lilyshine

Almost totally OT and highly irrelevant to anything at all. I enjoying playing a game called "Civilization" that lets you play as almost any country in the world starting in 1000BC. All the "civs" have different icons for stuff you can build - buildings, weapons, people etc. I recently started playing a fantasy version and was puzzled by one civ's symbol for a catapult. Then I realized. It was a <drumroll> COW!

I so agree with this. Clay's experience of a tour and ours are two different universes that only intersect in a brief moment. Even those intersections are understood and experienced totally differently. Moments which become iconic in the fandom may not even be remembered by Clay, e.g. Did I really sing When a Man Loves a Woman? As for the rest of the time? The intersection between Clay's universe and most of ours is practically nil. One of the many reasons the gerbil wheel of "he Should..." makes no sense to me. Speculation can be fun, but in the absence of any data, rather pointless.

Funny you should mention that. I actually asked Clay in my M&G if he remembered Canandaigua and the rain. He had no clue as to what I was babbling about. He did say he remembered Chatauqua. Close, but no cigar.

On a totally different topic -- Clay's singing! I just downloaded a new compilation of AI Clay. I've found it fascinating to hear how much his voice improved over that time, especially his breath control. I don't know jack about music, but even I can hear his voice getting smoother and richer. Working with professional vocal coaches must have been exciting for him. I'm sure he learned tons, being such a sponge. I'm going to have to listen to some of the newer stuff to compare it, although I find there's so much more production it interferes with listening to just the voice. Don't misunderstand, I love the horns and cellos etc., but the minimal and rather boring background on AI really showcased his voice. Hope did the Sendspace and if anyone is interested, I'll try to find the link.

Definitely not back channel. I'm not that important and don't know anyone! The riot act was because Dmom thought Wacky was a troll trying to stir the turd by pretending to be Clay. I thought the whole thing was a hoot, nothing more. I don't really care if Clay or Team Clay posts or blogs or twits. As long as I can hear the voice!

I don't know much about what happened at CV about Wackyjacky, but my understanding was that he/she posted a "from Clay" message and Dancermom immediately read him/her the riot act, erased the post and banned further posts. She was then contacted by "Someone" who informed her that the posts were coming from an unidentified (at least to the Board) person on Team Clay and gave enough proof that she and the other admins were satisfied. She reinstated the posts and put a bag over her head. No clue who any of the backstage people were, but that was the story as it played out on CV.

Considering that Clay met, talked to, hugged, and had pictures with more than 1000 of us during a month-long tour, I really think he deserves a rest a long, long way from the fandom. What could he possibly say in a blog or a tweet that he didn't in the M&Gs and on stage every night? Boggles the mind.

Funny you should say that. That's one of the things Clay talked about in the Houston M&G. The only states he's never been to are Montana and Alaska. One of the M&Gers was from Montana. He then said those plus one or two others were the only states were he'd never performed. I'm not sure about the latter, but maybe someone with a better memory can fill in the states.

Thanks! I just downloaded it and showed it to her. She is very happy. Even noticed the couple of times Clay looked at her and her "Mom". It's definitely a keeper.

I'm sure he recognized me but didn't want to acknowledge it, which was fine. Including the PBS thing, he had M&G'd over 50 people that night. Besides, I'd made a few foot-in-mouth comments and after the LOUD woman, I'm sure he didn't want any more commentary. If you know where there is a clear recording of the exchange, please let me know. The cellcert I downloaded isn't clear enough to hear Clay's questions or GD's responses.

One thing to add. When GD told her mom about the conversation with Clay, her mom said, "But you don't listen to the radio." GD said that she listened to Pandora, so that should count. So Clay has a very skewed poll of what 11 year-olds listen to.

YESSSS That was my g-daughter. I'm very proud of her. But the best part was that Clay kept saying she was with her mother! LOL. One generation off, but nice. Whole encounter went something like this: Clay: Who listens to the radio? GD puts up hand. Clay points to her : Who do you listen to? GD: U2 & Coldplay. Clay talks to some others then comes back: How old are you? GD: 11 Clay: So you were 3 when I was on Idol. Me & GD: I went to your concert when I was 4. After that, throughout the show Clay kept making references to being 11, like when he was introducing the new guitarist who was young. GD was thrilled by the interaction. She likes Clay, but is not a superfan and preferred the bouncier songs of the night. M&G was interesting. Fairly short because of the large number of PBSers who were waiting for him. We did get to ask questions, but didn't have any real conversations. Mary & Jerome were as efficient as usual in wrangling the schedule. Concert was fabulous. In person is so much better than recorded, but it just flies by. It was after 9 before it ended which is a lot of singing with no intermission. The only breaks Clay got were during Quiana's solos.

And I have one for Houston!! It presents a dilemma though as I'll be going with my 11-year old granddaughter. Don't want to leave her alone and I don't know if they'd let her go instead of me.

It's this Houston Symphony link write-up, but it's with all the "regular" concerts. It's just nice to see them giving equal billing to Clay, who isn't part of any of their regular season series.

EEEeeee!!! Just got my mail and there was a slicked-back Clay singing for me! It was an ad for the Houston Symphony and Clay was right between Verdi's Requiem and Ravel's Bolero. Sure hope it sells a few tickets. If I had a scanner, I'd scan it for you.