Heads and tales: Sale patrol
By Wade Kwon
Taylor the charitable: Hoover’s Taylor Hicks returned to town this weekend for a two-night sold-out performance at the Alabama Theater. The reigning American Idol used the opportunity to have the Red Cross on site to raise money for disaster relief in Enterprise, which was hit by a deadly tornado on March 1. Hicks donated a portion of proceeds from his first single, “Do I Make You Proud,” to the Red Cross in June. Also, Hicks’ Saturday performance earned praise from one reviewer.
• American Idol Champion Partners With Red Cross [press release]
Taylor the charity case: While his tour stops have been sellouts, his album sales have been underselling. “Taylor Hicks,” his first major-label release, has sold 640,000 copies in three months, but ranks 136th on the Billboard charts. Chris Daughtry, who finished fourth on the show last season, has already sold more than a million CDs. Hicks could end up being the first Idol who fails to hit the 1 million mark. So what’s most important: ticket sales, CD sales, radio airplay, song choice, “Idol” voting, music genre or artistry?
• ‘Idol’ winner Hicks says fans will rally behind slow-selling album [Associated Press]
The big P: We don’t typically trade in rumor around here, but a leading journalism industry site is good enough for us. The Birmingham News could be one of three finalists for this year’s Pulitzer Prizes in the Public Service category for its thorough — and thoroughly enraging — series on corruption in the state two-year college system. The newspaper was a finalist in 2006 for its reversed stance on the death penalty and a winner in 1991 for its editorials on inequities in the state tax system. We’ll know for sure April 16, when the winners are announced.
• Here We Go Again — Pulitzer Finalists Leaked! [Editor and Publisher]
Also:
- Green spaces threaten to wipe out urban blight, ground-level ozone
- County commission proposes burning large pile of cash, then loses large pile of cash
- Not-quite-spring forward: Time shift deflates helpful phrase
• • •
Send us your news tips.
