Idol Headlines for 07/27/09
‘American Idol’ stars in talks for bigger pay
“American Idol” judge Paula Abdul, left is making $4 million a year and is seeking $12 million, sources say. Host Ryan Seacrest has made a three-year deal, while judge Simon Cowell, who some see as essential for the show to remain a success, is in talks. He could use his leverage to try to get “X Factor,” which he hosts overseas, on Fox.
Negotiations on a new contract for Simon Cowell, the show’s linchpin, chief prosecutor and animating force, are progressing quickly and could be concluded as early as this week. Cowell, who currently makes about $36 million annually and still has another year on his pact, is looking at a new multiyear deal that would boost his pay to the $45-million range, people close to the talks said.
iTunes, Record Labels Aim to Jump Start Album Sales
Apple and the four major record labels are reportedly in talks to figure out ways to entice more consumers to purchase full-length albums, the variable pricing, which raised the cost of hit singles while lowering that of catalog albums. Reps from the four major labels declined to comment on ‘Cocktail.’
KELLY’S BEYONC DRAMA
KELLY Clarkson is battling her record label over her new single — because it sounds exactly like the new Beyonc song.
More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…
Kris Allen Performs Live!
Thousands of screaming fans crowded into Verizon Arena Saturday night for their hometown hero-Kris Allen. It’s the American Idols Live Tour 2009 in North Little Rock.
Over 14,000 fans packed a sold out show; all to see the top ten finalists and of course Kris Allen.
Though he has been back to the state once since he won the show in March, we spoke with Kris today and he’s calling this visit his true homecoming.
Kris Allen comes home
More than 14,000 happy fans filled Verizon Arena in North Little Rock Saturday night for the American Idol tour stop featuring Conway’s Kris Allen, winner of this year’s editon of the talent competition.
Brian Chilson was on hand for these photos. Rock Candy will be weighing in with a report in time and look to Lindsey Millar’s coverage in this week’s Times, too.
Back at home
Allen has been touring the country with nine other ‘American Idol’ finalists as part of the American Idols Live Tour 2009. Whether he was crowned ‘American Idol’ because more fans voted for him or because his fans just voted a little harder is up for debate, but there was no doubt that he was the star attraction for this particular show.
My lunch with Phil Stacey
Phil Stacey and I had lunch on Friday, along with a couple of publicists from Provident Music Group, at Amerigo’s in Nashville. Did we talk about his new album, Into the Light, due Aug. 25? Hardly at all, actually. We did, however, discover that we like to order the same way at restaurants. So when the waitress came, we handed her our unopened menus and said, “You know what’s good here — surprise us!” I got the Cannelonni al Forno, Phil wound up with a cedar-wood roasted pork chop with asiago mashed potatoes. We each highly recommend our dishes, and we had so much fun doing it that we decided we’re going to get the wives together sometime before Into the Light comes out and do it again.
Even though we never got around to talking about the album, I did learn that Phil recently knocked Michael Jackson off the top of Amazon’s most-downloaded tracks chart (which can happen when you’re offering your new single for free). Also, Phil will tour with Michael W. Smith in September and October (Matt Maher and Meredith Andrews will be part of that package, as well). Did find out one thing about the album: Time of My Life writer Regie Hamm also co-wrote one of the tracks, Got to Be Love.
Jordin Sparks Thinks She’ll Be Russell Brand’s New VMA Target
At last year’s VMAs, after Russell Brand took some time out to poke fun at the Jonas Brothers and their purity rings, Jordin Sparks took to the stage to present an award. With a slightly surprised John Legend at her side, Sparks proclaimed to the world how she felt about Brand’s comments.
“I just have one thing to say about promise rings,” she said during the telecast. “It’s not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody ‘†guy or girl ‘†wants to be a slut.”
Carrie Underwood shines at the Grand Ole Opry
Last night, Carrie Underwood took the stage for the 7:00 and 9:30 performances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. Underwood was joined by country music legends Little Jimmy Dickens, Bill Anderson and Clay Walker. Bill Anderson, who took the stage two hours into the show, before Underwood’s set, came out to announce ‘Welcome to the Carrie Underwood show!’
Reviews | Daughtry, The Mars Volta, The Dead Weather and more
American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry never met a clich he couldn’t steamroll his way over on angst-driven post-grunge rock. That was forgivable on his band’s 2006 debut because you figured he probably didn’t have that much say in its direction.
However, this baggage is damnable on Leave This Town, the sound-alike follow-up to the quadruple-platinum Daughtry.
Leave This Town is maddeningly generic and predictable. Hey, big dumb rock doesn’t have to strive for Art. Chickenfoot’s no-frills retro rawk, for instance, is a blast to crank while you try to drive 55.
SF AIDS benefit features Jersey Boys, American Idol stars
What “Help Is On The Way” is known for are appearances by name entertainers who, while they give their time for free, put in knock-you-outta-your-seat performances. Cast performers from the musical “The Jersey Boys” have graced the stage in the past and this year, show star John Lloyd Young comes in. The show has also been the focal point for “American Idol” stars and this year is no exception. Melinda Dolittle, who wowed Idol audiences in season six, and now has a new album called “Coming Back to You”, will be joining the cast as well as the amazing Joely Fisher. Fisher’s currently in a new Fox TV show called “Til Death” and is on “Desperate Housewives” as well, in addition to a wealth of credits on TV shows like “Normal, Ohio” and movies like “Inspector Gadget”. I had the pleasure of meeting Fisher at last year’s event; what an incredibly nice person she was to go with her many accomplishments.
Is this Simon Cowell’s new girlfriend? Brunette make-up artist his plus one at birthday bash
When you’re one of the world’s most eligible bachelors there is little hope of remaining single for long.
And so, a year after making public his split from long-term love Terri Seymour, Simon Cowell appears to have been snapped up.
A peak at the guest list for his surprise 50th birthday bash at the weekend revealed that his plus one was Mezghan Hussainy, a U.S. make-up artist who works on American Idol.
Mystery over Simon Cowell’s relationship with party ‘plus one’ Mezhgan Hussainy
With a stunning brunette on his arm, it was little wonder Simon Cowell looking so pleased with himself on Saturday.
Mezhgan Hussainy flew in to London to attend a party with the X Factor boss at the weekend ‘“ and set tongues wagging about their relationship.
The 36-year-old, who is a make-up artist on American Idol, was down as Cowell’s ‘plus one’ for a birthday bash for his old flame Jackie St Clair.
Sources close to Mezhgan ‘“ pronounced Mish-gone ‘“ say she has a ‘unique friendship’ with her boss and they share the same sense of humour.
Simon’s so vain, I bet he thinks this song is about him
She had always kept the real subject of her 1972 No 1 a secret – although it is widely believed to be about her actor ex Warren Beatty.
But on Saturday Simon’s pal Piers Morgan got Carly on the phone to talk via a loudspeaker at the bash. She told guests: “I was re-recording the song in the studio the other week and I was at the piano. I just thought, ‘Of course, this song is all about Simon Cowell.’”
ETA:
Nobody is Happy About Kelly’s Already Gone
The clip was directed by Joseph Kahn, who during the shooting of the clip complained via Twitter, ‘I don’t think I won a single battle’ ; after the video leaked over the weekend, he gave a cryptic statement about whether or not his vision would be fully realized, saying, ‘That meatloaf is already cooked, and my hand hurts from everyone slapping my spices away.’ I guess not everything can be as crowning an artistic achievement as the clip for the Pussycat Dolls’ ‘When I Grow Up.’
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daenarys whhaaattt? gin blossoms still exist??? wow…i love love love their songs n its super cool they r opening for DC….one of my first favourite bands and i thot they had disbanded or something….wish they put out an album some day
The change to Cook’s band, with Joey and Monty, just happened a minute ago, and David isn’t required to immediately explain the details to his fans. There are a lot of different scenarios that might have occurred, and if we need an explanation or an announcement, we’ll probably get one before long.
I think fans were the least invested in Joey of any of the band members, though he did have his fans. I don’t think the change in bass players is all that earthshaking. Bands change, we don’t even know what happened or whose idea it was. Monty appears to be an old friend who played with David on his solo cd, Analog Heart, and also played with Neal and Andy before. He’s committed for 6 weeks, beyond that is anyone’s guess.
Am I curious? Yes. Is it my right to know, or is it the band’s duty to let me know immediately every single thing that happens with them? No. This won’t affect the concerts or the music, since Monty is a good bass player too, and it’s all in the family.
I don’t remember why exactly, but I got the sense that Joey was trying for a solo career and that the DC gig wasn’t necessarily the be-all and end-all for him. Although I guess you could say that about any of the musicians in David’s band.
And, yes, Adam Lambert looks gorgeous in that Memphis video, but I would still bet my lunch money that he’s had work done on his nose. Personally, I would love to see Adam with his natural coloring and sans all the too dark foundation make-up. He’s a beautiful guy, and I hate that living in Hollywood makes all these great looking people feel like they constantly need to “improve” themselves. As schleppy as Cook looks from time to time, I admire him that he hasn’t caved to the pressure to get hair plugs and live at the gym while popping diet pills and/or taking up smoking.
Regarding the Joey thing, I don’t see how acknowledging the obvious = giving a detailed explanation.
Joey — whether meant to be more permanent or not — has been in Cook’s touring band for 90 shows and for all the important appearances. Fans have grown familiar with seeing DC’s band mates and have acknowledged everyone’s talents. After going to a concert and watching all these videos, no one is “just an interchangeable bass player” or “guitar player” or “drummer.” Certainly, there are other musicians who could fit right in in terms of talent, but it’s odd that after all this, the way fans learn that Joey is no longer there is through a third party’s blog congratulating a colleague on a six week gig. Huh?
I was kind of surprised that, at Monty’s first show, David didn’t just address the obvious, i.e., “I guess you noticed Joey isn’t here and we have my friend Monty playing bass. Well, Joey is going to be away for six weeks (or Joey moved on) and Monty is helping us out in the interim.’
So, how is that intrusive, or giving detailed explanations, or stepping all over legalities?
And I grant you, many in the audience might not have known what in the world DC was referring to, but some in the audience would.
I wouldn’t hold it against him were he to get hair plugs though. I am afeered of the Massive Alien Skull without the benefit of the hair camouflage.
Sassykatz, there are myriad possible reasons why Joey wasn’t around and we have no idea whether or not David is at liberty to discuss those reasons. Or whether the situation has settled to the point where there was anything definitive to discuss. I can probably list 20-40 plausible reasons why the situation couldn’t be discussed last night as of yet. For goodness sake, Phil Marshall’s blog was discussed by the fandom just yesterday and Joey didn’t play for the first time last night. David probably hasn’t even woken up yet today, yet the tone of some of the posts from some of his fans seem to be along the lines of “I wish David didn’t keep things from us” or “I wish David didn’t keep us in the dark.” I think his fandom needs to learn the meaning of the term backing off for just a millisecond.
And how important was it really to address the questions of the 20 people in the 5,000 audience who would know Joey’s name, of which maybe 5 of those 20 would be angsting about the fact that he wasn’t there? I’m thinking not very.
It would’ve taken him 20 seconds, tops, to say something along the lines of what I mentioned above. Perhaps he’ll do it at the next performance.
And, just to add, I don’t think there are only two types of fans, i.e., 1) raving, self-entitled lunatics and 2) casual, whatever, I like listening to David … now whose up next on Idol?!
See, this is where the self-entitlement comes in. If there are legalities, privacy issues or just plain awkwardness involved, why isn’t he allowed to remain mum about the subject until he (and/or Joey) is good and ready to talk about the situation instead of fans asking, why couldn’t he take 20 seconds to explain this to the 5 of us who really, really wanted to know and can’t wait, even though the remaining 4,995 other concert attendees didn’t even realize there was anything amiss? I mean what’s so dang important that you can’t wait and why put the burden on David to immediately address every situation that arises?