Up-and-coming singer/songwriter Lindsay Rush has likely hit the radar of most of you visiting this website in the last couple weeks. Lindsay posted a video on her YouTube channel of herself recording a song that producer Eric Bazilian had written with Idina, titled “Kinda Special.” Lindsay was kind enough to sit down “with” me for a few minutes to discuss this song and how it came to be.

How did you come to record “Kinda Special”?
I had been writing and recording a lot with songwriter/musician, Eric Bazilian. He wrote “One of Us” for Joan Osborne. One day he mentioned a song that he had written with Idina, called “Kinda Special.” He played it for me, and said that they never felt like it reached its full potential. He gave me the track to take home to see if I could come up with a way to take it where they thought it should be. After listening to it a lot, I thought it would be a more powerful and unique song if it were about Idin’as new baby, instead of it being a love song. So I wrote mostly new lyrics, and the next day, Eric and I went back into the studio to record the new version. You can see a video of the recording session on YouTube.

Read on to see what else she had to say!

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Thanks to everyone for participating in September’s metaphorical photography contest! The photos that were submitted were all AMAZING. I’ve reviewed everyone’s guesses, and here are the winners:

AnLi‘s photograph received the most correct guesses and will receive a personalized lithograph!
Zoe submitted the most correct guesses and will receive an autographed limited edition copy of I Stand!
Claire‘s subtly poignant photo representing “Hope” was my personal favorite in light of October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month and will receive an autographed photo of Idina!

The answers will be revealed in the contest album in the coming days. I’ll announce on Twitter when the song titles are available. Comments on the photos are now allowed, so feel free to discuss and debate in the meantime!

Speaking of Twitter and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, each time you include “#beatcancer” in your tweets, 1 cent is donated to breast cancer research, so tweet away, and make sure you include #beatcancer.

Reminder that you have just two more weeks to work on October’s Idina-fy Yourself costume contest!

I forgot I had promised to post more detailed information for the costume contest back on October 1. My apologies! The good news is that the info I’m about to post won’t have any effect on what you’ve done or are planning to do.

RULES:

- Dress up like Idina, whether it’s a costume from her shows or something else.
- Take a picture of yourself wearing your costume. You may take more than one photo if necessary to better showcase your creation (I will combine your photos into one large photo for gallery addition purposes). You can team up with friends, use props, etc., but regardless of how many people are in your image, there is only ONE prize. Sorry!
- Rename your images as your name, i.e. JaneD.jpg, and email the picture(s) to me at contest[AT]idina-here.com with “OCTOBER CONTEST” as your subject. Please tell me what your costume is, even if it’s obvious. You have until 11:59 pm ET on November 1 to submit your entries.
- ONE entry per person/team.
- Open to everyone, all ages, worldwide.
- All photos will be added to the Gallery and visitors to the site will be allowed to view and vote on their favorite costume (how-to will be posted once images are added). The biggest vote-getter will receive a personalized and autographed Idina lithograph!
- HAVE FUN & BE CREATIVE!

I wanted to bring the following auction to everyone’s attention. “The Elephant Project” is a fundraising effort benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association. Idina contributed her signature and a snapshot to them to be auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Association. If you feel inclined to contribute, please click the image below to bid.

Today’s fun gallery update reveals several previously unseen photos from Idina’s 2003 photoshoot for Here. Aren’t they prettiful?

Additional photo galleries that have been updated include:

RENT Film Premiere x16
Karina Taira Outtakes x13 MQ replacements
Enchanted Premiere x11
Sex & the City Premiere x10
Kennedy Center Honors x10 HQ replacements
Barbados x9
Tony Awards 2005 x9
Tony Awards 2007 x5
Nicholas Samartis Outtakes x4 MQ replacements
2005 Summer Tour Stage Door x4
Filming RENT x4

All updates courtesy of LeaMicheleWeb.org.

We received nearly 100 awesome photos for our September photography contest! Now it’s time for Part II, so here we go:

Part II – Rules