FearofH2O

Just needed to mention....love broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts...even without the cheese. Don't really care for chocolate. And I clap off-beat too.

I'm the same way love all the vitK veggies and can live without chocolate, but give me some candy corn or good and plentys and I'm happy. To add one more disgusting thing about food, we used to fight over the chicken heart, stomach and liver when my mother cooked chicke. Cooked of course.

Yes, Clay absolutely has an OTT, overly-invested internet fan base. But it's those same overly invested OTT fans who voted their fingers off when he was on AI, who have bought the major portion of the 5 million or whatever in cd sales, the $30 million in concert tickets, and raised the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, in support of his charitable endeavors. I am one of them. They are me. I am proud to be an overly-invested Clay Aiken fan, [small voice] even if they embarrass me sometimes.[/sv]

I want Clay to be a major star because I want everyone to see what I see in this wonderful, gifted man. I want to share him. But more than that, I want him to have the career he wants to have. I don't get to tell him what that is, and nor should I. I just hope he's going to be around for a long, long time. The fandom wears an ugly face sometimes, but it's the same fandom that has sustained Clay's career.

Very true and I don't regret a penny I spent on anything.

At first I was worried about every single negative thing said about Clay. Now, pfftt, scroll, scroll, ignore button, don't read the den. He looks happy, he sings good, he has really nice clothes, looks great and I like his famous friends.

I do think a lot of fans are exhibiting signs of burn out, but that's to be expected. Once you lose the fun and feel responsible for everything Clay. Well adios. But there are always new fans on the horizon to take their places. AI fans are probably only good for one season and then they move on to the next "fantastic singer". Clay and a few others are the exception.

Hey djs, good to see you.

Sure as anything as soon as I post about food you'll be on something serious. Although playbiller might not want this known we actually ate pig's feet and pig's knuckles as kids. Haven't had them for a while but i do remember their vinagry deliciousnous.

When we were very good we had corned beef on rye with Dr. Brown's celery soda. Ah the good old days.

ETA I knew I'd be a day late again.

Hey guys I just got a Google Alert telling me there's going to be a tour with Kim Locke! Anyone heard anything about this????

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I had the same feelings JMH. I decided last night to read all the comments to Clay's first blog. I wonder if people don't realize that these comments can't be edited and will be there for, maybe, ever. Very very sad. I just hope that Clay doesn't get around to reading some of them, although I think he would get a good laugh. Actually most comments were very nice. It was just a few that were downright insulting.

But then I realize that to some people this is their whole life. They may be homebound or possibly institutionalized or suffer from depression. What would I do if I were in their shoes. Perhaps as a Clay fan I should rethink how I reacted to what I considered their irrational responses. My only problem with this is I don't really want to be nice to those who are intentionally baiting the other fans, so they don't get a pass.

ETA: Why the heck does it take me so long to post that now the topic is grits?

I go to bed early and you guys party all night.

Someone accidentally linked this article to me today in an e-mail, http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/clay-ai...d-wins-1836.php. There are a lot of quotes from the Time article, and some fannish sounding stuff, but also some thoughts I found really interesting, like the Aretha comments. I was surprised how different the Time quotes sound to me now. When I think about this and the Classics banter, "So that's how you get on the radio, you sing about butts," when I compare the MTV show the other night with Clay's shows, then I see that it's really the same dilemma and there was nothing veiled about it then. Clay won. "Put some balls into it," says Clive. I can just see him saying it. And not recognizing that there's somewhere between "balls" and Manilow. This time Clay didn't win, but he still put himself into both the album and the tour, and I was impressed. I would never doubt for a minute that he could sell 100% Velveeta and enjoy doing it, but I think he also likes a challenge and likes to learn. He may not be introspective, but he is complex and a mature thinker. I don't think anyone needs to worry about him sacrificing art.

But the man loves his friends and he really doesn't want to be as big a star as some of his fans want him to be, and he does love him some cheese and glory noting and some more cheese. He was discovered on American Idol, Hometown Connection was his baby, he wrote (and I loved) the JNT05 story--this is who he is. I wish people would stop being afraid that he is who he is, and the kind of art he relates to, but give him a little credit too. I wish people would realize he is smarter and more knowledgeable about his own career than 99.5% of his fans, and just relax, get out of the management biz and settle down for a long and varied and entertaining decades long career. Sure it's fine to speculate about things, but it isn't fine to have a fricken collective existential meltdown over a piece of unverified, and, it turns out, false information.

And it isn't fine to then turn around and malign Kim Locke. No one knows what role she had in this either.

I agree with this except:

I don't really know if he wants to be a big star but I do think he won't sacrifice his principles for it and I really dislike cheese as a description of his music since I also like James Taylor and Johnnie Mathis who might also be described as such. However I never really liked Lawrence Welk and his show so maybe I'm not as sappy as I thought.

AnAmeraikeninTexas, your worst pictures are so much better than my best. Perusingone, more great pictures.

Hope you all have a great day today!

Although I dread it, I guess I'll continue reading that thread at the OFC just to see if anyone apologized. Some pretty, I think, nasty things were said about Clay, Ruben and Kim. If there is any blame to go around it definitely should be put on Curb for the press release they put out. Which was obviously written to get the hits from Clay's name. And maybe just a little to Chuck Taylor, the Clay hating person he is.

Fortunately I spent most of the day running around with my husband to various doctors for cellulitis in his foot and avoided a lot of the current angst. I always thought it was that cottage cheese on my chubby thighs. It's actually a strep or staph infection that we think he got from a flea bite. We had a dying cat and I refused to put any chemicals on her to kill fleas. She died peacefully last week.

Playbiller, I was rolling on the floor with your comment about using glow sticks for weapons. In fact i laughed quite a bit reading everyone's posts today.

I did want to suggest a poll for the next topic of angst. Instead of the usual angst starters, it would be nice to see someone from this board start it. May i suggest "Why is Clay going to see a play in NYC, shouldn't he be working on that next cd for us? What a slacker." Somehoe I think I might be too late for that one.

WAYDNYE is my absolute favorite on MCWL and always has been. His voice and phrasing are just superb on this song. So hopefully they won't run out of the cds before I get mine and playbiller's. When MCWL was released my youngest son, a musician in his previous life, said that Clay really learned a lot since MOAM.

Thanks ldyjocelyn for calling me wise. I don't hear that very often.

One thing I never really understood in this fandom was the need for Clay to be the biggest star ever. Not only that but he had to be a rock star too. How mqny employees of a company get ot be the CEO? And of those how many have traded having a family life for this to occur?

How many of the fans who are upset at Clay "Taking a step Backwards" would sacrifice some of their time to be top cat or dog (whatever your preference). I think Clay loves performing in front of an audience and the challange of keeping people interested in his banter is an intellectual one. Undoubtedly why he would like a talk show about current events and probably one of the most difficult type of tv shows in which to participate. Maybe he really does start thinking about Krispie Kremes after more than three songs in a row.

Being famous now a days appears to be more about scandal, gossip and shock value. Yet some of Clay's fans want him to be a star and virtuous. I'm not sure that is at all possible. Some were shocked at his language on this tour. Did I miss something?

Just to make this post more interesting:

I could see this tour happening with Clay as executive producer and 5230 funding it. It could be a great opportunity for Clay, particularly if it is connected with AI. I posted this on CV already.

I don't think I would go to more than one or two shows and don't know if I would fly to see it but I am sure Clay wouldn't be doing it for his fans. It may be a way to reenergize the old AI fans that thought he had a great voice but didn't keep up with him as well as Kim and Ruben.

I honestly think that Team Clay has a lot more to lose than I and would spend a heck of a lot more time worrying about it.

I agree, ansa. It was very telling when Clay said Connan wanted him on his show. Obviously they make these jokes just because they can.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I don't believe Clay, because I do. I'm just not very good with words. He has discussed being straight often enough and to me he is the type of person who accepts himself as he is. No reason to hide it if he were gay.

Playbillerdid you make your airline reservation tonight. :Tour4:

Leanna, I can only wish those things happen to them. They really serve no purpose on this earth.

leeana I don't think there is anything that Clay has to be vindicated of. Many of us know that the accuser is a notorious liar and to those people who read the tabloids and believe them, they must lead pathetic little lives.

I guess I never saw sexuality in black or white. I really don't care how or what someone declares themselves. If they find someone they love, well good for them. My best friend in college was bisexual and she went out with whomever struck her fancy. Wouldn't it be a perfect world if we didn't have to have this discussion and let everyone be happy in whatever manner they chose.

Happy birthday merrieee. I'm not very confident about the number of eeeees.

I enjoyed your discussion and couldn't think of a thing to add. I'm not a writer for sure. But I don't spend a lot of time worrying about Clay. He comes across as being so self assured and confident about whatever he does, I know I could not do any better if he asked me to help with his career. I do go to the OFC and probably post there more than any place else (I have yet another screen name there) just to help the balance of comments. It sounds to me like there are more posters that I don't agree with there than those I generally do agree with who say they never post there.

But to avoid being a total lurker, I thought I would give you a few facts about Justin T that I learned last night from watching "some" of his HBO special.

1. He loves drugs- which one he uses depends on his mood and he's very moody.

2. He has a decent voice but admits that he cannot wail. Took voice lessons.

3. His show is full of lights, moving stage and booming sounds. It is used a lot to rile up the audience.

4. He likes to drink and spent a bit of time discussing this in his show. Only the men in the show shared this with him. They toasted "the Big Apple". The show was in Madison Square Garden.

5. He likes sex too. Even better than drinking.

6. He can really move and is an excellent dancer.

7. I got bored and kept turning it off.

8. He also played piano ( pretty good) and guitar (okay).

The result? I am so amazed at Clay Aiken, who can get people screaming and dancing with no more in the way of props than a stool and a microphone. Uses minimal effects, if any. Can really wail if he so wishes. Doesn't brag about sexual persuits, drinking or drug use. Is so kind to children. And most of all never fails to remind people that they can do so much more to help the arts and other charitable groups that depend on public support.

Thanks couchie for the great recap. Since I never spend more than 5 minutes on my hair, I don't really care about anyone else's. I think he would even look great if he didn't have any.

Did I tell you the thirty something instructor's at the gym I go to think that Daughtry is the sexiest thing ever? But when he was at a club in town they were too embarrassed to go. I think they thought they were too old! Ha!

_snip_

ETA: Hope the show pays the taxes so Clay can get his 30 camps!!! Maybe cause it's charity, they don't have to pay any!!! Hope, hope hope!!! Any tax attorneys in the house?

In my previous life as a CPA, I was known to do a tax return or two. I think it depends upon whether the check was written to Clay or the BAF. I am thinking it waould have been written directly to the BAF since Clay cannot contribute more than a certain amount to his foundation anyway.

When we were waiting outside the gates at Cary, we met a young woman who had come from South Carolina with her boyfriend that day. It appears that the orchestra needed a viola player or maybe another .

So obviously he did not have anytime to practice with them before the rehearsal with Clay. She did say he had played with them a few times before. This plus the unbearable heat could be a reason for the poor sound there. I expected them to be exceptional so I was a little surprised.

Disclaimer: I have never been a musician nor do I pretend to be one.

I noticed in all this conversation, we are forgetting two very devoted fans that Clay also mentioned as being very enthusiastic and a wee bit stalkerish- Bob and Linda. I have no idea what they look like so I guess I have never encountered them. But then again I don't know Toni or Ethyl either.

I do remember a lot of bad talk about them too from fans over the years. I thought Clay said that if you are willing to make fools of yourself, he might remember you.

Muskifest,

I wonder if Clay thinks he erred in bring up the race issue. Unlike moi, he was not born when segregation was a big issue and people were throwing rocks at little kids trying to go to school and threatening to kill them. It was an ugly time. Now a days, not such a big deal.

Looking at the video, I felt he was joking around and continuing the ongoing joke that he had with Quiana and Angela-- He is a very pale white guy and they are black women. They used this fact to make silly comments to each other.

Although I am sure he is just as sick to death of all the fan bickering as a lot of us are. It only takes a few bitter to people to ruin the fun.

OT, Weird, I just spent a few minutes looking for the o key on my laptop because it had a speck of dirt on it and it looked like a c. Oy! :eusa_whistle:

Hi guys.

You can just put me down for any song. Although i kinda like "Beat It", as I remember visiting my Mom when she had my niece over and watching M. Jackson on MTV for about every other song. Too bad Clay didn't sing that zombie song as I could dance to it while listening.

Thats great couchie that you are going to the Fifth grader thing. You do get a few advantages living in CA. Hope you have a great time. I also hope Clay is as smart as I think he is and gets most of the questions, if not all correct. Unfortunately I won't be watching it as FOX is banned from our tvs by me. Hope there is a cellcert.

NC is so out of the loop in the coming year, I had to buy tickets to the Christmas shows in NJ. I guess my kids don't really need an inheritence from me.

Playbiller tried to show me how to import emoticons, but I failed so I'll continue using yours.

I guess I met quite a few FCAers this tour. It was such a pleasure. I especially wanted to thank luckiest, who shared a CH experience with me and it made me feel a whole lot better.

The CH party was nice in Asheville, calliek gives great parties and is so sweet. I met so many people there that I hadn't met before. The concert was one of my favorites. My local friend , queenp, moved up next to playbiller and I at the venue. She is so funny. We didn't have great seats but could see just fine. I thought the sound was great. I guess the years of having bands practice in my garage have made me immune to loud sounds. After years of hearing Mickey Mouse noises at concerts, I am quite happy to hear Clay's sonorous tones, loud and clear.

My husband, the party pooper, refused to stand up at the concert, thought it was too loud, especially A & Q, thought the comedy was over the top but thought Clay's voice was great. So I think he missed most of the physical comedy that we laughed at. He actually prefers mellow jazz voices of which there were quite a few male singers. R&B just not his thing.

We have been to the Biltmore house many times, but this was the first time we tried the headphones. Other than playbiller breaking two sets (j/k), we thought they were very helpful. Sore feet all around discouraged us from doing any of the other tours.

OT: someone posted an analysis of Clay's handwriting on the OFC. It was in a thread called "pics of Clay's autograph" See VickieED's post Clay's HW analysis Really interesting and, hopefully, prophetic.

Well since Clay has already put on a football uniform and thrown a football on tv with Kimmel, I have to agree with him that people will think what they will think. It's their problem, not mine. I don't think a person's sexuality, perceived or real, has ever made me decide that someone has a good voice or is funny or that I shouldn't like them. If people don't care to raise their children to be tolerant, it is a sad, sad world.

Personally, I thought that the insider article was cute, including the video. I laugh my head off whenever I see this part of the show. I will cherish this clack for a long time. It's not that I see this as a sexual dance or a campy song but plain old slapstick comedy, which is over the top. It's reminiscent of Milton Berle dressing as a woman or walking on the sides of his shoes; Red Skelton being what was at that time called a bum; Jack Benny playing the violin badly, the Three Stooges. It's just Clay bringing back physical comedy. I think that this act probably appeals more to men who have more often appreciated physical comedy.

Clay is a good looking man, so I can see where fans might like him to be more serious, but he has to do what he is most comfortable doing. I never studied psychology, well except for one course, so I can't say why he isn't more serious about himself. But whatever caused this goofy streak in him, I'm really enjoying it.

I think he is just fascinating and can't wait until he writes his next book.

Sorry for the epic.

Thanks AnAmericanIn Texas! I know I'm not very good but I had fun last night. We sat in row O which was much closer than I would have thought. Although I couldn't see Clay's eyes I could at least see his face.

We are sitting here in our room Asheville after eating at a really sad restaurant of which we were the only patrons. A little letdown after last night. I'll leave it to Playbiller to do the recap this time. Nuf said.

Although I must say no one can top Luckiest's recap. It was so nice to see Luckiest, NCDonna, Mandmlady and Sassafras at Lucky 32 and some of them again in Asheville. I really enjoyed both Cary and Asheville as the sound was perfect to my ears.

Some of my pictures came out not as bad as usual. I am the world's worst photographer with a really nice camera. I gave my husband my old camera and now he is taking great pictures with it. I was going to post a few but can't get photobucket to work. My husband has been using my laptop and I think he turned it off when I was downloading the pictures. Oy!

" target="_blank">Yowza!

" target="_blank">Whoa!

I haven't figured how to make them small, so here is my little contribution, for what its worth.

I feel bad about not doing a new recap for you all but here is a post from another board under another of my many names. I'm just way too tired and have to pack for Asheville.

Loved, loved, and so on, the concert last night. My sister and I drove in from Winston and at one point the temperature registered 106 degrees. Our GPS system failed us but my husband helped with the directions to the venue by phone. We first went to the Claymaniacs party at Lucky 32 and met some very nice fans there and had a good dinner. We got to the venue at six and it was just starting to get busy. We were a little worried as it did not seem to be as busy as when we went to the JBT. By seven the place was jumping and hoards of people were descending upon the venue. Eventually the place was very full including the lawn.

The screams for Clay when he came out singing "Here You Come Again" were deafening. I think people were so hot from waiting around and the extreme temperatures that quite a bit of energy was lost from the crowd in the first half. There were a few semi standing o's, but the audience just didn't have it. Clay was a real trooper and gave his all to every song as did Quiana and Angela. Because of the temperature and the hot lights, even Clay had trouble getting out some of his thoughts and words. The TV theme songs were amazingly performed last night. I think that Clay and Q & A could form a business just to record these songs. So much better than the originals.

During the intermission, I looked around and saw the lawn area was packed, even in back of the sound booth. Clay announced later that Jaymes was in the venue last night. We could see her seated in the sound booth in back of us.

They had repaired the venue and evened out and tiled the section with the seats, so no more dip. I could see perfectly in row o. I did not see any jumbotrons last night which was too bad for those in the lawn seats and tables.

In the second half Clay came out on fire. We were shocked to hear "A Thousand Days" brought back, but it really sparked up the audience and we rose to give him a real standing O. I had gotten a little tired of the song on the cd, but last night it was just WOW!. SSTBTSW and "Without You" were so great. There was a pair of panties on the stage and Clay said it was so hot people are taking off their panties . He then threw them back to Jesse, who was examining them. Clay asked if Jesse had them on his head yet, laughed and said that he wouldn't say anything else about that.

The classics bit, I,m not cool, was a riot. Clay teased the audience saying that he was going to announce something that night and really dragged it out with Quiana before saying, he was not cool. Funny! When he sang the big butts song, BGB, and he did the I got sprung part, I think he realized his Grandma and Grandpa were in the front row and backed away from Angela. No spanking for her last night. I have to say that despite everyone saying certain parts are over the top, it really was a progression of him developing the cool factor and fit in just right. I heard howls and cheers from the back of the venue. Another standing O. My sister looked back and saw many on the lawn standing and dancing.

When Angela sang "Listen', for which she got a standing O, Clay was in the back drinking a whole can of Dr. Pepper. So when he came back out he couldn't stop burping. He made a whole new bit about it. He did say he was so hot that he needed the energy from the drink. "Lover All Alone" was absolutely beautiful and perfect as was MOAM. He received standing O's for both. We refused to sit down and stop cheering despite his trying to wave us off. "Because You Loved Me" was so lovely. There was a sea of waving lights in the seat section and when we looked back the lawn seats were also full of waving lights. It was great.

It was so worth it to sit through that unbearable weather. The audience did the easy part. those on the stage worked themselves to exhaustion. We didn't go to the buses as we had a two hour drive hime and are leaving for Asheville later this morning.

I don't think I will ever regret the time, money and, sometimes, inconvenience of going to Clay's concerts. He is so worth it.

Sorry for this discombobulation of thoughts, but I'm pooped today. The cats woke me up at six thirty to eat

Thanks for the kind words yesterday. :laola0:

:F_05BL17blowkiss: You're so sweet. Are you playbiller's sister for real or in spirit?

Sheila, I think Playbiller might want to deny it sometimes, but its true. It works out great as I live in NC and she comes down here for concerts and she lives to the north and I go up there. I'm getting a little nervous about Asheville as we will be sharing a room with my husband and he will be coming to the Clackhouse party with us as well as the concert. He has no idea. Although he was passing by my computer a few years ago and asked why there was a picture of Clay's crotch on one of the boards.

So theres a threesome today.

:EmoticonRingAround:

Thanks for the kind words yesterday. :laola0:

As Playbiller said, I do refer to myself as a pod person because of my long standing belief that someone is out to imped Clay's road to success. I don't usually post about it or even worry about it, it's just one of my weird thoughts.

The one thing that did get me worked up and active was when BAF was attacked for reasons that were not correct just to get rid of it's director. With the help of Playbiller we posted the correct analysis of it's published and audited financial statements at many boards. However the information I sent to my local tv station went unanswered and uncorrected. A really sad time in my opinion. I am so glad to see BAF's growth despite this attempt to defame it.

I only saw the DCAT once in Philly. I thought it was fantastic. I'm pretty easy when it comes to Clay: Just sit back and enjoy. His voice is molten lava and I could hardly stop laughing at his conversation. I just can't criticize him because I know he is not just performing for his long time fans, he's out to get new fans and for that I'm greatful.

Love all your recaps, its a really good show. I think Clay came up with the idea for this tour. I'm so impressed.