97 BHT/"The RRS" In The Press Last Week

97 BHT and "The Ralphie Radio Show" received some solid media coverage last week surrounding our private events with both Orianthi and Adam Lambert.

WNEP did an excellent job with their report, and properly crediting/citing 97 BHT and "The RRS" in naming the event's host and my interview with Adam - even including a sound byte of me talking about the whole ordeal:

Other stories...

- WBRE
- Times Leader
- Electric City
Thanks to all the media outlets that covered the event!

EXCLUSIVE: Adam Lambert Previews Tour, Elaborates On Missing 'Idol' Finale

In an interview with “The Ralphie Radio Show”, Adam Lambert elaborated on his absence from the season finale of “American Idol”, shedding more light on why he didn’t appear or perform on the show with other “Idol” alums.

“I didn’t skip a rehearsal because I wasn’t invited to a rehearsal,” Lambert reiterated, posting a similar message on his Twitter account. The AOL blog Popeater claimed “Idol” producers scrapped Lambert at the last minute because of an alleged no show, which the singer is vehemently denying. “There was nothing to skip.”

While both Lambert and his camp have issued statements, “Idol” is silent, perhaps fueling any other speculation as to what happened. But the former runner-up believes there’s no need for the show to speak on the subject.

“It wasn’t a big deal, there was nothing to it,” Lambert dismissed. “They invited their winners to sing to Simon (Cowell) and then I think a last minute decision was made that the people that were in the audience, that were past contestants would join. So it was kind of like this last minute thing. That’s why I wasn’t there, because I didn’t know… it wasn’t a slight at all, it was a last minute decision and I was really busy rehearsing for my tour.”

Lambert confirmed that he was also sick; however it was tour preparation that kept him from the show.

The tour kicks off June 4 in Wilkes Barre, PA – and the singer says the start in Northeastern PA was semi-calculated.
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“It’s so green here, we love it!” he joked about the area. “We were here before, with the Idol’s tour, and the audience was great. We thought we could relax here for a couple days and put our finishing touches on the tour and get it ready.”

The high demand for tickets even surprised Lambert – Wilkes Barre’s show on Friday at the F.M. Kirby Center sold out in 10 minutes. More dates have been added – and the singer revealed that a third batch of dates will also be announced, extending the “Glam Nation” tour through September.

“It is very family friendly,” Lambert also clarified – as I’m sure he’ll be hampered by those questions for the immediate future after his controversial performance at last year’s American Music Awards. “It doesn’t go to the level that the AMA performance went to, if anyone’s worried about that… if you felt that that was un-tasteful (sic), this is tasteful.”

Lambert is still asked about the award show, and still stands by his performance, characterizing it as “pretty solid.” But even the pop star admits the experience turned in to a good lesson for him.

“I learned that people were like, ‘Okay, we’re not ready for that yet,’” he admitted. “But it was just me being sexy, doing what my favorite pop stars have done and then I got heat for it.”

The “Idol” star noted that people may have been taken aback as well because it was his first TV performance outside of the competition, where he never expressed himself as much. But regardless, Lambert put the performance, and its critics, behind him.

“That was almost a year ago. We’re moving forward. That was one performance, one song, and now we’re on to the next.”

EXCLUSIVE: Orianthi Explains RedOne Collab, Talks Axes With John Mayer

Australian guitarist Orianthi has jammed with the likes of many: Michael Jackson, Carrie Underwood, and even Alice Cooper last week on the finale of American Idol. But here’s a collaboration you may not have foreseen – producer RedOne.

“I guess it was just put together,” explained Ori of the partnership – which yielded the track “Addicted to Love.” The song is one of four bonus tracks that will appear on the re-release of Orianthi’s album, Believe (II). “Yunno it was really cool, and (we had) a lot of fun in the studio.”

If you’re unaware of RedOne, he’s a big time music maker who is behind a lot of Lady GaGa’s big hits (artists usually sing the producer’s name in the beginning of the song). Orianthi and GaGa are housed under the same label group – could that be a collab right around the corner?
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Believe (II) comes out this Tuesday.

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“That’d be really cool, hopefully,” responded Orianthi of the prospects of such a tandem. The singer/guitarist has yet to meet GaGa.

The Aussie made time for “The Ralphie Radio Show” before kicking off the “Glam Nation” tour, where she and former Idol finalist Allison Iraheta will support Adam Lambert. Ori is pumped about the tour, and apparently the show’s name gets her even more excited.

“The fact that it’s called ‘Glam Nation’ just gets me excited,” she said. “Just the whole like, glam and you know, I’m in to sparkles and extravagance and I’m just super excited about getting out there and rocking out.”

Meet 5 Year-Old 'Toothless' Jack

You heard him belt these out on "The RRS"... here are the videos of adorable five year-old "Toothless" Jack... for crying out loud, a label needs to sign this kid STAT!

Train - "Hey, Soul Sister"

Adam Lambert - "Whattaya Want From Me"

EXCLUSIVE: Ke$ha - The Father-Less Pop Star With A Not-So-Soft Side

You know her as Ke$ha, the trash-talking, hard-partying pop star who's single, "TiK ToK" recently sold the most digital copies in a week by a female artist. BTW, the song that she sings the hook of, Flo Rida's "Right Round", sold the most overall.

Her family and friends know her as Kesha Rose Sebert - a trash-talking, hard-partying aspiring artist, who is finally breaking out on the grandest stage of 'em all.

And as for Ke$ha, seems she knows who she is, and what she's doing - but as for who her father is? Well, that’s another story.

“This guy called me up, and said, ‘I think I’m your dad,” explained Ke$ha. “So like, I moved to (Los Angeles), and off-the-plane moved in with him. And turned out he’s totally not my dad, and so I lived in my car for a minute… and then, I ended up getting my own apartment.”

Believe it or not, that’s one of Sebert’s more tame stories… her official website’s bio starts with an account of the pop star’s face-to-face meeting with an icon. Ke$ha paid off a gardner and snuck in to Prince’s house to give him a demo. Sebert met The Purple One, and she left the CD there for him, but she never heard back.

It seems Sebert loves to tell stories – and tales she tells on her debut LP, Animal, which hit stores Tuesday. The following day, before taping a performance on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” – the 22 year-old singer/rapper/story teller called in to “The Ralphie Radio Show.”

It’s a true Hollywood tale: the girl who lived in her car, and still doesn’t know the identity of her father, goes on to help sell the two most downloaded singles in a sole week. Of course, you probably didn’t know Ke$ha sang the hook of “Right Round” because she didn’t receive credit for the single. It was her decision to not be credited and not appear in the music video. Matter of fact, Sebert says at first she didn’t receive much of anything for the performance.
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Part 1: CD Release Party Shut Down By Po-Po, Living In Her Car

Part 2: Animal, "Right Round", Katy Perry's Engagement

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“I didn’t get shit,” Ke$ha said, rather calmly, noting that in addition to no up-front payment, the track did not yield her any royalty checks. “I got a car,” she later admitted when pressed about whether the song could be credited with landing her a deal on RCA Records. The 1978 Gold Trans-Am that she currently drives can also be seen in the video for “TiK ToK.”

You can say what you’d like about the type of music, or the context of it – but Ke$ha insists the songs are sincere and “unapologetically fun.”

“The music is honest,” she clarifies. “I write with sheer honesty, so anything that’s in any of my songs, like, chances are I’ve probably done that at some point. I’m not saying like, I do these things every day.”

“Unapologetically fun” is kinda a term you could use to describe another track… Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl.” Perry and Sebert are friends – and Ke$ha made a cameo in the video for Perry’s debut single. Yet, due to all of the commotion around her own debut, Sebert did not hear that comedian Russell Brand proposed to Perry… until I told her on The RRS.

“Are you serious?!” she exclaimed, before I cited multiple reports from Brand’s publicist and the comedian himself. “Wow, no shit.”

Sebert hasn’t met Brand, but is happy for the newly engaged couple. Although, she did have to think for a second on what she would give them as a wedding gift.

“I would get her… a giant… inflatable…,” she said, thinking out loud, before I cut her off and reminded her that the censors were standing by, if need be.

“No, some sort of animal. Or I’ll buy her a boat… I dunno.”

EXCLUSIVE: OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder On Possible Rihanna Collaboration, New OR Single

He’s the lead singer of OneRepublic. The guy’s band is currently on tour with Rob Thomas. The group is releasing a new LP this month. He’s also writing and producing some of the biggest hits on radio for some of the most popular artists. But if you’re Ryan Tedder, you know you’re busy when you miss the deadline for Rihanna’s new album.

“(Laughing) Man, that week literally, I was working on stuff, and they were closing out her record, and I just missed (the deadline) by the cusp,” Tedder revealed. OneRepublic’s front man called in to The Ralphie Radio Show while on the road, and sounded optimistic about a future opportunity to work with Rihanna. “I mean, I know they’ll be repackaging it at some point. Yunno, they repackage everything at some point, so. I talked to her label and I’m definitely gonna bring some heat for the reissue.”
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Part 1: Rihanna, Michael Bolton, Making Radio Hits

Part 2: Balancing OneRepublic/Side Projects, New LP, New Hit Predictions

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Rihanna’s last LP, Good Girl Gone Bad, spawned Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, which included the mega hit, “Take A Bow.”Other projects that Tedder worked on included the new release from Leona Lewis (Tedder co-wrote “Bleeding Love”, and wrote her new single, “Happy”) and Adam Lambert’s For Your Entertainment. Tedder is responsible for the song, “Sleepwalker” – which he predicts will be a radio hit. Another big song prediction of Tedder’s is the next OneRepublic track, “Secrets”

“It connects, man,” Tedder noted of the song, which already reached the top of the iTunes sales charts overseas (The German movie, Zweiohrküken featured “Secrets” on its soundtrack). “We have a lot of high hopes for ‘Secrets’.”

While the song is reminiscent of the sound that made Dreaming Out Loud such a success, if it doesn’t take off in the States, it wouldn’t mark the first incorrect prediction by Tedder. The songwriter admits he is still learning the skill of marrying the right song to the right artist, and cited Jennifer Lopez’s “Do It Well” as an example.

“It sounded like such a hit for her,” said Tedder. “It was kind of one of those deals where, I think people just really didn’t care. They were kinda like, ‘Eh, J-Lo, whatever.’”

Clearly, Tedder hopes for a different reaction when OneRepublic releases their sophomore LP, Waking Up, on November 17.

EXCLUSIVE: Adam Lambert Has Elton John's Number, Talks New LP

When you’re the runner-up on a show as popular as American Idol, surely you’ll accumulate a few new contacts in your phone.

“Hmm… the most famous contact in my phone?” Adam Lambert pondered before answering, “Elton John.”

That immediately begs the question: Do Adam and Sir Elton talk or text?

“Um… he’s just the most famous contact in my phone right now,” Lambert replied. “’Nuff said.”

It’s almost anti-Adam that he didn’t follow through on specifics of his relationship to Elton. Lambert admits that he’s been very open and honest since AI ceased – first revealing (or maybe in some cases confirming) his sexual orientation to Rolling Stone, then directly confronting the public release of material he recorded well before his run on Idol.

“My mom was funny, because she was like, ‘I wouldn’t have gone in to detail about this, this, and this,’” Lambert said of his mother’s reaction to the RS cover story. “Why not just address everything right off the bat, before my career really starts, and kinda be an open book?”
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Since the two aforementioned issues, it seems there are no more skeletons in Lambert’s closet. But that doesn’t mean the singer is free from rumors and gossip. During our conversation backstage before American Idols Live, Lambert revealed Better Than Ezra’s Kevin Griffin is not possible songwriter for Lambert’s forthcoming LP. Griffin told MTV News that he wrote for Lambert, describing the Idol-alum’s sound as a mix between Fall Out Boy and Kylie Minogue.

“I don’t know who Kevin is. That was actually a surprise to me, when I read that on MTV,” said Lambert. “We haven’t talked to him at all. He hasn’t written anything… we don’t have any of his songs.”

Despite this, Griffin’s appraisal of Lambert’s November 24 debut may not be far off.

“Yunno, I’ll give him credit. I don’t know how he can write a song, but he certainly can give good quotes,” Lambert joked. “I wasn’t hating on him for it, I had just never heard of him before.”

Lambert himself described the LP as an audio version of playing dress-up. After the Idol tour wraps up, he’ll focus on picking around 12 songs from a list of 20. Also on the docket is a photo shoot for the album – as well as a title – which Lambert says won’t be picked until the track listing is set.

Confirmed by Lambert as a collaborator on the LP is Lady GaGa’s producer, RedOne. The Idol runner-up reached out to GaGa herself – but due to scheduling conflicts they were not able to team up.

TMZ'S LESLIE HARRIS: Idol Finale

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TMZ's Leslie Harris talks about the American Idol Finale and result, along with reaction from judge Randy Jackson.

Catch Leslie on TMZ TV - Weekdays at 6 on Channel 38 - The CW.

From TMZ:

"In the shocking finale last night, Kris Allen beat out Adam Glambert for "American Idol" -- and according to Randy Jackson, 'America gets it right every time, dawg.'"

RALPHIE REPORT: Daughtry Talks Idol, New CD

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Chris Daughtry calls up The Ralphie Radio Show to chat about his new single/CD, a possible tour, and this season of American Idol - and he isn't pleased with the favortism shown to Idol finalist Adam Lambert.

Read Ralphie's exclusive report on Chris's Idol criticism here.
Leave This Town drops July 14.
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You might be able to count Chris Daughtry among those surprised that Kris Allen won American Idol last week. In a pre-taped interview on "The Ralphie Radio Show", Daughtry seemed baffled at the amount of media attention and bias directed toward Idol contestant Adam Lambert.

"I thought it was pretty incredible that all of the sudden, Adam is on the cover of a magazine. That people are wearing his name... it seems a little weird to me, because I know how strict it was when I was on the show," said Daughtry. He publicly supported Allen, although refrained from using the Idol performance stage as a venue to voice his opinion. "(Favortism) was definitely frowned upon, and now, I don't know."

A question regarding Katy Perry's outright support of Lambert, with Adam's name embroidered on her cape, elicited the comment. TMZ reported Idol producers edited out this detail when the performance posted to iTunes and the Internet.

The American Idol Season 5 alum concurred with my assessment that the media already anointed Lambert this year's winner, albeit prematurely. Although I admitted to Chris that my coverage of "Idol" is limited, I feel as if the media covered Lambert as if it assumed he already won.

"It's kind of like Adam has already been crowned the winner, and everybody's just kind of going along with that," I commented to Chris.

"That's exactly the way it feels to me too," Daughtry responded. "But yunno, it is what it is, and good luck to both of them."

The North Carolina rocker’s band just released a song to radio, “No Surprise”, with a new LP, “Leave This Town”, out on July 14.

Daughtry, who performed the new track on Idol, noted that all the finalists seemed like great people, but he could relate to Allen on a number of different levels.

“I guess he reminds me a little bit of myself where, he’s on the show – this is all new to him – he’s married… When I hear his voice, I kind of see where that goes, on the radio.”

Allen didn’t ask Daughtry for any advice, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t receive any.

“I basically told him what to be prepared for, for the next two years of his life. Be strong, and stay with your wife.”

Words of wisdom from an Idol contestant who didn’t have the luxury of on stage endorsements or an Idol crown – yet went on to drop a debut LP that sold over six million copies. Daughtry assures fans that the band didn’t deviate from its trademark sound, but did test some new sounds on the one CD – likening one track to something that would draw out glow sticks if Timbaland got a hold of it.

“We tried to branch out a little bit on this record and experiment on some different things, without totally going far left field.”

Daughtry’s band is in the planning stages of a tour that would kick off this fall, in support of the new album.
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Listen to Ralphie Aversa weekdays from 5-10p on 97 BHT.

EXCLUSIVE: Daughtry Criticizes Idol Favortism Toward Adam Lambert

In a pre-taped interview that will air tonight on "The Ralphie Radio Show", Chris Daughtry seemed baffled at the amount of media attention and bias directed toward American Idol contestant Adam Lambert.

"I thought it was pretty incredible that all of the sudden, Adam is on the cover of a magazine. That people are wearing his name... it seems a little weird to me, because I know how strict it was when I was on the show," Daughtry, who is a fan of Idol finalist Kris Allen, said. "(Favortism) was definitely frowned upon, and now, I don't know."

A question regarding Katy Perry's outright support of Lambert, with Adam's name embroidered on her cape, elicited the comment. TMZ reported Idol producers edited out this detail when the performance posted to iTunes and the Internet.

The American Idol Season 5 alum concurred with my assessment that the media already anointed Lambert this year's winner. Although I admitted to Chris that my coverage of "Idol" is limited, I feel as if the media is covering Lambert as if it is assumed that he already won.

"It's kind of like Adam has already been crowned the winner, and everybody's just kind of going along with that," I commented to Chris.

"That's exactly the way it feels to me too," Daughtry responded. "But yunno, it is what it is, and good luck to both of them."

Listen to the audio here.

The interview, in its entirety, will be posted later tonight.