Useless Place Blog

It seems that the former American Idol judge is a veritable role model of healthy living. A friend of Simon Cowell’s, Amanda Holden, recently spilled the beans on what a healthy life the star manufacturer leads. This is what she said: “He’s into these health smoothies and is always giving away recipes. I actually think this is the healthiest he’s ever looked. He’s lost weight, he’s really fit, his skin looks good and his eyes are shiny. He’s either in love or it’s the herbs! Simon’s make-up artist is great because she brings in loads of vitamin juices, which help to keep up energy levels during long audition days. Simon has his green swamp juice in a mug.” And together, Simon Cowell and Mezhgan Hussainy will be unstoppable and they will breed an army of healthy children through their habits.

American Idol Lee DeWyze, 2nd song on Top 3, “Hallelujah”,

Lee Dewyze Hallelujah Video:

American Idol reject Sanjaya Malakar got a gig singing at Pagliacci Pizza on Broadway for one night. The sorry excuse of a singer came in with a group of friends on last week’s stand up night. Everyone was looking at him trying to figure out who he was until a worker called over the loud speaker and announced “Sanjaya, your pizza is ready.” The reality TV star was coaxed onto the stage where he sang an a cappella version of a song no one had even heard of. Good news is that he got a job out of it. Sanjaya is now an employee of the place but the corporation will not reveal which store he will be working at.

Shock-jock Howard Stern has said that he would love to replace Simon Cowell as a judge on American Idol – but only if he gets a $100 million.

During his Sirius XM show on Monday, Stern told his listeners: “There’s not a better job on the planet than judging a f*****g karaoke contest.”

Stern, who devotes a section of his show to dissecting American Idol, said that the deciding factor in taking on the job will be how much money is on the table.

“They’d have to pay me a ton of dough because I already make a ton of dough. Yeah, I would do that show for $100 million,” he said.

Stern’s five-year, $500 million contract is set to expire in January, and Idol producers reportedly want to match his deal.

“A $100 million to judge a karaoke contest? Yeah, I think I would do that show for $100 million,” Stern said. “It would be the best thing that happened to me. What a cush job: $100 million for four months. Who wouldn’t take that?”

And Stern is fairly confident that he would be the right person to replace Simon Cowell.

“If I do say so myself, I can’t imagine anyone else but me replacing [Cowell],” Stern said. “I mean, how else are they going to make that show work? Who knows how to broadcast and who knows how to be interesting? And who’s not afraid to speak their mind?”

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest has been granted a permanent restraining order against an alleged stalker, who was arrested inside the TV offices where the presenter works with a knife.

The order granted by an LA judge means Chidi Uzomah is forbidden from having any contact with the TV and radio presenter and must stay at least 100 yards away from Seacrest for the next three years.

Uzomah is currently in custody after being charged with felony stalking and two misdemeanor counts of disobeying a prior court order.

He was arrested last month inside the E! building in LA, where Seacrest films his daily TV show.

Uzomah was carrying a knife when he was arrested.

He is also accused of attacking Seacrest’s security guard outside a hospital in September.

Seacrest was not in court for the hearing.

Jessica Simpson’s dad is trying to get her installed as Paula Abdul’s replacement on American Idol, according to reports in the US.

Joe Simpson – Jessica’s manager – is said to be pressuring producers to employ the pop star.

He insists she would be perfect for the TV talent contest.

A source reports: “Jessica Simpson is being pushed to the producers by her father as the perfect replacement for Paula Abdul.”

Abdul, 47, announced she was leaving the show earlier this month.

It comes as newly single Jessica, 29, got a Geisha makeover during a trip to Japan.

She was recently dumped by American footballer boyfriend, Tony Romo.

Forget the so-called controversy regarding the votes, America really does love Kris Allen more than they do Adam Lambert. The two singers both released their version of the Kara DioGuardi song ‘No Boundaries’ as their official first singles and the American Idol champ is outselling his runner up by a mile. According to Soundscan, Kris is leading Adam by over 100,000 copies sold this past week. The exact tally sees Kris selling 134,458 copies and Adam only selling 35,984. Considering that Kris’ version really was the more superior of the two, I’m not at all surprised that Adam is getting beat.

The woman accused of trying to strangle Simon Cowell’s former girlfriend claims she wanted “revenge” after seeing TV’s Mr Nasty playfully choke fellow judge Paula Abdul on American Idol.

Idol fan Janice Thibodeaux, 33, says she was “wasn’t cool” with Cowell’s joke and wanted to confront him over the incident.

But instead she directed her anger at his ex, Terri Seymour, when she bumped into her outside the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, where the show’s final was being judged.

Thibodeaux, speaking from jail after being charged with felony battery assault, said: “I wasn’t cool with Simon Cowell choking Paula Abdul on the show last week and with her crying out ‘help’ as he did so.

“Nobody said anything about that so I wanted to confront him about it because that is not appropriate behaviour, is it?”

But then she spotted Seymour and bailed her up. “We started arguing and then I put my hands around her neck and started choking her just like Simon had done with Paula.

“Then I walked away and I was tackled by the police but I don’t regret what I did because of what Simon did to Paula, nobody seemed to care about that.”

Thibodeaux, who said she was a security guard at American Idol several years ago, was held on $52,700 bail.

Former American Idol finalist, MICHAEL JOHNS will be performing his new single “Heart on My Sleeve” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show next Monday, May 25th. The Aussie vocalist will be releasing his first post-Idol solo album, Hold Back My Heart on June 23rd. Encouraged by his mentor David Foster, who invited Johns to appear on his star-studded David Foster And Friends PBS special in December 2008, Johns chose the road less traveled, and for the first time in his adult life, went to work on an album with no deal in place. “Foster always said that the secret of his success is to look at whatever lane is open in the music industry and take it,” Johns recalls. “And the way my record combines old and new, I could open for Alicia Keys one night and John Mayer the next, it’s right in the middle.” Songwriter Diane Warren, who penned the knee-buckling ballad “Heart Is Weak,” was another key endorsement. “There’s nothing more validating than having these heavyweights behind you,” says Johns. “It’s like screw winning American Idol when people like David Foster and Diane Warren are saying you have the real thing here.”

With an album completed and ready to turn in, Johns had the rare freedom to shop it around, and when Downtown Records, home to Gnarls Barkley, Cold War Kids and Santigold, showed interest in a licensing deal, he jumped at the opportunity to finally control his own fate. “I think we’re in the most exciting period of music ever, because there’s so many ways to do it,” he says. And like most of his plans thus far, Johns is thinking big for his future. “The live show is going to be great,” he says excitedly. “I might even take it old school with different bands in different towns — almost like what Chuck Berry and all those guys used to do.”

Tune in to see Michael Johns on The Ellen DeGeneres Show next Monday, May 25th. Check your local listings for times.

“HEART ON MY SLEEVE” audio embed code:

American Idol reject Sanjaya Malakar is still grasping at straws at trying to be a celebrity. The pony-hawk master has recently been added to the cast of NBC’s upcoming ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here’. What? How come he’s alone? Weren’t they able to get his celebrity wannabe sister too? Did Kevin Federline turn them down? Some of the other so-called celebrities who will be on the show include Dog the Bounty Hunter, Janice Dickinson, Spencer Pratt, Heidi Montag, Geraldo Rivera and former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Do the producers and casting directors of this show even know the definition of the word celebrity?

The judge from American Idol apparently has a list with the top 10 rudest celebrities and Bobby Brown is at its very peak. Simon Cowell told the story of how this list came into being: “It’s a great game, I always do this. Whenever we go out, I always say to people, whoever it is – drivers, stewardesses – I always ask, ‘Who is the rudest person you’ve ever met?’ We play it every time we go out to dinner and we’ve got a current top 10 and we always update every week. Bobby Brown has literally been number one for six years.” I wonder if Simon Cowell ever asks himself what lists he has climbed in a hurry. Surely there must be something for a creator of “stars”. Maybe a top 10 musical industry vampires list or something of the sorts.

Undoubtedly an interesting confrontation: Simon Cowell’s show, “American Idol”, apparently beat Barack Obama’s Inauguration Ball at ratings. The numbers are as follows: 12.5 rating/18 share for Simon Cowell’s crusade to create talent out of nothing and 9.4 rating/14 share for the new President’s big night. It must have been the republicans who were watching TV at the time and this why this little mishap occurred. It’s strange though since quite the number of celebrities were present at the event: Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Kanye West and so on. Makes you wonder…

FremantleMedia, the massive corporation that created American Idol, is suing the owners of the Palazio Men’s Club in Texas which the suit describes as “a gentlemen’s club at which women remove off their clothes while dancing to music.” The club is being sued over a $500 stripper competition they held called Stripper Idol. In the suit, Fremantle claims that the competition, which allegedly jacked the name and trademarked logo, has tarnished the singing show’s good name. Oh please, they once had strippers and convicts on their show. Fremantle is looking to get the profits from the competition along with collecting on all damages sustained and legal fees.

American Idol season 2 winner Ruben Studdard is in trouble with the law, more specifically the IRS. According to court records, the singer has failed to pay almost $200,000 in state and federal taxes. It turns out that he owes $171,920 in unpaid federal income taxes and $21,730 in state income taxes, with the majority of the unpaid taxes coming for 2003 when he won the show. You’d think that after winning his million dollar contract on AI, he would have gotten himself a good accountant. I’m not even sure if he still has some money. In 2006, Ruben sued his former business manager after he claims the manager misappropriated funds between 2003 and 2004. Ruben is currently without a record deal after J Records let him go last year.

The rumor mill has been smoking about Clay Aiken being gay ever since he walked off the American Idol stage and walked straight into his hit music career but no confirmation has been made yet. Is he or isn’t he? According to Clay, “Nobody cares.” The singer told Us that he doesn’t think anyone should slap their sexuality into anyone else’s face and that all he really wants to do is sing. However, even with all his attempts at keeping his personal life private, several gays have come out on the internet alleging that they were able to get physical with Clay. Clay says that it’s hard to deal with all the scrutiny but that he’s learned to not let it get to him.

American Idol contestant David Cook was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday night after experiencing heart palpitations and high blood pressure. While his condition was still not resolved, he was released a few hours later. David was not feeling well during the day and his condition worsened after his performance. After he was examined by show medics, he was urged to leave for the hospital. After the show, he was driven to the hospital and treated by private doctor to keep everything hush hush. He was given medication to bring his blood pressure down and he will be monitored again on Wednesday.

Creepy?  Yeah, I think so.

Simon Cowell has installed a telescope in his kitchen so he can check out what’s going on with his neighbors around him.  These neighbors include Leo DiCaprio, Christina Aguilera, and John Travolta.

He says in the London Mirror, “It isn’t powerful enough to see into their homes – so you can’t see them in shower – but you can see into their gardens.  It’s great fun.  I just like to keep an eye on what is happening.”

Simon shares his Hollywood mansion with his girlfriend Terri Seymour.  Sad life, wishing he was like the others.

Spies inside American Idol said that the Idol party that went down after last week’s elimination was fueled with emotion and a little bitterness. It’s being said that castoff Asia’h Epperson was torn up and overwhelmed, staying only for a few minutes before leaving. Most were especially upset with Luke Menard leaving as he was probably the most liked of the bunch. Danny Noriega and Ramiele Malubay were pretty wrecked over the former’s elimination. It looks like someone found a BFF. It’s too bad that they had to part ways so soon. Spies also says that while all the contestants were there, there was no sign of the 3 judges or Ryan.

American Idol returned to the television airwaves on Tuesday with its worst premiere in four years. The season premiere’s ratings were down 13% from last year and down 10% from 2006. Maybe Chris Daughtry’s rant on his launch pad has some merit after all.

But to Idol fans out there, don’t fret so much. The show is not completely dead as it was still the most watched show on TV Tuesday night. However, the decline in viewers does not bode well for the aging show. It’s only downhill from here. The winner for this season should just head to Broadway immediately than risk being dropped like his or her predecessors.

If there were a nationwide competition for girls behaving badly, then American Idol star Jessica Sierra would have been the winner by far.

A couple of weeks ago we mentioned Jessica’s drunken confrontation with police leading to her arrest. She attempted to get out of this by offering the police officer oral sex to let him go. Then to top it off a porn tape, starring Jessica is to be released.

Not content with this double whammy; the troubled girl has completed her hat trick, by getting pregnant. All we know about the father is he a US rapper. And despite still being locked behind bars Jessica is said to be delighted by the news.

Well that’s one way to become famous I guess…