AI OD: The Top 24 revealed (sort of)
Apparently, Remote Access managed to snag a promo picture that was up briefly at FOX’s site, before quickly getting yanked. I’ve posted it here in it’s entirety, and then split in half so you can see it better. Supposedly it reveals the Top 24, only the contestants are all holding Simon masks over their faces. Can you identify anyone?
Make of it what you will, but if this is really a promo spot for The Top 24, then I have to wonder if the Marketing Department isn’t sipping from Paula’s Coca-Cola cup.
More Idol Headlines After the Jump…
Start the week off with a look at Phil’s past week …
This has been an amazing week for me. It started down in Florida where I was able to continue my radio promotion tour for my first single, If You Didn’t Love Me, and came to a close last evening on the set of my first music video (not counting the Ford videos that we participated in as American Idol contestants.)
The video shoot was a great experience. It was directed by Roman White, whom Idol fans may recognize from all of Carrie Underwood’s videos, including Before He Cheats and So Small, and the video of Kelly Clarkson’s duet with Reba on Because of You. Needless to say, I feel I’m in good company. If the video can help propel me to a seven-times platinum record, you won’t hear me complaining about it.
Clay Aiken
Everybody knows that Clay Aiken can sing, but—surprise!—he can also hold his own on a Broadway stage. To be more precise, he can hula, ogle scantily clad girls, discuss flying coconuts in a British accent, pretend to poop in his tunic, do a Cossack-style line dance and perform a lightning-fast patter song (”You won’t succeed on Broadway if you don’t have any Jews”) without dropping a syllable. As Sir Robin in Spamalot, the 29-year-old American Idol runner-up appears perfectly at ease in the world of Monty Python—which, he recently claimed, he thought was a person until he saw the show.
Broadway.com
Yakking with ‘Idol’ sweetheart Jordin Sparks
The year is off to a thrilling start for last year’s “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks. Two weeks ago, she wowed the crowd — and the worldwide audience — when she sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl. It was an especially big honor for Jordin because the game was held in her hometown of Glendale, Arizona, plus her dad is a former New York Giants football player.
Jordin looked poised and beautiful on the outside, but inside she was a different story.
“You know, I’ve never been more scared to perform anything in my life actually,” she confessed. “I couldn’t believe it. I was in my hometown. My dad’s team was playing. It was a big deal because we’re such a huge football family. To be able to sing at the Super Bowl was a huge, huge honor.”
Freep.com
Snap judgment: Carrie Underwood’s ‘All American Girl’ video
You’ve got to admire Carrie Underwood’s restraint: The season-four American Idol champ and multi-platinum country star could’ve called her latest single “American Girl Doll” instead of “All American Girl.” And the accompanying video could’ve been nothing more than a launching pad for a line of mid-priced toys that would’ve waged unholy war against the Barbies and Bratz of the world, turning America’s toy-store aisles into blood- and gore-soaked battlefields, the likes of which we haven’t seen since 300 hit theaters last year.
Is Simon faking his audition show ‘irritation’?
Wondering about how a certain reality show pulled something off? Have a question about a certain contestant?
Whether it’s “Survivor,” “American Idol,” “The Apprentice,” “Real World” or another show, send in your questions. Andy Dehnart, msnbc.com’s Television Editor and creator of Reality Blurred, will try to answer them.
Chris Daughtry: No bad blood with ‘American Idol’ judges
You’d think Chris Daughtry would get some major flack for the comment he made to Rolling Stone last month, claiming that American Idol is in a “state of decline,” but the Idol alum says his relationship with the three judges who put him through to Hollywood remains cool. “I talked to Paula, Randy and Simon,” Daughtry told EW.com at Clive Davis’s pre-Grammys bash on Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton, “and honestly, every one of them said to me, ‘Congratulations for sticking to your guns and having an opinion. Never apologize for that.’” Still, it’s clear the brouhaha in the blogosphere has made him reconsider making such bold statements in the future. “My whole point was never anything negative toward the show,” Daughtry explained. “I did two interviews that day, and you don’t want to repeat yourself, but then you go back and think, Wow, I guess I should have said the same thing.”
Winter Jam draws record crowd
TUPELO - Just under 10,000 fans rocked out at Winter Jam Sunday night at the BancorpSouth Arena.
The Christian music tour features artists like MercyMe, BarlowGirl, NewSong, Mandisa and Skillet.
Kevan Kirkpatrick, director of marketing for the Arena, said the Winter Jam audience was the biggest the Arena’s ever had.
Mandisa and Skillet were both up for Grammy nominations, but missed Sunday night’s ceremony to play the Tupelo show.
CMT’s ‘Gone Country’ Is Surprisingly Entertaining
“Gone Country,” a show in which mostly washed-up singers are resurrected as country stars, is the first show, to my knowledge, on CMT that I’ve watched in its entirety. I wouldn’t call myself a country fan by any means, and at first glance this didn’t seem like an appealing show at all. That was until I saw the lineup of goof balls that they had enlisted:
Kellie Pickler’s Iraq tour airs on GAC
Kellie Pickler’s first USO Tour to the Middle East to visit with the armed forces serving in “Operation Iraqi Freedom” was documented by Great American Country (GAC) last December and will premiere on the network Saturday, Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. eastern during “Kellie Pickler: My USO Diary.”
In a video-diary format, Pickler shares her journey from Nashville to more than a half-dozen bases and isolated combat outposts scattered around Iraq. Her trip included manning the turret position on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, greeting and performing for thousands of men and women in uniform and participating in promotion ceremonies.To travel from base to base, Pickler had to embark on her first helicopter ride on Black Hawk helicopters.
Grammys Good for Carrie Underwood
LOS ANGELES — The 50th Grammy Awards ceremony was, as usual, a mixed blessing for country music. A few were anointed. Most were ignored.
Carrie Underwood enjoyed a fabulous showcase opportunity early in the show to perform her song. Interestingly, one of the writers of her “Before He Cheats,” Chris Tompkins, said backstage that when he began writing the song, he envisioned it being perfect for Gretchen Wilson. But fate intervened when the writers’ publishers pitched the song to Underwood, who immediately embraced it.
The only other country performance on the show besides Underwood vamping through a very spirited version of “Cheats” was Brad Paisley’s “Ticks.” This coming in a show that included 21 musical performances.
CMT
Carrie Underwood receives personalized Louisville sluggers
Carrie Underwood can step up to the plate with new personalized baseball bats. Underwood took a swing at the Grammies and succeeded, winning a Grammy for Female Country Vocal Performance of the year for her song “Before He Cheats.”
In the song, she gives her cheating boyfriend’s car a “Louisville slugger to both head lights.” In commemoration of her win, company officials made her two one-of-a-kind baseball bats.
The personalized bats are engraved with the title of her Grammy and the words “Genuine Carrie Underwood Louisville Slugger.”
Return Of The Nerd-I: Enfield ‘Idol’ Reject On ‘Maury’
You won’t recognize her with the clip-on side-buns gone and a little lip gloss.
Christina Tolisano of Enfield, who had one of the memorable early auditions on “American Idol” — dressed as a character from “Star Wars” — restarts her 15 minutes of fame with an appearance today on the daytime “Maury,” where she will unveil her makeover and get to perform one more time.
The self-styled dork, 24, who dressed as Princess Leia on “Idol,” may not have advanced from that show’s season premiere last month, but she’ll get her shot to perform in the daytime show’s competition for the “People’s Idol.” The winner will record a single in New York.
The Color Purple to Feature Destiny’s Child and “American Idol” Stars at ASU Gammage
Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders and the producing team of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE, the musical about love, are proud to announce that Michelle Williams from Destiny’s Child and Latoya London from “American Idol” will be part of the show coming to ASU Gammage, March 11-23, 2008. Tickets are on sale now.
Latoya London will take on the role of Nettie. Now known to her fans simply as “London,” she was named the early front runner to win season three of “American Idol” by Simon Cowell and Elton John. On-air she joined the ranks of “The Three Divas” alongside Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia Barrino before she was shockingly voted off, ending up in fourth place. London later garnered a Peak Records recording deal and two Billboard-topping singles. Her debut album Love & Life is in stores now.
Surf To Host American Idol Superstar William Hung
City Surf baseball club has announced that entertainer William Hung will perform at Bernie Robbins Stadium during the team’s Thursday, July 3 game against New Jersey. Hung, who has released four albums, will perform his signature song, Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs”; “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”; and one other song from his repertoire, yet to be chosen. He will also be available for photos and autographs during the evening.
Hung gained notoriety from his 2004 audition on the third season of the FOX Network’s American Idol, during which he gave a memorable rendition of “She Bangs.” Despite narrowly missing out on a selection into the next round of auditions, Hung has since gained worldwide popularity.
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And what can we tell from the Simon face picture? No one this year has a sense of humor…at least Blake or Taylor (or maybe even Clay) would have had the “Simon Face” upside down/sideways/backwards.
Heck, Rudy Cardenas would have been standing on his “Simon Face”
Jeeesssshhh, they must have really read them the riot act this year.
Clay would have the Simon Face kissing his *ss. :)
In that broadway.com interview he said: “If I ever hear Simon Cowell insult someone on the show by using “You belong on Broadway” as a put-down, he can kiss my butt for that!”
Jason Castro is almost definitely in that picture. Can’t hide that hair with a Simon mask.
oh yeah and SQUEEEEE!!!! Hollywood tonight. My favoritist part.
And the chair episode tomorrow (blech)– well they could just skip to the end where they show the top 24 doing the dork dance.
All together now, “Hooray for Hollywood”! I can’t wait to see what happens to Josiah Leming. (Yes, I’ve been able to resist the spoiler threads.) What better backstory was there this season? Talk about suffering for your craft. I like that he wrote his own audition song. He seemed truly humbled by the experience. His gratitude seemed honest and heartfelt. I found him quite refreshing amongst all the “of course I made it” attitudes from the so called ringers. The fact that I care about him probably means he got cut. Hope not.
I love the Simon Face picture! Do I think it was an ‘accident’ by AI? Ah, NO! They aren’t blind to the spoiler lists, they are just feeding the obsession! I am psyched tonight is Hollywood!
I hope it’s as good as the ads during the super bowl made it seem to be!! I’m ready for a GOOD season of idol!!
All I have to say is THANK GOD that the audition rounds are over. But still, I wasn’t impressed with any of the Hollywood ads that have been playing. Hopefully, everyone will be a lot better.
Hooray for Hollywood!
For me, this is when the AI season really starts.
Yep, those auditions were long and painful. Looking forward to Hollywood tonight, and even more the top 24. I bet TPTB are toying with us regarding that photo.
I hope the spoilers aren’t 100% correct. I like to be surprised, but also can’t resist the spoilers. I’m hoping we see some of Jason Castro since they ignored his audition.
I haven’t picked a horse yet, so we’ll see. :-)
ETA: I love this pic of Blake and Doug E Fresh performing at the Roots party Saturday night.
http://thumbsnap.com/vf/Ef6ncIuH.jpg
Hooray for Hollywood!
I’m hoping that by the end of tonight, we will have seen everyone in the top 24, either during the audition rounds or tonight, during the Hollywood week show (*fingers crossed*).
Jersey, I bet you want world peace too…
Jersey, I’ll go you one step further and ask not only to see all the 24, but to hear them as well. Gotta get the fan bases goin’.
I had seen that picture on Girls Talking Smack last week. Couldn’t make heads or tails of it, then or now. Wouldn’t it be funny if all the spoiler lists were wrong and that nobody has guessed who will end up in the top 24. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the spoilers ARE wrong. If not, they let some mighty big fish slip through their nets in favor of a bunch of pros who dropped the ball the first time around. Who’s to say they won’t drop said ball this time too.
Okay, now you guys are just talkin’ crazy. AI never lets you get an early look at the cannon fodder…otherwise they might stand a chance of making it to the final 12. And that is something TPTB simply cannot stand.
I just hope they show us some of the final 24 tonight. It seemed to me that last year, they only showed the people who got cut (with the exception of Sundance who was so bad you wished he was cut and Antonella and Gina (who probably only got shown because of the DRAMA). Oh, and the group number of Sligh, Blake and Rudy which was probably too good for them to ignore).
I’m excited for Hollywood tonight too. I don’t have a horse yet, but I hope we get to see the majority of the top 24 tonight. Maraiah’s new single leaked premiered earlier, I don’t like it. It’s average at best.
http://www.wild955.com/pages/mariahtrack.html
does anyone else find it strange that (assuming that the spoiler 24 list is correct) they managed to show all 12 girls in the audition process but only 6 out of the 12 guys?? i know nygel said that he wont show “boring” auditions but i mean some of those girls auditions were nothing to jump up and scream about…
p.s.- tonight has the potential to be the best episode ever…but im always disappointed so
Not the leak I was hoping for vegas…
So looking forward to this week’s shows.
Since I don’t look at the spoilers, I’m wondering how many blondie girls we are going to be inflicted with.
Let the fun begin!
I am curious to see what songs these six guys sung. They sometimes use the excuse that they couldn’t get a song cleared. There may be an extra surprise there who will win us over. Unfortunately, they haven’t started their fan base yet.
Bring it on! Oh. And Idol, too. ( I was talking about the Westminster dogs).
(I’ll be flipping between the two shows. Sure hope I don’t get them mixed up.
)
Yay! Bring on Hollywood! I couldn’t really make anyone out behind those Simon masks but I did see a lot of long blond hair on the girls. Yikes.
This is believed to be the cover of Ace’s upcoming album. Me likey!
http://thumbsnap.com/v/sNELS18w.jpg
Oh crap, I wish this was a true record album. I would buy it just for the cover. He is truly a beautiful man. God was definitely generous with him. *Sigh* Ace is love!
Fox expands ‘American Idol 7′ finals result shows to a full hour
…Idol Gives Back’s 2007 charity event aired over the course of two late-April Idol 6 broadcasts, and the event raised $75 million from both home viewer and corporate contributions. It also featured some tough moments for the Top 6 finalists, as the second night of the fundraiser was held during one of the season’s results show broadcasts.
“We were forced into that situation because of the very nature of what we were doing,” Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told reporters during a December conference call.
“We had many discussions about it. I refused to cut anybody that night. I can’t ask America to send money in, look at these poor people, ‘Oh and by the way, Jordin Sparks, you’re cut tonight. Bye-bye, darling.’ It would have been horrible. It would have been awful, but if you know me after seven years, you know I’m not just going to say at the beginning of the show, ‘We’re not going to cut anybody.’ I’ve got to play. I’ve got to be cruel. That’s the puppet master in me, if you will. Yes, we messed around with the kids. Bless them…”
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