Idol Headlines for 06/14/09
‘Out’ from the start, ‘Idol’ rocker seeks own way to stardom
David Bowie. Mick Jagger. Steven Tyler. Run through a list of rock stars, and you’ll find plenty of ambiguous sexuality, theatrical flamboyance, machismo combined with mystery.
Now, hoping to enter the pantheon, comes Adam Lambert, “American Idol” runner-up, wannabe rock star, and – as of last week – openly gay man.
When Lambert, 27, the à ¼berconfident “Idol” contestant with the painted nails and wailing high notes, came out to mainstream audiences in Rolling Stone magazine, he was joining a tradition of aggressive androgyny that’s as old as rock ‘n’ roll itself. He was also breaking new ground: ending the mystery about his sexuality at the start of his rock career.
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
‘SYTYCD’: Cat Deeley blogs it for EW!
It’s not easy finding bona fide stars! But…by George…I think we’ve done it!
The first studio show of So You Think You Can Dance went out on Wednesday, followed by the live results show on Thursday. What an exciting week! Our Top 20 for season 5 are truly amazing. The dance talent is incredible in all the different genres, they’re a fun and vivacious bunch, and all of them have done pretty well in the gene pool — I think they may be our most visually pleasing Top 20 yet!
Before I began hosting the show I had preconceptions about just how competitive and cutthroat this TV program would be, but I have been shocked, surprised and delighted by the camaraderie, friendship and general team-player attitude of all the dancers. I know this seems hard to believe, as of course, there is only one title of “America’s Favorite Dancer” and there is only one check for $250,000.
Jordin Sparks lives up to her name
There was no Chris Brown. No Paula Â’ ¦ or Randy Â’ ¦ or Simon, either. But Jordin Sparks seems to be doing just fine on her own. The 2007 American Idol winner showed off a more mature vocal range during a 14-song, hour-long set on Saturday night as she kicked off Universal Orlando’s Summer Concert Series. But, it was she said in between her growing collection of pop hits that was most impressive. Sparks isn’t afraid of being a role model. In fact, she seems to embrace it. Prior to a beautiful rendition of “God Loves Ugly,” Sparks talked about her battle with her personal self-esteem, telling the young, impressionable crowd that she struggles with it every day. But, she had a secret: “It is our differences and blemishes that make us beautiful. It is OK to be yourself.”
Tony-nominated ‘The Color Purple’ comes to Boston
LaToya London couldn’t catch the season finale of “American Idol.” The season three finalist was busy working.
She wasn’t too upset about it, though, because she loves her job.
London now works as many former idols do à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ treading the boards, along with alums like Clay Aiken, Ruben Studdard and Frenchie Davis.
She’s one of the stars of the first national tour of “The Color Purple.” The stage version of the controversial Alice Walker novel turned Steven Spielberg movie comes to Boston on June 16 for a near two-week run.
The Oprah Winfrey-produced phenom also stars three actresses from the acclaimed Broadway musical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Kenita R. Miller, Felicia P. Fields and Angela Robinson.
And yes, London did get to meet the Big O herself.
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248 Responses to “Idol Headlines for 06/14/09”
Nobody hates David Cook. There aren’t even many negative comments about David Cook online or on Twitter. And based on monitored consumer-generated content from approximately 70 million blogs over the past 12 months, David Cook comments have been strongly positive.
As a baby boomer, who grew up in the 60’s, I have felt very disheartened about music for the past 2-3 decades. Since the 80’s, it has seemed to me to be more about making money than making beautiful, memorable songs. Much of the melody has been lost in the search of a “beat” to dance to.
I am very much hoping that Adam will take note of his successes on Idol and do songs that are a mixture of the old style rock and roll that has great melodies, ballads that leave you in tears because your heart is touched, and dance songs that make you get up and move. If he is (1) able and (2) willing to do this, I think he will be a fantastic success.
There are many others like me that have, frankly, been bored with much that’s been released lately. Save for some few true renegades, such as Amy Winehouse, Jason Mraz, and John Mayer – the music has frequently sounded over-produced and vanilla. I miss the old hard beats of rock and roll – like “Light my Fire”, “White Rabbit”, “Break Another Little Piece of My Heart” – songs that moved you emotionally and physically. When he stripped down “If I Can’t Have You” and “Tracks of my Tears” – they were truly amazing, mind-boggling performances that left me craving more. But I adored “Whole Lotta Love” and “Born to Be Wild” too – for their high octane level of energy.
We all know Adam has a fantastic voice, stage presence, incredible dance moves (check out “Crazy” at Art4Life on YouTube), and sexual energy oozing out of every pore. As far as his future success goes — I think it will mostly depend on the quality of songs that Adam records. I’m hoping that he’ll stick to his guns and not produce boring, non-memorable, milquetoast songs. In one of his interviews he talked about this – that it’s ultimately the song that is or isn’t remembered. Having been a huge fan of the Beatles – and their numerous beautiful songs that can still move me to tears – I’m hoping he’ll have that quality of writing for his first album. If so, then I predict it will a HUGE success.
See, that’s the thing. Anybody should be able to make the choice about what they will and will not share about themselves to the world. Anderson lives his life how he wants to, and doesn’t talk about his relationships in the media. There are a lot of famous people who won’t answer relationship questions. That should be an acceptable path too.
Also – it’s no small thing that Anderson is a fucking Vanderbilt. Those old money peeps don’t talk about that kind of stuff. They probably don’t even admit to having sex, let alone who they’re having it with.
http://integrallife.com/member/rebecca-bailin/blog/tetra-hot-integral-hermeneutics-adam-lambert
Gen X here, and now I know that is effing old. None of them are really renegades to me. I will also argue that there’s plenty of quality music out there today, and most of it doesn’t hit the Top 40. It’s there if you care to look for it. I randomly turned on the radio today and The Raconteurs came on with “Salute Your Solution.” I heart Jack White. Totally awesome rock song.
Was disturbed by my nephew who turned on the Seether/Nickleback/Hinder XM station, though. LOL.
However, in his memoir “Dispatches From The Edge”, AC did delve into his personal life extensively (including his brother’s suicide) except anything to do with his romantic life. When he substitutes for Regis, he and Kelly Ripa do banter back and forth about things happening in their lives outside of work (he has a fascination for reality shows, especially the Real Housewives series and My Super Sweet 16). So when he says he doesn’t talk about his personal life, he’s being disingenuous at best, if not outright hypocritical.
How is it hypocritical for him not to want to talk about his own personal life? If he’s commenting on others who put there personal lives out there, isn’t that fair game? If there was a reality show featuring him, I would see your point.
Well I never, ever heard the Anderson Cooper gay rumors. Guess what? I still like the guy. If I didn’t love him for his reporting I’d be interested in his baby face and premature gray hair??!! Ha Ha! Seriously, I love the guy as a reporter. The whole Vanderbilt backstory, interesting, but I love Anderson, at least the guy I see on t.v.
But Anderson isn’t oozing sex as he reports the news. Adam when he is singing is another story. So maybe that is why the question is asked. Still Adam is sexy and talented and that’s all I care about. Really!!!!
PJ, as a fellow generation Xer may I recommend that you check out Kasabian’s latest album “West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum” I think you might like it.
Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m apparently at the tail end of Gen X (for the longest time they considered my birth year part of the gap between X and Y, so I was generationless!) and I have to agree. It’s really hard to find anything interesting on the radio, in my opinion. A lot of music is niche or hard to stick in one genre, so it gets little play. It’s out there though. Some of my favorite acts I discovered opening for another band/artist.
Seether/Nickleback/Hinder makes me shudder though. I meet your disturbed feelings!
MJ…pardon me for jumping on my soapbox for a moment….
When you ILLEGALLY download music or copy someone else’s cd’s, you are STEALING. You are a thief. No if and’s or buts about it. I work in the music business and I see what the direct impact this has on songwriters. Regardless if you tell yourself that it’s only 1 song or only 1 album. Multiply that by 100’s if not 1000’s of people and it adds up real quick. How would you like to work for something, spend hours and money to create something only to have someone take it without compensating you for your work??? Bet you’d be pretty fucking pissed off. Welcome to the life of a songwriter and/or perfomer.
Pay for your music peeps. The artist will thank you.
I love suggestions, and I will check it out. Thanks, Sunn!
Calliope, you cannot be defined. You kick ass.
I enjoy your posts, btw.
ETA: Bax, I agree. I always buy my music. But I think the industry has to come up with a new model to support the artists. It’s not working as it stands.
Personally, I think it’s his own business. However, he did write that memoir which is full of details on his personal life except in that one area. That’s what I meant by hypocritical. He himself gave the public the opening to ask so he cannot very well invoke the “objective reporter” argument. He should have stuck to “I like to keep that area of my life private but I appreciate your interest all the same”.
Hmmm, that’s interesting because I personally loved Kris’s vocal on both “Falling Slowly” and “To Make Me Feel Your Love” which iirc, were done w/o instruments. Granted using the instruments make Kris a standout, but his voice to me is ’standout’ whether he used the instruments or not. This is where his beautiful clear, pure tone came into play for me. LOL, in fact, since I love his voice so much, when he went into the studio and didn’t always have the Kris ‘twist’ to the recordings, I still was able to appreciate his artistry and voice a great deal. (Moreso than I expected.) I guess, as a fan, I could go on and on about how I think his voice will stand out on the radio, but I’ll stop.
ETA: “Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m apparently at the tail end of Gen X (for the longest time they considered my birth year part of the gap between X and Y, so I was generationless!) and I have to agree.”
This made me smile because I was born in ‘64 the last yr. in a generation (old, baby boomer, lol), but would consider myself baby boomer in my musical preference for sure. (Perhaps some may not think that ‘64 is so solidly a part of that generation.) So I would say, claim the generation where you think you would fit the best.
ETAA: Oh and if you want to claim both, that’s great!
Oh PJ how I agree with you. THey do need to fix the system. How I have no idea, but something needs to be done. Unfortunately, until that time arrives, this is the only system we have and I wish people would understand what happens when they steal music. And thanks bunches for paying for your music.
linda2u I agree completely. And I have some hope that we get a decent first Adam album. I think that Adam understands that he’s got one big shot at this. And I think he will do what it takes to get a quality product.
On the plus side:
Adam has already broken some new AI ground. I’ve watched AI for years, and Adam was the first one to really stage his performances. He knows how to collaborate with professionals — Miles Siggins (stylist), production crew, Michael Orland (accompanist, arranger), Ricky & the band, etc. all said that it was a pleasure to work with Adam. Things do change at 19 – I read many “expert” opinions that said that 19 was calling the PR shots regarding Adam not responding to the questions about his sexuality — and it turned out that they left the choice up to Adam. Adam had the guts to make the rhinestone yarmulke comment to Barry Weiss, Chairman and CEO of the BMG Label Group, so I think he has enough guts to push back against some producers. Finally, since Barry Weiss has replaced Clie Davis, maybe they’ll give the Idols some more creative freedom.
On the negative side:
Adam does seem to like to make TPTB happy. For example, he said he was dueting with a really cool band and then it turned out to be Kiss, a band he admittes later that he never really liked. (Another plus, he has good taste.) He was intimidated by Madonna, so clearly he isn’t fearless. Most Idols first albums are disappointing and “manufactured”. There are probably more negatives but I don’t like to be negative!
My conclusion: I like and own most of Adam’s AI recordings — love most. The handful I don’t love have sound mix issues (Crying Live) or Adam just when a bit too OTT for me (One Live). I also like most of his pre-Idol recordings. “Come to Me, Bend to Me” from ” Brigadoon is a recording of a live stage performance, and it’s amazing. So, I will maintain my optimism that we’ll get a good album; and I’ll probably love it if he sings the phone book — as long as it’s not autotuned.
Except, of course, for his mother!! The original tabloid queen!
Why thank you, PJ! I enjoy yours as well (lovefest going on).
(Randomly, sometimes I am considered Gen Y, but I’d rather be associated with 90’s alt-rock than 90’s boybands lol).
And baxter, I agree with you about supporting the artists. I buy tons of music, but if a friend burns me a copy of something I might like I am not going to say no to that.
However, I do think illegally downloading music is not the right thing to do, but I don’t discount that as being a huge part in why sales are down. I’m not saying it is right, but a lot of people I know don’t see anything wrong with getting music illegally which hurts the artists. It’s why I think they are trying new ways to figure out popularity (youtube hits, media, etc. — with Lady GaGa’s press you would think she has sold more than she truly has) and why live shows are a major part of an artist now (you have to pay if you want to see that).
I think you might be arguing semantics here. It’s hard to just take a couple of quotes and sum up a person’s thinking on a subject. It’s possible that what he meant when he said “personal life” was his relationships. Not necessarily “I will never speak of anything outside of my reporting”.
Lots of people in the public eye will talk about all kinds of tidbits from their life, but won’t comment on who they’re dating. Plus, being on the cover of magazines with someone he’s dating would be a distraction to his career as a journalist.
I think he was probably using the term “personal life” in the context of “relationships” like many people do. Not necessarily inclusive of all aspects of his life. Many people will share stories of their lives with their friends, yet won’t tell them the intimate details of their sex lives. We should all get to set our own boundaries.
I haven’t listened to Top 40 radio since I was 14. And with XM/Sirus, Pandora, Lala, etc. I don’t think I’ve listened to Terrestrial (land based) radio for a couple of years. But, I live in a rural area where the airwave are filled with country and religious stations, so there isn’t much reason for me to listen.
And, although there is a lot of great music, there is even more mediocre stuff out there. Last year over 430,000 different albums sold at least one copy online. That a lot of music choice. On top of that, many of the top sellers have autotuned, electronicly manipulated vocals. I’d love it if they labeled natural vs. synthetic vocals — like fabric.
My two favorite Kris performances, too. But I also really like him with the guitar. Piano, not as much.
Well, one of my all time faves Ani DiFranco bucked the system years ago. She’s made money, has her own label, and is active with important charities. If there’s ever a conference about how to restructure the industry to support artists, I hope they invite her.
twitter.com/kenbakernow (i think he works at E!) has some interesting tidbits on adam’s cd
Yes, Adam album due by end of year..RT @Jennao5 @kenbakernow yayyy!! I can’t wait to Buy that album. It will be out this Fall 09 right?
39 minutes ago from mobile web
Adam is in the recording studio now in fact!
about 1 hour ago from mobile web
wow, A LOT of people care about Adam. im hearing a lotta his songs are “Queen inspired”
about 1 hour ago from mobile web
do you guys care to know more about adam lambert? what do you want to know??
about 1 hour ago from mobile web
Interesting article posted by GeminiDolly.
Yes Adam seem to disengage himself from the performing persona after the music stops. He gives off a laugh and seem to show the – OMG ,what did I just do – look . In spite of all that sneering and sexy stares, he still comes across as that kid you would enjoy having dinner with your family. Nothing sinister about him.
The seeming brazen candor on the Rolling Stone article and the vulnerable, almost shy Adam in the 20/20 TV interview seem to represent what we saw on the actual stage à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ the performing rock star persona à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ and then the down to earth back to the world almost timid yet fun loving kid ,once the performance is done.
Interesting à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ this continue to hook and haunt a lot of people. And as you can see from the continuing and increasing iTunes sales , I think this media blitz may be catching those who did not see the TV run .
This just shows that Adam and 19E are full speed into launching his career.
It also looks like its just Adam and Kris who have additional guest appearances in shows for the next few months.
As for the other finalists à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ it will probably be the concert tour that will be their forum.
So guys , those who are going to the Live concert- do let us know who you think will best benefit from the Live concert tour. Who will hook people further into looking forward to buying their album and following their music careers . And who will disappoint. The first concert date is coming up soon.
“Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m apparently at the tail end of Gen X (for the longest time they considered my birth year part of the gap between X and Y, so I was generationless!) ”
Welcome to 1964 (as a birth year). Boomers without benefits. (I should copyright that– very catchy. LOL). Anyway, we did what everyone told us to do, but it didn’t necessarily work out the way our parents told us. 1964 seems to be a weird birth year to me. Or I’m just weird. True….
And could someone tell me how to make the big quotation marks when quoting someone????
There is a new article up at Broadway.com about some of the people who worked with Adam in various shows and their opinions of him. It’s really interesting to read what some current Broadway performers think of him and his abilities.
http://www.broadway.com/buzz/news_feature_detail.aspx?id=5023163&p=1
Patrick Wolf, one of my current favorite artists, sent emails regarding something called “band stock” where you buy them for that artist as an investment, it cuts down costs for production and you can eventually turn a profit once the album starts getting a profit. You also get the album for free. It was rather interesting (I didn’t participate — I just bought the album), but it seemed rather complicated, yet something new. Granted, Patrick Wolf plays all the instruments on his album, writes his own stuff and produces his music as well, so his costs probably aren’t as crazy as some artists. And I HIGHLY recommend him — he mixes all sorts of genres, rather theatrical/Bowie-like in performance style and wears lots of glitter.
Then you got Radiohead who are big enough to bypass record labels and did a name-your-price download. That was quite the experiment, yet totally only something a band like Radiohead could do.
Yes Kelly is bubbly but she is also very articulate, that interview is backstage at a radio concert, no important questions were asked.
Here’s a short video bite of Kris on EW.com’s Must List Live (he appears about 3:15 in). Have to say, his choice of reading material is very interesting…not exactly light reading!
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/06/must-list-live-true-blood-kris-allentogether-at-last.html
Well, AC definitely talked about the importance of being an observer and not being part of the story in the context of not delving into anything personal. But then he broke that rule with his memoirs which revealed a lot about his family members and his relationships with them. I don’t have a problem with that and the mainstream media doesn’t seem to care one way or the other but I think a segment of the gay community feels he IS being hypocritical.
Anyway, to get things back on topic, I understand AC is a fan of AI, especially the early trainwreck-filled audition episodes. :cool1_tb:
TKat and others talking about Adam’s first album. He said he wants to mix it up. Something to dance to, something to make you feel sexy, something with a lttle edge… Fortunately, Adam can do that, because he can sing anything. I was never so surprised to hear him sing R&B with all those riffs. He also said he wanted to record something that would appeal to people in other parts of the world.
Just saw Adam again on TV. His eyes are just so gorgeous. Can’t remember when I’ve seen eyes like that.
Elephant1212, we want to hear all about Adam. BTW, can they release a single before their album comes out, cuz I can’t wait to the end of the year.
Usually the first single is released well before the actual album drops…time varies, but it seems to be anywhere from a week before to more than a month before
I wonder how they decide which single to release first? I imagine Kris’ single has to come out first.
I do know that the management company said they are spending an equal amount of money and promotion on Adam and Kris. Is that common practice for them?
That’s a recycled article, from March or April. I used it as research for my first NYP article on Adam.
Actually, I do love the vocals on those too. Top 11 week (Grand Ole Opry) was when I really started to appreicate Kris’ voice on that Bob Dylan song, though it wasn’t till Top 9 week (“Ain’t No Sunshine”) that I felt he was a real dark horse contender. “Falling Slowly” had to grow on me a bit but now I find the studio version quite exquisite.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that for Kris, I feel that when he uses his acoustic guitar or the keyboard, the instrument acts like an extension of his vocal repertoire. Depending on the arrangement, he doesn’t necessarily need to use an instrument himself, as long the the background accompaniment isn’t so overbearing (like bandzilla can be at times) that it drowns out the nuances in his voice.
LOL Looks like she wasn’t in the US during the finale, and when she arrived she probably saw all the talk about Adam, Adam in the covers and thought he was the winner. Ups!
You seem sure about it. But it’s really difficult for an american who doesn’t have success in America to go and be hugely successful around the rest of the world…
Actually, I think it happens more than we might think. Scissor Sisters are superstars in the UK and Europe, yet don’t get much play in the U.S. other than the dance charts. Kings of Leon have been way more popular in the UK as well. The Killers do well in the U.S. but they do even better in the the rest of the world. Even the Backstreet Boys had to go to Europe and Canada first to gain success before coming back home.
just because noone will probably see it.. but I had a big LOL this morning…
DA:
Oh my heck, there are cats outside fighting and they’re really loud! Hush cats! People are trying to sleep! You shouldn’t fight anyway.
girlygirl: per EW, that is NOT exactly light reading! Not surprising, since Kris has been a world traveler. Always revealing when someone says ‘this book changed my life’.
Yes, it is, and no revisionist fan apologetics are going to change that fact. Singing is one skill, whether or not the voice is viewed as an “instrument”. Being able to sing while playing an instrument is being able to perform two skills at once.
In other words, being able to sing and play an instrument puts you twice as far down the road to what Kara refers to ad nauseam as a “package artist”. Or if you want to go back to your classification as the voice as an instrument, it’s like being able to play two instruments at once instead of just one.
I think you would need to put in so many qualifiers into your statement about this first publicly self-identified gay singers/bands that it would cease to become meaningful. You would need to say that they must be -
1) Full-blooded Americans – As indicated before, plenty of British rock and pop singers/bands are/were known to be gay (or assumed to be gay, they might actually be bi) when they first started out. Singers/groups/bands like Erasure, Jimmy Sommerville, Kajagoogoo, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Will Young, Boy George, Marilyn, Dead Or Alive, Marc Almond, it’s a long list and those were just off the top of my head. Special mention here must go to Tom Robinson because although he isn’t known internationally, his “out-and-proud” stance certainly made it easier for later generations of gay British singers to be out, and arguably he is far more important than his more famous comtemporary singers in that respect.
2) Must be purely pop, that should eliminate Linda Perry’s hit “What’s Up”. I suppose we must ignore that Adam wants to do a bit of rock here for this argument to stick. And Rufus Wainwright cult-ish pop doesn’t count by this argument because his pop isn’t hugely popular (besides, he is half-Canadian, you know what those Canadians are like, he’s so tainted).
3) And this is where your argument might get a bit strange – they must also be successful, and the success must only be in the US chart. Scissors Sisters have never hidden who they are, but I would assume you think they don’t count because they are not successful in the States. If Adam turns out to be unsuccessful then he doesn’t count? (Actually the reason Scissor Sisters are more successful in the UK has probably a lot to do with they way they adopted much of the UK rock and pop tradition, they are more of a British band in that sense).
4) They must appeal to “middle America” – this is kinda weird argument because we have no idea if that is who Adam plans to appeal to, but one thing we can know for sure is that Adam certainly isn’t planning to appeal to the homophobes given the pictures that are out already. So who are these “middle America” people you are talking about?
5) They must out themselves before they released an album (officially of course, the AI special album issue doesn’t count) – this is even weirder because no one is interested in the sexuality of singers before they become famous with hit single or album (are you interested to know that Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day is bi before they had the hit album Dookie?). They must therefore have achieved already fame before starting out on a pop career, which must limit the choice of people down to what, low hundreds at a stretch?
6) They must be expected to succeed – Jim Verraros of AI Season 1 was out before he started his pop career, but he probably won’t count to you because he wasn’t expected to achieve great things. That means you probably only count those who reached Top 3 or 4 in AI, so now there are only at best a few dozens of people who may be candidate as the one who dares to be the first out-and-proud gay AI star before he became a recording star.
Put in enough of these qualifiers I will then agree with you the Adam did something very special and brave (while the eyes rolled to the back of my head).
As for Anderson Cooper, if there are pictures of him kissing another guy à la Adam floating around and he doesn’t say anything about them, I’d giggling all the way through all his broadcasts.
That’s a bit of an overstatement. He’s pop-rock, not rock, but he’s not Air Supply or Barry Manilow either.
What decade do you think we are living in? Rock, other than the slick, commercialized version, is HEAVILY-dominated by a male fanbase. Why do you think Daughtry and Cook can’t get away with anything except pop rock? (With Cook, I think that’s where he wants to be, anyway; with Chris, I’m not so sure– I think he might prefer to be screaming).
But, anyway, the only “rock music” in which females are well-represented among the fanbase is the “flyover” kind– the space occupied by Nickelback, Hinder etc. Sometimes it’s derogatorily referred to as “Mom Rock”– “for moms who want to rock, but not too hard”, as it has been described….
But, anyway, I think most would agree Adam is not going to produce an album that sounds like Daughtry or David Cook. I could see him fitting into the Killers niche, but the problem is this isn’t 2004 anymore, and the Killers really only chart on ALT, Active, and AAA anymore. And those formats don’t sell a lot of records.
I am impressed you could understand what Kris said. I listened a couple times and gave up. I must need my ears checked or better speakers, lol What book did he refer to?
Tara:
The book Kris recommended is called “A Long Way Gone”, which is non-fiction. It is about a child soldier in Sierra Leone.
New article on Adam’s album
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b129209_adam_lambert_goes_gaga_debut_album.html?sid=twitterfeed_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=twitterfeed&utm_campaign=twitterfeed_topstories
It’s bizarre in an absolute sense, but it’s not in the least bizarre in the “this is what everyone expects from top Idol finalists” sense.
That’s unfortunate, I’ll definitely give you that! But if you look at the press and much of the fan commentary, plus AI’s reaction to show alums who haven’t gotten a lot of pop radio play (or at least a lot of country-radio play), then this *is* the criterion. This, and being a multi-platinum seller — which you really only get these days from having big pop and/or country radio hits.
When’s the last time you heard anyone say, Wow, it’s great that Fantasia took New York by storm and got the Tony broadcast to break the rules to let her sing! Wow, it’s great that Kelly C’s My December album has this really cool artistic song. Wow, it’s great that so-and-so is getting a lot of AC play or Urban radio play. Wow, it’s great that Elliott got a gold album and a bunch of radio play in Japan. …. Never, is when. AI, the press, and the world in general don’t even seem to consider those things achievements. The only people who are impressed are people who were fan of the particular Idol involved from the beginning.
If you’re an x-idol, you’re held to one standard and one standard only, I suppose because you come off a mainstream-popular tv show, so it’s just assumed that the only way you can really be a success is by selling big at mainstream-pop.
Yeah, I guess they’re unable to put themselves in the shoes of someone whose calling and talent is music and would like to be able to make a living creating it.
Music is kind of going the way of the newspaper. The internet makes us think that everything that isn’t made out of brick, steel, mortar, or hard plastic should and must be free of charge.
Won’t be easy times for fledgling musicians in the years coming up, I’d guess.
Somebody upthread was wondering what the tour sets will be like. Who knows? But I’ve gone to the show two years and one time the sets appeared to be decorated with aluminum foil (… that’s not even a tiny exaggeration, by the way) and the other year they looked to be draped with a bit of cheesecloth.
Hey, they’re trying to earn money here, people!
Of course not! AI’s stated reason-for-being is to produce star recording artists. It’s a great side-effect that so many who don’t make it in mainstream music find other career opportunities as a result of their Idol exposure, but I refuse to put the in the same category of success as those who are actually making it big in the music business.
So, I don’t care if Constantine would have won that Tony. He still wouldn’t belong in the same sentence with Daughtry or David Cook. And I don’t care if Kimberly Caldwell wins an Emmy for a TV show hosting category. Her hypothetical award would not compare to one of Carrie’s actual “music awards.” And I don’t care if Kat becomes the biggest movie star in the
world. She still shouldn’t be put in the same category as Kelly. You get the idea, I think….
Alas, it’s a sad day indeed when David Cook’s porn name is not headline news. Cookie Sunnyside, meet Tally Ho Broadway. :grin1_ee: “It’s a good thing I don’t have an extra pinky, because this would be awkward.”
Another tail end of Gen X-er here, and my music taste is so eclectic….there were so many musical influences.. NIN/alt stuff, there was hip hop, grunge, Green Day just came out with Dookie my senior year of high school…good times. Maybe that’s why I’m so loathe to put a label on music. I dunno.