I’m sure that all you Clay Aiken fans out there know all about his Christmas CD, All is Well - Songs for Christmas, which was released as a Walmart exclusive last year. But in case you don’t, Clay Aiken’s EP features the timeless Christmas song O Come O Come Emmanuel and more modern Christmas tunes like All is Well, Christmas Waltz, and My Grown-Up Christmas List. If you didn’t have the chance to grab a copy of the EP, don’t worry. Clay Aiken’s All is Well is available on iTunes for download! And if you access your iTunes account using goodshop.com, 3.75% of your purchase price will go to the Bubel/Aiken Foundation or a charity of your choice.

Even if you aren’t a Claymate, All is Well is definitely worth listening to. Stay tuned for more American Idol Christmas features!

Remember some months back when I blogged about how Ramiele Malubay is supposed to have a homecoming concert in Manila this December? Well, it’s definitely pushing through! On December 20 (Saturday) and December 21 (Sunday) 2008, Ramiele will be performing at the Aliw Theater, CCP Complex with her boyfriend Danny Noriega and Filipino songwriter Ogie Alcasid.

Tickets are fast running out. The Php 10,000 tickets are apparently all gone, but there are still the Php 3,000, Php 2,400, Php 1,400, and the Php 650 ones. To reserve or purchase tickets for Ramiele Malubay’s homecoming concert, call Ticketworld at 891-9999 or Ticketnet at 911-5555 or TheUnderGround Studio at 376-2732.

See you there!

David Cook celebrated the release of his self-titled debut album with a very exclusive party at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City last night. Lucky fans who were able to purchase the album at the Times Square Virgin Megastore on Tuesday morning received a wristband to attend the launch party, where they saw David Cook perform several songs off the album. After the performance was an album signing, followed by non-stop partying!

So far, David Cook’s album has been getting mixed reviews. Some say he sounds like a ripoff of Creed, others think his album contains original, brilliant tracks. There’s a lot of speculation going on about whether David Cook will receive a Grammy nomination. In case you’ve forgotten, he’s got award-winning people on his team - Grammy award-winning producer Rob Cavallo produced his first single, Light On, which was also co-written by Chris Cornell. But will this be enough for David Cook to receive a much-coveted Grammy?

Two more photos of David Cook at the launch party after the cut!

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Carrie Underwood, who is arguably one of the best American Idols, is starting her US Tour today. With hits such as “Jesus Take the Wheel” and “Before He Cheats”, her songs are a wonderful infusion of country and pop elements. She won the Best Female Vocalist award for the second time at this year’s Country Music Awards and has sold over 3 million copies of her new album, proving to the rest of the world that this small town country girl has a voice and an audience who wants to hear it.

Check out the schedule for Carrie Underwood’s 2008 US tour and see if she’ll be dropping by your home town:

November 17, 2008 - E Center at Salt Lake City, UT, 7:30 pm
November 19, 2008 - E Center at Salt Lake Cuty, UT, 7:30 pm
November 22, 2008 - Rimrock Auto Arena at Billings, MT, 7:30 pm
November 25, 2008 - Rexall Place at Edmonton, AB, Canada, 7:30 pm
December 1, 2008 - Brandt Center at Regina, SK, Canada, TBA
December 2, 2008 - MTS Center (Manitoba) at Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 7:30 pm
December 4, 2008 - Alliant Energy Coliseum at Madison, WI, 7:30 pm
December 5, 2008 - Chaifetz Aerna at Saint Louis, MO, TBA
December 7, 2008 - Sommet Center at Nashville, TN, 7:30 pm
December 8, 2008 - McKenzie Arena at Chattanooga, TN, 7:30 pm
December 9, 2008 - BancorpSouth Arena at Tupelo, MS, TBA
December 12, 2008 - St Pete Times Forum at Tampa, FL, 7:30 pm
December 13, 2008 - UCF Arena at Orlando, FL, 7:30 pm
December 14, 2008 - Stephen O’Connell Center at Gainesville, FL, 7:30 pm

Something’s happened to Kellie Pickler and I think that something must be a lot of surgery from the waist up. At the 2008 Country Music Awards (CMA) in Nashville, Tennessee, Kellie surprised everyone by showing up in a silver Zuhair Morad mermaid-style evening gown that revealed way too much of her (brand new?) breasts. I’ll admit, I love how the gown hugs her body and shows off her curves, but Kellie’s breasts are just too much. See, when you have big breasts and show up in a body-hugging gown with a really low neckline, you just end up looking borderline trashy. I’m no prude, but I think I liked her better back when she still had her wholesome country girl image. She looked a lot younger back then too. Is it just me or did it look like she aged a little?

Meanwhile, Carrie Underwood was a beautiful sight in a bright yellow dress by Roberto Cavalli. I’m also loving the tan - I can’t tell if it’s natural or just a spray-on but either way, she looks fabulous.

Two more photos of Kellie Pickler at the CMA red carpet under the cut!

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Fangirls, hold your breath, because David Archuleta’s self-titled debut album is finally out in stores! The album starts out with his first single Crush, followed by beautiful ballads like his second single Touch My Hand, Barriers, and A Little Too Not Over You. The ballad You Can is a heart-wrenching song that definitely stands out - I can practically hear teenage girls screaming, “I CAN!!!!” to the line, “If anyone can make me fall in love, you can.” The most upbeat song in the album and the one that shows off what David’s vocal chords can really do is the song While Running, proving to his American Idol critics that he can be as versatile as most contemporary artists. Don’t Let Go, which was co-written with former ‘N Sync member JC Chasez, is an upbeat pop song that you should also look out for. Finally, the last song Angel, a remake of a Robbie Williams original, is a fitting close to this fine first album.

Older listeners might not like how bubble gum-wholesome David Archuleta’s album is, but it definitely goes with the image he’s projecting and the audience he’s aiming for. Show your support for Archie and grab a copy of the album today!

1 Crush
2 My Hands
3 Touch My Hand
4 Barriers - (No Doubt meets Bob Marley)
5 A Little Too Not Over You
6 Your Eyes Don’t Lie - not sure how to describe (Bonnie Raitt meets country/folk)
7 You Can = Ballad (acoustic guitar) very beautiful melody and lyric, very “david”
8 Running - Midi Mafia - R&B/Pop/Kinda jazzy, Very Cool!!
9 Don’t Let Go - U2 meets the Fray style - pop/alternative (David co-wrote with JC from NSync)
10 Desperate - Big mature sounding power ballad - Desmond Child (Bon Jovi hit songwriter)
11 To Be With You - Ballad #2 (piano) Pretty love ballad
12 Angels - new version - Ballad #3 (David on piano)
13 Works for Me - Bonus Track (Walmart only) - organic bluesy pop - David co-write with Daniel Bedingfield

There are apparently other songs that David co-wrote that will appear as bonus tracks on the album but there’s no information as to what these songs are. According to the source, David is relieved and satisfied with how the songs have been recorded although it was Jive Records and not David who had the final say on the arrangements. David and his producer are especially happy to have a wide range of styles and songwriters who participated in making the album.

Let the speculating begin! David Archuleta’s album hits stores on November 11.

November’s going to be a very busy month for American Idol David Cook as well. His debut album, which is being produced by Grammy winner Rob Cavallo, will be hitting stores on November 18 but there’s already so much positive reception with his single “Light On”. It took only one day for the single to reach iTunes’ Top 10 and according to Hits Daily Double, the video for Lights On is now being filmed!

But that’s not all. Tune in on Saturday Night Live on November 1st as David Cook becomes the very first American Idol winner to perform on the show! It’s bound to be a very interesting show as it’s only a few days from the US elections, and all the political satires has made Saturday Night Live more fun and relevant than ever before.

If you thought David Archuleta would finally take a break and take it easy now that he’s done selecting the songs that will go on his album, you’re very mistaken! November is going to be one very busy month for this cutie.

At midnight on November 11, Archie fans worldwide are going to party then line up at record stores the next day as his debut album gets released to the public!

At Tuesday, November 11, turn your TV’s to NBC because David will make an appearance on the Today Show.

David might also perform at the American Music Awards on Sunday, November 23 at L.A.

On Thursday, November 27, David will be celebrating thanksgiving with New Yorkers at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Then finally, the last Friday of November (the 28th) is Tween/Teen Archies’ Day Worldwide, which basically marks the month before David Archuleta’s 18th birthday!

Yep, David Archuleta and Archie fans have an exciting month ahead of them.

David Archuleta’s been very busy lately and it looks like the craziness isn’t about to slow down anytime soon. Only a few weeks after the release of his first music video, David will be making his acting debut in an episode of the Nickelodeon show, iCarly. In case you don’t know what the show is about, iCarly is about a high school student who has a video blog with her friends. Unfortunately he’s not going to be a permanent cast member - he’ll guest-star in can episode called “iRocked the Vote” and play a contestant in an American Idol-style show called America Sings. After the iCarly girls feature him on their webcast, he gets a huge spike in votes (that was probably a spoiler right there, but it’s not like the plot is incredibly profound anyway!).

My kid cousins are big Nickelodeon freaks and David Archuleta fans - they actually cried when he didn’t win American Idol. I’m pretty sure they’ll be thrilled to hear the news!