ShadowRAM: March 31, 2008

American Idol Dad Is A Channel Idol
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Archuleta, the father of "American Idol" contestant David Archuleta—one of the most popular contestants on the Fox singing competition show—has been portrayed as somewhat of a Daddy Dearest by TMZ.com. Friends of the Archuletas, contacted by ChannelWeb, said that both Jeff and David Archuleta have been surprised by stories on TMZ.com calling Jeff an evil stage dad and accusing him of yelling at David until he cried during one week's rehearsals.

Jeff is "very involved in David's life and a very caring father," said a source close to the family, who asked not to be named. "Why would he be yelling and screaming at David when he has been doing so well? It doesn't make sense."

The negative Hollywood press attention heated up after last week's show, when "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell apparently blamed David's dad for what Cowell thought was a bad song choice for David. Cowell said he had trouble believing that 17-year-old David chose the song "You're The Voice" himself. TMZ.com jumped on another chance to bash Jeff Archuleta.

"American Idol" doesn't allow contestants or family members to speak to the press about the show, but sources close to the Archuleta family told us that David did indeed choose that song himself. And David said on the show that the song has been a favorite of his for a long time.

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As long as David is in the competition, his father will stay with him and keep in touch with his company via phone and e-mail, employees told us.

We're now mounting a movement called "VARs For Archuleta." Followed by one to stop the too-annoying-to-believe hand-waving that goes on in the front rows each show.

Ricoh Hits It Out Of The Park
• The World Series Champion Boston Red Sox opened the season against the Oakland A's in a two-game series at Japan's Tokyo Dome that drew nearly 90,000 fans. The big winner in our view was not the Red Sox and their Japanese pitching phenom Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was less-than-stellar in the opening game, but printer giant Ricoh. That's because all of the Red Sox and A's had the Ricoh logo on their batting helmets. (Ricoh was also featured prominently in the lead banner behind home plate at the Tokyo Dome.)

Anyway, we'd love to see those helmets travel back to the States and sold on eBay, since you don't usually find advertisements on major league baseball helmets. Great pitching, Ricoh.

SEEN AND HEARD
• Powersolution.com CEO David Dadian is doing more than just aggressively selling energy-efficient green IT solutions to help save the environment. Dadian is also putting his money where his mouth is with a Powersolution.com fund aimed at setting aside 2.5 percent of net quarterly profits to The Armenia Tree Project, a nonprofit organization that funds reforestation in Armenia's impoverished and deforested zones. So far, more than 2,000,000 trees have been planted and restored, and hundreds of jobs have been created for Armenians in seasonal tree-regeneration programs.

To date, Dadian, pictured here with Jason A. Sohigian, Deputy Director of The Armenia Tree Project, has raised $1,000 in the name of both Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.-based Powersolution.com and a fund in memory of his deceased father, Patrick, and uncle, Noubar. "We want to inspire people," said Dadian, urging his fellow VARs to contribute. "If everyone kicks in a buck or two we can make a big difference. We can stop global warming."

Those who want to step up to Dadian's challenge can contribute at armeniatree.org or by calling Sohigian at (617) 926-8733.