Judith Hill a featured singer with Michael Jackson exemplifies the high quality of talent on The Voice - (Medill DC photo)

Video Beat - THE VOICE TOPS AMERICAN IDOL

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

Following a series of questionable winners and judging changes American Idol has fallen from grace by its over emphasis on drama and making mysterious decisions. In its third season The Voice emerged as the premiere pure vocal talent show that continues in its new season 4. The Voice judges are polite and spot on with their decisions while Idol judges have applied ghetto speak that has a lot to be desired. Their target audience appears to be the intellectually challenged - CESAR MILLAN from the Outhouse to the Penthouse - Millan's rags to riches story from living under freeways to becoming a millionaire will be told on the National geographic Channel ... - Recommended TV Listings

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

THE VOICE IS OUR CHOICE

Last season THE VOICE surged ahead and emerged as the premiere vocal talent show in America while American Idol continued its downward trend to absurdity. The Voice has added Usher and Shakira to its judging panel which is off to a good start as they compliment returning judges Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. Idol's three new judging changes have a lot to be desired as they lack quality critiques and apply an overuse of ghetto language. It's now a show geared towards the intellectually challenged.

This season the Idol judges failed in choosing quality male talent for as only one had a decent voice. All of the males were eliminated thus leaving all five girls in the Top 10 remaining in the Top 5. Conspiracy theories are abound that again the show is fixed. The rationale being they want to have their first female winner since Jordan Sparks. Since her win five WBWG's (White boys with Guitars) have taken the title and the red flags were raised.

The Voice got off to a good start as they have some serious talent on the show including Judith Hill who was a featured singer with Michael Jackson and his This Is It tour. When Hill auditioned she was 29 years old thus she would be on the bubble to compete in the Idol contest. Her voice is superb and compliments her pedigree which started with her father who is a musician and toured with notable recording stars.

Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, caused the This Is It tour to be canceled. Along with the rest of the tours cast members, she performed at Jackson's memorial service at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. She attracted global attention when she sang the lead on the song "Heal the World", which was one of the climactic moments of the service.

She also released a tribute to Jackson, "I Will Always Be Missing You", named after her duet with Jackson "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in the to-be This Is It concert. It was given as a free download from her website starting late 2009, and was released on iTunes on January 26, 2010 (the same day as the This Is It DVD release) - with all proceeds going to Childhelp US. Also, Hill has collaborated with America's Got Talent winner Landau Eugene Murphy for his debut album, That's Life.

A number of Hill's originally composed ballads were featured in the Spike Lee film Red Hook Summer, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. On Hill's discovery, Lee recently told Rolling Stone: "She's a phenomenal talent. She can sing with the best of them."

Hill was also one of several backup singers featured in the film "Twenty Feet From Stardom", which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. She auditioned for the fourth season of The Voice. In the first episode of the season broadcast on March 25, 2013, she sang "What a Girl Wants" from Christina Aguilera with all four judges, Levine, Shakira, Usher and Shelton pressing their "I Want You" button and turning their chairs. She chose to join Team Adam. Usher pretended not to recognize her even though they had both sung at Michael Jackson's memorial service. The upcoming shows will feature all of the contestants involved going forward in the program competing in the Battle rounds.

CESAR MILLAN from the Outhouse to the Penthouse

As boxing promoter Don King famously said ONLY IN AMERICA. King was referring to his rise to prominence as a millionaire boxing promoter after serving time in jail for committing murder. For dog trainer Cesar Millan his rage to riches story took a different path. Milan is widely known for his television series Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. The program is now in its ninth season and broadcast in more than eighty countries worldwide. Tonight Wednesday, April 17, 2013 in East Asia Cesar Millan The Real Story will be televised. The question is how much of his life will the program reveal?

Millan is a Mexican immigrant that claims he lived under freeways during the early part of his life in America. He crossed the border into the US without a visa when he was 21 years old, spoke no English, and knew no one in the USA. He first worked in a dog grooming store, working with the most aggressive dogs - later creating the Pacific Point Canine Academy and developing a following. Jada Pinkett Smith (Will's wife) became one of Millan's first clients and supporters - when he was working as a limousine driver - providing him with an English tutor for a year. Subsequently, Millan created the Dog Psychology Center, a 2-acre (8,100 m2) facility in South Los Angeles-specializing in working with large breed dogs.

Millan became a permanent resident of the U.S. in 2000, became a U.S. citizen in 2009, and lives in Santa Clarita, California. He married Ilusión Wilson Millan in 1994, with whom he had two sons, Andre (b. 1995) and Calvin (b. 2001).

In June 2010, Millan announced his divorce. His wife, Ilusión Millan, filed for divorce, seeking primary physical custody of their children with visitation for Cesar, as well as spousal support. The divorce agreement stipulates that Millan pay his ex-wife a single payment of $400,000, a monthly spousal payment of $23,000 and $10,000 for monthly child support, and that the parties respect specific confidentiality terms. In 2010 Milan went through a difficult series of events; his dog died in February, his wife filed for divorce in March and Millan attempted suicide in May.

Unquestionably Millan has achieved the American dream of going from rage to riches and fame. From living under a freeway to being in a position of having the wealth to afford $433,000 A MONTH in spousal and child support payments. His life is a credit to his talent, strength and determination. The question remains how much of his life will be told in his biography tonight National Geographic Channel? Tune in or lose out.

NATIONAL RADIO PUBLISHED IN 5 LANGUAGES

National Radio text is published in five languages, Thai, French, Russian, Khmer (Cambodian language) and English, Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns is legally available ONLY on our National Radio site. Our sports, entertainment and feature programming has been broadcast on over 1000 radio stations.

TV SCHEDULE

Note: The shows listed are for the Cambodia/Thailand time zone. Check our chart or your local listings for time in your area.

NOTE TIMES OF THE SAME TELECAST IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com All rights reserved.