So who will win ‘Idol’? It’s simple, says Simon
We all know who won’t win this year’s “American Idol” — Jasmine Trias, who was voted off this week. But who will the winner be? Diana DeGarmo, according to smart-aleck judge Simon Cowell. He deems the 16-year-old singer the show’s “Seabiscuit” in a New York Times interview.
“I thought she was a stage-school brat when I first met her,” Cowell said. “But she’s quite a nice girl.”
As for the other finalist, Fantasia Barrino, he says: “There’s a hint of madness there, which is good.”
Cowell was not surprised by last week’s ouster of once-favored La Toya London. “She was very cold,” he said. “She could have been a robot for all the emotion or personality she put over.”
Then again, none of the contestants so far has exactly won him over.
“Could I sit there and listen to these kids sing in a concert? I couldn’t stay there for two minutes,” he said. “I couldn’t think of anything worse.”
Even a Clay Aiken concert? “Are you kidding?” Cowell said. “I wouldn’t last a minute.”
And she needs it to give two thumbs up
The anti-Simon — sweet-natured “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul — is reportedly planning to sue the nail salon that botched her manicure last month.
While she has been joking about the incident on recent “Idol” broadcasts, Abdul tells “Celebrity Justice” the hack job left her with a severe nail infection that became so serious she had to have her thumbnail surgically removed, and almost lost her entire thumb.
Welcome to the Opry, eh?
Country singer Terri Clark, who played Spokane’s Big Easy Concert House on Wednesday, will become the newest member of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry next month.
The 35-year-old received a surprise invitation during an Opry performance last Saturday. When inducted June 12, she’ll become the first female Canadian artist — and the third Canadian overall after Hank Snow and Stu Phillips — to join the venerable radio show.
You, too, can run for Mayer
Students at Pennsylvania’s Pennsbury High School had a surprise guest at their prom: singer John Mayer.
Mayer’s song “Your Body Is a Wonderland” had become sort of a theme for the senior class, which had been working on getting Mayer for the prom for two years. After author Michael Bamberger wrote about the quest in a book titled “Wonderland: The Story of a Prom,” Mayer’s publicist arranged for the surprise, three-song show.
“Go be amazing people, and I’ll see you again,” Mayer told the students at the end of his set.
A Lennon too low-key? Imagine that
Finally, another rock and roll romance bites the dust — this one the second-generation affair between Elizabeth Jagger (daughter of Rolling Stone Mick) and Sean Lennon (son of the late Beatle John).
An unnamed friend of Elizabeth’s tells the New York Daily News that 20-year-old model, who loves clubbing, thinks that the 28-year-old Sean is too quiet and too much a homebody for her.
Quoteworthy
Singer Michelle Branch, who won a Grammy for her collaboration with Carlos Santana, “The Game of Love,” on her immediate plans: “I’m probably going to collaborate with the swimming pool this summer.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Ron Isley (the Isley Brothers) is 63. Actor Richard Hatch (“Battlestar Galactica”) is 59. Singer Leo Sayer is 56. Comedian Al Franken is 53. Actor Mr. T is 52. Actor Judge Reinhold is 47. Actress Fairuza Balk is 30. Rapper Havoc (Mobb Deep) is 30. Actress Ashlie Brillault (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 17. Actress Sarah Ramos (“American Dreams”) is 13.