Video Wednesday on FOX’s American Idol of finalist Kris Allen greeting parents Kim and Neil at their Maumelle home during his recent visit recalled another Maumelle family whose daughter Amy Lee became a star at about the same age. Watching Neil’s tearful, lingering embrace of his sonturned-star, one wonders what changes Kris’ family – a strong and loving one by all accounts – faces. Paper Trails asked John Lee to write an open letter to Neil Allen, and he graciously agreed:
“Dear Neil, It’s been about a year since you and Kimberly brought Kris over to my house to play for me. What a difference a year makes! Kris played a few songs and as you know, we really thought he had the “total package” (talent, originality, musicianship, age, look). He was the best I’d seen in central Arkansas. At the time, he was considering an American Idol audition and it seemed the best option with record companies trying to figure out their place amid new technology. After you left that night, I told my family, “It’s a shame to meet someone I know has all the tools to make it and I can’t do a thing for him.” Imagine how proud we’ve been each Tuesday and Wednesday watching Kris’ continued success. When Amy and Evanescence burst onto the scene in 2003 life got interesting. I received an overwhelming amount of calls and e-mails from relatives, friends, and people I barely remembered. Once the tour began, I thought I worked for Ticketmaster, trying to accommodate all the ticket and back-stage pass requests. People started treating my family differently and thought we were instantly rich. They think you’re on the payroll (be prepared to pick up all restaurant tabs). Amy’s life became a whirlwind. It became hard to go places with her. Through all the excitement, turmoil, tension and euphoria, our family realized the need for normalcy. After all, our daughter was still just a 21-year-old from Maumelle. … read more »
M.I.A., David Byrne, and more attend the two musicians’ experimental collaboration in a bookstore. SPIN’s Charles Aaron explains.
And with good reason. Last Friday’s intimate benefit show at Housing Works bookstore in New York’s Soho neighborhood was an acoustically nuanced, elaborately voiced performance by the Brooklyn-based indie-rock theoreticians Dirty Projectors featuring pop’s most likable experimentalist, Bjork. And everyone — most of all the patrons who paid $100-$400 a ticket — wanted to hear every carefully composed strum and croon and otherworldly hocket. So they shooshed. (…)
Meanwhile, the increasingly lubricated crowd was warming to the task of spotting musical “celebrities” amongst the crowd of 300 — M.I.A., David Byrne, St. Vincent, Evanescence singer Amy Lee, members of Vampire Weekend and the National. All right, so it wasn’t an Us Weekly field day, but still, a lively turnout, which reportedly raised upwards of $40,000 for Housing Works’ efforts to assist homeless, HIV-positive New Yorkers (read more..). More from this event: HousingWorks.org Huge thanks to EvanescenceVille for this find!
Not much for today. I just updated the gallery with several new pictures. Thanks to EvanescenceVille for some of these!
When I added this post back in March, I never expected such a big feedback from you guys. So far, we’ve got 15 comments. This means, there are atleast 15 different opinons. I think, it’s great, but it also made me thinking about opening a new forum. We used to have one here, but nobody really used it and too many spammers kept posting their crappy stuff. That’s why I closed it. If you’re interested in a new community, I would give it another try. So, what do you think?
So, I was surfing around and came across this one music blog where I found following:
“It seems that Evanescence is no more. Though Amy Lee might still be recording under the name, the band appears to have broken up. Evanescence is set to begin a tour on May 19, but fans should be prepared to see Amy Lee sing with a different backing band.”
So if anyone know’s more on this, give a shout and comment right away ;)