We will forever remember Alex as the nervous kid who had never performed betore more than 30-40 family and friends at a coffee shop. Just to imagine him making it to the final 8 boys is astonishing.

And here is the best part … for next week’s Rolling Stones week he was going to sing, no kidding, “19th Nervous Breakdown.”

Here is his exit interview conference call from Friday, March 12, 2010:

What inspired you to sing Everybody Knows by John Legend?

“I was completely comfortable with it and I knew I could do it without being nervous.”

What did you want to show the judges and America?

“I wanted to break out of my shell and show America what I could do. Honestly, everytime I got up there I couldn’t even sing I was so nervous. I have a whole other series of songs that I can sing other than the ones I sang on the show. I don’t regret anything. I think I did great for the experience I have.”

Nerves got the best of you. Can you get past that and have a music career?

“I feel like I’m already past that and if I have a little bit more experience on that stage. I didin’t know how to look at the cameras and react with the audience. I had never done it before. It’s something I’ll easily get past.”

Who will you be missing from the show?

Pretty much everyone – Andrew, Lee and Shioban are the ones I will mist the most. All day (Thursday) Shioban was like you aren’t doing home dude. Why are you nervous?

What song were you going to do next week?

“I was doing 19th Nervous Breakdown.”

Did the judges talk to you afterward?

“They said I need more experience. Vocally it was my time, but they all know I have a good voice and I have a future ahead of me.”

What kind of artist do you want to be?

“I know exactly what I want to be. I wans to do acoustic and r&b tracks and I know my voice. I could do anything.”

Who helped you the most?

“The only person who was going to help be get over my stage fright was me. I could have gone up there and had a great performance and I was thinking to nail the song vocally and not perform. I guess I never thought of it as a performing show, just singing. I had it in my head I wanted my vocals to be so much better than everyone else’s.”

What was it like, that last moment when everyone was crying after you were eliminated?

“It was emotinonal cause a lot of people weren’t expecting the ones who went home to go home. There were people in the top 12 that everylne thought were going home. The would say to me, ‘Dude why are you nervous?’ When I got cut, it was like what…

“I wish I coulda stayed on the show cause I have a lot of fans. I loved it. I need to go back and finish high school. I’m gonna be on Ellen on Wedensday and after that I really want to focus on my music, take vocal lessons. This was the first thing I’ve done with my music.”

Where have you performed in the past?

“Before American Idol at a few coffee shops, like 40 people, mostly my friends and family. I don’t have any experience singing in front of millions of people I don’t know. But I think the sky is the limit for me.”

Had you continued on the show would the stylists have forced you to get rid of your mullet?

“The stylists, even if they did suggest it, I probably would have ever let them cut my mullet.”

“It was an emotional moment when I got cut. It was a shock. Four other people, probably six others most people had in mind to go before the four of us. That’s what made most of us so emotional. This isn’t the last of me at all, it’s just the beginning.”