Taylor Hicks & Brett Favre @ Grease!

Brett Favre paid a visit to Grease on Friday night! Here is a picture Taylor put up on Twitter! Two very handsome men, eh? (Click on picture for full image)

Taylor Hicks Leaves Audience Swooning in Grease Performance

Taylor Hicks definitely left his mark on Minnesota's Orpheum Theater, when he apparently touched a lot of souls with his performance of the Teen Angel in the touring production of Grease. Check out this great reaction from the Twin Cities, Daily Planet. The rest of the review can be read at the link.

Of course, we can't forget one of the biggest reasons for a packed opening night theater crowd: a performance from the platinum-selling recording artist and American Idol winner, silver-haired country boy Taylor Hicks. Appearing as "Teen Angel," Frenchy's dreamy advice-shelling song bird, Hicks makes his theatrical entrance by bursting out of a giant 15-cent ice cream cone. Commanding the stage as his bluesy adaption of "Beauty School Drop-Out" encourages the puzzled pink haired Pink Lady to "turn in her teasin' comb" and go back to high school. Even in the darkened aisles of the Orpheum, I could see audience members—especially women in their 40s and 50s—light up with sheer glee to see the Bruce Springsteen vocal ringer and "Idol" star live and shaking his stuff in a glitter adorned, Vegas-style angel suit. And when Hicks pulled out a harmonica from deep within the tight pockets of his shimmery slacks to give the number that signature Hicks quality, I was sure someone in the crowd was going to have a heart attack. Whether or not Simon Cowell would approve of his performance is a moot point. This night it was all about the audience's opinion, and they loved it.

"My Trusty Harmonica" - Taylor Hicks in Never Before Seen American Idol Footage!

Taylor Hicks fans are in for a treat this week on American Idol Rewind, Season 5. Never before seen footage of his acupela audition of the Bill Wither's classic, "Ain't No Sunshine" was shown. After seeing this, it's no a wonder why Taylor completely dominated Season 5. In his own words, he was separating himself from the rest of the pact with his unique presentation, look and style - and boy, did he in a big way! I mean, really, how many other hopefuls ever got down on their knees and sang, ".... ain't no, ain't no, ain't no, ain't no, ain't no sunshine when she's gone ..." All this while getting his competitors in the audience to clap in unison for him to help him sing the song. All those years in the roadhouses learning how to entertain surely came in handy at that point. Bucky Covington, a finalist that year, was right when he said "Then I heard him sing and I said shit! He's going to win this thing"! I maintain he was the best all around performer ever to grace that American Idol show. Enjoy!

Taylor Hicks - Idol Rewind 5 - Hollywood Week from SoulForever on Vimeo.

First Look at the New Taylor Hicks DVD "Whomp at the Warfield" Available 1/5/10

The long awaited DVD from Taylor Hicks, "Whomp at the Warfield", filmed in May of 2007 at the historic Warfield Theater in San Francisco, is finally being released on Jan 5, 2010. These on-line outlets are filling pre-orders now, but will the DVD will be available in all retail outlets whereever DVDs are sold on the date of release. Amazon.com preorder is coming soon! In the meantime, order from any one of the following online sites.


















DVD Universe

Movies Unlimited

Barnes & Noble

Overstock.com

TMC - Turner Classic Movies

Daughtry Bores Fans at Arena Concert

According to Madison.com, Daughtry's first arena tour flopped hard! The fact that tickets are being cut in half for his tour (some being sold for as little as $13.99 and still not selling out) and his new album flopping at the record stores (and soundscan), I'd say Daughtry's 15 mins are just about up. Read on...

Fifty-two years ago, when Jerry Lee Lewis pounded out that dizzy rock 'n' roll classic "Great Balls of Fire," could he have even imagined a time when actual balls of fire would thunder forth onstage to a flaccid version of the genre he helped define?

Probably not. He probably couldn't have imagined "American Idol," either, or the relentless stream of carefully packaged singers it keeps shooting out.

Yet here we are. Saturday night at the Alliant Energy Center, massively successful "American Idol" finalist Chris Daughtry staged a spectacle with his band Daughtry that copped rock's power without much heart.

Yes, there were great balls of fire, torrents of sparkly firecrackers and booming canon shots. Daughtry (the man) can posture all he wants, hold his arms up to the heavens in actorly distress and flex his sculpted and tattooed biceps, but he never called forth anything like the feral shiver of Lewis yelping "I want to tell the world that you're mine, mine, mine, mine!"

But let's forget Jerry Lee Lewis for now. He's such a distant cousin to today's hard rock that it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Even in the context of the hard rock genre that Daughtry places itself in, however, Saturday night's show fell short. There were many times during the show when the band came close. Lead guitarist Josh Steely would pluck out a nasty opening hook, and I'd think "Alright! Rock 'n' roll!" But then Daughtry (the man) would neuter it with a plodding melody and brooding lyrics.

So he's a sap and doesn't do anything Creed or Nickelback hasn't already done. This should come as no surprise to anyone who's heard the band's self-titled 2006 debut or this year's follow-up, "Leave This Town." But what's most disappointing is that Daughtry can't muster the emotions of the songs any better live.

Even the fans, who filled about two-thirds of the Coliseum, looked bored during songs like "One Last Chance" and busied themselves with cell phones and texting. In general, though, the crowd gave the band an enthusiastic reception, sang along to the radio hits and pummeled the ground like a stampede of animals for the encore. It's amazing what being on television will do for a band.

Like openers Cavo and Theory of a Deadman, Chris Daughtry is a gracious presence on stage and seemed genuinely grateful to be performing. His energy never lagged during the 90-minute show, and whatever he lacks in songwriting and emoting, he makes up partially with his fine, arena-ready voice -- all the more impressive on Saturday evening since he said he'd spent the day before sick in his hotel room.

Mid-show the rest of the band left the stage, and he sat on a stool for a faithful acoustic cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." ("Put that song on the top of the list of songs I wish I wrote," he said afterward.)

Daughtry can belt out a ballad, but his voice sounded best in arena rock mode. Likewise, the band seemed most comfortable and at ease battering out larger-than-life rock like the grand finale "There and Back Again." In between Daughtry's megaphone-distorted vocals and bassist JP Paul's slapping solos, "There and Back Again" was the only time during the show when the music seemed worthy of fire balls.

Hicks Reinvents Career Post-'Idol'

Terrific piece by Randy Cordova from the Arizona Republic! It's nice this writer is perceptive enough to understand how hard it is to sustain the huge momentum coming out of American Idol in the short term and more importantly in the long term - and what unbelievably high expectations are demanded. Like Taylor Hicks says, "it isn't really about how many records you sell. The key is to be able to sustain yourself and to keep having gigs, whether it's Broadway or records or TV shows."

Taylor Hicks knows the rap he gets. Once "American Idol" ended, performers like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood went on to enormous recording careers.

Hicks, to put it bluntly, didn't.

After winning "American Idol" in 2006, his first album appeared in stores that December. The disc sold more than a million copies, earning platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Those are great figures for almost any new major-label act. But in Hicks' case, coming off the "Idol" tidal wave, it was viewed as a disappointment. He was dropped by Arista Records last year.

"When you come off of the show, it's pretty obvious that people can say whatever they want about you," Hicks says. "It isn't really about how many records you sell. The key is to be able to sustain yourself and to keep having gigs, whether it's Broadway or records or TV shows."

That's where the true level of post-"Idol" success can be measured, says Sandra Deane, AOL television editor.

"People have unfair expectations of the Idols," she says. "The bar was set really high because of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, and that kind of thing is lightning in a bottle."

Indeed, the Idols who have been dropped by their labels probably outnumber those who have kept their original deals.

Fantasia, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Katharine McPhee, Bo Bice, Blake Lewis and Diana DeGarmo all lost their post-"Idol" gigs with Clive Davis-affiliated labels.

Of course, it's not like the performers vanish. Beatboxer Lewis has landed on a new label and recently issued a disc called "Heartbreak on Vinyl." Glamour girl McPhee has turned to films and has a new disc due in January. DeGarmo is currently in the off-Broadway hit "The Toxic Avenger."

Southern rocker Bice still tours the country and releases products through his own label. He appreciates the boost "Idol" gave to his career.

"People know who Bo Bice is who didn't know me before," he says. "I can really see the blessings the show gave me."

Deane says the fan base these performers are handed from a prime-time TV showcase is one reason they can survive.

"They've had this mass exposure that gives them an automatic fan base," she says. "Then they just need to find the right thing for them to keep at it. Being a pop star who sells a lot of records is a very narrow niche. These people are finding their own markets."

It's working out nicely for Hicks, who landed at No. 10 when Forbes published its list of the top 10 earners from "American Idol" in 2008. Thanks to "Grease," record royalties and his solo gigs, he earned $300,000. It's quite a distance from David Archuleta at No. 9 ($1.3 million), but it's nothing to sniff at.

"Just because you don't have success on radio doesn't mean you don't have success anywhere else," Hicks says. "I think reinvention is the key in this business. If you don't reinvent yourself, you have a short life span."

Even more importantly: He's doing something that he wants to do.

"Taylor Hicks is still a household name," Deane says. "As long as he's making his money doing something he's really good at and something that he loves, he's certainly a success."

Taylor Hicks " What's Goin' On / Sex Machine"