Heads and tales: Back from reality
By Wade Kwon
The year of living soulfully: Tonight marks the end of the yearlong reign of outgoing American Idol Taylor Hicks. The Hoover native may have been outsold 3-to-1 by fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry. Or broken through with a hit single. But he did sell out his solo tour dates and stayed true to his sound, at least live in concert. J.R. Taylor writes a surprisingly bracing profile of the outgoing champ, and Hicks himself continues to prop up this season’s lackluster final two.
Meanwhile, the Soul Man returns to “American Idol” tonight to perform his latest single, “Heaven Knows.” His autobiography “Heart Full of Soul” arrives in bookstores July 10. And he resumes touring June 1 with a kickoff gig at … Alabama Adventure (formerly Visionland), where Bo Bice and Ruben Studdard will play later this summer. And the rollercoaster ride continues …
• Soul Brother Number 2 [Black and White]
Just say Julie: Another Birmingham reality celeb marks an anniversary this week. In the “How Old Do You Feel Now” file, MTV’s “The Real World” debuted 15 years ago Monday, when seven strangers stopped being polite and started getting annoying real. Among the cast was Julie Oliver, now Julie Gentry, quickly pegged as the charming hick/virgin, one of the many, many archetypes explored in the 18(!) seasons. And counting. “The Real World” helped reality TV establish itself as a cheap, engaging and unique genre, but don’t take our word for it: Just try getting through the recaps of that memorable inaugural season. Or hit yourself in the head with a frying pan repeatedly.
• The Real World’s 15th anniversary is today [reality blurred]
Cinema nouveau: In case you were worried that our fair city was losing its standing among reality shows, along comes “On the Lot,” the Steven Spielberg competition that kicked off Tuesday night, offering the winner a $1 million development deal at DreamWorks. Among the 50 semi-finalists is Adam W., a 24-year-old freelance camera operator from Birmingham. Will he join the 18 finalists or the 32 footnotes? Find out at 8:30 p.m. Thursday on Fox 6.
• Press release: “On the Lot” Semi-Finalists Announced [Fox]
Update: Adam Wingard, of Team Bloodjet!, discusses his participation in “On the Lot” (spoiler alert!). Our pal Carla Jean profiled him and many other local filmmakers for the June issue of Birmingham magazine.
Also:
- Parched state cries out for God’s rainy wrath
- Cheap condos draw lower upper class as well-kept squatters
- We were young. Once.
• • •
Thursday, March 20, 2008, 1:01 am
I wonder what happened to Julie. She moved back to Alabama and is now married with kids, but she hasn’t been in the public eye in years. I wonder if she’s still involved teaching dance back home.
Thursday, March 20, 2008, 12:25 pm
She’s occasionally spotted on the street. I don’t even know if she’s been on the reunion special or what.
Thursday, March 20, 2008, 2:59 pm
She didn’t do the one back in 2000/2001 because she was pregnant and due any day, and I have a feeling she didn’t do the one (Real World Awards Bash) that’s airing on MTV next Saturday. Seems as if she’s dropped out of the media/anything related to MTV for good.
It’s too bad, because we need more people like her on RW and less like the current trash they’ve had lately. Julie’s a real class act. I hope she knows she’s got her fans.
Thursday, March 20, 2008, 5:12 pm
If she didn’t before, she does now.
Saturday, September 27, 2008, 5:59 pm
Julie Oliver is now Julie O. Gentry.
She lives at:
(redacted)
Her phone #’s are:
(redacted)
Saturday, September 27, 2008, 8:15 pm
Not sure why they “redacted” the publically listed info above?? It’s not like she is hiding her info.
Sunday, September 28, 2008, 12:44 am
Not sure why you feel you need to have her info in the comments section of this blog.
Go ahead and put your address and phone number out there first, champ.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 2:55 pm
Alias, what you did was an invasion of privacy. The last thing you need to do is give stalkers the freedom to know her address and go to her house.
Stuff like that is probably the reason why she’s living a private life again.
Friday, October 3, 2008, 5:41 pm
Sorry anonymous poster, but you are simply wrong.
She PUBLICALLY announced she was living back in Birmingham.
She PUBLICALLY announced she was marrying Joshua Gentry from Birmingham.
She left both of their names(Joshua & Julie Gentry) listed in PUBLIC white pages and online listings.
Just in case anyone had a doubt… she made sure to list it as “Julie O. Gentry”. “O” as in her maiden name “Oliver”.
It would be harder to track a herd of elephants than Julie Oliver Gentry.
I have never been in the public eye, yet I’m unlisted and unpublished. It is a very simple matter to increase ones privacy. Somehow, she managed to do everything necessary to make herself PUBLIC.
But….your probably right…
Monday, March 30, 2009, 10:15 pm
I heard it costs money to be unlisted, so maybe she and her husband didn’t want to pay the money and maybe expected a semblance of privacy in that sense.
That said, does anyone have any updates on her that aren’t private phone numbers and addresses? It’s like she vanished into thin air! I hear about Eric Nies 50 times a day!
Monday, March 30, 2009, 10:54 pm
Your guess is as good as mine.