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Show (RofCercoaster offame just VV- Beginningfor Carmen BY JAW HOPKIIVtS been away so long, I cant really remember that life anymore This ones more Clipper Staff Writer BOUNTIFUL Carmen Rasmusen was bom m California, but moved to Utah when she was three, so shes never really called California home - until now After several weeks as a contestant on American Idol, shes struggling with which life she should call the realone I cant wait to see my family and friends, to sleep m my own bed. But Ive real, she said m a telephone interview from the road" I knew it was going to happen! says her father, Carl My oldest daughter, Camille, just graduated from BYU and is married Carmens was a more abrupt transition, but I knew it was coming As a child, Carmen loved having her picture taken She enjoyed a childhood rich with family vacations and reunions Grandmother Darlene Rainev savs she remembers one reunion when they had to beg Carmen to get up and smg Once she got started, they couldn't get hei otf the stage She must have gone on for 20 minutes," she savs Family members agree - singing lor Carmen, is as essential as breathing She can hear a song for 10 minutes and play it by ear on the piano. says Cail She has a great ear tor pitch and melody" She was a gregarious child, the secHie ond of four with no inhibitions world was hers for the taking I ler family says she's always been independent and determined She believes in herself It was when she was about 10 or 11 years old that her dad first thought the performing bug had bitten his daughter She was in Joseph' with Donny (Osmond), as one ol the childien in the chorus She did 20 shows late at night The discipline was really tielit fin. kids couldn't talk during icheaisals and Carmen is a real talkei" he savs She never complained and that s when he knew Lafe was on a steady course lor Carmen and her family Then the wildcard chaw" for American Idol changed even thing Suddenly Caimcn left taking mom, Michelle, with her ITiat meant that Raquel, 8, Robbie, 13 and Call were left on their own to manage some semblance of a normal life while Michelle and Carmen were in L os Angeles The whole family has pitched in!' says Rainey, from grandpaients and aunts to neighbors Tvervone has been so sweet to help The family held on, week-bweek, watching Carmen remain in the ranks of contestants Drey called in their weekly votes, encouraging everyone thev knew v DONNY OSMOND gives Carmen, 11, an autograph backstage of "Joseph." Now shes giving hers to fans American BY JAM HOPKINS Clipper Staff Writer Fox and 19, Television, Freemantle Media have pulled off a bit of a coup, and their competitors are scrambling to duplicate it The conglomeration owns all the nghts to Amencan Idol (AI) -the television show, the promotion company, merchandise and publishing. It has managed to show snag the number-one-rate- d Amencan Idol, the in America number-on- e single on Billboard's God Bless the Top Forty U S A by this years contestants, album by and the number-on- e Kelly Clarkson, last year's winner The formula is pretty simpleDrop a big dragnet across the nation, drawing it tighter and tighter until you have your audience hooked - - A bunch bout some How's gab9 Hey Renee, wanna cover Bountiful Rotary? It's just an hour each week, asked my editor Yawn - No (Duh) It fell from my mouth before my bram caught up Urn, er, I mean, its really up to you I wondered if I should stand, salute and say sir here I use Thursdays for research, but if it's better for the paper to have me there, then, uh, yeah, sure, I would be happy to do it. hfessir I managed to stammer some brown-nosintrying to rescue myself. That's how my trusty laptop and I found ourselves at a Rotary meeting, both of us expecting to write something destined for bur g, jdola VIL v -' &A k i-- & mm . CARMEN RASMUSEN to do the same Iliev held their heath in the weeks after Caimen turned 18 and Michelle left watching Caimen struggle with her peitormances and then redeem herself When she was eliminated last week thev thought the wait was over, that there would be a few days of excitement over her return, but that life would then get back to noimal How wrong thev were Life never will be that level of normal again Caimen left the mansion at b a m the day after she was dtopped from the show and was scheduled to be back in Utah bv Wednesday, after a quick tour of ADAM WRAY is Carmen s best friend, television and radio stations in I os most ardent supporter and her date to Amides and then Philadelphia and New Woods Cross Highs Senior Ball. York Carmen is loving the excitement of the media tour, but is staiting to feel the effects of the pace She's burned out Shes had 12 k interviews hour days with on Nickelodeon, M1Y I xtra - tcx many to remember! says her dad Because she is still under contract with Tox, the studio decided to bring her back to Idol to sing on the Results Show Wednesday, so the earliest she'll be back in Utah is sometime Thursday It's cutting it close for mv Senior Ball, but I just ordered my dress It's so cute, white with sequins running down She the front and sides! she says ordered the dress and is having it altered at a well known dress shop in Kaysville to meet her personal modesty code She'll attend her Senior Ball, May 1, back-to-bac- then take week off horn scluxil a to acclimate to life and relax a little Ilicn go to school for two weeks, go back to Idol for the finale show and I come home II to graduate,' she says As for the near future Caimen is registered at Brigham Young Univcisitv She had planned lo Provo Ire gin classes this summer, but has put that off until fall Her conti act with I ox continues until the end of August when tiie American Idol sunvniet tour concludes At that tune I ox will decide if thev want to continue to represent hoi as a talent (BYU) I am leaving mvsclf open to possibil would dies, after the tour she savs love to go into acting hope fox will pick me up but need to plan lot othu things in mvlife too I I I leMon In mcftJzetina Maintain exclusive access within a select group of media Create suspense by starting with a large pool of talent and reducing it by increments to a neat and tidy dozen Bnng in celebnty judges with e recognition Invite one with an incredible ear for pitch, one thats sweet and sexy and one with some major attitude for drama Be sure to get your merchandising in place by the time the competition starts Dangle the promise andor hope of fame for viewers, that they too can have what the contestants have by buying the video tape, practicing the moves mentioned on the Web site and standing for hours with thousands of other hopefuls in pouring ram to audition big-nam- Based on the successful Pop Idol in Bntain, Amencan Idol promises instant fame to the winner of a singing contest, a little like the rags to nches populanty of the fairy tale,Cinderella Just like the prince m the fairy tale, A I canvases the country, looking for the perfect contestants Once they narrow the field to a few hundred, they use all the resources at their disposal, heavily advertising on their network affiliates and everywhere else possible They create their own propaganda force of hot news announcing who has made the last cut to 50, to 32, to 12 They strut their contestants before the hungry crowd, as eligible maidens before a pnnee And the pnnee - in this case telex won 8 the demoviewers aged with the highest graphic group 12-2- discretionary income - ogles the faie every week Once the winner is declared a new layer of publicity begins to advertise the newest film they are in the single they just recorded and where they will appear in their next concert The fan base has been constiucted and the idol rests atop Competitors of the network are doing their best to redesign futuie programming using the Fox-1-9 magic formula found by Yet all thev had to do was look back in time to the studio systems of the 1930s owned a select Studios group of actors that they kept These actors under contract couldn't work for anyone else and publicity was carefully crafted and released as needed for upcoming films AMERICAN IDOL Jackson judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy which features artists. add drama to the competition The studios were the godmothers of the talent, discovering and molding them, handling all their press Those same studios also acted as gixlfather! micromanaging every aspect of actors lives, career moves and the film genres they performed in dream These factories" cranked out several mid grade films each year in an assembly-lin- e procession, much like AT with its popular and singularly of ol' duffers, jawbonin' over lunch. Not. ial on a musty page of interest , to no one. I figured Id find a bunch of old duffers with mushy, mousy wives, yammering about the good ole days with full mouths I was wrong I was wrong and stupid, filled a characteristic more rancid than turpentine when I taste it in others. I was guilty of contempt pnor to investigation." What I found in Rotanans startled me; commitment to selfless service. I found honesty, integrity, energy and more ongoing humanitarian projects than my flying fingers could catch The only time a member spoke with a mouthful of lunch was when a chairperson asked for an update on the particular project he or she was spearheading Updates about worldwide eradi- - cation of polio, warm coats for cold children, and a backpack collection program where barely-use- d packs from well-oAmencan kids could find their way to needier students m the United States and elsewhere, darted about the room. I also heard how Rotary International jumped into Afghanistan, along with Pakistani Rotanans, carrying humamtanan aid before, dunng and after the rampaging search for Osama bin Laden. Politics be damned, there are human beings dying of thirst and hunger We can and, therefore we, will help, was the message. Rotanans were the first to get food and water to the Afghan people, though they willingly ff sidestepped the spotlight, encouraging it to fall on others Rotanans just kept working, feeding, hiking in water purification kits and infant formula for orphans Rotary Club membership is purposely a wide base of all professions and trades Member doctors are available, dentists, plumbers, civil engineers, contractors with huge machinery to build roads and homes, pilots, charter air company owners, and more Each stands ready to donate their services at the mere suggestion of real need by another, even on the other side of the world Awareness that I was surrounded by people who actually give without expectation of return dripped into a pocket of my chest, then gushed through my body until it spurted out into goosebumps Some women Rotanans I met might be wiv es, but not one was mushy or mousy They are strong and powerful They joined the Rotary Club to give to a community they saw as a source of their comfort, safety and, m some, wealth Some saw their community as Bountiful, other saw their community as the planet The same was true of the men The truth - of which I was so arrogantly ignorant - about Rotary Clubs is summarized m a test It is four questions each Rotanan pledges to ask themselves before committing to any act, in any aspect of life Members apply it to professional minded foimula AI owns the contestants once they make it to the final 12 Interview access is granted at the whim and discretion ol A I Lven families are haired from talking with the pi ess until con testants eliminated are contesFollowing elimination, tants are still under contract and until the agent representation end of the summer teunion tour f RENEE TURNER Clipper Staff Writer lives,family lives, actions as a Rotary group, anything done alone or as a group The four-wa- y test, internalized, becomes a simple way of living purely lore it is 1 Is it the tmth9 2 Is it fair to all concerned 3 Will it build gcxid will and better friendships9 4 Will it be beneficial to all concerned' 1 |