Not surprising in the least. Phillip Phillips is the new American Idol beating out a very young Jessica Sanchez. Congratulations Phillip!
Here is a funny recap of the show tonight that’s worth a read for the comedic value alone: http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/reality-tv-blog.aspx?blog=2080&feat=14857641-0a53-49ba-a5e8-fff94ed3b602
LONDON — With his carefully tended hair, tight trousers and perfect harmonies, Robin Gibb, along with his brothers Maurice and Barry, defined the disco era. As part of the Bee Gees — short for the Brothers Gibb — they created dance floor classics like “Stayin Alive,” ”Jive Talkin’,” and “Night Fever” that can still get crowds onto a dance floor.
The catchy songs, with their falsetto vocals and relentless beat, are familiar pop culture mainstays. There are more than 6,000 cover versions of the Bee Gees hits, and they are still heard on dance floors and at wedding receptions, birthday parties, and other festive occasions.
Robin Gibb, 62, died Sunday “following his long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery,” his family announced in a statement released by Gibb’s representative Doug Wright. “The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this very difficult time,” it said.
Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/singer-robin-gibb-has-died-at-62-1.1318029
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Jennifer Lopez’s days on “American Idol” are up in the air, but not necessarily over.
Following reports that she’s exiting the FOX series after two seasons, the star spoke out on Twitter on Thursday night.
“There is no truth to reports that say I am definitely leaving Idol,” she wrote. “All I said was I haven’t decided what I am doing next year.”
Adding, “When I know for sure what I’m doing I will let the #LOVE!RS know!”
I must admit I thought both boys would in the final two. I was prepared to see Jessica Sanchez go home tonight. Apparently, America had other ideas. Joshua has a career ahead of him and we wish him well with his future endeavors.
Next week, the Idol finale will be Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez.
Who will be the Season 11 winner????
REUTERS – Britney Spears and former Disney Channel star Demi Lovato will join talent show “The X Factor” as judges when the U.S. version of the contest returns to television in September, Fox television and the show’s creator Simon Cowell said on Monday.
Cowell said in a Twitter message that Spears, 30, the world’s biggest pop phenomenon of the 2000s, will join him on “X Factor,” which searches for a new pop star from tens of thousands of ordinary Americans.
Spears will be joined by singer and actress Lovato, 19, to fill the judge’s seats left by Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, who were both fired by Cowell after a disappointing first season in 2011.
Cowell announced the news on Twitter, sending a photo of himself with record producer Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Spears and Lovato and saying “Can’t believe it’s finally happening. Very exciting!”
Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/14/britneyspears-xfactor-idINDEE84D0KN20120514
Editor’s note: Nobody will stop watching if you give her the heave-ho…it might actually increase viewership!
Christina Aguilera has reportedly faced consistent fines while fulfilling her duties as a coach and judge on hit TV show “The Voice.” Aguilera allegedly has repeatedly been late on set, and it has not been unusual for her to turn up two hours after her scheduled start time.
Some are now suggesting that Aguilera was simply ignoring the fines being handed out to her and that they in no way helped to correct her tardiness. It is now being reported that show bosses are thinking to increase the fine levels for persistent lateness from their stars in an effort to not allow the behavior to continue in future series.
Read more: http://www.christianpost.com/news/christina-aguilera-fines-for-the-voice-may-be-increased-74862/
With the coveted home town hero visit on the line, four became three tonight on the “American Idol” results show.
But before their fate was revealed the foursome kicked the show off with a snoozy version of “California Dreamin”” by the Mamas and Papas.
Then, we got down to business, or so we thought. First up, double P as Ryan said. Jimmy called Phillip’s performance the beginning of Phillip coming into his own. But Ryan didn’t reveal a thing. He told Phillip to return to “the couch,” but said, those are not the results. Which means what?
Next up was Hollie, who struggled on her second showing last night. Jimmy understood why the judges were okay with Hollie’s Journey showing, but he didn’t agree. And of her Bonnie Raitt performance, Jimmy said, “she hit the opera button” and “crashed and burned.” But still, the torture for us and them continued as she too was sent back to the couch.
Editor’s note: GOOD, she should lose her job!
Christina Aguilera has apologized to The Voice contestant Tony Lucca for being a little more catty than judge-like. That however may not be enough to save the diva, who is reportedly disliked by many crew members working at the show.
Christina Aguilera and Tony Lucca are both former “Mickey Mouse Club” stars, but long lost history didn’t seem to go far between the two, who kept up a steady back and forth battle during season two of The Voice.
After Lucca’s Monday night performance of “99 Problems” Aguilera charged that the singer’s song pick was “derogatory towards women” adding “if that’s what you have to do.” Later when her own contestant Michael Kiwanuka performed, she remarked “Now that’s how a real man sings.”
Blake Shelton earned bragging rights this year as the judge who picked the winning contestant on Season 2 of The Voice. Last year you may recall Adam Levine‘s contestant won.
The final four contestants were Jermaine Paul, Tony Lucca, Juliet Sims and Chris Mann. Second place went to Juliet Simms, third place went to former Mickey Mouse Club star Tony Lucca and fourth place went to opera singer Chris Mann.
Jermaine Paul was a backup singer for Alicia Keys before auditioning for The Voice. Congratulations to Jermaine for realizing his dream to move to the front of the stage 
BTW – Christina Aguilara was pretty hard on her former Mickey Mouse Club costar, Tony Lucca for the duration of the competition. Not really liking her much this season. BOO!
Adam Yauch, one-third of the pioneering hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, has died at the age of 47, Rolling Stone has learned. Yauch, also known as MCA, had been in treatment for cancer since 2009. The rapper was diagnosed in 2009 after discovering a tumor in his salivary gland.
Read more: http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=725977
And then there were four! Things are winding down on Idol and the final show is only a few weeks away. Tonight, Skylar went home. She found herself in the bottom two along with Hollie Cavanagh. I was rather surprised. I thought surely Holly would get sent home tonight but America had other ideas.
As usual, Vote For The Worst is taking credit for keeping Phillip Phillips on the show. I think they give themselves too much credit.
So we are left with Joshua Ledet, Holly Cavanagh, Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips.
It’s back for another year! Click on the link to see what’s going on in Pennsylvania this year during fair season. Don’t sit home and be bored. Get out there and explore Pennsylvania!
Click here for a PDF file of PA Fairs:
And then there were five…
America sent Elise Testone home after two less than stellar performances and poor song choices. Elise was argumentative with the judges as well… a turn off to voters.
According to Starpulse.com, their ranking of the final five is:
Phillip Phillip
Joshua Ledet
Skylar Laine
Jessica Sanchez
Holly Cavanagh
Pottstown, Pennsylvania – Celebrate spring at the Annual Colonial May Fair held at historic Pottsgrove Manor on Saturday, May 5th from 11:00am to 5:00pm.
This yearly event is a fun-filled day with activities for all ages—games, music, dancing, and crafts. New to the fair this year is colonial conjurer Levram the Great, who will perform colonial magic shows and entertain visitors with pocket magic tricks throughout the day. Tuckers’ Tales Puppet Theatre returns again this year to perform the puppet shows St. George and the Dragon and their brand-new adaptation of the classic Cinderella. They will also provide festive historic music around the grounds during the event. Members of the Tapestry Historic Dance Ensemble will demonstrate authentic country dances and will lead visitors in dances around the Maypole to open and close the fair.
In addition to the entertainment, a variety of Early American crafters and demonstrators will be on hand to display historic skills and trades and sell their wares. Young visitors can compete in hoop races, play with colonial toys and games, help churn butter, and more! The first floor of colonial ironmaster John Potts’ 1752 manor house will be open for self-guided tours during the fair. Historic foodways expert Deborah Peterson of Deborah Peterson’s Pantry will be demonstrating open-hearth cooking in the Pottsgrove Manor kitchen. Visitors can also shop at the Manor’s museum shop for colonial games, books, and unique gifts.
While visitors can’t try the food cooked in the colonial kitchen, they will be able to purchase food during the event, including a variety of tasty baked goods from the Milkman Lunch Co. and Cake Shoppe of Pottstown.
A donation of $2 per person is suggested for this event. Visitors are asked to park at the Carousel at Pottstown building, 30 West King Street. Visitors can also stop in to the Carousel and see the progress that is being made there. Pottstown’s restored trolley will be giving FREE rides during the fair between the “First Saturday” activities downtown, the Carousel at Pottstown, and Pottsgrove Manor. Handicapped parking is available in the museum’s parking lot.
Pottstown Manor is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks and Heritage Services Department. For more information, call 610.326.4014, or visit us on the web at http://historicsites.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor.
Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Echoing their projections of two months ago, members of the Berks County Convention Center Authority said Thursday that the two venues likely will show an operating loss of $700,000 by the end of the season June 30.
They also voted to let the Jehovah’s Witnesses pay the rent for their upcoming summer conventions by replacing, for $29,000, an outdated processer in what the board acknowledged is the arena’s terrible sound system.
Board members said they are making plans to head off losses the next season.
“We can’t and won’t have a replication of that in the next year,” said Carl E. Herbein, board treasurer.
Read more:
Another shocking elimination tonight as Colton Dixon, who many thought had a good chance of winning, was sent home. As you may recall the judges used their save on Jessica Sanchez last week so there was nothing they could do to save Colton.
Vote for the Worst is encouraging people to vote for Phillip Phillips, who they really dislike for some reason. Last week they claimed victory in messing with the results. Apparently they want a white guy who plays the guitar to win?? Not sure what that’s all about but I don’t think I want to understand their logic.
Losing isn’t always a bad thing on American Idol. Look at Chris Daughtry. This gives Colton a jumpstart on his music career instead of wasting a year doing what AI wants him to do and waiting too long to release his first album. Hopefully he will strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of his time on national television!
Good Luck, Colton!
A groundbreaking English progressive rock band that over the past 40 years has produced 13 gold and platinum albums and a half-dozen Top 40 hits will play at Sands Bethlehem Event Center in July, it was just announced.
Yes, which had the triple-platinum album “90125” and No. 1 song “Owner of a Lonely Heart” in 1983, will play at the event enter July 18, the venue has announced.
Tickets, at $49.50, $65 and $85, will go on sale at 10 a.m. April 20 at www. sandseventcenter.com or www.livenation.com, by calling 800-745-3000 or at the event center box office at the Shoppes at the Sands mall at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.
MUSIC AT EMMANUEL
Presents:
Westminster Kantorei
Andrew Megill, conductor
Special Guests: The Select Choir of Daniel Boone High School, Birdsboro, PA
FREE ADMISSION
Emmanuel Lutheran Church
150 N. Hanover Street - Pottstown,PA 19464
Facebook.com/music.at.emmanuel
Andrew Meade – Minister of Music
610-323-4312
The Glory and the Dream
Westminster Kantorei - Sunday, April 29, 2012 4:00pm
Founded in 2004, Westminster Kantorei is an auditioned chamber choir from the renowned Westminster Choir College specializing in early and contemporary music. The ensemble, which is composed of approximately 24 graduate and undergraduate students, performs regularly with some of America’s leading specialists in Baroque music, including collaborations with violinist Nancy Wilson and vocal ensemble Fuma Sacra. Recent seasons have included performances of Bach’s Missa brevis in G Minor, cantatas, and passions, including the St. Matthew Passion at Avery Fisher Hall, with the Westminster Choir and the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur. The ensemble has also performed works by Monteverdi (Vespers of 1610, Sestina and Lamento della Ninfa), Buxtehude (Membra Jesu nostri), Schütz, Schein, Telemann, Zelenka, Victoria, and Palestrina, as well as a concert of Latin American Baroque music.
Westminster Kantorei has also commissioned and premiered many works by such composers as Caleb Burhans, James Blachly, Doug Helvering, Philip Rice, Nathan Jones and Stefan Young. This year, the ensemble premieres new works by Blake Henson, Daniel Elder, and the internationally acclaimed Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström, commissioned for the ensemble by the Soli Deo Gloria Foundation and the Westminster Choir College Department of Sacred Music.
The concert program will include: “Musikalische exequien” by Heinrich Schutz, “The Glory and the Dream” by Richard Rodney Bennett, and “Psalm 67” by Sven-David Sandström. The stunningly beautiful funeral music of Schutz’s Musikalische exequien is considered one of the masterpieces of the early Baroque period. William Wordsworth’s poetic masterpiece “Intimations of Immortality” provides the text for Bennett’s The Glory and the Dream, who, in addition to a 50-year career performing and writing jazz, has composed many classic film scores. Sandström’s Psalm 67 is a newly-commissioned work that received its world premier by this ensemble in October of 2011. Our special guests for this concert will be the select choir from Daniel Boone High School in Birdsboro,PA. Led by their conductor, Erin Benn, this outstanding high school ensemble will open the concert with performances of “I’ve Got the Music in Me” arranged by Deke Sharon and “With a Lily in Your Hand” by Eric Whitacre,.
MUSIC AT EMMANUEL is dedicated to bringing the live music of the highest calibre to the Pottstown community. We are also dedicated to supporting young artists from our region as they develop their performing careers. All concerts on our 2011-12 season are offered free of charge to the public, and are funded by the generous support of individuals in our church and community who believe that great music has an essential place in our culture and community. For additional information about the concert series please visit the church’s website: www.emmanuelpottstown.org or find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/music.at.emmanuel
The Sands Bethlehem Event Center will be serving up a meaty act that played Bethlehem’s Musikfest several years ago.
Meat Loaf — the theatrical rocker whose 1977 album “Bat Out of Hell” sold 14 million copies in the United States, making it the fifth-best-selling album of all time, and produced three Top 40 hits — will play the event center July 25, according to his website, http://www.meatloaf.net
The Sands has not announced the concert yet, and ticket information wasn’t immediately available.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/music/mc-meat-loaf-sands-bethlehem-20120406,0,2262730.story
