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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
10/15: David Archuleta at Star 94’s Jingle Jam December 17 at Gwinnett Arena, 2008 American Music Award nominations, David Cook on Saturday Night Live Nov. 1
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Archie’s Angels are going to be lining up for tix Saturday because David Archuleta will be joining Star 94’s annual Jingle Jam at Gwinnett Arena. Mark the date: December 17. Tix go on sale Saturday at Ticketmaster but you can get seats Thursday by signing up with Star 94 here.
He will be joined by We the Kings, Flyleaf, Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw. Although he’s not the headliner, he is arguably the best known name in the lineup this year and will drive sales the way the Jonas Brothers did last year (although Avril Lavigne was the headliner.)
-Daughtry, Jordin Sparks and Carrie Underwood all received American Music Award nominations this year. Show is set to air November 23 on ABC.
Daughtry was nominated for favorite band, duo or group in the pop/rock category (vs. the Eagles and Coldplay) and favorite artist in the adult contemporary category (vs. Jordin Sparks and the Eagles.) He might have a shot at either one.
Carrie Underwood once again was nominated for best female artist in country, against Taylor Swift and Reba McEntire. (Taylor is hot right now. She could win based on online votes.)
-David Cook is going to appear on “Saturday Night Live” on November 1 (with Ben Affleck), the big one right before the election. Except mondo ratings. Already, “SNL” is up 50 percent over last year, averaging about 10 million viewers. He is the fourth “Idol” to appear on the show after Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. Info confirmed by the Chicago Tribune.
-And MJ found David Cook’s album cover and track listing for his new album set to be released November 18, courtesy of RCA. It’s just $9.99 on Amazon.
01 Declaration
02 Heroes
03 Light On
04 Come Back to Me
05 Life on the Moon
06 Bar-ba-sol
07 Mr. Sensitive
08 Lie
09 I Did It for You
10 Avalanche
11 Permanent
12 A Daily Anthem
BONUS TRACK
The Time Of My Life (yes, the fact it became a top 40 hit at all forced their hand on this one)
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10/14: Sanjaya writing a memoir, Blake Lewis incredibly frank, Jennifer Hudson not so much
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I would have nabbed a Blake Lewis interview if he were coming to Atlanta but his date here on October 20 was cancelled. Nonetheless, the Philly Daily News got some incredibly frank comments from the man. As the reporter noted, he’s the most honest of any contestant I’ve ever seen, short of Chris Sligh.. This is a must read and as MJ noted, he gives some sort of strange comment about Sanjaya at the end that along makes me very very curious indeed. (Indeed, Sanjaya on his MySpace page says he’s writing a memoir because we all need memoirs from 19 year olds.)
I’d still like to talk to him one of these days.
The best part of the interview excerpted here but read the rest.
Q: Did you always feel like an odd man out on the show?
A: [Laughing] They sure treated me like a troublemaker. Early on, when we got to Hollywood, we had this handler … I wanted her fired. She’d come down to the lobby in her pajamas at 10 o’clock at night and scream at me - where had I been, blah, blah. I don’t disrespect anybody, but if I get disrespected, I’m over with you.
I also complained that they didn’t feed us well. The catered food was really gross. The biggest TV show and you’re treating us like cattle? You ought to make people happy who’re making you half a billion a year.
So I’d leave, do my own thing. I brought a skateboard with me and would get away from the bunch. Plus, I didn’t rehearse a lot, and they hated that.
I come from a jazz/hip-hop/electronic/freestyle improvising tradition. I did a one-man-band thing for 10 years before this came along. At rehearsal, I’d stand straight in front of the camera and sing badly. I was holding back for the live show. After three weeks, they finally caught on and let me be.
And I wasn’t a team player. I hung out with the production guys - the lighting and sound guys. Maybe that’s a reason I was successful. I cared about the true people running the show.
-A writer in the U.K. Davina Morris read my blog about Jennifer Hudson’s people refusing to let me ask about her album cover or personal questions and was concerned. But Davina wrote she was “cheery and enthusiastic.”
“I’m confident, so maybe people mistake that for arrogance,” she said. “But I think it’s just a misconception. I find that some people are afraid to approach me. When those people meet me, they seem almost surprised that I’m a nice person!”
But when the reporter even dared broach her weight, she said, “It’s really not an issue. And you know what? When people meet me, they know way better than to come to me and say something crazy like that!”
Ooookay. She sounds defensive, doesn’t she?
Then she said she didn’t know anything about any tampering with the photo of herself on the cover that makes her look a bit slimmer. (This is the first time I’ve even seen the issue addressed. Thank you Davina!)
“If there was,” Hudson told the reporter, “I’m not the photographer. I’m just the person in the picture.”
Hudson is a bit contradictory about talking about her personal life. She has talked about her engagement enthusiastically with several media outlets (remember Leno?) but then chooses not to with others. With this British reporter, who asked about her wedding date, she said, “I don’t discuss that.”
