Idol Headlines for 06/06/09
‘American Idol’ Kris Allen to sing national anthem at Lakers game Sunday
“American Idol” 2009 winner Kris Allen will sing the national anthem Sunday at Staples Center before Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Orlando Magic.
He also has no plans to add any extra touches to the anthem so no reprise of the Tyrese Gibson debacle. Tyrese, who sang the anthem at Staples during the Western Conference finals series against Denver, opted to change some lyrics from “our flag was still there,” to “our Lakers were still there.” This displeased many including our own Bill Plaschke who sent several Twitter messages exclaiming his displeasure.
Allen said he had never sung the anthem in public before and has nothing planned. “I just want to get through it and not make any mistakes,” he said today. Allen said he would also love to meet Kobe Bryant.
Ratings for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t Translate Into Emmys Glory
IT is no overstatement to say that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idol,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ the Fox hit that has been the nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s most-watched series for six years running, has changed the face of broadcast television. Rival networks have imitated à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idol,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ creating their own reality-competition talent shows, while at the same time adjusting their schedules to keep their best shows from having to compete against it. Yet à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ has been all but shut out at the Emmys.
Fox executives claim not to care about the Emmy snub. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“We will take the enormous success of the show over the award any day,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ said Mike Darnell, president for alternative programming at Fox. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Obviously ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s one of the best TV shows on the air.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ But in both the Oscars and the Emmys race, he added, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s something about being too popular that makes it harder to win.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
Does This Look Like the Face of A Diva?
ADAM-LAMBERT-CLOSE-UP.jpgYà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢all Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m takinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ my heels off, for real, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m about to cut this MSNBCinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ bitch that wrote the following about the cashmere-lined bag of dander that is Adam Lambert:
OH HALE NAW. Let me say from the hour or so I spent witnessing Lambert on our natural human terrain à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ as opposed to his natural terrain, the surface of Mars à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ the above statement is nothing more than a SMEAR CAMPAIGN.
Return of the Fabulous
You always remember your first. Concert, that is. Mine was Elvis, early ’70s, the spangled jumpsuit period. I must have been about 14. I had already spent childhood years grooving to Motown, play-strutting to the Rolling Stones, falling in love with Janis Joplin, bad skin and all. Janis was dead now; so was Jimi Hendrix. I had been enthralled by a clip of Hendrix playing at Woodstock and had thought to myself, innocent of the mad specialness of the moment, “I’ll be there next time…”
The phenomenon of Adam Lambert makes sense on the shoulders of that history. He transformed the fairly banal “singing competition” of American Idol into a performance of self-possession and an occasion for all kinds of living-room or Internet chatter about what’s masculine, what’s “theatrical” (the show’s code for too Broadway, too queer) and why artifice is sometimes the surest route to authenticity.
5 Things to Know About Adam Lambert’s Pal Drake LaBry
Since becoming American Idol’s runner-up on May 20, Adam Lambert has been stepping out with a friend whom many Lambert fans recognize from the show. His name is Drake LaBry and a source tells PEOPLE, “He’s been Adam’s best friend and totally there with him through this whole [Idol] process.” Several times he sat with Lambert’s parents in the audience during the show.
Here are five things to know about Drake LaBry:
Was Susan Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent dream scuppered by wrong phone numbers on YouTube?
Clips on YouTube displayed the WRONG telephone voting number for Britain’s Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle, it has emerged.
Hundreds of fans have complained that, within moments of Miss Boyle’s performance on Saturday night, YouTube was re-running clips of it carrying the wrong phone voting number for her, but not for two of her closest rivals.
Viewers believe what appeared to be a simple error could have been an attempt to get Miss Boyle’s fans to vote for rival acts.
Poison, Elton John, Dolly Parton Ready To Rock Tony Awards
This year’s Tony Awards are set to include a few bonafide music stars among the usual song-and-dance numbers. Elton John, Dolly Parton and Poison will help toast Broadway’s finest at the June 7 ceremony, performing with the casts of top-nominated shows “Billy Elliot, The Musical,” “9 to 5: The Musical,” and “Rock Of Ages.”
“A bunch of the shows are getting together and doing a mash-up,” says Constantine Maroulis of “Rock of Ages,” the tongue-in-cheek hair metal tribute that also features original music by Journey, Pat Benatar and Bon Jovi and is vying for five awards including Best Musical. “It’ll be really cool; one of those TV-magic moments.” Though the Jersey-bred rock singer and “American Idol” alum couldn’t reveal which song he’d be performing with Brett Michaels and company, he hinted at “Nothin’ But a Good Time” by saying that it was “something more up-tempo” than the other Poison song performed in the musical, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”
Rock of Ages Star Maroulis Feels Honored By Tony Nomination
Rock of Ages star Constantine Maroulis, who shot to fame as a finalist on “American Idol,” says his 2009 Best Actor in a Musical Tony nomination is a major honor.
“It’s very significant to me. I grew up as an actor,” Maroulis explained at the recent Tony nominees reception. Though he’s well known for lending his soaring rock tenor to such musicals as Rent and The Wedding Singer, Maroulis is also a trained musical theatre actor with experience in classic drama.
Kelly Clarkson On ‘Twilight’s’ Robert Pattinson: ‘Yeah, He’s Cute!’
SYDNEY, Australia — Kelly Clarkson may be a celebrity, but she isn’t above a teen girl-style crush.
During an appearance on Australia’s 2 Day “Kyle and Jackie O Show,” Kelly confirmed she’s got some puppy love for “Twilight” star Robert Pattinson.
“Yes, he’s an attractive guy,” Kelly told the breakfast show hosts. “But I think girls are more so into that whole Dracula bit. It’s very sexy… I don’t know him. I’ve never really seen him in interviews either… [But] yeah, he’s cute.”
Jordin Sparks’ New Song Revealed Through In-Studio Footage
Jordin Sparks provides fans with a tease on her new album “Battlefield” by giving away snippet of its never-heard-before song “Vertigo” through an in-studio footage. In the video blog, it is revealed that she finishes the track with the help from powerhouse producer/songwriter Toby Gad.
Kellie Pickler would like to lick Clint Eastwood
Kellie Pickler is by far the funniest interview I’ve watched in a long time. She talks about wanting to lick Clint Eastwood’s face, how she got out of a recent traffic ticket, skydiving with Ellen (and maybe Clint Eastwood), and how she wants to Tweeter while plummeting to Earth. Oh, and she teaches us how to use hairspray.
Idol’s Mishavonna takes stage at Christian Jubilee
LAKE FOREST à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Mishavonna Henson, who was in the top 36 contestants on FOX’s American Idol 8, will celebrate her Christianity tonight at an event expected to draw hundreds of youth from South County.
Henson, 18, from Irvine, is expected to perform during the first annual CEF June Jubilee held tonight at Coast Bible Church in Mission Viejo. The event will bring Kindergarten through eighth-grade aged club members together to celebrate a successful year of the Orange Coast Chapter of the international group known as Child Evangelism Fellowship.



Just as long as he doesn’t get terrified like Cookie last year, he’ll be fine. Better, in fact since nerves won’t become a factor in fucking up his singing.
Ha, ha. I remember the melisma filled Elliott performance. It was hated by many and considered a harbinger of doom.
Unless Kris forgets all the words, grabs his crotch or faints no one will actually remember it by tomorrow. The people watching TV are there for the game. Only overinvested Idols fans will analyze it to death while posting links of Idol NAs through the years. Plus he’ll be fine I’m sure. Somewhere on the scale between Whitney and Rosanne Barr. Those are the only two 90% of people remember anyway.
LOL Exactly. It makes me laugh when someone says that the NA singing will change the way they see the artist. As long as you remember the lyrics, everything’s fine with the audience.
I remember last year the fandom jumping on David because the beginning was shaky and he got only positive reviews from those there and the press.
So yeah… overinvested idol fans may want to make a big deal out of this stuff, but it isn’t.
Kris will be more than fine.
Yeah, that.
And many of us “won’t admit RoF wasn’t good” because we genuinely enjoyed it and thought it was great! You know, the same as how the Kris fans love Kris for his performances and music, even though others don’t get the appeal at all? Yeah, just like that.
Many people, including me, love both Adam’s RoF and Kris’ Ain’t No Sunshine.
This year I liked 4-1/2 contestants — Adam, Kris, Alison, Anoop and sometimes Matt. It was part of what made this season really interesting to me. The only similar season for me was AI5 where I was a fan of Paris, Elliott, Daughtry and Taylor Hicks. My least fun season was AI6 where I only really liked Melinda, and with all due respect to Jordin and Blake fans, I still have some trouble with Melinda not making it to the Final.
So even though most people on this site know that I am completely OTT for Adam, I also like Kris, Alison and a long list of other Idols.
I’m not an Adam fan in the slightest and I thought ROF was probably his second best non-ballad performance after “Whole Lotta Love”. The ballads, Mad World and Tracks Of My Tears were in a different category altogether, obviously.
Ironically, though, it’s some of the “rockish” performances in which he was praised to high heaven that I thought were abominations:”Black or White”; “Cryin”; “A Change Is Gonna Come” (the last one only because it was a iconic civil rights anthem and it should NOT have been “Adamized”. Youtube Syesha’s performance from last year to see a very good example of how to interpret the song.
****
On a separate subject, I’m wondering now if we have an explanation for Mishovonna’s exclusion by TPTB. The cast of finalists was already heavy enough when it came to devout Christians.
Just my theory, but I think they didn’t want to end up with a country singer-songwriter. I also think she hurt herself with her song choice in the Group 2, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Drops of Jupiterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ , she might gotten more votes with a country song. And she might have done better if she hadn’t been in the talent-packed Group 2.
Setting that aside, they never even showed her audition. And it seemed to me like the judges were saying “don’t vote for her”. From one of the few reviews I could find of her performance:
But I think the real miss of the season was Felcia Barton. IMO she deserved a wild card slot more than Tatiana or Von Smith.
Don’t forget Kristin McNamara and Jesse. Both were better than any female finalist except Alison and Alexis
I’d take Jesse and Kristen over Felicia any day of the week! I never got the crazy love for her. She’s a good singer, but not all that and a bag of chips, IMHO.
Whoops I just posted under the wrong thread, but someone just tweeted that Kris really messed up rehearsal of the na (AND they called him Adam) ouch.
The put Jesse in the Wild Card round and she just blew it, IMO.
And, and I guess Kristin McNamara is more proof they didn’t want country singers. And she is def Nashville Country. (Unless I am remembering the wrong singer.)