By Leslie Gray Streeter
DANNY GOKEY: (Who, given some bloggers’ perception that he was arrogant, was fairly down to earth and humble. You never know. I don’t even know, as I spent a pleasant five minutes in his presence. But he seemed pretty nice to me, and I was one of those who was sick of him being pimped. Talented kid, though.)
Q: Have you had any time to explore the cities you’ve been in?
A: Not really. We come and go, although we did have a day off in Tampa. We had a whole day at the beach, and that was the best kind of site-seeing.
Q: What are you enjoying about the tour?
A: One of the best parts is singing, and also the audiences. It’s a 50/50 thing. Singing’s not interesting if there’s no one there to hear you. It’s been really cool. But that beach day was the best day of my whole year, which has been inflitrated with “American Idol” since January. It’s hard to find that place (to decompress), but this is the making of us.
Q: Can you ever prepare for this sort of exposure?
A: It’s been surprisingly hard. I don’t think I thought it would be this stressful. But the tour is much lighter than the show was.
Q: Do you read what’s written about you on the Internet?
A: I try to stay away from that. I feel like I’m getting better at keeping all that in the right perspective, about what to focus on and what not to focus on, on what is temporary.
Q: You obviously shared some personal things about yourself on the show (Danny’s wife died not long before his audition), things that some writers and bloggers felt free to expound on, because they were out there and they could interpret them any way they wanted. Did that…
A: Did that bother me? It bothered me big time. People who tend to be like that don’t go anywhere in life, because they’re not happy and they want to get someone else, to make someone else unhappy. I can’t focus on that.
Q: One last question: Your duet of “All Night Long” with Lionel Richie on the finale was so much fun, and I could see that smile on your face when the music came on and people freaked out.
A: That was the biggest moment of my Idol experience. I was just ear-to-ear. Lionel Richie became like a mentor for me behind the scenes. It was just amazing.
via: http://www.pbpulse.com/uncategorized/2009/07/29/american-idols-live-interviews-danny-gokey/
Awww! I’m glad he enjoyed Tampa! And the fact that he was able to relax, good for him!
Loved the Lionel Richie duet. You could tell Danny was enjoying it and I will never forget the large ROAR when Lionel game out with Danny!!