Archive for the 'Mikalah Gordon' Category

PJ’s Rosemont IL Idols Recap

The Idols hit Chicago (err Rosemont) last night and I attended my very last concert of the AI6 tour. Sniff. Sniff. The place was pretty full, but obviously not sold out as I was able to score two floor tickets for $39 off eBay. Granted, I was about 25 rows back, but I had two seats! One for me and one for my bag! My one local friend who admits to watching AI lost interest this season. Last year she made me swear on my dead grandmother’s grave not to tell anyone we went to the AI concert, so I decided it wasn’t worth even trying.

My first stop was the concession stand. Gina’s BF Joe was in line in front of me, purchasing a beer. Hee. Little did I know then what I know now! When I took my seat, I noticed Gina’s mom sitting about ten rows ahead of me. I was hoping Gina would get a lot of hometown love and she did. When her part of the trivia montage came on the big screen, the crowed exploded.

More of PJ’s Idol recap after the jump…

Continue reading ‘PJ’s Rosemont IL Idols Recap’

Related Posts

Concert Stats - July 3, 19, 20, 24, 26
American Idols Tour: Chicago, IL - Gina Glocksen Engaged!
S6 Idol Tour Sales Report - Halfway Mark

American Idol Tour Begins July 6, Sunrise FL

The Idols are rehearsing for their upcoming Tour in Los Angeles right now.  Chris Sligh’s blog reveals a bit about what will be on the tour:

  • Chris says, “The show opener is something that has never been done on the idol tour. I can’t give details quite yet, but I’ll put it this way, we are getting it started in a really hip, cool way…literally nothing like it has ever been done on the tour.”  And, “It’s crazy and stupid, but it gets the show started in a great, great way, and once again it is something never ever done on the AI tour, from what the tour producer says. So, that’s pretty cool. It’s one of the only group numbers that involves the whole group of 10.”
  • The guys are doing a group number, and Chris says, “another thing that has never been done on tour before. “  There’s speculation that the guys will perform together as a band, since all of them play various instruments.  I hope that’s true–it would be cool and something different.
  • More from Chris, “The way the tour works this year is a little different than past years. More on that later, but the solo sets are being done in a different way than before.”

Melinda mentions in an interview, that she’ll duet with several contestants including Sanjaya Malakar and Blake Lewis.

Blake has mentioned in interviews that he’ll be playing guitar and his loop machine when he performs.

Tour sponsor Poptarts will be featuring webisodes from the road, hosted by Season 4’s Mikalah Gordon who says she’ll actually be along on tour  with the rest of the gang. 

Some Rumors: 

  • There will be a Cake duet (that would be Blake Lewis and Chris Richardson).
  • Chris Sligh duets with Gina Glocksen
  • Gina Glocksen duets with Phil Stacey.

Got a rumor?  Post it here.  Also, speculate away on what you think the Idols should, could, would sing on this years tour.

Related Posts

American Idols Tour: Sunrise FL
Summary of First 5 Concerts
Idol Tour Dates Announced
S6 Idol Tour Sales Report - Halfway Mark
American Idol Tour Dates Announced

American Idol Extra Top 11

There were a few celebrities and industry types in the show audience this week. Matt Rogers and Mikalah Gordon interview them:

  • Songwriter Stephen Bishop likes the crying girl.
  • The “crying girl” 13 year old Ashley Ferl is very excited to meet her favorite Idols.
  • Michael Landes & KaDee Strickland from the FOX show “The Wedding Bells.” are impressed with the energy of the live show
  • Singer/producer Brian McKnight is ”surprised they continue to get a high level of talent every year.”
  • Alaina Alexander, in the audience to cheer her buds on, geeked out like she had never been a part of the show.
  • Neicey Nash from Reno 911 thinks “everyone did good”.

Click on the jump to read highlights of interviews with Taylor Hicks, Paris Bennett and Stephanie Edwards. Continue reading ‘American Idol Extra Top 11′

Related Posts

Constantine Maroulis and Gina Glocksen to Co-Host this Season’s American Idol Extra
Fuel Asks Chris Daughtry to be Lead Singer
Clay Aiken on American Idol Extra
Bo Bice and Lakisha Jones on AI Extra - VIDEO
AI Extra Host JD Roberto Dishes on Ramiele Malubay, David Cook, David Archuleta and Idol Gives Back

American Idol Extra Premiers Tonight

Just a reminder:  American Idol Extra premiers on the Fox Reality cable channel at 6:30 pm ET tonight, and is repeated at 10:30. It repeats many times throughout the week.

AI Extra interviews the Idol bootee–tonight that’s Brandon Rogers–moments after they are eliminated. Mikalah Gordon and Matthew Rogers are co-hosts and conduct behind-the-scenes interviews.  Ex-Idols also drop by to be interviewed, or are featured in video clips.

Fox Reality was picked up by my cable company this year, so I’ll be able to watch it, which is very cool.  If you didn’t previously have the channel in your cable line-up, it may have been added recently, as Fox Reality just cut deals with several of the big cable companies.

So…I’ll be back later to report anything interesting from the show. 

Click on the jump to check out the highlights.  The interview with eliminated contestant Brandon Rogers is especially worthwhile. Continue reading ‘American Idol Extra Premiers Tonight’

Related Posts

American Idol Extra Premiers
Fuel Asks Chris Daughtry to be Lead Singer
Last Night’s “Shocking” Boot
Season 6 Premiers January 16
AI Rewind Premiers this Weekend

Idol Update

This Just In: Carrie Underwood will perform on the March 8 results show…

Don’t forget! The Academy Awards are tonight at 8 PM on ABC.  Our girl, Jennifer Hudson is nominated for Best Supporting Actress and is the favorite to win. Jennifer and the other “Dreamgirls” will be performing a song from the film. Beyonce who?

Also, it’s been reported that the Academy has changed things up a bit this year.  Traditionally the best Supporting Actor and Actress awards were presented in the first half-hour of the show. This year, all of the acting awards will be presented later in the evening.

Additionally, Jennifer sat down for an interview with Barbara Walters.  Walter’s Oscar special will be broadcast at 7 pm, right before the Oscar telecast on ABC.

UPDATE:

Check out the Idol Appearances page.  I’m doing my best to keep it accurate and complete.  You can help.  If you know of an Idol appearance or tour not listed, email the info to mjsbigblog@gmail.com.  Thanks.

You can finally download Elliott Yamin’s digital tune “Movin’ On” from iTunes.  Just click here.  According to Elliott’s My Space, his debut album will be available at Target with 2 extra bonus tracks.  Elliott is also set to tape performances for Rehearsals.com and the AT&T Blueroom.  His first single “Wait for You” will be released to radio soon.  Elliott’s album drops March 20.

Katharine McPhee debuted her video for her single “Over It” on TRL.  You can check it out here.  A few weeks before her album dropped she changed management–from John Baruck of azoffmanagement to Guy Oseary.  No word on why she switched horses midstream…

Listen to Ace Young perform a few acoustic tunes at Billboard Underground.

Bo Bice is re-emerging after spending a few months recovering from surgery. He’s setting up a tour, performing acoustic versions of some new music he’s written recently.  You can check out some videos from a recent Nashville gig at Bonafide Bice.

Mandisa guests on tobymac’s latest release ”Portable Sounds”.  She and Kirk Franklin add vocals to the last track on the CD “Lose My Soul.”

Kelly Clarkson recently filmed an episode of CMT Crossroads with Reba McEntire at the Ryman auditorium in Nashville.  The show will premiere in late 2007, coinciding with the release of McEntire’s upcoming duet’s CD, which includes a track with Kelly.

American Idol vocal coach Debra Byrd has a DVD called “Vocal Help Now” due March 5. Kelly Clarkson, Kimberly Caldwell and Anthony Fedorov appear on the video.

Reported earlier but it doesn’t hurt to repeat: Kellie Pickler will appear on this Thursday’s results show to sing her new single “I Wonder”.  A list of upcoming guest stars was announced on last Thursday’s results show, they include, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Jon Bon Jovi, Martina McBride, Diana Ross, Barry Gibb and Lulu and Peter Noone.  Lulu and Peter Noone’s appearance ties into that week’s ”British Invasion” theme.

And, more on the whys and wherefores of the Chris Daughtry penned “Home” being chosen as this year’s boot song.  It just makes sense financially to keep it all in the family, doncha think?

In the Powers That Be Department: Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick have been asked to oversee the 2007 Emmy telecast.  The show will air September 16 on FOX.

Finally, American Extra will be back for a second season on Fox Reality. It premiers on Thursday March 15 at 6:30 pm ET with an encore performance at 10:30 pm ET.  The show has a new host this year, JD Roberto who previously hosted the reality shows Outback Jack and Shop Til You Drop. Mikalah Gordon and Matt Rogers return to conduct behind the scenes interviews.

Related Posts

Weekly Billboard Updates 2007
Historical Charts
Idol Billboard Update for Issue 7/05/08
Billboard Update 06/23/07
Billboard Update 04/14/07

Bits and Pieces - Idol Update

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.  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…

Related Posts

Bits and Pieces
Idol Bits and Pieces
Idol Bits and Pieces
Weekly Billboard Updates 2007
Historical Charts