Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks and Melinda Doolittle aren’t the only Idols having homecoming parties thrown in their honor. (Don’t forget to catch the Final 3 on the Tonight Show tonight, along with Taylor Hicks who will be performing…)
In Chesapeake, VA, Chris Richardson’s party takes place tonight at 6 pm at the Colin L. Hall Stadium where Chris used to play high school football.
Gina Glocksen is honored today in her hometown, Tinley Park, IL.
In Federal Way, WA, 200 fans donated at least a dollar to get an autograph from Sanjaya Malakar at his homecoming. Proceeds were donated to the Federal Way-based World Vision.
Speaking of Sanjaya, it looks like he’s a front runner to be one of 5 contestants in the VH1 reality show I Love New York 2. There’s a short video posted of Sanjaya doing some strange things with gummi bears. Hm. (I’m being told the video is fake, fake, totally fake…for more about Sanjaya’s homecoming check out Rickey.org )
In other Season 6 news, last week, Idol Chatter reported that Top 24 contestant, Sundance Head signed a record deal with Universal. Pretty good.
Chris Sligh’s official fan site has posted two songs from a worship album Chris and his band Half Past Forever recorded in 2004.
For excellent coverage of Blake Lewis’s homecoming (it was reported that 7,000 came out to see him) check out Team Plaid. They’ve got videos and links to news articles posted. Excellent.
My blogging buddy JD Matthews just posted another Idol interview. This time it’s with one of my favorite Idols EVAH, Jon Peter Lewis. I highly suggest you check it out. JD interviews the Idols, so I don’t have to. Heh.
Justin Guarini has teamed up with the Tea Council of America to launch a nationwide scholarship competition. Applicants can submit a one-to-two minute homemade Internet video that “incorporates some aspect of tea’s many health- related benefits.” The winner gets $20,000 towards their education and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City.
Finally, an interesting interview with American Idol creator, Simon Fuller. Fun quote: “At 46 you are not too old” – as long as you can keep manufacturing celebrities the public will buy.” For my favorite numbers crunchers:
Mr Fuller sold 19 to CKX, the vehicle of US talent mogul Robert Sillerman, for £83 million in 2005. Mr Sillerman is building up a larger version of 19, owning Elvis’s mansion Graceland and the image rights of Muhammed Ali, but 19 provides three quarters of CKX’s revenues ($151 million out of $210 million) and the bulk of operating profit ($28.8 million last year). Not bad, particularly as Mr Fuller, who is two years into a six-year contract, only earned $1.56 million as an employee.
Fun facts to know and tell…
thanks as always to the incomparable lisab…
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Sanjaya on “I Love New York 2″?! Doesn’t AI have a morals clause? LOL
Too late to edit my last post. I don’t think Sanjaya can be on this show. You have to be 21 (which, if you notice on his stats on the “I Love New York” site - it says he is). He is only 17, right?
MJ, here’s some interesting tidbits:
We know that this season that:
Simon Picked for Jordin
Randy picked for Melinda
Paula picked for Blake
Here’s the history of who picked what for whom, seasons 2-5. Who’s got the best track record…
Season 2:
Simon picked Smile for Ruben
Paula Picked Mack the Knife for Clay
Randy picked Anyone Had a Heart for Kim L.
Season 3:
Paula picked Mr. Melody for Jasmine
Simon picked Fool in Love for Fantasia
Randy picked Because you Loved Me for Diana
Season 4:
Paula picked Satisfaction for Bo
Randy picked Man, I Feel Like a Woman for Carrie
Simon picked On the Radio for Vonzelle
Season 5:
Randy picked You are So Beautiful for Taylor
Paula picked What You Won’d do For Love for Elliott
Simon picked Somewhere over the Rainbow for Kat
So:
Paula has picked no eventual winners Judges choice songs
Simon has picked 2 eventual einners Judges Choice Songs
and Randy has picked 2 eventual Judges Choice Songs.
From the looks of it, they sure don’t want Blake to win.. Simon picked seasons 2 & 3 and Randy has picked 4&5
I was sure They weanted Melinda out, but who knows.
Also, interesting to note on Final 3 performance nights seasons 1-5 is the performance order:
Top 3 Performance Order:
Going 1st:
Nikki McKibbin, Kimberly Locke, Jasmine Trias, Vonzell Solomon, Elliott Yamin
Going 2nd:
Justin Guarini, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Bo Bice, Katharine McPhee
Going Last:
Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Diana DeGarmo, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks
NOTE: All contestants that sang first were gone the next day…
That’s not really Sanjaya on I Love New York 2..that video of him & the gummi bears was posted a few months ago on Youtube. It’s nothing new. Plus, Rickey from rickey.org went to Sanjaya’s homecoming at the mall and he talked to Momjaya, who confirmed that all the myspace users and anyone on the internet claiming to be him was fake. And Sanjaya actually had 3 homecomings..that mall one in Federal Way, one at Seattle Center last Saturday as well as an appearance at a Ford Company on Saturday. Check out rickey’s blog for more info on those …
I should leave the Sanjaya coverage to Ricky. He’s the pro…
Cool shout out to Team Plaid, MJ! :)
Thanks for my shout-out too Mj :-D
Heh, Rickey’s … investment in Sanjaya makes the “rabid” Soul Patrol look pretty tame by comparison.
The top three and Taylor Hicks were on Leno last night! Taylor was fantastic singing HEAVEN KNOWS on tv and SOUL THING on the Tonight show website. Taylor Kissed Melinda and Jordin-lucky girls!