David Drives ‘Em Wild
Before he blew the crowd away with his spot-on, piano-playing version of Robbie Williams’s “Angel,” David Archuleta gave the girls in the pit an even bigger treat as he sat on the edge of the stage waiting to appear on camera. Red in the face, David tried to keep his cool as female fans gathered around him. As the swooning girls gazed up at him with their hard-to-miss “Oh David, I Love You” looks, Archuleta (under the watchful eye of his father and bodyguard nearby) casually said hello to Brooke White’s hubby, who was in the front row. One female fan couldn’t resist it any longer and just had to touch his hand to get the Idol’s attention and told him how great she thought he was.
Paula: Momma’s Girl
Randy Jackson is always first to enter the Idol stage area, smiling, slapping high fives and shaking hands with eager fans. Next came Simon Cowell, who seemed cooler as he came out, carrying a bottle of water and saying a few hellos to the crowd. Then Ryan Seacrest and the contestants followed. As Paula Abdul, who usually steps out only moments before the show starts, was running in Tuesday night (she almost didn’t make it on time), she paused and noticed a very special person in the audience. “Mom?!” she shouted in shock, as if it was a total surprise to her that just to the right of the judges’ seats was Momma Abdul. Her sister Wendy was in the house too!
Cookin’ For Cook
Measuring by the audience’s lukewarm response and the judges’ remarks, David Cook had a less-than-stellar performance. Was David Cook’s hot streak of blistering performances simmering down a bit? One famous fan, who was feeling the fire, certainly didn’t think so. So You Think You Can Dance star — and third-place finisher, but favorite to many — Lacey Schwimmer (yes, there is a relation to Friends star David; she is his cousin), was in the audience and one of the few standing up and rocking out to Cook’s version of “Innocent” by Our Lady Peace. She wasn’t alone, however. Signs like “David Knows How To Cook Up A Song” and “David Cook You’re Idolicious” could be seen in the audience.
Taylor’s In the Audience (Not Hicks!)
Luke Menard, one of the first of the Top 16 to go home, was back in the Idol house, enjoying the show from a front row seat. Will & Grace star Eric McCormack enjoyed a dad’s night out right behind country superstar Taylor Swift, who happily signed autographs and shook hands with young fans before the show. And though she was only there for a moment, as she had a show to film next door, Dancing with the Stars pro Julianne Hough hung out in her white robe, chatting with friends before the show.
More Stuff You Didn’t See
• After criticizing Syesha’s cover of Idol winner Fantasia’s “I Believe,” the audience gave Randy such an uproarious round of boos that even Simon was forced to turn around and look up at the unhappy audience, his jaw on the floor as he mouthed the word “Wow!”
• At the beginning of the show, just as the lights went down and Michael Johns’s video came up on the screen, David Cook paused to give his fellow Idol a double fist knock for good luck before running backstage.
• Moments before he picked up his ukulele to play while singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Hawaiian singer, the late Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole, Jason Castro stepped out to say hello to fans and check out their signs. Castro gave his approval of one “Hallelujah Jason” sign by pointing and smiling at the fan holding it up in the pit.
• As her song-choice video played on the monitor, Ryan Seacrest took some time to chat with Syesha on the stage while she had her hair and makeup touched up.
• As she stood and waited behind her microphone to perform, Brooke White chatted with some of her fans in the pit. Some of the young girls must have asked where her husband was, because suddenly Brooke’s face lit up as she pointed to where he was sitting in the front row. All the girls turned at once to look and see as he waived back.
• At the end of the show, when snippets of the night’s performances play back, David Cook’s clip, which usually gets a lot of yells, sadly went by without much noise. It was Castro (“Mr. Dreads”) and Johns (the “Wonder from Down Under”) who got more this time. But when Archuleta’s face came up on the screen, girls from the pit to the bleachers nearly blew the roof off the building with their screams. –Jed Dreben
Micelotta/American Idol 2008/Getty
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