American Idol

Why You Shouldn't Apply For That New EDM Reality Show

Dear Rocks Off: Have you heard about this EDM reality show that some TV producers are trying to put together? I heard about it online but when I told my friends I wanted to enter they told me it was a really bad idea. I bet they're just being haters, but before I fill out this application can you t ... More >>

Skits: This Week In Music-Biz WTFery -- Katy Perry, B.o.B., Etc.

The music business fuckery continues. A game so destructive it only benefits the top dogs (and even so, temporarily), while the actual players continue to eat sand out of peanuts. Who's winning? Who's losing? Dig in for this week's music-bidness shenanigans.

Idol Beat: Haley Freezes Over

Suspenders with heels? What were you thinking?​In addition to going on the Idol tour, one of the "perks," if you want to call it that, of making it to the Top 13 or whatever is that you get to come back and sit in the audience during the final selection. I only point this out because of the nu ... More >>

Idol Beat: Not So Fast, Five

Winter is coming... Wait, wrong show.​Dear American Idol: I don't like you - I think that's been pretty well established at this point - and I know you don't like me, otherwise you wouldn't still be dragging along for 90 minutes on Wednesday even though there are only five contestants left, a ... More >>

Idol Beat: Told You So

​Admittedly, I didn't think she'd go this quickly, but I always knew Pia was toast. I said as much last week when discussing the stranglehold pre-adolescent female voters have on the show. Why else have only three females made the top five the last three seasons? Was Lee DeWyze really better t ... More >>

Idol Beat: He-Man Woman Hater's Club

​55 million. That's how many votes were cast to determine which two unfortunates would be given the boot last night on American Idol. To those who like to get up in arms about the "outrage" that the show draws such massive numbers from an otherwise apathetic population, I'd remind you the show ... More >>

Idol Beat: Detroit, Shlock City

​In spite of Idol Beat's absence last week (I was undergoing treatment for nose hemorrhoids), Fox's karaoke juggernaut steamrollered on, topping the ratings once again for Wednesday and Thursday night. Last week's casualty, MySpace's Karen Rodriguez, wasn't much of a surprise. I mean, the bili ... More >>

Idol Beat: Male Fraud

​Steve Tyler wore a shirt with lips all over it. I couldn't decide if he was being knowingly self-referential or it was the work of the same costume designer who put him in that leotard in the "Love in an Elevator" video.neither way, it fulfilled its purpose of distracting me from the show for ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Dirty Two Dozen

​The fallout from Jennifer Lopez's Wednesday night freakout only ate up about ten minutes of last night's show. At least, that's how much it looked like as I was fast-forwarding my DVR. You've got to hand that much the producers of American Idol, they can milk even the most trivial of incident ... More >>

Idol Beat: Say Goodbye To Hollywood

​You know, I had my misgivings about covering Season 10 of American Idol. I've already mentioned my concerns that, contrary to what David Hasselhof would have us believe, American doesn't necessarily have talent. At least, not enough to fill ten seasons worth of programming. I also feared the ... More >>

The City Hall Farmers Market is Back

Pola cheese is just one of the goods that will be for sale at tomorrow's market.​After an extended Christmas vacation, the City Hall Farmers Market is back for 2011, with its first market of the year scheduled for tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The most important thing to note is that the ma ... More >>

Idol Beat: Viva Nash Vegas

​I was randomly scrolling back through past Idol Beats last night, doing my best to ignore mentally unbalanced dental hygienist Christine McCaffrey's butchering of "I Hope You Dance," when I realized something. The American Idol beat for Rocks Off is basically the Defense Against the Dark Arts ... More >>

The Situation is Making Us Fat

He may be a tool, but, unlike most of us, he ain't fat.​Americans are voyeurs. We like to watch. Since the invention of the television, it has been the choice for peering into the world outside our living room and, despite the popularity of streaming video and the Internet in general, TV is ... More >>

Adam Lambert

Jordin Sparks

Idol Beat: Jamie Foxx, Officially Not Giving a Crap Since 1992

​Last night's Idol took us down to the top three contestants, but as expected, it took a long time to get there. The thing is, at this point the filler doesn't even feel like filler any more, just as the eliminations don't even feel real. This is the end of the 18th week of the season, and the ... More >>

American Idol: Jamie Foxx, Officially Not Giving a Crap Since 1992

​Last night's Idol took us down to the top three contestants, but as expected, it took a long time to get there. The thing is, at this point the filler doesn't even feel like filler any more, just as the eliminations don't even feel real. This is the end of the 18th week of the season, and the ... More >>

Idol Beat: Adios, Aaron

What does this have to do with crooning, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.? Absolutely nothing.​I was amazed, if not exactly surprised, at how much time Idol can kill in a one-hour results show. Now that we're down to just a handful of singers, the producers are really reaching for padding, ... More >>

American Idol: Adios, Aaron

What does this have to do with crooning, Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.? Absolutely nothing.​I was amazed, if not exactly surprised, at how much time Idol can kill in a one-hour results show. Now that we're down to just a handful of singers, the producers are really reaching for padding, ... More >>

American Idol: Bowersox the Girl to Beat?

The happiest moment of my Tuesday was when I realized that American Idol was only an hour that night, not two. This is already the third week in a row with three eps over three nights, and this thing runs until the end of May, so I'll take breaks where I can get them. Last night's episode also ... More >>

Idol Beat: Bowersox the Girl to Beat?

The happiest moment of my Tuesday was when I realized that American Idol was only an hour that night, not two. This is already the third week in a row with three eps over three nights, and this thing runs until the end of May, so I'll take breaks where I can get them. Last night's episode also ... More >>

Idol Beat: Houston, We Have a Contestant

Houston's Paige Miles made it to the top 24.​Last night's American Idol was rote even by Idol standards, and it's because the hour really should have been folded into Tuesday's episode. Trimming the 46 contestants 24 would have made a solid two-hour ep, but stretched to three it wound up feeli ... More >>

Idol Beat: Hell Hollywood Week Continues

"Welcome back to Hell Week," Ryan Seacrest intoned at the top of last night's American Idol. It's pretty ballsy for a singing competition show to compare itself to SEAL training, since I'm pretty sure none of these kids will be carrying logs or dealing with being drowned. But that's just what Holl ... More >>

American Idol: Hell Hollywood Week Continues

"Welcome back to Hell Week," Ryan Seacrest intoned at the top of last night's American Idol. It's pretty ballsy for a singing competition show to compare itself to SEAL training, since I'm pretty sure none of these kids will be carrying logs or dealing with being drowned. But that's just what Holl ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Hollywood Shuffle Begins...

​Here we are in Hollywood, kids! Yes, the dingy, tourist-ridden section of Los Angeles that's become a handy way to package and sell the myth of stardom to the unsuspecting. Hollywood is so quintessentially American that if it didn't exist we would make it up as a place to put our dreams. Noth ... More >>

American Idol: The Hollywood Shuffle Begins...

​Here we are in Hollywood, kids! Yes, the dingy, tourist-ridden section of Los Angeles that's become a handy way to package and sell the myth of stardom to the unsuspecting. Hollywood is so quintessentially American that if it didn't exist we would make it up as a place to put our dreams. Noth ... More >>

American Idol: Orlando Is Far from the Magic Kingdom

​Last night's American Idol was the fourth audition episode of the ninth season (and if you think we're almost done with the cattle call phase, you are in for a broken heart). I cannot stress enough the unreality of the show and the brilliant way it uses editing to mess with the viewer's conce ... More >>

Idol Beat: A Lot of Hot Air In the Windy City

​So here we are with our pants on the ground, in the second week of American Idol, and it'll be another month before auditions end. At first I was pleasantly surprised to find that last night's episode was just an hour: I did my time in the trenches with Dancing With the Stars and assumed tha ... More >>

American Idol: A Lot of Hot Air in the Windy City

​So here we are with our pants on the ground, in the second week of American Idol, and it'll be another month before auditions end. At first I was pleasantly surprised to find that last night's episode was just an hour: I did my time in the trenches with Dancing With the Stars and assumed that ... More >>

Idol Beat: Here We Go Again...

Last night's guest judge: a bobblehead doll Victoria Beckham​I've never watched a whole season of American Idol before, but that's a minor detail. Actually watching this show doesn't seem to be necessary to know as much about it as the most devoted fans: Amateur singers judges = quasi-drama. ... More >>

American Idol: It Begins

Last night's guest judge: a bobblehead doll Victoria Beckham​I've never watched a whole season of American Idol before, but that's a minor detail. Actually watching this show doesn't seem to be necessary to know as much about it as the most devoted fans: Amateur singers judges = quasi-drama. ... More >>

Who Might Replace Simon Cowell on American Idol? Funny You Should Ask...

[Ed. Note: Thanks to Craig Hlavaty for sparking this idea with his suggestion that Andy Rooney take over for Mr. Cowell.] As most of you no doubt already know, American Idol returns tonight, which means a return to watching overly processed people performing overly processed versions of overly proc ... More >>

Texas High School Rock Off

The Gift of Christmas - Live

Have your Christmas music, and eat, too

Festa Italiana

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...it's time to mangi

It's 4:30 p.m. and Taylor Hicks, Clay Aiken, John Mayer, Nickelback and ICP Still Suck

Er... no comment. OK, maybe one or two...​In the world of rock writing, there are just some artists' fans that you can't help but fuck with. While you're alternately enamored and disgusted by their chosen obsession, they exert a near religious fanaticism for their fixation of worship, making them ... More >>

It's Not Too Late for a Hurricane to Interrupt Talentless Taylor Hicks' Turn in Grease. Please?

Braaaaaaaap!​That's the sound of us thinking about Taylor Hicks. For the uninitiated, it's a fart noise, meant to denote a lack of candor or warmth. In another case of the Good Lord shitting the bed of mankind, Hicks is coming to Houston next month to play "Teen Angel" (Frankie Valli's role) in Th ... More >>

Please Add to Our F*** List

Life is hard; we understand that all too well. Some days, the whole thing just seems meaningless and trite, not unlike like so many new American Idol runners-up who are being foisted upon the general public as if they are the second coming of Freddie Mercury, when they are in all actuality just a du ... More >>

Idol Beat: The Top Eight Results

Photos by Frank Micelotta/ Fox Guests of the Sheik: Flo Rida and his "harem."First things first: in yesterday's Idol Beat, I made reference to how excited I was for Idol Gives Back, a wildly successful annual event/trainwreck wherein the program brings a ton of celebrities on in an effort to ... More >>

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 ... More >>

Idol Beat, Part 1: More Hollywood Week

Photos courtesy FoxYou thought the funeral was over? You thought all those tears were dried up? You were wrong, my friends - so very, very wrong. Aye, verily, the bloodletting continued unabated as Hollywood Week wound down. Hey, Ryan Seacrest warned us at the outset: "The stakes are as high ... More >>

Dollyrockers, Hellbound Hoedown

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A Gift of Christmas — LIVE

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18th Annual Houston International Jazz Festival

Ruben Studdard, Hiroshima and the “Sax Pack” head up Bubba Thomas’s yearly ode to all things jazz

Il Communication

Reality Nightlife

Get off the couch!

I'd Much Rather Be with the Girls

Critics might damn Fantasia's music with faint praise, but we say she's keeping up a sacred pop tradition

Various Artists

Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen

A Nashville Star Is Born

Former Richmond Strip denizen Sheila Marshall makes it all the way to Music City

Bluegrass Meltdown, Montrose-Style

Medicine Show, J.W. Americana and Two Star Symphony have the cure for the Monday-night blahs