Just over a year ago, David Cook was living in Tulsa, tending bar to pay the bills and playing in a band to keep his musical dream alive. But it was slow going. After a year of playing gigs in bars, he’d sold just 1,000 copies of his first record.

Then he reluctantly tried out for “American Idol.” You know the rest of the story, and Friday, 2,400 people will pack the the Seneca Niagara Events Center in Niagara Falls to hear his music. The big room sold out quickly, says Jillian M. Fiorella, publicity manager for the Seneca Gaming Corp.

Hearing this news by phone on a tour stop in Poughkeepsie Tuesday, Cook sounds extremely pleased and slightly surprised. “Aw, that’s amazing!” he says. “That’s really cool!”

“The Declaration Tour,” which supports his first, self-titled album, started Feb. 13 in Tallahassee, Fla., and “has been going ever since,” he says. Cook, riding the wave of popularity that comes with the exposure provided by “Idol,” plans to keep going “till the wheels fall off,” he says. “I love being out on the road. The idea of waking up in a different city every day and having new stimuli, it’s kind of something that’s always appealed to me.”

And not to mention playing before large crowds of screaming fans — “which always works, and beats the alternative, staying at home and nobody cares,” he says, chuckling slightly.

Cook’s humor is self-deprecating and self-aware. Asked about his tour itinerary, he guesses at the next few stops, then confesses, “I don’t really know what’s happening today, let alone the next three. I’m just lost is all it is.”

That’s lost, literally, but it would be easy to predict that he might also be feeling a little lost by the rocket ride to fame that comes with winning “Idol.”

How is he coping? “I’m processing it in waves,” he says, “and trying to take everything as it comes, and trying not to get bogged down with five years down the line. But right now, it’s great.”

On the intense spotlight, he says, “I’m more unnerved by that than anything, because I don’t feel any different than I did a year and a half ago. I feel like there’s some ancillary things that have certainly changed, but I’m still the same dude I was a year ago. I’ll act like I know what I’m doing, but to be honest, I don’t, really.”

Cook certainly knows what he’s doing on stage, even if he resists efforts to define it.

“I’ve never really been too into the whole genre thing,” Cook says. “I never really looked at it as much of anything other than just my music. I’ve always tried to write from experience or observation, and now I’ve gotten into this pocket of being the kind of writer who likes to write things that evoke emotion.”

Cook says his debut album “is probably the most honest I’ve ever been lyrically, and the most open. The ante was up with this record. Before, it was me doing indie stuff. It took me a year to sell a thousand copies of ‘Analog Heart.’ And now I have this huge platform, so I figure, ‘Screw it, I may as well go for broke.’ So it became almost a challenge to try to be more honest and more open and more just kind of emotionally naked.”

One of the most touching details of Cook’s rise to fame was the struggle of his brother Adam, who was being treated for brain cancer and whose initials Cook embossed on the guitar he used on the show. In concert, Cook plays “Permanent,” which is addressed to Adam, and “A Daily AntheM,” a song whose capitalized letters spell his brother’s name. These days, says Cook, Adam is “plugging right along, and we’ll just wait and see how treatment goes.”

And what about his other brother, Andrew, who asked David to accompany him and provide moral support while Andrew tried out for Idol?

“I still feel like I stole my brother’s thunder,” Cook says. “I still feel like I should pay him back someday. Maybe I’ll get him a dog or something.”

But for now, Cook tries to enjoy every minute of what is shaping up to be a long and successful tour. He says, “My worst day doing this is better than my best day doing anything else.”

Concert Preview

David Cook 8 p. m. Friday Seneca Niagara Events Center

Source

Before playing the Bardavon 1869 Opera House earlier this week, “American Idol” champion David Cook answered several questions posed by readers of the Poughkeepsie Journal’s pop-culture blog.

Journal reporter Sean T. McMann, who interviewed Cook and met him after the concert, has posted the singer’s answers to readers’ questions at www.seantm.blogspot.com.

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. As I posted earlier, David was great to take some time out from his “Declaration” tour and give some great answers to his fans. Read his answers, 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, and be sure to check out the Poughkeepsie Journal’s Web site later for my full story on David’s performance here in town…

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.

As reigning “American Idol” winner, David Cook put the figurative shoe on the other foot Sunday, critiquing his “Idol” judges during a stop at WTIC-FM (96.5) in Farmington.

“She is the nicest space cadet,” kidded Cook, referring to Paula Abdul, one of the then three judges who provided the criticism and compliments as Cook vied for the top spot last season.

“And Randy, once he has called you ‘dog’ once, he’ll just keep calling you that,” said Cook, referring to judge Randy Jackson. “If I called him up right now, that’s what he’d call me.”

And the evil Simon Cowell?

“He’s a tough one. Every time I prepared for a performance, I was thinking of him” said Cook, who taped a radio show with WTIC DJ Christine Lee before fielding questions from a roomful of fans invited to meet him before he traveled on to Eastern Connecticut State University for a concert there.

Looking comfortable but tired in T-shirt and jeans, Cook, who is in the midst of his Declaration Tour 2009, said he was still amazed at his career since winning the reality show he had never planned to audition for.

“I cannot remember what happened when they announced my name on stage,” he said. “I think it is the only time in my life I had a blackout, but I remember hugging Archie [runner-up David Archuleta].”

Now that he is touring, singing, composing and juggling media events, is fame everything he thought it would be?

“There is no love life. I’m just focused on my music right now,” he said. “And I thought that after winning I’d be getting a lot more sleep than I am.”

For a video interview with ‘American Idol’ star David Cook, visit courant.com/davidcook

Both Davids were interviewed by Ryan Seacrest, broadcasting his KISS FM radio show live this morning from Disney World. David Cook will play with his band at the Grand Opening celebration tonight, and there are plans for a duet–with Carrie Underwood! Good stuff.

Check it out Cook performs “Lie” from ABC News

David Cook’s Good Morning America appearance today is an interview, and a performance of “Declaration”

Watch an ABC News interview with David, where he talks a little bit about his USO tour in Iraq. He says it will be something that he’ll “take with me for the rest of my life.”

And David is hoping to “win a lot of college students over” when be begins his college tour on February 13 in Tallahassee, FL.

Before the tour begins, he’ll be appearing at the opening of the American Idol Experience attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, in Orlando on February 12. An early morning performance will be featured that day on Good Morning America.

Listen David talking about stardom, American Idol, the sold out Green Bay concert and more!

Check Cook talking about his mom, the AI Season 8 Premiere, Kimberly Caldwell, his band and much more!