What's next for Danny Gokey?
The Milwaukee native, ousted from "American Idol" on Wednesday night, addressed that question and several others during a conference call with reporters this week.
Here is a transcript, courtesy of the PR staff from FOX:
Moderator: Welcome to the "American Idol" Interview call with Danny Gokey. I'd like to remind you that today's conference is being recorded. I'll now turn the conference over to Chloe Ellers for opening remarks. Please go ahead.
C. Ellers: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for calling in today to speak with Danny. As a reminder, Danny is here to talk about his experience on the show and plans moving forward. If we feel like anyone is harping on a question too much, we reserve the right to move on. With that being said, we'll take the first question.
Moderator: That will come from Matt Mitovich with TV Guide.
M. Mitovich: Hello, Danny.
D. Gokey: Hello, Matt. How are you doing?
M. Mitovich: Congratulations on making it as far as you did.
D. Gokey: Thank you. I appreciate it.
M. Mitovich: I'm just curious, as you may have gleaned, you know, at least since last night, much has been made about the scream you did at the end of "Dream On," and I'm wondering how you reflected on that performance, and if you think that might have possibly been the beginning of the end for you.
D. Gokey: You know, who knows. I mean, I guess I was actually thinking about that this morning. I was like, man, maybe that was kind of like the downfall because the week before, I had a really good performance. But, you know, I guess I just, I really wanted to have a big song that week, and so I took a risk. I never did rock and, you know, I think it could have been one of the variables, and being so late in the competition, you don't want to have a performance like that.
The thing is, everything in that performance was good up to that point, and I rehearsed that scream so much that I really hurt my vocal cords. It takes a lot to hurt them, and that one did it because I was sore on my home visit, and I'm still kind of sore this week.
M. Mitovich: Okay. Thanks.
D. Gokey: I thought it was funny, though. It was a very funny....
M. Mitovich: Yes. All right, congratulations again. Good luck going forward.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: Next we have Lisa Steinberg with Starry Constellation magazine.
L. Steinberg: Hello, Danny. It's a pleasure to speak with you.
D. Gokey: Thank you, Lisa. How are you doing?
L. Steinberg: Good. I was wondering. What did you learn from your experience on "Idol"?
D. Gokey: You know, one of the things that I learned on this experience was, I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about how pressure has an effect on a person. You know, I think, for me, this whole experience I learned to overcome things in my life. You know, overcome insecurities, overcome doubt because sometimes, I mean, there were times I just didn't want to go out on that stage because I just felt maybe unprepared or I felt like, man, is anyone going to like what I'm doing, and I over-thought the process.
But, you know, when I had the real good performance was especially this past week. I was so thankful because I was like, you know, even though I kind of didn't want to go out there, I made myself do it, and I did good. Do you know what I mean? Because sometimes you can just see so much and you're wondering how people are viewing you, and that has an affect on your performance.
L. Steinberg: Best of luck with everything. I know you're going to have a bright future.
D. Gokey: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Moderator: We'll go next to Mike Hughes with TV America.
M. Hughes: Danny, your final performance last night was just a fantastic way to end a great ride. It was really, really good.
D. Gokey: Thank you so much, Mike.
M. Hughes: My question here, you're kind of in a position that we need because you're the best expert on the last two guys, and I'm not asking you who's the better one or who's going to win, but just to use your insight of knowing them for a while, just tell us what you find just kind of interesting about Chris and Adam as a person or as a performer, just something you find interesting about each one.
D. Gokey: Well, you know, Chris, you know, obviously he's really artistic, and Adam has a way on the show of capturing the audience. I think the thing is that people think that - here's what I think, and I'm going to say it like this. People need to vote. Don't automatically assume someone ... don't have your assumptions. If you want some person to win, you've got to vote. I'm telling you. This competition is not over yet. This is going to be a very tight. I have a feeling it's going to be a very tight race this next week.
M. Hughes: And just as far as their image onstage and off, is Chris really as quiet and shy offstage as he is on, and is Adam in total control of everything offstage as he seems to be whenever he performs?
D. Gokey: Yes, Chris actually is a very - you know, one thing I admire about Chris is that he's very mellow, and that's always one character trait I've always wanted. I'm a person who, you know, I'm an intense personality and times, and Adam, he's just an all around great guy. I really can't fault him on anything. Adam is who he is onstage and who he is offstage. He's very creative. He lives creative. He dresses creatively. He talks from that perspective. Do you know what I mean?
M. Hughes: Yes. Super. Thanks a lot, Danny.
Moderator: We'll go to Marc Wilkofsky with the Soap Opera Weekly.
M. Wilkofsky: Hello, Danny. Tremendous job this season.
D. Gokey: Thank you. Thank you.
M. Wilkofsky: Do you feel that an Idol singer now has to change up or switch up every song like you did?
D. Gokey: Say that again.
M. Wilkofsky: Do you feel that now an "Idol" singer has to change up every song?
D. Gokey: I really do. I think it's - I mean, I think you have to change up every song. You know, it's funny because there were some songs that I wanted to do that I had prepared and I had changed up that I never got to do because it just, you know - there were a few times where I picked a song, and I tried putting a different arrangement on it, and it just didn't work. It kind of stinks because, at this point, it's more than singing.
I shouldn't stay it stinks because it's actually pretty good. It's more than singing. It's really people want to see a creative element. They want to see an old song made fresh again. I think Idol from this point on, ever since last year, you can't go on singing the same arrangement of a song. You'll get bashed.
M. Wilkofsky: Right, and how do you want to change the music industry in general?
D. Gokey: How do I want to do it?
M. Wilkofsky: Right.
D. Gokey: You know, I've thought about that a lot. I really want to put, for me, I would personally like to start a movement with my music. I want to be almost like maybe sound so big of me, maybe cocky even, but the dream that I have inside my music is to revolutionize a culture to change people's hearts. You know, that's why it's so important for me that my dream is to mix my music with my foundation, you know, Sophia's Heart Foundation. That is everything to me and, you know, I don't want - you know, for my music career, I don't want it to be necessarily all about me. I want it to be about people.
You know, when I get a vision for a concern, this is what I see. I see, you know, like opening up concerts with possibly ... all the lights ... possibly following a story of a young kid whose father was maybe killed in a gang, and his mother is a drug addict, and kind of watching his life, showing little bits and pieces of his life, how he's had to overcome this and that, and then possibly somehow how Sophia's Heart Foundation has impacted this kid. Then I would like to come out there and entertain people, and then maybe flash back to another story or another mother.
Basically what I want to do is I want to entertain people, but at the same time, I want people to be - I want them to come out of their zone for a bit, and out of their problems, and have a perspective looking at someone else's problems and watching people overcoming. So not only will I entertain people, but they'll walk away, you know, feeling good, but also it's not a temporary good. It's that they're going to want to make a change. That's what I see.
It may come off as cheesy, but that's what I want to do because my whole testimony is overcoming - overcoming the impossible in my life, and now I want to take that message and tell people, if I can do it, you can do it. That's what I see.
M. Wilkofsky: It sounds like an excellent plan. Thank you so much, and best of luck to you.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: We'll go next to Joey Guerra with the Houston Chronicle.
J. Guerra: Hello, Danny. Thanks so much for doing the call. I'm sure you're a little bit tired today.
D. Gokey: Yes. Yes, I am. But it's all good.
J. Guerra: Yes. I wanted to ask you about something that I think happens with certain "Idol" contestants, as the season progresses. You know in the beginning, and even through the semifinals, I think for a lot of people you were a frontrunner, and I think what happens sometimes is people maybe peak too early or so much praise is give to them that it's hard to sort of match that every week. Did you feel any sort of pressure in those respects in terms of what you were doing or the way you were approaching your performances?
D. Gokey: Absolutely. I felt like I had so much on me in the beginning of the show that people -- you know, I had to outdo myself every week, and the things for me ... here's another battle for me on the show. You know, just internally, I was like, man, I'm still growing as a musician, yet people expect this to come out of me, and I felt like at times I was just wasn't there yet.
I would say this. I don't think the show really ever works out ... now I say that lightly because I've only watched really one season of the show. That was last year. That's why I wanted to try out. But since there's so much expectancy on one person, people would tend to get disappointed. But then when you see another person where there's no expectancy on them, they'll show up, and they can possibly just wow the crowd because people just weren't expecting it.
J. Guerra: Right.
D. Gokey: You know what I'm saying? When you come, and you have so much expectation for something, and it doesn't work out the way you wanted it, you tend to get disappointed. So I'm sure, maybe at times people got disappointed like, man. Dude, I thought you were better than that. I'm like, no; hold up, man. You know, like for me, at times, I was in the room, and my mentor was like, man, they just want more. What do I do? What do I do? And I try. I gave it a really good try.
You know, the thing is that I know that there's a lot of creativity, and I can't wait to express it in the way that I want to express it. And I know that there's a bright future ahead of me, and that's how I'm going to look at it.
J. Guerra: Yes, definitely. And the other thing you were talking a little bit about what you wanted to do with your music, but if we're talking just in terms of sound, what do you see yourself doing?
D. Gokey: In terms of sound, I really want to do a soulful album, but I want to mix it with - you know, here's how I look at it. I want to mix a very soulful album with nice beats, like nice R&B beats and nice, like, beats that get people's heads moving, and mix it with a very, a hint of a Latin vibe, and the reason is, I was with my wife for 12 years. She was Puerto Rican, and I'm so into, like, Salsa and Meringues and all the Spanish music, and I want to mix it all in one arena for me. That's what I want to do.
J. Guerra: Awesome. Danny, best of luck, and that sounds like it's going to be kind of exciting, so cool.
D. Gokey: Thank you so much.
C. Joyce: Hello. How are you doing today?
D. Gokey: Good. Hello, Colleen.
C. Joyce: Okay, so who was your favorite mentor and why?
D. Gokey: Oh, boy. Most of the time, I ended up working with Bird and Matt, and they were my favorites because that's who I ended up working with on the show. I never really got a chance to - oh, wait. Hold up. You're talking about the mentors that came with the show, the other mentors.
C. Joyce: Yes, but it doesn't matter. Both are fine.
D. Gokey: The TV mentors. No, I'm thinking - I thought you meant something behind the scenes. I think my favorite mentor was Jamie Foxx. He just made the atmosphere very light and made it very fun. And I really enjoyed - plus, man, I watched the guy growing up as a kid. You know what I mean? That was great.
C. Joyce: That's awesome. Now how about a message to the fans?
D. Gokey: You know, I want to thank my fans for just supporting me. You know, what affirms me as an artist is them because, week after week, they voted and voted and voted. And that shows me that they believe in me and that they see something inside of me, and it makes you feel good. And I want to tell them I love them, and I think that they're the best out there. And I hope that they support me when the CD finally does drop.
C. Joyce: Absolutely. We look forward to seeing you this summer. Thanks a lot.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: Next we'll go to Margie Szaroleta with AP Radio.
M. Szaroleta: Hello, Danny.
D. Gokey: ....
M. Szaroleta: What was it that you saw Paula and Simon doing on Tuesday that the camera would not show?
D. Gokey: Well, I don't know if they wouldn't show it. Every time I looked at the camera, it was showing it, but he was like suffocating her, which was the funniest thing. And he had, like, he was, like, on the ground. He had his hand over her mouth, and I talked to after the show. She was like, man, I couldn't breathe. I really couldn't breathe. To me, it was just the funniest thing because I've just never seen that. They were kind of like wrestling almost in the chair.
M. Szaroleta: And when you go out on tour this summer, what do you envision that being like?
D. Gokey: I don't know. I don't know how to envision it. I envision it being good, you know, without a doubt. I envision it honestly as a point to just talk to my fans and kind of just show a side of me that they weren't able to see on the TV because the coolest thing now is that I can take my guard down. I don't have to have a guard up anymore. You know what I mean? Because I don't need ... people can't accuse me for wanting to get votes anymore for doing this or that. You know what I mean? So now I can just talk openly and freely to the people who I sing in front of them. I'm excited for that. It means a lot to me.
M. Szaroleta: Thank you.
Moderator: We have Antonia Blyth with US Weekly magazine.
A. Blyth: Hello, Danny. How's it going?
D. Gokey: Good. How are you?
A. Blyth: I'm all right. I wanted to know. At a point where Ryan said that Chris was the first person in the finale, what went through your head? Did you think, you know, because obviously Adam's been such a huge - there's a huge ... around him. What went through your head? Did you think that it was still up in the air? Did you feel like, oh, that's it for me? What were you thinking?
D. Gokey: Yes, I knew it was it for me. I was very confident in the fact that it was it for me. Actually, the whole day, I kind of thought it was it for me. Did I want it to be it for me? No. You know, I can be very transparent ... say, I wanted to go for the gold, just like they did. And it didn't work out that way, you know, because the thing is, I'm a competitor by nature. I like to compete, and I gave it what I gave it.
Looking back, would I have done things different? Absolutely. But the one thing I can say is I'm proud of my accomplishments, my accomplishment from where I came from ten months ago from losing my wife to where I am today. You know, it wasn't just a show I was on. I was battling different things. You know what I mean? Not only in this competition did I keep my head up and did I put my, at the time, what I thought was my very best out there, but I also had to deal with, you know, with that whole end of the spectrum losing my wife. And I saw a strength in me that I didn't know I had.
A. Blyth: And what did Simon say to you afterwards?
D. Gokey: You know what, he said ... let me think. He said, you know, he's like, man. You are a phenomenal singer. And he said it's almost ... I think this is what he said. I think he was basically saying it was a shock that you didn't make into the finale, but he said, the thing is, things like this happen. He's like, you know, these things happen. He said, you're one heck of a singer, one of a kind. And he said, you know, it's sad to not see you in there, and I believe that's what he said. I don't want to quote that, but I was thinking about that this morning. He said some very nice things.
I'm just glad I had the opportunity to sing in front of those judges. Even though I wasn't able to watch the show, I think it's every singer's dream to get in front of the stage and want to please those judges because those judges have right now the most popular opinions in music. Everybody wants to know what they've got to say, and I got to grace the stage and sing in front of them. That just meant so much to me, and ... heard all the judges, and just thank them.
A. Blyth: Best of luck, Danny.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: We'll go to Tim Cuprisin with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
T. Cuprisin: Hello. How are you doing, Danny?
D. Gokey: Good. Hello, Tim.
T. Cuprisin: I was hoping to talk to you next week, not this week.
D. Gokey: I know.
T. Cuprisin: You know, watching you yesterday looked like from the minute you got on stage, you wanted last night to be over. You made some comments. You sort of spoke for a lot of finalists. Let's get through these commercials. Let's get all through this drama, and let's find out what happened. Did you walk on stage yesterday thinking this was it?
D. Gokey: Yes, I did. I did. And, you know, I kind of felt it, but I prepared myself all day. You know, it's almost like every results show you do that, but even more so this one because it was getting down to the top three. And I just, you know, it is what it is, and it's like, I don't want all the drama. You know what I mean? Like, for me, it's like, okay. I just didn't want my heart to have to endure ... you know, for that moment, I was like ... if it's going to be a disappointment, let me just get the disappointment through me. Do you hear what I'm saying?
T. Cuprisin: Right.
D. Gokey: It's like, oh, man. I didn't work out the way I wanted it to work out, but let's just move on. Do you hear what I'm saying?
T. Cuprisin: Definitely, and I sense that the winning was not as important to you as sort of the mission that you see yourself on. You talked sort of in broader terms about what you want to do. Concretely, once the tour is over, and you're on your own, what are the first steps we're going to see from you?
D. Gokey: The first step that's even going to go on right now is that during this competition, I have not been able to really put my hands in Sofia's Heart Foundation. It's been very minimal because I've had to focus on being here. Right off the bat, I'm going to call my team, you know, and we're going to start having meetings, and we're going to start getting our focuses laid down for how, you know, what the first agenda on the organization is.
The ... organize founded last year, but I want to define our goals because we haven't been fully able to do that. Then I want to be able to go. I want to just grow this foundation because this foundation means so much to me. It is the legacy of my wife and myself here on the earth, even though she's gone. So I'm going to push that.
I'm going to use - honestly, you know, I have a lot of open doors, and I'm going to walk through those doors. There's a ... honestly, I want to come out with a line of glasses. As funny as that sounds, and eventually I want to start doing all that stuff, and hopefully have the glasses promote the foundation, but yet maybe I'm talking too far in detail, but there's a lot I want to do. I want to start working on my own material and just start planning out the future. This competition has catapulted me toward my dream.
T. Cuprisin: And, you know, for Milwaukee, coming home last week, you know you've got a lot of support here, so as you said, those doors are going to open here.
D. Gokey: Yes, and I really hope so because that's where exactly I want to start the - you know, I want the first place to be in Milwaukee. I want to represent the hometown. I would love to have, like, I already have my vision of my building planned out. I want to have, like, a hip-hop art center, you know, a media center. I want to have a gym. I want to appeal to all the youth in theater and arts. I want to get kids back involved in music because they're pulling that thing out of schools first, and that's the one thing that can help families and help kids learn is music. It actually helps people to learn better and faster.
T. Cuprisin: Right. Congratulations for this run. It was amazing.
D. Gokey: Thank you, Tim. I really appreciate it, man.
V. Balta: Hello, Danny. How are you doing?
D. Gokey: Hello, Victor.
V. Balta: Thanks for taking the time. You mentioned earlier that people shouldn't take for granted, you know, who's going to make it through and that they should vote. How did you feel on Tuesday night when Simon was making such a clear, almost like a plea for people to vote for Adam?
D. Gokey: You know, it is what it is. You know, I've got to be honest. It doesn't make me mad. It doesn't disappoint me. That's what he believes is going to make the most money. See, you've got to understand. I'm not - okay. I hope people take - take what I say with a grain of salt because I don't want people to misquote me. But I didn't get in this thing for the money. I didn't get into it so I can live this glamorous lifestyle. Does that come with this kind of career? It will. Things will come.
But my goal, I feel like my goal is so different, and maybe it didn't line up with the goals of what they see as a pop star. But the thing is, I'm okay with that because it's like, I want to have a moment in my music. I don't want to just - you get what I'm saying. I feel like my vision is a little different, so it's okay with me.
And the thing is, I love Simon. I can't hate on him. I just love the guy. I just think that, man, the guy is bad to the bone. You know, it's good. It's good. The thing is that we need entertainment. We can't always be - not everyone can be about what I'm about because maybe that'll irritate people. But we need a lot of entertainment out there because that's what sells, you know.
V. Balta: Cool, cool. And just real quick, the duet last week, I don't know. Like, I know it was an odd night with all the mishaps that happened before the show and so forth. But you seemed a little shaken during that performance. What was going on there?
D. Gokey: During the duet?
V. Balta: Yes, with Chris.
D. Gokey: Did I seem shaken? I mean, it wasn't - you know, I'll tell you what. I felt like I didn't know my lyrics before I went up there. That was one of the things. I had just got done doing the - did I do the scream after that or before that? No, I did the scream after that. I don't know. It was just a weird night. The night definitely wasn't in my favor, but I believe I showed up, and I sang well.
V. Balta: Cool. Thanks.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: Next is Carita Rizzo with TV Guide magazine.
C. Rizzo: Hello, Danny. How's it going?
D. Gokey: Good, good. Good to talk to you.
C. Rizzo: The heart symbol that you did on stage, how did that start, and what does it symbolize?
D. Gokey: If you go to my Web site, sophiasheart.org, one of the pages - I'm not sure which one it is - has a picture of a child sitting in a chair backwards, and he puts that symbol up over his face, that's where it started. It started at an event because I had an event back in Milwaukee to try to explain the foundation to people last year. And, you know, I fed parents. I gave toys to all the kids. We did a reading session. We did an arts and crafts session. We did all this. It was December 27th or 29th of last year. It went with a bang. We did basically everything my wife would do, and the photographer caught that picture, and at that moment, you know, I was like, I want to do that on the show. And so I started doing it because the whole thing is, I want, you know, that's what represents Sophia's Heart Foundation. It represents my music, and I want that to - you know, that's part of the movement that I see in the music.
You know, I could be way off. This is just vision and dreams that I have on the inside of me, but I kind of see that. I would love that to be like my symbol for my music. You know, if I walk on a stage, I can put my hands up. I did that this past weekend in Milwaukee. I did the heart symbol ... so much. You know, there were over 25,000 people there. Half the crowd did the same thing with me. That's what I want people to do. That's where it was started. It was started ... on that. It has no affiliation with a glasses company ... people think....
C. Rizzo: So you knew where I was going. Okay. That's funny.
D. Gokey: Yes. I did some research on it, and I found out that they started their campaign, I think, April 16th.
C. Rizzo: Right.
D. Gokey: I never saw a commercial for it, but you've got to think about it. It was on my Web site last year. Now I don't think anyone can really coin that, but I just want people to know that I'm not promoting glasses. I've had that picture on my Web site since the Web site's been up.
C. Rizzo: This interview has been way too serious. Jamar says you're a black man in a white boy's body who makes farting noises in banks. Do tell us. Who's that Danny?
D. Gokey: No, I'm a jokester. I love joking around all the time because I just think it's funny. You know, here's an interesting fact. I heard that, you know, kids laugh like 200 times a day, and an adult laughs like 6 times a day. That goes to show you, there's a reason why children enjoy life a lot more because they know how to laugh, and they know how to take it lightly.
So, to enjoy life, I like to laugh, and I make this farting noise out of my mouth, and I tend to go, and I'll go in places, and if sounds just like a fart. And I'll just, I'll do it, and people will give the funniest looks, and I crack up all the time. And I love to laugh. Ask every contestant on American Idol. That's what I do. I joke around a lot. It feels good.
C. Rizzo: Thanks so much, and congratulations.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: We'll go to Nadine Rajabi with TV Gasm.
N. Rajabi: Hello, Danny. How's it going?
D. Gokey: Good. How are you?
N. Rajabi: I'm good. Congratulations. There are so many different questions, so I guess the biggest thing, watching your guys ... packages going home, when you went back to Milwaukee, I understand it shows how overwhelming and emotional it was. Did you realize how big the town support would be when you got there? It looked like there was just massive...?
D. Gokey: It was. It was over ... there was an official count, actually. We had people - we had it at the Summerfest grounds, and they had these counters, these turnstiles, I think they call them. And the count came up to like 25,300-and some odd number. ...I was blown away, but I wasn't at the same time. I've been asked this a lot. ...I feel like Milwaukee has so much good to offer, but yet everyone wants to kind of put us in this box and say we're a beer and cheese state. You know ... but the people of Milwaukee, when they get this opportunity to say, hey, we're more than this. We actually have a lot of talent, and people tend to look over us. They were like, let's show up. Let's represent, and they did.
N. Rajabi: That's awesome.
D. Gokey: I love my city, and I hope that this is like a breaking ground for people just to come out of Milwaukee and starting doing just amazing things. The city is beautiful. I just love it. I really do.
N. Rajabi: Great. Also a last question is how many pair of glasses? You started off with 32 when we interviewed you in the beginning? How many did you have by the end of the season?
D. Gokey: I started in the beginning of the season with 15.
N. Rajabi: Fifteen.
D. Gokey: And now I'm about 50 or more.
N. Rajabi: Oh my, God.
D. Gokey: Yes. I mean, being on "American Idol," the blessings of glasses have rained from the sky, and more is to come, and I really would like to start maybe a Danny line or a Gokey line one of these days.
N. Rajabi: That's cool. Congratulations. Thank you so much.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: Next is Steve Gidlow with In Touch Weekly.
S. Gidlow: Danny, congratulations on making it through.
D. Gokey: Hello. Thank you so much.
S. Gidlow: You're very welcome. I was just wondering. You know, it was referred to a little bit before about the slack you got for rock week. Were you surprised that you outlast Alison that week because she kind of, you know, she really did an awesome job? I mean, you did too, but....
D. Gokey: Yes. I think the whole amount of the show, I was kind of surprised that I kept going. Yes, but she, you know, I really don't know how to explain that one because she is a rocker, and as everyone in the world can see, I am not a rocker. But I think also it goes to show that I have pretty strong support out there. And that, like I said before, it affirms me as an artist, and I'm pretty confident when I put out a CD that hopefully that'll still shine through.
S. Gidlow: And would you have liked to have done a duet with her that week?
D. Gokey: Absolutely. Alison is amazing. Can you imagine having two of us with husky voices going to town?
S. Gidlow: It would be good.
D. Gokey: On a song, I think we would have ripped that thing to shreds.
S. Gidlow: Good luck in the future.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: We'll go to Monica Sotomayor with Flash News.
M. Sotomayor: Hello, Danny. Thanks for your time today.
D. Gokey: Hello. Thank you.
M. Sotomayor: Congratulations on making it so far. You were great.
D. Gokey: Thank you so much.
M. Sotomayor: Yes. I just want to elaborate a little more on this eyeglass business. Have you actually thought of like an alternative career as an eyeglass model of sorts or have you been offered anything by companies to be in their catalogs or anything?
D. Gokey: Well, you know ... yes. I would love to be an eyeglasses model. I would love to - I'm serious. Like, that would be so cool. I haven't been offered anything yet because I'm just like leaving the "American Idol" bubble right now. That means I'll be able to have full contact with everybody because before, they've got to make sure everything is fair. You can't make sure that this person gets more attention or that. Now it's okay because I'm off the show.
M. Sotomayor: Of course.
D. Gokey: So after ... you know, I'm trying to see how many I can ... you know, I hope I made glasses cool for kids, man. And that was kind of the word that I got out on the school that kids were kind of excited to wear glasses again because sometimes glasses can have the reputation for being nerdy, but I want to do my own glasses design. Hopefully somehow tie it into the foundation, and maybe some of the proceeds from the glasses can help whatever, whatever we decide to do with the foundation.
M. Sotomayor: Yes, that would be great. And....
D. Gokey: But on the record, I would love to do anything glasses wise.
M. Sotomayor: Okay, good. I like that. Let me ask you real quick. I was reading on your bio on the Fox Web site that you had an embarrassing moment once falling off the stage while singing. Can you elaborate a little bit on that because you seem sort of nice and smooth now?
D. Gokey: Yes, well, it's a good thing that this stage was only a rehearsal, and there was only the choir there and the people working the sound. This was some years ago when I was working for the church. We have a set that we do, like, Jesus of Nazareth, it's called. It's like the Easter play, basically. And they have these Styrofoam blocks that they would beat Jesus on. It sounds so crazy, the way I'm explaining it. They're usually solid Styrofoam blocks, so the stage is like four feet high off the ground, and I thought this one block, I was trying to step off of it. It was a hollow box, a very big, hollow box, and I stepped right through it, and I fell flat on my face, and everybody laughed. I laughed. We were surprised nothing broke because my one leg came down all the way four feet to the ground unexpectedly. It was great, great times.
M. Sotomayor: Oh my gosh. People tease about it to this day?
D. Gokey: Oh, absolutely. I mean, come on. I wish they had it on camera. Just the thing that is funny. You know, with the whole Scream On thing, it's fun because the camera shot that they got of me, I mean, it looks like it's from a horror film. It is the most - it's the greatest thing. I tell people need to look at it if they need to laugh. It is hilarious. I'm serious.
M. Sotomayor: That's great. Thanks so much, Danny.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: I apologize. We are almost out of time, so our final question will come from Kim Thai with USA Today.
K. Thai: Hello, Danny. How's it going?
D. Gokey: Hello. Good. How are you?
K. Thai: Good. I was just wondering, now that things are kind of going down to the wire, if you had any sense of how close the vote tally was last night between you and the other guys, or did you get any sense of, you know, if it was a large range or not, or had heard any rumors of such?
D. Gokey: I didn't really get any rumors, but I just know. I just know that it was neck-to-neck. I believe it was, and that's all I can say. Really an assumption would just be an assumption from this point, but I really believe it was a neck-to-neck race, and I hope so.
K. Thai: Thanks so much.
D. Gokey: Thank you.
Moderator: Thank you. Danny, do you have any closing remarks?
D. Gokey: No. I guess I'm just thankful. I want people to know that I'm thankful for the opportunity that they gave me, and thanks to all the reports who came on the line today to hear what I had to say. It means a lot because I think on this phone call, I'm able to be more open about things, and I guess not have to worry about getting judged as much, and I just appreciate that. And I appreciate the fans, and I really, I have to thank "American Idol" and thank 19 Records for giving me this opportunity.
You know, I was a nobody, and this show turned me into a somebody, and I'll always be thankful for the roots that I came out of because I do believe that the best is yet to come for me, that this is not the end of the road. I'm just very grateful. I'm so thankful my life has turned around, and I can't say it enough.
