Kelly Clarkson posted on her Facebook after appearing on American Idol last night, “I had such a great time on Idol last night. I had fun singing with Jason and I love that every time I go back to Idol the set is even bigger! It’s so funny to me that this show has just become a monster. All of the contestants are super talented but I can’t help but root for Lauren! She has such an amazing texture to her voice. Regardless of who wins I can’t wait to hear some music from some of them.”
Kimberley Locke @ Volunteer State College
The Celebration of the Arts is coming up April 14-17 on the Vol State campus. It’s a community-wide four-day festival with many events. We’ll have details and a schedule posted on the website on Monday. In the meantime, we wanted to give you a heads up about a highlight. The finale for the entire celebration will be Sunday night April 17 at 8 p.m. as American Idol finalist, recording artist and former Gallatin resident Kimberley Locke takes to the stage.
Tickets for the Kimberley Locke concert are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and $40 for VIP seating, which includes a post-concert reception with the artist. They go on sale starting on March 28 at the Vol State Business Office in the Ramer Building Room 181 or by phone with a credit card at 615-230-3585
Read more at ReverbNation
David Archuleta will be honored as part of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center 100. The event is the cancer center’s annual fundraiser which recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to advancing the fight against cancer. The dinner takes place on Wednesday, June 1 at the Westin Boston Waterfront. More information HERE.
Lee DeWyze attended the OK! Magazine Hollywood Sexy Singles Party last night in Hollywood. See the photo HERE.
David Cook will appear on E! News tonight at 7 and 11 pm.
@AmericanIdol tweets, “Holy pride of New Jersey….BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN in the studio right now listening to the idols sing!!!!” (Hm. Wonder what that’s about? Is he this week’s mentor?)
More headlines after the jump…
Idol cover ‘freaked out’ Grohl
Last month Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl turned on the television to see American Idol contestant Casey Abrams covering Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, the first time ever a Nirvana song was covered on the popular singing competition.
“I watched that and I was really touched actually and kind of freaked out because the kid who picked Smells Like Teen Spirit picked it because it was released the year he was born, ” Grohl says during a Toronto promotional stop the band’s new album Wasting Light. “So I turned it off — no actually I watched it.
“I think Nirvana’s music has become something that it wasn’t 20 years ago.
Twenty years ago I don’t think it had the same relevance that it does now and at some point you just have to let go of it you know and let it become whatever it’s going to become. That being said I was just the drummer, so I don’t really make licensing decisions. It is what it is.”
Read more at the Toronto Sun
‘Idol’s’ Paul McDonald Confirms Romance With ‘Twilight’s’ Nikki Reed
“You’ve met a pretty girl, ” Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush said to Paul, referencing the actress, who the singer recently met at a premiere.
“Yeah, I’ve got a nice one, ” Paul smiled, confirming the two are dating.
While it’s still early days for the pair, the Nashville rocker said Nikki was a great help while he was on “Idol.”
“She’s been super cool and supportive of this whole thing, ” he told Billy.
As for dates, that hasn’t been the easiest for the two, since he’s been busy with “Idol” and now “Idol” tour preps and Nikki has been finishing filming the final “Twilight Saga” film, “Breaking Dawn: Part II.”
Read more at Access Hollywood
Paul McDonald: Nikki Reed Is ‘Pumped’ About American Idol Elimination
“She is actually pumped, ” he said. “She said, ‘Dude, you finally get to do your thing and be yourself and be the artist you are.’ She is happy about the whole situation. She has been nothing but cool to me.”
McDonald, 26, is also pumped because, he says, he really wanted to play the piano and show off his other talents.
“I have this other side that I didn’t even start to show, ” he says. “I play keys. It’s hard to do in a minute and a half of a cover song so I’m looking forward to doing my own thing and getting creative again.”
Though he’s been writing songs about “stuff going on in this whole L.A. scene, ” and sending them back to his band Grand Magnolias, McDonald says he doesn’t know when they’ll be able to cut more tracks and perform together again.
Read more at People
Cee Lo Green: Why I Turned Down Fox’s ‘X Factor’
NBC’s The Voice isn’t pulling any punches when it debuts April 26 at 9 p.m. And neither is musician coach Cee Lo Green.
Green, who had been offered a high-profile gig on Simon Cowell’s The X Factor but signed on to the Mark Burnett-produced rival instead, told reporters that he turned it down because he was simply “unfamiliar with the concept of The X Factor.”
He added of Cowell’s upcoming singing competition, “I knew the name and I knew the parties involved, but as an enterprise, I didn’t know what made it distinctive enough. Quite honestly, I felt like American Idol and these other entities had run their course.” (He admits the series has since improved with new hosts Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.)
Read more at THR
Cee Lo Green says ‘X-Factor’ wasn’t distinctive enough to hire him
NBC’s The Voice judge coach Cee Lo Green says he didn’t want to be a judge on Fox’s fall rival X-Factor because the show “wasn’t distinctive enough.” “I was unfamiliar with the concept of The X-Factor, ” Cee-Lo told critics at NBC’s press tour junket in Pasadena when asked why he supposedly turned down Simon Cowell’s show. “I didn’t see it as distinctive enough. It kind of seemed like shows like Idol had run its course. That was before Steven Tyler was cast on American Idol and they’ve done a great job [reworking the show].”
A rep for Cowell’s series has said Green only met with producers, but was not actually offered the gig.
Read more at EW
Russ At Idol: Diva Alert! Pia Toscano Now Has A Body Guard And A Louis Vuitton!
Paul McDonald surprised some when he was voted off American Idol, but it was what happened off-camera that was most surprising! Has American Idol made a diva out of Pia Toscano?
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One week removed from fan favorite Pia Toscano‘s shocking elimination came an equally shocking moment, when I saw Pia Toscano in the audience last night with her own bodyguard and $730 dollar Speedy 30 bag from Louis Vuitton. Talk about moving on up!
Read more at Hollywood Life
LEE DEWYZE AMAZES FOX ALL ACCESS
As promised, here’s part one of Lee Dewyze’s interview with Fox All Access! And…because you’ve been patiently waiting, we’ll keep it short and sweet – Enjoy!
See the Video at FOX All Access
David Archuleta @ WMDT FOX47’s Good Morning Delmarva – CELEBRITY BASKETBALL GAME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK4qqzGDy_s
Kellie Pickler is more than a corny country cutup
MINNEAPOLIS – The charming bumpkin you saw on “American Idol, ” the corny cutup you’ve seen on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and the wannabe crossover diva you heard on her second album – those aren’t really Kellie Pickler.
“The past couple of years that I’ve been in Nashville since I signed my record deal, I’ve struggled to figure out where my place is, ” said Pickler. “There’s a lot more to Kellie Pickler than the first two albums let you in on.”
It took a heart-to-heart with a North Carolina childhood friend – remember, Pickler had never been to an airport until she flew to Hollywood for “Idol” in 2005 – to get her on the right path.
Read more at Bellingham Herald http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/04/15/1969744/kellie-pickler-is-more-than-a.html#ixzz1JdY1zYnn
‘American Idol’ In 60 Seconds: Paul McDonald Kicked Out Of Boys’ Club
More at MTV
The High Highs and Low Lows of Being Jennifer Lopez
Coming into the 2010s, Jennifer Lopez wasn’t high on anyone’s list of fallen pop stars likely to make a big comeback. Her music career in the tank and her movie career fizzling with each successive flop, J. Lo was entering her 40s in very real danger of becoming a pop-culture footnote, or worse, a punchline. She needed something big to turn things around for her, and quick.
Read more at Popdust
‘Glee’s’ Darren Criss: The Billboard Cover Story
Darren Criss is giving himself a headache. The “Glee” star has already spent 45 minutes running through his entire adult life over the phone in painstaking detail — “I’m getting ready to write my memoir, ” he jokes — and cutting it short is hard. When he arrives on set for makeup, Criss, 24, tries to multitask. “I’m gonna be really L.A. I’m gonna put the Bluetooth in my ear, ” he says remorsefully. Within 15 seconds, though, he’s abandoned that idea and escaped his glam squad in order to keep talking without interruption, marveling at his luck and plotting his next act out loud.
Read more at Billboard
Chelsea Kane is ‘Dancing With the Stars’ best, says ‘SYTYCD’s’ Mary Murphy
Mary Murphy, in the midst of Las Vegas auditions for “So You Think You Can Dance, ” picks Chelsea Kane as her favorite dancer on this season of “Dancing With the Stars.”
“I still think they have quite a journey to go through, ” Murphy tells Zap2it. “I definitely think Chelsea [should win]. I don’t know that she will win because she is not well known. I definitely think she is producing the best dancing on the show.”
Read more at Zap2it
