Last night, Mariah Hero moderated a fun chat session where fans had the opportunity to win Mariah Carey prizes. The contestants had to tell scary stories, and the winner was eventually chosen by everyone. This time, there was a single winner: “Mimi_hl,” who will receive a DVD. She narrated a story about “aliens” chasing some guys during a dark night; she concluded saying that the creepy story was real.

Other stories included one about a prophecy and another one about being saved by a “ghost,” who eventually decides to claim the life it had just saved, among others. We want to thank those who stopped by to participate with us in our fifth chat session.

Of course, we also want to thank other Mariah Carey fan sites for helping us advertise this chat. Mariah Hero is planning to run a new chat session soon. The chat room is still open for those who want to chat.
(Mariah Hero)

According to "El Vocero", Mariah is in a hotel in Puerto Rico, enjoying a short holiday. According to a source, she arrived with several bodyguards and assistants who were watching every step she takes. This is not the first time that Mariah is in Puerto Rico.

In the summer of 1997, Mariah shoot the video for Honey in Puerto Rico, together with director Paul Hunter. "It was a grueling process, I'm not going to say it was easy. I got up at 3 am every day, and worked until 9 in the morning the next day - for four hours in a row, swimming in my Gucci pumps."

In 2001, Mariah also visted Puerto Rico with several friends, including Da Brat. In the middle of the mystery that surrounded her relationship with Luis Miguel, she was on vacation for several days in Puerto Rico. People who saw her in the San Juan Clubs said she enjoyed herself greatly.
(The Mariah Carey Archives)

Due to technical difficulties, the Halloween chat has been rescheduled. The chat session will take place Tomorrow, October 30th at 8 p.m. (New York Time). The chat room is located at mariahhero.com/chatroom.htm. This page also provides a virtual clock that lets you see New York’s time in real time. Go to our chat room to read the rules.

This time, it will be different since it will follow a Halloween theme. We’ll moderate a contest in which contestants will tell their Halloween stories. Then, everybody will vote for their favorite story; the winner or winners will receive Mariah Carey prizes.

Singer Mariah Carey's concert in Hong Kong has been shelved after a dispute between the star and promoters. The 36-year-old's manager has denied that it was cancelled due to poor ticket sales and "specific last-minute demands" from the star.

Benny Medina told the Associated Press that the gig was scrapped because promoters Concerts Asia failed to pay the singer her fee on time. He added that they are trying to stage the concert with another promoter. But Carey is planning to return to the US to work on a film and her next album, while Concerts Asia said on its website that an announcement will be made next week about refunds for ticket holders.

Mr Medina said that the date would have been honoured even if ticket sales had proved sluggish, adding that 8,000 tickets had been sold - double the figure claimed by the promoter.

"If there were only 10 people in this venue, and this particular promoter had fulfilled his contractual obligations, we would be there. Mariah Carey loves her fans in South-East Asia. He has defaulted several times, right up into the last 48 hours. Literally we tried to hang in there with this guy. There's no question that Mariah is excited to go back to Hong Kong in the very near future," he added.

The tour was the first since the release of Carey's Grammy-winning album The Emancipation of Mimi, which Mr Medina has called her most successful to date.
(BBC News)

Management and promoters of Mariah Carey's Oct. 28 gig in Hong Kong are blaming each other after the pop singer's show was canceled today (Oct. 26).

The event's promoters, Hong Kong-based One Events, say the tour-concluding show was pulled due to poor ticket sales and blamed Carey's management, Los Angeles-based Handprint Entertainment, for making "unreasonable last-minute demands."

But Handprint co-owner Benny Medina claims to have pulled the plug after One Events allegedly defaulted on an advance. Medina says Handprint's contract with One Events stipulated that a percentage of production and star fees be paid in advance to guarantee the booking.

"Judging by the business model of this company and the way it does business -- bearing in mind this money was still outstanding two days before the show -- we felt the possibility of getting those fees was remote," Medina tells Billboard.com. "So we felt we had no alternative but to cancel the show."

"As promoters of the Mariah Carey Hong Kong concert we have decided to cancel the event effective immediately due to both the poor response of public ticket sales (approximately 4,000 normal tickets only despite a substantial advertising campaign, although a good response from corporate ticketing), and also due to specific last-minute demands which we find wholly unreasonable and not with the best interests of Hong Kong, us and also the fans," One Events said in a statement.

Medina wouldn't comment on how many tickets had been sold. Local newspapers were still running ads for seats today. Carey was to have played at the Tamar Site, a former naval base in the heart of downtown Hong Kong that occasionally hosts temporary stages for large-scale outdoor shows. With a capacity of 20,000, the venue has previously hosted such acts as the Rolling Stones.

Production crews had already begun building the stage when the cancellation was announced here by Carey's local label, Universal Music South East Asia. Refund details have yet to be announced, but Medina says One Events still owes him money.

"The moneys owed were a combination of artists' fees and production fees," he says. "This was after we let the promoter know ... that we would give him more and more time to pay. But he missed the deadline each time."

In a statement released today by Universal Music South East Asia regional headquarters in Hong Kong, UMG International apologized to Carey's fans, blaming the cancellation on "unfulfilled contractual obligations by concert organizers."

"She deeply regrets the disappointment caused to them due to unforeseen circumstances beyond her control," the statement says. "For Mariah, this is particularly unfortunate given her recent sold-out, critically acclaimed tours of the United States and Japan.
(Billboard)

As promoters of the Mariah Carey Hong Kong concert we have decided to cancel the event effective immediately due to both the poor response of public ticket sales (approx 4,000 normal tix only despite a substantial advertising campaign, although a good response from corporate ticketing) and also due to specific last minute demands which we find wholly unreasonable and not with the best interests of Hong Kong, us and also the fans.

There will be an official announcement next week to confirm the refund procedures through HK Ticketing and in the meanwhile all customers will be contacted if we have their emails to inform them of the procedure for refund and of course to offer our sincere apologies to any inconvenience.
(Concerts Asia)

Hong Kong? Phooey. Just two days before Mariah Carey was due to perform a one-off gig in the Chinese city, concert promoters have called off the event, citing low ticket sales and "unreasonable demands" from the Grammy winner as their reasons for the abrupt cancellation. Concerts Asia was responsible for booking - and scuttling - the gig.

"As promoters of the Mariah Carey Hong Kong concert, we have decided to cancel the event effective immediately due to both the poor response of public ticket sales and also due to specific last-minute demands which we find wholly unreasonable and not with the best interests of Hong Kong, us and also the fans," Concerts Asia said in a statement on their Website.

Unfortunately, Concerts Asia is remaining mum on the nature of Carey's so-called outrageous requests, but a quick glance at one of the singer's older concert contracts, excerpted on the Smoking Gun, suggests there are several possibilities:

Maybe there was something in the (bottled) water: Carey has made mention that 16-ounce bottles of Evian are the only "acceptable" bottles of water in her dressing room, though for her requisite eight-person tea service, Poland Springs will suffice.

A four-hour lunch service must commence no more than five hours after her crew has loaded in, and a four-hour dinner service must begin six hours after that. The latter must serve 100 people and feature at least one hot soup - obviously, different from the one prepared for lunch. Mimi & Co don't do leftovers.

To ward off any would-be parching, she also requires copious amounts of beverages in her dressing room, including a bottle of Cristal, two bottles of Camus white wine, tea, milk, seltzer and very fine apple juice, none of which will be downed without the use of "bendy straws".

In the few moments she has left after eating and drinking her way to showtime, Carey also demands the presence of a large vanity mirror, one director's chair and no fewer than - or greater than, for that matter - 12 fluffy bath towels. Not too much to ask.

Then again, had there been sufficient clamoring for tickets, the promoter may have caved in to Carey's fluffy towels, bendy straws or whatever. As it is, Concerts Asia reports that only 4,000 tickets were sold for the Saturday gig, despite the presumed international popularity of Carey and "a substantial advertising campaign". The outdoor Tamar Site venue has the capacity to hold up to 13,000 concert-goers.

While Concerts Asia claims that they were the ones to put the kibosh on the gig, which would have been Carey's first time ever performing in Hong Kong, Carey's camp, naturally, sees it another way, insisting it was the promoter's inability to accommodate her more than reasonable requests (after all, no one wants substandard apple juice), which resulted in her nixing the concert.

"Due to unfulfilled contractual obligations by concert organizers, Mariah Carey has been obliged to cancel her forthcoming concert in Hong Kong," the Universal Music Group said in a statement. "With legions of fans in Hong Kong and South East Asia, Mariah has always appreciated the love and dedication they have shown over the years. She deeply regrets the disappointment caused to them due to unforeseen circumstances beyond her control."

With her newly acquired free time, whether voluntary or not, Carey will likely head back into the studio. She has a new album slated for release in 2007.
(E! Online)

Two brothers, three paths, one destination...(Mariah Carey, James D'Arcy, Ethan Peck)

Synopsis: Brothers Carter (James D'Arcy) and Ellis Armstrong (Ethan Peck) have only each other and their rundown trailer home in the mountains outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. But when their lonely lives are shattered by misfortune, their only hope is to return home to Tennessee and the father they once fled. In journeying through the Southwest, the brothers bond with determined waitress Krystal (Mariah Carey) and reconnect with their past.

Cast and crew: Mariah Carey, James D'Arcy, Ethan Peck
Producer: Lee Daniels
Status: Pre-production
(Lee Daniels Entertainment)

The "Enciclopedia del español en el mundo" has published new results for the most researched persons on the internet for Spanish speaking people living in the following countries: Spain, Germany, USA, France, Italy and the UK.

For the year 2005, in the music category, Mariah comes in at #1 with more than 1 million searches in Spanish in the above countries.
(El Universal - MariahCarey.com)

Joining the winner's circle in an important new cadre of richly-talented male singer-songwriters, So So Def/Virgin Records' debut artist, Grammy winner Johnta Austin is poised to join the ranks of such rightly-praised R&B torchbearers as Anthony Hamilton, Ne-Yo and John Legend with his new single, "Turn It Up", a track from his much-anticipated artist debut, Ocean Drive, scheduled for release December 26th, 2006.

At just 26 years old, Austin is already known as one of pop music's key overachievers for his accomplishments of the past two years, co-writing a series of massive hits for Mariah Carey ("Don't Forget About Us", "Shake It Off", and the record-setting worldwide No.1 "We Belong Together"), Jessica Simpson ("A Public Affair"), Mary J. Blige ("Be Without You"), Enrique Iglesias, and numerous others, winning his first Grammy Award in the Best R&B Song category for "We Belong Together".

Defining the essential musical spirit of the times, and cutting a wide swath through every imaginable category of music fan with his songs, he has merited the highest superlatives from the A-list artists who've collaborated with him: "Johnta is the best thing to happen to the music industry," Blige declared recently; Chris Brown enthused: "His pen is like a basketball to Michael Jordan. He's creative and not afraid to go outside the box in his writing." Adds Ciara: "The way that he tells stories through music is so vivid that you can paint the picture." Frequent co-writer Carey sums up: "As a fellow songwriter, I really had an incredible experience working with Johnta. I'm really excited for him and happy that such a true talent is getting a chance to shine as a solo artist."

Their excitement is spreading fast in all directions, as "Turn It Up", Austin's ode to the great music of our past and present, makes a soulful noise throughout radio and video this month. As Austin is featured on the October 21st cover of Billboard Magazine, the track is moving up in Urban format radio airplay, with 9.1 million estimated listeners this week nationally. Online, Johnta has been chosen as a featured artist this month in both the influential AOL Breaker program, and on Clear Channel's NEW! website. Austin is also currently featured on Yahoo! Music Who's Next Hit List and joins MSN's "Ones To Watch" the second week of November.

The "Turn It Up" video has been added on BET and BET J; also, a "Discover Music" feature has appeared on BET.com. Johnta is the first artist to participate in BET/BET.com's "Ya Heard University Master Class", soliciting original songs in a creative competition. "Turn It Up" is also heavy rotation on VH-1 Soul, and added to MTV Jams; Austin is among the music industry mentors in VH-1's in-school project, "Save The Music Master Class". VH-1 Soul's Hear Music First will feature the album a week prior to album release. DirectTV's weekly CDUSA program features Austin on October 21st.

Johnta Austin's album release is the culmination of more than a decade's work - and fulfills his early dream of being a performer. From his southwest Atlanta church choir, the young Johnta scored a spot co-hosting a children's television show on cable network TBS at age 12. An appearance on "The Arsenio Hall Show" led directly to his first major label record deal, signing with RCA when he was only 13. After a year, the relationship with RCA ended, but Austin bounced back immediately, co-writing the top 10 R&B/top 15 pop smash "Sweet Lady", while still in high school. The song drove platinum-plus album sales for talented singer and actor, Tyrese Gibson.

In the wake of his two massive 1999 hits, "Sweet Lady", and his No. 2 R&B song for Ideal, "Get Gone", demand for Austin's writing and background vocal arrangements led to behind-the-scenes work with such A-list artists as Aaliyah (the soundtrack hit "I Don't Wanna" and the R&B No. 1 and pop No. 3 "Miss You"), Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Ciara, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Ginuwine, Faith Evans, and Mario. When a 2003 introduction to So So Def founder Jermaine Dupri led to a string of hit collaborations and outsized successes, Austin's demo of the Ocean Drive album track "Lil More Love" convinced Dupri to sign Austin to So So Def/Virgin.
(PRNewswire)

Tonight, Mariah performed a second concert at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan. Although the event was the third and final concert scheduled for MC in Tokyo, she will continue her "The Adventures of Mimi" tour in Osaka, Japan, on Tuesday, October 24, 2006.

The show started at 6:50pm and ended around 8:20pm. The audience was extremely enthusiastic. It is believed that tickets for this show sold-out. Unlike the previous concerts in Japan on Mariah's "Adventures" tour, "Vision of Love" and "Fly Like a Bird" were both performed tonight, and dissimilar to last night's concert at the same venue, "My All" was performed tonight. Comparable to the previous concerts on the Asian leg of this tour, there was no "B" stage.

On October 20th, MC performed for a second performance tonight at the same venue. The show started at 8:00pm and ended around 9:30pm. Unlike the previous concerts in Japan on "The Adventures of Mimi" tour, "My All" was not performed. On stage, Mariah introduced Miu Miu, the cat she bought six years ago. According to MC, the cat's name unites 'Mariah' and 'music.'
(Love Love Jack | Mariah Daily)

Shortly after Diddy performed "The Future" and the thoughts of the comeback started filling my head. Mariah did it best and in true form the rest of the world follows. Diddy (Bad Boy), Janet, Brandy, Monica, Jay Z, Kelly Price and sohh many others have or are poised to make a comeback. Some succeeded and others weren't worth the bullet.

I spoke to Kelly Price yesterday and she lent this piece of insight about being successful with a comeback.

I hope that Mariah doesn't look at the term 'comeback' as an insult. She will always be able to comeback because she is a true talent. She sings, writes, arranges. Even if she does something trendy that people feel might not be popular in years to come, she still has the ability to sing a song that will. Many of the artists that are here today and gone tomorrow don't have roots. They are of the moment. Those that do comeback and are successful have talent that surpasses a time period. I don't mind being called a comback.
(SOHH Soulful)

Mariah Hero.com will run a new live chat session. This time, it will be different since it will follow a Halloween theme. We’ll moderate a contest in which participants will tell their Halloween stories. Then, everybody will vote for their favorite story; the winner or winners will receive prizes.

The chat session will take place Sunday October 29th at 4 p.m. (New York Time). We will gather at our new chat room located at mariahhero.com/chatroom.htm. This page also provides a virtual clock that lets you see New York’s time in real time. There will be different options for the prizes.
(Mariah Hero)

There are divas, and there are divas. And then there's Mariah Carey, a pop superstar who makes most other divas seem like shy, retiring wallflowers - with or without her ability to sing notes so high only certain breeds of dogs can appreciate (or hear) them.

Now embarked on her "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour," comeback tour, Carey performed recently in San Diego. "It's not easy to live in the limelight," she told her audience. "But it's the music and the fans that matter." Carey delivered this line with a straight face for someone who has always coveted the limelight with an unrelenting level of determination that says: "Don't even think about getting in my way, or you're toast."

Earlier this year, she won three Grammy Awards, her first since 1990, but was snubbed in every major category in which she was nominated. Last month, her record company issued a news release that her ongoing tour is playing "to packed houses every night."

The release neglects to mention that dates in four cities were canceled because of low ticket sales. That's surprising, because Carey's "The Adventures of Mimi" was the top-selling album of 2005. Then again, she only tours sporadically and hasn't developed a loyal audience for her glitz-fest shows. But Carey - much like her up, down and up again career - has always been an artist marked by contradictions.

Her worldwide album sales total more than 160 million, making her the top-selling female artist ever. Yet, four or so years ago, her career was going down the toilet so fast Virgin Records terminated her $28 million contract and paid her $22 million not to record any more albums for them.

This move came in the wake of her stink-bomb of a movie, "Glitter," one of the most unintentionally laughable flops since Pia Zadora's "The Lonely Lady" in 1983. Ominously, the "Glitter" soundtrack album was released on Sept. 11, 2001; Carey had an emotional meltdown soon thereafter.

But no matter. Because like "The Dude," the dimwitted stoner character Jeff Bridges portrayed so memorably in the classic 1998 film "The Big Lebowski," Carey, at 36, prevails. And she does so even though people seem to love and loathe her, sometimes for exactly the same reasons. Here are five of mine:

Reason 1: The only time I came face to face with Carey was on my way to the bathroom, midway through the 1996 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, at New York's plush Waldorf Astoria hotel. What caught my eye wasn't so much her typically plunging neckline as the fact she required an entourage of nine people to accompany her to the ladies room. Not to the door, but inside.

Reason 2: When Carey performed at the massive Live 8 benefit concert in London's Hyde Park in 2005, she was accompanied by 20 singing African orphans - the better to offset her so-tight-it-could-have-been-painted-on mini dress.

Reason 3: She will soon launch a line of luxury women's watches - and an inexpensive clothing line for dogs.

Reason 4: At a recording session for her 1994 Christmas album, she refused to sing until a Christmas tree was brought in and fully decorated - even though the session was in June. She then sang two words - Bless you - and left.

Reason 5: At a 2002 media event in Dallas, one of Carey's assistants loudly instructed photographers: "Make sure to get her (breasts). Mariah is all about the (breasts)." Hmm. Maybe a word in her "The Voice, The Hits, The Tour" should be spelled differently.
(Paramus Post News)

I met Mariah Carey in Milan, Italy

It was my first trip to Milan. I think it was in 1999 or 2000. I went to a shopping center next to the Duomo cathedral. There was a huge crowd and lots of press people. They were all crowded around a record store Ricordi Media. I didn't know what was going on, so I pushed my way up to the barrier and saw Mariah posters covering all the windows of the store. One said "Welcome Mariah." Just then, the guards opened up the barrier in front of me and let a bunch of us into the store. I assumed that they would be bringing Mariah out for autographs, so I bought her new CD Rainbow and stood in line.

They brought her out to a table that had some microphones. She started signing autographs. In between autographs she did a radio interview. When it was my turn to get an autograph, I walked up and smiled. I told her that I came all the way from Hawaii, where I grew up, and said that I loved the concert she did there. She asked what I was doing all the way over here. I said that I work for an airline and was on my first layover in Milan. We chatted for about 30 seconds, but I felt like I was going to get in trouble, since more people were waiting. I asked her if I could get a quick picture with her. She said that she'd love to, but these two guys (referring to the two huge bodyguards, one on each side of the table) won't like it. I thanked her, and she said it was great to meet me.

Most people either left the store or stood way in the back to look at her after they got autographs. I decided to stand in line again to see if she would sign a CD for my sister. There were about 10 of us left in line when they took her away behind the curtain. A lady came out speaking Italian. I asked if she could speak English. She told me that those of us left in line, since we didn't get autographs, would be put on the list for the private party that night.

She asked me for an ID, put my name on the list, and gave me a card with a picture of Mariah on it that said I was invited to her private party. I caught a cab that night to Cafe L'Atlantique (I hear it's owned by Dolce & Gabana) and, sure enough, I was on the list. The club was full of energy. There were a lot of beautiful people, dressed in all kinds of fashions. They played Mariah videos all night on the multi-screen wall. At one point, Mariah was freestyling with another singer. It was a very memorable night. I got to party with Mariah in Milan!
(TheCelebrityCafe.com)

"Mariah Carey is one of Universal's most successful artists." The firm, whose artists include U2 and Mariah Carey, accuses both Grouper and Bolt of allowing "mass infringement" of copyright by letting users swap videos. It wants damages of up to $150,000 (£80,000) for each video distributed on the websites without permission.

Bolt's chief executive, Aaron Cohen, maintains his site removes copyrighted material as soon as it is notified. "There's no question that people upload copyrighted content from time to time," he told Reuters news agency. "Occasionally we receive official notices to remove content and we do." Thousands of viewers: According to Universal's legal case, Grouper has become "prominent" and "valuable" through its "use and exploitation of copyrighted material".

The recording company cites a simple search of Grouper's website, which reveals a number of Mariah Carey videos available for download. One clip, for her hit single Shake It Off, has been viewed more than 50,000 times.

"Grouper and Bolt cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content without permission," said a Universal spokesman. The firm said it retained the right to add Sony Pictures, which bought Grouper for $65m (£34m) in August, as a defendant at a later date. Neither Grouper nor Sony was available for comment.

Internet phenomenon: Video-sharing websites have been one of the year's biggest internet success stories, allowing people to swap home-made videos and amateur films online.

Last week, Google bought the most successful example - YouTube - for $1.65bn (£883m) in shares. Launched in February 2005, YouTube has grown quickly into one of the most popular websites on the internet. It attracts 72 million visitors a month, compared to 8.1 million for Bolt and just 1.8 million for Grouper.

However, it has managed to secure a deal with Universal Music which allows it to host music videos by the company's artists. Universal says it also sought licensing deals with both Grouper and Bolt, but failed to reach an agreement with either party.
(BBC News)

After closing out the North American leg of her tour on October 10th, Mariah headed out to Asia for 7 additional tour dates. Earlier tonight, Mariah gave her first show in Japan at the Nippon Budokan arena in Tokyo.

The show started at 7:30pm and ended around 9:00pm. Mariah sang "Stay The Night" entirely, "Vision Of Love", "Fly Like A Bird", "Make It Happen" and any other snippets were not performed during the show. She did not accept requests from the audience.

Mariah dedicated "Always Be My Baby" to her dog Jack and the Jack Girl (Shino from the website "Love Love Jack"). She said that "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was performed only in Japan. Two DJ intermissions as well as three songs by Trey Lorenz served as breaks during the show.
(Mariah Daily)

Janet Jackson’s boyfriend, Jermaine Dupri, is said to be blaming fellow execs at Virgin Records for the miserable sales of her new CD. We hear Dupri has threatened to quit as president of the Virgin Urban division because he feels label chairman Jason Flom and his team didn’t market Jackson’s album "20 Y.O." correctly.

The CD’s sales plummeted 74% in its second week, dropping from No. 2 to No. 9 on the Nielsen SoundScan chart. "Jermaine blames Virgin for not getting it enough radio play — not working it," says an insider.

In a desperate move to breathe life into "20 Y.O.," a source says Dupri is courting Mariah Carey to have a duet with Jackson on a track that would be added to a new version of the disk — even though some estimate Virgin still hasn’t moved about 200,000 of the first batch.

Dupri has made no secret of his displeasure with the way Virgin handled Jackson’s last album, "Damita Jo," telling The New York Times’ Lola Ogunnaike, "They didn’t push the project."

Flom has said that was before he came to the label. But another source says, "Jermaine and Jason haven’t gotten along from the start." Reps for Dupri, Virgin and Carey didn’t return calls. But one of Flom’s defenders argues, "Jason wants the CD to be a hit as much as anyone, but she didn§t have the goods."
(New York Daily News)

Hi Keith. What is up with the current trend of artists and labels re-releasing hit CDs by bulking them up with more songs? This is frustrating to fans like myself who buy CDs on their release dates and then find out that two or three months later, a new track has been added, or in some cases, several new tracks.

So far, I have not succumbed to buying these updated releases after being content with the originals, such as Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi", Sheryl Crow's "Wildflower", Daniel Powter's self-titled set and Shakira's "Oral Fixation Vol. 2".

However, I am not happy when my favorite artists release one single from a CD, then a second or third single that comes only from the updated version of the CD. What gives? Jonathan Williams

Hi Jonathan. I think pretty much every fan shares your frustration. Usually, there is some convoluted reason why an album gets reissued. In Carey's case, she and producer Jermaine Dupri claimed they were unable to complete "Don't Forget About Us" in time for the original release of the album - but they felt it was such a strong song, they wanted to put it out on a revamped version of "Emancipation". Personally, I'm not sure if I buy that.

Sometimes, as in Shakira's case, a song just comes out of nowhere and there isn't a home for it, so to speak. One could also say, "Well, Shakira's album was kinda tanking, since the first single did poorly. It's no wonder they tacked on 'Hips Don't Lie' to the album in order to pump up sales."

At the end of the day, labels and artists are trying to make money. Reissues, deluxe and limited editions and the like are all ways of trying to offer more ways for a consumer to part with their money.
(Ask Billboard)

American Diva Mariah Carey arrived at Narita Airport Oct.13th, via ANA aircraft from L.A, to perform in Japan. Mariah Carey wore a nice velour outfit and showed up in the lobby of the airport where 200 fans were waiting for her.

Compared to the last visit, when she was wearing a no-bra sexy outfit, she wore a modester outfit. When she got flowers from her fans, she raised her thumb and said she felt great and blew kisses to them.
(Mariah Daily | Mariah Connection)

Where: Mr. Chow, Beverly Hills, When: Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The Diva was primed and ready for her closeup. She posed and did her thing. Mariah knows what publicity is all about. She made it happen. As the videoreporter tell her "Mariah, you look like a million dollars", Mariah responded "Oh thank you... you look like a billion dollars too."

Then she signed some autographs and even gave a fan a hug, before graciously climbing into the back of a town car. This lady just oozes with star power and appreciates the paparazziand her fans.
(Lulop)

Mariah Carey closed the American leg of the superb Adventures of Mimi tour at the US Airways Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. There was huge expectation due to the importance and magnitude of this sold-out concert. The stage, which had the shape of a giant “M,” showed different colors in accordance to the song. Outside, a giant poster announced the thrilling concert.

The show started at 7:45 when Busta Rhymes took the microphone to perform his fun Hip-Hop. The opening show had its ups, presenting songs such as “I Know What You Want” and others from his long recording career; however, there were moments when people from the audience seemed tired. Rhymes reminded the audience that it was the last concert in the U.S from the Adventures of Mimi tour, which excited fans even more.

Mariah Carey took the stage at 9:30 as she was received by a hectic audience. The entire arena stood up to catch a gaze of the superstar. The opening started with Mariah Carey’s voice giving the “rollercoaster” speech in which she states that “if you don’t get on the ride, you won’t experience the adventure.” In the huge screens, we could see Mariah Carey falling from the sky until she appeared in the center of the stage.

The first track, “It’s Like That,” described exactly Mariah’s feeling of “emancipation” being transmitted to the audience. This moment was perhaps the climax of the night. Mariah wore a sexy black bikini and a cape. Mariah looked astonishing and certainly impressive. Later, Carey continued with a medley of “Heartbreaker,” presenting something different from previous tours. “Dreamlover” ignited the concert because of the closeness between Mariah and the crowd.

During the performance of “My All,” Mariah joked with the audience as she included “Phoenix” in the lyrics. Once again, her voice sounded even better than in the album. She left the stage while the David Morales remix was being played, and the stage was taken over by Mariah’s incredible dancers. Minutes later, the Mimi sign went down, and Mariah sang “Shake it Of.”; she even danced, which was surprising for many. She left the stage at the time the DJ played old R&B and Hip-Hop hits; despite reports from some journalists, these short segments did not break the excitement of the concert.

“Vision of Love” was introduced by Mariah saying, “this is my first song.” She surprised us by hitting such high notes that, at moments, it was all we could hear. In fact, Mariah Carey’s voice has not changed; it is powerful and expressive! MC continued with “Fly Like a Bird”; she pointed out the importance of the song as it is based on spirituality. Mariah used a strong voice that reminded us the days when she debuted.

Before leaving the stage for Trey Lorenz, Mariah talked about the story behind “I’ll Be There.” MC said she needed to sing a cover during the MTV Unplugged concert and that they decided to do the song a day before the show. “I’ll Be There” was another highlight as people sincerely responded to the song and Mariah asked the audience to join her. Trey took the microphone and sang a song from his new album, as well as a song by Michael Jackson and the hit “Crazy.”

When Trey finished, the arena was completely dark. Mariah later appeared on the “B” stage to continue with the show. This mini stage was surrounded by fans who got the opportunity to be closer to Mariah. The first song in this new stage was the remix to “Fantasy,” which was enthusiastically received by the crowd. At the end of the song, the moving messages “O.D.B - rest in peace” and “we’ll miss you” appeared in the screens.

Carey thanked her audience for making “Don’t Forget about Us” her seventeenth #1 single and later performed the song while the arena was completely illuminated by a disco ball. MC continued with “Always Be My Baby,” which was introduced by Mariah as the first song she ever wrote with Jermaine Dupri. She also read some posters and walked through the crowd until she hit the main stage. At this point, Mariah was so close to the audience that it seemed as if we were one.

She thanked the audience and said: “you guys are some of the best audiences I’ve had”; she continued saying “I really mean it!” Obviously, fans were even more excited at this point. She also remarked the importance of the concert because it was the final stop for The Adventures of Mimi in North America. She also said that the show was going to continue in Asia.

Mariah continued the show with a completely new performance of “Honey.” The screen showed Mariah’s silhouette as the “secret agent” she played in the video. During this performance, Mariah was actually part of the choreography without losing the “MC” style. She later abandoned the stage to wear something according to the following songs.

Minutes later, Mariah hit the stage again performing a snippet of “I Wish You Knew,” which included the speech. She explained that this part of the show was “free” for her to sing anything from her catalog. She sang a part of “Can’t Let Go,” which was perfectly identified by the crowd. She continued with “Thank God I Found You/Make It Last,” with Trey Lorenz, explaining that this remix was one of the most extraordinary remixes she’s ever done. The latter was an insightful performance that touched many.

The most emotional moment of the night was “One Sweet Day,” which Mariah dedicated to a fan and his brother who had passed away. The entire crowd joined Mariah to sing the lines, “Sorry, I never told you / All I wanted to say.” When Mariah finished the song, many people from the audience were even crying; “One Sweet Day” definitely proved that Mariah and the crowd were one.

MC said, “Why can’t life be festive all the time?” Mariah explained the story behind the hymn “Hero” and how that song was going to be sung by another artist. She explained how, according to fans, the song has changed their lives. It was another remarkable moment where it seemed Mariah was singing to every person individually. She left the stage, but we knew there was something else for us.

Mariah appeared again to perform her new signature song “We Belong Together”; it was astonishing to see thousands singing this song with Mariah. “We Belong Together” had a special importance because of the enormous success MC had with that song. The show was closed with the song “Butterfly” and confetti. The crowd experienced with Mariah an exceptional night that will be unforgettable.

The show was advertised as “The Voice, The Hits, The Tour,” and attendants received that and more. Mariah’s voice is extraordinary; one has to see Mariah Carey live to believe it. The concert gathered some of the biggest hits, as well as the most memorable songs from her #1 album The Emancipation of Mimi. During the show, Mariah Carey was confident and close to the audience.

After the show ended, one could hear people saying: “This is the best concert I’ve seen” or “That’s why I love Mariah Carey so much!” Mariah looked happy and thankful; in a few words, the final stop for The Adventures of Mimi in America was terrific!
(Mariah Hero)

In 2001 it seemed like Mariah Carey was finished. Glitter, her semiautobiographical film debut, and its soundtrack were both humiliating flops. But more, her very public breakdown made her the punching bag of late night comics and trashy tabloids the world over.

Five years later, and Carey is back with the best-selling album of 2005, having staged one of the most remarkable comebacks in recent pop history. The Emancipation of Mimi has sold 6 million copies and spawned four hit singles. Just when it seemed like J. Lo and Beyonce were stealing her fire, she's returned with a vengeance.

Fans in Japan will get a chance to see the re-energized star this week when she returns as part of her most elaborate tour yet.

In the late '90s it would've been hard to believe that the mighty diva could fall so hard. Over the course of the decade she went from the shy songbird next-door to the naughty-but-nice queen of the rap-pop scene. The reverberations of her mid-'90s singles featuring previously underground guest emcees and hip-hop producers can still be heard on the radio today.

After her 1998 divorce from Sony Records executive Tommy Motolla, who was 20 years her senior, she was free to pursue her own artistic ambitions. As the new millennium began Mariah Carey was on top of the world. In 2000 she was awarded Billboard's "Artist of the Decade" Award as well as the World Music Award for "Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium." The stats showed that the accolades were deserved. Carey had a No. 1 song in every year of the '90s and her cumulative weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart had surpassed the Beatles.

In 2001 she signed an unprecedented deal with Virgin Records for over 80 million dollars, was filming her first movie and it seemed as if the hits would just keep a-coming. But in July of that year some cracks appeared in her facade.

Carey began posting bizarre messages on her Web site, lamenting the breakup with her latest boyfriend, complaining about being manipulated and referring to her fans as "lambs." A handful of rambling public interviews followed, leading many to worry about her wellbeing. At the end of the month she made an infamous, surprise appearance on MTV's TRL program. Clad in high-heels and a T-shirt, she handed out popsicles to the audience, performed a mock striptease and babbled incoherently for eight minutes. A week later she checked into a hospital in Connecticut suffering from exhaustion.

That autumn Glitter and its soundtrack were released. The album was her lowest charting yet and the film was a disaster. Her acting was painful and the tunes unimaginative. While some might argue that the release date on Sept. 11 hampered the success of both film and album, others view the lack of media attention as a small mercy. Either way, the result was the same: Virgin paid Carey 28 million dollars just to part ways.

Who at this point would have predicted the huge success of Emancipation of Mimi? Not only is it her biggest disc in a decade, but it seems to have erased all memories of her recent missteps. She has cast aside producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and what was an increasingly MOR adult-orientated feel in favor of a harder more contemporary edge as embodied by Jermaine Dupri, the Neptunes, Kanye West and James Poyser, all of whom participated as producers on Emancipation. While there's nothing as groundbreaking as "Fantasy" (her 1995 collaboration with Puff Daddy and Ol' Dirty Bastard) there are enough ghetto-fabulous cuts on the release to give her street-cred at 36.

The talk of an emancipation of "Mimi"--a reference to a childhood nickname--seems ironic, though, considering that the album is a return to the hip-hop flavored approach she first used on Daydream. Then there's the airbrushed album cover that looks eerily like Beyonce...

Nonetheless, Carey still possesses one of the most distinctive voices in the annals of popular music. Her dog whistle trills and over-the-top vocal gymnastics have launched hordes of imitators and perhaps it's simply the fear of losing this characteristic voice that inspired fans to go out and buy Emancipation. The ballads on the album find her in top form again. The gospel-tinged "Fly Like A Bird" is especially moving.

And whether Emancipation represents a new beginning or a final blaze of glory, Carey, the top diva of the '90s, seems to have finally come to terms with herself, as she claims on a recent posting on her Web site.

"I am letting my guard down and am celebrating the fact that I've grown into a person and artist who no longer feels imprisoned by insecurities. I can honestly say, 'This is me, the real me, take it or leave it.'"
(The Daily Yomiuri)

Before Mariah Carey took the stage Tuesday night at US Airways Center in Phoenix, a video of a roller coaster played on the multiple screens surrounding the stage. The irony was not lost on the near-capacity crowd as Carey’s voice boomed, "If you don’t get on the ride, you won’t experience the adventure."

Carey’s career has included a series of ups: early chart success, a 1993 marriage to Sony Records mogul Tommy Mottola and a 2000 World Music Award as the bestselling female artist of all time. It’s also had plenty of downs: a divorce from Mottola in 1997, a mental breakdown/striptease on MTV’s "TRL" and the atrocious autobiographical film, "Glitter," in 2001. Then, to top it off, getting dumped from her record label in 2002.

Recently, though she’s been on the way back up, riding her massive comeback album, 2005’s "The Emancipation of Mimi," which returned Carey to pop prominence with a few hit singles and three Grammy awards.

Carey’s roller coaster clearly was still on the upswing Tuesday night. "She has such an incredible voice," said Ron Stein, 55, of Gilbert. "It’s all about her voice and her high-energy show."

The lights dimmed and Carey appeared on stage in a black bikini and cape, backed by an 11-piece band (made up of a rhythm section, a DJ and plenty of singers and dancers), and sang "It’s Like That" before busting into a series of hits such as "Heartbreaker, "Dream Lover," 1998’s "My All," 2005’s "Shake it Off" and a great version of the Jackson 5’s "I’ll Be There," a duet with long-time supporter, singer Trey Lorenz.

There were plenty of costume changes during Carey’s set, with a DJ laying down a slick beat as Carey changed from the black bikini to long black tight shorts and a glittery bra to a flowing blue/green gown. Carey saved her most recent smash, "We Belong Together," for the encore, but by then the crowd had been treated to a show full of hits.

For Elvis Rivera, 28, who drove from Denver to see the show, the concert held plenty of memories. "I saw Mariah with my mom during Mariah’s first televised special in 1993 in New York. It was Thanksgiving and my mom died a month later, but on the video she is the only one dancing. It brings back a lot of memories for me."

Rapper Busta Rhymes, newly shorn of his trademark dreads, whipped up the late-arriving crowd with his lickety-split hip-hop raps and engaging stage presence and drew an appreciative applause from the audience as he gave way to the headliner.
(East Valley Tribune | Get Out - East Valley Tribune)

Singer Mariah Carey, who is about to take her Adventures Of Mimi tour overseas, told TV’s Extra Monday night (October 9th) that she plans to release a new concert DVD. Titled Divarie, the proposed disk will document highlights from her tour, including all her wacky diva exploits on the road.

What may not be included are scenes from her October 8th stop in Anaheim, California. Sources reported that Mariah was booed by the audience, which waited more than two hours for the diva to hit the stage. Her bassist and friend Randy Jackson of American Idol fame, tried to calm and entertain the audience, but also got his share of boos. Carey reportedly arrived at about 10 p.m., and the rest of the show went on without a hitch.

At her show on Friday, October 7th, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, local Power 106 DJ Big Boy proposed to his girlfriend on stage, and then Carey herself named a baby when a pregnant fan woman told her idol that she wanted to name her child for the singer, but discovered the baby would be a boy. According to the Los Angeles Daily News, "The wonder that is Mariah thought for a second, giving three suggestions: Roy (for her late dad), Trey (for backup singer Trey Lorenz) and Carey. The woman looked pleased. Carey it would be."

Carey wraps her U.S. tour tonight (October 10th) at Phoenix, Arizona’s US Airways Arena.
(Mariah Connection)

Last night, Mariah performed at the Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) in Anaheim, California. MC put on a spectacular show and Boyz II Men surprised everyone (including Mariah) by showing up to perform "One Sweet Day." The concert was filmed for a future DVD release and possible television special. Below is the concert's setlist as well as various tidbits regarding the show.


Setlist:
01. It's Like That
02. Heartbreaker
03. Dreamlover
04. My All
05. Shake It Off
06. Vision of Love
07. Fly Like a Bird
08. I'll Be There

---"B" Stage:
09. Fantasy
10. Don't Forget About Us
11. Always Be My Baby

---End "B" Stage
12. Honey
13. I Wish You Knew (Snippet)
14. Can't Let Go (Snippet)
15. One Sweet Day
16. Hero
17. Make It Happen

---Encore:
18. We Belong Together
19. Butterfly Reprise


Tidbits: Midwestern rapper Chingy was the opening act. Mariah was scheduled to take the stage at around 9:00pm, but didn't appear until about 9:50pm. When the crowd grew impatient, musical director Randy Jackson came out and explained that MC had personally chosen the Anaheim concert to be filmed for a DVD release and television special.

For the "B" stage performances, Mariah reverted back to her initial ensemble, consisting of a midriff-baring top and capri pants. MC discussed her lip gloss and had the lights lowered in order to display its function properly.

To the crowd's surprise, as well as Mariah's, R&B group Boyz II Men came out and performed "One Sweet Day" (in its entirety) with MC. The audience responded enthusiastically.

Although a snippet of "Thank God I Found You/Make It Last" was not performed, "Make It Happen" was performed.

Producer James "Big Jim" Wright, and R&B singers Ashanti and Toni Braxton attended the concert.
(Mariah Daily)

Earlier today, a randomly selected number of Mariah fans were invited to attend a special pre-concert taping at the Honda Center (formerly known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim) in Anaheim, California. MC performed a medley of songs for the intimate crowd.

It appears that the purpose of this event was to include fans, regulate the lighting, and review other technical aspects in preparation for tonight's actual concert taping. It is believed that tonight's concert as well as the fans' involvement will be included in a CD/DVD release.

An estimated 1,500 fans were in attendance. A large portion of the pre-concert taping was capturing audience reactions for later footage. Mariah called for the crowd to "get creative." MC explained that she would be lip-synching and performed "It's Like That," "Heartbreaker," and "Dreamlover." Mariah helped direct certain shots while insisting, "I'm not trying to be a diva!"

The afternoon was very informal with breaks between performances. MC frequently communicated with director/friend Sanaa Hamri ("U Make Me Wanna," "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," etc.) and did re-shoots to "capture the moments."

Bill, "the camera guy" (as Mariah affectionately called him), recorded and interviewed fans following the pre-concert taping. Tonight's taping is expected to be released as a CD/DVD compilation possibly in time for the holidays.
(Mariah Daily)

powers in a concert that made local hip-hop history Friday at Staples Center. The golden-voiced singer delivered a top-notch concert. But she also set the stage for a marriage proposal by one of the city s top morning radio jocks; self-diagnosed an allergic reaction; caused audience members to either weep or canoodle; and named a baby.

The only thing she didn t do was validate parking. To backtrack, the last time we encountered le Carey was several years ago at the Forum, where the singer was either at the tail end of a major breakdown or embarking on a new one. She essentially just stood there in a catatonic stupor, apparently miming to a backup tape.

That was before the emancipation of Mimi. Friday saw a new Mariah. Putting forth a tightly arranged, perfectly packed two-hour concert, the entertainer was fully involved, stopping to talk to the crowd, throwing in ad libs in song lyrics and generally looking fit and sexy all around. The set list took in the classics: "Dream Lover," "Always Be My Baby," "I ll Be There," Heartbreaker," and recent chart busters "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off."

Carey at her best, backed up by a fine band and singers. But what people will remember about the show will be the moment Power 106 morning DJ Big Boy came on stage alone and began talking about his recent surgery and the woman that stood by him and is now pregnant with his baby. Calling out his startled girlfriend, the radio guy got down on his knees and proposed marriage in front of the packed sports arena. Wisely, she said yes.

A bit later, Mariah noticed someone in the place was smoking a cigarette. In a raspy voice, the singer diagnosed that her sudden sore throat was the result of that offending Marlboro. The cancer stick was extinguished.

The wildly diverse crowd was in Carey s corner from the moment opening act Busta Rhymes evoked her name during his bawdy, one-dimensional opening set. And cheers rang out whenever Carey s own DJ kept the crowd pumped up with shouts of "MC" interspersed with an L.A.-centric selection of samples that hip-hopped from Snoop s "G Thang" to the reggaetron of "Gasolina."

But nobody could ve expected what would happen when a pregnant fan made her way to the front of the stage between songs. The woman, spotted by Carey, said she would give birth in two weeks and wanted Carey to name the child.

She had wanted to name the kid Mariah, but she was having a boy. Would Carey help out? The wonder that is Mariah thought for a second, giving three suggestions: Roy (for her late dad), Trey (for backup singer Trey Lorenz) and Carey.

The woman looked pleased Carey it would be. All in just another Friday night for Mariah Carey on tour.
(LA Daily News)

ATTEND A VERY SPECIAL MARIAH CONCERT TAPING SUNDAY, OCT. 8

If you live in or around the Anaheim area, this is your chance to see Mariah perform LIVE for FREE! Mariah will be taping a special afternoon performance of her The Adventures Of Mimi show this Sunday, October 8 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, CA and MariahCarey.com is giving you the chance to attend.

In order for you to take part, you must be available to be at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim on Sunday, October 8 from 12:00 - 5:00pm wearing your most Pip concert attire for a once in a lifetime chance for you and your friends to see the hottest tour this year for FREE!

HOW TO ATTEND. MariahCarey.com will randomly select fans that respond to the following e-mail address no later than Friday, October 6 by 8:00PM EST: maroon2@maroonent.com

Please write "Mariah Anaheim Concert Taping" in the subject line. In your e-mail, please tell us the following:


Your First and Last Names
Your Age
Your City and State
Your Phone Number / Mobile Phone Number
Guests Name
Guests Age

You are permitted to bring more than 1 guest with you to the taping but please provide the names and ages of each of your guests.
The Arrowhead Pond is located at:
2695 East Katella Ave
Anaheim, CA 92806 ***MariahCarey.com will not be providing any transportation or lodging to this event.
(Mariah Carey.com)

"The Voice. The Hits. The Tour." The tagline for Mariah Carey's Adventures of Mimi tour has it exactly right. The Voice! That swooping crane of a voice, the very same that nailed the high E in 1991's "Emotion", which was an actual event in the world of people who care about that sort of thing.

The Hits! The arsenal of perfect pop cupcakes, with My Little Pony names such as "Daydream", "Honey", "Dreamlover", "Hero" and "Butterfly", each highly catchy single supplemented by the cheesecake-y-est of videos, unself-conscious diva-glam buffets of hair and thick legs, and unadulterated sparkle. The Tour! Where else could Mariah, the queen of Top 40 queens, shine as brightly as a live performance, featuring real vocals and a boggling number of cleave-focused outfits?

Mariah Carey is like Oz. We know less about her comings and goings than most entertainers who are half as successful. She's had essentially the same personal and musical style for years - seriously, who else rocks the honey-blond ringlets anymore? It's quite possible she lives in a land beyond our own (New Jersey?), pounding away behind some velvet curtain.

She's definitely a goer - she's on tour for three months, singing her songs, grinding with the dancers and emphasizing her vibrato with the signature Mariah finger-flutter. And - lest we forget the dark cloud that settled over Barbie's Dream House a while back - when her movie bombed, her label bought out her contract and her appearance on MTV's Total Request Live was deemed c-c-crazy by the press, it shook Mariah's pink pedestal a bit. Of course, it took only a couple of years and some hip-hop to get Mariah thumping inside the collective consciousness again. It's hard to keep a good diva down.

The newest album, The Emancipation of Mimi, speaks to the kind of personal freedom one can achieve after releasing 13 albums about boyfriends. It's also the best-selling album of 2005 - every track is quality because girl is sincere. It's comforting to know Mariah is the kind of fairy princess who is just crazy enough to believe.
(Orange County Weekly)

The new community is running again; we are thankful to the members who made Mariah Hero their place, so we gathered plenty of ideas to completely redesign the message boards. Also, our members will be the first to read our updated and revised original biography.

Now, we have new categories and boards, as well as new enthusiastic people who will moderate the MB. There will be new ways to create a fun and interactive spot; for instance, we just launched a new chat room, which will lodge new live chat sessions. Moreover, every Friday night, our moderators will be connected to “chat.”

Our new message boards feature a whole new look, as well as new ways to make navigation easier and extra features. As part of the changes in our community, we also have new ID cards that are to be sent to our top members. Stay tune because there will be more additions during the next few days, so spread the word!

mariahhero.com/mb
(Mariah Hero)

Review: A revitalized Mariah Carey continues to delight squealing fans, but her show skimps on songs.

There are two ways of looking at Mariah Carey's biggest tour in years, the one that didn't quite pack 'em in at San Diego's ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena Wednesday night but which is guaranteed sellouts at Staples Center and the newly christened Honda Center (formerly the Pond) this weekend.

Which view you prefer, however, depends on how charitable you wish to be toward the street diva and her predictable "Adventures of Mimi" outing. Those who insist it's high time Mariah got her due – those thrilled that her wildly overvalued album "The Emancipation of Mimi" was both last year's sales champ and an inexplicable Grammy darling – surely have already determined these shows are the culmination of her comeback: a well-earned victory lap for a show-biz survivor.

That it is in more ways than one, and only a jealous hater would deny that she isn't deserving of this celebration. Five years ago, when Mariah's sudden and erratic descent into tabloid purgatory began, it seemed unthinkable that she'd ever crawl back to a stature half as significant as she has now.

Her record-contract woes, the catastrophe of "Glitter," her frequent canceled shows, hospital stays and too-public temper tantrums – plus what very recently appeared to be the premature deterioration of her unearthly five-octave vocal range – all seemed to spell the end of her days as an omnipresent powerhouse. Everyone loves a comeback, but the reality is that they're increasingly rare. Just look at Whitney Houston, the still-suffering giant Mariah was once modeled after.

Yet, picture-perfect as ever and healthier to boot, a well-handled Mariah has rebounded to score still more chart-topping singles; having tied Elvis Presley for second place with 17, she likely will surpass the Beatles' record 20 before she's 40. What's more, thanks to a rekindled romance with MTV, she has (somewhat surprisingly) become a symbol of sexual liberation and female empowerment for a whole new generation of young women, the clear majority of attendees in San Diego.

Fostering that connection, Mariah has rarely seemed as down to earth as she does on this tour, routinely striving to reach out to the audience more literally than figuratively – even going so far as to invite an Australian fan on stage for a hug, break into unrehearsed a capella choruses of shouted requests and, for three numbers, performing on a disco dance floor raised in the center of the arena. (That's now an old trick everyone from Madonna to the Stones employs, but up to now Mariah, like Streisand, has remained removed from her audience. The close proximity this setup affords is sometimes startling.)

Best news of all: She hasn't sung so powerfully since she began, and back then she never matched her innate force with so much nuance.

Yes, I still find her rain-falling finger-twiddling moves – the ones she whips out when she's at her most melismatic – as annoying as ever. But the last time I saw her, at a 2003 Christmas show in L.A., she had to strain to hit her famous dog-whistle notes, most of which came across hoarse and screechy. Here, however, with no apparent tape-track sweetening, she soared again and again, adding soulful grit to her lower register and effortlessly scaling demanding vocal heights on past favorites, be they slow and sultry (the now-classic "Vision of Love"), breezy ("Dream Lover," "Honey") or funked-up and strutting ("Heartbreaker").

Fans here justifiably ate it up, squealing for her every change of skimpy outfit as if they had just spotted Justin Timberlake streaking. So I doubt many will share my second view of Mariah's meager spectacle – as a bit of a consumer ripoff.

No one would expect her to dazzle with theatrical staging à la Madonna or awe with frenetic choreography à la Janet Jackson. Mariah's got only slightly more groove in her teetering step than rhythmically challenged Whitney, and as a dancer, well, she's good at shimmying her voluptuous curves against a pole and writhing alongside a lighted MIMI marquee – and that's about it.

(Because of that lack of physical exertion, by the way, this 36-year-old bombshell may have very few years left of sashaying in nothing but boy shorts, bikini bras and six-inch heels. Her body as golden as her oft-blown-back tresses, she's still a knockout, but right away you could tell she's growing self-conscious, as she kept not-so-casually covering her barely clad backside with a sheer shawl, so as to hide the effects of gravity.)

Apart from her sex appeal, then, she has only one weapon: a litany of hits. That's what I'd figure people paid triple-digit figures to hear. Yet after an hour of her roughly 90-minute set, Mariah had performed a mere eight songs, not all of them smashes. And after a pleasing revival of her remake of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There," she then turned the spotlight over to duet partner and backing vocalist Trey Lorenz.

For three songs. Including useless covers of Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much" and Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." Combine that with not one but two DJ intervals, filled with snippets of crowd-rousing old-school hip-hop, and a handful of dancer-distracting costume changes, and that's close to a half-hour of dead space that could have been given to a half-dozen more songs.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I assume some people might want more Mariah for their money. As it is, the second half of her set seemed like a replay of the first half. The tunes were different, of course – the inspiring (to some) "My All" and "Fly Like a Bird" were earlier, "Fantasy" and "Hero" were later – and her clinging dress with midriff cutouts was canary colored the first time we saw it, turquoise the second. Otherwise, the routine was the same. Step, step, preen, pose – preferably in front of wind machines at the footlights, the better to make her look like the cover of her "Mimi" album.

And any sense of a concert-as-a-life's-summation, which a video intro to her show suggested might come, was also quickly abandoned. What resulted was just a more grandiose version of what she's done in the past, on a much larger stage adorned by a gargantuan M.

Which really would have been fine – she needn't have undergone an extreme makeover – if Mariah had simply offered more material. Ultimately her show grew tedious. And, frankly, I'd have sacrificed at least a pair of eye-popping outfits if it would have meant she'd stay on stage longer, stood at a microphone – and sung her tail off some more.
(The Orange County Register)

It wasn't just Mariah Carey's dancers who were doing backflips at Monday's sold-out show at the Arena in Oakland. By the opening number, the diva-in-absentia had the crowd on its feet, as she time-traveled back to some of the messier moments in her personal history.

It's not as if she didn't warn the 19,000 faithful, kicking off her 90-minute set with a short, thrill-inducing cinematic climb up a roller coaster, with Carey narrating platitudes about her opulent soap opera come to life. "When I was little I was so scared of roller coasters, but you learn you have to face your fears," she said breathlessly. "But just when I thought the scariest part was over, something more terrifying would happen."

Like detonating her marriage to music mogul Tommy Mottola, being released from her recording contract, the failure of 2001's "Glitter" album and quasi-autobiographical movie of the same name and attendant canceled tour dates, the hospital stays and the famous glass- and dish-throwing episode in a London hotel room, all documented in tabloids and by Carey on her own Web site.

To the singer's continuing credit, she doesn't try to conceal any of those tawdry details from fans, as if she could in her barely there outfits. Instead, she used them as rather touching fodder to detail many of the two dozen songs she performed. "How many times have I had to apply this song to my own life?" Carey mused mid-verse during "Hero," her self-penned 1993 song that became one of the unofficial anthems of 9/11.

After the conclusion of the short film, the singer ascended from beneath the stage, like a goddess rising from the depths of the ocean, screaming over the din, "San Francisco, how ya feeling?"

Oozing down a lavish spiral staircase in her mile-high Christian Louboutin stilettos, all jutting hips, tossed curls and purring vocals, Carey effortlessly slid into "It's Like That," the first single from her Grammy-winning 2005 album "The Emancipation of Mimi," opening her show with a mighty leonine roar. It was more Victoria's Secret TV spot than pop music show, and in the first of five costume changes, Carey looked resplendent -- albeit a little more zaftig than in recent years -- in a black peignoir set that revealed more than it concealed. "It takes a lot of guts to dress like that with that body," one reveler gushed to a friend.

While not a trained dancer by anyone's stretch of the imagination, Carey sensuously moved in half-time down the frighteningly steep staircase once again, stumbling on the fourth step, all the while caressing her prodigious curves and running long, manicured fingers through her imposing hair in time to "Heartbreaker's" disco beat. But the stumble, like the extra weight, humanizes her even more to fans, eliciting a small gasp among the faithful.

A wounded sex kitten, Carey coos, pouts, then goes for broke, emitting sounds that you'd think only dolphins could utter at the close of "Dreamlover," one of the 17 No. 1 hits that allowed her to become one of the wealthiest stars of the 1990s.

"What do you want, Frisco?" she demanded as she plunged into "My All," before someone in her cadre undoubtedly gave her a geography lesson. "I know we're in Oakland," she said a little defensively, flashing only a little of her diva ire. "Some of my friends are here from San Francisco, so I can say that, you know. I love me some Oakland.

"Anyway, this is one of the first places that played my first single when I was little," cooed the 36-year old singer in appeasement, before asking permission to take a small sip of her ever-present Fiji water, a far from her halcyon days swilling Cristal Champagne.

The newly emancipated Carey is all business, down to the strategically placed cutouts in her Barbie doll gowns, to the mirrored "Mimi" that descended from the ceiling before "Shake It Off," a clever kiss-off with the perfect intersection of high concept and low culture: "I gotta shake it off/ Just like the Calgon commercial." All the better when you know that nothing less than Chanel really touches her golden skin.

During the tune, Carey put on a pair of expensive hit-man sunglasses. Why? Because of the high-wattage sign or because her future really is so bright again she does needs shades? "The Emancipation of Mimi" has already racked up 5 million in sales, she's taking guitar lessons, and it looks as if there's another movie on the horizon.

Some of that momentum was lost during the chanteuse's five costume changes. Sometimes the breaks were so long that it allowed the DJ to romp through decades of rap and R&B tunes, such as Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison" and the Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance."

In the meanwhile, longtime backup singer Trey Lorenz stepped out into the stoplight to sing the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There," with Carey, then to finish up alone with a rather weak and dispirited three-song medley, culminating in an anemic version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." The only thing crazy was Carey allowing this singer so much face time.

All of that was forgiven when the singer came back for the second half of the set, slowing the pace just a bit with "Fantasy," a song that pairs her pop vocals with a hip-hop beat, a winning formula that the singer has been employing since she left the controlling clutches of her record-exec husband. She performed the song as a duet with the disembodied video of the late rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, which was as disconcerting as it was affecting.

But that sentiment colored the entire night. At times, as cameras flashed over the audience, fans could be seen with tears in their eyes, wrapping their arms around themselves as they sang along to hits like "Always Be My Baby" or the feisty heart-tugger "We Belong Together," only equaled by Carey herself, whose immaculate made-up eyes welled up with tears during the latter song.

But that is the true gift of this singer. While Jennifer Lopez may claim to be Jenny From the Block, Carey shows that she still lives there, even if she gets there in a chauffeur-driven roller coaster.
(The San Francisco Chronicle)

The big question going into Mariah Carey's concert Monday night at Oakland Arena was how many wardrobe changes would the pop queen make?

The answer was five, which seemed reasonable for a diva of her magnitude. Unfortunately, that was about the only reasonable thing about the show. Just about everything else she did made little sense.

This concert should have been much better than it was. It's all about potential. Mariah Carey has 17 No. 1 singles, which ties her with Elvis Presley for the most chart-toppers by a solo artist, and that alone should provide all the ammunition needed to put on a memorable show.

Didn't happen. Instead, the 36-year-old vocalist has made some poor decisions with her ``Adventures of Mimi Tour,'' the sum of which took the focus away from where it needed to be -- on the music. The concert was poorly paced, cluttered with unnecessary theatrics and devoid of any sense of purpose. Things would have been simpler, and better, if she had just come out, sung the hits and left all the horseplay to the Madonnas of the world.

Following an opening set by speed-rapper Busta Rhymes, who came across as cartoonish as ever, Carey opened her show with a silly video segment of a roller coaster, which was meant to underscore the twists and turns of the diva's life. The star then appeared wearing her first costume of the night, a little bikini-like outfit that aptly showed that Carey has experienced growth in areas other than artistic in recent years.

Working a large two-level stage that was framed under a giant M, Carey shimmied with six dancers as she opened with a bouncy version of ``It's Like That'' from ``The Emancipation of Mimi,'' 2005's biggest-selling CD. The musical mix, featuring three keyboardists, three backup vocalists, a drummer and a DJ, was mostly solid. Yet there was one major problem -- Carey's breathtaking five-octave voice frequently was buried in a place that was harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa's body.

When you could hear her famously melismatic voice, such as on ``Heartbreaker,'' you didn't really want to -- the diva hit high notes that probably had dogs howling all over nearby San Leandro. Not that there is anything wrong with a good high note, but Carey's vocal gymnastics came across as merely for show.

After only 25 minutes onstage, the star made an exceedingly early exit and left the set in the hands of her DJ, bringing the concert to a halt. Carey returned, wearing a golden gown that was nearly as revealing as the bikini, and produced a few good moments with ``Vision of Love'' and a duet with backing vocalist Trey Lorenz on the Jackson 5's ``I'll Be There.''

She then turned the set over to Lorenz for a three-song segment that had people sitting down faster than when the music stops in a game of musical chairs. That was the second time in roughly 45 minutes that the show completely lost momentum. The second half was full of badly planned moments, including one of those nauseating medleys.

Again, it's about potential. By closing the main set with a gorgeous and moving version of ``Hero,'' minus all the theatrics, Carey showed how good this concert should have been.
(The Mercury News)

Checking out Mariah Carey at the Oakland Arena was like listening to the soundtrack of my life from way back when in high school. Actually "Hero" was my junior prom theme.

In her hour and a half show, she sang her classics like "I'll Be There," "Always Be My Baby," and "Hero," in addition to her more recent hits like "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off." Though in the beginning with "Heartbreaker" and "Dream Lover" her voice was raspy.

Her DJ came to the rescue by playing old school hits from Tupac to Salt-N-Pepa giving her a chance for ample breaks, and the time to change outfits. Her clothes ranged from the loungewear-like bespeckled black bikinis with a transparent black hoodie to the J-Lo inspired seafoam green gown with kimono sleeves and the stomach section cut out. She also didn't waste energy on dancing, choosing instead to pose from side to side. It would have been hard anyways, with the stilettos and tight clothes.

The last time she came around, I interviewed her, asking why she chose to express such a sexy image. She said that when she was with Sony chair and chief executive Tommy Mottola, he wanted her to upkeep a very Puritanical outlook, so when she came out of that relationship, she wanted to be on her own - in short, her emancipation though, she admits, dressing sexy is not what she does on an everyday basis.

One nice feature of the concert was the second stage in the middle of the floor section, which gave the fans a closer look at their idol. It also gave her a closer look at her fans, and she took time to wish one happy birthday and thank them for their gifts.

Opener Busta Rhymes was just like Mariah put it, the perfect way to kick off a party. His big personality filled the packed arena. He and partner Spliff Star were up to their usual antics like flirting with the audience and asking them to cheer louder. This is the third show of his I've caught and he's consistently good and worth checking out. Both he and Mariah had hits stretching years back so it was a good fit.
(A+E Interactive)

Mariah Carey opened wide and sang like she had a bullhorn stuck in her throat, her voice barreling from her lungs as if it was fired from a slingshot. "Ahhh-ah! Ahhh-ah! Ahhh-ah! Hee! Hee! Hee!" she trilled, stretching the notes as if they were made of soft taffy, indulging in vocal acrobatics like an auctioneer in hot pants.

Too much is never enough at a Mariah Carey gig, where ostentation rules - vocally and otherwise - and even the glittery mic stands look like they cost more than your house. And Carey is the first to acknowledge as much. At the MGM Grand on Saturday, she anointed the night "diva Las Vegas", reveling in her own fabulousness before one of her deejays laid down some ground rules.

"All the ugly people be quiet," DJ Suss One instructed, silencing anyone who didn't sparkle like Carey's golden microphone. Of course, beauty is only skin deep, and so are most of Carey's tunes. She specializes in lithe pop pep talks about overcoming this obstacle or that, employing birds and butterflies as metaphors for love.

But if her songs often seem as if they were spun from cotton candy, Carey's jet engine voice aims to supply any missing heft. She sings the way a hotshot guitarist races up and down the fret board, supplying more fireworks than a dozen Fourth of Julys.

On this night, Carey sang like a newborn emotes: loudly, freely and occasionally uncontrollably. She tore into early hit "Vision of Love" so forcefully that you could practically see the veins bulge in her neck as her voice leapt from one octave to the next. And on the soaring "Fly Like A Bird", she scatted feverishly over some dense percussion.

For all her enviable range however, Carey's at her best when she harnesses her voice into a breathy purr, like on the come-hither ballad "My All" or with the nimble pop funk of "It's Like That". But Carey just seems to naturally gravitate toward the larger than life, and the production values of her current tour are as outsized as her voice. She performs on a stage backed by a towering illuminated "M", with her nickname, "Mimi", spelled out in giant white lights.

At the MGM Grand, even the crowd was star studded: Carey was joined onstage from time to time by hip-hop producer Jermaine Dupri, who was in town, and there were other celebrities in the stands, such as rapper Bow Wow, "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson and producer Jimmy Jam.

But for all the big names and fancy props, the best moments of the night were the smaller, more intimate ones, such as when Carey sang a trio of songs from a checkered square stage set up in the middle of the arena, ending with a climactic take on "Always Be My Baby", which she finished on her knees.

Too bad then, that the show was slowed down by a pair of DJ interludes - as well as a meandering suite of songs from backup singer Trey Lorenz - which were meant to kill time while Carey underwent her four different wardrobe changes. The evening suffered from this uneven momentum. "Sometimes, life can be like a roller coaster," Carey announced during a taped intro to the show, and the same could be said of her concerts.
(Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Her career has taken a number of peculiar turns over the last few years, but Mariah Carey's remarkable five-octave voice continues to bring the singer her share of fame and success. The daughter of an opera singer, Carey was encouraged to develop her vocal skills at an early age. By her late teens, she was performing in New York City and soon landed a gig as a back-up singer for Brenda K. Starr. A month after handing her demo to Colombia Records exec Tommy Mottola, she was signed to her own deal. Her debut album, 'Vision of Love,' and follow-up efforts made Carey a huge star as she racked up hits on the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts. She also married Mottola in 1993, though their union was destined to be short-lived.

Carey made the leap from chaste adult-contemporary singer to sultry hip-hop soul vixen with her 1997 album 'Butterfly.' Drastically changing her image, Carey asserted her independence from Mottola and found a new direction for her career. Unfortunately, the singer spread herself too thin in the new millenium after signing the biggest solo deal in music history (an $80 million contract with Virgin). She produced her first bonafide flop in the double-barrelled disaster that was her film debut and accompanying soundtrack, 'Glitter.' Worse still, Carey exhausted herself to the point of her now-infamous meltdown on MTV's 'TRL' before finally checking into a hospital for some much needed rest.

Carey and her new label parted ways with the singer getting a hefty payout of $28 million. Carey later signed with Island Def Jam Records, and after an unsuccessful period, she burst back onto the music scene in April 2005 with her 10th studio effort and acclaimed comback album 'The Emancipation of Mimi.' The record exploded on the charts and gave the singer the best-selling disc and most popular single of the year as well as an avalanche of accolades and awards (though U2 ended up stealing some of her thunder at the Grammys). Still a fan favorite who manages to appeal to housewives and hip-hoppers alike, Carey obviously aims to stay on the scene for many years to come.

2006 Oct: 2, Location: East Bay, Venue: The Arena in Oakland, Time Info: 8 p.m.
(KTVU.com)

"Life is kinda like a rollercoaster," began the taped introduction of Mariah Carey's sold-out Sept. 30 concert for The Adventures of Mimi: the Voice, the Hits, the Tour in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. When the superstar hit the stage at 8:53 p.m., after opening act Sean Paul failed to appear and the audience just sat for an hour, the ride finally began.

Mariah popped onto the bi-level stage wearing a black cape, a midriff-baring black top and tiny black shorts. During the opening verse of "It's Like That", she yelled, "What's up Vegas?" to a crowd that erupted in screams almost as high-pitched as the high notes for which she is famous.

After she breezed through a subsequent remix of "Dreamlover", she welcomed her fans to her fourth concert in Las Vegas. She also welcomed rapper and producer Jermaine Dupri, who performed the first song of the night with her, and mentioned the presence of rapper Bow Wow and producer Jimmy Jam.

"I don't want anyone to get mobbed," she added, "but there's also someone in the crowd with the initials J.J." The crowd exploded with applause and heads turned in all directions looking for Janet Jackson, the superstar who had accompanied boyfriend Jermaine Dupri to the event.

After a wardrobe change, the show went on with Mariah's transition into her debut single "Vision of Love", which came surprisingly early in the concert. Midway through the performance, she lost her earpiece and did a second a cappella run of the song's melismatic bridge.

The brisk, but not rushed, pace of the concert showed Mariah has grown from her previous Vegas performances. Gone were the pointless skits that dominated the "Charmbracelet" tour I saw in July 2003. Gone was the needless guest appearance of Jack, Mariah's terrier, attacking a water bottle, which perplexed me during the Rainbow tour in 2000. This more mature Mariah was all business, all music, and - best of all - all live.

Mariah's voice was strong for her Las Vegas performance. Even the usually softer parts of her songs were sung in full voice and she often ventured into her lower register for an added twist.

At the introduction of her gospel ballad "Fly Like A Bird", she announced, "I know we're in Sin City and all - and this may not be the most demure ensemble you've ever seen, but sometimes you've got to mix it up to get the message across." Pastor Clarence Keaton, who is featured on this record, was not in attendance for the Las Vegas performance after a few incidences of absenteeism on his part in previous tour stops.

Peppering in her old hits, Mariah also sang a snippet of "Can't Let Go". "That one kinda broke my streak of number ones," she muttered into the microphone, afterwards. "But I'm not bitter!" She brought out Trey Lorenz for their early 90s remake of "I'll Be There", by the Jackson 5. "Even the old folks know this one," Mariah said. Lorenz said he wasn't in his usual voice, after a night of poker and drinks, so as a duo they invited the crowd to sing most of the song. As Mariah changed clothes, Trey Lorenz did a tribute to Luther Vandross, with "Never Too Much", "A House is Not a Home" and then broke into an unexpected version of pop-group Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".

Mariah performed on a second stage, then returned to the main stage to sing "Hero". She thanked the crowd and said good night around 10:15, but every true fan knew she was planning an encore. She returned to perform an amazing "We Belong Together" and a reprise of "Butterfly" to conclude. With that, the rollercoaster ride came to an end.
(The Rebel Yell)