keepingfaith

And speaking of guardian angels ... ah the synergy .... here's a clip from Michael that includes Travolta dancing to Chain of Fools. This was all filmed at Gruene Hall in Historic Gruene in New Braunfels, Texas. If certain members of the eHP weren't so skeered of riding the rapids, we could have done a River Rat Tour of the Hill Country this summer. In KAndre's case, she's not skeered a'nothin' -- but the temperature of that cold, spring-fed Guadalupe is a deal breaker. A near-ice cold whitewater river doesn't bother me when it's 105 outside. Sitting in the tube, your rear end is numb in 3-5 minutes anyway, so WTH! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IM6c8SyQFg Actually, here's Gruene Hall, the oldest dancehall in Texas, in all it's ... ahem ... glory (again, Christmas in July): FYI: There is a difference between country music, and a Texas dancehall party on Saturday Night. sure you can catch Delbert McClinton, Charlie Robison, and Willie Nelson, but you can also hear Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs, as well as The Band of Heathens, and the subdudes. There's always the Sweetheart Gospel Brunch! What's cool about this place is the Guadalupe running pretty much right through Gruene, which is the end of line for the rafters and about a six hour float from Canyon Dam, give or take, depending on how high the river on any given day. Check out the pictures: http://www.touringtexas.com/gruene/ Because there are places like New Braunfels and Gruene, I can't conceive of ever leaving Texas. Man, I love the Guadalupe River. I've had people ask me for years why I live in a "conservative" state. Truth is, I've never found Texas to be conservative in any way whatsoever. The most open, liberal, funny people I've ever known have been Texans; unfortunately too many of them aren't sober on Election Day. Word to the wise: Just because people get elected to office in Texas doesn't necessary mean they can find their asses with both hands. I know you're saying, "Now you tell me!" And, since I missed the Lyle Lovett chat over the weekend. He has a ranch north of Houston in Klein, and still lives in the house his grandfather built. A few years back, 2002, I think, his uncle was flipped by a bull on the ranch, and Lyle went in and rescued him, ending up with a shattered leg. I think there were about 20 breaks in all and he convalesced for a loooong time. Lyle truly is a good guy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JMH :F_05BL17blowkiss: And all the best wishes that one day Clay looks at you like THIS! 00lsee, you don't need no stinking pajamas! merrieeee fell asleep in her clothes -- after we'd watched another 2-3 hours of clack ... after the Doorknob Debate. And, I discovered how much I love Christmas in July. Speaking of Christmas .... Thanks Scarlett! :5: :6: Found this on You Tube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is9xHR11E3A...feature=related and this earlier one where he got busted by his own video ... I love too ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4qSxM13jCw...feature=related Googling led me to this bit of information about Andrew Lincoln --- He married the daughter of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and the flower girl at their wedding was Apple Martin, daughter of Gwenyth and Chris -- the Chris who should NEVER appear on HDTV sans make-up on that hickified neck, and who should always remember to shave as stubble is not his friend in High Def. And, the Brazilian dude who played Laura Linney's secret love "Karl" ... his name is Rodrigo Santoro: Here's a You Tube of an interview with him regarding playing Xerxes in 300: And my Dear LadyJ: I'm so glad you're finally getting all fixed up -- and pray your guardian angel will keep close. Note to the World: If at anytime you happen to notice a certain FCA mod driving an armed tank down your street --- for God's sake don't lie down in front of it! In my pre-admission questionnaire before I ever met the eHP I was asked if I could do 5-hour conversations over lunch. So, you guys needed lunch before? Actually, I was wondering if I'd been banned when it took me 45-minutes to get IN the house Saturday. So, KAndre and Scarlett, you didn't think I would actually let you LEAVE the house without delay, did you? And, just so you know ....

Happy Birthday CLAYGASM I brought you a present -- and I hope you enjoy the memories! Also, in discussions about the voice and when it was this or that ... as far as I'm concerned, this is ALL that ... and a bag of Cheez Doodles!

And you didn't call me, Girlfriend???? ETA: And, Scarlett, if it's any consolation, I voted for ATD on Kimmel. I just saw it on TV and it blew me away.

You guys just aren't gonna let me get away with being judgmental about John Mayer are you? Ha! Okay, I give up. The spirit in the sky never let's me get away with it. Sheesh. Okay, I LOVED that blog about the Goonies and Troy, jmh. And Mayer is an excellent guitarist. His songs don't hold my attention though, as he blends into the background for me ... Dave Matthews is another one. I guess I like music that meets my personal definition of compelling, which is, it gets under my skin, and that can be anything from Jimmy Page doing anything on guitar to Sinead O'Connor singing Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. But they just visit from time to time. Clay's music lives under my skin. I don't know how to answer those survey questions, Scarlett. I'm sure I must be addicted. What else could this be? Can't even contemplate deal-breakers and stuff like that, because Clay never made any deals with me. I'm just hanging on, awaiting a word, a sighting, a TV appearance, any news whatsoever, and especially an opportunity to see him live. More than anything, I feel happy for him. He's living an extraordinary life.

I have had to work today, and I'm usually okay with that -- but not TODAY! The banner is wonderful. Thanks Cindilu! I still don't get the JM quote. Must be over my head.

I was checking over at People.com to see if maybe there was a picture of Clay up .. and I happened upon this quote from John Mayer, which I'm not sure I get: Whazzatmean? That's he's a gossip whore and loves the papparazzi? One of the things that makes me most proud to be a fan of Clay's is that he has enough class and integrity not to give the gossip rags the time of day. People Magazine seems to be his cut-off point, and they have treated him with respect in the past. BTW, I checked the top finishers at HDD today and Lil Wayne is back in front, edging out Coldplay this week. John Mayer's Live in L.A. album debuted at #5 with sales of 80,000. Things are tough all over. Also, I emailed the UNICEF blog to some friends of mine who work with non-profits and children, and just got an email reply back from one chick friend ... He’s HOT in that picture!!! Now I have to reply back, Which one? 'Cause he looks really good to me in both of them, but the one with the baby is almost more than my nervous system can handle. ETA: I've been meaning to ask if anyone saw Ringo when he was interviewed on his 68th birthday Monday night. New Rule: I only watch Larry King for Clay Aiken, or a Beatle. Anyway, Ringo said you can't get played on the radio these days if you're over 21. Then he said that 21 was an arbitrary age, but his point was you can't get played on Top 40 if your music is meaningful or adult. The radio just ain't what it used to be. RIP Radio.

delete My hand hit the button before I was finished!

IMO it's deliberate distraction. If people are lulled into thinking that sensational crimes or celebrity gossip are the most important things going on, will they care that the 4th Amendment is being systematically dismantled, and that the FISA vote today is a big part of that process? Or that we were lied into a war with devastating consequences? If the "news" can keep the "news" confined to distractions, then all manner of things will occur under the radar, and only those who read the foreign press, or look for "truthiness" in the nooks and crannies have a sense of what's happening. Freedom of the press has always been a battle, but we have been gizmoed, gadgeted and gossiped into submission. People want to sing God Bless America, but have no interest in demanding that the Constitution be preserved. Too many people have no idea these things are on the line because they are voluntarily bombarded with who's pregnant, who's getting a divorce, and who OD'd. I keep thinking people are going to wake up in time, but it's close.

Yeah, I'll bet those apoplectic ladies were getting the vapors and having to fan themselves, and uttering lots of "Oh My's" while looking at that picture over and over and over.

I don't know, merrieeee, I think I'm damaged goods since HeidiHo swept me off my feet and then dropped me for somebody else. Claymatron, I love this picture and just have to look again ... ldyjocelyn, I enjoyed this. Whether it's true or not, it certainly sounds like it could be, and Clay just fascinates me. He may be the most interesting person I can even think of. You say it perfectly -- he definitely is one hawt hunk of packin' perfection! He fascinates me in ...... various and sundry ways. The Janet boobage happened on February 1, 2004, and it happened in Houston. I first saw the Mezghan picture in 2007, and it made me swoon from that fantastic look on his face, so much so that I didn't even see all the significance in the placement of his hands. I mean, come on, after the grinding he's done on Angela, what's the shock about? It's a great picture, in my estimation. Oh yes, in that article linked above regarding Afghanistan, he said that he wants to tour but doesn't know when he'll have the time, or something like that, so it really does sound like he has a full schedule for a while. If he's too busy to tour, I'm on the edge of my seat contemplating what may come.

I just recently watched that whole interview with The Standard. When asked what kind of woman he'd be "interested in" he stressed that she would have to be independent, and be passionate about something, not necessarily sharing his passions. I've just not heard any "picket fence" talk from this man.

So he can't have a baby with Jaymes, and still get married and have more children later? I don't see it as either/or.

I think the only time I heard him quoted about being married was when he said that he never dreamed he'd have a music career and that he envisioned his life as a teacher and coming home to his wife and kids and talking about his day in the classroom - or something close to that. However, that's not how things turned out for him. He's a big star and busy about building a career he didn't expect five years ago. Things change. As far as the religious boards and their thoughts on babies out of wedlock? I'm close to a situation in which a couple had a baby and never married, or even ever lived together, and both are great parents. And the kid, a teenager now, is incredibly smart, funny, talented, just plain wonderful. So he should never have been born in their estimation? Or his parents should be denounced for the sin of bringing him into this world? That's where I break with fundamentalists. There's great guidance to be found in the Bible, but a lot of seriously outdated stuff too, and most of it is in the "don't do this or be damned" category. The stuff it says to do in the New Testament ... like love your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, and forgive seventy times seven, somehow breaking those rules won't get people thrown out of church. But there are churches that will throw you out quicker than Ken Lay's autopsy for breaking some of the very selectively observed rules and admonitions of the Old Testament. One is about keeping order; the other is offering freedom and joy. I guess it depends on what you need. By the way, I love babies. They are all precious angels, and I dig 'em, big time.

I'm a Coldplay fan. Just thought I should declare. In fact, Politik is one of the ringtones I use and especially for wake up calls -- "Open up your ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-eyes."

And I'll bet anything that atinal likes #13 too!

***waves to atinal*** I see you down there, and I'm fondly remembering meeting you outside the big Clay party at the Crown Plaza in Tulsa a year ago today. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I can't even remember why I mentioned not liking Hotel California ... but I'm glad I did. It's been so liberating. That song drags. I have to admit that the Gipsy Kings put their spin on a a killer, high-voltage version of Hotel California and I bought the CD specifically for that song, but it's a completely different interpretation, and the words are mostly in Spanish. Burnt puppies? I think those were my feet in New York.

1st album: Crosby, Stills and Nash 2nd album: Crosby, Still, Nash and Young After that it was with and without Young, depending on the year, mostly because Stills and Young who started out in Buffalo Springfield together couldn't get along for longer than 5 minutes. Buffalo Springfield's Stills went to CSN, Richie Furay went to Poco, Jim Messina went to Loggins & Messina. David Crosby came from The Byrds. Graham Nash from The Hollies. Wikipedia says: The trio of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash are a folk rock/rock supergroup known as Crosby, Stills, & Nash (CSN). The group's name is augmented to Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young (CSNY) when including occasional fourth member Neil Young. Clay a recording star? Let's see, he's sold multi-platinum, broke records for his first single, and each one of his four albums have debuted in Billboard's Top 5. Yeah, he's a recording star.

Cotton, there's a guy named David Crosby and a guy named Stephen Stills in a group called Crosby, Stills and Nash. David Crosby was the sperm donor for Melissa Ethridge, but I don't think Steve had anything to do with it. However, that was funny to read. I agree that the difference in AI and IVF makes all the difference. For most women of 50, IVF can be the only possible way to carry a child. And for many couples of any age, it's the only way, so the cracks and put-downs are completely off base. If there's a relationship between Jaymes and Clay they could have been going at it for years and still needed IVF to conceive. Aren't a lot of the multiple births a result of IVF?

That's hard for me to believe since I threw up for five months at the smell of food with my first one and lost a lot of weight before gaining at the end. My problem was getting through nine months of well knowing I was pregnant, and then not knowing when I was in labor. I got to the hospital without time for any prep or anesthesia because my doctor wasn't there and I had a baby 20 minutes later. My OB showed up to visit later that morning, and for all the money I paid him, I got a "Congratulations, well done!"

I have a DIL who made it clear to me two years ago that Clay was not her thing, it was more than that – she couldn’t stand him. She worshipped and adored John Mayer and his music above anything and anyone. She listened to him in the car, in her room, on the computer, and she saw him at the Rodeo, at Cynthia Woods Mitchell, and in Austin, wherever he would be in this area. She never said anything expressly ugly to me about Clay, just turned up her nose and made it clear to me that he was “no John Mayer.” I let her be, and made sure I never mentioned Clay in her presence, or played his music when she was in my car, it was like that part of my life wasn't available to her. So, THERE! Fast forward to 2008. John Mayer doesn’t seem to be doing it for her anymore, at least not like before because I don't hear her playing his music. I still haven’t made one move to get her to listen when any of Clay's albums have come out -- ATDW, AIW or OMWH -- but she really can’t escape the residual effects in the house. She studies on the other side of the wall from my computer speakers. So far this year … ”Hey Sandy, you’re going to New York to see Clay? Wow, I wish I could go.” She comes into my room, “Hey Sandy, I saw Clay Aiken on Tyra this morning. Tyra really likes him. She gave away tickets to that show he’s in.” (Note: she always watches The Tyra Banks Show.) “Hey Sandy, what’s that Clay Aiken song you play that goes “Down, down, down”? I like that, can I put it on my iPod? “Hey Sandy, did you know Clay was on Rachael Ray today?” “Hey Sandy, I’m on the graduation committee and need to come up with a class song for graduation in August (nursing school). Will you help me find something?” Me: “Sure.” But I do nothing and make her ask me again a couple of days later. Then I burn It’s in Every One of Us and give her the CD. Later, “Hey, Sandy, that song is perfect. Can you download the words so I can take the CD and lyrics with me to the meeting this week?” Me: “No problem." See, in my world, you piss me off and you just may not get to hear Clay sing to you. DIL is slowing getting Clay privileges restored.

It won't be long before Timberlake and Mayer are yesterday's news too. That's the mixed blessings of being the flavor of the month -- you sell like hotcakes until the next flavor comes along. The trick is to have something more, and it helps to have a ready made fanbase to move along with you into the world of adult contemporary, jazz, r&b, or whatever. Country is another ballgame completely. When I was falling hard for the Eagles in Desperado days I was the only person in my social group who listened to them at all, because they were "too country" for my friends - while to me Desperado was more Americana than country. To this day Desperado is my favorite Eagles album ever with songs like Tequila Sunrise, Doolin' Dalton, Outlaw Man, Desperado, and the brilliant Bitter Creek, and it's my favorite because I think they actually peaked musically and harmonically on this one. Note: There was a lot of peaking going on in those days! Goodness I loved Joe Walsh with the James Gang, and his solo stuff -- still love Rocky Mountain Way. But the Eagles haven't really been the Real Eagles to me since about '75. Anyway, my POINT to all this is that the album Desperado peaked on the charts at #41 back in 1973. It was probably the Eagles' worst performing original album, sales wise, of all time, but in my estimation the very best thing they ever did. I'm still listening after 35 years. The Eagles had a SMASH with Hotel California and it was on the charts for a decade or better, but it never tripped my trigger (although I am a huge fan of The Last Resort). I jumped from pre-1976 Eagles to loving the solo work of Don Henley (Dirty Laundry anyone?) and Glenn Frey -- yeah, I belong to the city. Clay's albums, any of them, don't have to sell the most to be the most rewarding, it's what you love that matters.

I dunno. Maybe the same thing that was so historic about the Brady Theatre in Tulsa? (Which I would rename the Hotbox Brady Theatre.) It was wild going from this place on Friday night: to this one on Saturday night. Nevertheless July 7, 2007 (07/07/07) was a GREAT show -- the Day of the Creeping Toe -- and the Day Clay Touched My Hand. Just a few Tulsa pics to start the day off right - beginning with two classics captured byPermaSwooned:

Not to detract from Clay's UNICEF work, but think of the fathers that live in those countries, and think of the military fathers that are deployed around the world and don't get to see their children until they are six months or a year old, and may have endured life altering injuries. I honor the work that Clay does, but I'm not inordinately worried about his safety. For all we know, he could be on a further UNICEF mission in Africa or Asia, or on an island vacation. Or he could be in his backyard in North Carolina flipping burgers. Hey Hey LdyJ, this is the first anniversary of the night you slept with those crazy sister strangers!