JB- She enjoys your music, and that's got to be flattering nonetheless.

CM- Absolutely. The fans are amazing, I think when you're on a show like American Idol. They range from little kids to grandmothers and everything in between, so the show has just gotten so big and so much talent on there now. It's just difficult to sell records that everyone likes. What the heck, man? I'm going for it. A billion people are going to be watching. I'll be able to do a record.

The show's even changed so much since I was on the show. I think now 19 Entertainment is so much more prepared to handle all these various artists. Back then they would only focus on the winner or maybe the number 2. Now they're understanding, like, "Wow, we're really controlling the game. So we could stagger five or six records with this season's finalists."

JB- Do you vote?

CM- I don't vote. We all voted for each other when we were on the show. I saw Bo (Bice) the other night. Bo rocked it the other night on the show. That was the best performance of the year, if you ask me. He came out with so much energy, so comfortable, and he did his record independently this time around, and that was just a huge, huge spike for him. I thought he really, really killed it. It's the best I've seen him on the stage, and I've seen every performance this year. Just the amount of energy coming off the stage. David Cook might've reached that once or twice this year, but I was so proud of Bro. (Laughs.) I keep calling him Bro or Boy.

JB- Wouldn't it be crazy if Bo wins this year?

CM- (laughing) Bo is totally going to win this year.

JB- I've been voting for him. I have.

CM- I'm sure you have.

JB- I'm texting right now as we speak.

CM- I'm still voting for Scott Savol, but that's just me.

JB- Can you vote for... is he in jail? Oh, never mind.

CM- Let's hope so. He's got the perfect look for it.

JB- Cut your hair really short and maybe you'll, oh, never mind.

CM- Yeah. (laughing) I don't know, and I think I'd need some other work too done.

JB- Party with Paula then.

JB- Yeah, so let's talk your music then as we're almost running out of time. You're solo CD you were talking about. That was a long time in the works, if I'm not mistaken.

CM- Yeah, it was. I bounced around with a few deals with the majors and television gigs and stuff like that, and then at the end of the day I was, like, "Fine. You know what? I have this great band that I play with in New York. All new guys," and I said, "Let's just go in and knock it out. We'll do it independently. Get it out there for the fans." It didn't like attack radio and all that. But, no, people seem to like it. I financed the whole record myself on Sixth Place Records. I think it's been a great …almost like a job application or resumé in a way, because the producers have called wanting to do the next record and say, "Dude, this is great for an indie effort, but you need to do a big record with me. Big-time rock record." So I think that's where we're going to be focusing on next time around, and maybe we'll break one of these songs.

Lots of different influences, so I hope you'll pick it up. You can go to Best Buy or Amazon.com and pick up copies anywhere, and always you could check the MySpace.com/constantinemaroulis for updates and we're working on a brand new website. Hopefully, we'll have that up and running for my run on Broadway, and everyone can stay in touch, and you know where to find us. Anytime.

JB- All right, so Broadway, CD, TV, I guess with your Idol correspondence you've got a lot going on there.

CM- You know, man, I'm a whore. I just like to work hard and do lots of work, so we'll see what happens. But thank you so much. Tune into American Idol Extra certainly this Thursday. I'll be on Broadway this summer. You'll have to look me up.

JB- Well, thanks for joining us. Constantine Maroulis.

CM- All right. Thanks, guys. Bye.

JB- Thank you. Bye bye.