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American Idol Season 7

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marigold:

David Cook's "Light On" video

marigold:
David A's Blog:

Sweet Charity

Hey all. The radio promo tour has been going great. It's been fun going from city to city and seeing what they're all like. I'm in Boston right now, and tomorrow is the last day of the radio promo tour. It's been crazy bouncing around everywhere, though! Today we went to three states, haha. There's been some cool things that have gone on while on tour.

When were in Ohio, I visited an all-girls school after they won a contest for which school could raise the most pennies for a cancer charity. I visited the winning school, which was Seton High School (Awesome job again to all the girls there! Thanks for having me and for raising so many pennies!), and answered questions students had. What's cool is they raised 64 jugs of pennies, so I thought that was really cool of them to raise so many for a good cause. I think they said there were like 560 girls, and they had sooo much energy! Haha. They played "Crush" before I came out, and they were all singing along! It was so weird, but really cool at the same time. While I was on stage, they made me do this dance called the Wiggle-O or something that they always do I guess. It was so much fun there. And it was crazy with over 500 girls! Haha. I'll load some of the group pictures I took with them. But anyway.

The radio promotion stuff has been fun, haha. The album is out on pre-order now in iTunes! And people are already able to get a song from the album before it officially comes out, which is "Angels." It's a slightly different vibe from how I've done it before, but not a whole lot. It's one of my favorite songs, so it's cool to have that as the cover song on the album. You can also get the pre-order bonus track, which like disappears after the release date, haha, and it's one I co-wrote! So that's pretty exciting to have there. I wonder what people will think of it, LOL.

But anyway that's all the rambling I'll do for today. Hope you guys enjoy "Angels" for now and the CD later on.

TTYL,
David

Link: http://www.alloy.com/5/108/8322/1/ref/archive/5/108/

marigold:
An interesting article:

David Cook sings on Wal-Mart site

Seventh season "American Idol" winner David Cook has a deal with Wal-Mart for distributing the first performance of songs from his upcoming self-titled album.

The performance, recorded this week, will be exclusively available through Wal-Mart Soundcheck (www.walmart.com/soundcheck) on Nov. 15, the same day the album drops. The site will feature videos and interviews from the session, and fans can also download exclusive tracks.

Cook talked to People this week about life after "Idol" as he anticipates the release of his solo project.

"I think in one sense everything's changed, but in another sense nothing has. I'm still a goober from the Midwest. Now I've just got a few more resources. I don't feel like the show changed me at all."

Link: http://www.freep.com/article/20081102/ENT07/811020529/1035/rss04

marigold:
An interesting article:

SONG OF DAVIDS

'IDOL' HEARTHROBS ARCHULETA AND COOK DUKE IT OUT WITH THEIR COMPETING DEBUT ALBUMS

David Archuleta, the runner-up of this year's "American Idol," is in Cincinnati, where he's having anything but a superstar moment. The squeaky-clean, occasionally bashful and unconditionally adorable singer is appearing on a radio show with students from an all-girls school who collected 64 jugs filled with pennies to benefit a cancer charity.

If that seems like an odd way to spend a morning, it gives you just a taste of Archuleta's bizarre life these days. But then again, he's not the only "American Idol" vet named David for whom life has become an affair worthy of a "Twilight Zone" episode.

PAGE SIX: Homeless Singer Josiah Leming Might Be Blocked From Releasing Album

IDOL: Where Are They Now?

IDOL: Video Quiz

Immediately after more than 31 million people watched angsty/scruffy 25-year-old David Cook snatch the "Idol" crown from the reach of Archuleta's tiny 17-year-old arms, both were whisked away to juggle two enormous tasks: hitting the road for the "American Idol" tour, and recording their new CDs at a breakneck pace so that both could be released in time for the holidays.

"I was really nervous at the beginning because this is something I always wanted to do, and it happened so fast," Archuleta says. "The night of the finale, they're like, 'OK, you're gonna be working with Jive.' I was like, 'Whoa.' "

Now, with "David Archuleta" set for release by 19 Recordings/Jive on Nov. 11 and "David Cook" dropping through 19/RCA a week later, the world waits to see whether - much like in that other big "younger man vs. older dude" battle that'll be playing out nationwide on Tuesday - age and experience can win out over youthful charisma.

Or, in the parlance of the now-legendary "American Idol" post-show sales battle between the winner and the runner-up, whether David vs. David will be the next Kelly vs. Justin or the next Clay vs. Ruben.

Whatever the result, the path to it was nerve-racking for both.

"It was kind of all over the place, because I was trying to work on the album while I was on tour," says Archuleta, who, as he's prone to do, starts laughing in mid-sentence. "I mostly did it in LA. Some was in Utah, some was in Minnesota, some was in Oklahoma, some was in Indiana and some was in New York. Whenever I had a day off, I'd record in whatever city I was in."

Travel mate Cook, meanwhile, endured the same crazy pace. Grammy-winning producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day) assembled many of the 12 tracks on Cook's album while the singer - who set a record the week after the "Idol" finale by placing 11 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 in one week - was still on the road with the tour.

"A lot of it was done via e-mail and telephone calls," Cook recently told Rolling Stone. "I was face to face with Rob maybe five times before I got off the tour, and I had to bare my soul to this guy. It was really scary."

One would think, after seeing Cook bring tears to American eyes with his heart-melting rendition of Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" while his cancer-stricken brother Adam watched from the front row, that singing to Green Day's producer would pale in comparison. But baring your soul in any circumstance can weaken one's defenses.

"The best analogy I can come up with," Cook said about his long-distance relationship with Cavallo, "is that it was like taking off your clothes in church."

While the circumstances were similar for both singers, the nature of their recordings hewed closely to their respective pop and rock leanings.

Archuleta, a smooth crooner in the traditional boy-band mode and a novice in the studio, depended on some of the most reliable hitmakers in the business (his father, happily, sat this one out) to craft the 25 songs he laid down in order to get the perfect 12 for his debut. While he's been performing for most of his life, he found that the demands of the studio provided some unique challenges.

"There's a different way of singing in the studio," he explains, "because you're not feeding off the crowd. You take several takes, you try to balance and preserve your voice, and sometimes you can be there all day - hours and hours of recording. But it's really fun, because you get to learn the song and figure out what you want to do with it."

'NSYNC's JC Chasez, who co-wrote the peppy plea for love "Don't Let Go" with Archuleta and veteran songwriter Jimmy Harry (Kelly Clarkson's "Low"), said that Archuleta showed a maturity beyond his years.

"His voice is out of this world, and he approaches his singing very professionally," says Chasez. "Some people just jump into the studio raw, but he takes the time to warm up, sit down at the piano, run the scales. He takes it very seriously. When he goes into the studio to sing, that kid is business."

Chasez says that Archuleta's vocal strength and endurance - particularly for someone his age - is a rarity.

"After touring, people's vocals get trashed, but he sang for hours on end and he was still clean," says Chasez. "It was stunning to hear how much abuse this kid's voice can take. But because he's so dedicated to doing it the right way, it always sounds great."

While the teddy bear of the "Idol" veteran class was getting his crash course in studio work, Cook was treading on more familiar territory, having previously recorded a solo album called "Analog Heart," as well as releases with his bands Midwest Kings and Axium before his time on "Idol."

As such, Cook employed a drastically different formula for his debut, including writing or co-writing many of his record's dozen tracks himself. When he did use collaborators, they were less chart veterans than rockers, some from just mildly popular bands that Cook had long admired.

"I worked hard to write music that forced not only my hand, but the label's hand," Cook told Orlando's XL1067.com. "I wanted to put music in front of them [where they went], 'We have to put this on the record.' "

While Cook - whose first single, "Light On," was co-written by Chris Cornell and Hinder producer Brian Howes - was more the old pro, he was still felled by some scary moments, usually when working with his heroes. Meeting with Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace, one of his favorite bands, for instance, rattled the Idol. But once that went well, it set the tone for the entire record.

Archuleta, meanwhile, was working with Chasez and other successful songwriters and getting a virtual master class on the topic.

His album's lead-off track and first single, "Crush" - which has already hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on iTunes - was written by Emanuel Kiriakou (known in the business as Eman), David Hodges and Jess Cates, who between them have written hits for the likes of Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson and the Jonas Brothers. Archuleta made the most of this extraordinary learning opportunity.

"The writing of a song, it's not like, 'Oh, this line comes and then this line comes,'" says Archuleta, who, in addition to "Don't Let Go," also co-wrote the lovelorn "A Little Too Not Over You." "Even amazing songwriters have writer's block. What you learn about songwriting is [that] to become a good writer you need to take risks and [be willing to] throw out dumb ideas. When you throw ideas to other people, that'll help spark an idea for them."

Whatever lessons there were to learn, Chasez says he caught on quickly.

"When we were going over lyric ideas, he didn't let anything get by. Everything in the song, lyrically, had a purpose," he says. "He put thought and consideration into each line, and he cared about the quality of every second of the song."

One thing that caught Archuleta off-guard about the recording process was that a song he was less than enthusiastic about upon first hearing it could eventually become a favorite.

"Your Eyes Don't Lie" is a slinky song of defiance with a whistling coda, produced by Antonina Armato and Tim James from Rock Mafia. Archuleta initially had doubts about working with the veteran writing/producing team because of one of the pair's other famous clients.

"At first I was like, they work with Miley Cyrus. Why would I wanna do stuff with Miley Cyrus' people? Just because we're both young?" he says. "I don't wanna be in that category. She's really talented, but that's not my kind of thing."

And once they hit the studio, Archuleta still wasn't convinced that the song would fit his style. "I was like, I don't know how I'd sound singing that, if I'd portray the idea of the song very well," he says. "This is another love kind of song, and it was just really different."

But ultimately, he saw what talented producers like Rock Mafia (whose members have also worked with Mariah Carey and Green Day) can do, and the song won him over.

"I couldn't believe how versatile they were," he says. "They did 'Your Eyes Don't Lie' and 'You Can,' and I love that song [too]. It's a really simple song, but I just love to sing it, and I love what it's all about."

"You Can" is an acoustic tune that's sure to strike right to the heart for the "Archies," Archuleta's devoted fan base.

"It's a ballad, and it talks about falling in love for the first time, and how that one person can change the way you look at things," he says. "You can really connect to it. It's like I can feel the way they felt when they were writing it."

Archuleta also worked with Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi, who co-wrote the gentle ballad "To Be With You" for him with Eman. DioGuardi, who also sings backup vocals on the track, worked on Cook's debut as well. Since her work with Archuleta, she has been named the fourth judge on "American Idol."

"She's gonna be a really good judge. She's so amazingly talented," says Archuleta. "I had a little writing session with her, and it was really cool to be able to work with her."

While Archuleta's CD is being formulated for maximum radio-hit potential, Cook's will be largely what fans have come to expect from him: a rock record through and through, although one that will shift gears enough to keep fans intrigued, from the hard-edged "Bar-ba-sol" to the more grandiose "Come Back to Me."

"I just wanted to write a record that really was eclectic and had some movement," Cook told 1067.com. "There's heavy songs on this record, and songs with piano, strings and vocal. I wanted this record to be heavy and delicate, all at the same time."

Considering the timing of the two releases, the speculation about which will emerge as the king of the music charts and the fact that one of these young talents beat the other for the most prestigious title in music, one has to wonder if the two Davids are out for blood, each anxious to demolish to other - at least in terms of CD and digital sales.

The truth is, these Davids are totally BFF.

"He has seriously been like my big brother," Archuleta says of his older counterpart. "He'll still text me once in a while to make sure things are going well. He's a really caring guy."

As evidence of their closeness, Cook was seen on the "Idol" tour wearing a bracelet that said, "David Is My Idol" - but it was an Archuleta bracelet.

"I spent so much time with him, and we really got close during the show, especially at the end," says Archuleta. "He understood what I was going through more than anyone else - because he was going through it, too."

Link: http://www.nypost.com/seven/11022008/entertainment/music/song_of_davids_136390.htm?page=0

marigold:
Update on David A:

MILEY CYRUS, DAVID ARCHULETA AND MANY MORE STARS TO PERFORM ON NBC'S LIVE BROADCAST OF THE '82ND ANNUAL MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE' ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27 FROM 9 A.M. - 12 P.M. ET

Released by NBC

Meredith Vieira ("Today"), Matt Lauer ("Today") and Al Roker ("Today") to Co-Host the Parade

Balloons Taking to the Sky for the First-Time will be Buzz Lightyear, Horton, the Smurf Balloon and a Special Balloon of Artist Keith Haring's work Figure with Heart

NEW YORK - November 5, 2008 - Miley Cyrus, David Archuleta and many more stars are set to perform on NBC's live broadcast of the "82nd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" from New York City. "Today" co-anchor Meredith Vieira co-hosts along with Matt Lauer and Al Roker kicking off the festivities with the parade's historic route beginning at 77th Street and Central Park West and winding down Broadway. The parade celebration will air on NBC from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. in all time zones.

Celebrating the start of the holiday season will be performers from stage, screen, sports and music riding down Broadway atop one of the parade's moving stages. The stars joining the line-up include Trace Adkins, David Archuleta, Charice, The Cheetah Girls, Kristen Chenoweth, Clique Girlz, Miley Cyrus, Grandma and the Big Apple Circus, the cast of the Broadway Musical Hair, Harajuku Girls, Kermit the Frog, Lang Lang and the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street, Miss U.S.A. 2008 - Crystle Stewart, Idina Menzel, PushPlay, Darius Rucker, James Taylor, Uno the 2008 Westminster Dog Show Champion, Varsity Fanclub and Andy Williams.

The parade will feature many eye-catching floats and balloons and will offer many new additions, classic characters from children's books, movies and television shows, a Who's Who of popular culture icons. Joining the line-up of giant character helium balloons this year will be the Elephant "who meant what he said" the ever-faithful Horton, the super smurftastic Smurf and the infinity seeking Buzz Lightyear.

Also making its debut is a tribute to the beloved artist Keith Haring (who would have turned 50 this year), working in partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation, Macy's Parade Studio reconceived one of Haring's paper drawings, Figure with Heart, 1987, as a Giant Balloon. The balloon is a three-dimensional rendering of Haring's drawing that will appear flat against the backdrop of the sky as it might have appeared on the subway walls once favored by the artist. Haring's Figure with Heart is the latest entrant to the Blue Sky Gallery series. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began the Blue Sky Gallery series in 2005 when parade officials invited artist Tom Otterness to create a balloon version of one of his classic pieces of Humpty Dumpty. Aiming to inject contemporary art into a pop culture phenomenon, the Blue Sky Gallery series continued in 2007 with the debut of "Rabbit" by Jeff Koons.

Star power continues to march on Thanksgiving morning with performances from some of the hottest Broadway shows including 'In the Heights', 'Disney's The Little Mermaid', 'Irving Berlin's White Christmas', and more. In addition, the world-famous Radio City Rockettes will kick it up a notch welcoming the parade in style.

The 82nd trip down Broadway will also feature over 1,700 cheerleaders, dancers, singers and performers; 900 clowns; 13 giant character helium balloons; 35 novelty/ornament balloons, balloonheads and balloonicles; 10 marching bands; 28 floats; and a host of celebrity performers. Over 10,000 participants including America's best marching bands, celebrities, campy clowns, the parade's signature giant character helium balloons, fantasy floats, and the one-and-only Santa Claus; will once again convene on the Upper West Side to bring the magic of the season to life for New York and the nation.

Returning parade favorites, stars of children's television, video games, comic strips and feature films, complete the line-up of 13 giant balloons this year. Joining the three new giant characters will be Abby Cadabby, Beethoven, Dora the Explorer, Flying Ace Snoopy, Kermit the Frog, Pikachu, Ronald McDonald, Shrek, SpongeBob SquarePants and Supercute Hello Kitty. In addition to the giant characters balloons, the parade also boasts 35 novelty/ornament balloons and balloonicles giving the sky backdrop a tiered spectrum.

Magical scenes come to life on the moving stages that create a fantasy down Broadway. From an unexpected cross country journey to the lights of Tokyo subculture the newest floats in the Macy's Parade line-up take spectators on voyages through the imagination. This year's inaugural fleet include the cross-country journey of Bolt, Princess fantasies at the Castle of Dreams, the lights of Tokyo subculture on Harajuku Lovers, a representation of the creation story on the True Spirit of Thanksgiving, bright bold optimism of the Shine On float, the smurftastic world of The Smurfs, the wonder of believing on Winter Wonderland, and the joy shared during a Woodland Family Gathering.

In addition to the eight new stages, 20 floats will make a return appearance on Broadway this Thanksgiving. The returning float line-up includes 123 Sesame Street, Big Apple, Bridge To The Future, The Care Bears Winter Fun-derland, Cele-bear-ate Hugs Worldwide, Expedition to the Top of Rhino Mountain, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Jolly Polly Pirate Ship, M&M's Chocolate Candies on Broadway, Marion-Carol Showboat, Musical Innovation Bigger Than Life, New York Tin Toy, Pep Squad, Santaland Express, Santa's Sleigh, Snoopy's Doghouse, Spirit of America, Spirit of Liberty, Starship Discovery and Tom Turkey.

The beat is back on Broadway as 10 of America's best marching bands hit the pavement. The musical heartbeat of the parade, the marching bands representing their home states and the nation in this year's parade includes The James Bowie High School from Austin, Texas; Copiague High School from Copiague, New York; Fayetteville High School from Fayetteville, Arkansas; Georgia Institute of Technology from Atlanta, Georgia; The Greater St. Petersburg Area Awesome Original Second Time Arounders from St. Petersburg, Florida; Macy's Great American Marching Band with representatives from every state and the District of Columbia; James Madison University from Harrisonburg, Virginia; Nogales High School from La Puente, California; Sioux Falls Lincoln High School from Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and West Johnston High School from Benson, North Carolina.

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