Lee Dewyze is My American Idol!

Its down to the final 2, Lee Dewyze and Crystal Bowersox. I think Mama Sox is a great singer, but I like Lee's voice better and the type of music he sings. He reminds me of David Cook and Chris Daughtry.

The KC Star mentioned last week that Dewyze might get some of the "Cougars for Cook" vote, and yes, that would be me ;-)). According to Dial Idol, Lee is in the lead, but you never know until you hear the actual results. Tonight will be an exciting night, especially since it will be Simon Cowell's last night on the show.

My Favorite Season 9 American Idols!

Lee Dewyze and Casey James are my 2 favorites right now on American Idol. If you forced me to pick between them, it would be Lee, he reminds me of David Cook.

Down Syndrome Family on American Idol!

A9 1 @ Yahoo! Video

Hat tip: Ricky.org

I have to be honest, sometimes I cringe at how the people who lack talent are seemingly exploited on the show, American Idol.

Yet, seeing the Curtis family in the video above last night, reminded me of why I love the show. When you see a genuine person of talent like Maddy Curtis, who has such a good heart, its wonderful to watch.

Tears came to my eyes as I saw how their family not only embraced one Down Syndrome child, but four. In a world where most women choose to abort their baby when they find out it has Downs, its a beautiful and touching thing to see.

Allison & Adam on American Idol!

Its hard to top last year's American Idol with David Cook. Not only was David Cook the whole package, but he was from right here in Kansas City. And speaking of David Cook, sadly his brother Adam Cook lost his fight with cancer this past Saturday. My prayers and thoughts are with him and his family.

So, this season its been a little tougher to pick a favorite. My top 3 have been Adam, Allison and Danny. I started out leaning towards Adam but he's gotten a little strange as of late, so I've switched to Allison. I don't think she has much of a chance of winning but I'd at least like to see her make it to the top 3. Tonight is when we find out.

I'm hoping Kris gets sent home instead of her. No matter what, I think Allison has a great career ahead of her, especially for someone who is only 17. The above video is the duet that Adam and Allison did on last night's show that I thought was excellent. They have a great singing chemistry together.

American Idol Concert in KC!

I've been so excited about Sarah Palin that I haven't had a chance to talk about the American Idol concert. Last Friday night, my oldest daughter and I and 2 of our friends went to the American Idol concert here in KC at the Sprint Center. The only reason I was even interested in going was of course, David Cook.


I ended up enjoying it and having an even better time than I expected. Each of the top ten idols had a chance to sing some solo numbers and then there were 2 group songs. My friend and I agreed that there was a reason Chikezie and Ramiele were at the bottom of the pack. There was a big difference between their performances and the rest of the group. I enjoyed Carly, Brooke and Kristy Lee and felt that they had all improved since the show. Syesha and Jason just aren't my cup of tea and then there is David Archuleta. I just can't get over his immaturity issues. He can sing, and if I don't picture his face I do okay, but otherwise its hard to enjoy him.

My friend and I's favorites were definitely Michael Johns and David Cook. The crowd response dramatically changed when Johns came onto the stage after Ramiele and Chikezie. Johns has a great stage performance, he has an awesome voice and how can you not love the Aussie accent? I think he will do well and has similarities to Cook and Daughtry.

Then there is David Cook. He is the reason that both Friday and Saturday nights' concerts were sold out. Everywhere you looked people were wearing David Cook t-shirts. When he came onto the stage the crowd reaction was incredible and it didn't stop. Cook was moved by the fan support which just makes you love him all the more.

He said he had 2 apologies. One was for Michael Johns who mistakenly thought he was in Kansas ;-). The second was for him having to keep hiking his pants up because someone stole his belt the night before in Oklahoma City. He praised his Mom (she has to be incredibly proud) and he sang a hero song and dedicated it to his brother Adam, who has brain cancer.

Timothy Finn's conclusion to his review of the Saturday concert says it all:

"And as for David Cook: Part of him must be chomping at the bit to get this gig over with and move on to his own material, his own band, his own career. His hometown gave him a spectacular reception, but he also showed he has the talent and personality to make it big elsewhere. I'll be surprised if he isn't at least as big as Daughtry. And if he gets bigger, Saturday won't be the last time he rocks the Sprint Center."

David Cook Wins it by 12 Million Votes!!

DAVID COOK SINGING WITH ZZ TOP!


Last night was an incredible night!! Our boy, KC's own, walked away the winner of Season 7 of American Idol!! Despite the whining by many critics, this year was a spectacular season for American Idol and over 97 million votes were cast Tuesday night. Cook won by 12 million receiving 56% of the votes compared to Archuleta's 44%.

All the signs were pointing to David Cook winning but I was still incredibly nervous. When Seacrest announced Cook the winner I screamed so loud I'm sure the neighbors heard. Right before the announcement Simon gave Cook a well deserved apology for being too harsh the night before. I commented to many of my friends that it would've been too little too late had David Cook lost but alls well since David Cook's fans obviously could've cared less about what Simon had to say.

It was a great night and helps make up for an election year that sucks. And look, David Cook even brings Kansas City Democrats and Republicans together. I found a fellow David Cook fan in Kansas City who happens to be a Dem but we put politics aside to celebrate David Cook!!

Congratulations David Cook!! You have a bright future ahead of you with a lot of fans who love you!!

Related Links:
Missouri's Lt. Governor Congratulates Cook
Voters Select the Next 'American Idol'
TOLDJA! Cook takes "American Idol"
David Cook Wins American Idol

Previously:
David Cook Round-Up!!
Vote for David Cook Tonight!!
Kansas City Loves David Cook!!
David Cook Tickets!!
My Favorite American Idols--Top 10--Season 7

David Cook Round-up!!

Cook's 2nd song last night was a new one that he picked, "Dream Big". I ABSOLUTELY loved it and was stunned when the judges didn't. Not only did he do an awesome job of singing it but I LOVED the message!!

Of course, Cook is going to be a huge singer whether he wins tonight or not. He has already established that. The question is does it help or hurt his career to win? Many have speculated that Chris Daughtry was actually helped as a "rocker" by coming in 4th on American Idol and not winning because he had more creative control with his album and American Idol didn't own him. He obviously has been way more successful than that season's winner, who was Taylor Hicks.

That said, I think David Cook will be just as successful as Daughtry (and I'm a huge Daughtry fan) whether he wins or not. I would just like him to win, there is just something about having your favorite win.

Last night, I thought it was all over when the judges, specifically Simon all out declared Archuleta as the winner. Nevertheless, my kids and I spent the night voting. We monitored Dial Idol all night and we were shocked to see David Cook way in the lead the entire night. As of this writing, he still holds a 12 percentage point lead over Archuleta. Obviously, the Dial Idol is not always right but it seems hard to believe that they could be that far off. I also participated in this poll and was surprised again to see that the majority of the fans there thought that not only SHOULD David Cook win but that they thought he WILL win.

Either way, David Cook is a winner and I look forward to his first Cd. Below are some interesting articles I came across in reading up about him. What I found amusing in one article is that I fit into his largest group of fans, women in their 30's ;-))). Imagine that!!

Related Articles:
Who Should Win Idol?
Cook’s future looks as bright as it does uncertain
David Cook Wins...if he loses
The Year in Idol

Kansas City Loves David Cook!!

My friends, kids and I had an awesome time at the David Cook concert last Friday, May 9th. The top video is an amateur that was right below him and the sound isn't good but you get an idea of what it was like and then he pans at the end to the huge crowd (more than 10,000 of us). The 2nd video is the local Fox station's coverage of the beginning of when he finally showed up and sang.


The gates were supposed to open up at 3:00 pm so we showed up at around 1:15. There was already a line but we ended up getting fairly good seats on the left side of the field. For quite awhile it was cold and cloudy. Yet, by the time the gates opened up and we got our seats the sun came out and the sky was gorgeous. There was a parade in his honor from 3-4 and of course it ended up running late so he didn't show up until around 4:20. It was a long wait, but worth it.

Kelly Urich from the radio station, Mix 93.3, MC'd the event and he did a great job. My oldest daughter and I are fans of 93.3 so we enjoyed seeing Urich. Here is the interview Cook did earlier in the day at the radio station. The Chief's Cheerleaders were also there.

The only irritation was when the Mayor of Blue Springs decided to start introducing City Council members. We all groaned. We had just waited 3 hours to hear and see David Cook. I didn't know or care who was on the Blue Springs City Council, and I'm a political junkie. Other than that, it was all good.

As we waited in line many of us talked and we all agreed that Syesha will probably go home this week and the finale will come down to the 2 David's. It will then come down to who has the bigger fan base. If this past Friday is any indication, David Cook's is big, strong and loyal.

It also has a lot more to do with him just being from Blue Springs. If David Archuleta was from Blue Springs you sure wouldn't have seen me giving up a day of my time and waiting for 3 hours. I am a HUGE David Cook fan and it just turns out to be AWESOME that he is from the Kansas City area. I think he is going to be a huge hit whether he wins or not, just like Daughtry has been and I'm a huge Daughtry fan.

So, Good luck to David Cook over these next 2 weeks and if you haven't been, VOTE FOR DAVID COOK!!!

David Cook Tickets!!

I really should be posting on more serious issues like Myanmar, or Obama's nauseating victory speech or perhaps the conservative backlash against McCain but I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to talk about something a lot more fun and pleasant.

Last Week I found out that David Cook was planning his hometown concert and since he is from the KC area that meant he would be coming here. Unless you've been living in a cave you know I am a huge David Cook fan. I then tried to figure out how to get a hold of the tickets. There was no word and I literally didn't find out until Monday night that they were only going to be available on Tuesday from 9:00 to 4:00 at 5 different locations in Blue Springs.

There were only 10,000 tickets and each person was only allowed to get 5 tickets. I was going with 2 friends and some of our kids so my one friend and I headed out to get there at 9:00 am. I had no idea what to expect. Would it be a short wait, hours?? We just didn't know. Two of the locations were on the same street so we figured that was our best bet because that way we could pick between the two. That ended up working out well because the one place had a much shorter line than the other. It ended up only taking 15 minutes and we had the tickets and we were out of there. Yet, apparently the tickets were gone in 6 hours so I'm glad I got there when I did.

Woo-hoo!! I was so excited, I felt like I had one of the Willy Wonka golden tickets ;-)). The tickets were free but they recommended that you give a $5 donation for each ticket to the American Cancer Society which we all freely did. It was very exciting.

Last night everyone was calling like crazy for him because obviously, if he got voted off there would be no concert. There were even "watch parties" where people got together just to call in for him. It doesn't look like he is in any danger though. According to Dial Idol he is #1 and unless something bizarro happens, it looks like Jason Castro is going home tonight.

All that to say my friends and kids and I are off to see David Cook this Friday. My oldest daughter said maybe we would be on Tv. I told her it was pretty unlikely seeing that we are going to be in a crowd of 10,000 but you never know ;-). Either way we will have bragging rights that we were there!!

My Favorite American Idols--Top 10--Season 7

1) David Cook--He chose to do this amazing version of Michael Jackson's song, Billie Jean. It was pretty incredible. Simon called it amazing ;-)!! He is by far my top choice to win.


2) Michael Johns--He has this neat Australian accent going on and I just really like him and his singing ability. This was his best performance by far singing Creed's, We Will Rock You.


3) Brooke White--She is my favorite chick but I do think that the women are weaker this year in comparison to the men. Whereas, it was the opposite last year.

Chikezie got voted off last night and I couldn't have been happier. I thought he should've been history long ago. I was happy to see David Cook and Michael Johns do so well. Its turning out to be a fun season.

I also found this fascinating article about Ryan Seacrest which I talked about at length on the radio show this past Monday.

Jordin Sparks at the Superbowl

A little diversion from politics is always nice. I am not a sports fan at all so I didn't even watch the Super Bowl yesterday but I did tune in to hear Jordin Sparks sing the national anthem. I got teary eyed listening to it because I love the national anthem and she did such a wonderful job.

Jordin Sparks is an American Idol!!

Jordin Sparks is the winner of Season 6 of American Idol!!!!

I cried when she sang this Tuesday night. She blew everyone away, she did such a good job and the song so applies to her life and mine.

My oldest daughter and I were ecstatic that she won last night. My daughter called a lot for her and when we looked at Dial Idol and saw that she was quite a bit ahead of Blake we were pretty excited.

She is the youngest singer to ever win and I wish her much success!

Here are the lyrics to the awesome song she sang, This is My Now:

There was a time I packed my dreams away
Living in a shell, hiding from myself.
There was a time when I was so afraid
I thought I’d reached the end.
Baby, that was then.
But I am made of more than my yesterdays.

This is my now,
And I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around,
I can’t believe the love I see.
My fear’s behind me,
Gone are the shadows and doubt.
That was then.
This is my now.

I had to decide.
Was I gonna play it safe?
Or look somewhere deep inside,
Try to turn the tide.
Find the strength to take that step of faith?

This is my now,
And I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around,
I can’t believe the love I see.
My fear’s behind me,
Gone are the shadows and doubt.
That was then.
This is my now.

I have a courage like never before, yeah.
I settled for less, but I’m ready for more.
Ready for more…

This is my now,
And I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around,
I can’t believe the love I see.
My fear’s behind me,
Gone are the shadows and doubt.
That was then.
This is my now,
And I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around,
I can’t believe the love I see.
My fear’s behind me,
Gone are the shadows and doubt.
That was then.
This is my now.
This is my now.

Jordin Sparks' picture journey!

Previously:
Jordin makes it to the final 2
TV Stuff
American Idol

TV Stuff

Jordin was great again last night on American Idol. I think its pretty obvious that her, Blake and Melinda will make it to the top 3. I will be completely shocked if Lakisha doesn't go home tonight. Especially if you check out how they ranked according to DialIdol. Dial Idol measures the busy signal on the phones and somehow is able to tell approximately how people will be ranked the next night. It usually comes pretty close to the actual results.


If anybody is a fan of American Idol at all you will absolutely love this short Simpsons clip that makes fun of Simon. Simon is brutally honest but you love him anyway. Yet, it is hilarious what they do with this clip, classic!!


I'm looking forward to Lost tonight. Poor Sawyer had a rough night last week, we were all feeling his pain. Billie mentioned this in her latest review:

"I recently did a "favorite character poll" on the front page of my site. Sawyer won, and Sayid and Desmond tied for second place. Just wanted to pass that on."

I guess I'm not as alone as I thought :-).

The President on American Idol

President George W. Bush and Laura were on American Idol last night!! They were thanking Americans for how much money was raised for charity. I loved Laura's line :-).

"I don't know darling, they've already seen you dance."

Sanjaya Finally Gets His Walking Papers

I was one happy camper last night, we finally got to say bye, bye to Sanjaya. I read an article this week where Simon was saying that he obviously wasn't serious about quitting if Sanjayah won, but he wouldn't be happy if he made it to the final 3. Thats an understatement. I'm still irked that he made it farther than Gina, who still deserves to be on the show IMHO. Yet, my kids and I were cheering that he's finally gone.


Our 2 favorites are Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis. I would like to see them both make it to the final 3 and I would REALLY LOVE to see Jordin win. She has an awesome voice, a great personality and what it takes to be a star and she's only 17. Simon also finally said for the first time that he thinks she has a chance to win. Take the time to watch her latest song in the video, she did awesome and looked great.

She has sung with Michael W. Smith and is a friend of the Smith family. They are supporting her by praying and voting for her. Jordin's father is Phillippi Sparks, "who played cornerback for eight seasons with the NY Giants and one season with the Dallas Cowboys."

TV Highlights

Rebecca tried to talk me into watching American Idol last year. My oldest daughter wanted to give it a try so we started watching it this year. I like it. My top 3 right now are Gina Glocksen, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis. The above video is my favorite performance by Gina. Like many I CAN'T BELIEVE that Sanjaya is still on the show. When he didn't get voted off on Wednesday I was just disgusted. He totally doesn't belong in the top 10. Everyone else out sings him and he reminds me of the creepy side of Michael Jackson that appeared after he was famous. Yuck!!


Prison Break continues to amaze me in how good the story lines are and just when you think they've painted themselves into a corner they take a whole new direction. These last 2 weeks have had several shockers. I totally didn't see the President stepping down. I naively thought she was really going to pardon them although I knew in the back of my mind that couldn't happen because it would wreck the show.

I was so impressed with Michael feeling remorse over Sarah and T-bag. Once again the actor who plays T-bag deserves an emmy because he does such a good job on playing someone despicable; who is losing it.

Once again I am amazed at how the show's writers can enable you to feel empathy for almost anyone. I found myself actually feeling sorry for Mahone in this last episode. When I saw him confront Wheeler in the garage I assumed Wheeler was toast, but Wheeler survived intact.


Lost was so good this past Wednesday, even though Sawyer wasn't even in one scene. I really like and am fascinated by Locke's character. It was good to finally find out what caused him to be paralyzed. I have to say that after watching this episode I find his father to be evil incarnate. I also am convinced that Billie is right about the con-man who destroyed Sawyer's life also being Locke's dad. It completely makes sense and would fit in with the rest of the show.

I was also shocked about finding out last week that Claire and Jack are brother and sister. The connections are amazing and fascinating all in one. I love how everything seems to fit together.


I was shocked but not bummed to learn that they bumped off Audrey. I have never been a fan although my husband pointed out, is she really dead? 24 is kind of like Alias, you never know if someone is really dead.

I'm really not buying this storyline with the Vice President declaring war just for the heck of it. First of all, he is supposed to be a Democrat so we know it can't be real. Also, not even Ann Coulter would be ready to strike against a country for the reasons they are coming up with. It makes the whole thing look just a little ridiculous.

I totally cracked up seeing Chloe kiss Morris to find out whether he had been drinking or not. The funny part was Milo looked amused and Morris didn't even get offended. Chloe is never one to disappoint!!

I think its pretty obvious that Nadia isn't the mole, I'm wondering if Ricky Schroeder is.