atinal

One of the things that jumped out at me yesterday when I was reading the AI data that was put out by Nielson( it gave rankings of all of the top rated AI finalists) was that Clay's digital downloads was way lower than all of the other top ranked finalists. So I'm not sure what to make of this. Is this a symptom of the "older demographic"? Perhaps a symtom of the lack of radio play. Somewhere down the line there will probably be some new norms established when it comes to CD sales. There are positives in all of this too. In less than 5 years Clay has put out 4 CDs. He's had a number 1, Two number 2s and a number 4. Neil Diamond has sold 128 million cds, (I think I read that somewhere)he's 67 years old and this was his first number 1, so numbers can be pretty perplexing all the way around.

I agreed withall of your post, but wanted to focus on this. About a month before OMWH came out, I was talking to my son about it and he said. You know, that covers CD might have been a smart thing to do, it might have been a way around the "sophomore slump" that so many artists go through. He said many people would probably think of this more of his sophomore effort. I thought his perspective was interesting. Interestingly enough, he and my DIL were just asking me, how Clay's CD was doing, I told them not as well as I had hoped. My DIL said, "ma,CD sales are down for everyone" and my son chimed in and agreed and said that the downloading was hurting everyone. I think that most who understand much about the music business, know this. We'll just have to see how it all plays out. The other day I mentioned Jason Mraz, I don't know much about him, but I remember him as someone who seemed to be rather popular about the same time that Clay was promoting MOAM. HDDs predictions for him are in the range of 60-65 thousand his first week. This is the 7th season of AI. That's 70 singers that ended up in the top 10. Clay still ends up in the top 3-4 ranked contestants from all seasons. He's still considered the most successful male contestant although Daughtry make overtake him in that spot, but Daughtry hasn't had to "rise up from the ashes" yet. I still believe that longevity will be on Clay's side in the long run.

See, I think this is where KAndre's comment comes in, because I'm not sure if any "average" ear would even notice such a thing. Some will, but I think just as many won't. I have to admit I never really noticed it until the boards pointed it out to me. My husband has never pointed it out to me either, and he's watched more than a few Clay interviews with me. To me, Clay is the epitome of the "Southern gentleman," spreading credit to those around him as much as to himself -- and that then gets spread out to things that don't necessarily need "credit" (such as a change in look from different Leno appearances). His use of "we" is from years of training on his part. There's a part of me that says that as he gets older, he'll be more accepting of his "sexy," taking credit, and stuff like that. As people age, I feel they do tend to do that. Then, there's a part of me that thinks he knows exactly who he is, and in that way, he's way more mature than me even. He sure is a dichotomy. And I love him all the more for it. Darn, lost my post, I'm gonna try again. This is where I am with the "we" as his preferred pronoun, it doesn't bother me and I'm not sure I even noticed until fans started pointing it out. This is the way I look at it. I think Clay thinks of almost everything in his professional life as a collaborative effort. Picking out songs for the cd, probably with the help of Exec Producer and Producer, Arrangements of songs, with aide of producer and musicians. His look, with the aide of stylists. Picking projects, with his management team, bookings for his promo his (or RCAs) PR team his charitable work with the BAF board and volunteers and on and on. It just doesn't sound that unusual to me.

KAndre, I'm sorry about your Ferguson tickets.

I think that's my favorite to couchie, I repeat it more than anything else and I feel like I hear his emotion in the song. It's also one of the songs that as I'm listening I'm thinking WTH are these critics talking about when they criticize the lyrics in these songs? Oh, and I like your disclaimer!!

I know Spot has been to a lot of tapings and I'm sure she can offer a perspective of how the audience differed from past experiences. That said, I agree with Ldyj, that it is good for Clay to be playing to a crowd that is not stuffed with just his fans, and I also agree with those who said that from my TV it looked and sounded like the audience was enjoying it. I think too, her perspective could have been colored by the recent crowd reactions to him in Spamalot which was not always just Clay fans. I'm not saying it's true, just a possibility. There was also a later post by someone else who had been there who saw things quite differently.

Play every time you post about the Pepsi points, I get this picture of you sitting at your computer up to your ears in Pepsi bottles poised to click on the "download now" button Yay for Clay, :F_05BL17blowkiss: Ya done good!!!

Another thing that struck me as I watched AI Rewind this season was how pared down those first 2 and maybe even the 3rd season were. They sang to karaoke type backing tracks. They didn't get back up singers or a live band until the finale did they? I haven't watched since season 3, but have caught a performance here and there on the subsequent seasons and it just looks so different to me. It's still a wildly successful show, so it's probably going to be around for awhile. I'm not sure what gave the guy who wrote the article the idea that the early season participants were ringers too, I'm thinking he probably didn't watch then.

Oh, and now the venue calling will begin......if it hadn't already. Arg!!

claytonic, I was just sitting here thinking about the things Mike Nichols said in the press release that announced Clay joining the cast of Spamalot. Those words from Mike Nichols and Eric Idle about Clay, and Clay's subsequent success in the role have probably gone a long way in contributing toward Clay's "gravitas". It was just interesting to me to hear Jay use that word. Maybe Spamalot is giving Clay some of that "dues paying" credibility that seems so important to some.

In my addled morning brain I recognize a couple HMTMKM = Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me LWLHD = Look What Love Has Done Oops, Luckiest was faster and better

One thing about Clay, he sure can maximize his time on a show. He talks so fast and you can just feel his energy. Does anyone else almost feel out of breath after watching one of these segments?

CG, I'm thinking they did feel that it was a good time for him to bring his album out. I know no more than the next person about the music business, but I would bet they're almost in shock over the overall sales for Mother's Day, I think it is the second best holiday of the year for cd sales (usually). There were over 100,000 people, I think, that would have seen him in Spamalot, maybe they felt like that would have a positive impact. Who knows, I certainly don't and because I don't, I won't second guess them. Now, I'm gonna go watch Clay on the big screen in the basement.

Well, I do know that some who were clamoring about how brilliant it was for him to launch his CD right on the heels of Spamalot and in time for mother's day are second guessing that decision now. Also, quite a few comments about why does he need to take the whole summer off. You know, teachers get the whole summer off and I don't think many of them have been working the kind of schedule that Clay has (no offense to teachers anywhere, just using that as an example) Actually, I don't think Clay will end up taking the whole summer off, but if the guy is tired and needs a little down time to rejuvenate, so be it.

I like this idea, Play

Yeah, and I can imagine that a few of her "crazy" fans bought multiples too.

I think I'm starting to get it. I think they want him to sing about sex, not love but sex, and because the lyrics he sings doesn't spell it out in an in your face, I want to screw anying that isn't nailed down sort of way, it's not edgy or cool, and only the Claymates could like it because they're all beyond that in their post menopausal state.

I've got my list down to about 25, I need to give it some more thought. I can't cut anything yet. So maybe after I get back from doing mother's day stuff with my family, I can concentrate on it. Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

KAndre, I love your list, I'd add the compilation songs too and Proud of Your Boy. Math has always been over rated in my mind. -The First Noel -On the Wings of Love

I believe that Clay will be a career artist in some way or form. He may not be in the way that some fans want him to or in the way I had it pictured in my mind 4 years ago, but I just feel inside me he will. I didn't get to see him in Spamalot, but I'm sure that experience opened a lot of eyes and possibly a lot of doors for Clay. This caused me to think about someone like Heather Headly, she is someone who, I guess is considered very successful on broadway, however, I'd never heard of her until Clay dueted with her in her Broadway Cares show. She's still able to record albums, she and lots of other performers would kill to have half as many sales as Clay. There are all levels of success and I'm not willing to write Clay's success as a recording artist off just yet. I would love for his sales to skyrocket or just have some long legs, and only time will tell. Each project he does only convinces me more that he's going to be around for a long time and I just hope there will always be places like FCA for us to come to celebrate along the way. For now, I'm going to be very happy that I have new music from Clay to savor, it's a great album and when I'm buying music it is my opinion that counts, not Howard Cohen,s or Ken Barnes or any other music critic that can't move past their biases. I wish I could remember some of the "pop" artists that started around the same time as Clay, I remember Jason Mraz and JC Chazez, I don't follow their careers, but I don't believe they are able to get the same kind of promo that Clay has been able to get - EVER -. I know this was a little disjointed, but these were just some of the thoughts running around by brain this dreary, rainy Sunday morning, along with the thought is it ever going to be spring here?

I'm not prepared to quote Clay here, but I took a couple of his statements to mean they would take some time off this summer, do the Unicef trip, see how the album does, sounded like they planned another round of promo, and then perhaps a tour. They may want to take some time to decide what size venues would be appropriate and might base that decision at least partially on how sales for the album go.

That explains it then for me. I think the songs is rather catchy, but this is one time when I hear the glory note, I kind of cringe and it seems a little misplaced or something I really love WINY I've listened to it several times. Wasn't it recorded with the MOAM songs?

This song reminds me of one of the demos, now I'm trying to think of which one...

I love how he sings the word justify

The premise of the song reminds me of the old Joan Baez son There But for Fortune