Today Idol headlines after the jump ¦
PrideFest shines despite downpour
…..…American Idol contestant RJ Helton took a moment to squeeze in between drag queens Dieta Pepsi and Flo, who kept the crowd going all weekend long. The pair bantered back and forth between acts and introduced various performers. An estimated 80, 000 people attended the event, held at Tower Grove Park.
Kelly Clarkson brings unpretentious talent to Gammage Auditorium
Kelly Clarkson just may be the most accessible pop star performing today.
Kell-ster slapped tons of people’s hands in the crowd at her concert Nov. 20 at Tempe’s Gammage Auditorium, and she had great rapport with the audience throughout the night, not acting pretentious in the least.
She opted for a stripped-down stage set-up, which really worked in the venue. Gammage seemed to be appropriate because the place was packed and there wasn’t much fanfare on-stage………
John Rich reality TV fiasco?
….The series cast includes Bobby Brown (R&B singer, former member of New Edition); Carnie Wilson (singer/songwriter, former member of Wilson Phillips); Dee Snider (radio personality and lead singer Twisted Sister); Diana DeGarmo (recording artist, Broadway actor and American Idol finalist); Julio Iglesias Jr. (pop singer); Maureen McCormick (The Brady Bunch); and Sisqo (R&B singer, former member of the group Dru Hill).
Can you say train wreck?….
‘Idol’ winner is fired up about debut CD
Describing Jordin Sparks, the reigning “American Idol” champ, as effervescent doesn’t do justice to the 17-year-old Arizona native’s fizzy personality.
Sparks’ self-titled debut, cranked out in the five months between her “Idol” victory in May and the end of October, hit stores this week. If she’s at all worried about her future in the ever-fickle pop music business, she doesn’t show it.
So how’re you feeling about your album? Nervous? Excited? Scared?…….
American Idol Jordin Sparks Releases Debut Album
Jordin Sparks, the youngest American Idol winner to claim the crown, has just released her first album. The production is a result of her last-season victory…but is Jordin now last season, as well?…….
Famous ‘Idol’ runner-up gets in the Christmas spirit
Claymates are on alert.
Big-voiced Clay Aiken, the object of their affection and the most famous runner-up in “American Idol” history, is on his way to St. Louis to celebrate “Christmas in the Heartland.”
“Doing a Christmas tour is kind of my Christmas tradition at this point, ” Aiken says. “I don’t even know if I can do a December without doing a Christmas tour.
“But we don’t go to the same area every year, and it’s been a few years since I’ve done the Midwest, ” adds Aiken, who released “Merry Christmas With Love” in 2004. Advertisement
“I like doing Christmas tours because people have memories that go along with Christmas songs, more than regular secular songs. I’m not sure you remember where you were the first time you heard ‘Bootylicious, ‘ but you remember when you first heard ‘Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, ‘””” aka “The Christmas Song.”
During his new tour, Aiken will incorporate original Christmas stories that fans submitted for the show.
“We wanted to make this as personal as possible, ” he says.
Aiken will perform with the Fox Theatre Orchestra. On previous tours, he has used high school choirs, community theater musicians and local symphonies. Initially, the orchestra idea scared him, but now he relishes the opportunity.
“I get a whole new orchestra every night, re-rehearsing each time with different people, ” he says. “Doing a regular show five nights can be stale. This freshens it up a bit. It’s always interesting with these different personalities and people on stage.”
In an interview last week, Aiken talked about the status of his new CD (which follows last year’s “A Thousand Different Ways”); his debut next year in “Monty Python’s Spamalot”; why he hasn’t watched “American Idol” in a while; and that rumored tour with Ruben Studdard and Kimberly Locke…………
Long Island Event Promises to Rock the Big Apple
Miss Dance of the United States(R) 2007 Justine Delpriora to Appear at
Cerebral Palsy’s Festival of Trees Event
The United States Tournament of Dance and Performing Arts announced today that 2007’s Miss Dance of the United States Justine Delpriora participate in the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County’s world famous Festival of Trees scheduled for November 23 – 25th 2007 at the Long Island Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Uniondale, NY. Miss Dance USA will be joined by American Idol show stars Kevin Covais from Long Island and Amanda Colucci “the Jersey Girl”………
Rock Band Daughtry Hope To Make A Difference For Kids With Autism
Parents Of Autistic Children (POAC) a non profit organization from Hazlet, New Jersey who provides scientifically based training to parents, teachers, emergency care providers and loved ones of autistic children throughout the area, is happy to announce that a portion of the proceeds from the Daughtry Concert at the Nokia Theater in Times Square New York City on Tuesday December 4th and Wednesday December 5th are to benefit POAC.
Earlier in the year, triple-platinum recording group Daughtry and their management team at 19 Entertainment were contacted by Kevin Martin, lead singer of the multi-platinum rock band Candlebox to perform together in a concert to benefit Martin’s favorite charity, POAC.
Immediately Daughtry replied with a resounding yes. Since that time the two groups were having a tricky time finding a schedule that would work out where they both could play together…………
Third place the charm
With lucrative recording deal, ‘Idol’s’ Yamin enjoys life at the top
Elliott Yamin always loved to sing but, as his mom has pointed out in interviews, there was a time he was too shy to do so in front of an audience.
That’s a far cry from the flashy “American Idol” stage in California where Yamin, 28, sang his way past fan favorites like Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett and Kellie Pickler before 30 million viewers — and the hypercritical Simon Cowell — to finish third in 2006.
To get there, he battled Type 1 diabetes (he was diagnosed at 16), 90 percent hearing loss in his right ear, crooked teeth in a looks-obsessed industry and, of course, Simon Cowell.
“People get emotionally invested with the whole underdog story. Maybe I didn’t have the commercial look, I was labeled the underdog. I was always labeled the kid with the potential growing up but didn’t realize until now. It’s flattering, ” says the Virginia-bred Yamin who rolls into Revolution Hall in Troy on Friday evening……..
Good sounds
JORDIN SPARKS Jordin Sparks; Jive Records.
Jordin Sparks is “Young and In Love” ‘ and “Just for the Record, ” she’s into that “Shy Boy.”
Those are some of the song titles from Sparks’ self-titled debut album, which oozes the earnestness that endeared the bubbly 17-year-old to gazillions of tween girls ‘ and their mothers ‘ as she sang to victory on “American Idol.”
Sparks has the wholesome appeal of a Disney Channel star ‘ clearly an asset, at a time when Miley Cyrus/”Hannah Montana” is selling out stadiums in no less than four minutes…….
Sparks pleasing on debut album
….Unlike many of her “Idol” predecessors, Sparks eschews the all-things-to-all-people approach. Instead, her handlers wisely have her rotating on a dance-pop-soul axis in the vein of Beyoncà ©, Nelly Furtado and Christina Aguilera. It’s going to take Sparks awhile to establish her own creative identity ‘ she’s a little too formless vocally here ‘ but the potential is obvious.
As has been the case for a few years, the Norwegian songwriting/production team billed as Stargate shows a real flair for wedding analog instrumentation to digital cool on “Just for the Record, ” which should be a ubiquitous smash on the order of “Irreplaceable.” The songs share a formula: a singsong melody that adheres instantly to the brain, a leisurely groove punctuated by clap-beats and twitchy percussion, and an almost country-style guitar riff. “Record” has the bonus of a winding whistle in the background that adds to the sunny-day, forward momentum. It may be a template, and one they use to less shiny effect on the first single, “Tattoo, ” but it’s a cookie cutter that offers reliably pleasing shapes….
Sparks Pleased To Duet With Her Crush Brown
American Idol winner Jordin Sparks was delighted to record a duet with Chris Brown recently – because she used to have a poster of the R’n’b hunk on her bedroom wall.
The pair’s No Air duet features on her upcoming eponymous debut album, and Sparks admits she never thought she’d get to sing with her ideal man.
She says, “I have the biggest crush on him (Brown).”……..
