• Crystal Bowersox solidified her front-runner status last night by turning in a cool, smooth, gospely cover of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Long As I Can See the Light.” Armed with her acoustic guitar, Bowersox looked calm, confident and healthy — just one day after being hospitalized for complications related to her diabetes. She didn’t look for any sympathy votes. She just went out on stage and did her thing. You gotta love that.

• Lilly Scott also lit up the stage last night, with strong vocals on the Sam Cooke classic, “A Change is Gonna Come.” The judges peppered her with rave reviews, calling her unique and relevant. Kara DioGuardi went so far as to predict Scott would forever “change the game” by attracting diverse indie artists to “American Idol.”

FoxKatelyn Epperly turned in a solid performance last night on ‘American Idol.’

• Katelyn Epperly turned in one of her best performances of the season and proved she belongs in the semi-finals as she covered “The Scientist” by Cold Play. Yes, as Ellen DeGeneres griped, it’s a slow song that could lull some viewers to sleep. But I found it interesting and vocally appealing. (Extra credit for Epperly’s piano playing.)

• Siobhan Magnus got off to a shaky start as she sang Aretha Franklin’s “Think,” but she quickly turned it into one of the most memorable performances of the night when she screamed out some amazingly high notes — in key — and wowed the judges and the studio audience. “It was dope! You slayed it!” declared Randy Jackson. “I loved it, dude. I loved it!”

• Katie Stevens also had a very good night, with a solid rendition of “Put Your Records On” by Corrine Bailey Rae. The Idol judges weren’t too impressed, but I have to disagree, especially when comparing her performance to the guys one night earlier. Stevens, only 17, was composed on stage, had a soothing voice and didn’t try to be flashy. I was impressed.

MIDDLE OF THE PACK

• Paige Miles is growing on me. Each week she’s becoming more and more likeable, and last night she turned in an energetic cover of Kelly Clarkson’s angst-ridden “Walk Away.” She got panned by the judges for making a bad song choice, but they all agreed she has a great voice.

• Michelle Delamor had a shaky start, but progressed well as she sang Creed’s powerful ballad, “With Arms Wide Open.” Her vocals got better as the song went on, and she tweaked it just enough to make it her own, even though she didn’t win over the judges — except in the appearance category. (”The outfit is hot,” said Randy. “You do look fabulous,” Ellen added.)

DANGER ZONE

• Haeley Vaughn — She tried her betht to hide her lithp and to tone down her thmile, but it jutht didn’t work. (lisp-induced typos intentional) Simon Cowell used one of his favorite lines, calling her version of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” a “complete and utter mess.” He wasn’t wrong.

• Lacey Brown — A big disappointment for a contestant who held so much promise during the earlier rounds. Last night she took Kara’s advice by singing “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer, but she sort of forgot this wasn’t karaoke night at the local bar.

• Didi Benami — Another disappointing performance for someone with great vocals. She tried to inject an interesting gospel spin into Bill Withers’ 70s classic, “Lean on Me,” but she fell short. It just didn’t work, and she could be in danger of getting voted out tonight.

DOES ANYONE AGREE?

Which lady do you think performed the best last night? Who do you think should be the most worried about getting eliminated tonight?

So it seems that music is not all what Taylor Swift can do, she has got acting skills also. Taylor Swift appeared in a CSI episode called ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’. Taylor Swift had long made her desire public to appear as a murdered girl on her favorite series ‘Crime Scene Investigation’ CSI.

Viewing her inexperience she was given small dialogues. Her fans like me definitely loved her in CSI. As the episode starts Nick is seen blowing the candles out on his birthday cake. In the middle of the celebration, he receives a call and has to go to investigate a murder. As he reaches at the spot a girl’s corpse is seen lying outside a hotel. Even as a murdered girl in the CSI episode, Taylor Swift is looking as stunning as ever. Nick realizes that it’s not the first time he has seen the girl. 365 days ago appears written on the screen and Nick is seen getting introduced to Taylor Swift who tell him that her name is ‘Hayley’

Taylor Swift’s name appears as ‘Special Guest Stars’. A man is murdered in a hotel room and Taylor Swift is interested to know what is going on, so she keeps asking Investigator about the murder and tells him that she is not afraid of such things. Look at the casually dressed Taylor Swift looking as gorgeous as in more formal dresses. Taylor Swift is just 20 and her acting in CSI shows how multitalented she is. Who knows one day we see her in a major movie like Whitney Houston did.

No Doubt sues Activision over use in Band Hero

Matthew Hopson
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Rock group “No Doubt” have filed a law-suit over the band’s appearance in Band Hero, Activision’s latest spin-off of the Guitar Hero video game franchise. The group contend that the game has transformed them into “a virtual karaoke circus act,” singing the songs of other bands.

In the suit filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Country Superior Court, No Doubt allege that Activision broke the contractually agreed use of the in-game likenesses of band members Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young.

Band manager, Jim Guerinot said, “The band are bitterly disappointed that their name and likeness was taken and used without their permission. They agreed to play three No Doubt songs as a band. . . . Activision then went and put them in 62 other songs and broke the band up [and] never even asked.”

According to the LA Times, No Doubt’s contract with Activision allowed the Santa Monica-based company to use the band’s avatars in no more than three of their own songs. The game allows players to place them, as a group or individuals, into more than 60 songs, “many of which include lyrics, contained in iconic songs, which are not appropriate for No Doubt and have not been and would not have been chosen by No Doubt for recordings or public performances.”

It specifically notes that the game allows Stefani’s image to sing the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women.” The complaint says, “While No Doubt are avid fans of the Rolling Stones and even have performed in concerts with the Rolling Stones, the Character Manipulation Feature results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes.”

The complaint also alleges that executives at Activision failed to disclose the character-manipulation feature, refusing to remove or disable it for the No Doubt avatars once the band learned of it. According to the suit, Activision told the band that it would be “too expensive.”

The lawsuit asks for an unspecified amount of actual and punitive damages, a temporary restraining order against the game, as well preliminary and permanent injunctions against distribution of the game, including a recall of existing copies.

A spokesman for Activision told the LA Times that they had not seen the complaint and had no comment.

In September, the widow and former bandmates of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain complained about the use of his likeness in Guitar Hero 5. In that case, Activision said they had received written permission from his widow to use him as a fully playable character, however she Twittered that she

“never signed [off] on the avatar.”

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After spending over eight years behind bars, Shyne was finally released from prison earlier today (October 6), confirms CBS News.

The 30-year-old rapper has spent nearly a decade of his life in both Clinton and Woodburne Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

Po was serving time on assault, reckless endangerment and gun possession charges for an incident that occurred in December ‘99. While partying at Club New York in Manhattan with then label boss Diddy and Jennifer Lopez—Puffy’s girlfriend at the time—Shyne got involved in a shootout, leaving three people injured.

He was sentenced on June 1, 2001 to ten years. Diddy, who was also charged in the crime, was acquitted.

Oh Lindsay, why?

Attention-loving starlet Lindsay Lohan’s impromptu onstage appearance at a Lily Allen concert this weekend took even the British pop star off-guard.

“That was a complete surprise,” Allen later recalled to Jimmy Kimmel.

Lohan, 22, walked up to Allen during her performance of Britney Spears’ “Womanizer,” gave the singer a hug, briefly shook her hips and generally looked out of place.

After singing a few words into the mic with the former “Mean Girls” star, Allen continued her performance while LiLo awkwardly stood there and eventually walked away.

The party-loving twosome have had several friendly run-ins in recent months, even inking identical “shhh…” tattoos after a night of partying in February.