Originally posted by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Caleb Lee Hutchinson, the Dallas, GA resident who came in second last month on "American Idol," will perform on the one-hour July 4th special on WSB-TV next Wednesday called "Georgia Salutes America."
It will air at 9 p.m.
In a pre-taped segment shot at WSB-TV studios before military families, fans and family members, he sang several songs including an original tune. The live portion including fireworks will be at International Plaza, the green space between the Georgia World Congress Center, Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Philips Arena, instead of Centennial Olympic Park because of renovations.
Not only did his parents come along but so did his grandparents Carolyn McDonald and Joyce Culpepper and his brand new manager from Red Light Bryan Frasher.
Caleb didn’t make an issue of it at the time but during the season performance finale last month, he had some issues with his throat and had to medicated. Whether that impacted him or not is debatable but he didn’t want sympathy votes so he said nothing. Classy.
He got some time off in Dallas for a couple of weeks but will soon be prepping for the upcoming two-month “Idol” tour, which takes him around the country but barely in the Southeast. He won’t make it to Atlanta but will be performing in Nashville in September.
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There is a web series featuring Maddie Poppe's journey since she won "Idol." Here are the first two:
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Jax (third place, season 14) and Jonny Brens (top 14, season 16) will perform with Sara Evans for an Independence Day event on the south lawn of the White House. It will air on Hallmark Channel. This is separate from "A Capitol Fourth," airing on PBS, which will feature Lauren Alaina.
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Kelly Clarkson has purchased an $8.5 million home in metro Los Angeles. It's a brand new, spec-built mansion just shy of 10,000 square feet in Encino, according to Variety magazine.
In the meantime, she is trying to sell a home about twice that size in Hendersonville, Tenn. for about the same price: $8.75 million. She purchased that home for $2.86 million in 2012.
Get the gaudy details of what each home is like here.
So it looks like she is focusing her life more on L.A. where “The Voice” is shot than Nashville now.
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Credit: Pascal Le Segretain
Credit: Pascal Le Segretain
Season 9's Katie Stevens now stars in Freeform's hit show "The Bold Type." Stevens, who just got engaged, appeared on the Seth Myers' show last night and shared a green room with Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. She talked about her engagement and how she awkwardly met Joanna Coles, whose life is fodder for the show.
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Gotta love the group Postmodern Jukebox. They have worked with at least a half-dozen different former "American Idols" from Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart to Melinda Doolittle, Joey Cook and Blake Lewis. They even feature folks most viewers may have forgotten such as Stefano Langone, top 7 season 10.
Here he is doing “Shape of You” in jazzy Postmodern style, which just came out:
Clay Aiken Tweet of the week
He defends Meghan McCain and her conservative views on “The View” even if he doesn’t always agree with her:
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