I had no intention when I started watching AI this year to be anyone's fan. I didn't listen to music and I only had a casual interest in idol anyway. When we were introduced to David Cook my first interest was that he was from (as he said) Tulsa Oklahoma. That perked me up since I live in Oklahoma City and had lived in Tulsa for nine years. I thought well I'll stick around to see if another Oklahoman can do half as well as our own Carrie Underwood. I liked that they were allowing contestants to play instruments and David seemed to have an interesting look and sound. Then the fan thing started to happen. When he sang "All Right Now" with the smile, finger twirl, audience interaction. I thought this guy has done this before and he is FINE. I began to look forward to Tuesday night to see what he would bring to the table and I was never disappointed. David Cook was taking my breath away and I would go to the AI site to watch every performance over & over again at work. I was becoming a fangurl without even realizing it at the time. The Top 9 week when he came out to sing "Little Sparrow" I was looking at him more than listening to him. The hair had changed, the scruff was there and I couldn't take my eyes off him. He was evolving before our eyes into a heart throb! When the finale came along I knew little David had it, David Cook couldn't have taken it by 12 million votes...could he? All I knew was that that the night before I actually voted and voted and voted for the whole four hours! I had only done it once before for Carrie and only a few times. Thank God I was watching live and when Ryan said COOK I stood up in my empty house and screamed, applauded and cried like a lunatic. There is something to this crazy show where you follow a person and watch them grow. You become part of their life; you become a part of their family. The artist normally never knows what they meant to you but I decided to do something crazy or brave or yeah, it was really crazy. I decided to start a fan site for David Cook for the mature fans. The lady that held up the Cougars 4 Cook sign got quite a bit of press and it wasn't bad in fact the media was quite enamored with the fact that older ladies were taking a shine to David. So maybe I could fill a need and draw into my site women that might otherwise feel a little skittish visiting a 'true' fan site. So I made mine like a magazine, there are pages with news, videos and photos. I was not computer literate so my daughter helped me put it together; I did have to suffer through the eye rolling and blank stare when I started talking 'shop'. But we did it and it launched June 2 and shortly after that I added a forum. Now I have a loyal group of women that have learned all kinds of skills along with me. I never knew ANYTHING about photobucket or youtube but my passion for this man kept me focused and through many frustrating nights it all came together. Then the tour came and 'meeting' word nerds on the other boards was magical. I had people I cared about and I have never laughed so much in my life. I feel a deep need to bring to my forum ladies every bit of DC news that is out there to be had. The best part is that I actually got to meet David both in Oklahoma City and Tulsa and to see it all come full circle is huge. With that chapter over now comes the next phase...the new single, the album the solo tour. What is it like to be a fan of David Cook? For me it is inspirational. I am having the time of my life and I feel twenty years old again and I am OK with that.
~ Kathy