Idol-izers’ paradise
Contest’s over and concert tour is a family affair, season-six finalist says
By Jennifer Christman (Contact)
She’s got legs: Haley Scarnato.
2007-07-12 19:20:00
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LITTLE ROCK — When asked whether he considers the American Idol contestants he’s touring with colleagues or friends, Phil Stacey says neither.
They’re “family,” he replies.
Stacey, a Kansas native and Musician 3rd Class stationed with the Navy Band in Jacksonville, Fla., says he shares an extremely tight kinship with the other eight runners-up and one winner that he’s spent just about every waking minute with since January, when the finalists for Idol’s sixth season began living with and competing against each other. He says many of them bonded long before that, at auditions and at the show’s Hollywood round.
(And if you’re trying to remember which contestant Stacey was, he was the low-key bald one, as opposed to the flamboyant, crazily coifed Sanjaya Malakar. Stacey has the distinction of being the contestant ranked as the bottom vote-getter the most times - five - during the season.)
Borrowing Stacey’s family analogy, we’ll attempt to assign the 10 members of the touring clan - who will be appearing today at 7 p.m. at the Alltel Arena - fitting family roles. In the order of how they finished on the show: Winner Jordin Sparks is the precocious baby of the family. Blake Lewis is the offbeat brother who hangs in his room a lot. Melinda Doolittle is the nice aunt.
LaKisha Jones is the aloof (or maybe just shy?) aunt. Chris Richardson is the angeliclooking cute younger brother who torments you when no one is looking. Sanjaya Malakar is the oddball sibling. Haley Scarnato is the pretty, popular sister. Gina Glocksen is the cool sister. Chris Sligh is the family comedian. As for Stacey, who shares the fifth place seat with Richardson, who was booted the same week, he’s kind of the quiet father figure. (He’s a father in real life to two girls, Chloe and McKayla, and a husband to Kendra.)
So are there family fights?
“Yeah, sure,” Stacey says from Los Angeles during a break between rehearsals the week before the tour kicked off last Friday in Sunrise, Fla. “But it’s cool how it’s handled here. There’s no going behind each others’ back.” He adds everyone is quick to say, “‘Man, I’m sorry,’” when it’s warranted.
After touring, Stacey is going to have to return to his second real-life family, the U.S. Navy.
“I’m still an active-duty sailor,” says Stacey, who was granted special permission during his fourth year of service to participate in Idol. “I got a lot of support from the Navy ... they backed me up through process.”
Prior to Idol, Stacey says he put in a request for an extra year of service but now doesn’t expect that to be happening and will begin processing out when the tour concludes at the end of September, after which his attention will be on an album.
As for the tour, Stacey says he’s “very excited,” even if his speaking voice sounds flat and not at all pumped on the phone. Perhaps all the rehearsals, late nights, early mornings, interviews and extra vocal sessions are getting to him.
We didn’t get to talk to LeKisha, our second scheduled interview, we’re told, because of last-minute vocal coaching. Oh, and we begged to talk to Sanjaya. Begged.
Unfortunately, neither he nor his stylist was available.
But Stacey says otherwise.
“Definitely for the show we were under a lot more stress,” he says about performing on television versus a concert tour. “We only had a few days to rehearse. With the tour we’ve been [rehearsing] a couple of weeks. We get to goof off a lot more.”
Stacey was not allowed to divulge any details about the show itself. But from past tours (Alltel Arena hosted one in 2004) and plenty of show reviews now available, we know to expect solos of the better pop, rock and country cover efforts that contestants performed on the show, as well as some duets and spirited song-anddance ensembles minus the critiques of American Idol judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.
As for what he could say about the show, Stacey offers, “We’re excited about meeting everyone who kept supporting us.”AMERICAN IDOL LIVE
7 p.m. today, Alltel Arena, North Little Rock
Tickets: $39.50, $52.50, $70
(501) 975-7575, www.ticketmaster.com
This article was published Friday, July 13, 2007.
Weekend, Pages 68 on 07/13/2007
