A chat with Sanjaya

Newsday's Steve Snyder phoned in for a chat with Sanjaya this afternoon. Here's the first half of the article for your viewing pleasure:

It says something about the curious celebrity of former "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar that he says today he's both dreaming of a big day on Broadway, and shopping around for a bodyguard, unsure of what public reaction he might receive after emerging from what he deems the "Idol" "bubble."

In a conference call with reporters a day after he was eliminated from the singing competition – an announcement that was viewed as breaking news for many of the country's biggest news outlets – Malakar exuded much of the same politeness, enthusiasm and optimism which, in addition to his heckled singing skills, made him this season's most fascinating personality. Asked about the impact of votefortheworst.com and morning shock jock Howard Stern – both threw their support behind Malakar in hopes of mocking the program – the 17-year-old from Federal Way, Wash., dismissed the controversy.

"I don't think votefortheworst or Howard Stern had enough people voting for enough times," he said, "The reason I'm here is solely from the support of my fans."As reporters cautiously asked him about whether he ever considered quitting the show due to the pressure of the media, Malakar insisted that he always "was going to stay as long as I possibly could" and learn as much as possible.

Leaving high school early with a GED after sophomore year – Malakar said he was doing poorly in school because he never did his homework – to focus more on his music, he says he saw "American Idol" less as something he was obsessed with winning than as the ultimate career crash course.

"Every one of us wants to win," he says, "I was more focused on learning from this – I saw this as my junior and senior year of high school because this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, and [IT WAS]my way of learning this in a really short period of time."

What did Sanjaya really want to sing last night? What are his plans for the future? Get answers to these questions and others with the full article, here.