Proud father, 'Idol' son

Univision anchor bowled over by appearance on show

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Rodolfo Cardenas beamed at the life-size TV image of his son, Rudy, and relished the moment. In three minutes on America's most popular TV show Tuesday night, Rudy's fame eclipsed his father's 25 years in broadcasting.

Three hours before his 10 p.m. stint anchoring the newscast on the Univision network, Cardenas stood speechless as his 28-year-old son kicked off the voting portion of the sixth season of American Idol. He couldn't be more pleased.

"It's incredible," Cardenas said. "I've seen him perform so many times. I do think he did very well. He is very strict on himself. I could read his face, and I could tell . . . he feels very good with his performance tonight."

Had he ever watched the show before his son was on it? "Never," he whispered.

Rudy Cardenas was born in Venezuela, but the family came to Denver before he was 1. The Cherry Creek High School graduate earned a degree in vocals from the University of Northern Colorado but not before professional offers came in. M-pact, a Hollywood-based, Latin-flavored vocal group, recruited him for international tours.

A few months ago the Cardenas family was having Sunday brunch and called Rudy to see what was up. Instead of being home in Hollywood he was in Memphis, Tenn., where he'd been up since 4 a.m. waiting on an American Idol audition. He stayed there for three days as producers were "making cuts and making cuts and making cuts. There were 16,000 kids in Memphis," Rodolfo Cardenas said.

A few days later another call came: "Dad, I made it."

That audition (for which he flew back from an m-pact gig in Korea) sent him to Hollywood; scores of hopefuls were cut to 40 then to the 24 for whom viewers vote.

"Hopefully on Thursday (when tonight's votes are counted) we'll see if he goes to the next level," Cardenas said.

Cardenas' wife, Landa, watched Tuesday with friends at a restaurant. His younger brother, David, had his first article published this week as a journalism student at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

"It has been an incredible week for me. Rudy making it to the top 24, David writing his first article. What more can you ask?" Cardenas said.

As for Thursday's vote, "I'm not going to be able to watch. If I watch I cannot concentrate on my news. And I have to do a newscast at 10 o'clock. I'm not going to watch."

And the judges said

Rudy Cardenas auditioned with Open Arms by Journey, but chose the Edgar Winter Group's classic rocker Free Ride to kick off Tuesday's American Idol.

JUDGES' REACTIONS:

• Randy Jackson: "I'll give you a couple of pluses. You definitely got the party started, but for me, dawg, it was really corny, man. I thought I could be in any bar in America."

• Paula Abdul: "I thought he started off fantastic. We've never had anyone start off the season as lively."

• Simon Cowell: "The reason why I haven't been that enthusiastic was proven tonight. I've never heard you do anything which is unique. I don't think you have a distinctive voice. . . . There's nothing you're going to remember other than the fact that a few people here had a reasonably good time."

• Cardenas' response: "Everyone has an opinion. I hope to change it."