Success is a matter of faith for local ‘American Idol’ finalist Gokey

For his part, Pruitt says Gokey and Rogers are “a billboard to our ministry.”

“I don’t want to sound super-duper-spiritual here, but that’s what I do, I’m a minister of the gospel,” he said. “Of course it gets the message of Christ out. To us, that’s really the most important thing.”

So far, Pruitt doesn’t point to a flood of new members coming to the church. It was already expanding, with a diverse and young congregation that’s grown large enough to launch a second Sunday service starting on Easter Sunday.

JS Online.com

‘Idol’ finalist takes his ‘cue seriously

While an undergrad at UNC, Anoop Desai chose, for his honor’s thesis topic, a favorite subject of the American south: barbecue.

Here are a couple snippets from his 60-page report.

Here, Desai begins to explain why barbecue is so important in the South:

“Only by paying attention to local people, communities and traditions can we truly decipher the cultural information embedded in the barbecue myth. Barbecue tells a narrative of class, race, geography, gender and history. It is one that speaks to the values that southerners hold dear: the importance of family, the meaning of hard work, and the shared ‘burden of southern history.’”

Chapel Hill News

More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…

Hey, American Idol! Don’t Charo-ize our Jorge Nuà ±ez!

First of all, let me just get the confession out of the way. Yes, I watch American Idol. I blame my friend Rachel for getting me hooked, but Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve thought long and hard before writing this about what it is about the mostly insipid reality show that appeals to me (and how I can justify it to you and to myself). I came to realize that it makes total sense that I enjoy it. I mean, yes, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s about the contestantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ singing talent, but more than that, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s about their stories. As a writer I am a hoarder of stories. I will get into deep conversations with a stranger online at the supermarket and leave having gathered a bit of their tale, a glimpse of their life (maybe Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m closer to a story vampire).

Blogcritics.org

The Lucky 13: ‘American Idol’s’ finalists

It’s not a final 12 in Season 8 of “American Idol” à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  it’s a baker’s dozen. With about 75 million votes already cast to put nine of these contestants in the finals and the four judges throwing a lifeline to four, rather than three, “wild card” contestants, this is who is in the running to become this season’s “American Idol.”

We have a 16-year-old with flaming red hair and a voice like maple syrup. We have a guy whose deepest wish is that his young wife was alive to see his success. We have an oil rig roughneck, a musical theater veteran who toured in “Wicked,” and three church worship leaders.

Buffalo News

The Top 13’s Fifteen-Minutes-Long Party

On Thursday night, the newly-minted Top 13 of American Idol had a red carpet party. A celebration before most of them fade back into sad, eternal obscurity.

Gawker.com

CD: Kelly Clarkson, ‘All I Ever Wanted’

Kelly Clarkson must feel totally defeated. After trying to dislodge herself from the “American Idol” franchise and grab the reins of her career from record company boss Clive Davis with 2007’s downbeat “My December,” she was rewarded with a round slap on the cheek from her fans. It’s not that the self-composed songs on her previous album were terrible; it’s just that no one wanted to hear the woman who sang “Since U Been Gone” with such conviction come back moaning like Alanis Morissette after a bad cup of soy latte. As you can tell from that cover art, all creative decisions for Clarkson’s latest, “All I Ever Wanted,” have been safely returned to the hands of music industry masterminds. The result? An album unabashedly stuffed with second-generation “Since U Been Gone” rewrites – each one more brilliant than the next.

Kelly Clarkson

Do Not Ask Kelly Clarkson To Baby-Sit Your Children

Once and future “American Idol” queen Kelly Clarkson releases “All I Ever Wanted,” her fourth CD, this week. She spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Ramin Setoodeh.

Did you always know you were going to write half your songs on this album?
I’ve written different on every album. I think it’s cool for fans to hear something straight from your head, and your heart.

One song, “I Do Not Hook Up,” is written by Katy Perry.
I met her, like, a couple years ago, and it was before “I Kissed a Girl” blew up. I liked her writing. It was really unique.

Newsweek

Kelly Clarkson Sharpens Her Focus on New Album

After getting caught up in all sorts of controversy prior to her last album, former “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson appears to be sharpening her focus and re-igniting her career.
Clarkson wants it all, and gets it
Last time out, she figuratively flipped off Sony BMG music mogul Clive Davis. She ignored his warnings and decided to break from the success of her two previous pop albums. Instead, she took on an edgier new direction while writing or co-writing all the songs for her 2007 album, “My December.”

Mass Live

Clarkson wants it all, and gets it

The key line on Kelly Clarkson’s new album comes during a song co-written by Katy Perry, of all people.

“Why’s everything got to be so intense with me?” the singer wonders on the sing-song “Long Shot.”

Clarkson is one emphatic sob sister, it’s true, ratcheting up the relationship drama in her songs with the exaggerated moves of a silent film actress. No matter the stage of the romance, it’s always DEFCON 1 in Clarkson-ville. And on “All I Ever Wanted,” out Tuesday, that melodrama translates into a delightfully incongruous good time.

Boston.com

Young fans swoon over ‘Idol’ David Archuleta

The temperature of the Barrymore Theatre increased about 10 degrees when David Archuleta bounced on stage Friday night. The air was suddenly sticky with teen girl adrenaline and Bath & Body Works perfume. Cell phone screens glowed and blinked like fireflies in the stage rush. His first song was practically smothered by their hyperventilating shrieks.

Things settled down by the time the 18-year-old American Idol runner-up got into his second song, “Barriers.” But he still followed it with a good-natured plea that the crowd not crush each other in excitement.

77square.com

David Cook idolizes Our Lady Peace frontman

I always considered myself to be a huge fan of Raine Maida and his band, Our Lady Peace. I have every one of their albums — including Maida’s solo album, “The Hunters Lullaby,” and EP, “Love Hope Hero.”

But in David Cook, the winner of Season Seven of “American Idol,” I think I’ve met my match.

“I actually have it on my phone,” Cook said of Maida’s full-length solo album. “Raine is, no pun intended, my musical idol, so he could put out a record of him sneezing for half an hour and I think I would probably buy it.

“Actually, (Our Lady Peace’s) ‘Clumsy’ was one of the records I sat down and tried to learn guitar to and past that, I think I got into Raine more just for the overall body of work — not just the music but the philanthropy and really just who he is as a person,” Cook added. “So I’d probably say if there was anybody I could emulate a career after, it would probably be Raine.”

newstimes.com

Interview with Elliott Yamin whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s recording his second album in L.A.

After peering into several unoccupied rooms at what used to be known as SoundCastle studios – a place that witnessed artists including Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and The Beach Boys lay down tracks – Yamin’s bassist, Oliver Goldstein, and keyboardist Calvin Gary Jr., are found, one sprawled on a couch with a laptop, the other working at a mixing console.

Goldstein yells for Yamin, and in a few seconds, that familiar curly-haired head leans out of a vocal booth with a friendly smile.

After a few minutes chatting about a visit with some of his old Richmond buddies, the “American Idol” alum visibly relaxes and slouches in his chair, ready to talk about his future.

Times Dispatch

Annie Lennox: ‘What Does Simon Cowell Know?’

The singer has told Sky News she is not a fan of talent shows like The X Factor, and even questioned Cowell’s right to pick who the next big thing should be.

“It is not my bag,” Lennox said.

“I really hate that people love the person who is painfully bad at what they’re doing. It’s hilarious but it is cruel.

“They’ve got this panel of judges and they’re supposed to be the God almighty that says this is good, and this isn’t good.

“What do they know? Who are they? All those shows are very formulaic.”

News-Sky

Dancing With The Woz

A lot of people in Silicon Valley either laughed or groaned or both when it became known that Steve Wozniak, the cofounder of Apple Computer, was going to compete on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” debuting this week. Woz was the brains behind Apple in the early days, the one who did all the hard engineering work while his better-known partner, Steve Jobs, served as the public face of the company. Woz got rich in the 1980 initial public offering, was injured in a plane crash in 1981 (he was piloting the plane) and never really returned.

Since then Woz has become a bit of a running joke in the Valley, a naive goofball who’s always popping up in the news doing something weird, like playing polo on Segways (in full polo costume) or dating Kathy Griffin, the comedian and actress. But think about it. Jobs, his onetime partner, has spent the past 30 years battling with Microsoft over market share, flying around the world, haggling with business partners, screaming at engineers, introducing new productsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ basically living and breathing the daily battle of the business world. Woz has been out having fun. Which one would you rather be?

Newsweek

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