Taunton man flown to LA to tell Rawkstar's story on The Kelly Clarkson Show

TAUNTON — East Taunton resident Jon “JJ” Jacobs recently traveled to Universal Studios in Los Angeles to film a segment about Rawkstars, his Taunton-based non-profit which provides young music students with instruments and tuition for weekly music lessons.

The segment was set to air on the Monday, June 6 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, which also features The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) and American Ninja Warrior host Matt Iseman.

Jacobs was contacted by show producers who’d caught wind of Rawkstars early in May. About a week’s worth of back-and-forth, background checks and even a selfie-style screen test followed.

Then he got the call.

“After about a week of back and forth like that, I was at my office one day and got a call from the show producer to tell me that they all loved the Rawkstar story and that they wanted to fly me out to LA to appear on The Kelly Clarkson show," Jacobs said.

“So a couple of days later, I boarded a plane to LAX and to film an episode with The Dixie Chicks, and also Matt Iseman from the American Ninja Warrior was also on the show, and the whole show was kind of a very music-centric episode.”

Welcome to Hollywood

The episode was filmed May 19 at Universal Studios in Universal City, California. Adding to the pressure, Jacobs did not meet Clarkson or any of the show's guests until taking to the sound stage in front of a live studio audience for filming. And during the segment, he sat facing the host, Clarkson, with The Chicks — lead singer Natalie Maines and multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer — to his left.

No pressure.

“Of course, Kelly is a musician and The Dixie Chicks performed with her. Matt, the American Ninja Warrior guy, actually is a huge music fan and talked a lot about his career and kind of experience growing up and listening to music and being involved with music.”

Eye-popping Taunton-area home sales: 'Resort-like' waterfront home in Dighton sells for almost $700,000

Jacobs caught up with Iseman back stage, where the two talked music in general, Metallica specifically, for a few minutes.

“And then of course I did my segment," Jacobs said, "where we talked all about Rawkstars, talked about my own backstory coming up as a sound engineer and sort of discovering music as a career, and then later on founding Rawkstars and keeping it running for the last 19 or so years.

“And basically I just talked a lot about the impact that it's had on others and, really, the whole concept of how it really teaches you life skills, not necessarily about becoming a famous musician, but really just about being comfortable with who you are and learning skills that are transferable no matter what you do for a career later on, even if it has nothing to do with music.”

The segment also includes a shot from TJ’s Music in Fall River, one of a few local music stores which partners with Rawkstars. The shot included a number of Rawkstar-funded students.

“It was kind of cool and I was able to see all the kids in real time while I was actually on the set with Kelly and The Dixie Chicks, and it actually made me a little bit emotional, just kind of seeing it in front of me and you know, knowing that there's a bunch of kids there that have been impacted by our program. It was pretty humbling.”

Meeting an American Idol

Jacobs says the host and show’s namesake, Clarkson, who rose to fame as the first winner of American Idol and went on to become a highly-successful recording artist, is just as warm and bubbly in person as she is on camera.

“She was amazing," he said. "She was very warm and welcoming."

Promising players: Here are the 20 Greater Taunton area baseball players to watch this postseason

He said before he actually came out to the set he had spent a couple of hours by himself in the dressing room going over his thoughts and just trying to relax.

"And then once I finally got out onto the sound stage and, you know, we shook hands and kind of started talking a little bit I calmed down almost immediately because she was just such a great host," Jacobs said.

“She was just really easygoing and just made me feel at home.”

Jacobs says Clarkson also made a generous donation to Rawkstars.

Well-deserved recognition for Rawkstars

Though it was a thrill and an experience to meet with the stars and live the Hollywood life for a day or so, Jacobs was thrilled just to have Rawkstars and the many people who contributed to the program over the years recognized.

“Of course, I was flattered to be asked to go on the show and, you know, I was excited, but I really felt it was great to be able to tell the Rawkstar story.

“I was honored to tell the story that, you know, a couple hundred of our little community of music friends have helped write over the last 19 years. I don't feel like Rawkstars is mine; I feel like it belongs to everybody who's helped to make it run. That's the donors, the teachers, the kids, parents, the music stores. And to be able to, you know, be a spokesperson for all those incredible people was the biggest part of the honor for me personally.

Jacobs hopes someone, somewhere will pick up the torch, even copy the Rawkstars model — they have his blessings. Or simply take the first steps toward a goal that maybe seems out of reach.

“I hope that somebody who watches it gets motivated to try something new. Maybe they're at home thinking that they could start some little thing but they don't think they have enough money or they don't think it's gonna become big or have an impact. You know, all you have to do is start, and even if you only help one kid or one family it's totally worth your time and effort.

“I went into rock stars with that attitude when I started it. I never expected or wished for it to get too big. I told myself if I helped one kid get into music the way that music helped me then it would be worth my time.”

How to watch

In the Boston area, the episode featuring Rawkstars is set to air on June 6 at 3 p.m. on the local NBC affiliate station.

Also, the episode will be available at https://www.nbc.com/the-kelly-clarkson-show immediately following the broadcast.

Taunton Daily Gazette staff writer Jon Haglof can be reached at jhaglof@tauntongazette.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton Kelly Clarkson: Rawkstar founder Jon Jacobs appears on TV show