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'Idol' alum kicks off Sun Fun festivities in the Myrtle Beach area

Archuleta headlines star-studded bash

Three years have passed since David Archuleta finished runner-up on the seventh season of Fox's "American Idol."

Like Clay Aiken, Bucky Covington, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee and Kellie Pickler, just contending for the "Idol" title has turned into longer term success for Archuleta.

"It's definitely been a great opportunity for me," the 20-year-old said earlier this month. "It's allowed me to go to record a bunch of recordings, and I have done two pop albums and a Christmas album, and then leading to my having a book, which is neat, and also to touring: Traveling everywhere to different places and across the United States, and it's just a whole bunch of experiences I never thought I would really have. It's been really great."

Archuleta will headline a list of performers Saturday on Ocean Boulevard for the daylong kickoff to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce's 60th annual Sun Fun Festival. Events such as meet-and-greets with Disney Channel and Nickelodeon stars, and a pageant off site, begin after the city's annual Memorial Day weekend parade, for which U.S. Sen. John McCain is the grand marshal, as part of Myrtle Beach's annual Military Appreciation Days.

In a phone call from Los Angeles, Archuleta said he splits his time between his "work base" there and with family in his native Utah, his "home base."

Growing up the son of a trumpeter father and bilingual singer mother bolstered Archuleta's musical background and appreciation for the arts.

"It's great to have a family who has a life in music," he said, "and just growing up around it helped influence me and give me kind of a different perspective on music, and what it does for other people."

Judging J.Lo

Archuleta said he has kept up pretty well with ensuing seasons of "Idol," especially this year, with enthusiasm for one new official in particular.

"I've really enjoyed it," he said. "I like the new judges. I think Jennifer Lopez is very kind. Artists think it's awesome seeing a Latina being part of the show. Just seeing her critiques, I really like what she says. She's very positive - not that aggressive, but she really gives good advice. She really gives really great tips, to bring out the performance. That's what is really cool.

"She really tries to find what she feels is missing from the performance and encourages them to do it for the next performance."

Archuleta said he learned new fine points about himself early in the "Idol" audition process.

"What the show taught me is that I could do a lot more than I [thought I] could," he said. "I never thought I could get past the first round with 15,000 people there, and all those great singers. Even in that first round, it was a lot of work, and there were definitely some overwhelming tunes, but I was still able to get through it, which prepared me for what came afterward.

"It prepared me for what I didn't know was next as a performer and artist and person."

More than decade on the air has ushered in different eras for "Idol," in Archuleta's eyes.

"It changes every year," he said, "because the people, not the show, give the show a different feel, a different vibe.

"I think it has definitely has changed from season to season, but this year, most recently, it's gotten back to the vibe it was earlier on. Before, they were singing to tracks in the semi-rounds, but now it's a full, blown-out band."

Archuleta sees contestants taking more risks and changing things up for themselves.

"It used to be focused more on singing and tone, the way the person's voice sounded to the song," he said. "Now people are singing songs and adapting the songs to their own style. It's really gotten gone back to more about the voice, which has been kind of fun, but it's a mixture."

Focus on family

Booking Myrtle Beach's Sun Fun weekend for a concert fit naturally for Archuleta.

"I love family stuff," he said. "I'm a big supporter of families and family time together. I think it's one of the most important things you can do. It's a simple thing, but not always easy. It's a thing you'll appreciate the most down the road."

The timing for the nation's observance of lives lost also moves Archuleta.

"Memorial Day to me," he said, "is just a day where you recognize people who have done so much, who had sacrificed so much of themselves and their own interests, to think of ways to be there for others, for families, for the country, for their towns. I think it's one of the greatest holidays.

"It's just a neat thing to remember what others have done for us, and the troops, what they've done, it's what this country's based on. It's your own heritage, what they did so that you're here today.

"My great grandpa was in World War II, and then on my mom's side, they used to live in Honduras, and they found a way to come to the United States. It's those kinds of trials and tribulations that our people in the past have had that influence where I am."

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