'Idol' odds 'n ends: Daughtry announces arena tour dates

The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:

>Daughtry announced the cities and dates for the first leg of its highly anticipated arena tour in support of the band's latest album Leave This Town. The tour, which includes 36 dates, begins Oct. 19 in Topeka, Ks., at the Kansas ExpoCentre and wraps up at the Roberts Center in Evansville, Ind., on Dec. 20. Theory of a Deadman and Cavo will open for the band.

>Katharine McPhee's single off her forthcoming sophomore album Unbroken has been revealed. In a tweet sent by Kat yesterday, it was revealed that the single title's name is "Had It All":

My brand new single, Had It All, debuts in 5 days! about 5 hours ago from Tweetie

A demo of the song, which was co-written by Mitch Allan, David Hodges and Kara DioGuardi, can be heard below:



In preparation of her album's release on Tues., Oct. 13, Katharine continued to work on her music video for the song on Wednesday.

>When Season 8's Top 10 finalists swung through Albany, N.Y., on their "Idols Live!" tour on Wednesday, The New York Daily News had fun with the concert by comparing the tour stop to democracy and the lack thereof in the empire state's capitol. The newspaper's columnist Michael Daly commented in part:

His fellow Idol singer Lil Rounds echoed the same sentiment, as if it were only what decency requires.

"Anybody that supports you, you want to give them the best that you have," she said. "I want to give them everything I have."

Compare that to legislators who are willing to do anything to get whatever they can for themselves at the expense of the very people who put them in office.

The attitude of those bozo bums toward the voters could not be any more different from that of Idol singer Matt Giraud.

"You want to thank them," Giraud said of those who voted for him. "They gave you what you have."

Although the odds of Albany's political woes being remedied anytime soon are long, it is nice to know the people of New York had something to distract them in these long late August days.

>Blake Lewis continued to make all the right moves leading up to the release of his sophomore album Heartbreak on Vinyl. Blake released a nine-song digital maxi-single of remixes of his single "Sad Song" on iTunes for $8.91 and has been out on the road promoting the record by appearing on local radio stations and newscasts like Chicago's Kiss 103.5 FM.

>Apart from recently recording her sophomore album Battlefield, Jordin Sparks has been keeping busy in the studio. She just recorded a track for the soundtrack of the upcoming Disney direct-to-DVD release of Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. According to writer/producer Bryan Todd via his official Twitter account:

Jordin Sparks and Jordan Pruitt song turned out amazing for Tinkerbell and The Lost Treasure. Soundtrack out 9-22, Movie out 10-27-2009! 11:29 AM Aug 3rd from TwitterFon

The song is called "Road to Paradise" and will be released with the rest of the soundtrack on Tues., Sept. 22. It can now be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.