The Hills have whys. 
Vic Mizzy, a songwriter who was probably best known for penning the themes to ’60s sitcoms The Addams Family and Green Acres, passed away Saturday at his home in Bel Air, Calif. Mizzy, a Brooklyn native, rose up through the vaudeville circuit, eventually writing standards for the likes of Doris Day and Dean Martin. He provided lead vocals for the theme to The Addams Family, and gave the show’s principals direction on just how to snap their fingers while feigning boredom. In the ’60s, he composed music for a slew of movies starring Don Knotts; ater in his career, Sam Raimi asked him to contribute music for the DVD release of Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. A few of Mizzy’s compositions (as performed by Day and They Might Be Giants, among others) after the jump. More »
Last night I ventured to New York’s Hiro Ballroom for the 16th birthday party of Taylor Momsen, who stars on the cult-beloved TV show Gossip Girl and who fancies herself a rocker chick in the Sassy cover girl mold. (Note this recent quote from her Teen Vogue cover story: “I would eat a boy my age alive.”) The “party” wasn’t a meet-and-greet affair as much as it was an opportunity for her band, the Pretty Reckless, to perform in front of a crowd of radio-station contest winners, assorted VIPs (including some video-camera-wielding family members), and co-stars. (Who, it should be noted, I didn’t see at all, due to them presumably being ensconced in the club’s roped-off upstairs area.) More »
Apparently Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels is being promoted via the deployment of strategically placed talking urinal cakes. For various reasons (some of which are probably obvious!) I am not about to go on a tour of local establishments’ mens’ rooms in order to find one of these in the wild. But if you happen to see one while doing your business, could you perhaps snap a photo and send it to tipsATidolatorDOTcom? Video of the thing talking would be even better, although given that it’s apparently pee-activated, said clip might render the site NSFW/L. [Velvet Rope] More »
So what is this “power texting” process, which is getting Adam Lambert fans and casual Idol viewers in a tizzy and resulting in claims that there’s a great AT&T-inspired conspiracy behind the results of this year’s American Idol? The name and the idea that reps from the company were out there giving classes on the process to Kris Allen fans makes it sound all exotic and secretive, but in reality, “power texting” involves little more than figuring out how to use a cell phone’s contact list function in order to create a distribution list, and putting the same short code (5701 et supra) on said list multiple times–then texting the word “VOTE” to it. Yeah, really, that’s it. If you don’t believe me, instructions on how to engage in this oh-so-scandalous practice–via oh hey what’s this, an Adam Lambert fan site–after the jump: More »
Somehow, the eminently DVR-able results episodes of American Idol–in which 59 minutes and 55 seconds of filler led up to the news that someone would be sent home in a cloud of tears and Carrie Underwood–ended the 2008-09 TV season as the most-watched show, averaging 26.69 viewers over the course of the season and edging out its Tuesday-night companion by some 570,000 people. Either enough people watched the finale to push the Wednesday-night editions of the show ahead of the relatively action-packed performance episodes, or the continued success of Two And A Half Men is a leading indicator as far as how much crap your average people-metered viewer is willing to sit through when there’s nothing else to do at home. (Or maybe people just are really that sick of music.) The top 10, after the jump. More »
So, tonight is the end of this season of American Idol, which means that after a boatload of performances by the likes of Keith Urban, Queen Latifah, Rod Stewart, and other people outside the demographic of people who can try out for the show, we’ll find out whether Adam Lambert or Kris Allen will be waking up tomorrow with this year’s title. And don’t forget, as Ryan Seacrest warned last night, the show will be running overtime! (My local newscast is scheduled for 10:07 p.m. ET, which means that we’ll be here until at least 10:43.) Full coverage begins after the jump. More »
After American Idol last night, Fox debuted its glee-club dramedy Glee, which had a lot of fantastic, if wince-inducing, “high school as metaphor for how depressing adult life can be” moments and the incredible comic timing of Jane Lynch. And as its big finish–which was designed to make us audience-members feel that the ragtag group of nerds, geeks, and that one jockish dude would all make it out of high school thanks to the power of song–it had a big old performance of Journey’s 28-year-old lighter-raiser “Don’t Stop Believing.” Our pal Mark Graham at New York‘s Vulture apparently had the last Steve Perry-shaped straw at that point, and he was driven to call for a moratorium on the song in his recap of the show: More »
Last night’s American Idol finale held so much promise, and for two-thirds of the show it delivered, I thought–Adam bringing the drama with his dry-ice-aided, yet restrained performance of “Mad World,” Kris reeling off “Ain’t No Sunshine,” the two finalists being given songs about Big Ideas And Social Change from Idol svengali Simon Fuller, and performing them ably, albeit with Adam’s fiery, subtextually dripping “A Change Is Gonna Come” having much more potential for a post-Idol shelf life than Kris’ open-mic-night-ready “What’s Going On.” And then Kara DioGuardi, as she has done during pretty much the entire course of her first season behind the judges’ table, had to horn in and put the focus back on her, or rather on one of her worst efforts as a professional songwriter to date. (And yes, I’m including “La La.”) Further thoughts, and a chance for you to engage in the all-important ritual of postmortem polling, after the jump. More »
With a little more than 24 hours to go until the American Idol finale, a few bits of news are trickling out… that, of course, have nothing to do with what finalists Adam Lambert and Kris Allen might be singing during tomorrow night’s competition. Because if there’s one thing about this year, it’s that the performances were usually the least important thing! After the jump, Danny Gokey is still dumb, Katy Perry gets her clothing bleeped, and no one knows who’ll be judging next year. More »
