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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
7/2: America’s Got Talent’s Atlanta auditions finally air
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This third episode of summer’s biggest show on NBC “America’s Got Talent” features auditions in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta. Dallas first. And one of the first promising talents is actually from Georgia: Holly Harden, a country singer from Rockmart. She’s like our local version of “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler.
She’s small town, blonde, cute (though not quite as cute) and just a wee bit dippy. Her singing? Not quite as good as Kellie but she’s got something about her. And her sweater/fur get-up is not flattering. Nonetheless, she has something about her that makes you want to watch. Sharon was not a fan. Piers was all for it. David was on the fence. “She’s got potential,” Piers said. And I agree. She goes through thanks to David and the audience.
Dallas overall had the usual mix of painful and pleasurable. The good including great acrobats, an 11-year-old pianist, Chinese warrior dancers, a whopping 22-person dance troupe and a spot-on 72-year-old Frank Sinatra impersonator.
Chicago gets the middle third of the show. There we get a great brother-sister salsa team, a nauseatingly theatrical, overly chipper singing married couple wearing bright yellow shirts and a truly sickening 7 foot 3 inch self-described “freak” who runs a twisty straw through his nose, then blows fireworks off his chest.
Atlanta gets the final 30 minutes out of two hours, which tells me they didn’t quite get as interesting a crew of folks as the other cities. Shots of the Varsity, the skyline and the lines at Cobb Energy Center, with a James Brown singing in the background. Jerry Springer mentions the world’s largest aquarium the Georgia Peach, and the fact the Hoff grew up here.
They then show shots of folks waiting days earlier at downtown’s AmericasMart, as if the two are happening at the same time. Same trick they do with “American Idol.”
Annoyingly, the show does not identify a person’s city of origin so I have no clue who is from Georgia unless otherwise identified.
First up: 18 year old Alistair McQueen. “I spent years upon years rehearsing. I’m ready!” He is a stripper. Yes, a male stripper. Not gonna do it for this crowd! Sharon doesn’t X him so he is down to his skivvies. “If you’re going to do this thing, you need the right equipment,” Piers said. “You are severely lacking. I commend you for your bravery. I’d pack it in mate— literally.” “You need to eat,” the Hoff said.
Colburn Hartsell is yet another stripper. Michelle and Katie do pole dancing, which just looks painful. “It looked like two donuts attacking each other,” the Hoff said.
The Atlanta group Southern Belles bring back clogging, which made the top 20 season one. They dance to Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and get a huge response from the Cobb Energy Centre crowd. I wrote about these women nearly five years ago. The leader Blake Bartlett was hardworking and very very serious about clogging. A version of the Southern Belles were finalists on ABC Family’s “Dance Fever” in 2003. Interested in clogging at their studio? Check out their Web site.
The most memorable act I got to see live a few months back was Dan Meyer, a sword swallower from Hartsville, Ala. The guy was scary good and he is in all the promos. “I can’t even watch this,” David said. He takes a two foot long sword and literally swallows it. Then he puts three swords in at once. It’s crazy! The Hoff buzzed him, “almost killed him,” Springer said.
“I think the audience would run away,” the Hoff said. “I don’t know if it will sustain the show and do an hour of this.”
“This show is about variety,” Sharon said. “It just amazes me!”
“It’s a very uncomfortable thing to watch,” Piers said.
Here’s a video from YouTube of his work:
The final few minutes feature an autistic nine year old David Militello (city not identified). It left him silent his first three years but then started singing. He sings “Ben,” that Michael Jackson about a love of a pet rat. He’s just okay, not nearly as good as that four year old girl from two weeks ago who sang “Somewhere Out There.” But he gets a standing ovation from the Atlanta crowd. “You sang that really beautifully,” Sharon said. “You just won the hearts of America,” David Hasselhoff said.
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7/1: Steve & Vikki joins B98.5 this morning after 17 years at Star 94
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It only took Vikki Locke five minutes to say it and it cost her $100.
After taking the very first caller at her new gig at B98.5, Locke accidentally uttered “Star 94.”
“I’m going to the Dark Side!” she said, moments after realizing her snafu at 5:05 a.m.
Steve McCoy, her on-air partner with Star 94 for 17 years until November, 2007, chuckled and cued the “Star Wars” music. “Ladies and gentleman,” she said, “I bet $100 any time one of us turns to the Dark Side. It took me five minutes!” (The $100 will go to charity.)
Minutes earlier, McCoy opened the show: “As we were saying before we were so rudely interrupted.” (He told my colleague Rich Eldredge in the print edition today that this was his planned joke and he used it.) Here’s that story.
“It’s the dawn of a brand new day,” he noted. “It’s been like Christmas Day for us.” (He hardly slept last night after eight months off the air.) The show did “Quickies From Vikki” gossip, at 40 minutes after the hour from 5 to 7. During the 5 a.m. hour, they took calls, dubbing it “Alive at Five.” And they thanked Scott Slade over at sister station WSB-AM for making the coffee, something they used to do at Star 94.
And while the team is new (Will Gara remains as producer, Mark Arum continues to do traffic and Jeff Hullinger from WSB-AM now does news), the show sounds very much the same.
CREDIT: Rodney Ho/Staff
After the show, I caught McCoy (above) for a few moments. (Vikki had already been whisked away by sales folks eager to show her off to clients.). “It went remarkably smoothly,” he said. “If we hadn’t said it was the first day, I wonder how many listeners would have noticed.”
Tommy Sullivan, who was part of the morning team for more than a decade at Star 94, came by at 7 a.m. Sullivan was not hired by B98.5 but remains co host at “Atlanta & Company” at WXIA-TV. He will join Steve & Vikki every Thursday at 8 a.m. for an unpaid gig to talk about weekend events. Sullivan’s “Atlanta & Company” co-host and former Dave FM host Holly Firfer also came by.
Ludacris, shamelessly promoting his new restaurant Straits, called in (likely the first time he’s ever been on B98.5). Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Braves veteran pitcher Tom Glavine and McCoy’s neighbor and comic Jeff Foxworthy also checked in to wish them well. “All is right in the world now that you’re back,” Foxworthy said. Ryan Seacrest will be on tomorrow.
While on Star 94, the show aired from 5:30 a.m. to about 9:45 a.m.. At B98.5, they air from 5 a.m. to about 9 a.m. to accommodate the idea that people are out on the road earlier than ever. (The Morning Mess, like the Regular Guys, Frank & Wanda and the Bert Show, all go to 10 a.m., but Giant Brian, Cletus T. Judd and Zack Tyler also end at 9.)
After taking some callers excited about their return, McCoy at 5:17 a.m. said, “We won’t turn this into a lovefest.”
“But we love it!” Locke said.
“We always consider the listeners as family. We love that kind of feeling,” he said. Then he fumbled over the Web site address. (Hey—this is the first hour of the first day!)
According to that B98.5 Web site,, they are using the Chastain Park Amphitheatre Human Regeneration tour for a “return” concert starring Human League, Belinda Carlisle, Naked Eyes, Flock of Seagulls and ABC August 29. Those ’80s nostalgia acts actually preceded the pairing but who’s keeping track? The pair will also be at the Atlanta Pride Festival on Sunday, with Welcome Back Lunches at the different Ray’s restaurants (dates forthcoming.) The site also references a few new elements to the show. “The Ladies Room,” at 8:05 a.m. Wednesdays, will feature women talking about a variety of topics and Robanne’s Style File will include talk about fashion trends.
The Web site bio conveniently omits the name of their predecessor station, Star 94.
At 5:53 a.m., Vikki mocked Steve for going to Italy and then raving about the… gum.
Steve was naturally unapologetic: “I just noticed the flavor lasted for hours! Why can’t we have this in America?”
“You’re strange,” Vikki said.
She also teased Steve’s dedication to radio. “You will die in a radio station - probably this one!”
Vikki noted she “detoxed” on a beach for two months in North Carolina after she left Star 94 in November.
In his offtime, Steve noted at 7 a.m., he became addicted to the videogame “Call of Duty 4” on the Xbox. “I’m very bad at it,” he cracked. “I’m the only one who has been beaten by the French.”
And Steve & Vikki must be thrilled to have day one endorsements from Jim Ellis Audi as well as Airtran.
It appears they are playing four or six songs an hour, about the same as they did at Star 94, compared to 8 to 10 when Kelly & Alpha were on. So for folks who want less talk and more music and enjoy this style of music, well, you have no place to go for now on the FM airwaves.
