Q:  I thought you took being voted off like a champ last night but you had to be shocked because I was shocked you were in the bottom two in the first place.  So what was going through your head?

A:  I think at this stage, we’re all in the top six, and everybody was thinking that they were going to go home.  Not one person feels safe anymore.  We’re all so grateful for the experience.  I know I feel like American Idol is such a gift, such a great platform to be able to launch myself off of.  I’m not that sad to be leaving.  I enjoyed every minute but we’re back in two weeks to start preparing for the tour and the finale.  It’s like a small break and I’m going to be back.  I think anywhere after top ten is a bonus.  I think I made enough of an impact to reach a good fan base and now I just get to be me without a theme night and make a really cool record, so I’m exited.

Q:  The reason I was surprised even more was because I thought Tuesday night was one of your most joyful performances.

A:   I loved every minute of it.  I had fun.  Maybe it was too late that I realized not to take everything so seriously.  Early on in the show they set the standard so high for me and they were harder on me than other contestants and that got to me for a few weeks.  By the time I met Mariah Carey I had changed my mind.  She was just so cool and so normal and so nice.  Obviously we come into this and they want us to be like a star but I have no idea what a star is supposed to act like so I thought it was really cool when we met her and I realized I can just like her and just be normal.

Q:  As I hear your voice I find it remarkable that there was a period of time when you weren’t singing.  Can you describe that?  How long was that and why did you quit singing?

A:  I moved to Georgia in 2000 and late in 2003 I decided to be a waitress.  I tried really hard to break into the music industry and I just wanted to get away from it and love it again because it started to be so out of my reach for so long.  I was a waitress from 2003 and we moved to San Diego and I started working at a bar there.  I started singing at the bar and I just started to want it bad again.  Music to me is everything.  Whether I’m singing in my living room or on a stage like Idol, I love every minute of it.  Idol has given me such a great gift to be able to show the world.

Q:  What was it like then when all of a sudden that voice came out of one of their waitresses at the bar?

A:   It was so funny because they had no act for New Year’s and I had experience before but I never told anybody that I sang.  Michael Johns and I didn’t work there at the same time, but he was part of the singing entertainment and I wasn’t, I was just a waitress.  I told them I knew a few people in L.A. and could probably put a small band together and see what happened.  We had so much fun that night I realized I needed to do this again.  I missed music so much.  I always wrote and I always sung at home, but never did it in a professional way for many many years.  I have such a hunger and music is such a gift. I’m just so excited to be able to be creative.  Everyone keeps asking me why I’m not devastated and crying for being eliminated.  Now I’m free to go make a record and start writing and all that kind of stuff, and be with my husband and hang out in the real world.

Q:  You had referenced after you sung last night that you actually remembered your words and some people thought you were eluding to Brooke, but you were actually talking about yourself, right?

A:   Oh yea yea yea!  That song was last minute.  When I sang for Andrew Lloyd Webber I learned the other song (All I Ask Of You) and there are a lot of words in Jesus Christ Superstar so I fumbled on a few of the lyrics.  I knew all the words in the moment but I fumbled on stage and I was so irritated at myself when I got off the stage.  But last night I got them all right.  But I did change one and Andrew knew about it.  I called Simon the king of the crop instead of the pick of the crop but I did it on purpose, I thought it would be funny.

Q:  I was wondering what Neil Diamond song were you planning on singing next week if you stuck around.

A:  I was planning on singing Sweet Caroline.  I wanted to do a ballad-ish song because I did up-tempo this week.  I was going to do it with a cello and a piano and do it like a slower big big big  song because it’s such a recognizable song.  Neil Diamond has such a huge amazing catalogue and songs we were all amazed that he did that we knew.  It was just really cool to see his catalogue book and obviously Sweet Caroline stuck out like a sore thumb.

Q:  What did you feel about Randy saying popularity was a factor and Paula mentioning the fan bases last night?

A:  I agree a little bit.  I think I started out on the show with some bad press and I don’t think it helped me.  Early on people accumulate their fan base so every week I gave as good as I could and I enjoyed every moment on the show.  The response I got was amazing.  It’s obvious women vote for this show and the boys are adorable and I definitely feel the girls had a struggle this year with trying to get the popularity vote.  I think the boys are charming the females a lot, but they are very talented too.

Q:  Why do you believe the contestants were given a Broadway challenge?

A:  I think they’ve been wanting to do Andrew Lloyd Webber for a couple of years now and it finally happened this year.  He is so incredible.  I don’t think it was a challenge for any of us.  Obviously every night is a challenge.  There is such a vast amount of music from the catalogue of Andrew Lloyd Webber that there was something for everyone in there.  Mariah Carey I think was a hard week.

Q:  You talked about how the judges were harder on you and how you got some bad press in the beginning which added up to some unique challenges for you.  How did you wade through that with your head above water these past weeks?

A:  The first time I auditioned was Season 5 and I walked into the room and I had watched the show, but after I had been a part of it I watched the show a lot more than I had ever done.  I was going to a Motley Crue concert the night of the auditions and wasn’t necessarily planning on auditioning for Idol so there wasn’t pressure on myself because I didn’t have time to think about the audition.  Now when it came to San Diego I had time to think about it and the weeks running up to it.  It is nerve-wracking and I had already been disqualified and I had such a great audition in Las Vegas, they loved me.  And then I come back and I felt I had to beat myself.  I walked into the room and gave them everything I had but it was amusing.  You guys haven’t seen the Las Vegas footage but I asked to see it because I was so confused with the comment “it wasn’t as good as two years ago”.  Everyone says there was no difference.  It was the same song as well, which they asked me to do because they loved it so much the first time.  They set the bar for me real high straight away and I was trying to beat myself every week.  I felt I did a great job and I was satisfied with my performances.  I guess Simon just had a different idea in his mind and I’m not sure he wanted me to be who I am.  I don’t think they liked the whole kind of pop-rock-Hart idea I have about myself.  I can’t please everybody and he’s only one person.  The other night he said he truly believes in me and he thinks that I’m very good and he has high hopes for me.  I don’t think all of his criticism was necessarily negative, I think he just wanted me to do well.  But I gave it everything I could. I made it to 6th place and I’m really happy with that.

Q:  I wanted to know about the significance of the Amy Whinehouse tatoo.

A:  Actually, it’s not colored in yet, but it’s not Amy Whinehouse, it’s actually a Japanese geisha.  I got the tattoo two years ago before she even came out.   Even Andrew Lloyd Webber thought it was Amy Whinehouse on my arm.  It’s funny but I love my tattoo and that was one thing in the show that bothered me, that it wasn’t finished.  Once she’s colored in she’ll look nothing like Amy Whinehouse.  I know because I have the painting at home.

Q:  Do you think Broadway is in your future?  I thought Andrew Lloyd Webber was smitten with you.

A:  Every contestant has nothing but high words to say about that man.  He was the most amazing mentor.  He took so much time with us and really cared about every song that we were doing and every choice that we made and I feel personally grateful for this entire experience to be able to learn what I’ve learned. 

Q:  I wanted to touch on your fashion sense because I really liked the way you dressed on the show.  Can you tell me a little bit about what went through your mind each week when you were picking out your look and whether it affected your performance?

A:  I don’t think about fashion that much.  I just look for things that are different.  I don’t want to look like everyone else.  Dainty looks sort of awkward with me because of my tattoos.  Every week I just wanted to stand out a little bit more and evidently Simon thinks I have bad fashion but I really don’t care.  I loved everything that I wore and I wouldn’t change anything.  The last dress I wore was my favorite and the blue dress I wore in Come Together was really cool.  

Q:   One of the themes we’ve been hearing each week from the eliminated contestants  has been about the idea that American Idol can function as a second chance for people.  Can you talk about how that played out for you?

A:   Everybody feels that it was like a second chance but I don’t know that I even had a first chance.  I did get signed before but it never really happened and it never came out.  It went to stores but was never promoted.  It just kind of crashed beneath my feet. I understand it was my second experience but I feel like it was my first chance.  I like to see it in a fresh mind and I don’t like to dwell on things that happened before.  I had a much more positive experience this time around. 

Q:   How is the new album going to be different?

A:   I feel like such a different person.  I’m very proud of the first record I made but I was 15.  How experienced at life are you at that age?  I enjoyed myself and learned a lot but by the time Beautiful You was written, the record was almost about to go out and it was all over.  I ended up in Ireland with just a weird situation so I feel like American Idol was my first real chance.  I thank the show for putting me through and believing in me. 

Q:   You were the 6th contestant out of twelve and we talked to all the other contestants the day after they were eliminated and you sound the most upbeat.  

A:   I think the show is a huge platform to launch yourself off of.  Maybe if I had been eliminated before the 10th place I might have been a little more upset, but 6th place is nothing to be miserable about.  I think it’s amazing.  It’s a gift of two weeks to spend with my family before we go on tour.  I’m excited to be able to start writing and finally be out of the cover songs if you know what I mean.  I’ll be able to sing my material because I have a lot of stuff that I’ve been writing and I’m just ready to make a record and enjoy life in general.  I miss the most simple things.  You know what I miss the most?  My pots and pans.  I’m a kitchen gadget nut and I miss my kitchen so much.

Q:  Now that there are only two females left do you think they’ll draw strength from one another?  How will Brooke and Syesha respond?

A:  I don’t know.  I was like camp counselor drying everyone’s eyes and telling them they had to pull themselves together.   They’re so different from each other as artists.  Syesha got the whole R&B thing going on and she’s got this huge voice and Brooke always says she doesn’t have that huge voice but I think that there’s something so special about her that she stops you dead in your tracks when she opens her mouth.  I’ll still be on the phone for them.  I’ll still be the Mom.  We’ve all drawn strength from one another and I’ve learned something from each and every contestant on the show, even people from Hollywood week.

Q:  There’s this widespread feeling that it’s going to come down to the two David’s.  Do you see it that way?  How do the other finalists see it?

A:  I have no idea.  It is anyone’s game.  People have their favorites already if you know what I mean.  Castro could look into the camera and bat his eyelids and go into his amazing falsetto voice and Brooke could just melt someone’s heart.   They give these amazing performances every week that I honestly have no idea who it’s going to be.  No one saw Michael Johns going home.  There’s always there shocking eliminations.  There could be another shocker.

Q:  Do you have a favorite though?

A:  My favorite went a long time ago.  My favorite was Amanda Overmeyer.  I thought she was fantastic.

Q:  Do you have any closing comments?

A:  I’m cool.  I’m so happy and I just feel like I’ve been given the greatest gift ever to be able to be on the show and experience everything I did and learn everything that I did.  I feel like I went out on a high note and enjoyed every minute of Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

You can read more of Mary’s television blogs at www.myspace.com/italiangirl57

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