Today Idol headlines after the jump ¦
Blake Lewis is an ‘American Idol’ original
It’s pretty safe to say that by last year, and the end of “American Idol’s” fifth season, there wasn’t a person in the country over the age of, say, 8 who hadn’t heard of the show.
Against an incredibly fickle cultural background in which new TV programs come and go in a couple of seasons, and pop stars fall in and out of favor at an even quicker rate (remember when Britney was our prom queen instead of our punching bag?), Fox Television’s musical reality competition has shown amazing endurance as the nation’s favorite boob-tube staple.
So yeah, everybody’s heard of it. And while not everybody’s actually watched it, it’s always kind of weird when you run across that odd person who claims they’ve never seen an episode.
It’s even weirder when that person is Blake Lewis, the tattooed 25-year-old Washington state native who finished second at the end of the show’s sixth and most recent season. According to Lewis, prior to auditioning for the program in Seattle at the behest of his friends and peers, he hadn’t seen “American Idol.”…..
Freedom rings across nation
…The 30-minute show was billed as the nation’s biggest, with 40, 000 fireworks. Eight barges on the East River and at the South Street Seaport set off an average of 1, 300 shells per minute.
The program featured musical performers as part of the nationally televised broadcast, including Martina McBride, Joss Stone and “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks.
Organizers estimated about 3 million people withstood the sogginess to turn out, about the same number as the year before, when another 8 million watched on television. The organizers had called their fireworks show “waterproof.”…
Hide Grandpa, McPhee is on the prowl
Katharine McPhee recently revealed she has a soft spot for older men.
“When I turned 21, I thought it was a good age to explore. You’re no longer a teenager, so it’s OK to date older guys, ” the 23-year-old American Idol-er told Stuff magazine…..
American Idol’s Katharine McPhee has baby Phever
American Idol singer Katharine McPhee may not know what the future holds for her career in the fickle music industry, but she does know that no matter what happens, her future will include children…
Paris Couturiers Court Hollywood Stars
…London-based designer Roland Mouret made his Paris debut after launching a joint venture with Simon Fuller, creator of “American Idol.”…
ALBUMS
‘Hannah’s’ the winner by a Miley
…The Disney starlet’s strong showing dashed the hopes of Kelly Clarkson to score a No. 1 debut for her second album, “My December, ” which checks in at No. 2 on solid sales of 291, 000 copies. The album has become one of the year’s most-followed stories in pop music; the former “American Idol” clashed with executives at RCA, her record label, over the musical direction of the project. Clarkson also recently canceled her summer tour and fired her manager…
Sales of albums continue slide in first half
But a 49% increase in sales of digital tracks helps boost the music industry’s fortunes.
…Television continues to sell music. Former “American Idol” finalist Chris Daughtry’s album “Daughtry” has proved to be the most popular this year, selling 1.7 million copies so far. A song from that album, “It’s Not Over, ” is the sixth most popular digital track…
Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan Pick Up Teen Choice ‹OMG! Noms
…The …OMG! nominees are as follows:
Paris Hilton goes to jail, gets out of jail, then goes to jail again
Britney Spears shaves her head
Lindsay Lohan goes to rehab, gets out of rehab, goes to rehab again
Larry Birkhead is Dannielynn father
Sanjaya Malakar sports a faux-hawk on American Idol
The winners will be announced at Teen Choice 2007, which airs live starting at 8:00 p.m. on August 26 on FOX. In a year of moments to truly make one go …OMG!, this will truly be a difficult choice to make.
Hidden talent
Jasmine Gonsalves isnt one to brag. In fact, when the pretty, shy 13-year-old found out in April that she was one of only 700 kids to be accepted to the first-ever American Idol performing arts camp, she only told one friend…..
Web site honors local poet
Marcus Levy has been writing songs all of his life. Recently, he decided to transform his lyrics into poetic form.
The decision paid off. Levy will be honored for his poetry by the International Society of Poets this month at its annual convention in Las Vegas.
The society is one of the world’s largest poetry organizations, with members from more than 60 countries. The conference, which will be July 19-22, is organized by Poetry.com, a Web site that gives poets an avenue to publish their work. “American Idol” winner Ruben Studdard and about 1, 800 poets from around the world are scheduled to attend….
Clay Aiken embraces his inner dork
Clay Aiken ‘ despite the stylishly shaggy ‘do ‘ still isn’t hip.
“I’m never going to be, and I’m fine with that. We all must embrace our inner dork, ” he says with a laugh.
Aiken has still managed a successful post-American Idol career as the soundtrack of choice for enthusiastic grandmothers. He performs Friday with the Houston Symphony, and he doesn’t expect to see a lot of people his age in the crowd…
Is Bravo’s ‘Hey Paula’ pure put-on ” or tragedy?
Having exposed us to the inner lives of Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston and shared Kathy Griffin’s “Life on the D List, ” Bravo presents a glancing documentary look at the public, professional and private sides of Paul Abdul, the “nice” judge on America’s favorite prime-time show, “American Idol.”
You learn to take these extroverted series with a grain of salt. But I’m hoping that the series “Hey Paula” (10 p.m., Bravo), which debuted last week, is a complete put-on. Because if it is even remotely representative of Abdul’s real life, then the genre has careened from farce to tragedy…
Hannah Montana Outduels Kelly Clarkson
…Hannah Montana is the top-rated basic cable show and the number two show overall among kids age 6-14. The only show that tops Hannah Montana within that age group is American Idol, which had its own impact on the charts.
Despite the tussles with label chief Clive Davis, a split with her management company and a scuttled tour due to low ticket sales, Kelly Clarkson made a strong showing with My December, which sold 291, 000 copies at number two. Featuring the Top 10 single “Never Again, ” the new album offers a darker edge than her previous efforts, though Clarkson announced she’s already working on a fourth album that features country-music influences…
‘Hannah Montana’ wins top spot
Cyrus beats Clarkson on music charts
The race for No. 1 between two singers who gained initial fame on TV was too close to call last week, but Miley Cyrus has clearly emerged the victor.
Although final numbers were not available Wednesday, Nielsen SoundScan reported that the two-CD “Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus” (Disney) had sold about 325, 000 copies, topping Kelly Clarkson’s “My December”
(RCA), which was about 10, 000 shy of hitting 300K in sales.
Projections after the first day of sales had the two discs selling in the range of 325, 000-350, 000 each. Still, the numbers for both artists are impressive………
No rain on this parade
If anything was dampening holiday spirits, it wasn’t the weather
…Flowering lights matched the festive mood at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington after the home team defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 4-2. In Frisco, a fireworks show provided an explosive finale to an outdoor concert by American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken…
Promoter Sends Children’s Groups to Taylor Hicks Concert
When Taylor Angels, a fan based charity for Taylor Hicks, approached Bruce Torres of Cabana Cove Productions for concert ticket donations, they had no idea what a heart of gold he had. Bruce provided Taylor Angels with the initial request of 20 tickets for the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters to attend Taylor Hicks concert on July 6 at The Maryland Theater in Hagerstown, MD. But he was so inspired that he continued his act of kindness and then donated 40 tickets to the local Girls, Inc. Bruce personally met with both organizations and found that the children are very excited about attending the show….
Katharine McPhee: ‘I Want, Like, 15 Babies’
…And she practices what she preaches. “For me, with men, I will fixate on something. I’ll say, ‘I’m obsessed with your chin.’ I’ll kiss his chin and munch on it, and I think that makes people feel good.”
‘Real World hopeful seeking votes
…Though being voted most popular by his peers is not something Tubbs claims he ever been guilty of, he said he remained in the top 20 in the first four out of five rounds of casting calls. The latest round ended today.
…Im the only kid from Alabama still on there, ” he said. …Ive been as high as the top 8 before.”
Tubbs said his popularity is attributable to his self-marketing.
…I got in contact with the Soul Patrol who helped Taylor Hicks win ‘American Idol, ” Tubbs said. …They have Alabama chapters supporting me.”
…I also have been marketing myself through MySpace and Facebook as well, ” he said. …I have a group on Facebook with more than 900 people in it and another on the same site with more than 200 people.”…
