Yesterday everyone was shocked to hear the news of Michael Jackson passing away. No matter how you felt about him personally, Michael gave a tremendous amount to the music industry.

Members of the High School Musical cast and crew expressed their regrets over his passing.

Ashley Tisdale wrote on Twitter, “So sad. Saying a prayer for Michael Jackson. I have to say, the 6 of us from HSM were very lucky to have met such an amazing man. I will remember that moment forever. RIP Michael.”

Monique Coleman tweeted, “so many tears for MJ.”

And Kenny Ortega, who was set to direct Michael Jackson’s comeback tour, updated his personal website saying, “Michael was a dear friend and a consummate professional. This was the most exciting collaboration of my life with a man who has inspired me like no other.

This was the world’s greatest performer and the world will miss him. My heart goes out to his family and fans.”

Image Credit: PictureGroup/MTV

In celebration of the February 17th release of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year” on DVD and Blu-ray, Disney Society is teaming up with Walt Disney Home Entertainment to provide you with an opportunity to win one awesome prize package!

This contest is going to take some reader participation, but I know you guys can do it! I have two prize packages for a main winner and a runner-up. Let me tell you about the prizes and then we’ll get into how you can win one.

Prize Package #1 – An HSM 3-disc Blu-ray Prize Pack:

• High School Musical: Remix Edition

• High School Musical 2: Extended Edition

• High School Musical 3: Senior Year Deluxe Extended Edition (includes DVD copy)

• Wildcat Valentine (The lid of the box has a heart on it and when you open up the box, the HSM3 finale plays. Also inside the box is a stuffed animal and tassel.)

Prize pack number 2 and the rules of the contest are below.

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Well, the whole debate about if Camp Rock is better than High School Musical seems to be split right down the middle. There is one thing for sure though, and that’s the big ratings that Camp Rock brought in.

Camp Rock’s Friday Disney Channel premiere averaged 8.9 million viewers for the 8-10 pm Friday slot. Those ratings did outdo the original High School Musical movie, but it ranked second after High School Musical 2, which brought in 17.2 million viewers on its August 17th premiere.

In January 2007, the DCOM Jump In! brought in 8.2 million viewers, which is not too far behind Camp Rock.

On Friday night from 8-10 pm, the Disney Channel was the most-watched network, followed by CBS’s 3 million viewers.

Needless to say, the Disney Channel knows how to make some awesome movies and bring in some awesome ratings!

Image used with permission by Newscom 

Everyone and their dog is talking about “Camp Rock” today. There are some great articles out there and I will try to round up some of the best of the best.

E! Online has an article entitled “HSM Was Big, Can Camp Rock Be Bigger?“. I have read some reviews and the majority of them say that Camp Rock is not as good as High School Musical. I guess we will just have to wait and see what us viewers have to say about it. But, do we really need to compare them or can they both just be equally good? Regardless of which movie everyone thinks is better, the bottom line is that Disney knows how to make the best original movies ever! Right?

The article does say that everything points to the possibility of Camp Rock having record-setting ratings.  The simple fact that the Jonas Brothers, who are already HUGE, are in the movie, guarantees that girls everywhere will come out of the woodwork to watch this movie. There will be Camp Rock parties and Camp Rock fever for quite some time. And there, there’s the talk of “Camp Rock 2“!!

Is Camp Rock going to be big? YES! Bigger than HSM….we will just have to wait and see.

Image used with permission by Newscom 

Remember the fun and catchy “Bop to the Top” song that Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel sang in High School Musical? Every time I listen to this song or watch Ryan and Sharpay doing their thing, the song gets stuck in my head!

This is a video clip of Ashley and Lucas practicing this song. I wonder what they are cooking up for High School Musical 3! I love Ashley’s socks, lol.

Don’t forget that the premiere of “My School Musical” is tonight on the Disney Channel at 6/5 c. Video submissions are now closed, but you can still watch videos of other kids or send the Disney Channel a shout-out. Head over to the My School Musical page.

Are you going to watch it tonight?

Ashley Tisdale is talking about singing and how she warms up her vocals. She also mentions what kind of music she likes. Do you any of you have a special way you warm up your vocal cords?

KayCee Stroh is having quite the year. First, she gets cast in “High School Musical 3” and gets to return as the pop-n-lock girl we all fell in love with. Then, she goes and gets engaged to boyfriend Ben Higginson. Most recently, KayCee had a surprise party with her “High School Musical 3″ friends. KayCee turned 24!

KayCee was thrown a surprise party at the Classic Skating & Fun Center in Salt Lake City on a day off from filming. The star was surrounded by both friends and family, which included Corbin Bleu, Ryne Sanborn, Bart Johnson and new cast members Justin Martin and Jemma McKenzie-Brown.

Here’s a video of KayCee with new “High School Musical 3” star Jemma McKenzie-Brown.

More videos with KayCee below! In one video, she spills a HSM3 secret about her character.
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Here’s a cute Disney Channel commercial with High School Musical stars Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron. They are encouraging us to grab a book and read!

I’ve never seen this interview before and it’s great! It’s an old interview with Vanessa Hudgens talking about High School Musical and what it has done for her. She answers the question - “Can you go to the mall without sunglasses and a big hat?” She also talks about how different she is from her HSM character Gabbriella.