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Ripley teen pursues the spotlight
Friday, January 5, 2007 10:08 PM EST
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| Luanne Kilgus Mattingly poses next to the Kilgus Drug Store sign that hung outside the Cox Building in downtown Maysville. Marla Toncray/Staff |
Last August, Rhonda and Jessica Bothman told friends they were going to California and Texas for vacation, but what the mother and daughter were really up to during their week-long trip surprised most of Jessica’s friends once she got back to town.
The reason for the surprise? Jessica went to Los Angeles and then to San Antonio to audition for the hit television show “American Idol” and even though she didn’t make it past the first round of auditions, Jessica says she would do it all over again in a minute.
“I thought it was fun, I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” said 17-year-old Jessica as she sat next to her mother at their home in Aberdeen.
The pair did get to squeeze in some fun during their trip out West, but it was the time spent in the audition lines and in front of the Fox Television cameras that were the highlight of the trip for both and as Rhonda said “made for a great mother-daughter trip”.
Jessica, who is a senior at Ripley High School, has been a fan of “American Idol” since it started five years ago, and during the 2006 season asked her mom if she could try out for the show. Rhonda said she told her she would only give it serious consideration if Jessica made A’s and B’s during her junior year at school, which Jessica did. Once school was out, Jessica started working at her mother’s store, Beautiful Brides & More, and Rhonda said she didn’t give it much thought until the day Jessica told her auditions had been announced for Aug. 8 in Los Angeles and Aug. 11 in San Antonio.
“She had been watching the Internet for the audition dates. I told her “if we’re going to go, we’ll do both days and use Los Angeles as a learning experience for San Antonio,” Rhonda said of her decision to go through with her promise.
Flight and hotel reservations were made and on Aug. 6, mother and daughter arrived at the Rose Bowl around 4 o’clock in the morning to stand in line to complete paperwork and receive their ID bracelets and tickets for admission to the auditions on Aug. 8. Jessica said the Fox Television crew told them the crowd waiting in line was estimated at 25,000 people.
On audition day, Aug. 8, Jessica and Rhonda arrived back at the Rose Bowl at 7:30 a.m. to wait their turn for Jessica’s audition. But there were a couple of surprises in store for those waiting their turn at fame. One was the fact that everyone, including parents escorting their children to the audition, had to sing a crowd song together. As Jessica and Rhonda learned, auditioning for “American Idol” was more than a shot at being discovered, it also meant that those in attendance were constantly being filmed to provide filler footage for the episodes leading up to the final contestant selection and at each audition venue, a crowd song was performed which is aired during the first three episodes of the audition process itself. In Los Angeles, the crowd song was “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees and Anne Murray, and in San Antonio the song was “Rawhide.” Another surprise was the fact that everyone was told that they were auditioning for three things: selection to go forward on the show because you have talent, you were being selected to provide filler footage or that you were advanced to the next round so that people could laugh at you.
“They told us that before the audition. But when you sign that paperwork, you’re agreeing to do this,” Rhonda said with an understanding that it’s all about marketing and ratings.
“It’s not like what you see on TV,” Jessica added.
Being a businesswoman herself and understanding how marketing works, Rhonda suggested Jessica make a poster to bring with her to the audition in hopes of capturing the judges and producers attention. And the gimmick worked.
Jessica flashed her hot pink poster board, with the slogan “All the way from Ohio to be your next American Idol” in front of the cameras throughout the day, gaining the attention of reporters and news crews from Fox “American Idol” filming crew, CNN, and USA Today. Jessica laughed and said she got so much attention because of her poster that contestants around her were calling her “Ohio Girl” and were upset that they didn’t think of bringing along their own signs and posters.
When the day ended at 5 p.m., Jessica had spent less than one minute in front of three judges who heard her sing “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” by Dusty Springfield and Elvis Presley and “When God Fearing Women” by Martina McBride. Disappointed that she was told “she wasn’t what they were looking for this year,” Jessica and her mom left for San Antonio the next day to take one more shot at getting on the show.
On Friday Aug. 11, Jessica had a neon green poster with her instead of the pink one and her marketing gimmick worked again, maybe not with the judges but with the publicity department. There’s a picture of Jessica holding her neon green poster and a video of her now on the official “American Idol” website, www.americanidol.com.
Jessica has also been notified to watch the season premier of the show because she’s in some of the footage shot at both Los Angeles and San Antonio auditions that will be shown.
Disappointed that she didn’t make it to the second round of auditions hasn’t discouraged Jessica from realizing her dream of being on “American Idol,” if anything it’s made her more determined as she talked about what kind of look and gimmick she would use the next time.
“I want to go back next year,” Jessica said with a smile.
Contact Marla Toncray at marla.toncray@lee.net or 606-564-9091 Ext. 275.
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