Today’s Idol headlines after the jump…
‘Idol’ winner has busy schedule to promote CD
….In the meantime, 19 Management, a branch of Sparks’ label, has been auditioning musicians for the singer’s band.
Fans can keep up with Sparks’ schedule at www.jordinsparks.com.
Jordin Sparks’ tentative schedule:
Daughtry will open for Bon Jovi at the X
When Bon Jovi returns to the Xcel Energy Center March 18, they’ll be bringing a crowd-pleaser along as the opening act - ‘American Idol’ runner-up Chris Daughtry and his band of the same (last) name……..
Jersey girls at forefront of Thanksgiving parade
….More than 1,900 cheerleaders, dancers, singers and performers as well as 800 clowns, 11 giant character helium balloons, 11 marching bands and a bevy of celebrity performers (including Dolly Parton, “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks, Sarah Brightman and the band Good Charlotte) will celebrate Thanksgiving by participating in the parade….
Review: Former idol Daughtry gets Cape’s vote
Chris Daughtry seems to have settled into this rock star gig with ease.
But after weathering a season of “American Idol” and taking his five-piece Daughtry on the road for a year, a guy probably gets used to pleasing the crowd.
Thursday night Daughtry brought the band that’s named for him to the Show Me Center, flexing the strong vocal chops that made him the “American Idol” resident rocker and putting on a strong show for a large crowd of adoring fans, many of them females with a penchant for screaming “We love you, Chris.” The band played before 3,712 people…..
Patsy’s House readies for weekend events
…..Constantine, a star of the fourth-season of American Idol, will perform at 6:30 p.m. at the J.C. Penney court.
Tickets are available today at the mall office until 5 p.m., as well as at Cells-U-More locations and from the participating agencies. They will also be available Sunday at the door….
Stagecoach passes go on sale
….Headliners announced last week include Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Big and Rich and a reunion of Wynonna and Naomi Judd.
This week, former “American Idol” contestant Bucky Covington was added to the lineup. So far, nearly 40 acts have sign on…..
Debut Broadcasting Announces Third Quarter Results; Lays Out Next Phase of Growth Plan
….The company’s Radio syndication unit, Impact Radio Networks, continued expansion in the third quarter as well. The company has completed five new content agreements, including one with TV Guide Network and former American Idol finalist Kimberly Caldwell, to create a daily entertainment feature….
48 Hours: Skip Sparnotes - Literaray Classics Hit Big Screen
Holiday season is officially upon us. The leaves have turned all shades of crimson and yellow, and Christmas trees, decorated with treasured mementos and store-bought trinkets, are making their merry way into living rooms. Atlantic Station leads the way for festivities by switching on 250,000 lights around its eight blocks tomorrow night. The event features “American Idol” winner and Atlanta native Diana DeGarmo, along with other local celebrities. Atlantic Station also showers the crowd with fake snow around the 50-foot-tall Christmas tree. “It’s Snowing in the Station” is scheduled at 7:30 and 9 p.m. tonight and tomorrow………
Music review: Aretha Franklin duets with Fantasia, John Legend, others
….The album also includes two new numbers: the Underdogs-produced smooth R&B tune “Put You Up On Game” with “American Idol” winner Fantasia and the much more funky, catchy “What Y’all Came to Do” with crooner John Legend….
Favorite restaurants of 2007
….CROTON CREEK STEAKHOUSE Croton Falls
Why We Love It OK, we’ll admit it: The first thing that drew us to this steakhouse and wine bar near the Putnam border was the novelty of one of its co-owners being a former American Idol contestant (remember Kimberley Locke?). But after dining here, we learned that Croton Creek transcends such gimmicks. If there’s a more well-rounded steakhouse in all of Westchester, we have yet to find it. Parking can be a pain, but once you step inside, you’ll see that this isn’t your typical Smith & Wollensky décor. The stylish wine bar lounge is populated by chocolate couches, while the 52-seat dining room has high-beam ceilings and exposed brick. And the food is creative enough to draw praise from patrons like Martha Stewart…….
FremantleMedia North America Holds Open Casting Audition in Nashville for First Season of “CAN YOU DUET?” on CMT
In their quest to discover the next Johnny Cash and June Carter, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Big & Rich or The Judds, FremantleMedia North America, producers of “American Idol,” and CMT will hold an open call audition on January 12, 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee, to find contestants for their new music competition show CAN YOU DUET? Performers can also audition via video-taped submission. Slated for Spring 2008, the weekly series is designed to find the best country music duet in America.
Unlike other talent competition shows, each contestant will compete as part of a duo. As a result, viewers will witness first-hand all the on- and off-stage drama to be had in creating a dynamic musical duet. In addition to critiquing each performance and deciding who will advance to the next round, the Judges (to be announced) will also serve as mentors to guide, groom and develop the duets along the way…………
Cheer, Dance Squads Shake Booties With Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul popped up her right shoulder, shuffled her left foot, popped up her left shoulder, turned and waved her arms in a circle above her head.
Fayetteville High School cheerleaders clad in purple warm-up suits followed Abdul’s every move, along with Rogers High School Mountie cheerleaders clad in blue and Bentonville, Springdale and Har-Ber pom squads.
Abdul fell on stage while demonstrating dance moves in Bentonville High School’s main gym.
“Do you still want my advice?” Abdul said with a laugh after she got up and kept dancing………..
Local band makes mark on Fox competition
Listen to this idea.
A network executive, say, from Fox, thumbs through the celebrity B-list, swearing in three judges — one a surly foreigner — to determine the best musical talent in the country.
Sound familiar?
Not if you’re listening to the indescribable flavor of local band Franklin Bridge.
Prior to becoming a semifinalist on the Fox show “The Next Great American Band,” an elimination show akin to its more popular, older sibling “American Idol,” the band with roots on both sides of the Ben Franklin Bridge was virtually unknown………
Jordin grows up
….Her debut album, Jordin Sparks, under the 19 Recordings/Jive Records label, is set for release in the United States on Nov 20.
Jordin Sparks: ‘It ( American Idol) opens so many more doors than just singing – there’s acting, going to Broadway, being able to write songs – you really don’t have to win to be successful. I mean, look at Chris Daughtry.’
“The process was really very crazy,” she says. Because you’re an Idol winner, you have to put out an album in half the time it usually takes. Most people have nine months to a year and we really had, like, five months. So it was really crazy.”
Sparks admits that the process wasn’t quite what she thought it would be, but she loved it nonetheless.
“It was so much fun to be in the studio, getting this product out. It was really cool.”
On the album, Sparks enlists the writing/producing talents of The Underdogs (who have worked on the Dreamgirls soundtrack and with Chris Brown and Mary J. Blige), Eman (Nick Lachey, Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion), Robbie Nevil (High School Musical soundtrack), and former Color Me Badd star-turned-producer/writer Sam Watters.
Her first single, Tattoo, released in August, was written by Amanda Ghost (who co-penned James Blunt’s breakthrough ballad You’re Beautiful) and produced by the Norwegian street-tinged duo Stargate.
“I worked really well with all of them… The Underdogs and Stargate. It was really cool because they gave me free reign to put my own spin on the tracks. They all tried to get the best out of me. We had a blast and I’d really love to work with all of them again.”
In terms of what the album sounds like, Sparks describes it as guitar-driven and rhythmic… “It definitely has a few ballads in there too, which I really love so I don’t know… it has a little bit of everything.”
The youngest-ever AI winner is a big backer of the reality talent show. She cites George Huff (of AI Season Three) as her all-time favourite Idol contestant (“he’s so sweet and adorable”) and feels that the show is a cool way for people who don’t have the means to record an album to get noticed.
Sparks says everyone’s a winner on the show…..
Spice Girls wow Victoria’s Secret fashion show
….The band has sold more than 55 million albums, with 10 No. 1 singles and won another admirer last night.
“I’m in love with Victoria Beckham, which is probably an issue for David,” American Idol host Ryan Seacrest said.
“They could have stood there and done nothing and I’d have been happy,” he raved…..
Sixwire: Making the cut
A handful of Birmingham-based ‘American Idol’ finalists and winners turned a spotlight on the Magic City’s music; now a spinoff of that show has the potential to point fans further down Interstate 20/59.
Sixwire, whose drummer is Northport native Chuck Tilley, is one of the eight groups in contention for the title of ‘The Next Great American Band.’
Even though he’s made Nashville his homebase for the past two decades Tilley keeps close ties with his roots. In addition to driving the 3 1/2 hours down the interstate from Franklin, Tenn. to Tuscaloosa/Northport to visit family and friends — his parents live in Northwood Lake — he and wife Kathleen have given a scholarship at Brookwood High School, and offered talks to students there to stress the importance of higher education……..
He’s N Luv (Wit the Radio): Flo Rida Gives T-Pain Umpteenth Hot 100 Smash
• We are officially eating crow on American Idol 2007 winner Jordin Sparks, whose “Tattoo” was sluggish in its first month but seems to have caught on: it makes a big move into the Top 20 in its seventh chart week. Blake Lewis, your move?
Stars in Orbit: Affleck, Hudson and Ricci
….HOLLYWOOD IDOL: American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, partying at Hollywood staple Hyde.
CAN WE TALK? Kate Bosworth and Jennifer Hudson, chatting at XChange in NYC during last night’s Vacheron Constantin Platinum Excellence gala, which honored legendary music impresario Clive Davis….
Related Posts
Jordin’s review from Rolling Stone
The fact that Rolling Stone called Tattoo “brilliant” kind of destroys the credibility of the entire review for me. ;)
Interesting that Jordin got an entire review, though, while both Taylor and Katharine merely got little blurbs.
Nothing against Jordin, who seems like a sweet girl, but I’ve heard a lot of the leaks. And if this formulaic, boring, generic factory-line album nets rave reviews and becomes a best-seller, I’ll at least have more confirmation that I’m making the right choice by turning off the pop radio station every day and turning on NPR instead. I’ll also become convinced that music critics really need to get out more.
Elliott’s vidoe for OW:
http://music.aol.com/video/one-word/elliott-yamin/2024075
I think Elliott in the white suit is pretty snarkworthy. I’m not surprised Jordin is getting good reviews. Her voice is very suitable for the kind of pop she’s singing. Plus she’s easy to root for. I think Jordin has a shot at decent sales if they can spin some more singles off this.
The trick is to put out something good in the genre even if it’s generic pop. I won’t be buying it but I can appreciate a decent effort.
I didn’t realize “easy to root for” earned you an extra star in the review catalog. Maybe they should give her a star because she’s pretty, too.
I really don’t have anything against her. But I guess I would disagree that her album, from what I’ve heard, is a “decent effort.” All its done is confine to a formula. I’ve yet to hear an Idol debut that hasn’t, frankly (I think Taylor tried to get away but even he was held back, and his album suffered for it). I just seems like reviews these days aren’t based on how good the album is, but on how much it doesn’t suck, which is a different thing entirely. And this is why even though Blake’s not my thing and I didn’t like his single, I’m holding out a little hope for his album.
Oh well. My thoughts are well-stated on this; no need to beat the horse. :)
I don’t want a beat a dead horse either but Jordin’s recorded voice sounds much better than Taylor’s to me. I’d say their songs were of equal quality from what I’ve heard. Nothing that anyone is going to want to listen to a few years from now. Aside from Kelly’s hits (which are fantastic) and Before He Cheats, the only songs that I think anyone will remember from recent idols will be Home and Wait for Me. Probably because they’ll still be playing them on AC stations.
No, I wholeheartedly agree with that. It’s not an “OMGTAYLORISBETTER!!!1″ issue for me. Although I would prefer to listen to recordings of Taylor over recordings of Jordin, that’s just my own personal taste — same reason I like Tom Waits better than I like Celine Dion. I think Jordin undeniably has the prettier, more pleasant voice. Taylor’s is just the one I find more interesting and would rather listen to. But none of them (judging from what I’ve heard of Jordin’s album so far) made a great record post-Idol. As far as whether her album is better quality than any other Idols’, maybe and maybe not, but I guess I’d want to critique (and would expect other reviewers to critique) her album based on its own merits, and not based on the fact that it sucks more or less than other Idol debuts. Taylor got very good reviews for his album, too, but most of them were in the vein of “this is the best Idol debut yet.” Had he been reviewed not as an Idol but as just any other musician, I doubt the critics would have been so kind.
http://www.eonline.com/gossip/awful/index.jsp?uuid=042600bd-1240-408f-9795-0e9d7860a8a3&page=2
Rumor busted! But how about this one?
Memphis developer John Elkington expects to get financing to break ground on a Birmingham entertainment district by spring
Credit crunch delayed
developer’s plans
Thursday, November 15, 2007
ROY L. WILLIAMSNews staff writer
A Memphis developer said Wednesday he expects to secure the financing necessary to break ground on a downtown Birmingham entertainment district by early spring.
Performa Entertainment Real Estate’s John Elkington, who initially hoped to secure funding to begin construction by year-end, said the national credit crunch has delayed his plans.
Performa, best known for the Beale Street development in Memphis, was tapped by the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex to build a district of nightclubs, restaurants and retail shops adjacent to its facilities.
“This is a tough environment to be seeking financing in,” Elkington said in an interview. “But things are going well and we’re optimistic we will be ready to get started in the first quarter of 2008.”
In September, Elkington announced that “American Idol” winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard would open nightclubs in the district. At the time, he said the district would probably involve a $50 million investment, not counting two planned hotels.
Click on The Birmingham News for the rest of the story
“Wait for You” “One Word”(I think) and “Tatoe” are pretty familar vibe even if the sing it well considering stagate wrote them to fit in the top 40.Yes them and Timberland write for other artists too because they have a good record for making hits. I think American Idol wants thier sounds be top 40 or near it as possible to make money thus not allot of orignality from winners of american idol or some contestants. It does not always work.
Shouldn’t we be getting an early listen to the full tracks of Jordin’s album by now? Don’t those normally show up on one of the streaming sites (e.g. AOL) about a week before release?
Seems like she isn’t going on as many shows as in previous seasons. I know that Leno is out because of the writer’s strike, but the Today Show, The View, TRL, etc are still producing new episodes.
I guess they are doing things differently this year. Cut down on the promo shows and internet previews, but get a single/video out early and actually send a copy to the reviewers before the album drops. I wonder if they are sending little tubes of lipstick with the album like they did with Kat. Ken Barnes wasn’t sure what to do with that one.
What should each of Season 10’s Idols send with their albums:
1. Jordin - Copy of “17″ Magazine. Rumour has it that she is 17.
2. Blake - Classic Tuxedo T-shirt (although, is he over that? Maybe he should send a bandana)
3. Melinda - Sunglasses (so nobody can see your surprised look when they tell you that they liked your review of her album)
4. Lakisha - Restraining order (because the way she throttled some of those songs on Idol, I’m not sure you want her to come and give you her feedback on your bad review of her album)
5. Chris R - A Thesis explaning why “Nasally is a form of Singing”
6. Phil - A shaver and a copy of “Hats Can Be Your Friend”
7. Sanjaya - A selection of Sanjaya wigs and a passport to the “Universe of Sanjaya”
8. Haley - A mini-skirt
9. Gina - A tongue stud and a gift certificate to your local piercing place (New York based critics will get one for Fantasia’s favourite piercing salon…don’t forget to tip!)
10. Chris Sligh - A metronome
11. Stephanie - A DVD proving that she was, in fact, on Idol
12. Brandon - Lyrics for all his songs
Kristen as usuall you bring a smile to my face , thanks..I would luv to have your humor . I also want to thank you for your answere to my question which I understood.
Kirsten..Love your list
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20160566,00.html
people.com say katharine’s engaged!
Kat’s engagement is now the front page story on Yahoo. Which makes me giggle for some reason.
Katharine McPhee’s engagement was posted in the headlines here on the 26th October.
http://mjsbigblog.com/idol-headlines-for-102607.htm#more-3139
Blake Lewis to Release Debut Album ‘Audio Day Dream’ on 19 Recordings / Arista Records on December 4th, 2007
FIRST SINGLE ‘BREAK ANOTHA’ DEBUTED DIRECTLY TO FANS VIA SAY NOW
BLAKE IS THE #1 MOST POPULAR ARTIST ON AOL FOR THE WEEK OF 11/12……..
PRNewswire