Rihanna Rocks Essence Festival Stage
Rihanna Rocks Essence Festival Stage
Opting to work on Independence Day, Rihanna took the stage to perform at the Louisiana Superdome during the 2008 Essence Music Festival on Friday (July 4).
The New Orleans based festival, which kicked off yesterday and runs until Sunday, “celebrates black music and culture and moved to Houston in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina smashed New Orleans. It returned in 2007, and organizers say Essence is now re-establishing its place in the city.”
According to AP reports, “an estimated 200,000 people attended the festival last year, supplying a needed injection of business into the city’s hurricane-hammered tourism industry.”
“The festival is so special to New Orleans,” said Irma Thomas, a resident who’s still struggling to rebuild her home from Katrina-related damages.
Meanwhile, the festival will be honoring Patti LaBelle tonight - as the soul diva will enjoy “performances by two original members of LaBelle — Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx — as well as performances by Chaka Khan, Angie Stone, Ledisi, Chrisette Michele, Ruby Amanfu and Thomas.”
Celebs Help Cancer Research at Angel Ball
Celebs Help Cancer Research at Angel Ball
Last night marked the 10th annual Angel Ball, put on by Denise Rich and friends to raise money for the G&P Foundation for Cancer Research.
According to Fox news, “She (Denise) stuffed 1,400 people into the Marriott Marquis ballroom, mingling her performers with big A-list names such as Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Joss Stone and John Legend with Kelly Ripa, Joan Collins, Clive Davis, Bar Refaeli, Petra Nemcova, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Chace Crawford… and so on.”
Denise set the star-studded gala up in memorial to her late daughter, Gabrielle, who died in 1996 at the young age of 27. And as a tribute, Gabrielle’s picture was flashed overhead on a screen at the beginning of the night’s festivities.
At the end of the evening, which cost $1,250 to attend, a grand total of $5 million was raised. Meanwhile, you still can bid on items from the G&P’s silent auction at Charitybuzz.com.
To see the entire gallery from the 2007 Angel Ball (October 29) - !
World Music Awards Kick Off In Monte Carlo
World Music Awards Kick Off In Monte Carlo
Stars of the music industry have descended upon Monte Carlo for the 2007 World Music Awards.
This year’s offering is honoring Canadian singer Celine Dion and R&B queen Patti LaBelle for their outstanding careers.
Besides honoring Celine and Patti, a number of music’s biggest names are slated to take the stage, including Akon, Avril Lavigne, Rihanna, Ciara, Mexican rock band Mana and Egyptian singer Amr Diab.
Julian McMahon, star of F/X’s hit television series “Nip/Tuck,” is the host of this year’s event.
According to press, “Award winners are named based on worldwide album sales, as certified by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which is comprised of some 1,400 record companies in 75 countries.”
The show is to be taped and broadcast at a later date in 160 countries, with expected viewership to reach approximately 1 billion viewers. In the United States., it will air on November 22nd on My Network TV.
Be sure to check back with the for much more - including the winners and a lot more pictures!!!
To see the entire gallery from the World Music Awards (November 4) - ! Check back for updates, too!
AI OD (American Idol Overdose): Ep 1 - Ranking the Idol seasons
On this Idol Eve, it only makes sense to reflect back on seasons past. The producers and judges of the show are certainly doing that, by telling us how much better this season is going to be than last season. But was Season Six the worst of the bunch? Both Season 5’s winner (Taylor Hicks) and runner up (Katharine McPhee) have been dropped from their labels, but S5 also brought us Chris Daughtry, who had the best-selling album of 2007. Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson are the two best-selling Idol winners, but where’s everyone else from those seasons?
It takes more than record deals and album sales to make a great American Idol season. It takes a real depth of talent that few seasons are able to manage. I still wonder how, if tens of thousands of people audition every year, they can’t seem to find a Top Twenty where ALL TWENTY CONTESTANTS are pretty damned good singers. Are they that few and far between? Let’s hope not, as tomorrow night we start looking again. But before we look forward to our next American Idol let’s look back at Idols past.
For the purpose of this list, we are going to look at how the season itself was, not so much on what did or didn’t happen with the contestants after the season wrapped. That’s for a different analysis. I’m trying to examine the Idol product as it was presented to us on the screen. So, without further ado, let’s work our way from worst…to first.
Coming in at #6:
SEASON THREE
Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo, Jasmine Trias, LaToya London, George Huff, John Stevens, Jennifer Hudson, Jon Peter Lewis, Camile Velasco, Amy Adams, Matthew Rogers, Leah LaBelle
More than any other season, it became pretty clear early on who should and would win Season Three. Sure, Hudson has gone on to wow us with her Oscar-winning turn in Dreamgirls, but this was a younger Hudson with far less polish and presence. She was more of a powerhouse here while Fantasia caressed our ears with her soulful, passionate cries. Looking at the final three can tell you how weak her competition was. Besides Hudson, London was her only real competition and she went out fourth. Trias had a thin and weak voice, and DeGarmo was little more than a good pageant singer.
Coming in at #5:
SEASON SIX
Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, Melinda Doolittle, LaKisha Jones, Chris Richardson, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar, Haley Scarnato, Gina Glocksen, Chris Sligh, Stephanie Edwards, Brandon Rogers
If we were going to just base this on talent, last season would rank much higher, but it takes more than talent to make a good Idol. Part of the blame for this season’s overall failure must fall on the producers, who chose to show the audience essentially nothing about these contestants. We learned nothing really about their personal lives, loves or passions. Beyond that, early favorites Sligh and Glocksen faltered early and left just as quickly while under-talented Malakar became a national phenomenon simply because he wasn’t good enough. Doolittle and Jones should have gone to the finals, but neither made it and instead we got Amazonian, but otherwise somewhat bland Sparks, and fun but gimmicky Lewis. It’s sad when in the finale you really don’t care who wins.
Coming in at #4:
SEASON TWO
Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Kimberley Locke, Joshua Gracin, Trenyce, Carmen Rasmusen, Kimberly Caldwell, Rickey Smith, Corey Clark, Julia DeMato, Charles Grigsby, Vanessa Olivarez
The closest finale vote ever, Season Two delivered three powerhouse surprises that “didn’t look like pop stars,” according to Simon Cowell; two overweight black singers and one lanky white geek made up the final three. It was wonderful and one of the great evolutions of the show that “look” took a back seat to talent, and no one could deny that these three unlikely stars were deserving of their positions. So many of the other finalists were clearly out of their class, though, it ultimately made for a show with four or five real contestants and six or seven seat fillers. So we twiddled our thumbs for eight weeks and waited for the Final Four.
Coming in at #3:
SEASON ONE
Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Nikki McKibbin, Tamyra Gray, RJ Helton, Christina Christian, Ryan Starr, A.J. Gil, Jim Verraros, EJay Day
Just like the second season, Season One was really a show about three great singers and their supporting cast.
There’s always something magical about the first season, because it was all so raw and new; just like Kelly Clarkson. She came out of nowhere to blow us away and snatch the title away from early favorite Guarini. The two turned in stellar performance after stellar performance but it became clear about mid-way through that Clarkson was in a class of her own. Tamyra Gray had Whitney-level chops and stood high as the third talent of the series, but lacked the control and passion needed to really capture the audience. Others turned in nice performances, but Starr was more style than substance and I could never get over Christian’s warbly vibrato. Beyond that, the rest never really dazzled. Thus, while it gets kudos for starting the Idol juggernaut, it can’t rank any higher on this list.
Coming in at #2:
SEASON FOUR
Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon, Anthony Fedorov, Scott Savol, Constantine Maroulis, Anwar Robinson, Nadia Turner, Nikko Smith, Jessica Sierra, Mikalah Gordon, Lindsey Cardinale
The best Final Three since Season Two, and no one could argue that Bice and Underwood were truly deserving of their placement in the finale. Underwood was a favorite throughout while Bice, just like Clarkson in Season One, rose to capture the fans and judges with his consistent rock vocals. Other notable talents left earlier than they should have, with Turner and Smith standing high as amazing talents who just failed to click with the audience, while heart-warming personal stories elevated the likes of Fedorov to the Final Four. Still, a good balance and a great final run made this the season to beat.
And finally, at #1:
SEASON FIVE
Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler, Ace Young, Bucky Covington, Mandisa Hundley, Lisa Tucker, Kevin Covais, Melissa McGhee
And the very next year, Season Four was beaten. Forget about what has happened since with the Final Two losing their record deals, just look through that list. Daughtry has unabashedly become the breakout star of this season, despite his fourth place finish, but that’s not to take away from the burgeoning success in the country arena of both Covington and Pickler, while Yamin is scorching up the charts with his debut project as well. To date, no season has had such a high number of extremely talented individuals vying for the top spot, and not before or since has a season had so many people deserving of lasting fame after their Idol runs. Regardless of your opinions of Hicks (and we all know Simon Cowell’s disdain), I still think he was a highly entertaining live performer whose vocals were stronger than most people gave him credit for. McPhee was beautiful with a nice voice. There were great voices all the way down to pretty boy Ace Young and Mandisa, whose overly religious presentation may have sealed her Idol doom, but helped launch her successful post-Idol career.
Honestly, I think Season Five sets a pretty high bar for Idol entertainment. And of course Season Six is a train-wreck in comparison, but the potential is there. Sure the judges come up with the Top Twenty, but we’re as much to blame as they are if the Top Twelve isn’t good enough. We cut Sabrina Sloan and Sundance Head last year, to make room for the likes of Sanjaya Malakar and Haley Scarnato. It’s an election year so we should be focusing on the importance of voting and voting intelligently. Let’s do so with the Idol this year as well, so we all have a better product to watch.