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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > April > 17 > Entry
Tween fans clamor for the Pussycat Dolls
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The first two in line to see the Pussycat Dolls at a Perimeter Verizon Wireless store Saturday waited patiently for more than four hours.
“They’re awesome!” said Snellville fifth-grader Maggie Britt, who screamed loudly as the six women entered the store.
“They’re gorgeous!” added sister Shannon Lay, 26. “They’re better than the Spice Girls. They sing better. They dance better.”
But Buzz asked Maggie if she could name any actual members of the group, who opened for the Black Eyed Peas Saturday night at Chastain Park Amphitheatre. “Sure!” Maggie said. Pause. “Umm … no.”
Started as a burlesque act in Las Vegas a decade ago, the sextet is more concept than music group. Think the Harlem Globetrotters, just shorter and prettier. Indeed, Verizon could have brought in six impostors and few of the 100-plus heavily tween fans there would have known the difference.
Yet they do have three big Top 40 hits, including the mildly raunchy “Don’t Cha” and current hit “Beep,” which jokingly bleeps out anything that could be construed as sexual.
The lead singer is a beauty named Nicole Scherzinger, formerly of the blink-if-you-missed-it group Eden’s Crush. She stood with the other five for media questions and managed to spout off multiple clichés in one breath when asked about advice for others.
“Stay true to yourself,” she said helpfully. “Have faith. Don’t give up.”
‘Crunk’ on hockey
Local “King of Crunk” rap star Lil Jon is becoming king of the puck: He’s shown up at three Atlanta Thrashers hockey games recently, including Saturday’s crucial win that kept the team’s playoff hopes alive.
He wore sunglasses and a blue Thrashers jersey with the letters “LJ” on the back and the number 17, Thrashers star forward Ilya Kovalchuk’s number. (Lil Jon’s son is in youth hockey.)
When the camera showed his image on the video board during the third period, he waved his arms up and down. The crowd screamed.
In an interview on the Thrashers Web site last month, he was asked if he could help the many hockey players who have lost their teeth. Lil Jon’s jokey answer: “Definitely. I got a great jeweler dentist. We could hook them up with some bling. I’ll definitely help them out, get ‘em a nice grill going.”
Rascal Flatts ain’t hurtin’
Rascal Flatts had the biggest debut of the year, selling 722,000 copies of “Me and My Gang,” according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s the biggest country debut since Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” in fall 2004, with 766,000 copies its first week. LaGrange’s own Bubba Sparxxx debuted at No. 9, with 51,000 copies sold of “The Charm.” His last CD “Deliverance” opened at No. 10 with 65,000 copies in 2003.
NPR station hits goals
WABE-FM (90.1), the local National Public Radio affiliate, reached its spring fund-raising goals again. Entering the 10th and final day of on-air begging a couple of weeks ago, the station was still short $226,000 of its $850,000 goal, itself a hefty 12 percent increase from a year earlier.
But as usual, the procrastinators came through, finishing with pledges of $874,000, a record take. “The Atlanta listeners get some kind of thrill doing that,” said general manager John Weatherford.
More than 7,200 individuals pledged money, up from 6,700 in spring 2005. And the station now has a record 38,000-plus members and 330,000 weekly listeners.
WABE, in fact, has hit its fund-raising goals for so many years now, that current management can’t recall the last time listeners failed to come through.
More on Cruise control
Tom Cruise has taken the impending birth of his first child with fiancée Katie Holmes to another level. “We’ve been doing seminars with the family just to educate them,” the 43-year-old star of the upcoming “Mission: Impossible III” tells GQ magazine in its May issue, out April 25. “Running seminars so we can understand what Kate’s going through, and for Kate to understand it. Things like how to take care of a pregnant woman and get ready for the birth. It’s just kind of becoming a fun game of learning.”
‘Idol’ revelations
Dunwoody High School grad and “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest has purchased Kevin Costner’s 10,000-square-foot $11.5 million home in Hollywood Hills. …
Canadian singer/songwriter Daniel Powter has never appeared or competed on “Idol,” but he can thank the show for fueling the popularity of his insanely catchy song “Bad Day,” played whenever a contestant gets voted off. The exposure helped propel it to the top of the Billboard Top 100 for three weeks.
“It grows on people. Everyone can sing it, and it’s easy to whistle,” Powter told USA Today last week. “I’m sure ‘American Idol’ is a huge reason the song is what it is. I’m thankful because it’s getting my music out there.”
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Kimberly Elise (“Close to Home”) is 39. Singer Liz Phair is 39. Rapper-actor Redman is 36. Actress Jennifer Garner (“Alias”) is 34. Singer Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls is 32.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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