keepingfaith

I don't have a lot of feelings about ringers per se ... only if I really don't care for them. And right now ... I'm not in the Carly car. Her black tongue doesn't do a thing for me .... and neither does her voice. And the nurse chick with the two-tone hair ... Just No for me. I think Michael is terrific. And Little David. And Ramiele -- I really like her voice a lot. I've been spotty with watching and haven't see everyone yet so I'm going to go back up in this thread and watch some videos and maybe change my opinion. I was really glad, BTW, that Josiah didn't make it. He seemed too fragile for this competition. But Kyle had started to win me over, although at first I was HELL NO about him. He had a sweetness and goodness about him that I couldn't help but like. How crazy that it was KYLE Simon wanted and didn't get and that had him pissed off? That was unexpected. Overall, or at least at this point, I'm liking Idol better than I have in several years. Keep the celebs off, I say. No more Buble and Diana Ross -- and Lulu (for God's sake what were they thinking!).

Thanks for all the good thoughts from FCA yesterday. I can be such a putz and while I intellectually understand that worry and regret may be the two most useless things a human can waste time on, that never applies when it comes to children or parents or pets. I remember being a kid and worrying like crazy when my parents were late coming home. I really, really appreciate the good thoughts from you guys. I'm pretty private and live inside myself for the most part, so I'm stretching on this messageboard -- and it feels good. I know that I have divulged things here that my family and friends don't know about me. How crazy is that??? I'd never tell my co-workers any of my business, and I wouldn't trouble my aged parents with my concerns and worries, and so this place can really be a communication lifeline. Regarding weather, let me tell you about the conditions here in South Texas today .... it's 70 degrees and I drove in under bright blues skies (that are predicted to turn cloudy this afternoon). Overall, it's delightful. I told my DD she needs to come back home to sunshine in February ... but she loves her job in DC too much, even in ice and slush. As much as I worried about her Tuesday night and yesterday ... we were intensely arguing politics before we got off the phone last night. Why did I raise her to think for herself when she's so WRONG on this? Why? Why? (Maybe because I had no choice and she's never listened to me anyway, Certified Piece of Work that she is!) I'm loving all the Spamalot recaps today, and I have to pinch myself that I'm going to see Clay performing on the Broadway stage in April. I get the warm fuzzies that tingle down to my toes and back up to my brain just thinking about it. And ... I wanna see the show too! I love Clay -- I'd never tell him, but I'll tell you.

YAY, I just talked to my daughter -- and it was all the reasons mentioned above with the power outage and phone battery down. All is well. Thanks so much for virtually holding my hand today!!! Now I can EAT!!!

Thanks, Cha Cha -- that helps a lot. I called the main number at her office and the operator couldn't find anybody that works in her department to answer a phone so it looks like no one is there -- and if the power is out that explains a lot. I'll try to breathe deep. She had to freak out about me in 2005 when I evacuated for the hurricane and forgot to call her and lost cell power in the 17-hour trek to Dallas -- so now it's my turn.

I'm kind of freaking out today. I was talking on the phone to my daughter last night while she was navigating the storm home on 95 from Arlington to the Woodbridge, VA area, and she had already been on the road a couple of hours and said it would probably be hours longer. I tried to call her later and she didn't answer her cell. She never answered the rest of the night nor the home phone ... and today her work number rolls to voicemail. Does anyone know if there are phones out in the area? At first I thought she was just on the road a looong time, and her phone battery died. But then not hearing yet today has me worried sick.

I've been assuming that the publicist is Mary also. She's been in NY and he really doesn't need a tour manager right now. I think she wears a few hats. That Atlanta clip wrapped with the newscaster quoting Clay that being on AI was nothing compared to the hard work on Broadway, yet in the Broadway.com article he seemed to say that Idol was longer and harder work, and used that as a reason why Idol alums have had success on Broadway - and this is why I always swallow a big grain of salt with my news. I watched AI last night and agree that the guy who sang Love the One You're With was outstanding. I don't know the names and faces so .... who sang Bohemian Rhapsody? I thought that was the best of the night.

I know what you're talking about, Muski, which I why I plan to play nice right here at the FCA right through the next album. I must have passed the Rubicon because reading a lot of strange freak outs juxtaposed with superexperts bestowing the truth just doesn't appeal.

All right! Me and Solo .... hardcore Texas talking women!!

Should I be paranoid that I'm the only member of the eHP with a Texas accent? Wait a minute, do I have a Texas accent? Simon Renshaw should have a good grasp on handling clients with integrity and principles, and if you doubt it, watch Shut Up and Sing. Although he was born in Britain, Simon R has an abiding love for the Bill of Rights. Maybe he'll be handling Clay's run for the White House one day! In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida -- I think it was accidentally intentional. While practicing a new song, In the Garden of Eden, the Iron Butterfly singer was intoxicated and slurred the words. The band liked it and kept it for the recorded version ... although he does enunciate Garden of Eden once near the end of the song. Some of the long songs are fabulous -- for me the Stills/Kooper/Bloomfield SuperSession "Season of the Witch" gets it done. But Layla? I only like the first part with the badass guitar.

Some Americans can get certain British accents mixed up with Australian accents.........just sayin, just putting it out there......eyes Claytonic with new suspicion...... Yes, they all sound alike to me. Just keeeeding, merrieeeee! I've been thinking about "all the British people" and who they could be and came up with the following: AI People -- Fuller, Lythgoe and Co. SAM People - beginning with Renshaw Some of the people he works with through RCA, including songwriters, and then, of course, THE MYSTERY PRODUCER Anybody else find it interesting that the producer is a 3-minute song hitmaker and Clay has been working to change the producer's hitmaking mindset? Clay is getting the producer to move away from the Formula? I find this absolutely fantastic. I guess I'll never get the counter-culture out of me. I still remember when The Beatles smashed the 3-minute hit song with Sgt. Pepper. And then there's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida! What was that, like 17 minutes?!

Just curious....what do you think that "something" is? I guess for me, it's simply an agreement between the two that he'll record the music he wants to record; if it's good stuff (according to RCA standards....and that's a whole 'nother ball of wax), RCA will market the shiznit out of it. If's it's not....well, they've kept Clay, as an artist, happy. Unfortunately, there are a LOT of insecure people in this world, and they don't like to be told that they're not cool. And unfortunately, they've still got some control of the media. This is one of those "it's gonna take some time" things, IMO. Re RCA and Clay: I think they are working together these days ... Clay said as much last summer when he said in a M&G that he had heard from Jaymes and the label had approved two of the songs for the new album. In other words, I think Clay does what he wants, and then the label can turn thumbs up or thumbs down. Maybe he's going through this process incrementally now, rather than presenting a bulk of material that could be flatlined. Obviously it pays to hold hands with the label to some extent ... Kelly Clarkson case in point. Regarding the gossips, I really do believe that the overkill on Britney, Paris and that ilk has destroyed much of the natural curiosity people have for celebrity. The Paris Hilton "movie" generating a whole $25 thousand is a great start.

I'm not interested in Clay chasing trends at all. I'd be happier for him to be a trendsetter. And that doesn't mean in terms of Top 40, but in the big picture of whatever the music business is becoming. And I think that, already, the internet has overtaken radio in driving music sales -- selling not only singles and albums, but videos and ringtones and whatever else is coming. I think TV is even more influential than radio these days. Somebody appears on Idol or DWTS or some other televised forum for music and the sales shoot to the top on the download sites. Music styles are primed for big changes -- it's been the same old thang for so long now and everybody I know from 14 on up thinks that radio is in a rut and the music sounds the same. The bad girl/bad boy thing was cutting edge until it became a great big bore. The music marketeers have sliced and diced and over-categorized and classified what were once the the sounds of a generation into unsatisfying bits of fine-tuned, robotic nothingness. Yuck. I think RCA has learned that Clay isn't going to be Justin Timberlake, and Clay has learned that RCA isn't going to release an album of contemporary Christian music ... so now they are operating on the same page and something may come of it. And the "gossip is king" mentality has already run it's course, IMO. It just ain't cool -- in the big picture. Who cares what a bunch of losers think, other than the insecure? More Neil Young .... Find someone who's turning, and you will come around.

My take on this is what it's been for about 30 years .... that you can be original and do your own thing and either be wildly successful/fall on your face -- or you can follow the trends, play the game, be the flavor of the month, and eventually fade into meaninglessness and obscurity -- planned obsolesence in the music business. Oh sure, you can hype the formulaic trendy stuff, sell the shit out of it, and make some heavy bucks and go home. Or, you can be true to yourself and your talent and take the high road ... which can lead to artistic immortality. I don't think of it in terms of "risky" -- I think a man's got to do what a man's got to do. -- or a woman. You don't have to sell your soul. Yeah, Fergie can live off her last album for the rest of her life if she does nothing else -- but she pimped herself out (tm David Shuster) to product placement ($4 million from Candie's to mention them in a song and she has dozens of such "sponsors" inside her music). She's no artist -- she's a sell out. In my day that was never a good thing -- in the unfettered capitalism of today, some people think it's a sign of success. I have always believed and continue to believe that Clay has artistic integrity and isn't about selling himself to the highest bidder. I think it's time I went back to listen to Neil Young sing ... "This Note's For You". Don't want no cash Don't need no money Ain't got no stash This note's for you. Ain't singin' for Pepsi Ain't singin' for Coke I don't sing for nobody Makes me look like a joke This note's for you. Ain't singin' for Miller Don't sing for Bud I won't sing for politicians Ain't singin' for Spuds This note's for you. I've got the real thing I got the real thing, baby I got the real thing Yeah, alright.

Gibby, all my sympathies for your low back/sciatic pain. I can relate as I suffered from a congenital inoperable defect in my lower back that began when I was 17 and lasted until a series of epidural steroid injections from Dr. Doctor about 10 years ago put an end to the pain. He's a wonder-working anesthesiologist whose precision with a needle is legendary, and he developed this procedure -- in fact, PBS did a feature about him. I was married to a chiro -- put the bastard through school, I did -- and it never helped me for long. (I was his guinea pig for so many cervical adjustments I'm surprised I can still hold my neck up.) After my two lumbar injections a year apart from Dr. Uday Doctor (that's really his name), I haven't felt as much as a twinge, and it changed my life. Dr. Doctor give me the news ..... Yes he did!!! Cha Cha -- what a fantastic Spamalot page. Thank you for all the work that must have required! I love opening that broadway.com page and seeing the words ...... Clay's the Thing!

I've been swooning since watching Rewind on Saturday, through the eHPartay, and now this. Amazing it is, and yet not unexpected. What is it? Clay seems to have a great relationship with Simon Renshaw, and I'm happy to know that. And the dig at New York magazine from Kathy Henderson was sweet. I may commit this entire article to memory because I think I'm going to be reading it a few times. When Clay's reaches 35, I may be ready to start thinking about the president thing. Oh, and one more thing. He is so off the chain.

I don't know why that video was never released, but it could be because the Rebel Without a Cause attitude on his face doesn't really match the song. I don't care. I like it fine. This is the Night ... okay baby whatever you say. I watched Idol Rewind-Motown yesterday on the CW, and DVRed it, and yet I know I'm going to watch it again on WGN in a little while. Is that bad? When I watched it yesterday I fogged out after Clay's performance and while my face was looking at the TV screen, I saw nothing. I briefly focused on Trenyce and Ruben, just for a while. I want to give it another try.

Solo, thank you for locating the TITN video. That one impacts. The bare feet, the eyes, the eyes, the eyes, and THE JEANS!!!! OHGODTHEJEANS!!!!! And the man inside them! ETA: I guess it's get it while the getting's good!

Knowing little or nothing about acting, I've watched enough of Inside the Actors Studio to have heard many times over that comedy is more difficult than drama. Jim Carrey and Robin Williams are totally over the top comedians and have won awards for dramatic acting. I like to think that Clay can be successful at just about anything he puts his mind to, although, tip of the hat to KAndre, he'll probably never be a Broadway dance king or win DWTS. But anything else, I think he's got the talent wherever he wants to put it. I BELIEEEEEEVE! I still can't believe the things you guys were holding back -- that TITN video ........... I'm waiting ...... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Alright, alright, guess I'll be patient because ..... yes I DID COME HOME WITH DVD'S (merrieeee I love ya) --but ya'll don't honestly think I'd be crazy enough to run off with KAndre's stuff now do ya? I may LOOK stupid .... but I have retained sufficient brain cells for basic self-preservation. But .... word to the weak sisters who went to bed at 4:30 a.m. ...... LIGHTWEIGHTS!!!!!!!! Great night, great morning, great friends .... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

The other guy wasn't named Waldo, was he? If it were me, I'd be going to the Montrose. I love the spirit of the neighborhood. And just as Neil Young wrote about North Ontario ..... all my changes were there. Me too, me too! For my very own Valentine present to myself!!!

OMG, Keepingfaith... how wonderful of you! I'm impressed! I wish more people had your guts and right thinking. I bet there were many/at least some who wished for the courage to do what you did! Bravo! I'm impressed with my parents. They are in their 80's and finally left the SB's in 2002 -- because as my Mom put it ... "They think the most important thing in the life of Jesus is when he joined the Republican Party." A while back my mom told someone who asked her religion that she was Baptist, and when the lady asked "Southern Baptist?" my mother replied ........ "No .... Jimmy Carter Baptist." My mother is cute, by the way.

Hey, Muski, I know about those Berean churches -- and they are the truly hardshell variety - no foot washing like the Primitive Baptists, but more hellfire and brimstone than you could shake a stick at! Seriously, I was in a Southern Baptist church at least three or four times a week until I was 18 -- Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and G.A.'s too. We couldn't dance, play cards (dominos were the approved game), go to the beach with boys, go to swimming pools with boys, blah, blah, blah. Some of this my family went along with, but some we didn't. My mother wore shorts and we went to the beach -- we lived in Houston and Galveston and it was 100 degrees for Pete's sake! But we didn't play cards and we didn't dance ... not to mention drinking, smoking and all that jazz. I was a twirler in high school and it was a big stink when Old Lady Thomas across the street started a whispering campaign about me "prancing" around in a short short outfit. But my mother wore shorts so Old Lady Thomas be hanged! I left the Southern Baptists and went to another church, but that didn't last long. One Sunday in June 1968 the pastor got up and decried all the ballyhoo over the funeral train of Robert Kennedy and said it was a "blessing" that the country was spared another Kennedy in the White House. I got up and and walked down the aisle and out the front door and haven't been back to church except for weddings and funerals since -- and that's been ..... what? 40 years!!! So.be.it. But no matter -- I found my grail soon after. Or better stated, my grail found me.

I've enjoyed the dance conversation, but I wonder if any of you have considered that Clay grew up a Southern Baptist when part of the dogma was that dancing was a sin -- something associated with bars and dance halls and drinking and adultery. I certainly heard my share of those sermons in my day. I'd dance in my room to the radio and be terrified that my mother would catch me. You know the old joke about why Baptists don't make love standing up .... because people might think they're dancing! No joke, it can be quite inhibiting no matter what kind of natural ability you may or may not have (the dancing, okay, the dancing). I suppose all reasonable people in the E and C time zones are turning in for the night, but these pictures have excited me. Just GAH for the hair growing out! And if it were just a bit darker ...... like brown ..... I'm entitled to a preference ... but this hair is looking GREAT!!! And :F_05BL17blowkiss: Scarlett for posting those links! I loved dinner last night. The usual fine times ... but I'm missing me some Solo and Perusing One. It's been too long!!!!! It was super to meet Desertrose -- and I hope she likes that cousin whom she says I resemble, since I forgot to ask. But the time with all the eHPeeps is never long enough. Bring on the SLEEPOVER!!! I know, as if we sleep.

Clay people and people who love Clay people are the happiest people in the world. Ah, back home in my tie-dye!

Clay and Tyra were very touchy feely with each other -- especially Tyra -- and not just the kiss at the end. There was also their body language as they sat on the couch and the way they looked at each other. And the way Tyra looked in the photos with the flowers Clay sent her. I agree about Kelly and Angela -- also lots of physical contact.

Wasn't it rich?!?!? Poor baby didn't believe he had a chance at winning the people's vote. HA! If he was counting on the judges it must have shocked him when Carmen was picked because she was terrible - that vibrato in search of a voice thing was just awful. How sad for Aliceyn, but according to Paula, she sang that same song at the audition, in Hollywood and at Wildcard, and she would probably have made it with the least bit of variety in her repertoire. But Clay. OMgoodness that lopsided smile just KILLS ME!!! I'm so excited about the next 12 weeks!!!! I remember at one point during Season 2 it hit me that this guy was going on to be on magazine covers and would be a real heartthrob because he was mad cute and irresistible in addition to The Voice. I figured he was a natural for Broadway, eventually. I knew he'd have a very successful career and never be that classroom teacher he trained to be. My eSP was jammin'! But if you had told me he'd be hanging with Tyra Banks and dancing on Broadway? Un-uh. Never in a million years. Claygasm, I think there was huge Clyra chemistry. Whether it was romantic chemistry I don't know, but it was palpable and jumped off my TV screen. They struck up something that day -- and even if just a friendship I think it's a meaningful one. merrieeee!! You look so cute wrapped up in your snuggly Clay scarf!