"American Idol" Extra - Interviews with the Idols, Part Two"
DAVID COOK

Question: How are you taking to touring?
Answer: I love it. I get to travel the country, see places I've never seen with some of my best friends? It's great. We had a day off in Ft. Lauderdale, and I got lost a little bit. Most of the time, we get into a town at 4 or 5 in the morning, grab some sleep and go to the (venue).

Q: So you don't get to usually see much of the town.
A: St. Louis looks a lot like DC, looks a lot like Charlotte, looks a lot like New York.

Q: How much choice did you get in your choice of song for the tour?
A: The tour producers were pretty open to discussion, and everybody had a say. We're all concerned with the flow of our individual sets, and they're more concerned about the overall show.

Q: I must say that "Time of My Life" is one of the better "Idol" singles, that seems so much less of a departure from your style than with other winners.
A: It's interesting. I got a chance to meet (songwriter) Reggie Hamm, who was really down to earth. First and foremost, it's a great song. It did really well after the finale, and whoever picked the music for the Olympics played it again and it's gotten a second life. I'm really happy with it. Just as importantly, I got a chance to tweak the arrangement a little bit. In the end, a great song is a great song. I got lucky.

Q: As a "rocker" who was a little older and more established as a performer than some of the other contestants, you, like Chris Daughtry, got labeled by some people as a sell-out (He nods, rolls his eyes). It's not me saying it. It's that some people don't appreciate, as a lot of musicians have told me, how different the business is. They say you have to use what you've got.
A: There are some people still stuck in the Dark Ages. The thing that's both scary and exciting is that there's no formula anymore. "American Idol," as successful as it is...look at the track record. Some of the winners have become amazingly successful, and some have had to take a different track with their careers. It's just a starting point.

Q: Interesting point. I guess it's what you do with it.
A: Yesterday was my first day off since the tour started. You do the work, and live up to the expectations I set for myself, and (not worry about) what everybody else wanted me to be.

Q: Having fun?
A: More than should be allowed. I'm getting to meet musicians — I got to write with Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace, my favorite band ever, and he's treating me like a peer. I get to write music with this man. It's weird. And Archie and I drove up to do the "Teen Choice Awards," and I was sitting with my leg propped up on the other leg, and Adam Sandler comes by and hits me on the bottom of the foot. Crazy.

Q: Where do you go from here?
A: After a year of singing other people's songs, I want to go back to original music. I'm ready for it. I see myself being happy doing whatever I'm doing, having a family and doing what every generic boy from the Midwest wants to do.

Q: You impress me as sort of a perfectionist.
A: (Smiles) Absolutely. I have seen enough of the (seventh season of "American Idol") to know that for my own sanity, I shouldn't watch it. I'd be like "Why did I let them do my hair like that? Why did I sing that?" I know that nobody's perfect. But I'd be interested in doing something perfect and saying "See?"

Link to the Page

love it - great article.

David did do something perfect: "The World I Know."
See?

then again, he's probably his own worst critic.

Nice article that just solidifies his level-headedness. (No matter what his hairstyle of the moment! ) And the image of Adam Sandler hitting the bottom of David's shoe is adorable to me for some reason.

Love that article and cracks me up about Adam Sandler bc I like him too LOL

Sue

I hate this article grumblegrumblegrumble cuz while he was inside giving it I was outside praying to meet him grumblegrumblegrumble.

OK, I feel better--good article, and yea, he's a perfectionist!!!

That article is worth the read.

Roffles at the part where he mentioned Adam Sandler!

very intelligent answers!!!

thanks for posting!

Cute! Thanks for posting!

Nice read - thank you for posting up the article.

I love this guy. Great article.

I found another article from Palm Beach Post dated today, but parts of it sound familiar, like they were used for another newspaper. The phrasing was almost exact. But I will highlight the good parts:

A few questions ... with your American Idols!
By Leslie Gray Streeter

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

So many interesting things you can find out in five minutes worth of conversation!

I'm not saying that a bite-sized bit of interaction with David Cook, Ramiele Malubay, Jason Castro and Brooke White, in town last week for the "American Idols Live" show at BankAtlantic Center, allowed me some deep glimpse into their souls or anything.

But I did find out some stuff that never came across in the several months we spent with them on TV.

To wit: Ramiele, who thinks she came off shy on-camera, is hysterical. Mellowed-out, interview-averse Jason is pretty eloquent and, as he puts it, "a deep thinker." Emotional Brooke is a lot more serious than you might think. And David Cook's kind of hot. We knew this. But in person, it's more about his confidence and ability to answer a question than his eyes and his beard.

(interviews with others skipped)
DAVID COOK

(the 'Idol' winner)

LESLIE: As a "rocker" who was a little older and more established as a performer than some of the other contestants, you, like Chris Daughtry, got labeled by some people as a sellout (He nods, rolls his eyes). It's not me saying it. It's that some people don't appreciate, as a lot of musicians have told me, how different the business is. They say you have to use what you've got.

COOK: There are some people still stuck in the Dark Ages. The thing that's both scary and exciting is that there's no formula anymore. American Idol, as successful as it is...look at the track record. Some of the winners have become amazingly successful, and some have had to take a different track with their careers. It's just a starting point.

LESLIE: You impress me as sort of a perfectionist.

COOK: (Smiles) Absolutely. I have seen enough of the (seventh season of American Idol) to know that for my own sanity, I shouldn't watch it. I'd be like "Why did I let them do my hair like that? Why did I sing that?" I know that nobody's perfect. But I'd be interested in doing something perfect and saying "See?"
(interview with new judge Kara skipped).
************
Well, at least she was impressed with the interview (who would not be?)

OK, I am trying to embed the link for the first time, here goes nothing (you can listen to the interview):
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/conten...k_web_0827.html

"But in person, it's more about his confidence and ability to answer a question than his eyes and his beard."

even on tv... that's why i liked him. during his audition, he had this poised manner of speaking that just told me to watch for this guy.

I'd love Scott's take on the nearly verbatim "lifting" of material from one interview to another newspaper's article. This isn't the first time I've seen unacknowledged borrowing of interview material from paper to paper in following David news. Curious about his take on my little added article overall... Scott, are you there?????

Also, at the end of my last post, I mentioned before the link that you could listen to the interview. This was based on a "Click to Listen" button on the article. However, not that I've listened to it, DON'T BOTHER! It not only doesn't have the voices of the Idols, but not even the voice of the interviewer! It's someone reading from a script in monotone. Actually, on 2nd thought, it could make you laugh a little to listen to it, it is so stripped of all emotion. How ironic, and a bit comical. The main point is, at least the writer was excited about David FROM THE INTERVIEW ALONE!

I'm only part of the way through the article, but I had to post 2 comments:
Who think's DC is a sell out? I don't really think anyone has thought that... I think the reporter just used that as a way to ask the question. He's so NOT a sellout... he's so famous for walking that fine line of doing things his way without ever mocking the show.. and at the same time never selling out!

I do love David's gracious comments about TOML, that a great song is a great song and that he got lucky. And that he met Regie Hamm. OK, going back to finish.


This lifting and repurposing is becoming more common because so many media outlets are either owned by the same media conglomorate or are aligned together as affiliates. Then there's AP which will allow members (newspapers, TV stations, etc) in certain cases to take their wire stories and incorporate them into locally gathered stories... in the byline sometimes you'll see By John Doe and Associated Press.

Oh, and David:
Two things you did perfectly:
TWIK live in the final performance
ABMB studio version.
Both perfect. Wouldn't change a thing. Flawless.
And if there's one thing you are not, Mr. Cook, is generic!

Thanks much for this!!!!

Great article! Thanks for posting.

Good read. Thanks for posting!

Great article....Thanks for sharing!

I really appreciated this article, but just had to chide David a little in his observations of the cities he's visited. Washington, DC has NO skyscrapers, all buildings in the city stop at the 12th floor. New York, Charlotte and St. Louis? BIG skyscrapers! I don't think David was fully awake when they rolled into Washington, DC! LOL! But I get what he means, everything's become a blur to them, visiting so many cities one right after the next and not having time to explore any of them.

Looks around...sees no hands raised...

So do I, Scott, I love that he's calling it a "great song" and acknowledged its Olympic play.