Today Idol headlines after the jump ¦
REVIEW: American Idols Live! Concert
Amid the crowds of prepubescent teens and Sanjaya inspired pony-tail-mohawks, there were many people you wouldn’t expect to see at an American Idol concert: Middle aged fans without children or grandchildren to pose as their reason for being there. There was the 60-something lady in the bejeweled, crushed velvet jumper; the grandpa with coke-bottle glasses dancing with only his arms and the mother who couldn’t get her daughter to hold up their “Chris is da bomb” sign….
Idol contestants keep toes tapping
America’s most recent idols mixed things up Tuesday night, keeping some fans waiting until the very end to see their favorite singers bring new flavor to famous hits.
Opening the show with a high-energy cover of the Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get it Started, ” some of the final 10 contestants from the sixth season of Fox’s hit reality show were welcomed by fans beside themselves with enthusiasm. Melinda Doolittle and Lakisha Jones followed the intro with renditions of “Baby Love” and “Stop in the Name of Love, ” resembling the Supremes. Complete with white satin gowns and synchronized dance moves, the two women delivered one of the most powerful duets of the evening….
American Idols Live Tour Hits Salt Lake
You saw them on television, and Tuesday was your chance to see them in person. Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, Sanjaya Malakar and several other “American Idol” stars visited Salt Lake City on Tuesday for their American Idols Live Tour. FOX 13’s Arikka Von takes us backstage at EnergySolutions Arena.
1, 000 turn out for ‘Arizona Idol’ tryouts
Jordin Sparks did it – will another Valley singer rise to stardom?
At least 1, 000 aspiring singers lined up early Tuesday morning near the AMC Theatres at Westgate City Center for a shot to become the next Arizona Idol – and perhaps American Idol.
Performers began to line up at 4 a.m. for the 6 a.m. registration and check-in….
Fox’s new ‘Idol’-like ‘American Band’ reality series to debut October 19
Fox has announced that The Next Great American Band, the network’s new American Idol-like reality competition series that will search for the country’s best up-and-coming musical group, will premiere with a special two-hour episode on Friday, October 19 at 8PM ET/PT.
The Next Great American Band will follow a similar format to Idol, which shouldn’t be a surprise since both were created by Simon Fuller and are productions of 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia North America…….
….Fuller and fellow Idol executive producers Nigel Lythgoe, Ken Warwick and Cecile Frot-Coutaz will serve as executive producers for The Next Great American Band. As part of its November 2005 deal that renewed Idol through at least an eighth season, Fox had agreed to order two additional new shows produced by 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia sometime during the next five years.
Hot Box: TV to talk about
New Film: Simon Cowell is making a movie version of U.K. talent show Pop Idol. The judge on American Idol told reporters “I’m producing a film. It’s going to be the modern-day version of Fame although set on a talent show rather than a talent college.” Cowell said he’s tiring of being a TV star and wants to quit as a judge. “I would give up being on camera tomorrow, I really would. I’ve thought about leaving a lot this year.”
Dow Jones deal caps lifetime of dealmaking Rupert Murdoch
….Murdoch has seized opportunities elsewhere where many saw only obstacles. In the early 1980s, he founded a fourth national broadcast network, Fox. It struggled for years and still has trouble in the fall season but has found a juggernaut in “American Idol.”
The move was considered risky at the time, going up against three established networks that were considered the behemoths of the media industry: NBC, ABC and CBS. NBC is part of General Electric Co., an industrial giant, while ABC is now owned by Walt Disney Co. and CBS is now the flagship property of Sumner Redstone’s CBS Corp….
Celebrity dish
Quick Bite
Corey Clark has been arrested on drug charges and an outstanding warrant from Arizona, authorities said. The former …American Idol contestant was being held at the Pulaski County jail pending a court appearance Tuesday in North Little Rock, said John Rehrauer, a spokesman for the sheriff department. Clark was arrested near Interstate 40 at about 2:30 a.m. Monday on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, Rehrauer said. A warrant had been issued for Clark after he failed to appear in an Arizona court on a summons stemming from an arrest last year for violating a court order and trespassing. Clark was disqualified after reaching the finals of the popular Fox TV show in 2003 for failing to reveal a previous arrest. He later accused …Idol judge Paula Abdul of coaching him and initiating an affair. She denied his allegations, and Fox cleared Abdul of any wrongdoing.
A grander Graceland
Owners are thinking bigger and better
….The center will be equipped for the kind of technical wizardry that allowed singer Celine Dion to recently perform what appeared to be a live duet with Elvis on the “American Idol” TV show, which CKX also owns.
“People will actually think Elvis is there, ” Sillerman said. “It’s going to be, ‘Oh, wow, ‘ I can tell you that.”….
…The plan is to take CKX private, with a small group of big-dollar investors including Sillerman and “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller, and continue its focus on intellectual property and entertainment content.
Fuller is chief executive of CKX subsidiary 19 Entertainment, the company’s biggest revenue source and owner of the “American Idol” franchise. After the buyout, CKX would become 19X….
Loaded concert lineup is a key draw for 154th Ohio State Fair
Lineup includes George Jones, Merle Haggard, Pat Benatar, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic and Rascal Flatts.
The Ohio State Fair amps up today with the first in a concert series that seems to be resonating with fairgoers.
Former American Idol finalist Chris Daughtry performs rock ‘n’ roll with his namesake band Daughtry tonight at the WCOL Celeste Center…
TV Talent Contests Help Launch Country Acts
One has to look no farther than the recent success of “American Idol” alumnae and labelmates Kellie Pickler (19 Recordings/BNA Records) and Carrie Underwood (19 Recordings/Arista) to document the impact talent competitions provide in launching new artists. However, FOX-TV’s “American Idol” isn’t the only such vehicle to jump start aspiring Country Music artists….
American Idol Alum Mandisa’s Debut True Beauty Hits Today Amid Rave Reviews and Appearances
Artist’s Debut Ties in with Ongoing Campaign for Positive Self-Image
Just over a year ago Mandisa shot to instant fame when millions of TV viewers across the nation were captivated by her winning smile and powerhouse vocals as she sang her way into the final rounds of “American Idol’s” fifth season. Today everyone can hear Mandisa again as her debut project, TRUE BEAUTY, releases nationwide.
“Mandisa is powerful and has tremendous breath and pitch control, and there’s no reason that woman should be working as anything other than a singer, ” Daily Variety associate editor Phil Gallo told USA Today after watching Mandisa’s performances on “Idol.”…..
Mandisa, “True Beauty”
Carrie Underwood may have been the first American Idol to put out a song out that crossed over into Contemporary Christian Music territory with her breakout hit, “Jesus Take the Wheel”, but it’s Mandisa who has gone headlong solely into the CCM market with her music with her new CD, True Beauty……
Dismay at Idol waste
THERE are national Idol franchises in 34 countries. Meanwhile, American Idol and the original British Pop Idol, which first screened in 2001, are beamed across the world, spawning World Idol and many spin-offs and copies.
Australian Idol is one of the Ten Network’s big three anchor programs along with other reality TV franchises Big Brother and The Biggest Loser.
As season five draws near, another set of hopeful warblers line up for their ticket to stardom ‘ or as lambs to the slaughter. It depends on your perspective. It seems to have captured the hearts and minds of the 12- to 16-year-olds who vote and buy the records. But what do members of the local music industry think of the search-for-a-singer talent quest?……
THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS, THE MCCOURT FAMILY, CITY OF HOPE AND CHILDRENS HOSPITAL LOS ANGELES LAUNCH THINKCURE CANCER RESEARCH FUND
…Tonight National Anthem will be sung by Sherman Pore. Pore, who was 36 years over the …American Idol age limit when he showed up at auditions with a signed petition requesting to be an …American Idol contestant, lost his wife of 20 years to ovarian cancer just two days before his audition. Pore charmed the judges and won the hearts of millions of American Idol viewers singing in memory of his wife. A record company executive contacted Pore, and a year later he has released a CD of standards entitled …For My Lady Love. Proceeds from his CD will support cancer research at City of Hope…
Competitions dominate TV ratings
‘America’s Got Talent, ‘ ‘The Singing Bee’ continue to bring in viewers.
…Even without “American Idol, ” Fox has continued to keep its grip on youth. Last week was the 25th straight it has won among the 18-to-49-year-old demographic advertisers pay a premium for…
“American Idol” grooms kids at camp
…Welcome to the first Idol Camp, a 10-day performance arts retreat run by the producers of “American Idol” for 12- to 15-year-olds with budding dreams of Hollywood fame, a zeal for being on stage and — in many cases — an encyclopedic knowledge of the highest-rated U.S. television show…
…”The talent ranges but I think there is a group of very elite musicians here, ” said Jon Peter Lewis, a singer who finished eighth on “American Idol” in 2004 and teaches singing and other performing arts at the camp.
While there are no talent scouts from music labels at the camp, he said, “there’s definitely going to be some connections that these kids are going to be able to make for their benefit.”
“But they are minors and all that would be dependent upon them and their families, ” Lewis said. “That’s not an aspect to the camp that I think is emphasized, but it’s there.”
Hometown hero shares ‘Idol’ encounter
Brad King knows he can sing. So do directors who have cast him in “Grease, ” “Little Shop of Horrors” and other stage musicals, and so do patrons at the Hotel Aiken and other local nightspots who cheer for him on karaoke night.
But when this hometown hero met the star-making monster of FOX-TV’s “American Idol” two summers ago in Austin, Texas, the encounter struck a sour note.
“It was amazing. I heard just incredible voices getting bypassed at the door, ” King said.
King traveled more than 600 miles from Mobile, Ala., where he was working at the time, to Austin for less than a minute of audition time in front of three anonymous members of the “Idol” production staff…..
Eric Cantor and Elliott Yamin join to fight juvenile diabetes
Congressman Eric Cantor (VA-07) will join recording artist and American Idol finalist Elliott Yamin to kick off the “Promise to Remember Me Campaign, ” Wednesday, August 1, 2007, at 11 a.m., on the Cannon House Office Building Terrace in Washington, DC….
Caregiving: Clay Aiken to expand camps
Long before appearing on Fox’s “American Idol” in 2003, Clay Aiken had a dream that did not involve being a pop star.
As a YMCA camp counselor, it saddened him that children with developmental disabilities had to be turned away from not only the fun of camp, but from the experience of being with other children, and he promised himself that this was something he would try to change.
“American Idol, ” several hit tours and 4.3 million album sales later, the pop star announced earlier this month that his dream is becoming a reality with the goal of raising $1 million to expand the Bubel/Aiken Foundation’s “Let ALL Play” initiative so that 100 camps in 2008 would become inclusive to children with special needs….
Basketball Idol: Ayla Brown guest at local basketball camp
Every summer there are numerous basketball camps for kids of all ages to attend and enhance their hardwood skills.
Many of those camps bring in college basketball players as instructors. But how many camps can bring in a college basketball player who also was on one of the country’s most popular television shows.
Ayla Brown, who placed 13th in the fifth season of American Idol in 2006 and a sophomore on the Boston College women’s basketball team, was a guest instructor at the recent Berwick Academy Sports Spectacular Summer Camp….
