Sanjaya Has No Regrets, Says “Idol” Helped Him Mature

Posted Apr 19, 2007 by Walt Belcher

Updated Apr 19, 2007 at 08:40 PM

In a telephone news conference today, Sanjaya Malakar, the 17-year-old singer who was cast off “American Idol” Wednesday night, said he knew it was coming.

“I was content with the fact that I was going home at some point,” he said. “I’m OK with that… I got further than I expected and I’m happy with every moment….Now I need to focus on my future.”

  Malakar, who left high school in the 10th grade to get a GED, said he viewed “Idol” has his junior and senior year. “Now it’s the end of my high school career and I am walking out to start life.”

He said a weak Tuesday night performance of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” doomed him. “Idol” judge Simon Cowell called it “utterly horrendous.”

“Honestly, I’m not a country singer and that took a toll on me,” Malakar said. “I was in the dumps all day Wednesday.”

He said that he didn’t have enough strong performances on previous episodes to carry him through the Tuesday night bomb.

Even though Cowell trashed many of Sanjaya’s performances, Malakar praised the snippy judge, saying that “I learned more from him than anyone else.”

Malakar, a sweet kid with a big smile, became the center of attention this season because he appeared to be sailing through the competition on questionable talent. Millions of teenage girls liked him even though Cowell said that he wasn’t a singer of “Idol” quality.

He said that early on in the competition Simon saw potential in him but then became disappointed when he did not live up to that potential.

Malakar said that he had some awareness of the negative and positive buzz about him but he didn’t realize the scope of interest because contestants are somewhat isolated from the outside world.

He did see the “Saturday Night Live” skit that spoofed him and it made him laugh out loud. “It was hilarious,” he said. “I know how to make fun of myself. You have to have a sense of humor to get through life.”

He was impressed that even a presidential candidate (Hillary Clinton) was asked what she thought about him. “It’s interesting that someone like me, a 17-year-old Seattle boy, could have such an impact,” he said.

He added that he didn’t think Howard Stern or the Web site votefortheworst.com made a dent in the voting. “I think I was there solely from the support of my fans,” he said.  Stern and Vote for the Worst had encouraged people to vote for Sanjaya to undermind “Idol.” 

Malakar said he felt his best performance was “Besame Mucho” during Latin week. “I felt really good about that one and I put the most energy and emotion into it,” he said.

He said he wanted to go home and rest for awhile before joining the “American Idol” tour. He said he had not entertained any offers to sing professionally because he is still obligated to “Idol” and he has been focusing on getting through each week.

“The hardest part about leaving was leaving this extended family.” he said. “We really are like a family,” he said of his fellow contestants.

As for all those strange hairdos he wore every week, he said contestants will latch on to anything that gets fan reaction. “You grab on to any crazy thing and at a certain point the hair became my thing. My hair helped show my personality,” he said. “It was my little joke.”

He said the hair was a “back at you” to his detractors.

He even changed the lyrics to Raitt’s song to “Let’s give them something to talk about…other than hair.”

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You Write The Caption

Posted Apr 19, 2007 by Janine Dorsey

Updated Apr 19, 2007 at 11:44 AM

What lilliputian nightmare is this? These civil war soldiers were minding their own business when along came this calloused giant…

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Surface Reigns Supreme At Killers Concert

Posted Apr 19, 2007 by Clarisa Gerlach

Updated Apr 19, 2007 at 02:02 AM

The Killers took a critical drubbing for its second album, last year’s “Sam’s Town.” The Las Vegas outfit’s sophomore effort was panned for swapping the glam-boy ennui of the 2004 debut, “Hot Fuss” for Bruce Springsteen-ish imagery and earnestness.

The slams, though, were off base. First, there are plenty of highways in Nevada, probably more than in New Jersey, and Nevadans have every right to sing about them. Second, even if Brandon Flowers does sing about cars and highways, the music on “Sam’s Town” isn’t that far removed from the debut. (Granted, singing about girls named Mary is pushing it.) Third, Flowers couldn’t be earnest if he swallowed a bottle of earnest pills and zapped himself with a sincerity machine. 

Watching Flowers Wednesday night in concert at the USF Sun Dome was a primer in the glories of superficiality. Dressed like a low-rent croupier or a magician at the start of a long bender, Flowers strutted, flourished, preened and posed with the conviction of a man who knows surface is everything.

But what a surface. Glittering, strobe-lit confetti showered the crowd as The Killers opened with the title track of “Sam’s Town. Flowers’ theatricality wasn’t mere affectation – he projected to the back rows with broadly animated gestures.

The band – also including guitarist Dave Keuning, bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci – soldiered on admirably despite the Sun Dome’s horrid acoustics. Instrumental touches, such as Stoermer’s percolating bass line in “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine,” were drowned in a dull, static-filled roar.

Fortunately, the Killers’ have a knack for big, sing-along choruses and drew an enthusiastic crowd which was ready to chime in at every opportunity.

The first part of the set, just past an hour long, dragged only on the mundane “Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll,” which was immediately rectified by a surging “Mr. Brightside.”

For the encore, Flowers saluted an obvious hero – David Bowie - by adding a chorus of “Rock & Roll With Me” to the end of “My List.” The band followed that with a remake of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay,” that replaced original’s urban claustrophobia with sun-baked paranoia.

Newcomers The Howling Bells opened with a brief set followed by The Rapture. The New York City quartet offered a powerful set of funky rock that harked back to post-punk and no wave iconoclasts such as Gang of Four, James Chance and Bush Tetras.

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American Idol—- 04.18.07 (aka Something To Talk About)

Posted Apr 19, 2007 by Chris Kuhn

Updated Apr 19, 2007 at 12:08 AM

Tonight’s results show for American Idol (FOX/Wednesdays) starts out on a somber note as judge Simon Cowell defends a snarky facial expression he made on last night’s show. (Are there any other facial expressions from Simon?) It seems he was not ragging on Chris Richardson or the students and families of Virginia Tech as it appeared, but rather giving loopy Paula Abdul a hard time. Oh well, in that case, have at it, Simon.

After a roundup of last night’s country renditions, host Ryan Seacrest gets thoughts from fans on the street and the consensus is…there’s really no consensus. Everyone likes somebody different, so we don’t learn much of anything actually. Thanks, Ryan.

The contestants do a group country tune, “I’m Alright” (not the gopher-dancing, Kenny Loggins variety) and it is by far their best group performance of the season. I would never have expected that. Tonight is full of unnecessary entertainment, because, well, it takes a great deal of artists to fill up 60 minutes when the simple announcement would take just five minutes.

Black Eyed Peas member and now solo artist Fergie sings. (Fast-forward.) The singers offer up another dull Ford commercial, this time to the beat of A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran” with a spy vs. spy theme. (Yawn.) We get a preview of the America Gives Back show next week and are told that two of the biggest stars of all time will perform together for the first time. Hmmm. Celine Dion and Tony Bennett? Prince and Diana Ross? Paul McCartney and Gwen Stefani? Eww, that would just be bad. We’ll just have to be surprised, I guess.

But finally it’s time for what we’re tuning in for – who’s going home. And please, oh please, let it be Sanjaya once and for all. Ryan separates the singers into two groups – one representing the top vote-getters and the other the bottom three. To one side, he has Phil, Jordin and Chris. He tells Melinda is safe and asks her to choose which side she thinks is safe. In the other direction, we see Sanjaya, Lakisha and Blake. Hmm. I’m confused. Either Blake is in the bottom three or Jordin is and either way, this does not make sense to me, but I’ll be crushed if Jordin is in the bottom.

As to be expected, excruciatingly humble and polite Melinda sits smack down in the middle of the stage without picking sides, but Ryan soon informs her that she should join Chris, Phil and Jordin. Woo-hoo! I’d never have guessed that last night. Maybe Phil’s stock is on the rise, after all. This of course means that Blake and Lakisha hit the bottom three for the first time ever and join Sanjaya. He’s already weeping at this realization.

To make the contestants suffer a little longer, Ryan shows the audience highlights from a recent trip the singers took to Dreamworks studio for a Shrek 3 preview. They try their hand at animation voices and meet Antonio Banderas, who’s in the audience with his wife Melanie and Griffiths and kids, along with studio big shot Jeffrey Katzenberg. They introduce Martina McBride (yet another unnecessary performance). She sounds nice and her hilarious daughter joins her onstage afterward and could give Simon and the gang a run for their money on wit, charm and attitude.

After the final break, it’s time for Ryan to send one of the vulnerable three back to the pack and it is Blake – hurrah! He’s safe. Now, I’ll admit: I’m not the biggest Blake fan, but there is no way you could persuade me that he deserved to be in the bottom tonight or go home. So, Lakisha whom I’ve been complaining about for weeks and Sanjaya whom I’ve been whining about since the auditions have found themselves in a bad spot. One of them is going home. And that person is…Sanjaya.

All together, everybody—- HURRAH! It’s finally happening. The most infamously horrendous singer of all time Idol history has been voted out of the competition. Hallelujah. As sad Sanjaya watches the footage of his Idol journey, the singer cries and can barely get out the first few bars of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” but as he continues, he has a little fun with the song and even adlibs the follow-up line to something to talk about with “other than hair.”

So are you having your own private celebration tonight or hitting the family-oriented sports bars? Be sure to stop in the American Idol forum and share your thoughts on tonight’s elimination.

Next week, we’ll be giving something back (at least that’s what Ryan has been telling me I’ll be doing for weeks and weeks).Stay tuned…

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CBS Wants to Play Pirate

Posted Apr 18, 2007 by Walt Belcher

Updated Apr 18, 2007 at 12:07 PM

  “Pirate Master,” is coming to CBS on May 31.

  The new reality show from Emmy Award-winning producer Mark Burnett (“Survivor”) will send 16 modern-day pirates on a high seas adventure where they will live as buccaneers and travel around the Caribbean island of Dominica in search of hidden treasure that will total $1 million.

  Over the course of 33 days, these pirates will live aboard a massive 179 foot, square-rigged barque which carries 12,500 square feet of sail.

  Each week, the pirates will embark on expeditions where they will decipher clues along the way in search of missing treasure.  Gold coins—real money which the pirates may take with them beyond the show—will be awarded after each expedition, but only to some.  The gold will play a key role as pirates strike deals with each other or plead for long-term security.  In addition to claiming the lion’s share of the week’s riches, one pirate will become the captain of the ship and will assign roles and chores to the remaining crew members, setting the tone for either law and order or betrayal and sabotage, which could lead to mutiny by the crew.

  Each episode will conclude on the ship at Pirate’s Court, a lively gathering of public speaking and judgment where one individual will be eliminated and “cut adrift.”  In the end, one will be the first to find the largest booty, worth $500,000, and claim the title of “Pirate Master.”

  Series creator and executive producer Mark Burnett said it breaks new ground in that it’s the collision of fantasy and reality. “This is a show where, in true pirate fashion, anything can happen with a group of people that live by their own set of rules and usually break them. It’s adventure, excitement and loads of treasure. Anyone who ever wanted to be a pirate will love this show!”

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