Yuku free message boards

How many people can say they've met both American Idol finalists from Season One?

Just watched the five parts of the Slezak-Gokey interview, and I didn't find it as off-putting as so many on various message boards have commented. Yes, he seems a little inconsistent about how he talks about his album being soul/r&b/with a touch of Latin (translation: Taylor Hicks with a bongo drum), but yet he says that he had no knowledge of virtually all of the songs he did on the show.

Having rubbed elbows with plenty of Orthodox Jews, including Hasidim, because of Gokey's evangelical roots, I think he was totally honest about those comments. I went to a very Orthodox wedding in January, and while there was a smattering of well-known pop music, most of what was played was Hebrew and Klezmer-type music. So I consider him, musically, to be the Christian equivalent of a very Orthodox Jew.

Sure the guy comes off as competitive and maybe a bit too overconfident about his abilities, as shown by his comments about Kris and the Doobie Brothers' song, and I think he was fibbing about the audience liking his "Scream On" note. But I think the guy means what he says.

I think in some other interview he talked about that he didn't know that he was the beneficiary of a life insurance policy on his wife, and that when he received a hefty five-figure check, he started the foundation, and a lot of people think he's lying that he didn't know that his wife had a life insurance policy. I think they're going a bit too far with that.

I can see how people might not believe that he had nothing to do with his brother-in-law holding up the picture of Gokey and his wife while he sang "Hero."

Who knows? Maybe there are lots of people chomping at the bit to buy a Gokey CD. I think it would be unfortunate if he doesn't get signed to a recording contract because of any possible anti-Christian bias, not because of a lack of talent or because they think his album won't sell. I wonder if that was what led to Howard Benson's comments.