Thursday, March 12, 2009

David Cook answered YOUR questions!

If anyone ever doubts the power of "American Idol," I can tell them first-hand: The show makes big stars with loyal fans.

Since soliciting questions from David Cook fans for me to ask the reigning "Idol" before I interviewed him Tuesday afternoon, just before his concert at Poughkeepsie's Bardavon 1869 Opera House, I received more than 100 e-mails in about 18 hours, literally from all four corners of the globe. (And believe me, I got all sorts of questions from which to choose!) David, himself, even said he read about me asking looking for fans' queries; and as such, he was happy to share his thoughts with his supporters. David was great to take some time out from his "Declaration" tour and give some great answers to his fans. Read his words, and you can see he where his smart lyrics come from.

So here are David's answers to six questions from "Sean's Space" readers that I asked him...

Nicole from Poughkeepsie, NY: I saw you and Carrie Underwood sing together at the opening of the "American Idol Experience" attraction at Disney World, and you sounded great together! Would you consider recording a song with her or with any of the other "Idols" past?
David Cook: I'd certainly be open to the idea. We have that Tulsa connection. We've really become close. She's a great friend and she's really helped me. There's no school that prepares you for all this.

Christina from Salvisa, KY: What has been the most memorable moment that has occurred so far during the "Declaration" tour?
David Cook: It was the second show of the tour, I think, and Brett Favre came to the show which was cool. I think it was about a week later, we got to walk on the field at Lambeau (Field in Green Bay). I'm into seeing landmarks around the country. I'm looking forward to getting to Niagara Falls later this week.Heidi from New York, NY: Did anyone ever tell you that you would never "make it" as a musician? What was that like?
David Cook: I've been told I wasn't going to make it my whole life. If it's something you feel strongly about, you either buck up and work harder or you stop. I decided to work harder.Penny from Malone, NY: How does it make it you feel knowing that so many people find themselves emotionally connected to your music and consider it such an inspiration?
David Cook: To me, it's paramount. I don't know if this would work otherwise. I wanted to evoke emotions and give people a reason to get emotionally connected to the music. I'm immensely appreciative of that.

Jen from Brooklyn, NY: If you had never auditioned for "American Idol" in Omaha that day (at 4 in the morning, in the rain), what do you think you'd be doing right now, instead of answering this question?
David Cook: I would probably be in Tulsa, bartending and playing 8 to 10 shows a month, trying to get people to pay attention to me.

Elaine from State College, PA: How does a midwestern Irish boy celebrate St. Patty's Day?
David Cook: I'll have to figure that out. I'll have a good time with friends. I think we'll be out in L.A., and I'll have some family members coming out there, so I'll probably spend time with them.

A big thanks again goes out to all of you who e-mailed questions for David, and a congrats to the half-dozen of you who got yours answered by the "American Idol" champ!

I also want to give a shout-0ut to Bob Lynch, Marist College's director of student activities, for all his efforts getting me in touch with David!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sean, really enjoyed your posts on D Cook! You know what, by taking the time to gather those questions, you totally got better stuff then 90% of interviews ('cause they usually ask the same things over & over). Cheers!

Anonymous said...

You chose great questions. Thank you for taking the time and doing the homework, it's been great fun reading your blog so far and I'm looking forward to the full review later on.

Scott said...

Sean, great posts on David Cook! I love the way you're spreading it all out. I'm really happy David's appealing to younger guys, more and more. I think you found out, first hand, that nobody sells David Cook better than David Cook! I've met him and his band several times in LA and they're all real stand-up dudes. You are an excellent journalist - the blogosphere needs more like you!

Kate said...

Let me second what Scott, Jenna & Anon. each said. Thank you so much for the quality of your interview. You are terrific and your newspaper is lucky to have you. Those of us who daily follow Mr. Cook know that articles that have new and fresh information and for which the journalist prepared in advance are few and far between. We have doubts that many interviewers/reviewers have ever actually listened to his lyrics, so your intro remark alluding to his "smart" lyrics is greatly appreciated.

Stacey said...

Awesome questions! I especially love the one about what he'd be doing now if he hadn't auditioned for Idol. <3

Anonymous said...

Sean, I have to say I am disappointed by the questions you chose to ask. Totally cookie cutter and really tells us nothing new.

Did he not want to answer the interesting questions?

Personally, I, along with many others, was hoping to learn more about the song Anodyne.

Oh well, maybe next time...

Anonymous said...

Sean, thanks for covering David Cook's show and for opening up the questions to the fans. I've enjoyed all your posts leading up to this and will definitely be checking out your article.

LOL... imagine what David's inbox must look like... having a google alert out on his name and all!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for asking people to submitt questions. It was a great idea, however I wish you had picked some more thought provoking questions so we could learn some things we didnt already know. Im sure some of this will be new to a few folks but to us diehard Cook fans this really was some of the same old things maybe just worded a little different. I am curious who picked these questions and maybe if he declined to answer some different ones.
Please dont take offense, I am happy that you did take time to do this and included the fans in this. That really does mean alot to us. It just seems like he is asked pretty plain questions sometimes. There are things I would love to know about the song writing process for him and such. I guess that will have to come later.
You did do a great job and we greatly appreciate you doing your homework and really getting into this!
Nice work in all!

Anonymous said...

Woot! My question got answered!
Thanks Sean :)