good evening! i just finished watching hillary clinton‘s speech at the DNC in denver which i thought was amazing & inspiring – i’m totally on board to elect barack obama the next president of the united states! speaking of ms. clinton – her supposed favorite TV show is american idol which is switching things up by adding a 4th judge when the 8th season kicks off in january – i’m glad that the producers are adding in a judge rather than replacing one (once paula abdul, simon cowell, or randy jackson leave – the show will have totally jumped the shark which we know will happen eventually…probably sooner than later)



i’m actually a huge fan of the new judge kara dioguardi who i discovered by way of platinum weird (an album she wrote & performed with dave stewart (of eurythmics) and was previously featured on popbytes here & here – quick sidenote: one of the album’s tracks taking chances became celine dion‘s lead single off her latest album!) kara has also worked with a number of other pop artists including pink, natasha bedingfield, gwen stefani, and leona lewis to name just a few – i think she’ll be a perfect fit on american idol! i’m glad she’ll be getting more exposure (and no worries she’s already a good friend of ms. abdul’s – no catfights for now…) she’s really talented and will bring some new life to idol which i still enjoy a whole lot yet we are heading into the 8th season (i’d still say my favorite season was when fantasia won and we were first introduced to jennifer hudson) below are some pictures of the idol gang over at NYC’s chelsea piers where they officially introduced ms. dioguardi as the newest AI judge! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo

speaking about the moment she was offered the role, kara dioguardi says, “i almost fell off the chair” and adds that she hopes to create “a new chemistry as well as keeping the old”. and asked how she felt about judging wannabe pop stars, she says, “i’m a little nervous. i’m going to be a straight shooter and say it like i see it and maintain that philosophy. i’m somebody who’s really honest and gives an opinion. if i feel i need to be hard, i will be. and if i feel i need to be more nurturing, i will be.”

PHOTOS | WENN

oh my goodness! i just landed here in los angeles – i raced home as fast as i could to catch the big finale of american idol – and i’m THRILLED that my favorite david cook won! i was totally convinced little david archuleta was going to win – he’s a great singer but i find him to be completely boring – mr. cook for sure has an edge over him – and he managed to pull out the win in the end (i didn’t even get to vote last night – i planned to vote for david cook like crazy but i just couldn’t get to it) one of the best parts of the evening was george michael‘s stirring performance of praying for time (which moved paula adbul to tears of course) i so need to see him in concert when he swings by southern california! as for the final song of the evening the time of my life – i thought mr. cook did a superb job with it but overall i’m not so crazy about the song – have a listen over at popeater where the song just premiered!


anyways i’m really drained – the flight was ok – the funny thing was i spotted joey mcintyre (new kids on the block) with his wife barrett williams (wearing a huge rock on her finger) and their baby boy griffin thomas who for being only six months old was very well behaved – in fact they sat directly across from us in the same row! joey looks adorable in person – and his wife looks great for being a new mom and the baby was so damn cute – i couldn’t get over it – he was smiling at everything! after seeing adam levine & gisele bündchen – my pal joey and i were convinced we would run into someone else – since things tend to run in threes – and mr. mcintyre was our 3rd boston celeb sighting – how random! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo

PHOTOS | MICHAEL BECKER FOR FOX

hey kids! i’m so sorry i didn’t get to my normal wednesday evening american idol post – since i was at the kate nash concert last night there just wasn’t enough time – anyways as expected syesha mercado (the last lady standing) was given the boot last night (who really started to grow on me over the past few weeks) leaving us with our final two idol contenders – david cook & david archuleta (pictured below standing together) i swear this has been one of the worst seasons of idol – i do like mr. cook a lot but there have been past seasons that i was way more into – i’m totally ready for all the idol hoopla to come to an end! the good folks over at AOL television asked me to make a prediction as to who would most likely win this season along with a few other bloggers which you can check out here – i will be voting like mad for rocker david cook to win although i have a sinking feeling little ‘awww shucks’ boy david archuleta will walk off with this year’s title :( next week i’ll be in boston on business for a few days so i’ll be getting my vote on from the east coast – i’m excited to get out of town although i always get stressed over dealing w/ popbytes while on the road – posting will of course carry on – maybe just a little lighter than normal! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo

PHOTO CREDIT | MICHAEL BECKER FOR FOX

hey hey! we’re now down to the top three on american idol as expected blue-eyed cutie stoner boy jason castro got the boot tonight – as much as i found him to be adorable – over the past few weeks he was seriously lacking (last night he forgot the words to ‘mr. tambourine man’) mr. castro should be super happy he actually made it to the top four! as for syesha mercado she has totally stepped up to the plate yet she’ll most likely be going home next week – although i’m still not all pumped up over this season – i will be voting hardcore for david cook to win this year’s idol title! he’s great and is way cuter these days (his hair is better plus he lost a little weight) then there’s david archuleta who just annoys me – he’s a kick-ass singer but he’s so damn boring and his whole ‘gee whiz’ vibe is freakin’ annoying but i fear he may win this year…at least this season will be wrapped up in two weeks time and then we’ve got so you think you can dance? which i became a big fan of last season! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo

PHOTOS | FRANK MICELOTTA FOR FOX

we’re now down to the final four on american idol after brooke white got the boot tonight – no big surprise – it was her time to go! ms. white has been hanging on by her fingernails over the past few weeks – i do like her ‘girl w/ a piano’ style but for sure she was not cut out to win the competition! next week syesha mercado will leave followed by jason castro…leading up to david cook (who should win) & david archuleta (who will win) battling out for the idol title…hello boring! this season has been seriously dragging ass – i’m barely buzzed over the finale – by now i should be way pumped up but i’m just not feeling it this year at all (i’m more excited over the premiere of the new season of so you think you can dance? on may 22nd) popbytes over & out for tonight…xxoo

PHOTOS | FRANK MICELOTTA & RAY MICKSHAW FOR FOX

just as i suspected brooke white was safe (and very lucky) on american idol tonight – and tattooed carly smithson got the boot – i think people felt bad for brooke (and voted) after last night’s dramatic fiasco (i gasped when she forget the lyrics and had to start again) my pal joey and i were convinced she was going to sing i don’t know how to love him from jesus christ superstar which would have been the PERFECT andrew lloyd webber song for her – instead she went with that after thought of a song from evita and totally murdered it – she was horrible but i do like her – last night just wasn’t her thing! yet i know in the next two weeks we will say goodbye to ms. white and syesha mercado (who kicked ass last night – totally her best performance by far!) then jason castro will leave – the finale will for sure come down to david cook vs. david archuleta (i loved his rendition of think of me last night) my votes are already lined up to make sure that mr. cook takes the idol title this year – he is also way cuter these days – the haircut is working for him and i think he lost a few pounds…at first i thought david was cute but now i think he’s pretty freakin’ hot! we’re down to the final five – i still say this season of idol has been one of the weakest – all the hype about this 7th time around being the best season ever was just pure & simple hype! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo!

PHOTO CREDIT | FRANK MICELOTTA & MICHAEL BECKER FOR FOX

hey hey! i finally got my wish – for the very mediocre and boring as wood kristy lee cook to get the boot on american idol tonight! although i was betting that my dear brooke white was going to be leaving – so i was really happy when ryan announced that brooke had another week! although i know it’s going to come down to the guys – i still don’t have an ultimate favorite just yet – right now i’m rooting for both david cook (who is looking cuter each week to me) and oh so dreamy jason castro – i’d love to see them battle it out for the final two but i just know that david archuleta (who completely annoys me on many levels but he is quite talented) will take one of the final spots!



as for mariah carey i thought she did a great job performing her second single bye bye which i bet will also land her another #1 hit – i’ve listened to her new album E=MC2 a few more times and i really like the whole thing – i wonder if she’ll get grammy nominations again like she did for the emancipation of mimi? at work earlier today we were all talking about her sense of style which is almost non-existent at times but damn her body looks great right now – yet girlfriend could really use some styling help – some of her hoochie momma mall getups are just plain awful (part of the blame can be placed on long island – and don’t forget i’m from there which allows me to make occasional digs!) tonight mariah’s black dress was halfway decent and i loved her microphone & stand all covered in what i assume must be swarovski crystals – mimi is such a complete diva and so over the top (i bet she’s the type of person it’s fun to play practical jokes on) but that’s why i adore her along with that killer voice! popbytes over & out for now…xxoo!

PHOTOS | FRANK MICELOTTA & MICHAEL BECKER FOR FOX

oh my gosh! shocker elimination tonight on american idol! i was actually over at the popsugar / techcrunch party here in hollywood (which was a great time plus i ran into a number of people who i’ve been wanting to meet) when i heard the shocking news about hottie aussie rocker michael johns unfairly getting the boot! (he looked shocked along w/ everyone else…paula abdul of course was beside herself) this reminds of when chris daughtry got the boot (he went on to way bigger & better things) no worries about mr. johns – i am sure we’ll be hearing from him again at some point! i really thought it would be syesha mercado‘s time to leave – last week she covered whitney houston (big mistake) and then this week she tried to top previous idol winner fantasia which is a pretty impossible feat for anybody to attempt – she’s in danger for sure along with kristy lee cook – who keeps hanging on…ugh! (yet sadly she wasn’t even in the bottom three!) anyways i just need to say – woo hoo – tomorrow is friday! word is the temperature could hit 95 degrees this weekend in southern california – i’m so taking myself to the beach – in fact i just picked up a really cute swimsuit from paul frank! popbytes over & out for tonight…xxoo!

PHOTO CREDIT | FRANK MICELOTTA & MICHAEL BECKER FOR FOX