now y'all got me wondering......

Looks like "Ned Beatty". LMAO

Ok....I don't think it is....but it kinda looks like it says "Phil Stacey" lol

when I got to meet him yesterday in Fresno, I asked about it and he said it was the lead signer of a band named Big Machine.. (Sorry I forgot the name of the guy though... you don't really remember much when your 3 inches from David Cook!)

According to myspace the lead singer of Big Machine is Kelly Shaefer....

lol I googled them immediately & I just found that too.

crap ... that doesnt' really fit the signature does it!.. I swear he said Big Machine though ... (please don't kill me if i'm wrong!)

Are you sure he didn't say Big Wreck? He's listed that as one of his favorite bands repeatedly and also when he was asked who he'd like to write with, he named the Big Wreck lead singer who's named Ian Thornly.

I was just going there myself. Big Wreck is one of DC favorite bands, but none of the names fit....besides. they're all living in Canada.

I know this is going to surprise you, but Canadians do travel! (Ha ha!) After all OLP and Raine Maida are Canadian too and he's met them. What's with him liking all these Canadian bands anyway?

I know it wasn't Big Wreck .. it was a band that I didn't know .. and i know Big Wreck .. and OLP it wasn't either of them ... DANG!! I wish I would have paid more attention to what he was saying, than to the lips that were saying the words!! AH! I'm sorry ... But for those of you who have met him... it's hard to keep focus when he's staring right at you!!

No surprises here

ian thornly kinda ifit to the sig.

It could still be right - my signature looks nothing like my actual name - pretty much the only bit you can figure out is the C at the beginning then its one big mess!

The moment you did this, I saw KELLY. And the bottom scribble looks like some sort of symbol. Then I saw someone said they met him in Fresno and said it was someone from Big Machine. Kelly Shaefer is the lead from Big Machine. Is it possible the first is just the name and second a BM symbol of some sort?

OK I have to watch this now so when someone figures this out I will know...lol

Okay, whoever meets him in Vegas or LA needs to ask FO SHO!

Sort of close match with the Ian Thornley one (center signature):







A man after my own heart. I love Canadian rock.

Yup, yup. . . . sure does look like Ian's . . . good sleuthing there, TC.

Can't believe we're still talking about this! lol.

(I'm in Vegas, and if I run into DC, I'll be sure to ask him. Highly unlikely, though, consider I'm not going to the show! lol)

I'm glad to know that I am not the only one who, when first seeing the San Diego pics, zoomed 400% on that hat to try and read it.

I chalked it up to, well I'll never know, just let it go. Obsession abated for a while. Now it's back. I have spent I don't how much time reading this thread. LOL!

I will be checking back here, 'cause I know someone out there will find out long before he hits Kentucky, and I have a chance to try and ask.

THAT'S SO TRUE! WHO FOCUSES WHEN HE SPEAKS?!?!
IT'S SO HARD!
Okay... So he had my attention. I heard him most of the time.
But then my brain imploded because I realized he was talking to ME!
So I TOTALLY know what you're saying!

Okay, first time poster here. Long time lurker from the AI boards.

That's what I said. It looks like Neal Daughty. He's the keyboard player for REO Speedwagon. He said he grew up on Boston and Kansas so that would fit right in with those two bands.

I'll ask Andy Skib. We've been emailing and I'm bringing a contigent to see him at The Roxy on The Sunset Strip at the end of the month (anyone in LA area let me know if you want to come up here, park at my condo and walk down together! PM me).
Andy may know who it is. I thought several fans earlier in this thread remembered it was Raine Maida of OLOP. Do we think it wasn't Raine or are we not sure?

I asked Andy, he said he doesn't know.....but maybe he's talked to David since then.

This theory gets my vote! I had been assuming it was first and last name but now that I look at it again - sure does look like Kelly and then the "y" goes down to form the symbol. AND the fan who met him did say she was pretty sure the band was BIG MACHINE.

I am still not sure but hopefully someone will find out soon! I love that we find these other bands to listen to by our favorites mentioning them. And I am sure they love it also.

And who better to get a music recommendation from than David! He's got impeccable taste in music!!

ROFL - I'M CONTINUOUSLY AMAZED AT HOW OBSESSED WE ARE WITH DAVID COOK!!!! I'VE BEEN WONDERING THE SAME THING ABOUT THIS HAT. I WANTED TO START A THREAD BUT I'VE BEEN BUSY AND NOT ABLE TO LOG IN AND I COME BACK AND FIND THIS 5 PAGE THREAD!!! CRACKS ME UP. ANYWAY, I THOUGHT MAYBE IT WAS ANDY SKIB HIMSELF BECAUSE ACCORDING TO HIS BLOG, HE WAS IN SAN DIEGO WITH DAVID, BUT IT CAN'T BE HIM IF HE DOESN'T KNOW WHO SIGNED. POOR DAVID - HE JUST CAN'T KEEP ANYTHING FROM US FOR LONG!!!

Here are REO Speedwagon Autographs, well signatures on a contract actually, including Neal Doughty's, so you decide. I think David is a fan. They are a midwestern band and Neal is a songwriter who founded the group. He originally told David to come to their show when they were going to be in the same city and David said he would love to but probably wouldn't have time. I have not been able to confirm that REO was in Phoenix Area at that time though. http://www.korg.com/sbytes/article.asp?ArtistID=205

Okay, I saw David after the Vegas show by the buses and asked about the autograph. He said it was Mike Portnoy from the band Dream Theater. Never heard of them before, and I had to write it on my hand otherwise I would have never remembered it. So there you go.

WOOO!! CASE CLOSED!

He met dream theatre?!?
Okay I'm jealous...

Ana there ya go... Thanks for asking him! I have no idea who Dream Theater is, but if it made Cookie happy enough to get their autograph, then I am happy for him!

And there's a picture to prove it!

For some reason my cut and paste isn't working, but on www.mikeportnoy.com, there's a blog, and a picture of the two of them. The people on the blog were trying to figure out how he met an AI and he said he took his family to the concert and to meet the idols and that he was psyched that David knew who he was and wanted him to autograph his hat.

It's a great comment! I'll have to see if I can get paste the link or comment later...

http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/upfiles.a...6E7C3C37110.jpg

And now that my cut & paste is working:

Here's the comment by Mike after they were trying to figure out if David knew him:

Actually, I was SHOCKED to see that he did in fact know who I was....
In fact, he was totally psyched to meet me and immediately asked me to autograph his hat for him.
I thought that was very cool of him.
The guy is currently in the heart of a media frenzy and I am real happy for him as I think he's a real talent and deserves all of the success he is now enjoying....

For those wondering how on earth we even ended up in the same room in the first place...
I took my family to the American Idol tour kickoff in AZ and brought my family backstage afterwards.
We met all 10 performers and I got pix of each of them with my kids.
They were all incredibly nice to them...

David Cook was the only one of the bunch who got excited to meet me...but I honestly never expected any of the others to be very big rock (much less prog metal!!) fans in the first place...
(although Brooke White's brother was there who is a drummer and a huge fan....)

So there ya have it....
Another exciting week of elbow rubbing!

MP

Here's the link to that blog - you have to page down a ways...

http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/tm.aspx?m...y=&#2068651

Well, thank goodness this mystery is finally solved! I spent waaaaaaaaay too much time staring at that signature!

Amen to that Suze. GOOD JOB EVERYONE! *laughs* We're pretty good, huh? Credit to Gipsy for remembering to write it down! Most of us would have been mush.

Glad we got that all settled. Gawd, we're so obsessed. LOL!! And once again Cookie introduces me to a band I never heard of....I'm checking out their music on ITunes as I type this.

Well, the verdict is in!!! We have the best group of sleuths in the world. Gipsy, thank you so much for remembering to ask him and the ability to remember afterwards! You are amazing!!!!! And I am also going to Itunes immediately to check them out.

Wow, we're more than some great group of sleuths... we're a NETWORK! Hey, I'm hoping to meet Andy Skib after To Have Heroes plays the Roxy in LA at the end of the month (we've been emailing each other - I'm bringing a cheering squad there)... anything else you want me to ask Andy about David? (appropriate questions for a guy to ask another dude, please!!!)

1. Is Andy going to be working on any of the songs on Davids album?
2. Is there the tiniest hints that he can give us about the songs that are going to be on the album?
3. David's phone number? Just kidding had to throw that in there just because!!!!!!!
And thanks ahead of time Scott for any scraps you can throw our way after the meeting. And please tell Andy how much we love his music also.

Can't believe some of you guys don't know who dream theatre are!?!...Oh no hang on, it does look like on their past tours they've done Europe way more than the USA...Maybe we're more Prog Rock!?! lol

Very cool though!

1. Great Question. I made a post in the "does anyone else..." thread about them collaborating and dueting. Definitely going to ask that one!
2. Another good one! I'm sure he's discussed it with DC but the question is... does Andy have loose lips? (I couldn't resist that, lol!). I'll give it a try!
3. Tempting, ain't it!!!

Whoa, MP is way cooler, and I have a thing for drummers... His street cred went up a notch, especially with all the male fans that have been coming out of the woodwork.

Don't know who that is, or his band, but we FINALLY found out the hat mystery!! Good job Gipsy!!

Thanks for figuring that out! Love that picture. Luckily, I know of the band, but I haven't heard anything they've done. Guess I'm going to have to change that!

david's HOt in that picture.

Glad that got figured out! Its very cool that the people David admires think he is talented.

Ms. Rockette....what's prog rock?

And I'm glad that this mystery has been solved. Quick thinking, Gipsy on writing down the answer. If it was me, I would have probably swooned after meeting him.