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Thursday, September 18, 2008
9/19: What’s up with Kelly Stevens, formerly of B98.5
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kelly Stevens, former co-host of the Kelly & Alpha show on B98.5 before being replaced in July by Steve & Vikki, took a 13 day, 13 state 4,153-mile trip on a Harley up to Maine and back earlier this month. He hit the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Shenandoah Valley and Niagara Falls. He made it to the Eastern most point of Maine. “I saw the sun rise before anybody else!” he said. He also sampled his first lobster roll.
Stevens, who went into alcohol rehab in the spring and has been clean for six months, said he found the trip peaceful and pleasant.
He did hit a road bump at the Canadian border. He went over to Canada to take some pictures and when he met up with customs going back into the States, he told them honestly he was taking pictures of the border. “That was probably a mistake,” he said. “This guy drove all the way from Atlanta to take pictures?” The customs officials detained him for an hour and interrogated him. He showed them his digital pictures to prove how harmless he was and they bought his story.
Kelly & Alpha have hired an agent (Glenn Goldstein, who used to rep Jimmy Baron) and are seeking radio jobs, either here or anywhere else. Nowadays, Kelly says he’s going to a lot of AA meetings while he figures Alpha is playing lots of golf.
Kelly might also make a trip to the West Coast.
“I’m getting paid to stay home,” he noted. “I’ll never have this opportunity again.”
-The top 5 on “America’s Got Talent” were not surprisng. I placed Kaitlyn Maher at No. 5 over Neal E. Boyd simply because I liked her better. I’m not surprised he beat her out. The rest of my top 5 made it in, including both opera singers (Donald Braswell, too), Nuttin But Strings, Queen Emily and Eli Mattson. Before next week’s finale performances, here are my odds to win the $1 million:
1-Nuttin But Strings: 40%
2-Neal E. Boyd: 25%
3-Queen Emily: 20%
4-Donald Braswell 8%
5-Eli Mattson 7%
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9/18: Kaedy Kiely back on air on the River, 2nd season for Alan Ball’s “True Blood,” “America’s Got Talent” top 10
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kaedy Kiely returned to the air this morning on 97.1/The River after a four-year absence from Atlanta airwaves.
“I’m so psyched to be here,” she told listeners. And she sounded it. “I have to pinch myself,” she added after wrapping the show. “It was such a trip. I felt like I was back home.” She’s on from 5 a.m. to about 8:30 a.m.
“The greatest thing about the past four years is I didn’t need radio,” she added. “But I certainly missed it terribly. It’s what I do best.”
Thanks to www.971theriver.com, she’ll be able to funnel her rock knowledge with interviews and other content online. And you’ll see her at the Stone Mountain chili cookoff Sept. 27 and the AC/DC concert in December.
The River, as Kiely noted, makes “the music the star,” but she doesn’t mind not talking as much. “Rock and roll has always been such a big part of my life,” she noted. She was a fixture on Atlanta airwaves on those two stations for more than 20 years.
Her friend Jordan Graye (who is on B98.5 and also plays Kate McCarthy on the River) told her about the auditions a few weeks back at the River. Kiely competed with Steve Mitchell (a former colleague at 96rock, ironically), Tim Rhodes (also a former 96rocker who is now on a rock station in Athens) and Paula Phillips, the traffic gal at the River.
Kiely, who replaces Lexie Kaye, wasn’t entirely out of radio. She spent the past two years doing “continuity,” the liaison between advertising and talent at 790/The Zone. She also has been helping out selling horchata, a Mexican drink that has a rice pudding flavor. And she started a Web site called www.rockriddles.com.
-Marietta native Alan Ball gets a second season of “True Blood.” HBO has given Ball the green light after just two episodes. Although ratings have been relatively modest for HBO with 1.44 million seeing the debut, the second episode audience grew to about 1.8 million. It is a taut, fascinating drama, with Anna Paquin making a great central character as Sookie. Ball is also known for “American Beauty” and “Six Feet Under.”
-I can’t say any of the top 10 of “America’s Got Talent” has the true star power of Terry Fator last year. And I’m disappointed America is so fixated by singers with only Nuttin But Strings standing out. (I would have liked to have seen the baton twirler, the James Gang and even the Tapping Dads instead of, say, Jessica Price.) I tended to agree with Piers Morgan. Most of the Tuesday performances were mediocre. Five will remain as of tonight and the winner will be picked next week. Here’s my ranking of last night’s top 10:
1-Nutting But Strings They have such passion, such grace, such fire. As the only act that doesn’t sing, they are the favorites to take this home. Wow. If you haven’t seen them, here’s their audition:
2- Eli Mattson - He got the pimp spot, which virtually guarantees a slot in the top 5. He has a distinctive voice and sings with conviction, a powerful combo. He really connects with the audience. And his version of Elton John’s “Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word” clicks.
3- Queen Emily - Ugh. She went for the most obvious diva song “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” in the songbook. There are 100 others who can sing it as well but her stage presence and personality makes her special. She’s in the top 5 for sure as well.
4-Donald Braswell He is such a pro. I really do enjoy his pure vocals though he does sometimes seem too internalized while singing. I’m not sure if voters will place both opera singers in the top 5. Probably not. I’m rooting for Braswell over Boyd.
5- Kaitlyn Maher: I have an incredibly soft heart for Kaitlyn. She made me cry the first time I saw her at just age four. As Piers notes, she never misses a lyric. Sure, she misses a note once in awhile but she is the princess of adorable. It’s hard not to root for her. Based on talent alone, she doesn’t deserve to be in the top 5, but here I am placing her in the top 5 myself. I can’t help myself!
6- Neal E. Boyd - He made a mistake going for a boring pop song like “All By Myself.” I’ve never been quite as taken by him as others but I can see his underdog appeal and he’ll probably make the top 5.
7- Jessica Price — So-so voice, a fearful image on stage does not make the next big star in my mind. And she couldn’t compare to Sarah McLachlan doing “Angel.” The judges fell over backward praising her but I’m not sure she’d even make the top 24 on “American Idol.”
8- Paul Salos - He does a lovely rendition of Frank Sinatra each week and was adequate tonight with “New York New York,” but he really shouldn’t go any further. He’s another case of a great underdog story which “Got Talent” specializes in.
9- The Wright Kids - What century did these kids come from? They seem completely stuck in 1973 and sing Jackson Five’s “ABC” to boot. Cuteness has gotten them this far. Seriously, they are really not all that.
10-Joseph Hall I totally agree with Piers on him. Good stage presence, horrible voice with “A Little Less Conversation.” I’d be horrified if he made the top 5. I still have no clue why he’s even here at all. Bleh.
-Congrats to Kevin & Taylor at the Fish for winning best morning show in the “Best of the Big A.” Ditto with Karen Minton of WSB-TV for sexiest weather forecaster. (The Bert Show and Dagmar Midcap were our editors’ picks.)
