American Idol
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American Idol Taylor Hicks will be joining Gladys Knight on stage at the Orange Bowl halftime show. He will be performing The Runaround and a duet with Knight. American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson also appeared at the Orange Bowl in 2005.

Quite a few of you planned to audition? Did you? What was your experience like? If you’d like to share your views, you can either comment or contact us, and maybe we’ll choose to interview you and use your story.

Do you plan to audition for American Idol?
Yes: 46% (34)
No: 39% (29)
Yes, but I can’t sing: 3% (2)
Maybe: 12% (9)
Total Votes : 74

With so many albums in such a short amount of time, how are you supposed to keep them straight? MTV has done a brief synopsis of the albums from former American Idol contestants, including Clay Aiken, Fantasia Barrino, Taylor Hicks and more.

Well, Taylor’s new cd is out, and the reviews are in. I was going to link to one, but there are just too many out there, and each one has something different to say. They’re a mixed bag. Some like it, some love it, some hate parts of it. Generally, I would call the reviews middle of the road. I think this is not unexpected, as it seems that none of the first albums from American Idol winners are any good (or at least vaguely disappointing). It seems that they only come into their own when they’re out from under American Idol contract obligations.

So, what about you? Has anyone bought the album? What do you think of it?

I’ve included below a live performance of “The Right Place”. I also included Taylor’s performance of “Runaround” from his Christmas at Rockefeller Plaza appearance.

The word is out that American Idol has a big, mid-season surprise planned. But they’re not saying what it is. Will it be like Survivor? Will they suddenly have to vote off one of their own? Like Biggest Loser, where they’ll bring back some who were already sent home? What do you think it is? What would you like it to be?

Former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson is said to be the best thing about the new movie, Dreamgirls (also starring Beyonce Knowles, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy). You may remember Jennifer Hudson as a Season 3 contestant who was constantly harassed by Simon because of her background singing on cruise ships. I think it’s safe to say that Jennifer has gotten the last laugh on Simon. I’ve included the clip when Jennifer was eliminated, the night when the three divas were in the bottom three. Maybe Jennifer got the last laugh on all American Idol viewers. I’ve also included a clip with her singing music from Dreamgirls and her American Idol audition.

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I came across this interview with Katharine McPhee on VH1’s site. It’s a pretty good interview. You’ve got to give it to Katharine— she’s really great at self-promotion (that’s meant as a compliment).

Due to a recent spam attack on this blog (over 1000 in the past two days), we now have to require registration before comments can be posted. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I can’t spend all day going through splog comments.

I have to admit— Constantine Maroulis is one of my favorite Idol contestants of all time. I feel about him leaving like many of you felt about Chris Daughtry. So, I keep up with what he’s doing, even though it’s been almost two years since he left American Idol. Starting in September, he was appearing on Broadway in “The Wedding Singer”. You can watch a couple of clips of his performance below. (He’s the tall, long-haired one.) In January, he will be joining the cast of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. He also has an album coming out in 2007.

Katharine McPhee beat out Katherine Heigl and Vanessa Minnillo to win VH-1’s Big “It” Girl of the Year. Katharine Heigl is the blonde on Gray’s Anatomy. Vaness Minnillo appears on Total Request Live.

One of our readers gave us a headsup in a comment that American Idol is nominated for a People’s Choice Award. Head over there and vote for it! American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is also nominated for a couple of awards under the music category.

The Walt Disney Christmas Day Parade, airing December 25 from 9-11 on ABC, will feature Mandisa, Ace Young and Paris Bennett. Elliott Yamin was originally scheduled to appear, as well, but had to back out due to other commitments.

Katharine McPhee will appear on CBS’ “Home for the Holidays,” scheduled for December 22 at 7 p.m. This special mixes strong music with moving, true-life stories about adoption.

Taylor Hicks is scheduled to join Phil and Robin McGraw for TNT’s “Christmas in Washington.” The holiday special will broadcast December 13 at 9 pm. on TNT.

And not to be left out, past winner Ruben Studdard will appear on “Dear Santa”, a special hosted by Kristen Bell. The show features wishes being granted to kids who wrote to Santa. It will air 6 a.m. Saturday, December 16, on ABC Family.

It looks Katharine McPhee fans will have to wait a bit longer for her album release. Originally scheduled for December release, it now is scheduled for late January.

American Idol 4 winner Carrie Underwood won 5 awards at the recent Billboard Music Awards. Carrie’s album Some Hearts won Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year. Additionally, Carrie won Female Billboard Album Artist of the Year, New Country Artist of the Year and Female Country Artist of the Year. Below is video of her winning Album of the Year.

Other former American Idol contestants made appearances, as well. Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry made guest appearances as presenters. McPhee and Daughtry presented Rock Album of the Year to Nickelback. You can watch their presentation below.

Lost is a wildly popular show. People have even created a wiki called Lostpedia. Its viewers are very loyal. However, not even Lost wants to go up against American Idol. Instead, they will be pushing the show back an hour until 9 pm CST when the show returns from its winter hiatus February 7th. And that’s just to avoid the RESULTS show.