'Celebrity Apprentice' Recap: It's Rough For Rockers

La Toya Jackson, Brande Roderick and Claudia Jordan on 'Celebrity Apprentice.'

Every rose has its thorn. And every reality competition has no use for former winners-turned-repeat-contestants. Such was the lesson learned from last week's season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice, during which former champion and purveyor of monogrammed cowboy hats Bret Michaels was promptly given the pink slip by Donald Trump and sent on his color contact-wearing way.

So it is that week's episode kicks off with board room survivors Brande Roderick and La Toya Jackson returning to a delighted suite of fellow contestants, none happier than Michaels' devilish former teammate, Omarosa. "My wish came true!" she exclaims, trying her damnedest to portray herself as cold-hearted. "Deuces, Bret!"

There's little time to celebrate: Trump interrupts the party to inform the teams that they're soon boarding his Boeing 757 jet ("You know, if you have a plane like that, you can have any woman in the world," he'll later enlighten us) and flying down to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for their next task. Without knowing what exactly they'll be doing, the teams must select project managers. Dee Snider and Omarosa man up, respectively. (We also learn that Trace Adkins will be unable to participate this week; apparently a cruise with Blake Shelton takes precedence.)

Q&A: Donald Trump on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' Guns and Romney's Failings

OK, so what's the task? The teams will be creating a "photo experience" at the theme park. The winning project manager will notch $20K for his or her charity. For the time being, all Omarosa's team can think about is the forthcoming drama awaiting them with her at the helm . "You don't have to worry about me backstabbing," Omarosa insists. "I'll come from the front!"

Once on the ground, both teams set out to work. Omarosa says she wants to treat the task as if her team were an ad agency promoting Universal; Snider takes the Universal executive's advice and says he plans to follow the mantra of creating "memorable experiences."

Omarosa's team ultimately decides to construct a three-part photo booth of sorts, with each "room" in the booth featuring a specific Universal brand (Harry Potter, Spiderman, Despicable Me). Lil Jon, Jackson and Roderick venture out to snap pictures throughout the park. Dennis Rodman stays back with Omarosa, who is keeping herself busy demeaning her team's hired hands.

Meanwhile, Snider finds himself succumbing to Penn Jillette's suggestion to create a 3D illusion for the photo experience. ("He got sucked into Penn's illusion," teammate Stephen Baldwin says of Snider.) Eventually, the Twisted Sister singer grows a pair and dismisses Jillette's over-the-top proposal, instead opting to construct cutouts of him and his team members posing like goofballs. "We're all pretty bright people," Snider says minutes after Gary Busey makes it obvious he's never before used a digital camera. "Very sweet," Marilu Henner says describing teammate Busey. "But so irritating."

The next morning, both teams arrive at the park; their "experiences" are now constructed and ready for action. "I'm a visionary and a leader," Omarosa says to no one in particular, reflecting on her self-proclaimed project-managing genius. Theme-park guests file into both teams' exhibits, snap pictures, let Busey creepily tickle them and watch as Trump's two sons and the Universal executives awkwardly feign excitement. Nothing's for certain, but Omarosa's team's display appears far superior.

Now we're back in the board room. Henner tells Trump that Busey was nothing short of a nuisance to their team. Omarosa says Rodman basically stood around and did jack. There's a bunch of the usual catty chit-chat (Claudia Jordan says teammate Omarosa is nasty . . . but dammit, she respects her) as Trump tells the celebrities how great they are. Let's get the results: Trump informs Snider that the Universal executives thought his team's exhibit was sorely lacking in creativity. So, as we predicted, Omarosa's team notches the win.

Wait, was it that, you say? Is that Omarosa balling hysterically simply because her team won a Celebrity Apprentice challenge? Well, apparently she's also overjoyed that she can now donate money to the charity of her late fiancé, Michael Clark Duncan. Rodman isn't sold. "That's so Oscar-worthy acting," the first North Korean diplomat with a lip ring says.

Obviously someone from Snider's team must now be fired. The team's ideas for the task were all Snider's. Then again, Jillette didn't exactly press hard for his original, far more creative concept. But after fake-firing Jillette ("I was already halfway to the elevator," the magician says with a laugh), Snider opts to bring back Busey and Baldwin with him to the board room to face elimination. (The former, Snider says, has "limited capabilities" and the latter is "shady.") Quickly, though, it becomes apparent that Snider is prepared to fall on his own sword this go-round. "Dee, I don't want to fire you," Trump says, "but Dee, you're fired!"

"I didn't expect to see you so soon," Snider tells the Trump Tower elevator attendant as he makes his exit, and with it signaling two episodes in the can and two rockers sent packing.

Last Episode: The Meatball-Hawking All-Stars

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Aerosmith Balance 'Real Rockers' With Power Ballads on New LP, Says Songwriter

Think of any current radio-friendly rock act and chances are, songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen has helped score them a hit. Recently, Frederiksen hooked up his old pals in Aerosmith once again; their upcoming album, Music From Another Dimension!, features five Frederiksen co-written tracks, including a tune that had been on the drawing board for years, "What Could Have Been Love."

"It's been a good seven years," Frederiksen tells Rolling Stone about the track. "The song came about because Steven [Tyler] really liked it and we worked it up. Someone else would have done the song, but we held it and held it, hoping that it worked for Aerosmith. It's a power ballad-y kind of song, maybe the typical song for Aerosmith. But it just had a good message and Steven was feeling it. So we held on to it and finally, it's seen the light of day."

Frederiksen also earned a producer credit on three of the album's songs, next to other tracks helmed by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. "I think the ones that Jack produced are more 'band guy' songs.' I worked on a couple of other songs I didn't produce on the record, and one is a real rocker that came out of the same time as 'What Could Have Been Love' – [new single] 'Lover Alot.' I co-wrote that with the guys. A whole different beast, man – just rockin', loose and uptempo. That's the great thing about songwriting and being able to work with a band like this – you can do something old-school rock and then do a beautiful ballad. The good thing about all these songs is nothing is over-produced."

Music From Another Dimension! is not the only place where songs co-penned by Frederiksen and Tyler will turn up soon: the duo collaborated with Julian Lennon on a song titled "Someday." "It was kind of a last-minute thing," explains Frederiksen. "We were finishing up the Aerosmith stuff in L.A., and Steven was like, 'Julian's staying below where I'm staying, at the Sunset Marquis. We've got to go over and write a song with him – I've been telling him about you.'"

"Steven and I went over there, and Julian has a songwriting partner, Mark Spiro, and all four of us sat down and wrote a song. Literally, an hour and a half later, we had the song done – lyrics and everything. To be honest, it was the first time I'd written with Steven not for Aerosmith or himself," he adds. "It was like a different guy in the room for me, because he's so particular in what he would sing. He was still way into it, it was just a different guy." Frederiksen describes "Someday" as "midtempo. It's got really rhythmic beats in it. Different kind of grooves. It's not your typical production. Really India-kind of strings, and Steven did some backgrounds on it."

Frederiksen credits his own songwriting success to similar open-mindedness. "My big start was through Aerosmith, with [A&R executive] John Kalodner hooking me up with them. They started doing it back on their 'return' – writing with outside writers. They wanted to just get the best songs possible, and get different takes on ideas they may have, and go left instead of right," he says. "I feel like I'm more of a collaborator than a songwriter. I get in with an artist, and I really try to get what they want to get. I never try and steer them towards anything they don't want to do."

"I've been out in Nashville a little now and doing some writing out there, and there's so many great writers," he continues. "A lot of the country stuff, a lot of those guys aren't even concerned about writing the songs – they just want the best songs they can possibly sing, like the Elvis days. I look at it like that – artists would rather stay with their families rather than grind out songs and have to write 50 songs to find 10."

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Aerosmith Balance 'Real Rockers' With Power Ballads on New LP, Says Songwriter

Think of any current radio-friendly rock act and chances are, songwriter-for-hire Marti Frederiksen has helped score them a hit. Recently, Frederiksen hooked up his old pals in Aerosmith once again; their upcoming album, Music From Another Dimension!, features five Frederiksen co-written tracks, including a tune that had been on the drawing board for years, "What Could Have Been Love."

"It's been a good seven years," Frederiksen tells Rolling Stone about the track. "The song came about because Steven [Tyler] really liked it and we worked it up. Someone else would have done the song, but we held it and held it, hoping that it worked for Aerosmith. It's a power ballad-y kind of song, maybe the typical song for Aerosmith. But it just had a good message and Steven was feeling it. So we held on to it and finally, it's seen the light of day."

Frederiksen also earned a producer credit on three of the album's songs, next to other tracks helmed by Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. "I think the ones that Jack produced are more 'band guy' songs.' I worked on a couple of other songs I didn't produce on the record, and one is a real rocker that came out of the same time as 'What Could Have Been Love' – [new single] 'Lover Alot.' I co-wrote that with the guys. A whole different beast, man – just rockin', loose and uptempo. That's the great thing about songwriting and being able to work with a band like this – you can do something old-school rock and then do a beautiful ballad. The good thing about all these songs is nothing is over-produced."

Music From Another Dimension! is not the only place where songs co-penned by Frederiksen and Tyler will turn up soon: the duo collaborated with Julian Lennon on a song titled "Someday." "It was kind of a last-minute thing," explains Frederiksen. "We were finishing up the Aerosmith stuff in L.A., and Steven was like, 'Julian's staying below where I'm staying, at the Sunset Marquis. We've got to go over and write a song with him – I've been telling him about you.'"

"Steven and I went over there, and Julian has a songwriting partner, Mark Spiro, and all four of us sat down and wrote a song. Literally, an hour and a half later, we had the song done – lyrics and everything. To be honest, it was the first time I'd written with Steven not for Aerosmith or himself," he adds. "It was like a different guy in the room for me, because he's so particular in what he would sing. He was still way into it, it was just a different guy." Frederiksen describes "Someday" as "midtempo. It's got really rhythmic beats in it. Different kind of grooves. It's not your typical production. Really India-kind of strings, and Steven did some backgrounds on it."

Frederiksen credits his own songwriting success to similar open-mindedness. "My big start was through Aerosmith, with [A&R executive] John Kalodner hooking me up with them. They started doing it back on their 'return' – writing with outside writers. They wanted to just get the best songs possible, and get different takes on ideas they may have, and go left instead of right," he says. "I feel like I'm more of a collaborator than a songwriter. I get in with an artist, and I really try to get what they want to get. I never try and steer them towards anything they don't want to do."

"I've been out in Nashville a little now and doing some writing out there, and there's so many great writers," he continues. "A lot of the country stuff, a lot of those guys aren't even concerned about writing the songs – they just want the best songs they can possibly sing, like the Elvis days. I look at it like that – artists would rather stay with their families rather than grind out songs and have to write 50 songs to find 10."

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Rockers Send 'Love Letter' to Public Radio

Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Questlove of the Roots and Jack WhiteScott Legato/WireImage; Johnny Nunez/WireImage; Erika Goldring/GettyImages

A group of musicians including Jack White, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, MGMT, M. Ward, the Roots, Tony Bennett, John Mayer and members of Pearl Jam, Phish and Fleet Foxes have penned a "love letter" to public radio as part of Public Radio Music Month.

"Thank you for taking chances," the letter reads. "Thank you for playing our music even when – especially when – it doesn't sound like everything else on the radio dial. Thank you for inviting us into your studios and asking us intelligent questions. Thank you for introducing us to some of the most important music in our lives, music that made us who we are."

Photos: Random Notes

Other artists who signed the letter include Iron and Wine, Jakob Dylan, Chairlift, Bob Mould, Best Coast, Passion Pit, Raphael Saadiq, Shabazz Palaces, Tenacious D, Vernon Reid, the Head and the Heart, Calexico and Glen Hansard. Independent labels Sub Pop, Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Secretly Canadian, and Knitting Factory Records also showed their support.

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Rockers Send 'Love Letter' to Public Radio

Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Questlove of the Roots and Jack WhiteScott Legato/WireImage; Johnny Nunez/WireImage; Erika Goldring/GettyImages

A group of musicians including Jack White, My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, MGMT, M. Ward, the Roots, Tony Bennett, John Mayer and members of Pearl Jam, Phish and Fleet Foxes have penned a "love letter" to public radio as part of Public Radio Music Month.

"Thank you for taking chances," the letter reads. "Thank you for playing our music even when – especially when – it doesn't sound like everything else on the radio dial. Thank you for inviting us into your studios and asking us intelligent questions. Thank you for introducing us to some of the most important music in our lives, music that made us who we are."

Photos: Random Notes

Other artists who signed the letter include Iron and Wine, Jakob Dylan, Chairlift, Bob Mould, Best Coast, Passion Pit, Raphael Saadiq, Shabazz Palaces, Tenacious D, Vernon Reid, the Head and the Heart, Calexico and Glen Hansard. Independent labels Sub Pop, Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar, Secretly Canadian, and Knitting Factory Records also showed their support.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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