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'American Idol' Elimination Predictions: Is Haley Reinhart's Ride Over?

Posted 3/24/11 2:30 pm EST by in Music

Let's face it: Haley Reinhart never stood a chance. She's been in the bottom three both weeks so far and she doesn't seem to have clicked with judges or the audience. Given her white soul mama persona, Wednesday night's (March 23) Motown theme should have been right up her alley. She picked a good song, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "You Really Got a Hold on Me," but the combination of her neck rolls, off-putting growling and shouty Holiday Inn lounge performance didn't do her any favors.

She seems poised to continue the steady march of female singers off the season 10 stage (goodbye Ashthon Jones and Karen Rodriguez, we hardly knew ye) on Thursday night's (March 24) results show after another tepid attempt. And the black shorts? Forget about it, that was just all wrong!

Once again, I'm totally on the same page as MJ's Big Blog editor MJ Santilli, who agreed that a girl would leave tonight and that girl will be Reinhart. "Despite taking a page out of the Haley Scarnato book of 'Idol' plays, it's too late for even those impossibly high heels and short shorts to save her," Santilli said of the unfortunate outfit. "Haley picked the right song and employed some impressive licks and growls throughout the performance, but I think the improvements over the past couple of weeks are too little too late."

Santilli thinks that teen Thia Megia and Naima Adedapo would be in the bottom three as well this week (even despite Adedapo's energetic African dance breakdown). "Naima is the most entertaining of all the girls — including the pitch-perfect but snoozy Pia Toscano — so I hope she's safe for the tour," she said. "Naima's addition of crazed African dancing to her version of the classic 'Dancing in the Streets' may have been a bit over the top for some viewers."

Also forecasting Reinhart's final walk of shame is MTV's own "Idol" expert Jim Cantiello. "Let's all yodel in solidarity for Haley's impending elimination," he said. "According to the judges, she's been flopping around on stage like a dead fish for weeks. (For the record, I've been a big fan of her growly vocals and intense performance style.) But she's been in the bottom three since the live shows began, so tragically, she hasn't connected with 'Idol' viewers.??"

Jim thought smoothie Stefano Langone might also make his inaugural bottom three appearance after his drippy cover of Lionel Richie's "Hello." Considering he was already a wild card, did Langone use up his good karma on Wednesday night?

Village Voice music critic Maura Johnston disagreed, predicting that teen Thia Megia would be this week's victim after her lukewarm take on Martha and the Vandellas' "Heatwave" came up short. "Thia is just completely unable to connect to any of the material she's chosen," said Johnston. "She needs to get kicked off, which would allow her to go out and live and get her heart broken and realize that always smiling is not a way to go through life."

Though she also thought Megia was sleepy, Santilli said it might not be her time to go because she has a robust online following. Cantiello feared Adedapo hasn't built up enough of a following to survive despite a good performance and might be in the bottom three, along with either Megia or fellow teen Lauren Alaina, whose vocals drifted out of his head moments after they left the stage.

To recap, here's my prediction for the bottom three. Let us know your predictions in the comments below.

Gil Kaufman: Haley Reinhart (Out), Naima Adedapo, Stefano Langone

Don't miss "Idol Party Live" at 9 p.m. tonight on MTV.com, following the "American Idol" results show, for analysis, celebrity guests and even some karaoke — get in the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #idolparty! And get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

Who do you think is going home tonight? Let us know in the comments!

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'American Idol' Experts Results: Karen Rodriguez Throws A Curveball

Posted 3/18/11 1:30 pm EST by in Music

You only get so many chances on "American Idol" and despite the continuing adoration of judge Jennifer Lopez, Karen Rodriguez ran out of magic bullets this week.

After landing in the bottom three for the second week in a row (not for nothing, but so far this season the bottom three has been all female both times), Rodriguez got her golden ticket revoked this week after another vocal meltdown. Between her bizarre cut-rate "Jetsons" outfit and the choice of the lesser-known Taylor Dayne hit "Love Will Lead You Back," even her teary pleas didn't cut loose a save from the judges.

While half of our expert panel was sure that Naima Adedapo's tepid cover of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It" would spell her doom, the other half of us (two-for-two baby!) saw the writing on the wall for K-Rod.

Newly minted Village Voice Music Editor Maura Johnston can celebrate her gig, but her decision to go with Adedapo left her 0-for-2, followed by MTV's own "Idol" expert Jim Cantiello, who also went with Naima this week.

That left myself and MJ's Big Blog editor MJ Santilli with perfect records so far, thanks to our calls on Rodriguez.

"I would not have been shocked if either Haley or Naima had bit the dust," MJ said. "Karen is a sweet girl with a nice voice, but she didn't stand out. That's probably why she kept her performances bi-lingual. Otherwise we may not have remembered her at all. Haley and her sex kitten routine and lipstick mishaps, Naima and her crazy outfits and dance moves — those things don't make them great artists, but at least they aren't forgettable."

After two weeks of forecasting this season, here are the current standings:

Gil Kaufman: 2-for-2

Jim Cantiello: 1-for-2

MJ Santilli: 2-for-2

Maura Johnston: 0-for-2

Did you correctly predict Jones' trip home? Do you think she deserved to be saved? Who will be next? Leave your comments below and let us know!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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'American Idol' Prediction Results: The Experts Nailed Ashthon Jones' Exit

Posted 3/11/11 12:30 pm EST by in Music

We nailed it! Well, most of us did anyway. It wasn't that hard to predict who was going to go home on Thursday night's (March 10) "American Idol" elimination episode. After future hair product model Ashthon Jones face planted on a cover of Diana Ross' "When You Tell Me That You Love Me," it seemed pretty obvious that she would be the first of the top 13 to be sent packing.

Though we worried for a minute that leading contender Casey Abrams might be leaving us, it turned out he had been rushed to the hospital for further treatment for an intestinal disorder and is expected to return for next week's shows. Get well soon, CA!

But back to how we totally called it. I was certain that wild card winner Jones would not make the cut (and not to gloat, but I actually called the entire bottom three), and both MTV "Idol" aficionado Jim Cantiello and blogger MJ Santilli were firmly in the same camp, giving us a near clean sweep in the predication category.

That left Popdust columnist Maura Johnston (the special guest co-host on Cantiello's "Idol Party Live" show Thursday night), who went with Selena-loving singer Karen Rodriguez. Though K-Rod's so-so cover of "I Could Fall in Love" was pretty lame, she's a judges' favorite and survived, even after being sent to the bottom three.

After the first week of forecasting this season, here are the current standings:

Gil Kaufman: 1-for-1

Jim Cantiello: 1-for-1

MJ Santilli: 1-for-1

Maura Johnston: 0-for-1

Did you correctly predict Jones' trip home? Do you think she deserved to be saved? Who will be next? Leave your comments below and let us know!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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'American Idol' Predictions: Ashthon Jones Could Be First Top 13 Casualty

Posted 3/10/11 4:00 pm EST by in Music

It's that time again. After holding our tongues for weeks (OK, months), we are finally ready to roll out the first of what will be a weekly slate of predictions of likely "American Idol" eliminations.

While it gets much harder to predict as the number of seats on the IdolDome stage dwindle through April, at this beginning point in the competition, it's usually pretty easy to pick off the weakest members of the pack. Which is why we had an almost unanimous call from our panel of "Idol" experts on who is likely to leave the baker's dozen of finalists and get booted from the swanky finalists' mansion after Wednesday night's show. In other words: It will be a girl.

Popdust columnist Maura Johnston was not impressed with teen Thia Megia's "smiley version of the sad-sack classic 'Smile,' " which she thought should send her home, just on principle, but she suspected that Karen Rodriguez's pageant-y cover of Selena's "I Could Fall in Love" punched her ticket home. "Given that Jennifer Lopez — who hasn't seemed to be at a loss for positive reinforcement for most of the season so far — had to go the Paula Abdul route of complimenting Karen's eye-catching appearance before mentioning anything about her singing, I suspect that she's marked for the first exit of season 10."

MTV's own "Idol" expert Jim Cantiello said it's no contest. "If Ashthon [Jones] doesn't go home after her generic Diana Ross moment, I'll be shocked," he said of Jones' limp cover of "When You Tell Me That You Love Me." Read More...

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The White Stripes Say Goodbye: The Best Live Band On The Planet Calls It Quits

Posted 2/2/11 4:30 pm EST by in Music

I don't normally get too bent out of shape about bands I love breaking up. Oasis? Eh, fine, it was probably time. The Smashing Pumpkins? Bummer, but they should have stayed that way. Rage Against the Machine? Perfect recorded career, quit while you're ahead. Nicely done, lads.

(Click here for retrospective photos of the White Stripes, featuring classic live shots from throughout their career!)

But when news broke on Wednesday (February 2) that the White Stripes were throwing in the towel, somehow I got the feeling I'd been cheated. I won't pretend that every song on all of the duo's six studio albums was great (even though the majority actually were). But the Stripes were a rare band that simultaneously managed to stay true to their core sound — a kind of gutbucket urban punk blues — while constantly expanding it and reshaping it without losing the spark that made them unique.

From their 1999 self-titled debut to 2007's excellent Icky Thump, Jack and Meg White were the Great Rock Experiment writ large. They first fooled us with the brother/sister, husband/wife shtick, only to prove they were no joke by adhering to one of the most principled musical play books in rock history. Jack ran the group like a psychedelic military boot camp, insisting on a strict red and white color scheme that covered everything from their stage outfits and gear to their roadies' suits and their videos. Most corporations, to say nothing of shambling rock bands, can sustain that kind of product consistency.

(Click here for retrospective photos of the White Stripes, featuring classic live shots from throughout their career!)

Like some kind of art school Ramones, Jack stripped the band down to its bare essence and then built it back up with his endlessly fertile creative mind. He shamelessly borrowed from the blues and soul greats he adored like Son House while always making sure to put some of his own stank on it. There's a reason the Stripes were the only band from their Detroit garage rock scene to make it big: Jack had a plan all along and as unlikely a success as they were, his plan worked because the chemistry between him and drummer Meg White was undeniable.

Meg often got criticized for what some called her shabby drumming style, slightly behind the beat, a bit sloppy and lacking the rumbling thump of someone like fellow blues duo skin whacker Patrick Carney. But Meg was the band's secret weapon. There, I said it. Jack had the flash, that edge of madness blues squeal and the studio genius to make it all work.

But I've seen Jack's other bands a few times, and while I like the Raconteurs and appreciate the throwback AM radio sound of White's voice intertwined with fellow songwriting gem Brendan Benson, I never quite cottoned to the Dead Weather, which always struck me as a bit of a half-baked remake of the Stripes.

The third and last time I saw the White Stripes was at Music Hall in my hometown of Cincinnati in September 2005. They were touring in support of Get Behind Me Satan (underappreciated, but really, really solid, trust me) and the show was a clinic on what made the group so unique.

As I said at the time, it consisted of the six things rock bands don't normally do during shows:
Read More...

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The View From The Ground In Haiti, One Year Later

Posted 1/13/11 2:30 pm EST by in Haiti

Wednesday (January 12) marked the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. MTV News spoke to aid workers who have been toiling in extreme conditions in the impoverished country for the past year, as well as Tulane University medical student Alison Smith, who has made four trips to Haiti since January while providing us with periodic updates on what is happening on the ground.

Smith, 26, gave a sobering description of how things are slowly progressing in Haiti a year later, as the island nation struggles to resettle the nearly 2 million natives left homeless by the quake and deal with nearly 400,000 children orphaned by the natural disaster.

On Wednesday, Smith sent along a report from a friend of hers, Haitian-American Dominique Louis, who is the executive director of Green Children's House, an eco-friendly daycare center in Florida.

"One year after the devastating earthquake that left Haiti on life support, Haiti still remains in critical condition," wrote Louis of his experience in the country as it marked the grim anniversary. "The slow recovery process and the massive loss of life was enough to send the average human being hopeless. But as a Haitian-American and founder of Green Children's House, a non-profit Montessori School located in Pompano Beach, Florida, I have experienced the frustration of the recovery process firsthand. However, that does not discourage me from working to transform the country.

"When I look into the eyes of a Haitian child, I see hopes and dreams that are as real to me as my own children's. Read More...

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Why Howard Stern Still Matters

Posted 12/9/10 4:00 pm EST by in Music

Some people consider Howard Stern a guilty pleasure. I'm not one of them. I don't slink around listening to Stern's Sirius/XM radio show on headphones while stifling a snigger at the latest porn star to fake a titanic moment of ecstasy while riding his in-studio Sybian.

In my mind, Stern is one of the best (if not the best) interviewer and radio entertainer of his generation. Which is why I was so excited when he announced on Thursday (December 9) that he would be re-upping for another five years with Sirius/XM. I've been listening to Stern for years, well before he made the jump from terrestrial to satellite, but 30 years into his career I've been feeling lately that he's hitting an all-time stride.

And while many in the media wrote him off when he took his $500 million ball and went to the then (and let's face it, still) struggling Sirius satellite network five years ago amid claims that he was going to revolutionize radio, I've heard the proof. Stern on terrestrial radio was funny, edgy and often patently offensive. In an age before stars were sharing their every vapid thought on Twitter and Facebook, Stern was always an open book, believing in his mantra that anything worth saying or doing is worth saying or doing on the air. "Save it for the air!" he likes to say.

Though many casual fans lost track of him as he receded from the front pages following the switch, I dug in deeper, reveling in the insanely detailed year-end documentary series "The History of Howard Stern," marveling at the hubris of a man willing to toot his own horn so elaborately and seriously during his own lifetime.

Who does that? Nobody. And that's what makes Stern so great. Over the past year, David Letterman was caught in an intern scandal and Jay Leno's Machiavellian nature was laid bare once again in the Conan O'Brien coup. But what do we really know about the internal lives of these late night giants? Next to nothing. They expect their guests to share, but they are unwilling to provide any insight at all into what makes them tick.

Stern, however, literally shares everything, from his bathroom neuroses and secret sexual fantasies to his preferred lovemaking techniques, the lingering psychic scars from his life in an all-black neighborhood and everything in between. And that's just in one recent show.

Stern doesn't make the news he used to, but if you haven't been listening, you've missed some truly amazing radio. Read More...

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Cee-Lo's 'F--- You': The Greatest Grammy Nominee Ever

Posted 12/2/10 4:30 pm EST by in Music

I really can't stress enough how big a deal it is that Cee-Lo Green's "F--- You" got nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for the 53rd annual Grammy Awards (which will go down on Sunday, February 13, 2011). Not just because it is a thoroughly awesome song and so insanely catchy it there oughta be a law. We're talking about the same organization that has lavished armloads of awards on guys like Herbie Hancock and Steely Dan in recent years and who in 1989 once gave Jethro Tull a heavy metal Grammy over Metallica.

The RIAA's idea of edgy is a Green Day ballad. And now they're giving major nods to a song with one of the seven dirty words in its title. Hell, "f---" represents 50 percent of the song's chorus! So score one for the indisputable power of a hook. How off the charts is this coup? Let's take a look at the songs that have been nominated in the Record of the Year category and won over the past three years.

2010: King of Leon, "Use Somebody," which beat out Beyoncé's "Halo," the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling," Taylor Swift's cotton candy "You Belong with Me" and Lady Gaga's somewhat randy "Poker Face."

2009: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's snooze-tastic "Please Read the Letter," which bested Adele's cute "Chasing Pavements," Coldplay's rousing but innocuous "Viva La Vida," Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes," which, come to think of it, might have started pushing the envelope thanks to lyrics about weed and a chorus punctuated by gun shots. Still no f-bombs, though.

2008: Amy Winehouse's "Rehab,"admittedly a song about drugs that didn't really mention drugs, won over Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable," Foo Fighters' "Pretender," Rihanna's "Umbrella" and Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around … Comes Around." All safe songs, mostly without any edges.

I'm going out on a limb here and telling you that no song this profane has ever gotten this much love in the history of the Grammy Awards. To which I can only say, "f--- yeah!"


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The NKOTBSB Tour Should Inspire Other Mash-Ups We'll Never See

Posted 11/22/10 2:30 pm EST by in Music

It's hard to remember it now, but there was a time when Donnie, Danny, Jordan, Jonathan, Joey, A.J., Brian, Nick and Howie ruled the world. In their prime (roughly 1984-2000), the members of the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block ruled the teen pop world. That explains why the news about their blockbuster joint tour has set hearts aflutter across the popscape. And though some of their vocals were rough trade at points during Sunday night's (November 21) American Music Awards TV debut, the energy, dance moves and magnetic pull of the respective bands' greatest hits were undeniable.

But that's not what excited me.

See, I'm a word guy, and nothing delights me more than clever wordplay (which might explain why we speak almost exclusively in "Runny Babbit" language in our house) and I suspect that the clever accountant who realized that these two group's names combined made one amazing poster is sitting pretty at his vacation home in Aruba right now counting his millions.

NKOTBSB
There is nothing more elegant, clever and pleasing to the eye than the combination. In fact, it got me thinking about other acts whose combined names make for great eye and ear candy, even if their music doesn't mesh as well as "I Want It … Step By Step."

Girl Talk Talk
Yes, on the surface there's little to suggest that contemporary mash-up king Gregg Gillis of Girl Talk has anything in common with '80s English new wave act best known for such hits as "It's My Life" and "Talk Talk." But in addition to making for one awesome name, if you look at the kinds of songs Gillis samples in songs on albums like his new one, All Day, just behind classic hip-hop he clearly loves new wave and alt rock bands like General Public, Spacehog, Talking Heads, Bananarama, Depeche Mode and Madness.

The Arcade Firehose
One is a contemporary Canadian band with eight members known for lush concept albums about fear and loathing in the suburbs, the other was a short-lived power trio formed by former Minutemen rhythm section bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley. Together they would be … a free-jazz-punk-funk-folk mess. But a way interesting one.

R.E.M.O.M.D.
This is the least far-fetched of the bunch. British synth-pop group O.M.D. (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) recently got back together and released their first new album in more than 15 years, while Atlanta's R.E.M. (formed just two years later in 1980) are still chugging along with three original members. Both favor dark pop songs about complicated love, and O.M.D. even had a song called "Georgia" on their best album (that would be 1981's Architecture & Morality).

Run DMAC/DC
OK, this one would never happen. But man, wouldn't that logo be killer?

What two bands would you like to see tour together? Put your bid in below in comments!

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Jimi Hendrix Tribute: Red House

Posted 11/18/10 3:00 pm EST by in Music

I don't normally go see cover acts, mostly because of the constant belly aching from my friends in "real" bands about how those "Freebird" playing yahoos are always taking money out of their pockets. And after getting burned one too many times by lame tribute acts (OK, just that once, but you know who you are and you should be ashamed!), I was wary of the "Experience Hendrix" tribute tour because I love Jimi Hendrix and refuse to let some hack ruin him for me.

But with a lineup that includes Jimi's original Band of Gypsys and Experience bassist Billy Cox, guitar wizards Steve Vai, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Aerosmith's Brad Whitford, Eric Johnson and Robert Randolph, in addition to Living Colour, members of Los Lobos, Ernie Isley, Susan Tedeschi and former Stevie Ray Vaughan drummer Chris Layton, you kind of couldn't lose, right? I mean, this was not some bozo with a Hendrix jones butchering "Hey Joe" at the local coffee house.

Even so, when I walked into the Taft Theater in Cincinnati on Wednesday night (November 17), I arrived with modest expectations.

Living Colour helped kick thing off properly with a funked up "Power of Soul" and a punk-edged "Crosstown Traffic" complete with whammy bar lightning solo from guitarist Vernon Reid and some double kick drum thunder. Bassist Doug Wimbish even got in on the action by playing a solo with his teeth.

Each act wisely chose not to mimic Hendrix or overcompensate, which would explain why Texas slinger Johnson gave his tunes a reverb-heavy outer space blues shimmer for classics like "Are You Experienced?," on which he showed off his hand-blurring hummingbird strum.

Susan Tedeschi, assisted by Aerosmith's Whitford, gave "If 6 Was 9" and "Spanish Castle Magic” a dirty Texas blues vibe, while Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas put a barrio twang on a fast and loose "Can You See Me."

Cincinnati's own cosmic funkateer Bootsy Collins came out with slide great Robert Randolph for a loose and sanctified "Purple Haze" (how loose? Bootsy appeared to be referring to a magazine with the lyrics as a cheat sheet). Moments later, Glover, Hidalgo, Rosas and Randolph teamed with Cox for a gospel shout version of "Them Changes."

What became clear was that the veterans were having a blast playing these songs and jamming with each other on the tunes they cut their teeth on as up-and-comers.

Lang was a perfect example. Read More...

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