Melody Plant

The album cover for Clay Aiken’s new album ‘On My Way Here’ has just been released. His new studio effort will hit stores on May 6 but that’s not going to stop the singer from performing all new songs on Monday, April 28 at 7PM on QVC. The American Idol alum commented on his album unveiling saying “Starting my career on national, live television, it seems fitting to be unveiling my new album live on QVC. To be able to connect with QVC’s viewers and broadcast my performance to over 93 million households is an amazing opportunity.” Whatever floats your boat.

American Idol contestant David Cook had a very special guest in the audience on the performance show last night. His brother Adam, who is battling brain cancer, traveled all the way from Indiana to lend his support. Adam had a nurse and a doctor with him on standby. He is also said to be at tonight’s elimination show. If you remember, David was recently hospitalized due to his blood pressure because of the stress of thinking about his brother’s health. He’s sure to get some sympathy votes with this story. But in any case, David is a great performer anyway and gets lots of votes every week. I just wish his brother will end up ok.

With just seven weeks till D-day, Boyzone are pulling out all the stops to make sure they outdo The Spice Girls and Take That in the battle of the comebacks.

As well as working out like maniacs in the gym, I’ve heard whispers the boys have all vowed to sing live and have scaled heights to get eight burlesque dancers to sex up the show.

A source close to the band told me: “They are all well aware of how well The Spice Girls and Take That did and are doing anything and everything they can in a bid to make to sure they are the comeback kings. Ronan is the most obsessed. He saw The Spice Girls in concert three times to try and get ideas.

“They’ve held audition for super hot female dancers in a bid to outsex the ones that Take That danced with on stage. I’ve heard they will be writhing around in their underwear.

“They’re also worried about singing live. They came from an era when nobody used to sing on tour so they got away with it. Think of S Club and Steps. But now it’s all changed.”

The former Irish caners have also ditched the Guiness and turned into also turned into calorie counting health nuts in a bid for bodily perfection.

The source added: “In the old days the boys were a load of p*ss heads. But now they have given up the beer in an attempt to look as good as they can possibly look.”

Even though she was rumored to be present at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards which was held in Los Angeles this past Saturday, Britney Spears was no where to be found. Another pop star was there though in the form of the lovely Miss Janet Jackson. She even brought out the old ‘All for You’ hair. Yay! No poodle hair. Janet presented the award for Favorite Movie Actress. Sadly, it was given to the very undeserving Jessica Alba. Why? It’s not like she did any good movies this past year. Oh well, it’s not so good to hear but it holds true anyway – the kids get the blame!

After a 16-week break which was forced by the writer’s strike, Saturday Night Live is coming back. And on their first night back, Grammy award winning Carrie Underwood has been asked to make her second appearance on the show. The 24-year old will perform hits from her new double platinum selling album ‘Carnival Ride’.

Saturday Night Live alum Tina Fey will be the host of the returning show and ‘Juno’ star Ellen Page will host next week. It looks like they’re bringing in the big guns for the show. It’s a smart move. The big names will get the people interested and the ratings up.

Even though she didn’t make it to sing live on stage, Amy rocked the Grammys with her performance via satellite from London. But that wasn’t nearly her biggest accomplishment for the night.

Amy racked up an amazing five Grammy awards before the show was over. Her awards included record of the year, song of the year, and best new artist.

After sending a shout out to her “Blake incarcerated”, she spoke to the group gathered with her in London. “It’s a shame I couldn’t be there to accept the awards, but I’m so proud and happy that I had the opportunity to perform for the Grammsy in my hometown of London with my family and friends around me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Melanie Chisolm, more famously known as Sporty Spice, is arguably the most talented Spice Girl out of the five and she is looking to make more people believe that with a solo show that she has scheduled in Manhattan. Just as she did with her solo gig in LA, the singer will be playing her own material with her band during a night off from the Spice Girls reunion tour. The gig will be on February 9th, a Saturday, at The Grand Ballroom in Manhattan Center. Tickets go for $35 in advance or $40 at the door. Tickets will be available via Ticketmaster and Live Nation of January 18th. Sporty will take the stage at 9:15PM.

They’ve worked hard all through 2007 and have already started busting their cute butts at the start of 2008. Now, they’re set to reap their rewards. The Jonas Brothers just signed a two-year, multi-million dollar worldwide deal with live entertainment promoter Live Nation.

20-year old Kevin, 18-year old Joe and 15-year old Nick are set to play more than 140 theaters and arenas around the world during the span of the agreement. If it’s any indication of what the three brothers could get from their deal, Madonna signed with Live Nation back in October and mad out with a reported $120 million.

If only Mariah Carey wasn’t on vacation in Aspen. I’m sure she would have had a mental breakdown when she heard just how one of her songs got murdered. And by someone the whole country adores too!

Miley Cyrus did the worst cover of ‘All I Want for Christmas’ on Disney’s ABC parade special. It was just awful. I can’t believe she could do that to Mariah… and us! At the very least, the Jonas Brothers did a lovely performance of ‘Girl of My Dreams’. It was lipsynched though. But it was still better than practically killing off the Christmas spirit!

Avril Lavigne went to a great low when she had a free concert in Canada this past weekend for the opening of a Best Buy. The only thing that gets lower than that is if it happened to be a disaster – which it was!

A fan turned non-fan said that the show was a joke especially after Avril showed up nearly two hours late while her fans stayed out in the freezing cold and snow just to see her outdoor concert. The show was scheduled to start at 1PM but an announcement came at 1:50PM that she was only to arrive in 15 minutes. Shame on her!

I don’t know what that is peeking from underneath Amy Winehouse’s dress but I’m praying that it’s not a tampon string. Can you say ewww?

Apart from being grossed out, concert goers were angered by the ‘Rehab’ singer on Saturday when she gave one of the worst performances of her career. Knowing her track record, that says a lot. Wino actually walked out of the concert midway through her set!

Amy went on stage with smeared make up and a cigarette hanging from her lips. She disappeared from the stage a couple of times before completely storming off when the audience began to boo and heckle her.

In a sneak peek at their highly anticipated world tour that will kick off on December 2 in Vancouver, the members of the biggest British girl group to ever come out in the 1990s almost stole the show from feathered and jiggly-bodied models on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show held on Thursday.

The Spice Girls reunited and performed for the first time in almost 10 years. They performed one of their classic singles ‘Stop’ decked out in 1950s-style military outfits complete with male backup dancers. After a change of clothes and decades, the girls came out to perform their latest single ‘Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)’ decked out in 1930s evening gowns.

Too bad they lipsynched the whole time.

Amy Winehouse parties so hard during tour that her tour manager just can’t hang with her anymore. Thom Stone has reportedly quit as her tour manager because he is worried about that Amy is ruining his health. Haha, we all knew this was coming and let me tell you fans out there who think she might be able to claw back, this is only the beginning and there are more lows for her to come. Winehouse disappointed fans that were anxious to see her at the opening night of her U.K. tour in England, on Wednesday. Many of the anxious fans were so pissed at her lackluster performance that they walked out mid-show and demanded a refund. Just as I said there are more lows from her to come and she really is headed the Britney way, lackluster music and bad performance, dipping ratings and a complete trainwreck that’s what she is headed towards.

Did someone forget to pay the electric bill or did R&B singer Brandy actually do her best impression of Ashlee Simpson on Sunday?

The singer was a performer at the annual Sensationell Hair Idol competition in Washington DC. Her performance quickly turned chaotic when both music and lyrics got abruptly cut off in the middle of her performance of ‘Who is He to You?’ Her rep came to her defense though saying that she “absolutely wasn’t lip-syncing” and “she was singing live.”

After inviting her daughter and her brother Ray J on stage, Brandy sand an a cappella version of ‘Almost Doesn’t Count’ and ‘Full Moon’.

The opening chords made their entrance and struck a chord with me. Like a sexy stranger in a hot fiery club he entered, opening to a spectacular of lights and sexual freedom. I don’t know what it is exactly that strikes you, is it the accent, the hype…for me no. The man oozes sex, that’s it. In a very free and honest way, you can feel what his energy is trying to give. For me, that is the kind of honesty I like in an artist. It felt like Enrique the man was on stage without the preconceptions of old.

The first song was Ring My Bells from his second album Insomniac released in June. It is a bit of a move on for Enrique, it’s a stronger beat than he’s used to and pulled me into what he could be. It stopped my judgment immediately; he truly is a raw honest persona. We are then graced with the bracing salsa beat of Love to See You Cry, a favorite staple in the artist’s workbook. This turned into the winter warmer that is Bailamos…even I liked that one in my un-Enrique days, its classic Spanish good!

A very good night was had by all, the girlies, the couples and the boys. And me, I feel a little energised by the experience and feel like I just want to go and live a life of hot and sweaty freedom in South America for a couple years with the love of my life and just enjoy every second and surrounding I’m in. I vow never to judge too quickly and broadly again…well maybe that’s just the glitter talking.

Pony Up! are an all-female four piece hailing out of Montreal, Canada. They apparently formed on New Year’s Eve 2002 and since then have been busy touring Australia, North America, and now the United Kingdom.
Perhaps there is something special here then that did not reveal itself on the night. Perhaps it was just the bad P.A. system that made them sound boring, nervous and not particularly interesting to watch or listen to.
To be fair to the girls, every now and then you do hear a lot of potential in their playing, and they do have a few decent songs. The only problem seems to be that because they are quite a novelty in the world of rock ‘n’ roll, a girl band who are not pop - it seems that perhaps they have been let off more easily than their male counterparts would be. Sleater-Kinney they are not, though they seem to be compared to them quite often. Another part of the ‘not enough girls with guitars’ problem one must assume.
The only ray of sunshine in the band was guitarist Sarah Moundroukas who seemed to be a very talented performer. Any time she took up the reins of a song, the interest of the crowd seemed to perk up just a little bit more than usual.
Perhaps if she were the lead singer in the group the whole quality of the band would be much better. Sadly the real lead vocalist Laura Wills seems to enjoy being the centre of attention far too much for that to ever happen, even if she cannot sing very well.

We first saw Sheryl Crow do it with adopted son Wyatt, then we saw Liv Tyler do it with her son and her father and now we have Gwen Stefani. For the last concert of The Sweet Escape Tour on Saturday at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California, the platinum blonde singer brought out her 17-month old son Kingston on stage with her.

Kingston wore the same kid-friendly noise-canceling headphones that the other babies did when they were brought on stage. A video of his on-stage appearance has made it onto YouTube. There was an ‘aww’ moment when the littly tyke started banging on the keyboard on stage. How cute!