I'm glad my girl showed emotion. She's human she cares for the people of this country!
Obama!
What happened boy! I guess you shoulda brought Oprah to help you win this one too.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Paula Has A Meltdown
That's my girl!
Paula reportedly had a 10min meltdown at LAX in the Continental Airline Termnial. Her meltdown consisted of her hyperventilating and on the verge of passing out. She also was yelling into the phone yelling and screaming.
That's my girl! She needs Publicity as American Idol is about to air in one week!
Go Paula! Get in the news!
BSD (Obama)
Today's Bitch Slap of the Day belongs to Barack Obama!
Obama swore he was winning the NH primary but my girl Hilary came in and swept his ass away!
So Whack! Bitch Slap Obama for thinking he had this!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Hil Go Hil!
Obama swore he was winning the NH primary but my girl Hilary came in and swept his ass away!
So Whack! Bitch Slap Obama for thinking he had this!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Hil Go Hil!
Oprah Moment (Putting The Past To Rest)
Starting a new relationship is always exciting and scary. It requires a risk that we all are afraid to take after being hurt. Our past is hard to forget sometimes it defines that person that you were. I think the most scariest part of burying the past is burying the person you were.
We have to remember that our past is part of us no matter what we go through. Just because you put the past to rest it doesn't mean you lose who you are. It just means you find a new you. If you didnt go through the pain and agony of the past you wouldn't become the person you are today and you wouldn't be able to offer the things you have to offer. Holding on to yesterday doesn't let you grow tomorrow.
So in conclusion, I am laying my past to rest in order to unveil my future.
We have to remember that our past is part of us no matter what we go through. Just because you put the past to rest it doesn't mean you lose who you are. It just means you find a new you. If you didnt go through the pain and agony of the past you wouldn't become the person you are today and you wouldn't be able to offer the things you have to offer. Holding on to yesterday doesn't let you grow tomorrow.
So in conclusion, I am laying my past to rest in order to unveil my future.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Paula on New Show!
Starz Entertainment is producing two half-hour sitcoms, a first for the channel. According to Variety, Hollywood Residential and Head Case will both bow in January.Eight episodes of each series have been ordered. Hollywood Residential revolves around an accident-prone celebrity-home-makeover host. Head Case will feature a Beverly Hills psychotherapist who ministers to mixed-up celebrities. Starz Vice President of programming Mike Ruggiero stated, "Original series are a way for Starz to extend its brand beyond the theatrical movies that dominate our schedule. With these two sitcoms, we're taking a measured approach, and not trying to do everything at once."
Episode 1 - The Hotness1/23/08 at 10:30 PM ET/PT “Hollywood Residential” goes to Paula Abdul's house where the show’s Host, Tony King (Adam Paul), wreaks havoc with the production and has issues with hot new co-host Lila Mann (Lindsey Stoddart). Paula & her house have issues with Tony, which he may or may not be able to fix.
National Treasure Number 1, But It's All About Juno!
Ok, National Treasure is number 1 again but Juno is raking in the cash, all by word of mouth and a Golden Globe Nomination. I am so over the hairline of Nicolas Cage! Juno is hilarious! Alvin & The Chipmunks still rocking in the top 5. This weeks new release One Missed Call came in at a modest number 5 with 13 million. I have not seen the horror movie but I will see it this week.
1 1 National Treasure: Book of Secrets $20,225,000 $171,033,000
2 3 I Am Legend Warner Bros. $16,300,000 $228,638,000
3 5 Juno $16,225,000 $52,032,000
4 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks $16,000,000 $176,738,000
5 - One Missed Call Warner Bros. $13,525,000 $13,525,000
1 1 National Treasure: Book of Secrets $20,225,000 $171,033,000
2 3 I Am Legend Warner Bros. $16,300,000 $228,638,000
3 5 Juno $16,225,000 $52,032,000
4 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks $16,000,000 $176,738,000
5 - One Missed Call Warner Bros. $13,525,000 $13,525,000
Dance War! It's On!
Get yo dance on!
Tonight the premiere of "Dance War, Bruno VS Carrie Ann"
Even though I can't stand Carrie Ann and want to kick her in her throat, I still want to see this show! This looks good. Ima have to talk about it tomorrow!
Tonight the premiere of "Dance War, Bruno VS Carrie Ann"
Even though I can't stand Carrie Ann and want to kick her in her throat, I still want to see this show! This looks good. Ima have to talk about it tomorrow!
Lose Weight for 08 (The Weigh In)
Hey guys just an update on LW408. I started my mission last week Jan 1 weighing in at 150.9lbs. I had my game face on and decided to lose the weight. My goal is 12lbs in 10 weeks which should be pretty attainable.
My frist week consisted of reducing the number of carbs in what I eat. I have not cut them out just reduced them. I would not eat pass 7:30pm but on the weekend I did have two meals pass that time. I reduced my drinking and in 7 days I have had 6 drinks including the weekend. Ya'll know that was hard since I was at a party with OPEN BAR! Now ya'll know Latinos don't reject somethin FAREEE! Especially DRINKS!
I have also worked out 5 out of the 7 days. My work out included weight training and running. I gradually increased my running from 20-30min this week. I include water in my diet as well. I drink 2 liters of water daily at work.
I stepped on the scale this morning and I heard drum rolls!
My weigh in this week is 147.5lbs!
Stay tuned for next week.
My frist week consisted of reducing the number of carbs in what I eat. I have not cut them out just reduced them. I would not eat pass 7:30pm but on the weekend I did have two meals pass that time. I reduced my drinking and in 7 days I have had 6 drinks including the weekend. Ya'll know that was hard since I was at a party with OPEN BAR! Now ya'll know Latinos don't reject somethin FAREEE! Especially DRINKS!
I have also worked out 5 out of the 7 days. My work out included weight training and running. I gradually increased my running from 20-30min this week. I include water in my diet as well. I drink 2 liters of water daily at work.
I stepped on the scale this morning and I heard drum rolls!
My weigh in this week is 147.5lbs!
Stay tuned for next week.
Friday, January 04, 2008
Britney's Older Brother!
Would you guys hit it? I would! He looks aight! I say two drinks and I'd hit it and quit! I'm just sayin! He look a little sweet too! Looks like he may have a little Splenda in his tank!
No Charges For Britney!
This just in from ET:
ET confirms troubled pop star BRITNEY SPEARS will not be charged with anything stemming from the incident that occurred at her home Thursday night. "We aren't charging her with anything at this time," LAPD officer HARDING says. "She is at the (hospital) for her own health and welfare."
Britney Suffered a Mental Breakdown!
Poor thing, who wouldn't suffer a mental breakdown? No one is that tough skinned to have been through what she has this year. She needs guidance from a strong parental figure and a higher being. I hope she really gets help. At least it wasn't drugs!
By all accounts, Britney suffered a severe mental breakdown last night.
“They had to strap her down like a mental patient and she was going between laughing and hysterics,” a source tells Us Weekly, calling it “a total psychotic breakdown. She just went crazy."
Life & Style magazine is claiming that Brit Brit was not on drugs Thursday evening, when she had her meltdown.
“Her blood test just came back, and, thank God, it was clean. There are no traces of drugs or alcohol of any kind,” A source close to the Spears family tells Life & Style.
By all accounts, Britney suffered a severe mental breakdown last night.
“They had to strap her down like a mental patient and she was going between laughing and hysterics,” a source tells Us Weekly, calling it “a total psychotic breakdown. She just went crazy."
Life & Style magazine is claiming that Brit Brit was not on drugs Thursday evening, when she had her meltdown.
“Her blood test just came back, and, thank God, it was clean. There are no traces of drugs or alcohol of any kind,” A source close to the Spears family tells Life & Style.
Britney Spears Dazed & Confused!
Britney appears dazed and confused as they take her to the hospital.
Britney Spears on Suicide Watch
Yep, Britney has been placed on 72hr suicide watch. That poor girl! Look at those pics she is not well!
Update: There are reports saying she has had more of a mental breakdown than under the influence but nothing is confirmed yet.
Michael Update
To all those that know Michael,
He is at the Gay Christian Network Conference, which is being held this weekend in DC. He had the chance to sing as part of a trio last night at a service and RJ HELTON, from American Idol Season 1, complimented Michael on his singing.
Needless to say Michael is super stoaked! He is having a blast and said to tell you guys Happy New Year!
He is at the Gay Christian Network Conference, which is being held this weekend in DC. He had the chance to sing as part of a trio last night at a service and RJ HELTON, from American Idol Season 1, complimented Michael on his singing.
Needless to say Michael is super stoaked! He is having a blast and said to tell you guys Happy New Year!
Breaking News!
Jayden taken to the hospital as well. There are no reports of injuries but Jayden was in the other ambulance. Sean Preston was in a car. This is truly sad!
Britney Spears Has Officially Lost It!
She held her kids hostage as she refused to give them back to the bodyguard to take to Kevin. Police, Kevin, and lawyers were at the scene. It was a 3hr stand off and finally Britney was restrained and taken to the hospital. She appeared to be under the influence of something and is going under psychiatric evaluation.
I really can't slam Britney at this moment. I really feel sorry for her she must be losing her mind. She is clearly unstable and she needs help. I hope that her family and close friends come together to help Britney. The media continuiously hounds her and is a cause for this breakdown. At this rate she is heading for suicide. I just hope she gets help. God Bless Her!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Mary "Just Fine" at Number 1!
Mary J Blige knocks Josh out of the box by taking the number 1 spot on the billboard 200 charts. Blige took the top spot with 204,000 copies sold of her new album Growing Pains. I downloaded the album and its not bad. It aint Crack addict Mary but it's aight! Ya'll know that Mary J has not made a good album like when she was on Crack and made the classic "My Life" I wish Mary would do meth for a hot moment and records a good ass album!
Alicia Keys still hanging on to the second spot followed by Josh Groban at number 3 with his biggest selling album of 2007 "Noel."
Now 26 is holding it down at number 4 while Chris Brown still kissing the number 5 spot with "Exclusive."
Flo Rida Sets A New Record!
This week at number 1 on the billboard top 100 is "Low" by Flo Rida setting a new digital download record with 470,000 sold. The record was previously held by Fergie with "Fergalicious" with 294,000 sold.
The number 2 spot belongs to Alicia Keys followed by Timbaland's "Apologize" at number 3. The fourth spot is Chris Brown and back in the top ten is Soulja Boy with "Crank That" jumping 11-5.
The 10 Corniest Love Songs!
Guess who made the list? Yep my girl! It's nice to see Paula making the charts again.
THE TEN CORNIEST LOVE SONGS ON EARTH
10. "Open Arms" by Journey - It's the sort of song that brings tears to your eyes ... as you fight back the urge to vomit.
9. "Almost Paradise" by Ann Wilson/Mike Reno - Some people built bomb shelters in the '80s because they feared the Cold War. Others built them to shield themselves from this gem from the "Footloose" soundtrack.
8. "I Need Love," LL Cool J - There's nothing quite like LL opening up and expressing his sensitive side-nothing quite so ridiculous.
7. "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" by Michael Bolton - It has found new life in that new Ford ad with the voice-activated MP3 player. The way the driver's voice cracks when he changes the song says it all.
6. "Rush, Rush" by Paula Abdul - Hurry, hurry change the radio station!
5. "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion - Like a hot fondue pot that's tipping over into your lap, Celine's power ballad is dangerously cheesy.
4. "More Than Words," Extreme - A list of corny love songs without "More Than Words" is like a list of U.S. presidents without Abraham Lincoln. And that guitar-thumping video: priceless.
3. "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)," Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle - That's right-it's a cover of a love song written for a Disney movie. If this one doesn't get you in the mood for love ... 2. "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Bonnie Tyler - Every now and then we fall apart remembering how funny this song was at the beginning of "Old School."
1. "With You," Jessica Simpson - It's the love song inspired by spending lazy afternoons with then-husband Nick Lachey-and we all saw how that turned out.
THE TEN CORNIEST LOVE SONGS ON EARTH
10. "Open Arms" by Journey - It's the sort of song that brings tears to your eyes ... as you fight back the urge to vomit.
9. "Almost Paradise" by Ann Wilson/Mike Reno - Some people built bomb shelters in the '80s because they feared the Cold War. Others built them to shield themselves from this gem from the "Footloose" soundtrack.
8. "I Need Love," LL Cool J - There's nothing quite like LL opening up and expressing his sensitive side-nothing quite so ridiculous.
7. "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" by Michael Bolton - It has found new life in that new Ford ad with the voice-activated MP3 player. The way the driver's voice cracks when he changes the song says it all.
6. "Rush, Rush" by Paula Abdul - Hurry, hurry change the radio station!
5. "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion - Like a hot fondue pot that's tipping over into your lap, Celine's power ballad is dangerously cheesy.
4. "More Than Words," Extreme - A list of corny love songs without "More Than Words" is like a list of U.S. presidents without Abraham Lincoln. And that guitar-thumping video: priceless.
3. "A Whole New World (Aladdin's Theme)," Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle - That's right-it's a cover of a love song written for a Disney movie. If this one doesn't get you in the mood for love ... 2. "Total Eclipse of the Heart," Bonnie Tyler - Every now and then we fall apart remembering how funny this song was at the beginning of "Old School."
1. "With You," Jessica Simpson - It's the love song inspired by spending lazy afternoons with then-husband Nick Lachey-and we all saw how that turned out.
Daaayum Vivie! Get Yo Head On!
Rumor has it Vivica Fox has a sex tape that turned up. I guess my girl Vive got totally drunk and started giving head to a friend of hers. Well he held his video phone and taped the entire thing. He sent it to a couple of friends that sent it to more friends and so forth. Vive got a hold of it and turned it over to the police to try to prevent it from being posted online.
I aint mad of Vive, she wanted to give a BJ and so she did. More power to ya sista! Do what you gots to do! Show that tape with pride and tell them this is how you suck a dick! Yo go girl!
Ya'll know Ima post it as soon as I get it. :)
Reese VS Vince
There are reports that Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn are butting heads on the set of their new movie "Four Christmases." She also has a problem with one of the sex scenes. She is not feeling it at all.
Considering Vince is one of the producers and writers of the movie, I think he aint gonna budge on that. But who could blame her? She don't want to hit that! She has been with Ryan and now banging Jake G. How do you look at Vince like that? Oops, I bout threw up!
Missed the 1st Season? No Worries, Season 2 is on it's Way!
VH1 gave former Cha Chi star Scott Baio a reality show called "Scott Baio is 45 and Single" well since that end of that season, Biao married and is now expecting a child. So the next season is called "Scott Baio is 46 and Pregnant."
Whoops! I think I might have to miss that as well.
This picture is a bit disturbing!
Jamie Lynn Spears' TV show 'cancelled' after teen pregnancy!
DUH!
That's all I have to say.
That's all I have to say.
Awe look! Babies having babies, how cute!
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
HoMo Club Alert!
Horror Movie Club Alert!
One Missed Call, will premeire this week. I am planning an outing for this. Who's in?
One Missed Call, will premeire this week. I am planning an outing for this. Who's in?
Now That's an All Around Entertainer!
Paula Abdul “Desire, Not Timing, Makes Your Dreams Come True”
By: Janet Attwood & Debra Poneman
Jack Canfield, the fabulously successful co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, has said, "Almost everything we'll ever do in life that is really powerful, that really produces a result in our lives, the quantum leaps to a new level requires us to be something uncomfortable. It takes risk to achieve. It's often scary. It requires something you didn't know before or a skill you didn't have before, but in the end it's worth it."
The beautiful and talented Paula Abdul, is a huge winner who has achieved huge results doing things that others are uncomfortable doing. Paula is, without a doubt, one of the world's most recognized names in the entertainment business. Her career has won awards and broken records in every area she has ventured into, including music, dance, choreography, animation, and drama. Her remarkable career shows no sign of slowing down. Most recently Paula is known to the world for her role as, 'the judge with a heart,' on TV's "American Idol."
For the past seven years she has shared the panel with Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell on this mega-hit show that is routinely watched by more than 35 million people each Tuesday and Wednesday night during "Idol" season. Paula's extraordinary music career is exemplified by worldwide album sales exceeding 53 million records, including two number-one albums, six number-one singles, a Grammy Award, seven MTV awards, two Emmy Awards, two People's Choice Awards, and two Kids' Choice Awards.
Paula even has her very own star on Hollywood Boulevard. She also continues to honor her roots by running dance and cheerleading camps, competitions, and scholarship programs throughout the country, and she has never forgotten her first break as a Los Angeles Laker Girl, which, of course, made her the world's most famous cheerleader. Most recently, Paula has expanded the 'Paula Abdul' brand with new ventures such as a successful jewelry line and a forthcoming fragrance line.
She introduced her Paula Abdul Jewelry Collection on "QVC" last April to record-breaking sales, and is now taking this hugely popular line to the UK. In addition, there is a biography coming soon, and she has been back in the recording studio to create a much-awaited new single, her first in over a decade. On top of all of this, she contributed the preface to a very exciting new book that was just released, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul, a collection of inspiring and heartwarming stories by 'American Idols' from every season, and their fans.
Interviewing Paula for this article was transformational mentor, Debra Poneman, who is co-author of Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul, founder of Yes to Success™ seminars, and an award-winning keynote speaker, seminar leader, and record, radio, and TV personality. Be sure to get your very own copy of Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul today by going to www.HealthyWealthynWise.com/AmericanIdol
DEBRA PONEMAN: I am so happy to be here. It doesn't get better than this.
PAULA ABDUL: Thank you so much for having me. This is a real joy, treat, and pleasure.
DEBRA PONEMAN: I just want to say that I had the pleasure of meeting Paula and working with her on Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul and, frankly, I have to say, Paula, that I completely fell in love with you, with your beautiful, sweet heart and just your charming personality. I would just love to know, as I'm sure everyone else would, the story of your entire journey.
If you don't mind, can you please start out by sharing with us, what were your passions when you were a young person? When you were a child, what was it that made you happiest?
PAULA ABDUL: The fondest and most clear memory I had was when I was four years old and I was watching "Singing in the Rain" on television. I was watching it with my mom and my dad and my sister, Wendy, and I fell in love with a man named Gene Kelly. I remember scooting up really close to the TV, and touching the TV whenever he appeared, and I said, "That's my dad." My father said, "No, that can be your TV dad, but I'm your dad."
I remember that I had this fantasy and fixation on Gene Kelly, "Singing in the Rain," and then that just sparked my love for MGM musicals. I can honestly say that Gene Kelly was my first idol. I remember, from that moment on, I could not get enough of finding out when the next musical would be on television. I just started studying the world of dance through my eyes watching television.
It wasn't until I was seven-and-a-half years old that I had my first dance class, and it was ballet. I do remember living in these condominiums in North Hollywood, California; and even though I was only five years old, I was conducting all of the kids in the condominium. I would put on little musical numbers and invite all the people in the condominium to come watch. I was all of five years old, so I was into directing and choreography before I even knew what that meant.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That is so fantastic, and you know you have something in common with Sanjaya, because "Singing in the Rain" was his favorite musical as a child, too. I don't know if you know that.
PAULA ABDUL: I did. I did, we both shared a moment on that.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That's wonderful. You mentioned your dad, and for many of our listeners, their home environment growing up was either their biggest challenge or their biggest support. When you were growing up, did your parents encourage your dreams or did they discourage them?
PAULA ABDUL: It's any interesting juxtaposition, because my parents divorced when I was at the tender age of seven, and that was a very big experience for me. The good thing was I never saw, or witnessed, my parents argue, but that also was very confusing because I didn't understand why this was happening. At a very impressionable age, I was caught in between learning that we had to conserve money, and I knew not to ask for outside activities.
Dance required more money to take lessons, and so it was a very awkward time for me, and I knew that I shouldn't ask for that. I worked out a different plan. When I was carpooling to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the two girls I carpooled with, they had ballet class, so I was always their student who was waiting for their class to be finished, but my feet would be moving.
I had a photographic memory. I'd come home, and while my mom was cooking dinner, I would be in the kitchen practicing holding onto the kitchen sink as my ballet bar. It was then that the teacher offered for me to come into class, because she saw that I was doing in the waiting room anyway, and I agreed to clean the mirrors and clean the floors for my classes. I didn't have to tell my mom or ask her for money, and it worked out really well for a while. It was a hard time, and it was my biggest challenge, but I've always been one to overcome those obstacles.
DEBRA PONEMAN: Yes. We're going to talk about that a little bit later in the interview: What is your secret to overcoming obstacles? It sounds like your mom did what she could to support you with limited resources, but on the emotional level she was behind you?
PAULA ABDUL: On the emotional level, she was absolutely behind me, but my mom is more the kind of woman who displays the 'tough love.' While I was growing up, my mom worked in the whole video system. My mom was the personal assistant to Billy Wilder who was a true genius, an Academy Award-winning director. My mom always saw these young women, young girls, trying to make it and how heartbreaking it was, that it was very difficult to make it, so she wasn't that encouraging, although she knew that I had talent. She basically said, "If you're going to do this, you're going to have to do it on your own.
DEBRA PONEMAN: You sure did. How did you make the transition from not having the resources to support all of the lessons that so many of the kids were able to take, yet you certainly created a great career, the first step being becoming a Laker Girl. How did that transition take place from your childhood until, I guess, that would be your first professional job?
PAULA ABDUL: It was my first professional job, absolutely. I was accepted into the Juilliard School on scholarship in dance with one of my best friends in school, in high school. When I went on this trip to New York to see where I could possibly live, it was really an eye-opening situation. I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, then in a home and the condominiums. I thought the space we lived in was really big, and then I got to New York, and I thought, "Oh my God."
The living situation was very, very small and very expensive, and just being in the big city scared me. I decided not to go. I was so depressed, thinking, "What did I do? I just ruined a chance at having a career." I went to a commuter school, which was Cal State Northridge. It was then that I realized, "I want to dance, and I don't have an agent. You can't get an agent unless you get a job booked. What do I do?"
I heard about Laker Girl auditions, and I was currently working as an instructor, a camp instructor, for cheerleading camps. A couple of the instructors were Los Angeles Laker Girls, and they got me to audition. I was number 786. I knew that, traditionally, cheerleaders are tall and they're leggy, blonde and blue-eyed. Here I was all of five-foot-one-and-three-quarters, brunette, I didn't fit the mold.
I wore the loudest uniform; I can still see my uniform. I wore a red-and-white striped leotard, with blue leg warmers, and I probably looked ridiculous, but I stood out. I was one of the few who made it. I remember being in a carpool of seven girls, and I was the only one who was kept until the very end. Then I was a Laker Girl, and I thought, "Oh my God! There were only 12 open positions, and I made it."
It was like my first chance at being able to have a job while I'm going to school, while I'm going to college. "I'll be able to dance. I'm a big fan of the Lakers, and so was my dad. This is fantastic!" Who would have ever thought that would be my entry, my foray into the business?
DEBRA PONEMAN: I might add, still the most famous ever Laker girl, and that's the truth! When you think of Laker Girls, you think of Paula Abdul. Then, from being a Laker Girl, you went to become an award-winning choreographer. Can you tell us about that transition?
PAULA ABDUL: Certainly. Right at the very beginning of the Laker Girl season, the basketball season, the head Girl, she moved to Sacramento. I was asked, as a rookie, to take over and form a dance squad. I only had about two girls on the squad who had formal training, any formal training, so I was working with mostly non-dancers. I didn't get rid of the pom-poms, so to speak, but I did put them down, as far as getting them out on the floor.
I really made it a great dance team, and from that what happened was, people who were season ticket holders would ask for the girl who choreographed the Laker Girls to do some corporate events, like for Nike, and I'd do one of their shows. I'd have the Laker Girls perform. I started getting little jobs in some national commercials, and then my first big break was that I got to choreograph a little move called, "Can't Buy Me Love," with 'McDreamy,' Patrick Dempsey; it was his first movie.
I did this choreographed number called, 'The African Anteater Dance,' which so many people know it's not even funny. That was my first film job, and then what happened was that some of the season ticket holders were the Jackson Five Brothers. They were getting ready to do a big major reunion tour with Michael, and their choreographer fell out. It was a big launch starting with the "Motown 25" special. I got a chance, and I wasn't quite 18 years old yet.
I was 17-and-a-half, and here I was now choreographing the Jacksons, doing their reunion tour, their videos, and their first live show experience. That was my first big, big break.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That's fantastic, and then you went on, I know, to win two MTV video awards. Was that for your choreography?
PAULA ABDUL: For my choreography first with Janet Jackson, and then my own videos. Then I won choreography award for my work with ZZ Top and Duran Duran, and I went on to choreograph practically every major recording artist. I did their tours. I did their videos and their live appearances.
DEBRA PONEMAN: Did you ever get to work with Gene Kelly?
PAULA ABDUL: I finally got to work with my idol, Gene Kelly, and have tea with him during the last two years of his life.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That is just beautiful.
PAULA ABDUL: I dedicated my own video, which was where I created animation, where I danced with an animated cat, Skat Kat. I dedicated it to him. He was my mentor, and I wanted to dedicate that animation to him. When it got to him, he contacted my agent and asked me over for tea, so it was Tea on Tuesday. I arrived at his house like an hour-and-a-half early.
I was sweating in my car because I couldn't believe I was going to meet the man of my dreams. When I met him, it was as if we had always known each other, just two dancers just conversing back and forth. It was fantastic.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That is fantastic.
PAULA ABDUL: Then I knew, I knew in my heart of hearts. I had just finished doing an award-winning commercial with Elton John, where we both danced and they juxtaposed the old icons, like 'Satchmo,' Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, and all of these iconic people. I knew, I just had this feeling, that next they'll ask me to do a dance commercial, and I'll get to dance with Gene Kelly. It was 48 hours later, I got the phone call.
They wanted to do a dance spot, and Gene Kelly okayed and approved for me to dance and use the footage of "Anchors Away," because that's when he danced with the animated mouse. Because I dedicated my animation from 'Opposites Attract,' he felt that would be the right footage, so they took out Frank Sinatra and I was plugged in. I would rehearse with Gene Kelly, and he was a stickler.
He'd count, "One, two, three, and," and he'd say, "No, Paula. On 'and' you have to look to the left because you're looking at me." It was fantastic, and through that relationship I was choreographing the Academy Awards that year, and got an Emmy nomination. The coolest thing of all is I surprised all the dancers, and brought Gene Kelly down to the rehearsals. When I tell you that half of my dancers fainted and the other half of them were in tears, I'm not lying.
DEBRA PONEMAN: I can absolutely believe that. It's such an amazing story because I know that Janet teaches, in her Passion Test, that when we put our intention on something, it's going to appear in our lives. Maybe not in the timing that we think it's going to appear or we want it to appear, but if we desire it enough, it is going to appear. Here you were as a little 4-year-old in love with Gene Kelly and "Singing in the Rain," and then in the final years of his life, you're having tea and dancing with him.
PAULA ABDUL: It's true.
DEBRA PONEMAN: It's a beautiful lesson for all of us to learn to not give up on our dreams. Speaking of your dreams, after you had your career of award-winning choreographer, you had yet another career as a Grammy Award-winning singer with over 53 million records sold. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?
PAULA ABDUL: First I want to say that the most interesting and peculiar things about my career has been that most people dream of having, getting, the chance to reach millions of people and attain superstardom. Never in a million, trillion years did I ever think that that would happen. I dreamt it, I wished for it to happen, I worked really hard, but it's interesting how I've been told my whole life, "You never will make it. You're too short, you're too this, you're too much that.
You're not enough this. You never, never will." The interesting thing in my career is I have not only overcome that, but what ends up happening is I make people forget that I even had that career. When I heard, "You'll never make it as a Laker Girl," and I did; and "Oh, you think you're going to be a choreographer; yes, that's very funny, Paula," and I'd go on to become an award-winning choreographer, when it came time, I didn't want to tell anybody that I was secretly recording demos.
I knew people would tell me, "You're crazy." Sure enough, I would quietly work, I would work on my choreography and I was working on "The Tracey Ullman Show," which was a brand-new show for a very small network at the time, which was FOX. It's so funny how I've come full circle. FOX was a brand-new network, which originally had the show "Cops," "Married…With Children," and "21 Jump Street."
There was a brand-new show called 'The Tracey Ullman Show." This man who became my second mentor, his name is James L. Brooks, who was one of the most famous and beloved writers and directors of all time, he made me fall in love with television and doing live performance on TV. I won two Emmys working on that show. I would quietly work on "Tracey Ullman," be at the table readings at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. I'd work until 2:00 in the afternoon.
I'd leave, I'd go to Universal Studios, and I'd work on the George Michael 'Faith' tour. I'd go two doors down after that, work with Janet Jackson on her tour, and then at midnight, I'd quietly go into the recording studio, and I'd work and record until about 5:00 in the morning. Then I'd park my car at around 6:00 in the morning at the FOX lot. I'd sleep an hour-and-a-half to two hours and start my day all over again.
I did that for quite some time, and I didn't want for people to know that I was recording an album in case it didn't work out. I didn't want to lose my day job as a choreographer, so I kept it very quiet. No one knew except for my closest friends and my family. My album came out to no fanfare, no publicity, nothing really happened. I heard whisperings that I was going to be dropped from the label.
I've got to tell you, before all this-I'm jumping ahead-I was given $68,000 to make my album. You can't record a track nowadays for $68,000, let alone that I had nobody really assigned to help me make this record for $68,000, so I used a lot of the artists I worked with in choreography, and I bartered deals with them. I'd say, "Look, I will choreograph your next video for free or your next tour, or the rest of it, for free if you write me a song."
I literally did that with many artists, so it was like a potpourri of favors and discounts and things like that. I made my album and then it came out, and I'll tell you the story. When my mother was working for Billy Wilder, my mother told Billy Wilder, "My daughter now is going to record an album." My mother's assistant, who was like 19 years old, said, "My boyfriend's an aspiring songwriter."
My mother said, "Sure, you can give me some demos; that's fine." My mother called me up one day, hysterically laughing, and she invited me over for chicken, for dinner, as my mom cooks the best chicken. I'm having chicken dinner with my mom, and she plays me this 8-track demo which was so funny. It was like you could hear someone plunking on their computer and singing completely off tune. It was the song called 'Straight Up.'
My mom and I were laughing hysterically, and my mother took it out of the cassette recorder and put it in the trash, and she said, "What am I going to say to her?" I said, "I don't know," but I went back in the trash and pulled it out, and I said, "There is something very, very interesting about the song. It's quirky." My mom's saying, "How can you hear? He's completely off-key." I've got to let everyone know, my mother is Canadian, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and my mother is a virtuoso.
She is an amazing, genius pianist, and my mother went on to play for Canadian operas and radio. My mother was born with perfect pitch. It's very annoying because my mom can hear everything, and she passed that on to me. Thank you, Mom. I've got to tell you, this song was ridiculously embarrassing and funny. How was I going to convince the record company? Let me tell you something, I barely could convince them. I told them I would record two songs that they wanted me to record, that I didn't enjoy, in the hopes that they'd let me record this song, 'Straight Up.'
They did, and they only promised to pay a measly $5,000 for production, so I recorded that song in a studio apartment in the shower, and if you listen really hard to the master recording, you can hear someone banging on the wall saying, "Shut up!" That is the truth. There is a lot of magic to making that first album that nobody was buying, and there was no air play.
When I heard that they were going to drop me, I bartered a deal with the marketing department, and I purchased a whole bunch of albums and sold thousands of them at my dance and cheerleading camps. I made every one of my instructors teach the routine off of my album, I set up shop, and sold tens and twenties of thousands of albums in one summer. It got me on the list of Billboard with no air play.
I've always been one of those girls who just keeps getting the knocks and the opportunities, and then I kind of get knocked down on my butt, but I get up again and I just move forward. I went on, my rookie year, my first album, and I sold 18 million.
DEBRA PONEMAN: What an incredible story. There are so many people who listen to these Healthy Wealthy nWise interviews, they are people with aspirations to be writers and to be recording artists, and what a great lesson that if someone tells you 'it isn't going to work,' you figure out a way to make it work.
PAULA ABDUL: You have to. If it's your passion, your heart and your mind won't let you stop. It just won't let you stop. You've got to find a way to make it happen.
DEBRA PONEMAN: Skipping ahead a little bit, you're obviously a household name in the US and around the world, and then you were tapped to be a judge on the number-one show in television history. How did that happen?
By: Janet Attwood & Debra Poneman
Jack Canfield, the fabulously successful co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, has said, "Almost everything we'll ever do in life that is really powerful, that really produces a result in our lives, the quantum leaps to a new level requires us to be something uncomfortable. It takes risk to achieve. It's often scary. It requires something you didn't know before or a skill you didn't have before, but in the end it's worth it."
The beautiful and talented Paula Abdul, is a huge winner who has achieved huge results doing things that others are uncomfortable doing. Paula is, without a doubt, one of the world's most recognized names in the entertainment business. Her career has won awards and broken records in every area she has ventured into, including music, dance, choreography, animation, and drama. Her remarkable career shows no sign of slowing down. Most recently Paula is known to the world for her role as, 'the judge with a heart,' on TV's "American Idol."
For the past seven years she has shared the panel with Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell on this mega-hit show that is routinely watched by more than 35 million people each Tuesday and Wednesday night during "Idol" season. Paula's extraordinary music career is exemplified by worldwide album sales exceeding 53 million records, including two number-one albums, six number-one singles, a Grammy Award, seven MTV awards, two Emmy Awards, two People's Choice Awards, and two Kids' Choice Awards.
Paula even has her very own star on Hollywood Boulevard. She also continues to honor her roots by running dance and cheerleading camps, competitions, and scholarship programs throughout the country, and she has never forgotten her first break as a Los Angeles Laker Girl, which, of course, made her the world's most famous cheerleader. Most recently, Paula has expanded the 'Paula Abdul' brand with new ventures such as a successful jewelry line and a forthcoming fragrance line.
She introduced her Paula Abdul Jewelry Collection on "QVC" last April to record-breaking sales, and is now taking this hugely popular line to the UK. In addition, there is a biography coming soon, and she has been back in the recording studio to create a much-awaited new single, her first in over a decade. On top of all of this, she contributed the preface to a very exciting new book that was just released, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul, a collection of inspiring and heartwarming stories by 'American Idols' from every season, and their fans.
Interviewing Paula for this article was transformational mentor, Debra Poneman, who is co-author of Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul, founder of Yes to Success™ seminars, and an award-winning keynote speaker, seminar leader, and record, radio, and TV personality. Be sure to get your very own copy of Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul today by going to www.HealthyWealthynWise.com/AmericanIdol
DEBRA PONEMAN: I am so happy to be here. It doesn't get better than this.
PAULA ABDUL: Thank you so much for having me. This is a real joy, treat, and pleasure.
DEBRA PONEMAN: I just want to say that I had the pleasure of meeting Paula and working with her on Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul and, frankly, I have to say, Paula, that I completely fell in love with you, with your beautiful, sweet heart and just your charming personality. I would just love to know, as I'm sure everyone else would, the story of your entire journey.
If you don't mind, can you please start out by sharing with us, what were your passions when you were a young person? When you were a child, what was it that made you happiest?
PAULA ABDUL: The fondest and most clear memory I had was when I was four years old and I was watching "Singing in the Rain" on television. I was watching it with my mom and my dad and my sister, Wendy, and I fell in love with a man named Gene Kelly. I remember scooting up really close to the TV, and touching the TV whenever he appeared, and I said, "That's my dad." My father said, "No, that can be your TV dad, but I'm your dad."
I remember that I had this fantasy and fixation on Gene Kelly, "Singing in the Rain," and then that just sparked my love for MGM musicals. I can honestly say that Gene Kelly was my first idol. I remember, from that moment on, I could not get enough of finding out when the next musical would be on television. I just started studying the world of dance through my eyes watching television.
It wasn't until I was seven-and-a-half years old that I had my first dance class, and it was ballet. I do remember living in these condominiums in North Hollywood, California; and even though I was only five years old, I was conducting all of the kids in the condominium. I would put on little musical numbers and invite all the people in the condominium to come watch. I was all of five years old, so I was into directing and choreography before I even knew what that meant.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That is so fantastic, and you know you have something in common with Sanjaya, because "Singing in the Rain" was his favorite musical as a child, too. I don't know if you know that.
PAULA ABDUL: I did. I did, we both shared a moment on that.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That's wonderful. You mentioned your dad, and for many of our listeners, their home environment growing up was either their biggest challenge or their biggest support. When you were growing up, did your parents encourage your dreams or did they discourage them?
PAULA ABDUL: It's any interesting juxtaposition, because my parents divorced when I was at the tender age of seven, and that was a very big experience for me. The good thing was I never saw, or witnessed, my parents argue, but that also was very confusing because I didn't understand why this was happening. At a very impressionable age, I was caught in between learning that we had to conserve money, and I knew not to ask for outside activities.
Dance required more money to take lessons, and so it was a very awkward time for me, and I knew that I shouldn't ask for that. I worked out a different plan. When I was carpooling to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the two girls I carpooled with, they had ballet class, so I was always their student who was waiting for their class to be finished, but my feet would be moving.
I had a photographic memory. I'd come home, and while my mom was cooking dinner, I would be in the kitchen practicing holding onto the kitchen sink as my ballet bar. It was then that the teacher offered for me to come into class, because she saw that I was doing in the waiting room anyway, and I agreed to clean the mirrors and clean the floors for my classes. I didn't have to tell my mom or ask her for money, and it worked out really well for a while. It was a hard time, and it was my biggest challenge, but I've always been one to overcome those obstacles.
DEBRA PONEMAN: Yes. We're going to talk about that a little bit later in the interview: What is your secret to overcoming obstacles? It sounds like your mom did what she could to support you with limited resources, but on the emotional level she was behind you?
PAULA ABDUL: On the emotional level, she was absolutely behind me, but my mom is more the kind of woman who displays the 'tough love.' While I was growing up, my mom worked in the whole video system. My mom was the personal assistant to Billy Wilder who was a true genius, an Academy Award-winning director. My mom always saw these young women, young girls, trying to make it and how heartbreaking it was, that it was very difficult to make it, so she wasn't that encouraging, although she knew that I had talent. She basically said, "If you're going to do this, you're going to have to do it on your own.
DEBRA PONEMAN: You sure did. How did you make the transition from not having the resources to support all of the lessons that so many of the kids were able to take, yet you certainly created a great career, the first step being becoming a Laker Girl. How did that transition take place from your childhood until, I guess, that would be your first professional job?
PAULA ABDUL: It was my first professional job, absolutely. I was accepted into the Juilliard School on scholarship in dance with one of my best friends in school, in high school. When I went on this trip to New York to see where I could possibly live, it was really an eye-opening situation. I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, then in a home and the condominiums. I thought the space we lived in was really big, and then I got to New York, and I thought, "Oh my God."
The living situation was very, very small and very expensive, and just being in the big city scared me. I decided not to go. I was so depressed, thinking, "What did I do? I just ruined a chance at having a career." I went to a commuter school, which was Cal State Northridge. It was then that I realized, "I want to dance, and I don't have an agent. You can't get an agent unless you get a job booked. What do I do?"
I heard about Laker Girl auditions, and I was currently working as an instructor, a camp instructor, for cheerleading camps. A couple of the instructors were Los Angeles Laker Girls, and they got me to audition. I was number 786. I knew that, traditionally, cheerleaders are tall and they're leggy, blonde and blue-eyed. Here I was all of five-foot-one-and-three-quarters, brunette, I didn't fit the mold.
I wore the loudest uniform; I can still see my uniform. I wore a red-and-white striped leotard, with blue leg warmers, and I probably looked ridiculous, but I stood out. I was one of the few who made it. I remember being in a carpool of seven girls, and I was the only one who was kept until the very end. Then I was a Laker Girl, and I thought, "Oh my God! There were only 12 open positions, and I made it."
It was like my first chance at being able to have a job while I'm going to school, while I'm going to college. "I'll be able to dance. I'm a big fan of the Lakers, and so was my dad. This is fantastic!" Who would have ever thought that would be my entry, my foray into the business?
DEBRA PONEMAN: I might add, still the most famous ever Laker girl, and that's the truth! When you think of Laker Girls, you think of Paula Abdul. Then, from being a Laker Girl, you went to become an award-winning choreographer. Can you tell us about that transition?
PAULA ABDUL: Certainly. Right at the very beginning of the Laker Girl season, the basketball season, the head Girl, she moved to Sacramento. I was asked, as a rookie, to take over and form a dance squad. I only had about two girls on the squad who had formal training, any formal training, so I was working with mostly non-dancers. I didn't get rid of the pom-poms, so to speak, but I did put them down, as far as getting them out on the floor.
I really made it a great dance team, and from that what happened was, people who were season ticket holders would ask for the girl who choreographed the Laker Girls to do some corporate events, like for Nike, and I'd do one of their shows. I'd have the Laker Girls perform. I started getting little jobs in some national commercials, and then my first big break was that I got to choreograph a little move called, "Can't Buy Me Love," with 'McDreamy,' Patrick Dempsey; it was his first movie.
I did this choreographed number called, 'The African Anteater Dance,' which so many people know it's not even funny. That was my first film job, and then what happened was that some of the season ticket holders were the Jackson Five Brothers. They were getting ready to do a big major reunion tour with Michael, and their choreographer fell out. It was a big launch starting with the "Motown 25" special. I got a chance, and I wasn't quite 18 years old yet.
I was 17-and-a-half, and here I was now choreographing the Jacksons, doing their reunion tour, their videos, and their first live show experience. That was my first big, big break.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That's fantastic, and then you went on, I know, to win two MTV video awards. Was that for your choreography?
PAULA ABDUL: For my choreography first with Janet Jackson, and then my own videos. Then I won choreography award for my work with ZZ Top and Duran Duran, and I went on to choreograph practically every major recording artist. I did their tours. I did their videos and their live appearances.
DEBRA PONEMAN: Did you ever get to work with Gene Kelly?
PAULA ABDUL: I finally got to work with my idol, Gene Kelly, and have tea with him during the last two years of his life.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That is just beautiful.
PAULA ABDUL: I dedicated my own video, which was where I created animation, where I danced with an animated cat, Skat Kat. I dedicated it to him. He was my mentor, and I wanted to dedicate that animation to him. When it got to him, he contacted my agent and asked me over for tea, so it was Tea on Tuesday. I arrived at his house like an hour-and-a-half early.
I was sweating in my car because I couldn't believe I was going to meet the man of my dreams. When I met him, it was as if we had always known each other, just two dancers just conversing back and forth. It was fantastic.
DEBRA PONEMAN: That is fantastic.
PAULA ABDUL: Then I knew, I knew in my heart of hearts. I had just finished doing an award-winning commercial with Elton John, where we both danced and they juxtaposed the old icons, like 'Satchmo,' Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, and all of these iconic people. I knew, I just had this feeling, that next they'll ask me to do a dance commercial, and I'll get to dance with Gene Kelly. It was 48 hours later, I got the phone call.
They wanted to do a dance spot, and Gene Kelly okayed and approved for me to dance and use the footage of "Anchors Away," because that's when he danced with the animated mouse. Because I dedicated my animation from 'Opposites Attract,' he felt that would be the right footage, so they took out Frank Sinatra and I was plugged in. I would rehearse with Gene Kelly, and he was a stickler.
He'd count, "One, two, three, and," and he'd say, "No, Paula. On 'and' you have to look to the left because you're looking at me." It was fantastic, and through that relationship I was choreographing the Academy Awards that year, and got an Emmy nomination. The coolest thing of all is I surprised all the dancers, and brought Gene Kelly down to the rehearsals. When I tell you that half of my dancers fainted and the other half of them were in tears, I'm not lying.
DEBRA PONEMAN: I can absolutely believe that. It's such an amazing story because I know that Janet teaches, in her Passion Test, that when we put our intention on something, it's going to appear in our lives. Maybe not in the timing that we think it's going to appear or we want it to appear, but if we desire it enough, it is going to appear. Here you were as a little 4-year-old in love with Gene Kelly and "Singing in the Rain," and then in the final years of his life, you're having tea and dancing with him.
PAULA ABDUL: It's true.
DEBRA PONEMAN: It's a beautiful lesson for all of us to learn to not give up on our dreams. Speaking of your dreams, after you had your career of award-winning choreographer, you had yet another career as a Grammy Award-winning singer with over 53 million records sold. Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?
PAULA ABDUL: First I want to say that the most interesting and peculiar things about my career has been that most people dream of having, getting, the chance to reach millions of people and attain superstardom. Never in a million, trillion years did I ever think that that would happen. I dreamt it, I wished for it to happen, I worked really hard, but it's interesting how I've been told my whole life, "You never will make it. You're too short, you're too this, you're too much that.
You're not enough this. You never, never will." The interesting thing in my career is I have not only overcome that, but what ends up happening is I make people forget that I even had that career. When I heard, "You'll never make it as a Laker Girl," and I did; and "Oh, you think you're going to be a choreographer; yes, that's very funny, Paula," and I'd go on to become an award-winning choreographer, when it came time, I didn't want to tell anybody that I was secretly recording demos.
I knew people would tell me, "You're crazy." Sure enough, I would quietly work, I would work on my choreography and I was working on "The Tracey Ullman Show," which was a brand-new show for a very small network at the time, which was FOX. It's so funny how I've come full circle. FOX was a brand-new network, which originally had the show "Cops," "Married…With Children," and "21 Jump Street."
There was a brand-new show called 'The Tracey Ullman Show." This man who became my second mentor, his name is James L. Brooks, who was one of the most famous and beloved writers and directors of all time, he made me fall in love with television and doing live performance on TV. I won two Emmys working on that show. I would quietly work on "Tracey Ullman," be at the table readings at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. I'd work until 2:00 in the afternoon.
I'd leave, I'd go to Universal Studios, and I'd work on the George Michael 'Faith' tour. I'd go two doors down after that, work with Janet Jackson on her tour, and then at midnight, I'd quietly go into the recording studio, and I'd work and record until about 5:00 in the morning. Then I'd park my car at around 6:00 in the morning at the FOX lot. I'd sleep an hour-and-a-half to two hours and start my day all over again.
I did that for quite some time, and I didn't want for people to know that I was recording an album in case it didn't work out. I didn't want to lose my day job as a choreographer, so I kept it very quiet. No one knew except for my closest friends and my family. My album came out to no fanfare, no publicity, nothing really happened. I heard whisperings that I was going to be dropped from the label.
I've got to tell you, before all this-I'm jumping ahead-I was given $68,000 to make my album. You can't record a track nowadays for $68,000, let alone that I had nobody really assigned to help me make this record for $68,000, so I used a lot of the artists I worked with in choreography, and I bartered deals with them. I'd say, "Look, I will choreograph your next video for free or your next tour, or the rest of it, for free if you write me a song."
I literally did that with many artists, so it was like a potpourri of favors and discounts and things like that. I made my album and then it came out, and I'll tell you the story. When my mother was working for Billy Wilder, my mother told Billy Wilder, "My daughter now is going to record an album." My mother's assistant, who was like 19 years old, said, "My boyfriend's an aspiring songwriter."
My mother said, "Sure, you can give me some demos; that's fine." My mother called me up one day, hysterically laughing, and she invited me over for chicken, for dinner, as my mom cooks the best chicken. I'm having chicken dinner with my mom, and she plays me this 8-track demo which was so funny. It was like you could hear someone plunking on their computer and singing completely off tune. It was the song called 'Straight Up.'
My mom and I were laughing hysterically, and my mother took it out of the cassette recorder and put it in the trash, and she said, "What am I going to say to her?" I said, "I don't know," but I went back in the trash and pulled it out, and I said, "There is something very, very interesting about the song. It's quirky." My mom's saying, "How can you hear? He's completely off-key." I've got to let everyone know, my mother is Canadian, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and my mother is a virtuoso.
She is an amazing, genius pianist, and my mother went on to play for Canadian operas and radio. My mother was born with perfect pitch. It's very annoying because my mom can hear everything, and she passed that on to me. Thank you, Mom. I've got to tell you, this song was ridiculously embarrassing and funny. How was I going to convince the record company? Let me tell you something, I barely could convince them. I told them I would record two songs that they wanted me to record, that I didn't enjoy, in the hopes that they'd let me record this song, 'Straight Up.'
They did, and they only promised to pay a measly $5,000 for production, so I recorded that song in a studio apartment in the shower, and if you listen really hard to the master recording, you can hear someone banging on the wall saying, "Shut up!" That is the truth. There is a lot of magic to making that first album that nobody was buying, and there was no air play.
When I heard that they were going to drop me, I bartered a deal with the marketing department, and I purchased a whole bunch of albums and sold thousands of them at my dance and cheerleading camps. I made every one of my instructors teach the routine off of my album, I set up shop, and sold tens and twenties of thousands of albums in one summer. It got me on the list of Billboard with no air play.
I've always been one of those girls who just keeps getting the knocks and the opportunities, and then I kind of get knocked down on my butt, but I get up again and I just move forward. I went on, my rookie year, my first album, and I sold 18 million.
DEBRA PONEMAN: What an incredible story. There are so many people who listen to these Healthy Wealthy nWise interviews, they are people with aspirations to be writers and to be recording artists, and what a great lesson that if someone tells you 'it isn't going to work,' you figure out a way to make it work.
PAULA ABDUL: You have to. If it's your passion, your heart and your mind won't let you stop. It just won't let you stop. You've got to find a way to make it happen.
DEBRA PONEMAN: Skipping ahead a little bit, you're obviously a household name in the US and around the world, and then you were tapped to be a judge on the number-one show in television history. How did that happen?
It's back!!!
Season of 7 American Idol Jan 15th and 16th! Your favorite shows may be on strike but American Idol is back and promises the best season yet.
Let Me Introduce You!
To Tyra B! This record is SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"You Give Me A Rush" pays tribute to Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Paula Abdul's "Rush Rush." This 22 yr old R&B singer is a cross between Aaliyah and Ciara.
"You Give Me A Rush" pays tribute to Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Paula Abdul's "Rush Rush." This 22 yr old R&B singer is a cross between Aaliyah and Ciara.
Still trying to play Straight!
Eddie (Not So Straight) Murphy has married Tracie Edmonds over the weekend in a private ceremony. The intimate ceremony was among 25 family members and friends. Eddie still trying to play the husband role. Don't he look like he got a little sugar in his tank? This boy is too sweet! LOL Tracie got the case of "She Don't Know!"
Um, What happend?
The Becks don't look so hot! I mean, David looks hot no matter what but Posh? Girl did you have a glitch in your style computer? Cuz that outfit crashed! You look beat up from the feet up. I hear that is your NYE outfit, I so would have re-thought that one. Especially the head band. Not so cute boo boo.
I'd still bang you David so no worries! :)
Rhi Rhi & H&M!
Rhianna is teaming up with H&M along with other rockers (Chemical Brothers, Good Charlotte, Timbaland) to launch a collection of t-shirts designed for teens 15-24.
Since that is my age group, ya'll know I'ma buy one and wear it. YUP!
Top 35 Brit Brit Moments
The end of the year has brought us many list of what was hot and was not in 2007. Here are the top 35 moments Britney had for 2007, taken from bumpshack.com:
1. Britney Goes from Bald Eagle to Bald Head - Brit’s biggest story of the year was when she shockingly shaved her head bald after returning to Cali from a one day attempt at rehab in Aruba.
2. Britney Spears Hits Rock Bottom - These photos of Britney Spears showed she was partying too hard and that it was all catching up with her and making her age prematurely.
3. Britney Collapses at New Year’s Eve Party - Brit got the year off to a banging start when she collapsed and passed out at a New Year’s Eve party in Las Vegas.
4. Britney Spears Enters, Leaves Rehab in Same Day - She mysteriously was in rehab for one day before checking out before midnight in Aruba the day before shaving her head bald.
5. Britney Ditches Rehab Again - Her second shot at rehab didn’t go any better as Spears quickly checked herself out again.
6. Britney Spears VMA Performance (video) - One of the worst performances by a professional entertainer on such a large platform. Britney was overweight, out of sync and rhythm, as this performance become one of Britney’s most laughable moments ever.
7. Britney Spears Claims to be the Anti-Christ - Britney being Britney as she claimed she was in fact the anti-Christ.
8. Britney to Pay K-Fed $20,000 for Life - Brit’s bad year didn’t mean K-Fed didn’t cash in as he was awarded $20,000 a month in support from Britney for himself and their boys.
9. Britney Spears Loses Custody of Her Kids - Only people in the project lose their kids right? I don’t think anyone could have predicted Britney losing custody of her two boys to K-Fed of all people but she did.
10. Britney Spears Booked for Hit and Run - Britney ran her car into a parked car and didn’t report it. This was quickly dropped once Britney agreed to pay for the damages.
11. Kleptomaniac Britney Spears Steals Cigarette Lighter - All had been quiet on the Britney front for a couple of weeks when Brit decided to steal a dollar lighter from a North Hollywood gas station.
12. Britney Spears Crotch Shot Version 3.5 - Crotch shots are not a rare thing for the former pop teen. This was just another disgusting example of Britney’s beaver begging for attention.
13. Britney Spears Collection of Sex Tapes Stolen - A world without a Britney Spears sex tape would be like the Pope not owning a Bible.
14. Photo Shoot from Hell for Britney Spears - Brit’s psycho and drug enhanced behavior ruined this photo shoot and threatened her career.
15. Give Me More Video Features Topless Britney - Britney took her top off and grinded all over a stripper pole in her first video for her ‘Blackout’ album.
16. Cellulite, Britney Spears and a Bikini - The title sums up these less than flattering photos of Ms. Spears.
17. Britney and Isaac Cohen Blow $40 Grand on Vegas Night - The new K-Fed faded fast but not before hooking up with Spears in a $40,000-a-night hotel room.
18. Britney Spears Wacked Out Halloween Costume - Attention starved Britney putting on a mid-riff baring leotard begging for attention on Ghouls day.
19. Britney Spears Calls Judge ‘Old Fart’ and ‘Mean’ - The always respectful Britney called her custody judge a few names and then lost custody of her two boys.
20. Britney Spears Strips Down to Her Lingerie - These photos showed that Britney will strip down to her panties with just about anyone and for any camera.
21. Britney Spears Gains Monitored Visitation Rights - A judge finally allowed Britney to have visitation rights with her two boys as long as a court approved monitor was present for the visits.
22. Where Do You See Britney Spears in 10 Years - Over 50% of Bumpshack readers sadly believe that Britney Spears will be dead in 10 years.
23. Say It Ain’t So: Britney Pumps Lips Up - After eating her way to a plumped up stomach and thighs, Britney gets her lips botoxed.
24. Britney Spears White Trash Lingerie Bikini Day - No swimsuit, no problem for Brit as her and her friends stripped down to their underwear for an impromptu ocean dip.
25. Britney Spears So Called Come-Back Performance - This wasn’t exactly Elvis’ 68 comeback special. Britney lip synced to her songs while hiding behind more talented backup dancers.
26. Britney Spears Runs Over Photographer - I can’t really blame Britney for running over the foot of the paparazzi. She is tailed by 30 pap cars a day. I am surprised she hasn’t intentionally run over one of them and killed them.
27. Bodyguard Speaks of Britney Spears Drug Use - This is about as breaking news as steroids in baseball. The better question would be what are her favorite drugs.
28. Britney Drops F-Bomb on New Song - If Michael Jackson can drop the f-bomb on his comeback album then it’s absolutely necessary for Brit to do the same on ‘Blackout’.
29. Illusionist Criss Angel Bangs Britney Spears - Criss Angel banged Britney Spears while helping her choreograph her VMA performance, then after it flopped, said he had nothing to do with it.
30. Britney Spears Fries K-Fed with Pan to the Head - Redneck lady decided to whip K-Fed upside the head with a frying pan. I am just surprised that Kevin didn’t flip and kill her…but then again that would have required an effort on his part.
31. Britney’s Mop of Hair Sold on Ebay - Smart move by the hair salon where Britney took the buzzer and shaved her hair off. They should have auctioned it off for a live pay-per-view drug test of the mop.
32. K-Fed Settles with Britney for $1 Million - K-Fed is truly my hero.
33. Police Tell Britney Spears to Slow Down - I have no clue how Britney was speeding in Los Angeles with the traffic jam she constantly creates. She probably had a 100 yards of traffic free asphalt and floored it. I don’t blame her.
34. Kiss from Madonna Cursed Britney Spears - 25 reasons why that kiss 3 years ago with Madonna sent Britney’s career into a devastating and unrecoverable tailspin.
35. Britney Totally ‘Wiggin’ Out - It always makes sense to voluntarily shave all of your hair off then cover it up with an ugly wig.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Lose Weight For 08!
This will be my new weekly edition to the blog. Some of us have gained some weight over the past year so it's time to "lose weight for 08!" I weighed in today at 150lbs I started at 148 last year and I ended at 142 but now back to 150lbs.
So with plenty of exercise, diet, and rest I plan to lose 10lbs over the course of 10 weeks. Stay with me give me encouragement and hopefully I can achieve my goals. My weekly edition will describe my lifestyle changes in order to achieve it.
LOSE WEIGHT IN 08!
So with plenty of exercise, diet, and rest I plan to lose 10lbs over the course of 10 weeks. Stay with me give me encouragement and hopefully I can achieve my goals. My weekly edition will describe my lifestyle changes in order to achieve it.
LOSE WEIGHT IN 08!
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I wanted to wish everyone a healthy and happy New Year!!!!
Thanks for reading my blog!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading my blog!!!!!!!!!
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