This Day in Music…January 15

Smaller Audience for ‘Idol’ Debut

Just over 30 million viewers tuned in for the season premiere of Fox’s “American Idol” on Tuesday, according to Nielsen’s estimates. Now in its eighth edition, the singing competition featured a new judge at the table, Kara DioGuardi, but drew the smallest audience for a debut of the series in five years, down 3.3 million from last year and 7.3 million from two years ago, when the sixth-season premiere earned 37.4 million viewers.

411 Music Fact Or Fiction 01.15.09: American Idol Jumps the Shark, Amy Winehouse Still Sells, the People’s Choice Awards, More!

4. By adding a fourth judge, American Idol just jumped the shark.

Ben Czajkowski: FICTION. American Idol has become stale over the last seven seasons; it has become desperately in need of a shakeup. Adding a fourth judge could be interesting for the show and fans. I would have preferred to see Ryan Seacrest brutally raped and hung on public television. Anyway, it will be appealing to see what kind of personality Kara DioGuardi brings. Simon’s the dick, Randy’s the cool one, and Paula is the one that will sleep around…wait that doesn’t sound right. If Kara succeeds, will that spell the end for Paula? Who knows? DioGuardi’s appearance also balances the sex on the panel, but takes away the ability for a tie breaking vote. I say let this play out for the ratings giant, and we’ll see where it goes.

Mitch Michaels: FACT. But let me modify that and say that “American Idol” is acknowledging it’s jumped the shark and now trying hard to put the brakes on the downward slope. If you’ll remember just a few years ago, the AI buildup was huge everywhere. For the past couple of years, the questions before the premier is “how are they going to make it better?” That’s just not good press people. But where did it come from? The contestants are fucking BORING. Quick – name last year’s winner….it was David Cook. If you knew the name, pat yourself on the back with razor wire wrapped around your hand. Who won the year before that? Taylor Hicks. And before that was Jordin Sparks, who is only now getting around to having anything like a hit song. The last person who truly captured public interest was Chris Daughtry, and that was a couple seasons back. Maybe we should start to consider that America has run out of squeaky clean publicity whores who have months of their lives to give up and can sing any popular genre in the most mediocre, inoffensive way possible.

Jason Castro’s brother wins golden ticket

This year’s American Idol is a ‘family’ thing!

Jason Castro’s younger brother, Michael, has auditioned for American Idol and he made quite an impression on the judges.

The 20-year-old just had begun singing three weeks before his try-out and he nailed it! He’s going to Hollywood!

Singing Gavin DeGraw’s “In Love With A Girl,” Michael Castro got a stronger voice than Jason. His voice is a little rough, but he can still improve it.

Simon: “Michael, it was good-ish. It’s not bad. I can’t get anything from your voice at the moment. I’m never quite sure with you Castros, whether you’re really, really into this or not.”

Kara: “I think you can sing. I think you’re kind of a ballsie dude And I kind of like that about you. You have this sort of, ‘I have a secret’ kind of vibe.”

Paula: “I say, yes, yes, yes.”

Randy: “I say yes, dawg. Welcome to Hollywood.”

Simon: “Say hi to your brother.”

TV Review: AMERICAN IDOL – SEASON EIGHT – Kansas City Auditions

We find out the kinder, gentler AI was all just a sham … like we knew it would be

So maybe the “second verse, same as the first” AMERICAN IDOL kick-off was just a fluke. Maybe the remainder of the season will focus more on the talent rather than the freaks. Or maybe the entire freaking hype about the show being less mean than ever before was just a big fat lie in order to draw people into the show.

It didn’t work. The ratings were the lowest ever for a debut episode of AMERICAN IDOL and that means despite the changes … you just can’t stop the progressive decline in ratings that are happening. Still, given it is the most popular show on TV even at a lowered audience … they can’t complain that much can they?

So let’s see what happens in episode two. Remember: Read this as a real-time blog.

Simon Cowell still the heart of “American Idol”

Ah yes, winter is in the air. The birds have flown south. The Los Angeles air is unseasonably warm. And one Simon Cowell has tossed out the ceremonial first nasty slur.

Indeed, “American Idol” season has arrived, and just in time to save the American economy (or at least Fox’s). Season 8 of the Series That Ate Television kicked off Tuesday with a two-hour extravaganza of megahype, self-promotion, self-delusion, aural crimes against nature and the occasional promising voice.

We also got our first gander at the much-anticipated fourth judge as Kara DioGuardi joined Simon, Paula and Randy on the judgment firing line. The early read on the hit songwriter is that she’s going to go out of her way, at least initially, to fit in. There wasn’t a lot of her going against the grain or her cohorts on Night 1, leaving viewers wondering why “Idol” needed a fourth judge, anyway. Oh yeah: because the show is losing viewers and needs to shake things up.

Kara or no Kara, the opening “Idol” salvo didn’t look like much of a rejiggering, which no doubt promises to be more theoretical than actual since one doesn’t fix that which isn’t really broken. The gang was in Phoenix. Host Ryan Seacrest was more smiley than ever. Simon proved to be in midseason contempt form. Paula often appeared, er, distracted. Randy struggled to connect and rise above his punchy colleagues.

It resulted in an estimated 30.1 million viewers in preliminary national numbers from Nielsen and a 15% dip in young-adult viewership from the year before. But again, there didn’t appear to be much alteration in the formula aside from the ballyhooed fourth wheel. Those who successfully score a Hollywood invite all seem to embody the same finger-snapping rhythmic pop vocal style. One helped her case by dressing in a very skimpy bikini, inspiring even Simon to gulp.

‘American Idol’ Bikini Girl got attention, but how does it compare?

All bikinis are notable, but some are more notable than others.

While “American Idol” contestant Katrina Darrell, 20, a.k.a. Bikini Girl, made quite a splash this week by auditioning in a swimsuit, it takes more than a bare midriff to secure a place in bikini history.

Can Ms. Darrell’s suit compete with the one Brigitte Bardot wore to Cannes in 1953—the one that popularized both A) the suit style and B) the film festival while at the same time fueling America’s love affair with French, um, culture?

Can it go paisley-to-polka dot with the “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” of Brian Hyland’s 1960 hit song?

J-HUD TO SING NATIONAL ANTHEM AT SUPER BOWL: Performance will be first since slaying of her family members.

The NFL has confirmed that Jennifer Hudson will sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla. on Feb. 1.

The performance will be her first return to the spotlight since the October murders of her mother, brother and 7-year-old nephew.

Hudson, who had released her self-titled debut album shortly before the killings, is also scheduled to sing at the Grammys’ MusiCares event in Los Angeles a few days later. She is nominated for four awards at the Feb. 8 Grammy Awards.

The former “American Idol” contestant hasn’t made a public appearance since her 57-year-old mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson; 29-year-old brother Jason Hudson; and 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, were slain in Chicago on October 24. Her estranged brother-in-law has been charged in the killings.

“American Idol” premiere, part 2: Paula’s making sense, and do we have our first scandal?

Part 2 of the “American Idol” season premiere saw one particularly emotional story and a lot of decent-but-not-gonna-blow-you-away auditions — well, save one.

Before we get into the meat of the second night of the season, I must point out a comment made by oft-maligned judge Paula Abdul. When 21-year-old Anoop Desai (see clip below) was criticized by Simon Cowell and Kara DioGuardi for wearing “geeky” clothes and flip-flops, Abdul said: “Forget the clothing stuff, you’re good.” Now just think about that for a second. That’s a stunningly appropriate comment to make when you’re asking someone to sing a cappella. If she keeps this up, all the fun of mocking her will be gone!

‘American Idol’: Let’s talk Kansas City auditions!

It’s appropriate that Episode 2 of American Idol’s eighth season focused on the ‘Show Me’ state, since the producers actually focused on Hollywood-bound contestants for a change — can I get a big, enthusiastic “holla!” up in here? — and spent a lot less time chasing trainwrecks. During the two hour telecast, we got to see 13 of the 27 Kansas City hopefuls who received Golden Tickets, and while I can’t say that any of ‘em rocked my world like Paris Bennett’s “Take Five” from back in season 5 (yeah, that one tops my list of Idol’s 12 Greatest Auditions Ever), there were a lot of solid singers on display, and better still, many appeared to have been plucked from day-job obscurity (i.e. welder Matt Breitzke), rather than pre-selected from lists of artists who’ve recently been dropped by major labels (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Anyhow, weigh in with your thoughts on tonight’s episode, then be sure to check back around 6 a.m. for my full TV Watch episode recap. On that note, I’d better start frantically hunting and pecking; it’s after 10 p.m., and I don’t know where my opening paragraph is.

Randy Jackson Soils Frank Zappa’s Memory

It’s this kind of lame crap that is destroying music. We actually received a press release about the t-shirt Randy Jackson wore on American Idle. It gets worse as they place Jackson in the same category as Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Robert Plant, Joe Strummer and Jeff Buckley. Sad but true. Here is the hype so you know which shirt to avoid buying or outright boycott:
Randy Jackson already brings rock history to American Idol – as a professional musician, he’s played with Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia and Journey – but last night he literally wore it on his sleeve with Worn Free’s “Radio Clyde” T-shirt. The shirt was originally worn by Frank Zappa onstage in the late 70s after being given to him by a Scottish radio station of the same name.

With last night’s show, Jackson joined the growing number of musicians, actors, [poptards] and entertainers who take pride in being a part of pop culture history with the comfortable, shirts offered by Worn Free.

Worn Free combines art, rock and roll and chic fashion into lines of hip T-shirts that make pop culture’s history come alive, worn by celebrities, musicians and notable figures all over the world, including Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Aniston [that'll make you want one!] and Robert Plant.

The company’s highly anticipated spring 2009 design line is to include “new” vintage designs originally worn by Frank Zappa, John Lennon, Deborah Harry, Jeff Buckley, Joe Strummer and Janis Joplin, just to name a few. [Care to drop any more names? If they were alive would they endorse this use of their names? (We realize that Deborah Harry is still alive and probably enjoys any press she can get these days, we are talking about the others).

One star shines bright in Kansas City

Fact about the number eight: Scorpio is the eight sign of the Zodiac. Scorpio traits include loyalty, passion and commitment. On the flip side those can manifest themselves as, possessiveness, jealousy and manipulative or controlling behavior.

The march to Kansas City confirmed many of the trends seen on the season premiere (a more energetic judging panel, a gentler spirit of mockery towards the misbegotten) . This night however produced the first real star of the season, the stunning Lil’ Rounds who appeared in what my blogging compatriot Phil Stacey referred to as the “Pimp Slot” – the prime real estate closing the show. For the first time this season, we experienced that special feeling that we lie in wait for – that moment of revelation when you feel you just might be looking on a superstar for the very first time; before she herself even knows it.

At the judges table, Kara Diogaurdi, still the object of the greatest curiosity, largely blended into the crowd, offering few signature moments. Still, it can be attributed to her presence that the judicial branch seemed honest-to-God vibrant last night; Cowell showing none of the soul-wrenching boredom he’s displayed for the past couple years and Paula sounding positively on top of things at times.

There was one potentially ominous moment early on. The great hope of Kara Diogaurdi is that she will wield a stiletto razor sharp enough to bring a new level of terror to the Idoldome. However, near the top of the show when Simon told a singer that she sound like a “cat jumping off the Empire State Building”
Diogaurdi jumped in, attempting to shush Cowell with the stunning claim that “That doesn’t help anybody.”

‘American Idol’ Recap: Second Day Audition in Kansas City, Missouri

After much hype on the first day audition in Phoenix, Arizona, “American Idol” went mild in the second day, January 14. Held in previous season’s champ David Cook’s hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, the audition produced a total number of 27 golden tickets but the segment lacked the ‘oomph’ that the first delivered with its bikini girl stunt and Ryan Seacrest’s attempt to high five a blind contestant.

One of the hits that was considerably an extra gas for the episode would be the presence of last season’s finalist Jason Castro, who was there in support of his pink-haired brother, Michael Castro. The younger Castro claimed that he only started singing 20 days before the audition. Simon called his rendition of Gavin DeGraw’s “In Love With a Girl”, “goodish” while Kara DioGuardi said that she likes him. He went through to the Hollywood round.

paidContent.org – ‘American Idol’ Teams Up With Habbo For Virtual World

FremantleMedia Enterprises and teen virtual world Habbo are partnering on an American Idol virtual world slated to launch at the end of January, a first for the iconic music talent show. But those looking for virtual Simon, Paula or David Cook likely will be disappointed. David Luner, SVP-interactive & consumer products for FME, was quite clear on the concept during an interview: “We specifically are not replicating the show. We are not about taking American Idol and creating a virtual show online.”

Slowly trying to cope
Super Bowl-bound Hudson sifting though pile of scripts

She’s working her way through a pile of scripts, but also has begun working on a screenplay of her own. I’m hearing it’s ”very loosely” based on the entertainer’s own life, which of course already has included her leap to stardom on ”American Idol,” winning an Oscar for her first film and then facing the unfathomable grief caused by the murders of her mother, brother and nephew.

Oh Boy, are things really that bad George?

Bloated, sullen-looking and unrecognisable from his Eighties heyday, it seems bad karma has caught up with the Karma Chameleon.
Boy George appeared tired and withdrawn yesterday as he left his London home during what could be his last days of freedom.
The 47-year-old DJ, whose real name is George O’Dowd, was last month convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort, who claimed the former Culture Club frontman had manacled him to a wall and whipped him.

“A.I.” Contestant Ordered to SCRAM

If “American Idol” wannabe Emily Wynne-Hughes manages to stick around for a while, you might get to see the first contestant perform with an alcohol monitoring bracelet!

Turns out Emily — the same tattooed chick who can’t seem to keep her pants on — is smack in the middle of a DUI fiasco, and she has been ordered to wear a SCRAM bracelet.

The whole thing is over an arrest back in July, where cops busted her for allegedly driving drunk in West Hollywood. Emily copped a plea to a lesser charge of reckless driving.

In addition to the bracelet, Emily was placed on 3 years probation.

We’ve learned there may be another hearing and the judge could back down on the SCRAM bracelet — but for now the order stands.

New “Idol” Judge Catches McPheever

Here’s new “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi (left) — and Season 5 “Idol” wannabeen Katharine McPhee (right).

One of them wrote six songs on McPhee’s debut album.

We’re just sayin.’

‘American Idol’ Contestant Michael Castro Surprises Big Brother JasonSeason-seven alum’s inexperienced little bro makes it to Hollywood.

Michael — who is selling posters of himself on Jason’s Web site, if you’re interested — explained on a January 15 post on MySpace that he had a grand total of two voice lessons leading up to the audition, but that he’s already writing some songs that he plans to record when he gets a chance.

Judging by some of the posts on the Dallas Morning News Web site, fans in the Castro boys’ home state are excited about the legacy action. “I found him charming and personable with a promising voice!” wrote Al. “I can’t wait to watch him this season. My favorite so far.”

Another fan, Rikuchi, stayed up late to opine, “This boy was just like. Wow. I thought he was just hot but couldn’t sing since he said he just started 20 days before the auditions, but WOW. He’s sexy, cute, AND can sing. Can’t wait to see how far he goes.”

Dance Of The Commuters: 400-strong ‘flash mob’ gets funky at Liverpool Street Station

There are many ways to kill time while waiting for your train – read a paper, grab a sandwich . . . break into a synchronised dance?
It certainly got the attention of commuters at Liverpool Street Station, as 400 strangers – including tourists and Underground staff – suddenly leaped into action, busting out a co-ordinated mix of hip-hop, disco and ballroom moves right in the middle of the London station.
The dance was an example of ‘flash mob’, which occurs when people arrange to meet at a certain place and time to carry out a quirky action, before disbanding minutes later.
Flash mobbing is seen as an anarchic, freedom-of-expression act, although this one was organised by T-Mobile for an advert which will debut on Channel 4 and YouTube tomorrow.