Desertrose

It is close to impossible to tell how people's minds work. I know a young male, 26 years old who has a sister who is gay and has a life partner. He adores his sister and is close to her partner. The gay couple is accepted by his family and are included in all family functions. Yet, this young man is homophobic when it comes to gay males. Go figure? He recently found out that his college roommate was gay, and he was horrified. To which I asked, did he ever come on to you? Did you ever even guess he was gay. His answer was no to both. So I asked, then what is your problem? First thing he asks me when he sees me is "do you still believe that Clay is not gay?" Now thanks to this conversation, I have the perfect answer: Why do you need to know? Do you want to sleep with him? This should stop him from asking me the question. Other than this homophobia, he is a wonderful young man.

Hi Muski, Yep, I do think that he knows he is hot. Do not expect him to say he is either. Just wish he would not call himself geeky when he knows full well that he no longer is. There is no need for him to say anything. He just is! And don't we all know it. It is just not a believable comment for him to make when viewers can see that he is good looking. JMO

Hey KF, I thought ehp was at Kandre's? Are you there?

Today is the last day to buy OMWH for $7.99 with free shipping from Best Buy. Even with sales tax it was only $8.65. I have now run out of friends to send it to. I sent it to everyone who has ever had me over for dinner or even just been nice to me. If you all have social debts OMWH is a good way to repay them and does not require cooking. I hope that they love OMWH and recommend it to friends. I hope I still have friends after they get my "gift." Oh well, I have always made friends easily.

As an artist, Clay compares himself to Justin Timberlake, who is considered the coolest of the cool by some (not me) and finds himself not cool. In high school, he never considered himself one of the cool kids and since they had tormented him since grade school, probably doesn't want in the least to be cool. He knows he's going against the stream, but heck, he always has so he's actually comfortable with it, I think. I think we're stuck with it, unless he meets someone who convinces him otherwise. Crossing fingers here!!! I am reading this while listening to "The Real Me." This certainly gives more meaning to the comments being made. Isn't going against the stream considered cool? One thing for sure, he is very comfortable with changing hair color. That shows to me that he is not adverse to change because his hair color choices have been pretty brave and drastic. Love the Scarlett Brad Pitt comment. Like KF, I have also had all the colors available from most of the brands over my lifetime. Sometimes, I suspect that he really does realize that he no longer is nerdy, but has become gorgeous and sexy and is embarrassed to acknowledge that in interviews. The man has enough money to buy a good mirror for God's sake! Maybe we should chip in and buy him one. He has said that he doesn't know why we like his ass, yet he flipped his coat tails during Spamalot to show it to us. The man knows how to work us. He knows his "stuff" is good. I too am crossing my fingers!!!!

The only reason that OMWH is not getting the reviews that it deserves is because the so called "critics" need to wash out the shit that has been building up in their ears from most of the music that is popular today. I bet that most of them have not even listened to OMWH, but review it from whatever biased perception they have of Clay. I do wish that Clay would stop saying he is not sexy or cool because he feeds into that bias. The man is hot. The vocals on OMWH are definitely sexy.

Iseeemee, My cable remotes stopped working and I called cable company and was told that they were updating their system and gave me a code to punch in the remotes and they started working again. They worked me through this on the phone.

Keepingfaith, Have you requested OMWH to be played at 99.1 in Houston?

I never watch RR. I only watched because of Clay. There was a lot of chemistry between RR and OMC. She "gets" him. Interesting about Ruben on RR. Ruben is a sweet guy, but does not have the "magic" personality of Clay who steals the show without even trying. I am now used to the chemistry between Tyra and Clay, but did not expect it with RR. These are women closer to his age as compared with Martha. All I can say is that I loved it! As to the angst on CD sales, could it be frustration about what music, if one can call it that, is popular at this time? It is very hard to understand why a beautiful voice, beautiful lyrics sung with emotion to beautiful music is not "popular," when crap that can not even be considered music is the "music" of choice at the moment? I, for one, am very happy that Clay has chosen to stay true to himself and his style. Sometimes I wonder if the fans who are talking gloom and doom are just upset that they have not been proven right about Clay's talent by way of cd sales, award shows and the like. That makes it more about them than about Clay. It is not my job to angst about Clay and try to direct his career. He pays people to do that. My role in this fandom is to enjoy the man and support him. I have to admit that I would be ecstatic if OMWH was #1, but the fact that it is not, has nothing to do with the quality of the music. It is hard for me when Ashlee Simpson sings on DWTS, and it shows on the emcee, audience, judges faces, that they are thinking WTF when she finishes her songs, and Clay tells us he can't get on that show. That is when I say WTF. Maybe these fans are thinking "if only Clay did this, or if he did that." Just frustration. I really do not know, just saying. Last week on one of my soaps they had Snoop Dog for three days. It was awful. He looked like a pimp, and his singing was just talking to music. Yet, the kids were dancing to it. Three days! Again WTF. I love OMWH, and I still think that it will be discovered if it is given a chance to be heard.

Rachel Ray is also one of my favorite interviews. From the look on her face, I can tell that she has fallen under his spell. I loved it when she said how good he looked on the Cd cover, and he said that there had been a lot of air brushing on that photo. Rachel got this look on her face, and told him "I am looking at you." She made it plain that his photo did not need air brushing because that was the way he looked. Then she went on to interview him in a manner that showed that he was not just a "pretty" boy when she brought up Unicef and and Clay's involvement. I loved that she made it a point to say that they were putting up a link to Unicef donations on her site. I felt that this was because of Clay's influence since they did not have link before. I hope that other viewers took note of that also. I wish that he had gotten to sing on the show. That would have been the icing on the cake for me. Very well done interview, IMO.

Play, I totally understand your frustration about getting people to download the single. Someone on another board posted about downloading the single and got absolutely no response. I heard that there is a thread on CB on this subject. Hopefully, it is getting good response. I truly believe that if radio plays OMWH, it will give legs to the album. It is catchy and stays in your head. At least it does in mine. But what can I say? Maybe my head is empty.

Hi Merrieeee, I wish I wasn't so far from you. I would have loved to do "first listen" with the eHP.

I have heard from Amazon and Walmart that my pre-orders are on the way, but have not heard anything from Itunes. I looked at my account and no longer see my pre-order. Will they send me email to download my order? The only information I found was that "all my orders had been downloaded already." NOT! Have any of you heard from Itunes?

The ads that I have seen for Madonna's new Cd are about her duet and video with JT. I have yet to see advertising on TV of her all alone. Seems to me that she is using JT to sell more Cds. I also saw a TV ad for Josh Groban new cd also dropping on May 6. I believe that Neil Diamond's is also dropping on May 6.

Ok Muski, I have never gotten a seat in the front row no matter what. Are you saying I need to get implants?

I also would Clay to have more younger fans. I do not think that it is the fault of his current fan base that he does not. IMO, the young today for the most part do not have good taste in music. A lot of them prefer hip hop and for males, even very young ones, heavy rock is still the music of choice. I am very happy that Clay chooses to sing beautiful songs instead of going with the current trend. In the recap of the 17 year old female fan who was chosen for Tyra, she mentions that "her friends make fun of her for liking Clay Aiken." I know in my own family that I am the only Clay fan. When I mentioned Clay to my DIL, she said, "yeah my mom likes him." Her mom is exactly my age. The young females in my family like Miley Cyrus. All of the males, regardless of age like the harder rock. I am amazed that even the younger ones are familiar with the Stones, Jefferson Airplane, and such along with the current lot of "noise makers." I agree with Ansamcw that "if Clay wants to change things, change his audience, its really up to him to do it, and it will have to start with his product." I do not think that this will work for me, since I love Clay's style of singing. I did not like it when Mariah Carey started singing hip hop, but she has managed to make a comeback by changing her product. I do wish that the media would stop showcasing Clay's fans because that takes away from Clay. But in a way, it is also amazing that one young man can inspire so much devotion, and maybe that is what the media is seeing. I just wish that Clay would get 100 percent attention without any audience shots. I do think that that discourages younger people because they do not want to like what "grandma" likes, or what middle age women like. JMO

BF did look uncomfortable to me on his QVC appearance. I kind of got the feeling that he did not want to be there. He seemed tired to me, which is understandable because of his busy schedule. I thought he looked gorgeous, but even though I have surround sound on my TV, it did not sound good. Houston ehp, Great recaps. Wish I had been with you. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. Sorry that you all did not get enough to eat and drink though! heh

WOW! I am really enjoying the back yards. You all live in beautiful places. Right now I am having a Cardinal problem in my back yard. A beautiful red bird has been attacking my windows which are tinted because they face full sun. Evidently, he is seeing his reflection in the glass and is territorial, so he is fighting off what he perceives to be another red bird encroaching on his territory. This has been going on for 14 days. First day, I chased him off because he hits really hard and I was afraid that he would hurt himself. He came back with the "wife." She attacked my window a couple of times, probably figured out it was not a real bird and never came back. It takes a female to figure stuff out almost always. I have tried a fake snake, plastic owl, a boom box out side (music did not chase him off, but baseball game did.) Next day I tried talk radio, and had to listen to the most unbelievable political crap that I have ever heard, and it did not deter the stupid bird. Now I know where the term bird brain comes from. I was probably driving my neighbors crazy with the talk radio. The bird pounds my window unbelievably loud, and he goes from 6am till dark. I have talked to wild life department, and they tell me that I have done everything I can and that eventually the bird will leave. I am now hoping that he damages his stupid bird brain and drops dead. I do not know what I did in a past life because I have been attacked by mocking birds, blue birds and a big black bird. WHY? I always wanted the redbirds to stay in my yard since they only migrate here twice a year. Again, I have learned the meaning of "Be careful what you wish for." Like Play, the squirrels are digging up all my bedding plants. I would love to have the beautiful backyards that you all have posted pictures of. Then again, what would attack me then? If any of you have any suggestions for my "bird" problem, I will appreciate them.

my favorite... I would have picked this song for Clay, only because it has such depth. I think he could handle it and I guess I wanted to see him work with it. Hard choice really. One song quite popular at the moment, Halleljah, with many comparisons to be made to other performers, and the other, WAMLAW, with really only one performance to compare to, but that one is iconic. Laughn, Thanks for the video link. I saw KD Lang sing Hallelujah on TV once and was amazed. It is one of my favorite performances. I would love to hear Clay sing it because it has such depth, and he has the voice and the power to sing this type of beautiful song. I do not think that many singers can do this song justice. WAMLAW is one of my all time favorites, for personal reasons. I do like the Percy Sledge version, and I think Clay sings it hawt, but it does not showcase the power of his voice. JMO

You know, at one point I thought maybe this was because he was going to be scheduled at another time as well, one where he would sing, but now I don't know. We've heard he's not singing on Tyra...that's supposed to be a fan segment. Maybe he will sing on Leno, I don't know either way, but do you suppose that the reason for no singing appearances and no summer tour are connected? I mean, he's been singing literally night and day for months, Spamalot at night and recording the CD during the day. Maybe he needs to give that Golden Larynx a wee rest for a few weeks? I'm not sitting here hand wringing or anything. I have a feeling that guys vocal cords are cared for by some mighty fine and expensive doctors. I'm just musing out loud. Maybe he's trying to get his face and the message out about the new CD with as little live singing as possible. Dierks Bentley's new cd also drops on May 6, and it could it be that he booked first to promote his cd so then it makes sense that the would be the musical guest. I wonder if Bentley will also talk about his cd. Then it will be two artists on the same show talking about cd. I want Clay to have his cd promotion without some other artist talking about another cd. It will be interesting to see what actually happens. Bentley is country so his sales should not impact OTWH sales too much.

Thanks Roseviolet, Good information. I guess I have to add QVC to my OTWH shopping list. Do I have to register to buy or just call in?

merrieeee -- preorder from iTunes, wasn't that on the 21st? And of course QVC on the 28th. I've been keeping an eye on the Sony/BMG website too. Coming out of lurkdom to say that I am loving all this PR. Will sales on QVC count toward Billboard ranking? I usually do not angst. but somehow, I am apprehensive about QVC. I know that Elton, Le Ann Rimes, and Neil Diamond have had success there selling CDs, but I remember Elton saying that he had to get used to writing music for other artists since his cds were not selling as well as before. Then he went on QVC, I think. Also, Neil Diamond's last CD was not selling that well either. I just hope that Clay is getting the best of advice on how to market the cd so that he will benefit artistically as well as monetarily.. I feel that Clay is too young, too hot and too talented, and that this is his time to get the recognition as a recording artist that he deserves. Maybe he will not be selling his cd and will be promoting his "gadget" Then I will be going in with KAndre fully prepared to purchase. I might be interested in his gizmo too.

Clay was just on the Insider on TV. It is 3pm in Houston. They asked him about being in DWTS. It looks like part of the online interview, but I am happy that it got on the TV since a lot of NJU do not read online.

Luckiest, While I was typing you said exactly what I was thinking. This song is very easy to relate to. I am sure that it fits a lot of different life experiences.

Couchie, I am glad that I am not the only one that is reminded of ISY by this song. The melody sounds very similar to ISY, also the emotion throughout the song is reminiscent of ISY. I love this song, strings and all. It is definitely Clay. The lyrics should resonate with a lot of people. I hope that it gets radio play.