keepingfaith

It occurs to me that I've now been in the online fandom a bit longer than the 2003 originals had been when I joined up. Did that make sense? Obviously, there still stuff to find out. Oh this WEATHER!! Houston is like "Portland on the Bayou" this week. Wish I were in Miami ... and had a Super Bowl ticket.

Thankful, your videos are wonderful and only get better every time I watch - and I can't stop watching. The audio is outstanding. THANK YOU!!!! I too love the videos of FIEKY. Jackie does a really good job keeping it together with Clay going all adorable right behind her. HippoGA has another great angle of this, dead center. I love his FACE. His mood for the night reminds me of Christmas 2006 (without the magnificent hair, but with all the interactive fun). I'd be in heaven with more hair on his head as I think his broader face requires more than JBT hair. And, can someone tell me if Clay has always had that scar/indentation(?) on the right side of his forehead. In many of the pictures from GFI it's very prominent because his short hair is exposing it. So I don't know where this came from, but I've never focused on it before, and never heard it discussed before.

Clay loves surprises. Maybe he wants to surprise us with a hot toned body, in skin tight pants and a sexy shirt with a couple of buttons open at the top to expose chest hair. He probably didn't want to turn the ladies on too much before, under the circumstances, but now he can turn us all on, guilt-free! Maybe he'll even rub some feet now! I just have no negative expectation at all about this new album. And I'm the hard-rock lover, loud and metally is what I've lost a portion of my hearing to since the 60's. I was Led Zeppelin's devoted fan back in the day ... yet in the spirit of full-disclosure my favorite Zeppelin was and still is, Thank You. Anyway, if I can bridge the gulf between that and It's Impossible, I think anybody can. And when Clay talked about the PBS show as going after the target audience, I think that audience is discerning appreciaters of great music. Because I seriously doubt it has anything to do with an age-related demographic. Here in the Clay Nation, from what I can tell, we're in our 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and so on. We like rock, pop, showtunes, classics, and stuff we learned to love on Idol, like Build Me Up Buttercup. Which reminds me ...... Buttercup is from the '60's, isn't it? It wasn't anything I knew about in the '60's, but it's also a bit of a Clay signature from Idol, which is the first and last time I recall ever hearing it. A thought, but maybe Clay wants to scoop up those "signature" Idol songs like Mack and Buttercup and To Love Somebody, even Unchained Melody which he's never recorded. You know that David Foster has probably been pushing him to record UM. Maybe he's swooping in for his Idol gems before someone else does! And, I just had a heart murmur, wait a minute .... I Can't Help Myself! Could you help yourself if Clay tours this summer with Sugar Pie Honey Bunch AND Buttercup!?! Dreams, dreams, but Lord, Lord, Let it BE. As for determining the tone of the new album ... I think Clay is sandbagging this thing big time! I think he's going after the Idol audience that wonders what happened to him, and their kids and parents and friends and neighbors. And I think he'll get something on radio this time. I predict.

YAY Thankful! Love the close ups and new angles. The songs are yummy. I keep hearing It's Impossible as a signature song for Clay, the theme orchestras play when he makes an entrance, theme to his talk show, etc. It's been recorded, but it was never anyone's signature. If not that one, then Mack the Knife. It's a big possibility, because Bobby Darin's signature song was Beyond the Sea. And I thought Clay owned Mack the Knife the night he sang it on Idol. From the look on his face that night, I think he thought so too. Even What Kind of Fool Am I ... not sure about Tony Newley, but it wasn't Sammy D's signature as that was Candy Man. The ones that are right out are Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You and Moon River (and Andy Williams didn't originate Moon River or even have the biggest hit from it, yet it's his.) But I say It's Impossible because I'm walking around hearing it in my head. Hearing orchestrated intros ... it has me.

Love the blog! And I totally agree about the Academy Award nominations, Couchie. Nominating 10 dilutes the power of the nomination. And are there always going to be 10 great movies every year? I've got my doubts about this group. I can't wait to hear Clay's new music with the full arrangements. He said this was just a tease and a great tease it was. Not to mention he looks amazingly happy.

There will probably be about 14 songs on the new album. We know: MTK, Moon River, WKOFAI, CTMEOOY, and probably It's Impossible. So there are circa 9-10 we don't have a clue about. I'll bet he rocks out on MTK, and we have no idea what those other tunes may be, but it's clear that the songs he picked for the GFI are the ones that work best in an intimate "piano bar" setting. Just keeping the mind open. I have to add that I've read around today and have seen several comments of the 'I don't like these kinds of songs because I liked The Beatles' variety. That does not compute for me. Who knew that types of music were mutually exclusive? That's a new one for me! Seriously, I'd never allow myself to be in such a box. There are a lot of old standards I don't like. There are some Beatles songs I can do without. There's some Hendrix I avoid, but I still have some old Chad Mitchell Trio that I enjoy (Four Strong Winds, to be exact). And I like some of the Black Eyed Peas, and some of Jennifer Nettles. I pretty much like some of everything and all of nothing. I like what I like, and I get to judge what that is, and I especially don't give a damn if no one else likes it. I've never needed friends to like the music I love. FYI: Paul McCartney, the living legend Cute Moptop himself, recently said that his favorite singer is .... wait for it ........ Nat King Cole. I hope everyone can adjust. And, one more thing, since individual anecdotes are indicative of nothing more than a personal story, I have one for the mix. ahem .................. Anthony Newley's "What Kind of Fool Am I", from Stop the World ... I Want to Get Off, was my FAVORITE song when I was 13. My mother hated it. And this can be thrown in the hamper with all other bullshit anecdotal memorabilia. All that said, the 50's classics aren't the type of music I've followed for many years (although I did download the Platters a few years ago because I had a music-junkie need for Smoke Gets In Your Eyes after hearing a tape in somebody's car), but I love that change itself is the stuff of life, and the only constant we have in this world. I dig it. Sly Stone said, 'If it was good once, it's still good.' Hey music lover! (But just like at Woodstock, some people need to have "approval" before they throw up the peace sign!!)

A CD with a live performance DVD included (a la PBS) appears to be an m.o. for Decca. I see multiple purchases in my future again. Because, don't you just know the PBS pledge-version DVD will have extra stuff. The most recent Paul McCartney offering is a triple - two audio CDs and a DVD of the complete, live Citifield concert - all for the ridiculously reasonable price of $13.99. Something like that makes it compelling to buy the physical product instead of downloading a few tunes online. Not that long ago the CD would have sold for $17.99 and the separate DVD would be $19.99.

I'm one of those people who has NEVER seen this movie. I've never been a romantic comedy afficionado. It was showing on TCM only a few days ago and I decided to watch it for the first time, and then my daughter called and kept me on the phone laughing for over an hour, so that was that. However, I well remember hearing Moon River on the radio about a thousand times in the 60's and the big hit radio single was by Henry Mancini, with a big chorus and strings and reeds. I never liked it much then because my mother sang it in the car for a couple of years. Somehow in my mind I have it intertwined with Walter Brennan's Old Rivers (I challenge someone to remember THAT ), and Pat Boone's Moody River (please wipe that from my mind, Sweet Jesus), because my mother was apparently drawn to river songs. The only river song that grabbed me and made me weep was Old Man River, the William Warfield version. Another song my mother sang back when that is etched in the grooves of my memories was He's Got The Whole World In His Hands, which I've considered as a possibility for a 50's-60's album. It sounds like a Clay song to me. Anyway, I love hearing Clay sing Moon River NOW. It has a fresh meaning for me -- the story of Clay and Reed, two drifters off to experience the whole wide world in pursuit of the same rainbow's end, together. Sigh.

Remember I know you, okay? For instance, you love him in glasses. But I know WHY!

Was there a rivet by any chance? Don't pretend you didn't look.

He said he was going to sing some songs from the new album with only a piano. I hope to God Almighty that That's Impossible is on there. I'm beside myself for that one. His voice was everything. And when he sings .... Can I hold you closer to me and not feel you goin' through me? Split the second that I never think of you? Oh how impossible. Can I stand it?

CV Cellcert: Saying Reed was mesmerized watching "the man on the stool." Oh my my my my.

I'm agah. I'm not sure what that is, but that's what I am.

This crooner is killing me tonight. Perry Como didn't have a Clay Aiken voice. And I think Clay is now inspired by love to sing love songs with his full passion and I'm so overjoyed. He said it's one of his favorites. Now Moon River.

It's Impossible.

OMG he's singing Sacrificial Love. ETA: Like a dream.

Somebody offered $500 for Mack the Knife. He said she has to wait for the album. Now a request for Forget I Ever Knew You and he says there's no way he knows that song. If she can come up and sing it he'll donate $1,000 to the foundation in her name. Jackie is the singer.

Lover All Alone now. While somebody googles Hallelujah. Says he's only going to do one or two more of these requests. I heard a request for Always and Forever.

Hallelujah next request. But he claims he doesn't know it. I'm still swooning back on the last one with LdyJ.

Mentions that the songs won't be just piano on the album. Now he's taking requests. Someone is paying $5,000 for "You Can't Take That Away From Me." Oh so sexy!

He sounds gorgeous. Now singing Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. So far he's singing the songs that were leaked.

He's singing What Kind of Fool Am I and says it's from the new album. If we don't like it, he's calling Jerome.

merrieeee called just a minute ago from the lobby and in hushed tones said pretty much the above. The hair is nice and brown and he looks wonderful. She asked, "Guess who's here?" I said, "Reed." In a very loud whisper she managed an emphatic, "He's gorgeous!" So that makes two of 'em.

Thought the BOTW arrangement sucked bad. Apologies to DF if he was responsible for that. Everybody in my house made a move during that song. The voices actually annoyed me together, and I'm a minor fan of both Mary J and Andrea. It was a slow plodding mess to me, and not inspiring in the least. But .... not nearly in the range of horror that was the Taylor Swift/Stevie Nicks duet of Rihannon. OMG, Taylor Swift singing even flatter that Stevie Nicks! If aural assault was criminal, they would have been taken off in handcuffs. Loved Pink, Elton, Gaga. Michael Jackson's Earth Song WAS inspiring. Really loved it.

Every one want to get a hand on him, to touch him. He's adored by men and women alike.