The show is over, the confetti all swept away, but “American Idol” winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox are just getting started.

The 24-year-old singers talked with reporters Friday about what lies ahead as they launch their professional music careers.

Bowersox says she forsees a future that includes diverse music, drama and diabetes advocacy, adding that she’d love to work with fellow diabetic Bret Michaels. The dreadlocked single mom from Toledo, Ohio, says she’ll be meeting with record executives next week to discuss her musical future.

Discussions for DeWyze’s debut album have already begun, he says.

“It’s been a crazy experience, the whole album-making thing, and talking and going to the meetings about it and everything,” says the shy former paint-store clerk from Mount Prospect, Ill., adding that he’ll have a lot of say in the sound and will also be writing new tracks for the record.

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This is gonna be a short one, because  the outcome is simple – Little Lacey Brown, let go because America apparently wasn’t thrilled with her version of “Ruby Tuesday.” For she did not change with every new day, and they’re not going to miss you.

I love when the theme provides you with a nifty way to sing people off the show.

I’m not all that sorry Lacey’s gone, although I thought that Andrew was gonna feel the fierce bump of the boot first. If he doesn’t get better, he’ll be following soon enough. I will note that I loved Simon’s trying to get serious with Seacrest about the weird uncomfortable moment between them Tuesday night when Seacrest got in Simon’s face about his criticism of Big Mike. Simon was totally right – it was uncalled for, crossed the line between host and judge, made the poor kid uncomfortable, and just ate up all the air time.

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Page2Live.com: Kennedy clan’s Anthony Shriver eases woman-beater Chris Brown into redemption

Chris Brown is hoping the last few months are behind him as his tour heads to South Florida.

Months after the singer assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna, then took a plea deal, Brown is back out on the road on what he’s calling his “Fan Appreciation tour”. The tour is making a stop at Revolution Live on Nov. 29. Tickets go on sale Saturday.

Brown would likely rather people remember him for “Forever”, which thanks to a highly watched viral YouTube video found its way into the wedding episode of NBC’s The Office.
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The Fox network says Carrie Underwood will host a two-hour variety special tentatively titled, “Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special,” to air Dec. 7.

The network says Underwood will perform new music from her upcoming album, previous hits and holiday classics. Musical guests will include Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley and David Cook.

Underwood won season four of “American Idol.” The 26-year-old country singer is a four-time Grammy winner.

Her new album will be released Nov. 3.

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Adam Cook, the eldest brother of “American Idol” winner David Cook, has died from brain cancer. He was 37.

David Cook announced the Saturday death at the 12th annual Race for Hope 5K in Washington, D.C., where he was serving as grand marshal. The singer says the cause of death was a brain tumor.

Adam Cook was a lawyer from Terre Haute, Ind., who battled cancer for more than a decade. He famously cheered for his singing sibling in the audience of the popular Fox signing competition’s seventh season in 2008.

Julie Henricks, a friend of the Cook family, said Adam Cook died at his Terre Haute home, where hospice nurses were helping Cook’s wife, Kendra, care for him.

Henricks said she received a text message Saturday night from Kendra Cook saying that the family had gathered for a bedside vigil as Adam’s condition worsened.

She said Adam Cook, an attorney also survived by the couple’s 7-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, had decided to stop his chemotherapy treatments early this year after they failed to help his advanced brain cancer.

“He was so sick and so worn out he just made that decision. That was his choice. It was because he was just so tired,” said Henricks.

Adam is the eldest of Cook’s brothers. A younger sibling, Andrew, also tried out for the show but didn’t make it to Hollywood.

The death was first reported by People.com.

David Cook is in the curious position of having gained a loyal fan base while singing other people’s music. The trick is whether those fans stay when they hear his own.

Judging from the reaction of the crowd at the pbpulse.com Stage on Saturday night at SunFest, the trick seems mostly to have worked for the 2008 American Idol winner.

There was an initial stretch of solid but same-sounding power ballads from his self-titled debut that sent some of the curious up the street to groove in the massive crowd watching UB40.

But Cook and his band, including guys he’s played with since before Idol, kept that mid-tempo rock raging, as much as mid-tempo rock, indeed, can rage.

That’s why the dead-sexy inappropriateness of his cover of Van Halen’s Hot for Teacher was so effective.

“Thought you had us pegged, didn’t ya?” he said.

Mostly, he seemed to be the same guy who got all those viewers to vote for him – salt-of-the-earth dude from Missouri with soulful eyes and voice that can both hold a beautiful note and shred it mercilessly when he needs to.

And he just seems nice – he gave a shout-out to the princess of Brunei, “who flew all the way to be here” and made the crowd cheer. (Hello! Random!)

And he flirted with the crowd between songs such as Avalanche, Life on the Moon and Declaration, telling one side that he felt close to them, and the other that “there’s a distance” that he wanted to work on. Cute!

“You all gave me a job that pays a hell of a lot more than bartending, I’ll tell you that,” he said, referencing all those Idol voters.

Elsewhere at SunFest:

UB40, featuring new singer Duncan Campbell (brother of former singer Ali and existing member Robin), also has a lot of songs that have that low-key, reggae-pop groove.

But if you like Here I Am and Red Red Wine, you’d like it. The gazillion people shoved in to see them sure did.

This time last year, David Cook was on “American Idol” watching the singers around him being voted off, one by one, as the numbers dwindled from 12 to 10 to 3 and, eventually, to one.

Which, of course, was him.

The Season 7 winner is now a bonafide hitmaker — his self-named debut album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, and his hits include “Time Of My Life” and “Light On.” Still, the Missouri-bred singer and SunFest’s Saturday night headliner says he never forgets where he was last year.

“It’s very humbling for me to walk out on that stage every night and see a packed house. It’s a trip. I couldn’t have bought that a year and a half ago,” he says. ‘It’s amazing to be in the position to do music I feel really strongly about, and to have people reciprocate the feeling.”

Recently, the singer about maintaining his natural goofiness, overzealous fans, the fashion sense of Journey, the fraternity of “Idol” winners and his connection to an undead Michael Keaton.

Q: What’s the biggest difference between this solo tour and the big “American Idols Live!” tour with the whole Top Ten?

A: If something screws up, I can’t blame it on (“Idol” castmate) Michael Johns. (Laughs). It’s more intimate, which is what I’m loving about it. We’re playing to a smaller audience, and as a result, it allows us to go onstage and crack jokes, experiment with different set lists every night and have fun.

Q: I hope you take this as a compliment, but on “Light On,” you sound a lot like Steve Perry rocking out those high notes. You have a similar range.

A: No, that’s great! That’s a huge compliment! Except I remember Journey’s video for “Separate Ways,” and you won’t be seeing me in any bumble bee shirts any time soon.

Q: I know that earlier this spring, you wrote a note on your MySpace page thanking your fans for being awesome but addressing some behavior you term “disturbing” like trying to find the band’s hotel rooms, and warning that you might have to take “preventative” measures that make you less accessible. That was interpreted by some writers as telling fans to back off.

A: First off … I would never tell a fan to back off. That’s not my style. I’m here because of them. That was just a knee-jerk reaction because I saw some things that concerned me. I pride all of us in being accessible. I have fought too hard to (damage) that. That’s the last thing I want to do. I live where I want, I get to play music. It was a knee-jerk reaction, again. I don’t ever want to get to the point where I can’t be accessible.

Q: I guess this is all a part of a crash course in celebrity that no one can prepare you for.

A: There is no school for this. I didn’t go to college and major in Professional Musician. I think it’s just growing pains, trial and error.

Q: I must comment on your perfect, perfect rock star eyeliner. It’s magnificent. Tips on keeping it on?

A: (Cracks up) The funny thing is, I don’t put it on myself. That was kind of an Idol thing. I wore it on the Idol tour, obviously, but it’s a cumbersome thing…I don’t know how to do it, which is probably why I always look like Beetlejuice at the end of the show.

Q: So, you won “American Idol.” You have a hit album. What’s the next goal?

A: I have a competitive streak in me a little bit, and as long as the Eagles and Michael Jackson have sold 20 some odd million records, I still have some work to do.