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Listen: New “Footloose” by Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton has recorded a new version of Kenny Loggin’s 80s hit “Footloose” for the upcoming revamp of the movie.

Blake admits he wasn’t the producers’ original first choice to cut a new version of ‘Footloose.’

“[The producers] had envisioned a female cutting [‘Footloose’] this time around,” Blake explains. “So they threw out ideas for some other songs for me, but I finally just campaigned enough and whined about it enough that they said, ‘Why don’t you cut it, and just let them hear your version?’ So I cut it, gave it to them and they wanted to go with mine. I really lucked out.”

“It’s like a lot of stuff from that era — it was rock at the time, but is pretty much what we hear on country radio today. So I knew that we didn’t have to stray that far away from the original,” Blake tells The Boot. “When I open my mouth, what comes out is country. It was going to sound country no matter what, but I didn’t want it to be too different. There are two ways to bring back a song: one is to try to make it your own, and in this instance, you have to remove yourself from it and step into the role of what’s best for the movie and that particular scene. There’s really only one way to approach it when you think of it that way: a fun, uptempo, catchy version just like Kenny Loggins did.”

Listen to Blake Shelton’s ‘Footloose’

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Audra McDonald – “Edelweiss”

I’ve loved this song since the first time I heard it. And pairing it with the extraordinary Audra McDonald and this gorgeous guitar accompaniment – well, it doesn’t get much better than this.

It took me reaching mid-life to understand the song is about the simple beautiful things that “happen” around us when we may be too busy to notice; that we can only appreciate those things when we slow down and realize what’s “happened” in our own backyard.

Historians might like to make note of that fact that this song was the last ever written by the great Oscar Hammerstein II.

And the last word of that last song, appropriately, is “forever.”

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Cher defends Chaz against ‘Dancing’ critics

Cher is lashing out at haters who are making noise about Chaz Bono appearing on Dancing With the Stars.

He is the first transgender competitor on the ABC show.

On Twitter, Cher wrote:
“lovelies! Chaz is Being Viciously Attacked on Blogs & Message boards about being on DWTS!This is Still America right ? It took guts 2 do it. Bet VAST MAJORITY of People will LOVE CHAZ on DWTS ! Chaz isn’t exactly the “Gotta Dance Gotta Dance” kinda Guy”

Dancing fans have posted both supportive and unsupportive comments about Chaz. One used the word “disgusting” Another wrote: “I never and mean NEVER watch DWTS, but will this season to support/vote for (Chaz).”

One Million Moms, a group whose goal is to fight the “filth many segments of our society, especially the entertainment media, are throwing at our children,” is urging people to “email ABC Network and let them know that we will not tolerate these subjects being forced into our homes.” A note on the group’s site says the casting of Chaz Bono and Carson Kressley “is completely unacceptable and Christians should not watch the show, no excuses!”

Chaz tweeted back at his mom last night, saying:
“Thanks for all your support mom. The haters are just motivating me to work harder and stay on DWTS as long as I possibly can.”
(via usatoday.com)

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MDA Telethon beats last year’s total – best since 2008

Despite the absence of longtime veteran host Jerry Lewis, the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon’s broadcast went on and had what the MDA is saying its best showing since 2008.

So You Think You Can Dance judge Nygel Lythgoe was joined by co-hosts Nancy O’Dell, Jann Carl and Alison Sweeney during the six-hour live broadcast on Sunday night.

According to MDA officials, the 46th annual Labor Day weekend event raised nearly $61.5 million, about $2.6 million more than last year, reports the Associated Press. The telethon was shortened from more than 20 hours of broadcast time last year.
(via usatoday.com)

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Sen. Jim DeMint: “Doesn’t appear” Sarah Palin will run for Prez

The Labor Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the presidential campaign season, and many of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination have started to take shots at each other, not just at President Obama, reports CBS News political correspondent Jan Crawford.

Several jabbed at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, perceived by many pundits as the latest frontrunner.

That list included former half-term governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin – who’s managing to keep speculation alive about whether she’s going to toss her hat into the GOP ring.

At a Tea Party rally in Indianola, Iowa, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee took what Crawford says appeared to be a swipe at Perry, after reports suggesting he was cozy with big donors.

“Some GOP candidates,” Palin said, “they also raise mammoth amounts of cash and we need to ask them, too: What, if anything, do their donors expect in return from their investments?”

Most of the leading Republican contenders will be in South Carolina today at a political forum hosted by powerful, arch-conservative Sen. Jim DeMint.

And DeMint told “Early Show” co-anchor Jeff Glor he doesn’t think a Palin run is in the cards this time around.

“It doesn’t appear that she is,” going to get into the fray, DemInt said. “She’s done a lot, I think, to engage the American people and stir things up, which we really needed to do, to get American citizens more involved in the process. It made a big difference in the last election. My hope is it’ll make an even bigger difference in the next election, as people take back their government.”

According to a new poll from Fox News, 71% of the registered Republicans who were surveyed from Aug. 29 to Aug. 31 said Palin, the former half-term Alaska governor who was John McCain’s running mate in 2008, should sit out the 2012 race. Just 25 percent said they believe she should run.

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Susan Lucci Calls Out ABC Exec for Cancellation of “All My Children”

With only three weeks of ‘All My Children’ left to go in the soap opera’s legendary 41-year run, the show’s stars are finally starting to speak out. Susan Lucci blasts ABC daytime exec Brian Frons in an epilogue to the upcoming paperback edition of her book, ‘All My Life,’ saying “I watched Brian Frons’ decisions destroy the production of our show and the lives of people on both sides of the country.”

According to the New York Post, which obtained text from the epilogue, Lucci’s criticisms weren’t limited to Frons’ business decisions — she also says that Frons appeared “self-congratulatory” when he informed the ‘AMC’ cast of the decision to cancel the long-running soap, and that he “has what, for me, is that fatal combination of ignorance and arrogance. I cannot fathom any network executive choosing to alienate millions of loyal viewers in these economic times.”

Don’t think that this is the first time Frons will hear of Lucci’s discontent. The star says she personally told him, “I think our being in this position is the result of some very bad decisions by you,” including the hiring of Chuck Pratt as head writer in 2008, moving the show to Los Angeles from new York, and getting rid of creator Agnes Nixon.

More at AOLTV.com

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Anti-Bullying ‘Seth’s Law’ Passes California Senate

From Care2.com: California’s senate lawmakers passed a bill last week that will require schools to specifically enact policies against bullying related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The bill, known as AB 9 or Seth’s Law, passed the Senate in a 24 to 14 vote late Thursday. The California Assembly passed the bill in June on a 52-26 vote. The legislation now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. He is expected to sign the legislation.

AB 9 is designed to ensure that every school in California implements anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies and programs that include actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, as well as race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, disability, and religion. The law is also designed to give parents of children in California’s schools clearer knowledge of what to expect from school administrators when they are handling instances of bullying and ways of reporting concerns if parents think school administrators are not acting appropriately.

Seth’s Law is named after 13 year-old Seth Walsh who, because of pervasive anti-LGBT bullying, attempted suicide and died as a result of his injuries last year.

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Cheyenne Jackson marries longtime partner

For everyone with a crush on Cheyenne Jackson out there, I’ve got sad news: you’re too late. Jackson, of Glee, has married his long-time partner Monte Lapka (a physicist) in New York, announcing today on his Twitter: “It’s official, after 11 years together, Zora’s no longer a bastard. Married the best man I’ve ever known.”

(Zora is their dog, by the way.)

And here’s the happy couple.

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Tawny Heatherton at the ATM – all the world’s a stage

Tawny Heatherton is the new alter-ego of the fantastically talented David Drake, perhaps best known as the Obie Award winning actor and writer of “The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me.”

I was blessed to work with David in the off-Broadway hit show “Pageant” – with the daunting task of being, among other roles, David’s stand-by. I made a conscious decision to learn as much as I could from David. Night after night, I was tickled and amazed at how David’s “Miss Deep South” was constantly new, fresh, different and committed. The things he found were brilliant, with a total lack of fear.

Check out “Tawny’s” new Facebook Fan page. And check often. David is so creative – sometimes over the top, sometimes so subtle – that you can’t help but watch.

I can’t wait.