Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Joshua Ledet performs at the White House with Sam Moore [photo: Martin H. Simon-Pool/Getty Images]Last week, Season 11 "American Idol" finalist Joshua Ledet performed at the White House for President Obama, as part of a PBS "Memphis Soul" special. Among the many other luminaries paying homage to the music of the Tennessee town were Justin Timberlake, Alabama Shakes, Mavis Staples, and Booker T. Jones, but Mantasia definitely held his own with a stunning performance of Percy Sledge’s "When A Man Loves A Woman" that just may have topped his famous "Idol" version.

The "Voice" Season 4 Battle Rounds continued this Tuesday, and while three of the night's Battles were frustratingly combined into a single montage, robbing three talented victors of the screentime they so deserved, overall I was okay with all six Battles' outcomes. So, without further ado, here's what went down during Tuesday's Battle Rounds:

photo: Fox"American Idol" has been plummeting in the ratings this season--at this rate, it won't finish the season as TV's highest-rated entertainment program, for the first time since 2004--and some naysayers blame this troubling slump on contestant selection, while many more think controversial judge Nicki Minaj is at fault. But in one of his characteristically candid interviews, this time with Zap2It, "Idol" producer Nigel Lythgoe doesn't lay the blame on any one judge. He says it's the four judges' overall lack of chemistry that is ruining the once-loved TV institution.

On Monday, "The Voice" Season 4 Battle Rounds began, and there were quite a few surprises. An underdog held her own in the ring, a frontrunner unexpectedly went home, and three contestants were stolen for other teams--two by Shakira, who enthusiastically maxed out her Steal quota in just one night.

Today my "The Day After" cohost Matt Whitfield and I talk about last night's six battles and three Steals. Did the coaches make the right decisions? Is Judith Hill still the one to beat? Should Christian Porter have been stolen? We discuss all this and more.

photo: Michael Becker/FoxCharlie Askew was an early fan favorite (and my personal favorite) on "American Idol" this season, quickly amassing a devoted fanbase of Awkward Turtles with his quirky charm, theatrical performances, and weirdness-glorifying ethos.

His exit from the show, after an unabashedly emotional (if polarizing and misunderstood) rendition of Genesis's brooding "Mama," was tough to take--and then the Turtles had to re-experience that heartbreak, when Charlie competed for a bonus spot on the Idols' summer tour and didn't make it through again. But really, if you think about it, Charlie was a top 12 contestant (sixth place among the boys) this year. If only this season had been formatted like previous seasons, starting with a top 12 instead of skipping straight to the top 10, things might've been different for Charlie--and for Season 12, which, frankly, has been a lot less interesting, and LOT less rocking, without him.

Anyway, since leaving "Idol," Charlie has kept a frustratingly low profile, leaving some concerned Turtles wondering if he's okay after his rollercoaster reality-TV ride. But the good news is, he's just been busy working on his original music--so "Blue Sky Diamond," the self-penned song he performed on "Idol," is just the first of many Askew tunes that fans will soon hear from this talented kid. And the equally good news? Charlie recently broke his post-show silence to about his "Idol" experience exclusively with Yahoo!'s Reality Rocks.

Which one of these divas was stolen by Shakira?The "Voice" Season 4 Battle Rounds began this Monday, and as is always the case with the Battles, there were a few surprises. A couple early favorites did lose their Battles, but they may still win the war this season, because thanks to the show's relatively new twist called the Steal--which allows coaches to poach unpicked contestants from rival teams--those contestants remained in the game. Shakira, in fact, was in an especially Steal-happy mood on Monday, using both of her available Steal slots in a single episode. So the biggest surprise of Monday's Battles really wasn't any one particular elimination, but the fact that Shakira went from helming this season's weakest team to being a true Season 4 power-player with two new very strong recruits.

Wu-Tang Clan [photo: Debi Del Grande]As weekend one of Southern California's Coachella music festival wrapped up on Sunday, the two side stages were the perfect places to see and be scene--not only because those tents offered some of the coolest buzz acts of the entire festival (Cloud Nothings, DIIV, Deap Vally, Thee Oh Sees), but because they offered much-needed shelter from the Indio desert's bizarrely sudden gusts of eyeball-exfoliating sandy wind. At times it seemed like Sunday's sandstorm would loosen the smaller Mojave and Gobi stages' moorings and send the tents skyward, a la Dorothy's house in The Wizard of Oz (side note: I'm not kidding, at one point a blast of wind literally lifted me off my feet and hurled me a couple yards across the field). But maybe, just maybe, some of the Sunday Coachella acts' stormily forceful rocking was partially to blame for all the commotion.

[PHOTOS: Musicians Tear Up Coachella 2013 Weekend 1]

These were some of the highlights from the Coachella festival's wild and windblown final day:

New Order, Photo by Paul A. Hebert/WireImage

Southern California's musicfest Coachella went into warp-speed mode after the sun set on the Indio desert Saturday evening, bringing on an absolute cluster-eff of conflicting gigs that one would have needed a jetpack and/or cloning machine to fully experience. (Seriously, whose bright idea was it to book Hot Chip, Yeasayer, Spiritualized, Franz Ferdinand, Two Door Cinema Club, and Janelle Monae, all within a two-hour block of Saturday prime time?) Anyway, along with a bizarre-but-awesome surprise collaboration between French band Phoenix and R&B crooner R. Kelly (yes, that actually happened), there were a couple of other unexpected superstar pairings, a tribute to a fallen post-punk superstar, and a quietly triumphant comeback by an indie-pop supergroup. Here are four cool observations from the first half of day one in the desert: