Clay Aiken. A daddy? Doo...doo...doo...doo...doo...doo...doo...doo

The above headline sports the Twilight Zone theme music. Apropos given the revelation that Clay Aiken is gonna be a, gasp, daddy. What Would Jesus Do?

From TMZ: TMZ has learned Clay Aiken is going to be a daddy. In case you didn't process that, Clay Aiken is going to be a daddy. Here's what we know. Multiple sources tell us the mother is Jaymes Foster, a record producer and Clay's best friend. He lives at her home when he's in L.A. We're told 50-year-old Foster is due in August. She's the sister of record mogul David Foster. She divorced a few years back and has no kids. Aiken is 29. We're told Foster was artificially inseminated. (Well, duh!) But Clay is a lot more than sperm -- we're told he will have an active role in raising the child.

No immediate word from Aiken's rep -- or the turkey baster which collapsed, laughing in hysterics.

David Cook scores 11 singles on Billboard Hot 100

From Billboard.Com: David Cook sets a record for debut entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songs Thursday as 11 titles enter the Hot 100, while 14 songs rank on the download tally. The highest entry is the No. 3 Hot 100 debut for The Time of My Life, which sold 236,000 downloads. His total also marks the most placements on the list since the Beatles charted 14 songs on the Hot 100 in the week of April 11, 1964.

But before the Cookies start making too much of this, Cook is not nearly as culturally relevant as the Beatles and the chart rules and methodology today is vastly different from the way it was even a couple years ago. This is the first week of the 2008 season that American Idol downloads counted toward Billboard's charts. In cooperation with the show's producers, Apple withheld reporting iTunes sales of those songs until the week of the final episode. And, now, all of the finalists' songs are no longer available, only Cook and Archuleta's songs are available via iTunes.

•   David will perform during an outdoor concert at 9:30 AM on Thursday, May 29 at THE EARLY SHOW plaza at 59th Street and 5th Avenue in New York. The concert will be broadcast on Friday, May 30 on THE EARLY SHOW (7:00-9:00 AM) on CBS. 

David Cook's final words on Idol

Here are highlights from Idol:7 winner David Cook's teleconference chat last week:

Photo: Guitar Hero ad; Business Wire.

At the beginning of the season, Simon calls you cocky. He calls you pompous and then suddenly on Tuesday night he’s calling you one of the most sincere contestants he’s ever met: What a journey, huh? You know, I really didn’t change much of anything as strange as it is. I went into this with kind of a different perspective from everybody else. I didn’t have any expectations as to what the show was going to do for me or what I was going to do for the show. I just went into as an opportunity to expose myself musically to a large audience. So my confidence level really never wavered and maybe that’s what got misinterpreted as cocky or arrogant. I think as the season went on maybe he saw the work that I was putting in not just on my own stuff, but really just to try to make it a positive working environment for everybody.

Post Idol album?:  The ideal release date is as soon as possible if you’re asking me, but obviously these things take time. As far as the type of record,  it’ll probably be a rock record, but I think that’s a pretty vague generalization.

Musical experience: Well, I started in bands when I was 15 years old in Kansas City and was fortunate enough to get to play in and around Kansas City quite a bit and got to travel around the Midwest on occasion. The move to Tulsa, I’d graduated college and the opportunity to continue music presented itself in Tulsa, so I went. I played acoustic gigs a couple of times a month. I played full band gigs a couple of times a month and I just kind of hoofed it around the Midwest for about 10 years.

Use of a TelePrompter: Yes, some of them were on teleprompter for us. At the end of the day – and I keep saying it – you can get the words, but it’s still about the performance.

Younger brother Andrew auditioned for Idol, but producers picked you instead. Any plans to work together?: I've left the option open. I’m kind of leaving it up to him. It’s however he wants to operate in this whole deal. I know he wants to try to make his own way, so I’ll support him whatever he decides to do. I wouldn’t mind writing with him. ... As far as hard feelings, I really lucked out in that arena. He has been my number one supporter from day one and has routinely told me how proud he is of me. I can’t wait to see what happens after this. I can’t wait to hopefully help him out and try to him enjoy some of the fruits of my labor, since this is – as I said on the show – all his fault. The audition process was strange. He really wanted me to audition with him and I was just hesitant, not for any negative stigma associated with the show, but I didn’t really see this as my path for whatever reason. To stand in line at 5:30 in the morning in Omaha and the sun hasn’t come up, the producer comes by with a camera and interviews my brother and then turns to me and I’m like, “I’m not auditioning,” and he goes, “Well you are now.” Life has a weird way of working itself out sometimes.

Picking songs: Actually there was a short article that Debbie, our stage manager, hung up in the red room kind of related to this season. It talked about Frank Sinatra and how he would go about the song process about recording a song. Before he listened to the music, he would read the lyrics and basically try to tune into what the lyrics were saying and what the song was about and then he would go into the music aspect of it and figure out the melodies and all that. So for me that was a really eye-opening article. It made me think I just need to step back. Before I even try to learn this song I just need to read the lyrics and that really helped as far as trying to find the vibe. You know, with the Mariah Carey song I loved that the lyrics had a little bit of longing in them, but that it was still packaged in kind of this upbeat pop song. So for me that was a very natural transition, just to kind of slow it down a little bit and really kind of get the music to tune in just a bit more to the vibe of the lyrics. That was probably the biggest lesson I learned throughout the show.

Winning big: You know, I think that number is actually really misleading.  Obviously within the bubble of Idol, it’s hard to kind of get a vibe on what’s going on.  I thought Archie was probably a little bit ahead of me if I’m being honest.  I think as far as the finale goes, there’s a lot of conspiracy theories out there.  I attribute the finale vote discrepancy just to my fans just being awesome. I don’t really know how else to explain it. You know, my hats off to Archie for the whole scenario. I mean, he handled himself with a lot of grace. More importantly, he’s just an amazing human being, so I was just honored to share the stage with him.

Did Simon's criticicims rally your voters: That’s not a bad theory. I don’t know. You know, all I can hope is that it was based on my own merit. Regardless, I’m happy where I’m at. Simon’s blunt and he’s honest and that’s why they pay him the money that they pay him. The goal of the season for me was just to try to find some constructive criticism on what he was saying, which sometimes was a little tough, but that’s part of the show.

His first album: Analog Heart actually got released independently in May of ’06. I spent a good year just playing out and promoting that record as much as I could. So it got sold and a lot of people, thank God, bought the record. I think I ended up close to selling out like right before I came out. Then about midway through the season, I had to have the record pulled obviously for fairness issues in the show. I got it pulled offline and then somebody – I have no idea who – reposted it on Amazon. So while all that was going on, I was kind of at a loss. I had talked to Amazon about getting it pulled and there’s a bunch of mass confusion about it. I’m extremely appreciative of how well it did. 

Is losing actually better than winning -- the Daughtry Factor?: Well, I mean obviously the theory’s there. Did it cross my mind at any point in the competition? I mean, sure, but only as an objective point. I think going into this was an idea that you don’t want to win I think is a huge slap in the face to the 103,000 people that auditioned this season that really wanted to win, so I definitely went into this to try to win it. As far as having more success by not being a winner, I think that’s something that’ll get played out hopefully in the next couple of years. I think Daughtry’s success is amazing. So for me like right now I’m not trying to be Daughtry. You know, I’m just trying to put out a solid record. Even if it doesn’t do well commercially, as long as I can say that I put out a record that I’m proud of, that’s the goal right now and hopefully if I can do that, then success will follow.

 

 

 

David Archuleta's Final Words on Idol

Here are highlights from Idol:7 runnerup David Archuleta's teleconference chat last week:

Photo: Archuleta in Guitar Hero ad; Business Wire

A sense of relief?: Well, since this whole thing has lasted so long, the first audition was in January and we hadn’t been living at home since the beginning of February and that’s how long we’ve been working every week for each performance each week and having to compete in a way, even though I try not to look at it as competing against other people, but more against myself. Each week and as the weeks went on, we had more songs each week to have to learn along with other things. With this final week, it was the busiest of all. It was hard to find time to even rehearse and stuff along with school and everything else going on. So on that Tuesday night I just tried to make sure I didn’t regret anything I did and so I think I did that. It was just such a relief to just feel good about what I did and the fact that that was the last impression I gave on the show. The competition is all over and now it’s time to really focus on music.

School days, school days (how's that ol' song go?) ...: I think school’s really important. It was my main priority before this because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get anywhere with music, but I was still hoping for something. Even if music does turn out to go somewhere for me, you never know how long it’ll last. So I just want to make sure I have something to back me up on that, because I want to do music all my life. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to make a living off of it for the rest of my life. So I’d like to have to have something else to be able to do. I’m still looking at options and careers that I’d be interested in in the future.

Dr. Archuleta?: Lately what I find is really interesting is that ear and nose throat doctor thing, which I know would take a lot of work and education, but I think it’s just something that really interests me because it’s something that helps people who’ve had the same problems as me with the whole hearing and nose congestion and problems with your voice.

Winning isn't everything: The fact that Cook won, I think he deserved it so much. He just proved it week after week that he deserved to be the American Idol even early in the competition. He’s such a great guy too. My main priority wasn’t to win the competition, but it was just to do my best because you can suck and people can vote, but not for you to win and that wouldn’t feel very good. I think we both gave it all. We just poured it all onto that stage on Tuesday night and we both feel really great about it. I don’t think I could have done anything better or change anything to make me feel any better about what I did. Not winning the competition won’t limit me from trying to create an album and write stuff. To make it to the top two, I don’t think there’s any reason to be disappointed at that.

Judge's advice? I always really enjoy when they mention the fact that they could feel that I was connecting with the song and that they could feel it too like when Paula would say that and when Randy would say “That was the bomb.”  It didn’t really make sense when he spoke sometimes. When they can tell that I really felt that the song I was singing means a lot to me, but also when they have advice to give too helps a lot, even the smallest of advice.

Dad: Stage father from hell. Or no?: I tried to stay away from the press and my dad also. He understood that I didn’t like to hear anything going on in the news about me good or bad, just because I didn’t want it to distract me or let it go to my head or anything like that. I just wanted to stay myself and how I was at the beginning of the competition before all this happened. I wanted to keep who I was, the normal teenage David. In interviews and stuff it started coming up and it was just kind of strange because there were really weird things. I heard one thing was like he refused to give me water or something like that. That’s the weirdest thing. I mean, I’m 17 and if I want water I’m pretty sure I would just go get it anyway. Another thing was like he made me cry during one of the recording studios or something like that. I can’t remember really. Just weird things like that. I’m old enough to have enough control over myself. Then the next thing is he’s a great guy. There isn’t really anything he’s done that’s bad like the things that have been spoken about.

Dream collaborator?: You know, someone I always thought would be really cool was Alicia Keys just because she is someone that gets so into her songs when she sings and you can just feel her emotions as she sings. She plays piano very well as a songwriter.

{Look for David Cook's posting tomorrow}

Idol Davids on Larry King Live

The two finalists, David Archuleta and winner David Cook have been making the expected interview rounds. Here's what they talked about on CNN's Larry King Live.

David Cook on Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

Idol ends about even ratingswise; Cook soars on iTunes

AP -- The duel between two Davids brought an estimated 30.6 million viewers to the Fox finale of American Idol, Nielsen Media Research reported. That preliminary estimate is virtually identical to last season's audience of 30.7 million. When a more precise estimate is released later Thursday, the Davids battle may even top last season's Jordin Sparks-Blake Lewis finale.

Of course, the Davids provided more suspense than Jordin vs. Blake. Did anyone actually expect that ridiculous Blake to present any challenge to Jordin?

David Cook, meanwhile, sees his new single The Time of My Life hit No. 1 on the iTunes Store chart this morn'. Also, the American Idol on iTunes Podcast has reached the number one place on the podcast chart.

Idol Poll: Did America Get It Right with Cook's Win?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

AI:7 The End! David Cook Wins!

DAVID COOK WINS THE TITLE: AMERICAN IDOL. (That's David, hugging his mom, after his victory). Here's the recap of the two hour program:

Ready for the bloated two hour extravaganza? The hyperbole starts right away: "If everyone in Canada, Spain, Ireland and Australia voted it still wouldn't match the number of votes received last night -- 97.5 million," Ryan says. One David wins 56 percent of the votes, the other 44 percent.

Given the dwindling ratings (which picked up a bit at the end), I find it hard to swallow Idol's hype.

• The group number, Get Ready, featuring the 12 finalists seemed to have been shot by a drunk cameraperson in the cheap seats. No close ups of the finalists, hard to recognize any of them. I saw Brooke a bit, Archie, Kristy, lost the rest among the dancers and the stomach-churning swooping editing.
• The Davids duet on Spider-Man's Hero was better than anything last nite.
• Bit of shameless promotion for Mike Myers' Love Guru with Myers portraying a guru who counsels big David to shave his face ("Last time I saw hair like that it was in the 90s, I was listening to Alice in Chains on my Discman") and made little David uncomfortable when he noted that he'd soon "have hair in wonderful places."
• Seal-Syesha duet: Blah. Talk about boring 90s.
• Jason reprises Hallelujah. Songwriter Leonard Cohen calls his accountant.
• The Davids get hybrids. Ryan checks to see if Little David has his driving license.
• The 6 girls do Donna Summer. (Surprised prim Mormon Brooke would agree to sing songs like Hot Stuff and Bad Girls. In an interview she said she had trouble finding suitable Neil Diamond songs to sing when he was a mentor because they were all about alcohol or women. Of course, they are not.) Donna Summer comes on to sell her generic new single, Stamp Your Feet, and then is vocally upstaged by Syesha on the Oscar-winning classic Last Dance. That said, maybe producers ought to consider Donna as Paula's replacement next season. At least she had more hits and is still giving clubs fodder with her new stuff and she can probably still put two coherent words together.
• Would someone explain how Michael Johns (singing '60s song The Letter with Carly Smithson) wound up in 8th place and Cook contends for the title?
• Jimmy Kimmell's comedic bit was amusing -- especially the shot directed at Paula who, this season, proved she had become a cardiologist ("I can feel your heart," she told a few contestants) and a pyschic, panning Jason's second performance before he even did it. And then being RIGHT!!
• Bryan Adams sang a new song, Thought I'd Seen Everything. I thought I'd seen everything, too, but I don't remember that gap in his teeth while watching MTV in the 80s.
• The artist-Idol pairings, so far, are working better than in year's past, perhaps because many of these artists already had recordings and performance experience and can hold their own a bit better with the talent. David Cook with ZZ Top on Sharp Dressed Man was credible and Brooke White and Graham Nash pulled off the difficult task of harmonizing live on Teach Your Children.
• The first hour's highlight? Audition reject Reynaldo Lapuz's We're Brothers Forever, with the USC Marching Band! Admit it, you've got that hook in your head more than any song Cook's sung all season!
• We say we want fresher music on Idol but, c'mon, this One Republic banality can't even compete with Bryan Adams' sappy Heaven. No wonder Archuleta's taken to singing with his eyes closed again.
• David Archuleta's grandfather, partying in Salt Lake City, Utah, kinda looks like John McCain. No?
• Jordin Sparks, last year's Idol, is going to throw out her voice again if she keeps forcing it on tunes like she did tonight. Song's got a decent hook, doesn't need all the vocal ornamentations.
• Three years worth of experience since stealing the Idol title from Bo Bice, millions of records sold, industry awards, and Carrie Underwood still hasn't found a personality. And now, with this shrill new country single, Last Name, she's recylced the execrable Before He Cheats in sound and theme.
• The parade of 80s has beens (Donna, ZZ, Bryan) continues with the emergence of George Michael, singing Praying for Time, one of his dreary, preachy ballads instead of something festive for the Idol finale. What a gloomy guss.
• "For the first time I don't really care who wins," Simon says, in praising both Davids and apologizing to Cook for verging on disrespect last night after he rewatched the show.
• David Cook wins by 12 million votes.
• Idol's over for another 7 months, but look for occassional postings on Idol Watch. Music items, etc. And a posting of the exit interviews of our two finalists should be up on Friday. Thanks everyone for another year!
• Photo credits: AP

TelePrompter use

According to a USA Today insider who was on the set at last night's finale performances between the Davids, she reports that as Cook sang his first song, U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, a TelePrompter flashes his lyrics. [She doesn't say if this is the case for David A.] This certainly isn't fair.

Lou Pearlman gets 25 years

Before American Idol put its focus on pop music and brought renewed attention to popsters, Orlando music man Lou Pearlman founded Backstreet Boys and N Sync, among others, in the late '90s and rode that wave for a few years. He's been sentenced to 25 years in prison on federal charges. Read more here.

Idol Poll: Your champ - David or David?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

David vs David: The Finals

With few surprises along the way, producers got their wish: A David-David finale. Will it be pseudo-rocker David Cook or cherub-like David Archuleta and his overbearing stage father Jeff (cuz you know, that's a package deal)? The battle begins...

The show begins with fanfare from Rocky. The contestants decked out in boxing robes. Actually, watching these two fight for the title might be more interesting than watching them sing the boring songs they'll likely be saddled with. "Two men with one name and one desire, to be crowned champion," Ryan reads, continuing the boxing motif. "The strategy for this match is ta keep on doing what I've been doing," Archuleta says, summing up the problem with this season's contestants. Few have stepped up their games, most all of them have stayed within their comfort zones. No wonder it's been boring.

Simon suggests that hating one's opponent is key to win. Little David immediately gushes about Big David who, in turn, showers little Dave with good tidings. The love match betwixt the Davids is a bit sickening, no? It's nearly 8:15 and we still haven't heard one song and there are six to do between them. Even this performance show is painfully padded. Tomorrow's gonna be unbearable (and not just because Carrie Underwood is to sing one of her awful songs).

Clive Davis chose U2's I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For for David C and Elton John's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me for David A.

First up: Cook on U2. Ordinary and forgettable emo rock version. Idol hasn't found what it's looking for this season. Randy thought it was hot, Paula, who cares what she thinks, Simon thought it was phenomenal. It wasn't. He's become so bored this season, he's become punch-drunk.

Second up: Archie on Elton. Predictable Idol showboat version from a kid who hasn't lived long enough to grasp the emotions in any of the songs he sings so this, like most of the others, winds up an empty performance with a lot of big notes and no resonance. Archie nearly breaks into sobs when Randy gushes that he has peaked and Paula says "the sun will never go down on you." Simon: "Very easy to get overexcited tonight. Tonight's performance, arguably the best you've done so far." Archie looks like he's going to have a stroke when Simon gives round one to Archuleta. Me? Round one to Archie's fine by me, but I'll stick with Elton's original masterpiece.

Contestants' choice: Why is irrelevant Andrew Lloyd Webber taking such a big role on tonight's show?

Cook: Dream Big. Shouldn't we be hearing and seeing performances that give us chills at this stage of the finals? Where's the chills with these two? This generic rock song and Cook's typical forced rock vocal did nothing for me. Simon found it lightweight. Yep. "Didn't feel like a winning moment."

Archie: In This Moment. This isn't the Idol song but it sure sounds like the kind of sappy, saccharine type of ballad producers pick every season. Vocally, it's richer than Cook's, but that's not saying much. Simon loved the "self centered lyric" and gives round two to Archie, giving Archie the lead (and win) if viewers vote Simon's desires. Though not a fan of either man, based solely on tonight's performances, I'd have to hand Archie the win, too. He's beating Cook who doesn't seem to have his heart in it to win.

Contestant's choice: (I thought that was round two?) Cook takes on Collective Soul's The World I Know, Archie plays it safe by re-singing John Lennon's overplayed Imagine, his winning moment from earlier this season. Hate when contestants repeat songs.

Cook: Does he want to win? He's thrown in the towel. Drained all the energy, tempo, feeling and life out of this good Collective Soul '90s hit. Cook's offering the most defeated Final Two performances I can remember in Idol history. I didn't buy the sensitivity Randy found in this performance. David's weeping, that'll buy him some sympathy votes. Simon finds him "one of the nicest, most sincere contestants we've had" which seems inconsistent with his earlier comments when he complained that Cook was pompous or arrogant. But Simon also found it the complete wrong choice, suggesting he re-sing Billie Jean or Hello, his early in the season favorites."For me this whole thing has been a progression, so why do something I've already done," David countered, failing to note he really hasn't progressed a lick all season.

Archie: Did Imagine better a few months ago, but that doesn't matter. Archie played it to win tonight and did so, handily. Whether that will translate to fan votes to beat Cook is hard to predict. But my recent predictions that Cook had this sewn up a few weeks ago are not how I'm feeling tonight. Randy calls Archie "season 7s best singer," Simon says "at the end of the day this show is about finding a star ... and you came out here to win and what we have witnessed is a knockout."

Archuleta's winning American Idol. If this is a true fight to the end, he deserves it. He cares, Cook's distracted and just not very good. He's what he's going to be, a mediocre rock singer, forgettable; Archuleta, when he matures and can deliver songs with real understanding and gravitas is going to be someone to be reckoned with.

Idol contestant Luke Menard battles cancer, mag reports

OK Magazine reports that Idol finalist Luke Menard, who was voted off in the early stages of this season, has inoperable cancer. Click here.

Get your Idol iTunes before it's too late

Remember Michael Johns' It's All Wrong, But It's All Right? Brooke White's You're So Vain? Archie's Smokey Mountain Memories? If you've been putting off buying them via iTunes you best hustle:  The American Idol performance songs and videos by this season’s eliminated contestants will be available only until midnight on Wednesday, May 21. Songs by the Top 2 Davids will be available until the following week. Then, they're gone. Visit www.iTunes.com for info.

Idol and the text messaging phenom

Check out a colleague's post on American Idol's effect on text messaging. Click here.

Carly Simon Concert Review: Miami

Hard to believe Carly Simon's never done a concert in Miami. Until Friday. This was a benefit for CHARLEE Homes for Children at downtown Miami's Gusman. Read my review by clicking here. And, yep, she did that Brooke White American Idol song, You're So Vain. As Paula Abdul might say, "Carly made it her own." [Just kidding, folks, just kidding.]

Photo: me, chatting with Carly, post-concert. Photo by Jennifer Barr.

Set list:

Back the Way

Hold Out Your Heart

Island

It Was So Easy

Anticipation

De Bat (Fly in Me Face)

Buy My Record (performed by guitarist David Saw from his album, Broken Down Figure)

America (a new song performed by Ben Taylor and David Saw from a forthcoming Taylor CD)

Ohio (a cover of Neil Young's Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young classic)

How Can You Ever Forget

This Kind of Love

Coming Around Again

You're So Vain

Let the River Run

Syesha Mercado's "Idol" exit interview

Syesha Mercado, FIU theater major, Sarasota native, finished third Wednesday on American Idol. She talks about her experience in a teleconference call. (Also, look for her on Jay Leno's Tonight Show at 11:35 tonight (Thursday)).

Syesha's Idol experienced started off rocky. She'd lost her voice during Hollywood Week, chose obvious songs, and didn't make a strong impression. That changed over the course of the season. More than any other contestant, Syesha showed growth. Her thoughts on this: I’m always trying to improve. And when I first stepped into the competition, I was really in a little shell and – because of the vocal resting and it kind of separated me from everybody else, so I don’t feel like I was at my full potential because of the entire negative mind frame that I was in because of, like “Oh, nobody really sees who I am.” And I was so focused on that that it was really harming my performance. And once I got my mind right again like it was in the beginning of the competition, my first audition, I became more comfortable with myself and the stage. And the feeling of being overlooked completely subsided, and it was just a matter of being consistent every week and eventually, people would recognize me. ... So my goal every week was to feel satisfied after every show. And I felt more satisfied the more the weeks went on.

Paula felt Syesha's semifinals performances didn't capture who she was (never mind the fact that judges and producers picked two of her three songs). So who is Syesha Mercado artistically?: I’m a mix of a lot of things. I think that’s why people are like, “Oh, she’s Broadway” because they see me doing some Broadway thing.  They’re like, “Oh, she’s Broadway.” I’m just like – I’m like a black Christina Aguilera/Alicia Keys. I definitely can see myself putting together a Christina Aguilera album, the one that she just recently did – and an Alicia Keys album like The Diary of Alicia Keys. I’m definitely into a lot of the – I like pop, and I like R&B, and I like the old school/new school thing. So I’m growing as an artist. I’m evolving. And I’m glad that I did do American Idol because people were able to see that transition that I went through, and I’m still learning more about myself everyday. And I think that’s beauty of doing this competition. You just learn so much. So people will know who I am. You’ll know who I am once I put out that album.  You’ll know.

Picking songs -- and the Sam Cooke/Civil Rights comparison: A comparison. The thing is, before I did that song, before I do any song, I do research on the song, who sang the song, what it means to them. Then I write down what it means to me, and then I go into the whole, “What am I going to wear with it, wuh, wuh, wuh.”  So I definitely do my research. And Sam Cooke, there’s a lot of meaning behind that song for him, and when it came out, it came out during the civil rights movement. ... It’s like a signature song for the civil rights movement, but for me, it meant something different. That’s why I brought that up because it touched me. When I was listening to it, I was thinking about all those things, the civil rights movement and then I was thinking about, “Well, what does this song mean to me?” Well, it came out during a transitional time in history, and for me, this is a transitional time for me in my life, and it took on a different meaning for me. And I’m the last female standing. I’m still here, and I feel like I’ve changed a lot for the better, and ….  I think that has a connection. It came out during a pivotal time in history, and it came out during a pivotal time in my life, so a mix of both of those together.

Best advice: Well, as far as American Idol goes, like with the mentors, it would be Andrew Lloyd Webber because that was my shining moment on the stage. He really encouraged me just to perform the song the way that I wanted to perform it instead of following any guidelines because I’m like, “I can perform it the American Idol way,” which is: don’t do Broadway, because then they classify me, but I couldn’t think like that, so I just did it the way I felt. He just told me, “Be animated.” Once he told me, “Be animated,” it kind of helped me just be myself because I am really crazy. So he helped me just break out of my shell.

Post-Idol goals: I want to do everything, and I’m really goal-oriented, so I know that whatever goal I set, it can be accomplished, whether it’s within a year span or whatever, ten years. So I want to make an album. I want to star in a film. I want to do Broadway. I want to open up an organic restaurant, and like a lupus foundation, homeless foundation. It just depends on what comes first, but I have goals that I want to do, and I write them down and going to continue to look at them. Basically, whatever opportunity comes first and what’s the best career move for me, that’s pretty much what’s going to happen.

Plans to go home to Sarasota?: I want to go to Siesta Key. I want to go to the…beach, and I definitely want to go visit my schools and visit family and friends and people who really, really helped me start my career, just encouraged me to sing and just be nice to people. I just want to have fun.

As an FIU theater major, acting on stage seems a natural. These are the Broadway musicals she'd like to do: One Summer’s Island, The Color Purple.  I heard…is a good one. Well, whatever, Chicago.  There’s – I love musical theater, and I love regular music too, making albums like an artist, so I’m not just Broadway. I love so many things, but given the opportunity to do a Broadway musical, that’s my dream, though, One Summer’s Island. I’ve played it twice, middle school, high school. Now, my next goal is to do it on Broadway. And if they have to make my skin dark, I’m all for it.

Idol Poll: David vs David The Finale - Who Wins?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Countdown to Top 2: It's David vs. David

Fantasia to perform on tonight's extravaganza. wow. She screamed a song called Bore Me. Her hair is some shade of red. I guess my reaction is not unlike the shot of Simon, staring slack-jawed. I like her post-performance demeanor, tho.

Isn't it curious that despite Idol's dwindling ratings, the vote count keeps rising? This week, 56 million Ryan crowed. Hmm.

Whew! When Ryan brought out David A. first I figured that meant he was safe for sure and that we'd have a David-David finale (which we probably will still have). But we've gone to commercial now, so, who knows? I want a Syesha-Cook finale. At least Robo-Boy showed some real emotion by crying at his homecoming. "It's hard to show emotion," Ryan cracked, not realizing how accurate he was in that observation. One funny line: David can't believe all the people that turned out in Utah to see him and says, "Where did they all park?"

Syesha's story was next, featuring her visit to Sarasota. Rather uneventful for television, except for the mayor's handstand. I should feature her in my Sweat Equity column. The emotional response back in the car made it work tho. She projects a beautiful, charming persona.

What idiot fed Ryan his lines on that card? First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was popularized by Roberta Flack, not Chaka Kahn. Idiot! He corrected the mistake later, but blaming it on the card is no excuse. Ryan's a DJ and involved in the entertainment and music biz. He should have known from the start Flack cut that hit. Meantime, David Cook's story back home, with his brother Andrew, was enjoyable.

And the unsurprising, and depressing result: Syesha, Florida's chance for an Idol, slips away and we're left with a David-David finale. So disappointed. Robo-David flashed his robot expression: "What? Who? Me? You like me? once again. Cook looked, well, there. Syesha leaves with class.

Idol Poll: Who for Top 2?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Idol Top 3

We start with judges picks:

David A: Paula picks Billy Joel's 1989 track, And So It Goes for its purity and to show off David's voice. On that end, she picked a good song to showcase his vocal tone. He sang it well, as well as a 17 year old could sing this reflective, adult ballad. I would have had David sing it while playing piano or, barring that, have him sing it as he started: a capella. Once those gloomy violins started sawing away in the background it reminded me of the closing scenes of Titanic as the great ship goes down and the band continues to play its chamber music.