George Wallace shown after being shot on May 15, 1972.
Governor George Wallace was shot on May 15, 1972 on a campaign stop in Laurel, Maryland when he was running for president. He had drawn 42 percent of the vote in the Florida primary earlier in the year, leading each county.
Arthur Bremer fired five shots into Wallace which ended the hopes of Wallace winning the presidency. Bremer had earlier been leading cheers for Wallace, which apparently was a ruse to get close enough to Wallace to fire the shots, including one which was lodged in his spinal column.
Governor Wallace was forced to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair after the shooting.
Bremer, who will be 61 in August received a 63 year sentence for the assassination attempt but it was reduced to 53 years and he only served 35 years of the sentence before being released in 2007.
Arthur Bremer shot Governor George Wallace five times forcing him to live in pain the rest of his life.
Arthur Bremer lived a troubled life as a youngster and was a loner who kept to himself in school. His story helped inspire the screenplay for the movie Taxi Driver as mentioned in this paragraph from Wikipedia:
Wikipedia gives an excellent background on Bremer which gives a detailed description of his troubled youth and how he never fit in with others during his lifetime.
Governor Wallace won the Maryland and Michigan primaries but eventually left the 1972 presidential race and made another attempt at the presidency in 1976 which did not go as well because of him being handicapped.
Despite being confined to a wheelchair Governor Wallace who was 53 at the time of the assassination attempt, would finish his term as governor and be re-elected to a third term that ended in 1979. He later would win the governorship again in 1982 and served from 1983-1987 for his fourth and final term.
Wallace would live 27 more years after the assassination attempt, dying at the age of 79 in 1998 in Montgomery, Alabama.
It seems like the summer tour is slowing down the start of the career by American Idols, by keeping them too busy to finish albums.
The summer tour is apparently a huge money maker for the American Idol franchise, plus it pays the singers who participate well, but it slows down those singers who have recording contracts. Traveling from city to city for two months is not conducive to starting a career.
When the American Idol typically doesn’t release their debut album till November most years, it robs them of the chance to release an album during the summer and probably selling many more albums before so much time passes.
For instance right now Scott McCreery is as hot as a firecracker on the Fourth of July, but by the time the summer is over and November comes around the hotness diminishes over time.
By November, the next season of American Idol is only two months away and fans start anticipating the new season and by then have tired of waiting for an album to be released.
Scotty McCreery may be the exception, but it can’t help his career not having an album in the stores and available for download six months after the last confetti has hit the floor on finale night. Then there is another three month wait after the tour is over.
Pia Toscano could possibly have an album ready much sooner since she is already working on an album and should be the first American Idol contestant to have an album released.
The only way to take advantage of the new American Idol’s name recognition is to cancel the summer tour and release their debut album sooner, but can’t see it being canceled since it is too much of a money-maker for American Idol’s corporate ownership.
So American Idol fans will likely have to wait six months before actually having a CD of the new American Idol in their hands.
Scott McCreery’s new single I Love You This Big has debuted at #32 on the Billboard Country Music chart. It is the highest any debut single has reached when first entering the chart since the chart was changed to include Nielsen Broadcast Data System results in 1990. It is impressive that McCreery is the first to accomplish this feat in the 21 years since the new system was adopted.
The runner-up Lauren Alaina song Like My Mother Does charted at the No.49 position.
May we remember on this Memorial Day of 2011, the soldiers who have died in defense of America, from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I would like to remember my cousin James Walter Godfrey from Maine who died piloting a helicopter in Vietnam and the two soldiers who I worked with in Army post office in Vietnam, who were killed by a mortar shell attack, two months after I had left the country.
It is a sobering sight to see their names on the Vietnam War Wall online website, but would like to see their names in person someday on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.
The Wonder Years was a groundbreaking show since it won an Emmy after only six episodes of the show had aired. In addition Fred Savage was the youngest actor nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Kevin Arnold an adolescent who was struggling to find his way in the world.
The show is still being shown on the Hub channel during prime time and late at night when this was written in May of 2011.
Daniel Stern narrated the series, being the grown-up voice of Kevin relating what Kevin was thinking as a youth. Stern is best remembered for being one of the bad guys in the first two Home Alone movies.
Fred Savage shown as a youngster.
FRED SAVAGE
The show is about the Arnold family, but focuses on Kevin Arnold. The main focus of Kevin on the shows is Gwendolyn “Winnie” Cooper, the girl of his dreams. She was played by Danica McKellar, who today is a world class mathematician.
Kevin uses every tactic he can think of to get Winnie to notice him. The episodes show Kevin gradually reaching the point of having Winnie as his girlfriend.
The last episode of the series does not end well for Kevin when he sees Winnie kissing another boy and loses his car and money in a poker game, then returns home.
Savage was 11 when the first episode aired in 1988 and will be 35 in July. He is currently a producer for the televison series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Jason Hervey of The Wonder Years seen at a younger age and a more recent photo..
JASON HERVEY
Jason Hervey, who played Kevin’s brother Wayne seemed to make it his mission in life to give Kevin as much grief as possible. Hervey was 15 when the first episode was shown and is now 39 years old.
Hervey has been seen on television rarely since the last episode of Wonder Years.
He was the Senior Vice-President of Media and Communications for HealthSouth. The troubled company was involved in a major fraud scandal, with Hervey suing his employer for $300,000.
Then he became involved with wrestling production as the executive producer of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and currently is executive producer of Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling and has also produced reality shows such as Scott Baio is 45.
Fred Savage and Danica McKellar shown during their "Wonder Years".
DANICA McKELLAR
Danica McKellar, perhaps known better as Winnie Cooper to fans of The Wonder Years, graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in mathematics. Danica combined with a professor and another student to write this theorem, look at Page 3 to really grasp how skilled Danica is at mathematics:
Danica McKellar 34, and composer Mike Verta 36, were married on March 22, 2009.
The wedding of Danica McKellar and Mike Verta was held at a church in La Jolla, California at sunset. Dan Lauria and Allie Mills who portrayed the parents of Kevin were present at the ceremony. No mention was made of Fred Savage being at the wedding.
McKellar and Verta had been dating for eight years before their marriage. They welcomed their first child a son named Draco, into the world 18 months later on September 7, 2010.
Dan Lauria and Alley Mills who played Jack and Norma Arnold on The Wonder Years from 1988-1993.
DAN LAURIA
Dan Lauria who portrayed Jack Arnold was 40 when The Wonder Years was shown for the first time. He was Detective Harry Dupnik on Cagney and Lacy before joining the cast of The Wonder Years. Lauria is 64 today and has been active since leaving The Wonder Years appearing as a free-lance actor in a plethora of television series. He appears in the movie Here’s The Kicker which has been completed, but not yet released to movie theaters.
Alley Mills was 36 when The Wonder Years debuted. She married actor Orson Bean when she was 41 for her first marriage and they have been married for 18 years with her having turned 60 earlier this month. She is currently acting in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful with her playing Pamela Douglas.
Olivia D'Abo who played the daughter Karen Arnold on The Wonder Years.
Olivia D’Abo was born in England 42 years ago and was Karen Arnold the only daughter of her television parents Jack and Norma Arnold. She seemed to be an afterthought on The Wonder Years with her seeming to be in the background on most episodes and appeared in less episodes (65) than the other actors.
She has been seen since the departure of The Wonder Years in many television series and has done some movie work. Her last major role was as Nicole Wallace on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
Olivia can be seen in the following video as she talks about Law and Order and plays the guitar:
Olivia D’Abo seen playing her guitar.
EPILOGUE
Most shows we watch on television quickly seem to evaporate from our memory, but the shows that really connect with us and stay with us forever are shows that are about life itself, the struggles, the joys and the goals that are someday realized.
The Wonder Years is one of those shows. There have not been any new episodes of the show made for 18 years, yet we continue to watch it because it represents television at its best.
Tony Bennett singing I Wanna Be Around at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 20,2002.
This video shows Tony Bennett at his best singing one of his standards that has been around for years. Those wanting to see more of his videos during the Newport Jazz Festival will be able to see Tony singing many of his hits including his signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco in other videos also available at Wolfgang’s Vault website.
Tony is still active nine years later as he sang last Wednesday night, August 25 with Haley Reinhart of American Idol. He will be 85 years old later this year.
Voters are welcome to add their own favorites to list if they are still singing today, not necessarily recording music today.
American Idol ended its tenth season three days ago and Scotty McCreery already has a No.1 single. His debut single I Love You This Big is the No.1 downloaded song on iTunes.
He has already recorded two songs on his debut album, but doubt the album will be released before November, when most Idol albums are released by the winner for that season.
His debut album will be crucial to his career, since one bad album could ruin a career, especially a bad debut album. However, I think right now Scotty could release a heavy metal album and it would still fly off the shelves, with his popularity at its peak right now.
Lauren Alaina’s Like My Mother Does single is currently ranked No.3 at iTunes, but I expect it to move up. When she sang to her mother on performance night last Tuesday, that may have been the emotional highlight of Season 10.
Scotty McCreery shown backstage on finale night after being voted the Season 10 American Idol on Wednesday, May 25.
It has been two days since Scotty McCreery was named the American Idol for Season 10. The last confetti has probably been swept up and thrown in the dumpsters by now.
Life will never be the same for Scotty McCreery, as he embarks on a country music recording career. I have already read online that some record executives don’t think he can sustain a long-term career in country music. However, in my opinion it way too early to prognosticate on how long his career will last.
Other singers like Tanya Tucker and LeAnn Rimes started even younger than Scotty and are still performing so I think the record executives need to back off and see what happens.
When I think of Scotty, it brings to mind Jordan Dorsey telling Scotty he didn’t want him in his group during Hollywood week. He may not have been good enough for his little group, but he was good enough for American to vote for him as their American Idol.
Scotty showed his character during the Jacee Badeaux episode, when Jacee was unceremoniously tossed out of the group Scotty was in during Hollywood week with Jun Gamboa being the instigator. Scotty later said they had not done Jacee right and wish he had done more to keep it from happening and broke down talking about it.
BUSY SUMMER WITH TOUR STARTING IN JULY
Scotty and the 10 American Idol contestants who didn’t win probably will be allowed to go home for a while, then they will start rehearsing for the American Idol tour this summer. Latest word is that they will travel across the country appearing in 49 concerts.
Last year the tour was cut short, probably due to the talent not being as good as it will be this year. I can’t see that happening this year with so many talented singers.
It is sad that the high ticket prices will keep a lot of American Idol fans from seeing the show. It will cost a family of four $376 to sit in the $94 nosebleed seats in Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas.
The singers will make $1,000 for each concert during the tour, but that will only be a fraction of the profits being made. They will earn part of the profits from any merchandise sold at the concerts.
AMERICAN IDOL PRODUCER LYTHGOE DISSES DEWYZE
Nigel Lythgoe said in a tweet that Lee DeWyze refused to give Scotty McCreery the American Idol trophy. DeWyze said he did refuse, but was only asked moments before it was time to award the trophy. Someone made an oversight to not have asked DeWyze sooner.
Instead in the midst of the chaos, after Scotty had been revealed to be the next American Idol, Lythgoe asked DeWyze but he refused because he didn’t want to intrude on the special moment for Scotty.
RATINGS JUMP 21 PERCENT OVER LAST YEAR’S FINALE
Like most American Idol fans, I thought the loss of Simon Cowell would cripple the ratings of American Idol. Then I wondered if hiring Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez might be a mistake. I was wrong on both counts since the ratings for the Wednesday night rose by 21 percent over the 2010 finale.
29.3 million viewers watched the show which had some of the biggest stars in the music business. The list of singers appearing on the show would be astounded if shown on a television screen as part of the credits.
American Idol decided to go back to the three judge format, which was a smart move in my opinion. I really didn’t know what to expect with Tyler and Lopez on the judge’s panel with a returning Randy Jackson.
Both of the new judges, when critical of a singer’s performance never were mean to the contestants, but gave more constructive criticism, staying away from the nasty barbs Cowell was famous for. Randy was the closest thing to Simon this season, but then upon reflection, he wasn’t really that close.
LAUREN ALAINA TURNED DOWN BY AMERICA’S GOT TALENT TWICE
Lauren Alaina revealed on the Tonight Show that she had tried to appear on America’s Got Talent, but was turned down.
Piers Morgan, one of the judges said it was a scandal that she didn’t make it and stated that she never had appeared in front of the judges.
The following article tells more about her appearance and includes two videos of her appearance:
Scotty McCreery will be $250,000 richer after winning American Idol, while runner-up Lauren Alaina won $87,500. Lauren’s money would double if she records an album.
The Orlando Sentinel is reporting that Scotty McCreery will be visiting Disney World in Hollywood on Monday and will participate in a 10:00 AM parade….Limelife has revealed that Carrie Underwood gives her phone number to the final two contestants. Wonder if Lauren will be giving her a call?
Pia Toscano who was voted off the show early in Season 10 has been working on her new album and some songs have already been recorded but no release date has been announced since it is a work in progress….Haley Reinhart is currently negotiating on a record deal, but no details have been announced…Ashton Jones and Naimi Adedapo both have plans of recording albums according to bet.com, signaling a chance of as many as 10 of the Season 10 singers having albums in the stores by this time next year.
Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina shown singing a duet earlier in the American Idol season are rumored to be dating.
Rumors are flying that Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina may be dating. After watching both of them being questioned about their dating, in separate interviews it is difficult to tell if they are being completely honest about their dating life.
If they are dating it might explain the kiss on the lips that Lauren gave Scotty after he had been announced the winner. They have probably spent more time together than any two American Idols since both are minors and had to spend time together while attending school.
They will be spending more time together as American Idol goes on tour in July. Since they were first and second in the voting, they should be singing more during the tour than the other Idols who were eliminated earlier in the competition.
Haley Reinhart and Tony Bennett on stage at the Season 10 finale for American Idol.
It was great to see Haley Reinhart singing a duet with the great Tony Bennett during the Season 10 finale last night. You could tell Haley was in her element as she and Tony sang Steppin’ Out With My Baby, a 63-year-old song from the 1948 musical Easter Parade.
This is the kind of music Haley needs to be singing, since she sings it so well. I would love to see her record an album of songs from the American songbook, but know that an album like that won’t sell except to fans of easy listening music.
However, if she includes one song from the past in her debut album, it shouldn’t hurt sales much. She has the talent to succeed in whatever music genre she embraces in her career after American Idol. I predict we will be hearing from Haley for a lot of years and can’t wait till she releases her debut album.
Haley Reinhart singing a duet of Steppin’ Out With My Baby with 84-year-old Tony Bennett who is singing in his ninth decade since he first sang in the 1930′s.
Tony Bennett has been around so long that he recorded his first No.1 song 60 years ago in 1951 when he recorded Because of You. He won 14 Grammy awards between 1962 and 2006, starting by winning two Grammys for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Best Record for his signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco.
Bob Hope discovered Bennett singing in Greenwich Village and put him in his show. He also changed his name from Anthony Benedetto to Tony Bennett. The 84-year-old Bennett will be 85 on August 3.
So Haley Reinhart was singing with a man who is about 65 years older than her. Hope these two are paired again on an album since they sing well together.
Bennett can testify to the fact that you don’t have to have a lot of No.1 singles to be successful. He recorded his third and last No.1 single, Rags To Riches in 1953, 58 years ago and has been singing since the 1930′s. If he is still singing in 2020, he would have sung in 10 different decades.
Surprisingly, I Left My Heart in San Francisco only reached No.7 on the Adult Contemporary chart. He hasn’t even had a song chart since 1972, yet he has no problem that I know of finding work.
I think it is safe to say that Scotty McCreery will sell more albums than Season 8 winner Kris Allen and Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze.
The country music fans will embrace Scotty when he releases his debut album this fall. One of the reasons he will sell more albums than Allen or DeWyze is that he will be recording country music, whose fans will buy his albums in the millions.
Allen and DeWyze just don’t have the fan base that McCreery will have. While Allen and DeWyze are not locked into a certain kind of music, McCreery will be locked into country music only.
Scotty may have to work on not sounding like other singers, before going into the recording studio. It won’t be easy to sell albums if he tries to sound like Josh Turner on every song. I am sure when we hear him on his debut album that he will have a distinct sound of his own.
LAUREN ALAINA WILL HAVE TO FIND NICHE FOR DEBUT ALBUM
Lauren Alaina will have to decide if she wants to record pop or country tunes, so she will have decide after the American Idol tour which direction she will take.
This is just my opinion but I think she will find more success in the country field since she has a voice perfect for country music.
We may never know just how close or how far behind Lauren was in the voting. All we know is that she will have no problem becoming a recording artist with the great tone in her voice.
With the last two Idols not seeing their albums flying off the shelves, the record companies would like to actually make some big money on this year’s Idols.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SCOTTY AND LAUREN ALAINA
We want to congratulate both Scotty and Lauren Alaina for making the final two and to Scotty for becoming the Season 10 American Idol. Not only were they two youngest finalists ever, but also may be two of the most likeable singers to reach the final two.
This is just my opinion but the battle rounds idea was not a good one for The Voice. Out of the 12 battles, not more than two could really be called battles, since most contestants have not embraced the idea of the battle except for Tarraylyn Ramsey and Frenchie Jones who clearly did not like each other.
It would have been better to go straight to the live shows and eliminate contestants that way instead of pitting singers against each other.
However, the producers are trying to avoid being too much like American Idol so are grasping at gimmicks, hopefully to sustain their initial high ratings.
The idea of the blind auditions was was a good one and had the suspense factor as the viewers waited to see which of the four coaches would turn around their chair, to see the one they hoped, would choose them to be a judge.
The worst part of the battle round is that there are four songs being sung in each battle round, which take up three or four minutes at the most. The singers are only singing about about 15 minutes a show leaving 45 minutes for commercials and filler.
It would be better in my opinion, to see the coaches work with the singers individually rather than plan a song for a competition in the boxing ring.
Today’s poll question is if The Voice should have avoided the Battle Rounds and went straight to the live shows.
This is not official by any means but Drudge Report is reporting that Scotty McCreery is winning American Idol almost doubling the vote total of runner-up Lauren Alaina.
If this is true, it explains why Lauren Alaina was apparently favored by producers last night, probably to give her a chance to win. This is only a rumor until there is some verification, but we will know shortly before 10PM ET if Scotty does become the next American Idol.
First, before any Lauren Alaina fans bash me for being anti-Lauren, I can honestly say I have no favorite going into tonight’s finale and would be equally happy with her winning as much as I wouldn’t mind seeing Scotty McCreery winning.
Scotty Pushed To Background From The Start
My complaint is that the show last night pushed Scotty McCreery out of the spotlight from the first minute. Ryan Seacrest opened the show talking about Lauren Alaina having a problem with her voice. Then he dramatically called a doctor onstage to give his diagnosis, which was that Lauren had been treated and would be able to sing and sing well.
Why even bring this up unless there was a medical crisis in which she couldn’t sing at all? It was evident during the show that Lauren was singing as well, if not better than she had all season.
Scenario If A Finalist Couldn’t Sing
The situation though if it ever happened that a singer couldn’t sing on finale night, raises questions of how American Idol would handle it if one of the finalists couldn’t sing on the final performance night. Would the other singer still sing or would they stop the competition that night and fill the show with guest singers and then extend the finale night to a third night? Or would they go ahead and have the fans vote after the show as always, even though neither singer had sung that night?
Falling In Place For Lauren Alaina
Meanwhile, back to the situation last night, it seemed like everything was falling into place for Lauren Alaina. The judges seemed to favor her over Scotty for the most part. Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson clearly thought Lauren Alaina performed better than Scotty. Jennifer Lopez avoided saying who was best on the third and final song of the night.
Song To Mom Might Be Moment Lauren Alaina Won
The emotionally charged moment when Lauren Alaina hugged her mom and sang to her may be the moment she won American Idol. Since that song was concocted by those in charge of the show, it seemed unfair that Scotty couldn’t have had a song that he could have sung to his mother. I don’t want to take away from how special that moment had to be for Lauren Alaina and her mom.
Unless, I am totally mistaken Lauren Alaina will become the Season 10 American Idol tonight. If she doesn’t it won’t be because the American Idol producers didn’t do all they could in their power to have her win the coveted title as the next American Idol.
Haley Reinhart Lost By Millions of Votes
This may be the first year I don’t have a favorite, since my favorite Haley Reinhart was voted out of the competition a week ago and didn’t even come close to staying on the show losing by millions of votes, having only 25 million votes out of 95 million votes cast.
Having followed the show all season, from the earliest auditions to finale night tonight, it has been a great season.
Several Record Deals For Contestants
This season should produce record deals for seven or eight of the singers by next spring. There were some shocking developments earlier in the season with Casey Abrams voted off the show and then saved by the judges. That save prevented them from saving Pia Toscano being voted off in one of the most shocking votes of all time.
However, American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe told reporters that Pia was not doing well in the voting anyway, so even a judge’s save may not have kept her from being sent home. I still am having problems digesting why she was sent home since she had it all, the talent, the looks, but for some reason the voters weren’t enamored with her.
In conclusion, let me wish the best to whoever wins tonight. May they sell albums in the millions, not the hundreds of thousands, like the last two winners Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze.
Lee DeWyze Dissed by American Idol Producers
Speaking of Lee DeWyze the American Idol producers, for some strange reason as of yesterday hadn’t invited DeWyze to even be in the building for the finale tonight. I can understand their disappointment in his poor album sales, but come on, he did win last season and deserves to be on the show out of common courtesy.
Today’s poll asks if American Idol intentionally or unintentionally set up Lauren Alaina to be the next American Idol?
There was no clear cut winner last night on the last performance night for American Idol in Season 10. I thought both Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina sang very well in all three of their songs.
The judges had nothing but praise for the two singers that will find out tomorrow if they are the next American Idol. Randy Jackson seemed to lean more toward Lauren Alaina, but Jennifer Lopez refused to say who sang better after they all had sung. Steven Tyler gave the night to Lauren Alaina.
I think Lauren Alaina may have helped herself by singing so well even with throat problems before the show. She had the most sentimental moment of the night when she sang to her mother during her last song. That very well may have won American Idol for her.
However, Scotty did fine and may have been given a better song by George Strait, since the judges didn’t seem to like it as much as I thought they would. Check Yes or No just isn’t the kind of song that shows how well Scotty can sing. If Scotty had chosen the same song, he would have been accused of playing it safe.
Despite the judges giving a slight edge to Lauren Alaina, I think the voting will be too close to call.
The poll question asks who you will think you win based on last night’s competition:
Italian teenagers Piero Barone, Gianluca Genoble and Ignazio Boschetto of IL VOLO made an impact on American Idol audience last week on results night.
I doubt if anyone attending the American Idol results show last Thursday night expected the three teenagers who comprise the Italian singing group IL VOLO, to have such powerful voices at their age.
You could see that the three contestants Haley Reinhart, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina were thoroughly enjoying IL VOLO singing O Sole Mio.
IL VOLO singing O Sole Mio.
O Sole Mio is probably the oldest song ever sung on the American Idol stage by any guest singer or contestant. The song was written 113 years ago in 1898. If American Idol has a 1890′s theme one week next year, this will be one of the songs sang.
Elvis Presley sings It’s Now or Never to the tune of O Sole Mio after another singer sings part of the Italian version.
The Presley video was filmed in Rapid City, South Dakota less than two months before his death in August of 1977.
Lee DeWyze who was the American Idol for 2010 has not been asked to appear on finale night and won't even be in the audience according to DeWyze.
Update after the finale: It is being reported that Lee DeWyze was in the audience during the finale and that Ryan Seacrest stood where he was blocking DeWyze which may have been intentional since producer Nigel Lythgoe seemed to be angered at DeWyze for not presenting the winner’s trophy to Scotty McCreery. Read this story for more details:
Lee DeWyze the American Idol of last season found out that American Idol producers don’t think much of him to not have asked him to return to perform on finale night on Thursday.
I know he has not done that well in record sales, but he still deserves to be on the show. It is almost like they are ashamed of him.
It is like the producers don’t want to be reminded that the show has failed to produce a big selling record artist in the last two seasons with neither DeWyze or Season 8 winner Kris Allen doing well in sales.
Still it seems like common courtesy to let the previous year’s winner perform on finale night. Shows what I know about the cutthroat world of show business.
I can’t recall if a previous year’s winner has not been asked to return the following year, but have a feeling this is a first for American Idol and one that Ryan Seacrest won’t be mentioning during the finale.
UPDATE AFTER FINALE
It was clear that Crystal Bowersox was the better singer last season, but for some reason she didn’t draw enough votes to be the American Idol for Season 9.
Poll question is should DeWyze been invited to at least appear, even if not perform on finale night.
I don’t want to take anything away from Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina and am very happy for both of them, but am wondering if readers thought they were the most talented of the 13 singers in Season 10.
Personally, I thought Pia Toscano and James Durbin were the most talented singers this season. However, neither one made it to the final three, with Pia leaving many weeks ago.
The American Idol franchise has had a great season ratings wise. The show seamlessly changed from a judging lineup of Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Simon Cowell and the worst judge ever in Ellen DeGeneres (who deserves credit for admitting she was out of her element) to a lineup of a returning Randy Jackson and new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.
I have to admit that I was thinking that with the loss of Simon Cowell, that the show would jump the shark with his departure. Fox proved me wrong by picking judges that brought the strongest lineup of singers in the ten year history of the show.
As much as the show focuses on talent, popularity is a huge part of who wins and loses from week to week. Pia Toscano can attest to that fact. Producer Nigel Lythgoe stated that Pia had not been getting that many votes so it may have been a shock to most of us, but he could see it coming since he knew the exact vote count.
Naturally everyone is going to vote for their favorites, so if their favorite isn’t the most talented but still polls more votes than the other contestants, we will see less talented singers winning the competition.
For example, Haley Reinhart is a much better singer than either Scotty McCreery or Lauren Alaina, but she won’t be competing tonight because she only drew approximately 25 million votes out of 95 million votes cast. She wasn’t even close to being in the final two, but she didn’t have the backing of the voters like Scotty and Lauren Alaina.
Unless voting procedures are changed we will continue to see more talented singers fall by the wayside during the season while the more popular singers, whether as talented or not are the ones still standing for the final competition.
The last thing the American Idol franchise wants is another Kris Allen or Lee DeWyze type winning American Idol. How often have we heard about anything either of them has done since winning the coveted title of the American Idol? Neither is breaking any albums sales records.
Scotty McCreery probably could sell a million records, the first month after releasing an album and Lauren Alaina could probably do as well also.
With all respect to Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood is the best American Idol prior to Season 10. Producer Lythgoe, mentioned earlier in this article, stated that Carrie led the voting all of her season. She not only had the talent, but also had the voters behind her the entire season. Despite all the drama on finale night that year, she probably won by millions and millions of votes over runnerup Bo Bice.
So tonight’s vote will be more of a popularity contest than a talent contest. American Idol is in a risky situation if they tinker with the voting process, since it may alienate their fans if they are only allowed to vote one time, as has been mentioned recently.
It all comes down to what is more important, for a singer to have a huge fan base voting for them in large numbers or for the most talented singer to be sitting in the audience watching a less talented, but more popular singer become the next American Idol.
Today’s poll asks if the two most talented singers of Season 10 are the ones competing tonight to be the next American Idol. This poll question has nothing to do with favorites or popularity, but about if the most talented singers are still standing tonight.
Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina singing Up on the Roof on American Idol.
Scotty McCreery teamed up for some duets during Season 10 of American Idol. It is ironic the two singers find themselves in the final two competition on Tuesday night, May 24.
Lauren and Scotty team up on the 1962 classic Up on the Roof first sung by the Drifters.
Lauren and Scotty singing the Randy Travis song I Told You So.
Scotty and Lauren singing American Honey during Season 10 of American Idol.
It will be interesting to see which of these two, Lauren Alaina or Scotty will be declared the American Idol on Wednesday night.
What happens during the competition show tomorrow night may not even matter, since Scotty and Lauren Alaina probably have been at the top or near the top in voting all season. It may be more of a case of which singer has the better fan support. Still, it would not be good to have any of the judges say disparaging words about their performance.
Earlier in the season I thought that Pia Toscano and James Durbin would be in the final two, but it didn’t work out that way. If the voters are only allowed to vote once next season, which has been mentioned by the producers, we may get a much truer vote.
We could not have two nicer people in the final two than Scotty and Lauren Alaina. It is sad that one of them will lose, but they both have bright futures in the recording industry. There is no doubt that Scotty will sing country music, but Lauren Alaina could sing either pop or country as she embarks on a recording career.
Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood shown together on stage in this photo from a CMT blog.
Carrie Underwood is now the biggest selling American Idol ever after surpassing Kelly Clarkson and has sold 12,296,000 albums since winning Season 4 of American Idol.
Clarkson who won Season 1 has sold 10,674,000 albums which is 1, 622,000 less than sold by Underwood despite having a three year head start.
Underwood also leads in digital track sales with 18,482,000 while Clarkson has sold 15.6 million digital tracks with Underwood selling almost three million more digital tracks than Clarkson.
When it comes to gross earnings from concert tours, Underwood holds a commanding lead over Clarkson, earning $66 million in concert revenue compared to $32 million earned by Clarkson.
Season 5 winner Taylor Hicks didn’t even make the list, while fourth place finisher that season, Chris Daughtry is third on the list at Hollywoodreporter.com.
However, Kellie Pickler the sixth place finisher in Season 5 also is tenth on the list of top American Idol earners.
It is ironic that the American Idol of Season 5, Taylor Hicks didn’t even make the Top 10, while the fourth and sixth place finishers both made the list.
I can’t see Season 8 winner Kris Allen or Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze making the Top 10 list anytime soon, as they haven’t done well in album sales and probably are not booked in the larger arenas, which limits their revenue.
Scotty McCreery should sell well if he is voted the American Idol, while Lauren Alaina probably will sell less albums than McCreery if she is voted the American Idol of Season 10.
For more complete details of the Top 10 money earning Idols and contestants who have sold well, despite not being voted the American Idol.
The eleven American Idol finalists will be $49,000 richer at the end of their 49 concert tour this summer, with each singer being paid $1,000 a concert. The singers alone combined will earn a combined $539,000.
The Idols will also receive a cut of the merchandise sales during the tour.
Concertgoers will be able to see Pia Toscano sing with her fellow American Idol singers for the first time since leaving the show early in the season.
The ticket prices will be affordable for only the most affluent American Idol fans or those fans who have saved up for the tour for several months.
For instance the concert at Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas will range from $94 for the cheapest ticket to $631 for the most expensive ticket not counting the meet and greet tickets at $1,649 each.
A family of four buying the cheapest tickets would be setback $376, not including any trips to the concession stands or memorabilia purchases.
Paying the orchestra assuming there will be a traveling orchestra, stagehands, concession workers and roadies to unload and load the trucks and whoever else is needed to stage the shows will amount to a huge amount of money.
It is a shame that so many fans who would want to see the concert tour, simply can’t afford the money it would take to see the shows. American Idol is a huge cash cow, that may make a lot of money for the ownership of the company, but the average fan working for a living will find the tickets are too pricey for them to attend.
The tour was cut short in 2010, but don’t expect that to happen with the wealth of talented singers on the tour this year. Sadly Ashton Jones and Karen Rodriguez who were the first and second singers to be eliminated, thus disqualifying them from the tour will not receive the $49,000 the other 11 will be receiving.
I personally would love to see one of the concerts, but financially the tickets are too expensive for me to see the concerts.
Haley Reinhart polled over 25 million votes Thursday night.
Haley Reinhart apparently didn’t even come close to being one of the two finalists of Season 10 on American Idol.
Producer Nigel Lythgoe tweeted that Reinhart had garnered over 25 million votes, without giving hte exact number.
If she did receive 25 million votes that would leave a total of 70 million votes divided by Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina.
Even if those votes were divided equally that would give McCreery and Alaina 35 million votes each, so Reinhart would be 10 million votes behind the leading vote-getter.
She could be even further behind if the leader picked up a lot more votes than the 35 million votes.
At least Reinhart knows that she is still the third place finisher in Season 10 but in no way was she a threat to win it all.
She was my personal favorite since I like the kind of music she sings except for the more current songs she sang this season. Her music has a bluesy feel that should sell well, but doubt that she will sell in the multi millions like Scotty McCreery might do.
Jimmy Iovine of Interscope-Geffen-A&M played a song for Lythgoe that might be on Reinhart’s debut album.
Something tells me we haven’t heard the last from Haley Reinhart.
Randy "Macho Man" Savage has died in a car accident in Tampa, Florida at the age of 58.
The wrestling world has lost one of their most colorful characters today as Randy “Macho Man” Savage died at 9:25 AM in Tampa, Florida in a car accident. He was 58.
He lost control of his vehicle, crossed a median and collided head-on with a tree. He and his wife of one year Lynn were both wearing their seatbelts and Lynn only sustained minor injuries.
The “Macho Man” was one of the most colorful characters in the wrestling ring. He one time played baseball in the minor leagues. His complete minor league record is shown below:
Season 10 of American Idol should produce the most albums of any season. Most of us know Pia Toscano, Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk, Paul McDonald, Haley Reinhart, James Durbin and of course, Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery should have albums by the end of the year.
However on the other hand it is unlikely that Naimi Adedapo, Karen Rodriguez, Ashton Jones, Thia Megia and Stefano Langone will make an album this year. It will be interesting to watch if any of these five singers make an album even in the next two or three years.
Now to the contestants who should have recording contracts in the coming months:
SCOTTY MCCREERY
It is almost scary that Scotty McCreery will release his first album as a teenager, making me wonder if he can sustain his popularity over many years. The record business is an up and down business and a singer is only as good as his last album, so in a way hate to see Scotty start at such an early age. Having said that, he has the talent to succeed and his likability factor is through the roof, so he could very well have a career that lasts for many decades.
LAUREN ALAINA
It is interesting to try to figure out what niche Lauren Alaina will find herself in in when it is time to record an album. She has the ability to sing both country and pop so she and her record company will have to decide which direction to go. She may not have the success of Carrie Underwood but could still be a top seller in whatever genre she lands.
JAMES DURBIN
Even though James Durbin could only make the final four, he could sell albums very well, because of the energy he brings to his music. Scotty McCreery should be a huge seller, when he records his album.
I look for him to be one of the best selling heavy metal artists almost immediately. Knowing his back story, makes me hope he is a huge success in the music industry and that he can show the world that Tourette’s syndrome is not going to keep him from achieving his dreams.
HALEY REINHART
Haley Reinhart probably will record an album that focuses on blues and jazz. She definitely can sing a blues song or a jazz vocal with the best of anyone. She may not be a mainstream artist, but that depends on how her record company wants to sell her music, and what direction they want her to take.
PIA TOSCANO
There is no doubt that Pia Toscano will have the first album among the American Idol contestants, since while they were still engaged in the competition, she was free to start work on her debut album. Being the most technically correct of all the contestants this season, she should easily fall into whatever niche her record company wants her to be locked into.
CASEY ABRAMS
It will be very interesting to see what kind of album Casey Abrams releases later this year. The multi-talented singer/musician is by far the most talented musician ever to appear on American Idol. He is the only singer to sing while playing the upright bass, in my memory. He may have been eliminated early because the voters didn’t realize how talented he is.
JACOB LUSK
Jacob Lusk may have peaked too early during the competition. He seemed to become discombobulated ,by all the advice from mentor Jimmy Iovine and the judges. However, he should be signing a recording contract to sing as a rhythm and blues artist and/or a gospel artist sometime this year. Whether his albums sell well remains to be seen.
PAUL MCDONALD
If ever a singer had a distinct sound, it is Paul McDonald who sounds more like Rod Stewart than Rod Stewart. Whether his unique sounds helps sell albums is a question mark that will be answered when his album is released. McDonald didn’t particularly like singing cover songs like he was required to sing on American Idol, so now he will likely sing a lot of his own songs. The big question for McDonald is whether music fans buy the albums of a singer that sounds like a famous singer, like Rod Stewart.
SUMMARY
This is not the best time to be in the music business since downloading is such a big part of the music business. We could be seeing less and less music issued on CD’s in the coming years.
The American Idol contestants may have struggled for years before getting a chance to record an album, without their exposure on American Idol. There is no way a Scott McCreery or Lauren Alaina would be recording albums as teenagers without being on national television for the last three or four months.
We want to wish the best to all of the American Idol contestants who record albums this year and hope they continue to sell albums for many decades.
However, we have seen many contestants lose recording contracts over the years, so there are no guarantees for any of them. For the most part, only Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry have sold albums by the millions and millions.
So we could see many careers launched this year when they record their albums or it could be the beginning of the end for those that can’t sell their albums.
The poll asks the readers which American Idol contestants will sell the most albums:
It was a sad night for Haley Reinhart as she was voted off of American Idol. She had went home last weekend and now she will be going home again unless she will hang around till the finale next week.
I have to admit Haley was my favorite this season, but I am happy that Lauren Alaina and Scotty McCreery will be in the finale next week. Unless there is a major mistake by either singer next week, I expect Lauren to be the next American Idol, but would not be surprised at all to see Scotty win.
It is a time a girl won American Idol after the last two males who won, have not exactly set the world on fire, when they released their album. It takes a second to even remember Kris Allen and Lee DeWyze were the last two American Idols.
COULD TELL SCOTTY AND LAUREN ALAINA WOULD BE IN FINALE
There was a general consensus that Lauren Alaina (who has dropped her last name Suddeth for the show) and Scotty McCreery would wind up; in the finale after James Durbin went home.
HALEY SLIGHTLY BETTER SINGER
Haley Reinhart may have been a slightly better singer, but just didn’t have the popularity of Lauren and Scotty. I feel like the judges may have turned the voters against Haley, even though it may not have been intentional. Her fall last night probably did help her in the voting.
SCOTTY VERY EMOTIONAL DURING VISIT TO GARNER, NORTH CAROLINA
Scotty’s return home last weekend showed how emotional he is, which is a good thing in my book, but some may think of it as a weakness. To tell you the truth, it was several weeks into the show before I thought Scotty was a serious contender to be the next American Idol. When he stayed out of the bottom group for most of the season, then I knew he was as Randy Jackson likes to say, in it to win it.
LAUREN MOST LIKABLE OF AMERICAN IDOL CONTESTANTS
Lauren who also stayed out of the bottom group until one of the very last shows, kept getting stronger and stronger. There was no doubt Lauren was the most likable of the 13 American Idol finalists.
When she visited her hometown of Rossville, Georgia and and viewed the devastation of the recent tornadoes that his Rossville, it touched my heart and those of many other American Idol fans. The most touching scene was when she talked to a young boy who had been thrown 200 yards by the tornado, then looked out for the safety of his family members.
EQUALLY HAPPY FOR SCOTTY OR LAUREN TO WIN
In past years, I have rooted for one of the finale singers, but this year, I will be equally happy for either to win since Scotty and Lauren are so likable.
Scotty will probably sell more albums than any of the other singers this year, because of his immense popularity with the country music fans. Lauren is not locked into one genre as she showed when she sang an Aerosmith song with Steven Tyler after being told she was going to Hollywood.
We want to salute Haley Reinhart for her fighting back against all odds, to wind up in the final three. She was in the bottom three week after week, before gaining momentum in the last weeks of the competition.
Haley seemed to be in a state of shock when Ryan Seacrest announced she had been voted off the show. Guess that is normal though, when you want something that bad, only to lose it in the next to last week of the competition. This is not the last we will hear of Haley Reinhart as she is too good of a singer to fade away.
When her album comes out this fall, it should sell well if it features her singing the songs she sings best. If she growls, that is alright because that is how she sings and nobody needs to change it.
The final poll this season is obvious as we ask who will the next American Idol be, Lauren Alaina or Scotty McCreery.
Leroy Fick 59, won $2 million in the Michigan lottery but despite telling food stamp officials that he won $2 million in the lottery, was told to keep using his food stamp card.
It is a mystery why he continues to use his food stamp card, since there is no way someone with $2 million would need food stamps.
It is almost a certainty that the law will be changed, but it should have been changed long before it got to this point.
Too many hardworking taxpayers are paying taxes to fund the food stamp program and they won’t be happy to learn about this waste of state money.
This man is rich enough to buy the grocery store, yet continues to draw from the public trough and is having his cake and eating it too.
It will be interesting to see how much longer this millionaire continues to buy his groceries with food stamps.
Nigel Lythgoe an American Idol producer is tiring of Twitter haters posting that American Idol is being manipulated to favor certain contestants.
He has this to say at mtv.com about the Twitter haters who think the show is being arranged:
“Thanks for all the personal abuse from the usual morons out there in Twitterland,” he tweeted after last Wednesday night’s “Idol.” “I personally feel Haley is the most improved contestant.”
Jim Cantiello, the resident MTV American Idol expert tweeted after Haley sang so well last Wednesday when singing her second song:
“@dizzyfeet Whew! Looks like you have a lot of Haley votes to delete tonight! “
Lythgoe goes on to explain the reasoning behind James Durbin singing when he did recently.
We have seen truly needy families helped by Ty Pennington and his design crew and volunteer builders, but in this case the family given a new home turned out to be scammers that were out to get a new home for nothing not to mention a secret they kept from the researchers trying to verify if they really needed a new home.
The Chuck and Terri Cerda home was more than the family could pay for, so they moved to Oregon from Las Vegas.
The reason that ABC had the home built in the first place was that their daughters Maggie and Molly both supposedly had to wear masks to avoid the germs in their old house before the new house was built.
Six doctors said the two girls were not in any medical jeopardy. Even worse Maggie and Molly were victims of medical child abuse.
The girls apparently had been trained to feign illness when being examined by doctors, yet were able to run and play when they had the chance.
It is good that the Cerda family was not able to make the payments on their new home given to them by ABC.
When they moved to Oregon, the Oregon health system saw through their chicanery and recognized they were using the children for monetary reasons.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has helped a lot of families, but the Cerda family’s story of having two daughters who had to wear masks to avoid germs, turned out to be a lie according to the following article.
Many other families who had houses built for them by ABC have had to give up their homes because they couldn’t afford the payments.
Sometimes when the families are shown their new home, someone will present them a check to pay off the mortgage for the family.
However, the families in this Wall Street Journal article, had to give up their homes and put them on the market. So when Ty Pennington says “welcome home” to the family moving into their new house, it doesn’t mean the family always is able to live in the homes for many years to come.
ABC needs to be even more careful about who they give these new homes to, now that they know a family may only be pretending to actually need a new home.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition also needs to build smaller houses to keep the monthly payments down for the families.
Nigel Lythgoe an American Idol producer has stated that there could be a change in the voting next season.
It is not a sure thing yet, but voters next season, may be limited to one vote instead of voting repeatedly for the same candidate which is currently allowed.
This may prevent another travesty like Pia Toscano being voted off the show in the early weeks of the Season 10 competition.
There is no way in my book that Pia is a worse singer than Naimi Adedapo and Stefano Langone, but that is what happened earlier this season.
Pia should have been in the finals, if the voting had been done solely on talent. The problem is that some voters are voting for the best singers, while others are voting for favorites even though they know they are not the best singers.
The voting changes need to be made if it will prevent even one singer like Pia from going home so early in the competition.
We have all seen the military homecomings at airports across the United States. However, the new TLC reality series Surprise Homecoming will be showing surprise military homecomings starting with a sneak peek on Monday, May 30 at 10PM ET and will be seen regularly sometime in June.
The surprise element is what will make these shows even more special than a normal homecoming by men and women in the service.
I look for this show to be very popular and can’t wait to see the first episode.
Billy Ray Cyrus will be hosting the series and I can imagine how it must be for these families to have their loved ones return unexpectedly.
The Little Couple fans will be happy to know that the show will be returning to TLC on Tuesday May 31 at 10PM ET.
For the last few months I had been searching for news on whether the show was returning and kept coming up empty with no info.
To me this is television at its best. Despite fighting obstacles caused by their height, Bill Klein and Jen Arnold have a great sense of humor about life and have the same struggles with day to day living that we all have.
When the last season ended they were in the process of trying to become surrogate parents and building a new house. So it will be interesting to see how things are going now for the couple.
I was beginning to wonder if they were coming back for another season so it was good to know the show is coming back in only 15 days.
This weekend was special for Lauren Alaina Suddeth as she returned to her hometown of Rossville, Georgia.
She participated in homecoming activities after finding out Thursday night that she was in the top three on American Idol.
Lauren went to a baseball game, in which she threw out the first pitch, throwing the ball over the head of the catcher. She also sang God Bless America during the game.
However, in the midst of the celebrating Lauren found time to go to the site of some of the tornado damage.
This article tells how she talked to an 11 year old boy who had been thrown 200 yards which is equivalent to two football fields during the tornado.
You can see the concern on Lauren’s face for the tornado victims.
Scotty McCreery was singing the Josh Turner hit Your Man when Turner walked on the stage in Garner, N.C. surprising McCreery. Turner then brought his band onstage to back McCreery for the song as Turner and McCreery joined together to sing a duet.
Both singers are what is so great about country music. Turner probably had other places he could be on Saturday, but he made a point of being there to surprise McCreery.
The singers exemplify country music at its best and for Turner to take the time to surprise McCreery shows me what kind of person he is. McCreery seemed to be slightly flustered at first when seeing Turner, but sang as good as ever during the duet.
Now that the Voice has been on for two or three weeks, this may be a good time to compare it with American Idol.
Casting director Michelle McNulty of The Voice didn’t necessarily look for singers similar to those who appear on American Idol. Instead she has focused mostly on singers with a past history of success in the entertainment field like former American Idol contestant Frenchie Davis.
The youngest contestant is Raquel Castro at the age of 16, but she appeared in the movie Jersey Girl with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, so she is not new to the entertainment scene.
It was a surprise to see her on the show since the last I knew she had appeared on Broadway, but apparently she must have hit a rough patch and wanted to rejuvenate her career. Tarralyn Ramsey was similar in that she used to sing for Ray Charles who died seven years ago, so it could be even more than seven years since she sang with Charles.
Tim Mahoney is 39 and was on The Voice till he lost a battle round against a younger Casey Weston, who will advance to the live shows portion of The Voice.
NO OVER THE TOP SINGERS LIKE AMERICAN IDOL
Unlike American Idol, The Voice only focuses on good to great singers, while overlooking the American Idol types, that will dress up in crazy over the top costumes, just to be seen on national television. You will never see those type of singers on The Voice, because the producers want it to be known as a serious singing competition.
CHAIRS TURNING AROUND GIMMICK
The Voice had an unique concept in that the coaches Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton would sit in chairs, not facing the singers. This was done so the coaches would not to be able to focus on the looks, but instead were hearing the singers without seeing them.
This portion of the competition gave everyone an equal chance to advance in the competition.
BATTLE ROUNDS STARTED LAST WEEK
The first battle round last week pitted two singers singing the same song in a boxing ring. Some may like the battle round concept, but to me it was in some cases a shouting contest, in which you can’t really enjoy the song.
Since only four of the 32 singers advanced last week, it makes me wonder how long this portion of the competition will last. The four singers who lost the battle round have gone home leaving 28 remaining in the show.
Each coach still has seven singers remaining on their team. If The Voice wants to pare down the contestants to 16 for the live shows, giving each coach four singers, that would make a total of 16 singers on the live shows. That is all conjecture, though since as far as I know NBC has not announced how this will all play out.
The Voice is as far removed from American Idol as possible with the chairs turning around, the battle rounds and using coaches instead of judges.
Host Carson Daly is more lowkey than Ryan Seacrest and lurks in the background for the most part. Now that the auditions are over, the producers hope the battle round concept catches on with viewers. The show did lose two million viewers from the previous week.
Once American Idol finishes their season the week after next, the show may move back up in the ratings, or the ratings may continue to tumble the rest of the season.
COMPARISON OF AMERICAN IDOL AND THE VOICE
For me the American Idol concept of having 13 finalists, without having battle rounds is better than the battle round concept adopted by The Voice. At time the battle rounds have been more of a shouting match than a singing competition.
I am rooting for Vicci Martinez to be The Voice at the end of the season. She has her own band and has many You Tube videos to watch.
The poll question is if The Voice and American Idol came on at the same time, which show would you choose to watch live?
Note: I am privileged to share an article written by David Gasten of This Is Vintage Now who has been so gracious to let us post his article about Kathy Barr, a 50′s singer who is still remembered after more than fifty years.
Meet 1950’s Cheesecake Singer
KATHY BARR
by David Gasten
Here’s an intro toone of my favorite lady performers from the 1950′s, the sultry Kathy Barr. Kathy released three LP’s and one single over the course of her recording career, and Follow Me (1957) is her debut. Be forewarned, the Follow Me LP is a little over-the-top, but it’s a lot of fun, especially if you like curvy, feisty 50′s gals.
Kathy Barr was born in New York to Turkish parents, and was originally in light opera until some cats in the industry suggested that she try going in a pop direction, which resulted in this her debut LP. This album has been reissued on CD as a Japanese import, and the fine folks in Japan have done a good job of keeping it in print. She followed it up with an LP called Do It Again (Ava/MGM, 1964), which finally got a mini-LP slip sleeve reissue by the Spanish label LP Time Records in 2010.
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1. Kathy Barr on “The Magic of Music” radio show (May 2, 1958)
There’s really not a better introduction to Kathy Barr’s Follow Me than this interview on The Armed Forces Network’s radio show “The Magic of Music”. This half-hour vintage radio program dated May 2, 1958 features the announcer interviewing Kathy in between selections from the LP (about half the album is represented here).
There are some GREAT lines in this must-hear radio show. The gentleman announcer and Kathy have a really good rapport but the announcer gives in to the temptation to ogle her a bit; it’s quite cute and Kathy obviously loves it. Here’s a couple of good ones:
Announcer: (referring to what Kathy is wearing on the album cover) That’s a beautiful gown. Kathy: (suggestively) That’s a nightgown…
(The two laugh)
Kathy: I’m a New York girl. I was born and went to school and grew up in New York City. Of course, now Los Angeles is my home. Announcer: Well, fine; we’ll get to addresses later…
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2. Review of Kathy Barr’s Follow Me
KATHY BARR Follow Me
RCA/Victor Records, 1957
(Periodically reissued on CD in Japan. My copy is a 2007 jewel box version in the “RCA Female Vocal ¥1000 Series” released by BMG Japan.)
I’m going to start this review with a fair warning that this is a true “Love It or Hate It” album if there ever was one. If you like your jazz and easy listening technically perfect and serious, you will probably think this album is terrible. On the other hand, if you like over-the-topness and voluptuous fifties gals, this record is a LOT of fun! But even then, it’s over-the-top enough that it may take some getting used to.
According to the liner notes on the back of the album, Kathy Barr was “born Marilyn Sultana Aboulafia in New York”, was of Turkish ancestry, and was discovered by Mario Lanza.
The orchestration on the album is by Jerry Fielding. The liner notes use the words “vibrant,” “vivacious,” “vital,” “volcanic,” “powerhouse,” “molten lava,” and “flaming redhead” to describe Kathy, so you know what you’re getting into already before putting this record on.
On the Over-The-Top-O-Meter, I would say Kathy Barr is about halfway between Marilyn Monroe and Yma Sumac. Kathy makes dramatic swoops to hit notes (and hits them) while the orchestration follows her from hip-bumping swagger to violent makeout passion. Kathy sits on your lap, teases, flirts, runs her fingers through your hair, and never lets you forget that she’s ALL WOMAN the entire time she sings, to the point that when she ends the album with the title track “Follow Me”, it’s almost torturous knowing that she’s leaving and you can’t go with her. “Don’t go…” you plead under your breath as she slinks out the door, the feather boa follows her, and the door slams behind her.
As hot as that sounds, again, be forewarned–it may just be annoying to you instead of hot. It took me a couple of listens before it really hit me under the belt, and even still some of the notes Kathy hits grate on me a bit occasionally. For instance, the “Make my bed, make my bed…” phrases at the end of “Bye Bye Blackbird” still annoy me. But all is forgiven–you don’t hear too many singers that straight up WOO you on vinyl, and it’s a lot of fun to hear her slinky showgirl take on “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” (later revived by Tiny Tim) and her version of “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” that totally one-ups Marilyn Monroe’s version.
Kathy did a non-LP single, “Welcome Mat” b/w “A Slip of the Hip” (1957), and some radio show transcriptions that have never been released on CD, but show up on eBay from time to time. She also appeared in a theatrical production of The Desert Song that had a soundtrack album released for it in 1958 that features her singing like an operatic songbird–very opposite of this record to say the least. And just recently, the European reissue company LP Time Records did a mini-LP CD reissue of Do It Again, the 1964 follow-up to Follow Me which was originally released on the MGM-distributed Ava imprint and also features Jerry Fielding conducting. So there’s more to collect from this incredible babe of a singer. And the mastering on Follow Me is crisp, clear, and warm, so of the typical high quality that is to be expected from our friends in Japan.
This is a great find for Bachelor Pad Music collectors and any man who loves having a 1950′s porcelain redhead with big, soft, jiggly curves sitting in his lap and singing to him–it’s not as good as the real thing but it’s not a bad substitute either.
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3. Kathy Barr Discography:
Follow Me (RCA Victor, 1957)
“Welcome Mat” b/w “A Slip of the Hip” (RCA Victor, 1957)
Selections from “The Desert Song” (RCA Victor, 1958) with Giorgio Tozzi
Do it Again (Ava/MGM, 1964)
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4. Kathy Barr, Where Are You?
So where is Kathy Barr now? Nostalgia and Now editor Andrew Godfrey and the author have both been investigating this for a while, and have come up completely empty-handed until today when we received this message from her daughter, Sylvia Glickman. We want to thank Sylvia for passing on this information to share with our readers.
Kathy Barr was my Mother. She passed away in Hollywood FL on June 21, 2008. She was married to Irwin Glickman, and leaves one daughter behind, Sylvia Glickman, and two grandsons.
Earlier in the season, before Pia Toscano was sent home, it looked like the final three would be comprised of Pia, James Durbin and possibly Casey Abrams.
Instead we have a final three of Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina Suddeth and Haley Reinhart. Scotty is not too much of a surprise since he was safe most weeks. Lauren was safe most of the season too, but I think it is safe to say nobody considered the best singer on the show, except for her most ardent fans.
Haley lived in the bottom three most of the season and very few fans of the show, thought she would have a chance to be in the final two, but that is where she is after the shocking departure of James Durbin last night.
It was almost a given that James and Pia would be in the final two, but when Pia was the fifth contestant to leave the show, it appeared that James and Casey or possibly Scotty would be in the final two.
I am a Haley Reinhart fan, so you can take this for what it is worth, but to me she is the most talented of the three remaining singers. If she leaves next Thursday night, then we will probably have the youngest pair ever in the final two since Scotty won’t be 18 till October and Lauren won’t be 17 till November.
Haley has to be the favorite because of her age and experience and has been singing for many years. She has sang in jazz bands, sang in her own band, Haley and the Rastitudes and has sang in many venues over the years.
You can find Haley singing in many You Tube videos before she was ever on American Idol.
If a voter goes strictly by talent, Haley will be the winner. However, the most talented doesn’t always win the American Idol as Adam Lambert found out two years ago.
Some of the American Idols have won because of their huge popularity. Taylor Hicks has been one of the worst Idols ever when it comes to record sales, but because he was very likeable and popular he became an American Idol.
This is where Lauren comes in. She is talented, but not on the level of Haley or Scotty. Yet she may be the next American Idol, because her fans are voting for her in huge numbers. Even when the judges were talking negatively about her, she continued to stay out of the bottom three.
There is no doubt that Lauren is the most likable contestant this year. Voters like that she is just being herself and not pretending to be the greatest singer on the show. I am not sure she would sell as many albums as Haley or Scotty.
Scotty will probably sell more albums than either Haley or Lauren. His best chance to win would be if Lauren leaves next week, so he won’t have to split the country music vote on finale night.
I want Haley to win, but have a feeling she could only win against Lauren. Her attitude problems with the judges could come back to haunt her. Many of the commenters on the blogs say they will not vote for her because of her attitude, so that could be a huge factor in whether she wins or not.
It will be fun to see how all of this unravels in the next two weeks. With only 13 days remaining before finale night the tension is starting to build for the last three contestants and millions of American Idol fans.
It had been looking all of Season 10 that James Durbin would be in the final two, but instead two of the three remaining contestants will be on stage that night.
When Lauren Alaina Suddeth was told that she was safe first, my first thought was would it be Haley Reinhart or Scotty McCreery going home, but instead it was James. It wasn’t that long ago when five straight girls were sent home with the boys having a 6-2 advantage. Now the tide has turned as there are now two girls and Scotty.
Television viewers could tell that James was very concerned when he found out that he or Scotty would be going home.
No rocker has ever won American Idol, but James looked like he might be the first rocker to be an American Idol. James may not sell albums as well as Chris Daughtry, but should sell better than last year’s American Idol Lee DeWyze.
I expected Haley to be sent home tonight after the negative comments from Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez last night. Who knows?…Haley may have even been the highest vote-getter since the voting results are never released.
American Idol fans will never forget how James rocked the house week after week, and as far as I know never received a negative comment. Being a front-runner is not always good though as voters may vote more for someone in danger rather than vote for someone they think won’t need their vote.
LAUREN ALAINA SUDDETH
Lauren has gotten stronger each week, as she has hit her stride at the perfect time in the season. She may be getting more votes for her popularity, more than for her singing, but she is singing very well now and could very well be standing with Haley or Scotty at the finale.
HALEY REINHART
Haley looked like she may have been going home tonight after she was criticized by Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez. I was afraid she was going to be thought of as a complainer by the voters after she didn’t accept the statements that Jackson and Lopez made about her singing. On the other hand she may have gotten a lot of votes from voters who thought Jackson and Lopez ganged up on her undeservedly.
SCOTTY MCCREERY
Scotty is another singer who has sang better and better as the competition goes on. If Lauren is around at the finals, Scotty will have to split the country vote with Lauren. However, if either of them goes home next week, the one remaining should garner almost all of the country votes.
WHO WILL GET THE VOTES FOR JAMES DURBIN?
It will be interesting to try to figure out who will get the James Durbin votes. Since none of the remaining singers are rockers, the rock voters may not even vote the rest of the way.
POLL QUESTION:
Today’s poll question asks which of the remaining three contestants will be the American Idol.
I couldn’t help but think that Randy Jackson and Jennifer Lopez may have set up Haley Reinhart so she will leave the show tonight.
It seems like Haley has received more than her share of criticism this season. She was the only one last night to receive negative comments from the judges. With eight songs and three comments per song Haley received the two negative comments out of 24 comments by the judges.
It was almost like the judges knew Haley would be upset enough to show some attitude, knowing that could speed her exit off the show tonight.
Many commenters about Haley on American Idol blogs say they won’t vote for her because of her attitude. The judges put her in that situation. Haley is not like some contestants that will keep smiling while being trashed by the judges.
If Haley goes home tonight, no need for Randy and Jennifer to act surprised, because they knew what they were doing. They angered Haley enough to force her to have an attitude and now the voters are apparently posed to use that attitude against her. I could tell it meant a lot to Haley to have Steven Tyler go against Randy and Jennifer to say Haley sang well. This is one of the few times this season that one judge has disagreed with another judge or judges.
As far as I know, they have never made a negative comment about James Durbin. It was the same way during Season 8 for Adam Lambert, who received raves from the judges week after week.
LOPEZ WANTING SCOTTY TO KEEP COMING UP WITH SOMETHING NEW
I couldn’t believe it when Jennifer Lopez told Scotty McCreery that he needed to keep coming up with new way of singing. Scotty has already proved he can sing country and any other genre he has been asked to sing this year. He needs to be let alone, since he has already shown he can sing slow songs, plus he has excelled at singing up tempo songs. He doesn’t need to change anything.
IOVINE STAYED IN BACKGROUND
The American Idol mentor Jimmy Iovine, seemed to refrain from telling singers what to sing last night. After Jacob Lusk told the media that Iovine was intimidating into singing songs he didn’t sing, the producers must have told him to back off and let the singers pick their own songs. He may have been the one who told Haley to sing the Lady Gaga song which Haley apparently didn’t want to sing. Then when she sings it, she got trashed by the judges for singing it.
LADY GAGA FREAKED OUT CONTESTANTS
It was easy to tell the contestants were freaked out by Lady Gaga especially Scotty, who was told to make love to his microphone.
However, I do think she gave some helpful advice when it came to delivering songs with intensity. All four contestants seemed to have some extra intensity when singing the songs of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. If not for Lady Gaga telling Haley to show in her face what she was feeling from the song I Who Have Nothing the song would have had a lot less impact.
Lauren Alaina Suddeth showed that she deserved to be in the final four last night. I have heard Trouble sang in the past and she sang it as well as anyone plus the lyrics were changed a little by the arrangement in the last part of the song, but she handled it well.
NO CLEAR WINNER
There is no clear winner for Season 10 at this point. It would not surprise me to see any of the remaining four contestants become the next American Idol.
Scotty and James have been solid all season long, while Haley has been close to going home most of the season, but is peaking at the right time, if the judges didn’t ruin her chances of winning last night.
Lauren had avoided the bottom two or three until being in the bottom two last week. She had trouble adjusting to being in that situation after being sent to safety so many times in the weeks before. If Pia Toscano was still in the competition, Lauren or Haley or possibly both would be gone at this stage of the competition.
There is no remaining contestant that I would root against, since they all belong in the final four. Sadly, someone has to go home tonight.
Don’t be surprised if Haley sings her farewell song after being voted off the show. I don’t think she will be hugging Randy or Jennifer if she does leave since they put her in the position to be voted off.
The poll question asks if Randy and Jennifer hurt Haley’s chances of winning American Idol last night.
Maybe I have been naive, but thought that The Voice is a vehicle for singers to get the break they need to get started.
FRENCHIE DAVIS VS. TARRALYN RAMSEY
However when Frenchie Davis and Tarralyn Ramsey opened the show, it reminded me that both of these ladies have a lot of professional experience. Frenchie Davis was in Season Two of American Idol, but was later told to leave the show when it was disclosed that she had posed for topless photos online.
Davis has extensive experience acting on Broadway, with her stint on Rent being the most well known.
Ramsey also has had a lot previous experience including singing with Ray Charles. Charles did seven years ago, so that gives an idea of how long Ramsey has been in the music business.
When Frenchie Davis competes against younger singers in the live shows, she will have a distinct advantage.
The Frenchie Davis-Tarralyn Ramsey battle was much more competitive than the other pairings on the show. You could feel the tension, just from watching the two veteran singers battling it out, till Frenchie was declared the winner by Christina Aguilera.
PATRICK THOMAS-TYLER ANDERSON
This battle was much less mean spirited than the first battle. Both singers seemed to get along fine, making it easier to enjoy the singing without getting caught up in a lot of drama. Tyler Anderson got much better feedback from the other judges, but Blake Shelton picked the country music singer Patrick Thomas in the end. Anderson held his own, but Shelton clearly wanted to stay with the country singer as long as he lasts in the competition.
CASEY WESTON VS. TIM MAHONEY
This was a classy matchup with Casey Weston a young female singer matched up against an older male singer Tim Mahoney, who was looking for the big break he needed last night. I thought he would be an easy winner, based on his experience but their coach, Adam Levine gave the nod to Casey, probably knowing she has more of future than Mahoney.
VICCI MARTINEZ VS. NIKI DAWSON
It was good to see the great sportmanship between Vicci Martinez and Niki Dawson. Cee Lo Green chose Vicci as the better singer and liked her war dance.
Vicci Martinez has many videos on You Tube, with some of them including the Vicci Martinez Band. Summary: I am not so sure the battle theme for this stage of the competition is working well. I would have rather heard each singer sing a solo of the same song, rather than having the two singers trying to outshout each other and to reach the higher note, than the competition.
Evidently, we will have more three more weeks of the battle in the ring competitions. Frankly, I am not looking forward to the next three weeks of shrieking.
The boxing ring has to go. This is a singing competition, not a boxing match, but NBC apparently thinks this concept will work, but they are dead wrong.
We may see a lot of very good singers going home, because they will not be able to function in a boxing ring battle with another singer.
I may be wrong, but I have a feeling the ratings will drop, since they no longer have the chairs turning around gimmick now that we know who the remaining 12 singers are.
NBC is trying to avoid being an American Idol lookalike show, but I would rather see them use a better format to avoid all the shrieking and shouting.
The Voice in my book needs some revamping or it could become another gimmicky show that didn’t work.
Christina Aguilera was reportedly attacked after a segment on The Voice after Aguilera chose one contestant over another in the battle round of the reality television show.
It was a minimal attack according to the article posted at buddytv.com. Whether it will be shown on tonight’s show which will air at 9PM in the CDT zone remains to be seen.
(NO MENTION OF THE ATTACK WAS MADE DURING THE TUESDAY NIGHT SHOW)
Tonight’s show will feature the coaches, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, Christina Aguilera andBlake Shelton as they start to pare down their stable of eight singers.
I have seen previews of the battle round during which two singers sing the same song, but frankly am not too impressed with that concept since both singers are singing at the same time, making it difficult to differentiate between the two singers. However, not seeing but a glimpse of the competition, it may be totally different when tonight’s episode is shown, so it could be much better when shown in its entirety.
Personally, I am not enamored with the idea of two contestants singing in a boxing ring. It may have been better to let the two singers sing the same song, with no boxing ring drama involved.
It will be interesting to see how well The Voice is received when the overnight ratings are released tomorrow.
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