Archive for December, 2006
This Week’s Billboard Update
This Week’s Billboard Update
- Taylor Hicks? Chris Daughtry? Uhhh, no. Try Carrie Underwood? Last year’s Idol winner charts 4th this week, after an amazing 58 weeks on the Billboard 200. That girl’s got legs.
- Ruben Studdard drops off the Billboard 200 this week.
- DAUGHTRY stays steady, only dropping one chart position. According to Ken Barnes from USA Today’s Idol Chatter blog, Daughtry’s sales were up nearly 40% this week. And many Kudos and Congratulations to Chris–his CD passed the 1 million mark. That’s Platinum baby. One last thing–Daughtry’s single “It’s Not Over” debuts on the Modern Rock chart. I’m impressed.
- Taylor Hicks drops from #2 to #15 this week. And his sales dropped too–from 298,000 to 202,000. Further drops in sales could be reversed with some radio play. A single is due to be released to radio after the New Year. Meanwhile, the CD has gone gold after two weeks.
- Fantasia’s CD dropped precipitously, from #63 to #19. That’s too bad–it’s a good record.
- Katharine McPhee’s “Over the Rainbow” is #2 this week. The single probably got a nice bounce from her appearance on “Home for the Holidays” last week. Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice’s Coronation single are back on the Single Sales chart this week, at #38 and #39 respectively.
For more chart news, check out Donna Reynolds Idol Chart Watch at Foxes on Idol. To check out my Idol Billboard chart, click on the jump Read the rest of this entry »
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Behold The Power of Cheese
Idols on Disney
I got some video here. Paris Bennett, Mandisa, Kevin Covais (channeling Elliott Yamin who bowed out previously) and Ace Young sing a Christmas medley. The Disney folks got NOTHING on the Idol folk when it comes to pointy poses, let me tell ya…
Wow. This goes way BEYOND cheesy.
OK, you guys have to see this video of Clay Aiken’s appearance on “Days of Our Lives”. It’s particularly hilarious not knowing any of the characters backstories. I’m sure it all means something, but I have no clue. And, why is that guy wearing an eye patch? WTF?
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This Week’s Idol Appearances
This Week’s Idol Appearances
Sunday December 24
- Jon Peter Lewis and Amanda Avila appear at the LA County Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The show is free. The entire 6 hour show begins at 2 pm and will be telecast on KCET TV
Monday December 25
- Merry Christmas!
- Ace Young, Keven Covais, Paris Bennett and Mandisa perform on the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade. It airs at 10 am EST on ABC.
- “Dreamgirls” starring Jennifer Hudson opens in theaters across the country.
Tuesday December 26
- Clay Aiken makes a Guest Appearance on Day of Our Lives. The NBC soap airs at 1 pm EST.
Thursday December 28
- Kimberly Caldwell sings the National Anthem prior to the Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium in Houston, TX. The game starts at 8pm and will be carried by the NFL
Shutting down for the Holiday
Shutting down for the Holiday
Comments will be CLOSED until January 1 while I prepare the blog for a move to new blog software.
On January 1, the blog will be switching over to Wordpress. I’ll have updates on this move throughout the week. I’ll also be posting news throughout the week, but you won’t be able to comment on the items.
Thank you everone for a FANTASTIC year. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Have a GREAT holiday…
More Idol Music
More Idol Music…
Katharine McPhee singing “Over the Rainbow” on tonight’s CBS special, “Home for the Holidays.”
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays
Meghan Mullally had a special holiday show today. Here’s Kimberly Locke singing her holiday hit, “Jingle Bells”.
And Clay Aiken and Megan sing “Silver Bells”
More Idol Record News
More Idol Record News
Life has been good for Bucky Covington. In this interview with the Fayetteville Observer, he talks about his busy life after Idol. In the months since Idol, he’s moved to Nashville, been recording an album Mark Miller from Sawyer Brown, and in the past month, he’s been on the road with the GAC country Christmas tour.
Here’s the really good news–Bucky says that he is just about to sign with a major label. He says it’ll be a done deal within the next two weeks.
Bucky talks about his album, “So far we’re off to a killer start. I’ve had some guys send me some really, really terrific songs. I got some stuff on there that’s just some slow ballad country to some humorous kind of country — just straight driving country — and I’ve got some on there that’s got a lot of rock on it.”
He also mentioned that the label he’s about to sign with payed for the recording sessions, ”The guy knows he wants me, so he went ahead and paid for the recording.”
A single is scheduled to be released in January or February–the album a month or two later. He’s deciding on a single–it’s between two songs, one is hard rocking, the other country.
There’s been buzz about a possible record deal for Elliott Yamin since his mom, Claudette, told a reporter that Elliott would be making an announcement about a recording deal in the coming week. According to an update posted in The Richmond Times-Dispatch yesterday, Elliott is not “quite ready to make an announcement about a record deal…his management confirms they are indeed working on one.” That will be good news to his fans who’ve been waiting for an announcement since the tour ended.
His team expects an album to be released around mid-February.
Also, according to the Dispatch–Elliott is in New York this week recording with producer Mike Mangini (Josh Stone, Bruce Hornsby, David Byrne) and doing a shoot for the TV Guide Channel, due to air mid-January.
On the fun side, according to chatter on the message boards, Elliott attended a Chanukah celebration at the White House on Monday. I’m assuming he was on time. Hee.
Speaking of the Holidays, Elliott recently released a Christmas song to iTunes–a cover of Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”. You can download it here.
And finally, Katharine McPhee has finished recording her album set to be released January 30th–in the midst of the new Idol season. It will be interesting to see how that works out for her. She’s got a double-sided single on sale at Walmart. And her MySpace page features clips of songs from her upcoming album for preview–you can hear a re-mixed version of “Open Toes” there. Remember that song “Milkshake”? It’s kinda like that. The kids will love it. The other songs are more tuneful R&B pop tracks. And I gotta say, this stuff fits right into Top 40 radio. Katharine’s challenge will be standing out from the slew of Top 40 pop-girls out there who already sing this type of music. Check out her album cover. Well, that’s a start. Heh.
Last thing–you can download a Christmas greeting from Katharine’s website. She recites a poem, thanks her fans, and performs “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”. You can download it here,
ETA: Katharine will make an appearance this News Years Day at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena CA. She’ll be singing live from the Life Source Water Systems float. Katharine will be the first performer in the Rose Bowl’s history to sing live rather than lip synch.
Short Bits on Season 6
Short Bits on Season 6
The powers-that-be promise a “big event” mid-way through the upcoming season of American Idol. Says producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz, “If there’s one thing that makes American Idol so big, it’s a huge event…something we’re working on is a big-event show sometime in the middle of the season, something that will blow America away.”
To be honest with you, after 5 seasons, I don’t think anything they could cook up would “blow me away.”
I’m thinkin’ they’re a little nervous that the ratings will drop. Promise a stunt and folks will tune in? If you ask me, it’s all about the kids. If they find a cast of contestants with the right chemistry, they’re golden.
TMZ.com claims to have “exclusively” obtained a script and production schedule for Season 6. Here’s their big Hollywood “scoop”: The kids will be put into singing groups and judged on their performances. Now, that’s a bulletin. Uh huh…
More “scoop”: Contestants were, ”asked to perform various musical numbers, including songs by the Bee Gees, Beach Boys, The Supremes and The Four Tops. OMG Stop the Presses! Heh.
Season 6 premiers with a two-hour audition show Tuesday, January 16 and Wednesday January 17.
Nadia Turner Co-hosts The View
Quick Note
Nadia Turner, 8th place Season 4, will be co-hosting The View today. Nadia was one of my favorites that season, so I’m looking forward to hearing what she’s been up to lately. She’s promoting a movie called “A Taste of Us”. Blogger JD Matthews has posted a trailer here.
