Paula Abdul Plays Truth or D ... er, Truth

Yesterday, decked out in a white suit and big smile, Paula Abdul appeared on Today and was interviewed by Matt Lauer. Here is the way it went, according to NBC sister station, MSNBC:

Paula Abdul is famous for so many things — singing, dance and choreography, jewelry design, cheerleading camp director, "American Idol" judge — that she's become famous for being famous.

Now, she's subjecting her very public life to even closer scrutiny with a new reality show called "Hey Paula." But if it shows her in her many moods, some nicer than others, it doesn't answer all the questions that have been raised.

Is she a drunk? Is she addicted to painkillers? Is it true she has no social life? What was the deal with that word-slurring, incoherent television clip?

To address those issues, TODAY co-host Matt Lauer suggested a game when Abdul appeared on the show Wednesday.

"Let's play Truth or Dare," he said. "I don't know what the 'Dare' would be, but let's play 'Truth,' okay?"

Abdul, wearing a white suit and black top accented with a necklace of many strands and big, showy earrings, smiled broadly, saying, "If it's kissing you, Matt ..."

"No," said Lauer. "No. We both would have problems, wouldn't we?"

He asked the first question, about "the now famous, or infamous, interview where you were said to be slurring your words. People said, 'Paula Abdul was drunk.' What was the truth?"

"I've never been drunk in my life, Matt," Abdul said, mouthing the words she and her publicists have been repeating ever since January, when the clip showed up on YouTube. It was a taped session with the “American Idol” judges explaining their votes and came at the end of a long day of question-and-answer sessions related to the hit show.

On it, Abdul slurred words, said some things that made little or no sense, and finally collapsed dramatically on fellow judge Simon Cowell.

"The whole thing about me being a judge on ‘American Idol’ is, it is the toughest job for me, because I have to think about something positive to say even when they're trying to rise above adversity, " she said. "So sometimes when I'm excited and want to get something out to say, I'll stop."

But, Lauer repeated, has she ever been drunk?

"I'll have an occasional sip of wine or a drink that has an umbrella in it and sugar," she said.

"There's a report that you were addicted to painkillers," Lauer then said.

"I've never been addicted to painkillers," she said. "Painkillers don't work for me."

In 1992, Abdul suffered serious neck injuries in a plane crash and for years was in constant pain that, she has said previously, no drugs could combat.

"I've had 14 cervical spinal surgeries," she told Lauer. "The hardest thing for me is I've had to learn to live in pain."

Now, she said, she gets injections of a biogenic drug called Emo that is normally used for skin disorders. She called it "a Botox for nerves to stop them from glomming on to each other."

So, said Lauer, "There is no smoking gun, there is no scandal here that people need to know about?"

"There absolutely isn't any scandal," Abdul said. "I'm open and willing to talk about it. It's not my job as an entertainer that I have to talk about it, but I'm willing to, and I've helped a lot of people."

The 45-year-old pop icon has also entertained a lot of people. She got her first brush with stardom what seems like a lifetime ago as a dancer on the Los Angeles Lakers cheerleading squad. She became a choreographer for the famous team and still runs cheerleading camps.

She also launched a singing career, recording six No. 1 singles from 1989-91 and selling more than 30 million recordings. She also won a Grammy Award, seven MTV Awards, two Emmy Awards, two People's Choice Awards, and two Kid's Choice Awards.

In 1992, she waged a public war with bulimia, and in 1994 her marriage to Emilio Estevez ended in divorce. A second marriage to clothing heir Brad Beckerman lasted just 17 months.

Finally, six years ago, came an invitation to become a judge on Fox's new show, “American Idol,” and through that she's become even more of a star as she built a reputation of being "the nice judge" and counterpoint to Cowell's acerbic style.

"Hey Paula" is an attempt to show what her life is really like, she told Lauer.

"I didn't go into this thinking, 'Let's try to create more controversy.' I have a 21-year history in this business of many things that I do and many hats that I wear. And when I was doing this show, it was a very concentrated period of time — launching the new season of 'American Idol,' launching my new jewelry line, launching a fragrance. For me it was, 'Let's document all that.'"

"So what do you think is going to surprise all your fans?" asked Lauer. "What are they going to learn that they didn't know about you before?"

"Probably that I work around the clock and that I was very much sleep-deprived," she said. "Most of all, that I'm just as goofy and just as normal as everyone else. I go through hard times, I go through good times."

Among the already famous hard times on her show is a scene where she is changing in her limo for an overnight plane flight and discovers that her assistant had packed a pair of ultratight jeans instead of the sweat pants Abdul had requested.

In the clip, when the assistant says, "I didn't realize they were that tight," Abdul tells her to "shove it down your throat." It was, Abdul told Lauer, a joke about her weight and nothing more.

The one thing missing from the reality show is anything about Abdul's love life, which, Lauer reminded her, she once called "a horror movie."

"It's looking upwards," Abdul said, smiling. "Things are good right now. There is someone in particular."

Asked if the someone was the person who escorted her to the premiere of "Hairspray," restaurateur J.T. Torregiani, the co-owner with Tara Reid of Ketchup, a West Hollywood hot spot, Abdul said, "Yeah."

It was the last question in Lauer's game, after which he said, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Abdul patted Lauer on the knee and said nothing.

Watch video of the interview here.

TAYLOR HICKS HAS COME TO RIGHT PLACE, BABY

Here's an awesome video of Taylor Hicks on "The View" yesterday promoting his book, "Heart Full of Soul." His book is only getting a medicore reception, but this performance of "The Right Place" on the show should make anyone a believer in his heart full of soul.



And if Taylor looks happy and peaceful, it could be because his relationship with anchorwoman Caroline Lyders continues going strong. They are pictured here together a few days ago at a NASCAR event at Kentucky Speedway, and it wasn't hard to believe that he was singing directly to her yesterday.









BECKY O'DONOHUE TRICKS IT OUT

Well, with cars anyway. Rueters reports that MTV debuts a new car-makeover competition series at 10 p.m. Sunday, "Trick It Out," hosted by former "American Idol" contestant Becky O'Donohue, who was a Season 5 semi-finalist. She and twin Jessie both tried out for Idol, but only Becky made it to the semis. She was quickly eliminated in the first round last year, but the guys loved her.

REBA ON KELLY CLARKSON: SHE REMINDS ME OF MYSELF

Net Music Count-
down reports that Reba McEntire met with the Nashville Press yesterday in advance of the release of her upcoming duets album, featuring 11 songs with some of the greatest music stars of two centuries. Reba was happy to talk to us about the debut single, "Because of You," with Kelly Clarkson, a person she says reminded her a lot of herself.

"I first met her on the final show of 'American Idol' and the first time I met her we were doing rehearsals for that TV show. And I thought here's this spunky little person from Texas, who made it big and wins "American Idol," and she's still very down-home normal, it hadn't gotten to her head yet, I'll give her a little time. Fast forward I meet her again (appearing on "Reba"), and she's still this bubbly, funny, down-to-earth great person that I met earlier. And I thought, 'Wow, hasn't effected her.'

We began hanging out together and she's cute and funny and entertains the hound out of me ... and she's very opinionated, she does stand up for what she believes and reminds me a lot of myself and I just fell in love with her."

Reba's "Duets" album hits stores September 18th.

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© 2007

Kelly Clarkson Elle Magazine Cover Story

Kelly Clarkson graces the cover of the current Elle magazine, which did an extensive and deeply revealing interview with her and and people who know her. They also took some smashing pictures of the singer. You can read it all here:

Kelly Clarkson has never been in love. She's not even sure she has been close. This will come as a shock to many people, particularly the millions of fans who have been belting the Grammy-winning megahit "Since U Been Gone" out of their car windows for the past three years.

"I know people probably think I've been heartbroken, because of the stuff I've sung and written," Clarkson acknowledges of her preferred milieu, the artful kiss-off song. It is an early spring afternoon in Los Angeles, and Clarkson is waiting in her dressing room at the 2007 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards, where she is winning Song of the Year for "Because of You," a tune she penned when she was just 16.

"I love my friends and my family," she explains, taking a bite of a Triscuit, her lunch. "But I have never said the words 'I love you' to anyone in a romantic relationship. Ever."

For a self-professed goofy, down-home girl, Clarkson takes romance very seriously. "I am very old-school, conservative in my thinking when it comes to relationships," she says. "Love is something you work at. It doesn't come easily. There are going to be bad days. You are going to have to work at loving someone when they are being an idiot. People think they're just going to meet the perfect guy." She laughs. "Don't be ridiculous."

If there is one thing Kelly Clarkson, 25, is not, it's ridiculous. Nor is she foolish or thoughtless or rash. Clarkson, who first came to national attention in 2002 by winning the debut American Idol—a multimillion-person vote of confidence borne out when her second album went platinum six times—is something altogether different. Unlike Britney or any of those other girls going commando in limos between stints in rehab, she appears free of ego or crippling insecurity. She is a normal dress size. She smiles. She doesn't smoke, because it's "gross." She is "definitely not slutty." She drinks, "like, maybe twice a year." In sum, she seems less like an international superstar than like someone you'd trust to babysit your kid. She is, no caveats, a pop star you can feel good about liking.

American Idol judge Simon Cowell of Clarkson's big, earthy, heartrending voice. "As good as Whitney, as Mariah, as Christina. She isn't aware of how good she really is."

"I can't think of anyone who sings better than Kelly Clarkson," seconds Idol cocreator Simon Fuller. "She is the best young singer in the world right now," he continues, putting to bed any lingering rumors of their post-Idol falling out, a rift that both argue was manufactured by the press. "She is a global superstar. And fans really identify with her, because of her openness. You feel like she is a friend, that you know her. That sets her apart."

"She is the most popular pop vocalist in the country," echoes Clay Aiken, a friend and former touring partner. "And to be that girl and not mind being photographed with your hair messed up—that is something. Can you name any other singer who would dare do that? I mean, please."
"I'm fine with it," Clarkson says of the many unflattering paparazzi photos. "I just don't care. I don't wear makeup in public. I don't worry about what I'm wearing. Hell, I wore pajamas to high school."

"Vocally, I genuinely think she is up there with the top five in the world," says [missing type on Elle Web page]. In 2006, Clarkson was the most-played artist on American radio, her songs ranking in the top 40 for 111 weeks, a record. Her Grammy-winning Breakaway was the third- best-selling album in 2005, producing four No. 1 singles, most notably "Since U Been Gone," a song so infectious it counts both Dave Grohl and Reba McEntire as fans. The song won Clarkson a second Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. That year, she also took home two American Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, 11 Billboard Music Awards, and the People's Choice Award for Best Female Recording Artist, thus cementing her status as an artist with commercial and critical clout. This year she also won four ASCAPs for songwriting, putting her in the esteemed company of Melissa Etheridge and Mary J. Blige, an honor she "was shocked to receive."

Despite the accolades and the abrupt thrust into public life, Clarkson has remained sanguine, even ambivalent about her success. "It is weird when a 12-year-old tells me I am their favorite artist," she muses. "I'm always like, It's just because you're young and you haven't heard everybody yet. In time, I'll be weeded out. And that's cool. I know I'm a good singer, but I know who I am, too."

Which is Clarkson's way of saying she is no Patty Griffin or Emmylou Harris, or even Ryan Adams, artists she adores.

"It's pretty heavy, what happened to her," country great McEntire says of Clarkson's rapid ascent. "She was thrown into the ocean without a life preserver. And she handled it. I don't know that I could have."

Clarkson doesn't try to be a role model—"the idea makes me nervous," she says. But even when she attempts to point out her bad qualities, she comes off a bit Sandra Dee: "I tend to be early. I'm not patient. I have no tolerance for stupidity. I work too much."

Those are your fatal flaws?

"All my conversations revolve around my job. So I'm boring."

Her best friend and occasional makeup artist, Ashley, amends this contention, saying, "It's not her fault. Her career is all people ever want to hear about."

"Well, I used to be a better friend," Clarkson says. "How about that?"

What happened?

"I got famous is what happened."

In person, the Texas-born-and-reared Clarkson has a cartoonishly sexy body. She is short, 5'4", with a flat stomach and a tiny waist that flares into a high, bee-stung bottom.

"I have no boobs," she says, laughing. Nor does she want any. "I go in and out," she explains pointing to her middle, then her hips. "Greek," she shrugs. Her personal style is casual. "I never try on clothes. I am all about sneakers and T-shirts."

It is days before her twenty-fifth birthday, and Clarkson is talking about the party she hosted last week, "in honor of my birthday and the release of my single 'Never Again.' It was held up, for like, ever."

The party, which had a white-trash theme complete with rented taxidermy and Cheez Whiz appetizers (Clarkson wore a mullet and acid-wash jeans tucked into her sneakers), was a raging success, though somewhat tainted by record label drama. Her album "My December," the first one on which Clarkson wrote every song, is due out this summer, having been delayed because of arguments about content.

"The label didn't even acknowledge her ASCAP awards," says Jeff Kwatinetz, Clarkson's manager and CEO of the Firm. "It's upsetting. They don't want her to be a songwriter. They just want her to shut up and sing. They want her to stay their little American Idol."

"Back in the day, female artists were told to perform and then go sit in the corner," McEntire says. "Thank God for people like Dolly Parton who took charge. Kelly is the same way. She knows what she wants. She's had a rough go of it in the music business. People think she just won Idol and everything else was easy. Not so. She's had to fight."

The battles were primarily with industry executives over record tracks and release dates. Apparently it's hard out there for a pop star, even if you are Kelly Clarkson.

"Kelly can sing the phone book," Cowell says. "She doesn't have to be told what to do."

"I've sold more than 15 million records worldwide, and still nobody listens to what I have to say," Clarkson groans, incredulous. "Because I'm 25 and a woman."

On "My December," there are the requisite female outrage songs, none more so than "Never Again," her stunned, oh-no-you-didn't rant to an ex-boyfriend. But most of the tracks are less poppy, more sophisticated. Clarkson has a habit of choosing unusual collaborators; for "My December," she asked seminal punk-rock bassist Mike Watt to play on three songs. Her voice on "Be Still" hints at Carole King, while "Irvine" echoes Chan Marshall. The sound ranges from rock to emo to folk. The lyrics are layered and complicated. "I don't need to be fixed and I certainly don't need to be found," she writes on "Maybe." She isn't angry, just world-weary. Unlike many female songwriters her age, Clarkson rarely blames anybody else for her broken heart, or, for that matter, her failures. She is Alanis Morissette without the finger-pointing. Avril Lavigne with a brain.

"My December's" disparity of themes and lack of an obvious hit were not lost on producer Clive Davis, who is said to have offered Clarkson $10 million to ditch five of her songs for more radio-friendly picks of his choosing. Clarkson declined.

"I am a good singer, so I can't possibly be a good writer," she says, bristling at the implication. "Women can't possibly be good at two things. I haven't lost my temper about it. It only drives me more. If your thing is to bring me down, cool. I'll just work harder."

"Her new album is a real departure. It's a risk," Aiken says. "Kelly is one of those people who really knows who she is. For better or worse, she is her own woman."

A short list of things Clarkson doesn't want:
A clothing line.
A fragrance with her name on the bottle.
A television show.
A movie role.
A toy dog in a leather jacket.

"I could give a crap about being a star," Clarkson says. "I've always just wanted to sing and write."

It is a half hour before a round of entertainment television interviews, and Clarkson is again backstage at the Kodak Theatre, falling asleep in her makeup chair.

"My thing is hanging out," she says, tugging up her stretch slacks, simple black pants she confesses to wearing "every single day." Her hairstylist runs a mascara wand down her hair, coating stray blond strands. Clarkson removes her bra, junior-high style, and slides it out from her shirt, handing it to Ashley to stow in her handbag.

"My resistance upsets a lot of people, because we could make a lot of money," Clarkson says. "And I'm not hatin' on money. But you know in "Funny Girl," when they make Barbra Streisand sing the 'beautiful girl' song, and she is singing these lyrics, and she knows she's not that person?" Clarkson sighs. "I'm just not comfortable doing things that don't feel like me."

She then tells a story about Idol Gives Back, the special episodes of "American Idol" that aired in late April to raise money for Africa and charities at home. Her appearance marked her much anticipated return to the show that spawned her, singing with the likes of Annie Lennox and Celine Dion.

"My label wanted me to sing 'Never Again,'" she says. "And I was like, To promote yourself on a charity event is beyond crass. People are starving and dying and I'm up there singing some bitter pop song? And believe me, everyone wanted me to sing it. Because they are jaded and they have no soul. Imagine sitting in a room full of people totally against you. Can't they hear themselves speaking? Capitalize on AIDS? Are you kidding? Insulting an entire nation of people? I just refused."

Instead, she sang Griffin's "Up to the Mountain," a folkie spiritual that left many listeners in tears. Clarkson asked the British guitar legend Jeff Beck to accompany her, and she showed not only stylistic growth, but a fresh confidence.

"It was the depth of her voice that struck me," Beck says of her performance that night. "She's got this maturity, you know, this fully developed soul voice that I wasn't expecting. It just knocked me out. It was quite riveting to listen to. At one point, the audience started to stand up. They were so moved by her. She's got that quality that demands attention, which is rare."

"She was incredible. When you let her come back on the show it makes everybody else look like an amateur," says Cowell, who believes Clarkson is the best winner yet "without question."

If Clarkson is evolving as an artist, it is because she is trying to.

"Kelly wants to learn; she's soaking all this stuff up," says McEntire, who has become something of a mentor to Clarkson. "But she still knows what's not right."

"If I were to make Breakaway II, I would have failed myself," Clarkson says. "I don't mind sucking, as long as it is my decision. I have literally been told one of the reasons this record took so long to come together is because I am a girl. This is 2007! We aren't in the '50s anymore. Wake up and smell the Folgers."

Clarkson wasn't always a nouveau feminist spitfire. Her parents' divorce when she was 6 transplanted her from California to small-town Texas, leaving her father and her older siblings, Jason, then 15, and Alyssa, then 13, behind. The move left her family broke and Clarkson deeply lonely.

"My mom and I are like sisters. We kind of grew up together," Clarkson says. "She always treated me as an adult. I never had curfew. She's a workaholic, like I am. We're not super family-oriented people, you know?"

Clarkson was not raised hanging Christmas stockings and having sit-down casserole dinners. "My mom was Mrs. PTA and then she got divorced after 17 years. She had put her whole life into that. I think she felt, Enough already."

Clarkson grew up fast. She learned the value of hard work, self-reliance. "We were living from last paycheck to last paycheck," she says. Clarkson worked multiple jobs—at a movie theater concession stand, as a phone solicitor, and as a waitress. There was no time for idleness, no money for hobbies. Clarkson felt the strain. "I had a really big issue with self-consciousness when I was young. I was highly emotional. I worried so much. For most of my childhood I was walking on eggshells trying to make everybody happy." Then she turned 14. "And I was like, Okay, I'm done."

The people-pleaser was put to death, replaced by "Miss Independent." Clarkson joined student council, drama club, and, after some prodding, choir. "I was singing in the hallway in junior high and the new choir director heard me. She asked me to join and then people started telling me I was really good, and I kind of just went with it."

Soon enough, her voice started to bring her local renown.

"I sang 'Vision of Love' at this dessert theater. I remember being onstage and this old guy came up to me afterward. It was someone's grandpa. And he told me, 'You have a very touching voice. You are meant to be a singer.' And I was like, Cool, if I can move someone enough to have them come tell me that. Wow. So I went home and told my mom I wanted to be a singer. And being Realistic Rita, she was like, Honey, there's a lot of people who can sing that aren't making it; you should probably have a fallback. And I was like, No. That would mean I don't believe I'm going to make it."

The night of her ASCAP honors, Clarkson tries on three dresses, eventually choosing the first selection, a Monique Lhuillier green chiffon bubble halter, which she pairs with jeweled sandals. She puts on earrings and a bracelet, then pulls them off. She eyes her reflection for approximately three minutes, makes one turn to see the back, then walks away.

"Making this album was really hard," she says, removing the dress and settling into a chair in a white bathrobe. "I remember having this horrible day, and a friend sent me this link to a website with all my private information on it—my phone numbers, my addresses, my bank card numbers. I read it and I was in this tiny little bathroom in this rented house and I was sobbing. It felt like I had nothing for me. I bawled. I felt naked."

In her off time, Clarkson flees Los Angeles for Texas, where she owns a ranch. Once there, she doesn't talk to anyone. She shops for groceries. Sees the occasional movie.

"I am very open. I don't want to lie. But I want something for myself."

As such, she does not want children. Not now, anyway. "My point of view is that I shouldn't be a mother at all, because I'd be horrible. I'm not willing to be that selfless."

Nor does she want a man. "I'm not keen on marriage. I don't let many people in. Men come and go. Friends are what I care about." If she did want a guy, she'd pick a funny charmer. "I can't stand pretty boys. The guys I date are the just-rolled-out-of-bed, scruffy type. Baseball cap, flannel shirt. Like Luke on Gilmore Girls."

"Kelly is the type who will wait until the right guy, and when she finds him it will happen really fast," Ashley says. "I can see her getting married, even if she can't."

Clarkson has had only three boyfriends; none are famous, and two remain her close friends. The third is the inspiration for "Never Again," and Clarkson refuses to mention him by name. "When it comes to certain parts of my life, I won't allow myself to be vulnerable at all," she explains. "I have a lot of trust issues. Most people are like that, I think."

In a few minutes she will re-don the dress and discover that she left her brassiere on too long.

"Oh, crap. You can see the strap marks," she says, curling up her lip. "Sorry, y'all."

In the gown, strap marks and all, she looks older. Could be her hair, styled in a straight, shoulder-skimming bob. She looks, perhaps for the first time publicly, like a woman, not a girl.

Later, Clarkson will seduce the press with her unmitigated honesty. She will share self-deprecating stories, including one about her high school prom, where she confesses that due to an overpacked social and church schedule, she slept in her formal updo for several days, eventually being photographed for her senior class picture in "three-day-old prom hair." She will tell the truth reflexively, even imprudently.

"Everybody goes through crap, Terri," she says to Terri Seymour, a TV entertainment show correspondent and Cowell's girlfriend. "You can't just write a bunch of happy songs because somebody is telling you they'll sell."

When the press preamble is finished and she finally hits the red carpet to the accompaniment of a thousand blinking flashes, she will not just hear her name called, like every other celebrity. She will be cheered. Because loving Kelly Clarkson is easy. Even if she won't say it back.

LAKISHA JONES HONORED IN MICHIGAN

The Associated Press reports that Flint, Mich., native and "American Idol" performer LaKisha Jones was greeted by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and hundreds of other fans Monday at the state Capitol, where she continued a homecoming trip through Michigan before leaving to rehearse for an upcoming tour.

Jones wowed the crowed by singing "And I'm Telling You" from the film "Dreamgirls" and "God Bless the Child" — both songs she performed on the top-rated Fox TV show. Fans held signs, snapped photos and cheered her along.

Jones said "never in a million years" did she dream she would be on the Capitol steps with the governor.

"My life is at a complete 360," Jones, 27, told reporters. "I was struggling really bad last year, and I moved. ... God has really blessed me tremendously."

The single mother said she plans to live in Houston, where she lived more than six years before moving to Baltimore for a bank-teller job. She made the semifinals in February, got an on-camera kiss from sometimes-churlish judge Simon Cowell and remained in the running until May 9, when she was outpolled by Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis and eventual winner Jordin Sparks.

Jones will participate in the "American Idol" tour this summer. She leaves Tuesday for rehearsals in Los Angeles.

When asked about working at the bank, Jones said: "I'll just be going to make deposits and withdrawals."

Granholm, who said she voted for Jones on the show, told the crowd that the state is proud of Jones and she "gave our spirits a boost at a time we are very challenged."

Jones sang the national anthem Friday before the interleague game between the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets. She also was honored in Flint Saturday with "LaKisha Day."

The Lansing celebration featured a performance by the youth choir from Jones' Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.

CONSTANTINE'S ALBUM DROPS AUG. 7

According to BroadwayWorld.com, Broadway and "American Idol" star Constantine Maroulis will release his debut solo album on August 7th. The album is on the Sixth Place Records / Sony RED label.

Maroulis debuted "Everybody Loves," the first song off the album, on "The Bold & The Beautiful" on Wednesday, May 15th 2007. "Everybody Loves" is currently available on iTunes.

Since his departure from "American Idol," Maroulis has starred on Broadway in "The Wedding Singer," as well as in the critically acclaimed off-Broadway revival of "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris." In between, he devoted time and effort into finding the right band, assembling a group of musicians that meshed into a cohesive and rockin' ensemble.

Maroulis co-wrote several songs on the record and songwriters who lent their skills to the release include seminal singer/songwriter Willie Nile; Angie Aparo (Faith Hill), Marcel (Rascal Flatts) and Grammy nominated Kevin Kadish (Jason Mraz). Maroulis recently became a featured star on "The Bold and The Beautiful," which throughout his thirteen-week stint, will incorporate his music.

"The album was cut live with my own band," Maroulis explains. "No programming, minimal overdubs. We've been playing these songs on the road and chose the tunes that got the best feedback from our audiences."

Visit Maroulis MySpace page for more on the singer.

CLAYMATES WAR OVER AIKEN'S ORIENTATION

The New York Post sez there's a civil war among the Claymates in Claynation. Clay Aiken's rabid fans -- who call themselves "Claymates" and say they live in "Claynation" -- are at odds with each other over their former Idol. An insider said, "The war is between the batty members that are still clinging to their heterosexual fantasies of him and others that don't harbor such illusions."

Aiken's sexuality has been a subject of speculation ever since several men came out publicly and said they'd met him in gay chat rooms and had relations with him. Aiken has always refused to discuss his inclinations.

The Claymates' clash got so bad that the Official Fan Club com-
pletely suspended its message board and noted, "Due to reports of extensive unrest and disrespect amongst members that has been carrying on for several weeks, the Official Fan Club Message Board will be shut down until further notice. Please note that should tensions continue on other areas of the fan club, severe consequences may occur."

FANTASIA SINGS PRAISES OF LITERACY AND EDUCATION

According to PRNews-
wire.com, Fantasia Barrino is teaming up with Suave beauty line and Dollar General stores to award scholarships to students who are dedicated to education, as well as to recognize their invaluable role models -- especially mom's who have encouraged others to pursue their dreams through education.

The "Suave Essay Contest" invites students to write about how someone has helped them improve their life through education for the chance to win a $10,000 scholarship and a trip to New York to meet Fantasia.

"I am thrilled to partner with Suave and Dollar General on a program that delivers such a vital message about literacy and education," said Fantasia. "Having struggled with literacy, I know the importance of reading skills and how important a good education is. I encourage all students to think about bettering their literacy skills to realize their dreams."

The "Suave Essay Contest" program asks people 5 years of age or older to submit an essay about how a role model (mother, parent, teacher, relative or friend) helped them improve their life through education. Beginning Monday, June 18, students can enter online here or here or by picking up an official entry form at any Dollar General store.

One grand-prize winner will receive a $10,000 grant toward a college savings plan and three first prize winners will receive a $5,000 grant. All four winners will travel to New York City with a guest to see Fantasia star in "The Color Purple" on Broadway and meet her after the show. In addition, 2,000 second-place entrants will win a $50 Visa Gift Card. Entries submitted by mail must be postmarked by Friday, July 20, 2007 and received by Friday, July 27, 2007. Online entries must be received by Friday, July 20, 2007.

WHAT TAYLOR LOOKS FOR IN A WOMAN

A short People magazine video in which Taylor Hicks discusses his perfect woman: Funny and looking like Bo Derek "after she did that swimsuit picture." Well, so far Hicks and Caroline Lyders got the beach part right. Watch video here.


KATHARINE McPHEE'S NEW SEX KITTEN IMAGE

Pantagragh.com interviewed Katharine McPhee recently about her new sound and sex-kitten image: Q. What can we expect from you?

What can we expect from you?

I'll be singing four to five songs. You'll get to know me a little bit more as a personality and as performer. Because on "Idol" you didn't get to see us perform; it was like one two-minute song and then you were finished. This gives you a chance to let the nerves subside.

We're not going to hear "Over the Rainbow," I take it.

No, you're not. I'm sorry.

When was the last time you performed that?

Gosh, I don't even remember. On the "Idol" tour, I sang it every night.

People look at your album cover and wonder if you're going to wear the over-the-knee boots and sweater for this performance.

No.

Is that an outfit you wear very often?

Oh, yeah. I wear it out all the time. Heh-heh-heh.

You had a glamorous image on "Idol." What kind of image are you looking for now?

It's more about what's in right now. I like little dresses. I still like the long dresses as well. It's summer so a little bit more cute, sexy. An album cover is really different from what you wear every day. At least this album cover.

Your album had a big first week of sales (116,000) and then has slowed down. How do you feel about the reaction to the album so far?

It's what I predicted it would be with the current single. I don't think it was one of those songs that was going to drive record sales up to crazy numbers. It's a good introduction to the new sound. It wasn't my favorite song off the new record; so I'll be candid about that. More important, I'm really excited about the next single, which is "Love Story."

There are a lot of different musical styles on the album. What were you trying to do?

My initial approach for the record was to have it in the vein of "Love Story," "Not Ur Girl," "We've Got Each Other." Then a few ballads made it on. There are a lot of politics that go on with the first record and a lot of things that you don't think you have control over and then later you realize 'oh, I had a little bit more control than I thought.' ... I think it'll be a little more my way on the second record.

Your album hasn't been a block-
buster and either has Taylor's. How do you feel about that?

I think the record industry is in a weird place right now. Considering that Taylor didn't have anything on the radio, he's done pretty well for himself.

I have to say I'm very satisfied where I am right now. Coming off a show where everything happens so fast and you rise to the top so quickly, [it's good] being able to kind of be on the other side now and see how other artists have to start out. I can certainly say now that I've had to do things to try to work my way to the top; it wasn't just all handed to me. I kind of appreciate this way my music is evolving. We have three more singles to go. As far as sales go, I don't pay attention to the weekly reports nor do I want to know about them.

You have said that "American Idol" saved your life. Could you explain what you mean by that?

I was able to be more focused on my career and the possibilities of what could happen as opposed to an eating disorder.

Was being runnerup a blessing or a curse?

Everything has been a blessing. Chris will tell you that being fourth is a blessing; he's doing great. We're all doing great in our own way. We're all hitting different markets. If I had won, I'd probably be in the same situation right now. That's fine with me.

When you appeared on Tyra Banks' show in February, people wonder about what you thought when she grabbed your breast to determine if it was real or enhanced?

Well, she asked me. It was just a fun, cute little show. I didn't realize that people would make such a big deal about it for weeks to come. That's how I'm with with my girlfriends — I'm really playful and fun. That's what it was like with Tyra. I was just having her help me clarify a rumor.

You appeared on the sitcom "Ugly Betty." What's your future with acting and dancing?

I'm taking ballet. Just kidding. I'm not like: "Oh, the door's open; I have to get into a movie." [But she did!] I'd rather take some time to find the perfect project than to just rush into something. [But she did!]

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Want to Know How to P.O. Kat McPhee?

Let an intern interview her. Listen to this astoundingly rude interview conducted by an intern at Washington, D.C., radio station Hot 99.5. "American Idol" Season 5 runner-up Katharine McPhee had been scheduled for an in-studio chat, but a delayed plane forced the interview to be conducted via phone. The station had been pre-warned not to ask McPhee, who was visiting D.C. for a Hillary Clinton fundraiser, any personal questions.

Why morning deejay Kane allowed his intern Ally to conduct the interview at all, much less without pre-instruction, is anyone's guess. Was the intention to get laughs? Perhaps. The results were pretty disasterous. Ally asked how old Kat’s boyfriend is (42), if she’s into older guys, what’s the deal with "Idol" not having her on the Season 6 finale (they didn't invite her back), if she's engaged, if it's hard to stay loyal to her boyfriend on the road, and what it was like getting felt up by Tyra Banks. Ally failed to even ask why McPhee was in D.C. (actually, she admitted on air she didn't care why McPhee was in D.C.). It sounded to us like an intentional shanghai of the singer and budding film actress.

Here are two versions on the interview. The first is with commentary from Ally's boss and on-air colleagues, the second the interview sans commentary. Either way, you can hear that Katharine is clearly annoyed by the whole thing.

Hot 99.5 Intern Ally interviews Katharine McPhee (includes commentary from on-air staffers)

Hot 99.5 Intern Ally interviews Katharine McPhee (no commentary)

IS TAYLOR HICKS THE OTHER MAN IN LYDERS' LIFE?

There has been specula-
tion on a number of Web sites, including The National Ledger, The Post-Gazettet and NBC/11 about whether Caroline Lyders and Season 5 American Idol Taylor Hicks are involved in a love triangle. It seems the new couple may have a very good reason for the "just friends" mantra they dished out after being spotted getting cozy on a beach in Hawaii.

According to Star magazine, Lyders the co-anchor of the weekday edition of WISN 12 News This Morning, has a longtime boyfriend, insurance businessman Aaron Ruffcorn. What's the deal? Is Taylor Hicks the "other man" or is he just dating the runaround? Heaven knows.

On May 24, the pair was photographed romping in the surf and smooching passionately on a beach in Maui, with Caroline sporting a teeny black string bikini – much to grinning Taylor ’s obvious delight! Raised in Iowa and a graduate of Columbia University School of Journalism, Caroline shares a musical link to Hicks; she’s an award-winning pianist. Things reportedly began to heat up between the duo after she interviewed him in March 2007, but they kept the affair under wraps until their Maui vacation. Lyders recently admitted, "Taylor and I are friends. Beyond that, I'd rather not comment on my personal life."

But the new romance is hitting a sour note with someone else – namely, her longtime boyfriend, insurance businessman, Aaron Ruffcorn. In fact after the photos of Taylor and Caroline's beach romp surfaced, Star contacted Aaron's Iowa-based dad, Mitchell Ruffcorn, who insisted, "My son is dating her."

Aaron's dad says the couple fell in love while in high school. Aaron wrote on an Internet portfolio, "My commitment to my girlfriend Caroline was both the catalyst and the anesthetic for the move [to Ohio , then to Milwaukee]."

Aaron’s father tells Star, "The last time I saw her was at Christmas 2006. She was with our family for the holiday, and we all had a lot o fun. I know they have been talking about marriage for some time." His father also said they've been talking marriage for some time. His mother told Star that the two are currently dating, but Ruffcorn himself seems less certain.

So what went wrong between Aaron and Caroline in the months since Christmas? Perhaps Taylor being in the right place? Aaron tells Star, "There is nothing but love and respect between Caroline and myself. There is a lot of history between us; all decisions we make are together. Whether there's a future for Caroline and Taylor, I don't know. As to whether there's still a future [for us] at this point, stranger things have happen [sic].' "

In other words his relationship with Caroline is over. In the meantime, if Lyders is expecting to someday walk down the aisle with Hicks, she may have a long wait. Hick's grandmother, Joni Hicks, tells Star, "Girlfriends require attention and time. That's absolutely what Taylor does not have! He's never been close to getting married, and he's in no hurry." Perhaps, but if it's a soul thing, maybe he's finally gonna move on to marriage just to feel that way, grandma!

JORDIN SPARKS OVERWEIGHT? C'MON!

Is it not bad enough that Jordin Sparks will probably be "persuaded" to lose weight anyway now that she's celeb royalty without the tabs and some idiot named MeMe Roth (doesn't that first name speak volumes?)getting into debates and calling her overweight? Overweight! She's 5 foot 10 inches and a a size 12! This is overweight? What has happened to the universe? Normal and healthy are not sizes 0-4. Even 6 in on the small side. Normal and healthy for women are sizes 8-12 (sorry guys). Even 14 is not out of the question.

As Salon.com says, anti-obesity crusader Roth, who is wound tight as a spring and is the leader of a wannabe movement called National Action Against Obesity, is leading a misguided crusade against what she perceives as tubby "American Idol" contestants. She was probably hoping someone such as LaKisha Jones would win so she could make her the poster girl for the nation's obesity epidemic. Jones, for all that heavenly voice, was actually obese, whereas bubbly belter Jordin Sparks is merely kittenishly chubby. No matter. Roth was camped out at Fox News (click to watch video) before Sparks finished the song that got her into the finals. Her message? Skinny Blake Lewis should win [the singing contest] because Sparks, according to Roth's warped standards, is fat.

Bizarro lady also has a blog called "Wedding Gown Challenge" which states:

"Annually, I invite all women to gather with their girlfriends, pull their wedding gowns from storage, and put them back on. The big laughs should come from the dated styles, not busted zippers.

And for the Wedding Gown Challenge, the wedding gown is symbolic of a time in a woman’s life when she’s entered into adulthood at a healthy weight, and intends to maintain that weight for a lifetime. Your wedding ceremony may have been Catholic, Cosmic or Common Law. You may have donned puffy whites or a scuba suit. The Wedding Gown Challenge message is to maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime. And that’s true too for whomever wore the tux."

It all sounds reasonable until she goes off on children such as Jordin Sparks and starts spouting her group's theory on "Secondhand Obesity," which freelance journalist Lindsay Beyerstein, deriding Roth in her blog Majikthise explains, is meant to denote "obesity handed down from one generation to the next, as well as from citizen to citizen."

Yes, that's right says Beyerstein, MeMe Roth's group asserts that obesity is a communicable condition. Hence Roth's willingness to berate Sparks. According to her crackpot supposition, Jordin is a "vector for fatness." Or "A veritable typhoid Mary, scarcely afflicted herself, but suppressing national leptin levels over the airwaves."

Scarier still is Roth's motivation to keep people thin. Katie Allison Granju points out in her blog, The Pop Culturephile, that in Roth's Wedding Gown Challenge blog you find this little tidbit:

Q: Any special motivation?
MeMe Roth: I see staying fit as an obligation to my self and my family. Back in the 80s when I was Van Halen’s "number one fan," I did get the chance to meet the band. Eddie Van Halen made me promise I'd never get fat. He said I looked like something out of Playboy. Talk about making a girl swoon... I kept my part of the bargain; maybe he'll come to the Wedding Gown Challenge?

Er, yeah, thanks. Sure we'll take Eddie Van Halen as our health and appearance role model, an alcoholic and smoker who keeps puffing away to this day, even though he's gone through mouth cancer. And you're taking advice from him on what you -- and everybody else on earth -- should look like? Someone who looks as if they belong on Skid Row? NOT! Have you seen how sexily healthy he looks lately? Glance to your right. Perhaps he suggested to ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli that she join Jenny Craig if she wanted another shot at his wasted wreck of a body. He's what probably drove her to overeating.

Fortunately, according to People magazine, Sparks seems to have a pretty healthy attitude about her body. People says winning Idol she not only won a singing competition, but a lifelong battle to accept herself.

"I think it really helped boost her self-esteem and made her realize she's beautiful as she is," her grandmother, Pam Weidmann said. Jordin's mom, Jodi, says of her daughter's May 23 victory: "It was huge to see her confidence level grow. ... She's standing taller now."

At 5'10" and size 12 by the time she was in junior high school, "I stood out everywhere," says Jordin, who use to hunch, wear oversize clothing and search in vain for her size at teen mall stores. "I'd look at my friends who were just naturally tiny, and maybe they weren't even a size 2, but they were smaller than me and that was good enough. I was like, 'Oh, why can't I look like that?' "

Jordin tried dieting every now and then, but failed because, she says, giggling, "I like food too much to do it. I would try, like, 'Hey I'm going to diet and I'll be a size 8 by the end of the summer,' but it never worked out."

One day at their local mall, Jordin and her mom came across the newly launched plus-size store Torrid. "It was like angels – 'ahhhhhhhh!' – shining down on it because it's sizes 12 and up. They have clothes for girls who aren't an average size so they can totally feel cute and flirty and still keep up with the latest trends," Jordin says, noting that being the store's smallest size was "great for my self-esteem."

In fact, just before auditioning for Idol, Jordin landed a modeling gig for Torrid. "I think it really helped boost her self-esteem and made her realize she's beautiful as she is," says her grandmother.

Her parents' attitudes also helped Jordin feel good about herself. "My mom and my dad always were saying, 'You're beautiful, Jordin,' " says the Idol winner, whose father Phillippi, 38, a former star cornerback for the New York Giants, is 5'11" (mom is 5'6").

After nailing her Idol audition, Jordin's confidence began to soar. For the first time in her life, she embraced her right to bare arms. Before the show, "I liked to wear sleeves because they would cover up my arms," she says. When the show's stylists made suggestions, "I'd go, 'This dress is way too beautiful. If I add sleeves it will ruin it.' So I just got over it."

These days, "I'm really comfortable in my own skin," Jordin says with her signature wide smile. "I learned that I'm not ever going to be a size 2. I would look so weird as a size 2. Somebody would blow and I would fall right over. It just wouldn't be healthy."

And what of Roth? "Inside Edition" reports that the "obesity expert" is taking a lot heat and even death threats from fans of the newly crowned Idol for saying the singer should lose weight.

"When someone is overweight whether she be an 'American Idol' or not we know that her health has been compromised," Roth said. Nasty messages began being posted online after Roth went public saying sparks is overweight and unhealthy.

"Jordin Sparks signed herself up to be a plus-sized model. It's not going to be a surprise to her that she might be perceived as being slightly overweight," Roth told "Inside Edition."

And while Roth now says some of her comments were misconstrued, the controversy doesn't seem to be bothering Sparks a bit.

In case you missed the lovely and vivacious Jordin's appearance on "Ellen," you can watch video of her here, with DeGeneres:



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© 2007

Taylor Hicks' New Honey?

On May 25th, TMZ.com reported that Taylor Hicks was cavorting on the beach in Hawaii with a mystery blonde. Yesterday, the Web site revealed that it had solved the mystery.

So who was that blonde in the Hawaiian sand with the Season 5 "Idol" winner? If you live in Milwaukee, you know spritely Caroline Lyders from WISN-TV.

According to OnMilwaukee.com, Lyders, the co-anchor of the weekday edition of WISN "12 News This Morning," has been romantically linked to singer Taylor Hicks. The entertainment blogosphere was abuzz after what appeared to be photos of Lyders and Hicks lounging and canoodling on a beach in Hawaii showed up on various Web sites. And it didn't take long for Hicks' fans to identify the bikini-clad woman in the photos as Lyders.

Lyders says she and Hicks are "friends," but won't say anymore. "Yes, Taylor and I are friends, and as a journalist I respect your asking. But beyond that, I'd rather not comment on my personal life."

"I do not comment on my client's personal life," said Liz Morentin of Hicks' J Records label via e-mail.

People.com, which contacted OnMilwaukee.com for more clarification about a story that ran Wednesday afternoon, quoted an unnamed "friend" of Hicks' as saying, "I don't know about any new girlfriend. But I'm not surprised. Taylor always had girls following him even before he ever became famous. ... He is a romantic when it comes to women, and he treats them with respect. So to be seen out in public with this girl makes me know that he likes her, because that's just how he is."

You can see more picture of Hicks and Lyders here.

PETER NOONE: IDOL NOT FOR MY DAUGHTER

Peter Noone played in Atlantic City last weekend. This season's American Idol mentor for the guys on British Invasion Week told the The Herald of New Jersey that although he was thrilled when he was asked to coach this season's contestants, he wouldn't want his daughter an aspiring singer, to go the Idol route.

Noone, the "Herman" in the 1960s English pop band Herman's Hermits, believes the show doesn't do fledgling performers any favors by catapulting them from anonymity to fame in a matter of months. "They're taking people who have mostly been singing karaoke in bars and then throwing them in front of millions of people," he says. The show is shortcutting the time-honored process of coming up through the ranks and learning how to be a performer.

The singer considers himself lucky he came up through the business the hard way. He believes the "American Idol" contestants are missing the kind of mentoring he received. "They're not learning how to work in front of a smaller audience," he says. "They're not learning simple things, like how to talk [to the audience] between songs. It may not sound important, but these are all important lessons they're missing."

Because "American Idol" requires contestants to cover songs popularized by other artists, Noone said the show doesn't encourage originality. For that reason alone, his daughter, Natalie Noone, 20, an aspiring singer, songwriter and musician, has no desire to audition for the show. "She's a country and rock singer, and she says she'd never go on that show if she couldn't perform her own music," Noone says as a touch of fatherly pride creeps into his voice.

Noone said he was glad he paid his dues more than 40 years ago and didn't need the show as a vehicle to launch his career. "If I had to sing in front of 38 million people when I was first coming up, I'd have quit the business and become a doctor," said Noone, adding "I would have never had the [guts] to do that," he adds. "I'd have rather eaten a can of worms or done a play with 30 pages of dialogue."

Noone, 59, is as outspoken during a chat from his Santa Barbara, Calif., home as he was on "American Idol," when he bluntly told acerbic judge Simon Cowell that the show was a voting competition and not a singing competition. That comment earned him a disgusted look from Cowell.

Things were different when Noone was a 16-year-old actor and singer trying to make it with a band in Manchester, England, in 1963. The group was playing small clubs with rowdy crowds that thought nothing about chuckling at Herman's Hermits when they began performing "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" long before it became one of the group's biggest hits.

"They laughed in our faces," Noone remembers. "And we learned to deal with that. That's something ['American Idol' contestants] won't experience because every move they make is controlled."

Noone also remembers being mentored by John Lennon in the early days. The Beatles had already made their mark on America when Lennon saw Herman's Hermits performing in a small club. "I told John, 'I think we're gonna make it; look at all those screaming kids in the front row,' " Noone recalls. Lennon told him he was making a mistake singing to the band's fans.

"He told me never to sing to the people in the front row," he says. "He said I should sing to the people in the back, the ones who don't like you and don't really care. And that message stayed with me."

PLAY WITH SANJAYA? OZZY NYET, PERRY YUP

The New York Post reports that Ozzy Osbourne pulled out of an appearance on the "American Idol" finale. The Black Sabbath star was slated to duet with Sanjaya Malakar, but cancelled at the last minute. A source told the Post's Page Six column, "When he learned he would have to do a duet with Sanjaya, Ozzie said he didn't want to be onstage with that idiot." Osbourne is also reported to have called Malakar "a hairstyle-challenged idiot." Aerosmith star Joe Perry was called up as Osbourne's replacement.

Meanwhile, the Bangalore Times reports that Perry said he played The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" with Sanjaya "just for fun."

"They [the producers] asked me to play backup with Sanjaya and I agreed," Perry said. "Fans love the show. It's big, the second biggest in the U.S. after the Superbowl in terms of the number of viewers.

"I did it for fun — it was a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing. I also wanted to play with Kelly Clarkson [he accompanied her for "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"]. She's got a fantastic voice."

Of controversial Sanjaya, Perry said, "Sanjaya's so young. I don't think he's had time to develop as a singer. Sometimes that happens naturally — Michael Jackson was a natural at five — at other times it takes years. Sanjaya has a lot going for him — he's got rhythm and timing. It's a matter of putting in the hours. Even The Beatles spent years playing at clubs. You have to rehearse and rehearse, play and play. In his case it may be too much too soon. Now even the show's runners-up get record deals. You have to see whether or not he's got it in him to keep it going. Sanjaya's a really nice guy. He could have been all blown up with the fame he's got, but he knows his limitations. He listens — he went along with all the suggestions I gave him. I found the experience interesting. For me, it was a piece of cake."

BLAKE LEWIS APPEARANCE VIDEOS

Two recent appearances by Blake Lewis you might have missed, but can catch here!

Blake on "Live With Regis and Kelly" (Blake backs himself with beat-boxing while singing "She Will Be Loved", very cool):



Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks on MTV's TRL (at the end Jordin sings to Blake's beat-boxing):



And, finally, America's Idol winner and America's favorite beat-boxer made separate visits to New York's Fox/5 studios to talk about "American Idol," and answer questions. Blake Lewis on "Good Day New York" and Jordin Sparks on "Good Day New York."

BLAKE LEWIS' CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

You've read snippets for days here and other places, but here is the complete transcript of QNAs between Blake Lewis and the press during a conference call this past Friday. (Salutations and congratulations eliminated for the sake of brevity):

TVGuide.com: Looking back on it now is there anything – do you have any sort of regrets, or is there anything you would have done differently?

Oh, never. I never have regrets. I had so much fun on this experience. The journey’s been amazing, and each week was a different experience, and it - ended it with a bang with Doug E. Fresh.

TVGuide.com: Were you nervous at all about that?

Oh, no, not at all. The most calm I’ve been on this whole entire season was playing the Kodak Theater both nights, so.

TVGuide.com: What can we expect from you after the tour? Is anything falling into place? Are you getting any ideas about an album or who you might work?

Definitely an album will be in the works, not exactly sure who yet, but little talk about it when I - I’ll be going to New York here and be talking to the right people to get that underway.

Us Weekly Online: So you’ve made it this far, and I know Jordin has her “This is My Now” song to kind of describe her Idol experience. What would yours be?

Well, the most work I have put into any song was definitely the Bon Jovi, “You Give Love a Bad Name.” That one best – not necessarily vocally, but like for performance, that represents me and “Keep Me Hanging On, and “This is Where I Came In,” the Bee Gees. Those are the three songs that I arranged, pretty much, the most, and I put a lot of work into them.

Us Weekly Online: I’m very familiar with your charitable efforts with Seattle Children’s and your whole initiative as far as that is concerned. Have you given any thought to how you’re going to expand upon that now that your notoriety is very much out there?

Not yet. I haven’t had a lot of time to think until I get all this press done and everything. So I’ll be talking with my best friend, Kristi, head of the Blaker Girls, and we’ll come up with something unique, to give back.

Wireless Flash News: Going back to the performance with Doug E. Fresh, how exactly did you feel doing that? Like, did you ever think you’d get to the point where you’d be on stage with him?

You know, I met him a month and a half before when he came out with – he came out to support Akon and Gwen Stefani, so he was behind the stage at that. And I went up to him, and I just asked if he wanted to cipher after the show or something, so we went back in the hallway, and we did some question and answering back and forth with the beatbox. And it was a real magical moment, and I asked him if there was any chance that he could come on the show, and we can perform, even after American Idol in the…term. Let’s do it. He was all for it. And then flash forward to the finale, and I get to rock the show his ’86 classic beatbox song that inspired me, and it was just a real magical moment. So I was more excited than anything to end the finale and end my run as an American Idol with Doug E. Fresh, one of my main inspirations as a beatboxer.
Wireless Flash News: Do you think American Idol will be more hip, more contemporary because of what you brought to it, singing real current songs and beatboxing and all that?

Yes. I can only hope that it keeps a contemporary edge, getting more contemporary acts on the show, with the shows that they do have that people come and play or as a mentorship. There’s definitely a lot of classic stuff going on this year. I don’t know. I think if the show wants to have a continued success, I think they need to play more in favor to what’s out there, what’s current.

Soap Opera Weekly: During the finale on Tuesday, how did you feel about the judges discussing who won each round and calling you “The Desperate Farmer”?

Oh, man, since the beginning of the competition, I honestly - it’s hard to hear them in the first place, and I just bite my tongue, and I say thank you. It’s just three people’s opinion in that I really don’t like the criticism right after you sing a song. In any other circumstance…and being on stage, that would never happen, so I took it for what it is. I always just say, “Thank you,” and I go to the next song and sing my song, do the same thing over and over again. So it doesn’t really ever get to me. It’s nice when they say positive things, and when they say negative things, I just…my shoulders off.

Soap Opera Weekly: What was your smartest song choice and why?

Smartest song choice - it really depends on the week. I was scared for country week, and I was lucky to sing, “When the Stars go Blue.” I think Bon Jovi, from the response, was probably the most successful song choice. I really loved the fact that I got to sing, “Keep Me Hanging On,” and remix that. Honestly, it really depends on the week. I think I had a smart song choice every week, but I do think coming out the gate singing, “Somewhere Only We Know,” and everyone thought I was just a beatboxer was a smart move on my part. That was the only part where I was like, I guess, strategical, using my strategery as good George Bush would say.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution: How come we haven’t seen the return of your character, Jimmy Walker Blue?

There hasn’t been a lot of opportunities for Jimmy Walker Blue. It was – that’s just another part of me that I dove in, in more character acting, character, I think, spots. If I ever get to play Saturday Night Live, man, I do a lot of character work and a lot of voiceovers. I’m very into improv comedy and just comedy on the whole. So if there’s any part where I could go, like David Alan Grier has his improv show. I’d love to go on that. Anytime that I could do something like that and just – I feed off the live – that’s why I think I love performing, and that’s why I’ve had such a blast on this show is because I can – since it’s live, I can really feed off that energy. Back home, I had a character, Charles Siegfried. I was the host of a burlesque show and very British egocentric character where he loves the ladies, and he thinks the world loves him, and then Jimmy Walker Blue is just like a hip-hop hick, someone that would listen to Kid Rock 24 hours a day, so just weird, wacky characters. I grew up on a lot of Robin Williams, Mork & Mindy, a lot of Jim Carey movies.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Do you do any celebrity impersonations?

Not really. I was more into impressions when I was, like, in junior high and high school, and then I, that’s when I also started becoming more of the musician. And so just recently, probably in the last two years, I got more into the characters working with my friends. There’s an amazing improv. My friend’s duo called Cupcake, up in Seattle, that I get to feed off them and ride their coattails and get to do neat little character stuff that’s all YouTube. So if you go to moistcupcake.com, there’s probably like six videos that I’m on in different characters.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Moistcupcake.com - I’ll remember that.

B. Lewis Mostcupcake.com. It’s an improv that my friend, Ethan and Justin – their duo show. They do an hour and half of improv, and I get to be the Flava Flave, if you will, the hot guy in different characters and stuff. So I’m honored to work with those – my friends, and have real opportunities where I can be a goof.

The Houston Chronicle: What would you say is probably the best thing about actually not winning the title, if there indeed is one for you.

Oh, man, you know, I never thought I’d get to this moment ever. So that’s a tough question to answer because I picked Jordin to be the winner in the top 24, like as soon as I met her, I picked her to be the winner. I’m so completely satisfied coming second on this show. I would have been completely satisfied coming in fourth or fifth or fifth or sixth. I always felt that my art wasn’t as mainstream as most people, so just me coming out of Seattle, kind of being more of an eclectic artist and into definitely more independent and underground music, so just coming on this show, I just gave it my all, and I wound up at two. And that’s huge. I really wanted to just get into the top ten, so I could go on tour and actually show people what I do on tour, and hopefully, they like that. So – I’m terrible at answering questions.

The Houston Chronicle: Tell me a little bit about what it was like to have the constant daily support from Elizabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O’Donnell.

Well, that’s amazing. I don’t watch a lot of TV, and I’m lucky that I have amazing friends that keep me sane, and they let me know what’s going on because I never have time for anything, especially with the show. We were doing like 16 hour days. So my good friend, Kristi, she’s the head of the Blaker Girls; she’s my best friend. She keeps me informed of everything. So she told me about that, and I actually watched The View one day, and they were wearing like a Blaker Girl shirt. I’d love to go on that show. I love Rosie O’Donnell. I love – she just says whatever she wants. And that’s usually how I am. I’m kind of like Simon’s sense where I just – I’m pretty honest and blunt, and sometimes a little tactless. ….

People Magazine: Do you wish you could possibly have had a song that suited you better rather than “This is My Now,” and did it possibly kind of do you in, in the end?

You know, that’s what a lot of people are asking, and I definitely say, yes. “This is My Now” is definitely not my style. It’s a song I would never sing if I didn’t have to, so it was definitely – it fit her, like, perfectly. And honestly, they should have had two songs, one that was tailored to both of us, but I’m so happy with being second place. I never thought I’d get here in the first place, so. But yes, it’s just definitely not my style. I would have rather had something like blues-oriented, jazzy. I think there could be like an uplifting song that’s not so linear. That one’s not very melodic, and I’m very all about melody, going around melodies and stuff, so.

People Magazine: You said you’re comfortable with second place or getting into the top ten. With giving up the coin toss, picking Jordin to win, I think even some of your friends said in The Seattle Times they prefer you didn’t win. Did you in a sense, thought it was better, maybe didn’t unconsciously want to win the competition?

Gee, I never looked at it as winning and losing. I just tried going out and performing really well each day. But in the sense that I’m kind of glad I didn’t win just for like contractual reasons. I think if you’re first, you might have to come back for like three years or something and do stuff, which is great, though, at the same time because American Idol is such an amazing show and an experience, so I honestly didn’t care one bit of winning or losing because I thought – I called myself a winner just by getting in the top ten.

The Detroit Free Press: Could you tell us a little bit about what you were like, what activities you were involved in and so on when you were in middle school and high school.

Okay. Well, middle school, I was in choir. I was pretty much in choir, like elementary, anything with performing, in junior high. And after junior high, that’s when I really got into performance art and singing and art and anything that had to do with creating. I love anything that has to do with creation, whether it’s building with your hands or doing pottery or photography.

But as far as on the music side of things, high school was really good because I got to take acting, do some acting, and I had a performance class and then choir. And then the one real neat thing that was really good about the live art form and my experiences is once a month we had like an open mic, and that was where I really – I first started beatboxing. My first time performing beatboxing in front of a crowd was at open mic during lunch at my high school. And I think that was a really good moment for me that I can always – I can always look back on that moment, and that’s where it all started for me as far as being a musician on a stage because it was the first – you could do anything in an open mic. You can read poetry. You could play the bongos. It didn’t really matter. The nice thing about that is because open mic, they can like it. They don’t have to like it. It’s just kind of one of those moments. And if these high schools had, I think, more open rights during lunch, like once a week, I think it would be really cool once a week, and I’m definitely in support of that because me going after high school I played this open mic all the time, all amazing musicians that I’ll always be playing with for the rest of my life.

I did this open mic at this bar for – I don’t know – like a year and a half, called The Jet Deck. I met so many amazing musicians that I’m still playing with today.

The Detroit Free Press: You have a hip personal style, and you mentioned that you used to make your own pants, and I know you like vintage clothes and stuff. Could you tell us, did you shop at vintage places, or did you work with a stylist for your Idol look?

Through the Idol experiences - they have stylists for us, but coming into the show, they told me they liked everything. They loved my style. So Miles Higgins was the stylist for the guys and stuff, and him and I hit it off really great because he already knew that I had my sense of style. He just – he’d come with me or not, and we’d – it only takes me like ten minutes to shop because I instantly know. I know who I am, so I can just go pick it out right away. Make sure – the thing for him is he knows whether it’s going to look good on camera, so it was really good to have that eye as well.

And then the last thing, the finale, the last couple shows, I met Ashton Michaels on one of our Ford video shoots, and he turned to me, and he’s like, “Wow, we have like the same style.” And I was like, “Wow, what are you wearing? That’s amazing.” He’s like, “I made it.” So we hit it off right away, and I went to his shop, his boutique, and he started making clothes for me.

It was out of context when I said I made my own pants. I said I started to try to make my own pants. I don’t have a complete pair that I have made yet. I’m still working on it. And now that I met Ashton, hopefully, he’s going to – we’re going to get the right pattern, and he’s going to show me how to make my own pants, so.

The Detroit Free Press: And you got an allowance each week, right? The contestants get an allowance to buy their outfits.

Yes, depending on the week.

The Seattle Times: You went from B-Shorty and Bothell, you know, like this - at Toast and Nectar and all these places, this authentic struggling artist, and now, you’re the crown prince of pop karaoke. A lot of people are going to say you sold out. Did you?

Definitely not. I represented myself and stayed true to myself through this whole entire process. So selling out is definitely not – I love the term though. I never had a huge fan base, so I don’t think you can sell out until you even have a fan base. I don’t think you can sell out until you start going off in directions that you wouldn’t normally do and sacrificing some of your integrity as an artist. As soon as you hear me start singing like more songs like “This is My Now,” then you can say I sold out.

The Seattle Times: Sir Mix-A lot who proclaimed you the kind of Sea-Town. When are you going to be back to visit all of us, come survey your kingdom?

Oh, man, hopefully, soon. I hope – it’s beginning of June I get to come back, I think, for a week maybe. I don’t know. On the schedule here with press and everything is really tight, not as busy as the show, but I’m still trying to get home for at least a couple days before I have to come right back here to start tour rehearsals.

Alloy.com: Which American Idol contestant’s career, winner or not, you wanted to emulate.

None of them. I want to set my own path. Yes, pretty much that.

Alloy.com: And what kind of music do you want to do?

I guess my music. I’ve been making – been doing it for seven years. I have an album that I’m hopefully going to try and get out here. And it’s very – electro-pop, good pop music in the sense of Duran Duran, Michael Jackson. I’m very a child of the ‘80s, so it’s definitely going to have more of a dance theme to it with a little bit of more melodic jazzy like Maroon 5, Jamiroquai, but definitely more on the hip-hop and electronic side of things.

In Touch Weekly: Are you planning on moving to L.A., or what would you – or do you plan on still saying in the Seattle area?

Well, I think I’m going to move to LA for awhile when I – so I can be around the label and all my management and just – and some good friends out here for a little bit. I’ve been meaning to move to LA for about five years. I’ve always wanted to come to California and move here. Sorry. Wanted to come here just for the new experience, the new environment change. But I’ll probably only live here for maybe like a year or two because Seattle’s my home, and I don’t think I can be away from all my friends and the musicians that I play with and my family.

In Touch Weekly: Because you were talking about the acting thing before, is that something that you want to do equally with music after you get your first album done?

I don’t think equally. If opportunities arise, and it allows me to do some character work or something, I think it would be fantastic. I would love to, but I want to put my heart and soul into my music and into my art form as a vocalist, a beatboxer. So that’s –

In Touch Weekly: Is there any sort of actor or comedian/singer that you sort of like the career?

B. Lewis Well, not actor/singer. I mean, Jim Carrey’s a huge inspiration to me. And he’s very – he’s just so much a performer as a comedian, and he’s – I think his serious acting is amazing. He can sing. He sang on like three or four of his movies. He’s just very talented, and I just hope my career as a musician and as a singer/songwriter can keep going strong for a very long time. If acting comes calling, and I get the right opportunity, the right script, or even just do voiceover work for maybe like a Pixar movie or a DreamWorks movie, I think that’d be a blast. I love being goofy and love doing different voices, and I’ve been doing it since I was a kid, so.

In Touch Weekly: You said earlier that there was an improv show that you’d love to be on, but I couldn’t hear what you said. Can you just tell me again what that was?

Oh, well, the David Alan Grier’s…show, and "Saturday Night Live" has been my favorite show since I was kid, since "In Living Color" came off the air.

Starry Constellation Magazine: You seem like quite the ladies’ man. Is that charm something you’ve always had, or did it grow onto you as an adult?

Definitely not the ladies’ man. I’ve been in some very serious relationships, and I think that’s pretty funny. No, I was definitely like a nerdy kind of a loner in high school, and I didn’t really have that many relationships. So I think – I’ve gotten more confident in my relationships or in my journey in finding the right woman.

Starry Constellation Magazine: Are there any song choices you wanted to sing, but you couldn’t get clearance for?

Oh, yes, this whole entire time on the show. I didn’t get to sing some of the inspirations that have made me the musician today. I wanted to sing some U2. I got Maroon 5 at the last minute because they hooked me up. They gave me a solid, so that was cool. Yes, no, I finally did at the end of the season, like I got to sing Thicke, Maroon 5, and Sting is a huge influence in my music, so The Police.

Moderator: Okay, thank you. Did you have any closing remarks then, Blake?

B. Lewis Oh, no, thanks. Yes, just I’m very overwhelmed by all this. So yes, just tell all my fans and all your magazines that I loved all the support and the energy that I’ve gotten from this whole entire experience and just thank you very much.

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