'Idol' odds 'n ends: Allison Iraheta debuts "Friday" music video

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

>Allison Iraheta's music video for her debut single "Friday I'll Be Over U" premiered yesterday on Yahoo! Music. Watch the video below:

Yahoo! Music also features a "making of" segment filmed during the video shoot that was released earlier this month to promote the single. Allison's debut album Just Like You will be released on Tues., Dec. 1, and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.

>Jordin Sparks underwent surgery to remove her appendix yesterday after she had to cancel appearances in Australia due to acute appendicitis. Now bedridden, Jordin has taken to her official Twitter account to tell fans all about the experience:

I can't keep my eyes open anymore. (rip appendix) Goodnight twittlets. <3 about 18 hours ago from Twitterrific

Jordin was cheered up to hear she received what she calls her first #1 on a U.S. Billboard chart, as "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)" hit the top spot on the latest edition of Billboard's Dance chart.

>Rolling Stone unveiled its candidates for its "Decade End Reader Poll," in which readers are asked to vote for their top album, song and artist of the decade, and one Idol alum made the list. Kelly Clarkson is up for "Artist of the Decade" alongside such industry heavy hitters as Justin Timberlake and Bruce Springsteen. The ballot can be found here. Voting is open until Wed., Nov. 30.

>Danny Gokey premiered his new single "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me" on Los Angeles' FOX affiliate KTLA earlier this week. Listen to him perform the song live on yesterday's "The Waking Crew" morning show on 94.1 KMPS-FM below:



Danny's first single was originally slated to be the ballad "It's Only," but RCA Nashville thought better of it and swapped the "Jesus, Take the Wheel"-esque track for this uptempo offering. Looks like Danny's country career is off to a good start.

>It was announced yesterday that Jennifer Hudson's next main starring role will be as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in the biopic Winnie. Mandela is of course the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela. The film will be directed by Darrell Roodt and filming is set to commence in South Africa in May 2010.

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Pre-order Adam Lambert's album on iTunes! Oh and by the way...

Well, it looks like the pimping continues long after Idol's eighth season ended. I received a mass e-mail this afternoon from iTunes because I have purchased Idol-related material from the digital store in the past, and what did I find but a nice, big, blinding ad letting me know that I can pre-order Adam Lambert's forthcoming album For Your Entertainment (as if I didn't already know this from previous e-mails via iTunes).

What I thought was interesting is the fact that Kris Allen's album, which was released yesterday, was also included in the e-mail, all the way below Adam's giant glittered banner. There were also plenty of other Idol-related albums and singles flanking the right side of the e-mail, but that's beside the point. Since the season ended, the 19 Entertainment machine has been bending over backwards trying to market the two finalists (and fourth-place Allison Iraheta, who coincidentally has her album pre-order notification located directly beneath Kris's) as a threesome to the fans. What's the true reason for this?

In the past, 19E has been more than happy to let its signed runners-up fall by the wayside while their winners basked in all their glory (and ate up their promo dollars), but this time around things seem to be reversed. Granted, the fact that they are on separate record labels (they being Adam and Kris) plays a part in this, but it's not like iTunes randomly decided to send this e-mail out, 19E is the wizard behind the curtain here. But why is there so much effort on their part (almost to the point of desperation) that they are shoving Adam in our faces prior to his album release?

I think they're afraid first week sales might be a bit below where projections have Entertainment at. This is of no fault of Adam's, of course, just the fact that he's the most talked about finalist in the show's history puts him on such a high pedestal that it will be almost impossible for him or his album's performance to match the hype. Yes it's true various sources say Adam's album has been doing extremely well in pre-sales, including a comment that pre-orders are "through the roof" made by a representative from Newbury Comics in a recent article in Rolling Stone, but that is a very small chain in comparison to some of the bigger chains out there.

At the moment, Kris's album is sitting at #9 and #12 on iTunes Top 200 Overall Albums chart, while Adam's album is behind at #25. Is there really any need to feature Adam prominently in an e-mail when Kris just saw his album debut yesterday to worse than expected sales? I didn't receive a comparable e-mail notifying me about Kris's album last week. Plus, single sales for Adam's and Kris's comparable lead singles are just that - comparable - as Kris had 39.3k for "Live Like We're Dying" after a week-and-a-half's worth of sales while Adam now has 44.5k for "For Your Entertainment" after the same time period. But judging by the amount of media attention the two alums are getting, one would think Adam would be crushing Kris in the single sales department. Does this mean maybe Adam's album sales are going to be underwhelming?

There are plenty of other instances of questionable promotional tactics that have been used since the finale in respect to Adam and Kris that have been well documented, including the "Ryan, Rock My Town!" concert contest that in past years might have been just reserved for the season's champ. But once again, this e-mail is just a representation of how things have been conducted since Adam lost the competition. At this point it's just rubbing salt in the wound.

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David Cook talks with Larry King about his brother's death

David Cook last night stopped by Larry King Live for a somber chat about his brother Adam's death and the legacy he would like to live on among other things. Watch the first part of the interview below:

Cook said he has a great family and has been able to surround himself with great people, from his label execs all the way down to his fans. He said Adam maintained his sense of humor all the way to the end and his illness never defined him.

He also talked about being a part of the finale for Season 8, and how it was a lot less stressful than last season's. He also said he "was but wasn't surprised" about Kris Allen winning over Adam Lambert and that he was flattered when Adam told Rolling Stone that Cook was responsible for paving the way for his artistic abilities to perform on the show.

Watch parts two and three of the interview, where Cook discusses his his show with David Archuleta in The Philippines last month, his tour and what he might want to do with his career in the future.

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Adam Lambert, snake, butterfly make cover of 'Rolling Stone'

The long awaited cover story of Adam Lambert and his coming out party for Rolling Stone won't officially hit newsstands until this Friday, but the publication's Web site put up the cover and a few highlights from Adam's interview for an early teaser. After months of empty speculation, people no longer have to stress out over his sexuality. In fact, this is the most obvious outing of an Idol since, well, Clay Aiken's People cover story last year.

Read an excerpt below from the recap RS published on its site earlier today:

The flamboyant Idol singer hits our cover and bares all, talking about his childhood (”I started to realize I wasn’t like every other boy,” he says), the drug-fueled Burning Man epiphany that led him to AI (”I realized that we all have our own power, and that whatever I wanted to do, I had to make happen,” he tells RS) and his run on the show (”I was like, ‘I’m going to glue rhinestones on my eyelids, bitch!’ “). And yes, he talks about his sexuality. “Right after the finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, ‘I’m going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,’ ” he tells us. “I didn’t want the Clay Aiken thing and the celebrity-magazine bullshit. I need to be able to explain myself in context.

But as many will undoubtedly try to use his coming out for political reasons, Adam clearly wants to move ahead with his career:

“I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader,” he says.

Joining Adam on the extremely glammed up cover (shot by Matthew Rolston) are a strategically placed green snake and butterfly, which are pretty unnecessary and play into the boundary-pushing that can come off as feeling cheap and tasteless.

There is also video of a behind the scenes look at Adam and his photo shoot with RS, which can be read along with the rest of the summary of the article on the magazine's Web site.

For the full scoop, be sure to check out Rolling Stone's issue out Friday.

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