The judges didn't vote him in. We, the people, did. Well, not me because I never did vote, but you know what I mean... So, them being "easy" on him had no bearing on the final outcome. And besides, I think Clay got his fair share of praise from the judges as well.

The issues related to image were not directed towards Ruben as they were to Clay, Josh, Kimberly Locke, Vanessa Oliverez, Frenchie (not a finalist but it illustrates my point), etc.

In the end, I guess it kind of nice to see a black man other than Jayson Blair getting national attention this week.

You are correct the judges did not vote. I have no issue with the win. I have a larger issue with the way many of the contestants were treated by the judges.

Ohhhh, see I forgot about them! Simon sure did get on my girl Kim :mad:

Oh Yeah
 

Did anyone esle check out the previews for the kids version of American Idol? The parents had me CTFU with their comments!

The only reason I'd probably watch is to see the parents cut up on national television...:D

I'm so happy for Ruben!!! Yay for the brotha!:D

AI C-O-N-Spiracy
 

http://www.wral.com/news/2223119/detail.html

http://www.heraldsun.com/evergreen/93-355203.html

Re: AI C-O-N-Spiracy
 

From the WRAL article:
"Lisa Smithdeal claims she tried to call 301 times."



:rolleyes: Who in the world would try to call 301 times?!?! As a matter of fact, who would sit up and count how many times they called? If I couldn't get through after 10 times, I would've given up!!:p

But anyway.........
GO RUBEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

If I try to call CT4 at the same time 2D is calling her, one of us is going to get a busy signal, right? So, imagine 50 million people dialing the same number at the same time. What did they expect would happen? I tried also, but the lines were busy. It's over now, but you know this is going to carry over for a while.

It was harder to get into Clay's than Rueben's, but still, like I said, I'm glad the chit is over. Way to racial:(


And I know we are happy that "our" person got the A.I. prize, but don't you find it funny that Clay and Rueben's single's are releasing on the EXACT same day? Did they do that last year for Justin?


Read between the lines y'all!:D ;)



QTE

I peeped that. HECK, their CDs will be released before 9 of last year's top ten. :confused: :eek: :rolleyes:

And Clive's response was "Clay's fans shouldn't have to wait"

Well chit Justin HAD fans and now it's been so long nobody really cares. I'll be shocked if he goes Gold.


Oh, and Kelly that night looked a HOT MESS. She den put on some

Simon Not Returning Next Year for AI 3 :(


How come they can't get rid of Randy "Dawg" Jackson and Ryan "I'm Too Sexy" Seacrest?:mad:

Wow Simon is the show and that's real. I thought he was executive producer or something like that. If they pay him enough, he'll come back.


QTE

Misdials May Have Cost Clay 'Idol' Title
1 hour, 19 minutes ago


EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Maybe Clay would have beaten Ruben on "American Idol" if viewers could dial the right number.

Cinergy Communications, a telecommunications company in Evansville, Ind., handled more than 240,000 misdialed calls during the three-hour voting period for "American Idol" last week. Cinergy's residential marketing manager, Joey Randolph, said they took more than 169,000 calls for Clay and 72,000 for Ruben. Just 130,000 votes separated Clay and Ruben out of 24 million votes cast.

Randolph speculated the problem is that older phones don't have the letter Q on it, while newer phones have "P-Q-R-S" over the 7, which some people may have thought was the letter O. The "American Idol" numbers were (866) IDOLS01 or (866) IDOLS02. **coughbullthsicough**


So does Clay really deserve the title? A Fox spokesman says Fox can't be responsible for people who dial the wrong number.

I'm sorry but I am not buying this wrong number BS. Would the same thing be happening if CLAY had won? I don't think so.

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard has signed with legendary producer Clive Davis' J Records label on the heels of his victory in the talent-search series.

Runner-up Clay Aiken, meanwhile, has signed with RCA Records, home to the first "Idol" winner, Kelly Clarkson. Both J and RCA are part of the RCA Music Group, which has exclusive rights to sign the show's finalists.

Davis will executive produce Studdard's full-length album, which is scheduled for a September release, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Simon Fuller, the one-time Spice Girls manager who created the "Idol" concept, will be a consultant on the album.

Singles from both singers will hit stores in coming weeks. They won't be released simultaneously, as judge Simon Cowell announced in Wednesday's (May 21) finale of "American Idol," but rather in consecutive weeks.

Studdard's single, "Flying Without Wings," will drop Tuesday, June 3. Aiken's song arrives a week later. The Reporter says the song will be "This Is the Night," although Aiken said on CBS' "Early Show" Friday that it would be his version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Definately should be interesting to see the difference between sales of the two.

For only $9.99...
 

http://store6.yimg.com/I/achdirective_1743_1196021

...you, too can wear this exclusive item!

No,... Seriously!

I was reading the Enquirer last night(don't sleep on the Enquirer, they get a lot of stuff first!) and they were talking about how Rueben's favorite mothers day gift was Delta Sigma Theta items, I was all cheesin!:D

They also had some kind of thing about Clay sending e-mails to friends and family about how rigged the show is. It's rumored in the e-mails he said that NOBODY liked K-Lo as much as they let on and that she was really a witch*puts on armor when CT4 reads this* and they were happy she was voted off. They also said that Clay said the show was very much scripted on what they say as well. Dunno about all that but just reporting my A.I. 411 for the day, lol


QTE

Big Chill you have me speechless:eek:

*walks away from this thread before some words come outta my mouth*:mad: :mad: :mad:

The wrong number issue came up last year also - but guess what? if you are too STUPID to not dial the correct number then your vote shouldn't count. Right next to 1866IDOLS they wrote it out - 1866 436 57XX. When you dialed and heard - "you have reached XYZ" and there is no reference to American Idol or "thank you for voting" why would you keep dialing the number???

If that's the case I have a couple of Mega Million tickets that are off by ONE number....

Interesting POV on the whole AI process
 

FOXLife column from FoxNews.com
(Yes, I'm aware that Fox News isn't necessarily the favorite news source around here, but this is an interesting column nonetheless.)


Tuesday, May 27, 2003
By Roger Friedman

I'm sorry I'm so late to the AI craze, but I did catch Cowell giving interviews last week to the effect that he "didn't know what he'd be doing" about a third season of this freeze dried, shrink wrapped phenomenon.

Let me tell you right now, lest anyone worry: Simon will be back. How do I know this? He's a part owner of the show!

Just three weeks ago a little-seen press release was issued by the very tony, white-shoe Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr. To whit: they advised Bertelsmann Music Group UK on its "acquisition of Simon Cowell's 50 percent stake in Ronagold Limited, their joint venture record company." Ronagold had been set up in 2000 so Cowell and BMG could put out records by their original UK Pop Idol stars Will Young and Gareth Gates.

Cowell, thanks to the firm, also set up a new company through BMG called SimCow, for new music, TV and film ventures. Of course, Cowell is still partnered in Simon Fuller's firm, 19 Entertainment and 19 Management, which controls all things American Idol. And I mean, all things.

All this stuff about people winning million-dollar recording contracts, competing for record contracts, etc? It's utter nonsense. All the contestants on American Idol are contracted to BMG Music Worldwide and 19 Entertainment when they sign on to the show. BMG has the right to exercise that option whenever they want.

Indeed, American Idol contestants sign an agreement with 19 Entertainment at the outset that limits them from taking outside offers. To date, Cowell has Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini, Tamyra Gray, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, and even bounced participant Frenchie Davis all signed up for management and recording deals.
(emphasis added)

Simon himself conceded as much in one interview earlier this year. "I own the recording rights -- the winners and other contestants sign with my label," he told the Copley News Service back in February.

It was only last January when I reported in this space that Cowell was dining with BMG's Clive Davis and songwriter Diane Warren at Spago in Beverly Hills to discuss songs for American Idol season one singer Tamyra Gray's album. Warren has a song on Clarkson's album and will more than likely be included on the others'.

Cowell has been a longtime executive at BMG in England, in charge of finding teen pop stuff and merchandising it. He is personally responsible for an artificially mandated teen group and TV show called S Club 7. (The S stands for Simon.) His partner outside of BMG, Simon Fuller, signs the American Idol stars to management contracts at the same time that Cowell is signing them to his own boutique label at BMG in the United Kingdom or, now, to BMG's American labels RCA and J in the United States.

Cowell and Fuller produce the American Idol TV show, manage the singers they like from the crop that makes it to the winner's circle, and sign them to label deals at Cowell's company. It's unlikely with all that convergence that Cowell would miss being on the air during a season of AI.

Cowell and Fuller, meantime, make sure that the songs recorded by their American Idol stars are foolproof fluff.

Take the writers of Kelly's album tracks. They are all from the factory school of junk pop -- sort of the Hallmark card version of songwriting: Diane Warren, Desmond Child, etc. The idea is to be bland, bland, bland. Since there is no jingle writing anymore for commercials, this is what's replaced it.

The authors of two Kelly songs, Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken, according to one database, have authored an astounding 388 titles. Only three of those, however, are partially known as hits -- two for Donny Osmond and one for 'N Sync. Not exactly cutting edge, but that's not what's needed for the likes of the American Idol singers.

They need wholesome hits that can win them teen fans and the approval of parents who control their disposable income. Think The Archies ("Sugar Sugar"), The Partridge Family. Debbie Gibson. Tiffany.

Guarini, on the other hand, will lean more toward cover versions of old hits on his album. One of them will be the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody," written by Hy Zaret and Alex North in 1955. (And not by Guarini, as some fan Web sites claim.) In England, Cowell and Fuller had a hit on that song with their British Pop Idol star Gareth Gates.

Justin Guarini's mom, Cathy, a former TV news anchor, told me yesterday: "Justin just got home on Friday night. And on Saturday morning Federal Express delivered his album. It's got a little of everything on it, even some Latin type songs."

As for the movie, From Justin to Kelly, which 20th Century Fox will release three days after Justin's album hits stores: "It's a summer movie for the kids, that's all it is. It's a lot of fun."

The movie is executive produced by Simon Fuller and written (such as it is) by his brother, Kim Fuller. Kim, who also wrote the script for the Spice Girls' movie Spice World, is listed as the co-author of the movie's title track, a song called "From Me to You," which has no relation whatsoever to the famous Beatles song.

I don't think this is true. I read on TWoP (they cite the original source on there) that the three of the finalists were actually very close.

Rueben won.....get over it!!!!
 

Someone wrote into the opinion section of my local paper complaining about how Rueben won because the voting was rigged, since he was unable to get through to vote for Clay. :rolleyes:

Gees its just AI! :mad: I feel like this is left over anger from the OJ trial.

Re: Rueben won.....get over it!!!!
 

YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!*claps*


QTE

In the words of an En Vouge song: "Give it up, turn it loose!!" Ruben is the American Idol, he and Clay will have their singles released on the same day, Clay has a recording contract too, so it's not like he's slinking off into obscurity, so for those of you who are whining and such about the votes being rigged, I couldn't get through, I was too dumb to dial the right number, etc.: SHUT UP!!!!! I couldn't get through either!! Did you really expect to get through when you had millions upon millions of people all trying to call at one time!!!

It's just a reality TV show!!!! Some people acting like THEY were the ones on the show. Sheesh.....:eek:

I agree 100%...

On Broadway, Frenchie Finds A Perfect Fit
Plus-Size 'Idol' Contestant Takes Off in 'Rent'


http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-d...2775-2003Jun06
Davis recalls a time when "the cops were locking us out of our apartment. We were being evicted." Now, she's in "Rent" on Broadway. (Helayne Seidman - For The Washington Post)

By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 6, 2003; Page C01


NEW YORK

The curtain is about to come down on Act 1. Voices are soaring. Hips are shaking. Hair is flying. It's "Rent," the long-running Broadway show, and the singers and dancers are at highest rev, pumping out pure musical theater. They're climbing up on a platform, belting "La Vie Boheme," and Franchelle "Frenchie" Davis, the allegedly humiliated "American Idol" contestant booted off the TV show in February, is blasting away with that famously rich voice.

This is the part Davis, 24, loves most. Sure, that roof-raising solo she'll do in a few minutes will feel great, too. But this moment of highest ensemble energy feels best. It's just like that "Hot Lunch" scene from the movie "Fame," the scene that made her know, really know, back when she was a kid in Los Angeles, that she had to be a performer someday.

She hoists herself onto that platform and dances right along with the rest of the cast. She's made it, really got here, to Broadway, despite the obvious odds.

"I'm sure people's mouths dropped when they saw me hop up on that table," she laughs later. She is, after all, a large girl. Not that she apologizes for it or anything like that. She's quite comfortable in her own skin.

At Angus, a theater district eatery, where she's wearing a low-cut blouse and pants that reveal her thong, she gracefully stands up from the table and runs her hands down her torso and hips.

"Honey, do you not see my hourglass? Do you not see I'm proportionately big? Honey, where am I hanging? What is there to struggle with? Everybody's not supposed to be this big." She holds up her pinkie finger. "I'm a 36KK. I'm supposed to have curves. No one decides for me whether I'm beautiful.

"While being thin may be equated with being beautiful, no one who's around me for more than five minutes can walk away not feeling my sexiness and my beauty. No one. No one."

It's the bravado, the confidence, the audacity of a diva. She's not totally comfortable with that word, though she does describe herself as "a star." The producers of "Rent" think so, too.

So forget those headlines you may have read. ("Frenchie's Fried," a New York tabloid blared. "Frenchie's Toast," hollered another.)

That was back in February, when the TV mini-scandal of the moment was Davis's seeming fall from grace. She no longer seemed "Idol" material, after the show's producers learned she'd modeled for an "adult" Web site four years earlier. She didn't try to hide it; had put it right on her "Idol" questionnaire. It was all misunderstood, she says.

But you know what? None of it seems to have mattered, at least not in the negative sense. With her May 16 debut on Broadway, it would seem Davis is not a woman undone so easily. On the road to stardom, "Idol" was a mere bump.

"I was disappointed, but life goes on," says the Howard University theater student on leave for her Broadway gig. "I know how to dust myself off and keep it movin'," she says. " 'Idol' wasn't my first time going through tough times."

Davis is more than a bit defensive about the Web site controversy, about whether she posed for porn. She is annoyed that she is being asked yet again to explain just what she did. She is annoyed, still, that other "Idol" contestants with controversies in their background were not booted from the show as she was. What about the former stripper?

The Web site at the center of Davis's controversy was "adult, not pornographic," she virtually hisses.

"Posing in lingerie for men who like big boobs is not pornographic. And it was out of desperation. At the time, even though my parents are both educated, we struggled a lot financially. At the time, my mom was not in a financial position to assist me and I couldn't afford to pay all of my tuition, even with financial aid. I was, like, $10,000 in the hole. They had kicked me out of the dorms. I was homeless. I had nowhere to go. I was staying with friends, going from place to place. And that's when I got the job at the Web site."

"It was not topless. And the other thing that's been falsely reported is that it was geared toward men who were interested in underage girls. None of the girls who worked at the Web site when I worked there were under the age of 18, nor did we promote ourselves as such. That's just the truth. And I only worked at the Web site for about three months, and then a few months after I stopped working there, someone else purchased the Web site and turned it into whatever the hell it is now."

It's been reported as a site named Daddy's Little Girls. At least now, it's porn for sure. But Davis refuses to identify the site. "I'm not promoting that [expletive]," she says.

Jeffrey Seller, a producer of "Rent," said the porn controversy was "a non-issue. Hogwash. Not interested."

"Rent" is ecstatic to have her. Seller actually went after her when he learned she was free.

"Call Frenchie! Call Frenchie!" members of the show's marketing team kept saying, Seller recalls. So they called her and heard her "and of course she delighted our musical director," Seller says.

"Frenchie is exactly the type of young person we're always looking for. This was perfect casting."

Though she is part of the ensemble and not a star of the show, she does the solo for the song that has become the "Rent" anthem, "Seasons of Love." Ticket sales went up by 20 percent after the show signed her, Seller says. Davis says she can relate to the show in so many personal ways, including one of its lead characters, Angel, a cross-dresser. Having performed in drag clubs in the District ("I would be the only real girl"), she learned from the drag queens about "being sassy and standing up for yourself and being proud of who you are."

And she's seen friends die from AIDS and struggle with drug abuse, two other themes of the show, whose plot centers on some young artists facing eviction and trying to figure out how to pay the rent on their Lower East Side apartment.

"I remember being 9 years old and coming home from school with my sister and brother, and the cops were locking us out of our apartment. We were getting evicted."

That's what she means when she says "Idol" wasn't her first tough time.

She is the oldest of six children of parents who are also Howard alums. Born in the District, she was reared in South Los Angeles, where she nurtured her theater dreams. She got picked on at school, she says, for being large and theatrical and just different. And she suffered through her parents' divorce when she was 13, which has left her vowing to stay single.

Howard seemed a natural choice for college, she says, not just because her parents went there but because of its long tradition of producing stars. Ruby Dee. Debbie Allen. Jessye Norman. Roberta Flack.

During summers, she traveled to Germany to perform in "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Jesus Christ Superstar." She enjoyed working there, said it felt welcoming, and wouldn't mind working there again.

"And they love girls with meat on their bones," she laughs.

I just got Ruben's CD today!! It's great!!!:D As I was paying for my CD at the record store, the clerk was like, "We have Clay's single, too!!" I gave her this "do I look stupid?" look b/c Clay's CD was in this big display at the counter THAT YOU COULD NOT MISS while on the other hand if I wasn't really looking HARD for Ruben's single I would not have found it. Can we say hidden racism, boys and girls?? :mad:

The same goes here in NY. Clay's CD is openly displayed while you have to ask the sales person where Reuben's CD is.

Is the Reuben CD a full length CD or is it just a single?

It's just a single. Ruben's full album comes out in August, although that might not be true.

Amerikkka ain't ready for Ruben!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

Any news on KLo???

You know that's a dang on shame.........Why won't they just give bruh man his props...........:rolleyes: :mad:

I was just at MEDIA PLAY in CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA down the street from where CLAY attends school and walked in and saw RUBEN right up front and Clay was beside him.


Y'all feel better now? :rolleyes: :p

I got my copy of Clay's from a friend and she said that both Clay's and Ruben's were on display front and center. Poor Justin Guarini... not that I EVER liked the kid, but his album debut is being totally overshadowed by Clay and Ruben. I wonder if his cd is even on DISPLAY?!

All three of them are on Oprah in a few minutes.... should be an interesting mix. I bet Guarini will be completely out of place.

Wow, I have NO idea how I stumbled into this thread... but I just realized that I posted it on the Delta Sigma Theta board! I'm completely out of place! Sorry guys, didn't mean to intrude! I honestly have NO idea how I ended up here?

ANYONE is welcome to post in this forum. :)

Thanks for the update about Oprah.

At Media Play today, the woman in front of me bought Justin, Ruben and Clay -- LOL.