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12/31: Fare thee well movable type. Onto Wordpress!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is going to be my final Idol post on movable type. Check it out here.
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12/29: Top Idol stories of the year
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I meant to post this a week ago but I didn’t have access so here are my top 10 “Idol”-related stories of 2008, in no particular order. On Tuesday, I will post my top 10 personal favorite stories from dealing with the “Idols” directly.
1- The David vs. David derby. If anyone remembers season seven in particular a few years down the road, it will be known as the battle of the two Davids. David Archuleta was the cutesy, aw-shucks crooner, a favorite from day one. David Cook, while not an immediate standout, quickly proved his worth with emotive rocker creds and a sense of sincerity and authenticity. By the time we got to the top 12, those were already the top 2 and that never changed, no matter how much we liked Jason Castro’s hair or Carly Smithson’s tats. Overall, while not quite as compelling as season five, this crew was a major upgrade from season six. And both Davids are already having solid impacts on top 40 radio.
2- Jordin Sparks and who else? And just to confirm why season six was such a bust, the only one who has made a genuine impact so far is winner Jordin Sparks. We have to be proud of this 18 year old, who ended up with three top 5 hits, more than 5 million downloads and a near-million seller in a day and age when million sellers are rare. She has the charm, the grounding and the voice to carve out a decent career. Heck, even her so-called “controversy” defending the Jonas Brothers’ promise rings was kinda cute.
3- Poor Jennifer Hudson The year started out well with her: a decent role in the blockbuster film “Sex & the City,” another one in “The Secret Life of Bees” and her first full-fledged album, which was well received and garnered a decent-sized hit in “Spotlight.” But things went dark fast for her when her mom, brother and nephew were murdered in October. A fellow family member has been accused of murder. It’s just sad all the way around and overshadowed her upward career trajectory. We can only pray she can keep things going in the wake of such tragedy.
4- Clay Aiken out! In perhaps the least shocking news of all, Clay Aiken told People magazine earlier this year that he’s gay. We all knew that and the bloggers here were just glad he is able to free himself of the burden of the “secret.”
5- Paula Abdul and that stalker. Paula Abdul was her usual nutty self on the show this year. My favorite quote: “David, you are ridiculous. I wanted to squish you, squeeze your head off, and dangle you from my rear-view mirror.” But later in the year, things go weird when that stalker died near her home and Abdul complained that the show let the stalker on the show despite her complaints. (The producers said they knew nothing of the extent of the stalkers’ dealings with Abdul over many years.) She’s even talked about leaving the show when her contract is up. We’ll see. For 2009, we will still have Paula.
6-Carrie’s that all American gal The most consistently successful “Idol” alum has been Carrie Underwood. Her second album was a blockbuster in 2008 with four No. 1 hits and a streak of six in a row. She won a Grammy and a CMA. Her personal life, while occasionally chronicled in the tabs, remains relatively pristine. It’s good to be Carrie Underwood.
7-Broadway, here we come! In 2008, “Idol” alums continued to find work on Broadway or on national tours of Broadway hits. Three were on one play alone: “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” (Ruben Studdard, Frenchie Davis and Trenyce.) Clay was on “Spamalot.” Taylor Hicks was Teen Angel in “Grease” both on Broadway and on the national tour. Constantine Maroulis played a cheesy 80s rocker in “Rock of Ages.” Fantasia finished up her critically acclaimed role in “The Color Purple” in January.
8-Being a pro didn’t hurt The biggest controversy of the season seven contestants were the number of folks with prior record contracts. I personally didn’t think it mattered much but a lot of critics groused about the track records of Michael Johns (known in the past as Michael Lee), Carly Smithson (once known as Carly Hennessy) and Kristy Lee Cook all had deals with major labels at one point. Carly’s story was chronicled in a page one Wall Street Journal story many years ago. In the end, none of those three even made the top 4, though David Archuleta was a “Star Search” veteran.
9-The flops. Several “Idols” lost record deals in 2008. Ruben Studdard (off to Broadway). Taylor Hicks (Broadway, too). Katharine McPhee (at least she has her modeling and movie career to fall back on). Blake Lewis. (remember him?). Given stumbling record sales across the board, labels have little patience. So no surprises here and given that folks can release albums successful independently, this is not a big deal. (See Elliott Yamin.)
10-Changes in 2008 vs. 2009 We saw a few good changes in season seven (instruments!) and bad (mosh pit!). With producer Nigel Lythgoe out of the picture, “Idol” is making even bigger tweaks in 2009 including a fourth judge and a restructuring of the semifinal rounds (plus more emphasis on air of the Hollywood rounds.). With the show in its eighth year, it’s now a question of managing the show’s slipping ratings. I’d expect another 10 percent drop this year after 9 percent in 2008. But if the show keeps the drop to less than 5 percent, that’s a huge success.
Any other big stories in your minds that I missed?
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12/26: Sorry about my absence!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My laptop died on me while I was on vacation and didn’t have easy access to my blog software. I’m using a temporary laptop today and may have to delay official launch of Wordpress into midweek next week. My aplogogies! This was probably the longest period of time I was not on the Web since 1995!
I hope you all had a great holiday!
MJ obviously was working all week so in go to her for more details but she had heard that Chikezie is telling folks at the holiday concerts he has signed with Universal Records though the label has yet to say anything official. There’s video of David Cook at the Christmas Day parade with Disney. And (People mag reports](http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20248825,00.html) that Jennifer Hudson may make her first public appearances since the family murders in February at a MusicCares event, then the Grammys. And she has the new video of David Archuleta’s latest single “A Little Too Not Over You.” You can watch it here.
I have access this month to radio airplay charts courtesy of Media 24/7. Here are numbers are compiled year to date earlier this month.
Let me show the ranks of how various Idols did on different radio charts.
All radio stations put together
5- Jordin Sparks
7 - Daughtry
29 - Carrie Underwood
61- Kelly Clarkson
216- Jennifer Hudson
Top 40
3- Jordin Sparks
10- Daughtry
66- Kelly Clarkson
67- David Archuleta
80- David Cook
101- Elliott Yamin
Country chart
8- Carrie Underwood
28- Bucky Covington
44- Josh Gracin
56- Kellie Pickler
106- Phil Stacey
121- Kristy Lee Cook
Urban chart
35- Jennfier Hudson
45- Jordin Sparks
86 - Fantasia
Urban AC
32 - Jennifer Hudson
42- Fantasia
118- Ruben Studdard
Rhythmic top 40
26- Jordin Sparks
93- Jennifer Hudson
181- Fantasia
Adult contemporary
8- Daughtry
9- Kelly Clarkson
34 - Jordin Sparks
53- David Cook
58 - Carrie Underwood
64- Elliott Yamin
136- Kimberley Locke
Hot AC
1- Daughtry
13- Kelly Clarkson
17- Jordin Sparks
40- David Cook
66- Carrie Underwood
138- Elliott Yamin
145 - David Archuleta
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12/19: Simon Cowell exit in 2010?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I had a doc’s appointment Wednesday and only caught part of Simon Cowell’s phoner with reporters. Sorry I’m only getting to it now. And technically, I’m on vacation anyway:
— He hasn’t ruled out leaving “Idol” after 2010 but thinks the show will last another 10 years with or without him.
— He doesn’t especially like being ganged up on by two women now that Kara Dioguardi has joined the judge’s panel. But he likes being able to break ties.
— He wants Britney Spears to come on the show, either as a mentor or performer. He loved how much attention she got on his Brit show “The X Factor” though not all the Brits agreed.. He still wants Paul McCartney, who has resisted coming on “Idol’ for years.
- He also supported Nigel and Ken re: the Paula stalker. He agrees that they knew nothing about the extent of Paula Goodspeed’s obsession with Paula.
And a quick look at the charts courtesy of Idol Chatter shows David Cook’s album passing 500,000 to 582,000. David Archuleta is up to 430,000 and should pass 500,000 himself by the end of the year. Carrie has passed 2.5 million with her latest. Jennifer Hudson crossed 500,000 this week, too. Daughtry is up to 4.3 million. Kellie Pickler is up to 129,000 and Jordin Sparks is now at 971,000 and is about eight weeks from hitting 1 million and was certified platinum, meaning 1 million album shipped. “Crush” remains the top download and has sold 1.15 million. David Cook’s “The Time of Your Life” has also surpassed 1 million downloads.
-And if anybody cares, word is out that Kristy Lee Cook has already lost her album deal after just a few weeks, modest sales and a barely top 30 appearance by “15 Minutes of Shame.” In other words, the title of her song was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
-MJ notes that Kelly Clarkson has shot a video for her single “My Life Would Suck Without You.”=
-And MJ has news that Michael Johns has signed to the same management company (Three Ring Productions) as Elliot Yamin, as noted on the Web site. Lil Kim and Jermaine Durpi are also clients.
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12/18: David Archuleta at Star 94’s Jingle Jam with video and photos
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ABOVE: David Archuleta singing Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles.” A “classic” for a 17 year old, I fathom.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to David Archuleta but I got some video and took a few photos from his six-song, 25-minute performance at Gwinnett Arena for Star 94’s Jingle Jam.
This was the first time in recent memory that Jingle Jam was not sold out. Last year, more than 10,000 people came to see the Jonas Brothers, Avril Lavigne (and Elliott Yamin). This time, I guess there were at most 6,000 people there. In fact, they moved the stage forward to help make it look fuller. The problem: no obvious headliner. Colbie Caillat and Gavin DeGraw performed after Archuleta (though I only came for David.)
I posted the video below of him getting an early Christmas cake from his band on stage. (He turns 18 on December 28.) The crowd sang him “Happy Birthday” impressively offkey. The cake had trick candles so he couldn’t blow them out. He then sang “Crush,” his hit, and “The Christmas Song.” I uploaded this onto YouTube last night and hadn’t even linked it. This morning, it already had more than 1,100 views. Amazing! (The videos I uploaded of him surprising Q100 viewers a few weeks back are already up to 37,000 combined views.)
I have to say he was his usual charming, aw-shucks self and he sounded great. Here are some more photos I took of him.
I’ll get to Simon Cowell’s comments from Wednesday’s press conference tomorrow. (I’m going on vacation for the next week so I’m going to probably be a little lighter on the content than usual until December 29, when we launch on Wordpress!)
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12/17: Changes forthcoming with the blog (nothing bad!)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For you regulars who are reading this, I am going to move to wordpress soon. I think it’s best to start on a Monday but since I’m on vacation next week, I’m going to officially launch over to the new site on December 29, 2008. In other words, I will keep posting at this url until then. I’m going to post a farewell transitional blog entry on December 28 or 29 on this blog and tell everyone to move over there. If you want to know now, the link is http://blogs.ajc.com/american-idol-blog/ though there is nothing there yet. I want to give myself a little time to play with the new software, figure things out.
Thank you all for your patience. The good news: Wordpress will post your comments MUCH MUCH faster. And I think there’s actual polling software there, too. So that’s all good.
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12/16: David Cook interview and video performance at the Q100 Christmas concert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I spoke briefly with David Cook before the Q100 “Miracle on West Peachtree Street” Christmas concert Monday night. He was not wearing any makeup and had no bags under his eyes despite the whirlwind of the past few months. He actually looked relaxed and happy.
But first, here’s a video I took of Cook from the concert where his brother Andrew dressed up as Santa and presented him with a birthday cake before he performed “Bar-Ba-Sol.” Cook turns 26 on Dec. 20. My camera took a few seconds to focus.
I asked him about how he felt his single and album were doing. “Knock on wood, so far, so good,” he said. Both are “still making forward progress. If everything holds up, we can hit gold [500,000 albums sold] this week.”
“Do you think ‘Light On’ can beat Archuleta’s ‘Crush’?” I asked.
“I don’t know! That song is a juggernaut. If I can get even close, I’ll be happy.” [“Crush” peaked at about 15 on the radio pop chart. Not quite a juggernaut but a solid opener for the Arch.]
I asked what he was up to next week. ‘I’m going to be off the grid for two weeks until New Year’s. This is my last gig until the Mirage [in Vegas.] This will give me a chance to reflect on the last year, try to feel normal.”
“How come you don’t look tired at all?” I asked. “You have no bags under your eyes!”
“I have a band full of friends and a bunch of amazing people that make this a whole lot easier,” he said.
“How did you manage to get two weeks off? Wouldn’t the label want you to work nonstop, even through Christmas?”
“Back in June, I fought, I begged and pleaded and screamed. It worked!”
“You’re battling David Archuleta on the VH1 video countdown. I saw he was No. 1 last week and you were No. 2.”
“We’ve been going back and forth. I think it’s just a testament to our fan bases. My video debuted at No. 1, went back, then 1, now 2.”
And he noted that he’s grateful. “Second place is a lot higher than I was charting before ‘Idol’!”
“So are you at all tired of talking about ‘Idol’?”
“In all honesty, ‘Idol’ is my meal ticket. I busted my chops for 10 years. ‘Idol’ gave me the platform to make people listen. I owe ‘Idol’ quite a bit.”
“What are you going to do in the new year?”
“We’re going to hit the road. It’s going to be an all-college tour in the spring. I remember I have an older brother’s Indiana State college yearbook, Larry Bird’s senior year. It had all these pages of concerts like Elvis Costello. You look at the current landscape of acts. Not a lot do college campuses. I want to bring it to the people who don’t get a lot of entertainment amid all the textbooks and make it fun.”
Summer, he noted, is still wide open. “If anybody is interested, call me!”
He’s still not sure of a second single. “We still want to give ‘Light On’ room to breath,” he said.
“A friend of mine wanted to know about the eyeliner. Why so much?”
“The eyeliner is more out of necessity. I’m a pale man of Irish, English and German descent. Anything to make the eyes pop amid stage lights! It stands ot reason. I just don’t want to go nuts. I went nuts on tour a little bit. I’ll scale back.”
“You missed your friend Michael Johns by a couple of days. Do you miss the ‘Mavid’ dancing?”
“I will tell you. We never did any serious dancing on the tour. Mike and I had fun with the ‘Mavid’ thing. But the show was basically stage blocking. We should never consider that dancing.”
“No dancing tonight, right?”
“A little rock star preening and holding on to the mike stand for dear life!” [Would you consider what he’s doing below preening? :) )
-Thank you MJ for linking to my Michael Johns video. And since I had so little time yesterday, I didn’t post a good summary of what Ken Warwick said during the press conference and with other media.
here is what MJ consolidated very well.
In summary of the summary, we’ll be seeing a bit more backstage shenanigans, which i think could be fun. Giving the judges full power to pick three of the top 12 is a bit problematic to me but perhaps some good contestants overlooked by the voters might get through.
The theme for the semifinals will be top 10 songs from the 1950s to today. Pretty broad, which is good. He also said Motown’s 50th anniversary means a Motown for sure. He also wants younger guest mentors.
He also said he knew nothing about Paula Goodspeed’s issues, repeating Nigel Lythgoe. Paula Abdul’s job is safe, he noted. He told EW that he added a fourth judge to take some power away from Simon Cowell. The two ladies will occasionally gang up on him, he said.
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12/15: “Idol” schedule for 2009, Nigel Lythgoe knew nothing about Paula Abdul’s stalker during show
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m having one of those “I can’t believe I have 18 things to do and I don’t have any time to do it” days. So I’m only getting to Idol blog right now. I haven’t solidified any David Cook time yet. May not in the end. We’ll see.
Anyway, the Powers That Be at Fox sent out a press release. I will update this blog entry to also include whatever we get from Ken Warwick at 3 p.m. EST. Here it is verbatim with my comments in parentheticals. Personally, I don’t like the fact they are bringing back the format from seasons one and two. That means giving 36 (instead of 24) semifinalists ONE shot (instead of three) to make an impression with the audience before they are picked for the top 12. This also means the audition and Hollywood rounds are ever more crucial for the contestants to get airtime to make it to the top 12. Some of the 36 will leave so little impression, I’m sure, they will have zero chance of going very far.
Fortunately, they do have the wildcard round, which does give some folks a second shot at making it. That’s where Clay Aiken got into the top 12 season two, if my memory serves me correct.
Warwick also told USA Today before the press conference that indeed, “Idol Gives Back” has been cancelled for the year, a reflection of the economy.
The wait is almost over for the return of television’s No. 1 show! Last season’s finale boasted a record-breaking nearly 100 million votes cast in the crowning of David Cook as the winner, and now, AMERICAN IDOL is set to return with a two-night, four-hour premiere event featuring extraordinary talent and outrageous new auditions Tuesday, Jan. 13 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Wednesday, Jan. 14 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
The eighth season kicks off with three weeks of audition episodes, featuring tryouts held in East Rutherford, NJ; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas City, MO; Louisville, KY; Phoenix, AZ; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. After the two-night premiere, auditions will continue for two weeks on Tuesday, Jan. 20 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) and Wednesday, Jan. 21 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT); and Tuesday, Jan. 27 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) and Wednesday, Jan. 28 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT). The final audition episode will air Thursday, Jan. 29 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. [That’s three weeks instead of four weeks of auditions, though they’ve added an extra seventh audition episode there on Thursday January 29. That is one fewer than last year.]
The lucky auditioners who get the judges’ approval then move on to the “Hollywood Round” where contestants vie for a semifinalist position during the grueling next phase of the auditions. Extended for one week, the “Hollywood Round” episodes air: Tuesday, Feb. 3 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT); Wednesday, Feb. 4 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT); and Tuesday, Feb. 10 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT). On Wednesday, Feb. 11 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), dreams come true for three dozen hopefuls, as Simon, Randy, Paula and Kara announce the Top 36 semifinalists. [Yes, we get two extra hours of Hollywood week after they gave us short shrift seasons six and seven.]
It will then be up to America to decide who moves forward in the competition. For three consecutive Tuesdays including: Feb. 17 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), Feb. 24 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and March 3 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), 12 different semifinalists will perform each night in the hopes of moving on to the Top 12. Each week during the LIVE results shows airing Wednesdays: Feb. 18 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), Feb. 25 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) and March 4 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), the three contestants with the highest number of America’s votes -one male, one female and the next top vote getter - will secure coveted spots in the Top 12.
On Thursday, March 5 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), AMERICAN IDOL presents a special “Wild Card” episode featuring the judges favorite remaining contestants. After each of the contestants perform, the judges will select the three final contestants who will round out the Top 12.
The competition heats up as those Top 12 finalists take the stage for the first time together Tuesday, March 10 (8:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed). Immediately following, America has another chance to share its voice and vote for their favorite finalists.
- Nigel Lythgoe told People he knew nothing about Paula Abdul and the now-dead stalker when the show was on. More info here.:
“You do not take somebody in that room that you believe is a danger to herself or a danger to Paula,” Nigel Lythgoe told PEOPLE at Thursday’s Superstars of Dance press day in Los Angeles. “That would not enter our heads.
“The very fact that this happened, I’m really sad for her family,” said Lythgoe. “It happened about four weeks ago. For it to come back four weeks later, I’m really sad we’re still talking about it.”
Radaronline also says she’s in talks to double her $5 to $7 million salary with “Idol.”
-I saw on MJ’s blog that Michael Johns missed the Nigel Lythgoe charity event Sunday night due to flight troubles from Atlanta. Bummer.
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12/14: Michael Johns interview at Gwinnett Arena for Infinite Energy Tennis Slam
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Michael Johns says hey to his old bud Murphy Jensen, a former pro doubles tennis player.
We are converting to Wordpress soon, a more popular blog software. The good news there is you will be able to see your posts much much faster. I will try to do the conversion this week, time permitting.
Anyway, I stopped by Gwinnett Arena for the Infinite Energy Atlanta Tennis Slam, a charitable tennis exhibition Saturday night featuring Michael Johns as musical entertainment. I had to do Christmas shopping afterwards so my girlfriend and I only came for a pre-party to talk to Michael. He was feeling much better than he did at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in October, when he was visibly ill from food poisoning.
This time, he was with his Atlanta friend Cary Franklin, a former tennis partner. They actually got an hour of tennis in Friday and Cary thought Michael didn’t do half bad. I did a video interview with Michael. I don’t have editing software so it’s completely raw and my inexperience at doing video interviews certainly shows. (My girlfriend Helen Kim shot the video and inserts a question herself in the mix.)
Michael said he’s finished with his album, which will be more rock soul than rock rock. It’s due out in March, he said, with a single out in February. He’s doing a charity event with Nigel Lythgoe tonight. And he was vague about his Christmas plans, joking he’ll be working on his “Wii bowling.” He also mentioned how he got to Georgia, via a tennis scholarship, that he was a top 10 player in Australia in his age group as a teen. But he realized he wasn’t good enough to go pro.
He also said he’d love to move to Atlanta and misses it deeply. He hates to leave, he said. But for career purposes, L.A. is his home for now.
Anyway, here’s the video, for better or worse, with the bad lighting and awful background. Have mercy on me! (The videographer, of course, was brilliant!)
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12/13: Interview with Ryan Seacrest’s mom about his show “Momma’s Boys”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I tried in vain last week to get Dunwoody High School grad and busiest man in Hollywood Ryan Seacrest on the phone. I wanted to talk to him about the new reality show he’s executive producing on NBC called “Momma’s Boys,” which debuts Tuesday at 10.
But alas, Seacrest was too busy. So I buzzed his mom Connie Seacrest, who still lives in Dunwoody for insight into her son. The show itself features three “momma’s boys” mixing it up in a mansion with 32 single women (several from Georgia) and the three moms.
“I never considered him a momma’s boy,” said Connie, who flew out to Hollywood in the fall to shoot show promos with Ryan. “But we have a great relationship. He likes to run things by me and I’m happy to tell him what I think. I’m prejudiced but the reason he survives out there is he still has some grounding and good ol’ Atlanta roots.”
Connie hears from her son frequently by email and talks to him on weekends when she has time. Even when “Idol” is off season, she can listen to him online every morning while he does his Los Angeles morning show or see him at 7 p.m. on E! “I can keep tabs on him, like if he lets his beard grow too long. You know — that scruff,” she said.
Naturally, she’d love for Ryan to settle down and find the right girl but she’s patient. (She recalls him bringing home some nice gals in high school but doesn’t get a chance to scrutinize them to any degree now.)
“We all want what’s best for our kids,” she said. “Sometimes it takes longer for some than others. For Ryan, it’s smart he knows what his time frame is. He wouldn’t be the best in relationships until he has more time to be a social person.”
“He wants to be successful,” she continued. “I think he’s put blinders on about letting himself fall in love. For now, that’s on the backburner.”
And yes, Connie and her husband Gary will have the fondue — a Seacrest Christmas tradition — ready for her son when he comes back to Atlanta next week.
On Sunday, I will post a blog entry about my visit to Gwinnett Arena to see Michael Johns at the Infinite Energy Tennis Slam, where he is singing Saturday night between tennis matches. On Monday, I’m trying to procure an interview with David Cook before his appearance at the Q100 Christmas concert also including Natasha Bedingfield and O.A.R.
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