Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz
8/29: Jordin Sparks interview forthcoming, Jennifer Hudson’s national anthem
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ll be talking to Jordin Sparks at 3 p.m. today for a quick interview before her 10K Classic appearance on Labor Day here in metro Atlanta. Her appearance is only available to folks who run the charity race (or volunteer) and she’ll be singing in the morning around 9:30 a.m., I think.
Anybody have any questions, email them to me at rho@ajc.com.
In “Idol” news:
-Here’s Jennifer Hudson singing the National Anthem Thursday night before Barack Obama’s speech (actually nearly four hours before so it’s still daytime and the stadium is far from packed) Fans of Hudson will not be disappointed:
-Carrie Underwood is the first country artist to sell more than one million ringtones each of two songs: “Before He Cheats” and “Jesus Take the Wheel,” according to this item.. The ringtone charts are usually dominated by hip-hop tunes.
-For possibly the first time, a reviewer didn’t totally slam Ramiele Malubay, this time out of Oklahoma.
Ramiele Malubay performed a faithful rendition of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” but she was only mildly effective with Taylor Dayne’s “Love Will Lead You Back” and Maroon 5’s “If I Never See Your Face Again.”
And a bow to David Cook:
The “American Idol” machine can seem overpowering in its artifice and calculation, but when Cook was on stage, the machine fell away to reveal an exceptional regular guy who deserves his “Idol” title.
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8/27: Check out Kara DioGuardi on her first reality show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I got kind of busy Wednesday and neglected to update the blog. My apologies. It’s a crazy week for multiple reasons, though maybe not as crazy as it is for Kara DioGuardi. A lot of debate on the Web whether she’ll help the show or not.
We really won’t know til we see it. The questions are:
1- Will she drive Paula even more batty or balance her out?
2- Will she force the others to shorten their comments because of time restraints? Will this peeve Simon even more? Will it improve flow? I’m not sure if four judges is a good thing though “So You Think You Can Dance” sometimes has five or six.
3- Who will break ties when deciding talent during auditions?
4- What order will she be placed?
5- Will she provide truly useful advise given her position as a singer-songwriter with an impressive resume (Paris Hilton, Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan notwithstanding) She seems pretty grounded.
6-Will this improve dynamics and inject some new life into the judge’s table? Simon told AP Tuesday “It’s like, you know, having dinner with three people for seven years, and getting quite bored of each other. So it’s having a fourth person, new opinion, I think it’s gonna be interesting.”
Naturally, someone taped “The One: Making of a Superstar,” the pitifully poorly received “Idol” ripoff Kara was on in 2006 and it’s on YouTube. This is definitely a good sign if she’s like this on “Idol.” She shows passion and knowledge. She berates the contestants (including Syesha Mercado, who has to thank her lucky stars was nixed after two weeks):
Fox 5 in New York City shows the first video of Kara entering the NYC auditions Tuesday here.
-Here’s the Mavid doing the Locomotion at the 2 minute point of this video from Dallas:
-Idol Chatter reports the usual three “Idols” on the top 200. As usual, Carrie Underwood is tops at No. 35 with 11K in sales and 2.30 million total. Daughtry holds at 7K in sales and 4.19 million. His single “What About Now” is moving up the download chart and is at No. 161 with 9K sold. It’s now at No. 30 on the top 40 chart with a bullet. Jordin Sparks is at 7K for the week, too, with 892K. Her single “One Step at a Time” is up to 16 on the download chart and 492K total in sales. It also jumps to No. 1 on the top 40 chart, her third top 10 hit on the radio, according to Radio & Records. David Archuleta’s “Crush” drops to No. 6 with 89K for the week and 256K total. It’s jumped to No. 31 in its second week on the top 40 charts (just behind Daughtry) and will soon overtake David Cook’s “Time Of My Life,” which is stuck at No. 29 (with a bullet though) on the top 40 chart. Cooks’ single has sold 29K, down 32 percent with 822K total.
Carrie’s “Just a Dream” has sold 114K so far with its best week so far (22K last week.) It edges up to No. 14 on the country chart. No guarantee it will make the top 10. If it misses the top 10, it’d be a first for a major single. Bucky Covington is sneaking up on the top 20 with “I’ll Walk,” which is at No. 21. It’s his third top 25 hit. Kellie Pickler is still gaining airplay but is jammed at No. 28 with “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful.” Kristy Lee Cook is stuck way back at No. 46 with “15 Minutes of Shame.”
Jennifer Hudson edges up to No. 149 on the download chart with another 9K sold of “Spotlight.” It has sold 78K total. The single has stalled on the urban chart, though, losing airplay but moving up to No. 23 from 24.
-I have an autographed photo of the top 10 if anybody wants it. I got it just as they were finishing a round of autographs last week during a NetJets meet and greet at the Gwinett Arena. I forgot I had it til today. I kind of joked with some of them that they do so many autographs, they’ve become virtually illegible. Brooke White showed me her fancy big autograph on a separate sheet of paper in comparison to what you see on the photo with a smiley face and such. I need to take a picture of the picture and post it on the blog. I’ll do that later this week. How do you think I should give it away? A contest? Random?
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8/27: More on the new judge Kara DioGuardi, Ace Young on Broadway
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ryan Seacrest got some more info about Kara DioGuardi on his KIIS radio show this morning via Paula Abdul.
“We’ve known each other for years since 1999,” Paula Abdul said. She ran into Kara in 1999 outside the Brooklyn Diner in New York. Kara was working at Billboard magazine at the time. They sat down and had a meal. “I talked to her. She told me she was an aspiring singer songwriter. I said, ‘Are you good?’ She said yes.” Abdul asked for her songs and she liked them. Abdul told her she is really good and told her to move to Los Angeles.
And Abdul roomed with DioGuardi for a year! Abdul hooked her up with all sorts of important people including the guys in Sweden who did those Britney Spears songs.
Listen to the interview here.
-MJ had a post about an ABC Radio interview with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, who worked on the upcoming Kelly Clarkson album. It appears that she is not going country if what he says is accurate:
Saying the sound of the record is “all over the place,” Tedder explains, ‘She’s gonna have really aggressive, in-your-face rock/pop, but she’s also gonna have orchestral, Mozart moments of classical rhythmic stuff. It’s great.”
I’m looking forward to it, whatever she does!
-Ace Young is taking the role of Kenickie on the Broadway production of “Grease” starting Sept. 9, two days after Taylor Hicks leaves as Teen Angel.
-Paris Bennett’s label Koch sent out a press release I never got about her Christmas album, coming out in October. Credit Idol Chatter.. Her baby is due then as well. The Christmas album is called “A Royal Christmas.” I guess cos she’s called “Princess P.”
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8/25: Kara DioGuardi talks to the media
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I listened to reporters barrage Kara DioGuardi with questions for 45 minutes and here are my impressions:
-She seems fairly level headed but not terribly colorful in terms of quotes. It’s certain she won’t be flighty like Paula or harsh like Simon or catchphrase-happy like Randy. What she’ll be we won’t quite know until she sits down tomorrow and begins her job. “I will be a straight shooter,” she said. “It’s flattering to think they even thought of me. When I got the call, I thought they were calling the wrong person. I’m the new kid on the block. I hope everyone goes easy on me… I am a lucky lucky gal.” She dubbed herself “a little feisty.”
-She was a judge on the very short-lived reality show on ABC “The One,” an “Idol” ripoff that was cancelled after just four episodes and alarming low ratings in 2006. I just noticed Syesha Mercado was on the show. Nobody asked DioGuardi about that.
-She has no clue where she’ll be sitting. I’m sure leaks will come out tomorrow from contestants in the know. I bet she’ll go before Paula but after Randy.
-I asked about how she got into music. She was a would-be singer who ended up becoming an in-demand songwriter/producer in the pop field. She has an impressive resume and has worked with many Idols.
-Her favorite Idol to work with was Kelly Clarkson. (Cool beans!) She produced Kelly’s hit “Walk Away.” Of the contestants last season, she liked Brooke White the most. “She looked like an artist, felt like an artist, had an interesting tone.”
-“Idol” called her literally just days ago and flew her to New York, where the first later-round auditions start tomorrow. “I almost fell off my chair.”
-She’s closest friends with Paula Abdul. They co-wrote a Kylie Minogue song together. It’s called “Spinning Around.” It was a worldwide hit, never released in the U.S.:
-She has done A&R work to find artists though nobody asked if she discovered anybody notable.
-On being on TV and thrust into the limelight: “I’m putting some money into buying more makeup. I’ll be ready for the camera.”
In other “Idol” news:
-Access Hollywood reports that Jennifer Hudson will be performing the National Anthem at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday before Barack Obama speaks.
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8/25: New “Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi, Fantasia in Atlanta over the weekend (UPDATED)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’ve decided to add this to the existing Fantasia item:
“Idol” is adding a fourth judge in Kara Dioguardi. This is the first time since season two that the show has fiddled with the judge lineup, which will otherwise remain the same with Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.
This is the show’s first major move since executive producer Nigel Lythgoe stepped down.
I know nothing about this gal but based on a quick look on the Web, she appears to have an accomplished resume. She has produced work for the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Jessica Simpson, Kylie Minogue, Enrique Iglesias, Celine Dion, Clay Aiken, Hilary Duff, Britney Spears, Raven-Symone, Diana DeGarmo, Lindsay Lohan, Bo Bice, Pink, Jewel, Jesse McCartney, Paris Hilton, Katharine McPhee, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Jonas Brothers and Christina Aguilera.
Here are two quotes from the press release:
“We are turning the heat up on ‘Idol’ this year and are thrilled to welcome Kara to the judges’ table,” said creator and executive producer Simon Fuller. “She is a smart, sassy lady, and one of America’s most successful songwriters. We know she will bring a new level of energy and excitement to the show.”
“We had originally intended for American Idol to have four judges,” said executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz. “We’ve seen from our international series that having a fourth judge creates a dynamic that benefits both the contestants and the viewers.”
There’s a press conference for her at 3 p.m. EST. I’ll create a fresh blog entry for that.
Back in season two, Angie Martinez started as a judge but quit during the auditions, saying at the time “it became too uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream, especially when I realized that many of them have supported my musical career.” Where did that career go by the way?
I caught a short set by Fantasia at the Atlanta Civic Center Saturday night.
She co-headlined with comic Rickey Smiley at the Atlanta Civic Center and proved what made her so appealing to a broad audience on TV. She looked and sounded much better than she did in the spring when she revisited “Idol” and was a hot mess to the point Simon Cowell looked downright dumbfounded.
While she’d revert to “screech” mode on her vocals on occasion, the inspired, energetic Fantasia turned the center into her very own church, capped by a tour de force version of “Free Yourself.”
And showing how connected she was with the audience, she spent almost as much time in the crowd as she did on the stage. She danced and laughed it up with the folks in the first few rows, who got their $94 worth. She even evoked a bit of “Idol” by doing a medley of old classics including “Tell Me Something Good” and a rousing “Purple Rain” that would have impressed the Purple One himself.
I was about 20 rows back and she was such a whirling dervish, it was tough to get good shots with my camera. Here’s the best one I got, of her in the audience:
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8/25 American Idol Rewind rewound, Simon Cowell promises changes, Ruben Studdard’s tax woes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“American Idol Rewind” gets a revamp after two years in syndication and will likely air on different stations. (Locally, it was on WATL-TV and WGN-TV nationally.) Instead of focusing on one season, seasons 3 and 4 are both featured. I’m not sure besides TV Guide Channel, which local TV station will air it this fall. I’ll post that as soon as I know when and which network.
From TV Week:
“This year will be more highlight-driven as we focus on the journeys of some of the contestants from seasons three and four who became household names,” said Tracy Verna Soiseth, executive producer of “American Idol Rewind.” “With some of the names ranging from Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia to Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice coming out of these shows, there is a lot of fun stuff for us to explore where you get to see the best and worst of ‘Idol,’ including [cult favorite] William Hung.”
The new season will focus more on the memorable moments and unaired footage, from auditions to the finale. Season three takes the stage for the first half of “Rewind” and season four is the focus of the latter half. In addition, producers have planned a Carrie Underwood special for the final episode of the season.
I kind of liked the old format of re-living specific episodes but we’ll have to wait and see how this one plays out.
-I missed the Simon Cowell press conference by phone Friday afternoon for a work-related meeting. He was there to talk about “America’s Got Talent” but he naturally got into “American Idol,” too. Access Hollywood summarized what he said here..
He said there will be changes and he’ll get more involved with Nigel Lythgoe gone. No details, though. He said season seven felt kind of tired and he got a bit bored partway through.
“I started to get bored because of the middle sections of the show because we had 24 people. By the time we hit say, show five of the live show I felt I had known them for years. The other problem was that they were so media savvy, these contestants, that they never showed us, or you, their true personality. In parts they were like robots. I didn’t know much more about them at the end then I did at the beginning. I think it could be just more interesting and controversial than we did last year and that will change.”
-Ruben Studdard owes the IRS and state of Alabama nearly $200,000 in unpaid back taxes, according to AL.com.
Byron Perkins, a Birmingham attorney representing Studdard, said the singer is in good shape financially and should be able to pay any debts.
-Obsessive fans alert: poor David Archuleta brought a female friend to a concert and his fans just went after her though I have no clue how those fans got her email address based on this account below:
I just had to ask: Does Archuleta have a “Crush” of his own? “I’m just afraid to mention anything now,” confessed Archuleta. And he’s right to be afraid. Recently, after one of Archuleta’s female friends attended his show, she received a deluge of hate mail from Archuleta’s fans. “They said, ‘You’re not good enough for him, and you’re ugly,” Archuleta said, shuddering. “You can see why people want to keep things to themselves.” Despite the fact that his rabid fans harassed his guest, however, Archuleta continued to defend them. “They’re just really protective,” he concluded.
-TMZ reports that Kevin Covais is in the hospital because of the stress of his press tour for the upcoming film he’s in “College,” TMZ says. Details are sketchy.
-I went to a nightclub MJQ Concourse on Ponce de Leon tonight and guess who I saw? Bryan Gaynor, the awesome robot dancing dude with scoliosis from “So You Think You Can Dance” last year. Here’s a reminder of his performance:
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8/22: Katharine McPhee’s movie debut in “The House Bunny,” Idols on “Larry King Live”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not a lot of “Idols” have made it on film. There’s that disaster called “From Justin to Kelly.” Tamyra Gray was in “The Gospel.” Oh, and some gal named Jennifer Hudson landed an Oscar for “Dreamgirls.”
Is Katharine McPhee Oscar bound with “The House Bunny? Uh… no. The movie looks awful on the surface but reviews have been better than expected. Then again, I doubt I’ll be seeing it this weekend.
On Rotten Tomatoes, which compiles reviews,, 45% of reviewers liked it.
Anna Faris plays a dopey Playboy bunny who gets booted from the mansion by Hef and ends up being the den mom for a bunch of sorority sisters, including a pregnant Katharine McPhee character who wears flowery dresses and totes around peanut butter.
Here’s a Q&A with Kat McPhee, Emma Stone and Rumer Willis from mtv.com
MTV: Katharine, what are you hoping to accomplish with your next album?
McPhee: I’m really just hoping to bring me to the record. I would like to have an authentic record that comes from the heart and is really my story and my thoughts. Not that the first one wasn’t, but …
Stone: You’re over it.
McPhee: [Laughs] I’m over it. [Singing] I’m so moving on.
And the Los Angeles Times interviewed her.:
Though “Idol” offers enormous exposure for finalists, it does cement contestants in people’s minds solely as singers. “There’s still a lot of proving to do on my part,” she says. “I just came from an audition with a big director,” she adds, though she won’t drop names so as not to jinx her chances.
McPhee may not have many lines, but she does sing twice — once in a very un-“Idol”-like karaoke performance, and once doing a modified cover of the Waitresses’ 1982 hit “I Know What Boys Like,” which plays over the credits.
On set, McPhee was able to improvise and came up with some funny moments that stayed in the movie, including one in which she squeegees her character’s pregnant belly during a sexy carwash scene.
McPhee attended the Boston Conservatory so the Boston Herald interviewed her.:
For her first movie role, McPhee learned not just about makeup, sisterhood and the rigors of wearing pregnancy pads (“Kind of itchy at times”) but how to handle a live pig.
“I felt bad for the pig,” she said. “Dana Goodman had to wrestle the pig and I was, ‘Please be careful.’ ”
-The B-boys from Vegas Super Cr3w beat SoReal Crew on “Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew.” Jackson showed up to give them the prize - $100,000, a trophy and a spot on the tour coming to the Atlanta Civic Center Sept. 20. Buy tix here.
They were definitely sharper and more skilled than runner ups SoReal Crew, who for some reason were never voted in the bottom two. I had a soft heart for Fanny Pak in the end but Super Cr3w earned it.
-And tonight, “Larry King Live” aired the taped and not-so-live interview with the 10 “Idols” from the Gwinnett Arena Monday. I watched the interview but was focusing on taking pictures because I couldn’t hear Larry’s questions, only the answers. I figured someone would transcribe the highlights. MJ, of course, did it in record time. I forgot it was on but here it is from MJ. Larry King is incredibly clueless as usual asking dumb questions and the contestants make lots of faces as he botches Syesha and Ramiele’s names. Jason has no clue when Larry compares him to baseball player Manny Ramirez. Brooke gives a quick synopsis of the long day. (I later complimented her about her ability to summarize.)
Kristy Lee Cook and Carly make jokes about the “Mavid.” Naturally, King has no idea what they’re talking about. “I’ve been dancing since I came out of the womb, Larry,” Michael Johns joked. “When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
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8/21: David Cook reflects on life so far, David Archuleta’s “Crush” opens big
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two days after the “Idol” concert in Atlanta, David Cook became reflective on his Web site blog here.. The guy’s a good writer! Here’s a portion:
So, I promised that I wouldn’t really try to process all of this madness until I got an extended break, but something happened today that really made me reflect. Well, I may be getting too generic. A lot of small things have happened lately that correlated into some fresh perspective. Let me explain…
We had a much-needed, much-deserved day off in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, today. I took it as an opportunity to rest myself not only physically, but mentally. The strain of trying to put everything I have into this tour, on top of the scheduling conflicts that inevitably arise from doing a record while on the road, and not to mention the crazy press commitments, have left me, and all the idols, with an almost humorous non-distinct stare as we enter the home stretch of this tour. So, today I did little but stay in bed and walk around. I went with MJ and Chik to go see “Tropic Thunder”. I give it 4/5 stars. Tom Cruise was the only part I didn’t like about it. Don’t know why.
After the movie, we went and grabbed dinner, and then split up upon returning to the hotel. I went out to the beach, and plopped down on a chair to watch the waves and the lightning in the distance. (Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Massive Nuisance Fay) All at once, it hit me full on what has happened to me this last year. I thought about Omaha, and my brother, Andrew, and the Green Mile, and the top 12 red carpet event, and the hotel, and the finale, and this tour. It really became apparent to me at that moment that the tour will be done in about a month, and we’ll all, hopefully, go on to amazing careers and lives away from this “Idol Machine” and apart from one another. After a year with these guys, that thought looms ominous and scary.
I want to say thank you for the support you guys have shown, but more importantly the understanding you guys have shown to my limitations as I try to meander through this very new lifestyle of actually being acknowledged for doing something I love.
-David Archuleta landed at No. 2 on the Top 100 singles chart thanks to being the top download sale single with 166,000 sold for “Crush.” The song debuts at No. 40 on the top 40 chart and should easily exceed “The Time of My Life,” Cook’s coronation song, which is now at No. 29.
Hah! Here’s his vlog shooting the “Crush” video. It looks like he taped it on Tuesday, the offday in Florida after Atlanta. He even says nice things about Atlanta but otherwise, not a lot of content here but Archuleta fans will be thrilled:
“Had a great show yesterday. The crowd was just amazing… it was one of the best nights I had.”
-The Miami Herald reviewer enjoyed the “Idols Live” tour Wednesday, the first one since Atlanta.. Hometown gal Syesha Mercado got plenty of love:
Of the 10, Syesha Mercado of Sarasota, who finished in third place behind the two Davids, looked the most like a seasoned star. She earned the night’s first — and only real — standing ovation for her rendition of the Dreamgirls tune, Listen. (The audience rose for the two Davids afterward but that was more out of adoration than for anything they did — though both Davids played to their strengths.)
Oh, and here’s the gratuitous Ramiele slam:
The Miramar native has such a thin voice and lack of command on stage it’s a shock she even made it through the Idol auditions. She, more than anyone, doesn’t belong here.
And sorry Michael Johns, he didn’t like you:
Michael Johns squandered his opportunity with hamfisted vocals on classic rock (he wasn’t helped by the tepid backing band).
-MJ reported some more “Idol” attendance numbers, most 80% or more. Atlantic City even hit 100%. Yet Cincinnati was the big bomb— just 59%. Of 22 concerts, the average attendance has been 85% and average revenue of $588K. MJ—you are working your buttocks off. Great blogging the past couple of days!
-Meanwhile, over at Idol Chatter,, Ken Barnes reports that the three “Idols” on the Top 200 in album sales moved up. Carrie’s “Carnival Ride” jumped to 38 and sold 11,000, up to 2.29 million. Daughtry jumped to 70 and sold 7,000 copies for 4.19 million total. Daughtry nabs his fifth top 40 hit with “What About Now” debuting at No. 35. Jordin edges up to 71 with 7K more and 885K total. At this pace, it could take quite a long time for her to hit 1 million copies. She is about to have her third top 10 hit with “One Step At a Time,” which is at No. 11, according to Radio and Records. And the song sold 54K copies on the download chart for 554K total. Counting her coronatioin song, she has now sold more than 5 million downloads. Impressive!
On the country chart, Carrie Underwood’s “Just a Dream” is at No. 15 (with her single selling 18K for the week and 92K total) while Bucky Covington’s “I’ll Walk” is stuck at No. 23. Kellie Pickler’s “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful” is still gaining airplay but her song fell from 26 to 28 as other songs leapfrogged her. Kristy Lee Cook’s “15 Minutes of Shame” is at No. 46, up from 60.
Chris Sligh’s single “Empty Me” is at No. 8 on the soft Christian pop chart after 23 weeks.
Jennifer Hudson’s “Spotlight” is at No. 24, showing modest airplay increases.
Taylor HIcks’ “Early Works” moved 2,300 copies and missed the Top 200.
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8/20: Leftovers from Monday’s concert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here’s the Dirty Bird Falcons dance David Cook and Michael Johns attempted in Atlanta Monday night. (Earlier in the song, I couldn’t tell if Carly’s mike went out or she forgot the words. Can anyone tell?) They do the Mavid dance at the 2:00 point. Although Michael told me he didn’t think David got it quite right, it looked fairly coordinated to me.
I have a friend Cheryl Monkhouse, whose husband Tim, played footie (Australian rules football) with Michael Johns when Johns lived here in Atlanta. He got sixth row seats and backstage passes for a post-concert meet and greet, which was more like a party. Regular blog reader and David Cook fan Karen Durden (below, with me), an engineer, joined me.
There is normally a backstage meet and greet with all 10 “Idol” contestants but Michael Johns had a special one just for him and 100 of his closest friends and fans. He even had free beer for everyone and encouraged them to hang out instead of just coming and going. He hugged old friends from his CJ’s Landing days in Buckhead and even a gal from his Tifton college tennis days.
(Sorry for the red eye problem here on this shot):
ABOVE: David Cook was the king of patience. He joined the Michael Johns party unexpectedly, he said, to grab a beer. But he was inundated with fans wanting pictures. I didn’t help matters by trying to take a picture of my friend here Cheryl but botching it a few times. Don’t ask. I do have to give David credit for keeping himself amused by making goofy expressions.
Here’s a Mavid shot with Caroline St. Antoine in the middle.
And David makes another funny face with Kristy Stupka of Blue Medspa.
Unfortunately, my friend Karen left before David showed up and missed him.
I stayed until about 11:40 p.m. Kristy Stupka insisted I take my picture with Michael so here it is:
Michael hung out til close to midnight when the tour bus pulled out to go to Florida. I figured he was the last “Idol” out of the arena that night though we saw Carly with her husband and some friends as we walked out.
In other “Idol” news:
-MJ reports that Justin Guarini, Gina Glocksen, Nadia Turner and Brandon Rogers recently visited U.S. troops in Afghanistan and found Brandon’s blog about his experience though he hasn’t updated since the first day August 5.
Afghanistan Day One: 8/5/08 Today I finally made it to the first stop on the “Idol Legends Tour”, (hey, I didn’t name it). After a five hour flight to DC, a five hour layover, then a fourteen hour flight my destination was reached, Doha, Qatar. Little did I know that the US had a military base on this beautiful, incredibly humid, wealthy peninsula in the Arabian Gulf. This base was an R&R base for soldiers who have been ling deployed in the middle east and just need a break. The soldiers get four days with few restrictions and lots of stuff to do. Little did Justin, Gina, Nadia and I know how much a little visit from us could brighten their spirits. They are so far from home that they feel that our taking the time and risk to fly halfway across the planet to see them was some sort of grand gesture. We tries our best to make them realize that the true pleasure was ,in fact, all ours. It was a privelege to see such brave men and women risking their lives day in and out to protect our way of life. Our hats go off to them. What a great way to start the trip.
-I got this tidbit from Extra TV:
(Los Angeles - August 20, 2008) - He’s Baaaacccck! American Idol alum, Sanjaya Malakar, is starring AND singing in a new commercial for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Malakar sat down in “Extra’s” New York Times Square studio and revealed his musical talent has improved since his Idol days. He said, “I’ve noticed while recording the [new] album, I can sing higher.”
“Extra” surprised Malakar with a video message sent from Simon Cowell who, despite constantly criticizing his Idol performances said, “Hello, Sanjaya. In a strange way, I sort of miss you.” Malakar responded, “Well, thank you Simon. I kind of miss you too.”
On Idol, Malakar debuted many talked about hairdos. Using “Extra’s” flip camera, one of his fans asked the burning question everyone wants to know - Does Malakar prefer hair mousse or gel? Malakar said, “I actually prefer water. Mousse and gel are gross. Make my hair all crusty.”
“Extra’s” interview with Sanjaya airs tonight and for all the latest celebrity news, log onto www.extratv.com.
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8/18: Idols in concert in Gwinnett
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After mocking various critics who were forced to watch this concert tour, I come in knowing the purpose of “American Idols Live” is somewhat different from most concerts. It’s merely a celebration of ourselves and the folks we picked to make the top 10, a visual and mental souvenir. We validate ourselves with the success of these singers, many of whom will never sing in venues this large again while a select few will use this as a springboard for bigger and better things.
From that standpoint, the concert was a rousing success, highlighting the depth and breadth of talent this year. Sure, the TV show itself is getting gray around the edges (like me), but there are a few solid reasons the show sold out: David Cook and David Archuleta (with a few Jason Castro fans thrown in for good measure.)
The staging was simple, the backing band solid, the opening host Corey aggravating to the nth degree. (Yes, he’s the type of host who had to exhort people to stand up, clap and do the hokey pokey.) And adding a level of corporate surrealism, big Pop Tarts characters walked around. The crowd was your usual blend of families with kids and gobs of middle-aged women.
Let’s run down the top 10. In fact, the show itself for the first time celebrates the countdown on the big screens behind the singers.
Chikezie (below) is facile on stage, with the chops to handle both slow and fast songs. He lacks a certain something that would make him a big star. I can’t quite figure out why but he isn’t Ruben Studdard.
(PHOTO CREDITS: Rodney Ho)
What can I say about Ramiele without being mean? Well, there is only one point on stage where the audience can touch the contestants stage right. When Chikezie, Michael, the two Davids et. al. went over people stood up, cheered, reached for them, took pictures. When Ramiele came over? Nothing. They just sat there. Ouch. She was so robotic during her “I Want You Back,” I watched the backup singers, who were given their one chance to show off their dance moves.
Michael Johns got a great reception from his hometown crowd. (In fact, he had a separate meet and greet afterwards for more than 100 people. I’m going to post a blog entry about that Tuesday.) He sounded great, looked comfortable and even introduced “Dream On” as “the song that got me kicked off ‘American Idol.’ ” But alas, he still likes the song too much to care.
Kristy Lee Cook feels very calculated, very rehearsed but that sheen of professionalism got her through her three songs, including (of course) Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” She, like most of the other women, went all sparkly, probably because it can be seen in the back of the arena.
Carly Smithson, without the pressure of the judges or the weight of her past, let loose with Evanescence, Heart and Cyndi Lauper. When she’s more comfortable, we feel more comfortable. And she pulled off this dress below far better than 99% of the population. She can still scrunch her face up impressively when she sings passionately.
Brooke White is a joyous presence on stage, even when she partly tripped getting up from the piano. As the second coming of Carly Simon, she even had ’70s-style wavy hair.
During the U2 “Pride” group sing, I caught the two former Atlantans together on stage here. They should definitely do some duets at some point:
After the break, Jason Castro came on with a lovely rendition of “Over the Rainbow,” followed by his emotive take on Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” that we missed on “Idol” because they couldn’t get full clearance. Castro noted he was really nervous doing it in Hollywood but now has more confidence or something like that. The dreadheads were out in force. Somebody in line sight of me kept waving a big “No. 1” foam finger with dreads on it.
I still have a hard time finding a real identity behind the polished and professional Syesha Mercado but she is amazingly good at imitating the likes of Alicia Keys and Rihanna. And I managed to get the best photo of the night despite how far away I was from the stage (about 30 rows back on the side).
David Archuleta received screams almost as loud as those I heard for the Jonas Brothers a few months back. He sounded amazingly good as always and acted as if he’d never heard such feedback before. I don’t even think it’s an act. It’s just Archie. And he has this nervous tick of saying “hah!” every time he paused between thoughts.
The winner David Cook came on finessing both “Billie Jean” and “Hello” into grunge-like Cook masterpieces just like on the show. And he managed to make both his coronation song “Time of My Life” and the execrable Aerosmith song “And I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” palatable. He also brought out a video camera and taped the crowd, a sweet souvenir. He still comes across as a less arrogant, more supple Daughtry and that’s why he deserved to be the winner. Folks closer up said he does like to wear a lot of eye liner along the lines of Dava Navarro:
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