Phoning Fantasia

Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this -- which is precisely the problem. Blake Lewis, the sixth season runner-up on American Idol, has waited to pay off his $120,000 tax lien, and now he's in trouble. The 28-year-old singer owes the money from 2007, the year of his Idol run, when he bought a $1.2 million estate north of Seattle. Release that sophomore album, fair hat-wearer! Now the man's in dubious company with Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino, two other Idol vets with less-than-Cowellian bank accounts. Perhaps he'll find a cunning way to beat debt, but ultimately, it's the votes (of the elusive tween beatbox fanatic demo) that count. DetNews