Blog Archives
Preview Christina Aguilera’s EXCELLENT New Album
Christina Aguilera held a listening party recently to showcase her new album, “LOTUS.” It drops on November 13th and I personally can’t wait. Check out the previews below of some of Christina’s favorites on the album.
Christina talks about her inspiration for LOTUS.
BLANK PAGE is a power ballad worthy of Ms. Aguilera’s powerhouse vocals.
LET THEIR BE LOVE is the dance club mix you will be grooving to thanks to uber producer Max Martin.
ARMY OF ME is the song Christina calls “Fighter 2.0.” It’s this generation’s version of her hit song, “Fighter.” And just as powerful.
MAKE THE WORLD MOVE is Christina collaboration with Cee Lo.
JUST A FOOL is Christina’s duet with her “The Voice” co-judge Blake Shelton and it’s another ballad that is undeniably Christina.
New Music from Christina Aguilera… WOW!
I have always said that Christina Aguilera is at her best when she is doing power ballads and her new single, “Blank Page” from her upcoming album, LOTUS proves it. It’s a such a beautiful song and plays to Christina’s strong vocals. So incredibly moving. This is definitely a hit for XTINA. Take a listen below. LOTUS debuts November 13.
Chicago Representin’ On “The Voice”
This week NBC’s “The Voice” launched it’s third season and, as always, there was some great talent, but two Chicagoans really stood out for me. On Tuesday, we met De’Borah, a Chicago Heights woman who embraced who true self at age 18 and was kicked out of her church choir for doing so. HER CHURCH CHOIR! Really, people? Where is the love? Well she got some love on “The Voice.” Check out her performance below. She is on Team Xtina (That’s Christina Aguilera’s team, for those up with the shorthand).
On Wednesday night, we met Julio Castillo. Julio is also from Chicago and the first contestant on “The Voice” to sing entirely in spanish and you can tell the judges loved it. La La La La La Bamba!!! He ended up on Team Blake. Check him out below.
I’ll be talking more about both of them Friday, September 14, 2012 on “Windy City LIVE,” 9AM on ABC7 Chicago.
IDOL Switcheroo: Adios, Enrique! Welcome Back, Randy!
So an “American Idol” “source” tells The Hollywood Reporter that Enrique Iglesias is no longer in contention for a spot as a judge on Idol and that Randy Jackson is back at the judges’ table. Hmmmm. And this “news” comes out on the same night that NBC premieres “The Voice.” If I were doing finger quotes in the air right now, my pointers would be exhausted. Whew.
Anyway! Coincidence? I say not. Sounds like a well-placed story from a P.R. flack to get some buzz on “Idol” to hopefully over shadow “The Voice.” And I guess it’s working b/c I am writing about this and “The Voice.”
In any case, I knew Randy Jackson was not going too far away from Idol. He’s Mariah Carey’s manager. He got her on the show and there is no way she is going to let him go anywhere. Somebody has to keep her from slapping the you know what out of Nicki Minaj.
We should know soon enough who the judges will be on Idol since auditions should be happening with the celeb judges fairly soon. Stay tuned, ya’ll…
Madonna’s New Video: “Gimme All Your Love” Her Super Bowl Single!
Madonna has revealed her new music video for “Gimmie All Your Love.” This is the song she will be singing live this weekend at the Super Bowl. The song is catchy. The video is quirky. It features odd duck Nicki Minaj and M-I-A. And Madonna’s voice has never been more studio produced. However, I have to say that Madonna looks freaking fantastic for a woman of 53! You go, gurl! What do you think?
LIVE BLOG – Golden Globe Awards
Welcome to franklyHANK’s first live blog. For those of you new to this, it’s simple. Just keep refreshing the page to see my updated comments throughout the Golden Globe Awards telecast on NBC. Newest comments are posted on top. You can make comments to the blog, but they will not post until I approve them, so give me some time. It’ll be a busy, but fun night.
Be sure to tune in to Windy City LIVE tomorrow on ABC7 Chicago or windycitylive.com, both at 9AM. Paige Wiser and David Plummer will recap the winners and losers and stylists Eric Himel and Amy Tara Koch will talk all things fashion. Let the blogging begin.
ALL TIMES CENTRAL
9:56pm Thank God this show ended on time b/c if it had run long, I would have killed myself. It’s over. Amen and Good night. Hope you enjoyed the live blog.
9:54pm Harrison Ford has the big award… Best Motion Picture – Drama: THE DESCENDANTS. Are you kidding me? Really? Really? “The Help” will win the Oscar. The Golden Globes are not really the pre-cursor to the Oscars, so I will hope for better things.
9:47pm Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: GEORGE CLOONEY for “The Descendants.” Yawn! Although the golf joke about Michael Fasbender’s penis was pretty good. LOL
9:39pm Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical: THE ARTIST
9:37pm Meryl curses when she can’t find her glasses!!! Brilliant. As the music plays her off, she screams, “Oh no, no!!!” And her best line… “And I love you, Viola. You’re my girl.” Gracious to a fault. But Viola should have won! She’ll get the Oscar.
I’m LIVE Blogging the Golden Globe Awards!!!!
Hi all… Sunday night at 7PM central/8PM eastern, it’s the 2012 Golden Globe Awards on that Peacock network. (Arrivals begin one hour earlier). And, of course, franklyHANK will be live blogging the whole thing… the clothes, the awards, the show, and all the craziness. I say that because it’s the only awards show that encourages the participants to drink up before the show begins. That always means fun!
So check back with franklyHANKblog.com on Sunday night and follow the fun… Look forward to chatting with you…
…fH
Jennifer Hudson does DATELINE
Singer, actress, and Chicago hometown girl JENNIFER HUDSON sat down with NBC’s Lester Holt (another Chicago son) to chat about her new book, “I Got This.” Jennifer left no stone unturned as she talked about her battles with weight, Hollywood’s image of her versus her image of herself and, of course, the murder of her mother, brother, and nephew. She also mentions that she has set a date for her wedding, but she’s not talking. Let’s see if we can get any more info out of her when she appears on WINDY CITY LIVE on January 17th.
Meanwhile, here’s a clip of Jennifer talking about the foundation that she named in her son’s honor. I’ll be talking about Jennifer’s interview tomorrow morning on Windy City LIVE at 9am on ABC7 Chicago.
RIP Clarice Taylor a/k/a Cliff’s Mom, Anna Huxtable
You may not have known Clarice Taylor’s name, but you certainly knew her by one of her most famous characters, Bill Cosby’s mother, Anna Huxtable, on The Cosby Show. Taylor died Monday of heart failure. She was 93.
She had a fantastic career. Taylor was in the original Broadway cast of The Wiz as the Good Witch. She was also a member of the Negro Ensemble Company and had a role in Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty For Me. She received an Emmy nomination for her work on The Cosby Show in 1986.
Rest in peace, Grandma Huxtable.
The Justin Timberlake/SNL Sketch You DIDN’T See!
For those of you who don’t know, Saturday Night Live does a full dress rehearsal complete with an audience at 8PM on show nights. That show runs 2 hours. The producers and actors figure out what sketches worked and what didn’t. 30 minutes is cut from the show and the sketches are re-arranged before the show goes live at 1130pm, eastern time. Sometimes really good sketches get cut b/c there simply is no time to include them in the live show. Below is one of those sketches.
Justin Timberlake, who hosted the season finale Saturday to SNL’s highest ratings in 7 years, plays Mozart, but he’s clearly playing himself. The sketch centers on Mozart who wants to do more than music. He wants to be an actor too. Sound familiar??? JT excels at making fun of himself. Watch closely and you’ll also see him break character and laugh a little at one of his lines.
