Corn Maze to Feature Crystal Bowersox

via Fox Toledo

The Butterfly House honors Toledo's Idol for 2010

WHITEHOUSE, Ohio (WUPW) - The farmer who created the Sarah Palin Corn Maze in 2008 will honor Northwest Ohio's homegrown Idol, Crystal Bowersox, for the 2010 corn maze.

The 16-acre Corn Maze at The Butterfly House in Whitehouse, Ohio is designed this year to feature two images of Crystal, including her famous dreadlocks, as well as her guitar and signature.

According to Duke Wheeler from The Butterfly House, the maze officially opens the weekend of September 11th. He says, however, plans are in the works to have a special event to coincide with the American Idol Tour at the Huntington Center, in downtown Toledo, on Septemeber 2nd.

Wheeler says he would love to have Crystal come to visit the maze, but he realizes that she has her own schedule and that may not be possible.

Clay Aiken wants to replace departing judge Simon Cowell on 'American Idol'

via NY Daily News

He may not have a British accent, a limitless supply of tight T-shirts or a sharp-tongued talent for criticism, but "American Idol" alum Clay Aiken thinks he would make a great replacement for departing judge Simon Cowell.

"I've always thought it would be a great addition to the panel to have someone who's a former contestant and knows what it's like to be up on that stage and be critiqued," Aiken, 31, told Billboard.com.

He added, "I would not put myself out there to be as caustic as [Cowell] is, but if they want to call me, bring it on. We can talk."

Aiken's comments place him among a bevy of stars rumored to be in the running to fill Cowell's shoes. Among others, Perez Hilton, Howard Stern, Elton John, Harry Connick Jr., and Bret Michaels have all reportedly been in talks with the show.

Before the season two runnerup could join Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres at the judging table, though, Aiken's got a lot of work to do.

The singer released his fifth album, "Tried and True" on June 1, and is teaming up with season two winner Ruben Studdard for an upcoming tour.

"We've been talking for years about trying to do something together and had never really found the time to do it," Aiken said.

"It's kind of a musical revue of sorts — some of the biggest hits and greatest songs, from our point of view — and songs that have influenced us from over the past five decades," Aiken said about the tour. "We're really good friends and have a great time when we're together, so I think it's going to be a lot of fun to do a tour like this, for us and for the audiences, too."

Goodbye Idol Shirts

Well, it's official...Cafepress has taken down all of the Season 9 American Idol shirts. This is a huge disappointment to the graphic designers who have worked so hard to bring fans designs to choose from for the American Idol tour. It's also a huge disappointment to the fans who were saving up money to buy an American Idol shirt from Cafepress.

We will be closing our Idol Shirts store this weekend. It's silly to pay to operate a shop when we can't even sell any of the designs in it.

To read more about this topic, please visit the Tees in a Pod blog. Manz explains the situation very well.

We will still be selling our "Beleeve Buttons & Bands" package here. If you had your eye on one of our designs, we can offer buttons with that design. Unfortunately, buttons are all we can offer at this time.

If you would like to order buttons, send us an email at idolshirts@designpro1.com.

*UPDATE: You can still buy American Idol shirts from Season 7 and Season 8 in our Design Pro t-shirt store.

Kellie Pickler Engaged to Kyle Jacobs

via People

For Kellie Pickler, June 15 has long been "sad and hard for me," as it is the birthday of her late grandmother, Faye Pickler.

But the traditional sadness of the day turned to happiness last week, when Pickler's boyfriend, songwriter Kyle Jacobs, proposed on a Florida beach at sunset."It turned out to be the most amazing day of my life," the fifth-season American Idol star, 23, tells PEOPLE. "My whole world changed. We both feel like we got my grandmother's blessing."

Pickler considers Jacobs's proposal a moment she hardly could have imagined. "I remember saying to Kyle, 'Baby it's like I'm dreaming – but if this isn't real, I'm going to be very upset!' "

Champagne and Tears
Jacobs meticulously planned the proposal, arranging a blanket, champagne and candles to be waiting as they strolled on the beach. "Afterward, we just held each other and had the most beautiful prayer," Jacobs says. "We had a little champagne and talked and laughed and cried."

The couple met through friends about 2½ years ago, and Pickler, who was raised by her grandmother after her mother left and her father went to jail, says she learned how to have a healthy relationship from her new fiancé.

"Kyle took away all my fear of marriage and has shown me the way love is supposed to be," she says.

Thanks to Jacobs – as well as a renewed relationship with her dad, Clyde Pickler, who's been sober for a year – "I'm in the happiest place I've ever been," she says, adding that she plans to have her father walk her down the aisle.

Pickler's engagement makes her the third recent country bride-to-be, joining pals Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood.

"We're all just happy for each other," Pickler says. "I'm sure we'll be having some girl talk and we'll share ideas. We just keep joking about how there must be something in the water!"

'American Idol' Lowers Its Age Limit

via People

Has Bieber-fever invaded American Idol?

On the heels of Justin Bieber‘s massive success, the talent show announced it will lower its eligibility age to 15 for season 10, reports USA Today.

“A lot of young, talented people are now seeking careers and representation before they turn 16,” Idol executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz says. “Lowering the age limit allows us to tap into this talent pool.”

The show’s age limit was previously 16 to 28.

FOX also recently announced Idol will begin accepting online auditions via MySpace. Does that mean the show is looking for the next Greyson Chance, the 12-year-old whose video version of Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” went viral?

Auditions for the next season of American Idol begin July 17 in Nashville.

No More Season 9 Shirts

For those of you interested in purchasing an American Idol Season 9 shirt from Idol Shirts (or any other shop), you better act now to make sure you get the design you want. I received an email from Cafepress this morning stating the following:

As Season 9 has now concluded, CafePress can no longer offer merchandise featuring the specific contestants from American Idol Season 9. Therefore, as of June 23, 2010 you Season 9 designs will be pended.

After that date, please do not create any designs that feature specific Season 9 contestants nor tag your generic American Idol designs with those contestants' names. Also, if you find a Season 9 contestant-specific design in your Media Basket that we missed, we would appreciate you removing the design on your own.

I'm not 100% sure, so don't quote me on this, but I believe they are only taking down designs with the contestants full names. Again, I'm not certain about this. I guess we will find out on Wednesday.

Also, you will no longer be able to do a search for the contestants on Cafepress. If you do, you will receive a message saying "No Matching Results Found." However, you still should be able to purchase designs directly from our store.

The Idol Shirts store can be found here: www.cafepress.com/Idol_Shirts

"Beleeve Buttons & Bands" Contest

Our "Beleeve Buttons & Bands" contest on twitter yesterday was a huge success! Fans of Lee DeWyze had all day to retweet the following phrase: "I want to win a "Beleeve Buttons & Bands" package from @IdolShirts!" Some people tweeted hundreds of times and others tweeted a few times. We had a grand total of 1,328 retweets! UnbeLEEvable!

The winner was chosen randomly this morning. We set up all the tweets on our computer, scrolled the mouse with our eyes closed, and stopped on a tweet. The lucky winner was Gina Ricci, aka DeWyzeGirl08 on twitter. Gina will receive one "Beleeve Button" and one "Beleeve Band" to wear at the American Idols Live tour.

Congratulations, Gina! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Order your "Beleeve Buttons & Bands" package here.