Carrie Underwood.fm

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• Not Just For Hillbillies

  10/09/07 0 Comments

   For the past few years now, it has bothered me that there is no country music radio station in New York. As a young girl, I never really thought twice about it. I would watch people around me roll their eyes when country music was mentioned, obviously thinking of it as some form of hillbilly southerner trash. I had no reason to disagree. It is a stereotype that New Yorkers impose; not willing to accept or even give this Nashville art form a try. Names of huge talents such as Martina McBride and Tim McGraw would go in one ear and come out the other. How could I know who they were? I was a music fanatic who was not exposed to one of the most ‘real’ and heartfelt genres. 
  It was not until January of 2005 that my view of country music began to change. The fourth season of American Idol started that month, and Carrie Underwood began what can be thought of as Hollywood boot camp. She was a simple and shy, yet extremely intelligent college student. She was well aware of and willing to accept the fact that she might never achieve her dream, but putting everything on the line to chase after it. I had been obsessed with American Idol since the first season. A real “American Idol stalker” as they call them; taping full episodes, watching the behind the scenes footage, etc. Carrie Underwood walked into that dreaded audition room and I knew she was going to walk away with the prize. My predictions were always pretty much accurate; I had named Kelly Clarkson as the winner by the third week of season one and I knew Fantasia would end up in the finale. Carrie was different, though. She didn’t sing girly, feel-good pop music or hip hop. She sang the one music format I hated the most, the one that would make my entire family’s hair stand on end at its mere mention. Country music. 
   There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted Carrie to win the competition, but it almost felt as if there was a wall between us because of the songs she was singing. The top twelve would get up on the stage and Bo Bice and Vonzell Solomon would sing songs I had heard before. Carrie’s turn would come up and I did not recognize the words escaping her lips. I didn’t know who composed the music being played. I gradually started to accept it, however. To my own shock and surprise, by the 5th or 6th week of the competition, I found myself looking up country songs on i-tunes. I began to research Martina McBride and Faith Hill. But most of all, my desire for Carrie to win the competition escalated, and for the first time in all the years I had been watching American Idol, I voted. Not only once, but hundreds of times. I distinctly recall sitting on my bed and punching in her numbers, almost as if I had been overcome by a possessive force. Instead of slumping down my shoulders each time it was announced that Carrie was singing a song I didn’t know, I leaned in toward the television, intrigued. By May 25th, 2005, the day Carrie was crowned the American Idol, I had already become an outrageously obsessive fan. At least my family thought so. I joined forums, chatting with other fans about her debut album, talk show appearances, and award shows. Though my infatuation revolved mainly around Carrie Underwood, it was the whole country music world that caught my attention.
   I sit here, almost three years later, and still believe that being introduced to country music and Carrie Underwood was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It may to be hard to accept or understand, but being a fan of Carrie’s has changed my outlook on not only music, but life as well. At thirteen years old, in January of 2005, I was extremely shy. People had to approach me before I would utter a word to them and I had many issues with self-confidence. I am by no means trying to say that I am no longer quiet or completely self-confident, but I have definitely become more outgoing and more comfortable in my own skin. Many still don’t understand how Carrie helped me achieve these things. It is not an easy concept to explain to someone who is not a huge fan of someone, themselves. Extreme fandom is not only a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. Huge amounts of time are spent on fan clubs and forums, requesting music, and watching concert videos. But, the most significant aspect of being a fan of Carrie’s and the one thing I will walk away from all of this never forgetting, are the people I have met over the course of these years. Yes, it is easy to fall in the way of internet predators, but if extreme caution is exercised, it is possible to meet amazing people. That is what I have done. I have made extremely close friends, all close to my age, who share my obsession with Carrie. Some I have spoken to online initially and then met up with at various Carrie events, and others I have yet to meet, but will in coming months. It is difficult for me to explain this without sounding like some sort of strange stalker-ish freak, but the people, even more than Carrie, have had a huge impact on me. It seems that I have more in common with these fans than just a simple obsession. Carrie’s personality and music attracts certain people, many of which have similar interests and values. I think of these girls as family and I can talk to them about anything and everything. They have accompanied me on many adventures and we have had the opportunity to meet Carrie multiple times (See Pictures 1 and 2). We stood in heat that seemed to melt our flesh for four hours just to get the chance to see her for five minutes. My friends at school still don’t understand, but that no longer bothers me. They don’t have to. I have other friends who share my excitement over what others may deem ridiculous. 
   I can no longer comprehend why people stereotype. Because I let go of my dogmatic views, I was able to have many amazing experiences. Stereotyping caused me to be extremely narrow-minded and I can’t even portray how glad I am that I have changed in that sense. For a very long time, I was afraid of telling my friends or even family about my obsession with Carrie and love of country music. But I have finally realized that by telling my story, I can help others to be less narrow-minded in the same way Carrie helped me. It is not something to be ashamed of. Rather, I should be proud and ecstatic that I found an unconventional way of making friends and taking part in exhilarating, seemingly meaningless adventures. I am certain that I will be a fan of Carrie’s and country music for the rest of my life, even if it means I have to move out of the state to listen to a country station. Or, maybe one will finally be established in New York. Who knows what kind of experience somebody else may enjoy. 
  

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• The New Single and an Amazing Summer!

  08/05/07 0 Comments

  Okay, so first off...let me talk about the new single. I might as well follow everyone else's trend :)

  It's amazing. there are no other words. If i didn't love carrie as much as i do, i would say that it's unfair for her to have received every possible talent there is. seriously...is there anything that girl can't do? unbelievable.

  Next thing...my summer in Los Angeles. As some of you know, I went to LA for a month this summer to do the new york film academy screenwriting program for teens. I can easily say that it was the best experience of my life. The nine hour classes each day tended to drag on a bit, but it was worth it in the end. By the finish of the four weeks, each of us in the class had completed a full treatment and step outline (scene by scene description) of a feature length film, as well as the entire first act written out in screenplay format. It was tough and a lot of work, but it made me so proud to hold an actual screenplay in my hands and be able to say that i wrote it.

  on top of that, we also received a few acting lessons which would help us with dialogue in our films. We learned how to use a camera as well, and got to shoot two pages of our script using the actors in the program. It made it even more amazing that we got to shoot on the universal studios NY backlot which is where movies such as Spiderman 3 and Bruce Almighty were filmed.

  And despite all of that, the best aspect of the program by far was the people I met. Many times after my friends have done a program over the summer, I hear them say, "the people make the program". Before I went away, I thought that was ridiculous...if a program is good, it's good, regardless of the people you met. and vice versa. But, i realized that they're right. The people make such a difference. You could be in the most amazing program, but if all the girls are stuck up snobs, youre not going to have a good time.

  I've been home now for two weeks, and I want to go back to LA so badly! I knew I would like the program before I went, but i could never have imagined to the extent that I enjoyed it. Everyone should do something like that at one point in their lives...it really is worth it!! :)

  ~Jenna

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• LOS ANGELES IS AMAZING!

  07/01/07 0 Comments

  alright, so i just typed up this whole long blog and then my computer went bazerk and it got deleted.

  so, BASICALLY..i'm having an amazing time at this screenwriting program in LA. Screenwriters should really get more credit cuz its hard work, lemme tell ya. There's so many things about writing a screenplay that you never would've imagined. We learned about the 8 sequences in a movie, the inciting incident, the climax, resolution, all that jazz. now every movie i watch, i analyze. haha!

  the filmmakers get to shoot on the backlot which is like..serious sets. they took us there and we got to see wisteria lane from desperate housewives and the sets from a couple of movies. it was INSANE. i think when we shoot the two scenes from our screenplays, we'll be going to the backlot.

  universal studios theme park is amazing too..we went yesterday. tomorrow is more classes and then july 4th is the beach and pool party...cant wait!

  i miss you guys!

  xoxo

  ~Jenna

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• AMAZING ATLANTIC CITY--(bit belated, but its ok :D)

  05/28/07 0 Comments

  VIDEOS NOW POSTED AT CF!

  Ok, omgosh..i don't even know where to start with this. i basically just had one of the most amazing weekends of my life!

  i know deb already posted my review (or what i got give her via cell phone, but this is more personal :D)

  ok, so we arrived in NJ on friday morning. i really wanted to go to the friday show, but my dad said the tickets were too expensive to attend both. so basically, we just hung out on the beach and boardwalk friday night and sat. morning. then, saturday night finally arrived. we went out to dinner at the boardwalk, and you should've seen me. it was quite the site. i was decked out in my fc shirt, holding my book of sheet music for carrie to sign, and having my ringtone set as BHC. so basically, my phone rang when we were in the restaurant and everyone looked at me like, 'FREAK!' hahah!

  so, it gets to be 7:30 and we make our way to caesar's. i wanted to be there early to see if it would be possible to sneak into the meet and greet. yeah, no way that was happening. we get there and a bunch of ppl are crowded all around. there are this big shot guys giving out green meet and greet stickers (some for fc ppl who won and some for VIP casino ppl). my dad tried to talk one of the guys into giving me one, but we had no success. but, i saw keith and i told my dad he was carrie's tour manager, so what does he do? he goes up to keith and COMPLETELY embarasses me! but, it was kinda cool to meet him, so i can't complain. anyway, i frown a bit when i see about 20 ppl go inside to meet her, but i knew she would be signing afterwards, so it wasn't as much of a bummer.

  we stood around there for about, 20 minutes i would say before they opened the doors. they let us in at around 8:15 and i just hung in the theater for 45 minutes. no offense, but my dad is not the most exciting guy in the world, so i was pretty darn bored.

  i'll go through the show pretty quickly, becasue everything was said that needed to be. she was amazing of course...it really blows my mind how she can sing like that and hardly ever lose her voice. and that's on top of the fact that shes strutting around in 6-inch heels. i can barely walk in 2-inch heels and there she is, dancing around the stage! i think i'm going to need to 411 on high heeled dancing from carrie, lol!

  umm, highlights...let's see. during IYH after she sang, 'ive been down, now i'm blessed'..some guy a few rows ahead of me shouted out, 'YEAH YA ARE'..it was pretty funny. umm, she switched around a few songs in the set and i think she sang 'Patience' a little bit differently in one part. and, she added the 'na na's' back into SWG! i guess she saw our petitions! hahaha!

  OH...okay so, even though i'd never been to a show before, i knew basically the whole set list. so during 'some hearts' i drag my dad down near the door and tell him that we'll wait there till the end of the show and then run to the autograph line. well, i figured she'd be singing an encore as she always does, but after SH, the whole band literally walked off the stage. i didn't realize that they were gonna leave too! so i started thinking that maybe there wouldn't be an encore and my dad started to leave. i followed him and we got on line (we were about 5th in line, i would say). thennnnn, i heard WYR start to play and of course my dad goes, 'that's not live...it's just a recording that theyre playing now' and i was like 'NOOOOO, SHE CAME BACK OUT!' so i threw all my stuff at my dad and literally SPRINTED back to the theater and kinda made my way to the front of the stage. of course, this obnoxious usher lady spun me around and shouted, 'YOU MUST RETURN TO YOUR SEAT IMMEDIATELY'. i kinda looked at her like, 'yeah right' and kept moving forward, haha! if those other people came to the front, you bet i was going to also!

  alright, so...after she finished IAICA and shook the hands of everyone in the front row (which wasn't me, unfortunately), i made my way back to my dad in line. we were standing there for about 25 minutes and i was talking to the people around me, and finally we hear screams and we knew that carrie came out! i was getting a bit nervous, but once i got up to, it went away. she's really just a normal person.

  so here's how it went: Me: HIIII! Carrie: Hi! How are you? Me: Good, thanks. Carrie: Anyone i should make this out to? Me: Me, um..i mean, Jenna!" Carrie: J-e-n-n-a? Me: Yep! Keith: lean in for a picture! (After the picture) Me: Thank you! I basically live on your fan club! I love it! Carrie: yay, i'm glad you like it! Me: Bye, thanks!

  And then..my dad proceeds to tell her how much i love her, yadda yadda.

  so, i walked out of there with two personalized autographs which was amazing, and carrie is just SO nice.

  now, im counting down the days till i get to see her again! i was expecting the concert to be great, but not as outstanding as it actually was. WOW! i told my sister that i would stop buying new clothes and save up all my money to keep buying tickets to carrie's concerts. and that's exactly what i plan on doing! haha! :D

  Alright, here's the link to the pics!

  http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m19/xojek91ox/Carrie%20Underwood%20Atlantic%20City/

  VIDEOS NOW POSTED AT CF!

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