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Taylor Hicks drops a few more clues about his upcoming album…
Here’s a short but informative interview with Taylor Hicks from Entertainment Weekly.com. Here is what we learn:
Angie Aparo is also writing music for Taylor’s album. And as you can see here, producer Matt Serletic produced Aparo’s album “The American” in 1999. Connections, connections…
thanks to Lisa B. D-504 and griz. I have the bestest and most awesomest commenters in the whole wide world…
Express' Greg Barber recaps the 2-hour "American Idol" season finale.
THE SECOND HALF of the "American Idol" superspecialfinaleextravaganzavarietythingie is a television event with a central paradox: There's really no reason to put on this show.
The season's already over, really. The votes are in. The producers already know who won. We, the viewers, are really just signing ourselves up for a two-hour tease to maybe five minutes — max — of actual on-plotline show. But who can resist the lure of all those pretty flashing lights?
And just as we puny viewers think about checking out whatever crap is on NBC, the Guitar Riff of Transition sucks us up in its cyclonic fury, plopping us in the awaiting arms and pearly white teeth of Ryan Seacrest. We are theirs now. All 160 million of us.
And among those fawning millions are random celebrities. And so, friends, the "Idol" director and control room team bring you Random Audience Cut Theater! Our first subjects: Jeff Foxworthy! Jerry Springer! Boy, the A-list is out in droves tonight.
Randy has traded in his dictator outfit from last night for sheets from an Atlantic City casino hotel, nattily stitched into a sportcoat. Frank Sinatra might have slept on those!
Paula is showcasing her cleavage tonight, perhaps to distract from that swollen nose, or the daft phrases that tend to pop out of her mouth. And Simon (again with the winking) is ... wearing the same thing from Tuesday's show? Must've been a bad night. Or a good one? Somebody check Seacrest for hickeys.
» THE WARM-UP: Jordin and Blake perform a duet — "I Saw Her Standing There." Why would the producers have picked ... wait! Jordin's just 17! And you know what I mean. Hey, it's in the song! Clever. Those guys are just too clever.
Blake's wearing my dad's tux from senior prom. He sounds a little extra breathy tonight. Jordin's little black dress looks dynamite. She tries to keep up with Blake on the dancing, but only manages a strange half-twist. She plants a kiss on him, leaving lipstick on his face. It's cute.
And then over to Gwen Stefani. Who appears to be wearing a large shimmery rose on her behind? And a gold bow on her back. Because she's just so freaking alternative it hurts. I'm just as interested in her song as she was in being a coach when she was on "Idol." Which means not much at all.
Kelly Clarkson takes the stage — the same one that saw her become the first American Idol back before the last ice age — with her new single, "Never Again." Her voice is a bit raspy, but damn does she pack some emotion into that song, which reads like the letter every betrayed lover wishes he or she could write (watch here). And her career is what every single one of the people who've followed in her footsteps have aspired to.
Random Audience Cut Theater time! Music mogul Clive Davis! Jerry Springer again! (They have to recycle this early?) Jeff Foxworthy again! (Apparently so.) Oscar winner and "Idol" castoff Jennifer Hudson! Now there's a bit of a surprise. Wonder if she got the LaKisha treatment from Simon? Probably not.
Seacrest presents the "Golden Idol Awards," or "another chance to poke fun at the people who made fools of themselves on national television."
Their first category for unsuspecting victims honorees: "Best Performance." The nominees: The guy who took his shirt off and growled like a panther; the gal who just wailed and, um, did her best impression of Meg Ryan from "When Harry Met Sally"; and the woman who showed off her belly fat and her love for both the color yellow and Simon. The yellow lady wins. She's weird, but doesn't say anything too outrageous, which is all we're hoping for. She does kiss Seacrest, which is funny since she's really not his type. She reads poetry. Everyone claps politely, treating her as they would that crazy aunt who might, dear God, stop talking if you just don't egg her on.
Hey, David Alan Grier!
Michael Chiklis! From "The Shield"? Or, um, "The Commish"? He played The Thing in the Fantastic 4 movie. Theeeerrre we go.
Why is it that the power company is stupid enough to schedule a power cut right when American Idol goes to air. Not too a bad thing I guess considering how this series is going.
I have to say that despite the fact that it is Top 4 week, no one really seems to care. This has to have been the most disappointing season of American Idol which is evident by falling ratings. Does anyone actually care who wins this year?
Oh well, tonight the final four get to work with Bee Gees legend 
Barry Gibb .
I'm not sure I'm going to be too thrilled with tonight's show. Is anyone going to stand up, yet?
The contestants get to sing two songs each tonight. First up:
Song Choice: Love You Inside Out
Ringtone: 
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5701 & 1 866 436 5705
I'm not sure I get why Melinda is not stepping up any more. Perhaps she is trying to get herself sent home before Lakisha.
Song Choice: You Should Be Dancing
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5702 & 1 866 436 5706
What is this? The audio sounds bad and it just doesn't work tonight.
Song Choice: Stayin' Alive
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5703 & 1 866 436 5707
This might be the first time Lakisha has actually made a forward step for a few weeks. Not incredibly fantastic but better than she has been.
Song Choice: To Love Somebody
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5704 & 1 866 436 5708
Barry Gibb gives Jordin "mad props" for making the song the best version he's ever heard. It was ok. But it was no "Idol Moment" that's for sure.
Song Choice: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5701 & 1 866 436 5705
Once again, a nice big vocal performance from Melinda Doolittle. Certainly better than her first song but she just bores me to death.
Song Choice: This is Where I Came In
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5702 & 1 866 436 5706
I've had a headache for the last 24 hours and this isn't helping. It wasn't a hit back then and it's not a hit now.
Song Choice: Run to Me
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5703 & 1 866 436 5707
Well, Lakisha has been on her game tonight. Is this a giant rebound? I doubt it.
Song Choice: Woman in Love
Ringtone:
Voting Number: 1 866 436 5704 & 1 866 436 5708
Barry Gibb gives Jordin "mad props" again and says that she's going to be one of "our" best recording artists ever. Seriously, are these people deaf? Jordin has some serious pitch problems.
What another let down. Are these guys really working with the best in the business? It just seems to have all gone wrong this year.
So who will be going home? Will our poll be right?
Who was your favourite? What did you think of tonight's show? Make sure you vote in our poll.
NASHVILLE -- Nearly 1,400 members of the American Symphony Orchestra League are here in "music City" for the organization’s annual convention, looking for fresh ways to bolster the future.
They got some advice from Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Marin Alsop in a keynote address delivered yesterday in one of Nashville’s prized venues, Ryman Auditorium, the 1893 former worship hall that became the first home of the Grand Old Opry. (Minnie Pearl is still remembered there with a statue in the lobby and vintage photographs in the dressing room backstage.)
Alsop spoke without notes (and with few breaths) for 25 snappy minutes to the Grand Old Symph’y crowd, asking the delegates to "abandon stereotypic thinking," to acknowledge that orchestras "cannot be all things to all people and we should stop trying to be," and to develop a sense of humor. "Let’s have fun; let’s start to enjoy what we do," the conductor said to a round of applause.
Alsop also plugged several initiatives at the BSO, including the Beethoven symphony cycle next season that will be matched with contemporary works, the $25-at-ticket subscription deal that has heated up the box office, and her hope to start a BSO mentoring program that could get instruments into the hands of city kids. (She did admit that she first felt isolated when she began to study violin. "I had to stay in the closet -- as a violinist," she said, generating laughs. "You had no friends at all. That wasn’t fun." But she soon discovered that "music leads to interaction.")
Addressing attitudes in the orchestral business, Alsop said, "The days of ‘if we play it they will come’ are over, gone, forget it." She also asked orchestras to stop hiding new music and promote it instead. The same for less popular established composers like Bartok, who was the subject of a recent festival with her other BSO, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England. "Talk about box office death," she said to laughter. "The only thing worse would be a Hindemith festival." All that Bartok music did not set attendance records, she said, but "people were so engaged."
Alsop warned about malaise among orchestra musicians, brought on by routine programming, and suggested that it needed to be faced and discussed, so that ways could be found to rekindle the passion for music-making.
One eyebrow-raising suggestion Alsop made was for music directors to spend up to 25 weeks a season with their orchestras, rather than the more typical 16 or 17.
Alsop’s primary message, which she expressed recently in Baltimore, was that this is a time of great potential for classical music, not a time to be despairing. "I’ve been accused of being an optimist," she said. "How is that possible? I’m a woman conductor." More laughter.
In a marketing-driven, business-plan-obsessing age, Alsop scored her strongest point at the end of her speech: "Let the music lead every decision you make, and you can never go wrong."
Preceding Alsop’s remarks in Wednesday’s opening session were remarks from several others, including the startlingly articulate, incisive and inspiring mayor of Nashville, Bill Purcell, and country music stars Amy Grant and Vince Gill. Grant and Gill are big supporters of the Nashville Symphony. Grant’s fund-raising concerts for the then-struggling orchestra in the early 1990s "almost single-handedly wiped out the entire bankruptcy debt of the Nashville Symphony," president and CEO Alan Valentine told the convention.
"I can honestly say that the Nashville Symphony changed my life forever," Grant said. She met Gill when she invited him perform for one of those orchestra benefit concerts, and later married him.
Not by accident, let us guess, did Randy and Simon both practically pound their tables as they finished their final commentary on Jordin by saying this is a singing competition, doggone it.
Unfortunately, they could say that until Randy got Simon's accent and Simon got Randy's wardrobe and it wouldn't change the fact that the best singer was kicked off before the finals.
That makes it a little difficult to sell the show as primarily a singing competition. It's sort of like running a cooking competition and having the winner be the person who came up with the best place settings.
Now sure, elements of singing do matter. William Hung and Sanjaya did not win, though they stuck around way longer than reason or any shred of singing talent would dictate. But you can't rave about the performing skill of a relatively ordinary singer like Blake and then turn around and say you're running a singing competition.
Perhaps the most telling comment in this minidrama -- which isn't new this season, of course -- is Randy's declaration that this is the best singing competition in the history of television.
He may be right. Even if you don't define "best" as "most popular," he may be right. But that speaks way more to fact that television is a mediocre showcase for singing than it does to the excellence of "Idol." When we talk about great musical moments on television, they've almost all been pop culture events -- Elvis and the Beatles on Ed Sullivan; Live Aid. Television has never come close to recordings or live performance. That's not where the music that lasts comes from, the marketing success of videos notwithstanding.
If voters go on singing ability, Jordin should probably win. But if you go back to the first part of that sentence, the real second part is "Melinda should win."
That doesn't mean "Idol" isn't getting what it's after. It does mean that what it's after isn't the best singer.
For the first time KFC is going to serve fish. The KFC Fish Snacker is "An Alaskan Pollock fish filet breaded and fried to golden perfection, then topped with tangy tartar sauce and served on a warm sesame seed bun.Filed under: Television, Competitive strategy, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Columns, News Corp'B' (NWS), Silver Wheaton (SLW)
At least one "American Idol" fan is mad as hell at Howard Stern for promoting Vote for the Worst's campaign for the hapless Sanjaya Malakar and can't take it anymore.
A person or persons has created a rather cheap-looking Web site STICKITTOSTERN to take on the King of All Media that calls on Idol viewers to lobby members of Congress to vote against the pending Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) acquisition of XM Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR).
Idol fans have accused Stern of ruining America's most popular television show by asking people not to vote for their favorite singer in the talent competition. Others, me included, argue that Stern is showing that "American Idol" is a singing competition in name only.
Stickittostern and no doubt the top managers at Fox parent News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) see no humor in Stern's shenanigans.
"Stopping this merger would cost Stern millions since a sizeable amount of his pay package is tied up in company stock," the Web site says, adding that it will suspend its campaign only if Stern agrees to the following five demands which are listed verbatim below:
Much as I hate to burst this campaign's bubble, Stern didn't start the "Vote for the Worst" campaign. The Web site has been around since 2004.
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