May 2007 News Archive (Page 7)

Here's the weekly American Idol sales report:

• 5-7 last week Daughtry (49,000; 2.36 million total): Daughtry is top Idol dog again, netting a two-point chart jump despite a 7% sales decline week to week.

• Carrie (44,000; 5.33 milion total): Carrie Underwood was nearly even with last week, possibly thanks to the Idol special, which gave her a huge boost in the digital songs arena..

• Bucky (23,000; 84,000 total): Big drop of 62%; that indicates Bucky's fan base went out and bought the album as soon as possible; further sales are likely to come in much smaller weekly increments.

• Elliott Yamin (9,100; 173,000 total): Off a fairly normal 13%, but unless something dramatic happens, we can forecast a ceiling of around 300,000 for this album. Not, considering all the factors, that that's a bad thing by any means.

• Kellie Pickler (6,400; 512,000 total): Despite the chart improvement, it was down 1% in sales, but that's not bad at all at this stage.

• Fantasia (5,800; 357,000 total): Enjoying a late resurgence of sorts (up 18% this week), perhaps attributable to The Color Purple publicity?

• Katharine McPhee (5,600; 311,000 total): Drops 19% in sales and takes a dive on the chart, and Over It didn't really become the kind of across-the-board pop hit she needed.

Off the chart:

• Taylor Hicks sold 1,700 (2,000 the previous week) for a total of 673,000. Ruben Studdard sold 1,000 (down from 1,200) for a total of 223,000. Clay Aiken sold 600 (same as the last couple of weeks) and is at 509,000. Kelly Clarkson sold 5,900 (up from 4,900 and enough to rank around No. 129 on the chart if it weren't ineligible by Billboard rules). Her total is 5.7 million.

Don't worry, you can see Phil Stacey and Chris Richardson again soon.

The two may have been voted off American Idol last night, but the American Idols Live tour dates were released this week and should help to alleviate the fan depression that comes along with the show's looming finale.

The tour is slated to occur between July 6th and September 22nd and lands at 50 different locations across the country, including a stint in Canada.

If you happen to live in close proximity to one of these cities, this may be your only opportunity to see this year's top 10 in the flesh. Yes, Sanjaya Malakar will even be there.

Most tickets appear to be going on sale at the respective venues on Saturday, May the 19th in the early morning.

So if you yearn to see Sanjaya, Blake Lewis, Lakisha, Melinda, the Chris', Gina, Jordin, Haley Scarnato, and Phil sing in person, your chance to purchase tickets is fast approaching.

Thanks to People magazine for this report on last night's American Idol ...

Nice catch!: Ousted contestant Antonella Barba returned to the Idol arena – and proved to be an unusually reserved audience member, staying put in her seat (right behind Simon Cowell's mother) for most of the show. Still, Blake Lewis managed to catch her eye at the end of the night and blew her a kiss. She promptly returned the favor and he "caught" the airborne smooch and held it close to his chest.

Gina's Delight: And who better to make a guest appearance on Bon Jovi night than this season's resident rocker Gina Glocksen, who warmed up the crowd by singing ... "Rapper's Delight"? Yes, the singer brought the audience to its feet as she paid tribute to The Sugarhill Gang – even incorporating her own moniker in the lyrics, rapping "I am Gina G. and I like to say hello!"

Simon & Paula Hug, Hell Freezes: Though she emerged on set with only 30 seconds before show time (better than last week!), Paula Abdul found time to jokingly bow (complete with grandiose hand flourish) in front of Simon Cowell before they took their seats at the judges' table. Simon laughed and the two smiled as they hugged each other.

Simon Picks Fight with Paula, Hell Balmy Again: That Simon-Paula détente lasted for about five minutes. Right after Phil Stacey opened the show with "Blaze of Glory," the mischievous Cowell pinched Paula in the side of her stomach right before she started critiquing Phil.

Forget Simon!: Not everyone agreed with the judge's lukewarm reception to Phil Stacey's rendition of "Blaze of Glory." Blake Lewis's father turned to Phil's wife and the rest of the Stacey supporters seated behind him and shook his head, showing his dismay at Simon's tongue lashing. He's not alone. After the show, Phil signed autographs telling fans of his performance: "My wife said it was her favorite!"

Spreading the Love: After whipping the crowd into a frenzy by beat-boxing his way through Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name," Blake Lewis blew a kiss to the judges' table at commercial. He then ran over and surprised Chris Richardson, by putting his hands on Chris's shoulders and jumping while Chris's back was turned. The two close friends then gave each other a handshake and bumped shoulders before Blake left the stage so Chris could take his turn in the spotlight.

A Kiss Is Just a Kiss! LaKisha Jones ripped it up with the passionate rock anthem "This Ain't a Love Song" and even planted a wet one on Simon after he told the singer, "I could kiss you after that!" But during the commercial break, makeup artists rushed over to Cowell to wipe the pink gloss off his lips. The judge then walked over to girlfriend Terri Seymour and his mom – no doubt to reassure them that they are still the two most important women in his life.

Sign Language: Right before Jordin Sparks launched into "Livin' on a Prayer," Gina showed her support for the 17-year-old Idol by standing up in her chair and flashing the universal "rock on!" hand sign. Jordin waved the metal horns back at her pal and laughed.

Will Brake for Fans: As Simon slowly drove toward the parking lot exit, another vehicle blocked his way out – providing the perfect opportunity for fans to rush the driver's side of his car. No, the notorious curmudgeon did not run them over. Instead, Simon gamely yielded to fans' autograph and photo requests before driving off.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Bon Jovi night! Forgive American Idol Worship, but this is our favorite musical act in the history of musical acts. Let's get to it ...

- Can Phil Stacey do justice to Blaze of Glory? It's an all-time classic from the movie Young Guns - and Phil is far from an all-time classic artist in our eyes. But he impresses again. This was a perfect song for him, we admit it.

- Jordin Sparks takes THE Bon Jovi song: Livin on a Prayer. She also may have insulted our idol with the comment that her mom grew up on the band. Then again, she is only 17. She's also struggling a great deal with rock week. And she knows it. Please don't punish this amazing singer for one rough performance, America.

- Now, let's see what Lakisha Jones shows us this week. Hmmm, we wonder why Jordin didn't choose a ballad like this. Randy says "Lakisha is back" and Paula says something about a "little something something." And, well, Simon wants to kiss her. And he does.

- Okay, Blake Lewis, go ahead and give Love a Bad Name. If that's what you can all this rendition of the song, that is. Randy and Paula absolutely love it, though. And Simon refers to Blake as a "very brave young man."

- Chris Richardson will now tackle Wanted Dead or Alive. And it's extra tough because Chris Daughtry did so well with it last year. The judges basically give him props for doing the best he could in a genre that isn't his thing.

- Let's rock on, Melinda Doolittle. She wants us all to have a nice day, but my beautiful cohort says she isn't positive Mindy made her feel like the day was particularly nice. Simon and Randy are overwhelmed by the performance, though.

With all due respect to this year's American Idol beauties - Antonella Barba and Haley Scarnato - a pair of past contestants made the annual FHM Sexiest Women in the World list.

The first-ever champion, Kelly Clarkson, stood at number-96. We can see her moving up next year as albums take off and she becomes even more of a sensation.

For Katharine McPhee, though, there's barely room for improvement. The runner-up to Taylor Hicks last year also came in second in this poll. But there's certainly no shame is losing out on the top spot to Jessica Alba.

This is the last diary entry of Bucky Covington to his fans. We hope you've enjoyed them ...

Here we are, after 11 weeks, coming to the end of this blog. I've had a great time doing it, and I want to thank all of my fans for checking it out and making it fun and successful.

I can't say enough about everybody in my band, everybody at Lyric Street Records, everybody at O-Seven Management and Mark Miller and Dale Oliver, my producers. The people I've got around me, they like each other and they like what they do. It's great to be surrounded by a team like that.

We just got a new bus driver. His name is John, and he drove the crew bus when I was on the GAC Country Christmas tour. He's an awesome guy, and we're very excited to have him with us.

This past week, I went out to Charleston, S.C., with my band. We played on a big boat at sunset, which took me back to when we used to camp out at Bluett Falls back near Rockingham. It really took me back, like we were sitting around a campfire, playing again. That was completely awesome. Then we went to Atlanta and played a show down there. I also went to Vegas and Utah and played some shows with Sawyer Brown.

Utah - oh, my goodness, Utah is completely gorgeous. It's like the whole place was built a year ago, everything's so clean and fresh and mind-blowingly beautiful. You know, I love to ride four-wheelers, and we've got mountains in North Carolina, but they're covered up with trees. You can't really ride, because the trees get in the way. But in Utah, it's just, like, dirt, so you could actually ride all the way up to the top of these mountains, and there's snow on top of them. I've got to go back there with a four-wheeler.

This week, on Friday night, my band and I are opening for Kenny Rogers in Roanoke, Va. Without a doubt, we are very much excited about that. My family, we were all huge Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton fans. They had that duet Christmas album, and every Christmas, we knew when we were putting up the tree because we'd wake up in the morning and hear, "I'll be home with bells on … " When I was on the Idol tour, I found that album, and I bought it again and gave it to my mom for Christmas.
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