‘American Idol’ winner Dave Cook says sudden fame is great

David Cook told me this crazy little “what if” story about how he almost worked in relative obscurity as a journalist instead of winning “American Idol.”

When he was 25, Cook was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and an A&E magazine offered him a job as a graphics editor.

Cook already had begun the audition process for “Idol.” So he asked his potential journalism bosses if he could take the job, but have a few weeks off, possibly to be on TV.

They said no. Cook, a blackjack player, gambled on his gut decision, betting on “Idol’s” long odds.

On May 21, 2008, Cook won the show’s seventh season, transforming him from a Tulsa bass player (who had tried out for “Idol” on a lark while accompanying his brother’s audition), to singing in front of 100,000 Filipinos on tour.

“I believe a healthy amount of luck can work out in your favor,” he said.

Now living in Nashville, Tennessee, Cook is on tour again. He will sing Friday at Sunset Station hotel. (Tickets: $22-$42). Saturday is the eighth anniversary of his “Idol” victory.

Here’s my deep/sort-of-dumb question. Sudden fame is what young Americans desire more than anything else, polls claim. Sudden fame is what Cook got. Is sudden fame all it’s cracked up to be?

Short answer: Yes, and more yes.

Cook, 33, said the best part of fame is it gives him a pretty amazing life of traveling the world, playing music professionally for people who want to hear him.

“That’s what I dreamed about when I first started writing whatever terrible songs I was writing at 13, 14 years old,” Cook said. “It’s not a bad existence.”

What’s the case against sudden fame?

“Um,” he said and thought about it. “For a while, I’d have to (schedule) when I went to the grocery store. You have to go right before close. Otherwise, there’s a crowd of people.”

Oh, that sounds terrible. (I’m kidding, duh.)

“But it’s all stuff we signed up for. I’m certainly not complaining about it,” he said.

To clarify, is Cook saying he’s achieved more happiness, well-being and self-actualization through music and fame?

“Without question, yeah,” he answered. “I think I would have really enjoyed that arts editor job, but I’m pretty happy with my gig now,” he said as cheerful as a famous person should sound.

By the way, Cook said if he had been 33 in 2008, he imagines he would have taken the journalism job, and he would have been sitting in an office cubicle, listening to music on headphones.

“Whoever else would have won season seven of ‘American Idol,’ I’d probably have their record.”

SEAL WANTS TO CONNECT

Seal hasn’t been feeling as connected to people as he would like, and he thinks many of us can relate to the action of disconnecting from others as a means of coping with the intensity of the world.

“I believe there is an anesthetic epidemic where people are constantly self-anesthetizing as a form of survival,” Seal said. “We become numb in order to help us deal with the realities of our surroundings.”

What does that mean to him?

“A cruise liner in Greece goes down with 250 people, you read it on the news, 250 people have just died, and you say, ‘Ah well, that’s too bad,’ and you move on,” he said.

“It’s not ‘too bad,’ ” he said. “There are hundreds of people who are grieving, who have suffered loss. That’s a serious thing. But at the same time, Prince dies, who actually means something to me, because it’s more personal, and I grieve.”

Disconnecting and self-anesthetizing make sense, of course, because if Seal personalized every tragic news item, “I’d be a basket case because that happens every day.”

Seal’s vow for 2016 is this:

“My raison d’etre, as it were, is to connect,” Seal said. “If people feel connected, then the rest is up to them. Then hopefully, they will feel more connected to themselves, and more empathetic, and be in a position to make clearer choices.”

Seal will try to forge that connection on Saturday when he sings in the Wynn’s new Intrigue nightclub during a pre-clubbing 8 p.m. show, accompanied by one “multi-instrumentalist,” he said. (Tickets: $100.)

Who will benefit most from connections he makes in concert, Seal or fans?

“I benefit most because it’s both my release and my validation.”

Doug Elfman can be reached at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. On Twitter: @VegasAnonymous