Dallas-Fort Worth’s fab four

About 100,000 people (give ortake) tried out for this season’s

American Idol

.That’s finally whittled down to 24, split equally between the genders.Out of the top 12 guys, theDallas-Fort Worth area gets toclaim a whopping four of them.TodrickHall, Casey James, AlexLambert and Tim Urban will singonWednesday night’s live show,after tonight’s debut of the top 12 women.But the most important question(always) is: What does SimonCowell think?He talked about our fab four in aphone interview last week.

“

I’m not sure any of them aregoing to win, so I’d put them all inabout an equal position at themoment,” he said.

“

But with four, you’ve got a good shot. It’s not a badplace to be.”(Take heart, guys. At this stage inthe game last year, the likelihoodthat Kris Allen would win was pretty much zero.)Before they take the stage toshow their stuff, the guys offer a bitmore about who they are as people,inprofiles at americanidol.com and various social networking sites. Which one has seriously thoughtabout what life would be like as aplatypus? Read on.

Alex Lambert, 19

North Richland Hills

Favorite quote:

“

Every man dies, but not every man truly lives.” Alex, a senior at Richland HighSchool, says the thing he missesmost about home is

“

being able tochill with my brothers” — all six of them. What is he giving up by beingon the show?

“

Alot of the‘normal-isms,’” he says with achuckle.

“

Being able to go out inpublic.”The longtime football player andCowboys fan has no formal singingtraining, but his style is influenced by the Beatles, James Taylor andJohn Mayer. Like Kris Allen beforehim, Alex is used to performing withanaccessory:

“

Iget real nervous when I don’t have an instrument infront of me.”For fans who are already busy making posters, his nickname is Alley Cat. And when he gets tickled,

TELEVISION

Fox

The four D-FW guys

on Wednesday’s

American Idol

are (clockwise, fromupper left) Casey James, Todrick Hall, Tim Urban and Alex Lambert.

By DARLA ATLAS

Special Contributor

See

MEET

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American Idol

7p.m. today, Wednesday and Thursday, Fox(Channel 4). 2 hrs. tonight (top 12 womenperform) and Wednesday (top 12 men); 1 hr.results show Thursday.

Just who are theselocal guys with ‘Idol’aspirations?

Grouppushes the limits

After several seasonsdominated by often lightweightpostmodern fare, Voices of Change, Dallas’ new-musicensemble, is again offering moresubstantive programs. Indeed, theFred Lerdahlchamber piece

Time After Time

,the culmination of Sunday evening’s concert atCaruth Auditorium, was the series’most challenging piece,in a goodsense,in not just recent memory. Afinalist for the 2001 PulitzerPrize in music,

Time After Time

isasubstantial diptych for flute(played by Helen Blackburn),clarinet (Paul Garner), violin(Voices artistic director MariaSchleuning), cello (Jolyon Pegis),piano (Carol Leone) and a variety oftuned and untuned percussion(Deborah Mashburn).Itcontrasts hypnotic patterns with flowing and angular ideas,exchanged and sometimes shared between instruments. But eachinstrument also gets its ownparticularly idiomatic gestures. Attimes this yields considerablerhythmic complexity, and posessome balance problems notentirely resolved, but conductorPaul Phillipsled a performance of impressive authority.Gyo¨rgy Kurta´g, an importantHungarian composer too littleheard around here, wasrepresented by his short, spare

Varga Ba´lint Ligatura´ja

,performed by Schleuning, Pegisand Leone.The other really gratifying workonthe program was what onemight call a legacy piece: the21-year-old Leonard Bernstein’s1939 Sonata for clarinet andpiano. The first movement issurprisingly Frenchified, a`laPoulenc,Ibert,et al.,but thesecond has a jittery energy thatcould only be American. It got aperformance alternately eloquentand exciting from Garner andLeone, the latter’s beautiful turns

CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW

Voices of Changeexcels in challengingprogram

BySCOTT CANTRELL

Classical Music Criticscantrell@dallasnews.com

See

VOICES

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Onefreekidsmealwithpurchaseofadultentree,atDFWarealocations.

FREEKidsTuesdays!FREEKidsTuesdays!

The Dallas Morning News

Section ETuesday,February23, 2010

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Arts, Entertainment & Life

Today her clients are discoveringasimilar path as members of TeamMove, a program that Lockett’spersonal recovery inspired her tocreate. She launched it last fall inPlano with counselor Steven Scott.Part group therapy and part bootcamp, Team Move emphasizes thatamoving body is key to emotional wellness.

“

There are definitely correlations between fitness and mental health,”says Lockett, now a certifiedprofessional trainer and licensedchemical dependency counselor.

“

By exercising, you’re getting fit andfeeling better.”Scott and Lockett, a formerDallas County probation officer,facilitate two 90-minute sessions a week. Sessions cost $60 each. A group of eight to 10 clients spendsthe first 45 minutes sharing fears,anxieties, goals, setbacks andsuccesses, and offering one anotherencouragement and feedback. They also learn new thought patterns andlife strategies.The last half is spent workingtoward clearly defined fitness goals.Clients discuss nutrition, reviewtheir food journals and train with arotating mix of walking, running,circuit training, yoga and otherexercises, all at each client’s ownpace.The concept of acounseling-exercise session is not

HEALTHY LIVING

STEWART F. HOUSE/Special Contributor

Counselor Steven Scott

and personal trainer Holly Lockett organize small groups for Team Move’s counseling and exercise sessions.

Moved to help others

How would she break free from paralyzing grief?

olly Lockett fell to the floor, screaming.She had just heard on the phone that her brother, her lifelong best friend, had died.On that night three years ago, Lockett had noidea just how much his loss would paralyze her, or for howlong.She also had no idea the path to healing would look a lotlike a treadmill.

See

MAKE

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By CHRISTY ROBINSON

Special Contributor