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5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While everyone is anticipating the long-awaited David vs. David finale, let’s give Syesha some due and weight each person’s strengths and weaknesses as we enter the home stretch of season seven:
David Cook
Four-word description: Daughtry, with more soul
Strengths: He brings growly sincerity and manly confidence to all his work. He can take a seemingly shallow pop song and shape it in a way that gives it a real depth. He’s comfortable on stage. And he doesn’t seem arrogant in an offputting way, like Daughtry did at times season five. Vocally, he seldom misses a note. He could be packaged quite successful in the rock-pop realm.
Weaknesses: He’s not the best-looking dude on earth and when he tried to pull off a Simon LeBon-like sexiness last week, it didn’t really work. And his fallback position is to ape that grunge-lite Nickelback sound, which can be a bit repetitive and tiresome in large doses.
Odds of winning: 3-2
David Archuleta
Three-word description: Donny Osmond redux
Strengths: He has a pliable, comforting voice that can warm the soul when properly engaged. He’s got puppy-dog good looks, appealing to 13 year olds and their moms. He can take on a ballad with surprising depth, especially if it has some sort of social message. He possesses a real heart. And he could do quite well in a Josh Grobin sort of way.
Weaknesses: He is only 17 and seems like he’s 13. His lack of maturity means it’s hard to predict where he’ll land in 10 or 20 years. He seems uncomfortable with anything with an edge and doesn’t seem to know how to apply himself on stage when it comes to moving more than two or three inches to his left or right. (Jordin Sparks had the same movement problem last year.) Guys don’t generally seem to find him all that interesting, but they aren’t the primary voters either.
Odds of winning 5-4
Syesha Mercado
Two-word description: Broadway bound
Strengths: She clearly has great acting ability, able to take on different genres with verve and a take-no-prisoners raison d’etre. Her vocals are always solid, if not distinctive or spectacular. She’s pretty, though not in an intimidating way.
Weaknesses: She always seems like she’s acting. If she has a “real” core to her, it’s sometimes hard to see. She is not a pure pop singer, lacking a top 40 sensibility.
Odds of winning: 20-1
I have to meet some friends for dinner but will add some extra “Idol” news later.
In the meantime, here’s MJ’s video of Jason Castro performing “Daydream” on “Ellen DeGeneres”:
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5/12: Hometown visits, Archuleta’s dad banned!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I remember when Fox did this for Diana DeGarmo four years ago in Snellville. It’s a highly orchestrated hometown visit for the final three. Here’s a summary of their trips.
-Murray, Utah. greeted David Archuleta at his high school and at a mall, where 2,000 showed up. The governor named it “David Archuleta Day.” He sang the National Anthem at the NBA playoff game though ESPN wasn’t allowed to air it because of some sort of exclusivity deal with Fox. An AT&T rep claims Archuleta drew more than comparable events for Syesha and Cook, though blog commentators in K.C. say Cook didn’t do anything specific for AT&T and brought in 10,000 people at a high school stadium. DJSlim has video of his anthem and Syesha’s, too.
-Syesha Mercado hung out in Bradenton, Fla., doing a concert at the riverfront where she sang “Proud Mary,” visiting her elementary and high school (which is in Sarasota) and singing the anthem at a Rays game. This Tampa blogger captured the scene quite nicely.. She also attended Florida International University. This Miami Herald piece claims she’s the first Floridian to make the top 3, which I’m sure makes Vonzell Solomon (top 3, season four) feel great! The story noted that Randy Jackson wants her to sing Alicia Keys’ “I Ain’t Got You”on Tuesday as the judge’s choice. And yes, Manatee County proclaimed it “Syesha Mercado Day.”
-In Kansas City, David Cook sang “Living on a Prayer” and “Always Be My Baby” at the Power & Light District and later sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the Royals. (Thanks Tricia for the info) He leaked to the Fox 4 Morning show that he will be singing Atlanta-based Collective Soul’s “The World I Know” this Tuesday. The judges want him to sing (huh?) “First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack. How about that for strange? And yes, of course, he got to have his own “David Cook” day. Of course!
-And how about this for juicy gossip? TMZ and Associated Press both say David Archuleta’s dad Jeff was booted from the show for being a pain in the patootie. Apparently, he had insisted Archuleta add a line from Sean Kingston’s song “Beautiful Girls” into “Stand By Me,” which producers nixed. Archuleta did it anyway. It caused problems with the song’s publisher and cost “Idol” money, TMZ claims. Jeff has been nixed from the backstage although technically Archuleta is a minor and needs a guardian. I wonder how the legalities of this will play out and will Archuleta be better without his dad breathing down his neck while he rehearses with the band and vocal coach? Jeff will be able to sit in the audience, lucky guy. I heard later that Jeff is only technically banned from rehearsals and song consultations.
-For the first time since the beginning of the top 24, David Archuleta is not longer the gamblers’ presumptive favorite. Cook is now slightly ahead.
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5/9: Should “Idol” skew younger?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Simon Cowell generally hates precocious young teen singers, though he has been fairly kind to David Archuleta. But he told Extra that going younger may be the way to go, especially on a show that is losing younger viewers.
“All these shows, including Idol, in the future are going to have to go younger. We’re going to have to drop the age from 16 to 14 soon.”
Do you agree? I’m not too psyched about the idea. Younger kids don’t tend to know who they are yet and that can be a handicap.
Remember “American Juniors”?
In other “Idol” news:
-Some “Idol” reject from season three who compared himself to Clay Aiken was arrested for soliciting sex with 10 year olds,. I think I blocked this dude out of my brain.
-Carmen Rasmussen from season two thinks that David Archuleta is still the fav to win it all.
-Today is the day each of the top 3 is getting the hometown treatment. I’ll post some of what happened over the weekend.
-Some fans of Jason Castro didn’t believe he said he wanted to go home to Entertainment Weekly. Well, he admit he said it to her in a follow up interview. and he was just frustrated at the time.
-Sacre bleu! A hometown writer in Salt Lake City dares to critique the hometown teen contestant in the form of David Archuleta!. Been there, done that!
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5/8: Jason Castro exit interview: “I’m a chronic yawner.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In today’s press conference, Jason Castro proved he could say full sentences and denied he was tanking on purpose.
He also said the yawning he did on camera was not an indication of ennui toward the show, that people who noticed thought it was funny. “I am a chronic yawner,” he said.
I asked him specifically if he said “Don’t vote” Tuesday night.
“I was trying to emphasize ‘Vote,’ ” by saying it twice, he said. “Nobody heard me. I sat down and was thinking about it. It had the same syllable. [Don’t and vote.] [The second time,] I consciously went and said ‘vote’ once.”
On Simon saying he forgot his words on purpose. “I did not do that on purpose. I can’t believe I forgot such a popular line [during ‘Mr. Tambourine Man.’] THat’s writtong on your soul. It somehow slipped my mind.”
Insisting he wanted to win: “I still wanted to win. I think it came down to my inexperience. Once we doubled on songs, I couldn’t focus. My mind was just split. I couldn’t deliver either [song.]” Later he added. “I was doing my best.” He said when he said he wanted out to “Entertainment Weekly” a couple weeks ago, “A lot was going on that morning. I don’t know. That kind of came across wrong. People were kind of thinking I didn’t want to be there. That was never my mindset.”
How much experience does he have: “I started playing guitar freshman year and singing soon after. I’d learn songs but never all the way through. So trying to do two was tough.” [Longest set he’s ever done: 30 minutes.]
Songs he couldn’t get cleared: As we know, he said “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley didn’t get aired because Danger Mouse nixed clearance after he had already performed it. He also almost got “Santeria” by Sublime cleared, then it wasn’t.
Why so mellow? “I’m grounded. Nothing comes as a surprise to me, but, um, I don’t know. I am like that. I’m not always so calm. I am kind of goofy. Some don’t see my hyperness. I still have fun. I am pretty relaxed about everything.”
Doing two songs: “I was losing that power. I couldn’t connect with the songs in the given time. I wasn’t committed to either one. I couldn’t fall in love with them.”
HIs speaking skills: “I’m an awkward conversationalist. I’m trying my best now! What you see is what you get. I didn’t change at all coming here.”
HIs singing and performance skills: “I’m as raw as it gets.”
On Paula’s snafu last week: “That was kind of funny. I was confused… I don’t think it affected my performance [of his second song.]”
Was he relieved by his departure: “It was my natural reaction. I felt relieved. The pressure was off. I loved my time on there. I would have liked to have gone farther.”
Watching “Idol” in past years: He vaguely remembers watching it one season in college.
On Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” doing so well after he sang it: “I realized the power of ‘American Idol.’ It was such an honor. Cool. People hadn’t heard it. Now they have.”
What he wanted to sing next week: “Blue Eyes” by the Carey Brothers, from the “Garden State” soundtrack. (see below)
In other “Idol” news:
-DJSlim has what is a song by Jennifer Hudson called “All Dressed Up In Love.” I really like it but it sounds very ’60s, very old school, not modern at all. I have no clue where he got it from or whether it will be on her upcoming album.
-Reports are that Jordin Sparks is back to work, her voice recovered.
-Jon Peter Lewis from season three is going to be on “Good Day Atlanta” on WAGA-TV next Thursday, May 15. I can’t say he was going to be a star, but he seemed like a nice pen salesman. I’m not sure if he’s selling pens right now but that was Simon’s prediction for him.
-Q100 had Randy Jackson, Kat McPhee and Elliott Yamin on the phone this morning at the same time. McPhee said she was thinking of throwing in the towel earliy on and both said the show was extremely stressful. She felt she got worse as she went along. McPhee had Kellie Pickler at her wedding. Randy placed Kat and Elliott on his album. The trio are promoting the song “Real Love.”
-Phil Stacey’s self-titled new album opened at No. 43 with 13,000 copies sold, which is about what I would have expected. That’s comparable to Josh Gracin’s second CD, which opened a few weeks ago at 18,000. Stacey’s single “If You Didn’t Love Me” is at No. 28 on the country charts in its 15th week while Gracin’s “We Weren’t Crazy” is at No. 22 in its 29th week, according to Radio & Records. Last year, Bucky sold 61K in his first week.
-Jordin Sparks passed Taylor Hicks with 19K more sold and has 717K total. She’s now the fifth highest selling “Idol” winner, only behind Taylor. She’s now selling far more downloads—more than 3 million. Daughtry is at 4.02 million with 17K more sold. Carrie’s latest is at 2.06 mil with 14K sold while “Some Hearts” moves another 9K and is at 6.4 mil. These numbers all courtesy of Idol Chatter.
-For Clay Aiken’s “On My Way Here,” first-week sales, as projected by Hits Daily Double,, based on first-day sales is 80,000 to 85,000. That’s down from 205,000 for his last release “A Thousand Different Ways” in 2006, 270,000 for his Christmas CD in 2004 and 612,000 copies of his very first CD right after he came in second to Ruben Studdard in 2003.
And according to Georgia Claymate prez, Jenna McBride, this is what I missed Monday night at Manuel’s while I was trying to find my camera (to no avail):
*We had about 25 or so there last night. Most of the Georgia Claymates were in NYC for Clay’s last performance in Spamalot and some stayed over to attend the NYC CD Release Party and some stayed over for the CD signing today at Virgin Megastore in NYC. We had two girls who had literally just flown in for the party last night and came straight from the airport. It was an awesome party. And we especially enjoyed having my friend Jason there who came and played and sang. I think that Jason said that he knows you. His name is Jason Bowen. He is a singer/song writer for Sony/AVT or ATV (one or the other). Sony has changed so many names recently with so many different departments it’s hard to keep up.
Jason has been writing songs for Sony for about 12 years and he just happens to be friends also with Ryan Tedder, the guy who wrote the lead song on Clay’s new CD, “On My Way Here”. Of course Jason sang it for us last night and did a magnificent job. He and Ryan have co-written songs before and he sang one of them last night also. It was awesome too. And another song that he sang last night was one that he wrote that Sony has sent to Kelly Clarkson for consideration. Jason also sang a couple of other songs that Clay has recorded. Hopefully Jason will be able to write some for Clay some day and since their voices and style are somewhat similar, I would love it if he could sing backup for Clay also. Jason has toured with Barry Manilow as a backup singer.
Here are a couple of reviews for the new Clay Aiken CD:
The Daily News gave him one star.
The music Aiken’s writers matched to such hoary bromides continues the singer’s established love for the kind of power ballads that died in the mid-’80s. In this world, the band Mr. Mister still rules; Rick Springfield remains a pop player.
At least such warm-milk pop suits Aiken’s creamy tone. More than ever, he sounds like Boy George, only not so butch.
Here’s the Baltimore Sun, somewhat kinder:
As much as his record company would want him to be, Aiken isn’t a crossover pop star. He’s a male Celine Dion, a nerdier Michael Bublé, a new-millennium Barry Manilow, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The sooner he embraces that, the better his albums will sound. With “On the Way Here,” he’s not quite there.
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5/7: Whoa! Jason is (finally) gone! Idol top 4 elimination show, slipping ratings
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Has anybody been more relieved to be leaving “Idol”? Probably not!
Jason Castro is finally able to grab a beer, relax and go home. Phew!
The farewell video is amusing because it shows him dancing with that happy Asian dude during auditions singing “Since U Been Gone.” He is truly a goofball, a sweet kid. And he left us a couple of great performances (“Over the Rainbow,” “Hallelujah”) and as Paula says, a real person and a wonderful Jack Johnson surfer dude vibe.
But in recent weeks, he’s either become overwhelmed or tired or both because he clearly wasn’t able to deal with the workload. Two songs in one week? Whoa! That’s too much to memorize!
“Three songs next week. I don’t know what I would have done!” he said.
For only the second time, I correctly predicted the person leaving. (Ramiele is the other one.) But if you look at my original top 12 eight weeks ago, this is the third person I nabbed correctly back then (Michael, Carly, now Jason.). My top 3 at that time was 1) David Archuleta 2) David Cook and 3) Syesha Mercado. I’m most proud of the fact I had faith in Syesha to make it this far. It’s far more fun than noting that I thought David Hernandez would finish in the top 5!
Anyway, the first 54 minutes was the usual filler.
By 9:24 p.m., we know the two Davids are safe, of course. No shocker forthcoming. Thank God. That meant 30 more minutes to wait for the answer between Syesha and Jason.
In case you fastfowarded the first portion of the show or simply skipped it, Ryan noted that there were 51 million votes and the top 3 were all within 1 million votes of each other. That means they each got probably around 13 to 15 million each assuming Jason only got 6 to 8 million votes. We shall see.
The group sing was “Reelin’ in the Years.” Carly Smithson was in the audience again. “Idols Live” tickets go on sale May 17 with a stop at Gwinnett Arena August 18. The top 3 go to their hometowns. The Idols were flown to see “Love” in Vegas on a private 737 - with a bed. “Sleeping in the sky. Ooooh… cool,” said the ever articulate Jason.
I skipped most of the Q&A. I doubt I missed anything. Throwing in Maroon 5 was a blatant play to keep the fleeing 12 to 34 year olds to stick around. Bo Bice harkened back to season four.
Some folks think Jason Castro last night was mouthing the words “Don’t vote!” to the camera as Ryan Seacrest was giving out the numbers. I was typing frantically at the time and as usual, not watching. Some think he simply repeated the word “Vote!” Hard to tell. Go to 4:12 or so:
Then again, it’s a moot point. He’s going home. Right? Right? We do not want a Daughtry or Tamyra tonight.
In other “Idol” news:
-Ace Young and Brandon Rogers are making cameos on Bones next Monday May 12 during a singing contest, in which Brennan takes part and sings “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Bones, as Brennan is known, has no clue what “American Idol” is of course.
-Clay fans are having a field day cos he’s popping up on all the talk shows. Here he is on Good Morning America, thanks to the amazing MJ on MJs’ blog:
-And if you really have a lot of time on your hands, Billboard’s Fred Bronson (nice guy!) interviewed the top 10 contestants. The top 4 are featured here..
-[MSNBC reports that Ryan Seacrest might take over for Larry King as early as next year,] based on a couple of anonymous CNN sources. Seacrest already subs in for Larry. Would this be a good idea? If anybody has the time, though, it’s Ryan, that lazy schlub.
_While I’ve been enjoying this season more than last year, the ratings keep on getting worse. Last night was under 22 million compared to 25.5 million a year ago for the same episode. That’s about a 14 percent drop year over year. Alan Sepinwall, a highly respected TV writer for the Star Ledger in New Jersey, picks the show apart here. He hates the themes this year (which arguably haven’t always been so hot), he thinks this the deepest group without “stinkaroos” like Sanjaya but lacking any truly great great stars besides David Cook and he thinks the contestants look miserable and tired. He abhors the Q&A sessions (which have been truly time fillers) and the mosh pit, which isn’t necessarily awful but that hand waving has to go!
And this is a topic I might bring up as a separate blog entry later this week— perhaps “Idol” is packing too much on the contestants so they are truly exhausted? But are things really any tougher than they were season one? I might have to call Debra Byrd. She’d have a good sense of things…
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5/6: Top 4 performance show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s songs that cleared from the 500 most influential songs of the rock era courtesy of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here’s the list for reference.
The Who and Bob Dylan cleared songs, I think, for the first time. And that may have been the first time we heard Bob Marley. The Who should be happy. Not so with Dylan.
Jason Castro should have gone home last week. Can his fans save him tonight after? It will probably be Syesha and Jason in the bottom two, if they even give us a bottom two. I liked his first performance but you can’t mess up lyrics in the final four and expect to skate by again. As Simon says, sorry. (Fortunately, it looks like Jason is in danger, based on dialidol.com. Let’s avoid a Daughtry/Tamyra repeat!)
My rankings:
1-David Cook (“Baba O’Riley” The Who) fifth - The song everyone mistakenly thinks is called “Teenage Wasteland” is a much better pic than Duran Duran for Cook. He, as usual, mellows it out in the opening. He actually misses a note but he’s much more comfortable here. And it begged, begged for a much longer arrangement. I wanted more! Randy: “That’s more like the David Cook I’ve grown to love.” Paula: “I want more David Cook!” Simon: “Welcome back, David Cook!” A/A-minus
2-David Archuleta (“Stand By Me” Ben E. King) Fourth - Remember Josiah Leming, the homeless kid, murder this song during Hollywood round? Well, Archuleta won’t repeat that. This is a your usual earnest song that fits Archuleta’s voice and style. He even throws in a little bit of Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls.” He plays to the teen gals and they love it. Randy: “At least there’s one guy hitting the stage trying to win the whole thing. It was hot!” Paula: “You’re seasoned already.” Simon: “You could have whistled and it would have sounded better than Jason’s song. I thought you struggled a little at the end. But look, in the grand scheme of things, I’ll call that as the best performance so far.” A-minus
3-David Archuleta (“Love Me Tender” Elvis Presley) eighth and the pimp spot! - His first attempt at a romantic ballad. He tries to look smoldering but instead, he just looks like he’s squinting early on. I’m not sure I’m enjoying seeing him that close up. He kind of whispers the high note at the end. Can’t tell if that was accidental or deliberate. It was good, not quite worth a pimp spot. Randy: “Another great performance for you.” Paula: “That was my favorite performances from you. I felt your heart.” Simon: “You didn’t beat the competition tonight. You crushed the competition.” B-plus/A-minus (I noticed he hit that second to last note better in the rehearsal version when they showed it at the end.)
4-Syesha Mercado (“Proud Mary” Tina Turner) Second - This song shows her strengths and her ultimate weaknesss. She’s an actress with solid pipes, a pretty face and great stage presence. But it comes down to authenticity and however good she is, it still feels like play acting. A good act, nonetheless. And she’s about as confident as it gets. She is going for broke. Randy: “You’re showing the heat late in the competition. Very nice. ” Paula: “You look like a star. Magic happens and you made it happen.” Simon: “I’m sorry to put a slight damper on things. I thought it was a bad shrieky version. A bad version of Tina Turner.” B-plus/A-minus
5-*Jason Castro (“I Shot the Sheriff” Bob Marley & the Wailers) *Third - He finally gets to really go reggae to match his dreads. He actually seems to be enjoying this one, as opposed to Neil Diamond. I enjoyed it. It’s his best performance in ages though he didn’t really add much to it in terms of arrangement. Randy: “That was really karaoke Bob Marley.” Paula: “I never saw you perform more to the audience. I wasn’t crazy about the performance or the song.” Simon: “Stand back. That was utterly atrocious. That was a song you do not touch. This was like a first round audition massacre. I don’t know what you’re thinking.” [I don’t agree!] B-plus
6-Syesha Mercado (“A Change Is Gonna Come” Sam Cooke) sixth - It’s reasonably heartfelt but kind of boring. She does successfully hit the money note at the end. Randy: “For me, the first song I loved. I did not love this one as much. I didn’t love the arrangement. I felt you pushed out things that weren’t there. You don’t need to do anything extra. It felt all disconnected. Fell flat for me.” Paula stand and claps. “I want to hug you. How you orchestrated the vocals. Beautiful. Welcome to your dream. This is it, Syesha.” [She starts crying. That’s kinda sweet. And she keeps crying and crying.] Simon: “I have to be fair. I’m going to agree with Paula. I thought Randy got that completely wrong.” [Wow! Didn’t see that comng!] “Before I sang the song, I researched it. Found out why it was written. It came out during the civil rights movement. I feel like I’ve changed a lot.” B
7-David Cook (“Hungry Like the Wolf” - Duran Duran) First up - A bit of an odd choice. Cook has charisma but it’s not like that of Simon Le Bon and this was a rare time when it felt kind of grunge-karaoke. He didn’t add much to the song at all. So it was okay, nothing to remember in a week or two. Randy: “That was just okay for you.” Paula: “You left me with a big appetite.” Simon: “It was good. I know where he’s coming from. It’s a little copycat. Is it good enough to get you through next week, yes.” B
8-Jason Castro (“Mr. Tambourine Man” Bob Dylan/The Byrds) seventh - He goes all folksy and it’s vintage Castro for the first 15 seconds. But then he completely botches it by forgetting the lyrics and fails to fake it by going uh uh uh uh. He recovered afterwards but at this stage, there’s no excuse for that. Randy: “Jason’s not in the zone tonight.” Paula: “It is what it is. At this point in the competition, you’ve solidified your niche.” Simon: “I’d pack your suitcase.” Agreed. C
And I’d like to apologize to the Claymate folks for not making it to the CD release party. The problem: I lost my camera. I arrived at Manuel’s Tavern at about 10 p.m. yesterday and realized my camera had disappeared sometime between work, playing tennis and Manuel’s. I went back to work to try to find it but alas, it was gone. I suspect I dropped it while placing my laptop in my trunk at a parking lot downtown. And I stupidly left no contact info in the camera bag for even an honest person to figure out. So some lucky schmo has my camera and 3GB in photos. If they know anything about “Idol,” they’ll be amused. Fortunately,
Anyway, Clay’s CD “On My Way Here” is out today. And so is Chris Sligh’s “Running Back To You.”
I left a message with Jenn McBride, the organizer of the Claymate party and will update to see how it went.
In other “Idol” news:
-MJ’s Big Blog has Michael Johns and Carly Smithson dueting “One Love” on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. It’s kind of a strange take. Not nearly as good as Bono dueting with Mary J. Blige.
-CMT’s “Gone Country” was renewed and inevitably, another “Idol” finalist is in: season four contestant with the really strange pronunciation skills Mikalah Gordon. I know, I know. I can’t see it either. The others competing: Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Lorenzo Lamas (yes, “Grease”), Irene Cara (“Fame,” “Flashdance”), Chris Kirkpatrick (N Sync), Jermaine Jackson (yes, he is a Jackson), and Sean Young (actress, “No Way Out”). Sounds like a fun crew but I don’t see any of them becoming country stars. It’s in production now and set to premiere in August.
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5/5: Kellie PIckler at Etowah High School
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kellie Pickler did graduate high school. (Really!) But she readily admits: “I’m no role model.”
Dr. Kellie Pickler or attorney Kellie Pickler doesn’t quite sound as apropos as country singer Kellie Pickler. And she’s built an impressive fan base - especially at Etowah High School in Woodstock.
ABOVE: She’s indeed a tiny gal, even compared to me!
And for kicks, Kicks 101.5 and her record label at Sony BMG took an idea that worked in Philadelphia: kids from the high school who sent the most text messages got a free concert from said Pickler.
Etowah High School principal Ron Dunnavant heard from his brother that Etowah a few weeks back was in third place in the contest. So he went on the P.A. system that Monday and told kids to push them to No. 1. He wanted to celebrate a great year in which Etowah was named a “School of Excellence” by the state, one of only four schools this year.
His students did not disappoint. They ended up texting more than 500,000 times, averaged out to 227 per student. Junior Cole Arnold (right), a Pickler fan, contributed 120,000 all by himself by hooking his phone up to automated text messaging software for an entire week. Overall, metro Atlantans sent a whopping 2 millon texts (more than doubling Philly.)
“It’s like American Idol all over again!” she said.
Originally set up as an acoustic set in the gym, the label was so impressed by the response, they drove from Nashville an entire band and set the concert up in the football field for 4,000 Etowah middle and high school students.
With a sea of posters (including “I love Kellie like a stalker” and another shaped like a pickle with her head on it), she sang for 40 minutes, including a couple of new tunes and she even teared up after “I Wonder.” “I feel like I’m singing to my peers,” said Kellie, who graduated in 2004. The cheerleaders presented her an Etowah Eagles football jersey, a megaphone with her name emblazoned on it, plus a yearbook signed by hundreds of students.
Pickler has been running almost nonstop for two years. The sixth place “Idol” finisher was the first one out of the box with a CD before anybody else from the Class of 2006. After the show and the tour, she began promoting her album with a radio tour that led her to a Douglasville mall. She generated three top 20 hits over the next 18 months with almost nonstop touring, including stints opening for Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts. She has sold more than 740,000 albums, more than Taylor Hicks and all the other Class of ‘06ers except Daughtry.
I spoke with her for a few minutes in the media center. (I guess they don’t call them libraries anymore.).
Do you text message?
I’m not a very big phone person. I’m not carrying it around. But I’d rather text than to talk to people on the phone!
Why aren’t you a big phone person?
I’m around people all day long. I like my space where I don’t have to be talking all the time. It’s important to have me time.
What phone do you have?
I have an iPhone. I go through phones like people change their clothes. I probably have had every phone out there. I’ve had four a Blackberry, I had a Pearl I dropped down four flights of stairs. I had a World phone on the USO tour. Pretty much blew that up. And I dropped an iPhone into the commode at a Cheesecake Factory. Luckily, it was before I used the bathroom!
I saw you opening for Rascal Flatts a few months ago and you cried after singing “I Wonder.” (the autobiographical song about her mom, whom she is estranged.) How often does that happen?
Every once in awhile it really hits me. It’s such an emotional song. It’s so personal yet I’m doing it in front of thousands of people. It becomes overwhelming. I can put the microphone down and hear everyone singing the song. You look into the crowd and see a mom holding her child, a little girl. That gets me sometimes.
You handling this whirlwind life okay so far?
It’s just crazy! The whole thing is sort of surreal. It becomes overwhelming constantly on the go. It’s very rare for me to slow down and absorb everything, the whole experience and the atmosphere. Sometimes, after a show, I have to lay down in bed and tell myself to slow down. I’m still adrenalized, still pumped from getting off the stage. I think, ‘Am I really doing this?’ This is what I wanted since I was a little girl.
ABOVE: Yup, she does have to wear red high heels, in tribute to her breakthrough song.
How was the USO tour?
It was amazing. I knew Toby Keith had done it. It was an incredible learning experience, really eye opening. It just makes you appreciate your life. You learn not to take even small things for granted.
What’s your favorite moment with a soldier?
There’s this song on my record, “Small Town Girl.” It’s actually one of the first songs I ever wrote about my hometown [Albermarle, N.C.] I had one soldier say when I sung that, he closed his eyes and it felt like he was back home. That was one of the coolest things someone ever said to me. It motivated me to want to go back.
So are you still getting flak for not knowing your European countries on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?”
I have ot say I’ll have to tell these students to pay attention in class or you’ll look like a dumb*ss on television. But I don’t know anybody but a handful of people who knew that Budapest was the capital of Hungary. A lot of people won’t admit it but I was honest. I say what I think!
Are you touring this summer or working on a new album?
I’m doing both. I’m hitting some fairs and festivals. I’m doing a fair with Kid Rock in South Dakota. Hopefully nobody hits me over the head with a pool stick!
[Someone then said, “Don’t join him in a Waffle House!” Not sure if she got that!]
Finally, what’s on your iPod?
I can’t get mine to work. I’m computer illiterate. I do listen to CDs. I love Dolly Parton and Fergie. I love John Mayer. He’s one of my favorites. Keith, Kenny.
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5/5: Idol cliches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I saw a headline on mjsbigblog about 11 major “Idol” cliches culled from seven seasons.
I decided not to read their cliches and see if I can come up with 11 myself. Feel free to add your own. These are off the top of my head and not in any order:
1-Ryan’s dramatic cold open, with the camera panning each contestant and him saying, “THIS…is… American Idol!”
2-Splitting the final seven into two groups and forcing the seventh to make a decision which one is the eliminated group. They’ve done it at least four years in a row.
3-Simon’s tight black shirts & his fake “sorry” apology when he’s saying something negative and the crowd is booing.
4-Cameras closing in on any surviving contestant crying after someone is eliminated. And if the contestant is crying, the others come on stage to join the person and console him or her (usually her.)
5-Paula’s halting, grammatically challenged, “Up With People” commentary.
6-Dawg, these cliches are hot! They’re da bomb!
7-Starting a ballad by sitting on the steps and gazing into the camera in close up, before pulling back, standing up and doing the “big” note standing up.
8-During auditions, those painfully stupid montages in which they have everybody sing the same song and do it badly.
9-The opening of the audition door and the contestant flashing the yellow piece of paper as relatives and friends leap and jump as if they’ve won the lottery, often with Ryan as collateral damage.
10-The endless archetypes during audition rounds—the country rube, the arrogant woman who talks back to the judges, the dork, the comatose dude, the military person, the gal whose relative just died, the man whose wife is about to have a baby, the little person with the big voice, the ebullient big dude.
11-The mentor enters a room with the contestants and they do a group sing of one of his/her famous songs. Then the mentors hugs the contestants, who express awe.
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5/2: Clay Aiken interview, ratings update, song choice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Those Clay Aiken fans have been waiting for this since I’ve been teasing it. But his first album of originals since 2003, “On My Way Here” comes out Tuesday. (The Claymate crew will be at Manuel’s Tavern, 602 N. HIghland Ave., Atlanta, at 8;30 p.m. Monday for an album release party.)
Clay is definitely the gabby sort. I had a lengthy list of questions to ask him for my 15 minutes, including several from Clay fans I solicited. But I only got in a handful of my own before the publicist said time was up. We spoke on April 23, a couple of weeks before his final “Spamalot” show on Broadway, which is Sunday.
What’s the coolest part about doing “Spamalot”?
This deal was for 18 weeks. I really thought I was going to hate it by now. [He then compared it to school and how the third quarter is such a drag.] I’m in the third quarter. And I’m not miserable! I’m not! I’m enjoying it. This show is funny. It’s a little different every night. It’s always fresh. At the same time, the people I work with are unreal… I was worried they’d hate me. I came off a reality show! I didn’t pay my dues. i didn’t have to audition. But they’ve been warm and inviting. I’ve been thrilled. I’m not going to say I’ll shed a tear, but I’ll miss it a little bit. I’ll miss the people. I’ve made friends I’ll have for a long time.
What was the toughest part of doing Broadway?
Everything has to be precise. You can’t change anything. But the hardest thing for me the first few weeks was not looking into the audience. I’m so used to playing for the audience and looking at them. At concerts, you have a spotlight on you so you can only see the first two rows. In this show, you can see the first 15 to 20 rows. And for me, it takes energy to be another person. I think I’ve gotten it down.
But it was some work to be able to do that. The reason we did this show versus others because it was work. Most other shows were about singing, no dancing, less acdting. This one was so far out in left field. I had to learn a British accent! It took some training to go from a Southern redneck to proper British!
So do you sing much at all?
It’s comedic. The song that I do is actually a patter song. It’s spoken though they changed it in a couple of places so I sing some notes and do my thing. Still, it was a challenge to do. That’s why we chose it. I wanted to expand myself, something people wouldn’t expect. Maybe that’s why I’m not bored. It’s so different!
I saw you at Chastain last summer and yes, you interacted with the crowd a lot.
I’m constantly doing that. I stop the show to talk to people.
I remember you commenting a lot about the bugs flying around.
Forget bugs. In Asheville. N.C., we had bats! Those are rodents with wings! And the moths were so big, one flew down the tops of one of my background singers. We had a bit of fun with that!
Why has it been so long since you did a full album of originals?
The record label latched on to me doing a Christmas album. It kind of made sense. It worked beautifully for whatever reason. The truth is, we ain’t radio people. Clay Aiken and the radio don’t happen as easily as Kelly Clarkson or Chris Daughtry. They wanted me to do an album with songs they could sell on TV. Radio is like an advertisement for your album. They thought they could sell Clay Aiken songs for commercials. So I did mostly covers. It ended up being a product I liked quite a bit though there was some resistance from the fans. They call me the next Barry Manilow but at least he has his own music. I wanted stuff that was mine whether it gets played on the radio or not. We went at this saying, that’s not a priority. I don’t want to think about doing radio friendly songs.
Look-I’m not top 40. I’m not cool enough to be on there. If you walk into a nightclub and they put on Clay Aiken music, I hope they’ll run out.
How about soft rock stations?
The “lite” stations? We might have a shot there. We are trying to do AC [adult contemporary] stations. I spent five years trying to be a politician. That’s stupid. We obviously have sold enough, I’m able to be comfortable to do what we want to do. We’re fortunate to have people come to concerts without airplay. Let’s do what feels right. That’s really all that matters.
Do you think your first single “On My Way Here” can do well on radio?
The label thinks so. We never tried to find a single. We used to try to do that. We tried and tried. Nothing worked. We do things that are good for me, that sounds believable. If you saw the show the last time, I did a bit of “Sexyback.” It was totally a joke, totally tongue in cheek. If I tried to sing those songs sincerely and put it on the radio, that’d be a caricature. I know that. Give me a cool song. I start singing it, it’s not cool anymore.
What’s different about this vs. your first album?
I used to not care about lyrics. I could have sung about watermelons as long as it’s pretty. This is the first time we looked at lyrics. I wanted every single song to connect with me lyrically. Some of them are songs that don’t necessarily connect with me directly but a majority of people will experience.
We produced a very diverse sounding album. If some of these songs were sung by someone else, they might end up on Q100… Lyrically, it’s all connected.
I have time for one more question. I just saw you on ‘American Idol Rewind,’ the week you did “Grease” in that red leather jacket. Good memory or bad?
[He laughed.] That’s the one week I’ve wiped out of my memory completely! I remembered “To Love Somebody.” That was great! The truth is, the little hip thing I did. [He did a hip thrust during “Grease.”]. That’s a really good connection about what we were just talking about. That was not cool.
About the jacket - we always went shopping with a stylist and we had a budget. We can spend so much money each week. I wanted to wear stuff that looked good but not too edgy. I’m not edgy. You can’t make me look like Justin Timberlake. The stylist kept pushing me. That week, I gave in. I bought this red leather jacket. I had never spent money on clothes. I was really cheap. So I had some money stored. I spent $2,000 on that jacket and wore it. It didn’t work.
In other “Idol” news:
-The Tuesday episode, at 25.1 million, was only 6 percent lower than last year. But the results show, at 22.8 million, showed the biggest discrepancy of the season to a comparable episode at 28.8 million a year ago, when Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson were eliminated in the first double elimination since the first season. That’s 21 percent lower than a year earlier. Most years, the results show is about 10 percent lower in ratings than the performance show. That’s kind of understandable. The results show is 55 minutes filler. But last year for reasons I wasn’t ever able to fathom, the results show did better than the performance show most weeks.
-Barack Obama read the top 10 list last night on “The Late Show With David Letterman,’ which were surprising facts about Barack Obama. No. 2? “This has nothing to do with the Top Ten, but what the heck is up with Paula Abdul?”
-Entertainment Weekly got up close and personal last week with “Idol” to watch rehearsals. The focus? Song choice.
”I’ve had people going into fetal positions over song choice,” says vocal coach Debra Byrd. ”The judges say song choice, song choice, song choice constantly, so they’re in agony all week over it.”
The article’s take on Archuleta: his dad is indeed heavily involved. Brooke won the tiebreaker pick-a-name-out-of-a-hat for “I’m a Believer.” They couldn’t condense “Holly Holy” properly to 90 seconds. He got rid of songs with inappropriate lyrics for him and settled on “Sweet Caroline” and the cleverly patriotic pick “America.”
Jason had a brother and friend visit, taking time away from practicing. And when he met with Neil Diamond, as we saw on screen, he didn’t know the song well enough to get constructive criticism. “I’m kind of ready to go home,” Castro said. We could tell!
Syesha struggles over song choice. It’s interesting to read how she agonizes over the choices. Simon says she’s very Broadway. We knew that, too!
When Cook picked “All I Really Need is You,” Byrd said it’s boring but he thought it had a “November Rain” feel to it. Diamond liked him. Simon says “I’d like him to win it.”
Finally, Brooke is having a tough time because songs are either about women or alcohol. She picked “I’m a Believer” over Archuleta in the hat and was still doubtful about it at first though she eventually came around on it, even after Simon dubbed it a “nightmare.”
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5/1: Brooke White exit interview, Kellie Pickler in Cherokee
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
During the exit press conference today, Brooke White was bright, peppy and sweet, everything you’d expect. And she has a knack for spinning cliches but not in a bad way.
On the pressure: “You feel like you’re sinking, then swimming. You realize you’re here, you have to make the best of it. The pressure is so incredibly difficult. I was here to do my best. I was true to my heart. Even with the challenges I faced, I was able to do that.”
On her state of mind: “I’m an emotional girl and I’m passionate. It really came across on stage. I felt very vulnerable every time.” Later, she added: “Tuesday, I felt a resurgence of confidence, a lot of joy and gratitude being in that place… it felt great. And even though I went home, it’s wonderful I left on that note. Simon said [‘I’m a Believer’] was a nightmare but I personally thought it was a great moment… Finding that inner confidence has been a struggle for me. Idol definitely helped me work on that.”
On her own voice: “I didn’t start singing until David Achuleta’s age. I never thought I had a nice voice. It wasn’t pretty. It was this low, raspy thing. I didn’t have big range. I think I was very intimidated by the other singers, especially on ‘American Idol.’ … [What ‘Idol’ taught her was] it’s okay to be different. It’s important to accept it and make the most of it. There are people who appreciate it. You have to go with it.”
On lyrical issues: “I didn’t have problems with lyrics until ‘You Must Love Me.’ [That’s when she started, stopped, then re-started.] Suddenly, it freaked me out. You play head games. When I was singing ‘I Am I Said’ in rehearsals, I felt like ‘palm trees’ wasn’t sticking in my brain.” [So she stuck the word palm on her palm.] She said just the act of doing that helped even though she couldn’t see it while playing the piano. She said it was an added challenge this week to learn two songs vocally, plus the instruments. “It increased the workload a lot,” she said.
On getting to play an instrument: “I didn’t know going into it they would let us to do it. When I found out, I thought, ‘Gosh, this is it. This is the year I needed to do this.’ It’s something I love to do but it’s very difficult.”
On Paula’s snafu “I don’t know exactly what happened with Paula. It’s just a human moment that happened on the show. It’s live. Things change very quickly. They kind of decided to change things in the middle of the show. She got lost in the moment.”
What couldn’t she get cleared: [my question] “I would have loved to have sung Fleetwood Mac or James Taylor.” [Though she did get to do Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend,” which James Taylor turned into a big hit.]
What would she have sung next week for Hall of Fame week? (my question) I hadn’t completely decided. One that I was definitely thinking of was ‘Help Me’ by Joni MItchell.”
Speaking to her idol Carly Simon I spoke with Carly Simon (right) this morning. It was amazing! She was incredibly supportive, very generous with her comments. It really boosted my spirits. It kind of gave me a motivation to keep going in the direction I am. I do relate to her and those singer-songwriters from the ’70s. I connect with what they do. I hope I can make that happen in 2008 in a more modern way.” [Video below, courtesy of MJs Big Blog.]
In other “Idol” news:
-Kellie Pickler will pop into Etowah High School Monday for a private concert. Kicks 101.5 held a contest asking for students at metro area schools to text message their school and her name. In the end, they got more than 2 million texts!
-Sales were slow this week as Jordin Sparks remains the top-selling “Idol’ at No. 20, with 19K sold and 697K total. She will surpass Taylor Hicks (at 701K) this week; in fact, she should be ahead of him in sales now. And she is nearing 3 million in download sales of three singles. Plus, Chris Daughtry has just passed 4 million sold, according to USA Today’s Idol Chatter.. Carrie’s “Carnvial Ride” is at 32, with 15K sold and 2.04 million total while “Some Hearts” moves up to 65, with 8K sold and 6.39 million total. Josh Gracin is the other “Idol” on the Billboard Top 200, at 175, with 3,500 or so sold and 34K total after three weeks. Kellie is at 751K, Kelly’s “Breakaway” at 5.98 mil with two months away from hitting 6 mil; “My December” is at 763K, Bucky is at 339K, Elliot at 506K, Randy at 28K, Bo at 49K, Mandisa, 78K; Fantasia, 512K; Kimberley, 20K; Clay, 525K; Kat, 370K; Ruben, 237K and Constantine, 25K. Paris is being “retired” after several weeks of selling fewer than 100 copies a week. Her final total: 21K.
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I can see the strengths in all the contestants left. I am looking forward to their performances tonight. I watched Ellen yesterday. He confirmed that he said “vote, vote” and not “don’t vote”. She asked if she could... read the full comment by Lara | Comment on 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses Read 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses
At least it’s Idol related, Willie! David Cook’s refusal to allow his brother’s illness to become a ‘sob story’ is more than just a little admirable. I have no doubt that Idol has put some pressure on David about it.... read the full comment by Deirdre | Comment on 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses Read 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses
not a good way to start the day!!!!... read the full comment by Willie the One Eyed Wonder Worm | Comment on 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses Read 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses
And again from mj via an article in the new TV Guide(mj…if my using your material is annoying you, I apologize…please let Rodney know and I will stop. I find that I agree with you more often than not and you write so much better than I do…Also,... read the full comment by Deirdre | Comment on 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses Read 5/13: Top 3 strengths & weaknesses