Ballroom With a Twist Returns to Tour With Pros From Dancing With the Stars and American Idol – Ballroom With a Twist will kick off its fifth national touring season in 2015 with pros from Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. The company will include Val Chmerkovskiy, Tony Dovolani, Peta Murgatroyd, Sharna Burgess, Emma Slater, Anna Trebunskaya, and Dmitry Chaplin, all of Dancing With the Stars, along with So You Think You Can Dance vets Serge Onik, Legacy, Jenna Johnson, Randi Lynn Strong, and Jonathan Platero, and American Idol performers Von Smith and Gina Glockensen-Ruzicka. – Read more at TheatreMania
The Voice’s Usher and Blake Shelton to headline United Way’s gala at AT&T Stadium – Usher and Blake Shelton are taking that heat they generated as competing coaches on The Voice and offering it to the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. Dallas Cowboys VP Charlotte Anderson and Troy Aikman are co-chairing the 90th anniversary gala for the local United Way chapter and there have been a lot of hints that something big was planned. On Tuesday, Anderson tweeted that she was “thrilled to be a part of ‘usher-ing’ this new era. Wednesday night, at a power-packed event at Anderson’s home, local United Way president and CEO Jennifer Sampson and Pepsi officials revealed that Shelton and Usher will co-headline a Feb. 6 gala concert for 25,000 people at AT&T Stadium and presented by PepsiCo. – Read More at Dallas News
Phillip Phillips on ‘Thicket’: ‘Music’s Like a Journal’ –
Phillip Phillips fans, if you’ve been keeping up with the ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’ singer, you know that we’re already on Day 4 of our rollout of exclusive, behind-the-scenes content of Phillip’s ‘Behind the Light’ album. And today, he’s musing about ‘Thicket’ — and the bravery that comes with putting out a record.
“It’s always terrifying when you put out some new music … you never know how people are going to react to it,” he admitted in the video clip, which you can check out above. “Music’s very personal. It’s like a journal.”
Read more at Pop Crush
Clay Aiken: An American Idol On The Campaign Trail In North Carolina – Back at the football game, a man approaches Aiken behind the home team bleachers. “Serious question. I want to know where you stand,” asks Terrence Becker.Becker wants to know where Aiken stands on a federal judge invalidating North Carolina’s constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. “You wanna know where I stand,” asks Aiken rhetorically. “You don’t know where I stand?” Aiken is gay. The story made the cover of People magazine in 2008. And thus begins a heated five minute debate about gay marriage. In the end, they agree to disagree. Becker says there’s no way he’d vote for Aiken, but it seems unlikely he was planning to before the discussion either. A crowd forms, patiently waiting for campaign stickers and selfies. Walking away, Aiken is almost puzzled by what just happened. This isn’t a defining issue for him or his campaign. “It’s the first time that’s come up,” says Aiken. “The first time the entire time we’ve been in the campaign that’s come up.” – LISTEN to the interview at NPR.org
Jennifer Lopez Surprises American Idol Singer Pia Toscano on Her Birthday – Jennifer Lopez has been known to celebrate her birthday in epic fashion, but on Tuesday night it was all about her former backup singer, Pia Toscano. Toscano – a former American Idol contestant – was celebrating her 26th birthday at Crustacean Beverly Hills when in walked Lopez. “Pia was shaking when Jennifer walked in the door because she was so excited,” an onlooker tells PEOPLE of the birthday girl. “She was so touched that Jennifer attended.”
Read more at People
Michelle Chamuel’s ‘Face The Fire’ Q&A – You were already playing in bands and recording music before you appeared on “The Voice.” From that viewpoint, do you see such a program serving as a stepping stone in one’s career, or is it the ultimate breakthrough? [There are] many answers. I think the first part of that depends on how you use it. You can use a tool like “The Voice” as the ultimate breakthrough. You can also use it as the ultimate career killer. They give you some pretty nice tools, resources and support to work with and it’s up to you to figure out how to do the rest. – Read more at Pollstar
CBS BRINGS PROGRAMMING DIRECT TO CONSUMERS WITH NEW MULTI-PLATFORM DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE – For $5.99 Per Month, “CBS All Access” Delivers Full Seasons of Current Primetime Shows, Leading Daytime and Late Night CBS Programming, and Thousands of Episodes from CBS’s Library of Classics New Service Also Offers Live Streaming of Local CBS Television Stations In 14 of the Largest U.S. Markets, with More to Come – CBS Corporation today announced the launch of CBS All Access, a new digital subscription video on demand and Nielsen-measured live streaming service for the CBS Television Network. CBS All Access will offer subscribers thousands of episodes from the current season, previous seasons and classic shows on demand, as well as the ability to stream local CBS Television stations live in 14 of the largest U.S. markets at launch. – Read more at TVByTheNumbers.com
‘Nashville’ Guest Star Laura Benanti Talks Sadie’s “Shady” Past – Nashville viewers have only seen a little bit of third-season guest star Laura Benanti’s Sadie Stone, a longtime singer-songwriter who becomes friends with Connie Britton’s Rayna James. But she’s set to have a bigger role in Wednesday night’s fourth episode, “I Feel Sorry for Me,” bonding with Rayna as the two hide out from the paparazzi and even duetting on “Gasoline and Matches,” which fans can already buy on iTunes. – Read more at The Hollywood Reporter
