Check out the first promo from Simon Cowell’s US X Factor, set to hit these shores in Fall 2011. Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive HERE. So, what do you think? What’s up with the crazy X bridge?
***
Brooke White tweets, “So guess what… Tonight I ended up at Henson studios playing piano and singing in Studio B, exactly where Karen Carpenter used to record!”
***
Idol to perform at Major League Grill
Support a local star and help kick off the Christmas season Saturday at Major League Grill.
Southeast Texas’ American Idol, Michael Sarver will be performing at the Beaumont restaurant Saturday, Nov. 27.
The show begins at 8 p.m. and is $10 at the door.
Read more at Beaumont Enterprise
***
More Headlines after the JUMP…
***
Interview: Tour Talk With Kris Allen
Can you tell while you’re performing that you are drawing people into your music?
I feel like we can tell. It takes about three or four songs. You know they’re like, “Oh, this is fun, ” and by the end they’re like “Wow, that was a lot of fun!” And it’s always cool when you can win over the dudes. Girls are probably the best fans that you can have, but when you can win over the guys at a show, especially the older guys, it’s awesome.
Read more at Blogcritics
***
Record Exec: ‘American Idol’ Deals Not Cheap, Not Always Worth the Expense
Sony Music recently parted ways with the show whose recording rights have now gone to Universal Music Group. “We’ve moved on, ” Tom Corson, executive vp and GM of Sony-based RCA Music Group, tells the current issue of The Hollywood Reporter.
“We’re very proud of our association with Idol. They made their decision, and we wish them all the success they deserve.”
That success has found its limits when it comes to pushing records. Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze’s first album, which debuted on November 16, was predicted to sell about 40, 000 albums in its first week, the poorest showing ever of a Idol winner. In fact, more than half of contestants who had signed with Sony-owned labels like RCA, J and Jive are no longer on the roster.
“You have to weigh the realities and decide what the artist’s potential is, ” Corson says of the decision to part with an Idol. “These are not cheap deals, and they sometimes don’t justify the expense.”
Read more at the Hollywood Reporter
***
‘Idol’ boss kin takes shot at Simon
TV and stage producer Kris Lythgoe has included a pair of cross-dressing “ugly stepsisters, ” named “Cowel” and “Seecrest, ” in his Hollywood “panto, ” “Cinderella, ” set to open Sunday night at The El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood.
The characters, men dressed as women, are constantly bickering and trying to one-up each other — much like former “Idol” judge Simon Cowell and the show’s host, Ryan Seacrest.
“It really is a play on the dynamic of their relationship, ” says Kris Lythgoe. “[Ryan and Simon] are much like the stepsisters in ‘Cinderella.’ They are quite competitive, and they both want all the love and attention of their stepmother.
Read more at the New York Post
***
Report: Fantasia testifies she knew Antuan Cook was married
Fantasia Barrino testified Monday in onetime boyfriend Antuan Cook’s divorce case in Charlotte, N.C., saying she knew from the start that he was married and living with his wife, CNN reports.
The singer had previously admitted the relationship but said then that she didn’t know Cook was married. Wife Paula Cook in early August filed for divorce, seeking custody and alimony and citing “alienation of affection” — essentially, home-wrecking. Adultery is still a crime in North Carolina.
Two sources in the courtroom spoke to CNN but asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information.
Read more at the LA Times
***
Partial recording of Lee DeWyze @ the Ed Hardy Studios in LA Last Night for MYFM104
Partial Earth Stood Still
Part 2: Dear Isabelle/Stay Here & A Song About Love and Lee answers some questions.
Part 3: Lee Answers Some Questions
Via @Blkeener
***
Lacy Brown sings “Rosalyn” at the Faith City Missions benefit at Trinity Fellowship in Amarillo, TX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YBUiQzUyd8
***
2010 CMA Awards Echo On Country Songs
‘MAMA’: Paisley’s fellow CMA Awards co-host, Carrie Underwood, concurrently reaches the Country Songs top 10, as “Mama’s Song, ” which she performed in between her emcee responsibilities, advances 11-9.
The song is the fourth top 10 from Underwood’s third album, “Play On, ” following the No. 1s “Cowboy Casanova, ” “Temporary Home” and “Undo It.”
With her having banked four Country Songs top 10s from her debut album “Some Hearts” and five from sophomore set “Carnival Ride, ” Underwood is the first female artist to collect at least four top 10s from each of her first three albums since the chart converted to Nielsen BDS monitored airplay data in 1990.
Read more at Billboard
***
‘Rock of Ages’ comes to the Hippodrome
“People have been saying that the ’80s are hot for at least the past 10 years, ” said Constantine Maroulis, the former “American Idol” contestant who plays the lead role of a sweet-natured rock star wannabe.
“Sure, the 1980s had over-the-top makeup, videos and imagery, and sure, people are referencing it now in an ironic way. But, at the end of the day, these are all great songs that have stood the test of time.”
Read more at the Baltimore Sun
***
‘Dancing With the Stars’ winner Jennifer Grey: ‘My doctors kept putting me together’
“I think it might have been one of those flips or kicks or splits, ” Grey says, with a blue icepack slid behind her tasseled pants. “When you dance with a 25-year-old, it’s a risk you take.”
But now that show is over, so is any anxiety over the toll on her body. Thanking Derek, her family and the fans, Grey is quick to point out the small group who really kept her in the game. “My doctors kept putting me together, ” she says.
Read more at Zap2it
***
Backstage at DWTS: Is the Dancing Winner Heading to Glee?!
But first thing’s first—we chatted up the champs post-win and got straight to the good stuff. Like, what’s next for Baby and her newly revived love of performing? A Glee guest spot perhaps?
“I don’t know, you tell me, ” she laughed. “I’m excited though. Just bring it!”
Read more at EOnline
***
‘Dancing with the Stars’ victor: ‘We never thought of winning…only about creating memorable dances’
“We collaborated so much and I think that this guy is so talented in terms of concept and execution and attention to detail, ” Grey said. “He wants to make memorable dances, which is what he told me when I met him. That’s why I was so completely thrilled and blessed to get him as a partner. He’s the real deal. He gets the big picture.”
At the start of the show, Grey told host Tom Bergeron that she ruptured a disc during Monday’s performances but – as has been the case throughout the season – she was able to continue because doctors “put me back together.” ”I think it might have been one of those flips or kicks [that caused the rupture], ” Grey said. “When you dance with a 25 year old, it’s a risk you take.”
Read more at Entertainment Weekly
***
The Bristol Effect has changed ‘Dancing’ forever
Before “Dancing with the Stars” crowned Jennifer Grey its champion Tuesday night, there was all kinds of discussion about how the ABC competition series could lose its credibility if Bristol Palin won.
What credibility? A show that has featured Jerry Springer, Kate Gosselin, The Hoff, Tom DeLay, and Cloris Leachman has no credibility, at least not as some kind of serious dance competition. While the judges may deduct a point for an errant step, it is ridiculous to imagine that all viewers make decisions based upon those kinds of technical determinations.
Yet the aggrieved fans and critics of the show acted as if a series that mangles pop songs, has a set decorated with dangling strings of Christmas lights, and gives out only a crappy mirror ball trophy as its prize was somehow a serious competition, not a complete joke from day one.
Read more at MSNBC
***
Fox’s ‘Glee’ courting Katie Couric for Super Bowl Episode
Being a high-profile Glee fan has its perks. The Fox phenom is in talks with CBS Evening News anchor (and self-proclaimed Gleek) Katie Couric to make a cameo in the show’s post-Super Bowl episode on Feb. 6.
Read more at Deadline
***
Jim Cantiello’s Glee Cap
***
Double Trouble for the X Factor
The tiny 17-year-old rapper was stunned to find herself in the bottom two last week.
This Sunday the act with the fewest votes will go home automatically – and the next two lowest will battle it out in the sing-off.
A source on the ITV show said: “No one can predict what is going to happen.
“People are worried that some of the good singers could be vulnerable.
Read more at the Sun
***
Wagner to cover Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ on ‘The X Factor’
Cover your ears, The X Factor oddball Wagner is reportedly set to sing Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ this Saturday (November 27). The singer is stepping up to perform the song after bookies slashed the odds on him winning the show from 100-1 to 10-1 (The Sun).
Read more at New Musical Express
***
‘Glee’ cast for ‘X Factor’ semi-final?
The cast of Glee will reportedly perform on next week’s X Factor semi-final.
It was previously reported that Simon Cowell was organising the appearance, which will apparently see them perform a medley of tracks from the hit show.
A post on the official Twitter page for Alex and Lucy’s In:Demand radio show read: “OMGlee!! The Glee cast are set to perform on X Factor. ”
Read more at Digital Spy
