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I found this article on J from one of the Philly local papers. Although it is not so "new" (published on January 18, 2009), it is still a great and interesting article. Too bad it did not include the pictures.

'Justin Guarini Central'

Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, PA) - Sunday, January 18, 2009

Author:

By NAILA FRANCIS

STAFF WRITER

Consider him a less frenetic version of the arcade classic Whac-A-Mole. Except when Justin Guarini pops onto your radar in 2009 - and he most certainly will - Doylestown's favorite "Idol" is hoping to keep his curly-topped crown well above the surface.

And this time, if his ambitions bear the fruit that he expects, there'll be no escaping his charismatic presence.

"These next (few) months are going to be my Whac-A-Mole quarter," says Guarini, who now boasts a permanent Doylestown Borough address after six years in Los Angeles. "I'm just going to keep popping up everywhere."

With the eighth season of "American Idol" already upon us, the 30-year-old is still busy co-hosting "Idol Tonight" and "Idol Wrap" for the TVGuide Channel, while writing a Fancast blog on the show for Comcast. And when Disney's Hollywood Studios unveils The American Idol Experience on Feb. 14 at Walt Disney World, Guarini will be a televised fixture introducing guests to what they can expect from the new attraction, which re-creates the reality competition's audition process for park-goers.

COUNTRY MUSIC CALLING ...

But this week, the big buzz is his return to reality television.

On Saturday, Guarini will appear on the third-season premiere of "Gone Country," the hit Country Music Television show (CMT at 8 p.m.) that takes seven celebrities from varying entertainment backgrounds and throws them together for a chance at country music stardom. Hosted by John Rich of the hit country duo Big & Rich, the series transplants them all to a Nashville mansion - the elegant Fontanel, once home to Barbara Mandrell - where each is paired with some of the best songwriters in Music City, U.S.A., while undergoing assorted challenges to prove their mettle in the genre. Rich chooses the winner at the end of the season.

And, yes, Guarini knows what many may be thinking. Another reality show? Didn't he go through enough as the first-season runner-up on "American Idol," with his long-delayed album release, the unfortunate film project "From Justin to Kelly" and a haphazard promotional campaign that eventually led to him being dropped from RCA Records and parting ways with "Idol's" 19 Management?

"I had offers from a holy host of reality shows," says the Central Bucks East graduate, speaking from the recording studios of Andre Avalos in Doylestown Township, where the two are working on an Internet TV show that will debut in mid-February. "But I did what I consider to be the best. ("American Idol') was all about talent and learning a song and taking that song and making it your own and performing it before millions of viewers and the grueling process that we went through every week.

"Here's a show about writing a great song. Yes, there's the reality aspect, but the main focus is about the music and taking musicians who've had success to one degree or another outside the country genre and putting them in a house and letting them live together and see if they've got what it takes to live the country music lifestyle."

George Clinton, Tara Conner, Taylor Dayne, The Monkees' Micky Dolenz, Sheila E. and Richard Grieco round out the Season 3 crew.

"I was the rookie walking in. I mean, (some of) these people had major hits." says Guarini, waxing rhapsodic about playing bass with Sheila E. on the drums or having Clinton play a melody to accompany his guitar.

"I don't care what heights I reach to in my career, those things will always stay with me."

CALCULATING A CAREER

Rather than some young artists who take aim at any chance for the spotlight, Guarini proves a shrewd study.

Last year, he released a three-song acoustic EP, "Revolve," with friend Shaun Ingram. Having co-produced his second album, 2005's "Stranger Things Have Happened," where he plied his agile croon to a selection of reinvented jazz standards, Guarini is flexing his songwriting chops as well. He wrote all the lyrics for the EP, channeling a rough-hewn emotion through the spare and brooding set. A far cry from the dance-pop and R&B sounds of his debut, "Revolve," he says, was a catalyst for his new musical direction. And "Gone Country," in some ways, isn't that much of a stretch, considering his evolution.

As he prepares to release his third full-length album (shopping demos at the moment, he's optimistic about a big-label deal), Guarini notes that his sound is now steeped in country, rock and soul, an amalgam he finds more authentic than the R&B route he initially thought he'd pursue.

"This album will be the first true representation of who I am artistically, still leaving room for growth," he says. "I've had a hand in all of (the songs). It's all coming from my life. It deals with the struggle, the joy, the pain of breaking up and making up and everything in between."

And what better place than Nashville, where he recently returned to spend seven days working with seven different writers on material for the new album, to immerse himself in the craft of a good song.

"There's just music hanging off the walls," says Guarini, who saw Kevin Costner play the Grand Ole Opry with his band Modern West while there. "Out of every single bar, there's a live band playing, and all of the musicians are ridiculously talented."

He may seem a bit self-effacing at times, given the company he's been keeping, but Avalos - who in addition to running a state-of-the-art studio from his home provides private music lessons through his company Music Reach - is quick to tout his latest collaborator.

"Justin is very modest," he says. "With all his successes, I don't think we've seen even 10 percent of what he's capable of. His dancing, his singing, his acting - he's amazing."

SKETCH COMEDY IS NEXT

And when "The Justin Guarini Show" makes its Internet debut next month, its host is looking forward to revealing yet another side of him.

"This is going to be a place where I can really do sketch comedy," he says. "It's going to be a variety show, like G4 (TV) meets "Chappelle's Show' meets late-night TV - but with more of a focus on music."

Guarini already hosts his own talk show, interviewing musicians, on BlogTalkRadio, but the TV show, he says, is a chance to offer something even more uniquely his.

"I've been a part of making some really great shows for other people and I want to do that for myself," he says. "This is going to be a place where people can really be inside my head. ... It's going to be Justin Guarini Central, as far as I'm concerned."

He may not have tasted as much of the limelight as other "Idol" contestants have in the years since he lost the title to Kelly Clarkson, but he has enjoyed a marketable degree of prominence by virtue of being part of the premiere season.

Despite struggling to define his musical identity once that season was over - "There's the adage if you don't make a choice, someone will choose for you, and obviously, that was my first album," he says - he admits that the show's stamp has been invaluable.

"People remember me," he says, noting that even his spiraled mop, which he cut short a few years back but has since regrown, is part of that brand. When each "American Idol" season is over, "everyone wants to take a step back from the brand because it's so all-consuming, but those of us who are smart and want to keep working realize you can't beat the brand."

HE'LL MARRY THIS SUMMER

If Doylestown seems an unlikely stage for his many aspirations, Guarini, who flies out to Los Angeles once a week for the taping of "Idol Tonight," has just as many reasons for settling down in his hometown, including fiance Reina Capodici, whom he will marry this summer. Guarini wrote the aptly titled "Keep on Coming Home to You," from his forthcoming CD, about her. The daughter of Karen Capodici, his Lenape Middle School English teacher, she's been friends with him for about 12 years.

"I was not even on his dating radar. I was just a squirt that he hung out with him," says Capodici, who has a 4-year-old daughter Lola from a previous relationship.

Guarini's large and boisterous clan is here, too - mom Kathy and stepdad Jerry Guarini still live in the township - as well as what he sees as a thriving but often-overlooked artistic community without the self-seeking L.A. attitude.

"There's so much untapped talent. Lots of what happens here is really a well-kept secret. My intention is ... to enrich myself by being a part of it," he says. "I really get to have my cake and eat it, too."

Naila Francis can be reached at 215-345-3149 or nfrancis@phillyBurbs.com.

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