LOS ANGELES – Songbird Pia Toscano was eliminated from "American Idol" on Thursday, leaving the judges who had lavished praise on her in despair over the audience's decision.
Randy Jackson covered his head and mouthed a repeated "No" after host Ryan Seacrest announced that Toscano received the lowest number of viewer votes after her performance Wednesday of "River Deep — Mountain High."
Toscano, 22, a dark-haired beauty from the Queens borough of New York City managed to remain composed on stage as the judges decried the results.
"I have no idea what happened her. I'm shocked. I'm angry," said judge Jennifer Lopez.
Steven Tyler said viewers were wrong, adding, "She's beautiful. When she sings, she's a bird."
Jackson called her one of the best singers in the show's 10th-season field and warned that "no one is safe" if votes aren't cast for them.
"I'm never upset on this show, and I'm never really mad, but this, like, this makes me mad," Jackson said. "What is going on?"
After choosing "I'll Stand by You" for her swan song, Toscano was embraced by Jacob Lusk, 23, of Compton, Calif., who had landed in the bottom three vote-getters with her and Stefano Langone, 21, of Kent, Wash.
Lusk had held to his gospel roots, replacing his planned version of Marvin Gaye's sexually charged "Let's Get It On" with Michael Jackson's inspirational "Man in the Mirror." Langone sang Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman."
Also left to sing another day were Paul McDonald, 26, of Nashville, Tenn.; Casey Abrams, 20, of Idyllwild, Calif.; Haley Reinhart, 20, of Wheeling, Ill.; Lauren Alaina, 16, of Rossville, Ga.; Scotty McCreery, 17, of Garner, N.C., and James Durbin, 22, of Santa Cruz, Calif.
The show Thursday also included a performance of "Real Wild Child" by a shirtless Iggy Pop, with either technical or language glitches causing a loss of sound on occasion.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Underwood makes acting debut in 'Soul Surfer'
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Carrie Underwood says she's happy with her first acting performance on the big screen. The country music star plays a small but pivotal role in the film "Soul Surfer," the inspirational tale of shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton. "I'm happy with myself for the role and for the movie," Underwood said Monday night in Las Vegas where she had just wrapped up taping "ACM Presents Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country." "Am I going to win an Oscar? No. It was so much fun and the important thing is getting the story out there." Underwood plays youth pastor Sarah Hill, a key figure in Hamilton's life and recovery after the attack. Hamilton, then 13, lost her left arm when a 14-foot tiger shark ripped it off while she was surfing with friends in Hawaii. "Soul Surfer" is the tale of her recovery and triumphant return to the sport she loves. Underwood says she was transfixed by the story and the message, which made it rise above other scripts and projects she's been pitched — and so far turned down. The former "American Idol" champion was noncommittal when asked if the movie is the beginning of an acting career, though. "You never know. I'm not saying anything either way," Underwood said. "I'm very busy with music and that's what I love, that's what I know. But you know this was special. It didn't fit into my schedule at all, but we made time for it. It was so special. So if something else really special came along, I'm not going to say never."
UK royal bride's virginity no longer an issue
LONDON – In 1981, Princess Diana's uncle made a public statement before her royal wedding to clear up The Question: Yes, she was a virgin. What a difference a generation makes. 
Today, few people seem the least bit concerned that Prince William and Kate Middleton, set to wed this month, have been living together off and on since their university days. "We live in a modern age and people do all sorts of things before they settle down," said Keith Morley, 34, an engineer from Birmingham. "It's probably best that they lived together before making a commitment." Some historians say it's about time the royals shed the prudishness they exhibited at the time of Diana's marriage, which came years after the pill and the Summer of Love made casual sex more socially acceptable even in traditionally uptight Britain. The modern-day tolerance of William and Middleton's living arrangements, many say, just brings the House of Windsor in line with the times. Part of the change may have to do with the very public infidelities that played out in the disastrous marriage of Charles and Diana, which rocked the royal family to its core. "After two decades of scandal, I think it's the royal family recognizing that to be normal is to their advantage," said Deborah Cohen, a historian at Northwestern University in Chicago who specializes in modern Britain. "It's a canny refashioning of the image. There is no longer an investment in being anachronistic, or a public expectation that they ought to be harkening back to a different era of sexual politics." At the time of Diana's engagement, the royal family and its advisers expected that she be a virgin, sparking dozens of speculative newspaper stories. It all prompted her late uncle, Lord Fermoy, to pronounce publicly that she was a "bona fide" virgin. The issue of Diana's virginity wasn't based on a fixed rule but was part of a set of unwritten conventions governing royal life, a code of behavior that has evolved — slowly — over the centuries as social values change. It is the monarch who sets the tone, so the views of Queen Elizabeth II have prevailed for nearly six decades. Practical concerns, more than squeamishness about sex, were behind the royal family's historic concerns over the virginity of a prospective bride, Cohen said. There were fears that a princess could be carrying another man's child, bringing an illegitimate heir to the throne. This was particularly important before paternity testing provided a scientific way to determine a child's biological father.
Today, few people seem the least bit concerned that Prince William and Kate Middleton, set to wed this month, have been living together off and on since their university days. "We live in a modern age and people do all sorts of things before they settle down," said Keith Morley, 34, an engineer from Birmingham. "It's probably best that they lived together before making a commitment." Some historians say it's about time the royals shed the prudishness they exhibited at the time of Diana's marriage, which came years after the pill and the Summer of Love made casual sex more socially acceptable even in traditionally uptight Britain. The modern-day tolerance of William and Middleton's living arrangements, many say, just brings the House of Windsor in line with the times. Part of the change may have to do with the very public infidelities that played out in the disastrous marriage of Charles and Diana, which rocked the royal family to its core. "After two decades of scandal, I think it's the royal family recognizing that to be normal is to their advantage," said Deborah Cohen, a historian at Northwestern University in Chicago who specializes in modern Britain. "It's a canny refashioning of the image. There is no longer an investment in being anachronistic, or a public expectation that they ought to be harkening back to a different era of sexual politics." At the time of Diana's engagement, the royal family and its advisers expected that she be a virgin, sparking dozens of speculative newspaper stories. It all prompted her late uncle, Lord Fermoy, to pronounce publicly that she was a "bona fide" virgin. The issue of Diana's virginity wasn't based on a fixed rule but was part of a set of unwritten conventions governing royal life, a code of behavior that has evolved — slowly — over the centuries as social values change. It is the monarch who sets the tone, so the views of Queen Elizabeth II have prevailed for nearly six decades. Practical concerns, more than squeamishness about sex, were behind the royal family's historic concerns over the virginity of a prospective bride, Cohen said. There were fears that a princess could be carrying another man's child, bringing an illegitimate heir to the throne. This was particularly important before paternity testing provided a scientific way to determine a child's biological father.
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