Attention Sanjaya fans! You can show your support on your chests! Rickey.org is selling “Fanjaya” t-shirts in three different styles. How funny is this???

To buy one click here!

Post from: Idol Stalker

I’m going to leave this interview in it’s original form because it just says it all:

“This story is very significant to the Indian community,” says Jillian Rechi, or Jayaradhe as she was known in the Hare Krishna movement a decade ago.

The story is about her children Shyamali and Sanjaya Malakar who became famous overnight, thanks to the talent contest American Idol.

“Both Shyamali (Rosaria Malakar) and Sanjaya (Joseph Malakar) embraced their Indian cultural roots.”

Recchi, who spent over two months recently with her 17-year-old son in Hollywood, was often joined by daughter Shyamali, and on one occasion her former husband Vasudeva Malakar, who left his construction business and chores at the Hare Krishna temple in Seattle, to be with his children.

Since her divorce nearly a decade ago, Recchi, who since remarried, raised the children mostly on her own. She says she has not been a member of the Hare Krishna congregation for many years but the Indian spirituality is deeply ingrained in her and her children.

“I consider the Hare Krishna way of life to be my spiritual foundation,” said Recchi, who met her future husband Vasudeva while she was a devotee at the Seattle Hare Krishna Temple 21 years ago. “I do not live in the temple though.”

“Vasudeva was a classical Indian singer-musician-teacher for many years in Seattle,” she continued. “He taught harmonium and bhajans to students at home. There was always Indian music in our home. I was a musician and played the flute, though I didn’t pursue it professionally. We sang in the car with the children.”

After the divorce, Shyamali and Sanjaya moved to Hawaii with their mother and lived there from 1996 to 2000. Both were in Hawaii children’s musical theatre.

“Shyamali was always a precocious, intelligent child,” Recchi says of her first born, an aspiring model, singer and actress. She was eliminated from the American Idol contest early on.

“She read by the age of 3, and had an amazing memory. She would listen to a song once and remember it. Sanjaya, too, had a great talent for singing and music early on. As soon as he was talking, he was singing, dancing and running around. Of course, they are always around music.”

When Sanjaya continued to make steady progress in the competition, despite a lot of negative criticism, Recchi closed down her home business for a few months. “I have always had my own business,” she says.

“Currently, I am an independent distributor for in-home water purification filters and distillers. I also manage and maintain some rental properties. This gives me flexibility of hours to be with and do things with my kids. I wanted to prioritise that; I didn’t want to put my kids in daycare. I wanted to be there for them while they were growing up.”

The children were exposed not only to Indian but also to contemporary and older American music, by Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, their mother added.

“It was their choice to participate in the competition,” she says. “I told Sanjaya he couldn’t enter because he was too young. He was very sad; my family got involved and finally decided he could try.”

“When Shyamali got booted out, she took it really well. It didn’t discourage her; she still wants to continue and pursue a music and acting career.”

“For Sanjaya, unfortunately, I wasn’t there with him when he was voted out,” she says, a trace of sadness in her voice. “I was with him for a solid two months, but I flew back to Los Angeles to be with him the day after he was eliminated.

Sanjaya had a feeling he would get voted out after he saw a tape of his performance later that night. He mentally prepared himself for elimination: of course, he didn’t tell me that!”

She says her son has taken this as a learning experience. “This will, I think, launch him into a very successful career,” she says. “He wants to be an entertainer, whatever that might encompass. He has a real passion for singing; he also loves to act, he has thought of modeling and wants to be a spokesperson for charitable work.”

What is the best advice she has given Shyamali and Sanjaya?

“As a mother, I always felt my children would go on to do great things,” she said. “I taught them that whatever platform they might end up on, they should use it positively.”

“They are very compassionate. People can see that. I think that was really why Sanjaya had such a large fan base. He is a genuine person who is not egotistical, very compassionate, and very well grounded.

Even though they are very attractive people, I don’t think they let that go to their heads because they realise it is a God-given gift. Any gift they have comes from God; they are just an instrument of that.

That helps them stay grounded and focussed on the bigger picture. I would say that is probably one of the biggest things I have tried to give them as far as life lessons go.”

source image courtesy of Rickey.org

Post from: Idol Stalker

If you are a member (it’s free!) you can save the dolls in your Album. You can only save the dolls with a plus sign next to the names (+).

There are Stardolls for Sanjaya Malakar (see below), Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Bo Bice and Kelly Clarkson. If you make one and save it, send it to me!

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Here are some pics!

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Sanjaya Malakar said good-bye to American Idol tonight. He sang “Something to Talk About” as the show closed and changed the words to “Let’s give them something to talk about – other than hair.” Oh Sanjaya, we talked about more than your hair!!!! That was clever and classy and I know that I will miss him. It was really a love-hate relationship that I had with this contestant and I was a little saddened by his departure but the show must go on.

Post from: Idol Stalker

So, the story goes like this – Sanjaya and his friends went to a Padres/Dodgers baseball game and were happily minding their own business when the “eye” of the Jumbotron landed on him. Initially, Sanjaya smiled after noticing he had become the center of attention but that smile quickly evaporated when his smiling face on the big screen was met with loud, undeniable boos. He managed to keep his composure, but that must have hurt. Britney Spears also fell victim to public wrath at a basketball game recently.

Why would people do that? I mean, when Ashlee Simpson got booed during her half-time performance a while back, she deserved it. She was singing badly after being humiliated when her lipsynching was exposed on Saturday Night Live. She was asking people for the attention. Sanjaya and Britney were merely spectators at a sporting event.

Have we crossed the line? Do you think celebrities (aside from those being accused of some heinous act or crime) who are just trying to engage in “normal” activities should be the target of attacks? What if the paparazzi exposed everyone of your mistakes (yes, I am talking to you), would you get booed??? Would you really deserve it?

Post from: Idol Stalker

I don’t know what to say anymore. Seriously. I’ve tried to be fair – diplomatic even, at the expense of some of my sanity. I think that part of the reason for it was that, with the exception of Gina Glocksen, I’ve more or less agreed with the progression of the show. Now, with Haley Scarnato gone, I am becoming more uneasy. When there were other people who, on some level, were as “bad” as Sanjaya, I got a bit of a laugh out of the situation. But when I heard people talking about him possibly beating out Blake Lewis and Melinda Doolittle, I started to sweat. Could that happen???? Could it really, really happen? With Sanjaya’s marginally improved performance last week, I think it could. As one writer put it, “the bad singers are more dynamic and intriguing than the good singers.” I have to agree.

Melinda has become so predictable, so methodical, so… boring. It reminds me of when, after the holidays, you have that 1st day of leftovers and it’s still exciting to be eating this fantastic food and then, by the 5th day, you may still love turkey and stuffing, but without any extra pizzazz, it loses it’s appeal.

So, here’s my poll – Do you think that Sanjaya will win? I’m not asking if you think he should win, but I’m wondering how many people think this is just a runaway train that cannot be stopped.

Post from: Idol Stalker

Wow. I really liked Paris Bennett and was sad when she was voted off last season. At just 17 she seemed mature, innovative, versatile and talented. Now she just seems like a vengeful betch! She phoned into a Minneapolis radio show and said that she and some other contestants (likely other Idol “losers”) support the website VotefortheWorst.com in hopes of messing up the results. She added that they “want to see [Sanjaya] win because it’ll kind of prove that American Idol is kind of losing its taste” since “it kinda isn’t going for talent anymore and more for popularity” (wow, how articulate – she didn’t sound like an immature teenager at all. Note, this is not a dig at the many teens who can be amazingly articulate and bright).

Why are you doing this? Because you, uh, kinda, um, didn’t, um, kind of win? Wake up, Paris. VotefortheWorst.com has been around for a while and when people like you decide to do what some lame website tells you, it is you who are influencing votes – not the contestants, nor the real viewers. You had your 15 minutes already – your time’s up so move on…

Click here to listen to her ridiculous call into the “Tone E Fly Morning Show.” Warning – listening to it may actually decrease your intelligence.

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Post from: Idol Stalker