Idol Headlines for 9/3/08

Cook leads Idol Cast to Arena

When David Cook found out he had passed his initial audition for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and would advance to have a chance to compete on the hit television series, he felt something besides happiness and anticipation.

Cook felt uncomfortable about the situation.

The reason was he didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t plan to audition in the first place. Cook came to the audition in Omaha, Neb., to provide moral support for his brother, Andrew, who was trying out for the show. Cook only auditioned after he was prodded into doing so by his brother and his mother (who also came to the audition).

Times Leader

More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…

ONLINE EXTRA: David Cook in Titletown

David Cook won the seventh season of the hit FOX show “American Idol.” While in town for the “American Idols Live!” tour we had a chance to chat with the singing sensation.

MyFoxWI

New CD, TV special make Pickler a busy girl

September is a big month for Albemarle native Kellie Pickler. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  alum co-hosts à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night to Rockà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  with Taylor Swift and Julianne Hough at 9 p.m. Sept. 8 on ABC, and her second CD is due Sept. 30. Following are excerpts from an interview with staff writer Mark Price.

WCNC.com

Blake Lewis assembles ADD tour

Electro-pop/funk artist Blake Lewis [ tickets ] has mapped out the first leg of his next US tour to support his debut album, “Audio Day Dream.”

The outing is set to kick off Sept. 29 in Providence, RI, and hug the East Coast through late October. Lewis is currently trying to solidify dates for the West Coast, as well, according to a blog at his MySpace page. Pop-rock outfit Carlotta will support the tour, which is detailed below.

Lewis, the beat-boxing, season-six runner-up on FOX-TV’s “American Idol,” dropped his debut offering last December and snagged the No. 10 spot on The Billboard 200. The album has spawned the dance-club hit “How Many Words,” which evolved into a remix EP.

Live Daily

How many times did you laugh at ‘The House Bunny’?

I had high hopes for The House Bunny, perhaps because I hadn’t read Lisa Schwarzbaum’s generous B- review of it. But when I finally saw it this weekend, I laughed approximately four times. (I say “approximately,” because I think I would’ve laughed at the Simon Cowell joke if I hadn’t seen the trailer, embedded below, so often.)

What about you? Tell me I haven’t officially lost my sense of humor and that Anna Faris just deserves better material.

Entertainment Weekly

American Idol rocks Sherborn

Sherborn got its own taste of tinsel town last Wednesday when former American Idol contestant and Wrentham native Ayla Brown stepped up on stage at the community center. While it wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t quite the venue sheà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s grown accustomed to, having traveled across the country with her act, Brown agreed to perform in Sherborn for a very different reason.

After her father, State Sen. Scott Brown caught word that the Sherborn library could use some extra funding, he offered up his daughterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s act as a way to raise some money.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“(Scott) suggested the idea after hearing about the need at the library,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  Mary Moore, member of the Friends of the Sherborn Library, said. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“We thought ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢d be a good end of summer event.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 
And the local youth agreed.

Wicked Local.com

‘Idol’: Season Three Roll Call

Season Three was the year of the wild card and was the season with the most votes ever by television viewers (65 million) to crown an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  winner (Fantasia) – until three years later during Season Six.

Fantasia Barrino won à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“AIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and went on to have a successful acting career. Not only did she star in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Color Purpleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  on Broadway, but she was tapped by Oprah Winfrey to play the lead role (first played by Oprah, herself) when the musical hits the big screen as a movie.

New York Post

America’s Got Talent: Episode 311

In case you didn’t hear, America’s Got Talent was renewed for a fourth season. This was, of course, because of amazing ratings that made the show number 1 last week. However, if the judges keep letting poor acts go through to the Top 40, they’ll lose viewers every week. The Hoff must be watching different performances than we are because the show is not that good this year. Actually, out of the 10 acts shown in episode 311, half got Xed by at least Piers. Okay, he may be trigger happy, but those acts deserved it.

TV Squad

‘America’s Got Talent’: Fire batons rule

But first, we have an elimination. When we introduce the judges, Piers defends his buzzing last week by saying “we’re not running a tea party here” and Jerry responds with “the last time we had a tea party, you guys lost!” Ya know what? Scripted or not, that was decently chuckle-worthy. We welcome back last Wednesday’s contestants for the elimination. As long as George the Giant and the Slippery Kittens get eliminated, I’m okay with whoever goes through.

Zap2it.com

Canadian Idol Recap: Only the Strong Survive

And we’re down to the second-last results show of 2008. Who will prevail? Who will go home? All of this and more will be answered after 22 minutes of filler and commercials.

After the recap, Bryan Adams takes the stage to do 18 ‘Til I Die. The crowd seemed to love it, and no doubt Tuesday’s show would have been a great show to be at. After the break, Adams performs again with his new single She’s Got a Way. Ben thanked him for mentoring the Idols, but didn’t converse with him beyond that which was a little disappointing.

National Post

Drew Bites The Dust on Canadian Idol

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the top three results show of Canadian Idol or more accurately, how-to fill up a 30 minute show with 28 minute filler.

Ben starts us off with a recap of last nightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performances and then throws to Bryan Adams, who sings his classic à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“18 Till I Die.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  Adams puts the top three to shame although you can notice the years of being a beloved Canadian musician has worn him down. Bryan Adams is being given a star on Canadaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Walk of Fame, honouring his contribution to Canadian music.

andPOP

Mitch makes Idol final

MacDonald and Tams now are being sent to New York City to work with five-time Grammy winner John Legend in advance of Mondayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s final sing-off.

They will perform three songs: a judgesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ choice, one song of their own choosing and the new Canadian Idol winnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s single.

For the first time, the two finalists will sing different winnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s singles, which CTV says are “chosen to reflect their own individual styles.”

The winnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s song will be released to radio stations next Thursday morning. Tams will perform Sing and MacDonald will sing Where We Begin.

The Chronicle Herald