AnAmeraikenInTX

ETA: OH, no worries, AnAmeraikenInTX! I've seen all of the pimpomercials and I really like the Must Be the Money one (I think that's what it's called) where Clay dresses up both dorky and like a pimp--I just don't like them enough to download them and keep 'em!

Jeesh, whose great idea was it to have Charles Grigsby and Pink-Haired Girl sing together in the Guest Judge Medley? Blergh!

EATA: Ooh, look, Clay in a t-shirt!

Oh, ok. I won't worry then! Yeah, I think 'Must be the money' is Ride wit Me. That's when Clay is dork/pimp.

You know, when I bragged on the Season 2 group songs, the small part where Charlie and Vanessa sang on the finale show did come to mind as not being a good representation of my statement!

I don't remember that first picture of Clay. It's great! Thanks!

Hee, thanks! I have most of everything I want (no pimpomercials or Jaded Journalist clips for me!) but I was actually looking for some of the other contestant's performances... plus, I thought it would be nice to have everything in actual episodes... Ah, well. I just don't understand why they don't release the series(es?) or at least the rewinds to DVD... I would think there would be other fans out there who'd like to have the full episodes.

Awwww, the pimpermercials are worth it!!! Most of them have Clay in them. Car Wash, Speed Racer, She's A Lady, and Ride Wit Me, at least, you should see! Hee.

Sooooo... Are there entire episodes of AI2 squirreled away anywhere for downloading or do I have to be clever and try piecing the episodes together? Might be fun!

I think the full version original files had better audio than rewind. I think they should be at CU.

Really? I only see segments... But then again, I find things like a man, so... No offense if there's a man hiding out here!!

I just took a look at CU to see how the AI files are listed. They're not there as full episodes, but it looks like all the Clay parts are there. If you d/l to one folder on your computer all from each subtitle under the Season 2 heading, then sort on the name of the files column, it will sort everything into date order since each file name begins with the date. That won't put the files per date into exact order of the episode, but it will group all the files by date and that alone will give you a pretty good summary. I think on competition nights, the proper order of the files will be pretty obvious; not as much on results nights as they included many segments, but the order probably isn't all that important. Each results episode ended with the results. During AI2, the Top 12 down to Top 2 did group numbers each week. They all sounded so good with each other. AI hasn't done group numbers too much since Season 2. When they did, they sure weren't as good as what the Season 2 folks did. Hope this helps. Good luck!

apropos of nothing...(or everything)

I found this on my basketball board yesterday...

I'm working on harnessing the energy produced by the gerbil wheel and using it to power my scroll bar.

Wow! My thoughts exactly. Exactly.

It was nice meeting you AAIT and I wish it could have been longer. When, not if, Clay tours again we will have to make sure we all get to the same venue. Hee if he comes to Houston I'll have a pre-partay at my place just for the FCA!

Since we have officially met I can use abbreviations....no?

Absolutely yes!!

The pre-partay sounds awesome, merrieeee!!!

Couch Tomato, hello to you too!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway I wanted to yell at everyone :fssign: :blinkies_114: and doing that is a big NO NO .

So Thanks. I feel better cept I'd feel much better if I thought that bitching and whining would ever stop.

OMG, I LOVE the bridge quote, especially!

I've been just reading a little bit, but had to speak up here!!!

I've had enough...let's celebrate what's good about him, his music, his philanthropy, his good looks, his great voice, his everything! Is it too much to ask....is it? (tm Lancelot)

No, not in my book. I love doing what you're suggesting, merrieeee and practice it regularly - nothing could be easier!

It was wonderful meeting you at GFI last week and getting to visit a little bit.

Hello everyone!!!

Eeeeee! 1 more sleep -- or maybe I can skip tonight so it's 0 sleeps?

[snip]

Since this is the very last time -- how rude would it be to start at him 90% of the time?

Not in my book! I'm planning to do this very thing! 2 sleeps for me. Hey, roomie!!!

Hello to FCA!!! I haven't visited here in a while, but I'm so glad I stopped by tonight! It's nice to see y'all!

Anybody else watching the Kennedy Center Honors.

I only saw most of the Barbra Streisand portion (the last half hour of the show) and I must say, it was fantastic! Beyonce's performance of Barbra's "The Way We Were" was absolutely breathtaking. Gosh, I think she may have surpassed Barbra with it. As much as I've always loved Barbra singing that, I felt the meaning of the lyrics tonight with Beyonce's interpretation more than I ever have before. Truly spectacular. Also thought the closing "Somewhere" was also just great! I missed recording it, but some of it is up on YouTube now.

Beyonce singing The Way We Were

in case you're interested - I HIGHLY recommend!!!

I've been working on pics again all evening! I'm trying to learn Photoshop Effects 6.0 (I think it is), and the program has helped with some of the underexposure in my ice show Clay photos. I'm testing it out on a 30 day trial right now. I got through tonight without having to look up too much stuff. With Windows 95 waaaay back, I had Adobe's Photo Deluxe program (through several upgrades of that program) and LOVED it. Of course, they don't make it anymore and haven't for several years, making people move to some version of Photoshop. I haven't liked any photo program as well as my old Photo Deluxe, but times change. It's just frustrating to get one program all learned and be comfortable with it and then you're forced to something else!

Anyway, I like the results I got tonight, so I'll post a few pretties (TM toni7babe)!!

I love the composition of this shot and the aura being exhibited by Clay in this shot. It feels reminiscent of ATDW promo time to

me for some reason, as well as AIW and Christmas show advertising last year.

Same pic in black & white and some filtering.

Such a gorgeous man.

Right after AIW performance.

More right after AIW performance.

Long, lean and in control. ...fans self...

Precious man.

More preciousness.

Just like this one.

jmh123, thank you so much for figuring out why my pics only showed up as links. NOW I remember using the IMG codes before, but totally lost that though last night. Thanks again!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Muski, thank you!!! I thought of you when viewing a couple of those images! Hoped you'd enjoy. Best of luck with your conference. I have no doubt you've done a phenomenal job on it. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

AAIT... I now have your pic of Clay skating around the rink as my desktop! Thank you!!! I wish I'd known you were there in LV... I'd have hunted you down! I have greatly enjoyed your clack!

liney23, thank you so much! I feel so honored. WOW! He is such a doll! I wish I could have met you in Vegas too. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

laughn, thank you!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

My trip to Vegas was very short. I arrived at nearly 2pm on Tuesday and left at 11am on Wednesday, so quick trip. Reading the recaps and remembrances of folks, I realize all I missed. When I booked the trip, this was the best way to do it not knowing what some family situations would be at the time. So, the purpose of seeing Clay was achieved, but I also missed a lot. I'm so sorry to have missed seeing so many of y'all at the preparty. I did walk around some, but not enough, obviously.

Anyone here going to Williamsport, Erie or Cleveland? Those are my CITH stops.

I bet I see some of you at opening and closing weekends of Spamalot! Will try to do better at meeting more of you wonderful folks!!

Lots of :F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I've been trying to get good results from my photos from last night for the past couple of hours. I got some nice shots... but I don't know what my optimum camera settings should have been in this low light situation. I didn't mess with the EV settings and maybe I should have. So, everything is underexposed and grainy - reminds me of the old days with film photography and skating shows and the constant fight with underexposure! (I battled the top of a man's head on the row in front of me and to the right so maybe that cut off some of my light source. Don't know, just know this isn't the result for which I hoped.)

Therefore, I decided to just choose some of the shots I like the best (nice composition and tells a story) and that look the best (from a technical standpoint) and tag them. Couldn't even find any photo editing settings tonight to make them not look grainy so decided to just go with the pics in their original form. I'll probably play more later with some artsy filters, but couldn't find the right ones tonight either.

For now, here are some basic photos, most even uncropped! Hopefully for the CITH, with better lighting, I'll get better exposed photos and, therefore, more of a result like our fantastic photographers get!

To kind of go along with some of tonight's discussions, thought you might enjoy...

After Shae Lynn's first hug with Clay:

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859145-L-LB

All Is Well - leading up to and including the glory note:

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859362-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859532-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859709-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859891-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859695-L-LB

Finishing out this set of 10 for this post, just a few more I like:

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218860280-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218859902-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218860260-L-LB

http://anameraikenintx.smugmug.com/gallery...#218860647-L-LB

There are 25 photos in this smugmug gallery right now, I'll add more as I can. Please feel free to visit: AAIT's Holiday On Ice - Clay pics!

NOTE -- I have no idea why these aren't showing up as pictures in the thread. Thought I was doing the same thing I did a few weeks ago in posting. Please just click the link - that takes you to the photo. My apologies.

Clay was absolutely marvelous and I thought he sang those songs last night better than ever before, almost without exception. Have no idea what the skaters were doing while he sang - Clay had my undivided attention!!!

It's way past bedtime now - with the daylight savings time change and time zone changes, this kid is dragging. But Clack takes priority - and I'm loving those d/l's from last night!!!

Good night, FCA! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Wonderful news, keepingfaith! I'm very happy for you.

I haven't been able to be around much lately, but wanted to drop off some info here that I also posted at CV. I didn't search back to see whether folks commented during/after the Sedaka tribute about liking the Captain & Tennille back in their day, but even if not, hopefully this might still be interesting...

Clay comment in Toni Tennille's blog:

http://www.captainandtennille.net/tonis-take_blog_01.htm

Now.... for all of you “Claymates” out there who might happen to read this..... I never saw Clay Aiken backstage. He wasn’t there for the finale, THAT’S WHEN THE MUSIC TAKES ME, and he didn’t attend the afterparty. In fact, I never saw him at all!!! He drifted in and out of the proceedings like a ghost... almost like he was “beamed” in and out of the theatre. Becky and I sneaked out into the stage right balcony to hear him sing SOLITAIRE, and he sang the heck out of it! And I got such a kick out of the screams of excitement when he appeared on stage, and when he held that four-measure, fortissimo note (“Sol-i-TAIRE!!!!!”) in the middle of the song..... the audience went bananas just like all the young girls who screamed for Sinatra and the Beatles! His fans, who appear to be mostly female, absolutely adore him. What a phenomenon. I’m so out of it, I had no idea how huge he is.

Love her closing line of his paragraph (and the one about the four measure Sol-i-TAIRE)!

~~~

I read a lot of her blog over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. She began it in '06 and it isn't advertised through the blogosphere. It's very interesting reading! Lots of insights about a lot of things (even if not fans of them, there's lots of interesting stuff here - truly). She's 67 now. I never would have guessed that. She looks fantastic. If you're interested, and this was what actually made me search out their website and her blog, there was a great interview they did earlier this year that can be seen via a link on their website. I do highly recommend it. It's right here: http://www.sidewalkstv.com/flash/flashvide...in-tennille.flv

Again, if interested, their website is here: http://www.captainandtennille.net/index.shtml

I really enjoyed C&T back in the day, and I'm enjoying this reconnection with them too! There were quite a few who commented Friday night and over the weekend that they like(d) them too, so I thought this might be interesting to a few folks! Diversity and all!

If you read her blog, be sure to click the links she leaves. She's got a great sense of humor, plus some of the links lead to other interesting things!

~~~

Then I found more tidbits (not about Clay):

Dang, I never shoulda checked to see if Toni Tennille updated her blog yet because I just can't tear myself away from the links there and on their website. I went to the news section and linked to this recent TVGuide article. More interesting reading! It's here: http://www.tvguide.com/news/captain-tennille-dvd/071009-06

Tidbits:

TV Guide: What's something people might be surprised to know about the Captain and Tennille?

Tennille: Well, the biggest surprise to people is that I sang background on Pink Floyd’s The Wall album. It’s funny, because I knew the name but didn’t really know their music; I guess I expected it to be a bunch of guys sitting around smoking dope.

Captain: Oh, how terrible that would have been.

Tennille: Shut up, Daryl! [Laughs] But when we walked in, David Gilmore [Floyd’s lead guitarist] greeted us (and this was a Sunday morning), and he said, "I was just watching you on TV with my kids." They were watching Kids are People Too — a kiddie show we were guests on. So, there went the stereotype I had of Pink Floyd right out the window!

TV Guide: And you, Captain?

Captain: I played the piano for the opening theme of The Young and the Restless for $50. They’ve been playing that for 30 years, but I never got royalty checks because I did it as a scab. As you can tell, I’m not upset about not being paid.

Tennille: No, you’re not upset at all — just still talking about it 30 years later.

~~~

I just find that Y&R tidbit to be so very interesting! What fascinating lives they've had, and they seem like such nice people. I plan to keep reading, though hadn't intended for that to be tonight. But now I'm wide awake. Not my smartest move!

Good night!!

That's how I remember it, jazzgirl.

Me too! Not that that means anything at all! It just sounds the most familiar. Did Clay blog about finding James way back in '05? I don't recall right now, but it may be in one of his blogs during that time.

I must say that I'm rather perplexed . :8: that it is taking multiple views of the video clips of this performance to determine whether or not it's a fold.

I SAID it was a fold upon first report, did I not?

Have I strayed so far from the fold....er.....the world of fanfic writing that former readers have lost their faith in my smut radar?

I...I....I...

I'm hurt.

and so very ashamed...

What's this "former" shi...stuff? I'm in reruns!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

hee hee ...giggles...

Ah, the elusive brown suit of fuzzy goodness... I loved that thing, and he only wore it for one concert. I just want to hug it and pet it and call it George.

I remember that night. My first prettyveryclose seats, 3rd row right orchestra on inside aisle Englewood, very nice! At least I think that photo is from Englewood last December. God, he was HAWTHAWTHAWT that night (regardless of whether this is an Englewood pic)! And he called my friend HippoGA and me out for our binoc's!! I told him he was gorgeous. I think his reply was, "well, you should see me from the back!" or something like that. That view is nice too, methought!

Okay, please help me because I'm not going to search out the angst. Do people think this is going to be a big radio hit ..... for Loverboy? Is that the issue, really? I may be wrong, but the last time I remember Loverboy having a hit was sometime in the 80's. They were big and had a couple of huge albums, but I remember it being about 25 years ago.

At the only other place I've read today, the general feeling is that Loverboy has sucked the life out of the song and it shouldn't be a hit, but who knows in today's climate. I haven't ventured to the OFC, however, and have no clue over there (other than assumptions). What I found for me, was it made me sad that Clay did not get to record for release, BFM, and it stung to hear someone else singing it. My reaction greatly surprised me today. I wasn't upset it wasn't on ATDW, but I guess I did consider it "Clay's song". It was great that he/they(?) agreed to release it if they weren't going to use it. I only listened to two lines of Loverboy's version, to confirm it was the same song, but it left me with the same feeling of being robbed that ATDW release week did, in that I expected to feel elated all week, and so very happy, and most of those awesome feelings didn't occur for me. They felt robbed and even now, when I think back to that time, it feels negative and low to me, (and I do still feel robbed), but maybe my expectations were too high. I just thought we'd follow awesome sales for weeks and weeks and be excited and happy and life would be wonderful (fantasies can get you in trouble, I guess). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE ATDW and listen to all or part of it most everyday, and I still think it should have sold WAY more than it has. Clay did an awesome job on that album and I am so proud of him and it. I was completely caught by surprise by this reaction today. But, that was then and this is now, and Clay seems happy and I adored the SRHP tour and can't wait until the CITH tour and seeing Clay again and again and again for a long LONG time, so life goes on --- and Clay seems happy --- and that's the most important thing. I'll be here regardless of roadbumps! Besides, roadbumps can morph into smooth sailing, and all things happen for a reason. [/sapoff]

He's blossomed from a confirmed nerd to an international bon vivant. He met his inner hot, sexy man and appears to have made peace with him. His voice is his voice. And he's still the same wonderful guy we met on AI.

This entire passage just touched me so, any of it would be a wonderful thread title, but the first 'thread name light bulb' to go off was this:

He's blossomed from a confirmed nerd to an international bon vivant.

So, I nominate that! Just so :F_05BL17blowkiss: all at the same time!!!!!!!!!!!

I am loving AI Rewind. I didn't start watching Season 2 until the Wild Card results show, so this is all new to me. And these auditions are much more entertaining and less exploitative than what I saw of the AI6 auditions.

I am watching with Clay-focused eyes and it all looks good to me. As often as I've said that Clay Aiken IS the American Idol, it gelled in my brain watching today. Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood probably didn't need American Idol to become stars. They are both attractive females with great voices and American Idol was a stepping stone. Others that have come from the show had enough talent and ambition to make it without an Idol win -- Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry and, maybe, Kellie Pickler, as examples. But Clay, Ruben, Fantastia, Taylor and Elliott arguably would not have had recording contracts without Idol, not ever. Among these, only Clay has reached multi-platinum status and has become a superstar. And he became that superstar ON Idol and has retained a faithful following and sold millions of albums. He has a successful concert career. He does TV. He's a UNICEF ambassador. He's blossomed from a confirmed nerd to an international bon vivant. He met his inner hot, sexy man and appears to have made peace with him. His voice is his voice. And he's still the same wonderful guy we met on AI. The all-time top three recording success stories on Idol are Kelly, Clay and Carrie -- but I think Clay is the show's true success story. There is a line to walk between being too closely associated with Idol or divorcing from it, and I think Clay has maintained a good balance. This is the 5-year anniversary period and I do believe we can expect to see Clay and AI connected right up through the AI7 Finale.

When I unexpectedly saw Clay on AI5, the thing that hit me, and sent me to the boards, was a strong feeling of power from him, a sense of inevitability surrounding him -- like watching the future of entertainment walk on the stage and it was breathtaking. What I found on the messageboard was a surprising number of fans with diminished enthusiasm and some completely demoralized by tabloid-consciousness or internet gossip, career second-guessing, rumors and fear. I never bought that stuff because I had honeymoon immunity, and the impact he made on me that one night has been validated every day since. I am not and never have been Pollyanna. That's not it. A direct hit to the core of the brain caused this.

These are good meds, so blame it on that if my rambling is going off the page.

Oh my gosh, keepingfaith, that is an absolutely beautiful and incredible post. I'm going to copy and paste it to a word file and keep it. You've blown me away with it. Every word is great, but the bolded part gives me good chills. The first sentence of that I'm nominating for thread title and will copy to the appropriate place. Then your next to the last paragraph, which I purpled, just did my soul good. As one here from the beginning, though not to the boards until the Friday after AI ended, I just loved reading your experience. Thank you for sharing all of this. Great big :F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Oh, Miss Muski, you are a tease sometimes!!!!!!!! BWAHHHHHHHH! So glad you had a marvelous evening. Well deserved, for you and Gibby both!! :F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss:

He's just so friggin' gorgeous. Period.

(Hey! Where the eff is the strikeout thingy?)

Thinking the same thing, I found the strikeout thingy for the first time myself a few minutes ago. It's the 4th button from the left on the line starting with b. (Look above and to your left.) Click the down arrow. It's the 3rd choice! (Honestly, I just found it about 10 minutes ago!!!!!!!)

The banner is beautiful! Who made it? They're my pictures and I'm EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'ing over that!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much, whomever made it!!! Goodness, I'm soooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!! Made my week! :F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I don't remember that opera singer guy at all.

This is Scarlett...

*covers ears wth hands* I can't bear to listen to this. No!!! Please!!! No!!!

(Solo is a pussycat compared to KAndre)

It's Solo.

She's not lying. The noise got so bad that I had to abandon the room. Flexing my slapping hand had no effect of KAndre. She left for a second but now she's back. We're sending someone out for the Blue Bell Black Cobbler ice cream. No ice wine. But a lot of scotch to disinfect merrieeee's wounds.

Maybe throw in some of the Bluebell Banana Pudding Ice Cream too. It was also yummy!!! It might help.

My favorite JNT05 was Nashville...frozen feet and all. I saw 3 of them. On my first one I was distracted and not able to come down after helpign host the pre party... and my last one was Atlanta where the little star was out. That was a great show to be at...but my perfect one was Nashville...I loved every little thing about it...and I really dragged my eyes off Clay to take in the entire experience. Looking forward to this Xmas.

I was at two of these shows too, Nashville and Atlanta!! Yes, frozen feet in Nashville was my reality too!!!

I'm tickled to death about Clay and Rewind. Coolio. He's gonna talk here and there, now and then, over the course of six months on MY teevee to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I betcha he'll crack a few jokes and drop a few innuendos and snark a few sharp jabs and he'll be SOOOOOOO cute and funny and sharp and then....then....

We get to hear him SING, too!

Oh, we are blessed, indeed.

And this is one time when I won't mind the reruns AT ALL!!!!!

I've read the last two pages (set at 40 ppp) and haven't found much of the stuff y'all are referring to - some of it I can imagine, but I'd like to read what y'all have been talking about more from the beginning. So, I won't ask for someone to summarize, though xxx did a good job of it, but about what time of the day did most of the conversation about this Chexxxy stuff and fans outing other fans or doing bad things to them or whatever... occur? I just don't know where to look and I'm too tired to read tons of pages!! I thank you sincerely and muchly!!!

GAh!!! Those last couple of pictures are awesome!! Thud much!!!

I believe he went to the reunion!

I won't let myself think that he wouldn't.

I hated when he talked about not being able to leave his hotel room in Raileigh.

He took his life back.

He went to that fucking reunion, and was the alpha man in the room, his classmates were tharilllled beyond words that he was there, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Hee.

:lmaosmiley-1: w/canuck.

BWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Especially the bolded part (bolding mine!) Hee hee! Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall, or maybe the gal on his arm? (Oh, I can see other locations being requested downthread!!) :lmaosmiley-1:

I hope they were proud of him and told him so!

I lurve him with the heat of a thousand suns!

Agree, and at least!!

And, yes, thank you for all the hard work on the board. Another MUAHHHHH!!

I haven't been to any of my HS reunions. Just not interested, I guess the next one is 35, in '09, and at least now I live back in the same town, but I just don't see going. I loved my school and was very supportive of being a Lee High School Rebel, but I was even shyer then than now, if you can believe that. There are very few people from that time that I wonder about. Oh gawd, I was soooooooo miserably shy, quiet and reserved. I have much more fun and am so much happier now and for most of my adult life! Baby sis went to her 20th in 2000, but I don' t know if she went again in 2005. On the other hand, she is still friends with some folks from high school and she never moved away. She's always been more outgoing than me.

And maybe, just maybe, I will post this and not go back to change something. Might help if I proofed more closely!