Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

The two faces of AdamRemember how at the Season 8 "American Idol" finale, Ryan Seacrest described the Kris Allen/Adam Lambert showdown as "the guy-next-door vs. the guyliner"? Well, Adam is apparently a more complex man than Ryan gave him credit for. In Adam's new video for "Better Than I Know Myself," Adam takes on both roles--the light and the dark, the innocent and, as Britney Spears might say, the not-that-innocent--and the result is the most compelling music video Adam has ever done. Clearly, two Adams are better than one.

Madonna's game faceEver since Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl had shocked game viewers doing spit-takes into their buffalo wings, half-time performances have been kneejerk-reactionary, sedate affairs, mostly by graying male rockers (McCartney, the Stones, Springsteen, Petty) who were pretty unlikely to have Justin Timberlake rip off their clothes mid-performance. So news that the queen of shock-pop, Madonna, would be playing the 2012 Super Bowl--accompanied by the always outrageous Nikki Minaj and the often politically radical M.I.A., yet--has had everyone wondering what to expect. Just how far will Madonna go on Sunday?

photo: TwitterMany "American Idol" alums--notably Fantasia Barrino, Constantine Maroulis, and Clay Aiken--have gone on to great success on Broadway, but ironically, Broadway has always gotten a bad rap from the judges on "Idol." Ever since the Simon Cowell days, "too Broadway" has been a common criticism on the show, and now with Simon gone, it seems like remaining original judge Randy Jackson has taken up the show's unofficial anti-Broadway crusade. Last week, one of my favorite Season 11 contestants so far, the purple-haired Angie Zeiderman, auditioned with "When You've Got It Flaunt It" from The Producers,  and while she eventually got a golden ticket--only after singing a second, non-Broadway song, "Blue Bayou"--she almost didn't, because her more theatrical first number displeased The Dawg. "The showtunes, that turns me off," Randy grumbled. "The problem is that it brings out that vibrato I don't like."

Well, on Thursday, Betty Buckley, a Tony Award-winning stage veteran probably best known for her remarkable rendition of "Memory" from Cats,  got fed up with "Idol's anti-Broadway bias, and with Randy in particular. And she therefore let it rip on Twitter, in a rant that was actually more entertaining than many of Season 11's "Idol" auditions.

Carrie Underwood in Season 4Eight years ago, a little Oklahoman farmgirl you may have heard of named Carrie Underwood tried out for a little show called "American Idol," and the rest was history. So when "Idol" returned to Carrie's original audition city, St. Louis, this Thursday, they milked it for all it was worth, all in an attempt to convince viewers that The Next Carrie was somewhere to be found here in the gateway to the West. (Or "the gateway to 'Idol' success," as Ryan Seacrest put it.) They kind of failed.

Last night, "American Idol" headed to Portland, where the judges found an adorkably awesome indie girl (Brittany Zika), a breakout R&B diva (Jessica Phillips), and a few other promising contenders. But with only one more auditions episode left (tonight in St. Louis) before Hollywood Week, and with "Idol" ratings continuing to slip,  my "Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I are starting to worry if there's enough standout talent in the mix to keep Season 11 going. Is Nigel Lythgoe saving the best for last? Or for Hollywood? Let's hope...

Melanie's singleMelanie Amaro is the girl who won "The X Factor" last year, in case the hoopla this week about all the shocking "X Factor" cast changes made you temporarily forget about her. But these days she apparently has the XC Factor. ("XC" is the Roman numeral for "90," fellow dorks.) Yes, Melanie may have sang mostly ballads during her run on the show, but on her new single--a '90s-retro, Hi-NRG, Hi-BPM cover of Aretha Franklin's "Respect"--she's definitely picking up the pace. And now I'm wondering if she was right to stick with ballads before.

Sarah has the spirit of St. Louis!Diehard "American Idol" viewers will remember Sarah Sellers as the geek-chic food blogger who made it to Hollywood Week last year. (Watch her Season 10 audition here.)  Sarah has since continued her food-blogging, and has been cooking up scrumptious snack suggestions for any "Idol" viewing party and posting them here exclusively in Reality Rocks. And she's back this season to get your mouth watering every Wednesday and Thursday night.

Sadly, no one covered "Portlandia's" "Dream Of The '90s" theme on "American Idol" Wednesday night (how cool would that have been?), but the dream of the Idols was still alive in Portland this week. Sure, some auditioners' dreams got crushed, like the fast-food worker with the unfortunate/kinda-awesome name David Weed, who tried to take on Rush, or hyperactive wannabe rocker Ben Harrison, who sang a version of Queen's "Somebody To Love" that nobody on the judging panel loved at all. But the show did start out with one quirky girl who was so cool, she should actually get her own "Portlandia" guest spot alongside Aimee Mann. (Fred Armisen, are you reading this?)

Jessica with boyfriend D'Angelo PerryBut more on Quirky Girl later. Portland's episode had its share of decidedly non-comedic moments too, like the audition by a Liberian refugee who grew up in a war camp, or the one by yet another single mother trying to make a better life for herself and her adorable kids. But the sob story that the episode saved for last, in its all-important pimp spot, was that of Jessica Phillips.