Jennifer Hudson Tapped To Sing For The DNC

SOHH is reporting that Democratic Presidential Nominee, Barack Obama has requested that Jennifer Hudson sing the National Anthem on Thursday night prior to his accepting the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States. Click the link the read the brief story.

Jordin Sparks Made "Weak In The Knees" By Simon Cowell

Teen Music is reporting that Jordin Sparks was “surprised” to win American Idol 6, but what was more distracting for her than the competition was the “crush” she had on American Idol judge Simon Cowell. Click the link to read the story.

Daughtry Gives Back

Yahoo is reporting that Chris Daughtry joined the likes of Senator Tom Daschle, and Princess Zulu of Zambia to assist students at Manual High School in Denver, Colorado in assembling caregiver kits for World AIDS Day. Click the link to read the story.

Ace Young Enters “Grease” As Taylor Hicks Checks Out

Zap2it has put out a report from Playbill magazine stating that Taylor Hicks will exit the Broadway production of Grease on September 7th, and two days later, Ace Young will make his Broadway debut in the same play. Taylor Hicks has been playing Teen Angel, and Ace Young will play Kenickie. Click the link to read the story.

Paula's "Straight Up" Take on Kara, Is She "Forever Her Girl" ?: A Report From Perez

Sorry about the title, y'all, I just couldn't help myself.

Perez Hilton is reporting that he has had an exclusive conversation with Paula Abdul about her reaction to the addition of fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi. Paula reports that she has known Kara for "years". In fact, Paula says she met Kara in Brooklyn, New York years ago. AND that she convinced Kara to give up her job at Billboard magazine and move to LA to "pursue her dream". Further, Paula says that Kara lived with her for a little while when she came to LA. Finally, Paula stated that she had been mentioning Kara's name to Idol producers long before this decision was made.

Do we believe La Abdul and her sweet, loveydovey, response to Kara's addition to the judge's panel? Read the story to decide for yourself.

American Idol Shake Up: Idol Adds A Fourth Judge!

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that we've got a shake up going on at American Idol. It looks like the eighth cycle of American Idol is going to feature a fourth judge. The fourth judge will be on the panel from start to finish. In the words of EW, this looks like "the biggest format change in American Idol history". Kara DioGuardi, a singer songwriter who has written for several American Idol alums including Kelly Clarklson, Carrie Underwood, Katharine McPhee, Taylor Hicks, Clay Aiken, Bo Bice, David Cook, and David Archuleta, has been tapped to be the fourth judge on the panel. Along with all of the aforementioned Idol alums, DioGuardi has worked with the likes of Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Christiana Aguilera and Jewel.

I wonder how the addition of the fourth judge will play with the audience . . . How will it play with the other three judges? I kind of think that the addition of a fourth judge is a double edged sword . . . I think the addition of a songwriter could REALLY increase the street cred of the show . . . on the other hand, as EW mentions, the addition of a fourth judge could cut into an already short performance time . . .

What do y'all think?

Click the link to read the story

Archuleta Crushes the Competition

TV Guide is reporting that David Archuleta is blowing up the charts with his new single, "Crush". Billboard is reporting that Archuleta has debuted at #2 on the Hot 100 singles chart. This chart compiles both sales and airplay numbers to devleop rankings for singles. It is the tied for the highest ranking non-Idol related single for any former Idol contestant . . . of course, the other is by the ORIGINAL AMERICAN IDOL (not that I'm biased) Kelly Clarkson who hit #2 with her megahit "Since You've Been Gone".

All of us here at A Little Taste of Idol would love to give a huge shout out to our "Lil Boo". Congrats!

Click the link to read the article.

Elvis and Carrie Underwood Unite for a Not So Blue Christmas

Pantagraph has released a story regarding an upcoming Christmas album that will mirror the Frank Sinatra "Duets" CD from years ago. Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, and LeAnn Rimes are among those who will be featured on the CD. Click the link to read the story.

Archuleta Gets Personal With BC Music

With the release of David Archuleta's new single, "Crush", comes the usual onslaught of one on one interviews. BC Music has released its interview which was conducted just prior to a stop on the Idol tour. Highlights include: "Imagine" and "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" being two of David's favorite performances, and his comments about recording his upcoming album. This one is kind of lengthy . . . so, all you Archuleta fans, enjoy! Click the link to read the story.

Simon Cowell and Money: "I Have No Conscience"

Reality TV World is reporting that Simon Cowell has "no conscience when it comes to spending". The story reports that Cowell pulls in around 65 Million dollars per year in his various entertainment pursuits . . . with 47 Million coming from American Idol. One of the highlights from the story that just cracked me up was that Cowell "doesn't think twice" about spending around two thousand dollars on t-shirts alone. You would think with spending that much money on t-shirts, he could move away from the black and grey, er, um . . . let's just say "fitted" t's. Click the link to read the story.

American Idol Rewind

TV Week is reporting that American Idol Rewind is getting an upgrade. A new production company has taken over the reigns, and is expanding it's reach. Idol Rewind was the top rated cable viewed syndicated show in both of its first two seasons. It rated an average of 1.8 in the ratings . . . the equivalent of about 2 million viewers. In comparison, it is getting about the same rating as "Gossip Girl" the uber popular show on the CW. For season three, the show will focus on both Idol 3 and Idol 4. It will still deliver the performances that led contestants to sink or swim, but will also follow some of the contestants on their post-Idol journeys. Click the link to read the whole story.

David Archuleta Has A "Crush"

Oopsy . . . apparently I did not, as I previously posted, put the link to David Archuleta's single, "Crush" on the blog. I am posting it below. FYI: everyone from entertainment weekly to Billboard has given this single RAVE reviews. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Lil David Is Gonna Be A Star!

Our own little Idol Runner Up has released his first single, "Crush" from his forthcoming album to be released this fall. I posted a link to the song a while back. Well, another blog, "ChartRigger" is reporting that Lil Boo's single is NUMBER 1 on Itunes downloads and is set to debut in the TOP 10 this week! Yay for Lil Boo!

To celebrate, I am posting a link to a performance that made me believe he could be relevant in today's music scene. Please enjoy Lil David with One Republic singing, "Apologize"

Chris Sligh Discusses His Album and Tour

Y'all remember Chris Sligh from American Idol 6. He started with a bang and kind of went out with a whimper. He finished season 6 in the 10th position, and got to perform on the Idol Tour. BTW, Allison and I saw that tour, and sometime, we'll have to write a post about it . . . so freakin good . . . just me, Allison, and 5000 of our closest 10 year old friends! :)

Anyhoo, NewsOK has put out an interview with Chris Sligh . . . He discusses his Christain based album, his tour, and his time on American Idol. Click the link to read the story.

Sweet Home Alabama all summer long

Haven't been around for a while....but everytime I hear my new favorite song....I think of J and Alison. Hope you all are having a great summer!!!

I did check out Archie's single from the link....I'm not sold yet...but I'll give it a few more listens before I decide.

Anyway...in honor of two of my Southern Friends.......


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUaP7LoppGw

Ryan Seacrest . . . I just had to . . .

TMZ posted a blip of a story with the "modelling" photo of a 19 year old, Ryan Seacrest. Not much to the story, but mostly just a gratuitous shot of La Seacrest . . . doesn't do much to fan the flames of the "mo" rumors . . . Click the link to read the blip.

What do y'all think?

Kristy Lee Cook Talks About Her "Fifteen Minutes of Shame"

Blog Critics Music has posted an interview with American Idol 7 finalist, Kristy Lee Cook. The Idols just performed in her home town of Portland, Oregon and the folks from BCM caught up with our country girl. She states that her new single, "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" will be released sometime in August, and her album will drop sometime in the fall. Click the link to read the whole story!

Archuleta Tries To Channel His Inner Miley

Eonline is reporting that Uber Idol Dad, Jeff Archuleta wants the "Miley Cyrus" treatment for his son. In fact, it seems that Team Archuleta has worked a deal where Lil David is going to record two singles for his forthcoming album penned from the writers who provided the Miley her current hit, 7 things . . .

Click the link to read the story . . .

Gabe Garcia Thinks That Nashville Star Made The Right Decision

The link attached below hits on an interview with Gabe Garcia. In the interview, Gabe discusses that he thinks the right person won Nashville Star. In addition, he gives a little insider information about the final three . . .

Click the link to read the story . . .

Nashville Star: A Pre-Finale Interview

A few minutes before the Nashville Star Finale, I was emailed an article posted in Reality TV World interviewing John Rich about the final three contestants. I'll post a link at the bottom where you all can read the whole article. Its very interesting to read John Rich's thoughts . . . it is very clear that La Rich is not fond of Shawn Mayer. He is VERY complimentary of both Gabe Garcia and Melissa Lawson . . . seeming to lean a wee bit more towards Lawson than Garcia . . . however, he stated that they are both talented and would be wonderful to work with . . . Then there are his remarks regarding La Mayer . . . Rich states that while he has seen a noticeable difference in Mayer's attitude and personality, he thinks that she is working with the same amount of talent now as she was at the beginning . . . "she has not gone from terrible to great". Really, really interesting article . . . Click the link to read the whole story.