keepingfaith

The will they or won't question is definitely one of common sense for me and not something I'd think was debatable for 5 seconds. I find it hard to imagine any reason for a blogger to feel the need to bring up the subject. It's D101 to me. I posed this question to myself: Self, back when you had a weeks old baby, had it been necessary to move to another town for several months, would you have taken the baby with you? I read that as a silly question. And regarding both parents, if anything my husband was crankier about the first baby than me. A separation would not have happened. No way. No how. So, I don't see room for speculation. It's like speculating that Chistmas will fall on December 25th this year. Or speculating that Clay and Jaymes adore Parker and couldn't imagine being separated.

Here's more about Jaymes' professional biography than I've ever read before, and it's a couple of years old: http://clayaikenruminations.blogspot.com/2...mes-foster.html

Baybrook is up the road from me, merrieeee. I avoid it like the plague as traffic/parking is impossible and Mall of the Mainland is closer to me, and is much less crowded even on tax free weekend. I think I went shopping on tax-free Saturday exactly once before, and waiting in line for 45 minutes to give somebody my money wasn't worth saving the tax to me. I get hot in crowded stores, especially trying on clothes. There's never enough ventilation in dressing rooms, in Houston, in August. Once I'm at a mall I can hang like a trooper, but I have a huge resistance to getting there in the first place. I have to need it pretty damned bad. Did I mention I loathe shopping? I've never been a gung-ho consumer, so my family is agog at my purchases of Clay merchandise. But Clay makes spending money on him so enjoyably easy ... and irresistible.

Scarlett I was hoping that was a LINK. Shoot.

I vote YES. That is, yes, PLEASE. Yep....and it's more than his looks that can be different. IMO, he can change from "teacher Clay" to "pop star Clay" to "goofy Clay" to "serious Clay" in a span of about 5 seconds. It's fascinating to watch. I'll be a voyeur to him any day. That was one of the first realizations I had seeing him for the first time -- his face is panoramic. I'll definitely pass on Equus. Sir Richard Burton couldn't make me like that one. Not that hordes haven't found it brilliant, but I'm not one of them. I'd rather look on the bright side of life.

Oh yes, long hair Clay! The guy with the big words and other big things.

I can't in good conscience leave these out.

Somebody said Friday night pictures? I was on my way here with some.

I didn't see any spoilers above, but does the west coast not get the live feed on the Olympics? It was the Charlotte JNaT 006. I don't know who that photo belongs to - it wasn't tagged - so thank you to whomever captured the moment! Here's some of the screenshots I captured from the clack of the Charlotte Word of the Day. Tie-a-cette. I like this clickable practice a lot.

Yes, September 19th. He does give you good presents, LdyJ! It's my parents anniversary, their 65th coming up this year. I'll be voting for St. Paul. Isn't that the "what's that move" video? Yeah, I like it a lot.

But since this person was "unnamed" -- do we even know how close in the circle of Clay's friend this insider is? It's probably the teacher of the son of the third cousin twice removed, or some such distant person. It's actually surprising to me that it's taken this long for Clay to have an "insider" (I've admired that almost everyone close to him has been fairly tight-lipped), but unfortunately, I suspected something like this would happen at some time. I'm really not either. I do know that salt is still a vital part of my diet, but when it's positive -- to me, I'm a bit happier and like less salt. Sorry to hear about your ticket problems wandacleo... ETA: what Christmas show is the picture from the banner? I need to watch that clack again, and I can't remember which venue that is.... I don't see the In Touch insider quotes as a negative at all. I don't think they were from someone outside the family circle actually. And, I believe it was In Touch that had the original story about Clay and Jaymes planning to have another child next year, so they're just quoting their own previous story on it. But I don't think a hospital worker would say, "Clay and Jaymes plan to raise the baby together. They're best friends, and in a way, soulmates." or "Parker can look forward to a happy family life." Jaymes comes from a celebrity family, you know. The Fosters could have lots of connections to connections. But, it really sounds like good PR to me and it could be coming from Mary for all we know. It never entered my mind to think of it as anything but a huge plus. I'm still happy.

I just read that In Touch article from the clickable, and that's a fabulous article about Daddy Clay. As far as the freezing of sperm and eggs for another child, if you only have to do it once at the clinic and they can freeze everything, why go back? If they required an in vitro procedure for this baby, they'd require it for another one too. They planned ahead. I certainly don't mind anonymous insiders giving statements to magazines when they are this positive. They quoted Linda Loveland and she's probably an insider. She got the house tour, the video of OMWH in the NY studio, the call from Faye last Friday, yeah she's got to be close. I see it in the best interest of Clay, and any other celebrity for that matter, to allow comments, even uncredited ones, to these celebrity magazines. Michelle and Barack Obama were on the cover of Us recently. They did quote someone saying soulmates, which is much nicer than some of the snidely worded stuff I read a month ago. I feel really good about the way things are going for Clay right now. I couldn't write a thesis on it, not yet anyway, but it just feels good to me. Regarding the Spamalot/Gala conflict, wandacleo, I don't think Clay would miss three performances. In October there would be matinee and evening performances on Sundays so I would be surprised if he missed three shows -- and especially if Jaymes and the baby are in NY and stay there while Clay does a fast turnaround trip to Raleigh. It's nothing to bank on though. I feel your pain.

I just checked AOL for the first time in at least a month, expecting to see Clay off their charts, but it floored me to see that OMWH is still their No. 1 song. As of now, the AOL chart placements for Clay were: l. On My Way Here 5. Ashes 8. Everything I Don't Need 14. Falling 21. Lover All Alone Then I checked the Videos and his Sessions vids are still hot apparently. Clay's picture is in the No. 1 spot for Most Viewed Videos for On My Way Here and he's also No. 8 for Ashes. http://music.aol.com/video-hub/ Somebody is still paying attention!

I'll bet the whole Shubert outfit will be glad to see Clay back. (And whoever owns Junior's is probably ecstatic.) Not only does Clay sell tickets at full price, and lots of premium seats too, but we all bought the programs and posters and magnets and bunny slippers and t-shirts and everything we could lay our hands on. I hope they come out with new stuff for us. I had the nerve to mention to merrieeee over the phone that since a certain someone will be in NY during the holiday season, maybe just maybe UNICEF will have the Snowflake Lighting on a Sunday or Monday night this year ..... and merrieeee, if so, I think you should definitely attend, darling. I do think UNICEF would schedule for Clay.

I felt like I needed more practice.

Practicing my clickables ...

wanda... as those familiar with me from the beginning of this bizarro ride as a Clay Aiken lust-obsessed fan know, this is what I've been saying this for YEARS Speaking of which.... I was thinking not giving it to would be a gigantic waste! September 19 seems to be a trademark date for Clay: September 19, 2003 - Sings TITN at Miss America Pageant September 19, 2006 - A Thousand Different Ways released September 19, 2008 - Rejoins Spamalot on Broadway

Well said. That's going to be my official position on this -- open to any possibility and expectations for none other than great happiness. Thanks for this comment. I too found it offensive. If you can't say child without the kid, why not just refer to him as "Parker". I wonder if the holdout is Jaymes. Perhaps, on the practical side, she's collecting big alimony from her ex and doesn't want to lose that. Maybe she's giving Clay time to make sure of his feelings. Who knows, who cares? Clay is not a child, he's an adult and capable of making his own choices, and if Jaymes is the one he's chosen, good for him, she's a classy lady. If they are only the dearest of friends, so be it. They are the ones living it and at the very least, they have a beautiful, longed-for, planned-for, and well-loved baby between them. Marriage....pfft, it's only a piece of paper these days, not a guarantee, as many of us know. As far as I can see, they're as close as any couple can be right now and I hope that it lasts forever. You know it's funny, it's not the younger women who are finding this May-December relationship unacceptable, it's the older ones. Jealously maybe, who knows? Ironically, every male in my family who have seen pictures of Jaymes have been very impressed, and see nothing wrong with the relationship at all. In fact, it's elevated Clay in their eyes. The Foster family is very well respected here in Canada. Is it the fact that Jaymes is not American that is part of the problem? I sure hope not. I would hope that his own fans, many of whom are not spring chickens themselves, would not be age prejudiced either. Just from personal experience, I had such a relationship that endured for over 15 years and there was no resistance from his friends and family, and tons from mine. Going in I had assumed it would be the opposite. Also, he was the one who pursued marriage and I wouldn't consider it. Marriage is just a piece of paper in the modern world and guarantees nothing. While I was living with one person, much younger than me, in a committed relationship for those 15 years we saw many friends meet-marry-divorce / meet-marry-divorce -- and it totally innoculated me to the real reasons people are committed to a loving relationship with each other, and marriage is not an essential in that process, not in my experience anyway. It's all love, baybeh!

Clay has said they are close friends, best friends, and dear friends. But I've never heard him say it with the qualifiers just or only. I think Clay wants to be vague whatever the nature of their relationship, and it is officially a relationship now that they've brought a child into the world. I still like the article that began with, Clay Aiken has a lot to sing about these days. I feel the same way. And I'm so glad he's happy that I'm feeling the old Cream vibe, I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I'm glad I'm glad I'm glad.

You're right, Couchie, the press has been unbelievable all of a sudden. I was watching 360 on CNN tonight and it was in the news crawl, even including the dates September 19 to January 4. I think my jaw dropped. ETA: Just saw that the Carrie Underwood comment "Tony Romo Still Calling Me,” is from an interview in Allure magazine's September issue.

In checking the googles I pulled up headline after headline saying, Clay Aiken Returns to Broadway and Clay Aiken Reprises Sir Robin and it felt like I was watching a Turner Classic Movie. It makes me all tingly. Most of the stories are mentioning his effect on the coin and that is star power of the first magnitude. If you don't like gushing, move along, because I think Clay is magnifique -- I have that on a t-shirt as a matter of fact (along with collegno and other fancy eye-talian words). I'm sure we all wish Clay had lots of radio play and sold more albums than Carrie Underwood and all that jazz, but I heard tonight somewhere on TV that Carrie Underwood is taunting Jessica Simpson that Tony Romo is still calling her. I clicked off before I heard the second sentence. My God, that's not even interesting garbage.

Just went on a car search with a little help from a car-enthusiast friend here ... and we made the car as a new Saab convertible, which was not hard to pinpoint with the tell-tale "93" on the back of the hospital picture. The fourth picture on the first row down at the bottom nailed it: http://www.saabusa.com/saabjsp/93c/index.jsp That's a mighty fine ride there, and not cheap for sure! ETA: I love the People pic and article. I'm hoping we'll get pictures of baby Parker in People before tooooo long. Maybe when he's a few weeks older. Clay will be opening in Spamalot again on the Friday that Parker will be six-weeks old. I'm elated that David Hibbard will be coming back. I adored him as Patsy -- my favorite character after Clay's Sir Robin. Now, who is the King?

I loved the first sentence.

I love that the AP story, a combination career news and birth announcement, is in the International Herald Tribune. I'm pretty sure that means the NYTimes has it too. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/12/...-Clay-Aiken.php

meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee too, merrieeee! Regarding Spamalot, I think the weekly revenues have been running about $200,000 under what they were during Clay's run. I hope they are upping Clay's salary by at least an extra 50 grand a week. I tend to believe that they did meet during AI2. Jaymes was married at the time to Leeds Levy, president of ASCAP, and Idol had to go through ASCAP for licenses and releases, etc., so Jaymes may have been the ASCAP liaison to AI. In fact, I wonder if she had anything to do with calling Sir Elton John over DLTSGDOM to say, "Let this guy sing the song!" Anyway, Clay mentioned that his manager, Renshaw I assume, had arranged meetings with several people when he was interviewing for an Exec Producer, and one of them was Jaymes. Subsequently, he went to Indonesia and during the trip he was narrowing down the list of prospects and told his manager to bring Jaymes back for another meeting. Also during the trip he listened to a demo of ALAWH and he hit him hard emotionally, said he. So when he returned and Jaymes came in for the followup meeting and brought a demo of ALAWH with her -- he was so excited he said he threw something across the room at her and the deal was done. So, there were at least two meetings with Jaymes over the EP position, and there's a good chance she did meet him during Idol, especially since she had been involved in the Pop Stars judging before, and then the ASCAP connection. Just because we didn't know he knew her then, doesn't mean he didn't. Now I'm headed for home, this is just too exciting a day to work any longer!