Idol Headlines for 8/22/08

Exclusive Interview: David Archuleta’s ‘Crush’ tops charts

So, I just had to ask: Does Archuleta have a …Crush of his own? …Im just afraid to mention anything now, confessed Archuleta. And he right to be afraid. Recently, after one of Archuleta female friends attended his show, she received a deluge of hate mail from Archuleta fans. …They said, ‹Youre not good enough for him, and youre ugly, Archuleta said, shuddering. …You can see why people want to keep things to themselves. Despite the fact that his rabid fans harassed his guest, however, Archuleta continued to defend them. …Theyre just really protective, he concluded.

It was one of Archuleta loyal fans, in fact, who first informed him of his chart-topping success. …She told me and I was like, ‹Are you serious? Archuleta recalled. He never dreamed his first single would debut at No. 2. …I was like, maybe it will get to the top 40. I just cant believe it.

LA Times

“American Idol” Extra – Interviews with the Idols, Part One

So many interesting things you can find out in five minutes-worth of conversation! I’m not saying that a bite-sized bit of interaction with David Cook, Ramiela Malubay, Jason Castro, Syesha Mercado and Brooke White, in town yesterday for the “American Idols Live” show at BankAtlantic Center, allowed me some deep glimpse into their souls or anything. But I did find out some stuff that never came across in the several months we spent with them on TV.

Palm Beach Post

“American Idol” Extra – Interviews with the Idols, Part Two”

DAVID COOK

Question: How are you taking to touring?
Answer: I love it. I get to travel the country, see places I’ve never seen with some of my best friends? It’s great. We had a day off in Ft. Lauderdale, and I got lost a little bit. Most of the time, we get into a town at 4 or 5 in the morning, grab some sleep and go to the (venue).

Palm Beach Post

More Idol Headlines After the JUMP…

Review: American Idols Live tour in Tampa

Who’s up for a rollicking game of “Oh yeah, THAT dude”? After all, there’s no better time to play than at the annual American Idols Live tour, that remember-who extravaganza of pop-culture ephemera, well-worn covers and a guy dressed as a giant dancing Pop Tart.

At the St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday, in front of 12, 054 screamy fans of Fox’s indefatigable phenom, last season’s top 10 singers took to a bright, shiny stage to remind us why we loved them ‘  or at least made fun of their hair. The crowd wasn’t huge, but it was big enough to remind you that, after seven seasons, Idol remains the most powerful force on television. Deal with it.

Tampa Bay.com

“American Idol’s” Ramiele Malubay Returns Home To South Florida For “Idols” Show

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (CNS) – Ramiele Malubay finished in ninth place earlier this year on “American Idol, ” but she can still stand tall and hold her head high.

Well, maybe not stand tall. The 20-year-old is not even five feet – she stands at 4 feet 11 inches. Though Malubay is short, she bubbles over with energy.

“I’m a kid at heart, ” Malubay tells the Celebrity News Service. “Seriously, it’s kinda sad – I’m 20, almost 21, and my TV’s all Disney channel.”

AHN

Season 7 winner David Cook talks about ‘Idols’ tour

Aug. 11 marked the one-year anniversary of David Cook’s first “American Idol” audition in Omaha, Neb.

As Cook looks back now, the year to come was more than the 25-year-old Midwesterner could have expected. The former bar singer was crowned “Idol’s” Season 7 winner, he’s embarked on a tour stretching to more than 50 U.S. cities, and his debut album is set for release in November.

In an interview with The Times, Cook talks about music, touring, golf and a mysterious pair of pink panties.

Shrevepoint Times

Review: American Idol winner and finalists come to Sunrise

In the road-show version of American Idol, the winner and nine finalists take three- or four-song turns on stage, assemble for a couple of group singalongs, and work with a set list that changes little, if at all.

The performance that season seven’s finalists gave on Wednesday night at BankAtlantic Center, the 36th of a 53-date run, was essentially the first they gave in Arizona in July and the last they’ll give in Oklahoma next month.

Under the circumstances, “American Idols Live” can only tell an audience so much about the abilities of the young entertainers who competed to get this far. It has the formula and repetition of a revue, but not the staging, storybook or length. It has the tools of a pop concert, but no single vocalist is required to hold a crowd’s attention for more than 20 minutes.

Sun-sentinal.com

‘Idol’ finalists eye bright futures

HARTFORD — Performing songs by Evanescence, Heart and Cyndi Lauper in front of thousands of fans every night is something Carly Smithson has gotten used to — which isn’t to say that the rush of taking the stage isn’t just as amazing as it was on the first date of the “American Idols Live” tour.

But what’s amazed the Irish singer equally during her travels has been the reception of the crowds, the attention showered upon the “Idol” contestants in the celebrity world and being able to visit cities where she’d never been before.

I met up with Smithson and four of her “Idol” cast mates backstage prior to their Aug. 8 concert at the XL Center in Hartford. Earlier in the day, Smithson, who finished sixth, received an e-mail from a fan who had gotten a tattoo of her autograph on his arm. A day earlier, Smithson and “Idol” winner David Cook attended New York Mets batting practice on the invitation of All-Star third baseman David Wright.

Newstimes.com

Rihanna Fends Off Archuleta Atop Hot 100

Rihanna begins a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Disturbia, ” but barely fended off the best chart debut in more than 18 months, in the form of David Archuleta’s “Crush.” The track sold 166, 000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and opens at No. 2.

The last song to open so high was Fall Out Boy’s “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” in late January 2007. “Crush” also scores the best opening by an “American Idol” finalist with a song not performed on the show.

Billboard.com

David Archuleta Keeps His Fans Up To Date From The Set Of His ‘Crush’ Video

“American Idol” runner-up David Archuleta took some time out of his busy schedule to post a clip on YouTube, updating all his fans on just what’s going on in his life.

The 17-year-old, who’s in the middle of the American Idols Live! Tour, talked enthusiastically about being on the set of the video for his first single, “Crush, ” in the woods in Georgia. “It’s my first music-video shoot for my very own song; it’s really exciting, ” he said. “I wanted to let you know I’ve been doing well.”

MTV

Why Ask Why, Kristy Lee Cook

I kind of like the way Michael K. over on Dlisted.com sums up the album’s cover art:

“I’m surprised Kristy Likes C–ks’ album cover isn’t a picture of her in an American flag bikini, holding two semi-automatic weapons with ‘kill the terrorists’ flags shooting out of her coochie. And the label really should have went with her original album title: ‘Kristy Likes Jesus!’

NY Daily News

The roller coaster year of local ‘American Idol’ Luke Menard

…I was just starting to get my foot in the door, he recalled for us earlier this week as he readied for a reunion with his best buds in the long-running a cappella group, Chapter 6 (7 p.m. Sunday at Calvary United Methodist Church in Normal).

…Then, right after my biggest audition, for ‹General Hospital, I found out I was sick ¦

That diagnosis came in May: stage II of Hodgkin lymphoma, whose symptoms first manifested themselves as a tightness in his chest, suggesting, at worst, an annoying cold.

Breathing difficulties, headaches and blurred vision followed. A chest X-ray revealed a mass that led to the cancer diagnosis.

The encouraging news: The disease is one of the most curable forms of cancer if detected early enough.

Pantagraph.com

My ‘American Idol’ Audition: Five Things I Learned, By Jim Cantiello

At least to me, because that was the day that I joined the cattle-call auditions for “American Idol.” (Check out Jim’s exhaustive almost-live blog of the “Idol” audition process right here.) I’ve been obsessing over “Idol” for seven seasons (and covering it professionally for two), so when a co-worker suggested I try out for the show and have MTV News’ cameras follow me, I jumped at the chance to cross over from fan to participant.

MTV

One ‹American Idol Auditioner Story: So Close, Yet So Far

I love working for MTV News because I love music. And as a singer, I knew …American Idol could be an awesome opportunity, though I wasnt sure about the reality-show scene. But my curiosity won in the end ‘  what was trying out really like? I had to go see what it was all about, so off I went to try out for season eight at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

What was most surprising ‘  and cool ‘  about auditions was how supportive and friendly everyone was. While there was a healthy dose of competition going around, everyone knew the odds were against them, so they enjoyed the event like some sort of karaoke festival. It was cool to see so many different people who loved to sing and play music all making the most of being stuck in one spot together. An …American Idol village (of thousands, mind you) had materialized by about 7 a.m.

MTV

MDA Opens First National Online Auction to Benefit Jerry’s Kids

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug 21, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ — New this year, the Muscular Dystrophy Association will launch its first-ever national online auction at www.mda.org/auctions in conjunction with the 43rd Annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon. The auction, beginning today, features an impressive array of unique specialty items, with all proceeds benefiting the Association.

Some of the top celebrity items up for bid are:

— Four tickets to the Broadway show “Grease, ” co-starring “American Idol’s” Ace Young, and dinner with Ace afterward.

Market Watch

Jordin and Jesse get plenty of love

LOWELL – It’s difficult to say whether it was the abominable sound system or the 2, 800 screaming preteens that overwhelmed the voice of “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday night. Most likely, it was both.

The 18-year-old singer, best known for winning the sixth season of the talent search, did her best to get personal with fans despite speakers that made her sound like she was singing into a sock, and the fans themselves, who were so excited that they couldn’t stop wailing “We love you!” and screaming her lyrics.

Boston.com

These days, Chris Daughtry’s rarely ‘Idol’

When Christopher Adam Daughtry auditioned for “American Idol” in early 2006, he was an obscure musician from Roanoke Rapids, N.C., whose only claim to fame was singing “Achy Breaky Heart” at his grandfather’s bar. By May of that same year, most of America was idolizing him on the show.

When he stumbled, RCA Records was waiting in the wings to pick him up. In just six months, Daughtry formed a band named after himself, cut a self-titled debut album and went from a fourth-place finish on the popular TV show to first on the U.S. music charts.

Now, he’s about to play both presidential nominating conventions.

New York Daily News

Why, oh why, is Sanjaya back on the air?

There’s this quirky atmospheric thing north of the equator in August, it turns out, that sometimes makes radio waves skip.

You’ll be listening to the radio and you’ll get odd or distant or distorted signals.

So when I turned on Power-105 to the Ed Lover show the other morning and heard him introduce “Sanjaya, ” I just assumed this was one of those odd skips, that some stray television signal from 2007 had gotten lost in space and was roaming around, trying to get home, when it happened to land on my radio dial.

New York Daily News

Simpson Denies Underwood’s Romo Call Claims

Underwood admitted she was having a hard time moving on after her split from Romo in 2006, when the pair broke it off and he moved on to Simpson.

In the September issue of Allure, she insisted Romo was equally keen to keep in touch, adding: “The phone will ring and it’ll be him, and I’ll maybe not answer.”

But Simpson is now taking a swipe at Romo’s former flame, insisting the sports star has never called her.

She says during a radio interview, “I looked at his call log. Tony and I both laughed at that. We got a chuckle out of it.”

SF Gate.com

Idol winner Studdard faces nearly $200, 000 in tax liens

Ruben Studdard, American Idol winner and central tenant in Birmingham proposed entertainment district, has been hit with federal and state property liens for allegedly failing to pay nearly $200, 000 in state and federal taxes, according to court records.

Studdard, a Birmingham native, owes the federal government $171, 920 in unpaid income taxes, according to a lien filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court. He also owes $21, 730 in state income taxes.

Birmingham Business Journal

Taylor Hicks: This Thing Looks Like That Thing

In case you had not stayed abreast of the career arc of Taylor Hicks, which peaked with his Season Five American Idol win but hit its nadir when he started performing in front for “30-something yuppies” in Southeast Asian malls after being dropped by Sony BMG, allow us to report some positive news: his long-awaited, self-released new album, Early Works, is finally in stores! Well, in store: it’s available exclusively through Target, where it will retail for $9.98. Our heartiest congratulations!

Radaronline

‘House Bunny’: Girl Talk with Anna Faris, Rumer Willis, Katharine McPhee and Emma Stone

Shelley is a 27-year-old Playboy outcast trying to fend for herself in the real world. When she stumbles across a sorority of misfits she feels right at home in their mini-mansion. While she teaches her new gal pals all about fashion, beauty and boys they teach her a thing or two about what it means to be yourself. Hollywood.com met up with Faris and her sorority sisters; Rumer Willis, Katharine McPhee and Emma Stone for some girl talk about posing for Playboy, putting up with bloggers and more.

Hollywood.com

The House Bunny

Just as Faris walks a tightrope, so does the story: Shelley is, after all, encouraging the sorority girls — the caustic arch-feminist Mona (Kat Dennings); the sweet, socially inept Natalie (Emma Stone); the very pregnant (it’s never explained) Harmony (Katharine McPhee); the back-brace-wearing Joanne (Rumer Willis) — to make room in their lives for makeup, men and parties.

What saves the intellectual day is Shelley’s relationship with good guy Oliver (Colin Hanks): For all the helpful advice she gives her girls, Shelley doesn’t know how to develop a normal relationship with a normal man. The Faris-Hanks scenes provide Faris with some of her better moments and keeps “The House Bunny” from becoming bimbo propaganda.

Variety.com

The House Bunny goes flippity-flop

Kudos to the marketing team who created the trailer for …The House Bunny, which has a good handful of laughs and makes it seem like the movie will have many more. But no, the only funny stuff in …House Bunny is in that coming-attractions preview, and everything else is moronic, predictable, clunky and borderline misogynist.

It a movie that wastes the talents of up-and-comers (Emma Stone from …Superbad), rising stars (the sublimely funny ‘  in other movies ‘  Anna Faris) and talented vets (Beverly DAngelo, looking like she wishes she were anywhere else) alike.

MSNBC

‘House Bunny’ pins its limited charms on Faris

The title bunny, played by Anna Faris, is just a twist on the old Hollywood saw, the hooker with a heart of gold. That conceit is fused with another Hollywood favorite: the dumb blonde who is actually smart.

Faris is endearing as the innocently ditzy Shelley Darlingson. She is a talented comedian and has some funny moments here, but her comic skills are blunted by the trite story. Sometimes the movie seems to be lampooning movie clichà ©s. But, by imposing a predictable message, it obscures the satire. Legally Blonde and Clueless covered much of the same turf more effectively.

USA Today

Labor movement – Black Gay Pride takes over Atlanta for Labor Day weekend

This year Lion Den party is loaded with performances by former American Idol finalist Anwar Robinson and singer Truth Hurts, an all-male revue led by Bobby Blake, and a fashion show where designers and models compete for prizes.

…It really just about trying to keep it exciting each year, Allen says.

Southern Voice

Beatles tribute gives Bice chance to tour with idols

“American Idol’s Southern-rocking Season 4 runner-up is the first to admit he’s an unlikely candidate for a Beatles tribute band.

“I’m no Paul McCartney or John Lennon, Alabama native Bo Bice drawled in a phone interview last week. “Everybody knows that.

Still, when progressive-pop wizard Todd Rundgren tapped him to join such a project, Bice couldn’t turn it down. After all, four of his boyhood heroes had signed on for “It Was 40 Years Ago Today: A Tribute to the Greatest Album of All Time, ‹Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.’ He would be playing alongside Rundgren, Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm, singer-songwriter Christopher Cross and ex-Wings/Moody Blues singer-guitarist Denny Laine.

News OK.com

Paula Abdul Undergoes Neck Surgery

PAULA ABDUL has undergone surgery on her neck to relieve pain she has suffered for the past 20 years.

According to reports, the American Idol judge checked into Los Angeles’ Olympia Medical Center in early August (08) for a five-day stay.

The 46-year-old singer’s spine was first damaged during a cheerleading accident when she was 17. She was then involved in a car accident and a minor plane crash that worsened the damage.

She once told reporters, “I have four titanium plates in my neck. I’ve had 14 surgeries over the years.”

Showbiz Spy

Top 4 head home this weekend

Updated Wed. Aug. 20 2008 1:49 PM ET

For the first time since making it into the Top 10, Canadian Idol’s remaining four competitors will be heading home to perform live, visit their friends and family and meet their fans.

Details of their whirlwind hometown tours are outlined below:

CTV.ca

Mariah Carey to perform on Canadian Idol finale

Powerhouse diva Mariah Carey will headline the star-studded, two-hour Canadian Idol season finale on Wednesday, Sept. 10, CTV announced this morning.

The most successful female artist of all time will perform on the results episode, to be aired at 7 p.m. in Winnipeg.

The line-up of performers also includes five-time Grammy winner John Legend, Juno-nominated Hedley fronted by Idol alumnus Jacob Hoggard, and last year Canadian Idol champ Brian Melo.

Winnipeg Free Press

About mj santilli 34832 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!