Posted on 05/08/2006 4:22:13 AM PDT by silent_jonny
June 22, 2006, Fred Bronson 'HIPS' SLIPS; HICKS CLICKS: America's love affair with "American Idol" hasn't abated, as evidenced by the series garnering its highest ratings in its fifth season and this year's champ Taylor Hicks wresting The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 crown away from Shakira and Wyclef Jean. Their "Hips Don't Lie" (Epic) slips to No. 2 while Hicks debuts in pole position with his first single "Do I Make You Proud" (Arista).Hicks also debuts at No. 1 on the Pop 100 with "Do I Make You Proud." On the Hot Singles Sales chart, the two-sided single "Do I Make You Proud"/"Takin' It to the Streets," rockets 17-1. With three No. 1s in Hicks' column, the "American Idol" franchise now has 93 No. 1s, counting all charts compiled by the Billboard Information Group.
That's great! On local news they reported that Taylor's donating some of the proceeds to Red Cross. :) That cant' hurt sales. Very savvy of him to do that, as well as generous. :) How have you been? I didn't know everyone was still posting news here. I need to go back and read some posts.
I so wanted to go to City STages this year.....but couldn't, had classes all day. :( I heard that this year was not as successful as usual. Don't know why. Hopefully, I will get there next year.
That made me cry. Very touching.
I'm doing good. How about you?
Doing well. Thanks. :) Haven't seen much of the familiar freepers though. Guess we are all busy this summer.
I want news ? You got it.
Here is a potpuri of Idol news ....
TAYLOR HICKS ACTUALLY SENT A MESSAGE TO THE SOUL PATROL ON THE AMERICAN IDOL BOARDS THROUGH HIS FRIEND -- CONNIE.
I'M CUTTING AND PASTING IT HERE.
IN RELATION TO THE POST BY TAYLOR HICKS TO HIS FANS ABOVE ...
Here is a profile of Taylor Hick's favorite charities ....
KID ONE
http://www.kidone.org/
ABOUT KID ONE
Kid One Transport is a nonprofit organization that provides free rides to non-emergency medical appointments for children and expectant mothers. An estimated 500,000 children in the state of Alabama live in homes with little or no reliable transportation. These children often forgo non-emergency medical care such as checkups, counseling and dental appointments because it is simply too hard for families to get to the doctor. This is called the transportation barrier and it affects over four million children nationwide.
Over the past seven years, Kid One Transport has been striving to eliminate the transportation barrier for Alabama’s children. Since the beginning, the Kid One Transport Team has driven nearly two million miles, made thousands of trips and served over 5,000 children. Click here for the most up-to-date trip and enrollment totals for each region served.
Kid One was founded when a 24-year-old Hoover, Alabama firefighter named Russell Jackson discovered children in rural Alabama who were suffering and dying from preventable or treatable illnesses for lack of a ride. Through years of hard work, faith, and the support of the community, Kid One is on the way to realizing its vision – that Alabama’s children will have the chance to lead longer, healthier lives. Read the complete history of Kid One here ( http://www.kidone.org/history.asp )
Kid One is on the right track, but still has miles to go. You can help us get there by making a donation to Kid One today. Click here for more information on donating to Kid One (http://www.kidone.org/donate.asp).
Your investment in the children of Alabama will pay off for an entire generation and beyond.
Click here for the Kid One 2003 Annual Report :
http://www.kidone.org/downloads/2003%20Annual%20Report.pdf
We participate on GuideStar,
the on-line standard for nonprofit accountability.
Take a look at our listing.
Wow! Thanks for all the links, that was great! :) You have made me very happy. :)
Hello Emily,
Taylor Hicks did a new, fresh, jazzy/bluesy take on his Billboard hit -- DO I MAKE YOU PROUD last night on the Jay Leno show. He had a band that sounded very similar to his own -- the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra (LMBO).
It sounds DIFFERENT from the album and has a different arrangement ( which I hear, he actually helped re-arrange personally ).
Listen to this different version here :
http://www.gofish.com/userVideoPlayer.gfp?gfid=30-1038803
Here is my personal musical perspective on this particular version of DIMYP....
I got the feeling he may have jammed with Brian Less and or LMBO to help with the new arrangement. Did anyone notice that the make-up of the band was the same as LMBO (ie: drums, keyboards, sax, bass and guitar)? Just something I noticed. Makes me wonder if he is trying to get TPTB hire LMBO as his band for TV appearances.
No, the ones who were his accompaniment last night in Leno's show isn't his band - but the arrangement seems to be Taylorized with his own LMBO band's influence. Perhaps even though AI wouldn't bring his band along on tour - they will have at least compromised to give Taylor more artistic input into the arrangements (and maybe song choice too?). Not only for the tour but his first CD?
He has already shown Nigel his backbone - it would be wise for them to appease him since he's obviously going to be a success with his OWN sound. We can only hope the AIdiots are waking up and not playing games with this year's idol.
It seems obvious to me that what we saw last night was Taylor's NEW band. That grouping of musicians (with Hammond B3 organ and sax) didn't happen by accident. That's a quintessential soul band grouping.
That arrangement wasn't spur of the moment either. Taylor's been working with that band, in rehersals and/or the studio.
That is almost certainly the band that will perform in Salt Lake City with Taylor next week. It is probably the Idol tour band.
But again, the new arrangement sounds fabulous and has resurrected that song. If they use that arrangement on his first CD, it will make DIMYP sound even fresher than before.
Just goes to show how an innovative person can make a song that people were prepared to actually forget MEMORABLE.
I like that arrangement MUCH better. Thanks for the Leno links because I missed the show. Didn't know he was going to be on again. I think he and Jay seemed to have formed a friendship or at least that is how it appears.
Great observations! This version does sound so much better. I don't think the keyboard player is as good as Brian Less IMO.
THE AMERICAN FREEDOM FESTIVAL DID A GREAT PROMO OF TAYLOR HICKS COMPLETE WITH A BILLBOARD SIZE PICTURE.
SEE HERE :
http://www.freedomfestival.org/p_events_details.asp?i=37
Remember the date : JULY 1st. TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE BUT GOING FAST.
HERE's THE PROMO :
HEY FOLKS,
IF YOU'RE STILL READING THIS, BE PREPARED TO GAG.
In this week's iTunes POP top 10....
PARIS HILTON's NEW SINGLE --- "STARS ARE BLIND" is #3
Taylor Hicks' "DO I MAKE YOU PROUD" is #9
GO FIGURE !
NOW I'D LIKE TO SEE WHO GETS MORE AIRPLAY IN OUR RADIO STATIONS NATIONWIDE.
I'm willing to bet Paris will get more airplay this week.
(HERE's AN EVIL WISH )... What I would give to see Paris Hilton as an American Idol contestant !!
Thanks for the update! :)
That's too bad, it might have been fun. Do you know if they make a festival out of it, food booths, and tables selling crafts. We have something like that each year.
Yes, it has the food booths, etc. And some really good local talent as well. Bo Bice, Ruben Studdard and Taylor all played at City stages before going on AI. Of course, most go to hear the main talent.
Strictly for Taylor Hicks fans...
The blogger, Gray Charles ( see his wesite : www.graycharles.com ), was able to snag a detailed interview with Taylor Hicks, when Taylor himself called him after Gray's request to Taylor's PR man for an interview.
Taylor actually is AWARE of Gray Charles' website and visits it occasionally and admits to ADMIRING the content of the site.
(NOTE: Taylor DOES visit the American Idol blog sites as well as the fan boards and occasionally asks his friends to post on his behalf ( for instance, he asked his friend, Connie to relay to folks who have been gathering donations to buy him a new couch to give the money instead to his favorite charities -- KIDS ONE and STUDIO ON THE TRACKS ).
Suffice it to say that Gray Charles has earned Taylor's trust and he opened up to him in an 8 part interview which you can view in Gray Charles' website.
I'd say it is by far, THE BEST INTERVIEW OF TAYLOR HICKS BAD NONE. You get to see an insight into the kind of person and musician Taylor Hicks is.
Get on the Bus
http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1209031_4_0_,00.html
Catching up with ''Idol'' rocker Chris Daughtry: The season 5 singer tells Adam B. Vary about the gang's three-month tour, his new material, why he said no to Fuel, and more
At this point, it's a cliché to trumpet the top 10 contestants from the fifth season of American Idol as the most talented (and varied) in the show's history. Starting July 5, however, they'll finally get to prove it on the American Idol Live! tour: Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler, Ace Young, Bucky Covington, Mandisa, and Lisa Tucker will get to belt, croon, growl, and jive in 48 cities nationwide.
In anticipation, we called up Daughtry — a.k.a. The Man Who Was Robbed of His Rightful Title — and talked with him about what to expect from the show, how he'll handle the hardships of a three-month tour, what's next for his career, why he turned down that lead-singer offer from Fuel, and what's the deal with his new tattoo.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So break it down for us — what can we expect from this summer's Idol tour?
CHRIS DAUGHTRY: Well, I won't tell you what we're singing, but everybody's got at least two songs and a duet, and then a few of us have three or four songs. Everybody seems to have pretty strong sets. It's really cool. A lot of us are playing instruments — a little departure from the show there.
The group numbers — are they going to be like what we saw on the Idol finale?
Not really. Well, kind of. [Laughs] We're doing a couple group songs. They're not, like, totally cheesy or anything. They play out very well.
So there's no danger of it coming off as, you know, a bit Brady Bunch?
Well, we'll see. We haven't done choreography yet.
And you don't strike me as the kind of guy who is necessarily all about the choreography.
I'm not about it at all. But I do what I gotta do and always try to keep it from, you know, looking too silly.
What are you most looking forward to performing?
My first song. Actually, me and Elliott are doing a duet that's going to be awesome as well... It's a rock song.
Who are you most looking forward to watching when you're off stage?
Honestly, because I've been watching everybody for the past couple weeks, I think everybody's got a pretty good thing. I really like Bucky's set, and Elliott's set, and Ace has got a pretty good set too. But Taylor is really fun to watch. Yeah, that'll be fun.
Now, are you prepared for three months on a bus with all your fellow Idols?
Um, I think so. I feel like we've been in a pretty concentrated space for four months now, but this will definitely be a little different.
You're the only one in the show with a family of your own. How are you going to work that out?
It's going to work basically like it did on the show. I was on the show for four months before I even went home, and my kids were only able to come out twice during that whole time. So we made that work, and we're going have to do the same with this. They're going to be able to come out on a few dates, but it's not exactly easy to drive behind a tour bus and bring the kids along, you know what I mean?
It seems like in many respects that is the life of a rock star, hitting the road for much of the year. Is that something you've just been prepared to do?
Yeah, and I think eventually you get in a position where you're able to have your family along with you on the road and it works out. But in the earlier stages, it's almost impossible.
Let's talk about your career. Earlier this month you turned down Fuel's offer for you to be their lead singer. Was that hard to do?
No. If I was still playing with my band back at home, and we weren't getting gigs, playing the same old bars, and Fuel approached me and said, 'Hey, you want to be our singer?' it would have been really easy to say yes. But once you've gotten the exposure, and everybody knows who you are and you have options, it's really difficult to just say, 'Yeah, I'm going to do that.' [Going on my own] gives me an opportunity to write my own stuff and do my own thing. So it wasn't that hard to turn it down considering the circumstances.
So will you have time to write on the road?
I've been writing for weeks now, all my own material. So, yeah, I'll be doing a lot.
And will you be able to record those songs during the tour?
Um, we'll see...That's all in the works right now.
We all know you're a huge fan of Live and love that particular kind of sound, but what is the Chris Daughtry sound going to be?
It's going to sound a little different than that. A lot of the way I delivered the songs on the show is kind of where I'm going — it's pretty rockin'. It's definitely rock radio, but hopefully a few songs may cross over into mainstream as well.
Did I hear right that you just got a tattoo?
[Pause] Boy, things travel fast, don't they? Yeah, I did.
It's on your back, right?
Yeah.
And it's of your last name?
Yes.
What's the story behind why you wanted to do that?
Ah, we won't go into that right now. [Laughs] I didn't really get it to, um... [Long pause] I don't know. I just don't want to do a story on it right now.
All right. Was it your first tattoo? Was it painful to get?
Yes [it was my first]. It wasn't too bad. It took about three hours and wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be.
Finally, how are you guys going to be passing the time on the tour bus?
For me, I'm writing for my album — I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time doing that. But, you know, with us guys, we'll probably find something to pass the time, bring out the guitar and jam out.
Any completely mindless diversions?
I'm sure there will be some Xbox on there.
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