Today Idol headlines after the jump ¦
Mandisa learns to trust God through fame
…But more than the song itself, Mandisa’s introduction sparked a controversy that snowballed from a misunderstanding.
“This song, ” she said as the crowd cheered, “goes out to everybody who wants to be free. Your addiction, lifestyle and situation may be big, but God is bigger.”
“I really was talking about my life, my addiction to food, my lifestyle, ” Mandisa said of that night. “You know how people say you shouldn’t diet but have a lifestyle change? That was what I was talking about, but people partnered that with my admiration for Beth Moore and [her endorsement of] Exodus Ministries. The ill-conceived conclusion was that I didn’t like gay people.”
Afterward, Mandisa was swarmed by media interviews, most wanting to know her position on homosexuality.
“It wasn’t until I was eliminated and began doing all the media that I was hit with it, ” she said. “It was difficult. I cried hourly. There were a few isolated events when I did interviews, and they really let me have it. People yelled at me.”
But she’s not holding grudges.
“I understand why the gay community feels bitter and ostracized because there are radical ‘Christian’ groups who say, ‘God hates you’ and ‘AIDS is God’s wrath against you, ‘” Mandisa said, “when the truth of the matter is that God loves gay people just as He loves me, just as He loves anybody.
“The thing that hurt the most, ” she added, “is that I was being associated with hate, and that’s not who I am. That’s not what I’m about at all.”….
Mandisa: The American Idol singing star fighting food addiction in the public eye
The phenomenon of the TV talent search shows no sign of abating quite yet. In Britain Will Young, Shane Ward and most recently Leona Lewis are enjoying TV-promoted CD sales success while in the States Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and several more are today some of the biggest CD sellers around. While the Christian music industry should be thoroughly ashamed of its blatantly derivative Gospel Dream TV series, one big Christian talent has been catapulted to the Big Time through the American idol TV programmes, Mandisa……
Gone in 30 Seconds: What Networks Are Charging
For the fourth consecutive season, Fox’s American Idol is network TV’s highest priced regular series for advertisers. The cost of a 30-second unit for upcoming episodes (which begin in January 2008) is $700, 000 for both the Monday and Tuesday installments of the program, according to media buying and network sources. The cost for the Monday installment is roughly in line with last year, while the Tuesday time slot is commanding a slightly higher rate, those sources said…….
Tracked Down:
…American Idol rock sensation Chris Daughtry enjoying a post-performance Heineken while catching Rob Thomas Matchbox 20 set at MixFest 2007 . .
E is for Eating
…Just before 8:00, we made our way towards the Comcast Arena Stage to check out Taylor Hicks. It was a beautiful night for a show, and the arena was fairly crowded. We found some seats off to the side. A lot of the crowd was on their feet for the whole show, so I was glad they had big screens up to get a better view.
My husband is not a fan, and our friends had never really heard of him. So, it was nice of all of them to indulge me. It was less nice when my husband decided that we should leave early to beat the crowd. I was disappointed, but I was getting cold so I went along without complaint.
More than 1.2 million attend Big E
…The 17-day run of the Big E began September 14th and was set to end yesterday.
Highlights of this year’s edition included performances by American Idol contestants Daughtry and Taylor Hicks, The Big E Circus and daily Mardi Gras parades…
Blood sport television – or why I can no longer watch the X Factor
….When I watched Emma and Luke, I felt as if I’d been dropped into the Colosseum in ancient Rome.
It was like watching a hapless Christian or two being eaten by lions or a defeated gladiator waiting for the thumbs up or thumbs down from a depraved Nero or a mad Caligula.
In fact, for a sense of guilt by association, only a bullfight I glimpsed in a Spanish village this summer comes near the experience of watching Cowell and Co lance their victims to a gory TV death….
Hives Alive
The first time you see that the Hives are touring with Maroon 5, it seems like a misprint. Maroon 5 is an earnest American band that plays catchy white soul, a bit like Hall and Oates with a heavy Stevie Wonder fixation. They are immensely popular’ they dà ©buted one of their singles on …American Idol’ but not particularly cool…..
Not much of a mix at this festival
For an event that billed itself as MixFest and hung a giant banner with sponsoring radio station Mix 98.5’s slogan – “Today’s Best Variety” – at the back of the Agganis Arena stage on Saturday, this year’s concert didn’t offer much of a mix at all. Daughtry’s loud, Mat Kearney thinks he can add rap to his coffeehouse rock, Colbie Caillat’s a woman, and Matchbox Twenty is apparently unkillable, but it was hard to shake the impression that they were all basically the same band….
Taylor Hicks delights ‘American Idol’ fans
There is something about the last show at the fair that signals a finality to summer.
While the change of seasons was officially ushered in more than a week ago, Taylor Hicks’ show at the Big E on Saturday night was an even more definitive goodbye-to-summer moment. The air turned a little cooler; the night seemed a little longer.
Hicks closed out the live music portion of the fair with a 75 minute set in front of his legion of fans, dubbed the Soul Patrol, who filled the folded chairs and bleachers of the Comcast Arena……
