Idol Alumni Videos

Here are links to some Idol alumni videos we wanted to share in case you haven't found them:

1. Season 4 finalist Anwar Robinson talks about whether the judges this season were mean and his own Idol experience on Fox's Live at 5.
2. Also from Fox/5 here is Season 5 finalist Paris Bennett (with yet another new wig, plus check out that Jennifer Lopez-like booty on her) performing her new song "Ordinary Love." The single is off her album "Princess P" due out this April. Our view: She's still in strong voice, but the song is weak. We don't give it much chance of charting high, if at all.
3. Season 3 runner-up Diana DeGarmo appears on "The Dr. Keith Ablow Show" talking about (what else?) her Idol experience and "Life After Idol." And pay attention: Although they don't get to speak in the clip, you'll also see Season 5 finalists Melissa McGhee and Kevin Covais sitting on the couch. Guess that's the difference between coming in Nos. 11 and 12, instead of No. 2.
4. Fans of Jon Peter Lewis should head over to AmericanIdol.com to check out the video for his single "Amanda Grace" from his debut album, "Stories From Hollywood."
5. We know we've been wondering whatever happened to Season 3 finalist Amy Adams and thanks to AmericanIdol.com now we do. Since her appearance on the show, Adams has married and had a son. She then toured in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" with "Broadway on the Road."

OTHER IDOL ALUMNI NEWS

Playbill reports that Season 4 finalist Anthony Fedorov will join the Off-Broadway cast of "The Fantasticks" on May 1, stepping into the role of Matt in the world's longest-running musical, having played a record-breaking run of more than 17,000 performances in Greenwich Village. The Fantasticks plays Tuesdays at 7 PM, Wednesdays at 2 PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 PM, Saturdays at 2 and 8 PM and Sundays at 2 and 7 PM. Tickets, priced at $76, with a special $36 ticket price for selected seating on Sunday evening performances, and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com or by calling 212-307-4100. The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50th Street at Broadway. For more information, click here.

TOUCHED BY AN IDOL?

The New York Post says that Michael Jackson has turned to "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller to mastermind his comeback, which will kick off next month with a two-day meet-and-greet autograph session with fans in Japan who will pay $3,300 each to shake hands and pose for photos with the fallen star. Jackson is said to be too weak to perform.

Britain's Fuller, 46, met with Jackson, 48, recently in Las Vegas, where he's been living since his return from a self-imposed exile in Bahrain and Ireland. "This is the perfect match," fellow Vegas resident Robin Leach told Splash News, "the world's biggest pop star being looked after by the most successful mogul manager in the world." Jackson, who is said to be $300 million in debt, has been working on an album with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.

And according to The National Ledger, a source told Britain's The Sun newspaper, "Michael is determined to be a global phenomenon again. He knows it won't be easy because he comes with so much baggage, but he thinks that if anyone can pull it off, Simon can."

Meanwhile, Reality TV Magazine wonders if this isn't all just camouflage to get Jackson onto Idol for a theme week:

"The [Simon Fuller-Michael Jackson] meetings have been rumored to involve doing a possible Las Vegas show to help relaunch Michael Jackson’s career. Could the rumor about a Las Vegas show just be subterfuge to cover up the real purpose of their meetings? If a faded pop star wants to relaunch their career, everyone knows the best way to do it is through an 'American Idol' appearance, not a Las Vegas show. Or assuming that the Las Vegas show is real, wouldn’t flying the 'American Idol' finalists out to Vegas to meet with Michael Jackson during a Michael Jackson theme week be the perfect promotion for the show? Could Simon Fuller really be brokering a deal for the embattled pop star to appear on America’s most popular television show?

"If Simon Fuller and Michael Jackson having secret meetings isn’t enough to get the Michael Jackson on 'American Idol' rumor mill churning, then how about the fact that 'American Idol' producer Nigel Lythgoe seemed to drop a clue about the possibility during a recent media conference call. When answering a question about the tight reign that 'American Idol' keeps on the finalists, Lythgoe said 'We don’t want anything slipping out. If we’ve got major stars coming on that we want to do a big publicity thing with. "Hey, Michael Jackson is coming to American Idol this week," then I’ve got to leave that up to Fox publicity to put out there, not have it slip out with somebody telling their Mom that Michael Jackson is coming.' Considering Nigel Lythgoe often likes to have a little fun in his media interviews, Reality TV Magazine would not be surprised if he dropped this little tidbit as a teaser to see if anyone would pick up on it.

"American Idol producers teasing about a big event show, American Idol creator Simon Fuller having secret meetings with Michael Jackson, Nigel Lythgoe telling media that he doesn't want it slipping out if a major star like Michael Jackson is coming, Reality TV Magazine predicts that this all adds up to a Michael Jackson theme week and guest appearance on American Idol 6."

IF I'M BEING HONEST ...

MSNBC reports that Simon Cowell wishes he had been more honest with Eddie Murphy back in the '80s, when Cowell was so intimidated by mega-star Murphy, that he didn't have the nerve to tell him that the songs he had written were complete and utter crap.

Cowell recalled how "[Murphy] was interested in making a record, so I flew to the East Coast, to his huge house, and I was very intimidated. I thought it would be just the two of us and a hi-fi. But I ended up in a recording studio with about 20 nodders; a nodder is someone who gets paid to agree with the person paying him. Eddie started to play some songs, which I hated, and I just didn't know what to say. Now I'd find it a lot easier. I would just say, 'I hate it.' "

For those of you who are too young to remember the '80s, or so old that you've forgotten them, here is a YouTube clip of Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time" (or as we call it, "Potty All the Time," because of Murphy's pronunciation) a song later voted one of the "50 Worst Songs of All-Time" by VH1 and Blender magazine. Funniest thing about the video: It sets the exact scene that Cowell describes, a recording studio with a bunch of nodders.

About the song: Murphy's voice is nothing to write home about, in fact it was probably Auto-Tuned to death and still doesn't sound that great. But the song has a good beat and was fun pop dance music back then and still is today. Yes, it's even on our iPod. But hey, isn't that, at core, what Idol's all about -- cheesy pop music?

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