Paula Abdul

Ten Potential X-Factor Replacement Judges

The list of former judges on FOX's The X-Factor reads like the attendance list at a Passages Malibu: Addiction Cure Center for celebrities obsessed with proving their talent (Nicole Scherzinger, 2011 and Demi Lovato, 2012), relevancy (Cheryl Cole, 2011 and LA. Reid, 2011-12), sanity (Britney Spears, ... More >>

Pazz & Jop: The Comments

Buzz Off, Rihanna, Flo Rida, and Ke$ha! Here's Why I Hate Music!

If I sang this column onstage, you would make a shitty phone video of it

Nine Poppy Picks From ?uestlove's Non-Rap Productions

?uestlove's stock is at an all-time high. His stint as house band-leader on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon was recently complimented by a profile in The New Yorker; you might even peep his face on subway billboards around the city as he clocks up his Sonos endorsement money. Tonight he'll be spinning ... More >>

Judy Tenuta Asks Me For Help With Her Sex Tape!

Hilarious love goddess Judy Tenuta has signed a big deal for Vegas, plus she has a new book out and two movies. She paused to crack me up about all of it the other day, with a zingy phone call from La La Land. Hi, Judy. Tell me about your book, Full Frontal Tenudity. It's like three books in one ... More >>

Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" Is The Ultimate Anti-Jam Of The Summer

This month, to celebrate the Internet's unbridled love for wallowing in nostalgia and even greater relishing of talking about why certain cultural artifacts are horrible, Sound of the City presents First Worsts, a series in which our writers remember the first time... they ever hated a song enough t ... More >>

100 & Single: LMFAO's Pair Of Chart-Toppers Suggest Stardom, Guarantee Nothing

​The national star-making machinery only begins to take you seriously when you command the field more than once. Just like, say, GOP presidential candidates, pop acts can't chart one strong number and assume dominance is permanently theirs. They've got to come back on top, week after week, sur ... More >>

This Week in the Voice: Kathy Griffin, Rick Perry's Fantasy Texas

​This week in the Voice, out today: Jim Schutze analyzes the economy of Rick Perry's Texas. It's definitely not the small government, super-low-tax fantasyland Perry would like you to think it is. Michael Musto and Kathy Griffin talk Tourette's and Paula Abdul. Harry Siegel details a possib ... More >>

Kathy Griffin On Pizza With Cher And Showdowns With Abdul And Bachmann!

​Chatty Kathy Griffin just called to tell me about the time she confronted Michele Bachmann on an escalator at an official government dinner. You'll spit out your Jamba juice when you hear the result. It's in this week's column, a zingy and hilarious chat with caustic Kathy, who also tells m ... More >>

Live: J. Cole Takes Control Of His World At Roseland

J. Cole Roseland Ballroom Sunday, September 25 Better than: Rolling your pennies for a rainy day. A dollar bill doesn't go very far in this city, but last night it bought a ticket to see J. Cole come into his own. A Dollar & A Dream, dubbed in honor of the rapper's three songs of the same name, w ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Reality TV Propels Aging Stars Back Into The Top 40

​ When I heard that Jennifer Lopez was leveraging her new position as an American Idol judge to launch her new single, premiering the video for "On The Floor" on one episode and performing the song on another, I rolled my eyes at what I thought was her hubris. It'd been less than two years sin ... More >>

Levi Aron Suspected in Murder of Brooklyn Boy Leiby Kletzky; Facebook Page Asks, 'Is Your Family Safe?'

​Levi Aron has been named as the suspect, not yet charged, in the brutal murder of Leiby Kletzky, the Brooklyn boy missing since Monday who was found chopped up in a suitcase, left in a Dumpster in Park Slope. It has also been reported that some of the boy's remains were found in Aron's refrig ... More >>

Dispatch From The X Factor Auditions: Makeovers, Preening, And Missing The Machine

​In Seattle on Wednesday, The X Factor was doing its damndest not to be American Idol. Producers had overseen the first round of auditions, and now, in front of an audience of 4,000, the few acts who had passed muster would perform for judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid, and Nicole Sc ... More >>

It's Fathers' Day; Obama and Boehner Golf Together; Four Die in Montauk-Bound Cessna

via AP​Today is Father's Day! Call your Dad and grill something. Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner had a friendly lil' round of golf yesterday with Joe Biden and Ohio Governor John Kasich, and it fixed America. [The Atlantic Wire / Politico] A Manhattan family died yesterday in a ... More >>

American Idol, Season 10: Not Heartwarming-Sad, Just Sad-Sad

Beware of this dude's absolutely appalling sincere faces. Photo by Michael Becker/FOX.​Tonight, we see the new American Idol judging cadre venture to Milwaukee, I place I don't consider a real city because I can't name any rappers from there. (Bon Iver doesn't count.) We open with Steven Tyler ... More >>

American Idol Season 10: Steven Tyler's Sexy-Grandpa Thing Has Got To Stop

Guess which one of these people needs to stop kicking game to 16-year-olds. Credit: Michael Becker/FOX.​Woof. Oh boy. Here we go. Welcome to American Idol's post-overhaul end-times. This is what happens when the only interesting people on America's highest-rated TV show decide that they've ha ... More >>

American Idol Dish about Kara vs. Ellen

​Turns out the competition on that show isn't always just between the contestants. According to a new book called American Idol: The Untold Story by Richard Rushfield, judges Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres had a bit of a battle going down. Says the author:

Thoughts on The American Idol Judges Shakeup

​ *Kara DioGuardi lacked the spark and unpredictability of Paula Abdul. You never felt she might nod off in the middle of the show--and that was a problem. *Ellen DeGerenes seemed similarly awkward about doling out singing advice--plus she knew less than Kara, since her only musical credit is ... More >>

American Idol Season 9, Lennon/McCartney Week: A List of the Remaining Contestants and Their X-Men Equivalents

Andrew Garcia: cornball bubblefunk. Photo by Michael Becker / FOX​First things first: Two hours? To hear nine people sing for a minute and a half each? That is some ridiculous shit. Is FOX that starved for programming? They couldn't have lopped off like half an hour and run an old episode of P ... More >>

American Idol Season 9, Top 8 Guys: Michael Lynche Redeems His Own Bad Parenting; Tim Urban Hits the Suburbs

Kidnap that fool--Tim Urban. Photo by Frank Micelotta/ FOX. ​Such a weird night on Idol. There's still plenty of dogshit left on the men's side of the competition, and maybe even worse, there are plenty of people who haven't yet decided if they're going to be dogshit or not. And the night got ... More >>

American Idol Season 9: Ellen Degeneres Makes Hollywood Week Slightly Bearable

Michael Becker / FOXHollywood Week​We're almost in real-time now--the Hollywood round began taping only a few weeks ago. That gives the show a slightly fresher cred; for instance, contestants are now singing "Bad Romance" instead of "Poker Face." And what's more of-the-times than placing a mar ... More >>

STRAIGHT-UP WEIRD

Theater's most off-beat talents have a big night

Daniel Craig at a New York Gay Club!

​Yes, he most surely was, as reported in this week's column [CLICK HERE], which is more packed with good stuff than a circuit queen's butt at the Black Party. Read this invigorating opus and you will also learn about:

Daniel Craig at a Gay Club!

Fashion Week, Idol chatter, a gesture toward Liza. By Michael Musto

Ellen Replaces Paula Abdul on Idol

​So they ignored all our suggestions--LaToya Jackson, Abe Vigoda, and so on--and went with Ellen DeGeneres to fill in the woozy dormouse slot on the American Idol panel, formerly occupied by "Straight Up" star Paula Abdul and her morphine patch scar. But I think this is a good thing! Ellen wi ... More >>

News Roundup: Girls Album Listening Party, Music at Fashion's Night Out, Ellen DeGeneres Takes American Idol, Lee Ranaldo's Broken Wrist

​--If you somehow haven't heard Album, the sublime glazed-over debut by San Francisco's Girls, Impose and Insound are holding a listening party for the record--and for fellow Matador signees Times New Viking's Born Again Revisited--at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg next Wednesday, September 16th. ... More >>

Do We Want Paula Abdul Back on Idol?

Remember when Simon Cowell assured everyone that Paula Abdul would be back as a judge for another season? Well, maybe not this time around. Reports have had it that contract negotiations with Paula have been "hurtful" (Meaning what? Lots of slappping and hair pulling?). Supposedly, the "Straight Up" ... More >>

American Idol's Top 7 Do Disco Week; Status Ain't Hood Rides Again

It's me, bitches! So much to talk about with Idol this year. For one thing, it looks for all the world like this season's winner will be an openly and obviously gay dude, which feels like a transformative Obama moment in the show's history even if a closeted but obviously gay dude almost won seas ... More >>

American Idol Top 7 Results Again: The Live-Blog

Ray Mickshaw / FOX Earth Day green power. Disco medley. David Archuleta. And two eliminations (can one of them please be Danny Gokey?). This is what we have to look forward to over the next hour.

Palin Named Most Desirable Celebrity Neighbor

We can never get enough Sarah Palin, so we're pleased to announce that in a poll conducted by real estate company Zillow, the governor of Alaska has been named America's Most Desirable Celebrity Neighbor. She took 14 percent of the vote, with Oprah Winfrey a point behind. Oprah outpolled Palin a ... More >>

Shelved in fiction: 'Henry Paulson and the Toxic Assets'

American Idol Week Ten: The Fix is In?

American Idol Week Three: "Hallelujah" and Bullshit

American Idol Week One: Sucking So Far

Tom Petty's Super Bowl Halftime Show: Thoroughly OK

The Pied Piper's TV Party

Marveling at the eloquent insanity of the Dirty Projectors' new Black Flag tribute

Can You Top This?

Unrelated: the city's sex life bottoms out; Hillary's gal Friday; Dean among the Queens

The American Idol Finale: A Running Diary

Idol Gives Back: A Running Diary

Billie in a Bottle

On Xtina's noble but knuckleheaded plea for diva greatness

A Hot Little Weirdo

Spunky, brainy Colombian sexpot rides her bicycle down the cobblestone street of your mind

NY Mirror

Why the King of Pop Will Moonwalk

Musto skips jury duty and judges the Michael Jackson trial

Woodwork Squeaks Again

Back from extinction, eccentrics walk dinosaur once more

Lip Stink

A brief history of the ultimate pop faux pas

NY Mirror

NY Mirror

Rough Trade

Little Johnny and Big-Biz Music Duke It Out Over Peer-to-Peer Software

Salaam

Lighten Up the Joint

Paula Abdul, the Little Engine That Could, Rolls Into Manhattan With a Hollywood Musical