A highly entertaining video is circulating online, in which the metal rock tribute band Metal Skool is joined by Kelly Clarkson and Ryan Key on stage at an L.A. club. Key is the lead singer of Yellow Card and rumored to be Kelly's love interest. According to reports, the band spotted Kelly and Ryan in the audience partying with her friends, and unabashedly coaxed her up on stage, hoping a little star power would rub off on them.

Impromptu renditions of "Sweet Child Of Mine" and "Don’t Stop Believing" followed. Wearing a school girl-ish white shirt with Peter Pan-style collar and a sweater vest, Clarkson looked totally out of place onstage with all the metal hair and spandex.

But she didn't try to Breakaway (so speak) and was actually a great sport about the whole thing. Not surprisingly, concert goers report that she sounded "awesome," smiling ear to ear as she rocked out.

Interestingly, this is the second surprise cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" we've heard about in the past week, after Carrie Underwood performed it at a recent show. It's good to see Kelly go out there and let loose a little.

She's such a hard worker and it's not easy living up to everyone else's expectations, which she's had to for years. She certainly deserves to have a bit of fun like most kids her age. We're interested to hear if this alleged romance with Key goes anywhere as well.

Our blogging friends at USA Today have some interesting stats about the American Idol tours following each of the first five seasons.

The first tour, in late 2002, featuring Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and others after the show became a massive hit, scored five sellouts out of the 30 dates listed, but had 10 others in the 90 percent-plus zone. Thanks in part to the novelty factor, it did generally very well. There were only a couple of glaring lows, seen in Nashville and East Rutherford, N.J. -- a bit surprising from the New York City market.

The second tour, coming in July-August 2003, starring Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken (pictured), Kimberley Locke & Co., scoredmore sellouts (17 out of 39 dates), but had only a couple more shows hit the 90 percent-and-above range. A bunch fell between 40-80 percent capacity, including a pretty bad run in which the tour attracted 55 percent capacity in Dallas, 52 percent in Houston and 48 percent in Oklahoma City.

That's nowhere near the lows that the '04 tour hit (a 27 percent capacity show in Indianapolis should tell the story), but overall, it looks as if the '03 tour didn't do quite as well on average as the first tour, or at least had a lot more lows.

Which was a little bit surprising, since it had Clay, one of the most popular Idols in the show's five seasons.

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Chris Daughtry's record label, RCA, has issued a press release containing information about his upcoming album.

The news reveals the album's expected release date -- November 21, a week after his Idol counterparts release their debuts.

It also talks about his producer (Howard Benson, who has worked with the All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, Hoobastank and more), and some songwriting collaborators, including folks from Three Doors Down, Fuel (which unsuccessfully tried to recruit Chris as lead singer) and Rob Thomas.

The popular vocalist is also putting together a band, to be called simply Daughtry, with a brand new website in the works.

The release does not include a title for his single, which is scheduled to be available by late September. For the benefit of Chris fans who want to read the whole thing, and also those who appreciate the verbose, self-adulating nature of entertainment industry press releases, we've posted the full version beneath our page break.

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The bad news is that Kelly Clarkson's "Addicted" tour has come to an end. But the good news is that new 16-month Kelly Clarkson wall calendars are available on her official online store! Few of us will get to meet her in person, but that doesn't mean she can't keep us company. Members can pre-order theirs starting August 31, so don't hesitate to hook yourself up with 16 awesome months of our first American Idol!

Former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson talked to The Envelope about her upcoming movie Dreamgirls, in particular the filming of the scene in which she sings "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" -- the classic tune that Jennifer Holliday sang in the original Broadway stage version that ran in the early '80s, and which helped win the actress a Tony Award. Can the former Idol fill those shoes? It looks like it.
Tom O'Neill, The Envelope's scribe, is calling Hudson's scene the most anticipated in one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year. Director Bill Condon apparently fretted so much over shooting it that he saved it for last and shut down the set so no one could spy on it. Something about the scene clicked, though -- Hudson is already drawing rave reviews.

"All early buzz indicates that Dreamgirls is about to transform Hudson into a superstar," O"Neill writes. "[And] she's already the frontrunner for the Supporting Actress Oscar."

Dreamgirls, which is scheduled for release this winter and also stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose, really showcases the American Idol contestant's voice. Hudson belts out three tunes like a champ, critics say, portraying her character, Effie White, with punch and heartache. More than a few are calling her the favorite for an Oscar.

Hudson (right, along with co-stars Rose, left, and Knowles) beat out hundreds of professional singers and actresses for the part, including Fantasia Barrino, who went on to win the third season of American Idol -- the season in which Hudson finished 7th among the 12 finalists. Fantasia is, however, playing herself in a biopic airing this weekend on Lifetime.

Add another live performance from Clay Aiken to your schedule in the coming months -- but unless you already have tickets, you're not getting them!

On September 26, Clay will be performing an outdoor mini-concert on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Not surprisingly, at least to those familiar with Aiken fans, that date is one of only two Jimmy Kimmel shows sold out thus far in the month of September. At least there's television!

In another news, we've come across the cover art for Clay's upcoming CD, A Thousand Different Ways (right). It looks pretty sharp! The album is scheduled to hit stores September 19. Clay's official website has been updated with a new look and a sharp new picture from his album photoshoot.

Clay also has a new, official MySpace page for fans to check out. Rest assured, it's the real deal, not one of the many celebrity impostor pages out there in the crazy myspace world.

One of the songs on the upcoming CD -- "Without You," a cover of the song by Badfinger and made famous by Harry Nilsson -- is already up on the myspace page and has fans raving. Imagine when we hear the whole album.

We've seen ordinary kids rise to the top of the American Idol heap. Now the likes of Lucy Lawless, Alfonso Ribeiro, Cheech Marin, Lea Thompson, WWE champ Chris Jericho, Olympian Carly Patterson and other celebs will put their singing to the test on Celebrity Duets, which premieres August 29 on Fox.

They'll be paired with singers such as Clint Black, Peter Frampton, Macy Gray, Patti LaBelle, Aaron Neville, Smokey Robinson and Dionne Warwick. Should be quite the spectacle. And who better to give fans the scoop on this latest experiment than Simon Cowell, who talked to TV Guide in an exclusive interview this week.

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TV Guide: You have to be over the moon about the talent you've gotten together for this show.

Simon Cowell: Yes, we are. I've got to be honest with you, I truthfully did not think we were ever going to make the show, and I'll tell you why. We basically said to the producers, "If you can find us 10 legendary names for this show, we're going to make it, and if you don't, we can't." I gave them a 10 percent chance of proceeding.

TV Guide: Because this doesn't work if the pros are chumps.
Cowell: Absolutely. We had to have literally the best singers in the world, we felt, and I think they've pretty much done that.

TV Guide: Will each week's performance night be taped, or broadcast live?
Cowell: That's a very good question. I think it's going to be shot as all live.

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They came for the voice. They stayed for the man. They buy many tickets really, really fast!

Yesterday, tickets went on sale to the general public for the only Clay Aiken appearance scheduled this year -- at least that is known, as of this posting. Aiken enthusiasts, known for being the most loyal of all Idol fans, were true to form in bringing yet another in-house ticketing system to its knees.

Clay is slated to perform with several Symphony Orchestras across the U.S. this holiday season, with only a December 9 concert in Williamsport, Pa., officially scheduled so far. According to insider sources, fans alerted the venue in advance that Clay Nation has a reputation for crashing ticketing systems, but the location wasn't concerned.

As it turned out, except for a few seats that were sold online before the official start time of 10 a.m., all the rest were done via phone. Memo to future concert sites: Do not underestimate the power of Claymates missing their Idol and looking for tickets en masse.

Clay's new CD, A Thousand Different Ways, is scheduled to be released September 19. We're no math geniuses here at AIW, but we think that's only 35 more days away! Holla!

In an interview before her concert Saturday night at Central Pennsylvania's RiverPlace, Carrie Underwood promised a few surprises.

Turns out, according to the Morning Call, she wasn't kidding.

Who would have thought that the country sweetheart would wow the sellout MusikFest crowd of over 6,500 with near-perfect renditions of Guns N' Roses' "Patience" and "Sweet Child O' Mine?"

Underwood, 23, said she would perform some covers along with material from her own chart-topping debut album, Some Hearts.

But the audience, ranging from grandmothers to grade-schoolers, probably expected the American Idol winner to cover classics from the playlists of Martina McBride or Reba McEntire, not GNR.

Imagine their surprise when, instead, they got a double dose of Axl Rose.

Underwood looked like a Nashville princess with a white tank-top and pink skirt, complemented by cowboy boots. Several songs, however, were more Pat Benatar than Pat Boone. The Oklahoma native's entire 16-song, 70-minute performance was louder and edgier than the material found on her platinum-selling country hit "Jesus Take The Wheel."

No one seemed to mind. Not only did Underwood attempt to bust loose from the sappy-sweet country mold, but she did it remarkably well, showcasing the vocal power and gusto of the first American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson.

She delivered the country goods as well, flawlessly hitting "Don't Forget To Remember Me" during an acoustic section, in which she also played guitar, and mixed in a shortened version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene."

However, Underwood, who seems to rank highly as both a role-model for young females and as hot property among young males, is still in the process of finding herself as a performer. Her uneasiness on stage is a big part of her genuineness and charm, but at times she lacks pizzazz.

Her between-song routine of sipping water, talking about the weather and thanking everyone -- over and over again -- is awfully sweet, but could be a little spruced up! Nonetheless, it's wonderful in a way to see the innocence and sincerity about Underwood, that she has yet to be tarnished by big-time success.

"Just a year and a half ago, I was just a typical college student," she said.

Carrie's diploma may have arrived in the mail on Saturday, but she's still got that school-girl naivete. And all of us here at AIW love her for who she is!

With Season 6 coming up before you know it, song selection is paramount to any contender's chances. This year's American Idol hopefuls should start boning up on the classics, if judge Simon Cowell's favorite songs are any indication.

The sometimes surly Brit shared his playlist of all-time favorites on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs," revealing eight tracks that he couldn't live without if he were stranded in a remote area (which some fans undoubtedly wish here a reality). Only one, Daniel Bedingfield's "If You're Not the One," was released in the past 30 years.

Tops on Cowell's list is Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife," which he called "the best song ever made, ever produced, ever sung."

Herb Alpert's "This Guy's in Love With You" is his pick for "sexiest song ever," while he named Charles Aznavour's "She" among "the most beautiful songs of all time." Cowell also said, according to MTV, that if given the choice of one item to bring to a deserted island, he'd choose a mirror.

Why? "Because I'd miss me."