And, even if David wanted to bring the attention of the medias to his musicians instead of himself, the fans wouldn't be so interested: that's why the singer is usually called the "frontman" !

Given that I gave eil some grief over this elsewhere, I think it's only fair to say that many fans are VERY interested in all the members of a band, because that rapport fleshes out the song. And many potential new fans (of the rock-listener persuasion) will probably take Cook more seriously if they see that he has a strong band behind him (wasn't there a series of Tweets from someone who wandered in at the AZ fair confirming this?).

I didn't think it was inappropriate to introduce NT in passing rather than upfront, but I also think it's inappropriate not to mention one's bandmates at all. So I'm glad he mentioned them all by name at some point.

Back to topic: The guy knows how to work a Q&A. Answer the question that was asked by providing new information, funny anecdotes, and/or some suggestions of future plans. Works for me.

Thank you for all these videos, you lovely people!! I watched part of the unplugged but missed most of it. I'm in the process of downloading everything to my iPod. I have given up reading at bedtime and just drool over all my downloads of concerts, banter & interviews. Have to say it doesn't put me to sleep like reading did but I'm definitely in a better mood!!

One quick question. What order should these be in?? I can tell that Heros is first but haven't had a chance to watch the others (RL doesn't allow at the present time) so not sure which comes next. and I'm a type A person, they have to be in order. LOL

Sue

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I thought the accoustic set was great. It was also exciting to have David and The Anthemic in my hometown! I feel the host should have introduced Neal. I agree with this "single artist stuff" it's hard to navigate at times. I also think David has so much to be concerned about in his every day that he cannot possibly remember every detail. He did acknowledge Neal when he was talking about the game they play on the bus. He also named /referenced all the guys in the band and he thought it was "odd" he named all of them while telling his story. I found it very endearing.

The camera did pan out a few times on them both. I have seen David express his loyalty to all his bandmates. It is also very obvious he cares about them very much and is loyal to them as they are to him.

* I felt the gentleman asking David the very personal question about "How much money do you have in your wallet right now?" was very intrusive but David answered the question politely, with humor and grace. That, to me is having social etiquette and manners. He could have said to the gentleman "That is a very personal question."But rather than be disrespectful and not answer the question he responded to him but changed the direction to humor to calm the uneasiness he must have been feeling. JMO.
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"Hold on to anything at all."

My only problem here is with the way the radio camera folks cut Neal out of the frame (well, we did get a bit of his elbow and occasional glances). Now that, in my view, was disrespectful. As to Dave's lack of acknowledgment of Neal right off the bat, that seems to me to fall in the category of excessive demands. The guy is primarily branded, after all, as a solo artist along the lines of Rob Thomas and John Mayer, so in my book, it is totally appropriate for the radio to introduce him by the one name - David Cook. It would be a whole different picture if Dave was primarily branded as a band, which he most certainly is not. Of course, it was important for Dave to introduce Neal at some point during the concert, which he did. I don't think its giving Dave any kind of pass here at all to feel that he acted appropriately in this situation.

It's a tricky business, this solo rock artist stuff. It's an interesting situation since Dave is all about rock music, specifically rock bands, and has a great deal of respect and admiration for his fellow musicians. But he also has a strong, creative, probably fairly stubborn individual streak. My sense is that he's still very much playing with the resultant continuum. Some of this is Idol fallout but not all of it. He did, after all, put out a solo recording with another one essentially in the can before Idol. My overall impression is that Dave's bandmates will likely experience a good deal of fluidity over the years. Even so, as others have said, I still would like to hear Dave acknowledge his fellow band members at every gig.

Funny, but after all the hoopla surrounding the Mixtweetgate, it turns out that this station has given us some of the best acoustic Dave stuff yet. Just goes to show, you never know where the next gifts will come from.

Maybe people should point this out to the radio station. I'm all for polite yet assertive action.

My issue wasn't with the framing of the camera shot, though. It was that the host introduces Cook but not Neal (note to self: must learn to spell Neal's surname!), and Cook presumably hears this but does not correct it. I know I'm going to hear "but Dave couldn't do anything!" And I don't think it's attacking him to ask "Why can't he?" Fair enough -- he might not think to ask hosts in advance to introduce everyone (or his management may be telling hosts not to). But how hard is it for him to introduce his buddy Neal T when he says hello to the audience? I sometimes think some fans go a little far in treating Cook as too hapless to show basic social skills, only to have another faction turn around the ravage him for minor slip-ups.

But I'm going on at length and losing my other point, which is that the unplugged placement was one of the good ones -- I like these much better than standard radio interviews for showing off what Cook can do. And I think we can all agree on that!

Well, David did introduce Neal. In the How Much Money In Your Wallet answer. "Neal, my friend/guitar player to my left..." So maybe he wasn't formally introduced by the radio station, but Neal was named. As were all the other guys in the band in the banter after the Heroes performance about GRO and the Green Man prank. I do wish he would introduce all the guys in the band every show, but if that's the only complaint we can come up with for this tour, I think he's doing very well. *smiles*

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~You are love, you are life, you are Peace of Mind~

Word to what waterfall just said. Also, I find it so interesting that no one seems to feel this way about the Other Band Members when they are being interviewed like when Andy was on kcradio and did not mention how he had even been in a band with David Cook and the Anthemic for a full year. Seems people are so focused on picking apart David and not the other band members. JMO don't get all bent out of shape at me now it's my opinion and I bet there are others that feel that same way.

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David deserves much success & zero crap fav David Cook quote: #suckitcancer...suck it hard!

Unplugged time...

The host should have introduced Neal too. The presence of the anonymous companion undermines what effort's been made to treat the band as a real band, rather than adjuncts to Cook's glory. Neal may prefer to exude silent menace, but he still has a name. Either Cook likes being the sole center of attention more than he claims, or he's buying his bands' private lives at the price of his own to an extent that seems disproportionate. (And if this is his managements' idea... no one can stop the concert once it's in progress, nor can anyone actually beat him with a stick for disobeying. But that goes back to frequent and legitimate complaints that Cook also rarely introduces the band members by name.)

Acoustic Heroes starts out gorgeous enough to almost overlook that... almost. Handling of the middle section that speeds up ("maybe there's a hero in us all") strikes me as more controlled and ept than the similar section of acoustic LOTM that had troubled me on its first outing (but was later resolved into a better sound). The quieter bit coming out of that... lovely.

Mr. S is very cool; a true acoustic rearrangement. I particularly like the long note going into the run downward at "ignorance is bliss," but I like the odd bit of technical showing off.

Lie's the least surprising, but that's no surprise, and it's not like it isn't pretty. Okay, doing part of it a cappella anyway was a surprise. Does this change keys toward the end, or are portions of it just different? (Or is my hearing really distorted by being used to the orchestration?) Beautifully understated ending.

I hope he's joking about the raw foods diet, though it would answer my question of whether he knows what a vegetable is.

Here is the UToob of Q&A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvUV24FrnRU
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David deserves much success & zero crap fav David Cook quote: #suckitcancer...suck it hard!

imogen? sorry to report, am i doing something wrong? the youtube of heroes only gives me a black screen. and the earlier one of mr. sensitive wouldn't allow me to download, said there was no video, even though it played. the lie one was fine.
thanks for any help.

eta: oh, and thanks for all the other great things you've posted. i certainly shouldn't only speak to complain!

"you made me fall forever, with no end in sight"

Thanks to everyone for this thread and for all the goodness it contains! Can he be any more amazing??

Thanks for all the links and mp3s of the Acoustic goodness! Does anyone know if there is a mp4 d/l link for Heroes? Or a YouTube link? I have a link for Lie and Mr. Sensitive, but Heroes wasn't up when this was posted:
 
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=8d96885c77867244ab1eab3e9fa335cad3dcd...
 
There are wmv as well as mp4 files ^^ in the link above. I'm just looking for Heroes now, to complete my set! Although, I thought I heard a rumor that David & Neal also did Light On at this gig. Did anyone else hear that? TIA!

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~You are love, you are life, you are Peace of Mind~

Not yet cndlovesdc
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David deserves much success & zero crap fav David Cook quote: #suckitcancer...suck it hard!

is anyone else completely bugged that this radio station's link to the "official" site goes to dc.org?

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η*

Thanks for all of these. I luv, luv, luv Unplugged Dave.

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David Cook --A True Artist--His Voice is His Paintbrush- Painting Musical Images that Reflect his Inner Soul

Cannot say Thank you enough for all of these!!!
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Great Canadian David Thread
With just a kiss on the neck

Here we go:

Heroes - Unplugged

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Pinoy fans represent!

I just listened to both and good god the man has such an amazing voice. I just love to listen to him sing acapella, his voice is so pure and rich he is so amazing. My #1 now and forever and he keeps reminding me why that is.

I woke up today at 5am just to find this gorgeous performance. Gosh, his voice is like pure velvet!! Thanks for posting this so fast. Now, back to burn a new CD for my car.