Another One Bites the Dust, eh maybe not.

Picture stolen from fellow employee Stewart "Lenslinger" Pittman's lenslinger.com blog. That is Stewart on the right.

I had no idea I would be blogging about American Idol so soon but here I am. Not that I am up in arms about the latest idol cast off, but it was sad when Ryan Seacrest announced that the last North Carolinian on the show was booted off. I had hoped that McLeansville's Chris Daughtry would go all the way. He has the chops and not one of those "idol" types. He is a rocker and we need more rockers in the world.

In retrospect, it may be the best thing America could have done for him. If he had been hung with the mantle of "Idol '06" for at least the next 12 months, he would be singing "their songs" and doing "their concerts" and "doing their events" and to be honest, I don't see Mr. Daughtry putting up with that for much more than a day at best.

I have never met him. I hope I get the chance. Had he not been booted off, there was to have been a concert with his old band, Absent Element, that was to be taped Friday and then shown on the show next week. I had thought about going to that and see him live. When the bad news hit, all of that was cancelled. So he now goes on a week or two press junket for AI, and then has to get ready for the finale that the Top 12 will perform in and off on the AI summer tour. After that, he is free to sign with whomever wants him. I see him receiving many offers. He is just too good not to be.

I saw the satellite tour interview of Mr Daughtry on our air this morning and he really looked bummed out. His wife had said that he really wasn't into it until he made the Top 24 and his take on things changed and he really wanted it and worked at it. I think if you look back on it, you can see how much he has improved.

Later in the morning on Ryan Seacrest's KISS-FM Los Angeles morning show, when he was interviewing Mr Daughtry, he announced that a major group had inquired about Mr Daughtry services. No names mentioned and it seemed Mr Daughtry was truly surprised to hear it. Later in the day, the entertainment show Extra announced that the rock band Fuel wants to make an offer to hire him as their new lead singer when his contract with AI is finished. They were impressed with his singing of the group's song, "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" on the March 1st installment of American Idol.

About 2 hours later, I saw him out of the corner of my eye on the FOX station in Los Angeles, KTTV, and his spirits seemed lifted over his earlier local interview. I didn't have time to listen to the majority of it (too busy working), but for the 30 seconds or so I saw, he seemed to be in a better mood. I can only assume the accolades from the other interviews he had already received as well as the news from Ryan Seacrest was a major factor for his better humor.

It would not surprise me to hear within 6 months he has moved his family from the Triad to the "left coast" as he either makes his debut album or is working with a major group either on tour or on an album. As they say in the biz, "he will land on his soft cats paws."

When that happens, he can thank American Idol for NOT making him their "idol." He will be better off.