Article from Examiner.net

David Cook, A local idol
By Hugh S. Welsh | hugh.welsh@examiner.net

He remembers when David Cook – a top 24 finalist on "American Idol" – wore his hair short and plain with run-of-the-mill spectacles covering his eyes.

He remembers when Cook first tapped a microphone and unleashed a voice he describes as "powerful" and "unforgettable."

He even remembers when Cook began to fire streams of gel into his hair creating a one-of-a-kind fauxhawk.

Bobby Kerr has known Cook since he was 12 years old.

For five years they were bandmates, rolling from town to town together in a rust-pocked caravan.

"I got a lot of money riding on him," Kerr says. "I'm pretty confident, though; no one I've seen on the show comes close to David. No one."

Kerr and Cook first crossed paths on the baseball diamond where they played for the Blue Springs Bombers.

"In those days we didn’t have a whole lot in common other than baseball," Kerr says.

Later, the two got to know one another through choir and theater at Georgeff-Baker Middle School.

"We chased a lot of the same girls, too," Kerr says.

Then they chased the same girl at the same time - and their friendship dissolved.

For a year and a half, anyway.

Kerr's family later moved to the south side of town. Cook's family soon followed.

Come freshman year at Blue Springs South High School, they were classmates - and practically neighbors - once more.

And instead of girls tearing them apart, this time it was girls that brought them together.

"We dated two girls who were best friends," Kerr says. "So we were kind of forced to mend old wounds."

Over the next 10 years, those same wounds would occasionally fissure and bleed but never get to the point of hemorrhaging.

"Sure, we had a couple heated arguments," Kerr says. "But, for us, going to blows was all a part of the creative process."

As juniors in high school, they formed a band called Red Eye. By befriending members of the student council, they became a fixture at assemblies and other school functions.

At a church not far from Fort Osage in Sibley, they whipped together a demo tape they sold for $2 a pop. The Blue Springs South student body ate the tapes like Jimmy Carter eats peanuts.

One year later, they decided to change the name of the band minutes before stepping on-stage at an assembly.

"Red Eye was too much like pink eye or something," Kerr says.

Axium was to be the name of the band.

"Universal truth, man," Kerr says. "We could not be denied."

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