Archive for January, 2007

Update: Added Screencaps  

The San Antonio audition was originally scheduled for tonight.   My DVR video, in fact,  is labeled “San Antonio”.   A last minute switcheroo by TPTB has San Antonio, TX  closing out the auditions next Tuesday.

Tonight, it’s all about Los Angeles.   The initial audition cattle call took place in the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena.   A camera pans a massive crowd as LA native Katharine McPhee singing “Over The Rainbow” is played in the background.   How ’bout those Open Toes?

Olivia Newton John is tonight’s guest judge. The  video  intro on  Olivia features a montage of truly bad 80’s haircuts.  She tells everyone they do a good job, even when they suck.   Why are there guest judges again?

Paula Abdul looks all chipper, dressed in yellow.   On with the show… Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday Jan 31

Update: Added Screencaps  

Ryan starts off the show by  claiming that  ”some people call Birmingham Idol Country.”   Me? I call it the Pittsburgh of the South.   Ahem.   Anyway. Birmingham has produced  two Idol winners-Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks, a runner-up, Bo Bice, and  Diana DeGarmo–who was born in Birmingham, but did not grow up there.

So, it was about time, I suppose, that American Idol held their auditions in Birmingham.   You know, make  it easy so  the eventual winners  don’t have to do all  that travelling.   Heh.

The Birmingham episode was blissfully light on completely horrid auditions and featured some very talented contestants.   I hope the worst is behind us.

Sweet Home Alabama…. Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday Jan 30

Katharine McPhee’s debut CD finally drops today. She appeared last night on The Tonight Show to perform her new single “Over It”. Watch it here:

You can listen to Katharine’s album at her AOL listening party here.

Katharine is scheduled to appear on all the talk shows this week promoting her album. On Thursday, she plays herself in the TV show “Ugly Betty”. To see a list of Katharine’s upcoming appearances, check out the Idol Appearances page.

So little time, so many contestants…

Sundance Head – Check out Sundance’s dad, Roy Head, singing his fabulous hit “Treat Her Right” back in 1965.   Here he is swinging with some groovy go-go dancers on Shindig  and check out his dance moves here.   Roy was a blue-eyed James Brown.   This Houston Chronicle  story hints that Sundance may have gone deep into the competition…

On Feb. 3 Roy will headline the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame ceremony, but right now he’s mostly fielding questions about his son.

“I got 6,850 phone calls last night,” he said Wednesday, chuckling. “I spent two hours just answering them. Then they started again at 6 o’clock this morning. I said, God, don’t you know I’m a musician, too? That’s early.”

Idol typically keeps things under wraps, but Roy said his son feels good about his prospects.

“He called from California last night, crying through the telephone. He said to my wife, ‘Mama I might’ve made it.’ “

The Brits are getting a slightly different version of Idol than we are here in the States.   Tom Lowe, a Brit who is living in Boston, auditioned in Seattle, but his audition was featured only in the British version of Idol.   You can check Tom out here.   He was part of a British Boy band called North and South.   Tom attended Harvard and has done some film work, rather controversially, for Tourism Massachusetts

Here’s an interesting story on the “Amish” guy Troy Benaham who auditioned in Minneapolis. According to this  story, Troy is actually Mennonite.   There is a big difference between the Amish and the Mennonites.   Mennonites have electricity, watch TV and drive cars.   Ok?   In fact, Troy has a cell phone.   So, there you go.

One of my favorite contestants so far is Melissa Doolittle, the shy backup singer with the incredible voice.   Melissa auditioned in Memphis TN.   Check out this article. An administrator at Belmont college, where Melissa studied had this to say about her:

“She just has an amazing voice and, beyond that, she is an incredible person,” he said. “What you saw on the show with her seeming to not be a pushy person, that is exactly her. She is a very service-oriented person. What they don’t see is when she gets on stage, she commands the audience.”

When I reviewed  Sean Michel’s  audition in my Memphis recap, I said  there  was probably a backstory we haven’t heard yet.   Sean is the contestant with the long beard and even longer hair who sang Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.”   Sean does have a story, and you can read it on his MySpace.   He’s a devout Christian singer/songwriter who has already released an indie album. You can also listen to snippets of his music there.

Ottawa, Canada native Jory Steinberg lives in Santa Monica now, where she’s been pursing a musical career.   Jory sang “Chains” at her New York audition with incredible range and pitch.   You can read about her here.   In Canada, she was considered the “Next Alanis” and had a 7 record deal with Canadian producer and Idol regular, David Foster.   Her deal fell through before her first record was released.

“Best Friends” Amanda Coluccio and  Antonella Barba who auditioned in New York are featured in this article.   The judges favored Antonella over Amanda although both were advanced to Hollywood.  Ãƒâ€š  

“You couldn’t ask for better students or best friends,” Coppola said. “They were joined at the hip . . . best friends to the end.”

Expect some tears between these two during the Hollywood rounds…

Here’s what Jenry Bejarano had to say  about auditioning in front of Paula:

“For Paula, obviously, I dressed nice. Dress as comfortably as I can, try to look sexy for the girl. You know what I’m saying?” Bejarano said.

Jenry is the handsome 16 year old singer from New Jersey who swept Paula off her feet at the New York auditions with his rendition of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d  Give  Anything to Fall in Loveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ .   Paula and the boys…watch out.

Finally, Kia Thorton wowed the judges in New York with her rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way”.   Like Jory Steinberg and Tom Lowe, she is no newcomer to showbuisiness:

She was still in her teens when “Lately,” a single she cut while a member of the R&B trio Divine, peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1998. A second single, a cover of George Michael’s “One More Try” made it to No. 29 a year later. The group toured internationally, supporting ‘N Sync and Britney Spears, Thornton said.

Kia spills the beans in this article.   She did not advance past the Hollywood Rounds.

Monday Jan 29

Sunday Jan 28

Thumbprints (click on the pic) captured from the Memphis and New York auditions of those contestants who made the Hollywood cut. Click on the jump to check out the pictures: Read the rest of this entry »

I just updated the Idol Appearances  page.   If you know of an Idol Appearance that’s not listed, please contact me at mjsbigblog@gmail.com.

A bit of news on some of your favorite Idols….

This just in….one of the J’s–that’s Jeremy Brady the 2nd guitarist and youngest member of DAUGHTRY–has left the band.   According to Chris’s latest video blog, Jeremy is “gracefully bowing out of the band.”   Chris says they will miss him a lot, and that there are no hard feelings, but  Jeremy feels this isn’t the, “right thing to be doing at this time in his life.”   Chris is currently looking  for a replacement.   He better be–the DAUGHTRY tour starts tomorrow.   It looks like the band will be scrambling to replace Jeremy.

Being the cynic that I am, I tend to take “official”  announcements with a grain salt.   Maybe Jeremy  left for the exact reasons stated, but then again, maybe not.   Unless some juicy rumors surface, we’ll  probably never know.

Katharine McPhee’s debut album drops on Tuesday, January 30.   It’s streaming online now at AOL here  if you’d like to take a listen. Katharine describes the album as “rhythm pop”.   I haven’t had a minute to listen to the CD myself yet–I’ll let you know what I think on Tuesday.

A bit more news on Elliott Yamin’s brand-new record deal.   According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Elliott, “has signed with independent Hickory Records and also inked a deal with RED Distribution, which will help promote the album along with Sony/ATV, with whom he has a publishing contract.”   The first single, “Movin On”, is expected to be available  online  by Feb. 13.

Justin Guarini has a new gig.   He’s joined the TV Guide channel’s Idol Tonight as an on-air commentator.  Ãƒâ€š  Check your local listings for channel.   When the Top 12 starts airing in March, Idol Tonight will air a live pre-show on Tuesday before the performance episodes.

Jennifer Hudson was ABC News “Person of the Week”.   You can watch her interview here.

Bucky Covington announced in a recent interview  with Larry King that he’ll be appearing at the Grand Ole Opry in on Friday, March 9.   The Idol themed episode of Larry King Live will be repeated Sunday night at 9 pm for those of you who missed it.   It features Bucky Covington, Ace Young, Kimberly Caldwell, William Hung and others talking about their Idol experiences.

There are more and more Idol bloggers online as the show becomes bigger than ever.   Ex-idols are even joining the fray.   Jon Peter Lewis, one of my fav Idols, is blogging the current season for AOL’s TV Squad  blog.   You can catch up with his musings here.   Rather than comment on each contestant, JPL is relating his own Idol experiences as he watches the show.   Check this out from his New York recap,

I waited in line outside the Aloha Stadium in Honolulu for a couple of days, alongside thousands of people singing their lungs out, trying to prove to anyone who would listen that they were the next American Idol. Sometimes I get so caught up in the who’s who and what’s what of it all that I forget I was actually a part of it. I know what it feels like to stand in front of Paula, Randy and Simon, waiting for them to give you the thumbs up or down. It pretty much sucks. It’s probably the same feeling as hanging your balls out the window. I’ve never done that one before, though, so I don’t know.

Every second of every day during that whole week, just thinking of Idol made me feel cold, clammy and numb with nerves. I knew that at any moment I could be sent back to Idaho with a lot less money than when I started. Plus, I was looking at that audition as the one thing I’d do in life to say I gave the music business a shot. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t gotten a golden ticket — well, a yellowish piece of paper — to Hollywood I would have gone home looking for a nine to five and I knew I’d wake up 40 years later wondering where all the time had gone. Yeah, you could say there was a lot of pressure.

So, when I’m sitting at ease at home, eating lasagna on my Beatles Candlestick Park TV tray and wonder why people like Nakia Claiborne break down and say “I wish I could change their mind,” it’s easy for me to understand. These are their dreams, man. Still, if you’re not good, someone’s gonna tell you sometime. It’s just painful to watch.

He’s off to a good start, I think.   Oh, and it looks like Mikalah Gordon  is blogging Idol too…

Saturday Jan 27

Here’s a ratings update from the Hollywood Reporter.

On Tuesday:

The first regular hourlong edition of “Idol,” following last week’s blockbuster four-hour premiere, drew some 32.6 million viewers and 13.3 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic (share data was not immediately available), according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research. Fox was quick to note that last night’s “Idol” was up 7% in the demo and 8% in total viewers compared to the comparable episode that ran last year on the night of the state of the union address.

Nothing else was remotely competitive with “Idol” in the 8 p.m. hour. Even CBS’ drama “NCIS” (14.3 million, 3.3/8), which stood tall in the face of “Idol’s” Tuesday premiere last week, took a dive compared to its season averages.

On Wednesday:

  ”American Idol” demolished everything in sight again in primetime on Wednesday with a two-hour edition that peaked at 36.9 million viewers in the 9 p.m. hour.

“Idol” opened up the night for Fox at 8 p.m. with 27.7 million viewers and 11.1 rating/30 share in the adults 18-49 demographic. By 9 pm., viewership had climbed to 36.9 million and 15.5/37 in the demo.

“Idol” surpassed the combined ratings of ABC, CBS, NBC and CW Network in both the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. hours. CBS’ “Armed and Famous” (4.7 million, 1.4/4) couldn’t get arrested at 8 p.m. NBC’s “Fright Night Lights” (6 million, 1.9/5) and ABC’s combo of “George Lopez” (6.1 million, 1.9/5) and “According to Jim” (6.2 million, 2.1/5) weren’t much better off, though CW’s “Beauty and the Geek” (3.1 million, 1.3/3) held up well, relatively speaking by CW standards.

  View this week’s Idol Billboard chart here.

• Idol related CD’s occupy the #1 and #2 spots on the Billboard 200 this week.
• Chris Daughtry’s “DAUGHTRY” is the #1 album this week on the Billboard 200.   It’s also #1 on the Rock Chart and the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart.   According to Billboard, “DAUGHTRY”, “debuted at No. 2 in November and has not been lower than No. 11 since. Sales increased 30% over last week, likely due to last week’s premiere of the new season of Idol and the continued strong performance of the single “It’s Not Over” on the top 40 and Hot AC charts.”
• “Dreamgirls”, featuring Jennifer Hudson,  drops to the #2 spot on the Billboard 200.
• However, according to Billboard, it was another “dire” week in music retail, ” …the third in a row that the No. 1 Billboard 200 album has shifted less than 100,000 copies. The last time this happened was in May and June of 1991, shortly after Billboard began using SoundScan sales data on the chart.”
• Kellie Pickler’s appearance as guest host on The View last week gave her numbers a nice bounce.   “Small Town Girl” jumped from #83 to #51 on the Billboard 200, and #13 to #8 on the Country Album Chart.
• Kimberly Locke has a new single,  ”Change”.   You can check it out on her  MySpace.   “Change” debuts at #25 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.
• Clay Aiken’s single “A Thousand Days” debuts at #29 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.
• Bucky Covington’s single, “A Different World” moves 10 spots on the Country Singles Chart, from #57 to #47.

For more Chart news, check out Donna Reynold’s Chart Watch  on Foxesonidol.com.   Ken Barnes at USA Today’s Idol Chatter blog runs the numbers here.

Friday Jan 26

Thursday Jan 25