A night to remember: Screaming in the rain for Justin;
500 soaked fans, many of them teens, get close to "Idol' star in Bucks.
By Diane Marczely Gimpel Special to The Morning Call -- Freelance
Morning Call (Allentown, PA) June 14, 2003
Lindsay Clements is going to be a little extra-popular at school next week.
That's because the 16-year-old North Penn High School student was one of the
lucky fans who got "American Idol" runner-up Justin Guarini's
autograph Friday night at the Regal Warrington Crossing theater in Warrington,
Bucks County.
Guarini, a native of neighboring Doylestown Township, was in town for a special
showing of his new movie, "From Justin to Kelly." The movie opens next
week and also stars last year's "American Idol" winner, Kelly
Clarkson.
"It's so exciting," Clements said, showing off Guarini's scribbled
signature on her yellow school schedule. "We were going to see a movie
here, then we remembered he was going to be here, so I slipped my way up to the
front."
About 500 people -- many of them teenage girls -- waited in a steady rain for
almost two hours for Guarini's 8 p.m. arrival. When his curly head of hair
emerged from the black stretch limousine, cameras flashed and girls screamed.
"Thank you so much for standing out in this terrible weather for me,"
Guarini said from a podium erected in front of the movie theater, with movie
posters as the backdrop. "Thank you all for putting me in this position. I
wouldn't be doing this without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."
As he signed autographs, the girls screamed. As he spoke to reporters, the girls
screamed.
"We love you, Justin!" shrieked a clump of fans at one point, spurring
Guarini to turn around and respond, "I love you too."
Even after Guarini entered the theater and crews began breaking down the podium,
the girls kept screaming, begging the workers for even a tattered, soggy scrap
of movie poster.
Clarkson was expected at Friday night's event but had not arrived by the time
Guarini went inside the theater with his parents about 9 p.m.
Guarini's self-titled album came out this week. He called it an eclectic mix of
sounds and named "If You Wanna," which he helped write, his favorite
song on it.
"It's one of my babies," he said.
Guarini said his life has been a whirlwind in the past year. Just in the past
week, he was on "Oprah," "Live with Regis and Kelly" and
"Good Morning America."
Guarini family members also were on hand to see the show Friday. One relative,
Mary Jo Doud, said 60 of them went to Los Angeles last year to see the
"American Idol" finals and 144 of them were there for Friday's
premiere.
"It's stunning every day to see a member of your family on TV," she
said