Posted on 05/08/2006 4:22:13 AM PDT by silent_jonny
TO THE CURIOUS AMONG YOU, HERE IS A PIC OF TAYLOR HICK's PRE-IDOL GIRLFRIEND...
http://s04.picshome.com/37c/girlfriend.jpg
SINCE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ATTACH THIS IN THE FR PAGES, SOMEONE MIGHT WANT TO HELP.
EDIT TO ADD : HER NAME IS JESSICA CHAPMAN.
LOL
I guess they are getting the hint that people don't like having their favorite shows preempted all the time! :)
I think he'll do really well, too!
a fellow scientologist? hmmmmmm
Can't believe I'm going to defend that wretch, but, I think she meant a fellow scientologist of Tom Cruise's, told him about her. But, I think she or a member of her family were floating these rumors out there to make her look 'important'. It might have been a means of trying to get her more votes, by making people think that celebrities wanted her! LOL
Simon didn't like Taylor's looks/hair either. I think Simon is ready to admit that Taylor might win, too! In other words, Simon had to admit he was wrong about the finals because Taylor DID get there and everyone alrady knew Simon was wrong. LOL
Thanks yoy very much for posting the picture.
Here is something I got which I'd like to share with everyone here...
http://www.celebrityspider.com/news/may06/article052906-3.html
Pink's American Idol Fears 5/29/06
Pop punk Pink is relieved she found musical fame herself, because she would never get past the audition stage on TV talent show American Idol.
The Stupid Girls hit maker hates Idol's Mr Nasty judge Simon Cowell and admits she would probably have got violent if he turned her down during an audition.
She says, "That Simon guy is a smart a*s and I'd probably have to jump the table."
http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2006/05/american_idol_t_5.html
American Idol has been such a powerful force that it has rejuvenated network television and changed the face of the music industry. Musicians who wouldn’t touch the show with a ten foot pole in the early years are now waiting in line to get guest appearance shots to boost their latest albums. The American Idol Tour also looks like it might give the same boost to the Summer touring market as the show has given to television.
The Yahoo Buzz Index shows the American Idol Tour as one of the most searched for Summer tours. As far as overall Yahoo Buzz Index searches, the American Idols are dominating the charts. American Idol related terms occupy four of the top five overall search spots currently. Making the top five list are American Idol, Katharine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, and Clay Aiken.
As American Idol Tour tickets go on sale across the U.S., the tour appears to be selling out faster than ever. The Post-Standard reports that the American Idol Tour stop at the War Memorial in Syracuse sold out on the first day. The Gwinnett Daily Post reports that a second American Idol Tour stop was added to Gwinnett. According to Live Daily, Gwinnett wasn’t the only place to get a second tour stop. Live Daily reports that strong tickets sales have led to several additional dates being added and even new stops being added, which has increased the size of the American Idol Tour to a 60 date outing.
EXPLAINING SOUTHERN ( AND ALABAMAN ) DOMINANCE IN AMERICAN IDOL.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/ENT/605260310/1005
Southern Idols: Alabamians make their mark on Fox's reality show
By Darryn Simmons
Montgomery Advertiser
May 28, 2006
At the mention of "Alabama dominance," you might think of the Crimson Tide football program.
But Alabama is developing a dynasty of another kind -- thanks to the biggest show on television.
With Wednesday's announcement of Birmingham's Taylor Hicks as the fifth season's "American Idol," Alabama has made its mark.
Hicks joins three other Alabama "Idol" success stories: Ruben Studdard, the season two winner; Bo Bice, season four runner-up; and Diana DeGarmo, the season three runner-up who was born in Birmingham but claims Snellgrove, Ga., as her hometown.
Alabama has led a Southern dynasty on Idol. Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina have less than 10 percent of the U.S. population but account for 75 percent of the finalists on the show's history.
So why are Alabama and the South doing so well? Lots of people have theories.
Ken Warwick, co-executive producer of "American Idol," told MTV in a recent interview that lack of opportunities for aspiring singers in the South plays a part.
"The thing is, if they're (from the) North and they're talented, then they tend to go professional," he said. "They go to New York, they come to LA, they go to San Francisco and they get jobs, but if they're in the South, maybe there's a little less opportunity, so there's more talent floating around."
Brandy Apter of Montgomery is a big "Idol" fan and credited Alabama's success to the church.
"If you look at all the Alabama finalists and even most all of the ones from the South, they see they grew up singing in the church," she said. "That church upbringing really is a great way to develop your voice."
In another interview with MTV, Shirley Halperin, who covers "American Idol" for Teen People magazine, said it's more because of the voters than the singers that the South is so strong.
"That's where the bulk of the voting is coming from," she said. "People in the media always focus on metropolitan areas like New York, LA and Chicago, but I think we often forget how many more people -- who watch more TV because they're not working all the time -- live in between, especially in the Bible Belt."
According to the research firm Pursuant Inc., 39 percent of "Idol" votes come from the South.
Leading the way in the South is Alabama and specifically Birmingham. Warwick called the city an unofficial "Idol" favorite and said the show's producers considered going there for auditions this season, but factors like venue and proximity to other major cities deterred the move.
Instead, after the flooding of Hurricane Katrina eliminated New Orleans as an option, the show went to Greensboro, N.C. -- and loved it.
"We had more talent and more fun and more honest emotion there than we've had anywhere, and it's kind of affected where we're going to go next year," Warwick said.
Although the spots for the auditions for season six haven't been selected yet, Warwick hinted there could be a Southern emphasis.
With a combination of talent and dedicated fans, most feel it would be a mistake to leave Alabama out of the equation.
How dedicated the state's fans are for their "Idol" contestants could be seen Wednesday at a viewing party for the show's season finale.
Charley Taylor, 12, had her hair cut off at the viewing party -- all for the opportunity to get Jubilee CityFest passes and meet Bice, who is performing today.
"I love him," Charley said when asked why she did it. "When I meet him, I'm going to tell him I love him and that I did this for him."
Charley even kept the hair that was cut off and plans to give it to Bice.
While Bice's reaction to that remains to be seen, he did talk in a recent interview about the rich history of music talent in Alabama.
"We've got a great music heritage here. I mean look at Hank Williams, Lionel Richie and W.C. Handy," he said. "It's a deep rooted history in blues and soul."
Bice said he's happy to be from a state that has been such a great area for music.
"I'm a redneck and I'm not ashamed of it," he said. "We may not be high society, but it doesn't mean we're lacking talent."
NICK COKAS (Sam Carmichael) -- Broadway: BLOOD BROTHERS, GUYS& DOLLS, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS. Other theatre credits include: BIG (1st National), THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO, THE ROTHSCHILDS (Carbonell Award, Best supporting Actor), Robert Wilson?s KING LEAR, HEARTBEATS, 110 IN THE SHADE. Performed with Sony Classical?s Mario Frangoulis - London?s West End. Originally from San Francisco, Nick is a UCLA graduate. Nick is also the Co-Founder of Zenith Film Group, LLC.
The fifth season of American Idol will come to a close with the crowning of a new champ on Wednesday night, and I for one will be distraught. This season my casual Idol fandom became a full-fledged addiction. I knew things had taken a turn for the worse when I started weaseling out of dinner party plans because I couldn't bear the thought of missing Queen week. Of course, I'm not alone. Idol's already stratospheric Nielsen ratings soared higher this season, and last week more than 50 million votes were cast in the balloting that set tonight's final showdown between Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee. Once, pop's A-listers turned up their noses at the show, but this season Mary J. Blige, Prince, and Bruce Springsteen agreed to let their songs be performed, and Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart showed up to tutor the competitors, a gig that has become one of the most coveted in the business. (Lord knows what sordid backroom deals were struck to win a star turn for Kenny Rogers, who evidently celebrated by visiting Jocelyn Wildenstein's surgeon.) And Season 5 has already succeeded in catapulting one unknown to the top of the charts: the Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Powter, whose year-old song "Bad Day" rocketed to No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 after repeated airings during the farewell montages when contestants are sent packing.
Last Wednesday night, Idol's producers decided to gloat, trotting out music mogul Clive Davis to reel off a staggering list of album sales—"Kelly Clarkson, 10 million units; Ruben Studdard, 2 million units; Clay Aiken, 3 million units"—totaling 33 million records to date by Idol winners and also-rans. Davis, who has overseen the debut CDs of Idol's first four victors, gave a little speech chiding "skeptics" who had questioned the show's potential to break new stars, which got it about half right. After the first season, only a few crackpots dared doubt Idol's marketplace muscle, but the show was widely scorned as evidence of musical values in decline—a noble and lively American art had been reduced to a karaoke contest with, as Matt Feeney wrote in Slate in 2004, "an abiding aesthetic of kitsch optimism."
Today, most of those critics have quieted down, and not just because they've succumbed to Idol's goofy charms, such as Simon Cowell's baffling critical Esperanto ("Katharine, that performance was almost a moment") or the spectacle of Paula Abdul's slow descent into madness. The fact is, season by season, song by song, the show has gotten better. Five years after its launch there's little doubt: The music on American Idol is often very good, and American Idol is good for popular music.
Consider the track record. Carrie Underwood (the 2005 idol), Fantasia Barrino (2004), and Kelly Clarkson (2002) have all recorded solid-to-excellent albums, none of which sound remotely amateurish or karaokelike. (Only Studdard, the 2003 champ, released a dud.) More surprising are the toughness and eccentricity of those records. Underwood's chart-topping country single "Jesus, Take the Wheel" is a ballad about a young mother's spiritual crisis and near-fatal car accident, and Fantasia's hit "Baby Mama," is an even grittier depiction of single motherhood. Clarkson won Idol on the strength of her feathery Mariah Carey-style melisma, but she has since moved out of what Abdul would call her "comfort zone." Her 2005 smash, "Since U Been Gone," which placed third in last year's Village Voice's Pop & Jazz's critic's poll, was an angsty breakup ballad with an irresistible hook and a galloping hard-rock chorus. All the qualities supposedly drowned in the ooze of Idol's "aesthetic of kitsch optimism"—regional peculiarity, lyrical realism, the jolt of a well-struck power chord—are present in these singers' big hits. Fantasia's Free Yourself even includes three collaborations with Missy Elliott, arguably the current pop star most committed to enlivening hit radio with sonic surprise and general freakishness. Idol has not only produced successful recording artists, it's produced interesting ones.
In the first couple of seasons, critics (including yours truly) complained that Idol was too immersed in one style—that it was a Mariah impersonation contest, with vocalists vying to outdo each other's acrobatic gospel "runs." But as the show has evolved, the singing has gotten more stylistically diverse, and more adventurous. Today, Idol is an occasionally revelatory, often garish, but always engrossing collision of genres and traditions. This season's finals featured a couple of country singers; a twee boy-soprano whose voting block of pre-pubescent girls and their grandmothers kept him in the running for a while; and a large-lunged gospel diva who was eliminated at least a few weeks too soon. The most compelling character was The Rocker, Chris Daughtry, who, despite his knack for turning every song he touched into joy-killing post-grunge dirge, earned admiration for his fine chops (I never heard him hit a bum note), and what Cowell rightly identified as his refusal to compromise. During Barry Manilow Week, when contestants were required to tackle songs from the 1950s, Daughtry shocked everyone (and probably bummed out Manilow) with a solemn rock arrangement of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line," and in the weeks afterward everyone seemed to catch the spirit: Bongo players and acoustic guitarists appeared flanking singers at center stage, and even the most uptight contestants started taking little risks with arrangements.
Tuesday's final presents a stark choice. McPhee would seem to be a record executive's dream candidate: a classy, pretty girl from Los Angeles who can really sing. But there's only a few record executives out there, and many millions of Idol voters, and I suspect that they, with guidance from Simon, Randy, and Paula, will choose Hicks, the prematurely gray-haired doofus who has spent the past several weeks jerking across the Idol stage like a spaz while belting out classic R&B covers. There's something vaguely unsettling about his shtick: Although he's not black, he calls his fans "The Soul Patrol," and although he's neither black nor blind, he insists on lurching backward when he sings like his idol Ray Charles.
Still, I'll be rooting hard for Hicks. I wager he'll win in a walk, as well he should: He's just a more interesting singer. A Hicks victory would be the ultimate answer to critics who've slammed Idol for its plastic pop-music values. (Bar Band Singer Bests Pop Princess!) And it would continue the Idol voters' streak of choosing talent over beauty—think of pretty boy Justin Guarini falling to Kelly Clarkson, who despite the best efforts of a battery of stylists still looks more like a Dutch mastiff than Jessica Simpson. No matter what happens, it's destined to be a riveting few hours of television. If you're one of the last American Idol holdouts, I urge you to tune in. There will doubtless be at least a couple of great performances—and maybe even a moment.Jody Rosen is Slate's music critic. He lives in New York City. He can be reached at slatemusic@gmail.com.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2142156/
McPhee Talks Makeovers & Men http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah399.shtml
LOS ANGELES (May 25, 2006) -- Regardless of the "American Idol" results, Katharine McPhee has had the time of her life!
And "Idol's" runner-up joined Access' Nancy O'Dell on Stage One after the gigantic finale!
"I am so happy to be at Access Hollywood!" Katharine announced.
"Do you realize when you sang that song, there were 43 million people watching you?" Nancy asked. "That's more than the Oscars."
Katharine laughed delightedly.
And what a journey for the 22-year-old Katharine growing up a stones throw from Hollywood. Her mother is a voice coach who let her daughter do all the school plays and recitals, all the way to "Idol."
And Access Hollywood.
"It's so surreal to be here, I watch Access Hollywood all the time," Katharine said.
You had to get a cortisone shot before the show last night, asked Nancy, referring to Katharine's sore throat.
"Yes, I had to," Katharine said.
"I can tell you're a little hoarse today," Nancy said. "Did you think, is it going to be my name read?"
"No, I looked over at Ryan's cue cards, they were blank," Katharine explained.
"You have a boyfriend named Nick?" Nancy asked.
"I do have a boyfriend, and we both live in L.A., so its' not a problem," Katharine said. "His name is Nick Cokis."
"You're trying to keep the private life private," Nancy said.
"Well, I'm just trying to find my way in this business," Katharine laughed.
"You're Jennifer Aniston all of a sudden," Nancy laughed. "You're still letting them know, maybe I'm available, maybe I'm not."
"You're always available, until you have a ring on your finger, you're always available," Katharine laughed.
"Don't tell your boyfriend that," Nancy laughed. "I'm just kidding! I'm kidding!"
------------------------------------------------------
The transcriptionist got the spelling of the last name wrong. lol
That picture must be old because he looks much older now!
Here he is from the audience.
'Idol' has plenty of room for improvement
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY5NDAwNjQmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3
Monday, May 29, 2006
By MARC SCHWARZ
STAFF WRITER
The confetti has settled, we're still bummed the Katharine McPhee-Meat Loaf duet wasn't "Paradise by the Dashboard Light," and we presume David Hasselhoff has stopped crying.
As the latest season of "American Idol" fades into memory, it's not too early to start thinking about Season 6 and, most important, how to improve "finale" week.
Why tinker with success? There's no arguing "Idol" is the biggest thing on TV. Just ask the more than 42 million who watched the final half hour of Wednesday night's two-hour extravaganza. Or better yet, ask Fox, which is reaping the benefits of the second surest ratings bet, right behind the Super Bowl.
Still ... nothing's perfect.
Here's what I'd change if I ran "Idol."
Write better songs.
Must we be subjected to treacly dreck like "My Destiny" and "Do You Make Me Proud"? Yes, the "Idol" producers could probably have a nursery school group write the winner's single and it would still top the charts; that doesn't make it right. Spend a little more money and get a song that people might want to actually listen to once Taylor's done making the rounds of the talk shows.
Change the format for the final performance show.
America's deciding who's going to shoot to the top of the charts, get a record contract and basically cash in big time. Give us more than repeat performances. One week after Katharine basically earned her spot in the finals with "Over the Rainbow," there it was again. Ho-hum.
Make them sing new songs, and make them sing more songs, including at least two in a row. If at some point I'm going to consider forking over big bucks to see a Taylor Hicks concert, I want to know that he can do more than one song without having to take a break.
Announce the winner 15 minutes before the result show ends.
We've invested several hours a week since January in these people. Let us enjoy their moment. Don't rush them off the air. Let's see them with their family, maybe even let them speak. The Super Bowl has a post-game, "Survivor" has a reunion show, "Idol" can at least give us the thrill of victory.
Provide subtitles or an interpreter for Paula.
Speaks for itself.
Make the final performance show two hours and the results show one hour.
Fox is committing three hours of air time the last Tuesday and Wednesday of May sweeps to "Idol." That's a lot of ad revenue to be brought in. I'd just change the arrangement.
I already have the final two singing more songs, so they'll need more time on performance night.
As for the final results show, keep bringing back the rest of the Top 12, but have only one group song. There's a reason they were voted off -- America didn't want to hear from them anymore. The rest of the shtick can be compressed. One Kelly Pickler-Wolfgang Puck interlude was barely tolerable, two were unforgivable.
Finally, and perhaps most important, do not -- let me emphasize this -- do not have the final two await the result looking like the queen and king of the prom.
It was bad enough that the final Katharine-Taylor duet was "Time of My Life," but as Ryan was getting ready to announce the winner, I was expecting Sissy Spacek in full "Carrie" regalia to set the stage on fire.
E-mail: schwarz@northjersey.com
I happen to agree with him, however. Though I like Taylor, I don't love him and really don't see him becoming a huge longterm success. IMO, he'd better buy a club in B'Ham (or Mobile or Biloxi?)like JImmie Buffet's Margaritaville in Key West to keep his loyal fans supporting him for the rest of his life. Buffet has "parrot heads." What would Taylor's be? Hurricane Heads?
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