By C.E. Hanifin / Enquirer staff writer

Jon Peter Lewis and La Toya London didn't nab the American Idol title, but both say that competing on the Fox show changed their lives.

IF YOU GO

What: American Idols Live! Tour When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Where: U.S. Bank Arena, 100 Broadway St., downtown (421-4111; www.usbankarena.com) Admission: $46.75 and $57.35; call Ticketmaster at 562-4949 or go to www.ticketmaster.com Information: www.idolonfox.com

For one thing, they grabbed a gig with the national American Idols Live! Tour, along with winner Fantasia Barrino and seven other contestants who duked it out for four months in a quest to claim the title and a recording contract. The tour makes a stop Wednesday at U.S. Bank Arena.

London, of Oakland, Calif., and Lewis (or JPL, as millions now know him), of Rexburg, Idaho, each dish about the tour and what it's like to be an almost-Idol.

Q: What's your favorite song to perform on the tour?

London: "My All" by Mariah Carey. It's an emotional, dramatic song and I'm all about drama.

Lewis: (OutKast's) "Hey Ya!" because I really get to be wild and crazy and have fun.

Q: What's your strangest story about being recognized?

London: Sometimes people don't recognize me until they see my name, say if I'm paying with a credit card. Then they're like, "Oh my God, you look so much shorter in person."

Lewis: I don't really have any. I know my dad has some, because he was on the show a couple of times. He was in a bathroom stall and he fumbles the roll of toilet paper out of his hands, and it flies into the next stall. He looks down over and says to the guy next to him, "Can you hand me a roll of toilet paper?" And the guy says, "You're JPL's dad, aren't you?"

E-mail chanifin@enquirer.com