During the concert tour fans have been writing to Kat on another thread in the "Concert Folder;" however, since the tour will be over we'd like to focus on the following theme for this last delivery of letters:

There's a Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow! 

Kat will be stepping out of the American Idol journey and embarking on her own solo career and it's important to let her know how proud we are and we will support her in all her endeavors - music, film, television, endorsement deals, etc.  Also, please reinforce that as fans we are behind her every step of the way as she makes these leaps and that she is going to go very, very far!

Kat will receive this final delivery of letters at the concert in Connecticut on Saturday, September 23 from KatPack1198 (Melissa).  The deadline to write your message on this thread is:

Friday - September 22 at 5 p.m. EDT

Please Note:  Do not include any photos or graphics, as the letters are copied and pasted into a Word document and it makes the files to large to e-mail.  So, go write a note to Kat so she know we will always be there for her as her new career begins!

"Let's Do it for Kat!"  

Hey Kat!!

So, this is the first time I'm writing to you through this project. But I guess that doesn't make it less important. =) I just wanted to say a few things. First of all, I wanted to say Thank You. Thank you for everything Kat. I never thought I'd be this crazy about anyone before. But then, you showed up in my life. From the very first start, i knew you were special. That's just something you feel it...And I'm really thankful...you gave me reasons to smile every single day. I mean, you ARE a reason to smile...It's like, you light up my days...
    Do you have any idea of how important you are? You don't even know me, but you make me smile...You make people happy...You make them have goosebumps everytime they hear you singing...that's just what happens to me. And I can tell you the same thing a thousand times...but you'd still have no idea of how it really feels. You're like...an inspiration to all of us, Kat. And you're unique. That's one of the things that makes you special. You never stopped being yourself...and you've gone through so many things...things I know I wouldn't be capable to handle...But you gave me the strengh to at least try it. Whenever I'm going through a hard time, I think of you, and I try to keep going...keep smiling...Just like you did. It's like...you have this energy...that reaches across miles! I'm from Brasil, and I feel it... all the time.You've got me in a way I can't get out...and I don't want to. Never... I'll be ALWAYS looking up to you...loving you... I just wanted you to know that. No matter what. Okay? 
    I'm just so sad I couldn't go to the AI tour... =/ But you know...As I Live in Brasil, it's really really difficult. My mom wouldn't let me go... Money wouldn't let me go... That just pisses me off. But we'll keep on trying... and I already told my mother I'd never ask her anything again, if she let me go to your solo tour. haha. And I'd take her with me... If I could, I'd take my entire family...If I could... I'd take the entire world...!! LOL
   Now the tour is almost over...And you're going to keep on moving! Bringing us even more pleasure...even more joy... And, we're sooo proud... I know I am. Let the good stuff come. Let's see what's gonna happen. Whatever it is...it's gonna be awesome. Your CD is going to be amazing!! I just know it!! Everybody knows it!! There's a lot of hard work put into it.. =) and It'll be all worth it. I'll get mine for sure!!
   I wish you luck (even though I know you won't need it...) in everything... The ending of the tour...the release of the debut album... And all the future projects (we know there will be many) coming to you. Singing, acting, both... haha or whatever you think it's the best.
Just keep on going, girl. You amaze us even more... You make us love you even more...You're special Kat... I love you...I've got the McPheever and I'll hold on to it forever.
Lots of Love,
Paula * Kat Packer =^.^= #1351 =^.^=

Hi, Katharine!

By the time you read this, you’ll finally be off of the road and the ‘AI’ tour, which was obviously more than successful for you. And this will be a final letter (at least for this project) to wrap up those satirical ruminations I wrote on touring. I missed the last two deliveries of these letters to you due to my being a bit busy the last couple of weeks. But I want to make this last letter a combo of more thoughts on touring…and seeing you in Portland, OR this last September 1.

How to balance my thoughts to tell you how brilliant I thought you were in Portland… along with more about the crazy world of touring? Well, let’s do an imaginary split screen showing your touring world on 9/1—and my trip to the Rose Garden Arena on 9/1 to see you perform. While just satirical speculation on your side of the screen, I’ll just base your experiences that day on what we’ve heard from you in recent interviews about the rigors of touring.

Your side of the screen: After a grueling 11-hour trip riding that bus up I-5 to Portland from San Jose…you wake up late morning in your Portland hotel room on 8/31 trying to remember your immediate whereabouts. L.A.? Is it a stopover in Smalltown, Oregon? Tacoma? Maybe it’s Saskatoon because of overzealous driving by the bus driver? Then, you finally get awake and remember you’re in Portland when you look out your hotel window and see Mt. St. Helens (though a bit hazy from smog) off over the WA state line. After inhaling the bad smells on the tour bus for 11 hours—you wish those breathe-right strip people could invent nasal passage refreshers to wear on your nose while sleeping.

Greg’s side of the screen: I’m having a busy Thursday. I briefly wonder if you guys are out wandering around Portland while getting mobbed by fans. I plan to drive up to Portland the next day in the afternoon in Labor Day traffic to see the ‘AI’ show. I picture a number of fans in your hotel lobby waiting for you to show yourself at any time if you dare venture outside to do something.

Your side of the screen: You order breakfast on your hotel telephone. The hotel staff person taking the order for your breakfast has no idea who you are—even when you ask “Do you know who you’re talking to?” He’s never watched ‘AI’—but HAS heard of that Spielberg movie called ‘AI’ (Artificial Intelligence). He’s also hard of hearing and thinks you don’t want jam when you plainly asked for no ham. Your breakfast you receive in your hotel room two hours later is overcooked and ends up being a bizarre combination of a bowl of Froot Loops, a French omelet, a six-foot high stack of pancakes and a slice of cold pizza. You just eat the slice of cold pizza and suck on an orange-flavored Ring Pop in order to get some idea that you had a glass of orange juice with your breakfast. You also decide to just stay in your room today after working out in the hotel gym. You text message Nick, your friends and family the rest of the day while playing games with Kellie, Mandisa, Lisa and Paris in your room.

Greg’s side of the screen: As the day comes to a close, I imagine you’ve gone to some of the high-scale clothing shops in Portland while in a camouflaged cap and sunglasses to avoid being noticed. You must have carpal tunnel syndrome from signing enough autographs while out on the town to sink an eBay auction.

Your side of the screen: It’s the morning of 9/1. The hotel staff finally gets your breakfast order right this morning—and (as an apology) actually hired an inventor to create a nose refresher strip you could wear during the night to get the tour bus smells out of temporary memory. You finally get a chance to go out—but only to go to the Rose Garden Arena where you’ll spend all the rest of the day. Because concierges seem to be busy with other people at the moment, you end up tugging your own suitcase out to the bus as you check out of the hotel. At the Rose Garden Arena, you all find out the hi-tech game room backstage is under maintenance—and you only get a ping-pong table and a chess board to play on to occupy your time after meet & greets are over.

Greg’s side of the screen: I head out on I-5 around 5 p.m. to drive into Portland city center to the Rose Garden Arena. No bad smells are detected in my car—even though I think for a few seconds about inventing a nose refresher strip before Johnson & Johnson invents them. I imagine that you’re all having a ball backstage while you get a catered dinner and interacting with fans during the m&g that I wish I was attending (or the after party).

Your side of the screen: Your meet and greet has one guy who comes up and asks you if he can inspect your ear piercings…and then hands you a gift of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had your face appear mysteriously on the bread. You sort of thank the guy, shrug off his eccentricity and move on to the next person. Nobody sane from KMF.com appears to be there…because they didn’t get a pass. Oh, and the catered dinner is great…but someone from the catering company forgot to provide plastic forks.

Greg’s side of the screen: During the first hour of the ‘AI’ show, I wonder how you’re occupying your time backstage. I imagine there’s some serious physical games going on back there to keep you psyched up physically and mentally before going on to perform in the second half.

Your side of the screen: Taylor wakes you up after he finds you asleep facedown onto that chess board because the ping-pong table was occupied with the other idols. You’re about to go on in about fifteen minutes. When you awaken, you notice that your invisible chess player just did a King-Castle move on you.

Greg’s side of the screen: I get my camera ready during ‘Patience’—because I know you’ll be coming out any minute. I know you’re going to light up the stage as always—and indeed you do. ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree and ‘Think’ rock the house with your exuberance, stunning beauty and brilliant musical artistry. Though I’ve been busy snapping pictures of you, I still absorb every note of ‘Over the Rainbow.’ I think that C# you hit followed by a melisma is musically fresh and absolutely brill.

Your side of the screen: You wish you wouldn’t have hit that C#, had gone up to a higher note instead, had dropped the melisma, added a different chord on that “rain” note, and put more of a dramatic pause between the “why oh why” and the final “Can’t I.” You have several more mental musical analyzations of your ‘Black Horse’ and ‘Think’ performances as you take a bow, turn and go into that elevator thing behind you.

Greg’s side of the screen: I applaud wildly for you as you take your bows at the end of ‘Living in America’—even though I’m sitting more than 50 feet away from the stage. I’m hoping you’ll get plenty of fans backstage for the after party because I still don’t have any means of getting back there after the show.

Your side of the screen: That guy who gave you the peanut and jelly sandwich comes back for the after party and hands you a grilled cheese sandwich he made that also had your face magically appear on the bread. He takes up a lot of your time, though there are still some other sane fans who show up before you’re whisked away to the bus to head to Tacoma with that peanut butter and jelly sandwich/grilled cheese sandwich gift bag in tow.

____

 
Well, remember this is all an exaggeration—but I’m just glad I wasn’t touring like you were, because I don’t love touring and understand it’s unglamorous nature. Though I think you don’t love touring either, you did this one with true aplomb. It showed us the formation of your performing style that’s now fully formed and will apply to your own material on your own tour presumably next summer. And I can’t wait to attend that, Kat, along with hopefully getting backstage then to say hello. You’re one of my absolute favorite performers and notable people in the world. Know I’ll always be there to show support in any way I can. And know that your once-in-a-lifetime voice, beauty and overall humanitarian sensibility will make this world a better place sooner rather than later. Everybody in Portland could see that as clearly as I could.

Though this series of letters will now end—I hope to write you again in the near future before or after your album comes out. I hope, however, that you read us over on Katharinefans.com whenever you get the chance.

Take care! And now all thoughts go to your debut album…

 
Greg (Gregoriancant on KMF)

Katharine,

I think this is my third letter (maybe fourth...who counting!)...

Anyway!  I just want to thank you for putting on such great performances during the tour for us all to see (either in person or via the videos we get on the Net)...you were by far the most original on the tour, changing little things up nightly to keep it interesting for yourself & we the diehards who watch all of the videos.

So what's next?  Oh, that little thing we're all dying to hear called your debut album.  It goes without saying that I can't wait to get my hands on it.  But take all the time you need to get it done.  It'll last forever and we all want it to be as great as we know it will be if done properly.

I mentioned this the other day on KMF and I thought it summed up how I feel about you pretty well.  I think most of us feel like we are out there with you on stage.  Or that at least you are representing all of your fans when you are performing on stage, TV...doing magazine shoots, etc.  And we are all just so proud of how well you do represent us.  We feel blessed to have picked such a great PERSON to be a fan of.  I stress the word person there.  Because everyone can see how beautiful & talented you are from the outside.  What they might not know is the wonderful person you are.  You've made that obvious throughout the tour with all the fans you've come into contact with.  Everyone has nothing but great things to say after they meet you.  I wish I could have met you instead of having to chase you down the freeway (HA!  I said this before in my last letter...we weren't following you from San Jose to Portland...it just happened.  And thank you for waving again, that was very kind and it meant a lot to us).

OK, that's enough from me.  All the best with the album and everything else in the future.  We all love you so much Katharine.

Love, Joe (KP #1375)