Scarlett

Just wanted to drop off a few pics for keepingfaith and explain that there's a reason why these JBT Borgata files didn't get uploaded in the first place. The visuals are nice but I was sitting right in front of Andy's and Daniel's speaker so the guitars are overwhelming on the audio. Since I had 2 other cameras running that night (ToffeeBrowne had one in dead center and Solo had the original Miami IT camcorder that we repaired for a while) and the sound was so much better on those especially Solo's these were set aside. The uploads are getting done mainly to support the wizardry and magic of goldarngirl and luckiest1. They're creating a Best-of-Atlantic City that I'm sure will be absolutely stunning and amazing (my definition, not Clay's), just like all their other "Best-of-XXX" Series. Thanks for all the comments -- hanging around everyone here makes me feel like I'm watching a Clay concert. {insert happy-place icon here} ldyjocelyn, what a nice day that was!!! *soft sigh* I still carry that clip on my ipod everyday. LOL, laughn! *imagines him shampooing it and playing with the lather to create various shapes & styles, maybe a faux-hawk or two... * OMG. Heart be still. Scarlett, is there a chance, any chance at all, that you have any remaining JBT Motown that has not been rendered? If any is lost or misplaced I hereby volunteer my services for a search party. I'll bring Cheez Doodles .... somehow. Give it to me straight. *teasingly* Um, there might have been a couple of "new" Motown clips... (jk, I'm uploading)

Waukegan? *scoffs* I went back even further than that -- been working hard all day on rendering... ta-da!... JBT Borgata 9/1! But thanks for the burning & shipping. *I'll endure tickling for that & will leave more than 2 pieces of Cheez Doodles next time. I miss you guys. When's the eHP gonna get together again?* All the mentions of Elvis yesterday made me really desperate because I lost a JBT tape on the morning of July 4th this year while running out of the house at the crack of dawn to go to Frisco. (Ok, it was more like 8am, same difference) Anyway, the Elvis mentions made me determined to find that tape so much that I actually cleaned up my travel things and lo! there it was, right in my passport holder. So I've been busy but here are a few screencaps to explain why I was so desperate to find it. Who needs Elvis when you've got this... I believe Clay when he says there are very few consipiracies in this world. Along with this, I also don't think Clay has made many mistakes or miscalls in his career. From what I see, he has made the most of everything he's been given in life, be it instant fame or peer issues or teaching opportunities. I really can't think of anyone I respect who could have done better. Ok some people would have ran with the instant fame, gone on Oprah to whine about minutiae and whored themselves into instant superstardom and the subsequent instant rehab. Me, I'd rather be with a guy who's in it for the long term. I do think people involved with his career have made some mistakes, not necesarily because of some nefarious plan to take him down,but mainly (as others have pointed out) from a lack of understanding of Clay & his fans and opposing objectives. Also, working with someone who thinks in terms of decades is probably tough for those whose jobs depend on next quarter's financial report. Unlike others, though, I'm willing to accept that a prototype record (like the Tampa fax) may have existed but simply as what they were -- a record and a fax. It's the amount of things that people have riding on them (eg. tacking on fame and fortune and glory to one prototype and building some sinister plot out of a simple note) that I find absurd. For every fan who sees lost oppportunities in a phantom album, there's probably a record exec who sees lost opportunities in forgoing a Mother's Day '06 album release. I used to depend on travel agents and bank tellers for many of my needs. Haven't seen or heard one in years. I expect to be saying the same about DJ's and records sellers anytime now. Charts of things that are on the way out don't count very much for me. Having said that, though,... in a world where "High School Musical" is the 2nd highest-selling album of its year and family hotels across the country are deserted when High School Musical 2 premieres on the Disney Channel (we didn't notice this because of the Tampa concert but people attest to it), a Clay Aiken album release is the closest to a sure thing anyone can get. So it's a bit surprising to me to sense a lot of sadness and apprehension nowadays. Apart from the fact that he's not touring right at this moment, Clay is right where I want him to be. I think the climate is ready for a Clay Aiken record. If I were an up-an-coming artist, I'd love to be in Clay's shoes (as well as other articles of clothing, but let's not get distracted here). I really believe he is in a much better position for a long term career than any other time even the days right after Idol. Back then, he was a runner-up of some reality show that people couldn't fit into a niche. Today, he has the admiration and respect of quite a number of people who matter, a 4-year track record, a well-known legion of devoted fans who keep him on every Internet poll whether or not he's currently on a promotion campaign, & w/o his even asking for it (can you imagine how it would go if he actually said "please go to this site for me?") and apparently his own means to do some recording out of his own home. Even if things were to start tumbling down and he had to start from scratch today, what's the worst that can happen to him -- be forced to self-publish? We have a holiday tour, Idol rewind (hopefully on Fox HD), a new album next year and a summer tour after that to look forward to. So things are great. Except that I miss him. I hate spending weekends not watching Clay Aiken concerts. *pouts* Thanks for the kind mention for Fort Myers, Ansa! ROTFLMAO, play!! I really ::heart:: your cartoons -- can we collect them someplace?

Speaking of that... I've been spending the better part of the morning looking at this series...

Me too! Me too! *jostles keepingfaith & ldyjocelyn to cyber-ticke them*

VERY talented and sweet and kind and thoughtful and .... (thanks for the Red Bank ticket, Tangerinee! You're an angel!) (green-eyed bolding mine) Errrrhm... a new one even bigger??? I don't mind anyone not liking the Snowflake hair or any hair (btw, Solo and I use this 'nice' nickname for the bowl cut -- "Flowbee") as long as it's easy to make off with a poster from merrieeee's house. However... she sent you an even bigger one??? Waaaah! *sniff* And this after your searing-hot Canandaigua pictures turned my Canandaigua Icewine to firewater?!! *sniff* ps. The not-so-nice nickname is "Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel" hair.

As long as planes are flying, I'll be at Waukegan, Kalamazoo, Washington DC, Red Bank, Minneapolis 1 & 2, Merrillville

At dinner, our friends from Orlando said that they'd never seen metal detectors at the venue though they've been to other shows. One of them asked a security person and the explanation given was that they were for "safety reasons." (Hey KAndre, he probably heard that some big time rapper/producer was in the audience) My guess is that the cute guy was a bit exhausted (he was going to perform for his 5th night in a row), his contacts started acting up and he really needed some relief from the flashes. If metal detectors keep him safe and healthy, so be it. Frankly, after standing in line next to a fan in LA whose friends could not dissuade her from taking in her camera that they all knew was going to flash (because she claimed it took the most perfect Clack ever and even showed us -- uh, not!), I'm almost ready to vote for metal detectors. In case anyone's taking early bets, I think he's a lot smarter than people think and will do exceedingly well today!

Hi lu/ickiest! I'll be here as well. C'mon couchie!

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Buh-bye, Couchie! Have a great time at 5thGrader!!! Don't forget to hurry back and tell us everything. Didn't want you to have to wait another entire day for it to get into the vaults, so here are the mp3 & ipod file. 070816_FortMyers_WY_Scarlett.mp3 070816_FortMyers_WY_Scarlett_XviD.mp4 ETA: canuck2010, oh we're going to have so much fun!!!

Me too!!!!

Sorry about that. I did upload that bunch at 9pm last night but I guess there were a lot of other stuff queued up. And there would be a lot more done if we didn't have all these pages -- postwhores! (but luvya'll!) I loved "Field of Dreams" too but do I have to be the one to bring up "Major League"? *sticks fingers in ears* WHAAAA??!!! Sorry, can't hear ya.

Where's the clack? What witnesses? *busily working on Adobe Premiere (like photoshop but for video) to replace KAndre in every frame* No, seriously, I did upload lots of Fort Myers stuff tonight. Really! My 2 cents about the Clamie... If I were in Orlando with my special someone, loving theme parks as I do, and he/she expressed a desire to stay an extra day to visit Disney, then nothing on earth would make me want to pack up & fly home. Why even Solo and PerusingOne stayed 1 more day to go to Universal with me after JNT05, and we're not even going steady -- yet! ETA: Can't believe I have an opinion on this, let alone actually went and posted about it. *ashamed*

I can't keep up with this thread (tho' I've been on the computer all afternoon). Something's wrong... and yet so right here! *squishes everyone I've shared a concert/bed/taxi/plane/dinner/equipment/coastercar/batteries/travellingpants with!!!*

Hi and thanks very much for the nice mention. However, I think that was taken by theheidis, a dear pal I haven't seen in a while, whom I sorely miss & hope to see at Minneapolis this December. (btw, before she left the boards theheidis left me her DVD of Des Moines and it is just beautiful. I don't have time to make lots of copies (mainly because Solo will kill me if I don't cough up Fort Myers today and WPB after that), but if anyone is willing to provide for others, PM me)

*grumbles* Hey, how did I end up with Roseanne? What can you do with audio on that? And clearly, WPB will win hands down because it has Clay's voice over saying "that's your money". And all because I called you Ethel? Ok, how about if you do an Admin edit and let Solo be Ethel? Would that work?

The way this thing's flying, I'd better post before catching up. Wheeeeee! I was at the Beacon and at Knoxville and the main difference was in the way it felt and looked. I love both jojoct and Ethel but they are 2 very different people. Imagine me as jojoct with the tape and Kandre as Ethel in Knoxville -- we may have the same intentions, we may both be equally evil or good -- but people tend to say to me, awww sweetie, yes we'll take the tape and bless you for bringing it. In Knoxville, Jerome had just gone down the line himself, joking with people but firmly informing everyone of the rules. It was in sharp contrast with the tone and demeanor that Ethel had. I have no doubt that both Ethel and jojoct had the same good intentions but they are who they are and people react differently to them. Is this right or wrong or racist? Who should change, the doer or the reactor? Neither of them had the "mandate" (heh! can I put any more incendiary words in this post?) to do what they did, but one was appreciated and the other was not. (And yes, I did SUCCESSFULLY body-check KAndre while jostling for the front seat of the car at Busch Gardens. Woo-hoo!) BTW, my opinion on both Beacon/Knoxville is that we should be helpful when asked and/or when people need assistance but no one should do Team Clay's work for them.

I think Ethel has a good heart and I care a lot about her. When it's just us talking, she's wonderful and I love to share thoughts and stories about our families. Sometimes she gets carried away and I count 2 times in 4 years when this affected me, once at the Borgata JBT and then this year at the Knoxville bus line. Each time, I was VERY annoyed at the action and I wanted something done about it. Both times, when she realized that she was affecting other people she corrected things and/or made ammends. I think Clay could use a lot more fans like Ethel. ============================================================================ Speaking of bad fans... how about this? Scarlett'sSon: So, I think it's a sure thing now. I'll be finishing in 3 and a half years. Scarlett: Squeeeeee! {{{{lots of hugs}}}} That's wonderful! I'm so proud of you! That's great! {{{{{Lots more squeeing and hugging and kissing... }}}} Then, a v. v. short while later... Scarlett: You did so well! You're so ... so... uh, does that mean you'll graduate in December? Um, when in December? Scarlett'sSon: (who knows her too well and can see where she's headed): It'll be on the December 6-7-8 weekend. Scarlett: (suppresses the words "does it take a whole weekend to graduate?" and thinks "whew, thank goodness I haven't bought tickets to Albany yet") Yay, be sure to mark it off on our yahoo calendar! Have fun, luckiest! Stay safe!

Wha? Decipher please. I got the last two. Ahhh, thanks! MUAH! Always and Forever, Arthur's Theme, Facts of Life and The Brady Bunch...

I adore *excitedwhispersneedssekritdecoder*'s stuff and Clay was verrrry interesting at his/her/its last show! How about Razzie categories? Like "Best example of a cellcerter drowning out a song" or "The most inappropriate time to scream IloveyouClaaaay!!!'" or "Listen to my dandy digital camera's techie sounds -- I so feel like a pro". Could we? Pleeeease? These'll be anonymous since clackfolks don't post the names of people around them. And what happens to AAF and AT and FOL & TBB TS and GBTUSA & the 'family' song from Dreamgirls? I'd be happy to oblige but I just got off the phone with Solo and she asked for Fort Myers (wonder why) and I tend to respond v. quickly to threats of bodily harm. /jk No, really, she asked very sweetly. Is there a particular song you want from WPB? Anything but LAA because that would be a prime candidate for one of the Razzie awards *cries*

Ok, ok, I won't sulk that you didn't consider any of my Waukegan audio since I didn't actually render/upload any complete Waukegan clips. Is it too late to do that? *crickets* (well, after the Borgata JBT clip that I promised goldarngirl and lickiest I would do yesterday?) Nice thing about being behind is that the JNT06 DVD has already been sold. *g* My real point is this - what you did for the JNT06 only worked because there was no audio from *excitedwhispersneedssekritdecoder* . Me, I'm seriously going to wait since that's the show where I didn't use my mike & he was singing hotly to meeeee! /delusional Didn't realize that we were having a photo fest -- is it ok to post screencaps from Orlando, since we didn't get a lot of still cameras in? (And is it silly to be delighted that at 6am 3 days after the tour, there are 40 people reading here? *g*)

It's starting to rain outside this room I'm sharing with kimiye and ressamac and I'm wondering how my Disney day with SLC and weevil@CB is going to turn out. Rain or shine it'll be one last highlight of many great ones on this tour. Thank you so much to everyone I met, slept, flew, Eeeee'd, PM'd, received tickets from or found tickets for, knitted &/or shopped for yarn with, planned parties, rode thrill rides, took pictures, visited local markets, compared clack notes and loaned equipment, discovered the joys of the bus line, toured local tourist sites and interesting restaurants, blasted music at, received stern warnings from (including various local and state police, most recently West Palm Beach)... everyone who made this long glorious summer extra special, most especially the eHP & minions (according to KAndre, that includes everyone who reads & posts here). Thanks for everything!!! Luvya!

Just checking in from Orlando to say hi and post underneath Karen Eh? whom I'll dearly miss this weekend. The last couple of near-misses (Waukegan and Newark) got me so stressed that I high-tailed it out of TX last night, arriving just after midnight here in Orlando. It feels so strange to be alone in a hotel room during a concert weekend. I really want to enjoy these last shows completely but already I'm v. sad that the summer's coming to an end. So much joy, and yet never quite enough. {{{CG}}}

Yes, I took your frozen Strawberry Lemonade. Why? 1. Because there are some things you just have to put up with when you take Clack 2. Because licking some gooey, sticky melting stuff off of your fingers while sitting on the front row of a Clay Aiken concert is just wrong 3. Because I love Strawberry Ice (check the Cedar Point pic) And BTW, it was mmmmm-good! *smacks lips* Speaking of things that people put up with when taking Clack... After the Asheville show certain members of the eHP excitedly told me that one of them had a picture with lots of skin! Of course I wanted to go see so we went to huddle in a corner of the Biltmore courtyard to check it out. She opened the viewfinder and held it where I could see but not close enough to grab. The first thing I noticed that was wrong with the picture was the underwear -- "no, that couldn't possibly be Clay's" -- and my next thought was "but he wasn't wearing a peach shirt tonight", and then finally it dawned on me that the skin I was looking at didn't belong to Clay. Big echoing SHRIEK!!! So now, aside from holding a camera, keeping it steady, dodging the clack police we also have to dodge the camera-toting ehP?!! Unfortunately gravity works exactly the same way on stage as it does in the audience and when you hold a camera over your head for as long as the Classics Medley, it's inevitable that something'll slip. Can anyone bring suspenders to the Florida shows? And to you people (you know who you are) I hope all the downloaders who barf from shaky video'll take Angela's whip and hunt you down!!! luckiest, I loved Lick's and I hope they expand southward. Ditto Tim Horton's. However, it would have been good to try Bojangles too. Someday I hope to ride with people who'll actually take me to one. playbiller, thanks for the link!

You know KAndre, merrieeee, and I aren't getting there until Friday, right? You never listen to PerusingOne so I don't know who's going to stop you. How about a humongous thunderstorm in DC ? For the first time this year, I was 1.5 hours early for check-in. I breezed throught security, had a long quiet meal at Terminal E (the one with the Pappadeaux places) before heading back to my gate in Terminal C and getting a frantic call from PerusingOne saying that my plane's been delayed 30 min... 1 hr... 2 hrs... 2.5 hrs... I look outed the window, up at the sky. Nothing. I check edRaleigh weather -- humid but clear. What's causing all these delays? Turns out that our plane was supposed to come from DC and it was stalled there due to bad weather. *sighs* Sorry, ldyjocelyn! That'll teach me to give actual time estimates for Clack. OTOH, if I had to pick a place to be plopped down at 2:30 am with no access to voice mail (since the speeddial number changed and I don't have the actual voicemail phone), it would have to be Raleigh-Durham airport. Ten minutes here and I'm in my happy place -- nevermind that I started the day so cranky that I couldn't appreciate pictures of the most gorgeous guy walking around my favorite place on earth + that even messier flight delay. But people are just so nice here. Really. From the hotel shuttle driver who wanted to lift me into the shuttle when the step was a bit too high for me, to the hotel lobby clerk who greeted me by name and proceeded to give me step-by-step directions to my room -- go straight out those doors then turn left then open another door then get into the elevator, go to the 3rd floor, when you get out of the elevator turn to your left and your room will be the 2nd door on the right (!), to my fellow passengers on the flight (the ones from here, not from back home), etc....if niceness were bullets, it would have been a bloodbath. Also, PerusingOne left an ice cream sandwich for me in the freezer. And then waited up for me. '*contented sigh* This is how the world should be. Solo's going.... so why are you sitting there posting instead of working.... ok, ok, signing off now. Thanks for waiting and sorry for grumbling about everything. Clay's singing tonight. All is well. Oh but I do have one last gripe before I completely get into the Cary concert happiness fog... ITA with couchie on loud cellcerters. I don't mean people who don't know better and just get carried away. I mean experienced cellcerters who ought to know how cellcerts and clack work. I have direct experience with one and now I have super-clear .wav files of this word-for-word recap, overlaid on Clay's singing, with extra comments whenever Clay didn't quite hit something ITHO or moved too much or didn't move enough, etc. I'm not talking about people who can't help but cry, laugh, giggle, squeeeee. I've gasped OMG over my own audio myself and I'm not trying to make anyone suppress reactions -- but talking over the songs? And repeating the banter word for word? If the phone can't transmit it clearly, borrow someone else's. I'm sitting right there and my phone's not being used. If the person on the other end that night had only known what you were doing to pcm audio, she would have reached in through the phone line and grabbed your tonsils. *takes a deep breath* There, I got it out of my system. Thanks for listening/scrolling. On to good times today...

ldyjocelyn, I have that clack but I had a tough decision to make after I got home from Toronto last night: wash my mountain of clothes & pack or render that clack and just haul the Pala dirty laundry all the way to Raleigh tonight (& dump them on KAndre's side of the room). Since she's the only one in the eHP who'll be within smelling distance of Clay at the Cary show, I let her off for once. Because she was nice enough to take me to In-n-Out in Indio -- didn't even have to pout very much for that one. In-n-Out was good! Almost as good as Licks in Toronto Monday night where I ended up after KAndre somehow got us to LAX on time for a 12:30 flight (we left Indio around 9, 9:30) back to Houston, where I put in a REAL day's work unlike some people who stare at a Ticketmaster window all the time, and then after work it was off to yet another country. Licks is now my top regional fastfood joint; heavenly ice cream and the best burgers and poutine this side of Montreal. That lineup could change when Bojangles gets into the picture tonight, though. I should be working on the clip around midnight Raleigh time (assuming the naptime nazis aren't about), and should get that snip to you v. soon [tm:Clay-who-also-said-it's-more-special]. /jk And for those who are shocked about my choice of dressing rooms lately, well I'll just say that Clay is my role model and if he says skin is in this year, so be it. I'm going to match my idol one for one in everything he does. I'm probably all alone in this but that guy I see in the Cedar Point pictures wasn't dressed to just hang around for a fun day with friends and I'm rather sad. I'm no longer too disappointed that I didn't run into him -- wouldn't have known whether to wave hi or ask for an autograph.