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So many thoughts rushed through my head when my A&R guy, Steve Ferrera, asked that question.
I couldn’t believe that I was going to get to do my own tour this summer.
“Kellie!” I said. “We’ve got to get Kellie Pickler to go on the tour with me. I mean her album is doing pretty well on the country charts, isn’t it?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, it is,” Steve said.
“Well, don’t you think that would be a good mix?” I said. “We could both take advantage of our different fan bases. We could do some things together on stage. I think it would be a really fun show for people to see. Plus, I’d love spending some time with Kellie. I haven’t seen her in awhile.”
Steve gave me the go ahead to make the call to Kellie myself. I felt that it was appropriate for me to extend the gesture to her plus I hadn’t spoken to her in awhile so I wanted to catch up.
“Hello?” Kellie said sounding half asleep.
“Kellie?”
“Yeah, this is her.”
“Oh my God, Kellie! It’s Katharine! You won’t believe what my record people just told me.”
“What? What did they tell you? It must be good. You seem excited about whatever it is.”
“They said that they are going to send me on a tour this summer!”
“That’s great, Kat. I’ve seen how great your album is doing. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks, Kel, but the best part is that they asked ME who I wanted to perform with on the tour. And I said I wanted Kellie Pickler!”
“Me?”
“That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“I guess it is! Wow, I’ll have to think about that. It sounds like it would be a lot of fun.”
“Come on Kellie! What’s there to think about? We would be able to put on a great show together. Plus we would have so much more freedom to do whatever we want compared to last summer on the Idol tour. Just think we wouldn’t have to do the same songs every night!”
“That would be nice. I can’t tell you how many times I did that Grease song with Bucky. I think I was ready for something new before you joined us on tour Kat.”
“Yeah and we still had two months to go after that.”
“Got that right!”
“So you do want to do it, right?” I said. “I know you’ll have to run it by all of your music people but I can’t see why they wouldn’t jump at the chance of sending you on a tour with me. It’ll be great for both of us.”
It looked like we would have about 30 dates in two months. The venues were generally smaller than we went to on the Idol tour. Most of them were 5,000 seats or less. However, I noticed something strange on the tentative tour schedule. Steve had just told me that we would be going to smaller venues and I see this:
Thursday, May 24 – Staples Center, Los Angeles.
“Uh, Steve?” I said. “Staples Center seats almost 20,000 people; I thought we were going smaller.”
“Well, yeah mostly,” he said. “But we figured you could probably fill Staples and it would be a great way to create buzz for the rest of the tour.”
I was flattered and excited by the prospect of opening my own tour in my hometown. I couldn’t help but remember the Idol stop at Staples. That was such an emotional night. All my family was there, I had just received clearance to perform without that obnoxious boot on my foot anymore a few days earlier. Then when I got on stage, I saw a bunch of orange things in the crowd. They were orange glow sticks my fans had made huge arrangements to pass out and get to as many people as possible for my homecoming.
I later found out that what I saw was only a fraction of what I was supposed to see. I guess my fans had planned to hand out about 10,000 orange glow sticks to the crowd that night. The Idol tour planners weren’t too keen on the idea so my fans had to get creative. They still managed to sneak in around 2,000. This was more than enough for me to notice when I was on stage.
Kellie called me back later that night while I was watching the Top 10 Boys perform on American Idol.
“Hey Kat, just wanted to let you know that they gave me the go ahead to do the tour with you this summer. My record people think it would be a fantastic idea.”
“That’s wonderful Kellie. Hey, you watching Idol right now?”
“It was already on here Kat,” Kellie said. “You do remember I live in Nashville, right?”
“Sorry, silly mistake. I forgot about the time zones. Don’t tell me what happens!”
“I won’t. So Ryan said you are going to be on there tomorrow night with the girls?”
“Yep, I’ll be opening the show with “Mystery of Life” and then I think they want me to sing with the girls too. I’ll find out when I get there tomorrow.”
“I love that song, Kat, can’t wait to see it.”
“Thanks, Kel.”
“Katharine?”
Kellie never calls me Katharine, I knew she wasn’t feeling good about whatever she was about to say.
“I don’t wanna pry, but I read about what happened with you and Nick. You want to talk about it?”
“Not really,” I said. “I mean, there isn’t much to talk about. He just decided that it would be best for both of us if we were just friends. He’s probably right. If it was up to me we’d still be together but he said something about needing more than I can give him right now and…”
“Yeah, I know how that is,” Kellie said. “Same thing happened to me. It’s hard to make something work when your schedule gets so crazy.”
“That’s pretty much what happens. Alright, I’ll talk to you later Pickles.”
“See ya on TV tomorrow, Kat. Talk to you later, bye.”
I arrived at the Idol studios early the next day to do some rehearsing and get prepped for whatever else the producers wanted me to do for the show. It was all kind of strange being back in that small studio they use for the part of the show that whittles the field from 24 to 12. The memories of my “Since I Fell For You” performance came flooding back into my mind.
While I was rehearsing for later that night I suddenly heard a male voice coming from behind me.
“Hey Kat!” he said. “Don’t feel bad for making me look at your butt the whole time back here. I don’t mind at all.”
“RYAN!” I said. “I haven’t seen you in so long. I thought you had a crush on me and then you never call or write. You are such a tease!”
“I DID have a crush on you Kat, but rules are rules and you did have a boyfriend after all.”
“I guess you’re right but I don’t have a boyfriend now.”
“Katharine! Are you asking me out?