American Idle

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!