American Idle

Now that three of the four judges are returning to American Idol 9, it begs the question: Is Paula coming back soon? Kara DioGuardi finalized her new deal with Idol, you know.

From E! Online:

“Her deal is done. There are no ifs, ands or buts,” a source said. “Done. She will be back.”

No surprise, but the source reports that DioGuardi’s new deal doesn’t even come close to what the other judges are getting or, in Paula Abdul’s case, asking for.

So, that settles it. Look for a deal to be done with Paula in the next week, before the judges have to be in place for the start of season 9 auditions.

Because of a bizarre week in which American Idol 8 will air Wednesday instead of Tuesday this week, we’ll catch up with some of our former Idols who have been busy furthering their careers. Kind of.

Actually, the Idols we’ll focus on this week got a touch of bad news. But first, the good news. They had something called the Academy Awards last night and Randy Jackson looked like a big stick of Extra gum. (The picture proof, as they say, is above.) Now on to the bad.

First up, it was reported this week that Clay Aiken was dumped by RCA Records, but it actually happened two months ago. (Sneaky.) Anyway, word on the street is the label wanted to “refresh” its talent roster, and apparently Aiken playing to the squeals of silver-haired ladies chucking their panties on stages the world over wasn’t enough. So basically the moral of the story is, going double-platinum may not even enough for a singer to stay on a label.

Ruben Studdard may have a new single called “Together” under the Sony/ATV banner and Hickory Records label, but since it’s tax time the IRS would like to let him know that before he thinks about making any profit from his record sales, he will first need to pay out some back taxes. Like $254,119, according to state and federal tax records. Ouch!

And finally, Jon Peter Lewis does his best Ryan Seacrest impersonation (and mimics several other Group 1 singers from last week) in this funny You Tube video, which I have posted above. Halfway though his show gets more serious and he interviews an A&R guy. It’s not that funny, but it is informative.
And the Jaded Insider blog on Billboard (the same folks who gave you the Aiken news) reports that Joanna Pacitti may have been disqualified from Idol 8 but she’s planning to make it big and the plans may even include her boyfriend, Mark Ballas. (of the Ballas/Hough Band)

Top 36 Group 2 preview tomorrow! Don’t forget to sign up for our Office Pool. Click on info box on the left. Thanks for playing!

With the talk around the water cooler now switching from what could be to what will, the eighth season of American Idol is five days from fruition. That said, there are many changes to the show’s format that will have an effect, good or bad, on your viewing.

First off, what effect will new judge Kara Dioguardi have on the other three more established judges? Do the other three like her? According to Paula, she and Kara go way back, since Dioguardi has written and produced a song for Abdul. So does that mean the two won’t clash when it comes to singers? It sounds like Dioguardi is opposite of Abdul when it comes to critiquing. She’d rather take Simon Cowell’s lead. The other noticeable thing you will see is backstage. Will that mean fighting? More importantly, is Idol 8 gonna go the way of Jerry Springer? And what effect will the wild-card rounds have on the judges? These are all important questions to answer, along with the fact there will be younger mentors. - Los Angeles Times http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/americanidoltracker/2009/01/season-eight-co.html

Guess who’s blogging for season 8? Phil Stacey, the bald dynamo from season 6 who made it all the way to the final six, will be doing his play-by-play for the Naples News, a Florida newspaper. He’ll be doing it on a weekly basis, giving us behind-the-scenes looks at Idol 8 the way only a former Idol can. He describes his experience on Idol 6 as one in which he felt like Willy Wonka at the Chocolate Factory. He’ll go into the way auditions are done, and which contestants you should “keep an eye on.” All told, Stacey was a formidable opponent himself in season 6, garnering a record deal as well as performing on some of the biggest stages around. - Naples News http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2009/jan/08/american-idol-blog-former-idol-finalist-write-week/And finally, some Idols cleaned up at the People’s Choice Awards. Carrie Underwood won three such awards, garnering “Favorite Female Singer,” “Favorite Star Under 35,” and “Favorite Country Song.” In the above video (thanks MJ) she sings “I Know You Won’t” during the awards ceremony. And Jordin Sparks took home a trophy, a “Favorite Combined Forces Award,” for her song featuring Chris Brown which was called “No Air.” don’t you just love these award titles? LOL Anyway, it’s good to see so many Idols staying in the spotlight. Hope it continues.