Chris Daughtry at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, ONT CA
David Cook at the Knitting Factory, Boise, ID
More at Idol Stages
The X Factor USA will reveal the Top 16 contestants, tomorrow according to twitter, “Tomorrow night we find out who makes it through to the live shows! Here’s what the judges have to choose from: http://ow.ly/1yMgjZ”
Il Volo Prep Christmas EP, Talk Girls, Pitbull & Celine Dion
It’s been a happy year for Il Volo with the release of their self-titled debut album. Now the teen vocal trio from Italy wants to make it a happy holiday season, too.
The troupe will start with a Christmas EP it recorded during July with producers Humberto Gatica and Tony Renis. It will be released on Nov. 21, in a repackaged version of the “Il Volo” album internationally, and as a digital EP in the U.S, and will feature the group’s renditions of “Silent Night, ” “Panis Angelicus, ” “The Christmas Song” with “American Idol” contestant Pia Toscano and a medley of “Jingle Bell Rock, ” “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
Read more at Billboard.com
Lauren Alaina Gives a Shout-Out to Special Kids on New Album
“I’ve always wanted to do music, it’s my passion, and you know when you’re passionate about something you can’t imagine anything else, ” the Georgia native tells the Boot. “However, I take my schooling very seriously, and I like to help people and I love kids. So I always said that if I never made it in the music business, I wanted to be a pediatrician or a special needs teacher. I love those kids in my school, they’re my babies! They don’t really understand what I’m doing now, but they saw me on TV during ‘Idol’ and I went back and saw them, and they were like, ‘Did you know you were on the TV?’ I’ve gone to the Special Olympics in our region every year since sixth grade … I had to miss it this past year because I was gone, but I think I’m gonna go again next year.”
Read more at the Boot
Lauren Alaina returns home to celebrate new album
FORT OGLETHORPE, CATOOSA COUNTY (WRCB)– North Georgia’s very own Lauren Alaina was in town Saturday, signing autographs for her new album.
Dozens came out to see the American Idol star, who met pretty much everyone!
The event brought out all kinds of fans, from those who support her to others with a personal message.
“She’s from our hometown, of course, ” fan, Heather says. “And I watched every show of American Idol. I just love her!”
See the video at WRCBTV
Lea Michele recalls encounter with idol Barbra Streisand
LOS ANGELES—Lea Michele’s Rachel Berry character may have bagged the plum Maria role in her high school’s production of “West Side Story, ” but in real life, the “Glee” actress lost in her bid to play Fanny Brice in a Broadway-bound revival of the musical “Funny Girl.”
She would have loved to portray Fanny Brice, Lea told us in a recent interview. “But that’s not what they (the producers) wanted. It will happen though, one day. I will make sure of it and it will be great.”
Read more at Inquirer.net
‘X Factor’ Contestant Stacy Francis’ Whitney Houston Connection
As it turns out, Francis, who came to the contest desperate for a second chance after years of abuse by her ex-husband, had a stint on Broadway, appearing in the Tony-nominated stage production of Footloose, where she sang “Let’s Hear It For the Boy.” That was in 1998, a year later, she joined Whitney Houston onstage at Wallingford, Connecticut’s Oakdale Theater (now called the Chevrolet Theater) for the song “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)” — this, according to Idol contestant Nick Mitchell (pictured), who attended the concert, sat two rows from Francis and was also plucked out of the audience.
Read more at Hollywood Reporter
Swans wild for ‘X Factor’
Filming at the estate of “X factor” judge L.A. Reid took a swan dive south after his Hamptons home was overrun by the elegant white birds gone wild. This week’s episodes of the Fox show showed contestants visiting Reid, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger at their respective palatial homes. Sources said Reid wanted to make sure his waterfront Sagaponack estate looked even swankier on camera, so he asked the crew to truck in swans to swim in his backyard lake. A show source told us: “L.A. has the most beautiful house, but the idea of having swans gliding on the lake outside sounded good, so he ordered some swans be shipped in.” But the creatures behaved badly and ran amok over his garden and even took a dip in Reid’s pool. “They were running around, flapping their wings and causing chaos. Their keepers spent hours trying to get them to stay in the lake. Then the crew joined in chasing them around, but the swans preferred the pool.” The source added, “Though the swan handlers were annoyed, L.A. was cracking up. He thought it was so funny.”
Read more at the New York Post
