The NY Post is reporting that salary figures for Simon Cowell’s renewal of his American Idol contract are leaking. This past year he made $36M for his five months of work being a judge on Idol. For his next contract he would like a raise to the tune of $144M for his five months on the show. Umm, that is a ridiculous f**king amount of money for someone who speaks about 6 minutes for every hour he is on the air. To be fair, lets say there are about 25 episodes of Idol. In addition to those there are the audition cities where Simon has to put in almost an 8 hour day four or five times with only cigarette breaks, lunch breaks, coffee breaks and whatever breaks he wants.

Then there are the Hollywood days and then the show itself. Lets see if we can get a total for all of this.

We will be very conservative.

10 audition days at 8 hours a day equals 80 hours.
4 Hollywood days at 8 hours a day equals 32 hours.
25 shows at 4 hours a show equals 100 hours.
Promotions, press for the show equals 20 hours.

Total hours on the show 232 hours over the course of five months. Salary $144M which equals about $620,000 an hour. Minimum wage varies in the United States from state to state, but in California it is $8 an hour unless you work in San Francisco.

At $8 an hour, it would take a worker 77,500 hours just to make what Simon is going to make for one hour working on American Idol. The average number of hours worked in a year for most people is 2,000.

What this means is that if you are a minimum wage earner in California and work 40 hours a week for 39 years you will earn what Simon Cowell earns for one hour of judging American Idol. This doesn’t sound very fair does it? And remember my estimates were conservative. Plus, the work that minimum wage earner is performing is much harder than saying, “I didn’t like it.” Oh, and the minimum wage earner probably doesn’t have health insurance either and probably can’t afford to go anywhere on their two weeks of vacation each year, if they even get any vacation.

(source)

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Evidently, Kellie Pickler leaked the news to a radio interviewer that she’s got a man and that they’ve been seeing each other for over a year.

The beautiful Kellie Pickler has struggled with her dumb blonde image since making her musical debut on season five of American Idol. Kellie Pickler revisited American Idol as a guest in 2009 and her vocals just didn’t deliver. Along with the rest of America, the song Kellie Pickler wrote about her mother entitled, “I Wonder,” broke my heart and I can’t help but cry every time I hear it. American Idol contestant, Kellie Pickler, has won several CMT Music Awards and several American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers awards.

Kid Rock (real name Robert Ritchie) has had a long line of hotties on his list of past loves. Kid Rock was briefly married to Pamela Anderson and has dated Sheryl Crow. Entering the music scene as a rapper, Kid Rock has crossed over into heavy metal, blues, southern rock and country music. A huge Kid Rock fan, some of my favorite songs from Kid Rock include “Only God Knows Why,” “Cowboy” and “Wasted Time,” just to name a few.

I hope Kid Rock treats this country girl from Albemarle, North Carolina, with the respect she deserves. Former American Idol contestant, Kellie Pickler, has had her share of grief and she doesn’t need any more! Savvy, Kid?

(source)

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Kelly Clarkson performed “My Life Would Suck Without You” at tonight’s Much Music Video Awards in Toronto, CA, co-hosted by the Jonas Brothers.

Kelly Clarkson on stage @ MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto

(source)

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“American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert has landed the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, where he talks about sex, drugs and his “Idol” experiences. The 27-year-old singer from San Diego acknowledges in an interview that he’s gay, and says it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. “I’m proud of my sexuality,” he says. “I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.”

Lambert says he was inspired to audition for the Fox network singing competition after having a “psychedelic experience” at the Burning Man festival in Nevada. There, he says, he experimented with “certain funguses.”

“I knew that it was my only shot to be taken seriously in the recording industry, because it’s fast and broad,” he says of “Idol.”

Lambert emerged as an early front-runner and judge favorite, thanks in part to his soaring vocal range.

When he moved into the show’s Bel-Air mansion with the other finalists, he roomed with Kris Allen, who won the “Idol” title over Lambert last month.

“I was like, `Oh, (bleep), they put me with the cute guy,’” Lambert says. “Distracting! He’s the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type - except that he has a wife. I mean, he’s open-minded and liberal, but he’s definitely 100 percent straight.”

According to Rolling Stone, Lambert was open about his sexuality backstage at “Idol.” In March, photos surfaced online of Lambert kissing his ex-boyfriend.

“Going into `Idol,’ I assumed, `OK, people are going to talk,’” he says. “I mean, I’ve been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man, I’ve been at clubs making out with somebody in the corner. But photographic evidence? Didn’t count on that. Wasn’t ready for that.”

He says he worried that a public announcement would overshadow his singing, so he decided not to respond and largely kept his personal life under wraps on the show.

“I’m an entertainer, and who I am and what I do in my personal life is a separate thing,” he says. “It shouldn’t matter. Except it does. It’s really confusing.”

Lambert says he isn’t interested in being the poster child for gay rights. “I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil-rights leader.”

He also reveals that he began smoking pot and tried Ecstasy for the first time while performing in a European production of “Hair” in his early twenties.

“I’ve finally checked in to my self-worth for the first time in my life, and the fact that it has coincided with `Idol’ is so sweet,” he says. “I mean, I still have moments where I think, `Oh, my skin is terrible, and I’m a little fat, I should really go to the gym more.’ But for the most part, when I look in the mirror now, I finally see someone who can do something cool.”

(source)

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The season finale of American Idol aired on Wednesday, May 20 and carried a TV-PG rating despite the fact that Fox producers used a charity donation to coax judge Kara DioGuardi into popping open her dress on national television. The show also included the gratuitous return of contestant Katrina Darrell, known to most as “bikini girl,” who showed up in her standard uniform to show off her new “enhancements.”

Seriously now the PTC has a problem with people in bikinis? Oy, they need to get a life because she is covered up and that is what there are going to see if they go to the pool or a beach.
And if the PTC really think she had a problem revealing what an awesome figure she has, they are sadly mistaken. I am sure she is the one that offered to do it.

(source)

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Not much has changed about Kris Allen since his mostly forgettable “American Idol” audition.

Well, except for the winning-it-all part.

When the 23-year-old college student from Conway, Ark., first auditioned with Leon Russell’s “A Song for You” in Louisville, Ky., he seemed nothing more than a boy-next-door “Idol” hopeful, lacking the instant juggernaut feel of showy 27-year-old runner-up Adam Lambert or even plucky 17-year-old spark plug Allison Iraheta.

A newsboy cap pulled down around his eyes, Allen was asked back then by the judges if he was the best singer.

“You know, there’s probably people who are better than me,” was his response, a humility that Simon Cowell said he found off-putting.

“Idol” producers must have agreed. Back in February, viewers had seen less of Allen out of all the crooners that moved forward in the competition. During Hollywood Week, neither of Allen’s solos were aired, just his “I Want You Back” group performance. In fact, more footage from his original audition was aired during Wednesday’s eighth season finale than in any previous episodes.

Once selected as a finalist, Allen got off to a rocky start after his first performance. The judges were decidedly mixed over his rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” yet his charming nice-guy demeanor quickly emerged when it was revealed that the longtime Jackson fan had been helping the other singers - his competitors of all people! - tackle their takes on the King of Pop.

Allen himself seemed the most surprised about his shocking win by a margin of votes that, unlike last season’s landslide victory by David Cook over David Archuleta, was not publicly declared by host Ryan Seacrest.

“I’m exhausted, and I’m shocked,” Allen said backstage after winning the title. “I’m really shocked.”

In the beginning, the judges simply seemed, if not in love, then “in like” with Allen - not heaping the same amounts of love on him as Lambert until later in the season.

The panel’s initial feedback bordered on superficial. Paula Abdul once gushed he was “adorable/sexy” while Cowell teased the smiley newlywed for introducing his wife so early in the competition, at risk of scaring of female fans.

He always seemed to take their remarks in stride, content to forge ahead with his earnest singer-songwriter vibe no matter the outcome, never telegraphing a drive to best his fellow contestants.

Instead, Allen stuck to focusing on his guitar and piano on the “Idol” stage, impressing the judges with his folksy, heartfelt interpretations of such songs as “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Falling Slowly” from the indie musical “Once.” He hit a crescendo last week when he transformed Kanye West’s robotic tune “Heartless” into a soulful, acoustic ditty.

“I had written you out of the competition, but that has changed after that performance,” Cowell boasted afterward.

However, it was runner-up Lambert who always received the most praise - by both judges and screaming fans - right until Tuesday’s final performance. All the while, Allen was apparently neck-and-neck with Lambert when it came to viewer votes: The only time either was in the dreaded bottom-three was after their Rat Pack-themed performances.

Last week, only 1 million viewer votes separated them - a tiny margin considering that nearly 100 million votes were cast for the finale.

“I knew it was going to be a close race,” Lambert said backstage. “I think Kris is incredibly talented, and he’s a good person.”

Though never referenced on the show, Allen’s religious background may have also played a role. Allen has worked as a worship leader at his hometown church, traveling on mission trips around the globe. His pastor, Brandon Shatswell, said Allen told him that his first time on the “Idol” stage reminded him of only one thing: going to church.

(source)

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Yes, I know. Two Paula Abdul stories today. It can’t be helped. Remember that very detailed and lengthy interview she gave to Ladies Home Journal? Remember how she said in it she was addicted to pills and had been for 12 years and gave the reasons why she was addicted and which pills she took? Remember how she said she went to rehab at Thanksgiving? Well now she says none of that is true and it was all completely taken out of context. Uh huh.

This is Ladies Home Journal we are talking about here. They are not exactly a tabloid rag that needs to make stuff up or go scandalous to sell magazines. Plus, that article was extremely detailed and there were lengthy direct quotes, and so I’m guessing Paula doesn’t remember giving the interview or she was on pain killers when she gave it. Maybe she is afraid that she will have to talk about it everyday now because she will be doing press for her new record. Oh, and I say record in the absolute possible loosest terms. I was in a hurry before when posting the video, but I hope that she had to pay for everything on her own. I hope the record label didn’t deprive however many new artists their spot because Paula wanted to make a record.

It was awful. The performance was awful. She moved like a 50 year old who has been injured a lot in her life. That being said, why couldn’t she just stand there and lip synch. Was she trying to distract us from how bad she was? Just stand in one place, turn off the backing track and sing. If she can’t do that then I don’t think she is qualified to judge other singers.

Simon probably can’t sing, but he is judging on the basis of being a record executive. Randy can sing, but doesn’t have to, because his role is to judge based on being a producer and having been in bands. Paula on the other hand is there because she was a singer. The thing is she can’t sing herself so why should anyone listen to her?

(source)

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Katharine McPhee behind the scenes pics of “You May Not Kiss The Bride”.
The bad news is, she wears her bikini, but it’s covered.

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Seacrest was spotted recently taking a break in Paris with a buxom brunette who was described by online gossips as a “Megan Fox look-alike.” Now our source says the “American Idol” host’s new catch is Jasmine Waltz. “She’s a cocktail waitress at Guys nightclub in LA, and that’s where they met,” said our snitch. A rep for Seacrest had no comment.

(source)

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Kellie Pickler’s flirty relationship with Simon Cowell during the fifth season of “American Idol” certainly raised a lot of eyebrows, especially when the controversial judge referred to the blonde belle as a “naughty minx.” At the time tabloid reports even suggested that their bonding caused problems with Cowell’s then-girlfriend Terri Seymour — thus it’s no wonder Pickler is feeling both nervous yet excited about making a guest appearance on the FOX show this Wednesday night.

“I haven’t seen Paula, Randy or Simon since I was last on Idol,” Pickler told Tarts on Sunday. “But everyone keeps saying that it’s easier for me going back on and not being judged, but everybody judges me. It’s harder — there are higher expectations now.”

But we are starting to wonder how the country crooner managed to make it to sixth place on the show in the first place, as apparently Cowell can’t understand her Southern speak and she can’t catch his British banter.

“Simon and I always have fun together, but what’s hilarious is the communication barrier,” Pickler said. “He can’t understand what I say and I don’t understand what he says.”

Oh, but she hasn’t forgotten the “naughty minx” reference …

“Trust me, I’ve been called much worse,” she said.

(source)

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American Idol champ David Cook has a clear message for his wannabe groupies: back off.

Cook, who is currently on tour, issued a plea for privacy via his MySpace Celebrity blog under the title “Attention.”

“The efforts by some fans to find our hotel rooms, call our hotel rooms, attach things to our bus, etc., is something I have to condemn,” Cook writes.
While the rocker appreciates his adoring fans and says “the vibe at these shows has been amazing,” he also wants to “enjoy what little privacy we can muster.”

“This relationship only works when it remains healthy for both parties,” he says, “and should this behavior continue, the only thing we can do is take more preventative measures to maintain our privacy, which in turn makes us less accessible to you.”

Cook is currently making his way through the South.

His next stop is Campbell University in North Carolina.

(source)

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Simon Cowell likes being tan so much, that he had a tanning salon added to his new home according to Daily Mail.

And they show a solarium off the master bedroom complete with one full-length tanning machine and a smaller ‘booster’ facial tanner.

You know he got the idea from Ryan Seacrest!!! I betcha Ryan will be all over the time just to use the salon. 

(source)

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