Container Top
Search

Events Calendar

EVENT SEARCH:

In This Section


Most Read Stories


Blogs:


First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight

Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs

The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30

Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win

Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner

Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated

Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft

Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9

Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet

Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day

Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball

All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention

Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions

Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up

Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll

Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?

Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.

Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend

HRLite House:
Track HR Research

Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'

See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering

'American Idol' stars still surprise viewers

Quartet answers queries and we learn things we didn't know. Tour plays Cleveland tonight

By Leslie Gray Streeter
Cox News Service

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.: So many interesting things you can find out in five minutes' worth of conversation!

I'm not saying that a bite-size bit of interaction with David Cook, Ramiele Malubay, Jason Castro and Brooke White allowed me some deep glimpse into their souls or anything. (Their American Idols Live! tour stops tonight at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center.)

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.

Brooke White

Leslie: How's it going? Must be overwhelming.

White: I was in the bubble for so long — I didn't read the Internet, didn't read the blogs, because I wanted to focus on the show. So to come off the show and have people talking to you in the bathroom, and being like ''Oh my gosh!,'' you think ''Oh, yeah, 30 million people do watch this show. And I was on it.''

Leslie: You had my favorite moment on the finale . . .

White: With Graham Nash! I was there, thinking ''I'm sitting here with someone who my parents exposed me to, singing this beautiful song (Teach Your Children). Is this for real? ''

Ramiele Malubay

Leslie: So what were you doing a year ago today?

Malubay: I was hearing about the auditions, and going ''I'm not going. I hate that show.''

Leslie: Seriously?

Malubay: I auditioned when I was 16, doing One Last Cry by Brian McKnight. I didn't even get three words out. It was like (begins song) ''My shattered . . . '' ''NEXT!'' It was totally traumatizing.

Leslie: What was the difference this time?

Malubay: I guess I was more mature, a little more experienced. I didn't look like I was 16 — I looked 17.

Leslie: It must be cool to be home (Malubay is from Miramar, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale.)

Malubay: I called my mother yesterday and said ''I'm still in Georgia!'' when really I was here. I went to a puppy boutique and pretty much dropped all what would have been Christmas money on this dog. His name is Mickey. He's a Yorkie. So she'll be walking around with the puppy and not missing me so much and saying, ''Where are you?''

Jason Castro

Leslie: What's something about you that viewers of the show didn't get to know?

Castro: There's a lot. But one of the things that you only know if you get close to me is that while I came across Please see 'Idol', F21

Continued from Page F20
pretty easygoing, I'm a deep thinker. I read a lot. That doesn't come across.

Leslie: Since you really are more interested in the music than the interviews and the fame, how are you doing with that?

Castro: (Laughs) With fame is supposed to come fortune, and we've gotten the short end of the stick on that, with the fortune part. (Smiles). I feel like I'm already further along with the fame part than I'd like. It's weird to say I feel famous, but I just wanted to make a living in (music), to be comfortable.

Leslie: Too late. You're famous.

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?''

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.: So many interesting things you can find out in five minutes' worth of conversation!

Get the full article here.


Story tools

Email  Email   Print  Print   Save  Save   Reprint  Reprint   Popular  Most Popular   Reprint  Subscribe

Share this story

AddThis Social Bookmark Button














Most Commented Stories