We first heard about 'Military Idol' in August, when soldiers atFort Myer competed for the local title. The first contenderseliminated? The foolhardy who tried to sing 'The Star-SpangledBanner' -- never a good idea in a vocal competition, no matter howpatriotic.
The 12-week contest, based on the wildly popular 'American Idol,'was open to any active-duty soldier with dreams of being the Army'sKelly Clarkson or Ruben Studdard; 36 finalists from installationsaround the world faced off at Fort Gordon in Georgia last week.
Saturday's final 90-minute show was originally scheduled to bebroadcast live on the Pentagon Channel, which can be found on cablearound the country -- until organizers realized that anyone with aTV and a satellite dish could tune in. The licensing agreement withFremantleMedia, which holds the rights to 'American Idol,' allowedthe Army to use the 'Idol' name but only broadcast on militaryinstallations. Anything else was a conflict with all those Foxstations.
So if proud moms or pops wanted to watch and vote for their GI,all they needed was a computer, an Army Knowledge Online account (orsponsored guest account), and a QuickTime viewer. Simple, eh?Nevertheless: 'Thousands and thousands' saw the semifinals online andthe live Webcast Saturday, says executive producer Victor Hurtado.The show was, he said, intended as a pilot program anyway, not amajor broadcast.
The winner? Sgt. William Glenn, a 42-year-old Alabama NationalGuardsman stationed in Darmstadt, Germany, who won with a killerversion of 'Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.' (He received a grand$1,000 grand prize.) The final show is still available on AKO, andwill be broadcast overseas on, yes, the Pentagon Channel.
Maybe it was the rain. Or maybe he just had an eerie feeling itwas the wrong weekend for fun-lovin' MCs to drive expensive carsthrough the District. Whatever the reason, it appears Ludacris didnot make good on a rapped-about promise to make it to HowardUniversity Homecoming. Better see you next year -- your cred's atstake.
How do you honor a big-bucks philanthropist who has devotedmillions of dollars and thousands of hours to making Washington the'Athens of Pericles'? Jim Kimsey -- 'softest touch in town,'legendary bachelor and global adventurer -- was toasted and roastedFriday night by an august group at the Kennedy Center who tiptoedthat fine line between respect and ribald.
'I could go on about Jim's many trips to Colombia but, as a truegentleman, I forgot them all,' cracked Luis Moreno, ex-Colombianambassador.
Joe Robert (Kimsey's best bud) and Don Graham (our Big Boss, asWashington Post chairman) co-hosted the $350,000 fundraiser forGreater D.C. Cares; VIPs included Queen Noor, Vernon Jordan, AlmaPowell, George Vrandenburg, Susie Kay and Tom Lewis.
The AOL founder grinned like mad and refused to give details aboutany trips, even when we asked real nice. Smart guy.
Alan Greenspan, sitting in Dan Snyder's box at Sunday's Redskinsgame and getting a smooch on the cheek from Andrea Mitchell wheneverthe Skins scored -- in other words a total make-out session. So:Will the Maestro still get those sweet seats when he's no longermoving markets, or will all the hot invites shift to Fed Chair-to-beBen Bernanke? That's what we wanna know.
Diane Keaton, swanning through the Starbucks at Third and Penn SESunday morning while friends waited in line, looking so Keaton in along coat and an Annie Hall hat and kooky glasses and at the sametime looking great . . . and later buying a 1916 clothbound scrapbookabout a New York women's soup kitchen at the Georgetown Flea Market.
Nicole Kidman, sporting a blond pageboy and driving a sport utearound the 18th-Connecticut-K Street loop over and over yesterday forthe filming of her sci-fi thriller, 'The Visiting.' She plays aWashington psychiatrist; Baltimore's Bolton Hill neighborhood playsGeorgetown, though the real thing is rumored to have a cameo intoday's shooting.
Buyer: Greta Van Susteren and John Coale
Price: $3 million
Details: Long hours in the trenches with O.J. Simpson, ScottPeterson and Joran van der Sloot sure pay off! The Fox News legal-affairs star and her lawyer husband bought a five-bedroom, 4,400-square-foot home -- built in 1995 but looks like an old plantation -- on Chesapeake waterfront on the southern tip of Maryland's KentIsland. 'You get the sunset. You're on the bay,' Coale told theCapital newspaper in Annapolis. 'It couldn't be better.'
