[silent_jonny]

Welcome once again to the …
Smoky Backroom!

Where anything can happen, and usually does!
Enter at your own risk

“I'm ascared in the Smoky Back Room!
… How did we wind up in here?” ~ TiredofLaundry

“We're dirty, dirty boys and girls,
I guess … I feel so naughty” ~ Retrokitten

“[It's] like detention with all the cool kids” ~ MOgirl

Reminder from Mayor Bloomberg:
There is no smoking allowed in the Smoky Backroom

And no trans-fat either

“I'm ascared in the Smoky Back Room!
… How did we wind up in here?” ~ TiredofLaundry

“We're dirty, dirty boys and girls,
I guess … I feel so naughty” ~ Retrokitten

[Always Right]

The blonde will win.

[silent_jonny]

Katharine McPhee

Eye-catching, isn’t it?

If McPhee’s first album cover was designed to cause controversy, then mission accomplished.

Katharine McPhee Smokes Up Album Cover
AOL

Katharine McPhee Album Cover -- Your Comments?
Top40.about.com

Katharine McPhee's Near Crotch Shot
tmz.com

Says McPhee:

"I actually didn't pick the album cover. What I wanted was a bit more conservative. You pick your battles. Many people think it's suggestive, but really when you look at it, there's almost no skin, no crotch shot. I am completely covered, which makes it that much sexier." (AOL)

That's all well and good, but with so much attention being focused on the album's cover no one is talking about the album's songs, which is perhaps the whole point.

Originally slated for a November 2006 release, McPhee’s album has been “pushed back” until January 30, 2007. Not a good sign.

[silent_jonny]

Elliott Yamin

Elliott Yamin, the underdog favorite of Season 5 ...

"You moved me!"

... has signed a deal with Sony Records. His album is expected to be released this Valentine's Day, Feburary 14. (wikipedia)

But the article below might be of more immediate interest to his fans:

Elliott Yamin Gets
a Dental Makeover

Before & After

DECEMBER 08, 2006

Goodbye to the nickname "Snaggletooth." Thanks to $50,000 worth of porcelain veneers and other dental work, and 20 sometimes-painful hours in the dentist's chair to fix his crossbite, American Idol underdog Elliott Yamin can't seem to wipe the smile off his face, PEOPLE reports in its new issue.

"He loves to laugh, he loves to smile," says girlfriend Jaime Paetz, 28, a model who met Yamin, also 28, after he appeared on the FOX talent hunt this season. "I liked his old teeth, but if (the veneers) make him happy, then I'm happy."

The changes aren't just cosmetic, either. "It is going to help muscle function, it is going to increase the volume (of his voice) maybe," says Yamin's Beverly Hills dentist David Frey, who provided his services free of charge. "So if anything, he could become an even better singer."

"I've always wanted to have a nicer smile," says Yamin, who for much of his life was teased for his crooked teeth. "I used to look at old pictures of myself, and I figured out how to kind of smile without displaying all my teeth."

What finally persuaded him to go through with the dental work? "The bottom line was, I was long overdue for a dentist appointment," he explains. He also realized that having properly aligned teeth might allow him to "express my emotions better" during performances.

Still another reason for the Virginia native (who is 90 percent deaf in one ear and was diagnosed with diabetes when he was a teen) to smile: He just signed a songwriting deal with Sony's publishing division and his "soulful-sounding" debut album is due early next year.

He finished in third place on Idol (behind runner-up Katharine McPhee and winner Taylor Hicks,) but so what? Says Yamin: "I feel like I am the winner."

Source: people.com

[Howlin]

Is it tonight????

[silent_jonny]

Ace Young

Ace sings the National Anthem
at a LA Angels game, summer 2006

Ace seems to be taking things a bit slower than the others. He released a single called “Scattered” last fall that’s available on iTunes. He also has a co-writing credit on Chris Daughtry’s first single, “It’s Not Over”. But so far, Ace has no record deal of his own. (wikipedia)

Off topic, but worth mentioning: During the Idol tour last year, Ace and Bucky Covington took time to show their support for the troops by sending cards through Xerox’s “Let’s Say Thanks” program.

If you would like to send a card to the troops, just click the graphic below. It’s fast, free and easy.

From Ace

From Bucky

And speaking of Bucky …

[maggief]

Lyrics

[BamaDi]

I just went back up to the top to look at your drawing (painting?) and I think you need to create a t-shirt for the FR AI family with it on it....and we would all buy one! You are quite talented! Again, thanks for this thread!

[Cagey]

How the heck did you end up in the Smokey Back Room? Was it that Paula Abdul video?

I better check and see if I'm allowed to read threads that are posted here.

And, thanks for the ping.

[Kimberly GG]

Thanks for the ping!


Linking to this post, in case ya'll interesed...it has links to video of the audition performances for the awesome winner of Australian Idol...AND....they get to use instruments and sing their own original music! A sign of things to come for American Idol? Adding this to the show, sure seemed to ratched up things in Australia! Watch, enjoy!


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1767742/posts?page=2#2

[MOgirl]

Hello FRiend,

How nice to see you!!

(Just got back online after 5+ hours of this (stupid) computer acting badly....)

:)

MOgirl

[tiredoflaundry]

Your artwork is spectacular!

[StrictTime]

I'm fashionably late to the party this year, but I have a good reason: I was here all week last week...

But my son TiVO'd both nights for me and I watched them both last night after we got home. Then this morning I got up and read the whole thread.
Two things:
1. The only guy who we saw make it to Hwood so far who is going to be able to keep his head on straight and not party in the hot tub all night the night before the "group of threes" is the "Open Arms" guy. And maybe the sweet Indian boy with the very bad hair.

2. I don't know how you do it s_j, but once again,
THIS THREAD ROCKS! Your opening riff on Mayberry was hilarious and the updates on last year's contestants was very well done. I was disappointed not to see Ace's scar, however, but I do hope it puts in a command performance this season.
Thanks again! And glad to see everyone back for more.
ST

[Jedidah]

We could all just vote for None of the Above, eliminated contestant Matthew Buckstein, who has started his own parallel audition/competition at

http://www.myspace.com/mattbuckstein

[SirLinksalot]

DIALIDOLS.COM :

http://dialidol.com/asp/predictions/Predictions.asp

Sundance ( sucks big ) Head is on top ( GO FIGURE ??? ).
Chris Richardson and Sanjaya round up the top 3.

Paul Kim and Nick Pedro look to be goners.

That being said...

Tonight was a huge letdown for me. There was hardly one performance I got to enjoy. They were either bad or barely passable.

I remember last season at this juncture when we had several outstanding performances …

Taylor did LEVON, Daughtry did WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, Elliott did IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME ( which led Simon to exhuberantly claim — Yamin was potentially the best male vocalist in the history of American Idol), and Ace Young showed off his falsetto with FATHER FIGURE.

Tonight, I am afraid, every single performance was uniformly FORGETTABLE.



BTW, I don’t know what Chris Sligh said that caused it, but I’ve never seen Simon FUMING this bad before. He was absolutely LIVID !

Was it IL DIVO or TELETUBBIES ? And what does Simon have to do with Teletubbies anyway ?

Chris Sligh is giving people the impression of being too well-research and calculating, treating this contest like a mind game, sorta like chess. That’s turning people off.

He oughta relax and just let Simon talk and let Ryan defend him the way he did with Taylor last season.