luckiest1

Yikes, Couchie. That's my usual trick! I've hit every raised curb/parking block known to man, even the ones painted bright yellow. Not usually going quite so fast, though. Ok, I'm game. I pick Benjamin McKenzie, cuz I think he's cute and I'm pissed that The O.C. was cancelled.

Actually, I think he did, right after Bridget corrected him. I listened pretty carefully in Williamsport, and it seemed perfect. He was concentrating hard. *g* Most nights after that, as well.

WORD, ansa. Just WORD. Yikes, I think I need to stay put today. I took a peek around some other sites and it was pretty depressing. There is much to celebrate but few seem to care.

Hey, I'm open to doing audio OR video, but it seems as thought he majority prefers to do audio only. Even if you don't know how to rip the audio, it isn't necessary, just minimize the video window and listen instead. I think it'd be easier if we were all doing the same thing. For me, I can use Goldwave to rip all the audio of my particular song and then load it on my iPod and take it to work. Wheeeeeee! Just another way to include Clay in my day. *g* And I'll do SR after DSIAFCD if no one else wants it, if we're going to concentrate on audio only.

I just wanted to WORD this. I took a gander around a few sites today and was appalled that people are still feeling the need to engage the jackass who spread the Greensboro story around. In what world do they think it's helping Clay to egg the guy on? Oy. Can't wait to get home and look at the pretties you guys are drooling over.

Thanks for the tips. I guess the question is whether we are only rating the audio quality or the video as well? I can try to see if I still have any of my rating spreadsheets left over from my previous project (it was the JBT) if that would help. ETA: Ah! Audio only. Thanks. :-)

Yeah, I think I'll have to just stick to one song as well, since I am also involved in a DVD project with my friend goldarngirl. We are currently working on the Best of Indy JBT but have plans to do a full set of Best of Merrillville JNaT and Charlotte JNaT too. I love having a reason to have to watch clack! :-) Are there going to be some specific guidelines posted as to what we are looking for? I was involved (once upon a time) in a similar clack-rating activity, and it was helpful to rate certain aspects....i.e. graininess, steadiness, sound quality, colour (was it washed out or vivid?), obstructions, etc, etc.

I love to help rate the clack. I'll take DSIAFCD if it isn't already taken, or if it is, just assign me something. Couchie, great blog. I love your attitude. {{{jmh123}}} Don't worry about the "funky" thoughts, we all have them at different times.

I like your comment to his blog. I made a comment on another board after reading the blog this morning, that I hope he already knows we are proud of him, and that he doesn't need to anything further. I used to worry that he would use us as a gauge for what to do/not to do, but I don't worry about it anymore. I honestly think he has a really good handle on himself and the fandom as it relates to him nowadays. I don't think he plans anything based on how the fans will react. Since 9/19, when we "got him back" so to speak, he has seemed happy and fulfilled with his life. I can't wait to see what he has up his sleeve for us in 2007!

Just catching up, and wanted to drop off some hugs for {{{muskifest and muskimom}}} as well as {{{playbiller}}}.....and anyone else who needs one today. {{{hugs}}} I am excited that Clay has already left us two messages since the last tour date (one voice, one blog). I don't think he is going to disappear for long this year! I can't wait to find out what he has in store for 2007.

I'm in the process of creating a 2007 calendar right now, too. I'm trying to only use fan shot pictures, but there are a few that are hard to resist, like the Unicef snowflake and some high def tv screen caps. Currently I have the project in Shutterfly, but if they refuse it, I guess I'll have to try Snapfish. Is there much difference in the quality of the finished product?

Link to Kavanaugh's Money Can't Buy You Love at the Reading Room on CV: http://www.clayversity.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=947

I found a cool Clayversity Index of Stories. It breaks stuff down by abandoned, in progress, completed as well as by rating (G, PG, etc). There are two stories by farouche that are listed as completed: Out Of The Past & Somewhere Out There (part one). I highly recommend both of them. I also have read Kavanaugh's stuff and it is great (especially Money Can't Buy You Love).

I am woefully behind on the Clyra fanfic (as well as clack watching) but there is one on CV that I have been following, by farouche, entitled Somewhere Out There. I think it's in it's 2nd part now, but the chapters are not posted very frequently, which allows me to keep up with it. *g* Anyways, if you are a fan of the young Clayton (circa Hometown Connection era) check it out! And I have the Clyra on my "must read" list, when I get a chance.

Hee, I like this imagery. Sooooooooooo true. Edited to add something that I found on the CH that really struck a chord in me. Posted by shine in nc, who was quoting Dr. Seuss Oooooh, pretty pictures. Me likey.

Belated Merry Christmas, FCA! I'm here at my mom's on her antique computer with the crappy connection that sometimes misses all the keystrokes. We had a wonderful (but exhausting) Christmas yesterday. Originally we had planned to have it at my house (2 hours away) but mom's 2nd sugery came on us unexpectedly so I just moved everything to her house as she is not ready to travel yet. It's amazing how much can change in a year......our Christmas was quite a bit smaller than previous years, but I am so proud of my 3 kids for helping me put together something really special for their Grandma yesterday. There were gifts galore and the wrapping paper was flying at a furious rate. Everyone pitched in and we cooked her a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. And best of all, she was feeling well enough to enjoy it. I was really thrilled to receive a DVD-R from my son. Wheeeeee! Can't wait to figure out how to work the darned thing. Can't wait to throw out all the VHS tapes after I convert them! I also got a gorgeous NC Tar Heels watch from my daughter, and the new Beatles "Love" CD from my youngest son. All is definitely well. WORD, WORD, WORD! Wonderfully said. I belong to many boards, but respect for Clay Aiken is first and foremost on my personal board-related wish list. It's hard to find in many places. I hope this community continues to grow in 2007 because it really does stand apart from the rest, to me. I am way behind on my clack viewing so I have lots of JNaT stuff to look forward to in January. Those pictures of Jerome hugging Clay just made me all schmoopie this morning. I searched the tv guide listings yesterday but was unable to find a Canadian feed for DOOL. I hope I can find the NBC feed this afternoon. If not, that'll just be more clack to look forward to when I get home. It sounds wonderful. ETA: Wheeeeeee! I found it and I watched it. Wasn't he pretty and didn't he sing good? As for the rest of the hour......blech. *g* *hugs and waves* to one of our own, cindilu2, who is feeling a bit under the weather this Christmas season. Hope you are feeling better soon!

It doesn't seem weird to me. I think it's just that Christmas came in the middle of things, and we all know how much Clay loves Christmas. It wouldn't have made sense to put ATD for adds at the end of November, so the logical thing (to me) is to put it for adds in January. I don't expect Clay to go on the same shows and sing ATD again, but there are still a few shows that he didn't manage to appear on prior to Christmas. I doubt we'll get another promotional push of the same scale as we did in the fall (which, to me, BTW, wasn't bad at all) but hopefully we'll get some. If ATD is getting airplay, I figure we'll get more radio interviews than anything else, which hopefully will help to promote the tour. I've also never bought into the speculation that Clay is/was/will be recording a new album of originals for release this year. I don't think he's put ATDW "behind" him. I think he plans to promote it, tour it, and give it all the props that it deserves. He worked damned hard on it, and it shows. I think he's proud of it, and so he should be. I find all the hope for a new album soon to be a bit of a disservice to Clay, actually. How must he feel to read it?

I have never understood the mentality that ATDW is "dead and buried". OMG, it just freaking came out! So the promotion got interrupted by Christmas. I pretty much expect things to pick up where they left off in January. I don't know how much of a surge in sales the album will see, but I hardly consider 460,000 and a gold certification a failure. I do expect it to go platinum by the end of 2007 at the very least. I'm thrilled that they are putting ATD for adds. Clay obviously loves singing it, and it obviously became the song to sing in the later promotional appearances. Why wouldn't it be the one they choose to release? And all this cover/orginal blather........they're all great songs. I don't see the problem. I don't think people who like ATD on the radio or the tv will be disappointed when they pick up ATDW. It's a fantastic album! This Jan 15th adds date, plus the couple of mentions of a love-themed tour, all make me very excited about the New Year. Whether he can manage to swing the tour for Valentines Day or not (which seems to be his original intention), I think it'll be in the spring. I don't expect him to be talking it up just yet, because he's still on a Christmas tour. I'm sure he'll take a bit of a rest after the holidays, but I'm hoping for some promotional appearances for ATD again, and maybe even some radio interviews. Then, hopefully, the tour announcement and ticket sales and all that fun stuff. Woo hoo! The Donald can bite me. What a poor excuse for a man.

I don't think so. I think the whole concert was just an amazing accomplishment. I haven't had time to watch much clack lately, so I've only seen the Long Island AIW, but I loaded the entire set by Scarlett onto my iPod. He was in such GREAT voice that night, whether it was because he was concentrating so hard, I don't know. Unfortunately, none of the .wav files I loaded will actually *play*. No idea why, but I think maybe whenever RL slows down a tad, I will have to convert them to mp3s. Interesting discussion about the Singapore article and interview this morning. Interesting in the fact that I haven't seen it discussed outside of this board. I love that he seems to have defined his "Clay Aiken" sound in his mind. I can't wait to see what he will do with ATDW on tour. I plan to be at the first show, no matter where it is.

I'd attend an FCA get together in Chicago, since I learned this year that it is well within driving distance. *g* Concerts? Apparently, I am a 'ho. AI Tour - 1 (Buffalo) Jingle Ball - 1 (Cleveland) IT - 2 (Detroit, Winston-Salem) NaT - 7 (Greensboro, Syracuse, Clio x 2, Dayton, Raleigh x 2) JNT04 - 1 (Detroit) JBT - 5 (Cary, Clio, Interlochen, Meadville, Toronto) JNT05 - 2 (Cincinatti, Youngstown) JNaT06 - 3 (Merrillville, Williamsport, Detroit) Total: 22 (wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) and only 2 of those was I without my trusty sidekick, my daughter. And 1 of those she'll never let me live down, becoss it was without her permission (AI2).

Oops, sorry, ^^that^^ was me. *g* Teach me to not log in........

Bringing my recap over from CH: Well, I'm back. I have not read one word on the boards yet, so I have no idea what has been discussed already, but I just wanted to give some general impressions of the Merrillville concert while it is still fresh in my mind. I didn't attend Waukegan, and I didn't watch any clack either, although I had listened to the cellcert. So when my party of 4 arrived in Merrillville after an 8 hour trip (with 2 unsucessful Walmart stops), we were kind of surprised that people were upset about the night before, and "the note". Heck, other than the one note at the end of AIW, I'd thought it was a pretty darn fantastic cellcert, myself. I will have to go back and watch the Waukegan clack when I get a minute. Anyways, we met up with ldyjocelyn & HeidiHo at the hotel. We had a great time getting to know each other and devirginizing my daughter with the Tyra clack. Thankfully ldyjocelyn had managed to get her hands on a few extra AIW for us after all. We headed over to Smokey Bones for dinner, and then all piled into Heidi's rental vehicle to make use of the VIP parking pass (woo hoo! since it was freaking cold out). We went to check our coats and said hello to various meers in the lobby, including the lovely and now infamous geekette of the signed iPod. *g* Our seats were row H which turned out to be about 15th row from the stage, on the centre aisle. Absolutely fantastic viewpoint, because I could get a close up on the expressions using my binoculars, but a pretty much unobstructed full-body view without them. I have a bit of a foot fetish, so I spent a lot of time watching those huge shoes slip sliding away on the stage....I sure hope someone captured them on film, because I just loved watching them. Yeah, I know I'm weird. I was just in 7th heaven for the whole show. To be in the presence of the Aiken after a year was almost overwhelming. I've never seen him more comfortable and chatty! He was truly amazing, and his vocals were just gorgeous. The hair is very different than I expected.....almost looks flat ironed, it is so straight, but it shines and falls just so....I loved it. Kudos to cousin Jamie if she indeed is doing the styling. I'm not going to go into detail of every song and bit of banter, since it seems we will have full clack of everything (YES!) but the most memorable part of the show (aside from every single second of the banter) was, of course, AIW. In fact, everything from OCOCE on really just blew me away. The standing O after OCOCE was very spontaneous and cool, and Clay looked quite surprised when he turned around and saw us all on our feet. ldyjocelyn and I grabbed onto each other during DSIAFCD in anticipation of the glory note, and then we just leaped out of our seats and started screaming when he hit it. It was truly magical. During AIW, he showed such amazing focus and concentration on making each note just perfect. When he went up for that final note, the place exploded. What a moment! What an accomplishment it was, for him. I was truly honoured to be there to witness it. As much as I loved the concert, probably the most moving moment, for me, was being able to give Windtalker a bearhug following AIW. I am so glad she was there to be a part of it all. Huge thanks to beagle3 for coming to get me. {{{Windtalker}}} Afterwards, we hung around talking to all sorts of people. Too many to remember to mention (and I'd hate to leave anybody out) but "hey!" to y'all....you know who you are. And then back to the hotel and fresh clack....some of which is on the two video cameras we had brought with us, shot by my daughter (aka crimsonice) and her friend (aka disneykid). Hopefully we will figure out how to get it off the cameras and onto the boards soon, thanks to help from the 4th member of our party, the lurking goldarngirl. We had a surprise visit from another lurker, atinal and her friend, who brought us some gorgeous Christmas ornaments....thank you! This morning we stopped at the gas station directly across the road from the venue, in the hopes of finding a local paper with a review of the concert. A very nice lady there was helping me to look through every available paper (there were a lot!) and she asked who had played the venue the night before. I told her Clay Aiken. She said "CLAY??????" and clutched her heart. "I voted for him." Hee. She admitted she'd heard him a few times on the radio but had not bought any of his CDs. I told her to hang on just a minute, whipped out to the car, and grabbed my copy of ATDW. She was very excited (and strangely not surprised) when I handed it to her. We never found a review, but when I left she was clutching that CD to her heart. *g*

Bringing my recap over from CH: Well, I'm back. I have not read one word on the boards yet, so I have no idea what has been discussed already, but I just wanted to give some general impressions of the Merrillville concert while it is still fresh in my mind. I didn't attend Waukegan, and I didn't watch any clack either, although I had listened to the cellcert. So when my party of 4 arrived in Merrillville after an 8 hour trip (with 2 unsucessful Walmart stops), we were kind of surprised that people were upset about the night before, and "the note". Heck, other than the one note at the end of AIW, I'd thought it was a pretty darn fantastic cellcert, myself. I will have to go back and watch the Waukegan clack when I get a minute. Anyways, we met up with ldyjocelyn & HeidiHo at the hotel. We had a great time getting to know each other and devirginizing my daughter with the Tyra clack. Thankfully ldyjocelyn had managed to get her hands on a few extra AIW for us after all. We headed over to Smokey Bones for dinner, and then all piled into Heidi's rental vehicle to make use of the VIP parking pass (woo hoo! since it was freaking cold out). We went to check our coats and said hello to various meers in the lobby, including the lovely and now infamous geekette of the signed iPod. *g* Our seats were row H which turned out to be about 15th row from the stage, on the centre aisle. Absolutely fantastic viewpoint, because I could get a close up on the expressions using my binoculars, but a pretty much unobstructed full-body view without them. I have a bit of a foot fetish, so I spent a lot of time watching those huge shoes slip sliding away on the stage....I sure hope someone captured them on film, because I just loved watching them. Yeah, I know I'm weird. I was just in 7th heaven for the whole show. To be in the presence of the Aiken after a year was almost overwhelming. I've never seen him more comfortable and chatty! He was truly amazing, and his vocals were just gorgeous. The hair is very different than I expected.....almost looks flat ironed, it is so straight, but it shines and falls just so....I loved it. Kudos to cousin Jamie if she indeed is doing the styling. I'm not going to go into detail of every song and bit of banter, since it seems we will have full clack of everything (YES!) but the most memorable part of the show (aside from every single second of the banter) was, of course, AIW. In fact, everything from OCOCE on really just blew me away. The standing O after OCOCE was very spontaneous and cool, and Clay looked quite surprised when he turned around and saw us all on our feet. ldyjocelyn and I grabbed onto each other during DSIAFCD in anticipation of the glory note, and then we just leaped out of our seats and started screaming when he hit it. It was truly magical. During AIW, he showed such amazing focus and concentration on making each note just perfect. When he went up for that final note, the place exploded. What a moment! What an accomplishment it was, for him. I was truly honoured to be there to witness it. As much as I loved the concert, probably the most moving moment, for me, was being able to give Windtalker a bearhug following AIW. I am so glad she was there to be a part of it all. Huge thanks to beagle3 for coming to get me. {{{Windtalker}}} Afterwards, we hung around talking to all sorts of people. Too many to remember to mention (and I'd hate to leave anybody out) but "hey!" to y'all....you know who you are. And then back to the hotel and fresh clack....some of which is on the two video cameras we had brought with us, shot by my daughter (aka crimsonice) and her friend (aka disneykid). Hopefully we will figure out how to get it off the cameras and onto the boards soon, thanks to help from the 4th member of our party, the lurking goldarngirl. We had a surprise visit from another lurker, atinal and her friend, who brought us some gorgeous Christmas ornaments....thank you! This morning we stopped at the gas station directly across the road from the venue, in the hopes of finding a local paper with a review of the concert. A very nice lady there was helping me to look through every available paper (there were a lot!) and she asked who had played the venue the night before. I told her Clay Aiken. She said "CLAY??????" and clutched her heart. "I voted for him." Hee. She admitted she'd heard him a few times on the radio but had not bought any of his CDs. I told her to hang on just a minute, whipped out to the car, and grabbed my copy of ATDW. She was very excited (and strangely not surprised) when I handed it to her. We never found a review, but when I left she was clutching that CD to her heart. *g*

I tested my CV cellstream out this morning, and it worked just fine. I know I shouldn't spoiler myself tonight, since I'm going to Merrillville tomorrow, but I can't help it. I have no willpower. {{{ldyjocelyn}}} There's always tomorrow!

I really hope that Clay's "surprise" for us on Thursday is either a spring tour announcement, or an open clack policy announcement for the symphony dates. Either one would be awesome news!