Today’s Idol headlines after the jump…
Alan Lights Up Christmas in Washington Back To Today’s Country Music News
Alan Jackson is set to perform at this year’s Christmas in Washington event, which will be hosted for the fourth time by Dr. Phil McGraw and his wife, Robin.
The musical event, which takes place at the White House, also features performances by Ne-Yo, Vanessa Hudgens, Andrea Bocelli, Colbie Caillat, Heather Headley and Katharine McPhee……..
Deck the tube
Networks stick a month of holiday specials under your tree
…Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest host ABC’s “Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade” on Dec. 25. Jessica Simpson, Miley Cyrus, Josh Groban, Katharine McPhee and Drew Lachey are among the performers….
Whitney saves her love for KL
Multiple-award winning singer Whitney Houston lived up to her billing as the top draw in the Live & Loud concert here last night.
Her appearance at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club here signalled the start of her comeback, and will be followed by a brand-new album next year.
The 44-year-old pop diva, who came on after midnight, wowed a crowd of about 10,000 people, who were earlier entertained by a host of world-class singers at the event which started at 3pm yesterday………
…….About an hour into her segment of the music fest, a young girl of about 10 – who Houston introduced as “my daughter” – stepped onto the stage and sang with her on My Love Is Your Love.
Ahead of the pop queen, reggae-rap artiste Shaggy took the stage, getting the audience pumped up with his most-famous hits Angel and It Wasn’t Me.
Earlier, American Idol crooner Elliot Yamin got the crowd eating out of his hand with his hit Wait For You and other songs from his self-titled debut album……..
Daughtry’s career is better than ever
Post-”Idol,” Daughtry’s career is better than ever
Chris Daughtry says he never really worried that he had just seen his big shot at a music career slip out of his grasp when he was voted off “American Idol” by the show’s audience last season, despite initially being considered a frontrunner for the title.
“I didn’t feel like that,” Daughtry said in a recent phone interview. “It was definitely a shock to me at that moment in time. You’re in a contest, and you get to a point where you want to win it. That’s why you got in it. And then when that didn’t happen it was like, “Oh,’ so you have to kind of re-think your game plan a little bit.”………
DAUGHTRY HELPS OUT HAZLET’S POAC
….”My band and I are thrilled to do whatever we can to help all of the kids suffering with autism, and it is especially exciting to be able to do it during this holiday season,” Daughtry said in a prepared statement.
Daughtry’s management firm, 19 Entertainment, has agreed to donate $2.50 from each ticket purchased for the Nokia shows, which are sold out. That translates to a donation exceeding $10,000, according to Finley.
“It touches my heart that (Daughtry) would be doing this for POAC,” said Gary Weitzen of Brick, the organization’s president….
Chris Richardson-Sneak Peek
Gift ideas for your ‘American Idol’ fan
If you have an “Idol” fan in the family, here are some suggestions to make his or her holiday very merry indeed……..
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Go Elliott. Malaysia showed some love.
It’s great that Chris helped the autism charity. Great cause. I wonder how much 19 Entertainment gets for each ticket Chris sells. Somehow it didn’t register with me until just now that they would get a cut of his touring money. Kinda sucks. Hope it’s not too much.
Jessica Sierra’s latest Mug Shot.
YIKES!
And her arrest record.
She’s still in jail.
Yikes, indeed. Very sad too.
Wow. That’s really, really sad about Jessica. I liked her on AI. She could sing. I hope she can still turn her life around.
For any Taylor fans that might be out there, our boy is appearing at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Dec.29th. He’s also the main attraction at the Gala the night before. I’m sure they’re be some Soul Patrollers attending so anticipate videos. The Gala is a black-tie affair and open to anyone who wants to pay the price. It should be a great time as Taylor’s been out of action for awhile snd I’ve heard that Alabama may be one of the teams playing.
Somebody dropped by to announce Taylor’s appearance a few days ago. So, we got it, Soul Patrol. I’ll be posting it up in appearances soon. Thanks.
Nice.
I saw this posted on yesterday’s thread:
If this is really true then I may be done with idol. I want the Cinderella story - raw talent transformed into recording star. And if they’ll all be signed anyway, who cares. JMO.
I would have to agreed, Lu, American idol will lose it’s appeal for me if it becomes a way for “professionals” to receive their due. One of these contestants have been nominated for Grammies, for goodness sake! They are myspaced, videoed taped, photoshooted, there is absolutely no surprise to be had here, and I love love a surprise, a “aha” moment for some guy, gal on American idol, that audition that makes me stop in my tracks and go “WOW”.
I will miss the waitresses, the store clerks, the special ed teachers, the mechanics,the mail clerks, with the big dreams, awesome voices and the undiscovered talents. Without surprise, dull, dull–
Actually this is exactly what idol does. It takes a struggling person who has talent, but hasn’t had a break, a person who might not have been given a shot otherwise. So now you have to not have any experience at all? That would make for a great high school musical experience. It would be like a bunch of Leah Labelles, Lisa Tuckers, Charlie Grigsby, etc. Not exactly compelling entertainment. If we are talking performance virgins we would not have Clay, Ruben, Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly, Taylor, Chris, et al. I mean my next door neighbor has a myspace and demos, and believe me she is no professional. I think the level of professionalism might cause concern, but let’s not act as though this is new to idol. It’s not.
It disturbed me when I read about the professionalism of all of Season 7. No more Taylor, no more Bucky, no more Daughtry, no more Elliott. I kind of like my talent raw. We had some professional singers last go-round (Season 6)and everyone has been talking about them and the show being boring. I may give Idol a pass, much as I hate to.
The picture of Jessica Sierra was a big shock. She was so pretty on Idol 4. Right now she looks like an understudy for Amy Winehouse, the Brit singer who is a heroin addict and looks it. I hope that Jessica gets help with her problem, be it alcohol or street drugs.
This is exactly how I feel. I don’t have a problem with the so-called “professionals”. They generally make for a more entertaining show, imho.
I don’t mind a few professionals (by professional I mean currently or previously made a living out of music.) However, if they are all professionals that would be boring. I like the stories of the professionals who worked the bar circuit and/or backup singer route but I also like the stories of the rollerskating sonic waitresses and special ed teachers. A mix of the two backgrounds is always interesting. If they lose the balance between the two, the show would lose appeal for me.
Also, some of those rags-to-riches stories were stretched a bit. While it’s true Kellie Pickler was a waitress at Sonic, she’d entered pageants and had been on a TV talent show. Season 5 was filled with professionals. Ace had written songs, been on a TV show, and had a song on a movie sound track. Lisa had been on Star Search and other various talent shows. Paris had the pedigree. Even Elliott-had spent part of his childhood in LA, his mom had been a professional singer, his cousin a successful producer and he himself had sung in a jazz group and done some recording.
Other seasons: Kelly had spent time in LA before moving back to Texas, Constantine toured in Rent, Clay had recorded demos, Carrie had more performing experience than she previously let on, opening for acts at some local fairs…
I could go on, but I think I made my point. :).
Yeah, maybe the backstories were stretched a bit I guess. Simon’s comment that all 12 of this year’s top 12 could be signed seemed like the kiss of death to me- where’s the competition in that? Why worry about winning?
Honestly, I loved Melinda this past season but I was annoyed by the fact that she was a professional back up singer. It bugged me that Sligh, Taylor and Daughtry all previoulsy had perfomed with bands and recorded cds. It just didn’t seem like a level playing field for some others that didn’t have that kind of experience.
In seasonon 6 I was hoping for Lakisha to take it all; and I’m sure it’s no secret to anyone here that in season 5 I wanted Elliott. I suppose it’s all in what you think the show is supposed to be about….
I guess it is what it is. If you dont like it - dont watch it, right?
I just think that the show is what it is warts and all. Why chide the judges for saying that the product is good, better than ever. What should they say? This crap sucks, do something else with your time?
Is it the level of experience? Elliott certainly didn’t start with a level playing field. I mean I like him, but let’s not act as though he was a country rube, walking down Broad St. in Richmond humming and someone heard him and said hey kid, I am gonna make you a star. As Mj stated, most contestants had some kind of experience thoughout the years. Clay wasn’t the green unassming “teacher” as his backstory implied. Carrie never left my hometown farm girl, yeah right!
The show dropped the ball a bit last year, and yet was still the highest rated show on TV. Yes some things could be changed, but this “professional” thing is not where it went wrong because they have been down that road since it’s inception. Look at the top 5 every year, nothing has changed. Nothing.
I dont know what we call professionalism it can get pretty technical. Do you mean they performed before a live audience before if so then that means just about anybody that has ever sang is a professional including me and I cant carry a tune since I had the dubious pleasure of singing in choir. Do you mean they have performed at clubs been, back up singers ect? Or could you mean they have a myspace acct to be reconized or heard or a demo cd. I really think any singer or performer that hasnt performed at all really shouldnt get a recording contract worth a million bucks because they will need a lot of training before they become professional or make money for the record company. This is jmo.
I know the backstories are stretched quite a bit and that most of the contestants had previous singing experience. I was qualifying a professional as one that actually made a living at it vs ones that made a few appearances and bucks here and there. I like hearing how the “professionals” slugged it out on the circuit waiting for their break vs. the ones that mainly lead a “normal” life and singing is a hobby. I would not be interested in watching a show of all amateurs (as someone said earlier it would be too High School tryouts) or a show of all professionals waiting for their break. Pitting the two types of artists against each other is what makes it interesting for me.
I don’t think any prior experience can prepare you for being on AI. I also don’t think that just because Simon is saying that all 12 could be signed means that they will be. I don’t think they’re all that good at predicting who will catch on with the public. Just remember Sabrina from last season who Simon loved and didn’t even make the top 12. Btw, how does he know who the top 12 are? Doesn’t the public get a vote before that?
I like a mixture to. My main criteria is to at least have some talent. If it was just singers starting out or just ones needing a break it could be boring. I am not sure if this will be my last season of watching though. Not because of the singers but because of what has happened in the past that left a bad taste. I am hoping they have learned to treat the singers better and not to make fun of the less fortunate. If they havent it will be my last season I never want to see someone made fun of because of how they look again.
Nope - didn’t mean to imply that at all. I just like seeing a raw talent blossom and I saw that with both Elliott and Lakisha. That’s all I’m saying. I do feel that based upon who they were competing with it was more of an uphill climb.
But she did get a record deal.
I dont know. It lost some magic for me last year but maybe it’s just me. I’ll reserve judgement and see what happens. It’s kind of interesting to debate it though. :)
Thank goodness I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Professional to me means making enough money to fully support yourself in a career. So Brandon Rogers from S6 who was Christina Aguilera’s back up singer would be a professional in my book. Most of the people on AI are struggling musicians as far as I know. Some able to barely eke out a living (Taylor) and others clearly not supporting themselves with their music (Elliott/Kellie). I don’t object to people with musical experience being on the show but the more successful they were before Idol, the less interesting they are to me. Because they seem to “need” the show less.
Yahoo had an interesting article saying the buzz about Dancing with the Stars was much greater than about Jordin Sparks. The “so called stars” on that show are all amateur dancers and that is the charm of the show. Idol used to have some of that charm but it may have lost it.
I haven’t looked at the S7 people at all jpfan - just looked at what was posted here. I totally agree with you. The less the need the show, the less they interest me. YOu said it so much better than me.
There’s a big difference between someone who has recorded a few demo’s or opened at some county fairs and an artist who has been nominated for a Grammy, IMO.
Should be interesting!
Well, I for one don’t mind what kind of singer is competing, even paid professionals. Maybe because of the time I spent in the music business. I just know that it is very, very hard to get a record deal. People think that if you are talented and work hard it will eventually come, but that is not always true. There a lot of politics and plain luck involved. Not to mention, in this climate, looks count for a lot. Kelly Clarkson would have had a hard time getting a real record deal if there were no AI, IMO, at least not one with full label support. No matter how cute and spunky she was. Ditto every single winner they’ve ever had, save maybe Carrie Underwood. And even she would have had to get lucky, because if you think there aren’t a ton of gorgeous girls who can sing running around Nashville you are nuts. LOL! All I’m saying is, I like the idea of someone getting a shot at a major deal and massive exposure, whether they are a working backup singer, waitress, songwriter or kindergarden teacher. Talent is talent. At least we get a say in this one, and not some egomanic jerkoff A&R guy who chooses acts with his hormones. Just sayin’. Hee.
Nobody is probably going to see this but I found today’s discussion interesting. The direction that AI is taking now was inevitable from the start. Just like every TV show, there’s only so much you can do until time runs out. And time inevitably runs out for every show with the exception of soap operas. Its like how on the show Lost, after they were rescued from the island, the concept of the show completely flipped and sent us as viewers in to land of confusions. In the past couple of years the music industry has completely flipped. The internet and downloads have grown tenfold and indie music started becomming more popular. If someone wants untapped talent they can find it on any music search for undiscovered bands on myspace. American Idol is never going to crank out a superstar. With the scramble for ratings, the contestants will be the smallest piece of pie in the eqation. Nobody wants to hear that processed pop anymore except little kids and they’re to preoccupied with Hannah Montanta and High School Musical. Real music fans are finding things for themselved. With that said, I am looking forward to Blake’s album. I think he may be doing something no other Idol alum has done.