Subject: Allison Iraheta

• Idol Beat: The Final 36, Group 2

  Michael Becker/ Fox Adam LambertThere were a few seconds during the Rolling Stones' 2006 Super Bowl halftime performance where formaldehyded guitarist Keith Richards let his inner demon peek out. I can't remember for the life of me which song the band was playing, but Richards let loose with a bit of gnarly fret nastiness where he could've played it straight; it was a quick, effective display of virtuosity, a reminder that dude could've run away with the entire mini-set if he'd so chose.

  February 26, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Final 13

  Ray Mickshaw/ Fox Paula liked the way Scott McIntyre handled his instrument.Tonight's theme? "Michael Jackson Night." Thus, a lot of tears (and no lack of cruel laughter) are pretty much guaranteed - and the King of Pop won't even be there! * Ryan Seacrest outsources announcing duties to some nameless stooge. Hey, anonymous announcers need work, too. Toupees don't buy themselves! * This big kahuna stage set is like a night club from Xanadu or Buck Rogers, which probably wasn't the vibe

  March 11, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Ten

  Photos by Michael Becker/ Fox Michael Sarver couldn't patch Motown's soul.Man, Sarvernator! What happened? When first we met, you were so dope, flexing serious white-soul chops - minus a soul patch - and you had the sort of blue-collar backstory that seemed to make you a lock for the Top Seven or Top Eight. But it turned out that you had an Achilles heel: the audience. When you sang for the American Idol judges' panel, you were golden; when you had to get up in front of a studio audience

  March 26, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Nine

  Fox Scott McIntyre: Don't go changin'...Remember last week's requiem for the Sarvernator? Turns out that Anoop - Season 8's Great Dork Hope - is in the same damn leaky boat: a phenom before the judges, a lamestain when serenading America. His put-on Usher turn last night cemented his unworthy status, and officially killed any affection I ever had for the guy. In all likelihood, Anoop will be in tonight's bottom three with Megan Joy and Lil Rounds, and he will deserve it. Last night was r

  April 1, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Eight

  Photos by Michael Becker/ Fox Front runner: Adam Lambert, American Idol's likely last man standing.Long before being voted in as California's current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger starred in a popular sci-fi action movie called Predator. The specifics of the plot aren't important, but the underlying schematic is a bunch of characters getting picked off, one by one, by some dangerous, mysterious other. (See also Alien, Sunshine, Event Horizon, and a billion other movies.) And so the big

  April 8, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Seven

  Michael Becker/ Fox Somehow Still Hanging Around: The bloom is off Lil Rounds' "Rose."Perhaps delusionally, I nursed a desperate hope that this week's American Idol theme would be "songs used in Quentin Tarantino movies." Seriously, I even worked up a sort of dream list of songs I thought the seven remaining contestants would choose from brilliantly soundtracked flicks like Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, and Death Proof. Alas. I was mistaken, of course: this is "Music from Films" week, an

  April 15, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Five

  That Jamie Foxx, right? A Rennaisance man if there ever was one: the guy's a comedic genius (see In Living Color; tons of flicks), a big-screen leading man, credible action star, R&B champion - plus, as it turns out, he's a natural at mentoring American Idol hopefuls. I wouldn't have figured on him doling out advice to contestants during "Rat Pack Week," yet there he was. (I smell a Foxx-as-Sammy-Davis-Jr. in an as-yet-unconceived Rat Pack biopic, don't you?) Let's consider our Top Five from

  April 29, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Five Results

  Photos by Frank Micelotta/ FoxAuto Pilot: Jaime Foxx "performs" on American Idol Wednesday night.Blame it on the vodka, blame it on the Henny, blame it on whatever you wanna, but I'm going to place blame for the hiply generic feel of Jamie Foxx's new single squarely on the shoulders of everybody responsible for perpetuating the increasingly dispiriting ubiquity of AutoTune-slimed pop hits this decade: Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Akon, and most especially T-Pain. See, "Blame It" - the T-Pain-assisted

  April 30, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Four Results

  Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxNo More Pencils: Slash (right) took American Idol's Final 4 to school Wednesday night. "Who will graduate from the school of rock? And who will just get schooled?" Ryan Seacrest asked, rhetorically, at the beginning of Wednesday night's episode of American Idol. We wondered, then. I smelled an upset, myself. Just felt it. Kris Allen should be going home, I knew - but the likelihood that America could screw up and shaft Allison Iraheta or Adam Lambert just as easily. (L

  May 7, 2009

• Idol Beat: The Top Four

  Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxMan alive! Jamie Foxx mentored last week, and now guitarist-celeb Slash is in the proverbial American Idol house for "Rock and Roll Week"! Okay, sure, these people have projects and albums to promote, but these still feel like coups. Lot to address, so today I'm skipping the expository rant and going straight to my patented bullet-point breakdown: * Slash is looking rough! He's like a cross between Lenny Kravitz, Howard Stern and Bloom County asswipe Steve Dallas or so

  May 6, 2009

• Idol Beat: The One

  Mea culpa: Yi. I typed this entire post - then accidentally closed the Mozilla Firefox window and lost everything. Let this be a lesson to every blogger out there: compose in Word. For real.Photos by Ray Mickshaw/ FoxAmerican Idol winner Kris Allen practices his "Who, me?" showbiz face. Let's not belabor this: Kris Allen won. It is not, in fact, gay folks' time. I'm not especially surprised, but I am disappointed. What can you do, though? Adam Lambert will drop an amazing album someday. Kris wil

  May 21, 2009