A good article on Taylor. Especially interesting is the information about the success of his 2007 tours.

http://bhammag.com/bhammag/people_hotlist.aspx#top

Thanks for the article. I ordered a copy of the magazine.
I love the book ‘Heart Full of Soul’ written by Taylor Hicks.

He also said in his book that he tried to organize the contestants to demand more money was it? from AI. Something about they wouldn’t have a show without the contestants’ ¦.yeah, and that couldn’t have gone over too well either.

Taylor had a book? Was it a tell-all?

Brian Less, the keyboardist from LMBO, played with Taylor at his gig in Detroit last Monday. It was the ultimate Taylor concert for many reasons. If you’re a fan, check out YouTube for songs such as Maybe You Should and Indiscriminate Act of Kindness. He also did a killer version of Don’t Let Me Down.

(Dingo, if you read this, check it out. It was raw, acoustic Taylor at his best.)

As I understand it, the former members of LMBO all play in different bands, but sometimes play together under various names.

Thanks for the information Chewsday. I knew that Taylor and Brian were really close. I’m gonna look at the videos. Taylor is so good in that kind of setting. I saw him at the first shadow tour concert at Cyote Joe’s in Charlotte, NC that year. He was AWESOME!

(Dingo, if you read this, check it out. It was raw, acoustic Taylor at his best.)

As I understand it, the former members of LMBO all play in different bands, but sometimes play together under various names.

USAToday
The set boasts a 42-by-18-foot video-screen backdrop, as well as four smaller screens, each receiving separate signals.

It should be interesting to see how they configure that at GM Place (Vancouver), considering that according to TicketMaster, the seating goes all the way around back of the stage.

Boston Herald
The American Idols Live Tour opens July 5 in Portland before heading south to Los Angeles on July 16 and Ontario a day later.

Interesting again, that the writer does not mention that the third stop of the tour is Vancouver on July 8th (not to mention Tacoma & the 4 other California dates before L.A. on the 16th).

Boston Herald re: Adam
” ¦earlier this month on the cover of Rolling Stone, talking about everything from his music to his sexuality (he’s gay, but then he figured you’d already guessed that.)’ 

I only quoted this because in an otherwise decent article, it really bugs me that the writer just HAD to put that in there – why on earth did he not simply say “…earlier this month on the cover of Rolling Stone” and leave it at that?!? Arrgghh!

Michael Sarver (via Boston Herald)
“Before we go on, I plan to go to the farthest seat from the stage, to get a sense of what it’s like,” says Sarver, who worked as a roughneck in a Texas oil field before making it on the show. “Because I think we need to see what that’s like, and make sure they have a good show. I really do.”

Wow, I feel a little bad for being surprised, but this is a very astute comment from Sarver. I think all ten of them, while the stage is being set up, ought to spare a few minutes and hang out in the nose-bleed sections of each stadium, just so they know exactly how far they need to ‘project’. Even you-know-who has never performed for an audience as large as they’re going to have during these shows, so I think this exercise would be nothing but beneficial – for them and the audience.

BestAI
It’s not just the moves, it’s his pants (ahem). I thought one of the funniest threads on the AI board was when they proclaimed Adam as the winner and his pants #2 (different pants, than this one).

I love those red velour pants, lol. And yes, there were many who thought Adam should win with his pants coming in as runner up, although which pants ought to receive the title was much-debated (I can’t remember for certain, but I may actually have been the first to suggest that the pants deserved runner-up status, LOL [I was definitely *one* of the first]). I personally put my money on either the RoF pants or the WLL pants (it’s all about the *zipper*!). In terms of ‘dirrrrty’, IMO that “drop” is probably one of the least-raunchy moves in that clip, hehe.

Does Taylor still have anything to do with his original band or any of their members? What was the groups name? I actually saw them in Chicago when Taylor was on tour with AI and for the life of me can’t remember their name!

Little Memphis Blues Orchestra (LMBO). I’m not sure about whether he still plays with them from time to time. I do think he was loyal and really wanted to showcase them, and was very good about letting them showcase themselves during his shadow tour and soak up some of the love from his fans.

Well in Taylor’s defense, I don’t think he was lazy. He was stubborn. He decided that he wanted to do a shadow tour with his old band that followed the AI tour. So he would get off stage from the arena, then go to some local bar and perform again with his band. THAT’s why he couldn’t make time to finish his album. For some reason, he decided the shadow tour was more important.

I am sure his label was not amused. Heh.

Yeah, those who know anything about Taylor, would never call him lazy. Stubborn? Yeah, that’s probably putting it politely. I like Taylor, though.

Back in Taylor’s season, some of the other contestants said that he had a temper, but he held it together on TV. I don’t know if that relates to being stubborn, but it could be combination of some problems he had

Did they? I don’t really remember that. I do remember that someone said that he really laid into one of the AI minders for saying something rude to Elliott, and for following him into the bathroom. lol.

He also said in his book that he tried to organize the contestants to demand more money was it? from AI. Something about they wouldn’t have a show without the contestants….yeah, and that couldn’t have gone over too well either.

I think Taylor is very talented, and it’s a shame that he has in some ways been turned into an object of mockery. But I do think he’s a little hard headed and may in many ways have shot himself in the foot. I still love the guy, but he’s a little eccentric. lol.

Edit: Oh yeah, and he supposedly refused to sing the original coronation song that they gave him…walking out of the room and saying, I’m not singing this.

Rolling Stone brings you the definitive tribute to the King of Pop, with a dazzling 96 page special issue (plus 4 covers) chonicling the thrilling highs and chilling lows of Michael Jackson from Motown to Thriller to Neverland Ranch. The vast majority of the material here is new, thanks to essays from Will.i.am, Smokey Robinson, Quincy Jones, Sheryl Crow, Slash, Adam Lambert, Usher, L.A. Reid, Akon, Brooke Shields, Gamble and Huff, Wyclef Jean, Ne-Yo, Weird Al, Martin Scorsese, Glen Ballard, John Landis, plus the Rolling Stone staff. Also included are reprints of two classic Rolling Stone cover stories, one from 1973 by Ben Fong Torres, and a 1983 piece by Gerri Hershey.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Michael-Jackson/Rolling-Stone-Magazine/e/9781615565009/?

Yes, Twitter is weird that way. Here are their page links, this usually works best:

http://twitter.com/KrisAllen4Real
http://twitter.com/Allison4Realzzz

On Jennifer Hudson, she was struggling and it was a LONG process for her to get cast in “Dreamgirls,” who knows if we would had heard about her if she didn’t get that gig and kill it. I think other than having and agent and some notoriety, her landing that job was almost separate from AI. She was told she was no longer being considered more than once.