My Big, Fat iPod Nano Giveaway!
Quaker is giving one Suburban Turmoil reader a prize package that includes an iPod Nano! Keep reading to find out how to enter.
I guess I thought that getting a phone call from Nick Jonas would be the highlight of my week.
As it turns out, I was wrong.
Last Saturday, I headed into downtown Nashville to see in person what I’ve been writing about over the last few weeks: the fabled Quaker Chewy Superstar Search mobile recording studio. As I’ve told you in posts past, it is currently touring the nation, giving kids a chance to record their own music video and submit it for the chance to win a recording contract with the Jonas Group. As in NICK JONAS’S recording group!
*Cue one million twelve-year-old girls swooning*
I got there just in time to see eleven-year-old Ben from Austin, Texas very reluctantly agree to make a video. The kid clearly wasn’t excited about his chance to be a superstar, but his mother and sister convinced him to do it.
That face! OH, THAT FACE!
I think every mother recognizes this smile. It’s the kind of smile that says, “I’d rather be doing math homeworkย next to a hornet’s nest than standing here about to sing ‘Nothin’ on You.’ But I’m trying very hard to be nice about it.”
The door to the recording booth closed and we watched on the computer screen as the music started and Ben began trying to sing along. Let’s just say it did not go well. He was clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed, and it looked like this was going to be a no-go.
But then, something happened. The producer encouraged Ben to try it again. And again. And then again. And before my eyes, Ben began to transform– from a befuddled little boy… to a budding superstar.
As he grew more comfortable with the music and the microphone, he started getting into his performance.
The next thing we knew, Ben was asking if he could move around the booth while he sang. The producer said yes. And Ben moved.
Oh, did this kid move!
By the end, Ben had all the swagger of a pop idol, and I was laughing with delight at the transformation.
“Do you think I really have a chance?” he asked the producer when he came out of the booth.
And that’s when my heart officially melted.
Afterward, Ben got a flash drive with a copy of his music video on it. He can decide at home whether he wants to submit it to the site and enter the Quaker Chewy Superstar Search. He also had his photo taken- When he looks it up online, Nick Jonas will be superimposed, standing beside him.
It sounds cheesy, y’all, but I swear Ben was a different kid after the recording experience than he was before it. He was confident, beaming and he had a little extra spring in his step. I left fervently wishing that my own children had been old enough to participate. What a fun experience! And it was all completely free.
Here are the stops still left on the Quaker Chewy Superstar Search tour:
July 9 and 11: Atlanta metro area
July 18 โ 20 Dallas metro area
July 26 and 28: Denver metro area
August 2 โ 4: Los Angeles metro area
I would imagine it’s fairly crowded in the morning when the event starts, but by the time I got to our Nashville stop mid-afternoon, there was no line- just a a steady stream of kids showing up about every five minutes or so.
If you don’t live near one of these stops, your child can still enter to win the Superstar Search. Here’s how you do it:
1. Select from one of four pre-selected songs including:
โข โJust The Way You Areโ by Bruno Mars
โข โBreatheโ by Michelle Branch
โข โNothinโ on Youโ by B.o.B
โข โWildflowerโ by The JaneDear Girls
2. Create a vocal performance at home.
3. Fill out the entry form and upload the performance here.
Submissions will be narrowed to five finalists who America will have a chance to vote on starting August 29 โ September 9 in an online viewing gallery at www.ChewySuperstar.com.
And who knows? Maybe our new friend Ben will be among them…
To help promote the Quaker Chewy Superstar Search, Quaker is giving one lucky Suburban Turmoil reader a prize package that includes an iPod nano, headphones, and Quaker products! To enter, just leave a comment on this post between now and Tuesday, July 19th, telling me whether you had dreams of being famous when you were a child. I’ll choose one winner at random. One comment per person, please. This contest is open only to U.S. residents.
Good luck!
Guess I’m unusual, never really had the desire. Couldn’t carry a tune in a wooden bucket as my Granny would say. Only drama I carried on with was when I got grounded.
I desperately wanted to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. As in, I changed my named to “Judy” as soon as I could write it (you know, since Judy Garland equaled Dorothy, as far as I was concerned.) So, my mother has saved a ton of my 5 year old art work with Judy’s name on it instead of my real one.
I wanted to be a singer or ballerina. Too bad I can’t sing and as for the ballerina I like food to much to be that skinny ๐
Growing up around the music business, I saw what a cold mistress she could be, and never wanted any part of it. However, I did want to be Iron Man…
I don’t think I ever had dreams of being “famous.” I wanted to find something I was good at, and be amazing at it. But I never wanted the notoriety that comes along with fame. I like to go out in public in my workout clothes too much ๐
I wanted to be a nurse…..I became a teacher…
I wanted to be a pop star. i spent hours in front of the mirror singing into a microphone that was hooked up to a tape recorder…. “our house, in the middle of our street” I also did recordings of being a news reporter, I’d love to come across one of my old tapes to let the kids listen, and so i could have a good laugh. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Of course I did! I STILL think I’m going to be famous writer.
Before the days of public hedonism, I wanted to be Dallas Cowboys cheerleader more than anything else in the world. Didn’t work out due to back surgery but boy, when I think of that dream? It makes me feel 8yrs old again. Love it!
Oh cute! My teen daughter just found my second grade journal the other day and evidently I wanted to move to Hollywood, be an actress – and – own four cats. lol. I do have four daughters, so maybe my dream did come true – kinda!
crystynurse@yahoo.com
I never had dreams of being famous. I did want to become a Pediatrician though. Instead…I became something that fits me better…a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner!
I wanted to be a famous singer when I was growing up and still have the desire to do so!
That kid is so cute! He looks like he had a great time!
OhMyGawdYes!! I still do!…I’m just waiting to be dicovered while I’m walking through Target in stretch pants and flip-flops…hey, it could happen!
So cute!
I don’t know about dreaming of being famous, but I was kind of obsessed with answering trivia questions on the radio. I think I liked being famous on the radio!
Aw, Ben is so cute!! As for me– no, I didn’t dream of being famous, but I can tell you my daughter sure does. It makes me cringe sometimes, how unrealistic I feel her fantasizing sometimes can be, but I don’t dare voice that to her!!! That’s part of being a kid, right?? ๐
Yup…still waitin’ to be discovered though! ๐
I wanted to do hair for the stars. Not just any hair mind you, but the wild extreme over the top hair styles.
Definitely. Had my”stage” set in my room….
I never thought about being famous, I am so shy. But my daughters are a different story, they would love it!
Definitely had big dreams of being famous when I was young. I’ve always enjoyed performing and did so all the way through college (in symphonies) and I miss that very much.
Definitely had big dreams of being famous when I was young. I’ve always enjoyed performing and did so all the way through college (in symphonies) and I miss that very much.
When I was a kid, I once won a BOGO coupon at Carnival Shoes by singing Elvis over the loudspeaker. My mom let me get a fantastic pair of shoes with it in addition to my everyday shoes we had come to buy. So I guess I had a little desire to shine on stage!
I was going to be a Country Music Singing STAR. And I was going to make all my haters regret how they treated me.
i always wanted to be a movie star growing up-so much so that I would leave a recorded message on my answering machine that says “hello you’ve reached kristin, the famous actress to be!”
I totally had dreams of being a singer & actress. But early rejection fostered a terrible stage fright and alas, my dreams were crushed. #sigh
I have a famous grandfather and famous cousin, so of course I wanted to be famous, too! Unfortunately I have no talent to speak of.
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
I am way too shy to be famous!!!
I dreamed of being either a famous dancer or famous songwriter. The dancing was first, the songwriting came later when I was SURE I could write award-winning Christian songs with ease (too bad not much rhymes with Jesus…).
I dont remember ever wanting to be famous but i did tell my mom i was going to be a doctor and live at home with her and dad and never get married or anything……wonder if she is disappointed??? lol probably not- she is pretty crazy about her granddaughters!
When I was a child – not so much – it scared me. how about now…the answer is most definitely!
I wanted to be recognized for my singing when I young. I thought I just needed that one person who needed to tell me my voice was special. It never happened. But, I still love to sing.
I had dreams of being in the movies when I was young. Guess it was never meant to be lol
I always wanted to sing but hated the idea of being famous. Of course I’m from nashville where everyone is tryong to famous and I had to be different lol.
I wish your kids HAD been old enough to participate, but you did a fantastic job capturing Ben’s emotional journey from meek to MEGASTAR! Hope you have a GR8T time at the conference Lindsay!
I wanted to be an actress (doesn’t every little girl) or a beach volleyball player!! ๐
I really wanted to be the next Annie at one point in my childhood. The only problem? I am pretty sure I can’t sing. That didn’t stop me from belting out tunes all throughout my childhood in my bedroom with the door shut. It’s probably why I love shows like American Idol today. We all kind of dream of being this undiscovered talent…even those of us who are grown ups!
I really REALLY wanted to be famousโbut as a pianist. I dreamed of it until I was 19 and forfeited my piano scholarship to study nutrition. I know!
Sweet story! I wanted to be a famous gymnast or ice skater.
I was way too shy when I was young to ever seriously want to be famous. The irony in that is that I went on to do TV news. People who knew me as a kid still have a hard time believing that!
I never wanted to be famous. I hate being the center of attention and have horrible stage fright!
I wanted to be a librarian. Probably not a famous one.
I always dreamed of taking over for Barbara Walters……..she always got to meet everyone I wanted to….. ๐
As a young girl, I would have signed away my first born to be a Judd sister. Oh yes, those Judds. Shortly after high school I gave up that desire and now work in Human Resources…ha!
I always wanted to be Sally Fields….looked like her….
Uh, no. I wanted to be a nurse. And now that I think about my aversion to all things gross, it’s probably good that didn’t work out.
Childhood fantasies of being a rock n roll star or actress gave way to daydreaming of the day that my son would have his picture on the cover of The Rolling Stone magazine. “Why, yes, that is my son.” I would demurely respond to all who noticed.
I moved to Nashville because I KNEW I was destined to be a hot shot music agent. Fifteen years later, I am still here and I am a meeting planner!
Sweet post! Of course I had dreams of being famous! When I was little I was convinced I’d be a singer. I would dress up in one of my many dressup outfits and just rock out. It was awesome! These days, I’m much more content to let my daughter have the spotlight!
I liked to dress up like my favorite stars–especially Madonna!! I still love to learn all the lyrics and sing as loud as I can. Who knows maybe I can still be a star!
Oh did I ever have no doubt as a kid I would be a famous singer. Like jem. Yep the cartoon cartoon rocker!
I always pretended I was a famous model, singer or movie star. Thankfully, I grew up to become what I was meant to be ~ and it wasn’t any of those things! ๐
I never had aspirations for stardom as an entertainer. Don’t know why. I just wanted to be an actor. But my inability to overcome my shyness held me back. So I settled and became a salesman!! ;o)
I wanted to start a girl singing group and become famous with my two sisters. We wrote songs and made up our own choreography!
I ALWAYS wanted to be a singer. I would watch music videos and pretend I was in them!
I never wanted to be in the spotlight – but I would have loved to be a backup singer – all the fun of being “famous” without the stress of being out in front!!
I definitely knew fame would never come from singing! And really most anything sports related wasn’t my forte either. But as with most children I think I dreamed of being famous, can’t quite imagine now what it was I thought I would be doing, though…
I would have loved for people to think I was really good at something when I was younger…I don’t know that I would have needed fame. But now? There are some days that fame sounds kinda fun, I won’t lie…
Such a great kid – I hope he does well!
When I was growing up , I always kind of thought it would just naturally happen – which seems rather hilarious now. Funny thing is, My husband and I have ended up more on the behind the scenes side of fame, which has turned out to be a lot more fun!
that is awesome! my kids do great at home but will never perform i public lol
My grandmother bought me all the Shirley Temple movies on VHS. I wasn’t content just watching the movies I wanted to BE Shirley Temple.
I wanted to be a famous writer! But it wasn’t meant to be
That is such a sweet story!
I don’t think I ever wanted to be famous, even as a child I thought it seemed like a crazy life.
i hate to say it, but i think i already knew that i wasn’t gifted enough to be famous at anything, even when i was young. maybe some day my blog can be as famous as yours!
Yes, always wanted to be famous. Hey, if I could, I would go back and take over Samantha Brown’s job ๐
I wanted to be one of the Corey’s (Haim or Feldman)…now, not so much
I wanted to be a famous chef, lol.
I was certain I was going to sing and dance as a pop star when I was little. I had the perfect dance routine to Madonna’s Lucky Star and I performed the song for all of my relatives. I realize now that they weren’t bursting with pride – they were bursting from trying not to laugh at me. Ah well. I still dream of being a pop star when I’m singing in the car by myself.
I definitely had dreams of being a rock star when I was a kid. Guess that ship has sailed. ๐
such a cute post! I wish they had had this when I was a kid! ๐
Good kid! Fingers & toes crossed for him.
I wanted to be a famous meteorologist, but alas, there can only be one Al Roker! LOL.
I always wanted to be a famous singer… Unfortunately, I had, and still have, no talent. Ah well…
No, I never wanted to be famous when growing up. I still don’t. ๐
I had dreams of being a famous novelist. Since I’ve achieved the unachievable goal of magazine writer in a media climate where most are unemployed, I still have hope that initial dream might someday come true =)
(Also, this whole initiative is SO fun! Well done, Quaker!)
I wanted to be a famous novelist since I was maybe seven. I’m so glad I had access to a supportive network of adults who encouraged me to go after my dreams, like Quaker is doing for these kids! Great work. (:
When I was youngerย I always wanted to be a singer and dancer. i wanted to be Britany Spears because she looked so cool to me at the time . Thanks for the giveaway.