For now, American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks is having to take the back seat on the charts to runner-up, Blake Lewis.

Blake’s single “You Give Love a Bad Name” broke into the top 10 at #9 and Jordin’s “This is My Now” is hovering at #14.

It’ll be interesting to see where they are after summer.

Post from: Idol Stalker

Post from: Idol Stalker

NBC will celebrate America’s 231st birthday with a live broadcast of the “Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.” Of the performers, country music star (and American Idol guest) Martina McBride will open the event and Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis and Melinda Doolittle will perform a song together to tribute the Nation’s birthday.

The event is America’s largest 4th of July fireworks extravaganza and will feature 35,000 shells which will be set off over New York City.

Cool. Wish I could be there but I’ll just have to watch it on television!

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Post from: Idol Stalker

Ever wonder what is going on behind the scenes before American Idol airs? Well here’s a glimpse into what happened before the finale.

Blake’s VIP Treatment

Thirty minutes before the show started, Blake Lewis, rockin’ his performance gear, made an appearance in the FOX VIP room in the Kodak Theatre lobby. The room lit up as the finalist was escorted in, looking cool as ice despite having to get onstage and take on Jordin Sparks moments later. Blake, who was all smiles, greeted guests, shaking hands as he made his way around the room.

The Idols

Johnny the warm-up guy led the cheers and jeers at the Kodak Theatre Tuesday night. With the clock counting down to show time, he introduced the top 10 (minus two), sending the crowd into hysterics as Haley Scarnato, Melinda Doolittle, Chris Sligh, Sanjaya Malakar, Phil Stacey (wearing his black and white sailor suit), Gina Glocksen, Brandon Rogers, Stephanie Edwards and Chris Richardson made their way into the room. And this group, who will hit the road for the American Idols Live tour this summer, couldn’t have been a happier, more easy-going bunch.

Brandon, who may have been the most excited of the group, snapped digital photos of everything – including Sanjaya and Haley, who posed together, Haley doing rabbit ears behind Sanjaya’s head. Meanwhile, Chris Richardson and Melinda rocked out, with Richardson’s arm around her, as music played over the sound system, while Chris Sligh, always the loner, still with that signature ‘do, decided to make his way over to greet and congratulate the Lewis family (something all the Idols would do later on).

They should be dancing

When it was time to introduce the judges, band leader Ricky Minor had a little surprise up his sleeve: When Simon Cowell came out wearing, rather than his signature tight tee, a discoed-out black suit with a white shirt unbuttoned down to his “cleavage” (as Ryan Seacrest would later joke), Minor and band played “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees, replacing the lyrics with “It’s Simon Cowell, yeah.”

But, of course, Simon and Randy Jackson were already in their seats, with no sign of Paula Abdul. No problem: Minor and crew had some lyrics for that as well, adding “where’s Paula Abdul? Where’s Paula Abdul?” And, finally, Ryan, who is always on cue and on time, got a little theme too as he made his way onto the stage: “What you doin’ Seacrest, yeah? It’s Ryan Seacrest, yeah!”

Where’s Paula?

With two and a half minutes left to air, there was no sign of Paula anywhere. The audience started chanting “Where’s Paula? Where’s Paula?” With seconds to spare, in she came under the guidance of executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who brought her out by the hand and let her hug and greet the former Idols before helping her up a step and into her seat. (She’d broken her nose in a nasty fall over the weekend.)

Ryan, Ryan

After Ryan introduced Simon Cowell as “Simon Cleavage” and said on live TV, “So the bitch is okay?” to Paula Abdul after she explained how she’d tripped over her female dog, it was revealed that Ryan’s parents were in the house. “The Seacrest family is here,” said Johnny the warm-up guy. “Big round of applause for Mom and Dad!” Aww … Ryan smiled as he headed over to do his next monologue right next to his folks. But true to form, he didn’t let their presence hold him back, continuing to make often risqué quips on and off screen.

Blockin’ up the scenery

Too bad for the sign-holders in the middle of the orchestra-level seating: Debbie the stage manager warned them before the show started not to hold their signs up too high as they were going to obstruct the cameras. Then, to their dismay, they asked to pass their signs to the ends of their rows so they could be removed. Let that be a warning.

TV Dads

Ricky Schroder was in the audience with his wife Andrea, daughter Cambrie and sons Holden and Luke, as was Heroes’ Greg Grunberg, with his wife Elizabeth and their sons Jack, Sam and Ben. During one commercial break, Schroder, holding his daughter’s hand, went up to shake hands with and chat with the judges.

Chris Daughtry Comes ‘Home’

Fans have heard the song “Home” all season each time one of the finalists was given their walking papers, but tonight, to the crowd’s delight, former Idol Chris Daughtry gave a live performance of the song that even the judges had to stand up for. Audience members, including Denise Richards and Marlee Matlin, cheered and gave Daughtry and his band a standing ovation.

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Now that it’s all said and done, who performed best tonight?

Post from: Idol Stalker

I was happy to read this interview with American Idol judge Simon Cowell because it pretty much sums up how I have been feeling. I have no idea who will win this and neither does he! He told People magazine that he thinks “they both have different strengths. One’s a better entertainer and one’s a better singer, so I think it will be down to what they do on the night.”

On Finale Predictions
“I think they will both chose their favorite song from what they’ve done over the past 11 weeks – and I’m hoping Blake will do the Bon Jovi song because I thought it was his best performance. And I don’t know what Jordin will do.”

On Fighting with Ryan
“It’s rather like having a silly little dog who wants to jump up on your lap and you just swat the dog off. Occasionally in a very stern voice you have to say ‘no.’ And that’s how I deal with Ryan.”

On Melinda’s Next Stop
“I don’t think she should try and compete with too many of the R&B artists out there at the moment. I think she’s more of a throwback to people like Gladys Knight and Tina Turner. And I think she should play to her strengths.”

On Contestants Talking Back
“I encourage it. I don’t think they do it enough because I think they all think they’re going to be voted off if they’re rude to me. I think it’s the opposite. I think the more rude they are to me, the more votes they’ll get. I think off camera they’re going completely nuts complaining about me. Then on camera they’re just smiling and I don’t understand that. I think it should be two-way. If I’m rude to them, they’re more than entitled to be rude to me back.”

On Sanjaya Fever
“I would never want to be in a situation where we cast the 12 as just normal people because I think it would be boring. The panel is wacky enough and therefore I think the contestants should be a bit strange as well. And I thought the whole Sanjaya thing was hysterical. I’m happy now because he’s out. I don’t think I’d be happy if he was in the finals, so I can now be quite smug about it.”

On Kelly Clarkson’s New Record
Kelly Clarkson is not an artist who’s in it for the money. She has a lot of integrity and this is a record she wanted to make. And I admire her for that. … It’s not as commercial as her last record, but any Kelly Clarkson record at the moment is a pretty good record compared to the competition because she’s an incredible artist.

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Post from: Idol Stalker

BuddyTV was on the scene and have some great mp3s and a video of the concert. More than 1000 people turned out to hear Blake sing and even Sir-Mix-a-Lot, a Seattle native, showed up and together, the two performed that infectious hit “Baby Got Back.” Click here for audio and video from the show.

More pics after the jump…

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Post from: Idol Stalker