American Idol

X Factor slated to host open auditions at the Denver Coliseum on Tuesday, May 14

Alert your darling niece, the one whose mom just insists she's the next Christina Aguilera, that stardom awaits. X Factor auditions are being held at the Denver Coliseum; wristbands will be issued on Sunday, May 12, at 8 a.m. and auditions are slated for Tuesday, May 14. Unlike the first season, whe ... More >>

Chartbreaker: John Mayer's new album, Born and Raised, takes the top spot this week

John Mayer knocks Adam Lambert from the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart this week as Mayer's new record, Born And Raised, lands at number one. Lambert's Trespassing, meanwhile, drops all the way to number twelve. Born And Raised is Mayer's third number-one album, joining 2003's Heavier Things ... More >>

Chartbreaker: In a clash of Idols, Adam Lambert unseats Carrie Underwood with Trespassing

It's a big week for American Idol this week. Besides the crowning of the season 11 winner, Phillip Phillips, the singing talent show sees another of its alums rise to the top of the Billboard 200 chart. The first time in chart history, one Idol is succeeded by another, as Adam Lambert's Trespassi ... More >>

If Britney Spears accepts X Factor job, she could still learn a sexy thing or two from Christina

This time last year, the most contagious pop trend was working with Pitbull, and what a bandwagon trend that was. As much as we're glad the Pitbull days are over, we're not too hot for this new thing, either. And this new thing, somewhat strangely, is serving as a judge for a televised singing compe ... More >>

American Idol recap: Whoa! Colton Dixon is sent home after a surprise elimination

And just like that, America got it wrong. On last night's results round of American Idol, one of the stronger, consistent contenders, Colton Dixon, was eliminated after two solid performances on Wednesday night. Apparently, fans didn't like his take on Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" or Earth Wind & Fire ... More >>

Top 7 goes Gaga, and Jessica Sanchez is still around, but probably won't be past tonight

Last night's episode of American Idol saw the Top 7 tackle a new set of songs -- one produced between now and the turn of the century and one school classic. Some performances worked, some didn't, but there was certainly a lot of Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys for one episode.

American Idol Top 9: Stevie Nicks helped make this season a competition again

Kudos to Stevie Nicks, this week's guest mentor on American Idol. Last night, she helped turn a two-person race into anyone's game, as all song choices were spot-on --- songs by contestants' personal idols -- and for the first time since this season began, every single contestant brought out their b ... More >>

American Idol Top 10: Erika Van Pelt and Lana Del Rey underperform

In the past two weeks, American Idol has eliminated two of its weaker contestants, Shannon Magrane last week and Erika Van Pelt last night. While we're sad to see them go (kind of), what we'd really like to see eliminated is the strange choice of music themes from week to week. A Billy Joel week(rea ... More >>

American Idol: Jeremy Rosado goes home, Top 12 move on

So there you have it. As of last night's elimination round, American Idol is now down to the Top 12, and the person sent home quite frankly deserved to go. Good job, America. The top thirteen opened the show with Stevie Wonder's "As." For a group number, it was nothing special, but the inspired, ye ... More >>

American Idol Top 12: Jessica Sanchez makes Whitney Houston proud

Last night's episode of American Idol wasn't nearly as awkward as we had anticipated. With the ladies required to perform songs from the late Whitney Houston's catalog (and the men required to do Stevie Wonder), we expected there to be more sensitivity surrounding the singer and her recent passing. ... More >>

Magic Cyclops dishes on his American Idol tryouts

American Idol Live Show: Two women sing Adele, only one truly shines

Over two days of competition, three American Idol contestants took on Adele -- Eben Franckewitz, Elise Testone and Jen Hirsh. Adele's not easy to sing, as Franckewitz proved two nights ago, but the ladies brought the vocal power last night to do the British soulstress justice. Testone's take on "On ... More >>

Meet Su Charles, the latest American Idol hopeful from Denver

Denver, meet Su Charles (aka SuCh), the latest American Idol hopeful from our city. Aside from having an exceptional voice, Charles has quite an inspiring story. The child of Haitian immigrants, Charles was born in Boston to a pastor and a school teacher. Raised in Long Island, New York, Charles beg ... More >>

Magic Cyclops, American Idol nopeful, extends his nationwide notoriety

​Ah, yes, Magic Cyclops: To know him is to love him. The Quad City Madman (not really, you swag-jacking morning show mooks in Davenport -- he's all ours) has successfully turned a fleeting American Idol cameo into catapult to fame and fortune. Er, maybe just fame. The fortune part is still elu ... More >>

Mercury Sauce showcasing top local R&B talent this Saturday

Fox.comCatch Julie Zorilla along with Amanda Hawkins and Devan Blake Jones this Saturday night at the Walnut Room for the Mercury Sauce showcase ​Three of the city's hottest R&B singers, Amanda Hawkins, Devan Blake Jones and American Idol alumnus Julie Zorilla, are performing together on one b ... More >>

American Idol's Lilly Scott now has to "turn those forty-something moms into Larimer Lounge bar-goers"

Brad Paisley hits the Pepsi Center on January 21 with the Band Perry and Scotty McCrerry

​Just in time for the annual National Western Stock Show, which will be wrapping up around then, Brad Paisley is slated to return to the Mile High City with the Band Perry and freshly minted American Idol winner Scotty McCreery. Tickets for this stop of the Camobunga Tour (don't ask -- we have ... More >>

10 first videos on MTV to mark 30th birthday: Bet you forgot how terrible they were (VIDEOS)

Videos below.​MTV debuted thirty years ago -- and I was there. The cable system in my conservative hometown of Grand Junction began airing the net on day one -- and my friends and I were instant converts. We used the wall-to-wall music clips as near-constant background media even though many, ... More >>

Iggy Pop is no more dangerous than a baby seal these days

American Idol: Julie Zorrilla's performance underwhelming on "Girls' Night"

​Don't know if you happened to catch Idol last night. If you didn't, you missed "Girls' Night" in which all of the top twelve ladies had a chance to perform individually. Despite being early boosters of Julie Zorrilla, if we're being honest here, we have to say it just wasn't a good look for h ... More >>

Denver's Next Improv Star starts a cootie epidemic, blows up a Scottish child

​Improv is based on inclusiveness; competition implies exclusivity. It's pretty safe to assume, then, that the two can't mix, isn't it? It is not. Bovine Metropolis successfully combines the uncombinable in Denver's Next Improv Star, a competition that aims to find the city's funniest improvi ... More >>

How poop is smarter than Jesus: Google Reading Level ranks 100 random things

​​ Google introduced a new way of filtering search results last week: By reading level. You type something in and it tells you how many results fall into one of levels. Fair enough: if you're writing a research paper on sexual health or something, and thoughtful information would normal ... More >>

Adam Lambert

Saturday, July 17, Paramount Theatre, 303-623-0106.

Don't Drink the Koolaid: Glee returns to television tonight, much to our chagrin

The most inexplicably popular show on television returns with the second half of season one tonight. The episode is called "Hell-O" because all the songs they sing have either Hell or Hello in the title. Get it? In general, we're open-minded about mass culture, but on this one we agree with Jef ... More >>

Five things to consider when naming your band

Photo by perfect_hexagonWhat's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet; (And be a lot easier to find via Google)​ So, you're starting a band, huh? Well, good for you. We hope you're enjoying our "Making the Band" series and finding the tips on the practical ... More >>

American Idol: Lilly Scott takes on Patsy Cline and helps keep things interesting. Is she too interesting or just interesting enough? We'll see.

If Lilly Scott doesn't win this whole thing on the strength of her talent, she should win just by virtue of the fact that she's infinitely more interesting than, well, everyone else on Idol this season. Really. Her song choices alone ("Lullaby of Birdland," "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "I Fall to ... More >>

Tonight the BreakEFX battles to become America's Best Dance Crew

If you're anywhere near the idiot box tonight, be sure to set your dial to MTV around 8 p.m. -- and if you're not, then at least set your DVR. This is big. In a week when some other homegrown hopefuls are showcasing their wares on American Idol, select members of the BreakEFX dance crew will be repr ... More >>

Lilly Scott joins Haeley Vaughn as Colorado's great American Idol hopes

Based on the edition of American Idol focusing on Denver auditions, we declared Fort Collins' Haeley Vaughn to be Colorado's great American Idol hope. (Of course, Bikini Boy Ty Hemmerling made a different kind of impression.) But last night's episode marking the beginning of Hollywood Week (and the ... More >>

Where's the fire? In your nose, with this wasabi alarm

​Another genius idea has emerged from Japan, where entrepreneurs have developed a fire alarm for deaf people that uses wasabi powder to penetrate the nostrils and alert them to imminent danger. The wall-mounted alarm has a container of compressed, concentrated wasabi mist that, at the first h ... More >>

Wake-Up Call: Top Ten Turkeys for 2009

​There's still a month to go before the year ends -- plenty of time for more people to join the elite flock of fuck-ups for 2009 (and for Josh McDaniels to get back on the list, after his last-second reprieve with yesterday's win). Still, there's been no shortage of Colorado turkeys this year ... More >>

Only in Boulder: City-council debate to feature text-message voting, joke section

Boulder: Where naked pumpkin runs and text-message debate-ousting happen.​If you happen to be a perpetually-stoned TV junkie who toggles between Idol and The Soup and enjoys the occasional Tank-from-Old-Scool-style streaking, tonight's city council debate in Boulder is most definitely in your ... More >>

Will Victoria Beckham's American Idol performance make you miss Paula Abdul?

Victoia Beckham: icy?​On Friday, we told you about Victoria Beckham's stealth visit to Denver to participate in American Idol callbacks. Now, the early reviews are in -- the kind shared by anonymous whisperers -- and they're not very good. RadarOnline reports that while the once-and-future Pos ... More >>

The Westword.com blog shortcut, August 7 edition

Photo by Aaron ThackerayBusta on the Rocks.​Shall we rap? Today in Backbeat Online: • Last Night: Rock the Bells at Red Rocks. • MP3 Freeloader: Rockie making a splash on the club scene. • Zebra Junction closes up shop this evening. • Q&A with Jared Piccone of Innerpartysystem. • Q& ... More >>

Star Power

Learn about Afghanistan’s version of American Idol in a documentary.

Rough Draft

It'll Be Alright
Self-released

The Westword.com blog shortcut, July 16 edition

Photo by Lori Midson"Are you sure we're empowering ourselves by doing this?" This shortcut is a stripped-down version. Today in Cafe Society: • Jonesy's EatBar staff bears their cleavage for a good cause. • Tonight: Twenty bucks, twenty wines at the Table Mountain Inn. • Mulberries to pack u ... More >>

Rearview: The Week in Review (8/2/08-8/8/08)

What, Me Worry?

These road warriors are in love with a tollway.

Every Song Sung

Coming Up Ace

Ace Young wants to keep his private parts private.

More Messages: Taylor Made

Il Divo

Ancora (Columbia/Syco Music)

Drunk of the Week

Ayja

Otep

Thursday, February 3, Gothic Theatre, 303-788-0984.

JoJo

JoJo (Universal)

Mistletunes

Rounding up holiday discs that offer season's greetings -- and beatings.

Drunk of the Week