Category: Country (Page 24 of 33)

Road Warriors 49

Road Warriors 49

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards will air Sunday, February 10 at 8pm ET, and the first group of performers have been announced. Those are Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and more. Stay tuned for more updates.

American Idol Season 6 champ Jordin Sparks will be singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl next Sunday in Glendale, Arizona. What makes it extra special is that her dad, Phillippi, played for the Giants in the ‘90s, and the Giants are taking on the Patriots in the big game.

The 2008 Honda Civic Tour has announced its tour dates, and it begins April 10 in San Francisco. Bands on the tour are Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound and Phantom Planet. Tickets go on sale February 2, and more information is available at www.hondacivictour.com.

Singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman is back with her new album, Hello, on April 15 on Capitol, and is heading out on tour with G. Love & Special Sauce, and then headlining some dates of her own. Here are the confirmed Continue reading »

American Idol: Southern Hospitality?

Last night, “American Idol” took their audition round for Season 7 to Charleston, South Carolina. It was humorous and disturbing at the same time to hear Simon Cowell ask Randy Jackson if they were on the “west coast.” And it was a pretty weak batch of auditions in all, with only 23 contestants earning golden tickets to Hollywood. For those of you doing the math, that’s 23 out of 10,000, or 0.23 %. Well, no one said it was easy to become the next American Idol.

With that, on to the freaks…..

Raysharde was the first audition, and with an afro that would make Tito Jackson jealous and a voice that he compared to Clay Aiken, you had the makings of a freak show. But then, dude wasn’t horrible, it’s just that he was TRYING too hard to be Clay Aiken. Think about that for a minute. Are you as frightned as I am? The judges were, too.

DeANNA, who corrected Simon more than once about how her name was pronounced, was a 27 year old waitress from the same small town in North Carolina as Kellie Pickler. But while Kellie was a charming, naive, country girl; DeANNA was a bitter, shouting lunatic. The best part was her talking about how her customers drove her crazy on Sundays for “all you can eat day.”

Crystal and Randy met online at the “American Idol” message boards Continue reading »

American Idol: California Dreamin’

Last night “American Idol” gave me a gift. They gave me an hour of my life, since the show was only one hour long instead of the agonizing two hours as it was both nights last week. What’s more, I get another one-hour episode tonight. I mean, that’s a whole hour to eat, sleep, watch something else, or practice being me.

And since the auditions were held in San Diego, the contestants heading to Hollywood would have to only drive a few hours north for the next round. Okay, on with those auditions, and we’ll start with the freaks again:

Some dude named Marat was wearing a puffy white shirt, ala Jerry Seinfeld in the “I don’t wanna be a pirate” episode. He was awful, and since the show was just one hour, they followed that up with a medley of freaks and crap.

Then there was Valerie, who admitted her own idol was Mariah Carey. Uh-oh. Anyway, Val was all breath and technique and had no real voice of her own. Simon said she sounded like Mariah Carey after the CD had been left out in the sun for a year. Randy said it was a terrible audition but that beneath all the technique, there was actually some tone. The best part? Valerie realized that she would be in the “rejects” portion of the show. You got that right!

This was followed by a duo of some dude wearing a sombrero, and a mime. The gimmicks Continue reading »

American Idol: Back To The Future

Last night’s “American Idol” featured primary auditions from Dallas, Texas. And the show had to harp on the fact that this is where they found Kelly Clarkson six years ago..and I mean, they HARPED on it. Back away from yourselves Idol, we all know your impact on pop music and that you suck us all in to watch these first episodes of frogs and princesses.

With that, here are the frogs and princesses from last night:

Paul Stafford, a park attendant who they showed picking up trash at work, looked like a real-life Dilbert, and he sang just like you would expect him to. Next.

Beth, a singing waitress who was borderline obsessed with Kelly Clarkson, was not as good as you would expect. Simon commented that he couldn’t understand a word Beth was singing, and I completely agree.

Then there was Bruce, who admitted that he, at 19, has never kissed a girl. What’s more, he had some stupid key on a necklace because he’s waiting for the perfect woman to unlock her heart. That sound you just heard is every eligible woman in America running the other way. Still, Bruce sang “Ain’t No Sunshine” and wasn’t all that bad, but not good enough.

There was a student from Austin Continue reading »

Road Warriors 47

Road Warriors 47

If you’re heading down to Austin for this year’s SXSW festival in March, some big name artists have announced performances already. Those include My Morning Jacket, The Raveonettes, The Black Keys, BUN B, Daniel Lanois and R.E.M. In addition, Lou Reed will deliver the keynote address.

Radiohead has confirmed the markets for its upcoming North American tour, but not the dates or venues. Their album, In Rainbows, debuted at #1 on the US charts this week, and these are the confirmed markets for the tour:

Atlanta
Boston
Charlotte
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Houston
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Montreal
New York
Philadelphia
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Seattle
St Louis
Tampa
Toronto
Vancouver
Washington DC

Mute Records artist Jose Gonzalez’ Green Tour of America kicks off this spring. Gonzalez is touring in support of his album, In Our Nature, and has teamed up with Reverb, a non-profit organization that educates and engages music fans to promote environmental sustainability. Here are the confirmed Continue reading »

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