A one-hour documentary called From Idol to Inspiration will air on the Gospel Music Channel this Thursday, April 23, 2009. 
The film “explores the effect of the Fox network singing competition on Christian music.”  I think that is an interesting topic because I have thought about it myself over the years.  There are times, actually, when I’ve thought that Idol had a greater impact on Gospel and Country music than within the Pop genre.
Several familiar faces have participated in the film – Mandisa, Chris Sligh, Phil Stacey, Melinda Doolittle and Maria Santiago, the sister-in-law of this year’s finalist, Danny …read more

The "American Stars in Concert: Spring Break" tour kicked off yesterday (if you went to the show, I’d love to hear how it was!).  The show features performances by American Idol finalists Melinda Doolittle (Season 6), Chikezie (Season 7), Gina Glocksen (Season 6) and Phil Stacey (Season 6).

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Here are the tour dates are as follows:

3/15/09 – Ft. Pierce, FL at Sunrise Theatre
3/18/09 – Panama City, FL at Marina Civic Center
3/20-3/21/09 – Dallas, TX at Dallas Symphony
3/25/09 – Lancaster, PA at American Music Theatre
3/26/09 – Kalamazoo, MI at Wings Stadium
3/27/09 – …read more

American Idol season 6 cast-off, Phil Stacey, surprised many wedding guests at a reception at the Hyatt in Jacksonville, Florida last weekend.
Abe Salem and Susan Samaan got married last Saturday.
“The two got quite a treat when Stacey got up on stage and sang a song to the happy couple.
Guests from the wedding were outside the reception hall when they saw Stacey standing outside. He was attending a military event.
They asked Stacey to come into the wedding and meet all 600 guests.
It was quite a night for all the guests and a night to remember for the bride and groom.
source

Here’s some shots of Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey on TRL with Rihanna.

Well, wasn’t tonight full of surprises! Let’s look at a recap of this evening’s performances.
Melinda Doolittle

Okay, I need to voice my frustration here. Melinda is a fantastic singer. Tonight, she delivered a good performance of “Sway.” That’s right, I said good – not great. Aside from looking like Martin Short with her dance moves, I’m totally tired of her not picking challenging songs. If she is going to consistently pick easy, repetitive tunes, she needs to blow me away – she didn’t. She did look great in that black dress tonight, though.
Lakisha Jones

Lakisha is another strong singer who isn’t trying …read more

VS.
It’s the fifth most popular search for Phil Stacey so I thought I would include it.
What do you think?

Yahoo! tracks the searching habits of Idol fans not only by who is being most searched, but also what, in particular, people are searching to find out. Let’s take a look.
Sanjaya is still the overall leader (can you believe the staying power of Antonella and Alaina?)
American Idol Leaders
Rank Idol Move Score
1 Sanjaya Malakar +14
2 Antonella Barba +4
3 Haley Scarnato +5
4 Blake Lewis – 2
5 Melinda Doolittle +1
6 Alaina Alexander – 1
7 Chris Richardson – 1
8 Gina Glocksen – 1
9 Chris Sligh – 1
10 Lakisha Jones – 0
But Haley is the biggest mover (don’t we know it…)
American Idol Movers
Rank Idol 1 …read more

Tonight’s Ford commercial featured the Escape Hybrid. Great for the environment and a nice mix of electric and fuel power.

Speaking of hybrids (totally corny segway, I know), do you have any about our contestants? Do you think that one of the potential Idol winners is a mix of two or more people? Let me know if you do, I’ll post it here. This is my first one:

Travis Wall (So You Think You Can Dance 2, runner up) and Benjamin McKenzie (The O.C.) combined look like Blake Lewis.
What about look-alikes?

Does Bat Boy resemble Phil Stacey at all?

It’s 11:50pm, the van’s unpacked and I’m sitting in my recliner ready to go. I just got back in from a little family vacation to various locations in Ohio, and am finally getting a chance to sit down and watch the results show for American Idol. Don’t you just love having a DVR?
The show is starting off and they’re going back through the highlights of last night’s show. Lot’s of good performances, and better performances for many. Sadly, someone has to go home tonight and although I just glanced at the site and I think by seeing the post I …read more

Wow. Some have called this season’s contestants dull and unoriginal. Tonight might have been an example. Classics are classics and must be respected but, while almost everyone sang well enough, there was little that will keep me up tonight.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO TELLING CONTESTANTS TO TAKE RISKS (Haley risked a “wardrobe malfunction” but that doesn’t count)?
My co-blogger, Jason, has done a fine job live-blogging the show tonight, so I’m just going to add my two cents about the performances. 
Blake doesn’t have to beatbox every week and he’s definitely among the best (and maybe the most versatile) but he sang “Mack the Knife” so straight, …read more