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David Cook at the Race for Hope

2010 May 2
tags: ,
by TopIdol

Today marked the second year in a row that American Idol winner David Cook ran in the 13th Annual Race for Hope. Cook’s team raised over $140,000 in donations to help fight brain cancer. Cook’s brother, Adam, succumbed to the deadly disease a little over a year ago, and since appearing on Season 7 of Idol, he has been active in several cancer-related charities. The 13th Annual Race for Hope raised over $2 in donations, with Cook’s team leading for the second year in a row.

(Side note, he took off 27 minutes from last year’s time. I read that somewhere, crap…Yeah, that would have been pretty said if he took off 27 minutes from a 3.2mi/5k race. He took a minute or so off and his time was…27 minutes.)

It doesn’t matter if you’re a Cook fan, you can still appreciate a guy who wholeheartedly devotes himself to a cause for more than a photo op. Since making a name for himself on Idol, Cook has participated in several charitable endeavors, including a recent trip to Ethiopia as part of Idol Gives Back.

This year, Cook’s tour buddy Ryan Star came along for the ride. By the way, Ryan Star is a kick ass kind of guy.

(Thanks to MJ for the original post/video)

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from → American Idol

  • tinawina

    So I opened my facebook last night and there was a picture of one of my colleagues from my old job standing next to Cookie at the race! I had no idea she was a fan of his. For all I know she’s reading this right now **waves at Laurie**. LOL.

    Nice event. Good for him for keeping his relationship with this charity.

  • Trish

    Oh, yeah, and Ryan Star is awesome. If you watch Fox’s “Lie To Me,” which returned to their line-up last week, that’s Ryan singing the show’s theme song, “Brand New Day.” (Great show, BTW. But I’m in love with Tim Roth, so YMMV.)

  • Trish

    Just chiming in with my monthly request for a Cook photo in the header of the blog. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start calling you with requests! But seriously, isn’t it time??? What’s he have to do to earn that most-important-of-honors for any American Idol? Donate a kidney to a Glambert? ;-)

    • Pandora

      Donate a Glambert to someone’s kidney?

      • Rach

        I know how to make headers! But don’t you have to worry about copyrighted images and stuff? Anywho, Cook definitely needs a header on here. I could make the header for TopIdol if she’s too busy. :)

    • Sandy

      I’d like to second that request. A Cook photo in the header, pretty please!

  • Mary

    Aww Cookie is awesome!!! I love him! :)
    I gotta admit though, “Time of my life” is the only Idol coronation song that I have ever liked.

  • Sandy

    David Cook and his fans did great raising money to fight cancer. Love him! Such a decent guy with a big heart.

  • suenigma

    From this picture it is easy to see why Cook keeps the scruff, and why it is not such a bad thing that he has a receding hairline. So pretty.

    http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr261/dudwalt/DSCN4711.jpg

    • Rach

      I like him with and without the beard. I kind of want him to shave the beard though. He looks waaaay younger clean-shaven. Like 22 instead of 27. Apparently that is waaaay younger to me. ha
      That’s such a pretty picture, by the way. I wish I had skin like that. Dang.

      • et

        It’s not right for a man to have skin like that. Just not right.

        • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

          Stop tarding over skin!

          • et

            Sorry, I’ll behave. I blame it on walking 3.2 miles in the hot sun. My brain is fried. Definitely.

          • Verbally Dyslexic

            But I am jealous of people who seem to effortlessly possess good skin.

          • On The Edge

            Is it truly tarding if you are simply jealos of the skin? I don’t want to fuck the skin, I just want skin that is THAT clear and even (and seriously, does that guy even HAVE pores? It’s totally unfair and unjust. Kerry Kolsch needs to investigate THAT).

          • On The Edge

            ^And it’s JEALOUS, with a “U,” sorry.

        • FreeDavidCook

          It didn’t look like that when I met him. More sallow and grimy, less pretty, smooth and clean. Recording must be agreeing with him.

  • On The Edge

    What can I say? Love him, love his heart…

    …and whoever invented that whole “take a picture while taking video” feature on the new cameras should be hung, then dismembered, then shot.

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING!

      That annoyed me during the entire video. Terrible idea.

      • MissMyEm

        Same here. I love to hear when Idol stars get involved and work for good causes.

      • wellhesback

        Here’s a link to Cookie’s cool speech w/o the annoying start/stop/clicks
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hJpuGE9V9M

        and a picture of him looking beautiful for good measure
        http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr261/dudwalt/DSCN4711.jpg

        • http://princessleia04.livejournal.com SarahBeth

          Yay, thanks! And god, that is a beautiful picture. <3

      • caspar

        Eh, without the amateur vid’ers we wouldn’t have anything to look at, so I don’t feel comfortable complaining about it. I’ve gotta say, though, this woman must have tens-possibly hundreds-of thousands of images of Cook. Just a bit obsessed.

        Also, I don’t really care what he does to himself, but that beard and mustache are like the greatest accents possible to highlight his fabulous lips. (I, of course, am not at all obsessed).

        Oh, and the soul within is kind of nice, too : http://twitpic.com/1kd8vy

        • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

          Ok. Enough photos of Cook looking wistfully in the distance while wearing a baseball hat and fighting against cancer.

          • ladymadonna

            Just be thankful that the argument over whether Cook’s eyes are hazel or grey or blue/green or green/grey or whether they change color with his moods or his t-shirts hasn’t bled over here from mj’s.

          • J

            How about Cook holding a tiny little survivor’s hand walking up to start the race?
            http://twitpic.com/1kcvg4

          • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

            I may have to keep an eye on that one just b/c I’m sure someone will say something inappropriate about his “package.”

          • old bat

            Goodness. Could that be what Kara means when she talks about trying to find a “package artist”?

          • Lauren

            They are definitely hazel. ;)

          • Lauren

            He is such a beautiful person on the inside. So beautiful, in fact, that I am starting to find him beautiful on the outside too. Can I be a Cooktard if I have only heard him sing 3 songs?

          • et

            Lauren, you can be a Cooktard any time you want :)

  • Verbally Dyslexic

    Pretty inspiring stuff. David Cook is a stand up guy.

  • muzikizmi

    Cook is definitely a class act. I think the Idol process takes a great voice (or maybe just good, if we are talking season 9) and a strong character to make it through.

    He has been writing for his new album with some top writers. It will be nice to get some new music from David, hopefully later this year.

    Kate123, you can find David on youtube. Audios made with camcorders are never as good as a live performance, but you can get a general idea from them.

    • Kate123

      any recommendations?

      • Rach

        Well if you like hard rock look up Kiss on the Neck or Breathe Tonight (studio versions). If you like slow stuff try Permanent (song written for his dead brother) or Lie. If you like inbetween stuff I’d say Mr. Sensitive. I think I covered it all lol.

        • et

          Yes, those. :) I also really like Analog Heart and even some of his Axium stuff, Just In Case and Therapy are my favorites. And yes, I like the more mellow stuff, though Kiss on the Neck is great when I feel like rocking out!

          Permanent makes me cry, but I like the version from the Idol performance even better than the album version – when the guitars/drums kick in it just slays me.

          There are tons of YouTubes of his stuff — his fans have videos of all 3 zillion tour stops, plus you can find his older stuff as well.

          OK, off to see Ryan Star’s show… figure I like his music and the dude ran a 5k with his buddy today so… that’s good enough incentive to drag my tired butt out and catch the show :) !!

          • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

            Glad you had a good time, ET, and helped out a great cause, of course :)

            Perhaps Cook will join Star up on stage tonight?

          • mustang

            TI – Cook was heading back to LA this afternoon,
            per an interview he did post-race.

            But he’s dueted a few times with Star during the
            tour, most notably on “Breathe”. Good stuff.

          • et

            That would’ve been awesome if Cook was in the house tonight for Ryan’s show but… nope. But I have to say it was really cool catching Ryan headlining and it was a small venue and a really awesome show. Catch one of his shows if you can… he’s really pretty great and he’s such a nice guy and passionate about his music. I am now thoroughly exhausted but starting the day with the Race for Hope and sharing that with my family… and then a girls’ night out endcap with a Ryan Star show? Sweet.

          • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

            I’m glad you had a wonderful day, ET. Did you take many photos?

            Lucky to see Star at the Northampton show, where I met him, his band and his wife. His wife is amazing. Amazing. Such a sweetheart. Monty F. and I are FB friends. Ha. I took a photo of him and he wanted it, so we became FB friends and I tagged him. All of them were really nice.

          • et

            His wife was there, and I saw his adorable parents, and I think he had cousins and such there as well. There were a lot of familiar faces there, at least some of Cook’s old front row crew, some a little… interesting… but it was a cool night. I tried to take a couple pics and then a giantess woman and a tall man who I swear kept passing gas all night stood in front of me and their giant noggins were in all my pics so I gave up and just enjoyed the show. It was just Ryan and his keyboardist – and I will spell her name wrong if I try – very… intimate?… set. I think you kinda can’t help rooting for the guy, he really is working his ass off, and is so darn nice to boot.

            But man, standing *again*, my feet are very upset with me. I’ll be sitting on my ass tomorrow, heh.

      • Verbally Dyslexic

        You might be interested in his Pre-Idol stuff as well. Analog Heart is pretty good and raw.

        • Rach

          Yah Analog Heart kicks David Cook’s first album’s butt. Porcelain is my favorite there. :)

      • ladymadonna

        If you’re a fan of either Kris Allen or Adam Lambert (as many TI readers seem to be), a good introduction to Cook’s voice might be their version of Fleetwood Mac’s Little Lies that they did for Good Morning America in Central Park last August. I was there and it was pretty much Idolgeek nirvana (and fascinating fan-watching). All three guys sounded great but Cook’s voice was front and center.

  • Rach

    Okay, Ryan Star is hot as hell, and David Cook is purty. Anywho, congrats to Cook for really turning a family tragedy into a family story of strength. Wow, I really can pile on the cheese.

  • http://princessleia04.livejournal.com SarahBeth

    I believe he said that he finished in 27 minutes, which was less then last year.

    And it was HOT there today too.

    Thanks for posting this, TI, he inspires so many people.

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      Cook’s a class act :)

    • et

      The humidity was killer. The summers here are super humid and hot and today was summer weather. I walked it pushing my son in a stroller and my feet are really pissed ;)

    • mustang

      Apparently from tweets, he ran the race, then went back and walked it again with his Dad.

      Pretty cool.

      • laila

        That’s one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. What a great guy.

  • StopHurtsEars

    Yes I found out about David Cook (ne baldy) from VFTW. Yes he is still balding but not as horribly as one would think form his poorly chosen needles former comb over and not as chubby as he used to be. He seems like a down to earth dude who doesn’t seem caught up in celebrity. And he can sing well, which helps. He’s not an uber success like some former idols but he seems to have carved out a nice slice of success for himself which you know he wouldn’t have had before idol. And kudos for spotlighting some deserving charities. Oh and he has a very kind open face.

  • et

    I think he took a minute off and his time was 27 minutes :) . It was effing HOT today!

  • et

    I was there this morning – amazing, inspiring event! Cook’s a good egg. Ryan Star, too. $2.3 million raised is awesome!

  • naiya

    David Cook is such a great guy. I can’t believe he took 27 minutes off his time. Well done, David.

  • Kate123

    I don’t think I have ever heard David Cook sing, but he seems like such a nice guy

    • ladymadonna

      Cook’s a mensch for sure. And he can really sing too. My favorite male voice to come from Idol, and consistently good both live and recorded.

      It was great to see how committed David and his entire circle of family, friends, and fans have become to this event. I was cynically expecting donations and participation to be down this year, since it’s now two years since his Idol win and he’s completely out of an album cycle. Plus it’s a year past Adam Cook’s death, and thus press coverage and acute fan emotion are understandably less. But donations and participation were stronger than ever. Very cool.

      • FreeDavidCook

        Wonderful thing yes, yes it was hot in DC this weekend. I suspect he didn’t exactly use sunscreen either on the golf course Friday in MD as Cook’s looking rather boiled lobstery right now.

        But… the fly in the feel good ointment are all the stalker-fans that signed up to race just because he was. That’s just so not good. Except I have had fun imaging the ones I know to be portly struggling to finish the race. Oh well, as long as the charity gets money from it I guess it’s harmless.

        • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

          I figured he might shed some of the crazy stalkers because they might not like exercise?

          • et

            Haha, he could only be so lucky. There were definitely some “regulars” there. And they were at Ryan Star’s show, too.

        • Sandy

          I would participate if I lived close but I don’t understand paying the money for airfare and hotel just for the chance to see him or try for an autograph. If the cause was important to them wouldn’t the money be better spent bymaking a contribution in that amount instead?