Some fans actually got some great video of Fantasia’s surprise appearance at the Jennifer Hudson concert last Thursday at the Fox Theatre. Now I really wish I had gone!

And fear this: Sanjaya is going to be on the NBC show “I’m a Celebrity.. Get Me Out of Here!”

He will spend four weeks in Costa Rica with folks such as Heidi and Spencer from “The Hills,” Geraldo Rivera, Janice Dickinson and Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman. I may have to watch this for the pure cheese of it all. I can’t wait to see Janice Dickinson or Dog the Bounty Hunter getting testy with Sanjaya.

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Access Hollywood broke the story.

Continue reading 4/20: Video of Jennifer Hudson/Fantasia duet at Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Sanjaya is on new reality show »

Well, Fox won’t be repeating this week’s debacle where they tried to “save” time by limiting comments to two judges per singer — yet still not finishing on time (four minutes late!).

So they will allow all four to comment, hopefully in pithier ways, and cut out dross. Last week, we had not just one but two time-wasting Coca-Cola sponsored “interviews” and that arse-kissing Quentin Tarantino lovefest video upfront. Oh, and all the Ryan Seacrest time-wasting blabber in between. It’s been done before. “Idol” can squeeze in seven performances and 28 total judge comments in one hour.

There is no “guest mentor,” so that should shave some serious time off the hour, too, since the opening package for Quentin ate up about 4 minutes total.

Anyway, losing Simon’s comments sucked. You could see how annoyed he was that he couldn’t say anything about Matt’s performance Tuesday night!

-My colleague Sonia Murray reported that Fantasia and Jennifer Holliday guested last night at the Fox …

Continue reading 4/18: Weekend report – back to four judge commentary, Jennifer Hudson concert, Susan Boyle »

This is the most narrow topic “Idol” has tackled this year. Disco covers mostly dance music from the 1973 to 1980 period, though some tunes from the 1980s could qualify (think Shannon’s “Let the Music Play”) And it should favor the ladies since more disco hits were made famous by women (or guys with big falsettos). So Matt should do okay, too, as will Adam. Kris may have the toughest time.

And please, nobody sing “I Will Survive.” Just the most overdone song from the era.

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So what songs could each contestant do? Let’s fish around.

Anoop Desai
“Tragedy” Bee Gees
“You Sexy Thing” Hot Chocolate
“Rock Your Baby” George McCrae

Lil Rounds
“Don’t Leave Me This Way” or “Never Can Say Goodbye” Thelma …

Continue reading 4/17: Disco theme pondered, Ryan Seacrest’s new girlfriend »

No exit interviews since nobody exited. So here’s other Idol news:

-MJ got the tour schedule for “American Idols Live.” You can get the entire sked here.

The show stops at the Gwinnett Arena July 31. Tickets go on sale May 9.

The top 10 will be there: Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, Anoop Desai, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Scott MacIntyre, Megan Joy Corkrey, Michael Sarver.

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-Fantasia gets her own reality show (because, really, who doesn’t?)

Actually, she’ll be the first ‘Idol’ alum to get their own reality show. (I’m trying to block out that abysmal “Hey Paula” debacle on Bravo a couple of years ago.)

It appears, like most other reality shows of this ilk, to follow her …

Continue reading 4/16: Idol summer tour comes to Gwinnett Arena July 31, Fantasia gets her own reality show »

The pimp spot saved Lil Rounds and (almost) cost Matt Giraud another week. But Simon & Co. used the save!

“Two people are going home next week,” Simon Cowell warned. “Next week, it’s disco week.”

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

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Being the last performer has always assured another week of survival at this stage in the competition in past years. This year, it was close but Lil just escaped elimination. Then again, they might have saved her. I wouldn’t have.

I can see why they saved Matt. He’s been a fairly solid performer throughout this competition, though he has had his ups and downs. That Coldplay “Viva La Vida” was so darn horrendous a few weeks back, I have a hard time remembering his good ones, unfortunately. And he has had a tendency to do …

Continue reading 4/15: American Idol recap, top 7 results show – Matt Giraud’s soulful warble is… saved! »

-Paula Abdul revealed the theme to a radio station: disco! Thank you, MJ. I recall this theme was done season two, for better or worse. Let’s talk more about this later in the week. I’m certain a lot of folks wouldn’t be thrilled if this is indeed the theme.

-My colleague Sonia Murray wrote about Jennifer Hudson last night at the Fox. She returns on Thursday as well with Robin Thicke.

She has a command of not only her own rather ordinary R&B material, but such greats as Aretha Franklin’s (“Something He Can Feel”), Chaka Khan’s (“Sweet Thing”) and Whitney Houston’s (“You Give Good Love”). And most spectacularly, every song she sang seemed to emanate from this much older, wiser core layered with gospel heft and Broadway delivery.

-David Archuleta is opening for Demi Lovato and will hit Gwinnett Arena June 29.

-Carrie Underwood’s latest single “I Told You So” has landed at No. 5, making it her ninth consecutive top 5 hit. She’s had six straight No. 1 tunes. I doubt this one …

Continue reading 4/15: Mid-day report with next week’s theme, Jennifer Hudson, David Archuleta tour, sales »

Quentin Tarantino is an “Idol” fanatic like us – except he’s a world-class film director, too.

He’s the first non-musician “mentor” in the show’s history and the only non-musician guest judge from season three when he pulled no punches. This time, I’m not sure he added that much in terms of “mentoring.”

Overall, there were too many treacly ballads again for my taste. I’m liking Allison more and more, if anything and Anoop saved himself, I fathom.

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The pimp spot tonight went to Lil Rounds, who the producers clearly do not want to go home. And by placing her there, they’ll probably save her although she will likely land in the bottom three again after a mediocre rendition of “The Rose,” which revealed all her weaknesses.

Who should get voted off: Lil Rounds

Who will get voted off: Matt

My …

Continue reading 4/14: American Idol recap, top 7 performance show, packed with treacly ballads »

Busy day here at work. I’m only now getting to a daily blog entry. Let’s make this one short and sweet before tonight’s show: is a Danny Gokey/ Adam Lambert showdown inevitable? I’ll add a poll later this week since this post is only going to be the lead post for a short while.

We’ve had this happen before. Season one, Kelly Clarkson was a virtual lock for top 2 at this point while people were debating between Justin and Tamyra as the other finalist. It was clear season two that it would be Ruben vs. Clay, no doubt about it. Season 3 at this point was a bit fuzzier though Fantasia was definitely a lock for top 2. Season 4, we knew that a Bo/Carrrie facedown was the likeliest scenerio. Season 5, I would have guessed Daughtry vs. Taylor at this point. Kat kinda snuck in there. Season 6, Jordin was a guarantee for top 2. Many at this point still thought Melinda had a shot but I was thinking Blake would make it out of default. Last year, the David-David confrontation was a …

Continue reading 4/14: Is a Danny Gokey/ Adam Lambert showdown inevitable? New Michael Johns single »

This theme is wildly broad, as in any song that’s ever been in a movie. This isn’t always a good thing. Just look at the lame songs they selected two weeks ago for “download” week. It’s almost like too much choice causes creative constriction of the brain.

Here are some ideas for each contestant, based on lists of movie soundtrack songs I found on the Web:

Danny Gokey
“Purple Rain” Prince
“What a Wonderful World” Louis Armstrong
“Layla” Derek & the Dominoes
“Try a Little Tenderness” The Commitments

Allison Iraheta:
“Take My Breath Away” Berlin
“Bring Me To Life” Evanescence
“Moon River” Audrey Hepburn
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Judy Garland (she can outdo Kat McPhee, right?)

Adam Lambert
“Under Pressure” Queen/David Bowie
“Sweet Emotion” Aerosmith
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” GnR
“Heroes” The Wallflowers version
“People are Strange” Echo & the Bunnymen

Matt Giraud
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” Simple Minds
“St. Elmo’s Fire” John Parr
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” …

Continue reading 4/13: The movie theme pondered, Simon Cowell threatens to leave again »

Jason Castro has a record deal with Atlantic Records with an album hopefully out this summer. Check out this Billboard interview online. My old bud Fred Bronson, chart guru at Billboard and “Idol” fanatic, did the interview:

-Forbes reports that an “Idol” spot fetches $623,000, easily the most in primetime. That’s an estimate. Different advertisers surely pay different rates.

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-MJ’s big blog got the video of David Cook on former Atlantan Lance Krall’s goofy improv show “Free Radio” where Krall plays a clueless DJ interviewing celebrities.

“Your hair was so gay in the beginning,” Krall said.

“Nobody really cares about you as a person,” he later said to Cook. Cook doesn’t bite back.

And MJ was nice enough to include the clip …

Continue reading 4/10: Woh! Jason Castro gets a contract! »