My goodness, they’re still quite gracious

THE Kodak Theatre was jumping Wednesday night before the finale of Fox’s “American Idol,” like a cross between the glamour of the Academy Awards and the frenzy of an ‘N Sync concert. Little girls were everywhere, holding up signs for the finalists and even already-eliminated Chris Daughtry. In a balcony was a group of teenage girls, one inexplicably in a Wonder Woman costume. Her friend held a sign proclaiming, “Anna from Bama is on Soul Patrol.”

Alabama’s exuberant Taylor Hicks, the gray-haired soul singer and spirited dancer, didn’t disappoint his fans, winning the “Idol” crown by evening’s end. The singer, who has already inspired two “Saturday Night Live” skits in his short rise to fame, then spent much of Thursday morning on a media blitz of TV and radio shows and was expected to tape “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” in the afternoon.

Soon, he will take a few days off and then will begin rehearsing for the “American Idol” finalists tour and working on his album, he said Wednesday night after the show. Even though he has been performing for most of his life, Hicks said he is looking forward to the national tour to hear “the echo of the arena. As a [regional] performer, you never get that experience because you work your way up from small venues and small bars.”

As soon as he can, Hicks said, he will travel to Birmingham, where fans filled a stadium Wednesday night hoping for their hometown hero to become the next Idol.

Just getting to hear what Hicks had to say took the patience of a saint. He and “American Idol” runner-up Katharine McPhee were to greet the press after host Ryan Seacrest and judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, but after waiting more than two hours, it became clear they were not going to show. Apparently, they refused all interviews.

Thankfully, Hicks and McPhee are not so jaded. In short, separate sessions, they were refreshing in their graciousness. Hicks told reporters, “I love press, so you guys are going to like me.” McPhee said she hadn’t had time to let the whole experience sink in “because tonight is about being with all of you.”

Spoken like true Idols.

McPhee went on to allow that yes, “you probably do get an advantage being from a small town, being from the South,” when asked if being an L.A. girl had held her back. “Going back to Graceland, the people are just different. Everyone out here in L.A., they’re all jaded now. So I got to meet down-to-earth people. Those are the people who are voting, who ... cry when you talk to them,” she said.

“I didn’t expect to win. I don’t need sad faces. It would be silly to feel bad for me. I got a record deal.... I got a new car, lots of great new shoes and fans, and wonderful people around me.”

As for Hicks, he was just happy that he was able to get under Cowell’s skin a little, not with his singing necessarily but with his sartorial flair. Hicks said he’d spotted that flashy, shiny purple jacket he wore on Tuesday night’s show in a store about eight weeks ago and decided he would buy it no matter what happened in the competition.

“I got to buy the purple jacket and let Simon critique it,” he said. “That was fun.”