keldanker

Nice banner!

The cereal schedule is . Didn't know the band was called The Claymates.

I had no idea there was so much upset on the boards during the NAT about YWT. I attended one NAT concert, but was not on the boards at that time. From reading here this evening, I'm glad I wasn't because YWT was the one song that made the biggest impression on me during the concert. I thought he was incredibly brave to sing that during a pop concert and it literally brought me to tears. That moment was the beginning of my love affair with Mr. Aiken. I had absolutely no idea that there were message boards, although we were curious about all the people that seemed to know each other and all the fan regalia. It was another 4 or 5 months before I discovered the wealth of information on the internet. My point (yes there is one) is that although Clay may have lost fans over YWT, he gained at least one.

I was in NYC yesterday, but not to see Spamalot. DD#1 and I took DD#2 to see the matinee of A Chorus Line for her 16th birthday. She's been wanting to see it for a couple of years. We took a bus up in the morning, walked up to Central Park and over to Columbus Circle, then down Broadway to have lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner. That was lots of fun. Took in the sights in Times Square, grabbed some cheesecake to share from Junior's Bakery and ate it outside while we people watched.

A Chorus Line was playing at the Schoenfeld on 45th St. right down from Juniors and around the corner from Shubert Alley, so we took a little stroll down the alley by the Shubert...just to breathe the air. Hee!

Had to catch the bus home at 6 p.m. and it was really hard to be heading out of the city when I knew Clay would be performing in a couple of hours. But, I did finally get to see a couple of buses with the Spamalot ad on them. The other 2 days I was there, I never saw them.

Anyway, we had a great time, A Chorus Line was good (but it wasn't Spamalot), enjoyed spending time with both DDs which does not happen nearly often enough. And dd#2 and I are hoping to go back to see Spamalot on April 13 if I can find us some tickets.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - James Earl Jones, Philicia Rashad, Terrence Howard.

Or November with Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf.

Or the one David Morse is in. I love him. The Seafarer.

I'm lookin' at those.

Here are all the shows:

http://www.broadway.com/gen/concierge.aspx

We saw David Morse signing autographs at the stage door of his theater after yesterday's matinee. Very small crowd out there. Could see him quite clearly. OTOH, I could barely see Clay while standing in the crowd. My recap is above (Cravingclay from CV).

I've been sick with some kind of flu-like crud and have been catching up here this afternoon. The pictures of the butt grab with the circle and the titles just CMSU. I'm so glad that CG finally saw it! Hah!!

Tiptoeing in to say (and I probably shouldn't) that having been around a few boards yesterday, I did not really see any hubbub over Ruben singing the going home song for AI. Most posters seemed happy that he had the opportunity, but some were sad that he was singing CMH. Reasons were that there are such fond memories of Clay singing that song and they felt Ruben should have been given an original song instead of a cover.

Anyway, all I saw was discussion.

Tiptoeing back out.

I am sorry but this is going to be a sullen post. Life sure can take some horrible turns sometimes. My first grandson was born last night 9 weeks early. Had a really ruff go of it and early afternoon passed away. Sometimes it is so hard to let the words flow to anyone what this feels like. My son and wife are beside themselves. Yesterday afternoon the nursery was just finished and she was to have her first shower tonight. Now in less than twenty four hours the happiness is gone. The doctors talked to them and reassured them it was nothing she did, that the lungs were the problem, and that even if the baby was full term the outcome would of been the same. The also reassured her that any other children probably would not have the same condition, that it was not genetic. We told them they needed to go home today and be together and talk, sleep because they have not for almost two days, and know we love them dearly.

Clay related: Love the AP review!!

I am so sorry for your tragic loss.

Thanks for the review links!

:clap:

Yay!

Love it!

Here's what I've been working on!

They're for our local gathering tomorrow.

But - I'm having trouble anticipating letting them go!!!

How bad is that?!

Oh, Cotton, how cute!!! I want one. I collect teddy bears.

Happy Birthday, Luckiest1!!

:bday2:

I did enjoy the show(s). Clay is wonderful, as is the rest of the cast. Front row was amazing. Enjoyed a different view from standing room at the evening show. Was disappointed not to see Hannah as the Lady of the Lake. Hopefully she will be back when I go in March. And I love my autographed poster and playbill.

But I think I'm going to be lurking for a bit. Not feeling so great right now about posting.

I was there Saturday right behind them at the stage door in the afternoon. I was annoyed as were many others. You don't get the full effect from that youtube video. The video cut off before he looked back and rolled his eyes at them. It does not show the 10 minutes of screaming at everyone (cast, crew, musicians) who exited the stage door before Clay appeared. Just for the record, I never said a word to them. They were not going to stop and there was nothing to be done about it. They are going to do what they are going to do. What makes me sadder than anything else is that, apparently, those of us who were there and bothered by it are not allowed an opinion without being labeled as "fan police." Whatever. I got my autograph. Next time I'll step back and just watch.

Is it good or bad that I mostly understood that translation?

zena, your post made a lot of sense to me. I think Clay is absolutely stretching himself both personally and professionally with the role in Spamalot. He left his comfort zone behind and expanded his already awesome talent to a new level. Even with all he has done so far, I believe he has only just scratched the surface of what is possible.

I realize this probably should be posted in the Spamalot ticket selling thread but there seems to be no action there at all, so...

I have a ticket for sale for this Sat. Feb. 9 2:00 p.m. matinee. Mezzanine Row A Seat 112. My cost is $126 but will sell for $100. Need to meet you there since the ticket is being held at the box office.

PM me.

I thought I was going to have to wait until March 22 to go to Spamalot, but I'm now going next Saturday. Bought a ticket for the first row of the mezzanine!!

Great pictures!

Just bought a ticket for Feb 9 matinee.

This insider sh-stuff makes my head hurt. IMO, the last round of "insider information" turned into a cautionary tale of what could happen if too many people started to believe it.

It probably wouldn't hurt to elaborate a bit about why so many of us are extremely skeptical about "insider information" for the benefit of the newer FCA members who weren't around for the fun in 2006. You guys feel free to correct my account, or add details as appropriate.

During 2006, the Clay Nation was anticipating the release of Clay's follow-up to Measure of a Man. There wasn't a ton of official information about the CD - a few vaguely worded blogs from Clay, and there was a blurb in Entertainment Weekly that implied the CD would be primarily covers that I think got published in the spring of that year. There was much angst, speculation, and in general, just DRAMA on the fan boards over the whole thing. At some point, a poster on the Official Fan Club message board began posting information about the upcoming CD that she claimed was coming from a contact she had that worked for the Canadian branch of RCA. Long story short, whatever her motivation was, her information turned out to be completely and totally fake. So when we get a story in 2008 about the new CD that starts the same way that the bogus information in 2006 did, it sets up huge red flags for many of us.

Personally, I will only trust CD news that comes from Clay himself or from another official source. I have no doubt that there are fans who have genuine contacts in the music business that might have legitimate information about Clay's new CD, but because of the bad experience with what was supposed to be "insider information" in 2006, I would have a very hard time believing much of it unless it has reliable support behind it. As always, other posters may disagree and feel differently about the situation.

Now enough of the boring history lesson. This CUTE guy and his talented TONGUE was just on my TV.

Tongue?? Look at those cheekbones!!!!!!!!

That was a good summary of the insider info brouhaha of 2006. I'm not believing anything until it comes from Clay or a press release from the label. Not going down that crazy road again in 2008. Nope.

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

I probably should have kept my mouth shut and not made any mention of it on this board at all, as it wasn't already a topic of conversation.

I don't see anything at all wrong with politely expressing your opinion-however, I saw some reactions that went WAY OTT, if you know what I mean. I think her reaction was fairly benign, and she didn't deserve being kicked around by some who didn't agree.

keldanker-{{{hugs}}} (Where's that hug emoticon when you need it???)

don;t worry about it ...it is an interesting issue and I was just about to mention it here when you started the discussion.

I never saw your post keldanker and I don't think sharing of opinions is a problem. But I also saw a lot of reactions where people seem to want to shame the fans that were having very natural reactions. It will be a shame if people's reaction will taint this special memory for this fan.

And I agree with both of you. She certainly did not deserve to be kicked around. Opinions can be shared respectfully. I saw quite a few of those, so just wanted to remind that not everyone was attacking her. Nothing wrong with bringing the discussion here at all. In fact I came over here to see what FCA was saying about it because I find the discussion here to be intelligent and interesting. Respectful discussion about it on the boards could serve to alert future peasant-fans to think more about what they do when they get up there. Or not...... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

In my opinion, the first report of the "Hi, Clay" seemed as if the audience had heard it. Later it was stated by several attending that the personal greeting was not heard in the audience, so must have been said very quietly.

I do think it is inappropriate to address him as "Clay" during the performance and I said so politely on my home board. That does not, however, mean that I think this lady is a "bad fan." In fact, I know the lady personally. I'm sure she was just excited and didn't even think about it.

And just as her actions do not make her a bad fan, my opinion does not make me a shrew.

I wish that her friend (also a friend of mine) who brought the report to the boards, had thought to leave out that little detail. No one would have known. But, as she explained later, she was excited and just typed what had been told to her on the phone.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!!

What a weekend (and I wasn't even there)!! I cannot wait to see Spamalot in March, and I know I'm going to want to see it more than once. Just trying to figure out how to make that happen. Thanks to all who are sharing their recaps, pictures, and stagedoor videos.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's all.......

Darn, I was looking at the pictures and missed getting on the cellcert for the singing. Hopefully, there will be at least audio clack.

I don't think she is going to Spamalot because she feels it interferes with his recording time.

Please, please, please don't let that be just a dream I had.

You are correct. Plus she hates Monty Python. Glass always half (or more) empty, if you know what I mean.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FCA!!!

Hope everyone has a happy, healthy, prosperous and Clay-filled 2008.

I'm concerned that my first opportunity to go to NY for Spamalot will be in March during Spring Break. Anyone going in March? Or should I wait until April for the second wave of eHP? Decisions, decisions.

Me! Meeeeeeee!! Goldarngirl and I are headed there Easter weekend. It's my only opportunity, as I seem to have spent my (limited) vacation time chasing some young man all over the country. Our vacation year goes June - June.

No blackeyed peas up here except on the radio, the radio...I plan on spending most of my day working on the various art projects spread all over the table in my studio room.

I will be there March 22 (with hubby and dd), which is the day before Easter.