Original message from Blake Lewis:

I'm so hyped right now!!! I just done playing the Canal Room in New York and the crowd was so freaking great. Thank you to all who came out. It was truly a great cap to end the last couple of weeks on the road.






What's going on everyone??? Much has happened in the last month and I'm gonna start from now and go back.

What a crazy week leading to today. I'll start with last monday. A.D.D. band rehearsal. This was so nice! This was the first time we have rehearsed in my house. It worked out so great. I was a nice two days with my bros, kickin it, jammin out to You Give Love A Bad Name, getting our 80's rock on for a corporate gig for HP in Vegas on thursday. When rehearsing was done Kent, Jeremy and Nails and I watched the Final NBA game. Johnny was pissed!! I laughed. I didn't care to much. But preferred Boston. Garnet and Allen played for Seattle so I was a little bias.


Now to the phone call. I planned for Wednesday to be my day to rehearse for tonight's Canal Room show, cause we were leaving on Thurs. to play Vegas. Ring, ring, ring went the phone. Iain my manager baring the news. Arista isn't picking up the second option. Meaning, I'm not doin another record with them. I'm totally fine with this... I was just wishing they would have put the word out to me over the last couple months, because lets face it..... Waiting SUCKS!!!! I could have known this 2 months ago, when all of RCA was going through there changes. Oh well. I guess the right time was now. No biggy. I'm still with 19 Recordings and I got a tour and new record on the way.
Now I'll I need is a home for my music. Some place warm and tropical.... seriously though... Got to be a place where they actually respect my craft and electronic music. Getting RCA to do remixes for my record was like pulling teeth AND I had friends do the mixes for next to nothing. They turned out great and are rising on the Billboard charts. How Many Words is in the top 40. HOLY SHIT!!!! its currently 29. So freaking pumped. People been shakin there booties to some electro Brake.. hehe Thanks to all the DJs playing my song. Lovin you right now!
Wednesday ended with me rehearsing for a couple hours, just fine tuning some of my pedals and playing the piano.

And the clock strikes Thursday. VEGAS BABY!!!! Needless to say, we were all pretty stoked to be here for one night. This was Kents first experience of Vegas, so we had to go all out. We stayed at The Venetian and played in the ballroom. Ended up getting a couple friends to come out. Super nice of them to come out from Cali. Show-time was great. Really nice system and everything went off great. I did a little beat box HP commercial pitching to them the idea for one. Really fun!
The night progressed, we watched Stephen Marely, went to Tao and had the best freaking meal I've had in a long time. They brought out 10 apps and I thought they were entrées... Then they brought those out. We ate like we hadn't for ten years. Perfect!

The boys went home and Johnny and proceeded to Albany, NY for a radio show. It was great. Met up with my friends Metro Station and Ace Young. My friend Blake from Metro actually played a couple keyboard lines on How Many Words. Super great band. It was nice to finally catch up with Ace and hang. His single is coming out soon and I really like it. Much respect.
So we played this radio show and Coolio was there. Gangsta Paradise himself. This story I have to tell. My tour manager, Ace and I are chillin in my room and BOOM!! The fire alarm goes off. This goes on for a good half hour and then BANG, BANG, BANG! Knocks on the door. Its Coolio's nephew/producer Ghost. Super chill/nice guy and Ace, He and I start rappin bout life and Cool. then ten minutes later there's another knock at the door. "Fire Department"... open the door and who else could it be... Coolio. I'm laughing. That was funny enough for me. Coolio at my door and he probably started the fire alarm and ran to my room for cover. Perfect way to end a great day.

Johnny and I head to Connecticut the next day for a show. My friend came down from Boston and we kicked it. This show was much for lax, cause it was super bad weather. We had a good time and went out for some dinner. After all that, Johnny and I ended up working on a song I had written a year ago, that I wanted to change. By the end of the night we had an Epic song of Beattle proportion.. This one is going on the record KJ and I are producing. I'm really excited now. We have three songs underway and they are sounding killer. I'm giving this track the title Save Us for now. Johnny and I are going to start working on the pre production in the weeks to come. Super STOKED!!!


Well things are pretty positive for me right now and I owe that allot to you guys. Thanks for all the amazing comments and messages everyday. I truly do appreciate all that you do.

I think thats about it for now. I got a couple shows in the works. oh.. I almost forgot. Darude and I just finished a track called " Selfless" for a charity called Dance 4 Life. Its and AIDS foundation and I couldn't be more happy with the way the song came out. It should be hitting the net soon.

Love, Peace and Beats!


Bshorty

Enough about Blake (for a while). Let me get into the HOTTEST topic of American Idol 7!

The biggest question is:




Forget David vs. Goliath. The battle of the century is David vs. David, and the arena is the glittering stage of TV's No. 1 hit, "American Idol."
      
In one corner is Utah's own David Archuleta, a sweet, humble, baby-faced crooner full of hope and dreams. Sweating it out in the other is Missouri's David Cook, whose haunting arrangements and too-cool-for-school air has made him a popular counterpoint to Archuleta's optimism and pre-teen appeal.
  

It's become The Chosen One vs. The Edgy One every Tuesday night. Here's our analysis of how the Davids stack up, from singing styles to fashion design.
  
   
David Archulta
Hometown: Murray
Favorite quote: "You'll never be lonely if you learn to befriend yourself." -- Anonymous
Musical influences: Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, Bryan Adams
  

David Cook
Age: 25  
Hometown: Blue Springs, Mo.
Favorite quote: "Pain don't hurt." - Patrick Swayze (from "Roadhouse")
Musical influences: Our Lady Peace, Big Wreck.

   
  
On-stage style

Archuleta: He loves music that's good for the soul.

He performed John Lennon's "Imagine" one week but dared not sing the verse that declares "And no religion too." David isn't much of a mover and shaker on stage. Most of his song choices have been soulful - too soft to get us off our feet and dancing.
  
Cook: He's a theatrical rocker who clutches the microphone like he's embracing his lover. And he loves to give off the vibe that he's tormented by just eating a bowl of corn flakes. He turned "Billie Jean" into an emotional ballad that nearly shook the Pillars of Heaven.
  
   
Sex Appeal
  
 Archuleta: Every pre-teen girl wants a picture of him on their beach towel. Just cast him in the lead of "High School Musical 4" right now and put him on the Miley Cyrus Path to Success.
  
   
Cook: The kind of guy who would woo girls by telling them how his heart is broken. We think of the emo-angst of Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, which means Cook likely deserves someone like Ashlee Simpson.
  
  
 Fashion
   
Archuleta: He's so wholesome, the most he can get away with is a beige jacket over a graphic T-shirt. He wore leather-look pants last week, and half the nation had a cardiac.
  
  
Cook: Boring. Somebody should tell him that when it comes to looking like a rocker, he needs to take it up a notch to surpass 2006's Rocker-of-the-Season, Chris Daughtry.
  
   
Playing an instrument

   David Archuleta: David is a piano player all the way, which makes him perfect for power ballads, school recitals and church meetings.
  
   David Cook: Cook plays the guitar and you know he's just dying to smash it on stage or on an amplifier. Plus he knows chicks dig him when he shreds those chords.
  
    Who would win in a brawl?
   Cook, of course. He could pummel pint-sized Archuleta into sweet, loveable mince meat. But Utah's idol would forgive Cook instantly, making him the better man.
  
I hate to be one-sided here, but
YEAH YOU GET THE POINT.


Who's with me!?!?

On April 22, the Official Blake Lewis Fan Site (Philippines) will have its first anniversary.

I can't really think of anything to make it extra special, but I'll tell you what -- I sent a message to Kristi and asked her if she could ask a message from Blake to all of us. Or if not, maybe she could give us a message.

I wasn't really planning on telling you guys about this yet, I wanted to surprise you if ever we get a line or two from Blake. But I'm afraid it'd be too far-fetched because they're all busy -- and I am too busy I'm afraid I can't keep up on asking Kristi again and again and again. LOL. If only I could contact Blake DIRECTLY. Ugh.

But hey, look on the bright side -- on the 22nd, well make it through 525, 600 minutes! YAY! Thank you, thank you and thank you for simply just being there, for joining the group, for posting stuff, for reading the blogs and reviews, for viewing the photos, for watching the videos, for downloading the songs... and most of all, for being a real Blaker.


xoxo

Pinky & Ghe

P.S.

Thanks to those people who purchased the membership card, 50% of proceeds benefit Cancer Research at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle on Blake Lewis' name.
 

Watch it here!

Major, major spoiler alert for all of you American Idol fans out there.  If you want to be surprised in a couple of weeks and don't want all the intrigue of the audition episodes completely drained, read no further.  What we have here is the rumored Top 24 for season seven of American Idol.  Last week, the final Hollywood episodes were filmed in Los Angeles and, according to “JoesPlace” (a reliable inside source), the 24 finalists have been selected.  Granted, this is still a rumor at this point and should not be construed as official, but I'm willing to bet this is right on.  JoesPlace, before the season even started, but together an almost perfect list of the Hollywood top 50.  So, again, Spoiler Alert!  Go no further if you want to keep the top 24 a surprise.

Top 12 Girls

Asiah Epperson
Alaina Whitaker
Alex Lushington
Amanda Overmyer
Amy Davis
Brooke White
Carly Hennessy Smithson
Joanne Borgella
Kady Malloy
Kristy Lee Cook
Ramielle Malubay
Syesha Mercado

Top 12 Guys

Chikeze Eze
Colton Swon
Danny Noriega
David Archuleta
David Cook
David Hernandez
Garrett Haley
Jason Castro
Jason Yeager
Luke Menard
Michael Lee Johns
Robbie Carrico

My goodness! You HAVE to see it!

BLFS is now on Friendster! Add us up to your Friends list, Blakers!

Email address: owner.blakelewisfans@yahoo.com

I just want to show you my reply to one of my contacts' blogs... she's a BIG Melinda Doolittle fan, and she wrote a blog about why Melinda got booted off the competition and not Blake.

Here's the reply I worte to defend our boy:

I'll tell you what... people are "criticizing" Blake because of their insecurity. Of what? Well yes - ORIGINALITY. He has the "it" factor. He's a breath of fresh air... face it, we can't stick to typical and boring divas who don't know how to rock it up a bit and how to bring the house down. Since Blake Lewis stepped into the Seattle audition area, he has proven that he has such good talent to show to America. He might not be the best singer, but he's a great performer and a great entertainer. He's got the package. America needs an entertainer... you don't wanna bring them into a deep sleep, do you?

There has been some talk about how blake shouldn't be in the final 2 because he doesn't have the 'strongest' voice or that melinda shouldn't have been voted off because her voice is better than blake's. i think that blake has proven time and time again that he is a competitor to be reckoned with. i know that the judges continually say that this is a 'singing' competition and i think that is valid. HOWEVER, i think that someone needs to have the whole package in order to be successful after the show is over.

i don't think it's fair to say that blake is still there because this is a 'popularity contest'. i know for a fact that the majority of his fans vote for him because of his talent. because he's a true artist. i don't know about you, but i sure wouldn't vote for 2 hours a week JUST because i thought someone was cute. that novelty wears off after a while. blake fans vote because of his TALENT.

it's important to remember that being the most talented singer ever doesn't mean anything if you don't have other things backing it up. think about some of the most successful singers out there. they don't necessarily have the BEST voices, but what they do have is good voices, personality, talent, business savvy, marketability, etc. look at performers like madonna, britney spears, etc. definitely not the best voices, but they have the IT factor.

Sorry for a long reply. Whatever happens, if Jordin wins, it's okay cos she deserves it. Jordin is such a talented young lady too. But Blake will always be my American Idol.

Glorietta 4 Park
December 18, 2007
7:00 p.m.

Greenbelt 3 Park
December 19, 2007
8:00 p.m.

Trinoma Activity Center
December 20, 2007
7:00 p.m.

-i'm doing this for him so he gets good crowd reception. I hope you pass the word to your friends who might be interested too.

Thanks!

GET THE DOOR, IT'S BO BICE!

One Lucky Fan Will Win a Private At-Home Show with Bo.

Everyone gets his new song “Witness” – FREE!

Bo’s back, and badder than ever! In celebration of his newly-released second album, See The Light, in stores on October 23, we’re giving you a special chance to participate in our exclusive Bo-dacious sweepstakes.

Just add five new artist alerts, including Bo, to your "My Ticketmaster" account between November 1-7 and get the funky track “Witness” from iTunes on us. Plus, you’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win a private acoustic performance in your very own home for you and up to 40 of your friends. That’s right, Bo will play your pad – live and in person!

Bo says the songs on See The Light are meant to be performed live. You might see what he means when his tour makes a rock-the-house call.

Learn more here!

Original message from Kristi Redman:

hey guys-

so sorry i haven't been on too much lately. as some of you know, i was recently laid off and have been job hunting like crazy over the last few weeks. i've been kind of wrapped up in that and haven't devoted too much time to all of you blaker boys and girls out there!! i'm sure you all understand, but i just wanted to let you know what's up. :)

as you know, the AI tour just wrapped up last week. so where does that leave our favorite idol? blake is back in good ol' rainy seattle and very happy. for the next few weeks he'll be finishing up his album. he's already got a TON of amazing songs and is very excited to share them with all of you. he'll be working in seattle and LA over the next few weeks while he finishes up.

blake and i had a chance to hang out earlier this week when we ran errands together at alderwood mall and grabbed lunch at claim jumper (he had the tri tip sandwhich with shoestring fries, for those of you who were wondering!). it was great to just catch up and see him! it's been MONTHS since just the two of us had hung out. he gave me the latest on his albums and also said what a great time he had on tour and how much he enjoyed meeting all of you!

a lot is up in the air for right now, but you know as soon as i hear it from him, i'll pass it onto all of you. hope you're all doing well and getting ready for blake's album, A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) to come out on NOVEMBER 27th.

xoxo
kristi
the blaker girls

Credit goes to TeamPlaid.

SHE LOVES THE WAY - PHILLY RECAP

Wow, what a day. I was at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia for almost 12 hours, but it was totally worth it! I rolled into the parking lot at around 12:30 and saw that there were about 10 other people already camped out for the Idols. I met a few girls from the Richness, who were very cool and very excited at the prospect of seeing their boy. Now, a little bit about the Philly parking situation… it SUCKS. The buses have to drive down a long ramp that is probably around 10-15 feet below ground and is completely gated off. We were all situated at the top of a grassy hill above the bus area, looking down on them through the gates. I met up with new world there at around 1:30, and we settled in to wait.

The buses came in at around 1:45, and we saw people start exiting… Sligh, Phil, Rich, Haley, LaKisha, Gina, Sanjaya. No sign of B, J, or M. They all head inside the arena, with only Rich and Phil bothering to wave at all of us gathered up at the top of the gated hill. Then, a town car with tinted windows rolled up, and out popped Blake - from where, no one knows. He grabbed his own luggage out of the car and headed into the arena, waving at us as he went by.

After that, there was a lot of waiting. Chris Rich popped out a few times, and he actually stopped to yell a few things up at all of us. He said he would come up, but he “had to figure out a way up there first.” We told him to make sure to bring Blake with him. A little while later, Jordin and Melinda got to the arena in their own SUV. Now, I was never a big Jordin fan, but these two? Are effing adorable. They spent a lot of time shouting things up at the group of us on the hill. One of the girls actually dropped presents down for them. Melinda got a copy of the Cosby Show on DVD and completely LOST IT. Like, screaming and jumping around, she was so excited. Jordin somehow ended up talking to this girl I was standing next to, Kristen. Kristen told Jordin that she inspired her so much, and that she has meant so much to her. Kristen starts crying, and then Jordin starts freaking out because SHE’S going to start crying. She has her mom take a picture of all us standing up there, and she says she’s going to add it to her scrapbook. She then takes out her sharpie and writes Kristen’s name on her hand, telling her she won’t forget it. Kristen completely freaks out, and I kind of grow to love Jordin a little for how freaking sweet she is with her fans.

We also saw a lot of Shyamali, who wandered around the parking lot on her cell phone quite a bit. Finally, it gets to be around 4:00, and no one has come out to sign yet. We started getting a bit disheartened. Finally, Shyamali figures out that she can climb the hill behind the buses to get up to the gates to talk to us. A bunch of us meet her, and she says that the Idols definitely won’t be out anytime soon - they’re doing press, and then they head straight into soundcheck. She said the best time to try to meet them was around 6:00. (Side note - I actually had a pretty interesting conversation with Shyamali about Idol. I asked her if she was going to try out again this year, and she said no - the Idol producers asked her to come in and said she could completely bypass the cattle call and go straight to the judges, but she turned them down. She said she doesn’t really think she needs the show anymore - she’s kind of got her own thing going with Sanjaya, and the Idol contract is super restrictive. Plus, she said she got the feeling that they were just trying to milk the Malakar drama for all it’s worth, and she wasn’t really interested. Super sweet girl, I’ve gotta say.) Anyway, new world and I take the hint about the timing thing and head to the one restaurant by the arena that was actually open to get some food and something to drink (very hot in Philly today!). We make it back to the buses by 5:45, but we see that Chris Rich and Sanjaya are already at the top of the hill, signing things and taking pictures. We hustle over, but they peace out almost as soon as we get there. Kinda bummed us out, but it wasn’t like we missed Blake or anything, so no biggie.

We decide to stick around by the gates anyway. At this point, they had finally opened up the doors to the arena, so the crowd really started to thin out - it was down to about five people, including new world and I. Suddenly, at around 6:15, we look down and spot Blake walking out of the arena! We start to silently wave at him, and kind of motion to him that we’re going to keep quiet. We then point over towards the hill, and he nods his head. Oh my god, he’s actually going over there!! So, we start speed walking over towards the top of the hill, trying to not draw any attention to him. He walks up the hill, whistling to himself with an earphone in one ear, and comes right over to new world and I, who are the only ones over there at this point. I’m still trying to be quiet, so I’m like “Heeey, thank you so much for coming over!” when he gets to close to us. He’s all “Hey, how’s it going?” So we pass over a few things for him to sign (tickets and the special Idol edition of Entertainment Weekly), and as he’s doing that, I ask him “So, what’s the deal with the single? Is it coming out soon?” He says, “Yeah, November 27th.” I say, “Wait, is that the album?” Yes, the album. Eeee! “What about the single? We wanna hear you on the radio soon!” He says, “Ohhh, yeah, it’s gonna be out the last week of August, first week of September.” (Side note - clearly B has no concept of time, which I find to be completely adorable. If I had to guess, I’d say he means the last week of September/first week of October.) I then thank him for introducing us to so many types of new music from Seattle - I said I loved his pre-AI stuff, particularly Jealousy. “Any chance it’ll be on the new album?” He says, “Well, I kinda reworked Jealousy with Chris Rich - we wrote this song that kind of touches on the same themes, I think it’s going to be the first single. It’s gonna be called “What You Got to Lose,” and it’s kind of funky. Like James Brown meets Prince… meets “California Love” by Tupac. Just FUNK. We wrote it in about 45 minutes, we each try to write a song a day, so it came out of that.” Mind you, at this point, a bunch of other people have started crowding around, and he starts taking other things to sign, but he’s still standing in front of us, having this whole conversation!!

He then continues talking about the album… “As far as the old stuff, “She Loves the Way” is also going to be on there and… I don’t know, I wrote all of those songs years ago, so I think the CD will have a lot of newer stuff on it. I have enough stuff for about two albums.” I think at this point we give him our gifts (some of this stuff may be out of order, it’s still kind of a blur). I gave him a DVD, and new world gave him this totally shibby picture tour of Philadelphia she put on CD (she can explain it better). He’s all, “Wow, thank you sooo much, that’s awesome, I love Philly.” Gah, he sounded so sincere, the boy loves his presents. Then, I think I asked him if he’d be sure to hit Philly for his solo tour, because we somehow got talking about he was going to be working with in the next few weeks. He said he was trying to get some group to work on his album, and he was trying to get together with them (for some reason, the name ‘Second Thought’ is in my head, but that could be completely wrong. Sorry, I forget!). Then he said he was going to go home and work with Kevin Sawka on a few things. I asked him if AriSawkaDoria was still going to be his backing band for the album. He said he wasn’t sure… it might just be the SawkaDoria part, no Ari. He said Kevin Sawka was his “boy, partner in crime” and that they’d be doing a lot together. I know he went on about a few other things, but I seriously can’t remember - he just kept going on and on. If you get him talking about his music, he just won’t shut up, it’s awesome!

Finally, he starts kind of moving down the line and signing things for the crowd of people that has now gathered by the gates. The entire time he was signing, he was whistling and singing along to whatever he was listening to. (Side note - boy has a Sidekick AND an iPhone - Sidekick in his back pocket, iPhone in the front pocket, listening to music.) He didn’t pose for any pictures with people or really stop to talk to anyone else, but he signed everything that got handed to him. At one point, he was actually kneeling in some bushes to sign a little girl’s t-shirt, it was adorable. Ohhh, and that brings me to his wardrobe. So freaking cute - the new hat he’s been wearing everywhere, yellow t-shirt, and the most amazing pinstriped pants I have EVER seen. Seriously, these things were grayish black with pink and green pinstripes! With no belt, and completely falling off his ass. When he bent down into the bushes to sign for the little girl, he said something to the crowd along the lines of “Whoops, don’t wanna show anything there” while readjusting himself. Finally, at around 6:30, he gets a call/text/something on the iPhone and says “Well, they’re calling me back, time to go.” He picks up the gifts new world and I gave him and hustles his cute ass down the hill and into the arena. Then, after pretty much containing ourselves while he was out there, we pretty much fall into a giant pile of squee.

Finally, we decide to actually go inside to the concert, our main mission in life complete and all. We text message Kilroy to let her know “OMG WE MET BLAKE!” and make our way to our seats… which are FIFTH ROW FLOOR! Seriously, amazing seats. Kilroy comes over to meet us, and we give her a recap on our afternoon (which she was kind enough to live blog for all of you fine folks).

On to the show… B was dressed up as a security guard and was totally committed to the role! He was on stage for about five minutes, standing around with his arms behind his back in the ‘I’m about to get criticism from the judges’ pose. People in Philly must not know much about the tour, because no one really realized it was him until they put a spotlight on him. The Idols were all pretty good… Chris Rich impressed me a lot - his duet with Jordin was seriously excellent. However, I believe I may have made it a little too clear to Sligh that I am NOT in his core group. Every time El Douche came over to our area, I completely lost.my.shit and could not stop laughing. Kilroy claims he totally saw me the last time it happened. Ahh well. Anyway, on to the important stuff… Blake’s set was amaaaazing! SWBL/WOWY is just amazing to hear live, and the cell phone sky was lovely. The beatboxing before YGLABN was sweet - the first half was very beat heavy, and then he went into this other section of vocal scatting that was very cool. YGLABN pretty much brought down the house. After intermission, B was a total spaz during the Guy Band - running around, headbanging with Chris Rich, kicking Sligh in the ass. The Cake duet was also excellent - the dancing that goes on with those two is just too much. The arena was crazy loud during the beatbox battle - they did the ping pong thing, but no SexyBack. More cuteness during the encore, all up in Haley and Gina’s nows, and trying to make Melinda and Jordin laugh. And then, it was over!

Kilroy, new world, and I headed back out to the buses after the show, but it was a total mob scene. Phil, Chris Rich, Melinda, and Blake ended up coming back out, but all they could really do was sign through the gates. Despite all the screaming and carrying on, B was in a great mood, and signed until the tour guy came by and told him it was time to leave.

All in all, an amaaaaaaaaazing day! Blake is a totally fabulous, shibby little elf, and I will take down anyone that claims he’s bitchy or a diva with his fans. And, just because… SQUEEEEEEEEEE!

September 9, 2007.

It's been less than a month since Blake Lewis inked a deal with Arista Records. But the American Idol runner-up is already hard at work laying down tracks for his debut album. Lewis has already recorded half a dozen songs while on tour with American Idols Live! And, despite the mounting pressure of a December release date, the spiky-haired singer promises he's holding up just fine — as evidenced in this chat with us.

TV Guide: What do you do during your downtime before shows?
Blake: Honestly, I do a lot of writing on the bus, actually. People go outside and I usually stay inside the bus and write music.

TV Guide: Chris Richardson said he wrote one of the tracks with you the other day.
Blake: Yeah. We wrote a song together. It's funky.

TV Guide: What does it sound like so far?
Blake: All my tracks on my album are totally different from each other. No track is going to be the same as the next one. I don't want to be put into a box. It's going to be pop music, but it's very inspired by the '80s. Prince, Michael Jackson, Depeche Mode. Good grooves and fun.

TV Guide: Will you beatbox again?
Blake: Oh yeah, of course! That goes without saying.

TV Guide: At the TV Guide photo shoot, you said that you were going to try to get some guests for the album. Are you still working on that?
Blake: Oh yeah, totally. I'm trying to get some hip-hop artists on there, some turntables. It's going to be a very eclectic album. I want to open people's minds about good pop music. There hasn't been a lot of good pop out there for a long time.

TV Guide: What artists have you approached so far?
Blake: I know that Doug E. [Fresh] and I are probably going to do a track. I'm trying to get my boy RA Scion of Common Market to do a track. I'm trying to get Black Thought and Charlie Tuna. I'm going to reach out and if they don't want to, that's cool. I'm just going to try to get some freestyle tracks that are completely organic and raw, true to the Fifth Element.

TV Guide: Your album is due out in December. Is it tough juggling recording and touring?
Blake: That's the only thing that's frustrating about it, that it has to be done so fast. But it'll be done when it's done. I'm not getting stressed out about it. I'm just writing as much as I can. If things come out good, then we'll make an album. If not, then, well, you know. It's the corporate world of pop music. [Laughs]

TV Guide: What's it like being on the road?
Blake: It's fun, you know? It's nice waking up in a new city every day and reaching out and signing some autographs.

TV Guide: Any funny moments with fans?
Blake: I call grandmas "ninjas" because they start grabbing you. It's funny coming off the show because people feel like they know you but they don't really know you at all. Yet they feel like they have the liberty to invade your space.

TV Guide: The grandmas grab you?
Blake: Oh, yeah. The grandmas are the craziest. But I love them! They'll pinch you and stuff. That's their job. They're so sweet. It's funny that it's the grandmas and not the younger population. I would think it'd be vice versa.

TV Guide: Have you had a favorite city you've visited so far?
Blake: I loved Chicago. That was fun. I love New York, so every time I'm here, I almost feel like I'm home. Seattle is kind of like a mini-New York. I like any town that has water around it, that's green. Pittsburgh was kind of gloomy, but I had fun there. I had fun in Iowa. I have fun on the days that I actually get to go out and experience a town.

TV Guide: Is there anywhere you got to do anything especially cool?
Blake: I played an improv show in Chicago, at Del Close. It was cool. I got to be the host and tell stories and stuff, and the improvers acted it out. I have a lot of friends who are comedians so I do a little improv, just character work. Besides music, that's pretty much my favorite thing.

TV Guide: Is that something else you want to pursue when the album is done?
Blake: Definitely. I do it all the time. I make rap videos and a lot of comedy video stuff, like digital-short kinds of things.

TV Guide: Did people know you were going to be at the improv show?
Blake: No, no one knew. My friend is the bartender at the place and he also did some improv stuff. But it was packed!

TV Guide: What kind of reaction did you get from the crowd?
Blake: I'm not the best storyteller, but I had a good response the whole time. It was all about the improvers acting out what I had said.

TV Guide: Did any of the other Idols come to watch?
Blake: No. Everyone went out to a bar and they performed with Gina's fiancé's band. If it was a little later, I would have gone, but it was at the exact same time.

TV Guide: Has anything surprised you about the tour so far?
Blake: I didn't know it was going to be so long. Seeing it on paper is one thing, but actually experiencing it — three and a half months on the road — it's a long time.

TV Guide: Do you think it's good experience for your eventual solo tour?
Blake: Definitely. My stuff will be smaller and more intimate, but it's good that I got to experience this. I don't take anything for granted because this could be the first and last time that this will ever happen in my life.

TV Guide: I doubt it will be your last.
Blake: [Laughs] Thanks.

TV Guide: There's been so much written about all of you. Do you ever read any of it online?
Blake: No. Honestly, it's funny you should ask because the first time I ever got on the computer and typed my name in was yesterday.

TV Guide: Really?
Blake: Yeah. I Googled myself.

TV Guide: What did you find?
Blake: It was just me making out with my friend on my birthday at Les Deux. It was funny. People make a big deal about it, but I was just kissing my friend good night. So now I guess I have a girlfriend. That's funny! I really don't feed into any media. I don't really watch television or listen to the radio. I definitely don't go online to find out stuff about me that's not true.

TV Guide: Do you ever get calls from your family and friends asking if rumors are true?
Blake: Yeah. One person will read something and I'm like, "Well, you're dumb for reading it."

TV Guide: It's only going to get worse.
Blake: I don't care. That's all Hollywood, and a little bit of New York, with the paparazzi. I laugh about it. I could pick my nose in public and eat my booger and I wouldn't care if it was on film.

TV Guide: I guess that's a good attitude to have about it. Do the paparazzi make you want to stay in Seattle, or do you think you'll eventually move to L.A.?
Blake: I'll stay in Seattle because I think it's beautiful. It's positive and clean and fresh. There's nothing really cool about California except it's sunny and there are a lot of beautiful girls around. That, and the fact that there's tons of great music there. But there's tons of great music in Seattle and that's where all of my family and friends are and all of the musicians I've ever played with for the last eight years. Maybe I'll spend winters in L.A., because it's nice and sunny, and then come back to Seattle. It really depends.

TV Guide: If you're on the road, I guess it really doesn't matter where you live, does it?
Blake: No. It doesn't.

TV Guide: How do you keep your momentum going during the tour?
Blake: My energy is the same every night. It totally depends on whether I go to sleep or not. So, yeah, I'm going to stay healthy.

TV Guide: What are you doing to take care of yourself?
Blake: I was eating pretty good and then I slipped for a while. I just try to eat healthy but it's easy to slip because we get force-fed fast food every night. There's crappy food where we go, but I try to eat salad and fish and chicken. That's about it.

TV Guide: No Pop-Tarts?
Blake: I've eaten one this whole time. I lived off them for like six years growing up, so that made me the man I am today! I owe my life to Pop-Tarts. [Laughs]