Moderator: Next we have Colleen Joyce with popstar.com.

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.

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Posted by FunkyBrewster on May 17, 2009 at 9:57 a.m. (report)

Was I the only person other than tweens and soccer moms to see Danny Gokey forget the words to Billy Jean and say "I really dont know music I'm from the church" in his 5 song set live in MKE and on TV? That pretty much was like a moment for me.... He tried to leave stage when he asked the backup singers to take over singing because he didnt know the words but came back when they insisted he was "The Professional" As endearing in a way as it was I think it was more so a sad display of what has become of the music industry. Also, the first mention of Danny Gokey on here long time ago I believe I first coined Go-Go-Gokey when I posted "Go-Go-Gokey Kera-gokey!" So if there is any money involved in that. lem me know`663