Season 9 Top 24 contestant, Lilly Scott is heading out on tour with her band Varlet. Check out the schedule HERE.

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Kelly Clarkson attended the the Clay Aiken/Ruben Studdard show at the club Nokia in Los Angeles last night. She tweets, “http://tweetphoto.com/36343640 http://tweetphoto.com/36343710 Watching the Ruben/Clay tour!! It’s so great!! They’re hilarious!!”

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Fox could end `American Idol’ guessing game

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Here come the new judges on “American Idol,” maybe.

With Simon Cowell and Ellen DeGeneres out of Fox’s hit singing contest, the network could announce their replacements Monday to the Television Critics Association. The network is presenting its 2010-2011 shows to the association’s summer meeting in Beverly Hills.

Read more at the Associated Press

More headlines after the JUMP…

‘Idol’ hopefuls take first step toward auditions

Thousands of singers lined up Sunday morning outside the Izod Center in East Rutherford to register for an American Idol audition Tuesday.

Something different is what producers are looking for, said Patrick Lynn, a supervising producer for American Idol. The show expects to audition about 15,000 people at the Izod Center and as many as 100,000 nationally for the next season on the show.

Read more at North Jersey.com

‘Idol’s’ Crystal Bowersox On Living With Diabetes and Visiting the White House

But her life hasn’t always been so charmed. Bowersox has suffered from Type I diabetes nearly all her life, and almost missed an Idol performance when complications from the disease sent her to the hospital. She is now an ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), joining Nick Jonas, Elliot Jamin, and Mary Tyler Moore in the fraternity of famous names who live with Type I diabetes and are using their fame to shine a spotlight on the condition.

Read more at Capitolist

‘Idol’ Is Now Free to Be …What?

“American Idol” is holding auditions for its 10th season, to be broadcast next year, but those lining up to sing for producers have no idea what the show they’re trying out for will actually look like.

Last week the “Idol” rumor mill went into overdrive — changes in the judging panel, the ostensible return of a former executive, the search for a new record label for the show’s winners. With the departure of Simon Cowell — one of the show’s judges but in reality its brains and heart — “Idol” is finally free to reimagine itself.

Read more at the New York Times

Fox to launch American Country Awards

Fox is set to announce today its intent to launch a country music awards telecast. The two-hour American Country Awards will premiere Dec. 6 live on the East Coast from Las Vegas.

With ACAs coming to Fox, American TV is about to get a lot more than a little bit country. Two of Fox’s broadcast rivals already have country music awards shows of their own: CBS’ Academy of Country Music Awards and ABC’s Country Music Awards. That’s on top of CMT’s Country Music Television Awards, which is the highest-rated program on the cable channel, and “CMA Music Festival,” an annual three-hour ABC special that essentially is a country music awards show minus awards.

Read more at The Hollywood Reporter

ABC TO ANNOUNCE THE NEW CAST OF “DANCING WITH THE STARS” DURING “BACHELOR PAD,” MONDAY AUGUST 30

ABC TO ANNOUNCE THE NEW CAST OF “DANCING WITH THE STARS” DURING “BACHELOR PAD,” MONDAY AUGUST 30

In a special Monday night event, the new cast of “Dancing with the Stars” will be revealed during an episode of “Bachelor Pad,” MONDAY, AUGUST 30 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Immediately following each cast member’s unveiling during primetime, ABC.com will post the updated list online.

The Fall 2010 season of “Dancing with the Stars” premieres MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 (8:00-10:00 p.m., ET).

Read more at the Futon Critic

SYTYCD Billy Bell and Jose Ruiz after their elimination

From Give Me My Remote

Ex ‘Idol’ Star Kristy Lee Cook Scores a Hunting Reality Show

“I never used to like killing animals until I got out and experienced it. It’s the food chain. Animals are here for us to eat. In my family we grew up without a lot of money so I take all this meat home and anything that’s left we give to homeless shelters or orphanages so all the meat is going somewhere and I get to feed all these people,” Cook says.

“Plus, now I know if anything were to happen in this world I know I would be ok because I can shoot my own animals,” she laughed to Fox 411.

Read More at FOX 411

“Idol”‘s Big Mike Lynche on Florida, family and newfound fame!

Sometimes, Michael Lynche looks back over the incredible turn his life has taken since last summer, from his audition for “American Idol” at the exact moment that his first child was born, his success on the show and the current tour that’s currently introducing to fans old and new. And sometimes he’s overwhelmed with the sheer weight of all the hard work, sacrifices and time away from the people he loves.

But he wouldn’t change it.

Read more at the Palm Beach Post

‘American Idol’ contestant Josiah Leming looks back on his audition

A sensitive, sad-eyed, shaggy-haired teenager from rural Tennessee living out of his car, Josiah Leming became one the most memorable contestants on “American Idol.” The singer-songwriter charmed judges and viewers in 2008 with raw talent and a confident take on Mika’s rangy “Grace Kelly,” a song that perfectly showcased his quirky tenor with its near-equal helpings of bravado and vulnerable quaver.

With thousands of would-be “American Idol” contestants getting ready to stand in line tomorrow at the Meadowlands for season 10 auditions, Leming has some advice to offer. We caught up with him just after he finished a show in Chicago. The shouts of his swarming fans carried over the phone.

Read more at NJ.com

Taylor Hicks finds his ‘Idol’ audience at Allentown’s Croc Rock

Hicks should have won “American Idol,” and after seeing him at Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café on Friday, I still don’t.

But the hour-long, 11-song he played has me ready to concede that Hicks works hard for the niche he’s found. And I’m also willing to say there was not a thing really bad about his performance. His singing was good, his six-member band OK.

Read more at the Morning Call

Ellen DeGeneres ‘Will Be Missed’ On ‘American Idol,’ Jordin Sparks Says

Last week, “American Idol” fans were surprised to learn that Ellen DeGeneres would not return to judge the show, leaving after only one season at the judges’ table. Though the announcement was met with mixed reactions, Jordin Sparks, who won the sixth season of the show, says she thought that once Ellen settled in, the talk show host “caught a good groove.”

“I’m surprised because I didn’t know until now and because I thought she caught a good groove with the show once she got used to it,” she told MTV News in an e-mail. “I’m definitely going to miss watching her. She lit up the room and definitely knew how to break the ice if things got tense.”

Now that there are two seats vacant, would Sparks, who has always been a vocal fan of Paula Abdul, want the former judge to step in? “I love Paula and I root for her either way,” she explained. “She should come back if she wants to and if the show wants her.”

Read more at MTV