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  • JT Starts Building His Empire

    Have you seen Esmee Denters on YouTube yet?

    The 18 year old is one of YouTube’s stars. More than 45,000 members subscribe to the singer’s posts, which have been viewed more than 3 million times. She’s #15 all-time there. She naturally has her own web site, but she has fan sites. Have we mentioned that the girl with the many hair colors isn’t a recording artist yet?

    That all changes now with Justin Timberlake signing the singer to his vanity label run through Interscope. The bombshell will open on the European leg of JT’s tour. The amazing web success story seems legit for a change. There is no Idol worship here, just a young woman plugging away, reaching out to the masses through viral marketing and eventually making the jump from web star to music star. We think. She certainly has vocal chops and is gorgeous. With the songwriters and producers, Timberlake and Interscope can bring in, here’s betting her first single goes Top 10.

    Spinning In The CD:
    I’m not on the CD or iPod today. I’m watching Esmee. You should too.

  • This Is Where I Came In

    Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club BandBlake Lewis, to his everlasting credit, covered the title track from The Bee Gees’ last solo album, This Is Where I Came In, as this season’s American Idol wound down.

    Sting may be singing the same song this week after Police drummer Stewart Copeland shredded the band’s launch of its first tour in years. Writing on the web, Copeland called the performance “lame”, criticized guitarist Andy Summers for missing cues and called Sting “a pansy” rather than “a god of rock”. The drummer admitted to missing his own share of cues, including the sounding of a gong to open the show.

    Wasn’t this the reason they broke up?

    Meanwhile, the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (pictured above left) has arrived just in time for various media outlets to begin confirming that rock’s most famous band would soon place its catalog online for download. As usual, Paul McCartney jumped feet first into the concept by pre-releasing his new release on Apple’s iTunes. Happy birthday to Billy Shears, Lovely Rita, Mr. Kite and the gang. There may be no more important release in all of rock music’s history. How important is this record? The Librarian of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2003, the first time a non-American popular music album was ever so honored.

    Spinning In The CD: I keep hearing we’re supposed to be listening to The Fray’s Look After You. One can’t watch Gray’s Anatomy or a half dozen other shows without hearing the tune. But the band missed. Not only did the single not sell (everyone had the album), but the next song that should have been the single is Hundred. If you haven’t been Frayed yet, give the band a listen.

  • Lawsuits, Taped Calls and Murder. Doesn’t Anyone Just Sing Anymore?

    In a week that should have been marked by good news — the start of the summer concert season, new albums from Linkin Park, Bon Jovi and Wilco, reunion tours from The Police while Kenny Chesney and Beyonce hit the road as well — this is summer. Even Jay-Z is around more and more often. Look for his very cool multi-part interview on Joost if you have have a beta copy.

    Instead of the tunes, though, we have the trials.

    Brandy, whose auto accident 6 months ago left a man dead, is being sued and is countersuing for all sorts of things. We haven’t seen an album out of the almost 30 something for 3 years now. I would rather her sing than sue.

    Meanwhile, Phil Spector’s role in the latest Trial of the Century drags on in Los Angeles. There are diaries and secret codes and Phil looking like the picture of Dorian Gray. Ultimately, though, popular opinion everywhere seems to believe he did the deed. The trial begin May 19, shows no signs of slowing down and will be haunting the gossip columns for weeks. In case anyone cares, the dead woman’s name is Lana Clarkson. Spector gets all the attention so it only seemed fitting that we actually recognize Clarkson.

    And in terribly minor news, George Michael actually admitted guilt to a British court when he was found slumped over in his car. Perhaps he can give Lindsay Lohan his number.

    Spinning In The CD:

    Still laughing at Jon Bon Jovi’s reaction to Blake Lewis modernizing You Give Love A Bad Name on American Idol, one would assume he doesn’t mind the songwriting royalties pouring in from the country’s #18 song this week. The best part — Jordin Sparks yodeling This Is My Now is only at #15. Granted, the original went to #1 when Jon, Richie and the gang released it, but that was 20 years ago. Time for a b-b-b-beat, beat, beatbox arrangement.

    **Alert: Look for TV Help Web’s blog this weekend on the sale of American Idol**