Hi!
Sorry about the "late notice" for those of you who don't already know. But I'll be "live-blogging" the Grammy's tonight [Sun 2.11]. Keep an eye on my blog at:
http://donthatemebecauseimbloggerful.blogspot.com
Even if you don't keep up with it "live", it should be fun to check it out after the fact.
The Grammy's begin @ 8 PM [EST]. See you then.
/rtm
Sunday, February 11, 2007
BREAKING: Area Blogger Joins "Live-Blogging-The-Grammy's" Crowd
Friday, February 9, 2007
META: Breaking: Blogger Googling Results In Loud Echo In Bloggosphere
I'm sorry this couldn't be more timely, but I was busy on other matters for most of Wednesday, and when I finally got free, my "google" went down until mid-day Thursday.
If you've ever heard the old adage that, "in the future, we'll all be doing each others' laundry writing each others' blogs", or you believe that "there are two things you don't want to see being made -- sausage and legislation blogs", you may not want to read this post.
On Tuesday 2.6, American Idol aired an audition show from San Antonio. One of the contestants shown on television was Akron Watson. Watson was shown on the air receiving one of the coveted "golden tickets" to Hollywood.
I watched that show and took some notes about it during the broadcast [sadly, I have neither a TiVo (or similar DVR device) nor a VCR (VeeCeeWhaa???)]. After the show, I worked up a blog post about the show.
Inspired by earlier work done by Eric at deathbycamera, I googled several of the contestants looking for MySpace pages, YouTube videos, etc. etc. One of the hits I received was this story on the Pegasus News site about Watson's invitiation to Hollywood having been revoked just days before he was scheduled to leave. As you can see on this page, the story originally appeared online on 1.31. No one -- no one -- had picked up on it before Watson's appearance on the 2.6 airdate of his audition. In my post, I linked to this story [with attribution] and questioned why Watson's ticket had been torn up. My post went up at 10:39 PM PST on 2.6 [1:39 AM EST on 2.7]. [N.B.: The Pegasus News article was updated at 9:17 PM CST (10:17 PM EST) 2.6, after Idol aired in the Eastern and Central time zones and after I had already found and cached the page, to reflect the fact that Idol aired Watson's audition in spite of the fact that he had already been uninvited.]
Puzzled about the lack of corroborating evidence of this story when I was ready to post my report -- I googled again, and found only the updated page [N.B.: my post reflected the updated title of the PN post] -- I began to wonder if this was some internet hoax. I went to bed wondering whether this story was on the level -- What is "Pegasus News"??? Would I have to "update" my blog??? -- or, if it were, when this explosive news would "filter" in to the entertainment websites.
I should not have been so naive.
Dear reader[s], it is at this point that I must refer you to my earlier disclosure. Take a moment to refresh yourself. Back? Okay, let's go...
On Wednesday 2.7, the entertainment bloggosphere was abuzz about the plight of Akron Watson, the contestant from the Dallas-Fort Worth area who had received the "golden ticket" on Tuesday's show but had been uninvited from Hollywood by the AI producers. Here are some representative post times -- and sources -- of some of these posts:
* RealityTVMagazine -- "10:33 PM 2.6" -- PN [note -- RealityTVMagazine.com uses TypePad for their blog; TypePad is centered in San Francisco; TypePad's website does not specify how the post time is determined or what time zone is used as the default time zone; RTVM's post did not appear in my post-post [ha ha!] google search]
[all dates below are Wednesday 2.7]
* TMZ -- 11:30 AM [EST?] -- PN via RTVM
* BestWeekEver -- 1:43 PM [EST?] -- PN via TMZ
* Stereogum -- 5:30 PM [CST?] -- TMZ
* Idolator -- time unknown -- RTVM [note: RTVM "reported this morning"]
* MollyGood -- time unknown -- TMZ
Okay, DHMBIB, we're getting tired of reading. What's your point?
My point is.... It's pretty clear to me that the big, "well-respected" entertainment sites [*cough* bloggers *cough*] RTVM and TMZ got this story the same way I did -- by googling with a search that looked something like this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22akron+watson%22&btnG=Google+Search
And the other sites [*cough* bloggers *cough*] got their stories by...reading other blogs.... If you regularly read any blogs, you should not be surprised to read that most bloggers' content is merely recycled from other blogs. Trust me -- I'm not hatin' on this method of creating content. Different blogs have different audiences, and the bloggers behind them blog what they blog because they believe their eyeballs meal-tickets readers want to know about this info, regardless whether it is "original news".
Okay, so we all write each others' blogs, and our readers don't want to know that.
[Go back and reread my disclosure.] But I am especially unimpressed with the work of TMZ here, which advertises itself as the "go-to" entertainment news blog:
" Named one of the year's 50 coolest websites by Time magazine [where is the disclosure??? -- Ed.], TMZ -- a joint venture between Telepictures Productions and AOL -- has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence by breaking [emphasis added -- Ed.] the biggest stories in entertainment. From Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and subsequent encounter with law enforcement to Michael Richards' ill-fated trip to the Laugh Factory to the breakup of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's marriage, TMZ dominates the entertainment news landscape by changing the way the public gets their news. Frequently referenced by the media, TMZ is one of the most-cited entertainment news sources, utilized by national network and local newsgathering organizations across the country. "
I was the second site to have this news online. Please think about that the next time you "learn" something from TMZ, BWE, USMag, etc.
"Timing" is "everything".
Thank you. Drive through.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
This Week Today In American Idol: 6 February 2007
* Breaking: Most Americans cannot sing like Idols:
Tuesday night was the final round of localized auditions. On Wednesday, Idol will run a "remainders" show with auditions from all of the locations.
I should probably point out here that this post contains a clearly-labeled SPOILER ALERT. AI fans will find out about this soon enough, but I'm just sayin'....
So, back in San Antonio, here are the names of the auditioners [with the songs they sang if I could identify them]:
Bryan Kyrish, "Rebel Yell"
Haley Scarnato, "I Can't Make You Love Me"
Jasmine Holland, "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here"
Baylie Brown, "Stronger"
William Green, "Amazing Grace"
Akron Watson, "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Let's Get It On"
LaRisa Curry
Deborah Tyler, "Vogue"
Sandie Chavez, "Black Velvet"
Ashlyn Carr, "Feelin' Good", "Inseparable"
Jacob Tutor
Jimmy McNeal, "Another Saturday Night" / "Cupid" [medley]
Eric over at deathbycamera got me thinking about stalking searching for the auditioners in cyberspace. And since he seems to have lost interest in doing it himself, I decided I would give it a crack.
Eric found many of the auditioners from the first three rounds in cyberspace. I don't know if the auditioners from the later rounds are cyber-unsavvy, or if it's just me [okay, it's probably me], but I have not had much luck finding these people. But here's what I found from San Antonio....
MADE IT TO L.A.:
* Haley Scarnato -- Haley sang Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't make You Love Me". Haley is a professional singer but strangely does not seem to have her own website or bandsite or MySpace or anything on line. However, I did find the website of another musician on whose record she appeared. Yes, I know that's weak.
* Baylie Brown -- Of course, it has to be spelled "B-A-Y-L-I-E". Baylie also is a professional singer who has released her own CD. And she has her own website.
Baylie describes herself as a "traditional country" singer. Which made her choice of audition song a little odd, I suppose. I can't think of anyone who would describe Faith Hill's "Stronger" as "traditional country". But it is one of the best songs on her absolute best album, Cry, which cannot in any way, shape or form be described as "traditional country". But Baylie nailed it anyway, even if "traditional country" radio would never get near it:
Faith Hill - Stronger [mp3, via YSI]
Faith Hill - Stronger [mp3, via zShare]
Simon commented that Baylie was exactly what the record labels were looking for in new talent, by which I think he meant that she's a great singer, she's very attractive, and she has a nice personality. Baylie Brown will go far in this competition. Write that down. [*cough* Carrie Underwood *cough*]
* Akron Watson -- Akron first sang Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come". He sang it well, but the judges told him he was "lacking in personality", and they weren't inclined to send him through to L.A. So Akron gave it another shot with Al Green's "Let's Get It On". Again, he really nailed the song, but the judges were skeptical. Somewhat reluctantly, they let him through.
* Ashlyn Carr -- Ashlyn sang "Feelin' Good", "by Nina Simone, but the Michael Buble version". Like Akron, Ashlyn sang the song well, but the judges all picked up on mysterious and unspecified "bad habits" they said would derail her early in the competition. Simon also complained that she sang the "Michael Buble version" more like Nina Simone. They told her no, and she left the room crying. Then the judges thought they might have been a little hard on her, and they called her back in. They told her they would give her another chance. Simon suggested she try something by Gladys Knight. Ashlyn then sang "Inseparable", and nailed it as well. The judges warned her about her "bad habits" that she would need to break, but they decided to let her through.
I couldn't find Ashlyn online. I did find a few references to her performances at State Fairs and such, but no MySpace, YouTube, etc.
* Jimmy McNeal -- The last on-air auditioner of the night, Jimmy McNeal immediately connected with the judges with his bubbly personality. He sang a medley of Sam Cooke hits, "Another Saturday Night" and "Cupid". The judges all said he reminded them of AI2 winner Ruben Studdard. They easily passed him through.
I couldn't find Jimmy online either. Not a good night for my online stalking.
Recap -- Wait, was this the San Antonio show from 2.6 or the L.A. show from 1.31??? Let's go to the tape: Professional singers? Haley & Baylie -- check! Sam Cooke audition songs? Akron & Jimmy -- check! "Feelin' Good"? Ashlyn -- check!
Maybe next season's hoepefuls should take note of the last two audition shows???
DIDN'T MAKE IT:
I looked but couldn't find anything about any of the failed auditioners. Sue me.
* Breaking: SPOILER ALERT!!!
I didn't mention anything above about the results of my online searches for Akron Watson. He is online, but not in the way he would've hoped:
" Immediately following his greatest triumph, Akron received a phone call from one of the show’s producers. American Idol wanted to send a crew out to Akron’s [Dallas-Fort Worth] home to put together a feature about the young singer that could be used during the show. Akron was excited by the opportunity to share his background with the American Idol viewers, and tell everyone about the obstacles he had already overcome in his life.
" “We talked about everything,” says Akron. And that included his days of skipping school, chasing girls, drinking, and even pleading guilty to possession of marijuana after a police officer found no more than a doobie’s worth of pot in his car. It also included the personal wakeup call Akron got when his brother died, and his dedication to being a good Christian from that day forth.
" In the weeks after the crew came out to interview Akron, he received numerous e-mails from producers at American Idol with information regarding his trip to Hollywood for the next round of auditions. Naturally, Akron grew more and more excited by the opportunity to become the next American Idol as the Hollywood round neared. But then, less than a week before he was supposed to get on a plane headed for Los Angeles, Akron received a disturbing phone call from a representative of the show.
" “I was supposed to leave that Monday, they called me on a Thursday,” explains Akron. “They said we’re not gonna let you go. And I asked ‘why?’ And he said ‘Well I’m not really sure’… and then he gave me some alternatives for what I should say to people if they asked why I was kicked off … He told me to tell people that I was now an alternate ... That would protect [me] and protect the show.”
. . .
" Yesterday, I spoke twice with American Idol PR representative Alex Gillespie to see if the show had any official explanation for why Akron was not allowed to tryout in Hollywood. When I first talked to Gillespie, she told me that she would find out exactly what happened for me. Then when I spoke with her later in the day, she apologized and told me that the show would not ever be giving a reason for Akron’s elimination from the competition.
" As the Fox network’s air-date for the American Idol San Antonio search nears, Akron Watson has no clue whether they will even show his audition on television. His dream has been taken from him. Worst of all, he still doesn’t know why and maybe never will. "
Alan Cohen, UPDATED: DFW native booted from American Idol days before Hollywood round
Cohen's article does note that other Idol wannabes have been allowed to continue in the competition even after "worse" things from their past have come to light. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? Is there a stricter "something-like-zero tolerance" policy in place this year? Or is AI's out that this came to light before the L.A. round got underway, when there is still a pool of about 200 competitors in the field?
Akron Smith does now have a MySpace site, called "Bring Ak Back". As I write, he has 263 "friends". I definitely feel for the guy, but I think he may be overplaying his hand a bit when he lists "Simon, Randy, & Paula" in the "Who I'd like to meet" section of his profile.
Until tomorrow...
Thursday, February 1, 2007
This Week In American Idol
Okay, this is just a lame excuse for a bunch of mini-posts. Sue me.
* Breaking: Real actual star of "Grease" waaaaaaaaaay better to air than a "let's-cast-a-new-for-the-21st-century-'Grease'" made-up "reality" show:
Awesomest. Celebrity. Judge. Ever.
Fox to NBC: "Suck it!"
* Breaking: Idol-hating blogger's failure to waste time tracking down MySpace profiles of failed Idol wannabes making it harder for Idol fans to be lazy:
Eric over at deathbycamera seems to have gotten bored with his Idol-hating must-read posts. Because nature abhors an unfilled gap that needs filling with Idol MySpace-stalking, I have tracked down a few of Wednesday's contestants:
THEY MADE IT...
* Alaina Alexander -- the first LA contestant on TV to get the golden ticket; she sang "Feelin' Good" by Michael Buble, although it's actually a cover; I couldn't find her on MySpace, but here she is on YouTube...
* Brandon Rogers -- yet another professional singer who advances to the LA round; anyone noticing a trend on Idol this season??? He sang "Always On My Mind"; Brandon Rogers on MySpace...
* Brian Miller -- Brian Miller is way too common a name to track down on MySpace -- even by paging through all of the actual singers named "Brian Miller"; but he sang Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come", which is an awesome song, so I wish him luck...
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come [mp3, via YSI]
Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come [mp3, via zShare]
[memo to AI producers -- you could do a lot worse than a "Sam Cooke night"...just sayin'...]
And that's it...Did I see that right? Only 3 wannabes who were shown on the air made it through???
NOT A CHANCE IN HELL...
I only tracked down 1 of the trainwrecks, but it's a good one. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the MySpace page of Marianna Riccio, whose mother was a backup singer for Dean Martin and who butchered the Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?"...
* And speaking of Dean Martin...
AI veterans know the producers are not below tugging at the heartstrings a bit to goose the ratings [as if the ratings need any goosage]. But this was real, and it was nice, and it was even real nice...
Here's Sherman Pore, whose girlfriend died of cancer 2 days before his "audition", but who still kept his promise to her to audition...and what a beautiful job he did:
* Breaking: AI viewers not smart enough to know when AI begins, ends; apparently keep their "teevees" tuned to Fox between January and May:
Tuesday's 9PM post-Idol episode of House and Wednesday's 8PM pre-Idol episode of Bones both logged record ratings numbers this week. In other news: NBC and CBS green-light new series entitled, respectively, "Law & Order: American Idol" and "CSI: AI" [theme music by The Who still to-be-determined]; ABC still reviewing pilot for "Dancing With The American Idols".
The Who - Success Story [mp3, via YSI]
The Who - Success Story [mp3, via zShare]
* Breaking: Katharine McPhee releases an album; Kelly Clarkson yawns:
Here's Slate's Idol blogger Jody Rosen on McPheever's new record:
" On Tuesday, another runner-up, Katharine McPhee, released her debut album, and it's actually a good record, staking out a nice middle ground between R&B and adult album alternative, with the blowsy ballads kept to a minimum. (I'm a sucker for the single, "Over It.") "
I picked up "Katharine McPhee" [the album, not the singer, damn it!!!] on Tuesday, and my initial review is less charitable. My opinion may change over time, but my initial review is..."Katharine McPhee" is all over the place. She can't seem to decide if she's [in no particular order] Christina Aguilera, Fergie Ferg, Gwen Stefani, Janet Jackson, Kelly Clarkson, or...Britney Spears???
My advice: Kat, you have a great voice. Embrace it. Find your confidence [not a word you normally associate with someone who is bulimic and who dabbles in Scientology to impress boys]. And embrace your inner Xtina. It worked for Kelly...
Katharine McPhee - Dangerous [mp3, via YSI]
Katharine McPhee - Dangerous [mp3, via zShare]
Katharine McPhee - Home [mp3, via YSI]
Katharine McPhee - Home [mp3, via zShare]
Katharine McPhee - Open Toes [mp3, via YSI]
Katharine McPhee - Open Toes [mp3, via zShare]
Katharine McPhee singing "Over It" on The Today Show, 2007.01.31:
* Bonus Breaking #1: Perez Hilton wants you to know that Clay Aiken wants you to know he has at least 4 fingers on his left hand; Clay Aiken wants you to know that a gay blogger who wants to out him is making up stuff and "bull$#@&":
I have no idea what any of this means.
* Bonus Breaking #2: Nikki McKibben is back:
AI1 3d-place-finisher Nikki McKibben is back. Back from where -- don't ask me. Yes, the famously-untalented and famously-unsmart AI1 3d place finisher -- she eliminated the actually-talented Tamyra Gray -- is "back". But "back" doing what, who knows...
Friday, January 26, 2007
What Would Mary Camden Do?
Perez Hilton's jealous and/or gay sources are reporting that Jessica Biel flew out to Sundance on Thursday to vaca with JT and his fam:
" "Jessica was picked up in her chauffer-driven Volkswagen Touareg car and instantly went to visit Timberlake when she got into Park City," says a source.
" And, in typical Biel and Timberlake fashion, the atheletic twosome even spent time snowboarding together on Thursday, a Biel insider reveals to us. "
[PerezHilton.com, via TMZ.com (4th item)]
I hope Jessie remembered to bring the remote-controlled lingerie she bought at that boutique in 7th Heaven [3d item].
Justin Timberlake - Boutique In Heaven [mp3, via YSI]
Justin Timberlake - Boutique In Heaven [mp3, via zShare]
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Quick Hits: Updates For 24 January 2007
* Eric must have a bet with his friends on what time his site will melt down: Eric over at deathbycamera -- despite claiming not to give a shit about American Idol -- has decided to embrace his role as the unofficial MySpace-profile-seeker for AI contestants. He's got the profiles for the Memphis round from Tuesday 23 January up now. The site is still up as I post this, but it will soon become bogged down, so keep trying if your browser times out.
* See, American Idol winners really are just like everyone else: Carrie Underwood kicks Tony Romo to the curb after he blows the Cowboys' chance to win a playoff game tells The Tennessean that she and Tony Romo are not dating and non-denially-denies that they ever were:
" Carrie Underwood says her success has resulted in false rumors being reported in the press, including the report that she's dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.
" "I have read some of the most ridiculous things about that," she says of reports that she's dating Tony. "The first time I ever met him was on Christmas, right there on the field. Everybody was like, 'Ooh, they are together.' And then I was blamed for Dallas not winning that game. . . . He is a very nice guy and I've talked to him a few times, but we are very much not together."
" An Illinois newspaper reported that Tony said it was true that the two were dating. (Her publicist, who says Carrie is not dating anyone, presumes Romo was joking.) "That was one person from one local newspaper that said that, so whether or not . . .,"Carrie says. "I've read 'sources said' we met on Thanksgiving. I had no clue who he was at that time. He is probably getting a little tired of that one (the false rumor he was dating Jessica Simpson) and now he's probably tired of this one, as I am." "
For Carrie Underwood, fame brings false rumors of romance
* So, maybe Jessie will be bringing sexy-panties-remote-back to Justin after all???: As I speculated earlier, it appears that Derek Jeter has "struck out" [thank you!!! I'll be here all week!!!] with Jessica Biel. Now, I really do love Gabrielle Union, but, I think I have to say...DOWNGRADE.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Leftovers: American Idol Edition
* Breaking: American Idol runners-up really are just like everyone else:
Katharine McPhee chats on her phone, feeds her meter, enjoys being stalked by paparazzi:
Katharine, love the shoes!!!
* Breaking: AI-hating dude who just fucking wanted to fucking share his fucking photos with his fucking friends is not fucking interested in fucking being the fucking AI-goto blog:
Eric over at deathbycamera does a post-mortem on his website meltdown as a result of his oh, ya know, collecting MySpace profiles on AI contestants. He says he only did it because he was bored, and he never expected all the extra traffic, because, ya know, the 37 million viewers that tuned in each night last week wouldn't care about such things. In retrospect, maybe it was not the best idea to mail several highly-trafficked music and celebretainment blogs about his posts:
Subject: the myspace accounts of american idol contestants
From: eric.dbc@gmail.com
Date: 1/17/07 2:56 AM
To: tips@stereogum.com; tips@defamer.com; tips@gawker.com; tips@idolator.com; tips@socialitelife.comI don’t know if anybody is watching the new season of American Idol, I don’t know if anybody really cares. Here’s the thing: I got really fucking bored tonight and started searching for the idiots that were on American Idol on myspace and found 11 of them. Some of them were winners, most of them were losers.
You can check it out here.
http://deathbycamera.com/?p=30
Peace,
Eric
www.deathbycamera.com
Yes, dude actually wrote: "I don’t know if anybody is watching the new season of American Idol, I don’t know if anybody really cares."
Eric, dude, think of all the Adsense revenue you left on the table!!!
This Week In Jessica Biel
Welcome to the debut of a new occasional feature at DHMBIB. When I decide to put one together, a post in "This Week In..." will usually feature someone who has been in the news a lot recently or for some unknown reason is appearing in photos everywhere.
As Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears are all charter members of the DHMBIB:TWI... Hall Of Fame, I'm really unlikely to make them subjects of this feature.
For my inaugural post, I present...This Week In Jessica Biel [whoa!]
* Insert your own lame-ass "Golden Globes" joke here:
Jessica Biel likes Maria Menounos's ass.
* Insert another lame-ass "Golden Globes" joke here:
Apparently, Esquire Mag's editors and JT are not the only people who think Jessie is the "Sexiest Woman Alive". Or maybe Diddy just likes him to stare at some boobies.
* So maybe that explains why Derek Jeter was nowhere in sight and JT was trying to pick up Jessie's "Golden Globes":
You may have noticed who was falling down on his job of being the exclusive looker-atter for Jessie's delicious form at Monday's "Golden Globes" -- Derek Jeter, who has been dating Jessie for a couple of months, and with whom he spent New Year's in Puerto Rico [yeah, that woulda been just two weeks earlier...]:
Hmmm. So, consider this item from Friday's installment of Ted Casablanca's "The Awful Truth":
"Raisin' eyebrows elsewhere was Jessica Biel, rumored g-f of Derek Jeter and Esquire's 2005 Sexiest Woman Alive, erasing all memories of her squeaky-clean 7th Heaven days. Jess-babe picked out a pair of remote-controlled vibrating panties along with some other stroke-ready toys from Booty Parlor at the Kari Feinstein Style Lounge in the Hollywood Hills. Now, go tell that to the pulpit set!"
Maybe Jessie was picking up these? [technically SFW, but I wouldn't risk it if I were you...] Who's the lucky son-of-a-gun who gets to "use the remote"???
Friday, January 19, 2007
Leftovers: blah, blah, blah...
* "Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends":
Hmmm...As LiLo has just checked in to rehab, she has not yet issued a statement regarding whether Pete's "fall out boy" [warning: NSFW] is "adequite"...
* Pete Wentz Trent Reznor doesn't care about emo people:
"“Emo screamo!” he ranted in an oddly Dr. Seussian style. “If I happen to accidentally turn the radio on…I literally can’t tell the difference between one of 20 bands,” said a clearly exasperated icon. “Either I’m getting old, which is a fact, or I’m turning into my dad! I wonder about the person that’s in a band, the young kid who just got signed or is trying to get signed - why is he doing it? Is he trying to change the world and do something different and express himself…or is it because they want to fuck Paris Hilton and be photographed outside trendy restaurants?”"
[RollingStone, via Stereogum]
Bonus points: Who is Trent Reznor???
* MTV cutting back on airing 30-second-clips of "music videos"; "Viewers would rather see Brooke Hogan shopping at Payless to a Danity Kane soundtrack":
The New York Daily News is reporting that MTV is floating the idea of canceling Total Request Live TRL. Something about the ratings. And the attention-spans of the MySpace generation.
Wait, what was I writing???
* Former C-Listers set to become current D-Listers:
I couldn't possibly "improve" on this:
"In "Untitled Boy Band Project," premiering late Spring 2007, four boy band legends: Chris Kirkpatrick (N*SYNC); Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees); Rich Cronin (LFO) and Bryan Abrams (Color Me Badd) will live together for one month, create new music, a dynamic stage show and perform as a new pop group."
* Fall Out Boy lyrics are hard to discern, easy to mock:
Following up on my well-received [meaning: only-commented-upon] post about this, I present this:
ciaobaby
Thursday, January 18, 2007
BREAKING: Most People Are Bad Singers, Refuse To Acknowledge It; Rupert Murdoch Still Smarter Than You
American Idol has returned!!!
AI vets know that this part of the season highlights the worst of the worst. Indeed, it was the train-wreck failed auditions that originally hooked people on AI in the first place [remember back in '02 when AI watchers -- especially those who tuned in after hearing their friends describe Simon's sharp-tounged put-downs of the losers who had no clue they couldn't sing -- were disappointed that the remaining contestants' reasonable vocal skills were not prompting much biting criticism from the judges???].
As AI has evolved over time, and grown into a cultural phenomenon that leaves network execs at networks not named "FOX" shaking in the corners of padded rooms, both the judges and the potential "contestants" have gotten savvier about 1) delivering what the viewers want in the early weeks [audition train-wrecks and put-downs], and 2) how to make the most out of their one chance at 15-minute-fame. Thus, we get auditioners that are either delusional about their lack of talent, or deliberately bombing hoping to be the next William Hung -- or both [Troy Benham, the "Urban Amish" guy who claims never to have seen AI, and to not even have "broadcast television", but who somehow manages to be on MySpace -- I'm calling you out!!!] -- along with judges who are overly critical of marginally-talented performers [seriously, I didn't think Jessica Rhode -- the Jewel fan who kicked off the Minneapolis show by singing "Who Will Save Your Soul" to her idol -- was really that bad, and certainly not "that bad" enough to deserve the evisceration she got from the judges].
If you are even remotely interested in what happens on AI, you don't need me to link to the multitude of reviews of the first two installments of AI6. But I will link to maybe the most interesting resource -- and perhaps the most linked-to out there -- about the first two nights. Eric over at deathbycamera has done some awesome work tracking down the MySpace pages of some of this year's contestants -- winners and losers. Please note -- depending on when you check these out, some of the profiles may be already gone [including, sadly, the profile of the afore-mentioned Jessica Rhode, who listed among her "music interests" some band called "The Google Dolls"]: Minneapolis; Seattle.
deathbycamera's work got me thinking about AI in the MySpace era. Although MySpace has been around for a couple of years now, deathbycamera's work is the first I've seen connecting the contestants to MySpace profiles. Which got me thinking.
I'm sure you all know that AI is the highest-rated show on television. Tuesday's AI6 premiere was the highest-rated show in the key 18-49 demographic -- over 37 million viewers -- since the Friends finale in May 2004. But MySpace's traffic is even gaudier than that. Reliable MySpace data is hard to come by, but it is estimated that there are approximately 150 million MySpace accounts.
MySpace, you may recall, was originally designed as a community site for musicians / bands to connect with their fans unfiltered by big record companies and big radio, etc. It still is a must-have-a-profile site for even the biggest names in the business, due to its large user-base of fans who are already used to accessing music in these "non-traditional" online venues.
This large collection of musicians and music-lovers proved a potential rival to the success and influence of AI. Imagine for a moment, if MySpace had decided to organize its own AI-style "competition", it could have quickly cultivated a contestant-space [remember -- You are the Person Of The Year, for good reason] and created an audience that would have made AI's numbers look like the audience for an overnight infomercial on the H&G channel. Imagine further, if MySpace had partnered up with someone else who knew a thing-or-two about marketing music-and-lifestyle to young people [do I have to spell it out??? it rhymes with emteevee...] -- well, that's formidable competition right there.
Okay, so all of that bloviation gets me to what I've been thinking about today:
1) Did Rupert Murdoch buy MySpace because he saw it as his most immediate potential threat to his American Idol cash cow?
2) Was Rupert Murdoch being penny-wise-and-pound-Australian-dollar-foolish in not picking up YouTube, his longer-term, potentially-tougher threat to his American Idol cash cow?
3) If Viacom/MTVN had picked up either MySpace or YouTube when they had the chance, would Tom Freston still have a job???
Discuss...
Bonus gettin'-all-meta-meta-and-shit link: 'Idol 5' runner-up Katharine McPhee to appear on 'Lonelygirl15'
Katharine McPhee is not Kelly Clarkson.
[still waiting for the CD -- only a week-and-a-half to go...]
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