GHOSTS OF IDOLS PAST

I spent 10 of the last 24 hours typing up the many, many interviews that Billboard’s Fred Bronson conducted during the past few days of taping for this season of “American Idol Extra,” which is shown on the Fox Reality cable network. I’m trying not to let my aching fingers sour me on all the fun I had yesterday when I joined Fred for his final busy day at Center Staging.

The producers of the show brought back many popular former contestants to perform and participate in a short Q&A with host JD Roberto and audience members in segments that will be shown throughout the season. Some of the Idols I missed seeing that Fred talked to on Saturday and Sunday were Ace Young (whose debut album will be released soon), Chris Richardson (who you can see for yourself as he makes appearances all over America to promote Dreyer’s Ice Cream), Haley Scarnato (who’s releasing a country single called “Girls’ Night Out), Kevin Covais (soon to be seen in a movie comedy called “College.” Surprisingly Kevin plays a shy nerd!), Ruben Studdard (who will probably have a big hit as he’s singing this year’s goodbye song on “Idol,” his version of Kenny Loggins’ “Celebrate Me Home”) and Stephanie Edwards (who’s recording in Atlanta).

I also missed sitting in on Fred’s interviews with Gina Glocksen and Chris Sligh on Monday, although I did eventually get to spend some time with each. I was hanging out in the Green Room with Fred, Chris and his friend and drummer Jon talking music. Chris is a huge Beatles fan and enjoys dissecting the intricacies of their songs and production. Chris is full of life and fun and even busted out with some opera at one point. He’s just released a single to Christian radio called “Empty Me.” His album, “Running Back To You,” is coming out May 6th.

I also made sure I complimented Gina Glocksen on the original song she performed in her segment, called “When It Rains.” Although I had never heard it before, I immediately loved it. Gina is one of the hosts of “American Idol Extra” this season and will be interviewing the exiting contestants along with Constantine Maroulis.

Fred was actually in the midst of interviewing Melinda Doolittle when I arrived at the studio around 1:30 PM. She told us a funny story about a dream she had during Hollywood week. It combined her nervousness about “Idol” with the excitement of the show “24.” She imagined that when they arrived in the room where you were told if you made it to the Top 24, gas started seeping through the vents and if you didn’t get a nosebleed, you made it onto the show. Unfortunately, if you did get a nosebleed, you died! Harsh…

Next up was Sanjaya Malakar, who turned out to be a lot taller than I imagined. He’s currently writing songs with his sister Shyamali, who was also in attendance.

Next up was Bo Bice who arrived fresh from Nashville and brought the house down with the song “I’m Gone” from his latest album, “See the Light.” Bo is the original Southern gentleman, always making an effort to be friendly to everyone. We found out Bo just got back from a trip to Afghanistan.

Last but not least, we spent a few minutes with LaKisha Jones, fresh from a stint on Broadway in the musical version of “The Color Purple.” During her time on “Idol,” I thought LaKisha sometimes seemed standoffish, but in person yesterday, she was well spoken, friendly and thoughtful. She hopes to have an album out by summer and is planning to start a charity to help other single mothers who haven’t gotten the breaks she has.

It turns out many of the former “Idol” contestants we talked to have moved to Los Angeles. Gina just arrived from Chicago a few days ago and will at least be here through the run of “American Idol Extra” and Sanjaya has also moved here. Ace Young has even opened his L.A. home to Kevin Covais while he gets his career off the ground. Now if that’s not a sit-com in the making, I don’t know what is…

AMERICAN IDOL 7: TOP 16 ANALYSIS – THE GUYS

LUKE MENARD – “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”

Well, last week I said I could see Luke pulling off something by George Michael, although this song wasn’t one of the ones I was thinking of. It sounded O.K. Luke didn’t make any mistakes although there’s not a lot of depth to his voice, either in his high or low registers. He’ll probably go home on Thursday, as going in the lead off spot won’t do him any favors.

DAVID ARCHULETA – “Another Day In Paradise”

David showed off a new talent tonight, starting the song off sitting at a piano. This marks two weeks in a row of David performing songs featuring social commentary and a plea for brotherhood. I wasn’t blown away, but I think he was hindered by the song, never one of my favorites from the Phil Collins songbook. I would have rather have heard something like “When I See You Smile” by Bad English. Oh well, there’s always next week (and many weeks after that) for David.

DANNY NORIEGA – “Tainted Love”

The music of the eighties certainly fits the androgynous Danny. This performance reminded me of Michael Damian’s remake of “Rock On” in that both were a modern update of a novelty song. I think Danny is good for another week, although Simon obviously wants him to go.

DAVID HERNANDEZ – “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now”

Kind of laid back in the beginning and a very controlled vocal all the way through. Well done, although I think another song where you wouldn’t be compared to Celine Dion would have made David’s work seem even more impressive.

MICHAEL JOHNS – “Don’t You Forget About Me”

Another good emotional performance that channeled INXS from Michael, but once again there was nothing original about him. I think Michael will be the contestant this year that everyone will be surprised to see leave early during the waning weeks of the competition, a la Chris Daughtry and LaToya London.

DAVID COOK – “Hello”

I didn’t like the grating electric guitar that led off David’s version of the Lionel Richie hit. I think acoustic guitar might have served better, but this certainly proved that David really is a rocker. I think his Bryan Adamish vocal was better than the instrumental backing. Not quite a “moment,” but to quote critic Robert Christgau, he has his sleeveless T-shirt in the ring. The best of the night!

JASON CASTRO – “Hallelujah”

Here’s something that doesn’t happen often… someone sings a song on “Idol” that I didn’t recognize. Still, after a few pops on the mike, it was nicely dramatic and thoughtful from someone who earlier seemed to be just a smiley stoner type.

CHIKEZIE – “All The Woman That I Need”

Is the fix in? Did Fox save Chikezie by putting him last just before the voting? This had some good vocal strength, although I didn’t like it when he strayed into falsetto. Not a great performance, so he’s on the cusp of leaving…

WHOS ON FIRST

I don’t like covering press conferences. You don’t get to use your own microphones like you do at a roundtable. Instead, because I’m covering for radio, I have to sit in the very back of the room so I can plug in a cable from a mult box (called that because it has outlets for multiple tapers to plug in and get audio from the studio supplied mikes) to my DAT recorder. Also, because press conferences mix together radio journalists with print and online writers who don’t have to worry about sound quality, there is often laughter or coughing right in the middle of that good sound bite you might want to use.

Still, that didn’t stop me from getting up at 7:15 on Sunday morning in order to make it to the Four Seasons for, yes, a press conference! But then not every press conference teams up two of the funniest men in America, Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, who were promoting the CGI animated “Horton Hears A Who.”

And while they might not have been that hilarious, they did say some interesting things. Jim, who’s now been a part of two Dr. Seuss tales onscreen (he also played the Grinch in “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”), said he was always a fan of odd things as a child and so naturally  loved all things Seuss. He also told us his passion for comedy came about because his father was a funny guy and he wanted to be more like his dad.

I’ve heard a lot of actors  say that voiceover work for an animated film is  easy because it doesn’t take as long as making a live action movie and you can wear whatever you want to each taping session. Jim and Steve disagree though, insisting it is hard work because there’s so much more you have to imagine. You have to take a big leap of faith that each scene will turn out all right once the animators do their work.

Probably the most interesting moment of the press conference came when Steve talked about how he never thought he’d ever be in movies, but thanks to his first big movie role in Jim’s “Bruce Almighty,” he now has a film career.

The session ended with questions about the stars’ big upcoming projects. Steve said he’d never thought he’d get to be an action star, but he’s getting the chance in “Get Smart.” Meanwhile, Jim is in the midst of filming “A Christmas Carol” for director Robert Zemeckis, which is a big challenge because they’re using the motion capture process Zemeckis used for “Polar Express” and “Beowulf.” Jim said you have to create a whole world in your head. He’s paying special attention to getting right the various English accents he’s using for the multiple characters he’s playing in the film. He also said he related to the story of “A Christmas Carol,” as he himself had a “Christmas Carol” type moment that helped put him on the right track a few years ago, although he refused to get more specific.