Sanjaya appears on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" today. Ellen chats with Sanjaya about the media scrutiny, Howard Stern and what his future plans are for his hair. Here are some excerpts:
After seriously funny deliberation, VotefortheWorst.com has crowned a successor to Sanjaya Malakar, and we couldn't be happier with their choice ... Phil Stacey! Yes, yes, we do like Phil, but at this point, we'll accept anything that will get him more votes, even if it is VFTW and Howard Stern. We figure it probably won't help him more than a week, but we would love to see him make it into the Top 5 instead of Chris Richardson, the other person likely to be in the most danger this week during IdolGivesBackPalooza and its theme, inspirational songs. Nicknaming him NosPhilAtu, the site's slogan for Phil is, "We love you even if you can't be exposed to direct sunlight" and they say, "Can Phil even make it past next week? We're brave enough to give it a shot. It's a tough call, but let's try to support our undead friend, because he's the least marketable of the remaining 6. Go Phil, we love you, man!" We love you, too. Go Phil!
DRESSED INTHEIR SUNDAY BEST
According to The Washington Post Sanjaya Malakar wasn't the only "American Idol" contestant from this season at last night's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. Mop-topped crooner Chris Sligh also attended as the guest of the Christian Broadcasting Network. Sanjaya was a guest of People magazine.
You can also catch clips of the two arriving at the event here and here. Note how the reporter in the first clip mispronounces the Idol contestants' names (The Washington Post misspelled Chris' last name). Guess Idolmania doesn't always extend to D.C.
CLARKSON DEFENDS COWELL
After Kelly Clarkson kicked off the ASCAP Music Week at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in Hollywood Wednesday night, rocking a sexy new do, she sat down with "Extra's" Terri Seymour for a short chat.
Simon Cowell's girlfriend asked Clarkson to weigh in on the Cowell "eyebrow raising" incident last week after Chris Richardson's shoutout to Virginia Tech. Clarkson stood up for the "American Idol" judge 100 percent. "Simon's blunt, but he's not disrespectful,"” she said. "He's blunt and he'll say what he wants, but he would never do anything like that."
Kelly also dished about her rumors of romance, telling Seymour that, despite reports, she is not dating race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. "I've met him once and it was, like, for five minutes at a race. He's really nice but we don't know each other that well!"
Instead, Clarkson revealed that she stays too busy to make time for a budding new relationship. "I guess if you find someone to make time for, you would; but so far, no one's worth taking the time for," she said with a laugh.
IDOLS' LEGAL EAGLE
He had the job during Season 2 and now, according to Hollywood Reporter Esq., Howard Siegel is back, providing legal representation for all 24 Idol finalists in deal negotiations. And Siegel says his efforts make a difference for the aspiring "Idols."
Like most reality programs, "Idol" requires everyone featured on the show to sign a broad release and rights grant before auditioning. If chosen as a finalist, contestants must sign additional contracts with producer Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Ltd., 19 Merchandising Ltd. and 19 Management Ltd. Producers get management and merchandising rights and also have an option to sign the winner and others to a recording contract with Sony BMG, though that option is not always picked up.
During the show's first season, portions of a 14-page agreement that contestants signed were leaked on a popular music listserv. In the contract, contestants granted broad exclusive rights to Fuller, including the "unconditional right throughout the universe in perpetuity to use, simulate, or portray ... my name, likeness (whether photographic or otherwise), voice, singing voice, personality, personal identification or personal experiences, my life story, biographical data, incidents, situations and events which heretofore occurred or hereafter occur ..."
Besides putting their publicity rights in 19's hands, the finalists' long-term management contracts gave the company a huge cut of any future fortunes derived from record royalties.
But Siegel says that contracts have been improving in finalists' favor since the first season and that contestants now sign "much more generous" term sheets than the typical new act with a major label. And the collective bargaining power of a single lawyer who negotiates with 19 quickly after the finalists are announced is "leverage in and of itself," he says.
Siegel's participation in the show actually dates back to its first season, when he was contacted by runner-up Justin Guarini to take a look at the agreements he was being asked to sign.
Afterward, in Season 2, Siegel says, 19 thought it would be a good idea to continue giving its finalists representation before handing them contracts. Siegel stresses that he was hired by the "Idol" contestants -- not by 19 -- after pitching his 35 years' in the music industry and experience repping Guarini. (Contestants also are free to hire additional lawyers.)
While most contestants sign their deals and perform without complaint, the show has not always stayed on good terms with its participants. After being named runner-up in the voting but becoming the breakout star of the show's second season, Clay Aiken hired Atlanta entertainment lawyer Jess Rosen and was able to extricate himself from his management contract. Other contestants, such as Season 4 finalist Mario Vazquez, have followed suit, leaving lawyers to debate whether contestants are getting a fair deal.
Gary Fine of Kleinberg Lopez Lange Cuddy & Edel in Los Angeles says he doubts much has changed since the show's first-season contract was circulated."While I'm sure having a lawyer like Howard may help some, Simon Fuller is in a unique position of leverage, and the deal terms are probably what they are," Fine says. " 'American Idol' can tout that contestants are represented and that representation may in fact otherwise improve material terms of the contestants' agreement, but I doubt that any one particular lawyer is going to achieve substantially more favorable results for one season's 'Idol' contestants than for another season's contestants."
Owen Sloane, a partner at Berger Kahn who has negotiated major recording contracts for Barry Manilow, Elton John and "Idol" Season 5 fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry, says that the company is unlikely to mess with a winning formula and grant more favorable terms to contestants. And Sloane questions whether 19's procedure for lawyer selection for "Idol" contestants is a good thing. "Selecting someone who is cooperative with (19) and not going to rock the boat isn't a great idea," he says.
On the other hand, Sloane believes that contestants become stars only because of the show and as such are getting a fair deal. "(The show's producers) are creating value, and they want to participate in the value they are creating," Sloane says.
Siegel has participated in some of that post-"Idol" success as well. He says he continues to represent many contestants after their time on the show. Most fade into obscurity, but several, like Ruben Studdard, have found success and stuck by their "Idol" lawyer. Siegel says he enjoys the benefits of representing obscure up-and-comers on their way to stardom. "You have these young, relatively inexperienced individuals who are thrust with suddenness into the public eye at an incredible level," he says, "and it is absolutely the best reward I can experience as a lawyer to watch them adapt to new status and help them deal with pressures associated with the development."
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© 2007
Looks like another former Idol finalist is unhappy about the show these days. Surprisingly, it's none other than lovable Season 5 finalist Paris Bennett. Last season's petite powerhouse phoned into the "Tone E Fly Morning Show" in Minneapolis and called "Idol" "a joke," and said she and a few other contestants are going along with VotefortheWorst.com and voting for Sanjaya Malakar to screw with the results in the hopes that it'll take down America's most popular TV show.
Announcer: All right, so you're, it's kinda of an anti-"American idol" movement thing going on?
Paris: OK, remember how there was the Indian guy or the guy from India [Er, actually, Paris, he was Arab. That was one of the main points of the movie: That the Arab contestant was supposedly a terrorist who was going to assassinate the U.S. President when he made a guest appearance on the show], and then it was Mandy Moore? That’s kinda what the competition seems like right now.
CNN is getting ready to fete Larry King’s 50 years in broadcasting during its "King-sized Week" from April 16-20. A highlight of the week is "CNN Presents: Larry King – 50 Years of Pop Culture," Wednesday at 9 p.m. (competing with Idol's results' show), a two-hour documentary co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Anderson Cooper, focusing on the last 50 years of pop culture as seen through King's eyes, including his early days in Miami covering local celebrities and hurricanes to his national radio show broadcast from Washington, D.C., to his pioneering cable television move to CNN. The show features interviews with Randy Jackson, Denise Brown, Dolly Parton, Joan Rivers, Whoopi Goldberg and Don Shula, among others.
Sanjaya Malakar has received a finger-lickin' good offer from the Colonel at Kentucky Fried Chicken (or at least from Gregg Dedrick, president of KFC). An open letter (and the attached photo) was sent to Sanjaya (and the press) on April 2, 2007:
And perhaps Sanjaya can give some of his lifetime supply of KFC Famous Bowls to the woman who was holding a hunger strike until he was eliminated from the series. According to TMZ.com, the hunger strike is over. The MySpacer who had gone 16 days without food in protest of Sanjaya's presence on "American Idol" finally relented -- under doctor's orders. "J," the one-letter moniker by which she is known to millions, says that she will continue to fight the good fight the old-fashioned way: by voting for anyone other than Sanjaya. She also implored anyone else staging a hunger strike to stop, and to stay tuned for a "voting strategy" for the coming weeks. Now she can be like everyone else, and lose her lunch while listening to Sanjaya.
Although American Idol finalist Chris Sligh was sent packing last week after singing The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," he may still have a chance at a recording deal. Sligh's former band, Half Past Forever, which he plans to rejoin after his Idol obligation concludes, recently submitted a music video starring the curly-haired crooner to the online video music competition at Music Nation, where artists compete for a recording contract with Epic Records and are judged by celebrities including Nelly, Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, The Game, and producerJ.R. Rotem. (The Half Past Forever music video, "Know," which was written by and features Sligh) can be viewed at the Music Nation Web site.
Now Votefortheworst.com has decided to help out Sligh, who gave them an on-air shoutout on Idol a couple of weeks ago, with the competition. In a post on the site they direct voters to cast ballots for their favorite Season 6 finalist since Sanajaya. Now the video -- which was unranked only two weeks ago -- is in first place in the rock category... meaning that although Idol rejected him, it is looking likely that Sligh still might have a second chance at a recording contract. Who said VFTW can't work for the good of humanity! Vote! Vote! Vote! for Chris and Half Past Forever!
to talk about it at this point)...sorry people, I hate to tell you this, but it just isn't possible. Nigel [Lythgoe] and Ken [Warwick] (the executive producers) are very nice men, and I feel honored to have worked and learned from them. Plus what you guys do not see is that there are 5-6 people from Standards and Practices (an outside organization) who watch every aspect of the show to make sure it is fair. These people are also the ones who make sure that the vote counting is fair. ..I was voted off because I didn't get enough votes. I had a bad performance and received even worse comments, plus I was very early in the show...it all added up. There was no funny stuff going on."
"I've gotten to know these contestants day in and day out and love them all. I can't wait to be on tour with them. Obviously, I have said in several interviews, that I am very close with Gina (she and I are planning on vacationing together with our respective mates after all of this is over). I have also mentioned I am very close with Phil, Richardson and Blake. So, even though I have been voted off the show, I will be watching the show every Tuesday and Wednesday and will be cheering on my favorites as you do. At my heart, I'm just a fan boy."
"A lot of people have taken comments like 'Haley was on the rise in her hotpants' as being degrading to other contestants. This is the dumbest thing ever, but let me explain. Haley dressed nicely but pretty conservatively. If you ask the other male contestants I was one of the few fellow contestants during the semi-finals to really think Haley was great, but Simon kept telling her that she was forgettable. Suddenly, in the finals, she remembered she had a great body, and decided to use it on the show... it is no different a hook or schtick than me being funny or Sanjaya's hair or Blake's beatboxing. Her singing - in the judges minds - wasn't memorable, so she brought attention to something else - it's show business. I always thought Haley's voice was great, but when she brought sexy into it and America responded."
Web site TMZ.com can't go a day without trying to find an American Idol angle, even if it's just this lame video of finalists Haley Scarnato, Gina Glocksen, Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks scarfing down a few burgers at a Johnny Rocket at The Grove in Los Angeles. They say, "The hopefuls were getting their burgers 
on in the crowded mall, where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just happened to be strolling." If you really have a need to see them ingesting food, check it out here.
We didn't, that "Dave," the founder of VotefortheWorst.com is actually Dave Della Terza, a community college teacher near Chicago, according to the New York Times (we knew there was a reason that we shouldn't only read the tabloids!). Let's see, does Sanjaya Malakar vote-rallier Della Terza teach subversion ... or perhaps music unappreciation?
"Everyone tries to say we're crushing dreams with what we're doing, but we're trying to help Sanjaya's dreams," he said. "He wants to be the American Idol too."
improved, and the site switched its recommendation to another contestant. Last year the site also picked Taylor Hicks, the eventual winner, as the worst performer when five competitors were left. "If we had not recommended him, maybe he wouldn't have won," Mr. Della Terza said.
Here's a video clip of Della Terza last year, talking about Season 5 finalist Kellie Pickler.
In his exit interview with the media yesterday, Chris Sligh admitted some surprising things, but probably the biggest surprise of all was that he had wanted to quit the "American Idol" competition.
On his losing momentum since the beginning of the show: You know, I never came into this wanting to win it. I come from an indie, alternative-rock background, and I think winning "American Idol" would hurt what I was really going for. And I think what kind of solidified it in my mind was when I was universally trashed for my arrangement of [Diana Ross'] "Endless Love." I kind of thought, "This isn't really the competition for me." I actually almost dropped out that week. I went to the guy from 19 [Productions, the company behind "Idol"], and I was like, "If I drop out when I get to the top 10, can I still be on tour?" They were like, "No, you have to get voted out."
On whether he ever wanted to win: I mean, there is that competitive side of me that kind of kicks in. After that top 12 performance, I kind of took some time to decompress and talk to some people that I trusted, and then I came out and I was like, "I want to do it on my own terms, and if that means that I get cut early, then that means I get cut early." With "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," it definitely was a riskier choice, but I feel like one of the things that was a little frustrating was that if you look through the six songs I did on the show, all six songs were risks in one way or another. I felt like that was ignored, and really the judges never commented on my voice and that was frustrating for me.
On whether it is possible to compete on Idol and joke about it at the same time: I kind of wonder that myself. ... It's funny because I love the show but at the same time there are some cheesy aspects that I poked fun at. And there are people that love the show so much that anything that is bad said about the show or especially if you say something bad about Simon [Cowell] ... there are people that will literally write you hate mail. People telling me they'd hope I would die because I told Simon I didn't sound like Teletubbies. So it kind of freaked me out, because I was like, "Wow, people take 'American Idol' very, very seriously." I would hope people would realize that me joking around about the show is very tongue-in-cheek because I can't be too upset with "American Idol" if they are making me famous.
On Sanjaya: I think that people underestimate Sanjaya [Malakar]. I think Sanjaya is actually a very good vocalist. I mean, if you go to AmericanIdol.com and you download his songs or even just listen to a preview, he has a good voice. I think he is just 17 years old. I mean, when I was 17 years old, I didn't know how to sing in a live situation. I think that he is a very, very sweet kid and I have a lot of respect for him and I do not envy his position at all.
On struggling with his final song, The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic": When I sang with Gwen [Stefani], that was on Saturday, and I just picked that song out on Friday afternoon and had changed my song. I originally was going to do "Give a Little Bit" by Supertramp, and the Goo Goo Dolls redid it recently. But I really wanted to challenge myself a little bit more than "Give a Little Bit." I had never really looked at the music [for "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"] and had never really actually even listened to the song, so I never realized that it was going to be quite that much of a challenge. Then by the time I got to rehearsals on Monday, I had started to get the rhythm down a little bit, and actually I went back and listened to my performance from Tuesday probably about 10 or 15 times, and it wasn't a great performance, but honestly it wasn't as bad as the judges made it seem.
On his bet with Phil Stacey: I just had this feeling in my heart that I was going home. Pretty much no one gets away from being trashed like I was on Tuesday night unscathed. I told Phil that I was going home and he was like, "There is no way you are going home before me." And I said, "Dude, I bet you 50 bucks I'm going home." And he took me up on it, and I won.
On whether he will rejoin his band, Half Past Forever: Yeah, when I get back to South Carolina. They put out a CD before I tried out, and we were getting record-label interest before "American Idol," so doors should open up for us.
He talked about being kicked out of Christian fundamentalist college Bob Jones University for attending a contemporary Christian concert featuring the group For Him. He enrolled at another Christian school, North Greenville University, and is three credits shy of a music degree. Leaving Bob Jones "was actually good, because I had been trying to figure out how to leave," he said.
Sligh said since he wasn't able to hold or play his guitar, his rhythm - a frequent criticism of the judges - was thrown off. He also said that since he wasn't allowed to perform his own music, he felt forced to take "pop songs that sound great at four minutes and stuff it into a minute and a half."
He implicitly acknowledged that his "Hi Dave!" shout-out on last week's show was aimed at the founder of VoteForTheWorst.com ("I don't know if I should answer that question," he told a reporter while chuckling), but was quick to say he regretted the move. "It was a poor choice because certain people took it as disrespect for the show," Sligh said. "Sometimes with a snarky sense of humor, it can come across as that, but I sincerely didn't mean that ... it was stupid."
Pickler, a CMT Music Awards nominee, also will be a presenter at the show, which airs live on April 16 from Nashville's Curb Event Center at Belmont University. Jeff Foxworthy hosts. Other presenters include Barbara Mandrell, Jason Aldean, Josh Turner, LeAnn Rimes, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Taylor Swift. Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood will perform, as will Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban from Australia, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Toby Keith and Bon Jovi.
The Washington Post reports that Paula Abdul was one of the attendees at a fundraiser for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the White House. About 700 invitees paid $2,300 each to dine with Clinton at the Beverly 
Hills estate of supermarket magnate Ron Burkle. About 250 of those guests coughed up an additional $2,300 per person to attend a pre-dinner VIP reception where the senator from New York posed with donors for photographs. Other attendees included Barbra Streisand and her husband, James Brolin, Ted Danson, Motown founder Berry Gordy and a host of media industry executives. The event raised a whopping $2.6 million for the Democratic presidential wannabe.
It is obvious that we were disappointed to see Chris Sligh eliminated from the competition, but he just never seemed to live up to his potential on "Idol," especially for those of us who have seen what kind of great music "chubby" can produce. Not to beat a dead contestant, er, horse, but here's one last pitch for our readers who haven't before looked to check out the first video for the band Chris leads and is the main songwriter for, Half Past Forever. You can listen to more album clips here. We especially love "In a Moment" and "Know." And we love them for the music as much as for the vocals. They're a good band with great potential.
By this week, Chris seemed almost ready for defeat. He faced the judges like a beaten dog and only weakly defended himself. Maybe he wanted to go home at this point. We did think that he left with dignity, especially going over and hugging his fellow contesants as he sang his way out last night. Although we did wonder why Phil 
Stacey said to him, "I owe you 50 bucks" as they embraced. Sounds as if they had a wager on who was and wasn't leaving (probably Phil thought he was and he did come damn close for the second time).
... Why the hell was Akon there to "accompany" Gwen Stefani if he wasn't allowed to do his rap? He stood around looking like window dressing, contributing less to the song than the backup singers. Are the producers that scared to introduce any hip-hop or rap to Idol? Scared of alienating Mr. & Mrs. Middle America? What a waste. There's been tons of that type of music on "So You Think You Can Dance" and it has only attracted larger audiences. Not that "Idol" is in any danger yet (as Nigel Lythgoe has said, they could lose half their audience and still be in the Top 3), but the show has been losing ratings all season -- this week's performance show had 12 percent less viewers than last week's two-hour performance show -- and eventually the producers will have to try something new to keep their old viewers, or attract new ones. Trying to threaten "Dancing With the Stars" by 
running over into the time period for its results show had little, if any, effect. "Dancing" garnered the biggest ratings for any of its results show ever this past Tuesday. So is this the first chink in "Idol's" mighty armor?
TMZ.com reports that "American Idol" semi-finalist Alaina Alexander and finalist Chris Richardson may have sparked more than just a friendship on the show. An inside source revealed that the pair "hit it off instantly," and even after Alexander was voted off A.I. island, their relationship is afloat. TMZ said that what they share is "beyond just friends." It seems not to be a coincidence that the wannabeen Miss Alexander has a really sweet picture of the two on her MySpace page. Also adding fuel to the romance rumors ... last week when they panned the audience to show Richardson's adoring friends and family, Alaina just happened to be in the crew. "A.I." reps had "no comment."
TMZ.com had another recent story about Alaina, only it involved the somewhat revealing photos of her on her MySpace.com site:
"From Diana Ross to Halle Berry, you never know whose weave will inspire "American Idol" wannabe Sanjaya Malakar. This week, his hairspiration was none other than Looney Tunes character, Road Runner. Acme Hair Spray, anyone? *beep beep*
In a posting called "American Anti-Idol," Michael Bloxham writes on MediaPost's TV Board:
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