playbiller

Oh oh - Elizachord is going to get in trouble with a bad Canadian imitation of Eva - No vault for her! So Clay was talking to a chattering audience member when he said it was his show. He hugged a screamer in the audience rather than punish them. Sang the hug is warmer to the generic audience, rather than one specific. No flair from the performers tonight. Whole show rather low keyed. Dancers and 'Dudley" left through lobby already. ANd good night to all.

From the Clayboard

Oh the reason that they are discussing Grammies is that his name appeared on an early list before it was pared down - so it is not completely off the wall. although it could have been the producer listed. I can't quite make out the chatter Anyone? There must be a microwave tower near the venue or something.

Interesting, on the Clayboard, they are debating if Clay could get nominated for a Grmmy - the belief is probably not but he was proposed by one person for Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Nominations are out Ttomorrow.

The two tours this year could not have been at more opposite ends, unless one went for purely bawdy, of course. But vocally stretching to the limits. I had fun and spent more on Clay this year than I would have on CDS. I think the issue is did it grow fans. I guess we have to take into consideration if it grew Clay.

Is it just me or is this cellcert fallin apart ? ^ | Fake southern accent.

Complaining about the album not being out yet - even though it is just a year since his last album, people are discounting that. (my opinion) I, personally don't want him rushed. And they are on. Wow lots of screamers!

eah, she may say that , but now she is reporting about the voices in her head! I thought they said a couple of flashes, but that they are being good. Clean ears or stop multitasking.

Break time - have to take the dog out - BRB Back - I did not hear growls. The Box - one of the things I noticed about the new square box was that it was lether, studded and leather. If you want to, you could twirl square as well. So someone in the audience was threatening to break cameras?

Do you really think they are going to do silly string and greased mikes at the end of a JNT? The down side to going just to Charlotte and Raleigh is that they are both arenas - the positive is that they will havethe home town crowds

It was a joke about Quiana leaving - sheesh kabibble. Like I couldn't figure out who the Californian who couldn't wait was. Some things are just expected. Ah, I have Amazing race on muted and captioned.

This is one area where the dance is important, I guess we need a video stream next. It is not a sad part, but a happy part of the show.

That video of GMA was amazing - I have no idea how they did it, finding a crack between people and focusing so well through the glass with reflection issues, etc. Really excellent version. Hey Fear, how is your ticket auction going?

There is a horse whinny in the show <== should I spoiler this or is this a spoiler thread to begin with? I loved it when they changed tempo when I saw the show. Everyone was too mellow, it brought them sitting back up in their chairs. I think this Jingle bells is one of my favorites.

Well, it is getting a little better, but not much, so I will leave the point by point to Bottlecap.

Well they have tried 2 phones and it still sounds like the cert is underwater - bubble, bubble, bubble. But it is off and people were cheering.

Hello everyone. Just made it. GBB is trying to start a rumor in the CH cellcert about Quiana leaving the tour because Clay sang MGUCL - troublemaker!

I finally posted my recap - I hope you are happy! Yes Clay was quite feisty, I can't help but think something happened because everyone was aving fun. Perhaps it was just the flourishes or staying in one place for 3 days and working without cast changes causing fewer soundchecks et al, but they seemed happy from the first scene. Did you see what Clay did in CMH to Angela and Quiana, where he pointed up and then wiggled his fingers to each of them to give more in the song? It was like Angela does some times in DSIFCD? Pretty feisty this bunch.

OKay, OKay - I am home already and pretty sure I will not go to the early show because I can't see the point of standing outside in the cold when I can't find out where the bus is. I will write up review and post - just a few quick notes - Quiana glowed and smiled all evening, she was stunning - I hope that means something good has happened for her. Clay sounded a little hoarse to me, but he hit the big notes spot on each time. His Noel seemed to reach lower than ever before, finishing the job of pulverizing my bones, everyone seemed pretty happy, Clay seemed very happy, but he obiviously does not know what day it is because he was talking about singing in Boston tomorrow. ADDED You know, it is hard to come up with new stuff after 3 nights in a row. For some reason, I have slept all day, don't know if it is the cold or I am jsut tired and depressed. 1. Everyone seemed very happy today, you cant say that enough. 2. In the first half, Clay's voice cracked on some easy notes, but he always got the money notes perfect. 3. People are reporting red and grey socks, but they were really red and tan, that was in white light of a song different from the usual sock identification song(TCS), where the socks are in shadow. 4. The venue - was pretty empty. I was in the loge, it was about 1/3 full. The flor was about 95% full, but people did move down there. The balcony was not to full and when I went up there to look at it, I got severe vertigo. Must remember that the veiw is lousy from the balcony and it would make me sick anyway. Sound was great and view was great from loge. 5. The crowd, once again, it was almost completely internet on the floor, there were a smattering of internet in the loge, along with more casual fans, including the girls who sat next to me and "MamaBetty" who sat in back of me and had come to see what this Clay Aiken stuff was about. She sends her love to the claymates after a few of us had told her that there was a Connie site set up by Clay fans - she seemed surprised and will be checking it out. The few in the balcony were your normal casual fan and just some people going out for the night. Back to the floor - I do have to say that the first few floors do lead credence to the stereotyping of the CLay fans. Seems like only older women are willing to pay borkers or wait until the last minute. I wonder how true this is of other fandoms? 6. It was different sitting so far back, where you could see all the action in one view. I think it gave more of the concept view and you could see the angels overseeing , while you see all the action. Actually, I could not separate parts and it was less Clay centric and more whole centric. Of course when Clay was singing and he was only lit, I would look through my binoculars and get my close up. The binocs were also good to look at other individual performances. 7. The second half repeated the incredible bad lighting of Clay for the Church section - it's a theater person, fix the lighting! I did spend much of his songs with closed eyes, but not because of Clay, but because the lighting made him look like skeletor for most songs. Of course the voice was there and stronger for the second half. It is probably just my opinion, but I really think that Clay has a cold and needs to push for some notes resulting in 'those' faces. 8. Intros and DSIAFCD - What a good mood Clay was in, others were happy, but Quiana was just plain giddy for some reason. I hope the cameras caught some of her faces because she was just over the top in reacting to everything, with this following all her smiling at Clay during the angel parts, you really had to wonder what went on. oops - listening to storm warnings eeek As I said, pretty much everyone was in a playful mode. When Clay first came out, people offered Clay flowers and he turned and walked away. After people were getting all theirs, he accepted just some of the flowers offered (there were easily 1/2 dozen, maybe more) and let Patricia hold them. As Clay was singing, all the dancers were huging each other like they this was the last show. 9. Goodnews - well, the first part of the good news was I was in the first row loge, so I could see the whole show without security in front of me. The otehr good thing is taht the scheduled interupting flash occured before Clay entered the stage, I believe that Quiana was the target - so no moans, etc, just the audience members pointing out the offender. I could calmly watch this song and see the whole thing without moving my eyes. It was nice with Angela and Quiana standing in front of the gold statues. Brightened their spots. In truth though I really don't like this song at all. Yes it is a great presnetation and everyone sings with conviction, soul, heart and great voice. Still find the song a snoozer. I tend to drift off after a while. But it is obviously Clay's favorite, so whatever. People really piled out of that show pretty fast and people were talking about it on the Subway, on the bus to NJ, and I am sure other places. My congatulations to those with shows to enjoy yet.

NYC - 12/3 the sequel OK, another writing the review before reading anyone else's Went to Saturday's show with the unusual Momtim - why do I say that she is unusual - because the woman is a dog whisperer - I know she is going to tell you what a polite reserved and well mannered dog I have, but she was only that way as long as she could see Momtim. In of sight of Momtim, Holly was not an old crazy dog running around without manners, no jumping up and down to look out windows, or unrestrained barking. Anyway - off for our adventure we got to the show and separated to our respective seats - the person I sold the seat to did not show up, so I had an extra seat next to me again. It was a fantastic seat - 7th row on the opposite side of the stage than the previous day. William Joseph - now I could see his hands and it was good. I enjoyed watching his hands, that is until the last song where he right hand moved so fast that I had a mirage of his hand being large and yellow - basically 3 times the size of a normal hand and moving slowly. It was quite weird, yet I could not get my eyes to really see his hand as normal and fast moving - it was some recognition problem. I hope more people have had this experience, it was pretty freaky and I don't want to be the only person in the CH for this experience. The audience was again largely an internet group, you could tell by the announcement and the cheers at the no flash mention and the waving of tape in hands in the air. This wa a date night or something because there were more couples, although the majority were women. I had very enthusiastic fans in front of me. The show starts and I try to focus on all that I missed las t night. Sometimes it is hard to watch Clay rather than the action, it was like I was switching focus back and forth - Sunday, I sit far back to take in the whole show, it might be easier - so I decided to just concentrate on Clay since I was so close. He did seem to enjoy the theatrical parts so much, that I started thinking maybe he really wanted some part of broadway. But then I woke up again and remembered he wants it all, greedy greedy. The show was better than the day before, or maybe I just felt that way. Clay seemed more into it and relaxed. First half great, second half greater - although I do think I did not like the lighting so much at the beginning of the second half. Am I the only person who thinks, damn that guy is thin whenever I see him walk out on the stage? Really, really thin - distracts my concentration a little, but then he sings and I am back hearing that voice. Sometimes if was so carried away the I forgot and closed my eyes just to listen - bad Clay fan, you are close now and you close your eyes? Plenty of time for that tomorrow. How does this guy get better each show? Intros seems like Clay was in rare form and enjoyed playing with the crowd, after all the standing ovations (more than the day before) there seemed to be enough time to play with the crew - a lot of time with the feature women. He did threaten to get another drummer and that caused a few people to gasp. I did seem to miss what happened when he winked at someone in the audience duringthe hug line. sometimes it is easier not being in the audience in figuring out what is happening. GN - started great, had a flash (a few rows in front of me) audience murmur and reaction kind of threw me off for the rest of the song. I was sitting near where Angela was singing and she was so into it, you could almost feel her concentration. Then it was over - we trotted over to the stage door ( does that make us stage door Janies?) to wait for Clay, where we met a nice family of a Mother and two daughters with the father standing away as if he did not want to be associated with them. Clay flew by, I did not even see him, he, you takes your chances - went back home and pretty much passed out, after taking the dog out for a final time for the night.

Don't mock puffy jackets - it was cold and is getting colder in the city - puffy is good if you don't want to go furry.

Your done? I just got back! Ask me anything! Well, here is my recap - mostly about non-Clay and non-concert things. _ hey, I am getting old, my mind drifts. NYC 12/2 recap OK, I wanted to write my show before I read anything else and possibly was influenced by other views. Trip in was not uneventful, but was very uninteresting, so we will skip it. Come into theater and I am surprised, this is not a run down dive, but a nice theatre with a little too much gilt (heh, a leetle joke, eh? - hey I have a dog that missed me all over me right now, we have never been separated for this long before! It is not easy to be clever while being covered in dog kisses.) Second surprise, the seats are not narrow at all but very cushy, and, as some people know, I do not have a narrow behind. Not even close. Then I see how the seats are soooo close, nice close seats (would pet close seat, except I am home now). Alrighty then, nicely ensconced in my seat - William Joseph comes on - he is a very nice looking young man, must have gotten married as a child. He plays, he talks, he is OK, I would not buy tickets just for him. Lights up - Meet JulesRules and YSRN stops by. Will you get a cellcert to night???? Well, you did. Lights go down. Message plays and obviously most of the floor audience is on-line as they cheer so loudly that a lot of the message is obscured by cheering. I am not sure of the point, except as just another way to tell Clay you love him. Curtain goes up (first thing I notice is that the curtains are familiar - waste not/want not, Clay?) Then the small roar from the audience as Clay appears - The first set - I was surprised, no matter how much video you watch, well as much as I watched, I had no idea how the whole show was integrated and there was never just song and never just acting, every piece is integrated and everything falls neatly into place. Clay is always in character - I had heard that before, but it is different seeing it and realizing the challenge of it. He did good. The songs were very appropriate, but unlike others I did not cry in the appropriate spots for the appropriate reasons - since I did pretty much start bawling at one part, let me explain quickly and hope this passes without notice. When Angela came out to sing, her voice was very high, my mind wandered into thinking that only some dogs could hear all the notes - which wandered into, OH NO! I have to buy a Christmas tree next week and how will I keep the "dog from hell" from destroying it, I will have to use only plastic ornaments, rather than the crystal, etc. which then brought me back to thinking of how when Sadie (my dog that died over 1 year ago) was a puppy, I had to buy plastic chewable ornaments for the bottom of the tree, because I would put them on the bottom of the tree, and in the morning, she would have taken them off and put them in one pile - I would put them back on the tree, and when I got back from work, there would be the pile of ornaments agin. It was kind of funny - so, with all the people I have lost in my life over the last 15 years, I do miss Sadie most of all at Christmas - as Angela was singing - end of silly story. During CMH, I was trying to recover from crying to pay too much attention, good thing I have more than one show. Intermission - I trotted about to look up in the balcony, saw a goodly number of people there, came back down and saw Runningfree in the lobby - I keep meeting her at all these events since the AI2 concert - Soon Keimer joins us - she was the originator of the JF no-L rumor I give her credit or blame, whichever. Back to the seat to see Julesrules talking to a neighbor - hope she recaps that story - she was a real one of a kind! Second half about to start - so far, I had not noticed any flashes. Curtain up with an enthusiatic crowd. Clay hits those low notes that reverberate in my bones and possibly my soul should I have one of those dang things. Ho low can he go! I know some people have answered this, but they have answered in notes and I want to know in flesh and bone. Songs are greeted with applause, which tends to throw me a little, standing ovations are being given. Where I feel I should be in awed silence, others are giving their love - there is no doubt this is an internet crowd here. A few scattered flashes, nothing serious. Amazing half. Quiana closes and does it very well indeed. She is acting as well and is doing very well. The rest of the show. Yes a few dozen flashes distracted in DSIAFCD - Most were from the Loge or Balcony - they were coming up and behind me from the shadows. Then there was one woman who took a picture with her cell phone and flash over to the far left, near the front. I think someone spoke to her, I never saw a flash again from there. This was probably better than it had been anywhere else, but that did not stop security from pacing back and forth in front of me. I know it is the price we have to pay for that, but no one in front of me (right side) flashed. Of course, Clay had to confuse people by flirting with Quiana during the Hug lyrics. She played him back so cutely with the biggest smile on her face. ANd the crew just gave Clay such a pointing at when he hit the big note - of course, I could not see everyone because the midsection gave another standing ovation. I just want it never to be said that fans do not get good floor seats! I swear it was almost an all internet floor as you could tell by the flash reactions. Good news - I am sure you know there were about a 1/2 dozen flashes, again, many from above. I am trying to think what made it worse for me, the flash or the crowd reacting to it. No way was this a not-one-of-us-crowd on the floor. I have an opinion, I really don't like the song Good News, I think that Clay really sells it, but the song by itself is a snoozer for me. As I left, I noticed all the small children sleeping and thought they might have agreed with me. Of course, it does not help that security guy kept going back and forth in front of me all GN. SOrt of interrupts the effect and blocks the view. I believe Clay left happy, I am sure he felt that his fans were out to protect him. Tomorrow will the flash test, I think there will be more casual fans there. Leaving - I thought I would just run home and do the rest of the laundry - but who do I see, or rather, who sees me first? But Yamyam01 - she her own story to tell of course, but with her busy life, I am not sure she will get a chance to post. She was sitting closer than I was and she says she believes she saw almost a smile/smirk when people loudly reacted to the flash. So, we can assume he knows. Well, we accompanied each other to the busses and went home.

OK, how do you guys do that? I post a copmment and the next thing I see, someone is having a conversation with me under my id? I find it confusing to read and have no idea who that was. Well off to the city. - bye for now.

I like this idea. I hate chat. And pulling cellcert reports from CB is a real chore. It's not fun. (sorry Ansa) I really love their reports -- they always make it so exciting like I'm there. And that was fine when I didn't have the stream. I'd rather listen and chat about the show and Clay or whatever. Shall we try it tomorrow evening? Big hug to you. I understand where you are coming from. Long ago I had to learn to separate Clay from his fans or I'd go freakin' nuts. I haven't watched the clack yet. Not sure I want to because Good News is SO very special to me. I have always loved the way Clay sings it and commented that Scarlett's El Cajon Good News was my favorite clack ever. She captured that beautiful performance from my eye view. She sat 2 rows in front of me in El Cajon. And I was SHOCKED in Oakland to see that he does it even better this year. I didn't think that was possible. I hope there is no crack down and that you get to bring back to us the most beautiful pictures of Clay. And if there is to be a pat down this year, I'll hope that Jerome gets the gig!! Bottlecap: heee thanks for the laughs!

Heh, this is a funny conversation. I probably don't haveto worry about this because my sister has a bigger clack collection (I have one tupperware box, she has 2 or 3) than I do and a lot more autographs. The only problem is if we die together in a concert when the roof falls in and our families have to look through this stuff. They.will.not.understand. Now if our mother was still alive, she would have her own clack collection. Oh yeah, she has 2 external hard drives to my one.