UPDATED: Miley Cyrus Tapes Performance For à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢
Miley Cyrus is coming to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idol,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Access Hollywood has learned from sources close to the show.
The 16-year-old superstar, who is gearing up for the release of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Hannah Montana The Movie,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ pre-taped a performance of her hit song, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Climb,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ for the hit FOX reality competition on Wednesday night. The performance will air on April 15.
CUCKOO ‘IDOL’ ELIMINATION
THE mystery of Megan Joy’s strange behavior on the “Idol” stage — moments before she was eliminated — has been solved.
Members of “Idol”-taunting Web site Vote for The Worst have been voting furiously for Joy ever since she tacked a crazy “caw-caw” to the end of her “Rockin’ Robin” performance several weeks ago.
‘American Idol’ In 60 Seconds
American Idol’ Recap: Kris Allen Shines, Megan Joy Hits The Bricks
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
March Album Sales Drop Nearly 18%
U.S. album sales in March 2009 were 17.9% lower than the same period in 2008 and 29.8% lower than the same week in 2007, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Sales in March were much slower than the previous two months. January’s year-over-year decline was only 12% while February’s loss was 11.5%. The 6.6 million weekly average for the four weeks of the March 2009 period was lower than the 6.7 million weekly average in January (five weeks) and the 7.6 million weekly average in February (four weeks). February sales were higher than the months preceding and following in part because the annual Grammy Awards typically fall in February.
Jennifer Hudson: Standing Strong
Jennifer Hudson sits inside an L.A. recording studio, her eyes hidden behind large sunglasses, her braided pigtails peeking from under a pageboy cap. Eight days from now she will kick off a national concert tour, and today is her first rehearsal with a new band. But while the musicians warm up, she doesn’t say much, keeps her head down, fidgets. She’s so unassuming that her backup vocalists, two glitzy gals with easy laughs, seem like the only divas in the room. And then Jennifer Hudson begins to sing, and all doubt is erased.
ACM Entertainer of the Year: Last call for votes!
The Academy of Country Music Awards air Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET on CBS, so get yourself over to CBS.com and vote for Entertainer of the Year. I was gonna keep this post neutral (really I was), because I’ve witnessed four-time winner Kenny Chesney sweat through his shirt on the first song of a concert. I know that nobody combines talent, heart, and humor like Brad Paisley. I can’t believe George Strait’s only won the title once before — 20 years ago — when he’s being named ACM’s Artist of the Decade. And I’d love to see Carrie Underwood, who delivered some of 2008’s most memorable TV performances (from Idol Gives Back to the CMAs), become only the seventh woman to go home with the night’s top prize.
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ champ David Cook talks about whatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s happening now
David Cook is pretty sure that he has the best gig in town.
As the winner of season seven of the juggernaut reality series à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idol,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s career has launched from playing locales in his hometown of Tulsa, Okla., to touring the world and selling out nearly every stop on his Declaration Tour. His self-titled album was released Nov. 18, and went platinum by January. All of which strikes Cook as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“just incredible and a big compliment, especially considering the economy,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ he said during a recent phone interview.
Larry Fitzgerald bringing Jordin Sparks, Adrian Peterson to benefit
A fundraiser in the memory of the mother of NFL star Larry Fitzgerald Jr. includes an appearance by 2007 “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks.
The $100-per-person benefit for the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund is scheduled for the evening of April 10 at the Metropolitan Club Ball Room in Golden Valley.
Morristown’s ‘Idol’-Ist Josiah Leming Gets into L.A. Groove
Apr. 2–KNOXVILLE — Singer Josiah Leming — the former “American Idol 7″ contestant from Morristown, Tenn. — came back home this week and did a short, last-minute show at the Square Room on Market Square. The opening act was The Royal Buzz, a band that his brother is in.
Here’s the irony: Leming is performing in the same venue in which “American Idol 7″ winner David Cook will be playing later this month. Looks like Leming, who recently turned 20, isn’t doing so badly for himself, considering he didn’t even make the Top 36 cut on the hit series. He’s been touring and is making some changes to his debut CD, coming from Warner Bros. later this year.
Carrie Underwood Wants to Work for OK!
Multi-platinum, multi-Grammy winning artist Carrie Underwood is up for a host of accolades at the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on April 5, including the prestigious Entertainer of the Year prize.
OK! spoke to the American Idol champ, 26, who is now dating hockey star Mike Fisher.
American Idol’s Lakisha Jones: Baby On Board & Bad Representation
It’s always unfortunate when good entertainers hire a bad publicist!
Such is the case with ‘American Idol’ season six finalist Lakisha Jones.
Last Monday, March 23, I contacted Jones’ “urban publicist” Denise McIver to seek comment about the 29-year-old singer’s pregnancy with the intent to break the news simultaneously on AOL Black Voices and during my segment on the nationally syndicated ‘Tom Joyner Morning Show.’
“Ain’t Misbehavin’” at the Pikes Peak Center
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — “Ain’t Misbehavin’” originally opened on Broadway in 1978 and instantly made history.
This musical revue won every award a musical can win in a Broadway season, and now, for its 30th anniversary, the show is touring the country to remind everyone of the life and culture surrounding jazz icon Fats Waller.
“It’s loosely based on the life of Fats Waller,” Frenchie Davis said. “Each of us plays a different part of his life. I’m the raunchy part, and I love it. The show’s amazing and Reuben sounds amazing,”
David Foster: Clay Aiken a “Spectacular Father”
Music producer and composer David Foster doesn’t find anything strange about his sister, Jaymes Foster having Clay Aiken’s baby.
“She’s very close with Clay — they’re best friends,” David told the Associated Press Thursday. “It made perfect sense to me that he’d want to have a child with his best friend.”
Carmen Rasmusen: ‘American Idol’ finalist hits DSC, SUU on college concert tour
There’s something about the college scene – particularly in spring – that seems to beg for live musical entertainment.
That’s exactly what Carmen Rasmusen, “American Idol” season two finalist, is ready to provide.
Making stops at Dixie State College and Southern Utah University as part of a Zions Bank sponsored college tour, Rasmusen will perform a mix of her own country hits off her debut album, “Nothin’ Like The Summer” as well as covers from artists like Katy Perry, Rascal Flatts and more.
Cherry blossom parade: balloons, bands and Trebek
WASHINGTON – Giant helium balloons, clowns, great dancing and Alex Trebek all come together Saturday for the cherry blossom parade.
Jeopardy! host Trebek, the honorary grand marshal of the parade, will be at the start of the parade and then joining Channel 7 in the host booth. The two-hour parade along Constitution Avenue from from 7th Street to 17th Street, NW starts at 10 a.m.
“We have Miss America, Katie Stamm, and she is a vocalist and she’s going to sing for us. We have disco dance diva Selma Houston who is going to perform.
American Idol Next Elimination Betting Odds Headed By Scott Macintyre And Anoop Desai
Scott Macintyre and Anoop Desai are the two American Idol acts who are at most risk of being the next eliminated off the show. They are available at odds of 100/1 and 50/1 respectively to win American Idol with Boylesports which shows what the bookies think of their chances.
Shawn Johnson won’t discuss à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Dancingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ stalker
LOS ANGELES – à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Dancing With the Starsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ standout Shawn Johnson has kept silent on the disturbing news that a man was arrested for allegedly stalking her. But in a new interview with Access Hollywoodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Maria Menounos, the gymnast opened up about how sheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s staying focused on the competition.
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“How do you keep all the outside stuff that goes on away and focus?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Maria asked the 17-year-old Olympic champ.
Oh, please please. I’m so ready for 80s Redux to be over.
I don’t get what all the fuss is about with the review. Reviwers are always biased and snarky about people- even the ones they like. I personally love reading reviews about my faves. Especially the bad ones. Like, I want to see how bad they can get. It’s always interesting to see different people’s perspectives.
Have you read other artists reviews? Why should they mention Kelly’s weight in an album review? Or Kanye’s tantrums? Or Pete Wentz’ penis? Those don’t have anything to do with the music or the concert, but yet they manage to slip those little facts in. It happens with everyone in every genre. It’s not about Idol, Cook…. or Archuleta, for that matter. Critics are always going to put their own spin on things- and get “personal.” That’s why reviews are interesting to read. And frankly, I don’t want that to change, so they can just blow smoke up people’s arses, ala Billboard.
I don’t think Billboard blows smoke up people’s ass–I think they’re attempting to be actual, real journalists. They actually don’t give everything a good review. They don’t go looking for something irrelevant to snark on, but aren’t afraid of pointing out weaknesses. For singles they have a system whereby they mark songs they think will go top 50 in their format with an arrow, and mark songs that are great, regardless of hit potential, with a star. Some songs get no designation at all, indicating that they probably won’t hit and they’re not that fabulous either. I’ve seen written reviews that will say a song or album or concert didn’t live up to what it could have been and, frankly, that’s not all that unusual. It’s not overly snarky or negative like some web “journalists” believe they need to be in order to draw an audience.
What you’re talking about sounds more like a blog-culture review with very little journalistic integrity. I’m not saying you can’t find that fun or interesting, but IMO, that’s not real journalism. And to be a legitimate concert/ album/ song review, it needs to be real journalism. Everything else is just some dude’s opinion, which may be fun to read if the writer is a good writer in general, or you just like reading snark whether it’s well written or not, but I’m not going to call it a newsworthy review. That’s the biggest problem with blog-culture. Real journalism can get lost when everybody and their brother can print what they want–and even online versions of newspapers are now guilty of passing off quickly-written blogs as actual news.
Not that there weren’t snarked-out biased reviews prior to the Internet–but if people knew the reviewer was like that then they also knew it wasn’t worth much in terms of providing insight.
I don’t see much similarity between Cook’s and Daughtry’s current albums and early 90s grunge. If anything, they sound more post-grunge, which is a genre that has been around for a few years now. Potentially their second albums will lean more in the grunge direction, but as of now they both sound a lot like what is already playing on Hot AC and, to some extent, on pop.
That staronline reviewer’s piece was okay by me, mainly because he was so up front about his prejudices, which in turn helped put his slams and backhanded compliments in context.
The one thing he did get kinda wrong (in an objective way as opposed to, you know, ‘it’s just his opinion’ way) was his questioning the fact that the show was soldout. My understanding from people who attended is that they did sell out the entire venue but that, at the last minute (last day, I think), the venue decided to open up some view-obstructed seats for any fans willing to pony up the cash. Those were probably the “hundreds” of seats he saw that were empty.
I know the venue was sold out because I have friend who really wanted to go there and couldn’t get tickets. Too bad.
In any case, performing in front of 6K plus and getting such a great reaction to his own music must have been pretty awesome for Cook.
If someone is wondering why this John Stanton gave David Cook the review that he did I suggest you read the review he gave Kellie the day before at this Azalea festival as David is mentioned in that review as well. Apparently some don’t take it too kindly when they are faced with those at Sony and American Idol who show themselves for the frauds and rapists that they are when it comes to Kellie and how her label tries to underpromote her.
You can read the article I’m talking about by clicking on John Stanton’s name in the Cook article or if I copied it right you should be able to see the article in the link below.
http://music.starnewsonlive.com/default.asp?item=2358425
^^ Shame that Kellie’s people didn’t get that sorted. I don’t get what it has to do with Cook though, other than a favorable comparison. I don’t think Cook’s review had anything to do with Kellie.
PS – this is the link: http://music.starnewsonline.com/default.asp?item=2358425
I believe you just paraphrased some of my quote. Like I said, they may have a more seamless transition back to their earlier roots for their second cd release if the neo-grunge sound takes root. I was not referring to their current recordings.
Oh Kellie’s people got things sorted alright, just the way they wanted it, little to no publicity for Kellie or her concert.
This wasn’t a one time mishap, those in charge of Kellie’s career (Sony and 19s Simon Fuller) pull this same type of crap with all of Kellie’s concerts. This is probably just the first time your reading about it as most of our media are a bunch of frauds just like these dirtbags down at Sony and American Idol and won’t tell you the truth when it comes to the corruption and fraud taking place in our music industry.
Sadly, I think it happens at every major label.
Too bad for Kellie but I don’t see why it has anything to do with his bitchery about Cook.
Wasn’t it nice that David gave a shout-out to Kellie Pickler in his concert (as captured by that youtube of him with the “dancing” Queen)? I mean, he didn’t have to, but he did. : )
Maybe I’m being naive here but why would Sony and 19/Simon Fuller be perfectly accommodating regarding publicity for David’s concert there and not for Kellie? I can understand if a label or management company have that type of setup in general, and it’s not like local media wanting to take some pictures would cost 19 or Sony any money.
Exactly, Trina, it’s more likely to cost them if they don’t. It sounds to me like her publicist has issues. I don’t know the whole story though, and I doubt anybody here does.
Different publicists, different publicity. Different sales ##s, different promotional budgets. Different promotional budgets, different levels of promotion (and publicists.)
Bottom line is this has nothing to do with Cook, and sadly(?) I have no background or context for Kellie’s label/management issues. Whatever it is, I hope they work it out. Can’t be too awful since she’s going to be on AI next week and just had a splashy video premiere. Oh well.
COOK OMG 111!!! greatest Idol ever!!!!1111
Didn’t want you to be disappointed pj. :innocent1_tb: Seriously, though, I found that review interesting. It reminded me of that interview piece EW did right before Cookie’s record dropped, written by, oh damn, the awesome writer who pointed out the odd TWIK phenomenon that prompted one to fist pump and say “You stick it to the man with your Collective Soul ballad!” during last season’s finale. Basically, he talked about the dichotomy of Cook that RCA would have to sell to the record buying public: the well adjusted midwestern family guy who writes sincere, introspective, heart on the sleeve anthemic lyrics, and the dude who likes to rock his face off and can wail like a mo fo. Would music consumers be able to reconcile those two images that many rock music fans would insist should be mutually exclusive? So far, the answer is yes and no. Some appreciate the contradictions that identify Cook artistically and get that while the danger that’s inherrent in a personality on the edge might be missing, it’s replaced with a very palpable emmotional depth that comes from a different place, yes, but is just as interesting. There’s raw pain and a real honesty to Permanent, for example, that requires a level of fearlessness to broach. And since the record has sold well, I would say there are a bnuch of people who get that POV. Meanwhile, guys like this concert reviewer acknowledge Cook’s talent but temper it with observations like, “Technically, he sings rock music well, and he’s entertaining enough, but where is the danger? Where’s the tortured dark soul who always seems thisclose to a bad overdose or suicide attempt, and edgy lyrics that push the envelope? This is the 90s rock image that I hold dear.” It’s a valid and time honored point of view, but IMO (and the opinion of the aforementioned EW writer) a slightly myopic one. I mean, I love me some Weiland, too, but Weiland is Weiland, and Cook is Cook, and neither, IMO, are anything like Christian rock. I also think it’s kind of ironic that he used STP as a touchstone for 90s grunge music, because STP were long thought of as pretenders to the grunge throne by critics despite the commercial popularity of songs like Plush, Interstate Love Song, and Vasoline.
:lol_tb: Sorry for the post hoing, and I’m sure this is off topic, but am I the only one whose mind went there? Yeah? Okay then. Still hilarious. Thanks for the lolz.
sunchick, you’re awesome.
Funny I just read that Miley Cyrus was asked who her favourite Idol contestant was and she said Allison and mentioned they are texting each other. Not sure if advice from Miley is good or bad advice to take.
Corporate grunge never left – see Nickelback.
Please don’t tell me I can look forward to more grunge. Grunge and technopop ruined music for most of the 1990s if you ask me.
Unfortunately poor Megan is the only person I have ever heard make a Bob Marley song unrecognizable. I think Megan has that quirky voice that is in vogue but hasn’t got a clue how to use it. If she can find a vocal coach or writes her own material to capitalize on her voice she might have a chance. Gimmicks only get you so far.
I hope one day when American Idol is finally cancelled, a good investigative journalist writes the ultimate tell all of which really went on behind the Idol making machinery. There may already be books out on the way the music industry works – or just read the court transcripts of the court case where Sony got caught in a payola type scandal recently. I am a fan of the band Franz Ferdinand and was sad to see they were one of the bands that benefitted from the payola scandal allegedly. I am sure completely without their knowledge – you leave the radioplay up to the labels. One would think being Sony was enough clout but apparently not.