Idol Headlines for 07/16/09

Ryan Seacrest Leaves WME For CAA

“American Idol” host and budding reality TV mogul Ryan Seacrest has signed with Creative Artists Agency after 10 years with William Morris.

The move comes only days after Seacrest signed a $45-million deal to stay with “American Idol” for three more years.

SEACREST1Seacrest’s decision to exit the newly minted WME is not a complete shock. His long-time agent, Adam Sher, left to run Seacrest’s production company last year, and his other main suit at the firm — John Ferriter — has only just returned after a long medical leave.

LA Times

Emmy Nominations 2009: See Who’s Up For TV’s Biggest Prize

The shows were honored last year as best comedy and drama and have a chance to repeat the performance at September’s awards.

The TV movies “Grey Gardens, ” with 17 nominations, and “Into the Storm, ” with 14 nods, were among the front-runners. Chandra Wilson of “Grey Anatomy’s” and Jim Parsons of “The Big Bang Theory” helped make the announcement at the TV academy’s theater ‘ and both proved to be among the lucky.

Huffington Post

Michael Jackson’s record sales top 9 million since his death

The surge in sales of Michael Jackson’s music catalog continued Wednesday with the announcement that his recordings dominated the pop charts for the third consecutive week, and a source told The Times that more than 9 million of Jackson’s albums have been sold worldwide since his death June 25.

Nielsen SoundScan said Jackson’s albums sold 1.1 million copies over the last seven days and had combined to sell an impressive 2.3 million in the U.S. in the nearly three weeks since he died.

LA Times

More Idol Headlines after the JUMP…

Dog dies in car while ‘Idol’ hopeful performs

A small terrier died in a hot car while its owner’s girlfriend waited in a long line to audition for “American Idol” at nearby Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium.

Quincy Vanderbilt, 24, was served Tuesday with a misdemeanor summons for animal cruelty, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office.

Vanderbilt drove his girlfriend from North Dakota to Denver so she could audition for “American Idol, ” Kimbrough said.

He left the dog in the car with the windows rolled up early in the morning, she said. Temperatures Tuesday reached 90 degrees, and his car was parked on asphalt, she said.

Denver Post

Three questions for Adam Lambert on ‘Idol’ tour

The top 10 ‘American Idol’  finalists from season eight will be making their way to San Diego this Saturday, but only one of them is named Adam Lambert.

All top 10 finalists will be performing in reverse order of how they finished on the show starting with 10th place Michael Sarver and ending with winner Kris Allen, if past shows are an indication of this Saturday’s line-up.

SDNN

Lambert’s No. 1 fan, his mom, gives the backstory on ‘Idol’ runner-up

If you want to know how much Adam Lambert’s life has changed since the “American Idol” finale two months ago, just ask his mom, Leila, who is moving to L.A. this summer to help her son manage his rapidly expanding career.

Adam Lambert —- who grew up in Rancho Penasquitos and graduated from Mt. Carmel High School —- is headlining the “American Idols Live!” tour, which arrives in San Diego on Saturday for a concert at the San Diego Sports Arena. The tour kicked off July 5 in Portland, Ore., and although this season’s “Idol” winner, Kris Allen, closes each concert with an acoustic set, it is runner-up Lambert who is stopping the show each night, and whom music critics are proclaiming a superstar-in-the-making.

NCTimes.com

OMFG! “American Idol” interview series: Anoop Desai

American Idol is my guilty pleasure ‘” except, well, I don’t feel all that guilty about it. This past weekend I had the pleasure of speaking with five of the top 10 Idol finalists, who are currently traveling across the country for the American Idols Live Tour 2009. As an uber-professional journalist, I kept my fanboy flailing to a minimum. Just know that however composed I seemed, I was a 12-year-old girl on the inside.

In preparing for these interviews, I thought about how difficult it must be to get plunged into sudden reality TV fame. Well, difficult and awesome. I also wondered about the fast-paced touring schedule. Were any of these Idols in over their heads? As it turned out, not really. In fact, the performers I spoke to were some of the mellowest I’ve ever encountered. Read on and see for yourself.

SFBG

“American Idol” interview series: Allison Iraheta

SFBG: So I’ve asked everyone so far’”this is the opening question: Are you getting enough rest on tour?
Allison Iraheta: Enough?
SFBG: Yes.
AI: Yes. Obviously yes, because I’m still standing, but if it wasn’t enough, I’d probably be passed out on the floor right there. Just about. It’s enough to just get back on my feet and do it again tomorrow.

SFBG

“American Idol” interview series: Scott MacIntyre

Scott MacIntyre: I think so. I don’t know what [Anoop Desai] said, but I think I’m doing OK. It’s a little weird because there’s a tendency to stay up a little later or sleep in a little later, because sometimes we don’t actually get to the venues ‘” actually, we never get to the venues until about 1:00, 1:30 in the afternoon. So it’s easy to kind of fall into a different sleep pattern. But I think I’m doing OK so far. We’ll see after the 53 shows. We’ve only done four.

SFBG

Post-‘American Idol, ‘ a judge and alum team up

Despite being a judge on “American Idol” for every season of the top-rated TV show, Randy Jackson has never been involved in an album by an “Idol” alum.

Until now.

Jackson is the executive producer of “High Hopes & Heartbreak, ” to be released July 21 by Brooke White, the blond-tressed 26-year-old singer who finished fifth in the 2008 season. She was commonly known on the show as the Mormon nanny who had never seen an R-rated movie. Perhaps soon she’ll be known for her music, with her new album featuring songs rooted in the 1970s California-country style she grew up listening to in Arizona.

“It is completely bizarre, ” the self-effacing White said about Jackson producing her work, out of all the “Idol” alums. “I
never saw this coming. I have no idea why he’s working with me.”

Salt Lake Tribune

Jordin Sparks: ‘Battlefield’

Two years of life experience since her self-titled debut album and a more relaxed studio schedule this time around have served Glendale’s Jordin Sparks
well on her second CD.

While her first effort showed her starting to move to a more mature sound than she displayed in winning the sixth season of “American Idol, ” Sparks has added power, edge and soul to her delivery on “Battlefield.”

AZ Central

Record contract, loss of brother influence ’08 ‘American Idol’ winner David Cook

Last year David Cook became the seventh singer to win the ‘American Idol’  competition on Fox TV when he edged out David Archuleta. He won over fans with songs from Bon Jovi, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and even Dolly Parton.

Since winning the ‘Idol’  competition, his self-titled album has gone platinum on the strength of the hit singles ‘The Time of My Life, ‘  ‘Light On’  and ‘Permanent.’  Before a show in Chicago last weekend, he answered a few questions about his life and career.

Des Moines Register

David Cook is a class act at All-Star game

The media circus was in full swing yesterday, and your ringmaster was lucky enough to snag a press pass to the All-Star bash. While most of the reporters were ga ga over the players, I was more interested in the celebs.

David Cook strolled around during batting practice, so I followed him as he chatted up the players and Sheryl Crow. He appeared to be doing what any true baseball fan would do ‘” collecting autographs on a ball.

ST Louis Today

David Cook in Duluth: FOX 21’s exclusive TV interview

DULUTH – Nearly two years ago, David Cook auditioned for American Idol’s seventh season.

In the end, it was David Cook versus David Archuleta and Cook came out on top.
“I kinda got talked into it last second while we were standing in line. So I was like… Okay, here we go!” said Cook.

26 year-old David Cook is a man of humble beginnings. Before American Idol, he worked as a bartender in Kansas City, Missouri.

FOX21Online

Fantasia Inspires Fans, Brings Love To ‘The Color Purple’

Many remember Fantasia Barrino as Season Three winner on the hit reality television singing competition American Idol. Now, Fantasia stars as Celie in the Washington, D.C., run of The Color Purple. Host Michel Martin speaks to the electrifying singer about American Idol, her role on Broadway, motherhood, and the role of Celie has changed her life.

NPR.org

Fantasia Factor

Ironic that word of James Frey’s new multi-book deal should be in the news at the same time The Color Purple is hitting the stage at the Kennedy Center. Not that the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Alice Walker has had to endure any of the critical derision that A Million Little Pieces has had to endure. Frey, you may recall, joined that Hall of Infamy reserved for authors whose memoirs were found to have fallen a bit more on the fiction side of nonfiction.

But both Frey’s book and The Color Purple share a media godmother: Oprah Winfrey.

Metro Weekly.com

ITVFEST ANNOUNCES 2009 LINEUP 4th Annual Independent Television Festival: July 30 – August 6

Pilot-makers showcased at ITVFest have gone on to get script deals with NBC, Web deals with atomfilms.com, development deals at Starz! In addition to major production companies and representation from agencies such as UTA and 3 Arts. The impressive list of pilots involved with this year’s festival include Tom Arnold (The Great Buck Howard, Web series ‘Merri Me’ ), Ice T (‘Law & Order SVU’ ), Angela Kinsey (‘The Office’ ), Keenan Thompson (‘Saturday Night Live’ ), Tony Hale (‘Arrested Development’ ) Tania Raymonde (‘Lost’ ), Erick Palladino (‘Burn Notice’ ), Daniel Stern (Red State Blues, TV’s ‘Family Guy’ ) and Constantine Maroulis (‘American Idol’ ).

Examiner.com

Belly flop: Lohan goes into ‘Labor, ‘ delivers a dud

‘Labor Pains’  pads its cast with familiar faces. Cheryl Hines (‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ ) plays Thea’s best friend and conspirator. Tracee Ellis Ross (‘Girlfriends’ ), as a legitimately pregnant and competitive co-worker, works her few lines for chuckles. As Thea’s office rival, evil little hobbit Greg, Kevin Covais, a fifth-season contestant on ‘American Idol, ‘  is a surprise. Like everyone here, though, he’s undercut by the script. ‘Sex and the City’s ‘  Willie Garson and ‘The Office’s’  Creed Bratton have so little to do, they could be excised from the film and the result would be the same.

Boston Herald

What’s Hannah Montana doing in the American Idol sales report?

This week’s top-selling Idol-related album actually isn’t even an Idol album at all. It’s the soundtrack from the third season of Hannah Montana, which features a duet with David Archuleta called I Wanna Know You.

Elsewhere. according to Nielsen SoundScan, the Rock of Ages cast recording (featuring Constantine Maroulis) returns to the chart with its physical CD release. Sales of Jennifer Hudson’s album pick up after her performance during the Michael Jackson tribute. And I’ve managed to get hold of some of the catalog numbers several of you have been requesting. Lots of stats this week (which is why I’m posting so late in the day), so enjoy!

USA Today

This year’s Aquatennial grand marshals are revealed

The Minneapolis Aquatennial, that annual summer celebration of all things water, has announced its grand marshals for its Torchlight Parade next Wednesday.

They are: The Aquatennial’s 1941 Queen of the Lakes, Eva Brunson Steiner; Vikings legend and state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page; and singer Paris Bennett of “American Idol” fame.

The theme of this year’s parade: “This year, there’s no place like home.”

Star Tribune.com

Lucas top among Hollywood earners

Star Wars creator George Lucas is Hollywood’s highest-paid man after earning an estimated $170m ( £104m) in a year, business website Forbes.com says.

He beat director Steven Spielberg into second place in the list of 15. Spielberg made an estimated $150m ( £91.6m) between June 2008-June 2009.

Lucas’s fourth Indiana Jones movie – directed by Spielberg – was out in that same year and took $786m ( £480.1m).

Simon Cowell was joint sixth in the list, earning about $75m ( £45.8m).

BBC.co.uk

Twitch From ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Chats About This Season’s Favorites, New Fitness DVD

All you dance and exercise fans out there better keep an eye out for July 21, because that’s the day that “So You Think You Can Dance: Get Fit” comes out on DVD. There are two different DVDs – one titled “Tone and Groove” and the other “Cardio Funk.”

Starpulse.com got a chance to speak with one of the instructors on the video, Stephen “Twitch” Boss. He was the runner-up of SYTYCD season four and is now appearing in these DVDs and the upcoming movie “Step Up 3-D.” Check out our interview to learn more about Twitch and how you can get fit by having fun!

Star Plus.com

‘So You Think You Can Dance’ recap: Twice as Much Fun

For weeks, the near constant refrain on this season of So You Think You Can Dance has been: Solid dancers, boring dancing. Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but last night it just! got! interesting! At least three Routines For The Ages. The return of Melanie LaBetteMidler. Another sighting of Kayla’s adorable grandparents. The (slight) redemption of the Chbeeb. A fabulously flapper-tastic Cat Deeley. And while the judges practically handed Caitlin and Jason their walking papers, the duo steadfastly refused to go quietly into the night, putting (slightly) into doubt the fate of Randi, Evan, Melissa, Ade, Kayla and Kupono. Even guest judge Tyce Diorio managed to not be irredeemably obnoxious ‘” although that had more to do with the second routine for the top six couples cutting down the screen time for all the judges than anything actually uttered by Tyce, who squeezed his own rhetorical orange dry so he could offer such pulpy insights as ”push it further” and ”you need to find more” and ”take it further.” Snaps to you, Tyce, snaps to you.

EW.com

‘So You Think You Can Dance’: Woo, child!

The episode began with the top five girls dancing a Nakul Dev Mahajan Bollywood number that you could tell ahead of time was going to be lots of fun. Who doesn’t like Bollywood? It’s sexy, joyous and feels slightly familiar at the same time (there seems to be a bit of crossover between Bollywood and hip-hop). The judges came up with two corny puns to describe how much they loved the happy, feminine dance: “Nakul: You’re cool!” Nigel Lythgoe told the choreographer, and Mary Murphy weighed in with “Bolly-wow!” Groan.

LA Times

About mj santilli 34841 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!