Simon Cowell can be brutal when he judges contestants on Fox’s “American Idol,” but he has withheld his caustic criticism from his “Popera” group.
Cowell founded Il Divo – which means “the male diva” in Italian – in 2003 after a talent search. The four handsome men are formally trained singers who try to bridge the gap between classical and pop music – sometimes called “Popera.”
Urs Buhler, a tenor from Switzerland, said that those who auditioned for Il Divo were not treated like “American Idol” contestants.
“The audition process for us was more like auditioning for an opera,” Buhler said. “It was not like, ‘you are crap. you are pathetic.’ That’s not the way it went.”
A school board member wants to rename a performing arts magnet school after August Wilson, the Pittsburgh-born Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning playwright who died earlier this month.
Pittsburgh Public Schools Board member Alex Matthews wants to rename the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
“I think it would be a great homage to pay him,” Matthews told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
But some say renaming a public school is a bad idea because Wilson deserves a bigger honor – and because Wilson had a bad experience in the city’s schools.
Wilson dropped out of Pittsburgh public schools at age 15 after a teacher accused him of plagiarizing a paper on Napoleon.
Madonna is worried that her secret wasn’t juicy enough.
When her new documentary, “I’m going to tell you a secret,” premiered in New York, she said she was nervous the audience wouldn’t like it.
“It was like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, I hope I did the right thing. Oh, that scene is too long.
“Oh, that’s too short. are they going to get this part? Are they going to like this? Oh, they’re going to think it’s boring!’
“Just worrying the whole way, biting my fingernails off,” she told ABC news radio.
The documentary, which aired Friday on MTV, is a behind-the-scenes look at Madonna’s “Re-invention tour.” It follows the pop icon all the way from dancer auditions to rehearsals, a visit to Israel and the final show.
A Los Angeles judge wants the city attorney’s office to show why Tom Sizemore’s conviction for beating former girlfriend and Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss should not be thrown out, according to the actor’s attorneys.
The 44-year-old actor has appealed his conviction, arguing that a photograph of Fleiss with facial bruises may have been fabricated.
The photograph was taken in April 2003 by Tara Dabrizzi, a friend of Fleiss, who didn’t testify at Sizemore’s trial.
Sizemore’s attorney, Michael Rovell, said they have been unable to find Dabrizzi, who left the U.S. the day after taking the photo. The defense also questioned whether she even exists.
“I completely deny that she doesn’t exist,” said deputy city attorney Robert Cha, who prosecuted Sizemore.
-From wire reports
