, and Fantasia Barrino graced the stage. That season was very special to me as I was so wowed by all of these different artists who chose to belt it out on stage with the goal of getting a record deal and selling their music across the globe. I had many favorites that season, but the one person that I totally wanted to see win was Fantasia. Her life story moved me, her performances shook me to the core, and each and every week when I exited that little yellow bus (I was in high school at the time) and came home, I always made sure to get my chores out of the way, complete my homework, prepare for the following school morning ahead of time so I could see Idol with nothing on my conscience to take away from the performances that I knew would rock my world. As we all know, Fantasia won that year and it was a special moment in time for me. Out of all the people there, she always stood out to me and I could identify with her life story. Sure, I wasn't like her. I wasn't 19 with a kid already in tow, but that didn't mean I didn't "get" what she was going through. It's just that, for me, it was more than just about the music and only about the music. It was about one woman's journey to rise to the occasion, show off her voice, and prove that no matter what you're going through, dreams do come true. Doesn't matter who you are. And her winning only solidified that God had sincere plans for her and was using her to minister to other single parents who needed a second chance at life. Favorite Fantasia Performance: "I Believe" and "Summertime".

Then came Season 4. The one that Carrie won. I wasn't as moved as I was with the Fantasia season. But I had some favorites here and there and eventually took a liking to Bo Bice and wanted him to win that year, but when he didn't, I was a bit disappointed and that was all. LOVED Bo. Still do, but that season appears to be a blur, well, excluding Bo's a cappella performance of "In A Dream". Now that was good stuff. Favorite Bo Bice Performance: "In a Dream".

Then Season 5 came around. Chris. Freakin'. Daughtry. Need I say more? The minute that guy stepped foot into Idol territory and auditioned for the show, I KNEW that I was witnessing history and that this guy would go far. Needless to say, my mind was blown. Although I will say that after Chris got voted off (the day the music died), I took a liking to Taylor Hicks and therefore wanted him to win. I know that usually when one mentions Hicks, people tend to roll their eyes in disbelief, but the majority of the American public, I fear, is not used to the type of music that he's accustomed to making. For the record, I also liked Elliot Yamin. Favorite Chris Daughtry Performance: "Wanted Dead or Alive", "Hemorrhage", "Renegade", "I Walk the Line", "Higher Ground". (Yes, that man moved the very foundations of the earth for me.)

Then Season 6 came and my love for Idol just died. I mean, seriously? Jordin Sparks?!?! Blake Lewis?!?! Were the American public serious about those two making it to the finals? Melinda Doolittle was the one for me, but there were times where I thought that even she had something lacking. Consistent, but lacking. This was the worst season ever and it left quite a sour taste in my mouth. In fact, I can't remember any of the performances to choose a favorite. Oh yeah, I can. My favorite performance of that season was when the credits rolled for the final time, unleashing the end to the snoozefest that was Season 6. Oh, I felt so cheated. We won't even discuss Sanjaya.

So imagine me when the commercials for Season 7 started circulating and all I hear is Simon (as always) saying that this season would be the best season ever, with some of the best talent we'd ever witness. Oh, they HAD to be kidding me! You mean, they found people worse than Lewis and Sparks for this season, too? I think a part of me wondered if Simon was in on the joke and wanted to watch me sulk in anger. Each and every time those commercials aired, I always scoffed at the TV, just knowing that if I tuned in, there'd be nothing, no one, not a damn soul to get me back into Idol like I was when I was first introduced to it five years prior.

And yet, once January rolled around and the Idol season began, I watched anyway. I always did that with each season, even though my love for it diminished over the years. I don't know. Maybe, just maybe, through all the venom that I was spewing at Simon on the other side of the TV set, I secretly hoped that I'd finally find the one person to prove me wrong and get me excited about the show.

Audition after audition came and went and not a soul stood out to me. After a while, I didn't tune in again, until I happened to, ironically, be posting on an Alter Bridge message board and one of the posters said that, for those of us who were taking the time to watch Idol, we should look out for one of the rockers on the show. This piqued my interest and as it happened I ended up tuning in once again, completely forgetting what was said about looking out for a rocker on the show. (By this time, the audition process was over.) I tune in and see a clip of what must've happened the previous week. Here this guy was on stage during Hollywood week performing Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" and this guy was performing one of my favorite songs so well! And then next thing I knew (same episode or not, I can't seem to remember), this guy I've come to know as David Cook comes out and performs Free's "All Right Now", yet again another one of my favorite songs. Damn, I thought to myself, is this man singing to me?! And if that didn't help the situation, in his video package, he admitted that he loved words and was a self-proclaimed "Word Nerd". Ok, now here was a rocker that loved words just as much as me! I should've known then that that was a sign of things to come.

I tuned in the following week, and Cook performed Lionel Richie's "Hello" which freaked me out because just a few days prior I watched that video for the first time in a long time on a whim. Again, I pondered if this man was choosing his songs with me in mind. I felt that same overwhelming feeling that I felt when he performed the previous week to the point of joking that David Cook "had me at Hello".

Somewhere down the road, I missed a few episodes of Idol because for some reason, I had this problem where I'd remember that Tuesday was ECW day or Tuesday was American Idol day and I'd watch one show and completely forget the other even though they'd come on at different times.

And then one night, I was online and it just hit me that I had missed an episode of Idol so I went to YouTube to see what David sung and saw that he had chosen to sing "Billie Jean". Now at that point, I was baffled as to what he'd do with such a well-known song. I clicked the link and in those two minutes my whole life changed. He performed the song with Chris Cornell's arrangement, but still managed to put his own twist to it. I was in so much shock and awe because I knew that I was truly witnessing a moment that will be recalled many years later when Idol is no longer in existence. (Yes, my realization went that deep.) I was already taken aback the minute he opened his mouth, but when he got to the end of that performance and hit that 9-second high note I made it up in my mind to not only watch his every performance, but to tape them as well, because I knew this man wasn't going to be a one-hit wonder. This became a first for me as I never made plans to record every performance an Idol contestant ever did so imagine what I was thinking!

And here I am today, an even bigger fan of this man than I was before. For the first time in my life, a contestant become more to me than just some singer on the TV screen. I went online, read about this man's career, listened to his Idol performances, and pre-Idol music over and over, and was so moved at just how humble and genuine this guy was to the point of tears. Out of all the contestants that came and went, I had emotionally invested myself in this man to the point of being nervous whenever the results show came and crying my eyes out in happiness when he'd progess in the ranks, surpassing Daughtry's fourth spot position to enter the Top 3 and now the Top 2. Call me crazy, but all these emotions I've felt these past few months are so new to me and it's still a little hard for me to process it all.

Fantasia never made me feel this way, Bo Bice never made me feel this way, and to be honest, not even Chris Daughtry made me feel this way. I love them all and will praise them to no end, but the overwhelming emotions that DC introduced to me each time he sung -- he was the only one.

Favorite David Cook performance? All of them. Seriously. Yes, I mean that. Some stand out more than others, but they're all special to me. Oh alright, I'll give you some: "Billie Jean", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", "Always Be My Baby", "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing", "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "The World I Know".

And now that I've shared my road to this point, I'll now share what it is about David that has me feeling on top of the world each day.

You see, rock music is in a serious decline when it comes to talent. Bands like Alter Bridge are unknown while bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy are out there ruling the charts. It's getting to the point where people think that real rock music is all this emo crap that's out there where mascara rules and weird sounding vocals reign supreme. I don't know, maybe it's because I grew up not listening to the music of my generation. By the time I was 10, I had been introduced to everything from the Isley Brothers to the Beatles to Chuck Berry to Lenny Kravitz to Prince to Tina Turner to Rod Stewart to Bob Seger to Led Zeppelin to Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc. To me, those artists were the epitome of what music was all about! And here we are living in a world where mediocrity and half @#$ lyrics equals radio play on national radio stations across the world. The music industry has put in our heads that Beyonce and Justin Timberlake are what music is all about and I strongly disagree. All they will ever be known for is their dance routines and their looks. No one will look back a decade later and say that the lyrics they put out hit them in their soul and made them feel invincible.

On David Cook's end, I realize that on Idol he's singing other people's music, but that doesn't matter. He's taken a lot of those songs and put his own stamp on them, changing the way people think about that song. Look at Mariah Carey's Always Be My Baby and compare that to the one he did. He took that upbeat, cheerful song and gave it a more somber tone to it. His OWN arrangement to add to that. He took that song and changed the very definition of it just by changing the tone. He did the same thing for Neil Diamond's "All I Really Need is You" and Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow". This man is a gem that's hard to come by in music. He knows how to work the audience and knows how to make you FEEL the music he's putting out there. This man isn't just out there singing a song just to sing it - hell no. This man is out there becoming the song he's singing and is delivering the feelings that come with those songs and therefore the audience in attendance and at home - they feel it, too. I knew that man was that damn good when the other day, I heard the original "Billie Jean" and for one split second forgot that Michael Jackson was the original artist to sing the song.

I see a career full of accolades for DC in the future. He's shown that he's more than just someone who can hit high notes and play guitar. David is versatile. This guy can successfully sing theater songs ("Music of the Night"), R&B songs ("First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"), ballads ("All I Really Need is You") and of course, rock songs ("Day Tripper"). If that isn't a true artist, then show me what is, because for years I've been looking for people that can prove to me that real musicians still exist, and DC is officially one of them.

No matter the outcome tonight - whether he's proclaimed as this season's American Idol or not - David has proven to me and countless others that all the hype surrounding him is for good reason. This man will go far in the music industry and will open the doors for future artists that will want to follow in his footsteps. I predicted it for Chris Daughtry, and I wasn't wrong there after all, now was I?

Top 3 Night: Idols Go Big Or Go Home

I strongly disagree with most of the stuff this person said about DC's performances, but it's not all bad.


http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityro...-big-or-go-home

Top 3 Night: Idols Go Big Or Go Home
Posted Tue May 13 6:57pm PDT by Lyndsey Parker in Reality Rocks

Hello, and welcome to the most anti-climactic top-three week in American Idol's seven-season history. I say that because, let's face it, Syesha Mercado probably has less chance of making it to next week's finale than previous third-placers like Jasmine Trias and Nikki McKibbin.

Sure, Sy is talented--much more so than Jasmine or Nikki--but this season has been steadily marching towards an inevitable David-vs.-David showdown ever since former frontrunners like Michael Johns and Carly Smithson got out of the Davids' way. If Syesha manages to triumph over either Cook or Archuleta this week, it'll be such a massive upset it'll make Chris Daughtry's elimination seem less shocking than the night that Colton Berry and Garrett Haley went home.

Speaking of going home, tonight was the "hometown" epsiode, during which the final three were supposed to receive heroes' welcomes in their respective hometowns. But this season's homecomings were surprisingly un-homey. I mean, where were the tickertape parades, the keys to the city, the high school pep squads, the proudly sobbing moms, the cardboard-and-glitterglue signs? Sheesh, even Katharine McPhee got a warmer welcome from her jaded L.A. peers when she returned "home" to Sherman Oaks in season 5.

Anyway, tonight the three finalists all got to sing three songs: one chosen by the judges, one they chose themselves, and one chosen by AmIdol producers. So first squeaky-clean Archie headed home to squeaky-clean Salt Lake City, where the mayor informed him he would be singing Billy Joel's "And So It Goes," a personal pick by Paula Abdul. Apparently Paula didn't remember when that song led to the downfall of another Mormon Idol, Carmen Rasmussen, back in season 2. (Carmen was in the bottom two the week she struggled through this Billy ballad, and she went home the following week.) Well, David sang it better than Carmen did--although I do recall Carmen kept her eyes open throughout her performance, unlike Archie, who squints so much when he sings that he almost looks like a prepubescent Andrea Bocelli.

I'm sorry, but when it comes to David Archuleta, I Just. Don't. Get. It. He's simply notmy cup of Celestial Seasonings. Me and (apparently) most of the rest of America will just have to agree to disagree on this matter. It's too late to turn me into an Archuleta supporter at this point.

Syesha was next, cruising in a limo through her hometown of Tampa, Florida, where she received a Mission: Impossible-style text from Randy Jackson instructing her to cover Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" tonight. That's a tough song to tackle, but she seemed inexplicably delighted with this choice, and Randy claimed to have faith in Sy. Either that, or he wanted to ensure her elimination by giving her a REAL mission impossible, a song she'd be likely to screw up. Well, she didn't screw it up, but she didn't exactly rock it, either. She sang it well enough, give or take a few sharp notes, and she looked fabulous while singing it in the type of floor-length, jewel-encrusted gown that Jennifer Hudson should have worn to the Oscars (instead of that bizarre Martian bolero jacket thingy)...but Sy's rendition still had an old-fashioned, beauty-pageanty vibe to it, as have many of her past performances. I simply was not wowed. Neither were the judges.

David Cook appeared third, and he was informed on morning television that Idol‘s meanest judge, Simon Cowell, had meanly selected the decidedly non-rockin' Roberta Flack ballad "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for the show's resident rocker. Ouch. David might've been able to rock out on Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean," but this tune was going be a REAL challenge. I suppose that was Simon's whole point, but I was nervous for Cook. David looked pretty nervous himself, sweating next to Ryan Seacrest onstage as he prepared for his do-or-die, make-or-break performance. Well, it was...um, not good. Not horrific (that would be the adjective I'd use to describe Archuleta's second song--more on that white-hot mess later), but it was obvious Cook was really straining. His usually gruff, resonant voice was suddenly thin and unsure, and he'd lost a whole lot of his guitar-pick-flicking swagger.

Damn that Simon! What was he trying to do here? Does he WANT Syesha in the finale or something? Come on, now. Nobody wants that. Nobody except Syesha and her immediate family, that is. So why was Simon trying to throw Cook off his game like that?

Oh, perhaps we'll never know what goes on underneath that flat-top of Simon's. But anyway, David The C's disappointing performance was quickly forgotten when the other David returned to sing his personal song choice, Chris Brown's "With You." Now, Archie probably thought this was a good choice for his little girly fans, the tweens who'd inevitably swoon as their imagined loverboy waded knee-deep through this R&B mushfest. But man, Archie made a major mistake here. Talk about swagger...you look up "swagger" in your Funk & Wagnall's and you'll see the entry, "see Brown, Chris." But Archie has about as much swagger as a chihuahua. Or, to more specifically quote Simon, a "chihuahua trying to be tiger." Archuleta was so out of his depth here, the poor boy needed a scuba mask. He was just so embarrassingly Wonderbread-white that he came off more like Casper The Ghost when he sang that line about his "boo."

Boo, indeed. Boo!!!

Next was Syesha, who in what seemed like an act of last-dash desperation chose the forcedly, formulaically cabaret song "Fever." She did her darnedest to sex up this already sexy song, flashing her oiled-up legs and wriggling on a Flashdance-style chair throughout her performance, but it still came across as dinner-theater schlock. And it seemed a little more like "Katharine McPheever" than "Fever" to me. Or remember Haley Scarnato doing "Tell Him" in her short-shorts, trying to distract/attract the audience with her Grable-esque gams? Well, it was sort of like that, too. The whole "I've got nothing else keeping me in this competition so I guess I'll just look as smokin' hot as possible and hope all the Maxim readers out there vote for me" tactic. This annoyed me. Well, that and all the sharp notes Syesha hit. Youch.

David Cook's personal choice was Switchfoot's "Dare You To Move," and he was back in his comfort zone. A little too much in his comfort zone, if you ask me. He was good, but it was hardly a defining moment for him. It won't be the performance everyone will be gabbing about around the watercooler tomorrow morning. Maybe he ought to have flashed his legs, actually. I certainly wouldn't have minded seeing a little Cook skin. But I digress.

For the final round, the contestants sang songs selected by the show's producers. David Archuleta went back to his comfort zone (treacly schmaltz-pop) for Dan Fogelberg's "Longer" (he was so comfortable, in fact, that he sat in a chair for the entire performance); Syesha attempted, for the most part unsuccessfully, to get funky on the Happy Feet reggae-pop number "Hit Me Up"; and David Cook employed an entire orchestra for the Diane Warren-penned Aerosmith power ballad "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" (which is NOT one of the best songs ever written, despite what Simon says).

All three final performances were, well, kind of underwhelming.

Wow, what a ho-hum leadup to what is supposed to be TV's most exciting night, next week's big blowout finale at the Nokia Theater. Tonight was pretty status quo stuff: no shakeups, no thrills, no chills. So Syesha will go home tomorrow, as expected, and the countdown to David-vs.-David will officially begin.

Tune in tomorrow to see if I'm right. Oh, but who I am I kidding here? You know I'm right...