Ace Young (Season 5) co-hosted the event and then graced the stage with performances of “It Had To Be You” (one of my favorites since I used it for my first dance at my wedding!) and “Come Together.”  It was a sweet and classy set and, of course, Ace looked as cute as ever!  Check out the video.

Bo Bice (runner-up, Season 4) also took to the stage to support the cause and performed “The Long Road Back.”  Ace introduced Bo and said that he wouldn’t have tried out for American Idol if Bo hadn’t – what a nice thing to say (do you think that’s true, though?). 

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I don’t know how long the two have been dating but he must have met her sometime during his Broadway run between September 9, 2008 to January 4, 2009.  Anyone know some more details?  Leave them in the comments.  I know that they probably haven’t been dating long and there is an age difference but you never know – it could be true love!

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I always liked Anthony’s voice and he had a great background story for himself as well. The BuddyTV interview gives us more information about Anthony and of course some of his opinions on the current American Idol 6th season.

Here’s Anthony’s response to a question about his own experience on American Idol:

Well, my experiences on the show…where do I start?  It was definitely a rollercoaster.  I mean, I know it is a cliché and everybody says it, but it really is in every sense of the word.  The biggest plus for me was the fact that I got a crash course on the music industry in less than a year.  Being on that show gives you an idea of how your life can be like if you succeed as an individual artist when you become a superstar.  While you’re on the show, I mean, you’re exactly that; you’re a star, you’re one of the most famous people in America, everybody watches you.  So, it taught me a lot and I mean I grew up a lot by being on the show.  I really didn’t have a chance to observe myself while I was on the show because you’re so busy and every second of your day is accounted for, you really don’t have a chance to reflect on how you’re doing.  So I would have to say that I learned about my highs when I got off the show, when things died down a little bit.  I definitely became a more experienced person when it came to the business and the aspect of handling yourself in the music business world. 

Did you know that Anthony is writing a column for Entertainment Weekly where he judges the judges each week? He’s joined by Ace Young and Kimberly Locke as well.

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Jennifer Hudson on going from “Idol” reject to Golden Globe winner, and now Oscar-nominated “Dreamgirl.” Plus, last year’s “American Idol” runner up Katharine McPhee.

Visit the official website for more information and a link to e-mail your questions to Larry for the show.

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First up is someone doing the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz. Go back to Oz. You’re not that unique and you can’t sing. See you later. Use the right door. Oops…she didn’t.

Vocal teacher in green shirt, you’d hope this guy can sing. “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith. He uses a pitch pipe. You’d expect that from a vocal coach wouldn’t you. OUCH! High pitch noises in falsetto, I can’t take it! Randy is really being hardcore. He’s almost playing the part of Simon so far. Jewell and Paula don’t like him. Randy rips into him about a vocal teacher, Simon baits him by saying “You going to take that Steven?”. This is entertainment. Simon is cracking me up. They are having WAY TOO MUCH fun with this guy.

— Commercial Break —

Michelle Steingas singing Dana Carter. Not too bad for the country side of things. Compared to the other contestants we’ve heard she’s good. She’s made it through. As Simon says “Confident without being irritatingly precocious.”

Lots of people getting fired for trying out, that’s too bad because they should really do anything they can to make money except for a singing career. Another girl’s boss flew her and her sister out for an audition. That’s a cool boss. I think she can sing. Simon’s giving a hard time and implying some really bad innuendos, I really like Simon, but those type of comments really irritate me. Okay, I was wrong on the singing part. The boss wasted his money on this one. Looks like he’s got a secretary for quite a long time.

Up next Matt Sato singing “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and the Papas. Not too bad, I can’t tell anymore. My ears are hurting from all the people that were horrible. Simon likes him. Jewell likes him. Randy though he was good. Paula Abdul agrees, he’s going to Hollywood.

— Commercial Break —

Rachel Jenkins, quite the Tomboy working in her parents body shop, which is cool and enjoys it. Her husband is in Iraq. She joined the US Army reserves. She sings “His Eye Is On the Sparrow”. Not related to American Idol, but the best version of this song was the one sung in Sister Act II. Not horrible, but as Simon said it fell apart towards the end. She’s moving forward, everybody likes her but she’s going to have to work on stuff before she makes it to Hollywood. Unanimous heading to Hollywood.

Sarah Krueger singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, of course made popular on American Idol by Katharine McPhee last season. She sounds good until she tries to force it out and belt it. She’s making it through. Everybody likes her, she’s going to Hollywood with Rachel.

— Commercial Break —

Jason the juggler/dancer/singer is performing. Paula is confused about everything. Simon said he summed up Minneapolis by saying everything was horrible. Randy said he should be on “America’s Got Talent” not “American Idol”. Simon says Jason’s future involves NOT singing. It’s just sad, sad, sad. He’s better at making a dramatic scene on the other side of the door. Simon thinks he “took it in good spirit”. WRONG! Hello! Reality check. The next contestant, the BIG IDOL FAN seems a little worried to be after Jason.

She’s the Idol Super Fan. She and American Idol are BFF. Ace Young is her favorite Idol, and he drew her a heart, which she has tattood on her wrist now. Singing “Under Pressure”. Oh the horror! The horror of it all. Oh wait, she pulled the “10 years of training card” out of the hat. Oh and a “degree in vocal performance”. Simon says the only thing she could do to improve is “Leave.”

Randy calls it Minnehopeless.

— Commercial Break —

Lots of people trying to sing Prince as a tribute to his hometown. I’m curious as to when they get the potential contestants to sing the clips they want for these little montages. Is it before or after they audition.

Contestant #27186 singing “Another Bad Day” by Fuel. Josh Flom is a rocker and was pushed to try-out by his dad and inspired by Chris Daughtry’s efforts last year. Randy didn’t like it. Simon challenges him to come back in 15 minutes and sing an Abba song as a rocker. Of course it was “Dancing Queen” which he didn’t know the words to and collected them from other auditioners. He infused it a rocker style for sure. He does Barry Manilow in the rocker voice the same way. Jewell asked him if he writes music and said to stick with that.

That’s it for Minneapolis. Only 17 hopefuls made it through.

Tomorrow night we’ll be in Seattle. Looks like some really weird people in store for tomorrow night. After Minneapolis, Simon still said it was the worst city ever. There’s even Taylor Hick’s long lost brother waiting for him.

In retrospect, let me just say it literally amazes me the balls and endurance people have to put themselves through this type of thing. It’s almost like people have lost complete connection with reality when it comes to this show. Are they showing up and trying out just to be seen on TV and noticed because of how bad they are, or are they really sincere and think they’re the next American Idol?

We’ll see. I’m interested in your thoughts. Please share them in the comments.

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The Molly Good site has given us a poser alert. Ace Young is trying to milk some red-carpet goodness from the Boyz II Men crew. Can someone please tell me what in the world Ace is doing with these guys? For that matter, where have these guys been lately anyway?

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Katharine doesn’t really like life on the road and isn’t a big fan of the potential idea for the show to introduce song writing as part of the criteria and judging experience.

“I would call my boyfriend and just cry hysterically and literally feel ill,” McPhee said. “I never did overcome the stress until now that the show is over.”

Taylor on the other hand is keeping true to who’s he’s always been, mature and easy going, enjoying himself regardless of the situation and being thankful every step of the way. He looks at life on the road and is happy he’s not driving the bus and it being a full-size tour bus and not a litte mini-van. Taylor must not think there’s too much pressure on the show, he thinks they should add an instrumental component along with songwriting to the performances. He has relished being able to show-off some of his harmonica skills during the American Idol Tour.

“Yeah, of course, I think it needs to take that turn because there is not just a bunch of great singers out there but a lot of great songwriters and artists,” Hicks said.

Interestingly enough, Ace Young got out of his 19 Recordings record deal and is searching for a new label to sign with for an album. That really surprises me as I would expect American Idol producers to keep a firm grip on all their stars for at least their first album deals.

It was also news to me that Ace has opened for New Edition and Brian McKnight on tour? I really never thought he was that good, much less good enough to open for one of them.

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