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 Gokey.

The documentary will air right before the telecast of the Gospel Music Association’s 40th annual Dove Awards.  

image © 2009 FOX BROADCASTING CR: FOX

Post from: Idol Stalker

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 – Dearborn, MI at Ford Center
• 3/28/09 – St. Charles, IL at Arcada Theatre
• 3/30/09 – Marion, IL at Marion Cultural and Civic Center
• 4/15/09 – Worcester, MA at Hanover Theatre
• 4/16/09 – Springfield, MA at MassMutual Center
• 4/17/09 – Morristown, NJ at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts
• 4/18/09 – Glenside, PA at Keswick Theatre
• 4/24/09 – Boise, ID at Morrison Center
• 5/1/09 – Ivins, UT at Tuacahn Center for the Arts

Melinda has been pretty great, updating her comings and going on Twitter.  If you haven’t added her already, you should! – http://twitter.com/mdoolittle

Post from: Idol Stalker

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

Post from: Idol Stalker

Source

Post from: Idol Stalker

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 very hard. I loved when Jennifer Lopez told her that she doesn’t “have to do too much” Right – because J.Lo has never been known as the queen of excess. Moving on… If you had the Pointer Singers of “Neutron Dance” fame cover Gloria Estefan’s “Conga” you would get tonight’s performance. Lakisha really brushed off Paula’s constructive criticism which falls in line with her total dismissal of the advice from Tony Bennett, Gwen Stefani and Lulu. Keep ignoring the advice, Lakisha, and you might be sent packing.

Chris Richardson

It almost pains me to say that Chris was one of the better performers tonight, but he was. I love Rob Thomas and Santana’s “Smooth” and, although he did not quite get there, the second half of his performance was decent enough.

Haley Scarnato

She sang, “Turn the Beat Around” but I wish she sang “Turn the Volume Down.” Okay, the backup vocals are so strong during the chorus of this song that it might be easy to ignore her terrible singing but when she started singing on her own, the truth was undeniable – it was a mess. For half of the song she was so out of breath that she couldn’t even complete her words properly. Does she really think that those short-shorts are going to get her a record deal? I think we learned our lesson with Jessica Simpson – shaking your booty is just not enough.

Phil Stacey

This was probably Phil’s worst performance. He sang, “Maria, Maria” and let’s hope it was in prayer because only a miracle could make people think he sang in tune. He was ahead of the music at least twice and it was so boring that I think it was actually worse than Haley’s performance. At least he wore a hat.

Jordin Sparks

Is no one else bothered by her yodeling? And her vibrato is so distracting that she sounds almost like a sheep. Am I the only one who feels this way? She’s got decent intonation, she can definitely carry a tune but something just annoys me. I thought the performance was boring and her twitchy behavior was odd. Her clothing was moderately better, though. I liked the top a lot.

Blake Lewis

I think Blake came out on top tonight, which, considering how everyone else did, is not a major accomplishment. He sang, “I Need to Know” by Marc Anthony, who, despite looking a bit like Skeletor from the He-Man cartoon of the 80s, can sing his butt off. Marc’s version is stylish and Blake’s was very straight. However, it was a smart song choice since it suited his voice and, in the end, he managed to pull it off.

Sanjaya Malakar

I can say, for the first time in the 12 top performances, that I did not think that Sanjaya was the worst. In fact, I think he did reasonably well. The song choice (Besame Mucho) was great, singing in Spanish won him some points and as Randy said, he’s “one of the smartest contestants” ever. I don’t know how he does it, but I don’t think he’s going home tomorrow.

Breakout performance – Chris Richardson. It was more than I expected.

Most Surprising – Sanjaya Malakar. He actually sounded okay.

Worst of the Night – Haley Scarnato. No further comment.

Biggest Risk – No one. It was very safe and boring.

Prediction for bottom three – Haley, Phil and Jordin with Jordin being safe.

Photo Source

Post from: Idol Stalker

It’s the fifth most popular search for Phil Stacey so I thought I would include it.

What do you think?

Post from: Idol Stalker

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 Day Move
1 Haley Scarnato 217%
2 Melinda Doolittle 176%
3 Sanjaya Malakar 125%
4 Chris Richardson 110%
5 Blake Lewis 58%
6 Alaina Alexander 44%
7 Antonella Barba 37%
8 Gina Glocksen 36%
9 Chris Sligh 29%

But what, exactly, are people are searching for?

Here is a list of the top five searches broken down by contestant -

- Sanjaya Malakar

1. Sanjaya Malakar Hairstyles
2. Sanjaya Anthem
3. Sanjaya Conspiracy
4. Who is Voting For Sanjaya
5. Sanjaya Wig

- Haley Scarnato

1. Haley Scarnato Scandal
2. Haley Scarnato Legs
3. Haley Scarnato Pregnant
4. Haley Scarnato Shorts
5. Haley Scarnato Height

- Melinda Doolittle

1. Melinda Doolittle School of Humility
2. Melinda Doolittle Neck
3. Melinda Doolittle Shrek
4. Is Melinda Doolittle Married?
5. Melinda Doolittle MP3s

- Blake Lewis

1. Blake Lewis Shirtless
2. Blake Lewis Tattoos
3. Blake Lewis Love Song
4. Blake Lewis 311
5. Chris Richardson vs Blake Lewis

- Chris Richardson

1. Chris Richardson Dating
2. Chris Richardson Shirtless
3. Chris Richardson and Alaina Alexander
4. Chris Richardson Girlfriend
5. Contact Chris Richardson

- Jordin Sparks

1. Jordin Sparks Father
2. Jordin Sparks Height
3. Jordin Sparks I Who Have Nothing
4. Jordin Sparks Fan Sites
5. Jordin Sparks American Juniors

- Lakisha Jones

1. Lakisha Jones Videos
2. Lakisha Jones Biography
3. Diamonds Are Forever Lakisha Jones
4. Lakisha Fanatics
5. Lakisha Jones Last Dance

- Phil Stacey

1. Phil Stacey Navy
2. Phil Stacey Audition
3. Phil Stacey Wife
4. Phil Stacey Hair
5. Nosferatu Phil Stacey (LOL, my son said this last night!!!)

Post from: Idol Stalker

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?

Post from: Idol Stalker

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 know who got voted out, I’m STILL crossing my fingers hoping it will be Sanjaya.

New start off tonight, they’ve already divided the contestants into groups of three. And sadly and shockingly, Sanjaya is with Blake and Chris, so I’m doubting he’s going home yet again.

1. 1st Group: (Probably not going home)
   • Blake Lewis
   • Chris Richardson
   • Sanjaya Malakar
2. 2nd Group: (I’m guessing someone’s going home here)
   • Haley Scarnato
   • Gina Glocksen
   • Phil Stacey
3. 3rd Group: (not going home)
   • Jordin Sparks
   • Melinda Doolittle
   • LaKisha Jones

 American Idol Challenge tonight was nicknamed “Chicken Little”, the answer is Kevin Covais, so go here to enter and get your chance to win $100,000. More about the program of American Idol Gives Back, which I’m very proud of them for doing.

Up next we’ll be seeing Tony Bennett, but he’s sick tonight and he’s not going to be on the show tonight. Instead, we’ve got Michael Buble performing. AWESOME! Lot’s of contestants have been singing his songs this year. Singing “Call Me Irresponsible”, and doing a great job of course. I’ve loved Michael’s music since I first heard about him, but have never seen him perform live, and he’s exceeding my expectations. Many times singers aren’t as good in live performances, but he’s nailing it. It’s amazing he’s the level of crooner that he is at his age. On another note, I need to get the name of the 1st trumpet in the band, that guy is good! Absolutely excellent performance by Michael Buble. Ooh, only drawback is he says he’s still voting for Antonella Barba. He could do much better than that.

Coming back to the vote, Phil Stacey gets sent back safe this week. Good call America. It had better freakin’ not be Gina Glocksen this week. Ryan asks the judges if they got it right and none of them are saying anything!!!! Sanjaya should be in the middle of the stage right now by himself!

After just under 33,000,000 votes, they vote off Gina Glocksen before Haley and Sanjaya!!! This is freakin’ stupid! I am absolutely boycotting Vote For The Worst on anything they do ever again. Wrong America, wrong!

Gina Glocksen is going home

Now Gina’s got to follow-up this travesty of voting fubar and sing again. I hate making them do this, but I guess it’s about the best thing they can do.

We’ll see you next week. Hopefully between now and then the servers hosting Vote For The Worst will crash and self-ignite in a giant fireball. Note: I know the Vote For The Worst link doesn’t go to their website.

Post from: Idol Stalker

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, he almost sounded like he was auditioning for “Beyond the Sea 2: Bobby Darin Lives.” You can be respectful but still true to yourself.

Phil is a good singer but this did not even seem like a genuine performance. If you weren’t distracted by the sweat beads on his melon, there wasn’t much excitement in his rendition of “Night and Day.” In fact, I felt like a night and a day had passed by the end of it.

Melinda, as Simon said, is almost impossible to criticize. I happened to agree with what he said, however, about the first half of the song being kind of bland. That song has some real potential and I felt like she could have given more, but she’s great so who cares?

Chris gets props for mixing old with new by wearing jeans but did he have to steal Sanjaya’s hat? Just kidding. He stayed true to himself, even if it wasn’t his best performance (in my very humble opinion, at least). One tip though – learn to keep the microphone near your mouth. If you turn your head, the mic should follow! He’s had a problem with this all season. It’s bugging me.

Jordin was a bit boring to me. I’m not sure if the mic feedback was an indication that the sound was off because I’m wondering if the judges heard her whole performance. It was a clone-like, factory-made performance.

Gina is a good singer. She had a good performance. She could maybe control the eye seizures (those of you with TiVo, DVR, PVR, etc… check it out). I was somewhat irritated to have the soldiers in Iraq brought into the mix by Tony Bennett (not her fault). I was half expecting her to be draped in a flag with an eagle on her shoulder, or something. Well, at least it would have been interesting…

Sanjaya, as Mr. Bennett said, “dares to take risks.” Honestly, I do think this is part of the reason he’s still here. When he’s gone, we pretty much know how it’s going to go down and the performances will be predictable (with the exception of Blake, maybe) but Sanjaya has made himself stand out. His performance did sound a bit like a clip from an episode of Barney. Hey, Madonna’s not a great singer but she knows how to market herself. Don’t underestimate the importance of being an entertainer.

Haley is starting to annoy me in a major way. Her singing is just right for Broadway or Disney movies, and she knows it, so she sells sex, really. There, I’ve said it. Even Tony Bennett had to ask her to tone down the level of skank she was trying to put into the song. The shimmying and toying with men in the front row was almost shameless. She’s not going to win (let’s hope) so she’s using gimmicks to get votes. Why does Sanjaya get all the buzz? This is a family show and there have been times when I was embarrassed for her. Seriously.

Lakisha is back! She’s one of the few contestants I’ve seen in the history of the show who had the guts to go against the advice of the guest (Tony Bennett told her to omit the “ain’t no sunshine when he’s gone” at the end of her song but she didn’t). She is a PLUS-SIZE BEAUTY and I love her. I just want her to stay in the zone from now on.

Post from: Idol Stalker