Exclusive: Kris Allen Interview at the Borgata
I interviewed Kris Allen at the Borgata in Atlantic City last night.
I don't know when exactly, but a few months ago my attitude towards getting any sort of interview with anyone changed from a manic excitement to a relaxed zen feel. If an interview comes - it's good; if not, try again next time without any angst.
This was my approach with the Kris Allen interview. I saw that he was performing in Atlantic City this weekend, so I made a request to his peeps a few weeks ago. I didn't get any confirmation until Friday, so I ended up rushing things - in particular getting a baby-sitter for CJ. But I did manage to get myself on a NJ Transit train to Atlantic City on Saturday afternoon without going out of my mind.
(As an aside, while on the train, the new owner of Bebo.com was brainstorming ideas on his cellphone on how to make money for his new purchase. He kept on saying "now that I own a social network" which was quite douchey, but I digress...)
I got to the Borgata and everything was pretty much straight forward. I waited for the tour person to give me my "VIP" badge by the escalator, and went in with the other "VIP's" for the Meet and Greet before the show.
There were less than 10 people there and a couple of them were winners of some contest as they were given plaid t-shirts by Kris. Also, I met @EzWriter16 who was in a wheelchair. While we were going to the Meet and Greet area, I walked with her because she was falling behind, until I offered to push her chair. Later, I took a picture with her and Kris.
She tweeted me early this morning:
@EzWriter16: @rickey met u tonight @krisallen thanks 4 ur help pushing me! :)
After the Meet and Greet, Kris' manager led us to the green room for the interview. I told Kris that this was the first time we were having a conversation, and he said that it seemed that we've talked and met many times before. Which is kinda true since when he spotted me in different venues last year, he acted like he knew me -- but we've never talked until last night which was more than a year later after he won American Idol.
He said we should pop champagne to celebrate the occasion pointing to the bottle in the green room.
I was given 10 minutes, so I tried to get all the questions out quickly. I was a bit nervous, but I think I got some interesting answers for the camera.
I asked about what he thought of the changes in American Idol this season with Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi leaving. He said that not everyone is that surprised because the show does seem to need a bit of a change.
For charity work, he said that even if he had no plans for Haiti at the moment, work still needs to be done there. His most current charity now is www.musicempowersfoundation.org.
He discussed the making of the video of "The Truth" and said it should be out very soon. He's also been helping out with the editing. Yay!
I was actually "shot down" with two questions: one about his Chris Daughtry duet and Katy Allen's acting career. I thought of editing them out, but I've included them in the video. So I guess Kris does not like talking about Katy and he will not record a duet with Chris Daughtry on Send Me All Your Angels in the future.
As for the second album, he said that they hope to be in the studio by Spring 2011, so we won't have any new music until late in 2011. Sigh.
Finally, I had to ask about the whole "Rickey hurt Kris Allen's feelings" drama that occurred last year which a lot of Kris fans continue to harp on me to this day. He said that it was hard for him to not read the negative stuff before, but he had no hard feelings toward me.
Off camera, everyone was very nice to me, including Cale Mills, Kris' musical director. Cale said that Rickey.org was an invaluable resource to him during Kris' run on the show and he said that he wrote many comments in the blog defending Kris.
I went outside to the General Admission area to get ready to watch the show. I was stopped by a security person when he saw my camera. He was giving me the usual rundown that I cannot use the lens, etc. -- until I showed him my media badge sticker Kris' manager gave me, and he went away. Omigosh! The power of the media badge sticker! I should get more of those.
Kris's show was great. I thought the music selections were solid and Kris Allen showed a lot of confidence on stage. He no longer looked overwhelmed like he was during the American Idol Tour last year. I was also happy to see that there were a lot of young people in the audience. There are more "cougars" in a David Archuleta concert to be honest. My only wish is that Kris had a couple of hit songs so more people outside of his fanbase could relate to him. But otherwise, it is a show anyone can easily get into.
After meeting Cale backstage and watching the show -- I've realized that he is definitely the glue that keeps the Kris Allen show going. I think Kris would agree with me. This is part of the Kris story that I've never seen before, so I'm happy that I was able to go get an interview, interact and watch the show last night. It helped me understand what was going on a little bit better.
So thanks to Kris for taking time to talk to me, Cale and Lizzie, and the peeps at 19 Entertainment for saying yes to me.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, a couple of negative Kris Allen fans just couldn't help themselves and had to tweet me more of their hatred when I tweeted about my Kris interview:
@Tpk1987: I wonder if @rickey knows that Kris would never tell him that he disliked him even if he REALLY did..not saying he doesnt...just sayin..
@katelynolivia: @rickey you're pathetic. Whydo you think he unfollowed you? Did you ask him?
From Rickey, the Kris fan: all I can say is I got the full fan experience last night, which is something you can never take away from me with your jealousy. Continue imagining your closeness to Kris Allen by sending him tweets on Twitter. Total win for me and you know it.
From Rickey, the media badge sticker guy: who are all these crazy people tweeting me for no reason? LOL
(Update: @Tpk1987 and I are OK now. It was a misunderstanding. After a few exchanges on Twitter, it turns out that he is one of Kris Allen's best fans on the Internet and not a cray cray.)
Fortunately, there were more fans who showed love over negativity and jealousy. I met a nice woman from Montreal who stood next to me during the show. She mentioned how she watched the cellcasts last year. I met @gstarluv and her husband -- and they both took pictures of a few fans who wanted to take their pictures with me after the show (just like old times!) Also met @smushypotato.
It was a very good night.
Videos
Performance Highlights
http://www.youtube.com/v/BmF5Wd-mjSg&hl=en_US&fs=1
Interview