Crystal will visit Toledo & Elliston, Ohio if her 'Idol' success continues!

BY CATHARINE HADLEY • Staff writer, Port Clinton News Herald • May 8, 2010

If Elliston's Crystal Bowersox makes it through next week's "American Idol" competition, she'll come back for a hometown visit.

"If she makes it through to the top three she will be here for the hometown visit on Friday," said Tom Cook, program director for The River radio station in Toledo.

He's been in contact with the "American Idol" staff, and if Bowersox makes it through she will be interviewed on radio station 101.5 the River at 8 a.m. and on 92.5 at 8:30 a.m.

"They are working on some other stuff, both in Toledo and in Elliston, and I heard a mention of the Ottawa County Fairgrounds," Cook said. "They did not want to say too much until all the details are ironed out, but there are some big things brewing if she makes it through."

KISS-FM host Andrew Z of the "Andrew Z In The Morning" show made this post on the show's Facebook page:

"Be sure to vote for Crystal Bowersox this week, if she makes the cut this week then she will be on our show Friday for her hometown visit. More details to come, but be sure to vote for her."

If Bowersox makes the final three next week, she will also sing the national anthem at the Toledo Mudhens game Friday .

Cook was interviewed recently by MTV senior writer Gil Kaufman, who was in Ottawa County with a production crew this week.

The station has been playing a Bowersox song called "Holy Toledo," which has been popular with listeners.

"We have been the only ones playing it until today, I think 92.5 started playing it, but we've been playing it since the middle of March," he said.

"It's been pretty huge. We have gotten a lot of calls and a lot of e-mails about it. People are excited to have a song by somebody local. It talks about Toledo and you can't argue with having her on such a national platform. ... Everyone knows who Crystal is now."

In the song, she sings that better days are ahead.

"It seems like we always show up on the bottom of all these lists that we don't want to be on the bottom of and I think people seeing her and hearing her, she gives people hope," the program director said. "It's good news that is coming out of northwest Ohio."

He said the song can be found on YouTube.

"I listened to it and I thought, 'God, this is a great song,' so I put it in our normal rotation."

Top 4 Idols Mentored by Jamie Foxx During Cinema Week!

This week, Jamie Foxx, movie star and recording artist, will mentor the American Idol Season 9 Top 4 as they take on the Songs of the Cinema. If you’ll recall, Foxx mentored the Top 5 last year for Rat Pack week.
On the Wednesday night results show, Daughtry will perform their new single, “September.” Bon Jovi is also set to perform.

Each of the four – Crystal Bowersox, Lee DeWyze, Casey James and Michael Lynche will sing a solo. But, the 4 contestants will also pair up to sing a duet.

Duets for tonight! Crystal Bowersox/Lee Dewyze and Casey James/Mike Lynche! What do you think of that?

Another development: The list of songs have been expanded from 34 to 50. And man, the list is full of re-treads! Yikes. Not liking this list so much… Why are there so many bad 80’s songs on it?

New songs on the list include Prince’s “Purple Rain”, which is notable, because Prince rarely clears his songs for Idol. (He allowed fellow Minnesotan, Paris Bennett, to sing “Kiss” back in Season 5.) And there are songs nobody wants covered on Idol again, like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Falling Slowly”.

The sixteen additional songs don’t improve the original list, that’s heavy on cinema cheese and total WTF? Should be an amusing night.

So, what do you think the Idols should sing? Check out the list and leave your comments below!

* (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – Bryan Adams
* (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life – Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
* A Whole New World – Brad Kane & Lea Salonga
* Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – The 5th Dimension
* Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) – Christopher Cross
* Beauty and the Beast – Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson
* Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
* Can I Have This Dance – Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron & the Cast of HS Musical
* Can You Feel the Love Tonight – Elton John & London Community Gospel Choir
* Can’t Fight the Moonlight – LeAnn Rimes
* Danger Zone – Kenny Loggins
* Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds
* Endless Love – Lionel Richie & Diana Ross
* Evergreen – Barbra Streisand
* Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
* Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
* Flashdance (What a Feeling) – Irene Cara
* Footloose – Kenny Loggins
* Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio
* Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr.
* Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky) – Bill Conti
* Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman – Bryan Adams
* I Believe I Can Fl – R. Kelly
* I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – Aerosmith
* I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
* I’m Alright (Theme from Caddyshack) – Kenny Loggins
* Into the West – Howard Shore and Annie Lennox
* Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
* It Might Be You (from Tootsie) – Stephen Bishop
* Jai Ho – A.R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah et al
* Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley
* Kiss From a Rose – Seal
* Let the Riverrun – Carly Simon
* Live and Let Die – Wings
* Lose Yourself – Eminem
* Moon River (from Moon River) – Audrey Hepburn & Henry Mancini
* Mrs Robinson – Simon & Garfunkle
* My Heart Will Go On – Celine Dion
* One Night Only – Jennifer Hudson, Deena Jones & The Dreams
* Over the Rainbow – Judy Garland
* Purple Rain – Prince & the Revolution
* Separate Lives – Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin
* Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
* Summertime – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
* Superfly – Curtis Mayfield
* Take My Breath Away (Love Theme from Top Gun) – Berlin
* Up Where We Belong – Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
* We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) – Tina Turner
* Will You Be There – Michael Jackson
* You’ll Be in My Heart – Glenn Close & Phil Collins

This week, Idol hopefuls salute the golden hits of the silver screen, making their selections from the magical movie songs on the above playlist. Click the "Songs From the Movies" box below to download these great songs as singles, or download all - with just one click - as a special American Idol "Songs from the Movies" album.