Before Danny Noriega's conference call interview yesterday afternoon, we heard from Luke Menard, the 29-year-old tenor with the movie star looks. Compared to Danny, Luke is a little bland but he is also articulate, unfailingly polite, and seems to be a fully-formed and happy man.

This has been a good experience for him and made even better by the fact that his wife was a winner on "The Price Is Right" during his time on the show! Hey, did you expect her to just hang around and wait for Luke to finish rehearsing all day?

Luke told us that the one thing he really wants to do is go to a movie, sit in a dark movie theater and just not think about memorizing lyrics. Here is some of what he had to say:

"Absolutely I'm disappointed," Luke said of being eliminated Thursday night.. "But I'm excited about having made the top 16....I'm hoping that this will spur a big career for myself."
Luke plans to do more than record. He wants to use his "Idol" exposure to do some acting and to pursue a Broadway career. "The fact that (the show) is seen worldwide is surreal to me,"

He was pretty squeaky-clean and not the topic of Internet stories about his past like David Hernandez and others. But, Luke said it's hard to get caught up in the outside world since participating in the show is so all-consuming: "I've made a decision to not worry about what people are saying about me...I've just decided to just ignore that and to try and stay focused."

Even though his song choice of "Wake Up Before You Go-Go" was panned by Simon and got him voted off the show, Luke said he chose it because he wanted to show off his tenor range.

"I learned to tune out his criticism...I just really took that with a grain of salt," Luke said of snarky Simon, who he noted did not have a single word of constructive criticism for him - ever. "You have to have tough skin and be persistent with what you are trying to accomplish."

When Simon told Luke he was "forgettable," his wife told him: "Everybody's going to remember you."

Whatever happens with Luke's career, I will say this: he is far more of a gentleman than the bully Simon Cowell ever will be.Simon is in the position of power and these contestants put themselves on the line each week that they survive. He can be critical without being cruel and show some respect. I do not like the man, at all.