Reality Rocks

  • You know how they say that when one door closes, another opens? Well, if there was ever any proof that this saying is true, it's the success story of Josiah Leming.

    Yes, the American Idol door hit Josiah firmly on the behind on his way out during Hollywood Week, when he failed to make Idol's top 24. But now--according to a heartening report on Knoxnews.com--Josiah's kicked the door at Warner Bros. Records HQ wide open.

    Yes, kids: Josiah Leming has reportedly landed a major-label record deal!

    Josiah was back in Hollywood recently, playing the Hotel Cafe on March 7, and now it seems he was likely in town (with his newly acquired agent and lawyer) to start wheeling and dealing with Warner. Looks like Josiah's through to Hollywood now, for real.

    Knoxnews.com even reports that Josiah, who famously once had to live in his car, just bought his father a new truck to celebrate this good fortune. How cute is that?

    Bet Josiah's still crying his eyes out these days, but this time they're tears

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  • Fans of five to-be-determined ousted Idol contestants can rejoice! Because if rumors are true, the long-demanded "Wild Card" policy will soon be reinstated. Huzzah!

    Yes, the last-gasp policy that once rescued Clay Aiken from premature obscurity may now save another gone-too-soon singer. See, according to rampant messageboard postings across this great Interweb of ours, five semi-finalists who failed to make the top 10 will return to the American Idol stage for the April 9th Idol Gives Back charity special....on which they will battle for a wild-card slot on this summer's American Idol concert tour!

    Omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod...

    Now, keep in mind that this hypothetical wild-card winner WON'T get to compete on the actual show again, which is a bit of bummer. But I'm sure Danimals like myself (and Danny Noriega's BFF, Ramiele Malubay), or fans of any of the other eliminated contestants, would still relish the opportunity to see their favorite reject hit the road with the

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  • On last night's American Idol elimination show, Ryan Seacrest announced the mentors for this season. And judging from some message board posts I've perused, not all viewers are that psyched about the news.

    Well, I for one am excited about most of this year's mentors. Read on and I'll tell you why!

    Mariah Carey - Ooh boy, this one's going to be interesting. It's a well-documented fact that one of the worst strategic moves an Idol finalist can make is to attempt to sing a Mimi song, because very few people (other than dog-whistle-manufacturers) can hit the positively stratospheric octaves that Mariah can sing in her sleep. I shudder to think of what might happen if Kristy Lee Cook gets stuck with "Vision Of Love," if she manages to stick around for Mariah Night. But regardless of whether or not Mariah will be able to successful coach the contestants vocally, there's one way in which she will no doubt be immeasurably helpful: teaching them how to triumph over adversity. Seriously, this

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  • Listen closely, kids. Hear that? That's the sound of John Lennon and George Harrison rolling in their respective graves.

    Seriously, from Amanda inexplicably getting to sing the big "love you make" hook, to the Broadway-style line-formation singalong of the Abbey Road acid-casualty epic "Because," to the awkward moment when Ramiele's mic seemed to be turned off, to David Archuleta ironically singing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" so soon after his stage dad allegedly made him weep...well, tonight's opening Beatles medley had me and probably the rest of America crying out for "Help!"

    Enough with the Beatles songs already, OK? Surely by now Nigel Lythgoe must realize that doing a second Fab Four Week wasn't such a fab idea. It's downright tragic to think that uninitiated youngsters unfamiliar with the Beatles may now forever associate this great band's music with travesties like this. So let's hope tonight is the last Beatlesque Idol episode for a while. And let's pray there's no Wings

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  • Last week on Beatles Night, American Idol golden boy David Archuleta astonishingly flubbed the lyrics to "We Can Work It Out." It seemed hard to believe that the perfectly poised Star Search winner, who'd been such a standout only a couple weeks earlier singing John Lennon's "Imagine," would so badly mangle a Lennon/McCartney number like this.

    Well, since that incident, rumors have circulated that little David's overbearing father was to blame. And if these rumors are true, then Jeff Archuleta just might be the creepiest reality-TV stage dad since Ashlee and Jessica's Papa Joe Simpson.

    According to Entertainment Tonight, David's dad Jeff "yelled at David during a recording session...and even brought him to tears" the day before the first Beatles Night, supposedly because he didn't think his son's singing was up to par. If that's true, then gawd only knows how much he yelled after David's blunder (or, as I like to call it, "Archuletdown") last Tuesday.

    I don't know if Jeff went easier

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  • Hey everyone! Summer's just around the corner, you know. Looking for a vacation the whole family can enjoy? Well, you'll have a gay old time on Rosie O'Donnell's family cruise...now officially featuring Lido Deck entertainment from the one-and-only Danny Noriega!

    Yes, I know one of Simon Cowell's ultimate insults is to tell a finalist that he/she sounds like a "cruise ship singer." And I bet Simon thinks "gay cruise ship singer" is an even bigger putdown. But who cares? I personally can't think of a better way to spend my vacation days than sailing the high seas with Danny Noriega. Because it doesn't matter if you're gay, straight, black, white, plaid, whatevah--Danny supplies more escapist entertainment than any pulpy paperback beach read could ever provide.

    And I can only imagine how much MORE entertaining he'd be if I was watching him while kicking back on a deck chair with a fouffy tropical umbrella drink in my hand.

    I just hope Danny covers George Michael & Wham's "Club

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  • The David Hernandez-less final 11 performed this evening--and just like last week, they sang Beatles numbers. Hey, Nigel Lythgoe's been trying to gain access to the Lennon/McCartney songbook for seven seasons now--did you think he was going to have just ONE night of Beatles tunes and then move on to Country Night or Disco Night or whatever?

    Heck no! I actually wouldn't be surprised if Idol milks the Beatles' back catalog all the way through season 9, until there's nothing left to perform but virtually unsingable, backwards-masked selections like "Tomorrow Never Knows," "Because," and "Revolution 9." Or FCC-aggravating choices like "Why Don't We Do It In The Road." And I, of course, look forward to that! Especially if Michael Johns or David Cook is singing the latter...

    Ahem. I digress. That happens a lot when I think of Michael Johns or David Cook. Anyway, instead of the show kicking off tonight with my fave guys, it started with my two least-fave girls. Argh!

    Mushy-mouthed,

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  • As covered in a previous Reality Rocks blog, X Factor winner Leona Lewis made her big bid for Stateside superstardom when she appeared alongside her mentor Simon Cowell on Oprah yesterday.

    Well, Leona is already a huge enough superstar in her native U.K. (where X Factor airs) that her hit single "Bleeding Love" has been quite creatively covered by loony Liverpool indie band the Wombats.

    The Wombats' wacky version of "Bleeding Love" is very, very different from Leona's glossy, perfectly produced original--and it probably won't secure them an endorsement by either Oprah or Simon any time soon. But I personally think it's awesome.

    And their cover is solid proof that when a song is extremely well-written, an artist can do just about anything with it and it'll still hold up:

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  • Leona Lewis, the third-season champ on X Factor (the Simon Cowell-judged British version of American Idol), appears with Simon on Oprah today. Leona's THE great Brit hope right now, widely predicted to be the first winner of any U.K. television talent show to have a real shot at Stateside stardom.

    And if there's any surefire way to become an overnight star in America, it's by getting on Oprah. Will Young never got to do that!

    So Leona is currently riding high in the U.S. with "Bleeding Love," her catchy ballad co-written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and former child star Jesse McCartney. (It was already the #1 U.K. single of 2007, by the way.)

    But did you that when Leona won X Factor, her debut single was "A Moment Like This"--the very same song that introduced Kelly Clarkson to the world? It's true!

    Anyway, check out Leona's "Bleeding Love" video below and see if Leona's got the goods to follow in Kelly's Idolized footsteps:

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  • Not to gloat or anything, but in my American Idol Beatles Night recap on Tuesday, when making my elimination prediction, I wrote the following:

    "I think it's going to be either Kristy or David H. Syesha's not totally safe either..."

    And who was in the bottom three the next night? Um, Kristy, David H., and Syesha! Man, I should open my own Psychic Hotline. Or my own bookie service...

    To be honest, I'm not a complete clairvoyant, because I really thought it would be Kristy Lee Cook, not David Hernandez, who'd ultimately get cut this week. David H. had a lot more potential than Kristy, and a much stronger set of lungs. He probably wasn't going to win in the end, but he still deserved to stick around another week or two before getting axed.

    I'm sure some people will cry homophobia here, but keep in mind that David made it through last week, RIGHT after his gay-stripper scandal exploded in the media. No, in this case I think it just came down to poor song selection and a

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Pagination

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