Yes, Idol lovers, winner David Cook is as nice and modestly grateful and earnest as he seems on television.

Cook and the rest of the "American Idol" Top 10 are in Fresno today for just the third concert on their long, jam-packed summer tour. Just hours before the 7 p.m. show, five of them meet with the local media at the Save Mart Center: Cook, Brooke White, Jason Castro, Syesha Mercado and Ramiele Malubay.

All five are friendly and talkative, trying to explain this chaotic Idol bubble they live in as they do one-on-one interviews with different media members. As you might expect, White is the effervescent presence here: Big smile. Engaging and charming. She leans in, looks you directly in the eye and chats as if you two have been chums for years.

And Cook, of course, is this season's king who wears the crown (though, today, it's a porkpie hat). With these kind of media events, you never know which of the 10 will be made available. But my Fresno group is lucky: We each get a few minutes with the rocker dude.

All five regularly use the words "fun" and "exciting" to describe the tour and the concerts. They readily admit they're not getting much sleep ... but who can sleep when there are about 50 more shows to do and so many people who adore you right now?

If you're going to tonight's concert, tell me what you thought and send me a review.

In the meantime, here's some insight from these five Idol performers before they took the stage Thursday:

David Cook -- He's scruffy-looking in his porkpie hat, v-necked blue t-shirt, Indigo jeans and boots. But there's also a sense of balance and perspective, an achievement for someone who's only 25 years old and, in a year, zoomed from being an unknown to rising star. He says a lot of things are keeping him grounded, including his friends and family and dealing with his older brother's bout with cancer.

"People have been saying a lot of flattering things, but all I can do is continue to be who I am," he says. "If it continues to work, great. If it comes to a point where it doesn't work anymore, OK."

But he's also having fun. "There's something inherently romantic waking up in a different city every day, and the fact that I get to do that and do something I love to do every night, it's cake, man," he says.

Will he feel that way when he's 30 cities into the tour? "If I don't, then I'm in the wrong business."

In addition to the tour, media interviews, fan meet-and-greets, and life on a bus, Cook is working on his new CD, which should be released in mid-November. It's been an incredible year for him. Is it possible to say what the best part of it has been?

"No, I mean right now it's the tour. To kind of get out of the bubble and to meet some of these people who put me where I'm at, I think, is awesome."

Brooke White and Jason Castro -- I got a chance to talk to them recently via telephone and wrote a story about them that appeared in Monday's Bee. Today, both appeared cool and casual, in shirts and blue jeans.

Now that they're actually touring, White says it's been overwhelming and amazing. They love the audience responses and meeting fans. "It feels really surreal," she says. "It's both exciting and very physically demanding. I think more physically demanding than I was prepared for."

But, White says, "It's going to be an amazing ride. I'm lovin' it. It's just a whole new world."

Castro, when I last talked to him, was rarin' to get going on tour. By Thursday, he's totally diggin' it: "It's great. I get more excited every day. Every day, it's like 'All right, we're doing this again.'"

He admits not being totally comfortable performing in the first show in Glendale, Ariz. but felt a lot better by show No. 2 in San Diego. He says he likes the tour better because it's more real than the TV show. There's not the constant pressure of learning the songs, and there's a lot more interaction with fans, musically and outside the shows: "It's fun and encouraging."

Every day, he says, he can't believe "am I seriously doing this?"

Syesha Mercado and Ramiele Malubay -- it was a bit cool in the room for the tiny Malubay. Dressed in black shorts, white tank top and black suspenders, she shivers but gamely answers questions. I ask if she's had time to examine this whole season, or if it's still crazy?

"I've been asked that question so many times from Top 24 until now," she says. "The first time it actually hit me, which was really late, but I mean I'm glad it finally hit me was when we were in Arizona and we were doing rehearsals. The first time walking into the arena, it was pitch black and then they showed us the preview of the intro for the concert. It's kind of like following our footsteps and the journey of how we got this far. I started crying."

Mercado, who finished third behind Cook and runner-up David Archuleta, is contemplative when asked what it's like living the Idol life.

"It's a constant rush of positivity and passion," she says. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't passionate about this."

She says that kept her in the competition, striving for the Top Three, week in and week out, whether or not she was having a bad week or a good one. Your heart has to be in it, she says.

"My heart is here and I'm loving every moment of it. I told myself that I was going to enjoy this experience for what it was, every moment of it," Mercado says. "While I was on the show, I was working so hard and I was so focused to the point that I really wasn't having a good time. The moment I stepped outside the norm, I was able to put everything into perspective and see the big picture. To see how big an impact I had on everybody back home. And I was able to enjoy it more. I just relaxed."

Where each of these performers is a year from now can't be foretold. But, for now, they all seem to be reveling in this wild, Idol ride.