Archive for September, 2006
Bits and Pieces
Bits and Pieces
According to Elliott Yamin's publicist, Elliott is currently considering some label offers and gearing up for his upcoming concert at the Virginia State Fair. Elliott begins rehearsing with Taylor Hicks' band LiMBO (who will be backing him) on Monday:
Fresh off the “American Idol” tour, Elliott Yamin is ready to get to work after a short pit stop in Richmond.
The “Idol” finalist took a breather in his home town this week to hang out with his mom, Claudette, and is currently pondering offers from two music labels, his publicist told us yesterday. Yamin plans to head to Birmingham, Ala., Monday to rehearse with Taylor Hick s's band, Limbo, who will back the singer during his first post-”Idol” concert at the Virginia State Fair on Oct. 8.
Yamin plans to release an album early next year.
According to this week's Rollingstone magazine–hip-hop producer Nate Hills is working on some tracks for Katharine McPhee's upcoming album, due to be released November 21st:
“Timbalands's Secret Weapon – Meet Nate Hills, the one-man band who helps shape the producer's biggest hits.
For the past three years, Timbaland has had a secret weapon in the studio: Nate Hills, a twenty-five-year-old fellow Virginia Beach native. Hills, a church-trained keyboard player, was working a day job in construction and making beats on the side before Timbaland made him his protege, now partner. ”He's just ridiculously talented,” Justin Timberlake says. Hills' role is often to refine Timbaland's raw ideas, but they also write songs together. For example, Hills came up with the beat for “Promiscuous,” and Timbaland created the hook. Lately, Hills has begun working on his own as a producer and songwriter with acts including Britney Spears, Diddy and Katharine McPhee. His most distinctive style is the spacey synth-rock sound he employed on the Nelly Furtado track “Maneater” – which he also applied to a new song with Duran Duran and an upcoming solo track from the Pussycat Dolls' Nicole Scherzinger. ”I'm just a musical guy,” says Hills, who unlike many hip-hop producers has the chops to jam with live bands. ”So I definitely want to venture into rock and stuff like that – where I can be free.”
It will be interesting to see how The Powers That Be package Katharine as a current pop artist. Nate Hills appears to be a hip-hop producer looking to broaden his appeal. It could be an interesting combination.
thanks to Lisa B, Soma and Idol Maniac
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AI Rewind Premiers this Weekend
AI Rewind Premiers this Weekend
ETA: This week's episode was a general overview of the “American Idol” phenomenon. There was an attempt to analyze why the show is so popular, but the conclusions were nothing new: The show brings families together, allowing viewers to pick who moves on gets them invested in the show, folks love a good trainwreck, etc.
Highlights:
- Footage from all 5 seasons of Idol
- A short interview with Ruben.
- Recaps of the Season 1, 2 and 3's Top Two.
- For some reason I can't fathom, Bo was nowhere to be found. In a montage that featured the top two contestants from all seasons, Bo was absent. However, Top 32 contestant, Frenchie Davis (who was later disqualified over some topless pictures she did for an internet porn sight) was featured prominently.
- Plenty of clips of bad auditioners from all seasons, particularly the earlier seasons.
- I believe Clay Aiken has definitely had his ears pinned. I forgot about those ears! They stuck straight out…
Next week's episode should be more interesting, as the show will begin it's recap of Season 1.
Don't forget, American Idol Rewind premiers this weekend. Check your local listings for times and stations. Season One features highlights from the first season of American Idol. Here's a synopsis of this weekend's debut episode:
What's American Idol's secret to success? In this episode, we hear from celebrity fans and Idol's own Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia Barino, Clay Aiken and Rubin Studdard. Is it the hope that everyone has a star in them just waiting to be brought out? Or is it Simon Cowell and his fountain of truth? Whatever the answer, American Idol is now part of American music and television history!
My local station broadcasts the show Saturdays at 6 pm. I'll post a little recap later.
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Chart Watch
Chart Watch
This week’s Idol sales numbers:
Taylor Hicks:
Do I Make You Proud Week 15: 2064
Do I Make You Proud Total 15 Weeks: 442,399
Sidenote #1: According to Gray Charles  à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Do I Make You Proudà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ was certified Gold on July 13th, one month after it was released. That’s 500,00 physical units sold (the number includes units shipped to retailers).
Katharine McPhee:
Over the Rainbow Week 13: 1665
Over the Rainbow Total 13 Weeks : 137,362
Clay Aiken: (his new album “A Thousand Different Ways” was released last Tuesday. These are the first week's numbers)
A Thousand Different Ways Week 1: 211,234**
A Thousand Different Ways Total: 211,711**
Sidenote #2: According to Donna Reynolds at Foxes on Idols Clay’s first week numbers are substantially lower than “Measure of a Man” (613,000) and “Merry Christmas with Love” (270,000). Of course, sales of physical CDs have trended downward in the last several years due to the popularity of digital downloads.
This week’s Chart Positions:
Chris Daughtry -Â Wanted Dead or Alive: #38 Adult Top 40 (40)*
Kellie Pickler -Â Red High Heels: #46 Hot Country (48)
Taylor Hicks - Do I Make You Proud: #2 Hot 100 Singles Sales (2)
Katharine McPhee - Over the Rainbow: #3 Hot 100 Singles Sales (5)
Clay Aiken – A Thousand Different Ways #2 Billboard Hot 200 (Justin Timberlake held on to his #1 position)
*Numbers in () are last week’s positions
**Revised SoundScan Numbers
thanks kirsten
Upcoming Idol Releases
Here is a really handy at-a-glance guide to upcoming Idol alumni releases. Thanks so much to Idol Maniac who emailed this list to me and Soma (found the list posted on IDF) for posting it in comments.
October 17th:
Ruben Studdard – “The Return”
Ayla Brown – “Forward”
October 24th:
“Happy Feet” Soundtrack (featuring Fantasia)
October 31st:
Kellie Pickler – “Small Town Girl”
Coko – “Grateful” (featuring Fantasia)
Meat Loaf – “Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose” (featuring Jennifer Hudson)
November 7th:
Jon Peter Lewis – “Stories From Hollywood”
Andrea Bocelli – “Under The Desert Sky” (featuring Katharine McPhee)
Dionne Warwick – “Me & My Friends” (featuring Lisa Tucker)
November 21st:
Daughtry – TBA
November 28th
Fantasia – “Young Girl, Old Soul”
Katharine McPhee – TBA
December 5th:
Taylor Hicks – TBA
December 12th:
Baby Boy Da Prince – “Across The Water” (featuring Fantasia)
“Dreamgirls” Soundtrack (featuring Jennifer Hudson)
Also, Ace Young will be releasing his new single “Scattered” to ITunes in the next few days.
News from Ace Young
Ace's My Space friends just recieved the following bulletin:
Tomorrow morning 98 PXY is going to air my single “SCATTERED” for the FIRST TIME nationally!!! This is a song that I wrote and recorded with my boy Elvio and we're going to drop it BIG in his hometown!!!
I'm going to have all the radio stations posted on www.acemusic.com with phone numbers so you can request “SCATTERED” in your hometown. Once it's posted that radio station has a copy and they will all receive it in the next 5 days…
“SCATTERED” will the available for downloading on ITunes in the next few days.
98 PXY broadcasts out of Rochester NY, where Ace's writing partner Elvio is based.
Guess who's back
…back again…GC's back…tell a friend.
Yep, Gray Charles is blogging again. And in this brave, new, post-season-5-Idol world, Gray will be posting regular news updates on Taylor Hicks' career that will come straight from Taylor himself.
It's called keeping the fanbase informed, and in my opinion, it's a Very Good Thing. Because a fanbase kept informed–regularly and consistently–is a HAPPY fanbase. Happy happy. Joy joy. Oh yeah. Puppies, Rainbows and Unicorns for everybody!
Ok, a few tidbits from Taylor via Gray:
- Taylor's single “Do I Make You Proud” has been certified GOLD. Yay Taylor.
- Recording on the upcoming album will happen in both LA and NYC
- Release date for upcoming album–as of now–December 5th.
Ya have to check out the site, though. The updates are so much more than the bulleted items I just presented. They are brought to you in Gray's inimitable style with Taylor's voice laced liberally throughout. Good stuff. Don't miss it.
Season 6 Audition News
While Season 5 completely did away with celebrity guest judges, Season 6 (as in Season 4) will feature a different celebrity guest judge in each audition city. Songwriter Carol Bayer-Sager was featured in NYC, and Jewel in Minneapolis.
Third round auditions in front of judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell continue in Los Angeles and Birmingham this week.
The LA round took place this past Tuesday and featured Olivia Newton John as guest judge.
According to Paula, Los Angeles has had some of the best talent. And Randy agrees, saying they have seen some potential Top 10s and that the girls were stronger than the boys this year.
Has the pimping begun already?
More 3rd round auditions take place in Birmingham, Alabama this coming Friday and Saturday.
Big Business
Want to buy some advertising on next year's American Idol? It will cost you cost you.
A 30-second ad on “American Idol” will cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000 this season, making the show once again the most expensive series on television.
The FOX ratings juggernaut has held that title for three years running now, and it's far and away the priciest show for advertisers. No other show commands even $400,000 for a 30-second spot, according to a survey of agencies who buy ad time conducted by Advertising Age magazine.
The Wednesday “Idol” results show is the more expensive of the singing competition's two weekly installments, commanding an average of $620,000 per 30-second ad (some commercial spots closer the May finale are going for up to $700,000). The Tuesday performance shows are only slightly cheaper at $594,000 per ad.
More Recaps…
I've been so busy the past few days, I haven't had time to post any reader recaps from the weekend Idol shows. Here's what I got:
- Patbscrooges caught a few details I totally missed in my Wilkes Barre recap. For instance–the crew taped Chris's microphone stand down as a joke, and Bucky road a scooter out on stage to hand Chris a bottle of water. Read her detailed recap here.
- I met 3girls (a Chris fan) and her husband at the pre-show get-together. Read her clever recap of the Idols show and LiMBO here.
- Bird attended the Bridgeport CT show Saturday night. Enjoy her descriptive recap here.
- Here's a great recap of the Wilkes Barre show from Buckymania! Enjoy.
- Boomerang's whirlwind tour through New England to attend AI and LiMBO shows ended in Milford CT and Wilkes Barre PA. Read her final recap here.
- Priya saw the Idols in Providence, RI and she loves her some Ace. Read her recap here.
Photos
Kelly, a Kat fan attended five concerts this year: Manchester (both nights), Portland, Syracuse and Wilkes Barre. Check out her photo album here. She had great seats for all the shows, so her shots are good.
Jean sent along some photos from the Asylum LiMBO show. Enjoy.
Bobby Bennett!
And now, for a special treat. MaryR and Boulder Soul attended Bobby Bennett's club appearance in Denver on Sunday. Read Boulder Soul's recap of the concert here.
ETA: MaryR's recap here.
They loved it, by the way. Would go see him again in a heart beat…
If anyone who posted recaps in comments the past few days would like me to post a link to it, please email a copy to me. Ditto for pictures and such…
I'll have some screen caps to post in the next few days.
