Idol Bits and Pieces

I wasn’t impressed with the first cover of Battlefield but this new one makes that great.

Oh please let that be Jordin’s real album cover for Battlefield. Much better.

At the end of the day, I was sort of comme si, comme ca with Kara as a judge.

She made some really idiotic remarks during the season. But she also was at times more articulate and insightful about the music than the others. And she wasn’t playing footsie like Paula & Simon, or endlessly recycling the five same comments like Randy.

My big concern is probably what a lot of others share. It felt like we just did not hear enough music this past season. Between all the guests doing their thing, and the squawking from the judges, there just wasn’t enough focus on the contestants. And of course they made a ridiculous boo-boo in the end, when the finalists got to sing only two tunes instead of three, and couldn’t insert a new song of their choice into the mix.

So how is this gonna go down next time? Will Ryan have a stop watch and a hook? Will they add another 30 minutes to the performing nights? They gotta do something different or they’re going to to lose more viewers, and bore the rest of us silly…..

They also MUST cut back on the stupid HOllywood stuff. Kara was a good sport about bikini girl, but what is up when that stupid broad had 20 times more screen time than Kris, or some of the other promising contestants?

Clay Aikenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s new agent, David Vigliano, is shopping around a book based on his Clayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 2006 Christmas special. Vigliano describes the book as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“modern re-invention of a Christmas Carol.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Seriously? LOL~

love her. don’t love the song.

woah, the entire site reverted back to Feb 2009 for like 5 mins. weird!!

I just don’t know why people keep saying Kara didn’t have any TV experience… If I remember correctly, she was a judge on that reality contest Syesha was a part of, wasn’t she? I think it was called The One or something.

For the love of all that is holy, please let that be the new album cover of Jordin. PLEASE. The old one is just pure crap.

Hey, I just listened to the new interview of David Cook over at Yahoo music. Lyndsey Parkerar did this one yesterday and interviewed all the season 8 folks today. Those should be up soon — yippee!

This one is terrific, and David really is so down to earth and humble. Plus he looks cute in his golf outfit!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks/243481/david-cook-the-reality-rocks-interview/

Just noticed on the Canadian iTunes that all the AI season 8 singles and videos are no longer available for sale except the Season 8 Favorite Performances and Season 8 Video Favorites for both Kris and Adam. Of course both NB singles are still available.

Also, last week, I couldn’t find David Cook’s live charity performance of Permanent on the Canadian iTunes (though it was still available in the American iTunes store) but it’s back this week.

Oh, and Archie’s Fanpack is finally available in the Canadian iTunes store.

Nice interview, David is such a smart and articulate guy. I can watch him and Adam doing interviews constantly they handle themselves very well.

Katy Allen may want in on the Kradam action (LOL)

AMERICAN IDOL: CRUSH? GROOVE BURBANK, Calif. (AP) Some guys get all hot and bothered and not in a good way if they hear a gay guy has a crush on them. But Kris Allen isn’t like most guys and not just because he won this year’s “American Idol.” He says he wasn’t bothered that runner-up Adam Lambert said he thought he was hot and had a crush on him when they roomed together during the show. Allen was asked about Lambert’s comments in an article where he let himself out of what essentially was a glass closet, acknowledging that he’s gay. Allen says he thought the idea of Lambert having a crush on him was “so funny,” though he says he “never had a problem” with having a gay roommate during the show. Kris says he and Adam are “really good friends.” As for his wife having a problem with Adam, Kris says his wife told him let Adam know “that she had a crush on him.”

http://www.kxmc.com/News/393319.asp

Interesting article about the Clay book.

http://www.observer.com/2009/media/david-vigliano-out-christmas-book-clay-aiken

Excerpts:

Lit agent David Vigliano is out with a proposal for a Clay Aiken book based on the American Idol starà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 2006 Christmas special.
à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s got a very strong Christian audience, primarily because heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s from the South, and thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s an audience that seems to respond to Christmas stories,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  said Mr. Vigliano. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“He also had the best-selling Christmas albumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d be 2004à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Merry Christmas with Loveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“and then did a Christmas tour every year since then. So it kind of made sense, because he had kind of an identity doing successful Christmas music.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Mr. Vigliano said that Mr. Aikenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s co-writer on the book will be Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, author of the memoir Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression and editor of the forthcoming anthology The Black Body, which is out from Seven Stories later this year.

One editor Mr. Vigliano did not submit the book to is Twelve publisher Jonathan Karp, who edited Mr. Aikenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s best-selling 2004 memoir Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music of Your Life for Random House. In an essay for The Washington Post Mr. Karp wrote last year decrying the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“relentless, indiscriminate proliferationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“disposableà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  books and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the underlying cynicism of the people acquiring, publishing and selling them,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  Mr. Karp brought up his acquisition of the Aiken memoir as an example of a time he fell victim to the temptation of cashing in.

“In weaker moments, I’ve been seduced by tales of celebrity, money, gossip and scandal. Among my crimes: I volunteered to edit a White House memoir by a self-serving egomaniac because I wanted to learn about presidential politics,” Mr. Karp wrote. “I worked on a book by Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega because we thought he might be able to provide an illuminating perspective on how the United States wields power in Latin America. And, in an effort to bolster the company’s bottom line, I acquired and edited an inspirational autobiography by the pop singer Clay Aiken, written and published in about four months. (For the record, Noriega was a lot more pleasant to deal with than Aiken.)“

I am not a Jordin Sparks fan, but let that be the cover. It is much, much better.

The Allens….Kris and Katy……have a wonderful way of *handling* the media. They are respectful and at the same time playful with their answers they give! It makes the media look sooooo absurd at times…..I love it!

I just donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know why people keep saying Kara didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have any TV experienceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ If I remember correctly, she was a judge on that reality contest Syesha was a part of, wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t she? I think it was called The One or something.

That ran for 2 weeks (4 episodes) before being cancelled for abysmally low ratings. Yeah, Kara got a ton of tv experience being on that show. :rolleyes_wp:

I agree Pixie Baker, Kris and Katy know how to neutralize the press, they are an amazing couple. And you can tell that they are being honest with their remarks, which just makes it better.

I love the Kris, Katy and Adam relationship. They are all class acts.

OMG ! Kris and Katy Allen, I love them to pieces. Adam is blessed to have such a wonderful couple as friends. I’m very happy for all for them. As for Kris and Katy, I tell you they are ready for the big time !

OMG that Clay book sounds like a disaster. I went to one of those 2006 concerts. It was awful as a play/concert and I would think as a book it will be even worse. Considering the sales of his last CD, who will buy this?

The Cook Yahoo interview is amazing! Lyndsay is a great interviewer and Cook is so articulate and so unassuming. And I love his comments about Kradam. It’s great that all three of them will play the GMA music series in August. Oh, to be able to go…

David Cook rocks my little world. *sigh*

Ugh on Clay Aiken. Can’t he just go away already?

I think Idol has some serious tweaking to do for S9, and, yes, the most problematic issue is how little the Idols got to sing and how much the judges hogged the spotlight most weeks. Going over by 8 minutes for Adam’s Mad World, followed by the judges team tagging the following week b/c they don’t know how to keep their comments short and to the point? And Top 3 was just embarrassing, as they argued with each other and the Idols had to stand in embarrassment and frustration on the stage. This has nothing to do with Kara and everything to do with Bruce Gowers, the Director, and the judges themselves. And there was barely any Ryan/Simon bantering this year, so that wasn’t the problem.

I loved the David Cook interview on Yahoo. What a cool, down-to-earth guy. I’m hoping Lyndsey Parker will soon post the interviews she did with the AI8 contestants yesterday — of course, most looking forward to the ones she did with Kris, Adam and Allison!

Interesting article about the Clay book.

Right. I linked to that article in the item.

Oh, sorry mj, I didn’t see that you had linked to the article.

I think Idol has some serious tweaking to do for S9, and, yes, the most problematic issue is how little the Idols got to sing and how much the judges hogged the spotlight most weeks.

I totally agree. The other worse thing, for me, was some of the people they put in the top finals and others that they rejected, but that’s just me.

As for his wife having a problem with Adam, Kris says his wife told him let Adam know à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“that she had a crush on him.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Oh, now I think I have a little girlcrush on Katy!

Did they “elongate” Jordin in that cover photo art? I hate when they do that shit. They did it to Cook’s head on his album cover. And Jordin just showed up in the NY Times style section a couple of days ago as a plus size icon. I think she’s a gorgeous girl, and she’s obviously lost weight since that NYT photo was taken, but I hate all this photoshopping.

Four judges is one too many. Maybe they can rotate Paula, Kara, and Randy and have Simon all the time. None of the changes on the show bothered me by the end of the season except how much time and focus was spent on the judges.

I was watching my local cable news channel this morning and when they segued into commercial, they played Kris Allen’s “Beautiful Moon”. One of the producers over there must be a KA fan. Pretty cool!

(I wasn’t sure where to post this little tidbit, so I hope this is ok)

deleted post

That book idea sounds like the lamest thing Clay has ever come up with (yes, lamer than his last cd). From what I recall that particular Christmas tour centered around a ridiculous Christmas play that was the cheesiest cheese that ever cheesed. Even some of his diehards hated it. Let me guess…Jaymes Foster was behind it and is probaby behind the book idea?