American Idol Star Clark Beckham, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and UnitedHealthcare Fight Hunger in Middle Tennessee – WHITE HOUSE, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–American Idol star Clark Beckham and volunteers from UnitedHealthcare today will staff a Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee Mobile Pantry, the 115th Mobile Pantry to be funded by UnitedHealthcare through a $300,000 donation. The Mobile Pantry will be at the White House First United Methodist Church, 3403 Highway 31W North in White House. “After a whirlwind few months on American Idol, I’m happy to be back in my hometown of White House, and am thankful to be working with Second Harvest Food Bank and UnitedHealthcare to help fight hunger and fill a very real need in a practical way,” said Beckham. – Read more at Business Wire.com
IDOL Runner-Up Clark Beckham Surprises Musical Theater Campers – After making millions of fans on TV this year, Clark Beckham, Sumner County’s very own 2015 American Idol runner up, came back home to Tennessee, and on Wednesday he surprised participants in Actors Point Theatre Company’s musical theater day camp with some pointers on stage performance. Beckham grew up in White House, Tennessee – just a few miles up the road from Hendersonville, where Actors Point Theatre Company makes its home at God Why Church. Beckham and Actors Point artistic director Greg Wilson have been friends for years, which led to his visit to the musical theater campers. “Clark agreed to come and share with the 50-plus campers who are in a month long musical theatre day camp that will culminate in two weekends of performances of a fabulous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical revue, A Grand Night for Singing,” Wilson explains. – Read more at Broadway World
Reimagining Adam – They’ve worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. Have they ever spoken about how working with you is different—or how your queer perspective enhances the final product? I think that’s one of the things that we did that was so different for me this time. They didn’t get hung up on how I came onto the scene or who my fans were. They didn’t think about any of that. They just went, “This is you. This is what you’re able to do with your voice. Let’s make a cool album.” They kind of tuned out all the other statistics. I think that’s why the album sounds the way it does: Because it’s not trying to cater to one thing or live up to anything. – Read more at Nextmagazine.com
Adam Lambert Explains Caitlyn Jenner’s ‘Amazing’ Power – Adam Lambert has long been an advocate for tolerance. You could even say he’s one of its poster boys as the first openly gay music artist to debut atop the Billboard 200 chart. So it’s no surprise that he would welcome Caitlyn Jenner to the world — and the media — with open arms. What did the American Idol favorite think of the Vanity Fair pictorial? “Annie Leibowitz is an amazing photographer and the photos are beautiful,” Lambert tells Billboard, adding that the cover shot in particular was “very romantic.” But beyond the visual, the 33-year-old Lambert says the impact of the reveal goes a long way towards “taking the fear away from the trans movement. The power that Caitlyn has is that she can show and teach everybody what transition is from start to finish. I think it’s pretty amazing.” – Read more at Billboard.com
Derek Hough on His ‘DWTS’ Injury: It Messed With My Confidence – “I didn’t realize how big of a deal it was for me, because I kind of played it off and was like ‘No, no I’m fine. I’m going to work from a chair,’ Derek recalled. “But it really did kind of mess with my confidence because I’m the daredevil. I love jumping off things, jumping out of planes, whatever.” But his sister did not agree! “He’s such a wuss,” Julianne joked. Derek then admitted, “I’m like grandpa Hough over here going, ‘Alright kids, be careful. Whoa whoa, you’re going to hit your head there. Now look out! Should we jump?” – Read more at Entertainment Tonight
Derek Hough Would ‘Absolutely’ Dance With Caitlyn Jenner on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ – As rumors spread that Caitlyn Jenner could sign up for Dancing With the Stars, there’s at least one pro dancer who is definitely interested in being her partner. Five-time mirror ball trophy winner Derek Hough participated in DWTS’ most recent season after initial reports that he would be absent, and he told ET that he would return to compete alongside Jenner. “I’m up for any sort of challenge,” Hough said. “One thing I pride Dancing With the Stars on is taking chances, and doing things that are a little out of the box, doing things that are inspiring and brave. For me I say, ‘Why not? Absolutely.'” If Hough doesn’t get a shot at teaming up with Jenner, however, his return to the popular ABC show is still up in the air. Hough was careful not to say that he would skip another season, just in case he changes his mind in the future. “I’m either going to, or I’m not going to, and we’ll see what happens,” Hough said. – Read more at Entertainment Tonight
