rohdy

Thanks Muski.............but after much searching, I found the interview........not the montage I had..but the important parts are here!

Claytonic....this is a funny interview, from Aug '03, that covers the basics of "The Tug"

The Tug

Claytonic's innocent question about "the tug" reminded me of a great radio interview that was done up as a montage, as pictures were added. It included the female DJ asking him about the tug, the clutch and one other move, lots of great Clay laughs and the reading of a fan report/comment about Clay harboring Weapons Of Mass Seduction.

It was saved on my computer for just the longest time and after a recent crash, I just now realize it is one of the many things I have yet to replace. Except I have forgotten what it is called and I don't know how to look for it.

Does anyone here have a clue as to what I am talking about?

Good Morning Everyone:

Takes deep breath, flexes fingers, here we go!

4 Days until Clay is on QVC!

6 Days until Clay is on Tyra!

7 Days until Clay is on VH1 Countdown!

10 Days until The Closing Night of Spamalot!

12 Days until On My Way Here is Here!

13 Days until Clay is on GMA!

14 Days until Clay is on The View!

18 Days until Clay is on Leno!

21 Days until The Climmel!

25 Days until Clay is on Craig Ferguson!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

I feel like I should be singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas"!

But then.........lately....it's felt a lot like Christmas!

There's just been so much happy, happy, joy, joy related to Clay.

*sigh*

It feels good.

Whoa....it's slow downloading....but that is A-Okay with me....

At this rate it will be up on Youtube before I get it all.

How cute, the Tyra girl jsut posted at the OFC and she is just so cute and so bubbly. She doesn't want her post copied too much though.

Do you have the link? I can't find it.

ETA: What is the 'triangle' as mentioned by Clay in this YT video?

I believe it is the cities of Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC. Also known as the research triangle

Thanks for linking the clip, I had never seen that one before. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Yup, it's the same one I brought over about a week ago. I've been watching it move to greater prominence ever since.

You know, the kazoo effect with the ukelele is really kind of cool!!!

Kazoo's? Did I hear you say KA-freakin-ZOO'S ! ? !

Damn.

I should have collected all those kazoo's with the books in Kalamazoo.....

good thing he sounds purdy...no matter what....

10 years ago today....I married my best friend. *sigh* I love my husband so very much. He puts up with so much from me sometimes -- I'm sure when he married me he wasn't expecting that 5 years later, he'd be dealing with a rabid Clay Aiken fan. *g* Anyway, I'll probably be unavailable for most of the weekend, if you know what I mean. Heh.

Screw Clay Aiken! (Line forms to the left of the SD) This is the sweetest thing I've read in a long time. *sigh*

Happy Anniversary ldjy!!!!

I was at work so missed the 'covering Clay' conversation.

I would love to hear him do Gene Pitney's, Half Heaven Half Heartache or Johnny Mathis's Wonderful,Wonderful.

Nice to see there are other k d lang fans here! Her SNL performance of Johnny is one I always love revisiting.

Oh crap...it's gone! Well...this one is very similar.

Dang....I wanna be a chicken lady.

ETA Has anyone seen the Yahoo front page link to Idols Biggest Success Stories?

Clay is listed third.

From Corabeth at the CH

Just got an email from RMD and OMWH debuted at #1 on the AOL Music Chart with over 57,000 plays! Chris Brown was #2.

He sent me a screen shot but I'm on concall right now and can't copy over right now.

ETA: #1 on AOL!

If they never do another Mariah Carey night on AI it is all right by me! While some did do mighty fine jobs...a whole show of slooooooooow songs just about did me in! Good lord that was boring!

And does anyone else get squicked out by David A's speaking voice? And how come they didn't yell at him for being so frickin' predictable?! E.V.E.R.Y.B.O.D.Y. knew he would sing that song....or something as close to it as he could get. EEEEEEEE'NUFF of the inspirational songs little man.

I'm ready for Carly to go home.

Girl's Knight Out with the Camelot Gang (Peasant recap -- please don't copy to other sites)

At the start of the show they always announce something about recording devices and cellphones and being dragged up to the stage and impaled by a bunch of well-armed knights. Everyone around me always seemed to be terrified at the prospect. Me? I chose to reserve judgement, since it *could* actually turn out not to be so bad depending on the type of impaling those well-armed knights had in mind. *shrugs*

So, when Patsy came to take me up the stage Sunday night I didn't exactly have to be dragged. All the knights seemed to be very friendly and welcoming. The King got to go first because, I suppose, he *was* the king. He asked for my name and I said it out loud this time, because I didn't want the entire front row to have to yell it out like in Long Island. Since the King was nice, I also gave him my last name. He didn't ask for my phone number/s. I think that was because Clay already had 3 of my cell phones registered at the mozes site. The other knights played coy with me, wooing me with shiny sparkly stuff. They were fun. At one point I was completely surrounded by knights -- above me, below me, to my left, to my right. They kept repeating my name ecstatically. It seemed to go on forever.

Before the night was over, I had Clay on bended knee raising his arms beseechingly at me and singing of some Holy Grail thingy or other. I was confused about this since he hadn't yet changed into his white tuxedo pants. *scratches head* Maybe he wanted me to help him with his clothes because Shannon was out that night? Anyways, I told him that I wasn't comfortable getting it on while a still photographer was standing in the room. I proposed that we do video instead since it was less distracting. So he went over to the photographer, talked to him and them walked back to my while holding and shaking his thing. He extended it to me and I gathered that he wanted me to touch it, take it and shake it too. Weird request, but I obliged!

All in all, it was such a wonderful experience to be the darling of every knight at the round table, even for just 1 evening. Definitely a keeper and a scene I will replay over and over again.

Special thanks to Gibby, luckiest1, annabear, ldyjocelyn, couchie, ansa, muski, cct, laughn, CG, playbiller, KarenEh, 00lsee, liney23, clayzedover and everyone else who sent virtual hugs and best wishes! (hope I didn't forget anyone)

I hope Scarlett doesn't mind....but this was just toooooo good to leave behind!!!!

Nice to know that good wenches are rewarded for all their good work...

I am officially on vacation - FINALLY - in 41 minutes!!! :bier:

Yay! Have fun Annabear and as usual...bring back details!

I hope that Pearrrrly doesn't mind that I share these with here, as one with no musical skills, I enjoy revisitng them every so often.

Pearrrrly's take on the Top Three songs Clay did.

Re: Pearrrrlywhites and Clay's voice

Vincent

I realize this is ancient history in the Clay universe, but the following is my Zapruder of "Vincent". This was written on July 29 to complete my book for the LWLHD auction, and I wrote this as I was listening to "Vincent" for the *very* first time since the Vincident. I was so phobic of this song that I couldn't even listen to Josh Groban sing it!

After all these weeks of deliberation, I have come up with the ideal punishment for whomever was responsible for putting "Vincent" in the fishbowl and then adding a verse at the last minute. They should spend the rest of their career (if not all eternity) in a small room listening to an endless recording of Atlanta Keith singing the entire Madonna repertoire. Occasional respites will be provided by viewings of the movies "Glitter", "Swept Away", and if advance reports are to be believed, "Gigli".(edit: written just before Gigli's release)

The difference in this analysis and all the previous ones is that while I have listened to all of Clay's other performances countless times, I am about to listen to "Vincent" literally for the first time ever since May 13, 2003. This song brings back such bad memories that I even skip over it on my Josh Groban CD. I was so angry and heartbroken that night, frightened that this beautiful voice was going to be snatched away from us, never to be heard again, all because of some stupid song written about a suicidal artist.

Enough ranting. I've procrastinated long enough. Here it is:

Starry starry night It starts off well enough, the "starry starry" is pretty. "Night" falls flat, not in pitch, but the sound is dull, not the usual Clay brilliance. He recovers near the end by adding vibrato.

Paint your palette blue and gray Nothing lacking here. This is in his middle range, just a sweet, beautiful, relaxed sound.

Look out on a summer day Wow, he sounds good! I get kind of a Josh Groban vibe here. There are no Clay quirks here -- no Southern accent, no emphasized consonants, more of a classical sound.

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul I think it would have sounded better without the breath before "in my soul". Pretty vibrato on "soul".

Shadows on the hills The sound is brighter now, more of a ringing tone, especially on "hills".

Sketch the trees and daffodils I wasn't ready for that high note, wow! Since we're kind of in a "star" mode, that note is like a shooting star -- explosive and beautiful.

Catch the breeze and winter chills He extends the "C" of "catch", giving a sort of catch in his voice, then opens up the vowel, letting a hint of breathiness in. Gives me chills.

And colors on the snowy linen land "Colors" is off, sounds almost nasal, then he recovers, the rest of the line is great. "Land" is a trademark Clay melisma with a decrescendo into that lovely soft voice with vibrato.

What you tried to say to me Was this a flubbed line? It sounded a little strange that he cut off "tried" so quickly and then held out "say" for a long time, as if he was waiting for the music to catch up to him. Vocally superb though.

And how you suffered for your sanity I have a hard time sometimes believing that Clay isn't classically trained. This is one of those times.

And how you tried to set them free He brightens up the sound just slightly to give his usual pop style.

They did not listen, they did not know how It's strange how little I can find to say on this song. He isn't doing anything exciting, it's just a solid, beautiful sound.

Perhaps they'll listen now The "ow" gets me every time, I would know that Clay "ow" anywhere. Ugh, this song stinks -- it's like "Oh, I'll kill myself, then everybody will be sorry they didn't pay attention to me."

And when all hope was left inside You mean that five-second musical interlude was what was splashed all over the news as Clay's "near-fatal error"? I don't even curse, but I find myself wanting to fill the next two lines with a string of various punctuation marks! Paula Abdul deserves to spend *her* eternity in the Atlanta Keith listening booth for pointing it out! Moving on, Clay certainly deserves *extra* credit for following up with one of the purest, most gorgeous notes he sang the entire season. Knowing now that he had missed his timing and was having to adlib somewhat, it makes that high A on "And" even more impressive.

On that starry starry night The way Clay sings "starry starry" is worth listening to the song again.

You took your life as lovers often do Maybe this line wouldn't be quite so awkward if it was about a woman. As it stands, it probably added fuel to the idiots out there who don't know who Vincent Van Gogh was and thought Clay was just singing to some guy. He goes into his almost-falsetto voice on "do", very pretty.

I could have told you Vincent Ditto to what I said above about the awkward lyrics.

This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you Poor Clay. That's all I have to say. He sang this line to perfection, for what it's worth.

Starry starry night Just the slightest voice crack at the beginning of this line, but a pretty finish.

Wow. That wasn't so hard to listen to after all. It's not like it cost him the competition or anything, I place the blame for that on the crazy phone system. And there's no point in feeling the pain that Clay felt that night because I'm sure he's beyond it. Listen to "Vincent" for what it is -- a song that shows Clay's longevity as a superb vocalist. When the shirt tugs and hip shakes are things of the past, the voice you hear on this song is going to be there still. Clay, American Idol was never meant for a voice as beautiful as yours. So there.

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Re: Pearrrrlywhites and Clay's voice

(09/16/03 8:22 PM)

Mack the Knife (May 13, 2003)

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear Clay's versatility shines from the opening notes. His voice is light and effortless, the vibrato is more mellow with just a hint of breathiness that he keeps completely in control.

And he shows them pearly whites Oh, he's singing to me! No, really, he's not. But obviously I like this line enough to take it for my username. Notice the contrast between the relaxed sound of "them" with the hard consonant sounds in "pearly". The brightness is suddenly back for this one word and then mellows out for "whites".

Just a jackknife has old McHeath, babe The intensity is building a little as he hits the F on "jack" and then he pulls back.

And he keeps them out of sight Again the brightness comes through at the beginning of this line and then he fades slightly on "out of sight". The word I find the most interesting is "them". He has an unusual pronunciation of that vowel, and it's not a Southern accent.

When the shark bites with those teeth dear Key changes in an American Idol performance? That's something you don't see everyday. My take on this song is that it's all just a tease leading to the last note, but I'm getting ahead of myself. There's nothing really to say about this line except that he really does sound effortless here. I can't help but wonder about his state of mind at this point. Did he feel as though he had messed up so bad with Vincent that he was doomed, and may as well just have some fun? Oh, I also like to hear him sing the word "dear". Just because.

Scarlet billows start to spread Back to that almost breathy sound. I think it's like he's singing almost in a whisper, telling someone a secret in a flirtatious manner.

Fancy clothes though wears McHeath, babe Just remembered I need to talk about vibrato again. This applies to all previous lines as well. As mentioned in a previous post by our resident cellist, Clay does a great job of knowing when to use vibrato and when not to. If you don't know, vibrato is when his voice sounds wavy on certain notes. It takes a lot of control to do well and to *keep* from doing it when you don't want to. For example, Carmen had a very bad vibrato which led some to compare her voice to that of a goat bleating (I'm not bashing!). Interestingly enough, in my violin class, the teacher used the analogy of a nanny goat to describe the early stages of vibrato development. Back to topic, in this song, Clay sings notes more brightly without vibrato when he wants the dramatic effect, then lets the vibrato out for the more whispery effect. The word "though" is another teaser to let us know that something big is coming. Also it's a nice use of melisma (again, several notes on the same syllable) without overdoing it.

So there's never, never a trace of red Just as he delivers a whispering effect with some words, "So there's never" makes me think of a shout. He falls off the pitch ever so discreetly on the end of the word "never", which is perfectly acceptable to do in this speaking style of singing. Listen to any big band singer and you will get the impression that they are half-talking, half-singing. I usually don't like it. However, Clay leans more toward the singing side of the equation and so the effect is all good.

Oh the shark has pretty teeth dear Two key changes? Must be a record for American Idol. Yes, I'm making fun of the show, 'cause if it hadn't been for Clay, it would have been, well, "Fame". Oh, I see that for "shark" and "dear" Clay is loosening the apron strings tying him to the letter "r". Listen to that pure sound on the second syllable of "pretty". That is so hard to get the "ee" vowel to sound like that. Eeeeeee! (sorry, couldn't help it)

And now Mackey's back in town The first A (on Mackeeeeee) is slightly scratchy, which made me a little nervous at first. And I don't see how on earth he managed to get enough breath between "Mackey" and "back" to hold "town" for 10 seconds. Clay has phenomenal breath support for a guy who doesn't work out! "Town" started to go sharp, which he fixed immediately by starting the vibrato which made the final note everything it should be.

Overall a stunning performance. Yes, it was a cheesy lounge-singer song (grrrr Paula), but it reminded everyone of how much talent this guy had to be able to sing absolutely anything and make people love it. I think he has a good grasp on the Big Band sound, and would love to see him do a CD of Sinatra tunes someday.

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Unchained Melody

I was disappointed in this performance because I had listened to the demo version soooo many times, and was expecting something similar. However, if you judge this performance simply on its own merits without comparing it to the demo, it is truly outstanding. The arrangement is good at showing off Clay's voice while fitting the song into the time format. But this goes to prove that one of two things was true: 1. The show's producers were idiots. 2. The producers were out to get Clay. Wouldn't the obvious thing have been to lengthen this song to add time to the show instead of adding a verse to "Vincent"? Duh!

Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea Even with the tempo change, this song is so natural for him to sing. He begins and ends each note so effortlessly. He stretches the notes whenever he can and still fit into the fast tempo, as in the first "to".

To the open arms of the sea, yeah Listen to the hard attacks on "open" and "of", very intense sounding. "Sea - yeah": Incredible melisma here, I am in awe that a voice can do this so smoothly.

Lonely rivers sigh, Wait for me, wait for me He puts a tear into "Wait". Another example of how well Clay interprets his songs. He's singing about a lonely river sighing, and he sounds like he's sighing or crying as he quotes the river, "Wait for me, wait for me."

I'll be coming home, wait for me Yikes, voice crack on "be", not the good on-purpose kind, either. Thank you judges for not being musically astute enough to notice! "Wait for me" is just pure and gorgeous.

Oh, my love, my darling Okay, now I'm just having writer's block. I mean, what is there to say about this? Neil Sedaka went to Juilliard and all he could find to say is "Perfection, perfection!" I'll go with that for now.

I've hungered, hungered for your touch He sounds so pleading and desperate.

A long, lonely time "A" is a particularly beautiful note, the vibrato is at a perfect speed and amplitude. I don't really like the melisma on "time", it's almost too much.

I know that time goes by so slowly He's taking lots of liberties with the melody here, probably the reason Simon called it "over the top". That is, assuming that Simon meant anything by his remarks other than an attempt to manipulate the viewers. The effect is marvelous here, in my opinion.

And time, time can do so much The intensity of his voice is absolutely mesmerizing. He puts the tiniest hard edge at the beginning of his words, makes each note pierce through the listener.

Are you still mine? "You" - he decrescendos for this note, keeping that intense vibrato. "Still" is off a bit in his pronunciation of the vowel. "Mine" - that will make your hair stand on end - in a good way, of course!

I need your love I don't get that excited by falsetto notes. However, I concede that this song wouldn't be what it is without the high "neeeeeeed". And Clay hits it perfectly, giving confidence to my theory that his falsetto is much better when he is using it to hit notes that are normally out of his range.

I need your love "I" - he ends in a breathy voice, then "love" goes down into his deep sound. We're getting the full range of Clay on this song.

Godspeed your love to me "To" is one of those notes that is worth listening to by itself - he opens up the vowel some and sings these higher notes with his deep voice. The result is an almost operatic sound on this oh-so-very-pop song - a stunning combination. "Me" - not the 17 seconds we've been accustomed to on his demo, but still outstanding. It would be even more outstanding without the cheesy chord progression in the accompaniment.

Things that happened or probably happened after this song:

One of my friends called me to make sure I was okay and hadn't fainted.

My mother said it was the best thing she had ever seen anywhere on TV.

Justin Guarini found a bathroom and threw up at the thought of having to sing this song the next night.

The producers of Justin's CD started looking for a different single to release first.

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He was in the audience during Season 4. Once or twice. That still doesn't mean he watched it though.

Time flies for us...can you imagine how it must fly for him...as busy as he is!

All I know about ATDW is that I am able to listen some of the most beautiful songs ever written, performed by my favorite singer.

The fact that they were previously hits by someone else meant that I knew and loved those songs before ATDW, and I now know and love them even MORE, because they are sung Clay Aiken. That's all that matters to me.

Awwwww, I love newbies to the fandom. It's like seeing the world through a childs eyes. *sigh*

Thanks claytonic.

Ta-da! And now for an opinion the whole world could live without. MINE

Song....very pretty..very touching. Love it.

(I'd love to go on and one about how Clay sounded, how it must have effected him.....how it effected me! But heck....I'm lucky I figured out how to play the dang thing.

Deep thoughts are for Jack Handy and serious thinkers. I don't remember ever having a deep thought, that's pretty serious.

Oh but hey.....my oldest took her first steps on the green and black kitchen/dining/living room floor...does it count that I can actually remember that event?)

Just a tad to long for me.

(down smutters...I'm talking about the song here!

But then most music I hear is 1 minute thirty seconds long.....thank you American Idol!

The 2nd time I listened to it....I almost nodded off! Shame on me!)

And yet I love the opening bit and I can not W.A.I.T. to hear this in concert.

Now....do I really have to wait until May 6th for the rest?

PS...Lotus...no one can take away any of your joy of being a Clay Aiken fan unless you let them. Hug yourself tight and let them go!

Annabear...you are easily entertained!

Did ya like it? Did ya, huh?

That WAS priceless!

She and her wiggly fingers.

And then the raised eyebrow expressions he made at her. Funny stuff.

Ya know what I have always wondered? During the Top 5 group medley.....60's music....they go out into the audience during Working My Way Back To You...Clay goes down a row a bit to his right and gives someone a hug. Who was that person?! Friend? Family? Fan?

It bugs the living daylights out of me....not knowing. Screw his favorite color....I wanna know who got the hug and why!

I do believe it was. I'll have to check and see if I still have that.

You know what really amazes me...is how much harder those kids....those true newbies to the business... had to work. Compared to say seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6. I mean it's not their (season 3-6) fault they all sounded horrible together...but some years...there were very few group sings. Even now, the choreography is nothing compared to what Season 2 did. And that is the only year I saw genuine concern for each other. ALL of them. Lot's of hand holding, hugs, pats on the back. They really cared about each other. I think the living together in the house helped with that.

They were just really a unique bunch.

Some may not impress me now....but I love looking back at who they were.

Clackunlimited...

Oprah on AI2

Oh duh...not needed! LOL Nevermind....

I always get a giggle out of the guys singing "I am a woman in love..." They sounded so good together.

His is a gorgeously warm tenor voice, with clarity enough that even though I've been singing that song for thirty years - this was the first time I really heard and understood the words. I remember somebody breaking this performance down note by note just to highlight the sheer talent of it.

KAndre...is this the vocal breakdown you were thinking of?

This was the work of Pearrrrrrlywhites at the CB...back in fall 2003.

Someone asked for Grease:

My problems and I've seen the light

Did he miss a cue here or did the mic not come on in time? Apparently there are some words missing at the beginning. Immediately we hear that his voice sounds different from TLS.

We got a lovin' thing, we gotta feed it rightNotice that the vibrato is faster and narrower. He lets his accent loose, and boy does it work. "Lovin' thang", indeed.

There ain't no danger we can go too far He scoops up to the note on "There", something many singers overuse. Clay doesn't do it very often, preferring to hit the note squarely in the center. The fact that he does it here points to his versatility. Listen for the softness of "far". No hard rr's there, I notice.

We start believin' now that we can be who we are

The tight "ee" sound on "believin'" has been slightly jarring in other contexts, but works for this style.

Grease is the word The rrr's are back in town.

It's gotta groove, it's gotta meaning I tried to listen to this section again and accidentally went back to the beginning of the song. So I listened to the whole thing so far and got another flash of realization. Clay is really into the rhythm of this song. Listen to how he punches certain words to accent the beats: "problems", "seen", "lovin", "feed", "danger", "believin'", "groove", "meaning". This is a dance song, and he's giving it the appropriate feel.

Oh, grease is the time, it's the place, it's the motion My absolute favorite line of the song. If ever a whine could be good in singing, it's good here. Listen to the beginnings of the words "time", "place", and "motion". He puts this little edge on the consonants. Is there a technical name for it? I don't know.

Grease is the way we are feeling Even in this different style of singing, you can still hear the power in Clay's voice, especially here, beginning with the word "Grease". He drops the volume again at the end of the line.

This is a life of illusion The notes are a little lower, sort of the transition of the song. I don't want to say he eases up on the intensity of his sound, but there is a sort of backing off in order to showcase what comes later.

wrapped up in trouble my second favorite line. The hard rr's have an emphatic effect. Listen for the second syllable of "trouble", he just falls off the word without ever fully pronouncing the 'L'. A digression here: There's been discussion of Clay's acting abilities. Now, I don't know how his rumored screentest will turn out, but I do know that he has a gift for acting with his voice. He can put himself in the appropriate role of the song he's singing. For example, "I'm Not Supposed to Love You Anymore" is from the perspective of a man who's recently divorced. But when you hear Clay sing "Put your pictures in a shoebox and my gold ring in a drawer", you feel like he has truly experienced it. Now in listening to Grease, he really does *sound* like the hair-slicked-back, drag-racing, 1950s bad boy.

Laced in confusion, What are we doin' here?

Of course the highlight of this line is the falsetto B on "here". I would love to know how much Clay practiced this. The difficulty lies in the fact that B is actually in his belting range (witness TITN and TLS), and he generally has problems with singing falsetto on such notes (ex. SOT and TITN). Not only that, but he had to maintain a creditable vibrato on "here" also, something he didn't have to do on the "need" of UM, his other famous falsetto note.

It's gotta groove, it's gotta meaning, Oh grease is the time it's the place it's the motion, grease is the way we are feeling This sounds just like the last time he sang it, which is noteworthy in itself for consistency.

Grease is the word Listen to how he begins the falsetto in "Grease" with vibrato, then straightens it out halfway through. Interesting. "Word" - he breaks into two syllables, breaking as he changes notes.

Overall thoughts: When watching this on AI, I felt like I was watching a train wreck. Simon expressed exactly what I was feeling in his comments. I didn't like the red leather jacket or the red shoes. I was embarassed by the hip shake, not to mention the camera angles. Maybe I was detecting Clay's discomfort with the whole act, I don't know. I just kept thinking the performance was like one of those "Ed" episodes where Warren Cheswick pulls an outrageous stunt to get Jessica Martel's attention. I was truly afraid Clay was going to get booted for that performance! Of course, then I got on-line and realized that everyone else was thinking something quite different!

Now I agree with Clay, "Grease" was one of his better vocal performances. He had to sing in a completely different style than is usual for him to the point of almost making his voice sound like a different person, and maintain that style through the entire song for consistency. And he had to do all that while pulling off some dance moves that he hadn't had time to become comfortable with. Needless to say, he has since become *very* comfortable with said dance moves.

Anyone wanna sign a petition to get Clay played world wide.....?

PETITION

It's all just because we're human. Everyone thinks their view from the window is the best view. Many just want to be the loudest. Well, the house has a lot of different views and windows. It just always helps to remember that. I know in my own family, there's some dysfunction, Duh. I'd like to paint a better picture of my family, but that wouldn't make it true. I think a balance is healthy. I come here to look out other windows. I like to keep a balance. I'm sure some have had bitter experiences on other boards. I think it helps to always remember that we all are just regular people in society, and these are just fanboards. It isn't healthy to let this stuff make you sick. If it does make you too emotional, than backing away for a week or whatever you need can be helpful. This board life is not for everyone and being a Clay fan has never been totally easy although, in my book, the joy always outweighs the bad. It is all about keeping a healthy perspective.

Sometimes, I feel like an outsider here, because no one really knows me. That's OK, I want to get to know you guys.

Being a Clay fan is the easiest thing I have ever done.

But that is because I am the house. The boards are my windows into all things Clay. I go to different windows, for different views. I try not to whine if I don't like the view out any one window...I just pull the shade and move on to another window. In a few days (or hours) I can lift the shade and find the view has changed, the clouds have lifted perhaps, maybe I'll find sunshine and flowers! Or maybe I'll have to pull the shade back down.

But they are my windows. Only I can control how much I let their view effect me.