keepingfaith

Ryan Seacrest twittered that he's casting a new show "that will help kids-schools-families" and that he's looking for a celeb anchor who has been given a second chance and asked for suggestions. Lots of tweets suggesting Clay. I could be wrong, but I don't see Clay working for Ryan Seacrest anytime soon!

I happen to be a fan who doesn't feel a need to be at the gala. Mainly because I don't live in the area, I'm not a millionaire, and it's not cost rational in my mind to buy a $250 ticket and spend about $500 for travel expenses. It would be different if it were a concert, or a Broadway weekend; but this is a charity and I'd sooner send TBAF a check for the whole $750. Maybe I need to stop this accounting work? I'm very sure it's also a good thong, merrieeee!

Somebody in NYC tweeted that Clay is in her building -- and people are "quizzically excited." He's Mr. Excitement!

Yeah, I guess you have to be there, cuz tutus and combat boots, not to mention fishnets, do not compute for me. It's not exactly a flattering look -- even on a guy with GREAT legs!

Info on "It" books: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/books/05harper.html Maybe he has a few things to say about everything that's gone on these past few years, especially (to steal a title from Al Franken) Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. He may be eager to tell a few backstories now -- and he proved that his opinion is in demand these past several weeks. I think he was generating a lot of the publicity for Idol lately. Once the Clay element went out of the Idol-related stories, the publicity seemed to deflate, IMO. A book -- a new CD -- a TOUR -- dare I dream?

I don't do anything special. All my pics and gifs are saved into my photobucket account and copied from there to here. If it were complicated, I couldn't do it.

Following #iranelection on Twitter has been intense today. Found a link there to Andrew Sullivan's page at The Atlantic .... The Revolution Will Be Twittered The regime has effectively shut down most internet and cell phone traffic in Iran today, but Twitter survived.

Happy Birthday justclay!

I loved your entire post, Couchie. And I relate to the above -- at least for the past 25 or so years. In the 60's and 70's I was interested in whatever I could find out about the singers and musicians I loved, but there weren't many sources of information and artists could control so much of what was written about them (unless they got busted!). But generally they could release only as much information about themselves as they elected to. Those were the glory days of music magazines. For the past couple of decades I've continued to love music, new music, and bought tons of it, but knowing anything personal about the singers or bands never entered my mind. I was a dedicated fan of Clay on AI, and only watched it for him, but I never entertained the thought of looking for him on the internet. Until that one night I did. And I was amazed to find out that there was a world of Clay available on my computer. Message boards all over the place, and Clack so ample that I spent a year immersed in it. YouTube was fairly new and already loaded with Clay Aiken videos and montages, and I watched it ALL. I became a near recluse for a year -- downloading, watching, burning Clack ... and trying to stay calm about the infernal seemingly eternal turmoil at OFC. It's all still amazing to me. This Clay Nation, what a country!

Kim, reading that post again and being reminded that there were fans upset that Clay was going to do Spamalot, is just another example of the wisdom in trusting Clay to walk his own path. Didn't it work out nicely! Clay drew crowds to the show, to the stage door, to the souvenir sellers, to nearby restaurants, and then Clay's fans poured forth money into Broadway Cares. He got great reviews, lots of NY and national exposure -- his name on the marquee -- his picture on the poster, THE BUS -- and he danced!! I don't know when Clay will go back to the Broadway stage, but you have to know that he's in demand. And we're in demand, too! But he'll go next where he decides to go. I'm prepared to trust that. treenuts, I love the If I have to MAKE the sandwich picture.

Okay, so it was Clay's third post. Now I remember that his first post was dancing bananas and the message was something like, "OMG HE BLOGGED!!! HE BLOGGED!!!" And we laughed for days. I don't remember the second post, but I thought the first time Clay actually responded to a fan's post was to yours. And not just responded, but he was downright schmoopie! (Hey, I've finally learned how to use that word!) Isn't that the same night he went to chat and changed Kareneh's name? And Kareneh, after revisiting the Frisco pictures last night, it's stunning how you "captured" Clay that night. I'll tell you again, you were rocking that camera! The b/w's blow me away.

Well, girlfriend, you are the one who touched Clay's heart so much that he got "misty" and posted his first message on the board at OFC! That's historic! You bow to no one!

treenuts, girl crush sounds so flattering! So much nicer than cranky old bitch crush! Which reminds me of something from a couple of decades ago. I did a matchmaking thing between two friends and they were a couple of characters, hence the natural match in my mind. Anyway, he took to calling her Doots. "Hey, Doots, come here and look at this" .... yada yada. One day I asked her why in the world he called her Doots. She said, "Oh it's one of his terms of endearment. It stands for Dried Out Old Toothless Scuzz." They were great together.

Scroll, merrieeee. (And no it's not an adorable snowflake picture. ) The thing that makes me want to puke about the RS cover is the trouser snake. How pathetic is that? Wonder how many guys will be interested in buying that issue with a damned snake on the man's pants, coiled and ready to strike his crotch. That's beyond over the top. That's a fucking desperate attempt to be hip and cool, when it really screams POSER!!! The dude isn't 19, or even 25 so his adolescent comments and that hideous pose can't be written off to immature by reason of young age and naivete. If I had to put one word on that cover it would be ..... contrived. I've had it with the Blame Clay First people. Really sick of it. Freaking and fretting because Clay's comments about Adam make him look bad to the "cool" people? Oh really? I think his comments were spot on -- and seem to be in line with general public opinion, for what that's worth. It's reminiscent of the K-Lo non-flap over the imaginary joint tour, and those who wrote that Clay owed her an apology, that he had unnecessarily humiliated her, and such foolishness as that. Clay had five years+ of being cautious about expressing himself -- and thank goodness that's over. I hope he always says what's on his mind, and if it gives some people bleeding hemorrhoids, TFB. If it's controversial, so be it. If he has to put his hand over Kelly Ripa's mouth again, go for it, dude. I love my King of Controversy. Clay is not only a uniquely talented singer, he has a high-functioning brain, an often-unique point of view, a heart of gold cream cheese (soft and sweet), and he's endlessly interesting and entertaining. The last thing I want to see is Clay having to walk some tightrope of conventionality in a vain attempt to blandly please everyone; because that's my preferred definition of "uncool." Okay, rant over. And I do feel better.

Where dat frommmmmmmmm? Yeah , what Canfly said. Is it the same as your avatar (??right word??) keepingfaith? He looks so happy there. I have that tagged as "Promo Reel_When I See You Smile" - it's an RCA creation. My avatar is from the same time period in 2006 (ATDW promotion) when he appeared on the morning show on KTLA. Same timeframe that he was doing Kimmel and LKL. He was discussing the news and politics and knew more than the anchors that morning. We weren't surprised, but they were. And Clay's personal message to Simon .....

Here I've gone and got myself besotted beyond control again tonight. I need to see Clay MOVE. \ And just the cutest thing EVAHH!

But, but, I like that sleepy Jean song. Give me some credit.

I can't stop. Indulge me, it was my FIRST TIME!!!! Then 2 nights later he was in my hometown .... It was a riveting performance!

Oooh! I was there! Is that where I first met you, kf? When we walked through the Houston tunnels getting lost on our way to Jones Hall and some nice guy showed us the way, walking almost the whole way there with us? Were you with that group of hot babes? ETA: Wait! We'd met first at Frisco, right? muski, I first met you when KAndre and I picked you up at the airport in Dallas. I must have made quite an impression! I was just hours away from seeing Clay for the first time and was a total zombie in paradise, so it's understandable. ETA: I got worse later. Here's why ..... It was good for me. Was it good for you, merrieeee? Ha! What an understatement of mammoth proportions!

EEEEEEEE That was me too!! Only difference, I had not followed Clay prior to that. THAT was my big holyshitlookathimandwowcanhesingtheshiznitzouttathatsong moment for me! And suddenly From that moment on I was hooked. Shark bait. Toast!! I've stayed for the total package and have been blissfully following him with my tongue dragging along ever since! treenuts, I resemble that remark!

One thing I thought of while writing my last post that I didn't get around to putting in -- My second Clay concert in Houston, July 6, 2007: Walking out after the show, part of the Jones Hall Summer Symphony Series, the gentleman who remarked to no one in particular, "He's great. Why haven't I heard of him before?"

I suspect it's those darned Google Alerts that indicate a media storm when in fact it's just a lot of websites that very few read unless they get Google Alerts. That's my guess. But then you know my story of being a serious Clay fan during Season 2, and then having him effectively disappear from my world until I happened to see him on AI5. Reading around the fandom for the past 3 years, I realize that the conventional wisdom is that Clay was a media sensation for a couple of years, and by certain definitions he was, but I don't live with my head in the sand and his celebrity didn't seep through my filters or those of my circle of friends. Just my opinion, but when I read about the early days of the fandom when there were so many thousands of fans online -- I know from all of you that it was an exciting time for everyone, but whether there were 20,000, 2,000 or 200 online fans didn't affect me or anyone I know. I am semi-bewildered when I hear the bemoaning that Clay's fans are dwindling, assuming his fans are restricted to the numbers posting on any given message board at any given time, whether positive or negative. I read those gnashing of teeth posts whenever I travel to other boards, and sometimes here, but I don't think that the message boards are terribly influential outside of the message boards. The boards didn't scoop me up in the Clay net – Clay did that all by himself. After AI2 was over, I wasn't interested in attending an AI Tour, AT ALL. I rejected going because I was pissed at AI, and I wouldn't have given them a single cent of my money for anything! I was certain that I would attend a Clay Aiken concert and buy a Clay Aiken CD when available and give Clay my money, NOT Idol. The next time I heard of Clay was when I was in New Orleans for my parents' 60th anniversary on September 19, 2003. We came in from dinner turned on the TV and Clay was singing TITN at the Miss America Pageant. After that, I saw him on Prime Time Live with Diane Sawyer, also by chance. From this, I learned about Measure of a Man and bought it the day it came out. I picked up my sister from work and we drove around for an hour listening to it in my car, both of us so happy for him. The next time I heard about Clay was December 2004 when I was downloading Christmas music from Rhapsody, and MCWL came up on my search of new music. I downloaded it. I also found the singles on there and downloaded them. So I had completely missed stuff like the National Anthem performances, and parades, and Kimmel appearances and the covers of the teen magazines. I did see his book on the bestseller list and ordered it. Funny, but I never read it until the summer of 2006! All the time, I was going to other concerts, watching TV, reading newspapers, and frequenting news sites on the internet, yet I never knew Clay was on Scrubs, never knew he was doing the Emmy Awards for Insider, never heard a word about the "mess" or any other rumors, and never had an inkling of an Independent Tour, Not a Tour, Joyful Noise I or II, or Jukebox Tour. I knew that Kelly toured in early 2004 because she came to Houston for a Rodeo concert – but I had no idea she was on tour with Clay and that he was as close as Dallas. Not me. I can personally attest to fans upset because Clay isn't doing concerts like the Solo Tour of 2004, that most of world knew nothing of it and still don't know. During 2005 and early 2006, I don't remember hearing Clay's name mentioned. Then one night in May 2006 he blew my mind and the rest you know. I get it that people are worried that if Clay isn't on the tube or on tour that he's out of the public consciousness -- but just because a person is on this or that show doesn't mean that person is registering in the public consciousness. It has to pack a punch. Just because someone appears on AI as a guest, a contestant, or a winner, doesn't mean that millions of people are inclined to like them. I have three kids and I can guarantee you that two of them don't have a clue who was on AI this year, mostly because they despise Idol and everything associated with it, and never watched it, read about it, or talked about it. One of my kids now likes Clay, but that's in spite of his Idol past. My prediction of at least one of Clay's future triumphs is that he'll record an album, who knows what the theme or type, because it really only matters that he'll put out something with total integrity and originality, titled "Clay Aiken" and it will be previewed by a few select music reviewers with national publications, and get an advance buzz to precede a roll-out befitting the defining smash hit he'll have on his hands. And he'll look fabulous. And millions of people will say, "Clay Aiken, isn't that the skinny kid that "won" American Idol a few years ago? I wondered what happened to him!" Do I think there are gnats, flies, flotsam and jetsam that want Clay to fail? That seems obvious, and happens to everyone, unfortunately. Do I think there are people in high places with power and integrity who are grooming Clay for future triumphs? Yep I do. And that doesn't happen for all that many people. So I'm snug in my happy place of patience. Since I already went through a couple of years of Clay drought, patience doesn't seem so strange to me. And after the last vast expanse of Claylessness, he surprised me one night and literally changed my life. It was definitely worth the wait.

Great pictures, cha cha. As Irish as I am, from all the branches of my family tree, I've never been (and with a profound fear of flying undoubtedly never will), I really enjoy the photos. Regarding the Tony Awards -- I watched enough of the show to see that Alice Ripley won Best Actress Musical for Next to Normal - even though Clay expressed his dislike for it. I'm sure he was disappointed for Allison Janney. I saw a just awful Liza Minnelli performance and wonder how anyone could willingly listen to that caterwauling for two hours, much less to PAY to hear it. Sorry to those who love her, but whatever voice was ever there has skipped town and left no forwarding address. I loved Chris Seiber in Spamalot, but the number from Shrek convinced me that that is one show for me to avoid. Not my cuppa. The Rock of Ages stuff was ??????. There's a market for old Poison and Twisted Sister crap? The Billy Elliott dance number was just okay for me. All in all, I've seen much better Tony Award Shows in the past. The only really bright spot in the whole thing was the hosting by Neil Patrick Harris. He was very good. Here's a link if you missed it. For me, it was the very last thing and the very best performance. Neil Patrick Harris Closes the Tony Awards

Regarding Eric, he also did the Cream reunion. Yeah the back-ups were definitely into it at the Crossroads performance. Derek Trucks was one of them. How about a real Clapton Supergroup -- Clapton, Bruce, Winwood and Baker. Derek Faith & the Cream? Ha! I don't think I've ever speculated about Clay recording with someone else. It's the uniqueness of his voice and delivery that grap me and I want it pure and unadulterated. But, I have thought before that one of these days somewhere down the line, I wouldn't be surprised if Clay and Ruben recorded something together.

Well, on that one Steve Winwood sings lead and plays guitar, and Eric Clapton is the deity-in-glasses playing guitar. Are you guys crazy? You're gonna put a Titanium Star Trek Spork in the hands of KAndre? You think that's funny??? Oh I guess you don't live in the same metropolitan area with her, right? Yeah, you're real brave now, but when she starts the world domination thing, distance won't save you. Think it over.