Carrie Underpants! Underwood gets leggy on CMAs with grindy 'Cowboy Casanova'

This is about as suggestive as Carrie Underwood gets. She could have used more of that hip swivel on her ho-hum new album.

Questions for David Cook?

 

American Idol champ David Cook is coming to St. Pete's illustrious Mahaffey Theater on Nov. 27. (TICKETS) I'll be there with a swollen post-Thanksgiving belly, trying to make pretty word magic. But before all that, I get to chat with Cook this Thursday. I've already been berated by coworkers hoping to get close to the 26-year-old singer, who is admittedly one cool dude under pressure. If you're also a fan, let's hear it:

QUESTIONS FOR DAVID COOK?
 

'Fearless' picks for tonight's CMA Awards

 

If Taylor Swift doesn't win Entertainer of the Year at tonight's CMAs (ABC, 8 p.m.), I'll streak the Dallas Bull. AVERT YOUR EYES!

DALY TV: Talkin' Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Weezer...and sippy cups?

Wow, you are about to witness some really BAD hair. We're talking Andrew "Squiggy" Squiggman action, my friends. Rest assured I rocked SupaCuts this weekend, and no longer have such an atrocious mop. But alas, before the shearing, I taped not one, but two rollicking segments with ABC music savant John Thomas. The bit you're about to see deals with November's new pop music releases. There's also a riotous Christmas seggie lurking out there as well. You want a fun drinking game? Every time I blurt a non sequitur (for instance: "sippy cups"), hoist a beverage. At the very least, it'll make for interesting television. YOU BE THE JUDGE!!!

REVIEW: Carrie Underwood's new album 'Play On' gets a C+...for now

 

Carrie Underwood and I have a complicated relationship.

READ ABOUT OUR TWISTED LOVE.

Adam Lambert: First single, track listing on 'For Your Entertainment,' out Nov. 23

 

I don't hate the Xanadu-meets-Road Warrior cover art for Adam Lambert's debut album, In fact, it's so out-and-proud, you have to appreciate the sparkly-font, fingerless-glove brazeness of it all. And I like the list of his songwriters: Pink, Justin Hawkins, Green Day producer Rob Cavallo. But title track and first single For Your Entertainment sounds like a synthetic Justin Timberlake-in-spandex cut, which is sorta of like saying it sounds like fake polyester. It's pretty weak. Of course, the buzz and marketing behind this album, out Nov. 23, are almost guaranteeing it'll ship platinum. Anyway, check out the song, and let me know what you think. GO HERE FOR ALL YOUR GLAMBERT NEEDS.

What do Celine Dion, Babs Streisand and the Tubes' terrifying Fee Waybill have in common?

They all help pay off David Foster's three ex-wives. How do I know this? Because while you were out gallavanting Friday, having the time of your young, fruitful lives, I was working.

'Suckin' It for the Holidays'? An exposed Kathy Griffin leads a barrage of Christmas albums

On the list of people you never want to find under the mistletoe, you gotta rank Kathy Griffin up there pretty high. Like maybe right after Dick Cheney but ahead of, like, everyone else in the entire world, living or dead. But maybe that's me? Maybe you have no problems with this album cover, on which the comedienne is presumably exposing her naughty bits to an unfortunately situated St. Nick?

Griffin's wistfully titled holiday disc, Suckin' It for the Holidays, is one of myriad Santa season discs stacked high on my work desk right now. I'm currently listening to the soundtrack of A Christmas Story, which is just now being released 26 years after the movie's release. Ralphie's flick isn't famous for its music, but it's sweet and funny and engrained in our DNA, so kudos to the folks at Rhino for finally putting it out there.

Here are the other new holiday albums I'll be working through:

Bob Dylan -- Christmas in the Heart
Sting -- If on a Winter's Night
Neil Diamond -- A Cherry Cherry Christmas
Michael McDonald -- This Christmas
Sugarland -- Gold and Green"
Tori Amos -- Midwinter Graces
REO Speedwagon -- Not So Silent Night
Connie Talbot -- Holiday Magic
The Dan Band -- Ho
Various Artists -- Putumayo Presents A Family Christmas
David Archuleta -- Christmas From the Heart

Sexy new songs by Adam Lambert, Ashley Tisdale and Jennifer Lopez & Pitbull

Adam Lambert, Time for Miracles: What was the name of that Aerosmith song from Armageddon? This overblown apocalyptic ballad sounds like that overblown apocalyptic ballad, doesn't it? By the way, as the nerve endings of our nation get considerably more frayed, do we really need to see our planet get decimated by wrath-of-God special effects?

Ashley Tisdale, Crank It Up: I really have been better about my Tisdale fixation. In fact, I found this relatively filfthy video by accident. (Seriously!) In this grindy vid, Miss Tisdale returns to her unnatural blond, totally going for the Brit-Brit sluthouse effect. I'm not saying I approve, but I have watched the video 476 times in a row now.

Jennifer Lopez & Pitbull, Fresh Out the Oven: Because it worked so well for Garth Brooks, Lopez is rebooting her career via a new performance name. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for...Lola!!! Oh well. At the very least, this item allowed me to use that picture of Lopez playfully touching her toes. So limber, that Lola!

Wolfmother, Weezer and a Whole Lotta Lambert: 10 cool fall album releases

As well as being Jerry Lee Lewis’ 74th birthday — go get ’em, Killer! — next Tuesday kickstarts what could be a very cha-chingy season of music sales. Mariah Carey, Madonna and Barbra Streisand all have new platters out on the same day, and much hullabaloo will be made about that. (Look for Mimi’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel to top Madge’s Celebration and Babs’ Love Is the Answer at the cash registers.)

I’m much more excited about other goodies on the fall schedule. So here you go, SD's Ten Most Intriguing Autumn Albums:

Miranda Lambert, Revolution (Sept. 29) First single Dead Flowers is way too tame for this crossbow-totin’ country gal. But here’s hoping Ran terrorizes a couple of exes before she’s done.

Karen O and the Kids, Where the Wild Things Are (Sept. 29) I have squishy feelings about Spike Jonze’s big-screen take on Sendak’s classic. But having the Yeah Yeah Yeahs bizarress — and Jonze’s gal pal — do the soundtrack is daring. “Let the wild rumpus start!”

Bob Dylan, Christmas in the Heart (Oct. 13) Zimmy’s late-career Bing Crosby fetish reaches its peak. Positively 34th Street?

Daryl Hall & John Oates, Do What You Want, Be What You Are (Oct. 13)  A 4CD set of Philly soul, FM bliss and final proof that Oates never should have shaved the ’stache.

Weezer, Raditude (Oct. 27) With the help of unlikely hip-hop pals Jermaine Dupri and Dr. Luke, awesomely unstable Rivers Cuomo continues his search for the perfect power-pop formula.

Wolfmother, Cosmic Egg (Oct. 27) After shedding his old mates, Aussie hairball Andrew Stockdale forges on with three dudes well-versed in heavy metal, Led Zep and puffy unicorn stickers.

Various Artists, Glee: The Music (Nov. 3) From Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ to Kanye West’s Gold Digger, Fox’s hit show about losers in tune takes pop hits and reinvents them with robust choral cheek. In a related note: Isn’t it time the great Jane Lynch won an Emmy?

Carrie Underwood, Play On (Nov. 3) True confession: I gave Underwood’s 2007 album Carnival Ride a D grade. Two years later, I have four songs from that disc on my iPod. I will never underestimate the Nashville nymph’s seductive powers again.

Norah Jones, The Fall (Nov. 17) With her opium-haze voice and toasty piano style, Miss Jones walks that tricky tightrope between lulling and numbing. The good news — well, for us at least — is that this one is a break-up special with angry guitar.

Adam Lambert, TBD (Nov. 24) In the new ish of Rolling Stone, there’s a wicked shot of  last year’s AI runner-up howling in the recording studio. Sweet! We want our Lamby to raise a hellhound ruckus on his debut disc. Bring the noise, baby!