PermaSwooned

I've been catching up a bit and saw that there were questions about a Bay Area CD release party. Evidently they weren't getting tons of responses for something in San Francisco proper, but there is a party planned. There's a late dinner/dessert at the Friday's in Union Landing, and then going to the Walmart in Union City at midnight for the CDs. It was very interesting to me that the organizer said she had given an updated count of CDs needed to the manager she's working with at Walmart to be sure they'd have enough, and her current count was 60. The store manager told her "no problem", since she was ordering 250!!! Wow!!! That's optimistic stocking, for sure. Hope she knows something!! Anyhoo: here's the link at the CD party planning board. http://www.clayaikencdparties.com/forums/i...=1075&st=20 In SoCal, we've had parties in Hollywood for everything except All Is Well, which nobody could find anyway. All my local friends are going, but I will be in NY post-Spamalot. It will be fun to get a different perspective and a see a few new faces. A few thoughts about Clive Davis. I see his "reassignment" as inevitable. It doesn't really have as much to do with his age, I don't think. He had almost always been (except for one brief period), one of the most powerful men in the music business. He had a tremendous amount of clout. He was able to revive some careers (Santana, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow) by retooling their "product" and lauch some true mega-stars like Alicia Keyes. BUT, I don't think he was able to be adaptable to the changes in the music industry; I think he lost the ability to see when things weren't working any more (the decline of the American Songbook series); I think he got way too invested in wanting artists to kiss his ring, as it were and treated them with disdain or indifference if they didn't; I think he became less hands-on with projects and let them spin out of control; and I think that he lost the "touch" in working with artists and deciding who to promote and how to promote them. When the labels started bleeding money, I can't imagine that it went over well that he would let Clay pick his own (relatively green) exec. producer, sponsor a big Nashville search for songs (on the theme of "Where I Belong"), record 4 albums worth of material, before finally paying attention and then scrapping the whole thing and starting over. I have difficulty thinking that Sony/BMG is happy that they scrapped a good portion of Jennifer Hudson's album and have started over with that one. He's putting lot's of time, money and effort into resuscitating Whitney Houston, and even David Foster said at one point he didn't think that album would EVER reach completion. If he didn't think Kelly Clarkson could come up with viable songs, he did not really exert control over her until there was a whole album he didn't really like. He let the whole thing turn into a huge media deal and then just let the album sputter out. She was HUGE when that album hit, and he COULD have made it bigger than it turned out to be if he hadn't played it down in MANY forums before it came out. After "mandating" a love songs cover album for Clay, he could have set it up to be a big success, even if it was along the RodS/BarryM mold. A lot of hyperbole about "classic love songs", "timeless", "sung by the voice of his generation" "bringing these heartfelt songs to a new generation"....whatever, instead of letting the label's own PR consistently yammer on about "covers". Meanwhile, the PR for Mario Vasquez set him up to be the new star of the century. That was certainly a disastrous call on his part. I think it must have seemed like King Midas had finally lost his "golden" touch. JMHO. I see I need to go download the yummy Amazon video in a larger format. I need to do that before I head to the office. Latah, all.

liney23 I sent you a PM. Dang. It's almost 5:00 in NY. Playbiller, if you see this, I'd love an autographed Playbill. My PayPal account is itching to send you money. Gotta go find food. I'm getting the shakes!

...Perma waves feebly from beneath the pile of rubble...er..work..pinning her to her desk... Many thanks to liney23 who called me yesterday to make sure I was still alive and hadn't been abducted by aliens. She also took mercy on me and emailed me an MP3 of OMWH (which I love and will elaborate on why if I survive the next day or so) since I can't stream AOL at work. I love all the Clay news and sightings and upcoming events that just keep showing up. LOVE!! I have a picture next to my desk that I took at the San Diego IT in the very shirt & tie he was wearing at Planet Hollywood today. He just CMSU!! For ATDW I think they spent a lot of the budgeted album dollars on some expensive wardrobe and a very pricey stylist. I'm thinking that just maybe he got more of a say in how dollars were to be spent and made some other choices...musicians in the studio to record WITH...a great producer....a publicist. Works for me!! There were some nice photos today, although I still think Clay hates and is uncomfortable in the "Clay, look over here!!!" type photo ops. JMU. The fan photos are once again better to my eye, because they probably got a candid when he wasn't posing. :F_05BL17blowkiss: the lipbite. Love. OK...back to reducing a stem cell research protocol to terms that laymen can understand. Oy.

LdyJ I'm really excited for you as you head off to NY. You're going to get to see a smiling Clay you've never seen before!! Can't wait for the reports from Gibby & Muski as well. RL has been kicking my rear end a bit, and I can't think of anything interesting to say, but I'm enjoying reading. I have a technical question. When I send a PM to someone, it never shows up in my "Sent" box. I don't know if it went through or not. If the person doesn't respond to me, I'm not sure if it means they never got the message or they just don't want to talk to me. I don't want to pester anyone by sending a message more than once. What am I doing wrong??? TIA

Remember this guy??? Well, I think a lot of people do. The slightly goofy looking kid from American Idol. This time, I think a lot of people will see what most of us have been seeing for a long time: a truly gorgeous MAN My daughter has not been much of a fan of the blond hair, but I think this picture may just do the trick!! I do wonder who the photographer is. I would love to see a lot of pictures from this photo shoot. If I enlarge the picture many, many times (and who wouldn't??), I'm NOT seeing a lot of obvious photoshopping. Some of the photos from the ATDW shoot gave him a completely different jawline. I think that's very cool. I'm kind of wondering if it might be the one who shot the AP article photos. He/she seemed to see Clay as a handsome man, KWIM?? I think it makes a big difference if a photographer can go in without any preconceived ideas. When you look through the camera lens and actually see those gorgeous features....eyes, eyelashes, lips, nose....and that incredible bone structure....well, you are going to get some stunning photos. Trust me, I know.

O.M.G.

I was whizzing through AI via Tivo last night, so I got to cut out all gratuitous AI stuff and the stupid Q&A, but stopped for Kellie. It cracked me up when Ryan said that Kellie had "grown" in SO many ways in his introduction. She said in her bio that she hadn't changed, that she was still Kellie Pickler, and I thought....yeah, but you're not the SAME Kellie Pickler!! She did look different...I thought maybe she had her teeth worked on? Does she have a testimonial on Clay's dentist's site? She really did not.sound.good, so I fast forwarded through most of her song. After the train wreck that was AI6 the producers said that were going to be paying less attention to big stars that had NOTHING to do with the contestants and the show. Maybe that's why they are featuring former contestants that have had some success this year. I'm REALLY hoping that a Clay appearance is part of the CD promotion plan. It isn't just that a lot of people watch...it's that a lot of people potentially predisposed to be interested in Clay and his music watch.

I made the connection between Prince Herbert--bow--arrow--Concorde when I saw the show, but someone more observant than I went much, much further. Concorde's arrow has pink fluffy flight "feathers" on the end of it when it suddenly appears in the middle of his chest. An eagle-eyed poster noted that Herbert is wearing pink ballet slippers. One has a little clump of pink fluffy feathers on it, and on the other slipper--the pink fluff is missing. I don't remember who noted that, but we could use those observational skills here at my research institute!! I agree that part of the disrespect for AI grads lies squarely on the producer's choice to feature so many bad auditions. I HATES them, and never watch those shows. Supposedly, American Idol was supposed to be a new legitimate way to find a few new genuinely good singers and give them a shot at a career. However, it has become abundantly clear that it is first, last and always a TV show. Even Clay has said that, I think, although please don't ask me for the quote. I'm cheating on my boss here at work since one of my patients cancelled. The contestants' contracts even stated that the show could present them any way they chose, including bending the truth. I think that Kelly's success surprised them, so they do put some effort into the winners or their chosen ones, but first and foremost it's all about TV ratings and advertising dollars. I think that attitude shows, and it has hurt the "legitimacy" of the AI grads. Geez, people want me to do stuff here. How rude!!

Is the day finally over??? Oh wait, it's my son's birthday. I guess I'm not quite done yet. I didn't want to let the day go by without echoing liney23. We had the BESTEST time last night. We had some great seafood, but I'm sure our waitress was ready to kill us for not turning over the table. We lingered over our Pelligrino's for HOURS, as she pointed out. We performed the ritual exchanging of clack. We traded stories about what we loved about Clay, Clay's voice, Clay's...um...person, Clay's looks, Clay's wit, Clay's mind, Clay's heart and Clay's performances. Oh yeah, we also shared pics of our families and a few small factoids about ourselves. It was awesome. We plan on doing it again verra, verra soon. We're probably banned from King's Fish House, but fortunately there are lots of of great restaurants in Long Beach. Liney23, I feel so badly that you ended up taking the scenic route home. I hope that isn't the direction that requires a toll on the bridge. Hint: 3rd Street leads you directly onto the freeway. Just sayin'. Maybe we should coordinate parking lots next time so we don't have to wander the streets alone. In other news: YAY for the (maybe) album title. I'm really excited about a CD reflecting Clay's perception of his journey. YAY for all the cute pics and stories about the 3D anniversary last night YAY for all the random mentions of Clay. Pffffft for Kim Locke (she always struck me as the TRUE KimberMe). All the Bible-reading in the mansion must have been prompted by her fears that her sex tape would surface. **snerk** liney23, this one's for you: OK...time to go home and take the birthday boy to dinner.

Well, I was going to try to post something reasonably coherent, but I am experiencing vapors from close-up pics of chest hair. Can't stay, since I need to find my smelling salts!! I just got home from a ClayPal weekend. I have a group of friends that gathers every few months and spends about 24 hours together. We've had a few substitutions as time has gone on, but it's been pretty stable for over 4 years now. We live so far apart, we need to stay overnight to be able to get fully sated on clack watching, laughing and discussing all things Clay. Guess what? It still hasn't gotten old. We watched clack old and new. It had been too long since I'd watched a full JBT show. Now that was fun!! A lot of us had been to Spamalot already, and several others had plans. However, there were 3 that were not planning to go to New York. Hey!! It's a long way from SoCal. By the time we left today, there was only 1 holdout, and some of the others had added a show or two. It's a good thing Clay's run in Spam isn't longer, or all of us would be poorhouse-bound. wandacleo I loved your pictures!! The ticket guy is just too cute, especially wearing his Sir Robin button, and the crowd scene looks like total pandemonium. Love that. OK. Family calls. Carry on.

:PickMe-1: Oooo! Oooo! I was there too!! There is just something about the Arco Arena. The wooden bleachers make such a roaring sound when everyone stomps their feet. Clay seems to just love it, even if he did say that he was afraid the ceiling of his dressing room was going to come down on his head. The point of no return for me was also at the Arco Arena at the AI tour. Ruben and Clay were doing their chat before launching into "The Girl Is Mine", and panties and stuffed animals and lacy bustiers with garters and whatnot were pelting the stage. Clay and Ruben were doing there "family friendly" patter. Someone threw a rubber sandal up on the stage and Ruben commented that now the audience were throwing shoes at the two of them. Clay walked over and picked up the sandal and held it out to the audience saying "Now THIS is an example of a family-friendly thong!!" OMG!!! That was it for me!!! He was so QUICK, and CUUUUUUTE!!!! No, there's no clack of that moment either. Please forgive me, I only take still photos. He was flirting like crazy with every PYT in sight that night: He also did the most intense ISY EVAH!!!! The tragedy is that Spotlightlover was at that concert, but she shot stills rather than video in those days. What a loss. On a happier note, I have made a con.nec.tion here!! liney23 and I spent over an hour talking about all things Clay and now we're going out to dinner. :nana: Shhhhh. Don't tell my husband!! He'll still be at work, and I wouldn't want him to get jealous!!

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Morning, all (at least it's still morning here) Yay!!! calclay is here!!! Her birthday was actually Friday, and I called her to wish her many happy returns, and I told her that I had migrated over here and was having fun. She has managed to find us, and I'm so glad!! As evidence that there are amazing connections in the Clay world, she PM'd me a few years ago when she found out through another board friend that I lived in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. After about 10 PMs back and forth narrowing things down, we discovered she had been one of my son's HS teachers. She was a much lower-key fan before she met me and I started dragging her around the country!! Heh. As a matter of fact, all these snow pictures remind me of when calclay and I got stranded in the Providence blizzard of the JNT05. OMG what a debacle. I had a really close seat for that show and Clay could see me.....in my grubbiest clothes with no makeup and snow-hat hair. We couldn't get back to the hotel to change, but nothing was going to make us miss that concert!!!! Be careful all you snowbound folks!! OK, I have hung back and given others the opportunity to claim this one, but you snooze you lose: 3a: The impromptu "Listen" duet by Clay and Quiana in Sterling Heights I wasn't there, but I love this clack beyond almost anything. I love the way that Clay was able to just improvise his banter to give Angela a little time in case she could make it back, and to think how to approach the song. I especially love how it shows his musicality in the way he was able to harmonize so beautifully on this. Many have asked why he seems to take the harmony so often when he does a duet, and I think the answer is "because he can". That is a real art, and in this song he doesnt just sing a "third" below the melody line, he does really interesting and beautiful harmonies. LOVE him!!! This is the most complete single version, by DoggoneGirl, which includes the beginning banter about how Angela "Jae Deal'd" them by walking off stage during a performance and all the church references, all the way through the song to the end when Angela comes back on stage and hugs Clay. You can see her mouth "WOW" when she hugs him. I love where Quiana tells her "I think I pulled a muscle singing that". The very first few moments are blurry, but then it becomes crystal clear for the rest of the video, and the sound is excellent. http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Concer...eGirl_large.wmv I couldn't find that exact clip on youtube, but they did have a blend of several different videos that includes almost the whole thing that's verra verra nice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md73eEpR_WA I'll tell you right now that I can't count any better than King Arthur, so I have at least one more plus an honorable mention. If no one else claims them, I'll be back!!!

Oh, GOOD!! (tm soon-to-be Sir Robin) People are discovering new clack. I'm so glad to have been able to pass on vzubie's pure porn version of LAA in Syracuse. Damn he was gorgeous and sexy in that clip. cindilu2, I can't believe you survived seeing it in person!! couchie, I'm so glad you picked the San Diego JNT04 Good News. That whole evening was a love-fest, but Clay really seemed to be trying to communicate to the fans with Good News. Somehow trying to let us know that we would all see each other soon, and that all would be well. It was magical. You are right, Scarlett was 2 rows ahead of you. I know that since I was directly in front of you, right behind her. No, no, that's OK....I'm not hurt that you don't remember...sniff OK, time for a 2-parter, so this is..... 2a & b: JNT05 Emmanuel from Council Bluffs and Kansas City As I'm sure most of you will recall, the Council Bluffs show was the one where Jacob did not return after intermission. No one knew why. Most assumed he was sick and couldn't come out. Clay had done M&G's during the intermission, so there couldn't really have been any time to re-engineer or rehearse anything. The cellcert was buzzing!!! No one knew what would happen with Jacob's solo. Would he suddenly reappear? Would they skip the song altogether? So when the intro started and then Clay started singing there were gasps and mumbles galore. The Council Bluffs version was a one-of-a-kind performance. This one was a bit more choppy, was more raw and powerful, had a bit more melisma, than any other version since. Many fans had wanted to hear CLAY sing that song, but never imagined we'd get our wish....especially in such strange circumstances. There is one complete video of that performance that is glitch-free....the one by Scarlett in all the vaults. However, my favorite is the one by LauraQ. It has two tiny glitches at the beginning, and she starts shaking near the end, but it's so RAW!!! You can hear her whisper "OMG" at the beginning when she realizes Clay will sing it, and there is babbling and loud "OMG"s after he finishes. He is singing so forcefully that you can hear him taking his breaths, which we almost never hear from Clay. It's imperfect, but I have a very tender spot in my heart for this video: http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Concer...auraQ_large.wmv One night later in Kansas City, Clay thanked everyone on the stage and in the crew for all their extra work that day. Just think!!! They had to travel and then they had to reblock every scene and bit of staging that included the back-ups. They had to rework the lighting. They had to tweak all the harmonies. What a lot of work to do on such short notice. By that evening, you will see the singers are in different positions. Clay gives a much smoother, more flowing delivery. A really, really beautiful rendition. This video is completely different, and it is gorgeous. It is featuring a close-up on Clay's face and his incredibly beautiful expressive hands. Just exquisite, and the sound is really lovely. http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Concer...ranny_large.wmv I always watch the two together, so I'm counting it as one choice. So there.

I am just LOVING this. It's so interesting to see what people are picking, and delightful to relive special Clay moments from several different eras. couchie, thanks for commenting on the WB MOAM montage. I love that clip. hosaa hasn't done that many montages, but I think her signature line for them says it all...."Montage by hosaa.....for love alone". You can really see the care that went into blending those photos, Clay's audio from LTS and the video itself. When I watched it for the first time, I realized I had never seen the full acoustic set from that particular WB show, and besides gorgeous singing and lovely jumbotron shots, it was amazing to see Clay keep subtly shaking his head in wonder at the audience response, and to see Angela and Quiana keep wiping their eyes through all 4 songs. So, so special. Hee. I feel like I helped Clay with his sales of his audio reading of LTS!! claytonic, you will really enjoy it. I would listen to it in my car, and many times I would get to my destination and just sit there in the car listening until he got to the end of the story. It felt like he was in the car with me, telling me stories of his life. So cool. My DH and my DD got so intrigued hearing the stories that they each bought their own copies!! I woke up at about 6:00 this morning thinking "Charlotte IT Kyrie!!!!!!!", but the time I made it here someone else had already thought of that. I wasn't there, but the reports were so much fun. Remember, we had no idea what he might do in a tour of his own at that point, and to have him do something so amazing and dramatic as to come down through the whole arena to the stage was such a surprise. What a showman!! I think we all knew at that point that we were going to be in for many amazing years with Clay. Ah, Tyra. One of the big trade-offs for dealing with SoCal traffic and the fact that Clay doesn't tour out here that frequently is that we have chances to go to his TV tapings. Tyra's show seemed like such an odd match, but OMG, I wouldn't give up that day for anything!!! We had been out there all ding danged day because they needed extra time for the sound check. Most performers didn't bring actual musicians with them, because they didn't sing live. Once we were inside, we were again there for hours. They taped many, many, many extra segments because the chemistry was so amazing!! More and more and more "suits" came out to watch. Studio personnel kept remarking that this was the best show and interview she had ever done. He was having so much FUN and just got more and more relaxed. She really "got" him. I can't imagine what it cost in overtime to keep the entire crew there so long. You could hear a massive "Oh noooooooooooooooooooooo" from every SoCal Clay fan when we heard she was moving her show to NY. Bring on the clips!!! OK. I'm finally ready to pick my first favorite. Hedging my bets for later just in case: 1(a): vzubie's video of Lover All Alone from Syracuse. OH MY GAH!!! Y'all may have noticed I'm a big fan of close-up Clay, so this video is pretty much perfection for me. It is worth downloading because it is very steady and very high quality. The background is black and he's wearing a black shirt, so it's really focused on his face and THROAT!! You can see the sweat beaded on his forehead and trickling from his sideburn down into the loverly stubble on his face as well as one little droplet down the back of his neck. You can count his freckles, eyelashes and every single stubble. muski WATCH THIS ALONE!!! There WILL be moaning when you watch his adam's apple moving and the vibrating going on in his throat. Whew. Oh yeah, he sounds pretty good here too. This is a killer song to sing so softly, but he does a very nice job, I think. You might want to have a cigarette handy for when it's over, even if you don't smoke. I think it's probably available in every vault. The Clack Unlimited link is here: http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Concer...zubie_large.wmv For those who need instant gratification, the lower quality youtube link is here: Enjoy!! Back with more later.

skybar22, I don't have a link to the Merrilville "All Is Well" video handy right now (although now I see that ldyj found it),) but I do have "the moment". That was one of the most amazing bonding experiences I've ever experienced. I had been in Waukegan the night before when he missed that last note. It was agonizing, especially after the year he'd had. The next night in Merrilville, the whole audience leaned forward, collectively holding our breath and WILLING him to get it, and he.just.NAILED.it. We all just leaped to our feet cheering like crazy. Taking pictures of Clay is such a pleasure, but you get a lot of shots that aren't worth a darn. And then sometimes, you just get lucky. One of my favorites EVAH!! irishbookgal titled that one "Joyful and Triumphant" when she saw it. Yeah. That.

Oh yay!! I knew if I waited someone else would pick this one. The other hosaa montage that I adore was her version of this tender moment. Again, she used pictures of Clay...some with his grandfather...over him reading the part of "Learning to Sing" talking about his Grandpa's Alzheimers, and how he would listen to Clay's CDs instead of the Grand Old Opry. Then it has a montage of all the best clips of that song. Just really, really powerful. Love it. It is not on youtube OR in Clack Unlimited, so here's a SendSpace for THAT one. Take a look. http://www.sendspace.com/file/p91txo Oh, BTW, for anyone who hasn't watched the WB MOAM SendSpace yet, she has the date of that concert in her montage. March 7, 2004. Gave me goosebumps when I saw that.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! My first chance to do "show and tell" at the FCA. I watched all the clips so far and loved them all. I have too many favorites so I'm going to hold back a bit and see what others come up with, so I can maybe suggest some that haven't been suggested by others. In the meantime, I'm going to comment on some of the ones that have been submitted already. I think the fans singing MOAM to Clay in WB and his reaction is one of the standout landmark moments of the whole Clay fan experience. He was so obviously touched, and later when he recalled that moment in Learning To Sing, it was wonderful to hear him describe how overwhelming it had been for him. I wasn't there, but I loved experiencing it through recaps and clack. Wow. I'm not going to count this as one of my favorites ('cause I'm new and should get special dispensation), but if you haven't seen it, this is a wonderful montage of that moment by hosaa called "Sing It". The first part is a photo montage over Clay's audio description of that moment from the CD version of "Learning To Sing", and then the entire acoustic set from Wilkes-Barre including him talking to the crowd before they start the set. It's incredible to hear that huge crowd screaming and then all singing together. Really, really worth downloading. It's not on youtube, unfortunately, so I made a SendSpace for it. Check it out. http://www.sendspace.com/file/7jxx3m Oooooh the Hula Hoop file is so CUUUUUUUUUUUTE!! That was from the Nickelodeon Let's Play thingy. I watched an UNBELIEVABLE number of hours of SpongeBob Squarepants and other weird cartoons to see Clay. That was filmed in L.A., so of course all the fans here wanted to go. However, you could only get tickets if you had an actual CHILD to bring. SO unfair. One of our local Clay friends did indeed have a child that fit the right age demographic and got 4 tickets. Everyone else had kids who were too old. Finally, another local fan was able to steal....er....borrow a child from a neighbor and get in on zakaroni's 4 tickets. It's lucky she remembered to bring him home!! Hillary Duff was there and lip synched in front of a band that did not bother to turn on the amps of their instruments, but hey, they looked good. Clay was out there all by himself, singing live, to back-up tracks. Should we blame that on Clive??? Just checking. Clay signed autographs afterwards. My friend had a clingle for him to sign. She handed it to him still in the plastic wrap with all the super-sticky security tape. He handed it back to her and told her "you have to unwrap it, honey". Sa-woooooon!!! Hey, what did we know in those early days???? I want to comment on the AI3 Solitaire clack. I WAS there for that one. A dear friend that I didn't know too well at the time contacted me out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to go to AI to see him that night on her extra ticket. She had requested tickets during AI2 and never got them, but then she got an email offering tickets for the final 12 results show, and by then we knew Clay would be there. O.M.G, did I want to go??? Was she serious???? I was there by 6:30 a.m. to get in line. And I was there about 15 hours all-together. I still have my ticket. I remember sitting in the audience between lala52 and poshpenny. We were SO nervous for him. Then he came out in that gorgeous black suit looking absolutely every inch the STAH!! We all turned blue because we couldn't even breathe while he was singing. The studio is "miked" for the TV audience, not the studio audience, so everyone...including the 12 finalists singing their group song...sounded kinda muffled. But when Clay started singing...O.M.G....his voice just FILLED that studio. Everyone there was just blown away. poshpenny was holding on to my arm so hard I had bruises for a week, but I didn't feel it at the time. I'll never forget it. That's a wonderful piece of clack. Geez I wish I was more succinct! I'm still at the office!! liney23 I'll answer your PM as soon as I get home!!!!

claytonic, I want to thank you for that SantaClay video. Somehow I had missed seeing that one before, and it CMSU. I couldn't believe how many "moves" were there that I recognize from more recent times. Especially the one where he sort of rears back, puts his arms out, extends his fingers and wiggles them at one of the singers. He does that to Quiana and Angela all.the.time!!! So funny to see him doing it there way back then!! Karen eh, thanks so much for the link to your Sally Rand McNalley blog. I'm really going to enjoy following your adventures as a stranger in a strange land. Keep them coming!! Ah, restaurants near Times Square. The term that does not compute for me is "cheap". We ate twice at TGIF Friday's while we were there. I wouldn't recommend it. The servers were nice, but it was super slow, the food was AWFUL and cost approximately twice what the same items cost at the Friday's near me here at home. Believe it or not, they have some good stuff at the Marriott Marquis in the restaurant on their lobby floor (8th) that is not outgrageous for the area. They have a brunch buffet that has a great feature. You can get the whole thing, which includes eggs, omelets, waffles, etc., and carved turkey & prime rib, or you can just get the soups (the best clam chowder and the best mushroom soup I have EVER had) and the salads & cold items (build a sandwich, marinated peel-em shrimp, zillions of salads) for about half the price. A hamburger is about $10, but nicegurrrrl said it was the best she'd ever eaten. Back in my travelin' days, we used to lay over at the Milford Plaza, so ate at a few places in the area. We all used to love Joe Allen http://www.joeallenrestaurant.com/NY_home.html which is a theater area tradition. This is where Clay and Ruben sang Happy Birthday to someone after they saw Frenchie in "Rent". A lot of people have gone to Carmine's on 44th and said it was great, although again, it isn't cheap. However, the portions are supposed to be huge, so some sharing might help. We really enjoyed 44 Southwest, which is also Italian, and a little less expensive. It's very NY, with the tables right up against each other, although it's a nice atmosphere. A reservation is good hear. Food was excellent. Here's their page in MenuPages: http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails...d=35&home=Y MenuPages is actually a good way to scope out different spots with menus and prices. They have a whole section just for the West 40s, so check it out.

I actually had to work at work today. SO rude. And now that I have time to reply, everyone's off doing something else!! Such is the life of a West-Coast fan. liney23 I think we can swing this EHP-West initiation thingy. When my daughter went off to college, she left her glue gun and glitter behind, so I have that covered. My DH was in the Coast Guard, so he can teach me the proper technique for a slip knot....in fact he might be intrigued for us to share an activity that involves rope and knots. Oops. TMI. Cheez Doodles? Really? Well, I suppose I could live with orange fingers if it was in a good cause. We're set!! We'll have to get together to go over the charter, for sure!! K'eh I hear you on being WAAAAAAAAAY in the back at the stage door opening weekend. In my salad days, I lived in NYC for 3.5 years. I had perfected the flying-elbow-wedge to be able to get myself on the subway at rush hour, but alas I don't seem to have those skills any longer. Opening night I have quite a few pictues of the backs and tops of heads, none of them belonging to Clay. I'm going to wish you better luck on your upcoming trip. I'm thinking that the crutch gimmick might have been a stroke of brilliance. People will either be polite and give you a spot or you can clear them out with one wide sweeping motion. AND, Clay will sign it once you are up there in the front. Of course that's been used now. Maybe a fake arm cast? He can sign it, and you could knock someone out with it if push came to shove. Good luck!! Oh Gibby, I'm so glad you are starting to give your husband good gift-giving directions on the FZ18. We'll be happy to give you some tips for indoor non-flash (i.e. concert) photos, but you don't have to do much futzing for good outdoor shots. And you have NO IDEA how amazing it is to have an 18X zoom to work with. OMG!!! It gets you close enough to count his tastebuds, if you are so inclined: It even gets you close enough to detect the rush of female hormones when he first takes the stage: Oh wait that's a shot of The Blowhole from our trip to Hawaii. Wait...does that sound a little ??? Speaking of which.....I see some of my Wango Tango pics are surfacing. They were the subject of discussion at CV yesterday as well, which I completely missed because I was decorating my new digs over here!! You know, I really mostly post close-ups of his gorgeous face. Really. When I'm taking pictures, I'm trying to focus on his face, or on his whole self. Truly. However, I'm sure skybar22 could give me some insights on how I seem to end up with pictures highlighting some of his other fine attributes, when I SWEAR I'm not trying. When 4 of us went to Wango Tango, we got moved right next to the catwalk because of a seat reconfiguration. It was so cool to see him walk by us, stand by us, kneel and sing to a PYT right in front of us. I took whole body shots, I really, really did, and was thrilled to get some from a relatively close spot in that huge stadium. We went out for Thai food after we left the Rose Bowl, and I passed around my camera so everyone could look at pretty Clay on the teeny screen. Suddenly ncgurrl said: "I see skin....right above the lovely low-riser jeans". We swore she was seeing things, but she was right. I SWEAR I didn't see that. Those women called me every 5 minutes until I got those pictures posted. A zillion purdy pictures of his face, and it's still the WT pics that everyone remembers. So now, I use a camera with a more powerful zoom so I can stay focused above the waist. Mostly. Except for maybe that one picture from Indio. And, oh well, maybe the one from Tampa...(geez, what on EARTH kept those pants up!!). But other than that, really, I'm all about the face. However, in all good conscience muski, I must insist that even in the earliest of days, it was NEVER just a fold.... OK. My work here is done. Time to go home.

Hee. Actually, back during the IT, one of my California friends started talking about getting an RV and following the tour bus. Hey, he actually did a bunch of shows out here for the IT, so we were following the tour bus anyway. She figured why not have something bigger with beds and couches and a fridge and a margarita machine? I pointed out that my DH and I actually HAVE an RV, (although it's a bit the worse for wear now), and she got even more excited about it. My DH (who does the driving and buys the gas) pointed out that since we could get a ticket on Southwest from LA to Sacramento for $39 if we were paying attention, we would quickly go broke buying gasoline for the 80 gallon tank on the RV which got approximately 6 (yes that is SIX!!!) miles to the gallon. Dang. This actually turned out to be a good thing, because she was in the car with nicegurrrrl and I on the Vermont to Atlantic City drive for the JBT. Oh!! My!! God!!!!!!! I have to say that nicegurrrrl is a delightful travel companion. She's not a good navigator, and I am, so she does almost all of the driving, unless we're on a long straight stretch that doesn't require navigation. She's a good conversationalist, very laid back, she likes to listen to Clay CDs, interviews and banter on the CD player. She doesn't get tired, she doesn't get cranky.....really a joy to travel with. So we'd been all over New England for the JBT and now we were making the last long run from Vermont to Atlantic City. Our travel companion had plotted our route for us, which included car ferries and one lane roads galore. Everyone we consulted who LIVED in that area thought we were crazy. Maybe so, since it took us 4 hours longer than everyone else making that drive. 4 agonizing hours where we were forbidden to talk, sing, listen to Clay, got yelled at a lot, and got lost twice when she refused to listen to my directions. The Bataan Death March was more fun!!! shudders at the memory..... Ahem...just saying....being cooped up in a vehicle means you need amiable companions, or a LOT of margarita mix. If we're going to have a bus, why not convince Clay to spring for another bus for his employees, and we can give him pampered personalized service on HIS bus. Who could resist an offer like that?? Who has Mary B. on speed dial??? If the timing is right for any tour legs, it can be a blast to travel with a group by train. You can get food, munchies and beverages any time you want them, and you don't have to make a rest stop to go to the bathroom. Just sayin'. If he does outdoor amphitheaters any where but the Pacific Coast, I am investing in a temperature controlled space suit. I am seriously heat intolerant. Hey!!! I hear you all who know me cracking up!!! Orlando nearly did me in, and I'm not sure I could tolerate something like that again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed here!! Claygasm, I loved your Statue of Liberty analogy. Really, just loved it. Shoot!! My allergies must be acting up again. :F_05BL17blowkiss: ETA: Oh no, I took too long to post!! I can pre-order the album? How about if I order one now and spread the rest of my seven over time? Will that work? I want that album ASAP, and I want to make sure they know it. I missed out on the Walmart All Is Well because I waited a day. That was very traumatic. jmh & muski, I appreciate the FCA 101. I lurk regularly and I think I have 35 whole posts, so I have SOMEWHAT of a feel for the board. I know I'm probably thinner-skinned than many others, and I really don't like conflict. In general when things get too hot and heavy, I pull a Sir Robin and "run away". I'll tiptoe back in when the coast is clear. I don't really have a problem with laissez-faire moderating. It's when a group of posters is allowed free rein to bludgeon other posters with the force of their opinions, where others with a different opinion are edited within an inch of their lives that I have a problem. I'll take my chances.

Oh, Wow!!! You guys are the bestest!! Thank you so much for giving this poor orphan shelter from the storm. One more thought and I'll stop whining, I promise. It has good stuff about FCA, so it can't be all bad. I thought I was all calm and stuff with a "que sera, sera" type attitude, until y'all were so welcoming, and some even admitted you'd been on the sidelines of the battlefield. And suddenly, I found myself all misty!!! Good thing I was having a big allergy attack today with red, puffy, watery eyes or it could have been REALLY embarrassing. I guess the big dust-up got to me more than I thought. Evidently I fooled myself into thinking I was just standing up for fair play and for the underdog, but maybe I was a little more "hypersensitive" than I thought. When my first marriage was breaking up, I knew it was inevitable, but when we finally said it out loud, I cried anyway for what HAD been and for what COULD have been. This felt a little like that, especially when a couple of my best friends joined in the pile-on. ALL of my SoCal friends are members of that board. Kind of a tough day, so thanks. OK!! Whining is all done now. It's safe to come out. Lemme see...what did I need to respond to..... liney23.... I live in Redondo Beach and work in Torrance (near the 110 Fwy). Most of North OC is within a 30 to 40 minute range for me, which is nothing in L.A. terms. I'd love to meet you, and as it happens, it appears I may be in the market for a new SoCal friend or two. Maybe we can start a Pacific Coast branch of the eHP!!! Thanks to every one who had such nice things to say about my picture. I'm noticing that the compression by the Board is making some of the lines of his face a little jagged here on my work computer. If you have the band that says "Click here to expand to full size", it's worth it, both for licking purposes and for saving purposes, if you are so inclined. It makes him verra, verra smoooooooooooth. Yum. :5: Hey, Karen eh!!!! LOVED the hilarious (only in retrospect) saga of your first day "home alone" in Baku. I can't believe how you are taking all this in stride. I would be shipping myself home in the frozen meat cooler already. My admiration knows no bounds. You're starting to learn Akeri tomorrow? That's a real language and not something spoken by Klingons? God, my world view has become so narrow!! You go, girl!! Please DO fire up the blog and post as much as possible. LUCKIEST1, BETTER START SCROLLING I have not been in seat A101, I was in seat A1. From another seat in C103, though, I would say that the view from both of the A seats have something in common. At different points in the play, he is immediately in front of A101 and then A1 when he is mounting and dismounting his horse. I should point out that the horse is see-through.....OK, it's a pretend horse, but it's a BIG pretend horse, because he does the dismount in a REALLY BIG WAY. You will quickly discover how the seam in the chain mail tights is holding up at that performance, and let me just say that when Clay showed off his black underwear/tights to Lynda Loveland in his dressing room, they were not new to me. If you get my drift, and I'm betting that you all do. OK LUCKIEST1, IT'S SAFE TO COME OUT NOW Yes, K'eh. I do indeed have the FZ18. I touted it to Gibby just a few days ago. I used in in Las Vegas and at my CITH shows. LOVE it. However, I am no help whatsoever on stage door settings. I was too far back on opening weekend, jostled from all sides, and either my fingers or my camera, or maybe both nearly froze solid, so I hardly got a single decent shot....the one I posted being the exception. I really didn't want to "flash him" right in the face...no, not that kind of flash!..., but there's too much movement to get a decent shot without it, IMO, so I'm going to be asking advice from YOU after you go, since I'm hoping to get back for closing weekend. Speaking of pictures......OK, you all asked for it, don't blame me!!! ldyjocelyn, I've been saving this one for you, and since you were the first one to answer my plea and invite me to hunker down here, I'm going to post it first. It features both happy Clay and glasses Clay, which I know are your favorites, so I hope you like it. I think he's CUTE!!! This one is in answer to whoever asked treenuts where her avi came from. Just about the time I was going to identify it as one of mine, she changed it to her current avi, which, as it happens, is ALSO one of mine. Anyhoo, her older avi was from Tampa, here: The lighting was a photographers nightmare in Tampa. Some of the people sitting front and center did pretty well, but ClayIzzaQT was sitting next to me, and both of us got neon pinky-orange Clay all night. The only fixes seem to be transfering the pic to black and white, or de-saturating the color. Like this: OK, enough beauty for one night. Oh look, my "work" day has ended!! I might as well head home!! Thanks again, guys, for saving my day. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Well, I just spent a couple of fruitless days and too many hours trying to revive a floundering relationship with another Board. All I got for my effort was an extra 50 points in my blood pressure that I didn't need and a headache from pounding my head against the keyboard. Can I camp out here, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze??? I wanna talk about 3 favorite pieces of clack (although I reserve the right to count clack that had to be divided up because of size as one piece). I promise to mend my ways, honest. How about if I promise not to discuss the finer points of Clay's Spam costume from seat A1?? How about if I pledge not to bring over any NJU stories??? How about if I bring a gift?? It features eyelashes and everything. So can I stay??? Please?? Can I??? Anyone?? Bueller????

I've been in lurk only mode here of late, but felt obligated to respond to Gibby's camera question. I love Panasonics. LOVE them. I've had 3 in a row, buying my latest one this fall. In fact, I got a Canon S5 and ended up never using it and giving it to my husband as a gift. He loves it, and that let me upgrade my Panasonic. My current camera is a Panasonic Lumix FZ8. It's 8 megapixels and has an 18x zoom, which is just awesome. The color is very "true" with this camera, and I have to do very little color correction. Not only does it take great Clay concert pictures indoors, but got amazing pictures in Hawaii when we were there for my son's wedding. It has a Leica lens which is awesome, and is considered to have the fastest focus around, which is VERY helpful. As a side note, Karen Eh & dc4clay both upgraded to this camera in November as well. A sample: Good luck.

Oh couchie, I'm so sorry. It's been a real revolving door for your Mom of late. Hope they can stabilize her better. LOVED the video and AI interviews. He seems really happy and full of excitement. I can't believe I get to go dust off my suitcase. I really, really didn't think I'd get to use it. But now, I'll get to go and see Clay and lots of my Clay friends. You just KNOW he's going to be CUTE!!!! RIGHT???? Gotta go pack. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Hello all!! I've been a missing person for most of the last month while I wrestled with my haywire heart. After having pretty much written off my Spamalot trip, things are now looking pretty good. My new meds are working very well, and I feel so much better. The majority doctor opinion is favorable. If I make it to tomorrow morning with no further problems, I'm going to feel home free!! I'll be at the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening shows. We're looking at other stuff Sat & Sun during the day. If assemblages are happening, please, please let me know!! Loved the Spam-a-blog!! I think Clay is still in teacher/school mode. If they give him an actual topic, he can write something fun about it. Maybe someone from Clique could do that for his OFC blog. Naaaaaah. Guess not. Clay was very happy to hear I was going to make it to Spamalot when I texted him about it. *g* He sent me a kiss..... Just thought I'd share, cause I'm generous like that.