DaveFroehlich's Blog

No problems Wednesday night after all, as David sails on to American Idol's final three and secures his trip back home to the Metro.  It's a Friday stuffed full of events all over the area, from the Fox 4 studios to the Power and Light District to Blue Springs to The K... if you're an American Idol/David Cook fan, prepare to have a really good time.  If you're not... it may just be a good idea to lay low for the next 48 hours or so.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Friday.  I'm getting to get to cover David all day for Fox 4.  I think it's going to be really fun, because these past few months I've met so many of David's family, friends and teachers, and I know they're all very excited about getting their chance to welcome him back home.  I'm also very interested to see David's reaction.  Put yourself in his shoes; your hometown rolls out the red carpet to tell you how proud they are of you.  It's a moment very few of us will ever get to experience, but I imagine he'll think the whole thing is pretty cool.

Dave

First, my apologies for keeping this brief, but it's late and I'm tired.

We were back at an American Idol watch party again tonight... first time I've actually gone to a watch party in weeks, and it was a good one.  Close to 200 people, new David Cook t-shirts for sale, and an excited crowd.  Still, I don't think there was any question most people were already looking ahead to David's trip home of Friday.  His performances were good; no reason to think he won't move on to the final three.  But there's that nagging thought; what if for some reason he didn't get the votes?

Honestly, I don't think David's got anything to worry about; I expect him to be here on Friday.  That said, Wednesday night can't get here soon enough, just so we can know for sure.  What do you think?

Dave

A previous Final Four was a pretty big deal around here about a month ago (apologies to any Mizzou fans who might be reading this).  Now David Cook has made it into American Idol's Final Four, and people in the Metro are getting excited.  Real excited.

We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, because there's still another cut before we get to the final three, but of course, since some of the details of David's trip back to Blue Springs on May 9th have been announced, a lot of folks are already looking ahead-- I know we are at Fox 4, if only for planning purposes.  We'll talk a lot more about the trip in the days to come, for now I'm just thinking about how packed Blue Spring South's football stadium is going to be that afternoon when David shows up to sing a few songs.

I know I've gotten some comments on the blog asking where you can find those David Cook t-shirts many people around the Metro have been wearing.  If you want one of those shirts, two places you can check are the Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce or Free Style Graphics in Lee's Summit.

You've also probably heard a lot about David's older brother Adam, and Adam's battle with cancer.  We've been hearing from people who are trying to raise money either to help with Adam Cook's medical costs, or to help get him back to Hollywood for the American Idol finale; that info can be found here on myfoxkc.com.  Many others say David and Adam's story has just motivated them to raise money for the fight against cancer.  Here's the link to one Metro area salon that has joined in that fight...

I'm familiar with quite a few Neil Diamond songs.  I'm sure many people are; that's what happens when you've sold 120 million records.  But I'd never heard the two songs David Cook performed last night.  Maybe that made it easier for me to just enjoy them as his own stuff... either way, I thought he did great last night... clearly the best of the remaining five.  Hopefully the votes reflect that tonight.

Once again yesterday, we dropped in on Susan Cooper, the theater teacher at Blue Springs South High School.  She went home sick yesterday, but actually agreed to head back up to school to let us take a look at some fo David's high school theater performances, so thanks again, Susan.  We appreciate it.  She even let us take the VHS tapes of the shows so we could use them in our story.  Turns out that was a lot more of an ordeal that it should have been... there aren't too many VCRs around these days, even at a TV station!

Susan talked about how the musical theater David did in high school helps him as an overall performer today and is one of the factors that give him an edge on American Idol.  You can take a look at two of the songs he did from "Singing in the Rain" and "West Side Story" here on our website.

Yesterday, we also heard official conformation for the first time that David will be coming back to Blue Springs at the end of next week to visit.  I'm pretty sure a parade is also scheduled, so I'll end with a question for all of you: do you plan to be out there and check out the parade in person? 

Dave

David Cook has really got what it takes; the moment during last night's American Idol when he's standing next to Andrew Lloyd Webber at the piano.  Webber's telling David how 'sen-sool' the song he was going to perform is, and that David needed to practice by singing it to him like Webber was 'a 17 year old in the chorus line.'  Uh... okay.  I'd find that advice a little hard to process, probably because of an immaturity that still hasn't left me, even in my early 30s.

But clearly, that's not David's problem.  He practiced hard, and I thought turned in an awesome performance of Webber's 'Music of the Night.'  Going into the show, the judges said Webber's music would be some of the toughest the Idols would take on... and I tend to think they were right. In fact, in my completely unqualified opinion, I thought the songs really showed some of them up, but I won't name names... okay, I will, you talked me into it-- Jason Castro.  Jason Castro got shown up.  What can I say; he's an Aggie, so I've been looking for a reason to pick on him.

Back to David, I thought he nailed his song (maybe it helped that the audience was filled with 17 year-old chorus line-esque girls).  People I talk to in the Metro who are pulling for Cook don't even seem to get all that nervous when he performs anymore.  They've seen him come through so many times now they know no matter the song style, he's going to be able to pull it off... I would tend to agree.

Yesterday, we talked to Matt McLaughlin, one of David's original bandmates when they formed the band Axium back in high school.  Matt told us some cool stories about their high school days, played his guitar for us, and let us listen to the first CD Axium made.  Matt's also got one of the more impressive basements I've ever seen: old mismatching Lazy Boy chairs, plenty of sports, beer and cheerleader decor on the wall, even a stuffed deer head wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette.  Total man cave-- well played, sir.

Finally, another nod to my KISS obsession.  Last week, we saw Michael Johns hamming it up with Gene Simmons on the Tonight Show after getting voted off.  Then last night, the cameras find Paul Stanley in the audience.  Stanley performed in a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' in Toronto several years ago, so I'm sure he really got a kick out of David's performance as well.

Dave

...And it's the Cook everyone in the Metro is pulling for.  David Cook pulls off another great performance, and gets to advance after what he called a very 'emotional' week.  A standing ovation from Randy and more high praise from Simon... doesn't get much better than that, huh?

I haven't been to any of the Metro area watch parties in a few weeks, and I'm really starting to miss them.  To that end, here's a shout out:  Angela Hart is huge David Cook fan, good friends with David's mother, and a driving force behind a home-based weekly watch party that's gotten so big they're now holding it at a hotel.  Angela always does a great job of calling me and letting me know what's going on, and I appreciate it.  

She's also done a great job with those David Cook t-shirts you may have seen.  There's a second shirt out now, and the other day she told me they've sold 12 hundred of the first shirt!  Very impressive.

Okay, just a personal note to end things, if I may.  I was under the impression Michael Johns has had a run of bad luck recently, what with being voted off the show and all... but as a diehard KISS fan since the age of 3, I've gotta say I'm pretty jealous of him now!

http://community.tvguide.com/thread/American-Idol/D
iscussion-Topics/Michael-Johns-Meets/800037619

Dave

Bill Self had a much better Thursday than Michael Johns.  Now, to be fair, KU's basketball coach had a better Thursday than almost everybody... heck, his whole week's been pretty awesome.  A national title on Monday with the Jayhawks, and then Thursday the announcement that Self would remain in Lawrence for the forseeable future, and would get a very nice raise in the process.

Thursday, as this week's American Idol results were announced and the field was trimmed to seven hopefuls, I was once again on the KU campus.  We were sent there early in the afternoon because we'd heard that there was something brewing with Self, who had been speaking with his alma mater, Oklahoma State, about their head coaching job.  When the announcement came that Self was staying put, we went around campus and talked to a few students about the news.  They were happy to keep their coach... and turns out they weren't all that surprised; they expected Self to stay.

I hadn't thought too much about it, but if I'd been asked, I sure would have expected Michael Johns to stay in Hollywood for a while longer, too.  He's never been in the bottom three, and now he's been sent home.  I was glad to hear David Cook moved on to the next round with ease... a very good sign in a week where the judges weren't crazy about his performance.

Every week at the station, we hear about more David Cook watch parties around the Metro.  The number of parties keeps growing as he continues his run through the show, with people getting together in bars, houses... even some of David's old schools.  Imagine if all those parties combined for one big watch party... I don't know what venue would be big enough to host it (assuming KC's arenas and stadiums weren't available)... but it would be something to see. 

Dave

Here's a request for all of you who were in front of your TVs watching David Cook/American Idol last night... what happened?

I ask because Tuesday night found me huddled in a live van outside the student union at the University of Kansas.  We were there to cover the big welcome home the basketball team got for cutting down the nets in San Antonio and winning the national championship.  BTW, it really is April... we can turn the heat up just a little bit, can't we?

Anyway, I was in the van working on my story for nine o'clock when I realized I wasn't going to be able to see Idol.  I quickly called home to see if a last minute dvr could happen.  No answer. 

Later, I heard Simon and Randy didn't like the performance as much as they had in recent weeks.  Can't remember the last time Randy wasn't excited about what David did.  Since I'm still not clear about what went on last night... please help me out.  How did you think David did, and who did you think really stood out on last night's show?

Dave

Ah, college.  I know these posts are supposed to be about David Cook and American Idol, and this one will be in a minute, but first I've got to say how nice it was to be on the campus of the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg this afternoon.  A (finally) warm Spring day... group of art students holding class outdoors and working on sketches... couple of guys throwing a frisbee around... all of the college cliches seemd to abound, and I'm telling you, days like this make me wish I had actually gone to campus more often when I was an undergrad at The University of Texas...

Anyway, back to David Cook, we were on the UCM campus because that's where David went to school and where his younger brother Andrew is currently still a student.  We knew Andrew couldn't speak with us (Idol rules put the clamps on pretty much any family giving interviews) but we did get to speak with one of Andrew and David's friends as well as a couple of David's old professors.

Seriously, the next time I hear someone say something bad about David Cook, it'll be the first time.  And that's cool, because it makes pulling for him even more fun. Just like his high school teachers in Blue Springs, his college professors said David was a great guy who took his school work just as seriously as he took his time on the stage (a lot like me in college, except that I never studied and was never on stage).  David studied graphic design, and his professors said he was the rare student who had a firm grasp of both the creative side of design and also the left-brained, business elements of his major--I think they may have been referring to math.  Math... ooh, I just got a chill.  Okay, now I'm better.

By now you know David is safe for another week and sailed on to Idol's 'elite eight'.  But maybe the bigger news this week is David taking a trip to the hospital after Tuesday night's show.  Today on campus, David and Andrew's friend said Andrew assured her David is fine and the whole thing was blown out of proportion.  I believe it, and I guess this is sort of David's introduction to a life in the spotlight where people will take note of his every move.  So much of life on American Idol looks like a lot of fun.  That part?  Not so much.

Guess I'm a little long winded tonight, so if you've read this all the way through, thanks very much for your time.  Just like last night, we've saved a lot of the interviews we got today and you'll be seeing more of them in the months and weeks to come.

Talk to you later,

Dave

You could call it tracing Idol finalist David Cook's Blue Springs roots... or I suppose you could call it stalking.  You know what; I prefer root tracing, so that's what I'm going to go with.

Today we went to David's old elementary school and high school and talked with some of his teachers, who are of course very proud of him and very excited about his chances of winning the whole thing.  We used some of the interviews for the story tonight, but there's plenty more stuff we shot today that you'll see either on FOX 4 or on myfoxkc.com as the weeks and months go on, so stay tuned.

One of David's teachers showed us his high school yearbooks.  From theater to music to baseball, this was a guy who kept his schedule packed!  Kind of made me feel lke I was a bit of a slacker when I was in high school.  Well, if the shoe fits...

We were so busy working on the story tonight, we didn't actually get to see David's performance, but it sounds like he did really well again.  Meanwhile, tomorrow when this week's results are announced we'll be down in Warrensburg to chat with some people who knew David during his college days-- hope you'll check it out.

So I've been at Fox 4 for almost 11 months now and have yet to write a blog entry... time to fix that.  And what better topic to start with than one of the hotter topics around our newsroom these days; David Cook's run through American Idol.

I've got a confession to make; I've never watched American Idol before this year.  In fact, sometimes after talking with people I would go through my day thinking I was about the only person walking around who didn't watch the show.  But that changed this year after I was sent to cover the first round of American Idol auditions at the Qwest Center in Omaha in early August.  Then we went back to Omaha in early October to cover the second round of auditions, which were the first ones in front of Randy, Paula and Simon where the 'Golden Tickets' were awarded.

On both trips to Omaha, we met up with David Cook..  One of our photographers actually got him to sing for us before going in for the first audition in August.  On that first trip, he was there with his mom and his younger brother Andrew.  Later in October, David was just there with his mom.

I've only talked to David Cook during those two trips to Omaha, so I'm certainly not going to pretend like I know him or anything... but I will say he made a really good impression on me both times we interviewed him.  In addition to clearly being a good singer and musician, I thought he was a nice guy who was very down to earth.  He also managed to come of as confident without being cocky at all, which seemed to be a really good American Idol mix.  Sure enough, that's been the case... as of Wednesday night, David's in the final nine and going strong.

We've also gotten to meet many of David's family and friends at watch parties around the Metro.  The crowds seem to be getting bigger every week.  It's a fun story to cover... and best of all for me, for the first time in six years I'm not out of the loop when I find myself in the middle of an American Idol conversation!

We'll be talking more about David's American Idol run as the weeks go by, but for now I'll throw out a question: do you now consider David Cook to be the favorite to win the whole thing, or would you still call him a 'dark horse candidate' in the contest?