Kris Allen talks to MTV’s Jim Cantiello…Puppies and angels sing!
It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Jim Cantiello — and not just because he invited me to his karaoke birthday party last Friday night.
(OMG. And Michael Slezak was there. Among the things we discussed Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Cat Deeley and CHER. I finally met Slezak! YESSSS! BTW, Slezak’s husband is amazing. Next time, I insist they bring Kristen Baldwin to complete the triad of awesomeness.)
It was a who’s-who of east coast Idol bloggers, lemme tell ya. Jim, Slezak, Urlesque’s Rae Votta, Rickey and the incomparable Maura Johnston (never visit that new Idolator shit AGAIN), who I finally had the pleasure of meeting in person. Also there was Rae’s awesome friend Lauren and Jim’s beautiful wife.
If only Slezak could have stayed longer! We all got a room and Jim finally achieved his bday dream of singing No Boundaries.
We all drank, sang and we very, very merry. If you haven’t done so yet, wish Jim and Rae a big happy birthday, mmm-kay?
Anyway, check out Jim’s five-part interview with Kris Allen. You already know it’s good. And here are a few more photos because that’s all I got. Too bad Kris Allen couldn’t be there. I’m not tarding, but Kris and Jim’s bromance is kind of adorable at times. (Below: Maura & Jim)
Jim, I still feel horrible about spilling my Captain & Diet on your Blackberry. And it was my first drink! I wasn’t even drunk! Just clumsy.
You may have already seen it, but after we all got a room, we discovered the greatest “karaoke video” of all time set to *NSync’s Bye Bye Bye. Seriously. I’ve never seen anything like this. I will search out Bye Bye Bye in every Asian karaoke establishment for the rest of my life just because of its greatness. (Below: Rae & Jim…and the infamous Bye Bye Bye video.)
Apologies if my photos suck, btw. My batteries were dying a slow, painful death. And I was having TOO MUCH FUN!
This cracks my shit up big time:
I give up!
Here: http://i47.tinypic.com/35j9pjo.jpg
I really think Rickey’s claim to fame was his insider knowledge about the iTunes weekly sales figures during S7 of Idol. This was the season of “the Davids,” and I found out about Rickey from some commenters on the TV Guide Idol blog. That, of course, opened me up to the world of Idol bloggers like MJs, etc. Rickey provided a very valuable “service” that season, but he couldn’t pull it off for S8, so I think he got kinda desperate.
He’s done several objectionable things in the past prior to ‘Krisgate.’ Last season he very publicly picked a fight with Syesha Mercado and trashed her on his site. I was never a big fan of Syesha, but he accused her of getting him booted from a private afterparty during the Idols tour, and it was so petty and unnecessary. That and his scary boy love for David Archuleta. I mean the kid is cute, but at least wait until he’s legal, for god’s sake!
I’m still dying to know how Rickey cracked the iTunes info last year, but I guess he was just a good hacker. He is an IT person IRL, I think.
He basically figured out a way to filter it. Personally, I think they should make iTunes sales a factor in the decision of who goes home every week.
I don’t want to get knocked for defending Rickey here, but you have a few things wrong Trish, with all due respect. To clear a little up, the issue with Syesha came about because of his jokey blogs about the Syesha 300, which was a riff on what EVERYONE all around the internet were saying…”who the hell is voting for her?” He then showed up as the only fan at I believe was the Today Show(?) carrying a “Syesha 300” sign and she snubbed him. When he was thrown out of the meet and greet the rumor was that it was because of her. They have since made up but I can totally see her having NO sense of humor at the time, or rather a lack of it but is now catching a clue. Remember that she compared her run on AI to the civil rights movement 😀
As for the “Gaspy love”, he told the pedofraus to knock off the inappropriate posts, and they had a fit and started their own boards after posting 500 times a day in any blog he put up with a picture of David. Sort of the same thing with the glamberts with them invading the cellcasts each night only when he was on, flooding the chat, then leaving. Yada Yada. Same old.
Are these AI bloggers whose sole source of income comes from their sites prepared if and when Idol folds? There’s no such thing as job security anymore for anyone, but I have to say these bloggers have had a damn good run off of IDOL’s success. How long will IDOL go on? Even, it appears, Oprah is pulling the plug on her show in 2011. Sure they’re diversifying, SYTYCD, DWTS, GLEE, et al, but will it be as popular as IDOL? Rickey may one day have to leave his basement. ::grin::
That Bye Bye Bye video is art. Next time I’m in a Korean karaoke joint I’m totally looking for it! Well, if I ever go to a Korean karaoke joint again…
NEEDS MOAR VIDEO!! (Was that obnoxious enough?)
Looks like it was awesome. Just don’t let Jim C near any more coronation songs. I’m sure dogs were howling somewhere in the East Village.
I would like to hear more about Rickey in person. Just totally curious. He comes across like such a self-obsessed famewhore that I wonder if he’s nicer in person, or as into himself as he seems.
looks like a helluva lot of fun! i enjoy a night of drinks and dancing, but most importantly, sharing it with people that just know how to have a good time. looks like you were in good company and spirits.
But the real question is: were you guys doing the dance moves while you were singing Bye Bye Bye? (I think you get bonus points for that)
Uh…who doesn’t do the dance moves when singing Bye Bye Bye? I mean, the only way you can’t do those moves when that song comes on is if you’re quadriplegic.
Slezak’s interview w/HBD:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/11/19/kris-allen-making-of-self-titled-debut/
I especially liked the part where he was making fun of the empty theatre in the cover. “Why did no one come to his show?”
That was funny…and on a shallow note…whoever told him to purchase that jacket did a good thing. He seems to be ditching the plaid for a better look these days (at least in public). I’m wondering if he will actually wear a suit at the AMA’s.
Aw, Man! I’d love to meet Slezak. He seems like he’d be a blast to hang out with. In fact all these entertainment journalists/ bloggers seem like witty, awesome people. You are all kinds of awesome as well, TI…so I’m one just degree of separation away from cool.
I am extremely, extremely jealous.
this is all sorts of awesome. I’m uber jealous you met Maura. She has been my all time fave blogger (next to you of course love) i was sad to hear about Idolator but i’ll follow her wherever she goes!!!
one thing i miss about my home twon of NY – Asian Karaoke joints!
“and the incomparable Maura Johnston” – isn’t that MJ?
12cubed, Rickey has a right to his opinions. It seems he gets attacked each year for finally trying to control the overinvested AI fans. Same thing happened with Cook and Archuleta fans. I think he’s hilarious and he offers a lot.
12cubed, Rickey has a right to his opinions. It seems he gets attacked each year for finally trying to control the overinvested AI fans. Same thing happened with Cook and Archuleta fans. I think he’s hilarious and he offers a lot.
The reason I’m mad at Rickey is not because of anything he’s said about the fans. It’s because of the stunt he pulled this September. He quoted various anonymous “sources” at Jive and 19E that said that Kris’s album was “a mess” and sounded like “bad leftovers from Daughtry’s and Cook’s albums.” He didn’t give a reliable quote, he didn’t say where he got his information, he just said that he had hear from “someone” who knew the higher-ups at the record company.
He did this a couple of days after Kris’s single had premiered. Some news sources latched onto it and it spread around the web.
Not only that, but a little while before Rickey had begged Kris to follow him on Twitter–he must have been pretty insistent, because Kris added him. Rickey then tweeted the link to his article directly TO KRIS, and Kris read it.
The next day, Rickey admitted that he’d done the whole thing as a stunt to get more hits for his site.
Kris recently said in an interview with Slezak that this incident (he didn’t mention Rickey specifically, but anyone with half a brain could see that it’s what he meant) had seriously messed with his head, that this kind of thing “broke you down,” and that he’d gone through a phase where he thought that everything he wrote sucked. I think it did affect his writing, because the song he wrote at this time (“Lifetime”) is generally acknowledged to be one of the weaker songs on the album.
I thought it was a totally assholish move by Rickey, and I have heartily disliked him for it ever since.
Maybe you should check your facts before you make assumptions about other people’s opinions.
He did it for traffic. You really need to not get so angry over something so petty. Way too many words over something so insignificant.
Eh, I guess it was tl; dr. But I wanted to tell Mithra the whole story because she (he?) was completely off-base about why I disliked Rickey in the first place and was lecturing me about it.
So having a TLDR lecturing attack helps? Honestly, Rickey is just a creepy little perve who will do ANYTHING for attention/traffic. He relies on that for income.
It amazes me that people fall for his crap. He’s an idiot. Don’t even bother reading his shit site.
Don’t even bother reading his shit site.
Oh, I don’t–not anymore.
The thing to remember is that Rickey’s not a journalist or a legitimate news source. He’s just a really strange dude with an inexplicably popular blog. Hopefully Kris realizes that now and won’t take these things to heart in the future.
Oops. That is in reply to 12cubed.
Yeah, I don’t think Rickey has ever portrayed himself as anything other than a fanboy who blogs about things he likes. Some of those things may be barely legal twinks but then the Glittery God of Fierce also has similar taste… 😉 He does have more access than the average blogger and does joke about his new found “media status” , but I personally find him harmless. JMO. He at least has the guts to tell the tards off when they are out of line, which is what is pissing them off. And I hardly think Kris Allen wrote poorly because of distress caused by Rickey 😀 Fans get a little too into projection and soap opera drama…
I still think it was a shitty thing to do to anyone.
And I hardly think Kris Allen wrote poorly because of distress caused by Rickey 😀 Fans get a little too into projection and soap opera drama…
*sigh* That wasn’t even my main point. But, whatever.
He’s a fucktard, plain and simple. He’s even an alleged fanboy of Kris’s, which I thought was redeeming, but oh well.
I never read his blog, but I followed him on twitter. I had to un-follow him, though.
Something about his face annoyed me. Every time I saw it I would roll my eyes. What he said about Kris’ album also bothered me. I think there is so much pressure on [them] I hate to see people take cheap shots.
no, maura johnston is me. i used to edit idolator, and i appear on npr from time to time.
MAURA!!! Maura is here!!!
and i brought mac and cheese!!
Oh, wow! You’re in the Big Leagues now, TI. 🙂
Loved hearing you on NPR, Maura. I was on my way to seeing The Swell Season perform in Philly two Sundays ago, and nearly veered off the road when Guy Raz (or whoever that was) introduced you. I’m an NPR geek. It’s so weird when my NPR and Idol worlds collide.
Wait, so MJ wasn’t there? isn’t she NY-based?
MJ was there in spirit (i.e., Twitter). She’s actually near me. But don’t worry, of course she was invited. 🙂
Finally a face to go with the name. That is you? I don’t know why, but I imagined you wore glasses. You’re cute. (in a fierce, professional, blogger way, of course.)
No, I don’t have one of me up there. Those are of Rae and Maura. Sadly, I only have one of the 4 of us on my phone which I need to upload. But if you looked semi-hard, you could probably find one of me somewhere. I should mention that I’m 32 and work in ADVERTISING. Heh heh heh…
I already knew those last two things. heh, heh, heh.
Aw, looks like a great time! Happy Birthday, Jim!
I was really enjoying this post until I heard that Rickey was there. Really? That asshole was invited? After what he did to Kris?
Jim, I am disappointed.
I want to hear more about Rickey. Like, what is he like in real life? Is he as strange as he seems? Did you ask him at all about his whole kerfuffle with Kris (which Kris apparently references in his yet-to-be-posted interview with Slezak)?
Also, I am insanely jealous.
I’m a Jim Cantiello fangirl.