Former American Idol finalist, Constantine Maroulis, was nominated in the “Best Performance By a Lead Actor in a Musical” category at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards last night but, unfortunately, lost out to the three actors from Billy Elliot.  Still, I’m so impressed that he was nominated at all!

Looking at his performance with his Rock of Ages cast mates, it is amazing to see how far he has come.  He has so much more control over his voice, he’s got less vibrato and I’m telling you that it’s really hard to run around a stage and still sound coherent.  I’m so happy for him.  Watch and enjoy!

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Yes, you read that correctly.  Former American Idol finalist, Constantine Maroulis attended the New York City book reading of “Loukoumi’s Good Deeds” which was written by Nick Katsoris, Rajesh, Jennifer Aniston and her father, John Aniston.  The book was released on April 1, 2009.

Constantine, along with Nick Katsoris, Olympia Dukakis and Gloria Gaynor narrated another book in the series, “Growing Up with Loukoumi” which was released in January, 2007.

Want to relive the year Carrie Underwood won American Idol?  Now you can!  American Idol Rewind looks at the fourth season of the popular singing competition.  Here’s the schedule (get more information from TV Guide):

• Fri, Mar 6 - Hollywood Week
  A look at Season 4’s Hollywood week includes 2009 interviews with Carrie Underwood, who talks about… more
• Sat, Mar 7 - Hollywood Week
  A look at Season 4’s Hollywood week includes 2009 interviews with Carrie Underwood, who talks about… more
• Sun, Mar 8 - Hollywood Week
  A look at Season 4’s Hollywood week includes 2009 interviews with Carrie Underwood, who talks about… more
• Fri, Mar 13 - Semifinals
  The Season 4 semifinals find 24 contestants competing for 12 slots and performing for America’s… more
• Sat, Mar 14 - Semifinals
  The Season 4 semifinals find 24 contestants competing for 12 slots and performing for America’s… more
• Sun, Mar 15 - Semifinals
  The Season 4 semifinals find 24 contestants competing for 12 slots and performing for America’s… more

I can’t say that I’ve watched American Idol Rewind all that much but this was a good season so maybe I’ll tune in for a little bit.  It’s always fun to look at people like Carrie and see what they were like before they were famous!

image: Newscom

I took the weekend off from blogging so I need to do two seasons today to catch up in time for tomorrow night’s American Idol season 8 premiere.  Are you excited? 

The fourth season of Idol ended with a showdown between Carrie Underwood (winner) and Bo Bice (runner-up).  It was a relatively good season, if you ask me, and I genuinely was unsure who would win.  I really adored Anthony Federov and was so upset when he was eliminated and I had an inexplicable fondness for Constantine Maroulis. 

For fun, here’s a look back at that season’s Top 12 (the dates indicate when they were eliminated – year was 2005):

1. Carrie Underwood – Winner
2. Bo Bice - May 25
3. Vonzell Solomon - May 18
4. Anthony Fedorov - May 11
5. Scott Savol - May 4
6. Constantine Maroulis - April 27
7. Anwar Robinson - April 20
8. Nadia Turner - April 13
9. Nikko Smith - April 6
10. Jessica Sierra - March 30
11. Mikalah Gordon - March 24
12. Lindsey Cardinale - March 16

Watch this video compilation of Carrie’s performances throughout the season:

image: Newscom

Former American Idol finalist, Constantine Maroulis, was offered a role in Grease on Broadway but Constantine turned down the role in order to appear in the off-Broadway production of Rock of Ages because he felt he could be more creative.  Wow.  I guess I can understand that Rock is a better fit for him than Grease so, good for him for having the guts to take the role in the less popular show.  I’m sure he’s going to do a great job!

He also talked about how he is very single (just letting you know, ladies!). 

This was my favorite performance from American Idol season four contestant, Constantine Maroulis.  I was totally shocked when he got voted off.  It’s not that I thought he should win but he had never been in the bottom and I thought he was better than some of the people that were left… Watch him perform “Bohemian Rhapsody“

So, now that the seventh season of American Idol is underway, I think it would be fun to look at past seasons and talk about what is “needed” in order for this to be a typical (hopefully good!) season! 

There’s so much more than this but I thought it was a good start.  Let me know what you think makes American Idol so interesting in the comments area!!!

First, we need auditions.  Now, I didn’t work on this site last year so there aren’t really many auditions from season 6 to choose from but here are the ones from this season:

• San Diego
• Dallas
• Omaha
• Atlanta
• Charleston
• Miami
• Philadelphia
• “Best of the Rest“
• Hollywood Week Auditions

Next, we need a “Top 24.”

• Season Six’s “Top 24″
• Season Seven’s “Top 24″

Controversies and Conspiracy Theories:

• Every Season Has Them - Conspiracy Theories
• Tired of American Idol 7 Conspiracy Theories Already…
• American Idol Hopeful Perrie Cataldo
• Is American Idol Finalist Jessica Sierra Pregnant?
• Rosie O’Donnell’s New Target - Paula Abdul
• This Week in American Idol Controversies
• Were the Chosen Songwriters Really Undiscovered?
• American Idol: Season of Sex

More after the jump!

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American Idol finalist, Constantine Maroulis, will be playing a number of east coast shows before going to Los Angeles to co-host, “American Idol Extra” which premieres on March 13th, 2008. 

Constantine fans will be happy to hear him perform tunes from his self-titled album!  I am out on the west coast so no Constantine shows for me :(  I’ll just have to wait for you guys to see one and then come back and tell me all about it!  In the meantime, check out Con’s MySpace page for more goodies!

Here are the tour dates!

Feb. 18, 2008 - Paradise Lounge-Boston, MA

969 Commonwealth Avenue,

Boston, MA 02215

8:00 PM Showtime Cost: $15 18+

Feb. 19, 2008 - World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA

3025 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19104

8:00 PM Showtime Cost: $15

More after the jump!

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American Idol finalist, Constantine Maroulis, was at Oneida’s "Bingo Idol" night and, well, it was interesting.  He was asked if he played any instruments and he actually mentioned that he has played his "skin flute" and that it has "tater tots."  Here’s a video:

With last week’s release of both “Carnival Ride” (Carrie Underwood) and “See the Light” (Bo Bice), I was interested in the Idol sales. Luckily, I found some stats on USA Today.

I’ll probably not be around for the rest of the night since it’s Halloween and I’ve got three kids. We’re making a spider cake and watching scary movies.

In the meantime, here’s the info about the Idol sales:

As you know by now, Carrie sold 527,000 copies of her second album, Carnival Ride. Not only did it sell nearly five times as many copies as the No. 2 album (and nearly outsell the entire rest of the top 10), but it more than made up the difference between this week and last week’s total album sales. Last week the total was 7.9 million. This week’s: 8.3 million. Without Carrie, this week would have been 7.8 million.

The new album also provided a nice boost for the first album. Some Hearts jumped from No. 81 to No. 60, selling 13,000 copies, a 38% increase over last week. Her total is now a rounded 5.98 million, slightly more than 16,000 away from 6 million.

Meanwhile, Daughtry took a slight hit, dropping 34-39 and sliding 8% in sales to 19,000. His total is 3.23 million.

more after the jump!

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