Idol Headlines for 07/27/09

‘I just have one thing to say about promise rings,’  she said during the telecast. ‘It’s not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody ‘” guy or girl ‘” wants to be a slut.’ 

Because, you know, if you have sex before being married, you are like totally a slut. What a sanctimonious hack. Granted, I can’t stand Brand myself, but she certainly was no better by insulting everyone who happens to not share in her own beliefs.

From the L.A. Times:

Abdul’s current annual salary is around $4 million, people close to the show say, and she wants to be higher on the food chain than Seacrest and initially asked for as much as $20 million, although that has since come down to $12 million.

Last week, an offer was made to Abdul’s manager David Sonenberg, and he passed, people involved in the talks said.

This is beginning to look really, really bad for our dear Paula. I’m going to miss her. Buh-bye. :bye_tb:

Arkansas sure does love Kris. That is so heartwarming — I’ve never seen such support. Kinda wondering why they didn’t review the show, howevever. Lots of articles coming out of Arkansas, but none talking about the rest of the other nine singers.

HermeticallySealed – I think it was more that she was angry that her friends were being ridiculed throughout the show for what they believed.

WTG MJ! Loved your NY Post article!

I think it was more that she was angry that her friends were being ridiculed throughout the show for what they believed.

And I have no problem with standing up for her choices, but surely she could have done so in a manner that didn’t basically insult anyone who didn’t share them. It’s a matter of poor choice of comeback.

OMG — I read that N.Y. Post article and totally missed the byline! Congrats MJ!! Now this Kelly controversy is going to be picked up everywhere today, just watch.

Wonderful to see your byline in my paper again, MJ!

OMG ‘” I read that N.Y. Post article and totally missed the byline! Congrats MJ!! Now this Kelly controversy is going to picked up everywhere today, just watch.

It’s fine. Except that the song title is wrong…and keeps getting repeated like that. Thought I’d out myself first before somebody else did…

Awesome, MJ! But I must be the only person who cannot hear the similarities between Halo and Already Gone…anyway, I think it’s time for Kelly to go the indie route…

And I am starting to think that Paula is gone. I cannot fathom Kara sitting there instead of Paula. Paula, for one thing, called Adam for Top 36 (and said he’d be in the finale at Top 13–yep), and has always been the supportive one. The Idols all said they really liked and appreciated her being there. If she’s gone, it will hard to watch AI, and I was already on the fence without Adam (and after Cook). So I guess I will watch, but it won’t be the same.

It’s fine. Except that the song title is wrong’ ¦and keeps getting repeated like that. Thought I’d out myself first before somebody else did’ ¦

That’s another thing I missed. . .

Oy vey. It would be nice if they could correct that in the online edition at least.

MJ thanks for including info about iTunes. I’ve been watching the music industry and I’ve been wondering how they are going to solve the decline in album sales vs singles sales.

Re: Daughtry – I thought it was just me not ‘getting’ his latest album. Looks like I have company.

And I have no problem with standing up for her choices, but surely she could have done so in a manner that didn’t basically insult anyone who didn’t share them. It’s a matter of poor choice of comeback.

Jordin did say after she could have worded it differently though the guy was very obnoxious and someone should have put him in his place . good for Jordin for doing it.

Guessing here that Paula will end up being signed. Hope so, because I can’t stand Kara.

The thing that cracks me up is when you read the salaries that these people are making along with the “wah wah wah, it’s not fair that so and so is making more on the show” feeling to these negotiations, lol. Come on, 4 million dollars isn’t enough? Who the heck else is going to pay Paula any sort of serious monies? To do what? Sing? Judge? Choreograph dancing? She should definitely be making as much as Randy but she isn’t as valuable to the show as Simon, IMO.

Kinda wondering why they didn’t review the show, howevever. Lots of articles coming out of Arkansas, but none talking about the rest of the other nine singers.

They probably just want to focus on Kris since he’s from Arkansas.

Jordin did say after she could have worded it differently though the guy was very obnoxious and someone should have put him in his place . good for Jordin for doing it.

I watched it live and I didn’t dig her response. Brand was taking the piss out of the Jonas Brothers. She should have responded back to Brand, but instead she preached about purity rings.

Oh my! Simon’s new girlfriend could be Terry Seymour’s sister! What a look alike!

Nice article, MJ. Congrats!

*****************

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31929542/ns/entertainment-television/

Caption under photo:
‘American Idol’  fans may still argue about whether Kris Allen deserved to beat Adam Lambert, but there’s no argument that the two finalists were among the most talented ever.”

I prefer Kris, but I definitely agree that Kris and Adam are among the most talented finalists ever on AI.

I hope they find a way to keep Paula. I really don’t get why TPTB want to keep all 4 next year, when dumping Kara and keeping Paula seems like the smarter and more popular choice. Or, if nothing else, maybe dump Randy, who really is completely useless at this point.

Though I for one was against her announcement in Top 13 week that both Adam and Danny would definitely be in the finals (uh, little premature, maybe?) I still think she was more on the ball than even Simon was much of last season.

Imo 3 judges is more than enough, and 4 is really overkill. Last season became more and more about the judges, and less and less about the actual contestants, with less singing, and less time to get to know them. I don’t know about everyone else, but after learning more about the top 10 since the season ended, I could have used WAY more time with Adam, Allison, Kris, Matt et al than Simon and Paula drawing on themselves like children :rolleyes_wp:

Kinda wondering why they didn’t review the show, howevever. Lots of articles coming out of Arkansas, but none talking about the rest of the other nine singers.

They probably just want to focus on Kris since he’s from Arkansas.

Yes, agreed. It’s all about homestate pride and not really about the concert. There was a review posted a couple of days ago, but you had to pay for it so the poster only posted the highlights. I’ll see if I can dig it up.

Kinda wondering why they didn’t review the show, howevever. Lots of articles coming out of Arkansas, but none talking about the rest of the other nine singers.

They probably just want to focus on Kris since he’s from Arkansas.

Yes, agreed. It’s all about homestate pride and not really about the concert. There was a review posted a couple of days ago, but you had to pay for it so the poster only posted the highlights. I’ll see if I can dig it up.

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

The LA reviews stood apart from the other California reviews, IMO, in an attempt to be fair.

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

Excluding them all together is better?

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

I don’t think that was the case. I don’t think the reviewers in Vancouver, Washington, Oregon, and Utah were concerned about belitting anyone in order to build up someone else. Most music critics just review the show. In fact, I think the harshest review was from the Salt Lake City guy, Megan’s home state. But as with all reviews, it is just one person’s opinion.

ETA- I forgot Texas and Oklahoma

Paula should definitely get the 12 million she wants. It’s in line with what the others make, like Ryan and Simon. It’s also not outlandsish, considering the revenues the franchise pulls in. “Keep Paula!”

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

Well, they were reviews and that’s what reviewers do, report on what they see and how they feel about the performers. It’s only their opinions. Plus, it’s kind of hard to not say, “Adam brought the house down” when that’s actually what is happening. I’ve seen good reviews of Danny and Matt from CA reviwers also, and somewhat Anoop and Scott. So I’m not sure your statement is 100% accurate.

Squirrely, yes.
IMO,If you can’t be objective, then just do a puff piece on your favorite and spare the others.

I wonder if Daughtry considers himself rock, because it doesn’t seem like most people do. lol

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

I don’t think that was the case. I don’t think the reviewers in Vancouver, Washington, Oregon, and Utah were concerned about belitting anyone in order to build up someone else. Most music critics just review the show. In fact, I think the harshest review was from the Salt Lake City guy, Megan’s home state. But as with all reviews, it is just one person’s opinion.

I didn’t think so either – the one person just stood out more and made more of an impresson on the reviewer/critic.

IMO,If you can’t be objective, then just do a puff piece on your favorite and spare the others.

Yes, that is true, and perhaps that is why Arkansas is using this approach. But I don’t think anyone can know if a reviewer is being objective or not unless you know them personally or unless you have been following their reviews for awhile to know where their tastes lie.

But I don’t think anyone can know if a reviewer is being objective or not unless you know them personally or unless you have been following their reviews for awhile to know where their tastes lie.

I don’t think any reviewer is objective. A review is always totally subjective, in my eyes.
That’s why people who read them, need to “see for themselves” and form their own, non objective opinion!

Squirrely, yes.
IMO,If you can’t be objective, then just do a puff piece on your favorite and spare the others.

Just because a person claims someone is a better singer, performer, dresser, dancer, etc. doesn’t mean they aren’t being objective. Lets take this statement: Out of the three women on the Idol tour, Allison has the most charismia and better stage presence. One could argue that is an objective opinion. People who disagree with that statement will say its biased. It all comes down to perception. We all see things differently through our own eyes. But one point isn’t less valid than the other.

I don’t think any reviewer is objective. A review is always totally subjective, in my eyes.
That’s why people who read them, need to ‘see for themselves’  and form their own, non objective opinion!

Yeah. I agree with you completely.

Undercooked, I will argue all day long that the Salt Lake piece was biased. It was filed 10 minutes after the show ended. Thankfully, that has not been repeated in any of the other cities.

The Vancouver review and the Salt Lake review also seemed to focus more on social issues than on the music.

I will also admit that Kris has gotten a lot better since the tour began. That seems to be his M.O.

Adam jumped out first on the TV show and Kris played catch up. The same thing has happened on tour, IMO.

PattyH:
“I don’t think any reviewer is objective. A review is always totally subjective, in my eyes.
That’s why people who read them, need to ‘see for themselves’  and form their own, non objective opinion!”

I agree with that. I am a big believer in liking what I like, whether it is popular or not.

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

California doesn’t do homestate pride in the same way as Arkansas, so it’s not that comparable. And if that were the case, Allison would be built up just as much Adam as she is a California girl.

It’s not necessarily a puff piece or brushing over the suckitude of others if Arkansas want to make it about homestate pride, it’s just an angle that could appeal to their readers.

It was filed 10 minutes after the show ended. Thankfully, that has not been repeated in any of the other cities.

Just because it was filed 10 mintues after the show doesn’t mean it was bias. It means the reporter had his laptop with him. He only wrote about three paragraphs after the show ended. It took me less than a minute to write this.

I will also admit that Kris has gotten a lot better since the tour began. That seems to be his M.O.

Adam jumped out first on the TV show and Kris played catch up. The same thing has happened on tour, IMO.

It seems that Adam has been getting better with each stop as well, in terms of developing a better rhythm and flow for his set, his moves, etc. And Kris seemed good to begin with, but got immeasurably better since being allowed to dump NoBo (probably the biggest problem with his set).

I def. think demographics have at least a little to do with it, too. I think we’ll see Kris having the biggest bump of support in the midwest/south, with Adam doing really well on the coasts.

IMO,If you can’t be objective, then just do a puff piece on your favorite and spare the others.

So that’s the reason why Arkansas media didn’t review the concert? Because they can’t be objective to the other idols? How surprising.

If I were a performer, any review, good or bad, is better than a total neglect. YMMV.

Although I have my fav, I surely know better about other idols by reading these reviews, e.g. Michael did a good job to warm up the show, Megan’s outfit doesn’t fit her image/personality, Lil can dance, Anoop is sexy, Matt performs way better than in the show which leads me to hope he has a contract deal, Danny actually has lots of fans and his voice is good, and those three who already have contract deal are well deserve it. That why I prefer a review of the concert over a puff piece of local fav.

I wonder if Daughtry considers himself rock, because it doesn’t seem like most people do. lol

Probably. He probably does a rock scowl at the reviews (and laughs his way to the bank). Daughtry does probably my least favorite style of music out there (Creed/Nickleback-style music of 00′s is to 90′s Grunge as 80′s Hair Band was to 70′s hard rock — saw this on the SATs, so it must be true), but I guess it would still classify it as a style of rock. Rock is such a loose genre though, but then I stopped finding it easy to shove most music in to one box towards the late 90′s except for the catch all pop (which includes indie pop!).

The lyrics are little more than nonsensical, unrelated lines strung together so he can sing in rhythm.

This review of the Daughtry album absolutely nailed my problem with their music, as well as Nickleback. The lyrics are so lame, I sometimes find myself laughing at how bad they are when I hear it on the radio. I read an interview with Chris where he lauds the great writing tricks he learned from Chad Kroeger – like going down the alphabet from A-Z to find words that rhyme. This is exactly the problem, there is no soul or meaning to the words.

lizland Jul 27th, 2009 at 12:23 pm

The lyrics are little more than nonsensical, unrelated lines strung together so he can sing in rhythm.

This review of the Daughtry album absolutely nailed my problem with their music, as well as Nickleback. The lyrics are so lame, I sometimes find myself laughing at how bad they are when I hear it on the radio. I read an interview with Chris where he lauds the great writing tricks he learned from Chad Kroeger – like going down the alphabet from A-Z to find words that rhyme. This is exactly the problem, there is no soul or meaning to the words.

Exactly. I bought his first album and liked 3 songs but tired of the whole thing quickly. It all started sounding lame and from what I have heard from this new one they should call themselves Daughtry – Nickleback, Jr. I’m passing on this one. At least with Creed if you read the lyrics they made more sense like someone at least really cared about what they were writing IMO.

It’s fine. Except that the song title is wrong’ ¦and keeps getting repeated like that. Thought I’d out myself first before somebody else did’ ¦

Just curious, why can’t it be corrected? I’m wondering because here I read online edition of newspapers where errors like that are corrected all the time. Surely that’s the good thing about electronic edition is that it’s not like ink on paper where you can’t make corrections until the next edition.

I read an interview with Chris where he lauds the great writing tricks he learned from Chad Kroeger - like going down the alphabet from A-Z to find words that rhyme. This is exactly the problem, there is no soul or meaning to the words.

OMG! He had to learn this “trick” from someone?! I teach First Grade and that’s how we do rhyming words! LOL!

I do like the new Daughtry album, but I would have loved to have some better guitar solos included in the mix. Chris’ voice is definitely the featured instrument on this disk. While that is very good, some better guitar work, would only enhance the vocals, IMO.

^^^ I’ve been curious about Daughtry’s lead guitarist. Is he good?

Although I have my fav, I surely know better about other idols by reading these reviews, e.g. Michael did a good job to warm up the show, Megan’s outfit doesn’t fit her image/personality, Lil can dance, Anoop is sexy, Matt performs way better than in the show which leads me to hope he has a contract deal, Danny actually has lots of fans and his voice is good, and those three who already have contract deal are well deserve it. That why I prefer a review of the concert over a puff piece of local fav.

LOL! I think you just summarized every review to date in a nutshell

BTW – Any word on a Memphis review?

I read an interview with Chris where he lauds the great writing tricks he learned from Chad Kroeger – like going down the alphabet from A-Z to find words that rhyme. This is exactly the problem, there is no soul or meaning to the words.

This just brings up a really silly picture in my mind of them sitting around writing lyrics: “Hmm, what rhymes with cat? Bat, chat, drat, fat, gnat…?”

And even worse, rumor has it that Beowulf heard Kelly’s demo of Already Gone and supposedly demanded that Tedder produce a similar tune for her and that they release her version quickly before Kelly could release Already Gone.

http://perezhilton.com/2009-07-27-kelly-copying-beyonce-no-claims-clarkson

I’ve actually heard of this rumor a long time ago.. was it on this blog?

I wish the California papers had taken that approach, rather than feeling a need to belittle all of the others, to build up the home state guy.

The LA reviews stood apart from the other California reviews, IMO, in an attempt to be fair.

Give me 5 harsh reviews from since the tour started against a 100 little Arkansas ones who are just running on home town pride and nothing else. Its’s great what they’re doing for the hometown boy, but it is what it is, nothing more.

And reviews are largely subjective, whichever way you’re looking at them

IMO,If you can’t be objective, then just do a puff piece on your favorite and spare the others.

Reviews are opinions about performances. I don’t see how they could possibly be objective unless they stuck to saying stuff like, “Megan came out in a pink dress. She sang Put Your Records On.” …. But I wouldn’t want to read a review like that. I read them to find out how something strikes other people — their opinions, in other words.

If we want an objective “review” of the American Idols tour, I think we have to wait until it’s over, put every single review written about it in a pile, and then summarize them, figuring out what the average/median comment is on each performer. If 85 percent say that Tears Dry On Their Own doesn’t come off well when sung by Megan, then we can probably figure that that’s fairly close to being an objective fact. Unfortunately for Megan, I think we’re probably on our way to that consensus.

It says in the Arkansas paper that they will be doing a longer review of the show, so it will probably pop up in the next few days. The review they did right after the show was VERY short — the highlights I posted from it (it cost me $1.95 to even access the story) were basically all the story said about the individual singers, apart from like one more sentence that praised a couple of others besides Kris and Adam as standouts.

Has anyone seen any reviews from last night’s show yet?

I applaud Jordin’s current question. Is RB able to be funny w/o focusing on sex? Probably doesn’t matter in this case. He knew/knows his audience and knew making fun of the JB’s would get laughs. Ah well…I understand Jordin’s frustration from last year and it’s just too bad she didn’t think through her comment like RB did his jokes.

Reviews are opinions about performances. I don’t see how they could possibly be objective unless they stuck to saying stuff like, ‘Megan came out in a pink dress. She sang Put Your Records On.’  ‘ ¦. But I wouldn’t want to read a review like that. I read them to find out how something strikes other people ‘” their opinions, in other words.

Agreed, which is why no reviewer is going to please everyone – the same goes for any tv, movie, concert, or music review – the reviewer, by default is going to put their own natural biases into the article. Heck, that’s most of what they’re getting paid to do anyways, since otherwise, it would just be a matter of recording the facts as stated above.

Which is why I think getting a good mix of a lot of different concert reviews, written by a lot of different authors, is probably as close as you’re ever going to get to a sense of what the consensus is of the concert and performers. And so far I’d say they’ve been pretty consistent.

From Perez Hilton:

There have been some very loud whispers about the similarity between Kelly Clarkson’s latest single, the very pretty Already Gone, and the ballad Halo by Beyonce.

LOL — Yeah, the “very loud whispers” are coming straight from Kelly’s mouth! I don’t recall anything about her “whispering” in that CBC interview.

BTW, big shock, but Perez uses a long paragraph from the CBC piece without attribution. And of course he doesn’t mention MJ’s article. Once a thief, always a thief.

So….you know that picture I posted last night of Adam with the three ripped shirtless guys who had their chests autographed by him? Over on the ontd_ai site, there is a report claiming that these guys may have been friends of Kris’ brother Daniel — may actually be some of his fellow cheerleaders (Daniel is/was a cheerleader in college). The report comes from some girl who evidently was sitting next to Daniel and his brothers at the concert.

Don’t know if this is true, but if it is, that’s funny!

If I were a performer, any review, good or bad, is better than a total neglect. YMMV.

Only if it’s constructive, imo.

And some of the Idols hit the beach in Tampa LATE last night (or early this morning). Hopefully they are sleeping in! But it sounds like fun…

mgiraudofficial tweets:

#Danny lost some glasses in the waves..whoops! we saw a cruise ship in the distance. so beautiful here. must sleep so I can do it again 2mor.#about 8 hours ago from web

#Danny, Meg, Noop, Adam, and I just got back from a random swim in the ocean. I wasn’t gonna do it then again..why not? It was pretty fun#.about 8 hours ago from web

#Were walking on the beach right now. It’s beautiful at night. Jeans rolled up. Feet in the water. no one out here either. Night ya’ll.#about 10 hours ago from TwitterFon

And so far I’d say they’ve been pretty consistent.

They have

I’m pretty sure that the “very loud whispers” about the similiarity between Kelly and Beyonce’s song are from the fans/listeners because that’s what people were talking about. It’s only recently that Kelly has addressed (what I think is) the obvious. I also remember people were talking about how another Ryan Tedder song on the cd had the intro sound like a Miley Cyrus song (I forgot the name of it but the video had paparazzi chasing her).

Also, yes Perez is lame, because he likes to make it seem like he’s the one giving the exclusive scoop.

I love Kelly though so I’ll just see it as any publicity is good publicity?

Oooh, I hope some of the idols did have a chance to hit the beach….all work and no play, and all that.

I am sure that Jordin wishes she had chosen her words better last year, but I also think she learned something from that experience. The guy on the other hand didn’t learn anything, and that is the sad part. I might goof on the JoBros and their singing, but the idea of chastity isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s cooler to bash kids for wanting to promote something that can’t hurt them, than for another kid to say it’s better to wait, in a not so tactful way.

Perez is an ass, and a thief, and he is always so late on almost everything. I think it’s time for Kelly to control her music, and let the chips fall where they may. I still contend that the way Clive befouled the media with his Kelly bashing was one of the reasons My December didn’t go platinum. I remember how well the first single was doing on radio, and itunes until the war began. I think Clive wanted to show who was boss, now whoever is in charge is still at it, and maybe after the sales of this one are summed up, they will be at a stalemate. I want to see an unfettered Kelly at the helm of her career.

Yay for Phil with how “You’re Not Shaken” has done with his downloads from Amazon!:-D. And I love “It’s Gotta Be Love,” which is the full title of the song. There are 2 youtube links of the song out there for now that I know of; one of them being from the July 5th concert at his dad’s church. I just got a Google alert that talks about him being at a Chick-Fil-A in Hendersonville, TN, tonight (Mon. 7/27). Those that go buy something there, will have part of their purchases donated to the St. Jude’s Children Hospital, and will be able to meet Phil as well. Too bad I don’t live there, Link with the info below.

http://musiccitytv.com/2009/07/27/eat-chick-fil-a-help-st-judes-oh-and-meet-phil-stacey/

I’ve actually heard of this rumor a long time ago.. was it on this blog?

The earliest I can find out about the story of Beyonce wanting her Halo song to sound like Kelly’s Already Gone is from an unsourced post quoting someone else in the Pulse forum around the time of Kelly’s album release in March (in the All I Ever Wanted thread). There is apparently supposed to be a radio interview of Ryan Tedder telling this story, but no one else seems to have heard that interview. Unless someone can come up with the actual source and the radio interview this will need to be put down as just that – only a rumour.

Does anybody else have a problem with how much the “stars” of the AI cast (i.e. the judges and Ryan) are projected to make annually in comparison to what the “stars” that AI tries to produce each year will make? I’m not talking about the miniscule amounts the contestants receive for appearing on a twice-a-week television program– I’m talking about the prospective major label recording artists that Idol churns out.

The disparity in earnings especially hits me wrong when you consider the disparity in work. Take David Cook as an example. An article estimated that he made about 2M in 2008. So we shouldn’t exactly be crying for the guy. But, consider that since his job is his life and vice-versa, he has basically worked practically every second of his waking hours, other than having a few brief stints off, since the semifinals of his own season in order to earn that money.

And since Cook had sold 800K albums by the end of the year, it is hard to imagine that Kris, Adam, or Allison will gross substantially more than that by the close of 2009. But, they will llikely be “working” for virtually every moment they are awake, just like Cook.

Now contrast this with the amount of work that is required of the show’s “stars”. Simon is seeking 45M, Paula 12M, and Ryan will be making 10M– actually 15M if you count the extra millions in his incentives package– for approximately sixteen full days of work during auditions, a few more full days during Hollywood week, and then three months of working two nights a week and a few hours a night during the season.

And we’re not talking about an active or demanding job here. All the show’s principal parts have to do is show up when they are required to and “phone it in”, which is often exactly what they do.

Video interview of David A from when he was in London during the UK tour.

http://www.onlydavidarchuleta.blogspot.com/

He talks about Sweden, happy news and some other stuff!

She told guests: ‘I was re-recording the song in the studio the other week and I was at the piano. I just thought, ‘Of course, this song is all about Simon Cowell.” 

Hey, Simon Cowell isn’t it time to have one of the great 70′s singer-songwriters appear on the show? Carly Simon, Carole King, or James Taylor would all be great!

How nice of Melinda Dolittle to do the AIDS benefit. She’s a classy lady.

Jordin’s message was right; the way she said it was wrong.

And so far I’d say they’ve been pretty consistent.

They have

Agree. Probably the worst review Adam received was, I think in Dallas, where he was penned as “not family friendly”. As mentioned above, I like reading different perspectives, especially from different parts of the country. You do get the overall concensus of opinions and how all the idols are received at the venues. This is also helpful for the singers and their promoters because they can get an idea where to book their solo tours.

The disparity in earnings especially hits me wrong when you consider the disparity in work. Take David Cook as an example. An article estimated that he made about 2M in 2008. So we shouldn’t exactly be crying for the guy. But, consider that since his job is his life and vice-versa, he has basically worked practically every second of his waking hours, other than having a few brief stints off, since the semifinals of his own season in order to earn that money.

And since Cook had sold 800K albums by the end of the year, it is hard to imagine that Kris, Adam, or Allison will gross substantially more than that by the close of 2009. But, they will llikely be ‘working’  for virtually every moment they are awake, just like Cook.

I agree. The music business has changed so much in the 6 years since Clay Aiken was on Idol. He grossed $28 million in his first three years of touring. That is a feat that probably none of the newer idols will be able to match, because of the change in the business itself and the economy.

Idols don’t go directly to headlining big tours anymore. They either spend a couple of years opening for other acts, or they play small venues.

Agree. Probably the worst review Adam received was, I think in Dallas, where he was penned as ‘not family friendly’ . As mentioned above, I like reading different perspectives, especially from different parts of the country. You do get the overall concensus of opinions and how all the idols are received at the venues. This is also helpful for the singers and their promoters because they can get an idea where to book their solo tours.

And it’s not just the official newspaper reviews, too – but the recaps on MJ’s site here are often very similar in terms of what people are saying about each set and performer (for instance, the common consensus that Megan’s first song is good, but her second song is terrible). And all of this comes from people with different biases about fav performer, etc.

@noctem seizure — I have only one thing to say to your post:

:clap_tb:

Thank you.

It’s disgusting how much some TV personalities make.

A Memphis review that will make Kris fans happy:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

Sorry if already posted!

ETA: Speaking of biases, this reviewer obviously had one against Adam! lol. He was clearly predisposed to hate him in concert. I know Adam isn’t for everyone, but this is written with the venom of someone who *hated* him on the show (one of so many). You can tell that he only gave him a couple of (back-handed) props veerrryyy begrudgingly. haha. As an Adam fan, this review cracks me up.

Adam is at Graceland in this video “giving a little lip” or so he tells Kris. Catch his sexy skinny self at the end as he walks past the camera!

Some Graceland footage. Ripe for new Taylor Hicks commentary as Elvis comparison is made.

ETA: xuziqueue beat me.

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/07/76883/

Another thing to make Kris fans happy. Very nice ET video of the Idols touring Graceland. Kris gets the face time. The purple shirt is a bonus.

LisaE
Jul 27th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
A Memphis review that will make Kris fans happy:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

Sorry if already posted!

Yup this is not Adam friendly at all.

A Memphis review that will make Kris fans happy:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

This review cracked me up. The author is playing to the good vs evil with these descriptions:

Adam: Judas Priest-meets-Liberace studded leather jacket with tails.

Kris: The wholesome Arkansas boy. He plays for the true ‘American Idol’  demographic.

A Memphis review that will make Kris fans happy:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

What the guy said about Kris’s set being awesome is true, but….

“Liberace”? “Wholesome”? “The true American idol demographic”?

Hmm.

I can’t get the ET thing to play – I wonder if this is on youtube yet…

Yup this is not Adam friendly at all.

The author has really got some issues, especially when he says that Adam is all about Adam. That is not the impression I get. He’s all about the team and helping everyone in it step up their game.

What the guy said about Kris’s set being awesome is true, but’ ¦.’ Liberace’ ? ‘Wholesome’ ? ‘The true American idol demographic’ ?

Seriously?

It reminded me of when politicians say they represent the “real and true Americans”. I’ve always wondered what they meant by that….. In the same way, I have no idea what the true American idol demographic is. lol I’m sure the author doesn’t think its middle-aged women, which is the biggest group that watched AI this year.

A Memphis review that will make Kris fans happy:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

Well, I’m actually happy about the reviewer’s statement that “Adam Lambert is all about Adam Lambert.” I’m not native in English, so I can’t tell if there is any back-handed prop. What that translates to me is ‘Adam Lambert is unique. He is the one and the only Adam Lambert’. heehee

And I don’t how to feel about this for Kris. I suppose it’s a good thing and hope the ‘true AI demographic’ will be part of his music target audience in the future.

He plays for the true ‘American Idol’  demographic.

Does anybody else have a problem with how much the ‘stars’  of the AI cast (i.e. the judges and Ryan) are projected to make annually in comparison to what the ‘stars’  that AI tries to produce each year will make?

Good post, noctem seizure. It’s interesting to me how these people are asking for ridiculous amounts of money even as the AI juggernaut starts grinding to a halt. As far as I’m concerned, the show has jumped the shark, so why not try to milk some last millions before it completely tanks?

Wow, a lot of mixed metaphors there. :blink_tb:

Anywho, I also thought the show had jumped the shark last season, witness its lower ratings. But then Adam came along and changed all that. I can’t imagine another Adam magically appearing to save the show again, though I’m sure the producers will search high and low.

I have no idea what the true American idol demographic is. lol I’m sure the author doesn’t think its middle-aged women, which is the biggest group that watched AI this year.

Apparently the author thinks it’s people who are “wholesome” and don’t seem like “Liberace” (or Judas Priest).

I almost got the impression that Adam was self-centered-All about Adam Lambert.For me he keeps so corfrident in himself.Almost like he thinks hes
the best and that he has to prove it.He could take it down a step.

Kris is wholesome and he does fit the people who mostly do well on idol.The review got that part right.In fact all of it

A Memphis review that will make Kris fans happy:

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

Well there ya go… Had to come sooner or later. Just sad we got a form of the “real America” reference from my town. Not surprised, but sad.

At least Adam got some props to go along with the gratuitous gut-punch “Adam Lambert is all about Adam Lambert.” :thumbdown_tb: (Every AI contestant is all about him or herself at some level after all, but no need to debate that here.)

In the end, it’s just his opinion, and his “angle” for the article to set it apart from a straight review. Good for Kris for feeling the love in the author’s and audience’s opinions. Adam got a whole lotta love in the audience’s opinion, so I’m sure he’s good too. :clap_tb:

Well, I’m actually happy about the reviewer’s statement that ‘Adam Lambert is all about Adam Lambert.’  I’m not native in English, so I can’t tell if there is any back-handed prop. What that translates to me is ‘Adam Lambert is unique. He is the one and the only Adam Lambert’. heehee

He’s saying that Adam is performing for Adam and does not care about anyone but himself. Not sure how he made the assessment, but whatever.

http://www.etonline.com/news/2009/07/76883/

lol. Adam taught Kris how to “give a little lip”. They and Lil did the Elvis impression is so funny. You can see he’s really tall and skinny toward the end of the video. His walking side by side with Kris will give Kradam fans another moment.

I guess confidence equals conceit by some definition.

Apparently the author thinks it’s people who are ‘wholesome’  and don’t seem like ‘Liberace’  (or Judas Priest).

In other words, not gay (or performing gay, whether it’s out-there or rock).

Speaking of biases, this reviewer obviously had one against Adam! lol. He was clearly predisposed to hate him in concert. I know Adam isn’t for everyone, but this is written with the venom of someone who *hated* him on the show (one of so many). You can tell that he only gave him a couple of (back-handed) props veerrryyy begrudgingly. haha. As an Adam fan, this review cracks me up.

Ditto.

Well there ya go’ ¦ Had to come sooner or later. Just sad we got a form of the ‘real America’  reference from my town. Not surprised, but sad.

I’d say so far that it’s gone pretty well in that regards, especially since Memphis seemed to show Adam a lot of love outside of this review. I can understand being irritated that it came from your hometown, but it doesn’t seem to represent the audience there, so that’s good.

Well there ya go’ ¦ Had to come sooner or later. Just sad we got a form of the ‘real America’  reference from my town. Not surprised, but sad.

Explain to me then please, what is the “real america”?? I hear southerns say it all the time (I live in Pennsylvania). I know its negative to us “outsiders”, but can you explain it to me? Who is the “real america”??

I almost got the impression that Adam was self-centered-All about Adam Lambert.For me he keeps so corfrident in himself.Almost like he thinks hes
the best and that he has to prove it.He could take it down a step.

Everyone said Adam helped them the most while in competiton on the show – so I’m a bit surprised by the self centered comment.

Everyone said Adam helped them the most while in competiton on the show – so I’m a bit surprised by the self centered comment.

Its Adam’s stage persona. The comment comes from the confidence Adam displays when he performs. Compared to other idols at this point in their careers, Adam doesn’t come off as an ameatur. He commands the stage. Some people see confidence as being arrogent/indulgent/etc.

Does anybody else have a problem with how much the ‘stars’  of the AI cast (i.e. the judges and Ryan) are projected to make annually in comparison to what the ‘stars’  that AI tries to produce each year will make?

Yep. That kind of bugs me. Actually, I don’t mind Ryan raking in the big paycheques because he brings it every time (he’s always working, but the judges have started to phone it in). What really irks me is how much freakin’ money this show makes and how petty they can be. Every 30 second ad earns Fox almost 1 million dollars. That’s right. For every 30 seconds of ad time, this show earns the equivalent of the main prize. And we all know how much time is devoted to ads and product placement on this show.

This show likely earned more in ad revenue during the Idol Gives Back episodes than the charity did (although, not all the money earned for ads goes to 19E. The network has to earn money too).

And the thing is, we don’t even know if the $1M prize (if it even still is that) is subject to recoupment (i.e. they’ll spend a million dollars on it, but they’ll make you pay it back before you get any royalty cheques).

So, that’s why I applaud it when some of these unsigned Idols manage to get a contract and I can’t believe that some people think that these Idols took advantage of AI. AI already earned a fair dollar off of these people. If they can parlay their screen time into a recording contract when 19E didn’t want to sign them, I say go for it.

Still, the show does give exposure to people who seemed to be having trouble getting it, so they do end up ahead and most Idols seem pretty grateful (although Simon says he gets lots of complaints from ex-contestants on his British shows).

He’s saying that Adam is performing for Adam and does not care about anyone but himself. Not sure how he made the assessment, but whatever.

I think music is a way to express oneself. Singer/musicians are not representing anyone else but themselves. Why should they care about anyone else in regard to performance? If listeners feel connected to the music, they dig the music and the singer/musician.

Btw, I don’t think it’s an extraordinary compliment for a singer to be viewed as ‘bring something for everyone, of every age”. Seems trying to hard to blandish (not that I think Kris is so).

Judas Priest….hmmm….I couldn’t quite figure out why he made that reference, then I remembered this, about the group’s lead singer Rob Halford (from Wikipedia):

In 1998, Halford revealed he is homosexual in an interview on MTV. His sexual orientation was known to Judas Priest band members, and something of an open secret among fans and the heavy metal press. Halford called the response from the heavy metal community “tremendous”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Halford#Sexuality

Make of it what you will.

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t be too thrilled with this review if I were Kris either. He’s “wholesome” and “earnestly covering” a variety of songs?? Yes, Kris is wholesome and earnest, but for some reason that doesn’t come off as a compliment here. More like a pat on the head with an “aww, so sweet.” How about saying that Kris “transforms his songs and makes them his own, thus rendering old classics new again…” bla bla whatever. Something original and non-condescending people…

And Judas Priest and Liberace? Yes let’s use two gay performers as comparisons. Ugh.

Undercooked, I will argue all day long that the Salt Lake piece was biased. It was filed 10 minutes after the show ended. Thankfully, that has not been repeated in any of the other cities.

The Vancouver review and the Salt Lake review also seemed to focus more on social issues than on the music.

So any reviewer who likes Adam is biased or just tries to prop Adam up because he’s gay? There’s no way they could think he has any actual musical talent?

Reviewers just give their opinions. Just because you may not agree with them doesn’t mean their opinions are hopelessly biased or based on social issues rather than music. They just have a different opinion than you. If you expect everyone to agree with your opinion 100% of the time you are going to have trouble in life.

Hi this is my first post here but I have been lurking here for months. I love this blog:) I’m a huge Adam fan but my second favorite is Alison and my third favorite I’d kris. Anyway, about the Memphis review I didn’t think it was that bad because ( it seems like) the reviewer didn’t like Adam on the show. IMO it could have been a lot worse. I think the reviewer is wrong when he says Adam is conceited. He always remembers to thank the band. Kris is confident but no one calls him conceited.not that they should

Judas Priest’ ¦.hmmm’ ¦.I couldn’t quite figure out why he made that reference, then I remembered this, about the group’s lead singer Rob Halford (from Wikipedia):

In 1998, Halford revealed he is homosexual in an interview on MTV. His sexual orientation was known to Judas Priest band members, and something of an open secret among fans and the heavy metal press. Halford called the response from the heavy metal community ‘tremendous’ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Halford#Sexuality

Make of it what you will.

uh huh – alrighty then…

Explain to me then please, what is the ‘real america’ ?? I hear southerns say it all the time (I live in Pennsylvania). I know its negative to us ‘outsiders’ , but can you explain it to me? Who is the ‘real america’ ??

I have no friggin’ idea. Not to go too far OT, but I’d never heard it used at all until Sarah Palin used it in last year’s Presidential election. Of course, that just further clouded the issue, when “real America” elected Barack Obama. LOL

Seriously, I believe her intent (and comparing who received it well and who didn’t ) was to say, neither the coasts nor the liberal, intellectually minded. You know, “middle America” and conservatives.

Now, here, if I read correctly, the author of the review loosely defined the Idol demographic to include the tour audience as he viewed them — older, younger, middle aged, women and men…. “People who really love music and who are also thinking critically about it.” Whatever…

ETA: Yeah, I forgot about Halford, but Liberace I got. But, hey, he was only talking about the jacket, right? :ponder_tb:

I almost got the impression that Adam was self-centered-All about Adam Lambert.For me he keeps so corfrident in himself.Almost like he thinks hes
the best and that he has to prove it.He could take it down a step.

That’s just Adam being confident and comfortable. And ever did say he was helpful. He helped Allison choose Papa Was a Rolling Stone and when Kris said he wanted to do Heartless, Adam said the idea was genius. There is nothing wrong with being confident.

And I’m pretty sure he isn’t arrogant either. He just knows how to command a stage. Granted, he’s still not my cup of tea, but I think calling him overconfident or arrogant is ridiculous. I think he’s said himself that he thought the praise he got was a bit over the top.

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t be too thrilled with this review if I were Kris either. He’s ‘wholesome’  and ‘earnestly covering’  a variety of songs?? Yes, Kris is wholesome and earnest, but for some reason that doesn’t come off as a compliment here. More like a pat on the head with an ‘aww, so sweet.’  How about saying that Kris ‘transforms his songs and makes them his own, thus rendering old classics new again’ ¦’  bla bla whatever. Something original and non-condescending people’ ¦

And Judas Priest and Liberace? Yes let’s use two gay performers as comparisons. Ugh.

My thoughts exactly.

If they can parlay their screen time into a recording contract when 19E didn’t want to sign them, I say go for it.

Excellent point. ITA. I still can’t believe that the performers on this tour only get $100k each. How much is the tour making per show? And we haven’t even factored in merchandise sales (which is a huge chunk)!

The self-indulgent comment is similar to what Simon said to Adam after “Ring of Fire.” IMO, he was essentially saying that Adam did something he wanted to do (risky and different) instead of playing it safe and aiming for the masses. I think Adam understood that and changed his game plan a bit during the show because he was in a competition. (He talked about it during one of those behind the scenes bits.)

However, there’s nothing self-indulgent about Adam’s tour set. He purposely picked his most well-received songs from the season (Mad World, Slow Ride, WLL — all fan favorites), and his two new additions are just awesome.

I think Jim Cantiello (MTV) said it better (ouch I hate to say that) when he said that he thought Adam might have started down the self-indulgent road with “Life on Mars” but completely redeemed himself when he burst into “Fame.” In a short set, variety matters. Tempo changes matter. Both Adam and Kris have well-constructed sets.

I just watched that ET thing – it’s on youtube and just from Kris’ comments, I agree he would not be happy with this review either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtyvzIhldWk

This is exactly why I want reviewers to review everyone. We do get an idea of difference of opinions depending on demographics. I expected Adam to get some reviews like this, and it may not be the last one.

Video interview of David A from when he was in London during the UK tour.

http://onlydavidarchuleta.blogspot.com/2009/07/london-interview.html

He talks about Sweden, happy news and some other stuff!

Thanks for posting. That was a nice interview. It’s cool to hear that he is getting to be quite a big deal in Sweden. David said that he might be working with some Swedish writers for his album. I wonder who that could be?

Wait, did Kris say he was trying to push the boundaries like Elvis??? Sorry not seeing that at all.

Richard Rushfield is leaving the LA Times to become the West Coast editor of Gawker:

The AWL.com

This is exactly why I want reviewers to review everyone. We do get an idea of some opinions depending on demographics. I expected Adam to get some reviews like this, and it may not be the last one.

This is just that person’s opinion. I wouldn’t assume it was arrived at based on demographics though. Some people think Adam shrieks and they aren’t necessarily all in Memphis or the south.

I know what Adam would say – Whatever. Go buy the other guy’s record. lol

Funny how last season when David Cook acted confident and self assured in his performances, he was ridiculed as “smug”. I honestly don’t think the writer was biased. It was his opinion (we still have that right to express one, don’t we)? His and my opinion is just as important as anyone elses and he should not be labeled biased. Everyone brings their own biases into the equation and just because one does not agree with your’s doesn’t mean it’s not valid.

Excellent point. ITA. I still can’t believe that the performers on this tour only get $100k each. How much is the tour making per show? And we haven’t even factored in merchandise sales (which is a huge chunk)!

I actually don’t think that is entirely true. I think the lower 3 are making that much and then the rate goes up as their placement goes up. That’s how it’s been in previous years and I don’t see why this year would be any different.
I think it was Season 5, when The Smoking Gun got ahold of a contract and it showed Taylor making $5,000 per show and then a sliding scale as their placement went down.

And I also don’t really like the review that said Kris was wholesome and Adam was all about himself. That’s not exactly the best way to compliment Kris. He’s so much more than that. And Adam isn’t all about himself. He loves the other idols and the fans.

I thought the article (review) was hillarious!!!

I think using Liberace and Rob Halford in that reviews says it all!

I expect Sean Daly from the St. Pete Times to not be kind to any of them, Adam in particular.

But it is the same argument that is made with professional athletes – basically what you are worth is what people are willing to pay and no one said anything about fair. Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt making 20 million a picture likely don’t work any harder than a star working on an indie film for 2 million. But they worked hard to get up the ladder and have a name which has clout and brings in revenue. Brad Pitt can open a movie, only a select few actors or actresses can today.

You also have to remember that Paula and Simon and Ryan and Randy worked hard before Idol to get a name and reputation that was worth connecting to a show. No doubt working 24 – 7 with little reward as well. They worked their way up the chain. My assumption is Simon’s role is more than just judge but I could be wrong.

Do I think they are irreplaceable no – other Idol shows in other parts of the world change up their judges with no big repercussions. Simon is probably the one judge that the show can’t live without right now because he is probably the most identifiable.

There probably is some complex way to analyze what all the judges bring to the table vis a vis ratings aka advertising revenue versa what the Idol brand brings to record sales revenues of the Idols.

I also believe that Ryan and Simon had contracts that go beyond just their work on Idol, it includes development deals for other potential new shows, does it not.

My solution is pay Simon less and give Paula what she wants.

Funny how last season when David Cook acted confident and self assured in his performances, he was ridiculed as ‘smug’ .

I could never figure that out either. Cook knows what he’s doing on stage. Do people expect him to act like a little boy who’s just wet his pants out there? That’s a criticism I could never understand.

It was his opinion (we still have that right to express one, don’t we)? His and my opinion is just as important as anyone elses and he should not be labeled biased.

People are disagreeing with the reviewer calling Adam arrogant but I don’t think that’s why people are saying he’s biased or homophobic–after all, you’re right, confident people do sometimes get unfairly dubbed arrogant. The bias comes from the fact that he compares Adam to Liberace and Judas Priest, of all people, and then contrasts him with someone who is “wholesome” and appeals to “the true AI demographic.” Of course, this is someone who can’t say anything about Kris other than that he “earnestly covers” songs, which makes him sound boring when he’s the opposite of boring, and thinks that Lil was the “big risk-taker” on the show (not Adam and/or Kris?).

And I also don’t really like the review that said Kris was wholesome and Adam was all about himself. That’s not exactly the best way to compliment Kris. He’s so much more than that. And Adam isn’t all about himself. He loves the other idols and the fans.

This. It makes it sound like Kris was singing about purity rings and Adam was…I dunno, doing something douchebaggy.

People are disagreeing with the reviewer calling Adam arrogant but I don’t think that’s why people are saying he’s biased or homophobic. The bias comes from the fact that he compares Adam to Liberace and Judas Priest, of all people, and then contrasts him with someone who is ‘wholesome’  and appeals to ‘the true AI demographic.’ 

Yeah, it’s not his opinion on Adam’s talent/presence that I was going “hmm” at, but the Judas Priest/Liberace reference in constrast to the “real America” talk.

Natasha
Jul 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Funny how last season when David Cook acted confident and self assured in his performances, he was ridiculed as ‘smug’ .

I could never figure that out either. Cook knows what he’s doing on stage. Do people expect him to act like a little boy who’s just wet his pants out there? That’s a criticism I could never understand.

I guess if you don’t come across as nervous, clumsy and humble you are conceited, smug and full of yourself. These must be the opinions of people who feel the AI contestants should only be people who sing in the shower and decide one day they want to record an album. Allison is very seasoned and confident on stage too. So does she fit in the conceited or smug column?

It was the smirk. Cook used to smirk when he sang and it was a little off-putting. I don’t know if he does it anymore. I don’t think he does.

Reviewers are a dying breed. Newspapers can’t afford to have them anymore. Music critics, especially, have been going byebye for a long time.

Preview pieces can be written by on-staff features reporters from a 15-minute phone interview or straight off the press releases without even talking to anyone (which is more and more what’s happening, even at bigger papers, because everybody is cutting staff).

Large city dailies have full-time arts critics (maybe — those are getting scarce, too) but smaller papers use free-lancers, and they can be hard to find, especially when the pay is terrible and they’re very likely to have a space limit and all kinds of restrictions. Mostly, the publisher just wants to fill the space in a way most likely to get people to subscribe to the damn paper or (more importantly) to get advertisers to buy space and keep them in business.

Whether they say nice things about your favorite and whether their reviewer is smart and savvy or a cretin from Mars is not their concern in the least. They just want to eke out one more day being able to put out an actual newspaper.

As for how cruel they can or should be… John Simon is one of the best-known theater critics of the 20th century (he’s still writing, btw), known precrisely because he is an asshole about anybody he doesn’t like (or whose appearance he doesn’t like). He’s said such vile things about Barbra Streisand that I won’t repeat them. But he IS a critic, and he has made his name by ramping up the scale of rudeness and outrageousness. Don’t think critics are some protected class spouting wisdom befitting Gandalf the Grey. They’re not. And as newspapers and magazines keep getting scruffier and more down-market, that situation is only going to get worse.

So, you know, if there aren’t many real newspaper reviews of AI, or if they’re misinformed or have an ax to grind, it shouldn’t be surprising.

Oh, Adam performs on the piano now (comparison to Liberace)? What if Liberace was straight, would he have made that comparison?

OK, I just listened to Rob Halford, and Adam does not sound or sing like him at all, so I don’t get the comparison.

It was the smirk. Cook used to smirk when he sang and it was a little off-putting. I don’t know if he does it anymore. I don’t think he does.

Adam does too – he has the smirk and the shoulder/head shake thing.

sr4mjc-I think using Liberace and Rob Halford in that reviews says it all!

I expect Sean Daly from the St. Pete Times to not be kind to any of them, Adam in particular.

When I heard those two references I thought the same thing. Homophobia much?
The St. Pete Times around here is a joke. I’m from Tampa area. They make bias an art form. No I don’t expect Sean Daly to be kind, but that says something in and of itself. You already know what his thinking is. Don’t take him too seriously.

Wait, so Richard Rushfield isn’t going to cover American Idol anymore? =(

Wait, so Richard Rushfield isn’t going to cover American Idol anymore? =(

Well, as editor of Gawker, he may still cover it, just not in exactly the same way. . .

From what I’ve read of Rushfield’s (admittedly not much) it seems like a strange fit. He doesn’t seem like the Gawker “type” to me.

Well, as editor of Gawker, he may still cover it, just not in exactly the same way. . .

From what I’ve read of Rushfield’s (admittedly not much) it seems like a strange fit. He doesn’t seem like the Gawker ‘type’  to me.

I’m just sad because he seemed to really love American Idol. Hmm… does that mean there’s an opening? hehe..

People are disagreeing with the reviewer calling Adam arrogant but I don’t think that’s why people are saying he’s biased or homophobic. The bias comes from the fact that he compares Adam to Liberace and Judas Priest, of all people, and then contrasts him with someone who is ‘wholesome’  and appeals to ‘the true AI demographic.’ 

Yeah, it’s not his opinion on Adam’s talent/presence that I was going ‘hmm’  at, but the Judas Priest/Liberace reference in constrast to the ‘real America’  talk.

Yeah, very interesting choices in who he wanted to compare Adam to. Why not choose Axl Rose for the heavy metal part? Adam does sound more like him than he will ever sound like Rob Halford. Hmmm indeed.

And yeah, the “real America,” talk makes me want to punch things and isn’t worthy of Kris’s talents and winning. I hate when any part of that kind of talk is brought into what is supposed to be a review of the actual performances. Sure, talk about the complement of the audience, I get talking about the American Idol audience as a whole, especially as how that relates to the in-person performance this person was going to review. But bringing up this real American stuff, wholesomeness? Yikes! Red flags for me.

Oh and Lil Rounds of all people took the most chances during the show. What is so risky choosing to sing a song Celine Dion on AI? Or Bette Midler? And yet that is more risky than RoF by Adam or SWHTFM by Kris. Mmmkay than.

“As to the great national debate over who should have won ‘American Idol’  this year ‘” Adam Lambert or Kris Allen ‘” the stadium tour settles it. I concede to the masses.”

======
What does he mean by that?

Richard Rushfield seems waaaay to nice to be working for Gawker. I wonder if maybe this is part of a realignment strategy?

Is Gawker trying to raise it’s aim up out of the gutter? Dare we hope?

The irony is that Adam has really toned down the “shrieking” in his tour set, if for no other reason than to save his voice. But it’s nothing like it was on the show.

Seriously? Real America? Wholesome? “Earnestly” covering songs?
This review was just as insulting to Kris as it was to Adam. And the Rob Halford and Liberace (a pianist) combo? This guy couldn’t credibly belittle Adam any more than he could credibly complement Kris! I thought it was hilarious! LOL!

This is exactly why I want reviewers to review everyone. We do get an idea of difference of opinions depending on demographics. I expected Adam to get some reviews like this, and it may not be the last one.

This. I would rather get reviews of every show, even if it isn’t a great review, then not to get them at all. I don’t think it casts either Adam or Kris in a positive light. But it is what it is…

About the shrieking, well just depends what kind of style you enjoy. I know people who think the same way-that all Adam does is scream. I disagree, but hey go buy that other dudes record. LOL.

Actually, on the show that was kinda how I felt about Adam. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed watching his performances (as for many others, he was the reason I followed the show religiously this year), but I thought he generally went overboard with the “screaming”, and I was thinking that this was a performer I might want to see in concert (if he ever came to Europe), but not a performer who’s record I’d buy. However, after having seen full-length performances on YouTube I don’t feel that way anymore. Yes, he uses his upper register a lot, but that’s because he can, and when it’s in the context of a whole song I don’t think it’s as dominant – and now I would consider buying his record :smile_wp: JMO

The author has really got some issues, especially when he says that Adam is all about Adam. That is not the impression I get. He’s all about the team and helping everyone in it step up their game.

Well, but that’s not what he’s talking about. He’s not discussing whether Adam’s a nice guy in real life or not. He’s giving his opinion of his stage performance. He’s talking about what Simon’s talking about when he labels someone’s performance “indulgent rubbish” ( as SC did with Ring of Fire!)….

It happens to be this reviewer’s aesthetic judgment that Adam is just indulging himself by exercising his far-out vocal abilities in some of his singing rather than putting his voice at the service of the song or using it to entertain this particular audience. That’s a perfectly reasonable opinion, seems to me. I don’t particularly agree with it. But it’s not like he’s bashing Adam personally.He’s not talking about conceit or selfishness. He’s talking about whether Adam’s *performance* is too self-indulgent, given the circumstances of this tour.

I think many saw Adam’s vocals like that during the show. 90 seconds was not enough time to buildup to the higher register, like in ‘One’. But given longer song lengths it is not so jarring. And his voice recorded is so different in the higher register, it’s beautiful. I can wait to hear a whole album.

As a Kris fan, I wouldn’t really say that I liked the GoMemphis review.
1. Competition is over- I don’t think cheers really validate a “win”
2. I can’t take him seriously when he said that Lil Rounds took risks on the show.

I do have to clear up that he does not say “real America” on his review though. I think people are just assuming he does by reading the comments. (Unless I missed it?)

The St. Pete Times around here is a joke. I’m from Tampa area. They make bias an art form. No I don’t expect Sean Daly to be kind, but that says something in and of itself. You already know what his thinking is. Don’t take him too seriously.

The St. Pete Times is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Southeast and the 23rd largest in the country. They’ve won 8 Pulitzers. While you may not enjoy some of their Editorial points of view, it is an well-respected and influential publication. There’s a reason that those attending the Tampa concert will be doing so inside the St. Pete Times Forum.

Sean Daly is a nice guy, but he does have a bit of a too cool for school, music snob vibe to him. That’s the perspective from which he reviews the Idol concerts. He doesn’t hate on them just for the fun of it. He simply believes the show to be a tv karaoke contest without a lot of artistic merits. He can embrace the cheese though.

I didn’t pay too much attention to his blogs during the season, so I don’t know who his favorites are this year. But, he’s been known to be impressed by someone he didn’t like early on.

Richard Rushfield is leaving the LA Times to become the West Coast editor of Gawker:

The AWL.com

The LA Times, like most newspapers, has been having financial problems. I wonder if they are eliminating his postion? I hope not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. The could assign the AI beat to Ann Powers since she seemed to cover the beat quite heavily this season because of Adam. Or perhaps Phil Stacy, (who could be had for a lesser dollar amount) will ramp up his coverage.

Or perhaps Phil Stacy, (who could be had for a lesser dollar amount) will ramp up his coverage.

Phil is a super nice guy. But, his AI coverage is a huge snoozefest.

Oh well, a not great review for Adam and one I don’t think Kris would be fond of either. The reviewer does make Kris sound like the Sarah Palin of American Idol, the performer for the “true” and wholesome AI demographic. I don’t know that I’d be happy with the statement that Kris brings something for “everyone for every age”, because it makes it sound like Kris is homegenous and bland and I don’t think he is that at all. I agree that he makes the better AI winner, because as much as I love Adam, I saw that video of the DisneyWorld ad at the concert and couldn’t picture Adam doing that kind of cheezy advertising with Mickey at all. I do like that he says that Adam is the best showman and I’m unsure if he thought Adam was like Liberace and Judas Priest or if his COAT was a combination of the two. I’ve read it three or four times, and I’m still not sure. Oh well, I just hope that this reviewer plans to buy the “other guys record”.

OK, I just listened to Rob Halford, and Adam does not sound or sing like him at all, so I don’t get the comparison.

Rob Halford is said to have a 4 octave range, that is the point of comparison the reviewer was going for I think.

Rob Halford is said to have a 4 octave range, that is the point of comparison the reviewer was going for I think.

Rob’s got an amazing voice. But, it’s certainly not the first one I would think of to compare Adam to in that hard rock, heavy metal genre. I’m thinking the connection here is that OMG, they’re both gay.

That might not have been my first thought though, if he hadn’t included the Liberace reference.

Just responding to the comments on Cook’s “smirk”. Loved it. Still love it… :smile1_ee:

Yeah, that smirk was soooo cute!!

Adam Lambert is all about Adam Lambert

This was good for a laugh….obviously he has never read any other reviews or watched any other interviews (or chooses to ignore them!). The vast majority of press to this point have walked away with a great deal of respect for Adam – nothing negative to say. It would be interesting to hear the reviewers take if he was able to spend some time with him.

I’m another one who loves David’s smirk. I love it when a performer is confident. To me, that was one of the best things about Adam this season and even on the tour. His performances are so confident and in-your-face and you can tell he’s loving it out there. I never get the feeling with him that he’d rather be anywhere else than performing on that stage. Then, when the performance is over, he just seemed to morph into a nice, humble guy when hearing the judge’s responses. His rock persona during WLL on the show and then his reaction to the judges comments were so opposite of each other, it was amazing yet still all Adam. His politeness and eager happiness just melted me. In the concert, the huge smile on his face as he’s descending the stage just made me grin all that much more knowing how much he obviously appreciates what he’s been able to do in performing for the audience.

What the hell is the “true American Idol demographic” anyway? That’s what I thought of the review. Which is to say, I’ve already dismissed it.

Okay, first of all, the guy never uses the term “real America.” He says that Kris appealed to the American Idol demographic, which is a tie-in to the beginning of his piece, where he had said that he had assumed it was a bunch of tweens/teens, but, at the concert, he saw that it was people of all ages, including some real discerning music fans. Second, he did not compare Adam to Liberace or Rob Halford. He said that Adam’s coat looked like a Liberace-mmets-Judas Priest costume. Also, he did not say that Adam was personally arrogant or self-centered. It was his opinion that Adam’s performance was self-indulgent, in the same way that Simon would often use that phrase. I don’t happen to agree with this reviewers, but it’s not automatically homophobic or an attack on Adam’s personal character just because it’s a bad review. Also, he does have some good things to say about Adam.

I definitely disagree with his opinion of Lil as the risk-taker on the show. But, I don’t disagree with his opinion that the masses got it right with the winner this year. Of course, I wouldn’t have disagreed with an opinion that the masses got it right if they had chosen Adam the winner either. I think the masses got it right with their final 2, and couldn’t have gotten it wrong with whichever one they picked as the winner.

Just responding to the comments on Cook’s ‘smirk’ . Loved it. Still love it’ ¦

Heh, I was going to try and ignore the latest David Cook “love it or hate it”… BUT, since others have braved it – yes, he still frequently uses that cocky, crooked smirk on his audiences, and yes, I love it.

Rob Halford is said to have a 4 octave range, that is the point of comparison the reviewer was going for I think.

If he does, he doesn’t record and sing that way. I mean I like some songs by Judas Priest, but Rob mostly uses his lower register in most Judas Priests songs and he’s pretty weak vocally. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psTUiQzNoxw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RRoCkncvYo Heck, Adam sounds more like AC/DC than he does Judas Priest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXaZmY52gHM Again, vocally the person I would put closest to Adam is Axyl Rose, and heck Axyl even did some freaky snake-y dance moves like Adam does in is Bowie bit. I mean even a Sebastian Bach reference makes more sense to me. Halford would be waaay down on my heavy metal list if I was making a comparison to Adam.

I don’t see how this reviewer can say Adam is all about Adam. He can duet well with other contestants. Adam using his vocal range with his singing is not any different than Kris, Matt or Scott using instruments. You are susposed to show off your skills when you are performing. I kind of feel bad for Adam and Danny they really both get judged much more harshily than the others for their personalities.

It’s that time again, boys and girls. Time for Archie’s weekly blog!…

Ok, tomorrow is a solo show in Pittsburgh! I haven’t done a headlining show since the first show in Del Mar, but yeah I’m on tour with Demi now so that’s the reason why haha. But it should be fun! The scary thing is since we’ve been on tour, we haven’t had a whole lot of rehearsal time – Even though we did get to go through the longer set with the newer band members in Del Mar. But I’m excited! Pittsburgh is a great city. I remember when Jason Castro and I hung out during our day off there. I made a video blog that night about it too haha. Hold on let me see if I can find it…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnxD4zi-_7o

I haven’t seen it since the day I uploaded it, and I don’t plan on watching it now either lol. But wow that was just about a year ago! Crazy how much can happen in a year. But anyway there it is if you wanted to see what I did on my last day off hanging out in PIttsburgh. So it should be fun! Let me know if you’re coming to the show or any of the other solo shows! But hey I think I have to go to soundcheck now… So I’ll talk to you guys later!

more at the link

Second, he did not compare Adam to Liberace or Rob Halford. He said that Adam’s coat looked like a Liberace-mmets-Judas Priest costume.

You are quite correct, washpd, he was referring to Adam’s outfit when he made the Halford comparison. And it’s not an off-base comparison to make:

http://www.mypodcast.com/fmimage-4-165494.jpeg

However, I don’t believe Liberace ever appeared in full-leather ragalia during his shows. More typically, it would be something like this:

http://learnsomethingnewtoday.us/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/liberace.jpg

If the reviewer had left out the Liberace reference, I would have no issue with his remark. It’s the juxtaposition of two performers who have nothing in common but their homosexuality that I find troublesome.

If the reviewer had left out the Liberace reference, I would have no issue with his remarks. It was the juxtaposition of two performers who have nothing in common but their homosexuality that I find troublesome.

Same. Combined with the comments about Kris being “wholesome” and therefore (in part) appealing to the “true AI demographic,” it seemed troublesome to me too.

If the reviewer had left out the Liberace reference, I would have no issue with his remarks. It was the juxtaposition of two performers who have nothing in common but their homosexuality that I find troublesome.

Same. Combined with the comments about Kris being ‘wholesome’  and therefore (in part) appealing to the ‘true AI demographic,’  it seemed troublesome to me too.

Exactly. And exactly why I felt the same thing and had issues with it.

You know the person I felt that dressed most like Liberace that I ever saw live was Chris Isaak. I love the man and live, he’s incredible. I’ve seen him in concert 4 times and the man loves his matching, colourful outfits which are either velvet or have bits of glitter and/or silver on them. And of course his encore outfit which is an suit made of bits of mirror so he looks like a walking disco ball. But of course Chris Isaak is also a well known horndog for the female gender, so obviously Adam can’t be compared to him. Despite any kind of vocal similarities that also might occur to one.

David thanks the fans for their help with Rising Star Outreach on his twitter:

DavidArchie: Wow, this is soo neat! Thank you for helping out with Rising Star Outreach! You guys are amazing! http://bit.ly/108Di2

However, I don’t believe Liberace ever appeared in full-leather ragalia during his shows. More typically, it would be something like this:

LOL. I’d like to see somebody try to play the piano wearing that.

I thought he was more well known for his blinged-out, bedazzled tuxedo style jackets with tails like these:

http://www.jewishsightseeing.com/2009-SDJW-Quarter1/20090108-liberace.jpg

http://www.liberace.org/liberace_images/liberace_2.gif

I can kind of see where the jacket thing is going. Take a heavy metal leather jacket and cross it with a bedazzled tuxedo jacket with tails and that’s kind of what you’d end up with.

IDK. The guy could be a homophobe, but I never knew a member of Judas Priest was gay so maybe the other dude didn’t either. Liberace, granted you’d have to be living under a rock in order to not know he was gay (dude was quite the pioner), but there aren’t too many entertainers that wear bedazzled jackets. Maybe some country stars. Reviewer might have been better off saying that Adam’s jacket looked like a cross between Black Sabbath and Gene Autry (assuming none of those people are gay. I don’t really know much about most artists personal lives).

Okay this is something you don’t see every day. A rock magazine site talking about a musical

http://www.rockstarweekly.com/content/view/616/149/

Squirrely- This isn’t the first time Rockstar Weekly has featured something about Adam, but this surprises me. Canada in general seems to like Adam though.
However, I hadn’t listened to “Is Anybody Listening” in a while and it was nice to hear his stunning vocal again.

Squirrely- This isn’t the first time Rockstar Weekly has featured something about Adam, but this surprises me. Canada in general seems to like Adam though.
However, I hadn’t listened to ‘Is Anybody Listening’  in a while and it was nice to hear his stunning vocal again.

I know rock magazines love him! Especially Rolling Stones, it was just odd to see this one pushing his musical.

I’m wondering about the contract question for Kelly and all the people signed for Jive and RCA. Is it for number of years or for number of records (Wow! that dated me). Oops, I meant albums. I thought I read somewhere that the winner had to sign for 5 years but the runner-up for only one year. Is that right, or does it vary according to contract. Surely Kelly’s contract is over by now and she could go indie if she wanted to do so. She may have a big enough fan base to do that successfully. I’m wondering if part of the reason RCA is treating Adam so well is to make sure he stays with them when his contract is up (assuming that his record does well).

Why would she go indie? I would think another major label would pick her up if she was ever in the position to go shopping around.

Mr. Blank, the Memphis critic, has posted a long response in his comment thread to complaints about his review. Here is the section relevant to some comments that have been posted here on MJ’s:

Also, I don’t believe there’s anything homophobic or condescending about comparing Adam’s costume choice (a diamond-studded leather biker jacket with the tails of a concert pianist) to the dungeon-leather getups of Rob Halford and the rhinestoned flamboyance of the pianist Liberace, two performers with distinctive styles that appear to mesh in Adam’s outfit.

However, both Halford and Liberace certainly used their costumes to enhance the sexual intrigue and ambiguity of their stage personas. I have no doubt, judging by the way Adam stroked the microphone stand between his legs and gestured to his crotch as he screamed “every inch of my love,” that he intends for his apparel to raise eyebrows in a similarly sexualized way, just as David Bowie did in the era of Hunky Dory.

To take the argument a step further, I think that people who would NOT want to talk about his ambiguous sex appeal onstage do him a great disservice as an artist. Here is the first openly gay performer on an Idol tour singing to conservative southern families while wearing eye-liner and making phallic gestures with a microphone. The rest of the American Idol finalists are eunuchs by comparison. To me, Adam’s bold sexual statement — gay, straight, whatever — deserves to be discussed and analyzed.

http://www.gomemphis.com/news/2009/jul/27/american-idols-live-concert-proves-viewers-votes-c/

Not sure where to post this, but here’s a new video on You Tube using Adam’s cover of “I Just Love You” as a tribute to our troops. Thought folks here would like to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dDqO_j-zg

To me, Adam’s bold sexual statement ‘” gay, straight, whatever ‘” deserves to be discussed and analyzed.

I think the problem is that he didn’t discuss it or analyze it. Instead he made a shorthand reference which lead the reader unsure of his meaning.

To me, Adam’s bold sexual statement ‘” gay, straight, whatever ‘” deserves to be discussed and analyzed.

I think the problem is that he didn’t discuss it or analyze it. Instead he made a shorthand reference which lead the reader unsure of his meaning.

His response has a totally different tone from the original article.

ETA: Ann003 – this is very beautiful video – very touching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dDqO_j-zg

His response has a totally different tone from the original article.

Yes, I agree, he was back peddling.

To me, Adam’s bold sexual statement ‘” gay, straight, whatever ‘” deserves to be discussed and analyzed.

I think the problem is that he didn’t discuss it or analyze it. Instead he made a shorthand reference which lead the reader unsure of his meaning.

His response has a totally different tone from the original article.

It definitely was–if he had written like that in the original article (while still saying that he didn’t like Adam’s set/style, which is fine), no one would have been confused. Who knows if he’s backpeddling or sincere.

If we want to bring the country stars into this jacket thing, the King of Rhinestones cannot be left out.

http://indianranch.com/photos/wof/web_Porter_Wagoner.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Porter_wagoner_1999.jpg/220px-thumb.jpg

Yahoo video of David Cook playing golf with Rob Cavallo and Raine Maida
http://new.music.yahoo.com/programs/pepsi-music/david-cook/309/20090727/

LOL Love it

isisdagmar Jul 27th, 2009 at 9:05 pm

To me, Adam’s bold sexual statement ‘” gay, straight, whatever ‘” deserves to be discussed and analyzed.

I think the problem is that he didn’t discuss it or analyze it. Instead he made a shorthand reference which lead the reader unsure of his meaning.

His response has a totally different tone from the original article.

It definitely was’“if he had written like that in the original article (while still saying that he didn’t like Adam’s set/style, which is fine), no one would have been confused. Who knows if he’s backpeddling or sincere.

His tone certainly is different. I think it helped that of all the comments to his “review” that I read the commentors were not bashing him with curses, etc.

I, however, believe he needs glasses and a few tips in researching the difference between spikes/studs vs. diamonds and bomber jackets vs. biker jackets.

If we want to bring the country stars into this jacket thing, the King of Rhinestones cannot be left out.

Oh my, that is a lot of bling. I wonder how many Rhinestones had to die to make that jacket. LOL!

Yahoo video of David Cook playing golf with Rob Cavallo and Raine Maida
http://new.music.yahoo.com/programs/pepsi-music/david-cook/309/20090727/

LOL Love it

Don’t quit your day job, David lol

If that was his house he was walking out of in the beginning, I’m impressed.

If we want to bring the country stars into this jacket thing, the King of Rhinestones cannot be left out.

http://indianranch.com/photos/wof/web_Porter_Wagoner.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Porter_wagoner_1999.jpg/220px-thumb.jpg

ewww

ET Extra footage from Graceland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9boffB6BQi8

Yahoo video of David Cook playing golf with Rob Cavallo and Raine Maida

OMG everything about this :laugh_tb: I love when Raine says “David is a great singer, his golf game..uh..he’s a great singer” LOL

leome Thank you for bringing that David Cook video over. I love seeing all the different sides of Cook. Just chillin’ and playing golf with his friends. I also think it’s so cool that he hangs out with his Idol, Raine Mada. And I agree, Matt I like the house, if it is his.

Yes, I agree, he was back peddling.

Of course. After being attacked by angry fans who don’t take kindly to their favorite being criticized, he probably figured back-peddling was the easier, softer way at this point in time. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

#

# 177 mj Jul 27th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

Yes, I agree, he was back peddling.

Of course. After being attacked by angry fans who don’t take kindly to their favorite being criticized, he probably figured back-peddling was the easier, softer way at this point in time. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

He still said the voice was not on par – he just explained the gay issue more.

Kellys stripped performances have been uploaded, they were record at PC Richard Theater. Uploaded songs are My Life Would …, I Do Not Hook Up, Walk Away, Behind These Hazel Eyes, Already Gone and Walking After Midnight.

Videos HERE

My favorite is “Walking After Midnight”.

Mr. Blank also posted the following as part of his response to the reader comments:

As someone who watched every episode of “American Idol” and thoroughly expected Adam to win, my review saddens even me to read.

But for his performance Sunday night, Adam’s voice was all over the place. It’s my opinion, and I’m sticking by it. I was in the 8th row for the first half of his set, and moved up to a suite to hear the second half.

There were times his voice sounded like someone playing a Theremin. Only during “Mad World” did he stop flaunting that much-beloved range of his to display the tender, controlled, dramatic side of his voice. Often, he careened around the melodies (“Whole Lotta Love,” whole lotta screaming!), even when the lyrics didn’t call for it. And no, he wasn’t consistently pitch perfect either. Sorry, he wasn’t. Great performer, yes. Great vocal performance, no.

Vocally and musically, Kris played a spectacular though conservative set. He was consistent. He was the apparent bandleader. He focused on the sound and arrangements more than the pomp and circumstance. Will I buy Kris Allen’s album? We’ll wait and see what this guy can do in the studio. I’m more interested in Adam’s stuff, personally.

I sincerely doubt this review “saddened” Mr. Blank to read or write. In fact, I have no doubt he’s been licking his chops for awhile in anticipation of getting his message out there.

Oh, and as far as Adam’s performance being pitch imperfect or not great vocally, well I’m not likely to trust the musical ear of a former stage actor from Florida turned dotcom journalist. So are we to believe that the Lil’s and Scott’s and Danny’s performances in the show were just fine, but Adam was the guy who disappointed because of pitch problems? Huh? Not likely.

I also love how some of these critics try so hard to convince us they’re wholly objective because, ya know, they’re criticizing the guy they actually LIKE. Just like this guy adds in the “saddens” part and the part about being more interested in Adam’s stuff and not necessarily buying Kris’s album. Yeah, he’s more interested in Adam’s stuff, yet, the ONLY song of Adam’s he liked was Mad World. So, what, does he really think Adam’s going to put out an album with 11 Mad Worlds on it??

A total CYA response in my opinion.

I don’t know when/where or who this interviewer is but I haven’t seen it before. He is clearly having trouble keeping his shit together with Adam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOxrTAdm54

Squirrely-This video is beautiful. Do you know if it was made for a paricular reason/project? I can’t get over his voice here, Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dDqO_j-zg

I like the house, if it is his

David rents a house in LA with two of his band members. He owns a house in the Kansas City area. I should be ashamed to know this but I’m a fan. LOL. Are applications still being taken for #1 DC fan?

Thanks to leome (I think) for my David Cook fix of the day! I’m hopeless; I even enjoyed a video of him playing golf & goofing off.
I don’t think this Cook article has been posted yet -
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090727/LIFE/907270326
a little weak on the fact-checking, but hey, it’s still press.
DC’s in Delaware playing tonight. The Gin Blossoms are opening for him. First time in 90 concerts that they’ve repeated a set-list. And they have a new bass player (insert sad face here).
In other news, Cookie has added a tour date in San Francisco at the Fillmore.

Of course. After being attacked by angry fans who don’t take kindly to their favorite being criticized, he probably figured back-peddling was the easier, softer way at this point in time. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

I perceive it differently. Most of the comments on that site and on here are not criticizing the critic for saying Adam didn’t have the best voice, they were upset at the fact that he compared Adam to two other gay artists, and seemed to use his sexuality as a negative by calling him Judas and other gay references.

The way this article was written and its tone, it appears this critic has a problem with gay artists not hiding their sexuality. Sort of the “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” of music. Its obvious when he brought up the whole “Kris is wholesome and appears to the real American audience, blah blah blah”, which I think is even a disservice to Kris. That is what he’s really backpaddling from. It has nothing to do with his critique of Adam’s voice, which everyone says he has a right to not like.

I don’t know when/where or who this interviewer is but I haven’t seen it before. He is clearly having trouble keeping his shit together with Adam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOxrTAdm54

That was Memphis, this guy tweeted he was wandering in their dressing rooms eating their fruit.

177 mj Jul 27th, 2009 at 10:08 pm

Yes, I agree, he was back peddling.

MJ

Of course. After being attacked by angry fans who don’t take kindly to their favorite being criticized, he probably figured back-peddling was the easier, softer way at this point in time. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

Squirrely

He still said the voice was not on par – he just explained the gay issue more.

I think if Blank had left out the references to Liberace and Judas Priest and hadn’t stated that Kris was, in so many words, more American than Adam, there wouldn’t have been the same level of backlash. I do think there is a difference in calling someone out for preceived homophobic comments vs calling someone out because of a criticism of a performance.

I agree with Squirrely. He did not back-peddle on the singing, only on the gay issue. From the original review, many drew the conclusion that Blank was homophobic. That of course raised the next question, which was “does Blank’s (preceived) views on gays shade his view of Adam’s performance and performance style?” Blank implied that the stadium cheered loudest for Adam, yet he still stated the Kris appealed more to the AI demographic. To me, it seemed like a contridiction. It was worth noting.

Hey, not everyone is going like Adam. And for the record, I don’t necessarily like all of his performances. So bad reviews are to be expected. This review, I believe, was about more than just singing and performing and that is why I believe it got some of the reactions it did.

he probably figured back-peddling was the easier, softer way at this point in time. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

Regardless of what issue prompted the critic to backpedal (if he is doing that). I still stand by my words.

I perceive it differently. Most of the comments on that site and on here are not criticizing the critic for saying Adam didn’t have the best voice, they were upset at the fact that he compared Adam to two other gay artists, and seemed to use his sexuality as a negative by calling him Judas and other gay references.

Perhaps there is some kind of subtle difference there, if you say so. To me it read like a bunch of angry comments for a fairly mildly negative review. Honestly I read the article and walked away with the idea that he though Adam and Kris were the 2 best, but he though Adam was a little screamy and self indulgent and Kris was more the traditional idol winner type. I’ve heard that a thousand times before on this very blog. So I was surprised by the freakout that followed. YMMV and all that.

don’t know when/where or who this interviewer is but I haven’t seen it before. He is clearly having trouble keeping his shit together with Adam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOxrTAdm54

This guy was a nitwit. He yapped the entire time trying to be best buds with Adam and never let him get a word in edgewise. It was Adam who had to direct the interview. It’s amazing how many of these people waste the opportunity by rehashing the same old crap – roommates?? Really???

Geez, I need to get some media credentials ASAP and ask some REAL questions, starting with “can you show us what your hair looks like under that beanie?”

I love Paula. Her pay should be at least somewhat commensurate with the guys. Seriously.

Squirrely
Jul 27th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
ET Extra footage from Graceland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9boffB6BQi8

And while I’m on a roll…. THIS is why I had to quit watching ET a year or so ago. They tease stuff and then never deliver beacuse they’re too consumed by rehashing MJ’s every scandal (er… the King of Pop, not the blogger). They showed this clip at the beginning of tonight’s show as if it was a teaser of what was coming up later, then… NOTHING! Nada, zip, zilch, zippo. Really, ET??? Really??

Thanks for the Cookie crumb. I’m lapping it up LOL. Raine’s like the uber-cool blackclad ninja-golfer, Rob’s the benign godfather content to smoke up a cloud as he putters around the links (tho you get the sense that if he decided to take it seriously he could probably whip their asses), and David starts out amiably goofy but soon loses his cool when he realises no way in hell he’s gonna beat Raine. Apparently he lost his first-born son to Raine (I hope his future wife will take note of this) Haha. And did that squirrel survive?!

ETA: In case anyone else here also has an (inexplicable) fascination with the ramblings of a rubber chicken currently touring with David Cook, Parm’s (Parmesana, if you please) newest MySpace message says: The Truth will set you free *wiggly eyebrows*. Chew on that.

Perhaps there is some kind of subtle difference there, if you say so. To me it read like a bunch of angry comments for a fairly mildly negative review.

I agree. I’m going through those comments right now, and many of them are focusing on the reviewers “shrieking” comment, and then using the “liberace” comment as a reason not to take the critic seriously.

Regardless of what issue prompted the critic to backpedal (if he is doing that). I still stand by my words.

If the backlash against Blank’s preceived homophobic comments gave him pause, then perhaps the fan reaction was a good thing? I know some will disagree. I do wonder if his original review had been cut and perhaps there was more indepth analysis in it? His later comments do not indicate that, but it could be a possibility.

not sure if this was posted EW article on Kelly C/Beyonce

http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/07/27/kelly-clarkson-beyonce/

Thanks Leome for DC golf video. I just love this guy.

Hey daenarys – I’m a Parma the chicken fan too! Well, if I going to be a crazy Cook fan, at least it will be fun.

For those that remember that National Enquirer headline talking about Adam freaking out about someone messing up his nail polish, Kris debunks the rumor here while going on to say that Adam is a “ridiculously nice guy.”

Listen here:

http://www.krisallenation.com/2009/07/1077-interview.html

It’s worth a listen, especially since there are some pretty funny parts along with a (gorgeous to me!) version of Heartless.

Perhaps there is some kind of subtle difference there, if you say so. To me it read like a bunch of angry comments for a fairly mildly negative review.

I agree. I’m going through those comments right now, and many of them are focusing on the reviewers ‘shrieking’  comment, and then using the ‘liberace’  comment as a reason not to take the critic seriously.

That might be true on the website itself–I’ve noticed that comments from readers on reviewers’ pages are almost always unbelievably angry–but here, it really did seem like most people were annoyed or at least suspicious of potential homophobia (possibly a strong word, but I’m not sure what else to call it) in the review. I mean, people do seem to sometimes get annoyed when a reviewer doesn’t like Adam or Kris, but I haven’t seen a reviewer here accused of homophobia before (unless I missed it?) because most of the time in a negative review it’s clear that Kris or Adam just isn’t their style of music. This reviewer’s descriptions just struck a wrong note. But I would personally never go to his site and write an angry comment to him (unless the alleged homophobia was undeniable–then fire away).

Michael Castro has an EP out as of today! He twittered instructions on how to purchase it:

# Everyone will get an email! Patience please Again buy an EP at http://www.michaelcastromusic.com
6 minutes ago

# Order at michaelcastromusic.com, then you’ll get an email (to the address you paid with on paypal) accounts are still being activated
14 minutes ago

# If you’ve paid for an EP you either have, or will be recieving (within the next hour) an email with instructions how to create an account!
19 minutes ago

# For those who pre-ordered an EP and made an account it’s up for download! The rest of you should be able to create accounts within the hour!
27 minutes ago

haha, thanks for the golf video – that was too funny.

wellhesback: what did you mean by a new bass player? And I don’t know what this about the chicken is…

I agree. I’m going through those comments right now, and many of them are focusing on the reviewers ‘shrieking’  comment, and then using the ‘liberace’  comment as a reason not to take the critic seriously.

Yes, I agree. Gauging fan response to an Adam critique is a slippery slope! I don’t think, however, that we should dismiss all criticisms of Blank’s review just because some fans flip out over the bad singing statement. Also, some people sincerely believe that Blank’s negative review of Adam is shaded by his (perceived) views of gays. This is always going to be a problem for a reviewer who doesn’t like Adam. I suspect some reviewers will have issues with gays and some won’t. I don’t think we can treat all negative fan reaction to a review as fanwanking (or whatever the term is). Of course, sometimes the piling on is because some Adam’s fans are crackers! I guess reviewing Adam is also a slippery slope!

Hey daenarys – I’m a Parma the chicken fan too! Well, if I going to be a crazy Cook fan, at least it will be fun.

‘Xactly what I think – I love how he rolls rock and comedy, my two favourite things *grins*. Latest Parm update: she tweets (ROFL!), and she just said: patience, grasshoppers. Bwahahahahahahah!

I just discovered that the N.Y. Post has corrected the mistake in MJ’s article. Kelly’s song is now correctly identified as “Already Gone.” Whew!

I discovered that because the Post article is linked and properly credited in this story on AOL’s Popeater site. Yay!!!

http://www.popeater.com/music/article/kelly-clarksons-new-single-similar-to/590221

Has this been posted yet? Some people are trying to set up a performing arts scholarship in Kris’ name at his old school (UCA)

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0709/643985.html

I mean, people do seem to sometimes get annoyed when a reviewer doesn’t like Adam or Kris, but I haven’t seen a reviewer here accused of homophobia before (unless I missed it?)

During the season, both Michael Slezak and Adam B. Vary from EW were accused of being homophobes here until it was pointed out that they are openly gay men themselves. Then, some people called them self-hating gays. LOL.

IDK. It’s possible the reviewer is a homophobe, but it’s also possible that he’s not.

wellhesback: what did you mean by a new bass player? And I don’t know what this about the chicken is’ ¦

It’s looking like Joey is gone from the band :glurps_tb: There have been all these cryptic things being said today and Joey updated his Facebook earlier with his status saying “pages turn. New chapters arrive”. The new bass player started tonight but so far no one knows if it’s permanent or what. A few days ago DC changed his MySpace top friends around and put all the band members at the top except Joey FWIW.

Also, some people sincerely believe that Blank’s negative review of Adam is shaded by his (perceived) views of gays. This is always going to be a problem for a reviewer who doesn’t like Adam.

They should probably avoid Liberace references. lol

I don’t necessarily think this guy was being homophobic though. He did raise one thing that concerned me – I hope Adam’s voice isn’t getting tired. I’ve seen the show and the band is loud. He really has to power it home, on WLL especially. I can see how it would take a toll.

for ohnonotagain – parmesana is the rubber chicken often seen on stage with DC and the band. This is her MySpace. Read her blog:
http://www.myspace.com/parmesanachicken
Apparently Monty Anderson, who I read somewhere is a friend of Cook’s and maybe played on Analog Heart, will be bass player for next six weeks. That’s all that’s known.

It’s looking like Joey is gone from the band There have been all these cryptic things being said today and Joey updated his Facebook earlier with his status saying ‘pages turn. New chapters arrive’ . The new bass player started tonight but so far no one knows if it’s permanent or what. A few days ago DC changed his MySpace top friends around and put all the band members at the top except Joey FWIW.

If Joey’s gone from the band, what is this about the six weeks sabbatical I hear of? Either he’s permanently gone or not. I wish DC and friends weren’t so cryptic about things. It’s not like they’re with the CIA. (In fact, they’d be excellent operatives, they’re so mum about this type of crap.) I just wish they’d be straight with their fans, no matter what.

Thanks, Trina, I was wondering about the sudden replacement of Joey in Cook’s band. They just released that Pork Beans episode featuring Joey not long ago.

From what you wrote, it sounds like the Joey thing was not a happy parting.

Sniff. I’m going to the show Wednesday… boohoo for no Joey!

The yahoo video comes with pictures, if you’ve missed them.
I know when Joey made the band it was said it was temporary. But I think the fans have come to really love the guys and assumed they’d stay together. He was fun on stage, hope everything is ok with him.

Sassycatz said “I just wish they’d be straight with their fans, no matter what.”

I agree. They don’t owe it to fans to share any yucky details but it would be nice if they could let the fans know what’s up in general — Joey’s gone for good, temporarily, maybe, or what?

ETA: and everyone else beat me to the Joey news.
I’m gonna really miss him. He was fun to watch on stage

That might be true on the website itself’“I’ve noticed that comments from readers on reviewers’ pages are almost always unbelievably angry’“but here, it really did seem like most people were annoyed or at least suspicious of potential homophobia (possibly a strong word, but I’m not sure what else to call it) in the review. I mean, people do seem to sometimes get annoyed when a reviewer doesn’t like Adam or Kris, but I haven’t seen a reviewer here accused of homophobia before (unless I missed it?) because most of the time in a negative review it’s clear that Kris or Adam just isn’t their style of music. This reviewer’s descriptions just struck a wrong note. But I would personally never go to his site and write an angry comment to him (unless the alleged homophobia was undeniable’“then fire away).

The only time I had problems what I considered homophobia are the “articles,” in the National Enquirer, because to me, they clearly have a pattern of gay!panic in them. Besides being the normal NE dreck of unnamed sources of ‘could it be?’ ish. But I certainly don’t automatically attribute negative reviews of Adam to his sexuality. In fact it wouldn’t have occured for me to do so if the reviewer hadn’t to me, introduced those themes himself.

And now in response it’s that Adam was all over the place vocally, and Kris wasn’t. Which if THAT was his point was that Adam was flashy style over substance and vocally he wasn’t cutting it that night and Kris was, than dude, I didn’t get THAT at all from his original review, at all. And no, it wasn’t that I was upset due to his not liking Adam and looking to assign it to homophobia or whatever. In other reviews it never even occurs to me to do so. This guy just wrote an review that did ping on my ‘dar with his choice of references, themes and words.

Otherwise I couldn’t care less about this guy and his review. First off, not everyone will like Adam and that’s as it should be. Second, sure, despite others who went saying otherwise, Adam totally could have had an off night vocally, no one is perfect. Third, he though Lil rounds took the most chances during the season. Lil Rounds. Yeah, okay.

But I would never have written to this guy in response to his review and from the responses I can see, am thankful that at least this time they seem to have kept it to substance and not personally attacking him. That is sooo unnecessary, rude and invalidates one’s argument. So maybe there is some progress on that front, albeit in baby steps.

During the season, both Michael Slezak and Adam B. Vary from EW were accused of being homophobes here until it was pointed out that they are openly gay men themselves. Then, some people called them self-hating gays. LOL

Yes, I recall that. I also remember some felt like Vary and other gay writers were trying to use Adam to advance social issues. Do I believe some writers have agendas and biases some of the time? Yes. But I also believe most of the time, writers who stay employed try to remain objective.

There are always going to be over zealous fans commenting on any given article or review. But I don’t think you can throw out all of the comments because of the nutters. In the Blank case, there are legitimate complaints being made about his review by the fair minded folks.

During the season, both Michael Slezak and Adam B. Vary from EW were accused of being homophobes

Huh? But they were both big Adam fans, at least by top 8 week–Slezak was even rooting for an Adam/Kris/Allison top 3 and an Adam/Allison finale as early as top 9 or 10. That doesn’t mean they never criticized him, but Slezak even critiized Allison sometimes, and he practically worships her. Really, it’s like people take any bit of criticism and say that clearly that person must hate Adam/Kris/Allison/fill in the blank.

There are always going to be over zealous fans commenting on any given article or review. But I don’t think you can throw out all of the comments because of the nutters. In the Blank case, there are legitimate complaints being made about his review by the fair minded folks.

This. I think it’s perfectly possible for a reviewer to not like Adam without being homophobic, just like it’s perfectly possible for a reviewer to not like Kris without being anti-Christian. We’ve seen reviewers do both on the tour. The wording in this review just made people look askance. It’s not a big deal, but I don’t think that conversation here (most of it, at least) was out of line. Posting vituperative messages on the guy’s site? Yes.

I also remember some felt like Vary and other gay writers were trying to use Adam to advance social issues.

Was it Adam B who after the finale or around then, asked Adam to speak about his sexuality, without outright asking him if he was gay (because no one did) and Adam gave an ‘I know who I am, but also speculation is fun!’ to which someone at EW (Adam B?) then wrote a piece about Adam wasn’t REALLY a role model for gays due to that, and the guy from Gawker said the same thing. Of course the guy from Gawker hated Adam throughout the season, so nothing new there. Larger point being, yeah, agendas seem to happen on both sides.

From what you wrote, it sounds like the Joey thing was not a happy parting.

Whoa. FWIW, if you watch all the clips from the last 2 concerts just a day ago, you’ll see happy Joey just fine. Nothing off about his performance, in fact he’s always the one rousing the crowd to cheer more for David, and his infamous bunny hops are all one point LOL. And nothing off about David’s performance either those nights or tonight either. Since David famously wears his heart on his sleeve, methinks a bad breakup would show even if he chose not to talk about it. By all accounts the band was fine as they all turned up to watch opening act: Gin Blossoms.

That’s the part I like the best: Gin Blossoms opening for David Cook. Woo!

I hope he blogs this week setting the record straight. It’s really pathetic that I’m following a rubber chicken on twitter and MySpace for updates :laugh_tb: The problem is I think people are assuming the Joey situation since the blog about the replacement said he would be on the road with David for 6 weeks, but for that matter there could be another replacement after Monty’s time is up. It’s going to be weird not to see Joey though at my upcoming shows

Was it Adam B who after the finale or around then, asked Adam to speak about his sexuality, without outright asking him if he was gay (because no one did) and Adam gave an ‘I know who I am, but also speculation is fun!’ to which someone at EW (Adam B?) then wrote a piece about Adam wasn’t REALLY a role model for gays due to that, and the guy from Gawker said the same thing. Of course the guy from Gawker hated Adam throughout the season, so nothing new there. Larger point being, yeah, agendas seem to happen on both sides.

Yes, that is exactly the way it went down except I believe it was a different EW writer (who is also gay) who wrote the “Adam is no role model” article. Vary asked the question and was also the one who wrote the Adam cover story for EW, (without ever interviewing Adam) which was all about Adam being gay (maybe). He also wrote a blog on the EW on-line edition about whether AI was ready to have a gay idol.

Yes, so agendas do go both ways.

Don’t if this get posted already. Memphis Fox interview with Adam, Lil, Matt, Megan and Danny. Adam looked gorgeous there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aA6eb_YJ64

B-b-but I like the rubber chicken LOL. And to clear up any confusion: the chicken is not David’s alter ego. We don’t even know who is behind that chicken or it’s connection to the band except for the fact that it shows up onstage sometimes in, uh, compromising positions, and it self proclaims to tour with Cookie, and has the hots for Kermit the frog. Could be that her tweets / messages have nothing to do with Joey. So calm down folks. She’s there for humour, not for indepth analysis. Hee.

When it matters, David is always straight with fans. He just picks his time and place to do it. Patience is still a virtue……..aint it?

Mr. Blank, the Memphis critic, has posted a long response in his comment thread to complaints about his review.

Never do that man! Stick to your guns. Even though half of the review to me mumbles nonsense, its your review! Dont let any fans browbeat you into explaining yourself further.

Reading the review made me chuckle, esp the description of Kris, I think he got that part quite right. Wholesome white bread, for the masses. And the masses do consume a lot, so I guess it’s a good thing? Heh

I dont think the review was that negative to Adam,he’s obviously not for everyone(thank fuck!)….. so I dont get all the responses en masse…comical!

One of the things I really like about MJ’s blog is that posters can speak openly about matters, including Cook matters. Cook fans and other interested parties have every right to wonder about the Joey thing.

Circumstances surrounding the Joey thing seem sudden and a bit odd. Why not have a farewell to Joey — even if he’s leaving temporarily?

Tonight was Cook’s first show in 91 shows that was a repeat set list.

Did Cook introduce his new bass player tonight?

With Pork Beans and other things, Joey was featured prominently and some fans got attached to Joey emotionally.

I’m not blaming Cook. I’m sure he also has to follow management orders about PR issues.

Don’t if this get posted already. Memphis Fox interview with Adam, Lil, Matt, Megan and Danny. Adam looked gorgeous there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aA6eb_YJ64

Adam is beautiful. You can really see his beautiful features with his hair pulled back and not so much make up. Just gorgeous specimen of a man.

Adam is beautiful. You can really see his beautiful features with his hair pulled back and not so much make up. Just gorgeous specimen of a man.

Sorry, but he makes me want to gag.

Adam is beautiful. You can really see his beautiful features with his hair pulled back and not so much make up. Just gorgeous specimen of a man.

Sorry, but he makes me want to gag.

Really? That’s interesting. I don’t generally want to gag just from looking at people I don’t find attractive.

Thanks for posting that, BeckyMD–and I agree, Adam is lovely.

Some outtakes from the cute college interviewer of Kris from earlier this week. Nothing really of substance, but cuteness. Especially Kris. Awww, how so adorable? And bonus of Adam signing, how so pretty?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehyau7SkoUE&feature=player_embedded

Sorry, but he makes me want to gag.

Ya mean the glambulge is THAT BIG???? :razz_wp:

That’s too bad if Joey’s gone permanently from DC’s band…I liked him a lot.

Has anyone posted this yet? It’s a radio interview Kris did with one of the Little Rock stations the other day.

http://rope.klal-fm.fimc.net/Podcast Files/Kris Allen interview 7-25-09.mp3

I would like to thank Kris for saying being a “cougar” is about a lifestyle rather than an age — LOL! And he (again) denies any rumors about Adambeing a diva. So there ya go…

There may be legal reasons for DC not to go into the Joey situation, if there was a firing, and there may be personal/privacy reasons for DC not to go into the Joey situation, whether there was a firing, Joey deciding to leave, or a temporary time off for Joey. Just because fans want to know something doesn’t mean that there may not be very good reasons for a performer not to share information, and this kind of feels like one of those situations.

Ok…from a neutral point of view, Adam does look extremely handsome in that video. Love him without the makeup.

Sorry, but he makes me want to gag.

Ya mean the glambulge is THAT BIG????

Oh you went there. LOL. ::halo::

delete

Memphis Pop Culture Examiner

American Idol 2009 Tour hits Memphis-Adam Lambert wins screaming contest

Good find. Now this is who I would really consider objective since she wrote that she never watched American Idol. She was pretty funny.

Here are some excerpts:

“The madness was only intensified anytime the jumbo-trons, guarding the stage like gargantuan monoliths, displayed the image of Adam Lambert. With each and every flash of his face, screams erupted throughout the crowd. At one point, they even replaced the top of his skull with an automobile. No matter. They still screamed.

His (Gokey) set ended and the air was nearly sucked out of the arena as almost every woman from age 2 ‘“ 98 took a preparatory breath as they awaited the appearance of the boy with the leather pants and guyliner. …Because as soon as the graphics appeared on the jumbo-trons indicating Adam’s arrival, the noise in the arena swelled to deafening roar.”

She ends with:

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a quick Tweet to Adam Lambert. I need to make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

Vary asked the question and was also the one who wrote the Adam cover story for EW, (without ever interviewing Adam) which was all about Adam being gay (maybe).

No, it was Mark Harris who wrote the cover story.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20277643,00.html

Memphis Pop Culture Examiner

American Idol 2009 Tour hits Memphis-Adam Lambert wins screaming contest

I like when people are upfront about not watching the show. And yes, Adam does seem to win the clap-o-meter and scream-meter at the concerts, so it seems she was using that as a guide because she didn’t watch the show.

I found the review funny and it obviously wasn’t trying to be a serious musical review of the performances, but she did commit a factual error. There is no Otis Redding song in Kris’s set, a Bill Withers song, yes, but no Otis Redding.

Of course she could have learned how Kris won from that other Memphis reviewer, wholesomeness! I keed. This reviewer didn’t seem to give Kris or his set a lot of credit, but I think that’s because she seemed to favour more of a higher energy rock groove. Hence her looking for both Allison and Adam for the end songs. Which hey, that’s more her cup of tea, so that’s fine as well. And at least she did say that Kris’s performance was enjoyable. So not as if she really dissed him.

BeckyMD Jul 28th, 2009 at 1:24 am

Don’t if this get posted already. Memphis Fox interview with Adam, Lil, Matt, Megan and Danny. Adam looked gorgeous there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aA6eb_YJ64

I don’t mind Adam’s make-up, but he does look fantastic without it.

ETA:
Broadway.com article
http://broadwayworld.com/article/STAGE_TUBE_Adam_Lambert_Behind_The_Scenes_IDOLS_LIVE_Tour_Rehearsal_20090728

The Examiner review was funny and snarky
http://www.examiner.com/x-16175-Memphis-Pop-Culture-Examiner~y2009m7d28-American-Idol-2009-Tour-hits-Memphis–Adam-Lambert-wins-screaming-contest

aa618892 Jul 27th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

Squirrely-This video is beautiful. Do you know if it was made for a paricular reason/project? I can’t get over his voice here, Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70dDqO_j-zg

I’m not sure of the story behind it, Anne03 original posted it, maybe she knows.

Sorry, but he makes me want to gag.

Ya mean the glambulge is THAT BIG????

ROTFLMAO!!

I found the review funny and it obviously wasn’t trying to be a serious musical review of the performances, but she did commit a factual error. There is no Otis Redding song in Kris’s set, a Bill Withers song, yes, but no Otis Redding.

Didn’t you know that Otis is ghostwriting songs for both Kanye and The Killers? Of course, since he’s been dead since 1967 (ie before any of the songs that Kris sings on tour were even released), Otis is one of your true ghost writers.

It’s Murphy’s Law. Make statements implying your a “slightly more discerning music fan” and then biff something like that in the very next paragraph. Oh, a good editor might have caught that and saved her credibility (full disclosure, I frequently need a good editor for my posts).

So are we to believe that the Lil’s and Scott’s and Danny’s performances in the show were just fine, but Adam was the guy who disappointed because of pitch problems? Huh? Not likely.

Well, Adam gets a lot more attention, not only from most of the world but from this reviewer, it seems, than these singers. So when somebody gets the most attention and has the most expectations riding on them, it kind of makes sense that you would say more about your impressions of them.

If you really thought that Adam wasn’t making the best use of his voice, it could matter in some way to a really promising career. If you thought the others weren’t — well, they’re not currently signed to a record deal anyway. From those to whom much is given, much is expected.

I have no idea whether there’s any factual basis to his complaints about Adam’s performance that night — certainly seems some other knowledgeable people didn’t have those complaints. But I think it makes perfect sense that you might have more to say in a review about Adam’s (and Kris’s and Allison’s perceived shortcomings) than about those of the others, simply because those three are the ones you know are going to have albums and future tours down the line.

One function of reviews is to give opinion about whose tickets to buy in the future, and Adam’s one of the few here that we *know* will have tickets to sell next year.

From the videos I watched from Memphis I’ll agree these were not the best in which I’ve seen/heard Adam, but my view is distorted based on the fact I was watching videos.

I wish DC and friends weren’t so cryptic about things. It’s not like they’re with the CIA. (In fact, they’d be excellent operatives, they’re so mum about this type of crap.) I just wish they’d be straight with their fans, no matter what.

Geez, people. They had one day off between when Joey last played (Saturday night) to when the new bass player played with them for the first time (Monday night). If this was a sudden thing, I would think they were spending most of their time practicing with the new guy so he wouldn’t eff up and ruin the concert for the 95% of the attendeeswho wouldn’t even who in hell Joey was. The hardcore fanbase that would even know Joey’s name is a rather small subset of the total fanbase and a miniscule subset of concert attendees — so I think a press release or blog or whatever explaining the situation is a bit further down the list of to-do’s in the 24 hours they had to get Joey’s replacement concert-ready.

Or, you know, what FolkFan said. If (and that’s a big if) there was a firing, employers (which is what David Cook is to his band members) should not give or write off-the-cuff comments about the situation, if at all. If they do decide to discuss the situation, I’m sure it needs to run by David’s PR folks and management, 19/RCA Legal, Joey’s legal, etc.

No, it was Mark Harris who wrote the cover story.

Yes, you are correct! I was getting mixed up. It was Mark Harris who wrote the cover story for EW, not Adam Vary. Thank you. My boo boo, however, doesn’t change my original point. I believe some writers do have agendas some of the time. I saw the EW cover story by Harris as having an agenda.

That’s the part I like the best: Gin Blossoms opening for David Cook. Woo!

daenarys whhaaattt? gin blossoms still exist??? wow…i love love love their songs n its super cool they r opening for DC….one of my first favourite bands and i thot they had disbanded or something….wish they put out an album some day

The change to Cook’s band, with Joey and Monty, just happened a minute ago, and David isn’t required to immediately explain the details to his fans. There are a lot of different scenarios that might have occurred, and if we need an explanation or an announcement, we’ll probably get one before long.

I think fans were the least invested in Joey of any of the band members, though he did have his fans. I don’t think the change in bass players is all that earthshaking. Bands change, we don’t even know what happened or whose idea it was. Monty appears to be an old friend who played with David on his solo cd, Analog Heart, and also played with Neal and Andy before. He’s committed for 6 weeks, beyond that is anyone’s guess.

Am I curious? Yes. Is it my right to know, or is it the band’s duty to let me know immediately every single thing that happens with them? No. This won’t affect the concerts or the music, since Monty is a good bass player too, and it’s all in the family.

I don’t remember why exactly, but I got the sense that Joey was trying for a solo career and that the DC gig wasn’t necessarily the be-all and end-all for him. Although I guess you could say that about any of the musicians in David’s band.

And, yes, Adam Lambert looks gorgeous in that Memphis video, but I would still bet my lunch money that he’s had work done on his nose. Personally, I would love to see Adam with his natural coloring and sans all the too dark foundation make-up. He’s a beautiful guy, and I hate that living in Hollywood makes all these great looking people feel like they constantly need to “improve” themselves. As schleppy as Cook looks from time to time, I admire him that he hasn’t caved to the pressure to get hair plugs and live at the gym while popping diet pills and/or taking up smoking.

Regarding the Joey thing, I don’t see how acknowledging the obvious = giving a detailed explanation.

Joey — whether meant to be more permanent or not — has been in Cook’s touring band for 90 shows and for all the important appearances. Fans have grown familiar with seeing DC’s band mates and have acknowledged everyone’s talents. After going to a concert and watching all these videos, no one is “just an interchangeable bass player” or “guitar player” or “drummer.” Certainly, there are other musicians who could fit right in in terms of talent, but it’s odd that after all this, the way fans learn that Joey is no longer there is through a third party’s blog congratulating a colleague on a six week gig. Huh?

I was kind of surprised that, at Monty’s first show, David didn’t just address the obvious, i.e., “I guess you noticed Joey isn’t here and we have my friend Monty playing bass. Well, Joey is going to be away for six weeks (or Joey moved on) and Monty is helping us out in the interim.’ 

So, how is that intrusive, or giving detailed explanations, or stepping all over legalities?

And I grant you, many in the audience might not have known what in the world DC was referring to, but some in the audience would.

As schleppy as Cook looks from time to time, I admire him that he hasn’t caved to the pressure to get hair plugs and live at the gym while popping diet pills and/or taking up smoking.

I wouldn’t hold it against him were he to get hair plugs though. I am afeered of the Massive Alien Skull without the benefit of the hair camouflage.

Sassykatz, there are myriad possible reasons why Joey wasn’t around and we have no idea whether or not David is at liberty to discuss those reasons. Or whether the situation has settled to the point where there was anything definitive to discuss. I can probably list 20-40 plausible reasons why the situation couldn’t be discussed last night as of yet. For goodness sake, Phil Marshall’s blog was discussed by the fandom just yesterday and Joey didn’t play for the first time last night. David probably hasn’t even woken up yet today, yet the tone of some of the posts from some of his fans seem to be along the lines of “I wish David didn’t keep things from us” or “I wish David didn’t keep us in the dark.” I think his fandom needs to learn the meaning of the term backing off for just a millisecond.

And how important was it really to address the questions of the 20 people in the 5,000 audience who would know Joey’s name, of which maybe 5 of those 20 would be angsting about the fact that he wasn’t there? I’m thinking not very.

And how important was it really to address the questions of the 20 people in the 5,000 audience who would know Joey’s name, of which maybe 5 of those 20 would be angsting about the fact that he wasn’t there? I’m thinking not very.

It would’ve taken him 20 seconds, tops, to say something along the lines of what I mentioned above. Perhaps he’ll do it at the next performance.

And, just to add, I don’t think there are only two types of fans, i.e., 1) raving, self-entitled lunatics and 2) casual, whatever, I like listening to David … now whose up next on Idol?!

It would’ve taken him 20 seconds, tops, to say something along the lines of what I mentioned above. Perhaps he’ll do it at the next performance.

See, this is where the self-entitlement comes in. If there are legalities, privacy issues or just plain awkwardness involved, why isn’t he allowed to remain mum about the subject until he (and/or Joey) is good and ready to talk about the situation instead of fans asking, why couldn’t he take 20 seconds to explain this to the 5 of us who really, really wanted to know and can’t wait, even though the remaining 4,995 other concert attendees didn’t even realize there was anything amiss? I mean what’s so dang important that you can’t wait and why put the burden on David to immediately address every situation that arises?