Candidate Rob Ford speaks at the March 29 mayoral candidates' debate. Photo by Emily Shepard/Torontoist

The first mayoral debate has come and gone, and if you're looking for the one-line recap, there was no clear winner.

The six major mayoral candidates—Giorgio Mammoliti, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, Rob Ford, Sarah Thomson, and George Smitherman—gathered last night in front of a packed (and rowdy) auditorium at Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough, to respond to a series of questions on new taxes, road tolls, the Gardiner Expressway, bike lanes, the TTC, rooming houses, wind farms, and the police budget. Unsurprisingly (though no less amusingly), they immediately honed in on Scarborough as an under-funded and under-appreciated sector of the city, weaving in stories of family or personal connections to Toronto's "urban suburbs" as if trying to prove they knew where Scarborough was on a map.

The proposed Light Rail Transit line on Sheppard as an element of Transit City loomed large: Ford, Thomson, and Mammoliti advocated a subway line instead, while Smitherman and Pantalone defended the LRT. Pantalone objected to Ford's statement that the LRT was a "fancy name for streetcars," calling them "fast trains" that were more viable and enjoyed the support of the area's councillors.

But debates are often more about the candidates than the issues, especially since we usually have a sense of what they'll say before they walk in the room. So we have come to the essential question: how did these candidates portray themselves, and how did they perform?

Soft-spoken but firm, Mammoliti stood dutifully behind his radical ideas. He reiterated his commitments to exempting seniors from property taxes, demolishing the Gardiner, imposing a curfew for children under fifteen, and uploading both the TTC and welfare to the province. (If wishing made it so.) The self-proclaimed "voice of the urban suburbs," he speculated that the other candidates "get a nosebleed when they cross Eglinton." On the issue of bike lanes, he called for a halt on all new lanes until cyclists "adhere to the rules of the road," adding “they don't have the right to be kicking cars."

Joe Pantalone's approach was measured and established and oh-so-earnest. Calling the city a "living organism that needs tender loving care," he cited the need for compromise, planning, and funding from the provincial and federal governments. He accused his opponents of a "bulldozer approach"—of advocating dramatic experiments that would ultimately damage the fabric of the city.

Candidate Rocco Rossi addresses the auditorium. Photo by Emily Shepard/Torontoist.

As polished as his bald head, Rossi was (despite his lack of campaign experience) the consummate politician. He was assertive, prepared, and charismatic. He began and ended the debate with polyglot addresses, pulled out a prop bag to discuss the plastic bag tax, and even borrowed a page from the David Miller playbook and told a story about his mom's immigration triumph. Rossi was critical of the current state of affairs in Toronto, including TTC matters and the municipal grant-giving process.

The newest candidate on the scene, Rob Ford came off as the friendly city councillor who would work tirelessly to serve you. His motto is "customer service," and he said his default response was to act on community consensus (an easy answer to most tough questions). Ford cited his on-the-ground experience, including establishing a football club for youths and "cleaning up Rexdale." He also inserted a few oddball ideas, such as bringing back former police chief Julian Fantino.

Sarah Thomson stood out as the idealistic visionary of the bunch, with few concrete answers. Her main, oft-repeated message was the need for an extended subway line along Sheppard. How do we promote economic growth? Build a subway. Are road tolls a good idea? Yes, to fund the subway. Should we build a wind farm? We should build a subway. She answered with more substance on questions such as bike lanes and rooming houses, showing some potential to develop a more sophisticated platform as her campaign matures.

Speaking of a lack of substance, George Smitherman did little to challenge the accusation that his campaign lacks it. He continued to coast up the middle, evading many questions by offering vague answers or counter-attacks. (When the audience heckled him for saying there was "room for mature discussion" on bike lanes, he countered: "It seems like the promise of free alcohol might have been extended to the Rossi camp a bit earlier.")

The conflict between Rossi and Smitherman defined the latter half of the debate, a dynamic that reflected polls that place those two candidates at the front of the pack. When Rossi brought up eHealth and Samsung, someone in the audience yelled "Get furious, George!" In response, he argued that his mixed political record was better than Rossi’s non-existent one. Oh, snap.

MURCIA, 25 (EUROPA PRESS)

Un total de 30 cuadros del pintor murciano Ramón Gaya integran la exposición, que con el título 'El silencio del arte', se inaugurará hoy jueves 25 de marzo a las 19.00 horas, en la Catedral de Burgos (Claustro Bajo).

Se trata de un conjunto de obras de tema religioso pertenecientes a colecciones particulares y otras, que se exponen permanentemente en el museo que lleva el nombre del artista, y que ahora abandonan su recinto, con motivo del primer centenario del nacimiento del pintor, según informaron desde el Museo en comunicado de prensa.

Entre estas obras se encuentran 'Noli me tangere', 'Bautismo de Jesús', 'Emaus', 'La coronación de espinas', 'Moisés salvado de las aguas', 'La Magdalena en su rincón', pero también distintos homenajes, en los que Gaya evoca famosos cuadros de autores tan excepcionales como Tiziano, Murillo o Rubens.

Algunas de las obras, que denotan la admiración de Ramón Gaya siente hacia un escultor como Francisco Salzillo, recogen la singularidad y la belleza de las esculturas que desfilan por las calles de Murcia en la procesión de la mañana del Viernes Santo.

Esta exposición acaba de clausurarse en Caravaca de la Cruz, municipio murciano que celebra su Año Santo. Tras su estancia en la Catedral de Burgos -hasta el 8 de mayo- se instalará en el Museo Salzillo, de la capital murciana, y posteriormente, viajará también hasta Valencia.

A VIP list maintained by Chicago Public Schools included admissions requests by Patrick Daley Thompson, Mayor Richard Daley's nephew, on behalf of a longtime supporter of the family's political organization, the Tribune has confirmed.

At least two other attorneys from Thompson's powerful law firm also lobbied to get students into the city's best schools. The CPS inspector general is investigating one of those cases, a source said.

On Tuesday, Mayor Richard Daley denied any role in the VIP lists, which were kept by orders of then-schools chief Arne Duncan, who is now U.S. education secretary. However, the Tribune has verified six instances in which the mayor's staff or his nephew intervened for students.

Daley spokeswoman Jacqueline Heard said Wednesday the mayor never would have denied involvement if he knew about the lobbying efforts.

"Do you really believe the mayor would say that unequivocally if he didn't believe it was true?" said Heard. "That leads you to believe that the mayor didn't have knowledge that any of these people were making calls."

Logs indicate Thompson contacted then-CPS schools chief Duncan in April 2008 in the hopes of securing two spots at Whitney Young Magnet High School for the daughters of a ward loyalist. The girls' father, a high-ranking city supervisor, has donated about $2,500 to the Daley family's 11th Ward Democratic Organization in the past decade.

The father's name also appears on another once-secret government log. He was listed as the sponsor of three people who sought city jobs for their political work, according to a clout list once kept in the mayor's office that was entered into evidence during the 2006 federal trial of Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich.

The man has worked as a voter registrar in the ward and lives on the same street as Thompson, who now owns the Bridgeport bungalow where his grandfather, Mayor Richard J. Daley, once lived.

Heard denied Thompson intervened because he wanted to reward an 11th Ward foot soldier, and noted the children were not accepted into their top choice.

"It had nothing to do with the political connections," she said. "It was because he was a longtime friend."

The logs obtained by the Tribune indicate the students were denied a place at Whitney Young because their scores were too low. Instead they were enrolled at Lincoln Park High School, which is not a selective-enrollment school but has several highly regarded magnet programs.

The Tribune revealed Monday that Duncan ordered his office to track admissions requests over several years. The lists, used mostly in appeals cases, include politicians and influential business people but also show inquiries from unconnected parents looking to place their children.

There is no evidence that principals were forced to admit unqualified students. Indeed, many students were rejected even after Duncan's office intervened.

In the Thompson case, Lincoln Park principal Bessie Karvelas said she was never pressured by the district's central office to accept anyone. On the log, Lincoln Park often serves as a landing spot for politically connected children who have been rejected by selective-enrollment schools.

"Nobody said, 'I want you to take this student,'" she said.

Thompson did not return calls seeking comment.

The names of at least two other zoning lawyers at Thompson's firm, DLA Piper, appear on the list, as well.

In 2006, one lawyer requested a child's admission to a program that was full. The student was later placed into a coveted magnet school after CPS officials encouraged the Piper attorney to write a letter to the principal, according to the logs. The attorney has worked on several major civic endeavors in Chicago and also represented the Chicago Cubs when they were owned by Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune.

Two years later, Daley education aide Tawa Jogunosimi made a request on behalf of another Piper attorney who was seeking a child's admission to Augustus H. Burley School, a magnet elementary that focuses on writing and literature. The student was No. 5 on the wait list at the time and was later accepted.

The case is being reviewed by the CPS inspector general, a source said.

A spokesperson for DLA Piper declined comment on lobbying by the firm's lawyers, calling it a "family matter."

Jogunosimi also made requests on behalf of a new city hire, according to the 2008 list. The employee's two children were placed in highly desirable schools.

The lists also indicate that in 2008, John Dunn, then Daley's chief lobbyist, requested help for the child of one of his employees.

The student wanted to attend either Lane Technical High School or Prosser Career Academy. The student didn't get into either school. According to the log, the Prosser principal was contacted and said the school already was "60 students over" and that an alderman already had five students on the waiting list.

"He would love to help but there is not much he can do," according to the log.

Dunn, who left his job as director of Daley's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs last year and is now a private attorney, could not be reached for comment.

Officials highlighted Dunn's case as an example of how the system did not exert undue influence or help politically connected people land students at top schools.

"For every person who has the affiliations with City Hall who is on the list, I can name you 10 with deeper affiliations who are not," Heard said.

Tribune reporters Stacy St. Clair and Jodi S. Cohen contributed to this report.

--Azam Ahmed and Todd Lighty

TERUEL, 24 (EUROPA PRES)

El vicepresidente del Gobierno de Aragón, José Ángel Biel, inauguró hoy varios equipamientos municipales de interés social y cultural en la Comarca del Bajo Aragón, que han contado con financiación del Ejecutivo autónomo y que han superado los 600.000 euros de inversión.

Biel visitó por la mañana las localidades de La Cañada de Verich, La Ginebrosa y Las Parras de Castellote y esta tarde La Codoñera, según informó el Gobierno de Aragón en un comunicado.

El vicepresidente remarcó la importancia de conocer el territorio puesto que en Aragón "tenemos muchos municipios" y "hay que estar en el mayor número posible de ellos, donde los alcaldes plantean necesidades".

Biel reconoció que "aún queda mucho por hacer", si bien "en los últimos treinta años, desde las primeras elecciones municipales democráticas, se ha hecho un gran esfuerzo en todos los municipios por mejorar los servicios a los ciudadanos".

El vicepresidente también se refirió a la Ciudad del Motor, MotorLand, en Alcañiz (Teruel), que acogerá en septiembre una de las pruebas del mundial de motoGP, denominado Gran Premio Aragón, del que afirmó que "sólo el fin de semana de celebración dejará en la comarca 20 millones de euros".

"Este Gran Premio va a suponer un antes y un después para MotorLand, el complejo va a cambiar el territorio, va a tirar de él y todos los municipios situados en un radio de media hora ó 50 minutos se van a ver beneficiados, incluso ciudades situadas a una hora, como Zaragoza, que también va a echar una mano en el tema de hoteles".

NUEVO SALÓN DE PLENOS EN LA CAÑADA

La visita a la Comarca del Bajo Aragón comenzó en La Cañada de Verich, donde el vicepresidente, acompañado por numerosos vecinos y por el alcalde, José Manuel Insa, inauguró el nuevo Salón de Plenos del Ayuntamiento.

Con la reforma de esta estancia, se completa la rehabilitación del edificio municipal, que también alberga la biblioteca, el archivo, un local multiservicio, un local para asociaciones y una ludoteca.

La inversión global de esta actuación es de 60.000 euros y ha sido sufragada, casi en su totalidad, por el Fondo Especial de Teruel, a través del Instituto Aragonés de Fomento (IAF), y por el Departamento de Política Territorial Justicia e Interior, que ha financiado la rehabilitación del Salón de Plenos.

El vicepresidente, inauguró también el Parque de Mayores de esta localidad, un espacio de casi 400 metros cuadrados dotado de diferentes aparatos de biosalud para mayores --como andador, pedales para brazos y piernas y juego de muñecas-, además de una pista de petanca y un pequeño jardín.

La inversión ha sido de 47.000 euros, de los cuales 27.000 han sido financiados por el Fondo Especial de Inversiones de Teruel, a través del IAF, y el resto por los fondos europeos FEADER.

REFORMAS EN LA CALLE MAYOR EN LA GINEBROSA

Biel visitó, posteriormente, en La Ginebrosa, el avanzado estado de las obras de reforma integral de la calle Mayor, consistentes en la renovación de las tuberías de abastecimiento de agua de boca, en la pavimentación y en el equipamiento de mobiliario urbano, tras ser recibido por el alcalde, Blas Villanova.

En estas obras, el Instituto Aragonés del Agua ha invertido 90.000 euros y la Diputación Provincial de Teruel 45.000 euros. El recorrido por La Ginebrosa concluyó con la visita al pabellón de la localidad, recientemente rehabilitado. La inversión de esta actuación asciende a 120.000 euros y ha sido financiada por el Fondo Especial de Inversiones de Teruel, a través del IAF.

Después, en Las Parras de Castellote, el vicepresidente inauguró la biblioteca y el gimnasio, acompañado por varios miembros de la corporación municipal y por el alcalde, José Bolivar.

Las obras de adecuación del local destinado a la biblioteca han sido financiadas por el Departamento de Política Territorial, Justicia e Interior, que ha invertido 30.680 euros. Las obras han servido para dotar al recinto, de 80 metros cuadrados, de instalación eléctrica, calefacción y mobiliario.

En cuanto el gimnasio, se han ejecutado diversas obras de acondicionamiento y se ha equipado el centro con la instalación de diez máquinas para la realización de ejercicios, con una inversión de 30.000 euros.

PARCELACIÓN EN LA CODOÑERA

La visita a la comarca del Bajo Aragón continua esta tarde en La Codoñera, donde se están realizando unas obras de parcelación de la urbanización denominada 'La Porción', una zona de 10.000 metros cuadrados destinada a viviendas y a equipamientos sociales y cuya principal finalidad es la de asentar la población joven de la localidad.

La urbanización también dispone de una parcela de 1.200 metros cuadrados donde está previsto que se instale la Cooperativa oleícola del Mezquín.

Por último, el vicepresidente conocerá el nuevo alumbrado público instalado recientemente en las calles de esta localidad, que ha sido financiado con 184.000 euros por el Departamento de Política Territorial Justicia e Interior.

Aldermen moved forward yesterday on a plan that is part of Mayor Daley's plan to get the city out from under federal hiring oversight, with a key committee signing off on the mayor's proposal to put his Office of Compliance out of business. (Daley put the Office of Compliance together in late 2007, telling reporters then that “I know there have been many questions raised about whether this office will compete with the inspector general. … At its core, this department is about assuring that the city is complying with the many local, state and federal requirements.”) The measure will send five Office of Compliance staffers over to the city's Inspector General, and give the IG more funding and authority over hiring. The mayor hopes this move will get federal monitors (including Federal Judge Wayne Anderson) off his back about patronage in Chicago.

But aldermen still aren't too excited about the other part of Daley's proposal - to give the IG authority to investigate corruption and wrongdoing in the City Council. 50th Ward Alderman Bernie Stone has been especially outspoken about the change. “That would mean the executive branch would control the votes of the aldermen. That’s the same type of power J. Edgar Hoover tried to get over Congress [so he could] use that power to blackmail Congress,” Stone said earlier this year. Under former inspector general David Hoffman, the city IG started an investigation into vote fraud in the 50th Ward after being tipped off following Stone's narrow 2007 runoff re-election over challenger Naisy Dolar. That investigation ended with Cook County prosecutors charging Stone’s 50th Ward Supt. Anish Eapen with official misconduct, including absentee ballot fraud and mutilation of election materials. Stone has previously threatened to "wipe [the] entire office [of Inspector General] out of the budget."

Photo by lobstar28.

And while 2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti says he's long supported moving to a grid system, both for street sweeping and garbage pick-up - ‘It only makes sense to go to a grid,” he told the Tribune - not all aldermen are excited about the prospect of losing control over how their wards are serviced. "We understand there is a major crisis in terms of the dollars we need to adequately do the job we're trying to do," 28th Alderman Ed Smith said. "But planning is a major part of whatever you do. Who sits down and plans, makes sure everybody is consulted in this process? You don't want to get planned out of the process. That's what we're very concerned about." Smith says that cutting the number of street sweepers could be a problem for aldermen trying to keep their wards clean. 33rd Ward Alderman Dick Mell also expressed concern over the plan, saying that he assigns street sweepers based on special needs, such as a block party or neighborhood festival. “We have special street-sweeping schedules because we have the ability to do that,” Mell said. “Once they start on that grid system, you are never going to have control of it.”

Daley says that aldermen need to be prepared to make concessions as the city pushes to save money. "It's called efficiency, saving money," Daley said.

Main Street in Cumbrian town devastated by record rainfall declared open by mayor and council leader

A Cumbrian town centre devastated by heavy flooding in November began reopening for business today.

Main Street, in Cockermouth, opened to traffic for the first time since being submerged under 8ft (2.4 metres) of water when torrential rains struck.

The road was reopened thanks to a huge recovery effort, as were the town's major Gote and Cocker bridges.

However, only a handful of shops on Main Street have returned to normal, with most still being repaired.

Several have decamped to the nearby Mitchells indoor market, including the Wishes card shop, run by Carol Magorrian and her sister.

Magorrian said Cockermouth's road to recovery had been slow, but welcomed the reopening of Main Street to traffic.

"It is an enormous boost to have the bridges open again," she added. "It was very traumatic, to say the least, because we put our life savings into this [business] and it was just washed away – it was devastating."

The sisters will be return to Main Street on 12 April, and hope trade will soon be back to normal.

Catherine Hetherington, who owns the New Bookshop, also moved to temporary market premises.

She lost all her books to the floods, and thought her family business would not survive.

"It has been a rollercoaster, but we have tried to be positive," she said. "A lot of people were desperate for Main Street and the two bridges to reopen – it is symbolic and is really the first step."

Tim Heslop, the leader of Allerdale borough council, officially reopened the road by removing barriers with the help of the town's mayor, Stephen Coates.

He said: "This is a milestone for the town – it is now open for business. A lot of work has gone into it, all the shops have been gutted and dried out, the road has been resurfaced.

"It means an awful lot to the people of Cockermouth: they are getting back to normal. It will be stronger than ever."

More than 1,800 properties were affected by the record rainfall. The government has committed more than £10.7m to the recovery process, and grants totalling £900,000 have been handed to 178 businesses.

Most homeowners are back in their properties, but many are living upstairs while lower floors continue to dry out.

CUENCA, 24 (EUROPA PRESS)

El subdelegado del Gobierno de España en la provincia de Cuenca, Julio Magdalena, se ha reunido en el Ayuntamiento de Minglanilla con los alcaldes del citado municipio, Graja de Iniesta, Villalpardo, La Pesquera, y Puebla del Salvador para hacer un repaso de los 11 proyectos que se han ejecutado en las mencionadas localidades con cargo al Fondo Estatal de Inversión Local.

Según informó en nota de prensa la subdelegación, en este encuentro los alcaldes informaron al subdelegado de los 10 nuevos proyectos que se han presentado por estos municipios con cargo al Fondo Estatal para el Empleo y la Sostenibilidad Local, y que ascienden a un importe total de 508.753 euros, teniendo prevista una ocupación de 31 trabajadores.

Esta generación de empleo se verá incrementada en 19 puestos de trabajo más por la ejecución del "Plan Especial de Empleo en Zonas Rurales Deprimidas 2010", en las localidades de Minglanilla, Villalpardo y Graja de Iniesta.

En el encuentro estaba presente el teniente coronel primer Jefe de la Comandancia de la Guardia Civil, Amador Escalada, y también se trataron distintos temas de interés común para los mencionados municipios, relacionados con la seguridad de la zona.

El subdelegado les expuso la modificación del Plan Delincuencial en la provincia de Cuenca, diseñado por la Guardia Civil y basado en la creación de nuevos núcleos operativos con la finalidad de conseguir actuaciones más ágiles, rápidas y eficaces, potenciando, además, la vigilancia en aquellos puntos geográficos que, por su puntual coyuntura, así se determine en cada momento. El núcleo operativo de esa zona geográfica está compuesto por los acuartelamientos de Minglanilla e Iniesta.

El teniente coronel realizó un repaso exhaustivo a las incidencias ocurridas en cada uno de los municipios, analizando las causas, las medidas adoptadas y los resultados obtenidos, intercambiando con los alcaldes aportaciones para las mejoras posibles en esta materia, como son una mayor cobertura para la prevención del delito, informando de los timos y fraudes que puedan producirse y promoviendo la colaboración ciudadana, haciendo uso del teléfono 062, subrayando los excelentes resultados que se están obteniendo en materia de prevención de delitos y detención de delincuentes.

Además, acompañados por el alcalde de Minglanilla, Rogelio Pardo Gabaldón, Magdalena y Escalada visitaron el Acuartelamiento de Minglanilla, comprobando las obras realizadas en el citado puesto en los últimos cuatro años, cuya inversión asciende a un total de 185.500 euros.

MURCIA, 24 (EUROPA PRESS)

Un total de 30 cuadros del pintor murciano Ramón Gaya integran la exposición, que con el título 'El silencio del arte', se inaugurará mañana jueves 25 de marzo a las 19.00 horas, en la Catedral de Burgos (Claustro Bajo).

Se trata de un conjunto de obras de tema religioso pertenecientes a colecciones particulares y otras, que se exponen permanentemente en el museo que lleva el nombre del artista, y que ahora abandonan su recinto, con motivo del primer centenario del nacimiento del pintor, según informaron desde el Museo en comunicado de prensa.

Entre estas obras se encuentran 'Noli me tangere', 'Bautismo de Jesús', 'Emaus', 'La coronación de espinas', 'Moisés salvado de las aguas', 'La Magdalena en su rincón', pero también distintos homenajes, en los que Gaya evoca famosos cuadros de autores tan excepcionales como Tiziano, Murillo o Rubens.

Algunas de las obras, que denotan la admiración de Ramón Gaya siente hacia un escultor como Francisco Salzillo, recogen la singularidad y la belleza de las esculturas que desfilan por las calles de Murcia en la procesión de la mañana del Viernes Santo.

Esta exposición acaba de clausurarse en Caravaca de la Cruz, municipio murciano que celebra su Año Santo. Tras su estancia en la Catedral de Burgos -hasta el 8 de mayo- se instalará en el Museo Salzillo, de la capital murciana, y posteriormente, viajará también hasta Valencia.

SEGOVIA, 24 (EUROPA PRESS)

Los mayores expertos en comunicación política se darán cita en Segovia hoy y mañana para participar en un simposio internacional organizado por la Escuela de Comunicación de IE University y la Annenberg School for Communication de la Universidad de Pennsylvania, según informaron a Europa Press fuentes de la Institución universitaria.

El simposio internacional 'Transnational Connection: Chanllenges and Opportunities for Political Communication', que se celebrará en el campus de IE University en Segovia, reunirá a más de 50 académicos, expertos y profesionales del sector, con el objetivo de analizar las nuevas tendencias en comunicación política.

"Es un placer trabajar junto con la Annenberg School of Communication y con la asociaciones y los académicos mas prestigiosos a nivel mundial; estamos ante el primer evento de este tipo que se celebra en Europa", el decano del IE School of Communication, Samuel Martín-Barbero.

"La iniciativa reforzará la cooperación internacional entre los investigadores que examinan las campañas de comunicación, y los profesionales que diseñan y difunden los mensajes de estas campañas, facilitando así un debate constructivo para el futuro", añadió.

Durante las dos jornadas del simposio acudirán, entre otros, expertos de la talla de Shanto Iyengan (Stanford University), John Kelly (Harvard University), Adrian Monck (Director de Comunicación del World Economic Forum), Monroe Price (Annenberg) o Marc Smith (ex Microsoft), para debatir sobre cuestiones como la comunicación política como fenómeno transnacional, las interconexiones entre la visión académica y la práctica profesional, las diferencias entre el modelo europeo y estadounidense, y las nuevas tecnologías de los medios de comunicación y sus efectos en materia sociopolítica.

"Como resultado de las nuevas realidades geopolíticas y la intensa competencia de alianzas globales, asuntos que no se trataban en el ámbito político empiezan a ganar relevancia", indicó el decano, quien apuntó como objetivo de la conferencia a profundizar en el alcance de la investigación comparativa sobre la comunicación política, más allá de los Estados Unidos.

De esta forma, fomentar el diálogo y la colaboración internacional e intensificar el papel de la investigación en comunicación política en Europa, "tareas oportunas y significativas que aportarán beneficios inestimables en el ámbito de la comunicación política internacional", apuntó el doctor Monroe Price, director del Centro de Estudios Globales de Comunicación de la Annenberg School for Communication.

"Los participantes en el simposio analizarán las ideas más innovadoras sobre comunicación política, entre la investigación y la práctica, así como los retos y oportunidades para la colaboración transnacional", subrayó Magdalena Wojcieszak, coordinadora del simposio y profesora asistente de comunicación política y opinión pública del IE School of Communication.

IE School of Communication organiza el simposio junto a importantes entidades internacionales como Center for Global Communication Studies de la Annenberg School for Communication, International Communication Association (ICA), World Association of Public Opinion Research (WAPOR), International Political Science Association (IPSA), International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) y European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA).

Talladega Superspeedway

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The beard had to die, so the mustache could live. That was the only proper way to go into this.

On Friday, I was supposed to go to Talladega, get in a stock car that could go 170 mph, and not soil myself as my instructor gently tugged at the wheel to keep us from painting the wall with our innards. On Saturday, I was going to spend all day watching powerlifters in singlets lift more weight than any human really should.

A mustache was not an option. It was necessary. 

The bootlegger's friend I was sporting wouldn't do. If pulled over, I risked imprisonment or worse. Policemen would instantly suspect preppy Taliban. The people at Talladega would assume I was a homeless man who'd killed a frat boy and stolen his clothes and Dale Jarrett Racing ticket for the day. Children would run from the sight of me. Only the lifters would understand, and even then they'd be suspicious of the lack of grooming.

Mustache Weekend began with a razor. 

PART ONE: TALLADEGA 

My wife has a tradition of trying to kill me on my birthday. Two years ago she bought a biplane ride. That didn't work, so she bought me six laps at Talladega in a stock car for this year. This proves there are far cheaper ways to have someone killed than paying a shadowy man cash to cut your husband's brake lines. You can simply buy him "adventure tourism" packages until the one-armed bandit of fate dials up three skulls for him. 

I head to Talladega on I-20 out of Atlanta. You turn left when you see the signs for Talladega, or when you see the gigantic bowl of the track itself. Holly Anderson is in the car to serve as cameraperson and -- if need be -- co-signee on the death certificate and witness for any future litigation resulting from the event. Because it may be my last meal, I stop at Chick-Fil-A some twenty minutes after crossing the state line from Georgia to Alabama.  

Girl at counter, in words: "May I help you?" 

Girl at counter, in expression: "Did you pull that mustache off a dead leather queen?" 

Me, out loud:  "I'd like a number one with a Coke Zero." 

Me, in expression: Please, ma'am. Put your pants back on. And yes, that's a Coke Zero, because I care about my waistline and I'd like extra mayonnaise on those jumbo fries please. 

My drivers' license and debit card are not in my pants. The pants I pulled off the floor and slid on in three minutes of a fire drill scramble on the way out the door. 

"Hey, guess who's paying for breakfast, Holly!" 

We discover she doesn't have her license either. I still have to drive another sixty minutes and talk my way onto the track at Talladega. Alabama policemen are understanding and kind people, right? Yes? Sure, yes they are of course. All those Hollywood movies can't possibly be right. 

The minute they see the mustache they'll understand. 

Holly likes to make bold predictions. If you watch football games with her, she often predicts ridiculous things before they ever happen. "This is a safety,"  she'll say, and suddenly the quarterback fumbles through the endzone for a two points. "This is a blocked punt," she'll say, and as she crosses her fingers a hand swats the ball down and the punter spins wildly to the ground. 

"You know, if we were going to get pulled over, it would be right now," she jokes as the speedometer reads 88 miles per hour.

An Alabama State Trooper disapparates into sight behind a wall. The speed limit is 55 miles per hour. He's holding a radar gun which, if you could freeze time and peek at the reflection in the mirrored lens of the gun, would show my Mini Clubman zipping along in a fast moving amoeba of traffic exceeding the speed limit by at least thirty miles per hour. 

The gumball lights flare up in the rearview mirror. 

"Can you bail me out if he decides to arrest us?" 

"You're not getting arrested with that mustache. He might ask you to give him a ticket." 

"I doubt that." 

Aluminum taste in my mouth growing. I switch into the right lane in order to pull over to the right shoulder. 

"Also, I'm not getting arrested. You're getting arrested here." 

"You're the one who'll be stuck in Alabama." 

"I'll take your keys." 

"If I go to jail, my keys go to jail with me." 

Ten seconds or so pass. Nothing...and then the sight of the trooper pulling over a gargantuan dualie pickup two spots behind me in the pack of speeding cars. 

"Don't make any more predictions today, okay?" 

"You hit the wall at 170 miles per hour JUST KIDDING."  

Talladega can be reached without really hitting your brakes. Maybe by design, maybe not, but it could be done. A power slide off the exit and left, then open throttle all the way down the four lane road dotted with campsites advertising five dollar showers and RV parking, and then another dramatic powerslide through the gates and down the entry road and under the race banners to the security booth. You could blow through that, too, if you really wanted to, with a brief tap of the breaks for the tunnel under the track into the infield, a final slide through the media center and pits, and then a swift hop onto the holy slanted tri-oval itself. 

The woman conducting registration smiles when I say I don't have my license. 

"Well, now, you might want to watch out for the Alabama police, wouldn't you?"

"I could get you a PDF scan of one, and show it to you on my phone." 

"Now, I don't think--"

"--Or I could have one faxed to you." 

"Well, that won't be--"

"Or I could just drive today? Can we do that?" 

"Don't lose this badge, okay? There are the jumpsuits." 

I don the Ryan Newman-sized XL jumpsuit after trying on an L and realizing that drivers have very, very small shoulders and buttocks. In the suit I look like a high-speed janitor. I also got through the registration process without showing a license, and was indeed discouraged from even showing one to an official. The lack of respect for paperwork?  Promising, indeed. 

The other men lined up today are older. They all have some accent: Alabama, Tennessean, Georgian, one guy with a Wisconsinite pinch to his vowels. Two minutes do not pass without one of them quoting Talladega Nights. It is the only common patois here. 

"I think I'm going to say 'Mama, I'm goin' fast!" 

"Yeah! Shake and Bake!" 

"That just happened!" 

"Slingshot, Ricky! Slingshot!" 

These aren't rednecks. These are middle-management to upper middle-management guys, one military guy who works with F-16s, a dad here with his kids who are wearing "Team Daddy" shirts, a father and son both racing on the same day, guys who could afford to drop $400 or more on seven minutes in a race car located in the appendix of Alabama. 

The rednecks are the guys running the place, and they are gloriously 'neck-y. Beards. A mullet or two. Hands that look like they can tighten bolts without using a wrench. One of them is nicknamed Red, and I would wager money on this. 

We file into a tram emblazoned with Crown Royal emblems for the race meeting, and the bearded guy in charge of the briefing piles on shockingly little in the way of technical advice. 

The following paragraph is sponsored by Crown Royal. 

A burly dude in a beard takes us through the pre-drive briefing. Yes, there will be other cars on the track with us. You need to be careful and follow your instructor's directions, and this will keep you from spinning them into the very hard walls surrounding the track. No, you will not worry about drafting unless you are out there for 20 laps. If you are, then the instructor will tell you what to do. 

When you draft, he says, the pressure will drop in your car, your ears will pop, and the windshield will begin to pop up and down like the cavitating hull of a submarine on a dive.  

My jaw drops. This suddenly seems three thousand times less safe than it did zipping up a jumpsuit.  

He illustrates his points with magnetic Matchbox cars he spins around a mini-Talladega on a whiteboard drawn in black dry-erase marker. Listen to the instructor. Don't run too high. Don't be afraid to run slightly high. Don't hit the wall. Seriously, don't hit the wall. Don't go too slow. Don't change lanes suddenly, because you won't be able to see. We've never set off the fire alarm here. Don't want to have to start now. 

"You'll be able to go flatfooted into turn three and four. Do not hit the brake. This is Talladega. I promise you, you'll go faster in a car than you've ever gone before in your life here." 

Silence. There is a room full of expectant, suddenly entranced men fixed on the man talking. 

"You can hit 170 miles an hour today." 

A car rips past the start-finish line behind us. I'm completely petrified. I take a note on my phone: "Completely petrified." A quick look around the room confirms I am not alone, since every head is focused on the car tearing ass into corner one in front of us. We look like a pack of meerkats spying a single jackal wandering toward the den. 

The following paragraph is sponsored by Lee Greenwood.  

We come back to the theatrical portion of the program. The lane into the pits is lined with the family and friends. Holly stands with the camera giving the kind of thumbs-up and huge grin that says "Hey, asshole!" without saying a word. Then the music cranks up.

DUH DUH DUH nur nur nur nah DEE DEE DEE dah dah DAH DAH Y'ALL READY FOR THIS---

They're actually playing that. I look over at Holly. She mouths "That just happened."  It did. Two things now play at any sporting event or sporting-like event: "Sandstorm," and "Y'all Ready For This." The answer in my case is no, something each turn of a car around turn 4 and into the tri-oval's peak makes all too clear. The real live taste of metal fear in my mouth appears for the second time that day. 

We line up on the track in two rows and the instructors disappear for a second. Holly watches from the observation deck. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA" booms through the loudspeakers. Four cars roar out of turn 4 slowly, and by slowly I mean going only 70 miles an hour. They roll in a kind of loose formation. The two men next to me have their hands over their hearts and their hats off, and I'm the only one looking around besides Holly, who is looking at me and nodding. 

The lead car holds an American flag out the window. It ripples in the breeze, and suddenly I'm more American than you'll ever be because I took part in this while wearing a mustache standing on the biggest, fastest racetrack in NASCAR, 2.66 miles of unbastardized, unflitered evil speed. Only Chuck Norris riding Truckasaurus with a freshly devoured Hitler in his jaws could have made this more American. It trashes the word patriotic for being so inadequate.  

We'd like to thank our sponsors at Bass Pro Shops for the following section. 

I talk to dispel some of the nerves. Like everyone else here, I assume the polite older man next to me thinks I'm gay, a communist, or worse yet a Democrat, but too bad, old dude. You're sitting next to me, and I've had too much caffeine and am about to stuff my ass into a deathbox designed to go much faster than the already unreasonable total of 170 miles per hour it will go today. 

"You done this before?"

"No, but I'm excited."

I pause.

"I'm putting you into the wall on the fourth lap. I thought you might want to know."

He laughs. "Bring it." He's only half-joking. 

They call my name. There's some picture-taking, and some cramming of your body into the car. This was easier for some than others: the more generously proportioned plus-size gentlemen of the crew took some buttering and twisting to get through the window. Once the driver is in position, though, you sit immobilized. The head can wobble in 90 degree range of motion, the legs can slide around in a foot and a half of box containing the pedals, and the arms can turn the wheel. Everything else is strapped to the frame of the car.  

There are six dials or so, a switch, and a wheel the track workers pop onto the column. Otherwise, the interior of a NASCAR machine is spare and brutally empty. The windshield is smudged and pockmarked. It is like looking through eyeglasses after someone has licked their thumb and smudged them for your pleasure and entertainment. 

The instructor reviews hand signals. Thumbs-up indicates throttle up; the palm-down side-to-side waving of the hand is "maintain speed." Nudging right or left means move up or down the track, and I forget the rest the instant he hits the ignition switch and the car thunders to life. Achievement one, unlocked: I do not stall the car out in pit road, and we're on the safety road and bumping up the gears to fourth. 

Achievement two will involve not hitting the wall after a panic attack incapacitates me. 

This paragraph is sponsored by Paxil.  Paxil: For When Life Paralyzes You With Fear. 

A quick list of the things that have incapacitated me with fear is not a long one. Scuba diving nearly did it twice, once while failing to clear my mask and having the entire thing flood with water, and twice when the instructor decided a quick jaunt over the Caymanian Shelf on just my second dive was a good idea. One instant there is a gentle bed of coral, and it rolls along with fish, crustaceans, limpid jellyfish above us, sea fans waving in the current. Then the next: 6,000 feet of light swallowing blue-black empty. 

Rock-climbing did it another time. I had a simple clip to make it on a climb, a big stretch up to a horn of rock about thirty feet off the ground. I made the clip, but missed the clipping of the rope into the carabiner so many times I lost the most important mental talisman of climbing: forgetting you are a breakable sack of liquid, bones, and organs perched above the ground. I had to come off the route, and never finished it. My hands are sweating right now as I type. 

Aside from almost drowning in a cave once, an earthquake in Taiwan, and being stuck in the Georgia Dome during a tornado, that had been the complete list. The list has been revised, because stuffing yourself into a race car on a superspeedway is the highest degree of terror you'll pay for, and that includes law school and botched plastic surgery. 

This paragraph brought to you by: Extenze 

The instructor had the car in 4th gear coming into the back stretch on the warmup lap, and then nudged my hand to indicate go time. I had tapped the gas pedal to get us here, but this was the first real request I made of the engine. I heard the engine noise for a second, and then stopped hearing anything altogether. 

Even on a tuned-down machine like the ones we took on the track, the NASCAR grade engine is capable of mind-erasing grandeur your poor, pitiful normal street-legal domestic car-driving self cannot comprehend. The muffler-less hammering of the exhaust feels bottomless; as fast as you're going, a quick pop of the foot and you instantaneously pull more thrust from the ether itself and into another incomprehensible stratosphere of speed.  If it were a movie scene, it would be the scene in Boogie Nights where Dirk Diggler unveils his member for Jack Horner and crew for the first time. It's huge, and it just keeps going, and going, and going. 

The brain starts to pare down its functions under this kind of assault. I do not even really think at this point: I'm focusing on breathing, and do this more with each lap because the instructor was not lying. I apply no brake going into the curves, and slam down the accelerator going into them, because the 33 and 34 degree banked curves on either end of the tri-oval aren't so much race track as Large Hadron Collider, a kind of bobsled run for mutant overgrown automotive particles with bottomless acceleration and double-reinforced roll cages.  

I'm not even seeing the electric blue Alabama sky by the time the instructor tells me to accelerate for the last time on lap five, and I floor it on the back stretch. Unlike Daytona, the track has no bubbling or hiccups. This is buttery asphalt in all directions forward and backward. There are the dashed lines of the lanes, the walls on either side, and the feeling of complete isolation, panic, and concentration as the car pounces forward and becomes something less than a plane and more than a car. 

This section is brought to you by Dell Laptops and Personal Computers. 

At this point, the driver should be running on DOS. Just like the car itself, speed like this requires little but the basics. Your brain becomes like the interior of the car: a few dials, a wheel, and nothing you don't absolutely need. Your most basic operating systems are in control, the ones that navigate your bedroom silently in the dark of night without stubbing your toe, the involuntary framework standing when life and circumstance has blown away all of your higher functions. If my brain was a modestly priced Dell laptop going into the experience, it was an Apple 2e coming out of the third lap. 

Sound is obliterated by your surroundings, sight is limited to a tiny window in front of you, and all focus is directed to staying on track and following the line in front of you. A good comparison would be scuba diving at depth going 170 miles per hour. A better one would be going scuba diving at 170 miles per hour in a car full of roaring bees.  How drivers do anything but avoid other drivers is beyond understanding, since at even higher speeds with more on the line they are prisoners of mechanical circumstance, half-blind conductors of forty bullet trains all running on the same track. 

I will never wonder why drivers wreck in NASCAR ever again. Instead, I will wonder why they don't wreck on the first lap at speed every race. On my final lap, I came out of turn four going somewhere around 165 miles per hour and noticed my first detail since the ride started: two pairs of black smudges where the last Big One had chain-reacted into life in the last Sprint Cup race at Talladega. 

I then remembered I didn't have my license, and still had to drive out of Alabama without it, and couldn't care less about it since I was officially out of panic for the year. I was no black smudge on the wall, and had not been pulled over by the NASCAR police for driving without a license. Not that I would have seen them; the rearview mirror was angled toward the instructor, and I was pinned by fear into the driver's seat like a spotlit deer, and I would be thinking what anyone would think after doing this: the people who do this are insane, the people who do this are insane, the people who do this are mad. Completely. Barking. Mad. 

This paragraph brought to you by GM Goodwrench. 

Holly waits for me at the end at pit road.  She looks appropriately sunburnt. 

"So?"

"It's like death is in the front seat with you." 

"Is he wearing a trucker hat?" 

"I think so." 

"Ah." 

"No, wait. It wasn't Death. It was the ghost of Dale Earnhardt, and he was smoking a Marlboro Red." 

"And telling you, 'Son, a screaming pansy like you don't belong in a car like this?'" 

"Precisely. That and he thanked the good people at GM Goodwrench at the end." 

"Of course." 

"He did say he liked the mustache, though." 

Part Two of The Mustache Weekend will feature powerlifting and more facial hair with a day at the Battle on the Border Powerlifting meet that took place in Charlotte, NC on March 20th, 2010. 

Our ‘Idol Meter’ is running; Siobhan is the one to watch

After Lacey Brown’s departure last week, the remaining 11 Idol contestants can be characterized as the Final Four and the Seven Dwarfs.

The gap in talent and originality is as vast as the distance between Paula Abdul’s unmissed incoherence and new judge Ellen DeGeneres’ sly, pithy wit.

We’ll get to Final Four star Casey James next week, but here’s a quick look at this season’s other three front-runners.

USA Today

‘American Idol’: Catching up With 13 Former Contestants!

Find out who’s pregnant, who’s getting naked (in public!), and who just filmed a part in a Farrelly Bros. movie.

TAMYRA GRAY – Season 1, fourth place

She’s faced the judges’ criticism on Idol, booked TV gigs on shows like Boston Public and What I Like About You, and graced the silver screen in 2008’s Rachel Getting Married. But despite all that, Gray is 23 weeks into what she calls the hardest job she’s ever had: being pregnant. ”Idol is a piece of cake compared to this,” says Gray, breaking the news exclusively to EW. It’s been a tough first trimester, but Gray is nonetheless excited to be expecting her first child with music producer husband (and former Color Me Badd member) Sam Watters.

Entertainment Weekly

More Headlines after the jump…keep checking back for more

Fantasy ‘Idol’: Big Star night

Like many longtime music journalists, I mourned the death of power pop pioneer Alex Chilton last week. He was the frontman of Big Star, one of the most underappreciated bands of the 1970s whose musical legacy far outlasted their album-making years. Anyone who claims affection toward indie rock should know Big Star’s catalog inside and out, and there’s nary a dud to be found.

LA Times

How to watch American Idol: A primer

If you accept that American Idol is a TV show first and a singing competition second, you’ll be well on your way to predicting the outcome in any given week.

Some Idol watchers have even reduced it to a science. They study voting patterns in certain regions, gauge population densities and ascertain behavioural habits, based on common sense and past voting history.

Canada.com

Idol Inferno: The Meaning of the Miley Mentorship

Some quick reactions to the stunning news that none other than herself, Miley Cyrus (not Smiley Virus) will be mentoring the Idol contestants this week. Some out there have been mocking this news. I however am all for it. Here are my reasons, and my ruminations on the fallout to come when Miley visits the Idoldome :

Entertainment Inferno

Talent? What talent? ‘Idol’ is lousy this season

As anyone who’s actually followed the competition so far this season already knows, this band of mostly mediocre singers fails to represent the best of their own so-so early ranks, much less the best of the national talent pool. And despite the handy excuses Simon Cowell and his fellow judges insist on making for them week after week, the problem isn’t about song selection or a particular vocalist’s need to find his or herself musically. It’s not about being “a little pitchy” or having an “off night,” either.

MSNBC

Lacey Brown on the End of Her ‘American Idol’ Journey

When Lacey Brown was in the bottom two with Paige Miles on last week’s “American Idol” results show, the red-headed singer reassured Paige that she had nothing to worry about.

“I just woke up that morning and I had the weirdest feeling that I was going home that night,” Lacey tells ET. “I hadn’t heard anything or read anything. I just felt, ‘Today is the day I am going home.’ I wasn’t comfortable with that feeling. I wasn’t depressed. I had heard past contestants say that, but I didn’t believe them.”

ET Online

The strange saga of the West Virginia Lady Gaga-Adam Lambert concert . . . that wasn’t

So it was probably no surprise that it all unraveled this weekend. Lambert, the “American Idol” runner-up, put out a denial on Twitter: “Unfortunately totally untrue. Hate that u guys were taken advantage of.” Gaga’s reps scoffed at the notion to TMZ. And the organizer of the alleged concert, Luke Loy, posted signs on his salon door and outgoing voice mail that ticket sales had been halted — and then promptly made himself unavailable for comment.

It was a sharp turn from a few days earlier when Loy had been prominently featured in the Martinsburg Journal talking up his too-good-to-be-true plan to bring Gaga and Lambert to the county park in Shenandoah Junction, brandishing contracts that he told a reporter proved it was for real. “I want people to know it’s unbelievable, but it can happen. I can bring her here. Anything is possible.” He told the paper he hoped to sell 15,000 tickets at $100 a piece; he drew calls from all over the country. (He also took the opportunity to talk up his new coconut-scented, enviro-friendly and color-safe hair products.)

Washington Post

Whisky helped bring me together with Lady Gaga, reveals American Idol star Adam Lambert

AMERICAN Idol runner-up Adam Lambert yesterday told how he bonded with his hero Lady Gaga – thanks to a love of whisky.

The singer, who received a standing ovation from judge Simon Cowell on the US show, has been described as the male equivalent of Gaga.

Yesterday, he jetted into Scotland on a whistle-stop tour to promote his new album and was delighted to strap on a 21st-century kilt for the Razz.

He said of his spiky sporran: “It’s like having a cactus – a little pet cactus.

“I’m not a true Scotsman today because I’ve teamed up the kilt with some plaid leggings – but I’d like to wear this back home in the US too.”

Daily Record.co.uk

Music and image equally important to Adam Lambert

SINGAPORE : Adam Lambert was American Idol’s most flamboyant contestant to date and is no stranger to controversy.

The hot favourite to win the eighth season of the popular reality show – he eventually lost the title to Kris Allen – the glamrocker won the hearts of many fans.

Perhaps it’s his showmanship or the stage theatrics – who can forget his racy performance at last year’s American Music Awards where he kissed a male keyboardist and simulated sexual movements while performing a risque version of his song “For Your Entertainment” – or the “guyliner” that he uses so generously to create his signature smoky eye look.

“I think it is really important to carve out your niche and have your ‘thing’,” Lambert, 28, told Primetime Morning two weeks ago when he was in town for a showcase.

Channel News Asia

Matt Giraud Tells Us About It

As Season 8’s Matt Giraud was in the car on the way to Nashville to record his new single, “4 AM,” he opened up to us about his recent Idol performance and what he’s been working on these days. Matt performed Billy Joel’s “Tell Her About It” with fellow Season 8 finalist Scott MacIntyre on Season 9’s Top 16 results show. The piano player from Kalamazoo, Michigan said, “It was amazing. It’s nice to be asked back and it feels cool to come back. I’ve been around the block now. It felt really good and I liked the whole not being judged part.”

American Idol.com

Danny Gokey: I Want To Do Country ‘For The Rest Of My Life’

Fueled by a return performance on “American Idol,” Danny Gokey bowed at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with his 19 Recordings/RCA Records debut, “My Best Days.” Coming in at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, the album sold 65,000 first-week copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving him the best opening-week sales by a debut country male since 1992.

With more than 19,000 downloads, Gokey also notches the best first-week digital album sales by a debut country artist. The March 2 release is No. 4 on this week’s chart.

Billboard.com

Underwood soars above DCU crowd

WORCESTER — A flying truck, a virtual duet with Randy Travis and more costume changes than you can count. No, this is not what Obama promised the Republicans if they voted for his health care package, but what Carrie Underwood delivered to the sold-out crowd Sunday at the DCU Center.

Going from “American Idol” winner to multi-platinum recording artist, Underwood has already proven she can deliver honky-tonk heartache with the best of them. And last night during her 23-song set (which included 10 songs from her latest, “Play On” and a two-song encore), the 27-year-old Oklahoma native proved she is no longer a country bumpkin but a bona fide superstar and seasoned professional.

Telegram.com

Concert Review: Daughtry – Prudential Center, Newark, NJ – 3/21/10

Four years ago, when Chris Daughtry first appeared on Season 5 of American Idol, I have to be honest and admit that I wasn’t thoroughly impressed. Perhaps I was blindsided by my personal favorites, Katharine McPhee and Paris Bennett, or exhausted from celebrating the previous successes of my other fellow North Carolinians, Clay Aiken and Fantasia Barrino, but one thing is certain: Daughtry has made a new fan out of me.

On Sunday, March 21, my best friend and I trekked to Newark in order to get some sense of all the fuss surrounding Idol’s third-biggest-selling act — only Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have fared better — as the band played the Prudential Center. The last time Daughtry performed there was in 2008 — opening for Bon Jovi, who christened the then-new arena, the first such venue to be built in the New York/Jersey area in 25 years, with a 10-night stand — and their fans eagerly awaited their return.

Blogcritics.org

Daughtry (Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.; 17,625 capacity; $42.50 top)

The chasm between the coasts and so-called fly-over country is pronounced in many media, but nowhere is it more apparent than in the world of pop music — where acts who sell out sheds and dominate radio airwaves in middle America often don’t bother scheduling gigs in the New York City area.

Daughtry (fronted by “American Idol” finalist Chris Daughtry), decided to eschew that wisdom on its current tour, and judging by the response at the first of its two metro-area shows Sunday night, there’s at least a bit of an appetite for heartland rock in the vicinity.

Variety.com

Fantasia to perform at WrestleMania XXVI in Glendale

Fantasia will open WrestleMania this Sunday in Glendale.

The R&B artist and former “American Idol ” winner will sing “America the Beautiful.”

She follows the Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger, who performed at last year’s WrestleMania in Houston. Other past show-openers have included Aretha Franklin, John Legend and Ashanti.

The live wrestling pay-per-view event starts 4 p.m. Sunday March 28 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

AZCentral.com

Anoop Desai next charity bartender at Durham’s Revolution

American Idol finalist Anoop Desai, a Chapel Hill native, will be the next guest bartender at downtown Durham’s Revolution restaurant and bar. Desai will be mixing cocktails for charity from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tues., April 6, according to a news release.

Twenty percent of the proceeds during Desai’s two-hour shift will go to the Eve Carson Memorial Fund. Desai is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, where Carson was student body president when she was killed two years ago. Revolution started its “Guest Mixologist” monthly fundraiser, which has featured Mayor Bill Bell and other local leaders, this year. So far, the program has raised almost $2,500 for charity, said spokeswoman Teresa Anile.

Indy Week Blogs

Bucky Covington – “A Father’s Love (The Only Way He Knew How)”

Songwriters: Liz Hengber, Thom Shepherd & Steve Williams.

American Idol can be a cruel mistress. While there are are a few people, like Carrie Underwood, who have gone on to win the hearts and wallets of millions, there are many more, like Taylor Hicks, who have gone on to fill the bargain bins of big-box electronics stores. Bucky Covington falls somewhere in between–while he scored three Top 10 hits from his debut album, his last two singles haven’t fared nearly as well. And after a Nickelback cover flopped (thank goodness for small favors) he’s taking the radical step of releasing an actual country song as a single.

the9513.com

‘Dancing With The Stars’ Returns With Plenty Of Talent And Tears

Astronauts, athletes, actresses and more — if nothing else, the cast for the 10th season of “Dancing With the Stars” is diverse, and thankfully, they’re also filled with plenty of promise, judging by their first performances in a season premiere filled with laughs, tears and dropped jaws.

Kicking the season off was NFL star Chad Ochocinco and partner Cheryl Burke with the cha-cha-cha, a dance Burke described as “fun and flirty, just like [Ochocinco].”

MTV

‘Dancing’ kicks off strong with clear favorites

After 10 seasons, it’s surprisingly easy to see the way a season of “Dancing With the Stars” is going to shake out. Once you’ve seen everyone dance one time, you can start to separate them into the favorites, the mushy middle and the total cannon fodder that will be unceremoniously booted in whatever order the fans deem appropriate. It doesn’t correlate perfectly with judges’ scores because fans will do what fans will do, as 10 seasons of this show have demonstrated.

MSNBC

WE ARE THE FALLEN: The KERRANG! Interview – Mar. 23, 2010

John LeCompt (guitar) “American Idol” powerhouse vocalist Carly Smithson of WE ARE THE FALLEN popped into the Kerrang! magazine office on Monday, March 22 to talk about their upcoming album, “Tear The World Down”, and their debut gig in London. Watch the chat below.

WE ARE THE FALLEN — the new band featuring original EVANESCENCE members Ben Moody (guitar), LeCompt and Rocky Gray (drums) along with Smithson — will release its debut album, “Tear The World Down”, on May 11 via Universal Republic Records. The group’s first single, “Bury Me Alive”, was made available exclusively via the digital domain in early February. A second track, “Without You”, is currently being streamed on the band’s official web site.

RoadRunnerRecords

Some Chicago wards would get more frequent street cleaning while others would go longer between sweeps under a proposal by Mayor Richard Daley's administration to cut the number of sweepers, aldermen said today.

Instead of one sweeper in each ward, the city would have 33, with each one assigned to an equally sized chunk of the city under a "grid system," aldermen said today after being briefed Monday by Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne.

More from Hal Dardick in Clout Street on chicagotribune.com