Today’s Idol Appearances
- Randy Jackson appears on Jimmy Kimmel Live 12:05/11:05c PM ABC
- Steven Tyler appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 11:35/10:35c NBC
- Steven Tyler appears on Live with Regis and Kelly
- Jennifer Lopez appears on The Ellen Degeneres Show
- Kim Caldwell’s “Desperate Girls & Stupid Boys” music video premieres on VEVO
- Blake Lewis begins the first of a weekly Idol commentary segment on 88.1 WCWP NY at 4 pm. ET. Tune in, or listen on the web.
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RCAPromo tweets, “Daaaa Lee! Chicago native & American Idol Lee DeWyze will sing the National Anthem before the Bears/Packers this Sunday!”
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There’s a conference call with Steven Tyler at 1 pm ET. I’ll be live blogging the call right here. Watch for the post.
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Lee DeWyze will perform a FREE show in Fresno, CA on January 7 for Y101FM, According to DJ Miggy Santos, @Y101Miggy, “Y 101 Unplugged with American Idol Lee Dewyze ! Jan 27 , 2011 Details on where it will be coming soon !! It will be a FREE SHOW.
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More Headlines after the JUMP…
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Jennifer Hudson to christen new Disney cruise ship
The first new Disney Cruise Line ship to debut in more than a decade will be christened by a celebrity who is no stranger to the line, Jennifer Hudson.
Disney Cruise Line is making the announcement today in an email to past passengers.
Hudson, who rose to fame in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol, was a performer on the Disney Wonder in 2003 (where she played one of the muses in a production of Hercules).
Read more at USA Today
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Siobhan Magnus performed an original song on Fox Providence’s The Rhode Show with Ralph Bousquet, lead guitarist of Lunar Valve. The song is called “Autumn Sunset”. Siobhan will be hosting a Battle of the Bands alongside Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith, in support of the RJL Memorial
Fund.
Siobhan Magnus raises money for charity: foxprovidence.com
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So, is Lee DeWyze singing the National Anthem this Sunday at the Chicago Bears game or not? Despite Lee’s tweet yesterday, confirming the rumors, reps from the Bears organization would not confirm the appearance to The Chicago Tribune:
Bears officials on Monday would not confirm who would be singing the national anthem at the NFC title game.
“We are currently working with the NFL on the entertainment plans for this weekend’s game, ” spokesman Scott Hagel wrote in an e-mail.
Hm.
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Idol: 10 Reboot Just Might Work
A preview of the early auditions made good on the promises of change for season 10. Genuine talent. A new outlook. And judges with an easy, effortless chemistry.
Steven Tyler proves a reliably loose cannon — but is also intelligent and endearing. Jennifer Lopez brings a bright light to the table (and should, finally, enjoy a career reboot). And Randy Jackson, the last of the originals, grounds the proceedings with a sense of familiarity.
“It’s a brilliant mix of the old school, new school, the pop world and the rock world, ” says Kimberley Locke, who finished top three during season 3.
Read more at the Houston Chronicle
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An interview with Richard Rushfield of ‘American Idol: The Untold Story’
What do you consider the biggest revelations you got from your research? Were there any surprises after the fact?
As an Idol nerd, the stories of the show’s origins were the most interesting for me. The choices that they made, that easily could have gone the other way that shaped the show. For instance, we take it for granted that the judges panel should be made of three people now. Its the classic Idol composition, copied by every competition show on the air. But three judges was never the plan. It was supposed to be four, but the fourth dropped out just before shooting, too late to be replaced. And then they tried again to get it to four the next year, but that judge quit after shooting on the auditions had begun. So it just got stuck at three.
I also love hearing the stories of what it is like for the contestants living in The Bubble, as I call it, this tightly protected world while the eyes of America are upon you. The stress, the fame, the pressure, the divas, the hook-ups, the meltdowns; its an incredible experience like nothing else in our culture and you can see why so many form bonds that last forever while they are on the show.
Read more at AJC.com
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Steven Tyler’s Idol Reincarnation
Steven Tyler is in promotion mode, but it’s difficult to tell if the Aerosmith singer is promoting American Idol, where he and Jennifer Lopez are to be the new Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, or if he is using television’s highest-rated show over the last nine seasons running to promote himself.
After nearly 40 years fronting the American version of The Rolling Stones, a characterization that has been viewed alternately as either a diss or praise, Tyler, 62, still feels like he needs to get his name out there more. That may be due, in part, to the fact that Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry in 2009 questioned Tyler’s commitment to the band and threatened to replace him over his side projects.
Read more at the Daily Beast
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‘Idol’ Embraces Kinder, Gentler Attitude
When a husky, mustached auditioner awkwardly snaps his way through Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time” in front of Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson, something totally out of the ordinary happens: They don’t make fun of him.
Instead, the new “American Idol” judging team encourages him to become a disc jockey instead of a singer.
It seems the essence of Simon Cowell has been exorcised from the 10th season of “Idol” (premiering Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST). If clips of the first series of auditions are any indication, Tyler and Lopez will be hugging and kissing more “Idol” wannabes in their inaugural season than Cowell ever did in his nine nasty years on the Fox singing competition.
Read more at ABC News
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‘American Idol’ makes Fox work hard for the money; Six ways season 10 can reclaim fame
But does Fox really need to be that proactive? Are things as bad as all the blogs would have it?
While last season’s “Idol” finale may have seen a nail-biting 10% plunge in ratings from the previous year — and while the show’s buzzy years clearly lie behind it — its Nielsen numbers still beat the bejesus out of every other show on television. The sole exceptions came during a few installments of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars, ” and those were on days it didn’t go up against “Idol.”
Read more at the NY Daily News
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2011 American Idol Season to Kick Off
2011 American Idol Season to Kick Off: MyFoxATLANTA.com
Read more at FOX Atlanta
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Carly Smithson Unplugged
Idol Chatter interviewed Season 7 sixth-place finisher Carly Smithson back in September. We held on to that transcript until now to kick off Season 10 (it starts Wednesday night).
While Smithson didn’t finish in the Top 5 that season, she is still one of the Top 5 personalities to ever appear on the show.
Following is the hour-long interview in its entirety as she talks about everything from her new band to Adam Lambert to her views on religion to the threats her husband received while she was on the show.
Read more at the Press Democrat
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Ryan Seacrest’s Awkward Jake Gyllenhaal Globes Interview
Ricky Gervais wasn’t the only one who made the Golden Globes awkward Sunday night.
Watch Ryan Seacrest’s cringe-inducing interview with Jake Gyllenhaal, below, during E!’s live red carpet coverage, in which the American Idol host pestered the Love and Other Drugs actor with questions about the film’s multiple nude scenes.
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Simon Cowell subject of satirical ‘Sex Factor’ novel
Simon Cowell’s glamorous A-list life is set to get the satirical treatment in a story of sudden downfall by author Bill Coles, a former political correspondent of the Sun.
Simon Cowell: The Sex Factor sees the impresario attacked by a crazed fan at a glamorous party for the world’s richest people. He wakes in a hospital morgue, with the world believing him dead, and then – penniless, and shunned by his celebrity friends – heads off on a pilgrimage to Tibet in a search for meaning. As you do. The book takes Cowell “on a quest for love; a quest for money; and a quest to get back his elusive mojo – the Sex Factor”, we are told.
Read more at the Guardian