Us Weekly’s music editor, Ian Drew, talks with David Archuleta about his heartfelt holiday album!

American Idol alum David Archuleta loves Christmas — so much so that he decided to follow up his self-titled debut album with Christmas From the Heart.

The Season 7 runner-up, 18, talks to Usmagazine.com about the motivation behind his sophomore CD, what inspired him to write a brand-new Christmas song and his recommendations for your holiday party playlist!

Why did you decide to record a Christmas album?
For me, Christmas music has always been such a big time in my life. Ever since I was little, I was just into Christmas music. We used to go around Christmas caroling with Santa hats on, and I did that whole thing, and it was really fun… That’s always been my time to sing. Now it’s like, ‘Whoa! The songs that I’ve been singing every year since I was a little kid — now I get to make an album?’

What has the experience been like?
I never imagined that I would be able to really do a Christmas album like this, to this extent, where I have my own arrangements of these songs that I’ve been singing. It’s just so cool. And it’s like, ‘Wow, no one else sings it this way except for me, and it’s on an album and it’s released.’ It’s just really amazing to see that from where I would sing acapella when I was little at retirement homes and hospitals and neighbor’s houses to now being able to put them on an album.

How did you choose the songs?
Some of them were songs that I’ve sung or I used to sing. So that’s what’s cool. And [the producers] went to Prague for some of these arrangements to have a Prague orchestra, and it was just so cool. It’s just exciting to have some of the songs like “Angels We Have Heard on High,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” and “O Holy Night.” Just those songs — that’s what I grew up singing.

What inspired “Melodies of Christmas,” the song you wrote yourself?
It sums up what I feel Christmas music can do for people. It talks about how all the different melodies of Christmas bring back memories. When people hear Christmas songs, it reminds them of things. It reminds me of having dinner with my family, just celebrating opening presents and this family trip that we had during the holidays.

Which songs from your Christmas album are a must for any holiday party playlist?
The Trans-Siberian orchestra song. I love that one. It’s so big and powerful.

How do you spend Christmas?
We actually used to put on some Christmas shows with me and my brothers and sisters and cousins, and we used to just go out and bike at retirement homes and hospitals and just put on shows for people who might feel kind of left out and forgotten about because they’re in the hospital or places where they might be alone. For the actual holiday, usually we’ll go to my grandpa’s, but we went to Las Vegas last year. We went to get away because I had not been home all year, and I’d just been so busy with so many different things. It was finally my break to be back with my family. It’s so important to spend time with the people you care about.

What are your favorite Christmas albums to give as gifts?
Mariah Carey is great. She’s an amazing singer and has such a big voice. My mom listened to Celine Dion a lot when I was little. I always heard Natalie Cole’s “The First Noel,” too. She’d sing that a lot. Natalie Cole was a big influence!

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Frances Bean Cobain is protected against her mother Courtney Love by a temporary restraining order – but why?

Although attorneys have revealed few details in the case, court documents released Wednesday speak generally of “personal problems in the family” and more specifically of “domestic violence.”

There’s no elaboration, and these disclosures came in a motion to seal documents in the case in which the court has stripped Love of legal control of her 17-year-old daughter with the late Kurt Cobain and appointed the teen’s grandmother and aunt as temporary guardians.

Since the case was made public, Love, 45, has posted a number of bizarre and rambling messages on her Facebook page, but her attorney has insisted the singer has not suffered a drug relapse and that the case “is simply about Frances preferring to live with her grandmother.”

According to the new court papers, lawyers for the guardians – Cobain’s mother Wendy O’Connor and his sister Kimberly Dawn Cobain – argue the case should proceed in private to protect Frances.

“The merits of this motion cannot be fully argued here without disclosing the contents of the documents to be sealed,” the papers say.

But the papers were filed under the heading “motion to seal all documents … relating to a minor and allegations of domestic violence.” Among those documents are Frances’s medical records, according to the filing.

Later, the papers say that a temporary restraining order was issued on Dec. 11 “restraining the minor’s mother, Courtney Love Cobain, from certain behavior and from coming within a certain distance of Frances or her guardians.”

“The very fact that a guardianship proceeding is pending while her mother is living is an indication of personal problems in the family,” the papers say. Elsewhere, they add, “In this proceeding, every document reveals details of Frances’s relationship with her mother.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

One of Hollywood’s most enduring relationships has ended – Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have broken up after more than two decades together, People has learned exclusively.

“Actress Susan Sarandon and her partner of 23 years, actor Tim Robbins have announced that they separated over the summer,” her rep Teal Cannaday tells People in a statement. “No further comments will be made.”

The couple met on the set of Bull Durham, and they have two sons together, Jack, 20, and Miles, 17.

Sarandon, 63, was previously married to Chris Sarandon, whom she met in college. The actress also dated director Franco Amurri in the mid ’80s. The two had a daughter, Eva Amurri, in 1985. (Amurri is also an actress; she most recently appeared in Showtime’s Californication).

Sarandon and Robbins, 51, were admired for their long relationship in the face of the pressures of show business, their much-discussed age difference – he’s 12 years younger – and that they never married.

“I won’t marry because I am too afraid of taking him for granted or him taking me for granted – maybe it will be a good excuse for a party when I am 80,” Sarandon has said in the past.

Both famous liberal activists, they have never been too political at home with their children. “I’ve never tried to force [politics] on them,” the actress tells Psychologies magazine in its January issue, but adds that the election of President Barack Obama “got them excited.”

The family all attended the inauguration in January, though Sarandon insists “our dinner table conversations are rarely political.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

It’s a boy for Johnny Knoxville and girlfriend Naomi Nelson.

The couple welcomed son Rocko Akira Clapp on Sunday night in Los Angeles. The baby weighed in at 8 lbs., and measured 20 inches long. Both mother and son are doing well, reports the Los Angeles Times.

In announcing the pregnancy in August, the actor and former Jackass star, 38 – whose real name is Phillip John Clapp – said he was “excited as hell” to meet his baby-on-the-way.

Rocko joins Madison, Knoxville’s 13-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Despite being investigated for the death of Michael Jackson, Dr. Conrad Murray will star in his own, international reality TV show. The doc has collaborated with a British production company that shot footage of his return to practicing medicine on Nov. 23, TMZ reports.

The material was shot for an one-episode reality TV show, according to TMZ.

A spokesman for Murray told TMZ that the doctor was “interested in the reaction of patients to his return.”

The crew followed a day in the life of Murray, in the office and stopping by a church. Dr. Murray will get paid an unspecified amount once the special airs; however, the air date is not in the near future.

The doc is refusing to allow the company to air the project until the MJ investigation is complete, which can be years from now.

“Dr. Murray is currently working 12 hour days … to pay off his [child support] debt,” the spokesman told TMZ.

Wonder how the Jackson family — who has their own reality show, The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, on A&E — feels about this Murray’s TV Special?

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Along with the sneak peek of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Eclipse, Summit Entertainment has also released photos from R-Pattz’s new flick Remember Me.

The heartthrob stars opposite Emilie de Ravin and Pierce Brosnan in the love story due out March 2010.

How could anyone forget a face like his?

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On Tuesday, actor Eric Balfour visited Brittany Murphy’s mother Sharon and husband Simon Monjack at the Hollywood Hills home where the actress, 32, died Sunday.

“Everyone is devastated,” he told UsMagazine.com. “We are trying to be strong for them.”

In the early 90s, Balfour, now 32, was also a member of a band called “Blessed with Soul” that featured Murphy.

He said her death is “just a tragedy. I’ve known her since I was 14-years old,” he told Us. “Brittany was one of my oldest friends. We are very sad she is gone, and we are asking everyone to be respectful,” he told Us.

Added the actor, “Life is fragile. There is no easy way through this.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin