Idol Headlines for 12/15/08

By On 12/15/2008 · 32 Comments · In Uncategorized

American Idol Announces Season 8 Schedule

Get Ready To Share Your Voice As American Idol Returns With A Brand-New Season, New Contestants and a New Judge Tuesday, January 13 and Wednesday, January 14 on FOX.

*Top 36 Semi-Finalists Revealed Wednesday, February 11.
* Voting Begins Tuesday, February 17.
* Top 12 Singers Revealed After Judges’ Wild Card Round Thursday, March 5.
* Top 12 Finalists Perform for First Time Tuesday, March 10.

American Idol

The American Idol Experience to Open in February

American Idol Experience Reliable Netcot sources (i.e. Joel) report that the American Idol Experience at Disneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hollywood Studios will be open from February 5-8 for an Annual Passholder Preview with the grand opening being held on Valentineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Day (or February 14).

netcot.com

More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…

Nary a Carol in Earshot, and a Santa in Heels

At the Z100 Jingle Ball on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, if you werenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t approximately 14 and approximately a girl, the chances were high that you were a bored father, a sympathetic mother or a responsible boyfriend. The roles were assigned, and almost tribal.

Jingle Ball is a heavily branded, highly sponsored promotional event for an extremely influential pop-radio station in New York. The girls in the audience have the kind of fun they probably expect to have, all tears and iPhones and braces, furiously texting the number posted above the stage, where their messages are rendered in flashing lights. Sweetly, they sometimes misspelled their idolsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ names. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Jessee is my lifeeee!à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“David Archuletta will you marry me!!à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ) The performers dutifully ran through their commercials of 15 to 30 minutes. Songs not pitched directly toward the girl brain were essentially failures.

New York Times

Country star Underwood wows O’Dome

A new generation of Okie from Muskogee brought her brand of country music to the Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Connell Centerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stage Sunday night as Carrie Underwood performed before a near sellout crowd of 6,200 fans.
More Photos:

Unlike the usual college concert, Underwood brought out all ages. College students still predominated but the Oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢Dome looked an awful lot like family night as parents brought the next generation to see one of the most popular singers in music today. Of the students present, the men were heavily outnumbered as packs of young women, dressed in cowboy boots, short skirts and cowboy hats ruled the night.

Gainsville.com

A very special Christmas list for fans of all musical genres

A Coko Christmas, Coko (Light). Former SWV singer Coko mixes old and new tunes here. Three tunes come from SWV’s 1996 A Special Christmas album, another two from Coko’s 2006′s solo gospel debut. The most prominent of the four new tracks is a duet with American Idol finalist George Huff on Give Love on Christmas Day. www.cokosplace.com/

USA Today

Paula Abdul Supports Dogs in Women’s Shelters

The American Humane Association and award-winning recording artist Paula Abdul plan to collaborate to spread the message about helping abused women transition into a better life, along with their pets.

Abdul, whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s also a judge for the top-rated à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  reality TV show, has signed on as a pro-bono spokeswoman for American Humaneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Pets and Womenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Shelters program (PAWS). As part of her duties, sheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll record public service announcements for the program, as well as promote it in her various other media and public appearances.

dogchannel.com

X Factor’s Alexandra Burke eclipses Leona Lewis as Hallelujah becomes fastest-selling download EVER

Alexandra Burke entered the record books today as her single Hallelujah became the fastest-selling single via download in history.

The X Factor winner has already sold 80,000 copies of her Leonard Cohen cover since its digital release at midnight on Saturday.

The track has already surpassed Leona Lewis’s record-breaking fifth single Run which recently became the fastest selling digital release of all time, after it sold 69,244 in just two days.

It comes as Simon Cowell vowed to turn Alexandra into a bigger star than Leona, telling friends that this year’s X Factor winner is ‘more versatile’.

Daily Mail.co.uk

Ballas Hough Band Finish Record, Prep For à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Dancing With The Starsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Tour

Ballas Hough Band checked in with fans on their blog at MySpace on Sunday (December 14), discussing the bandà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s participation in the Dancing with the Stars tour and progress on their Hollywood Records debut album, which is due out March 2009. The Los Angeles based pop rock group tell readers:

Pop Dirt

 
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
Reddit Facebook Twitter Delicious Mixx StumbleUpon Digg
  • amy123

    Hey MJ, I emailed these to you, but just wanted to make sure you got these videos of Carly Smithson and Brooke White performing at the LA’s Best Community Jam Against Violence last night. Michael Johns couldn’t make it due to flight problems, so Brooke filled in for him.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3bzJM-BEqk

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUMWAWa3jUU

    Thanks.

    Amy

  • MrsTrep

    Ok, so the new format sounds interesting to say the least. Everyone gets ONE shot for the public vote to get to the top 12? There’s going to be lots of discrimination because of who gets air time. I am not sure how big of a fan I am of that…. At least with the top 24 we get to see more of them. And no half boys half girls, that part I do agree with! We’ll see, I may be voting early this year!! And the judges pick the last three… that should be interesting, 4 judges, 3 contestants… I see an argument coming up!

  • http://www.myspace.com/gwendolyndiane GwendolynD

    DC was at another Wal-Mart meeting 12/12 as a surprise guest.

  • http://www.myspace.com/gwendolyndiane GwendolynD

    So…the wildcard contestants will be selected by the judges? Meh.

    I’m not sure I like that Top 12 format. Hmmmm….

  • weareallinnocent

    DC was at another Wal-Mart meeting 12/12 as a surprise guest.

    What a great find, Gwen, thanks! Hilarious (and well written) stuff!! Good times…

  • itsalleternal

    I think they are doing that to keep the semifinals down to 3 weeks. In order to extend to 4 weeks, they would need to cut from 12 straight to 10 (not a bad idea).

  • tinawina

    Soà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦the wildcard contestants will be selected by the judges? Meh.

    Boo. They should at least do it DWTS style. Let us have SOME say, or we’ll just get the pimp picks. LOL. Simon will pick the hot chick who cant sing, Randy will pick the power belter, Paula will pick some headsrcatcher, Kara will pick a singer songwriter. They we’ll see footage of them fighting, and Randy or Paula will lose.

  • leome

    DC was at another Wal-Mart meeting 12/12 as a surprise guest.

    Randy Jackson in the house! That recap was quite funny. That’s one thing I’d like to see on video.

    Is the top 5 (or was it top 4?) still going to be at the American Idol Experience opening?

  • IdolFanatic

    Soà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦the wildcard contestants will be selected by the judges? Meh.

    Exactly as it was done in seasons 1 through 3. This will be no different.

  • Trina

    I demand video from that Walmart event! I do feel bad for him though that he was flown all the way to Arkansas to take part in an AI parody for Walmart..even though it seems like he had fun at least..

    and WTF Randy has a line of eyeglass frames at Walmart??

  • Bandit

    Thanks Amy for the video it was nice :biggrin_wp:

    I have never watched the seasons wih a wild card round and was wondering does it skew it more towards whom the judges want?Why did they get rid of it ?

    Something old–wildcard round
    Something borrowed–24 from CI
    Something new or is it blue-A new fourth permanent judge.

  • primeminister

    In regards to gender, I kind of like how the new format has more flexibility. Potentially, we could see a 9-3 split favoring one gender over the other.

  • bjames

    am i the only one that really enjoyed the semifinals of the last 3 seasons? in my opinion, that was one thing about the show that didn’t need fixing. Without more chances to see the contestant perform on EQUAL levels, we may not have had people like Jason Castro, Elliot Yamin, or even Jordin or DC make it as far as they did. That part of the show is crucial for those who don’t get airtime. I have a feeling this season is going to be really frustrating.

  • IdolFanatic

    the three finalists with the highest number of America’s votes — one male, one female and the next top vote getter — will secure coveted spots in the Top 12.

    So they will still be doing a guy/girl split, sort of. Why don’t they just do it like seasons 1-3? Gender should not be a factor.

    I don’t mind the Wildcard actually. Without it, we never would’ve had Clay Aiken. It gives those who missed it before another chance kind of making for only having one shot to impress to begin with. Sounds like though they will only bring back contestants from the round of 36 and not going back to the Hollywood rounds like before.

  • IdolFanatic

    We also had Jennifer Hudson from the Wildcard round.

  • http://www.myspace.com/gwendolyndiane GwendolynD

    Exactly as it was done in seasons 1 through 3. This will be no different.

    Ummm…thank you?

    As a veteran watcher since Season 1, I’m really not a fan of the judges choosing.

  • SallyinIllinois

    Does anybody trust Simon to make a star bigger than Leona? Honestly, he just discovered Leona and now he’s moving onto the next big thing? I mean, what happened to Il Divo (they’re nowhere to be found) or that Potts guy? What happened to the Potts autobio movie that Simon was producing. Alexandra shouldn’t hold her breath…esp. since Clive isn’t in control of Arista anymore.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/iamthepurplewalrus purplesmile

    MJ apparently made a video for the Another Christmas CD to be released in the Philippines (at Mossimo stores) and MTV Philippines is reportedly airing it by the hour. Here’s a TV capture of the video by a Pinoy MJOer…

    Michael Johns – Another Christmas video/MTV Phils.

    Still from these shores, here’s Ramiele Malubay’s guest appearance on Philippine TV show SOP (the “rival” musical variety show of ASAP, where MJ appeared some weeks ago)…

    Ramiele Malubay, et al. on SOP

    Uhm…snark away! Heh. :tongue1_tb:

  • LK08

    Simon will pick the hot chick who cant sing, Randy will pick the power belter, Paula will pick some headsrcatcher, Kara will pick a singer songwriter. They weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll see footage of them fighting, and Randy or Paula will lose.

    I don’t have a problem if they choose a power belter or a singer/songwriter. I do have a problem if they pick a chick you can’t sing or a headscratcher.

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/iamthepurplewalrus purplesmile

    Brooke just posted a blog on her Christmas playlist.

  • LK08

    I am not sure if it is going to happen, but yahoo is showing a video premiere date for DA’s ALTNOY at the 16th. That would probably be tonight at midnight. They premiered Tatoo for Jordan, I guess.

    http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/premieres/

  • Irina

    American Songwriter Staff Picks for 2008
    December 15th, 2008

    Here are our individual lists for Top Ten Albums of 2008. Trimming down this yearà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s releases to ten albums wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t an easy task for each of us. We hope you enjoy checking out these lists as much as weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve enjoyed putting the magazine together for you this year. Happy Holidays!

    Evan Schlansky, Contributing Editor

    1. Miley Cyrus, Breakout
    2. Wynton Marsalis, He and She
    3. Clay Aiken, On My Way Here
    4. Dem Franchize Boys, Our World, Our Way
    5. Sixpence None the Richer, The Dawn of Grace
    6. Boz Scaggs, Speak Low
    7. Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya To The Brink
    8. Tom Jones, 24 Hours
    9. Barenaked Ladies, Snacktime
    10. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges

    http://www.americansongwriter.com/2008/12/american-songwriter-staff-picks-for-2008/#more-9051

    Of the 9 editors/critics of American Songwriter Magazine only 1 picked an album by an American Idol. Congrats to Clay Aiken.

  • abbysee

    Of the 9 editors/critics of American Songwriter Magazine only 1 picked an album by an American Idol. Congrats to Clay Aiken.

    Does this guy get to participate next year, or did he get bounced? Just kidding but come on!

  • http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=587900002&ref=name cruzceleste

    The video for ALTNOY is already posted in yahoo

  • Bandit

    Thanks -Piurplesmile——
    I like most of the songs on the playlist which probably puts me smack in the minority ..Chipmunk song is just cute.

  • tinawina

    Archie’s video is cute!

    But did the girl break up with him over Guitar Hero? LOL. These fickle kids and their video games, I tell ya.

  • mac

    The video for ALTNOY is already posted in yahoo

    I like this video a lot better than the Crush video. This one seems more on the mature side. I also like the rain in the video.

  • snuffles

    Aww! I actually like the very last part when he has to decide whether or not to delete all the pictures.

  • frogcooke

    I love the rain effect too and definately more mature than crush was. I like how it goes through the different pics and such.

  • gabam

    Jason fans, he just posted a video wishing everyone happy holidays.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYIgjI867IM

    He’s in New York. That was fast. He was just in Texas yesterday doing a M&G at B&N to benefit the charity that he performed for Saturday night.

  • Grammie Kari

    Thank you gabam..

    As a veteran watcher since Season 1, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m really not a fan of the judges choosing.

    I join you. It seems the most errors made by the judges were to pick cute or sexy girls who sang like goats or couldn’t carry a tune. We’ll see about this. I just want to know the Top 24 or Top 20 or whatever.

  • Kirsten

    Not sure if this is legit (but the poster has a long history on Pulse), but here is the casting call information for Kelly Clarkson’s new video:

    Kelly Clarkson “My Life Would Suck Without You”
    Music Video, Non-Union Posted: 12/15/2008
    Union Status Non-Union
    Rate $200 – $1000.

    Submissions Due By 12/17/2008
    Audition Dates 12/17/2008

    Shoot/Performance Dates
    12/20/2008, 12/21/2008

    Shoot/Performance Location
    Los Angeles CA

    Synopsis
    Cute tale of romance from childhood into adulthood

    Project Notes
    Director: Wayne Isham
    Producer: Dana Marshall
    Production Co: Merge Films
    Casting Director: Dustin Blackburn

    Role
    submit LEAD GUY / Non-Union / Lead / Male / Caucasian / 24-29
    Rugged, Cool, Edgy, All American Good Lookin Guy. Not a bulky jock or a skinny rocker guy. Also must be able to act and be comfortable kissing Kelly Clarkson. DO NOT SUBMIT IF YOU ARE UN AVAIL FOR THE AUDITION OR SHOOT DATES Thank you Dustin Blackburn
    Rate: $1000 Negotiable
    Role Added 12/15/2008 3:04:00 PM

    Other Current Roles
    submit LITTLE LEAD GUY / Non-Union / Featured / Male / Caucasian / 6-8
    I need a talented lead guy to play our tbd lead male on the play ground. Must be a strong actor and have up to date paperwork
    Rate: $200
    Role Added 12/15/2008 3:08:00 PM

    submit LITTLE KELLY / Non-Union / Featured / Female / Caucasian / 6-8
    I need an extremely talented little actress to play Kelly Clarkson on a playground meeting her future true love. Please make sure all paperwork is up to date and research Kelly’s current look. Thank you
    Rate: $200 Negotiable
    Role Added 12/15/2008 3:06:00 PM