News-Record.com

Well, we had a chance at true fame and glory in Hollywood yesterday, and we passed it by as if it were a rerelease of "From Justin to Kelly."

E! True Hollywood Stories called. The behind-the-scenes program with "the inside scoop on Tinseltown's steamiest secrets" is doing a show on Fantasia, the American Idol from High Point, not to be confused with the 1940 Disney classic. A producer called looking for someone from Fantasia Barrino's home to talk on camera about what she's like.

We wrote a lot about Fantasia last year, and we've recently written a bit about her newly released autobiography. But know her? Know her well enough to dish about her on national television? Uh, no. Every reporter I spoke with who had covered a piece of the Fantasia story demurred. "I don't even know her. What would I say?" was the universal response.

I wasn't sure this concern was relevant, considering some of the True Hollywood Stories I've seen, but there you go.

After getting no takers here, I referred the producer to the High Point Enterprise and FOX8, where, I think it's fair to say, they spent a lot more time on the Fantasia story. Lenslinger, she's all yours.