American Idol

Paul McCartney writes in support of Pussy Riot via Rickey.org Paul McCartney writes letters to Russian official in support of imprisoned Pussy Riot members MOSCOW (AP) — Beatles frontman Paul McCartney has asked a Russian judge to release members of the Pussy Riot punk group from prison. In letters dated Monday and posted online by the group’s supporters, McCartney asks for parole to be granted to Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, currently serving two-year sentences for an impromptu protest in Moscow’s main cathedral. McCartney wrote that he was making the request “in a spirit of friendship for my many Russian acquaintances who, like me, believe in treating people – all people, with compassion and kindness.” Alekhina went on hunger strike Wednesday in protest at not being allowed to attend her own parole hearing in Perm province. The judge in Mordovia province to whom McCartney addressed both letters denied Tolokonnikova parole last month. Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

Darius Rucker rides ‘Wagon Wheel’ to top of charts via Rickey.org A song with a story: Darius Rucker rides ‘Wagon Wheel’ to top of country music charts NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darius Rucker is a fan of Old Crow Medicine Show, but says he didn’t really get what was so infectious about the string band’s signature hit “Wagon Wheel” at first. Then he heard the faculty band at his daughter’s school play the song and it all started to open up for him. “I’m sitting there listening to it and I say to myself what I always say to myself, ‘I want to cut this song,’” Rucker said. “I say it all the time but I never end up cutting anything. But with this song it was, ‘All right, let’s try it.’ I didn’t know how big it was until after I cut it, until after it was a single. I didn’t know that every college student south of the Mason-Dixon Line in the last eight years knows this song. I had no idea. I thought it was just another Old Crow song until I recorded it and realized it wasn’t just another Old Crow song.” So far, Rucker’s version of “Wagon Wheel” is the most successful song of his country career. The cut from his third Nashville-recorded album, “True Believers,” out this week, has sold nearly 1.2 million copies and sat atop the country charts for three consecutive weeks earlier this year. It’s another interesting chapter in the history of a song that’s slowly working its way toward American classic status. Like “House of the Rising Sun” or “Good Night, Irene,” it’s now a pop song with a long back story that tantalizingly trickles out before you reach the wellspring. Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show first encountered the song when his friend and future bandmate Chris “Critter” Fuqua brought home a Bob Dylan bootleg from a trip to London that contained an outtake from the singer’s “Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid” soundtrack sessions called “Rock Me, Mama.” It wasn’t so much a song as a sketch, crudely recorded featuring most prominently a stomping boot, the candy-coated chorus and a mumbled verse that was hard to make out. Dylan didn’t claim authorship of the song. He cited Arthur Crudup’s “Rock Me, Mama,” but Crudup said he got the song from Big Bill Broonzy, who recorded it as “Rock Me Baby.” Broonzy didn’t claim ownership either and the trail dissolves there, lost to history. A few months after first hearing “Rock Me, Mama,” Secor was away from his native Virginia attending school in New Hampshire and feeling homesick for the South. He sat down and wrote a song about hitchhiking his way home full of romantic notions put in his head by the Beat poets and, most of all, Dylan. “I listened to Bob Dylan and nothing else,” Secor said. “Nothin’ but Bob for four years. It was like schooling. Every album and every outtake of every album and every live record I could get my hands on and every show I could go see live. I was a teenager who was really turned on to Bob.” The song was an early entry in the group’s catalog when it formed a few years later and was officially released twice, on an early EP and on its second album, 2004′s “O.C.M.S.” The song’s popularity grew with each live show as fans enthusiastically sang along with that catchy chorus and with each fan video posted on the Internet. In the-little-engine-that-could style it attained gold status in November 2011, seven years after it became available digitally. The story gets better. Over the next 13 months the song would go platinum as the band gained more popularity, thanks to years of hard work on the road, championed by Mumford & Sons and Rucker’s decision to cover “Wagon Wheel,” and has now up to 1.2

Newly found Pearl S. Buck book is to be published via Rickey.org Publisher releasing newly discovered novel by late Nobel-winner Pearl S. Buck in October PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A newly discovered novel by the late Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck is to be released this fall. New York-based Open Road Integrated Media says Buck wrote the novel, titled “The Eternal Wonder,” shortly before she died in 1973. The publisher says someone found the manuscript in storage in January. It will be published Oct. 22 in paperback and digital formats. The publisher announced the decision Wednesday, describing the book as the coming-of-age story of a gifted young man whose search for meaning leads him to New York, England, Paris and Korea. Buck’s novel “The Good Earth” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and helped earn her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. She raised seven adopted children and wrote many later works at her farm outside Philadelphia. Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

Mary J. Blige faces $3.4M federal tax lien in NJ via Rickey.org Mary J. Blige faces $3.4 million federal tax lien in NJ, says she’s trying to resolve quickly HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — Mary J. Blige and her husband have been hit with a $3.4 million tax lien in New Jersey. Court documents show the Internal Revenue Service filed a notice of a lien on the nine-time Grammy Award winner Feb. 7. That was two days before the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul was honored at a pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles. Blige and husband Martin Isaacs have a home in Cresskill, N.J., about 15 miles north of New York City. Court documents show as of the date of the IRS notice Blige owed more than $574,000 for the 2009 tax year, more than $2.2 million for 2010 and more than $647,000 for 2011. A Blige representative said Thursday she’s working “with her new team to resolve all these issues as quickly as possible.” Mary J. Blige faces $3.4M federal tax lien in NJ The Associated Press Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

CBS up, ‘Idol’ down as traditional TV season ends via Rickey.org ‘Idol’ upended as TV’s top show and CBS strengthens its lead as traditional TV season ends NEW YORK (AP) — CBS strengthened its dominance over the television industry this year at the same time that the unprecedented reign of “American Idol” came to a close. The traditional television season ended Wednesday. Though that marker is losing its meaning with more fresh programming airing during the summer, it’s still a good time to take stock on where the industry stands. For the 10th time in 11 years, CBS was the nation’s most-watched network, the Nielsen company said Thursday. CBS’ margin of victory was wider than any other network in 24 years and it won among 18-to-49-year-old viewers, a group coveted by advertisers, for the first time in 21 years. In prime time through May 19, CBS averaged 11.85 million viewers this season. ABC was its closest competitor, at a full 3 million viewers behind. Fox finished third and NBC was fourth, Nielsen said. The “American Idol” streak of nine years as the nation’s most popular television entertainment program ended this season. Its popularity had been sliding for the past few years — typical of most shows that have been on for a long time — but accelerated this year with a cast of judges that didn’t click and the emergence of NBC’s “The Voice” as a strong alternative. No other show in television history has come close to such sustained dominance. Three other programs have had four-year reigns as the top program in household ratings: the comedy “I Love Lucy” in the 1950s, the western “Gunsmoke” heading into the 1960s and “The Bill Cosby Show” in the 1980s, Nielsen said. The new No. 1 show depends on how you look at the ratings. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” telecast is technically the narrow winner, but many in TV say that a live sports telecast should not count in the rankings. The Tuesday night CBS drama “NCIS” is the top program otherwise, its first win. TV’s top comedy is “The Big Bang Theory” on CBS, averaging 15.6 million viewers per week. That’s up from 9.4 million viewers during the 2008-09 season, a testament to how the show has grown in popularity with the help of reruns that air frequently on TBS and elsewhere. The weakness of “American Idol” was the biggest factor in Fox’s viewership dropping 20 percent from last season. Both ABC and NBC were down 6 percent, with ABC’s drop slightly steeper among the youthful viewers that both networks aim for. CBS was up 1 percent, its ratings helped because this was the year it telecast the Super Bowl. CBS officials said they still would have won among 18-to-49-year-old viewers even with the Super Bowl counted out. That’s a particular point of pride for the network because their rivals often deride them for having the oldest audience in network TV. CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves had plenty to crow about last week when he appeared before advertisers to introduce the network’s fall schedule. “No matter how many times I tell our success story, I never get tired of it,” Moonves said. “It just gets better and better.” The network’s success breeds stability — 20 series were renewed for next season — and means only the very best of the new shows that it develops can find room on the schedule. That will make CBS hard to beat in the next few years, said Brad Adgate, an analyst for Horizon Media. To unseat the network, CBS would have to see its schedule falter and a rival will need some unusually fruitful years in development, like when ABC introduced “Lost,” ”Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy” in the same year. “I don’t see it happening in the foreseeable future,” Adgate sai

Modern Family – Just the Jokes – Goodnight Gracie via Rickey.org Here are “just the jokes” from Modern Family: “Goodnight Gracie” on ABC. Phil and Claire Sell Vacuums The Dunphys meet the woman Phil’s late grandmother wants her husband to date in the Season 4 finale episode, “Goodnight Gracie.” Just the Jokes 5/22 – Modern Family The family goes to Florida for a funeral and Mitchell defends Gloria in court in the Season 4 finale episode, “Goodnight Gracie.” The Latest on Modern Family Modern Family – Just the Jokes – Goodnight GracieModern Family – Just the Jokes – 5/16/2013Ratings: ‘Modern Family’ wins Wednesday – 5/16/2013Modern Family – Just the Jokes – My HeroRatings: ‘Modern Family’ beats ‘American Idol’ – 5/02/2013 All posts on Modern Family Follow me on Facebook! • Follow me on Google+ The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

Does Brad Pitt Suffer from Face Blindness? via Rickey.org Image: HD Wallpaper If this is true, it’s certainly interesting. Brad Pitt, in an interview with Esquire Magazine last week, revealed that he most likely suffers from a strange condition called prosopagnosia, more commonly referred to as Face Blindness. Meaning, he he extreme trouble recalling or placing the faces of many of those he crosses paths with. As Pitt put it: So many people hate me because they think I’m disrespecting them. So I swear to God, I took one year where I just said, this year, I’m just going to cop to it and say to people, ‘Okay, where did we meet?’ But it just got worse. People were more offended. Every now and then, someone will give me context, and I’ll say, ‘Thank you for helping me.’ But I piss more people off. You get this thing, like, ‘You’re being egotistical. You’re being conceited.’ But it’s a mystery to me, man. I can’t grasp a face and yet I come from such a design/aesthetic point of view. I am going to get it tested. Honestly, I have never read Brad Pitt to be an egotistical guy, even considering that he’s one of the biggest stars on the planet. He also seems very astute, leading me to believe that this could be a real condition plaguing him. According to research from Discovery, scientist have had their attention drawn to this “Face Blindness” as of late, coming to the conclusion that, in a way similar to a learning disability such as dyslexia, strange wiring in the brain can render one with this condition. In some extreme cases, people affected might not even recall their own face. In turn, it can also grant someone the reverse ability to hyper-recognize faces. It was very cool of Pitt to open up about this, in any case. The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

Daily Links – 5/23/2013 via Rickey.org Here’s Ke$ha drinking her own pee! (PopBytes) Now You See Morgan Freeman fall asleep during a live interview (Seriously OMG) Benedict Cumberbatch nude shower scene in ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ (Hypable) Parents Television Council Are Mad At Kesha For Drinking Her Own Pee (PopCrush) Brad Pitt Showed Up In New Jersey To Show Us ‘World War Z’ (ScreenCrush) Janet Jackson Is A Billionaire Now (StarCrush) The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

Dan Brown hounded for calling Manila ‘gates of hell’ via Rickey.org Manila officials hounding Dan Brown for calling city ‘gates of hell’ in latest novel MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Dan Brown’s description of Manila as “the gates of hell” in the American novelist’s latest book has not gone down well with officials in the Philippine capital. The book “Inferno,” which is being sold in the Philippines, includes a character who is visiting the city and taken aback by poverty, crime and the sex trade. The chairman of metropolitan Manila, Francis Tolentino, wrote an open letter to Brown on Thursday, saying that while “Inferno” is fiction, “we are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our beloved metropolis.” Tolentino objects to the “gates of hell” description, and to Manila being defined by what he calls terrible descriptions of poverty and pollution. He says the novel fails to acknowledge Filipinos’ good character and compassion. Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. Users may not download or reproduce a substantial portion of the AP material found on this web site. AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor

The X Factor UK brings back Sharon Osbourne, introduces new audition format via Rickey.org Credit: ITV The X Factor UK is introducing some interesting changes for its upcoming 10th season. Though the changes begin at the judging panel, they don’t end there. Former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne is officially returning to the show, alongside Take That singer Gary Barlow, US pop star Nicole Scherzinger and manager Louis Walsh. (I’m surprised they got Gary back. The cycle of news reports touting his desire to leave have been out there in the ether since midway into his first season) Award-winning host Dermot O’Leary is also confirmed to return for the 10th season. As for the competition itself, new changes are in store for the audition phase. For the first time ever, hopefuls will have to go through two sets of auditions. In the first audition, they will sing for the judges face-to-face in an audition room (a round not seen since the earliest seasons of The X Factor, when the audition phase was more reminiscent of the Idol franchise). If they receive three or more yeses, they will advance to the next audition round. In the classic X Factor audition phase, hopefuls will perform in an arena “to prove they can also impress an audience before securing a coveted place at the next stage in the competition.” Show creator Simon Cowell released a statement about Osbourne’s return to the long-running singing competition: “Three words I never thought I’d say…. Welcome back Sharon!” Meanwhile, Osbourne herself, who served as a consultant last season for Louis Walsh’s Groups category, spoke up about her return: “I couldn’t be happier about coming back for the 10th anniversary of X Factor. I can’t wait to give Gary Barlow a big hug, sit next to the gorgeous Nicole, and of course throw water on dear Louis. Yay!” Open calls for the auditions have already begun for the 10th season, and the judges will be joining the proceedings starting June 4th in Glasgow, before visiting Birmingham, Manchester, London and Cardiff. This will be followed by the second stage of judges’ arena auditions in July. Via: ITV Press Release The Voice • American Idol • The X Factor