February 2007 News Archive (Page 2)

Obviously, most of the Antonella Barba pictures floating around the Internet are real. The American Idol contestant is posing for a majority of them.

However, there are especially lewd photos of Barba that our website has not printed out of concern for public decency. You may view them at TheHollywoodGossip.com by clicking here if you'd like.

New evidence now suggests that these pictures are phony, though. We have no idea who's behind the American Idol: CSI team mentioned below, but it appears to have conducted some research into this affair. Judge for yourself.

Once this blows over, we hope fans can return to the heart of the show and focus on the vocal talents of hopefuls such as Barba, Lakisha Jones and Phil Stacey.

At the 79th Annual Academy Awards last night, Jennifer Lopez could not contain her excitement. No, neither she or husband Marc Anthony were up for any Oscars.But Jenny from the Block will be appearing on American Idol in April.

"I’m very excited about it," Lopez told Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet. "[American Idol] is one of our favorite shows. We TiVo it and are watching the early auditions."

The singer was mum on specific details about her Idol itinerary, but did reveal that she will perform.

Lopez's American Idol stint comes on the heels of a promotional tour for her first ever Spanish language album, "Como Ama Una Mujer" ("How a Woman Loves"), which hits stores April 3.

Congratulations, of course, are in order for Jennifer Hudson. She walked away with an Academy Award last night.

But Simon Cowell didn't go home empty handed.

The American Idol judge received a VERY warm welcome from Sir Elton John ... one that included a kiss on the cheek.

We wonder how Cowell's girlfriend, Terri Seymour, feels about this greeting. We also wonder if Idol fans will even think twice about such a picture.

After all, Antonella Barba photos have pretty much dominated their imaginations over the last week.

We've seen it coming for months, but it was still great to actually see it:

Jennifer Hudson, former American Idol finalist, is now an Academy Award winner. She took home the trophy for Best Supporting Actress last night. Below, Hudson poses with fellow actor, Forest Whitaker - and performs with Dreamgirls co-star, Beyonce.

On American Idol, they hold nothing back when criticizing or complimenting the contestants.

But isn't it about time Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell were the ones under the spotlight? Entertainment Weekly thought so, as the magazine gathered together past finalists Ace Young, Kimberley Locke and Anthony Federov for a judgment on the judges.

Here's what they had to say:

RANDY
One of the only standouts from a lackluster guys' night, Blake Lewis still came under criticism from Randy for not breaking out his mad beatboxing skills during his rendition of Keane's ''Somewhere Only We Know.'' Randy even suggested Blake should beatbox every week.

Ace: Well, it's a singing competition. Taylor [Hicks] is really talented on harmonica, but he can't play the harmonica as part of the competition.

Kimberley: That's where the confusion comes in, I think. We all know he can't beatbox every week. That's not how the show works. I guess if he can incorporate beatboxing into every genre, that would make an interesting show; I don't know how far it would get him through the competition, though.

Randy also laid into Nicole Tranquillo — one of the two women voted off this week — for tackling Chaka Khan's ''Stay,'' a song Randy felt was ''too urban'' for her.

Anthony: I agreed with him on that. She does have a pop voice. I don't know — if that's the kind of music she likes singing, that's fine, but I think he was on point with that one. Every performance I watched, [Randy] was literally taking the words out of my mouth. He was dead-on every single performance.

Ace: I don't know what [Randy] meant by it, but I think if a song's too anything — if it's too country or too pop or whatever — I think they're saying they didn't fall into the feeling of the song. The hardest thing with Idol is you only get a minute and a half [to sing]. So ''Stairway to Heaven'' is the wrong song. Song selection is key.

Kimberley: I didn't like [Randy's] comment. I do think [the song] was a little bit unnatural for [Tranquillo], with some of her facial expressions. I think she went in for it too deep instead of just being herself. But come on, that girl hit those notes. I was very impressed with her. I know Randy Jackson of all people is not a prejudiced guy, but had I been standing there, I would've said, ''So what are you saying, I'm not black enough to sing that song?'' I was kind of offended by his comments, and that's the first time Randy's ever really offended me. Most of the time it's Simon.

PAULA
Paula, meanwhile, went easy on Tranquillo, repeatedly brushing off Randy and Simon's criticisms of her by exclaiming that the girl can sing.

Anthony: I disagreed with Paula on that one. What she's doing is great; she's trying to give the performers more confidence. I think she heard a very good voice, [but] she was a little bit off in terms of judging.

Kimberley: Paula's an artist and she can be sympathetic with us, but sometimes I think she just flat-out lies just to make us feel better. She told the one girl [Haley Scarnato], with the black one-piece pantsuit with the high-waisted belt, [that] she was great, and I didn't think she was great.

After Simon commented that erstwhile bluesman Sundance Head didn't know what to do with his hands, Paula, well, started rubbing her chest and telling Sundance he should do the same. What was that about?

Ace: I have no idea, honestly. The judges have their own inside jokes that sometimes don't even pertain to the person on stage. They've known each other for so long that they can just pass [insider] signals [to each other] and have a whole conversation.

And then there was Paula's volume-tastic hair.

Kimberley: Paula's hair looked a little dry. She has a lot of hair right now, a whole up-down thing going all at the same time — like, she had a pony in the back, but it was all really down. But Paula's beautiful, so she can take hair risks.

Continue Reading...

For now, Antonella Barba remains on American Idol.

Viewer feelings seem to be mixed about whether or not she ought to continue on the show after a few topless pictures surfaced.

Below, however, we've uncovered NEW Antonella Barba pictures. She isn't nude, but she's posing provacatively. Will such decisions force the hand of American Idol producers? Might this singer be booted off for reasons other than her lack of vocal talent? Only time will tell ...

How close was Paula Abdul to being replaced as an American Idol judge?

Very close ... according to the singer who says she was asked to replace Abdul.

"As far as American Idol goes, I was actually approached a couple of years ago about possibly replacing Paula Abdul" Belinda Carlisle recently said.

Though the founder of The Go-Go's wasn't a fan of the show's format - and therefore turned down the offer - such news just adds to the speculation surrounding Abdul's life-span on the show.

"To be perfectly honest, it's just not my thing. I'd rather listen to music that comes from a more organic place. But you know, I just ... don't know if I would or not" said Carlisle.

For the rest of this year, at least, you can bet Paula will be the one to judge such hopefuls as Melinda Doolittle.

While Antonella Barba photos dominate the news, Entertainment Weekly recently caught up with the four American Idol contestants that are no longer making headlines.

That's because they were voted off the show last week. But let's listen to what Paul Kim, Rudy Cardenas, Amy Krebs and Nicole Tranquillo have to say about their experiences:

PAUL KIM:

So Paul, you've done more than your share of interviews today... Are you so over the bare feet thing?
Yeah, it has gotten a little old. It's turned into some type of gimmick, which it was never supposed to be. That's just me being me, and people think I was trying to get extra votes that way, and I wasn't at all! I've been doing it for, like, five years. But it was cool to see [Ryan Seacrest] do it, too.

Now that you've had a chance to sleep on it, do you regret choosing ''Careless Whisper''?
Yeah, I do. Honestly, it wasn't what I wanted to do. It was sixth on my list of songs. My first choice was Donnie Hathaway, ''I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know,'' but my top five songs didn't clear and so I had to go with option number 6. I wasn't really comfortable with it and on top of that, I got sick and had to lower the key half a step, which made it kind of boring. But I have no excuses. I just didn't sing as well as I should have, that's why I went home. I'm really mad at myself for that, but I did try.

What was ailing you?
I have bronchitis and a sinus infection and was actually quarantined at a different hotel because they didn't want me to get anybody else sick. I have no clue how I got it, must've been lack of sleep or stress. I only slept an hour last night.

You were very passionate about wanting to represent Asian singers on American Idol. Do you feel your mission was accomplished?
I'm not trying to get political or anything, it's just that we're stereotyped a certain way in the media — where people think all Asian guys wear glasses and are unathletic and really nerdy — that really bothered me. William Hung was shown over and over again, and at first I thought it was funny, but then it got to the point where it started getting embarrassing. That really irked me, and I was out to prove that that's not what we look like, it's not who we are as a whole. So I just wanted to bring something new to the table, and hopefully I did do that.

RUDY CARDENAS:

Do you feel like you were at a disadvantage being the first of 12 performers?
I didn't really think about that going in. I just wanted to grab America and be like, ''This is going to kick ass!'' Was it too much? Maybe, but I just wanted to give my all and sing from the heart. I did the best I could. Four people have to go, what are you going to do?

You're a musician, too. Was the group performance hard for you to handle?
It was a little cheesy for my taste, and it's funny that Randy used the word corny for my performance. But that's the thing I love about the show. Obviously, they're doing something right — American Idol is the biggest show to ever air on TV. It may be a little corny, but it's also so much fun!

Have you gotten calls from the people who turned down your band for gigs?
It's funny, my band had to get a sub and is on the road right now without me, and we actually have gotten those calls. Both saying, ''If Rudy's not going to be there, we don't want you anymore'' or ''Hey, I take back what I said, I do want to book you.'' So it goes both ways. But I feel super blessed to be in this position. it's just sad I had to leave a little early.

Amy Krebs: 

Your song choice, ''I Can't Make You Love Me,'' turned out to be prophetic, huh?
Yeah. I wish that Paula would've stuck up for me a little bit more because she has in the past. But to have all three judges sort of say the same thing was a huge eye-opener for me. As much as the criticism was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to take, it definitely made me take a look at something that I've always struggled with, which is trying to fit in somewhere and feeling comfortable in my own skin.

Continue Reading...

Last week, we posted the first Bucky Covington message to his fans. Here's the latest installment:

It was very exciting to see everybody's response to my first blog entry. I hope you guys realize how much help it is and how great it looks when you go to these websites or listen to my radio interviews on the Internet. I couldn't do all this without you, so thanks for your help.

I just had dinner with a very big guy in radio, Coyote Calhoun, the program director at WAMZ in Louisville. When we went out to dinner, he said that after my on-air interview that afternoon he had more e-mail comments about me than he had ever seen before. I can't tell you how much that means to me. It's priceless.

We're still out doing a lot of radio interviews, getting ready for my album to come out on April 17. We've been hitting the Midwest and North regions recently, going everywhere from Wisconsin to Kentucky.

Sometimes, we'll do these American Idol viewing parties. I'll go up and play for 30 minutes or so, then I'll sign autographs and take pictures. It's neat, because everybody will watch the show and every time it goes to commercials, they've all got questions like "What it's like backstage?" It's neat being able to tell people how it goes.

Of course, I always get asked, "Who's your favorite judge?" It's just my personal opinion, but I listened to Randy Jackson the most, because he's been there and worked with all styles of music — country, pop, rock, whatever. He's produced, played bass. He's done it all.

Paula's a complete sweetheart — I love her to death. And Simon is an excellent TV personality. Sometimes he can give you constructive criticism, but sometimes he says things just to get the viewers. And thank God he does. A lot of people tuned it to see [Simon Cowell] and, because they did, they saw us.

American Idol may be singing competition. But it's the looks - and actions - of a certain contestant that's earning the show major attention these days.

Indeed, Antonella Barba photos are creating quite the stir. Does the topless singer deserve to remain in the competition? Producer Nygel Lythgoe recently commented on the situation:

''We have really good background checks on everybody, and we deal with that every season,'' he says. ''It's sad, isn't it, that your best friends are the ones that come forward with information that will go to Smoking Gun or put your photographs on the web?''

Yes, it is sad. More pics of Antonella Barba has surfaced, as well. We don't wanna place them here in case kids are viewing, but you can find them for yourself. Should be interesting to see what happens.