keepingfaith

I'm having to cancel my Reno trip -- as bad as that hurts. But it can't be helped. Fortunately, I am NOT cancelling my trip to Biloxi. I do have two excellent tickets for sale to Silver Legacy if anyone on this board or any other is interested. Two floor seats, Section C, in the middle of Row 9, seats 7 and 8. I have the hard tickets in my hand and it's gonna be tough to part with them, but I'm grateful I'll be at the last show in Biloxi. Even so, this breaks my heart today.

It's Only Make Believe This one has that Lionel Hampton Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop vibe to me, and the hand-claps put it right there in the late 40's - early 50's era. This is one I won't analyze because it's a jazzy, fun number just perfect to pick me up after What Kind of Fool Am I, so I can thud again when Misty starts. The whole album is designed for maximum impact. And one reason the songs as a whole work so well for me is that the tracks are perfectly placed: Starts upbeat -- slows down dramatically -- up again with the swing and hop -- back in the bowl with Misty -- then jump up and call the law, it's Mack -- whoa, Impossible not to hit the floor now -- lather, rinse, repeat. Maybe they should have called this one Black and Blue! In summary, It's Only Make Believe is in the right place at the right time.

It's strange and ironic to me, reading around this morning, that Chelsea Handler is being slammed for her speaking voice, looks, personality and everything else, and called some pretty vicious names. I recall reading comments to various web stories about Clay over the years when people commented that they couldn't stand his speaking voice, accent, looks, or perceived "arrogance" and Clay's devoted fans referred to those people as "haters." It was a good interview for Clay last night and part of mending his tattered image in the media. Lashing out at people who are facilitating his rebuilding process is counter-productive. Live and let live, people. If you don't like somebody's show, don't watch it, but why tear them to shreds for having Clay on the show and saying nice things? I am repulsed by hypocrisy wherever I see it. I kind of like that Golden Rule thingy. And I hope that Clay does go on Conan when he's back on the air this fall. And I wouldn't mind seeing him on Regis & Kelly at some point in the future. I like Chelsea Handler infinitely more than I like Kelly Ripa, but it would be removing another brick from the wall.

The fans in general may be all over Clay's CNN online interview, but I think it's a no-brainer that doing Chelsea's show will reap the real benefits to his professional image. He was fabulous last night. Her questions, which I know made some fans bristle, were the catalyst for his best moments, including my personal favorite when she mentioned the People magazine cover and his "coming out party" and he said "It was quite the party" with his "make the sandwich" face. It was funny and endearing and the audience reacted to his muggings the same way we do. There was a lot of good information exchanged, he looked great, and they traded some cute barbs because they are both big on the sarcasm. I noticed not only did they hug at the end, but she kissed him on the cheek at the beginning. The more Clay can integrate his persona into the zeitgeist the better. Chelsea Lately provided another opportunity for that, and Clay was his lovable, charming, intelligent self. Nothing but a big win for him. And Chuy was cute with Clay at the beginning, too. Her show is usually way more profane than it was last night. The fans who aren't down with ultra-earthy chat were fortunate that Clay was on during the days she's having her little niece visit. The roundtable segment wasn't funny, but it was 99% cleaner. One of her shows I did watch was when she had Erin and Maks from Dancing on the show and the first thing she asked was if there had been "penetration." If you're aghast at that, Eric and Maks seemed to have fun with it, and leave little doubt as to the answer to that question. Her show isn't for everyone, actually no one's show is for everyone -- not even Glee, but among her millions of fans are probably the bedrock of Clay detractors, so chipping away at that is nothing but positive and productive. YAY for No. 9 on Billboard. I have a couple more copies to buy this week, and it will be the regular CD because from the NJU's I've checked on, all the favorites are in the core 11 songs, and not so much Sorry and Breaking Up. So I'll buy the stripped down model of T&T this week. One person I gifted with a Deluxe version specifically told me that the CD should have ended with Moon River.

Loni Love tweets: .

OK, so he didn't make number two. But I'm still proud of him! The CNN interview is darn cute. And I'm going to start saying "Bring It On!" a lot more.... That CNN interview is really good and he looks wonderful. Did I hear him say that he'd be the best judge on Idol? And that the show would suffer without Paula, Simon and him? He's so funny! He should be ready to tape Chelsea Lately in about twenty minutes. It's in front of a live audience ... wonder if any fans are there. News headline at HDD: Taio Cruz and Clay Aiken Bow in the Top 15, as Johnson Hangs Ten at the Top of the Chart

Tweet from HDD:

Both are in the original. He chooses to omit "give a damn" at the end and instead repeats "any other man." I suppose it's for emphasis as to how he feels it, but the "give a damn" was the climax point of the original. I don't think it's a language issue with him anymore.

FINAL -- TOP 20 LW TW artist / album label power index % change -- 1 JACK JOHNSON BRUSHFIRE/UNIV REPUBLIC 250,638 -- TO THE SEA 3 2 JUSTIN BIEBER ISLAND/IDJMG 53,544 +7% MY WORLD 2.0 1 3 GLEE CAST COLUMBIA 45,428 -27% GLEE: THE MUSIC, VOL. 3 SHOWSTOP 4 4 LADY ANTEBELLUM CAPITOL NASHVILLE/EMI 40,953 -13% NEED YOU NOW 5 5 USHER LAFACE/JLG 34,565 -1% RAYMOND VS. RAYMOND 6 6 LADY GAGA INTERSCOPE 32,924 +6% FAME 8 7 CAROLE KING & JAMES TAYLOR HEAR MUSIC 26,590 +6% LIVE AT THE TROUBADOUR -- 8 TAIO CRUZ MERCURY 24,394 -- ROKSTARR 12 9 GODSMACK UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC 21,070 -7% THE ORACLE 16 10 KE$HA KEMOSABE/RCA/RMG 20,471 +5% ANIMAL 15 11 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 33 CAPITOL/EMI 20,317 +2% VARIOUS ARTISTS -- 12 CLAY AIKEN DECCA 19,722 -- TRIED AND TRUE 17 13 B.O.B. ATLANTIC 19,310 -1% ADVENTURES OF BOBBY RAY 19 14 ZAC BROWN BAND ATLANTIC 19,076 +7% FOUNDATION 7 15 BLACK KEYS NONESUCH 18,810 -29% BROTHERS 2 16 STONE TEMPLE PILOTS ATLANTIC 18,601 -70% STONE TEMPLE PILOTS 20 17 JUSTIN BIEBER ISLAND/IDJMG 17,957 +3% MY WORLD 9 18 ROLLING STONES UME 17,898 -28% EXILE ON MAIN STREET 21 19 BLACK EYED PEAS INTERSCOPE 17,556 +5% E.N.D. (ENERGY NEVER DIES) 10 20 NAS & DAMIAN MARLEY UNIVERSAL REPUBLIC 16,967 -28% DISTANT RELATIVES

Chelsea Handler is an acquired taste and she has a point of view. There are times I don't like what she does and says at all, and other times I admire her for being a "real" person who doesn't do phony. She hates celebrity for celebrity's sake, and this online comment sums it up nicely: This interview from a couple of years ago is informative about Chelsea Handler: http://www.pr.com/article/1089

FYI, the lyrics are "mask of play" not "mask of clay": What kind of clown am I What do I know of life Why can't I cast away This mask of play And live my life The show "Stop The World I Want To Get Off" is centered around a circus clown, Littlechap, who aspires to more.

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/06/07/Clay_Fights_Antigay_Bullying/ Am I in an alternate universe? GLBT sites are praising Clay Aiken and slamming Elton John. Whoa, where am I?

What Kind of Fool Am I I adore this song. I've loved it forever and Clay gives me goosebumps on this one. I love the jazz version with David Sanborn, which takes it to another place from the stage version and Sammy version. One thing that I do wonder about is why the lyrics were changed at the end, from Why can't I fall in love, 'til I don't give a damn to repeating "Why can't I fall in love, like any other man" I suppose those words resonated hard with Clay and he wanted to stress them for lyrical impact, but the original words had a big impact on me, and when I first heard the song I missed those dramatic lyrics at the end. But, this is now Clay's song, so I already give a damn less and less about the change. The final "why can't I" has an old Johnny Ray vibe to it. Johnny Ray was before my time, but I have heard his music and seen old clips on TV. This was his vocal trademark from the early 50's, to wrench every ounce of emotion from a song. Sammy D. and Tony Newley famously ended What Kind of Fool Am I with the show-stopping glory note, and I was expecting a "BOTW" ending from Clay, but he surprised me and softened it down to a plaintiff cry. I'm in love with that. This one is a contender for best song on the album for me.

A straggler comment on Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You: I'll be frank. I've hesitated about commenting about this one because I came in with a deep-seated bias against it. I have a low-to-no tolerance for the Four Seasons; I've never seen "Jersey Boys" because I'd rather take a beating than spend an evening listening to Four Seasons songs. CTMEOOY wasn't as horrible for me as Big Girls Don't Cry, or Walk Like a Man, (Frankie, SING like a man!), BUT, it's the use of the original arrangement here that has been problematic for me. Clay is working his magic in removing some of that meddlesome scar tissue from my musical memory with his clear and persuasive vocals, but I wish the arrangement had been jazzier, along the lines of how Bobby Darin performed it. (The Bobby Darin version that's on YouTube is worth watching for comparison.) But thank GOD Clay doesn't sound anything like Frankie Valli, so there's a better than even chance that one day all that icky sticky connotation will have been removed and I can appreciate this one on it's own. I don't skip it because I'm working hard on the replacement therapy. For some reason I have this song linked in my historical mind with Herb Alpert's This Guy's In Love With You, which was a superior song IMO, and one I'd love to hear Clay put his hot, sexy vocals to one day. To sum up, Clay is making lemonade here for me. And I'm glad it's the opener.

Somehow I knew you'd be first in line. Maybe I'd like it.

I just checked iTunes albums and T&T is # 12. It had fallen to # 22 this morning, so it looks like Larry's listeners got busy (and I'm including myself among Larry's listeners). What a great interview! It's on my iPod and I'm going to bed with it tonight ... I want to hear Clay called "babydoll" one more time before I sleep. As to the 15th song Clay recorded, I heard his answer as Eso Beso, because he mentioned Buttercup at the same time, and specifically said that he hadn't recorded Buttercup and didn't know why, other than not wanting too much Idol stuff on the album. So I think Eso Beso was recorded. Regarding In My Life, I think he's saving that for the inevitable Beatles cover album he'll record one day. (Okay, dreamin' again. Just slap me.)

I just read this and thought it was the funniest thing I've read all weekend. It's in a "comment" review at http://us.review-music.com/Clay-Aiken-Tried-and-True-C81GF8OF.html :

So far, the favorites feedback I've had from three people I gifted with CDs are: 1. Unchained Melody, Suspicious Minds, and Misty 2. Moon River, It's Impossible, and Crying 3. Moon River, Mack the Knife, and Only Make Believe Pretty diversified responses! Also, one of my son's friends was here at the house yesterday and told me he saw Clay sing on TV this week and "he was awesome." I asked him what Clay was singing and he said, "I don't know. I think it was that Ghost song." Oh poor Caro! My sympathies to you, and wishing you some cool breezes in the evening. I remember the summer of 1980 when it was over 100 every day for about 20 days and our AC went out. There was such a demand that the AC guy couldn't come out for a week and I lived at the movies and the mall that week with the kids. The only one who didn't mind it was the 2-year old who would just keep going even though his face was red and sweaty. Even the "cold" water in the tap was warm. I'd run bath water and put ice in it. One night I just couldn't stay in the house and made a pallet outside on the patio in hopes of catching a breeze. I woke up about 5 am and was staring into the eyes of some creature. I didn't know what it was at first, and almost had a heart attack until it hopped off and I saw it was a rabbit. You just never expect to wake up with a rabbit in your face, at least I didn't! ETA: My sister thinks SM doesn't belong on the CD, that it doesn't fit with the other songs. The next person I talked to loved SM and it's one of her top two favorites. I guess Clay is absolutely right to sing the songs he loves because just as Ricky Nelson sang in Garden Party, It's all right now, I learned my lesson well You see, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself

More on Chelsea ... I've seen this show more than a few times because my kids like her show. One thing I do like about Chelsea is that she has no use for idle celebrity of the Hiltons and Kardashians of this world and she saves her harshest comments for the "party" crowd. She's best friends with Jenny McCarthy, and her career took off, IMO, because of her long-time relationship with Ted Herbert, CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group (that owns the E Network, I believe). She's cracked on Clay quite a bit in the past couple of years, but then will make casual asides that 'she'd do him.' He'll be her couch guest, following the dish she does with the three comedians at the beginning of the show. She's very frank and doesn't suck up to anybody. I saw her on Larry King one night and she stated that she doesn't suffer fools gladly, and aspires to do substantive interviews in her career. Her books have been best sellers. It should be interesting on Tuesday night. I'll bet she gets along great with Clay.

Chelsea Handler? That'll blow the roof off, won't it? That's kind of like Clay going on Conan or Kathy Griffin. He's definitely making peace. Chelsea Lately is a pretty raunchy show, but she's very popular with the in crowd. Chelsea and Chuy and Clay? Oh, my!!! I wouldn't miss this one for the world. Kimmell is still open on Friday the 11th. ETA: Regarding the possible vertigo, I was just thinking this morning while watching him on the Early Show how much he reminded me of how he looked during the Christmas 2006 tour. But I was thinking hair and stubble at the time, not vertigo.

OTT, but does anyone have any idea whatsoever why Elton John is singing at Rush Limbaugh's wedding banquet tonight? Does Elton need a million bucks that badly?

This is great. It's from Dr. Frank Spinelli regarding his "stalking" of Clay. It was linked on another board so I brought it here for everyone to enjoy. http://spinellimd.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/clay-aiken/

I always do listen to albums in order, at least initially. That's probably ingrained from the 60's and 70's when some of my favorites albums had no gaps between tracks and they transitioned into one another, with frequent intentional overlaps. I have downloaded many tracks from older albums that began with the end of the last song. The band/artist did this so that the album would be listened to in whole and in order, but then those were the days of the theme albums. I just read something that made me chuckle -- a story about Hey Jude and how producer George Martin told the group they couldn't release it as a single because at over 8 minutes long it would never get played on the radio. John Lennon said, "It will if it's us." It was released as a single, and become the biggest selling single in the history of the Beatles. Sometimes you have to break the mold and create a new one. Conventional wisdom doesn't last forever.

I fell asleep and came back in to see all the activity. After a fast check of the first 15 comment pages following the blog, I had to quit. As a fan, I am embarrassed by the number of "well-meaning" fans, whose names I recall from past unpleasantness, and who abide and perpetuate, somehow, to inform Clay about promotion and distribution. I was hoping people would, by this time, be disabused of the notion that it's a good thing to sell CD's at your concerts. It's just not done. Maybe if you play the American Legion Hall or the Community Center and you press the CDs yourself it's the thing to do, but if it's between a professional venue and a record label product, it won't happen. Merchandise is sold, but not CD's. And the many comments that Clay needs to get Decca to load up shipments of Tried & True to the diminishing record aisle(s) at Walmart is bizarre, as if the stores themselves have nothing to do with ordering the merchandise they sell. Free-standing record stores are all but extinct. If you want hard copies the options are among the severely limited sections dedicated to CDs in book stores, electronics stores, and discount general merchandise stores, period. And they are diminishing for a very good reason - people don't buy hard copies of records anymore; they download. The CD aisle now exists for the ever-dwindling numbers who are not online, and it's best-sellers only. I've bought quite a few copies of T&T this week. I had several delivered directly to family and friends from Amazon and, fortunately, everything I ordered was delivered successfully this week. I've downloaded from two sites, and gifted from iTunes. The majority of sales these days are online downloads. While there are people who aren't online, the record business is not catering to them anymore. They are looking to the future, and that is people online. I can download directly from iTunes on my iPod. Everything Tried & True has to offer, including all bonus material, can be downloaded from iTunes or delivered from Amazon. There were no "store" exclusives this time, so I haven't even been into a Walmart or Target looking for T&T. I didn't need them for this CD. And, when I have been in those stores recently, I don't see shoppers in the CD section. The people who don't understand the lack of promotion obviously haven't paid attention to David Novik. He's made no secret of Decca's marketing strategy. Decca markets to adults, and the strategy in a nutshell is, TOUR, TOUR, TOUR, in that order. I guess that's why Clay is going on the road with Ruben this summer, before planning the solo T&T tour to follow. And the PBS Special is not, in my opinion, a vehicle exclusively to sell CDs. It's a hook to put people in the seats for tours. Watching a live concert on PBS entices people to buy tickets to that show when it comes to their area. The Celtic Women and Thunder, etc., are selling out arenas now, and all because of PBS specials. It's the modern synergy, and radio isn't even in this picture. Things have changed and continue to evolve, but the fanagers are still clinging to obsolete paradigms. The lecturing of Clay as to how he should promote this CD is just sad, and embarrassing.

Well, he is persuasive, isn't he! I have a friend in Key West for the month and I was going to give him a copy when he gets back on the 28th. But, I'm gifting him an iTunes download tonight. I'll just feel better about it after reading the blog. Clay has that strange effect on me. Now who else do I know that needs a copy ...... thinking