Idol Headlines for 10/28/08
‘American Idol’ castoff Josiah Leming’s big recovery
Last January, in a classic “American Idol” preseason meltdown, the hyper-emotional Josiah Leming was sent home — which in his case meant his car.
Now, less than a year later, in one of “Idol’s” unlikely turns of fate, the high school dropout who’d left his ailing mother, out-of-work stepfather and eight siblings in Morristown, Tenn., is back, living the high life in Los Angeles and poised to release his first album on Warner Bros. Records.
“I was kind of down and out,” said Leming, now 19, over a burger and fries at Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles of his decision to audition for “American Idol.” “So it was kind of like, ‘What the hell?’ Nothing to lose, really.”
Despite his diminutive stature, baby face and boyish clothing, Leming is magnetic in person, his naked lack of inhibition at once disarming and electrifying. And then there’s that inner heartache.
More Idol Headlines After the JUMP…
Josiah Leming Completes His Debut Album for Warner Bros. Records — Due Early 2009
BURBANK, Calif., Oct 27, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Tennessee-born singer and songwriter Josiah Leming has completed work on his eagerly anticipated debut album for Reprise Records, which the label will release in early 2009. The 19-year-old newcomer, who made a splash with his powerfully expressive voice and passionate performance style, spent several weeks over the summer in London with producer/musician David Kosten (Bat For Lashed, Faultline), recording the songs, all of which he wrote himself.
Josiah Leming shows off debut album
Up-and-coming singer/songwriter Josiah Leming [ tickets ] has finished his debut album for Warner Bros. Records and is previewing the set next month with a handful of North American dates.
The season-seven “American Idol” contestant is scheduled to hit the road beginning Nov. 12 in Vancouver and then cross over to the US for nine gigs stretching from Seattle to Memphis. The full itinerary is listed below.
Schneider, Padgett, Schulz, Allan, Blum and More Will Join Hicks in Grease Tour
Complete casting has been announced for the upcoming national tour of the fifties-themed musical Grease, which will launch Dec. 2 at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, RI.
As previously reported, “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks, who played a summer stint as Teen Angel in the Broadway company of Grease, will reprise that role for audiences across the country in the musical’s national tour.
Idol Chartwatch, October 27: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ CDs Hold Their Own
It was, overall, a rather slow week for CD sales last week, but Idols on the charts fared pretty well. Jennifer Hudson sold another 46,000 copies, slipping from #4 to #5 on the Billboard 200. Sales for the album now total 326,000. Jenniferà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album also charted on Top Digital Albums (24), Top Internet Albums (20) and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (2).
Never Mind the Mullet; Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the Tunes
Sooner or later it had to happen. The immortal hair bands of the 1980s finally receive their due in the brash jukebox musical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rock of Agesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ at New World Stages. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a natural fit: the eraà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album-oriented radio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ this production has no time for the British synthesizer bands, R.E.M. or the great dance music of the period à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ was closer to Broadway in its grandiosity than you might expect. But like much of the music that inspires it, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Rock of Agesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ too often lacks a human pulse.
The paper-thin story, played for laughs, is about saving the farm, here the club: the Sunset Stripà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Bourbon Room, home of glamsters and metalheads and owned by Dennis (Adam Dannheisser, channeling too much Will Ferrell). While ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s targeted for demolition by predatory developers (Paul Schoeffler and Wesley Taylor), Sherrie (Kelli Barrett), an aspiring actress from Kansas, meets the gentle busboy and aspiring musician Drew (the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ alumnus Constantine Maroulis, appealingly self-effacing).
Bucky’s New Single Climbs the Charts
With his latest single, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll Walk,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ leaping into the Top 10 on the Mediabase country chart this week, Bucky Covington becomes one of only three male country artists since 2005 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ including Josh Gracin and Jason Aldean – to have three consecutive top 10 singles from his debut album. Covingtonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s previous singles, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A Different Worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Good To Be Us,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ peaked at #5 and #9, respectively, on the Mediabase country chart.
Concert review: Underwood’s vocals shine
As she took great pains to point out Sunday night, Carrie Underwood has come a long way in a short amount of time.
A video shown to the crowd of about 7,200 early on during her concert at DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven traced the Checotah, Okla., native’s rapid rise since 2005: her “American Idol” win, the release of her record-setting debut album Some Hearts, the seven No. 1 singles, the slew of awards, the magazine covers she has graced, even her “Oprah Winfrey Show” appearance.
The video’s purpose was to pad the show during a costume change and was probably meant to portray the singer’s fairy tale, princess-like transformation. But the actual effect was more like tacky self-aggrandizement. It was one of several bad notes in the staging of a concert that, musically at least, was pitch perfect.
Keith Richards pays tribute to musicians
When Keith Richards flies into town today and heads to Schermerhorn Symphony Center, it won’t be to collect a paycheck. It will be to thank some people who paved his way and who offered inspiration in the form of melody, tone, rumble and twang. Richards is among the stars who will perform or present at the second annual Musicians Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“People like The Crickets and Duane Eddy . . . these are the Rolling Stones to the Rolling Stones,” said Musicians Hall director Joe Chambers. “Those are the people that Keith Richards looks up to. The power of what these people did is what brings Keith to Nashville.”
The Crickets, Eddy, Booker T. & The MG’s, Al Kooper, The Memphis Horns, The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section & Friends and Billy Sherrill will be inducted into the Hall this year. And recording artists including Richards, Percy Sledge, Kid Rock, Lee Ann Womack, Barbara Mandrell, Kix Brooks, Melinda Doolittle, Eddy Floyd, Phil Everly, George Jones and Ronnie Milsap will be on-hand, offering thanks and praise and songs.
‘Dancing With the Stars’: Boogie Down Ballroom
Turn and face the strange changes, Dancing With the Stars fans. Last night, the show’s sparkplug-in-chief, Julianne Hough, announced she’ll have to pull out of the competition for a week due to illness; her partner, Cody Linley, will dance with Lady Leg-warmers (Edyta Sliwinska) instead. Meanwhile, Michael ”Lord of the Dance” Flatley stepped in for head judge, Len Goodman, which obviously means that since I insist on calling Len the name on his vanity license plate, DANCMSTR, Flatley will heretofore be referred to as DANCLRD. It softens the blow.
EXCLUSIVE: DWTS’ Lance Bass: What You’ll See on Tonight’s Show
Lance Bass is keeping an exclusive diary only on Usmagazine.com about his experience competing on Dancing With the Stars. Check back each Monday to keep up with Bass’ progress, and get behind-the-scenes dish on ABC’s hit series.
‘DWTS’ Star Julianne Hough to Surgery
“Dancing with the Stars” pro Julianne Hough announced that she will undergo an appendectomy today, but said she hopes to be back on the dance floor next week.
Hough was hospitalized last week with stomach pains and later diagnosed with endometriosis. The pro said on Monday night’s show, “Everything’s okay. I’m going to hopefully be back, if everything goes as planned, next week.”
Dancing With The Stars: Week 6
(S07E12) It’s time to head back to the ballroom, and week 6 brought with it another change to the format. In addition to one regular performance from each couple, they all got together for a big group number as well. Shotyme stopped by to choreograph what was billed as the “Old School Hip Hop” performance. As you might expect, that went better for some than it did for others. We also had a special guest judge this week. Michael Flatley, best known for Lord of the Dance, filled in for Len Goodman. He got the full DWTS experience, witnessing some fantastic performances… and Cloris. A look at all of the performances, is after the jump.
Before They Were Dancing With The Stars
“Extra” tracked down early videos of the professional dancers of “DWTS.” See Lacey Schwimmer, Mark Ballas, Derek Hough, and judge Carrie Ann Inaba — dancing before they hit the ballroom bigtime!
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74 Responses to “Idol Headlines for 10/28/08”
Layla, I would love to hear live songs from DC. I know they will be different than how they sound on the album. He sing’s pretty much all songs differently each time. He did his own harmonies on the studio recording of LO. It will definitely sound different live.
Gingerly,
You are right….hearing the songs live will be awesome…I guess it’s just that I don’t want the live versions to colour my feelings when I hear the album.I am so excited about this damn record, that I have planned EXACTLY how I will listen t it the first time! LOL
Those songs will most probably be available to buy on walmart’s site.
When we first started hearing about his promo schedule it was said to start mi-November, per Hits Daily Double and then SNL came up later on which is pretty early anyway. Technically it is the album promo kick off but I didn’t take it to mean he would be doing a ton of stuff from the 1st and then another two weeks. I doubt that schedule is complete anyway since VH1 is missing and he said himself not long ago he would be doing radio Christmas concerts. The last that was said about the video was I think early November.
WOW! The Wal-mart sound check site has shown some really good artists…the Foo Fighters did this! Love the behind the scenes stuff, interviews and the performances. I’m glad that it’s not streamed-you can watch what and when you like 24/7.
Yeps…I am now officially thrilled to see DC on this site on Saturday! Woohoo and Yee-haw! :clap_tb:
The WalMart Soundcheck thing is so much more awesome than I imagined. I don’t see this as “leaking” songs, because it’s not the album version, it’s live versions which are always different. It won’t hurt my anticipition, I actually think it just might stoke it.
Considering he’d likely get TOML in the mix, 2-3 new songs feels like a very nice teaser to me.
Plus, we’ll probably get to hear one of the new ones on SNL anyway.
The fact that some of these will be available for download is just icing on the cake… I cannot wait!
PS – DC’s schedule isn’t complete. There’s at least one appearance that isn’t listed yet, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t get TRL somewhere in there while he’s in NY.
yeah…cannot believe that I never knew about this site. Wonder what time they will put up DC? This will be the first time we will see the boys in the band up close and personal!
Yeps..yuou all have convinced me that I won’t be spoiled for the record. I am almost as excited about this on 1 November, as I am about SNL!
Love. me. some. Cookie.
As far as Josiah’s remarks. I don’t really mind when former contestants bash the show. Sure, they may owe any good fortune that comes their way afterward to the show, but it’s a two way street. The show uses the kids as well. And for cheap. Josiah was good TV, and at that point, the contestants weren’t even getting paid. Idol makes millions off these kids’ backs. I don’t feel bad for them.
TRL’s last episode is 11/16 so CD release week that’s definitely out.
Soundcheck isn’t leaking songs at all. Songs being leaked you might want brace yourself for though because it happens all the time. Hell sometimes full albums leak as early as 2 weeks before the release date.
^^ P!nk’s album leaked a couple weeks early.
I’m actually surprised Archie’s hasn’t leaked yet (but happy). I really don’t consider those clips to be true leaks (not to mention they were legitimate releases by the label). You can’t get the effect of a song from those kinds of samples, and we’re not even sure if those were mastered versions.
More about David Cook’s “Permanent”, from the Word Nerd Home:
Speaking of DC, here are the top 40 adds for LO from All Access:
I guess this should be posted here, too…
Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s myspace just sent out a bulletin announcing that his debut album is now available on iTunes for pre-order.
Now this:
Is just awesome, IMHO!!!!!!! Wow!!! I’m stocking up on the tissues now!
Wow Isn’t it great that Archie is promoting his album and his record company is advertising for him, I see he has an add on Itunes and I noticed a banner at DCO the other day, great, I hope he does well. He looks like he has a busy schedule promoting his album.
I cannot wait until Saturday because of the Walmart thing and SNL. I think it will help hold me over until Nov 18th when David’s record drops.
Josiah was my favorite until they dropped him but I haven’t heard his stuff yet, I did notice Michael Johns early on but Josiah’s story grabbed me and I thought he was talented but he did have a meltdown and probably was not right for the show. But After Hello it was David C for me all the way.
Permanent is getting more interesting with every tidbit dropped.
People like Josiah (and Amanda Overmeyer) just grate. Don’t try out for the show if you think it is beneath you.
Re: “Permanent”– it was described as vocals, strings, and a piano. I’m kind of hearing INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart” in my head, for those that remember that underappreciated, excellent tune. Except, of course, NTUA had more instruments in parts and no piano….
I wasn’t finding anything much here about the SNL gig, or the Walmart Soundcheck Series, or the stealth appearance by David and The Boyz in the Band at the Viper Room, but maybe I was just not looking in the right places?
I’m not always sure I’m navigating properly, and I can’t always tell from the posts.
So I was absolutely anticipating the SNL appearance, like Christmas morning, and then I find out about the Soundcheck Series…and now I’m not at all sure I want to see that first.
I looked at some of them…they are indeed awesome. but what a different vibe! I may be crazy, but the involved audience feedback creates an energy loop with performers, especially in Rock…and I don’t see that happening in the Soundcheck Series.
I think I want that experience first…SoundCheck Series second…and how come I didn’t even know the SoundCheck thing existed before now? Duh.
I read somewhere from a site that somehow seems to know stuff before everyone else that DA’s album is going to leak at the end of the month. I don’t know if it is true. I kind of wish it wouldn’t.
Article about David Cook from Oklahoma Magazine, via MsCRC at DC42:
http://www.oklahomamagazine.com/online/November08.html
We’ve heard most of it before, but there are a few new quotes.
Exactly. I usually prefer this kind of performance(AOL, Yahoo, Clear Channel Stripped) with acoustic style. But, well, I’ll take it LOL.
Now that I have made my peace with it, I’m trying to decide, based soley on the song list, which of the songs from the record he will perform on souncheck.
Someone said you can usually buy the songs- does this mean the songs performed as singles, or a dvd with the whole performance?
Hmm. Maybe I better go and check that out.
^They sell the live recording(audio, online only) of the performance~
I agree with those who are considering waiting on the SoundCheck until after SNL. I’d like the live performance to be the first one I see. However, I’m not all that patient, so we’ll see what I really end up doing when the time comes. I can’t believe that after this long wait, we start to get some real goodies in just a few days!
BTW, congratulations to David Archuleta on his great album preorders and new single. I’m glad to see he’s getting plenty of promotion.
On another note, it’s funny, Josiah really appealed to me on the show initially, but he lost me over time. While I understand the truth of some of what he is saying here, my sympathy only goes so far. On the one hand, the rules of the show are pretty clear; he had a written contract that stated he could not do his own stuff. I’m sure most of the contestants don’t like that, but they abide by what they signed, however grudgingly. It took a great deal of humility, for instance, for David Cook, as a gifted songwriter, to go along with the rules, but he took the contract seriously. David found a way to work within the constraints and actually turn them to his advantage as he revamped his songs.
On the other hand, AI does subject everyone to a lot of indignities. I cringed at some of it. I can understand how this stuff would grate, but it is not as though the manipulations, the group numbers, the theme nights, and the pressure were unknown after this many seasons. That’s where the statement about signing up for all of it comes in.
I believe Josiah would not be known to anyone without the show, nor would he most likely have a contract, at least not until he paid his dues for a few years in clubs. Yes, they did use him, too, but he needed them more than they needed him. I think plenty of people will remember him, and his record company knows this.
Josiah really appealed to me on the show initially, but he lost me over time. While I understand the truth of some of what he is saying here, my sympathy only goes so far. On the one hand, the rules of the show are pretty clear; he had a written contract that stated he could not do his own stuff. Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m sure most of the contestants donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like that, but they abide by what they signed, however grudgingly.
Josiah’s music appeals to me. As long he doesn’t put up youtube videos of himself eating kittens, I’m buying what he’s selling. I don’t think he’s looking for sympathy. He has exciting things happening, and he got to make an album on his own terms.
I don’t have to like everything he says or does for me to enjoy his music and that goes for anyone who’s been on Idol (except for Constantine, lol). I don’t pretend to know the Idols, their experiences or their motivations no matter how many minutes they spent on my TV screen. I wonder if Josiah wanted to sing his own stuff in the Hollywood rounds and they wouldn’t allow it? I seem to recall reading or hearing that Jason did actually perform his own song on the last day in Hollywood (and kind of screwed it up). If Josiah ran into resistance on performing his own songs at that point when the rules allowed it, I don’t blame him for being pissed about it.
If Josiah had survived, I think he would have either had really great or really trainwrecky performances, probably both. He definitely would have made for good tv. I’m sure he wouldn’t have refused to sing cover songs if he had made the Top 24. To some extent, I think he was pushed aside for cannon fodder like Colton Berry and that Garrett kid.