bottlecap

I'm afraid it's time for another "bottlecap is a bad Clay Fan" post. On the second anniversary of the release of MOAM, I'm finally ready to admit publicly that I hated the CD the first time I listened to it. At that point in time, I don't think I was very clued into the Internet thing, and was only reading the main Clay thread at TWoP. I may have come across the Entertainment thread at some point, and been scared off by the intensity of the fangirling going on there. I had very little idea what was going on during the American Idol tour, and certainly hadn't heard any previews of "Invisible". In fact, to this day, I have watched very little footage of the AI tour, other than what was on the "Life on the Road" special, and the scenes that pop up in montages. I should probably do a little downloading during the next drought. [i also need to get the TITN / BOTW single at some point, as I never bought that after AI. Yeah, all the dirty laundry is getting aired out tonight!] I watched and taped the Prime Time Live interview and the Leno appearance, which I loved. Clay seemed so happy to be performing, and he could actually move on stage! Well, he could do those little kicks and the jacket tug, anyway. Turning his feet backwards was just a bonus at that point. I dutifully bought my copy of MOAM that Tuesday after work. [CD release parties and midnight purchases - totally foreign concept to me at that time.] I put into into my boombox, and grooved along to "Invisible". And then everything seemed to blend together to me... There was that country sounding song in there [WYSYLM], and I was of course familiar with TITN from the finale and from the radio. The rest of the songs seemed to all sound the same to me, and I was ready to cry from disappointment. Looking back on it now, I know now that I really need to live with some music for awhile to come to appreciate it, thus my fondness for "Best of" albums. I also had AI Clay's voice stuck in my head, and was expecting more of his lower register on the CD. [A reason I loved the Elvis set from the JBT, and my dearest wish for the new CD.] I took MOAM into work the next day, and had my one of my follow AI fan co-workers listen to it. He liked it, so I was encouraged to keep listening. Two years later, here I am... Do I now love everything on MOAM from the quacked out "Watcha doin' tonight" to the crunchy guitar hooks on "Y'all can hold up your signs all you want, I ain't singing "Touch" " ? Honestly, no, not all of it. I like to do my own little shirt tugs along with "Invisible" when no ones looking. I really dig "I Will Carry You" and the Kimmel performance is one of my favorites. Because of that show, "IWCY" now has a late night, groovy, intimate vibe in my mind. Pissy NAT Clay made me look at "I Survived You" differently. And of course the opportunity to scream the words to "Invisible" along with Clay and 4,500 other fans this summer was a truly memorable experience. So, no, I don't love everything about MOAM, but two years later, I do appreciate it as the launching pad it was for Clay's career, and for the part it played in putting him where he is now. So, what's up with the next one, Clay? One last confession about MOAM: Until about six months ago, I thought "Even when I scream out" was "Even in the streetlight". No, it makes no sense in the context of the song, but I never said I was a musical prodigy. I don't even what to discuss my difficulties trying to decipher REM's lyrics....

Also, the WWJD bracelet looks like its on Clay's left arm in the picture, instead of on his right arm like it normally is. Maybe one of our lovely photographic experts, like Skatejoy or buzztechie could explain how it happens. I vote for carelessness, but what do I know?

Thanks for the advice, cameocat. I'll definitely pay more attention in the future. In the meantime, I checked my pending list, and discovered I have 34 other pins coming (yikes!), so I'll get over the one I missed out on. Can't wait for your pins to finally arrive, artquest, and so much appreciate all the work you put in on them, and all the hassle you had to go through to get them manufactured properly. Smooches to you!

Yikes - learn from my mistake! I was looking over my PayPal account, and found that one of my orders / payments hadn't gone through because I missed an "S" in the e-mail address. Of course, the pin is now sold out, so I'm out of luck. The moral of the story: Double-check that e-mail address when you are initiating a payment!! [This is also why I like the pages that have an "Add to your cart" button; less opportunity for me to screw up!]

Just some random thoughts tonight - no coherent narrative: Our boyfriend is definitely the sexiest geek on that list, even if his smirk is on the wrong side of his face in that picture. Clay could learn a thing or two from Beck about making funky, cool videos. I'd like to have a word with Chris Martin about why Coldplay chose a whiny, droning song like "Fix You" to release as a single - hate it! Zach Braff is too funny and he has been supportive of Clay, so thumbs up to him. Poor Neil Patrick Harris will always and forever be Doogie Howser, no matter what else he's in. Jon Stewart is sexy / smart, and even my 80 year old mom has a crush on him from seeing him on Oprah. [Off-topic comment on the power of Oprah - my mom was also spontaneously able to identify Usher from seeing him on Oprah's show. Mom's not exactly in Usher's target demographic, but still...] Pins - yah, four new ones came in the mail today! My bulletin board is getting full, and I'm going to have to start thinking seriously about how to display the Christmas pins. Maybe I'll have to jam them into one of my Santa bears, or more appropriately, find a stuffed penguin. Hummmm.... Someone please take away my credit card. I caved, and ordered the baseball jersey and ball cap from the Clique site when the sale started. I know I'll be lucky to get the order before Christmas, but the power of Clay compelled me. I am consoling myself with the thought that my purchase financed some tiny part of the construction of Aiken Acres in Raleigh. Maybe a doorknob..... Maybe a doorknob in the master bedroom.... A doorknob in the master bedroom that gets a lovely pair of jeans hung on it...... LuvTugs, it's a couple of days later, and I'm still snickering over this line in your skit: It's like he's a little kid trying to slip cookies into the shopping cart when your back is turned. _______________________________________ eta: CLAY HAS A NEW BLOG ENTRY - a very short announcement about Andy Abad's baby girl being born. And an "Oh by the way" blurb slipped in that Andy is the new musical director.

Hee, LuvTugs, between your skit and Mrs. SloMoki (page 6 of the current CH thread, by the way), I went to bed last night with a big smirk on my face. Everyone in the Clay Nation may be 12 years old, and I think that includes Clay and Company, too. Makes me want to put my hair in pony-tails, so he has the opportunity to pull them, so to speak.

High fives to txflwrgrl. [Hey, how is that red leather outfit coming along for JNT 05?] About the online store sale: I should clarify that the e-mail said the sale would start Monday at 5:00 PDT, and it doesn't look like everything will be marked down. It wasn't clear from the e-mail if the signed pass with the $100.00 purchase offer would start then, or right away. I don't know if that's been addressed somewhere or not. Either way, I image there will be a number of pissed off purchasers. I should know better, but I am considering the ball cap, and maybe a t-shirt to make the $12.00 fee for shipping worthwhile. I am trying to resist, since Clique did such a crappy job with the other stuff, but I am afraid resistance is futile. [As illustrated by the length of my PayPal pin purchase history.] Maybe we all need to start chanting "Calender, Calender, Calender"! Yeah, the OFC doesn't do much for me either, except for the blogs. The message boards either make my IQ drop a couple of dozen points, or my blood pressure rise, so I only check them out if I'm looking for specific information. So diamondjake2001 thinks I might be some sort of husband stealing, drummer-groupie hoochy? Well, I never!!! dj, I am sticking my tongue out at you . [And I am surreptiously winking at Mr. dj ]. ____________________________________ eta: And I am BWAHing like mad at LuvTugs!!!! Although, I almost didn't make it past this line: I also got stuck at this point:

It's all about the forearms, buzztechie. ____________________________________ eta: So the Clique online store is putting the JBT stuff on sale and offering a signed tour pass with a $100.00 purchase for a select few? Too little, too late, dudes! Although maybe this indicates that Clique may have finally gotten a tiny clue that the Clay Nation is royally pissed about the quality of the merchandise for the prices and the crappy service. Think anything will improve for the JNT 2005 stuff?

Actually, Skatejoy, I have always had a bit of a thing for drummers, so Larry is my U2 crush.

Hope everyone at least got in the door at their venues at today's presales. It certainly sounds like there was plenty of frustration to go around. Hugs to Y'all! So, I know we hate Conan with the hate of a thousand burning suns, but U2 is on for the whole hour tonight, and I luurrve Bono, the Edge (coolest nickname ever), Adam, and Larry. Can I tape it if I do some sort of penance to make up for my disloyalty? I swear I'll fast forward past the Conan parts (plus I'll swear at Conan's parts.)

Awhoo Hooo! The Official Fan Club hits 10,000 members today - that's a lot of of $$$ to fill the pockets of our boyfriend's lovely jeans! Also, I can't wait to see the outcome of the Clothes Off Our Backs auction tonight. Do we expect to see any last minute bidding, or are the prices as high as they're going to go? Good luck to those of you doing the Ticketmaster tango for the pre-sales tomorrow!

Couchie, baby, I've been here all along, perched on the corner of my couch, across the country from you. Mind-blowing, isn't it? I've been trying to figure out how I would have been spending my time if I didn't have this little hobby [cough*all-consuming-obsession*cough] to occupy me. I can't even image that. Maybe I would be caught up on the sixty page TWoP thread on the lastest episode of Lost, instead of clicking around on the Clay sites!

I am enjoying the Country Music Clack, but at the same time, it gives me a knot in the pit of my stomach, because I keep thinking: What if that was as far as Clay's musical career had gone? What if, instead of selling his multi-million dollar LA house and building another one, he had to worry about Fay losing her home because they couldn't make the mortgage payments? What if, instead of having the opportunity to lobby Congress for funds for special education and UNICEF, he was having to beg the local school board for funds for his classroom? What if, instead of vacationing with a ton of friends in a beautiful house in the outer banks, he had to struggle to scrape together the funds to spend a week-end at the beach? What if, in twenty years time, he was one of the middle-aged guys in the jeans and cowboy boots, doing the occasional week-end gig, still wondering how things might have turned out if he had taken a different path? I'm sure Clay would still have a fulfilling life, but like Couch Tomato and Ansa note above me, the ride sure would be a lot less interesting! Yeah, I think about that kind of stuff, and then I whisper a sincere "Thank you, Jesus". Provident direction, indeed!

Watching Clack is a tough job, LuvTugs, but I'm happy to help out a fellow FCA'er. Hope you have success in replacing your stuff. Couchie, in reference to the plaid jacket, I will paraphrase one of Clay's songs: You Can't Make Me Love It If I Don't. Glad to see the Brett news is O-FFi-Chul. Uh Oh, busted over the house thing. Clay, dude, I'd feel a little more guilty about checking out the view of the master bath of a house you don't even live in any more if you hadn't already showed us footage of the view down your throat to your vocal cords. I think that a was little more intimate than admiring your grand piano online. [Okay, I do feel a little guilty. I blame the TWoP troll that posted the link to the real estate site. I have no self-control. ] I still don't know how I feel about the whole "Clay reads the Boards" idea that some of his blog entries seem to feed into. Personally, I hope it's just a matter of Team Clay feeding him the highlights of what's going on in the Clay Nation, and not that he's really lurking out there. I can't image Clay has the time to read that much, and more importantly, I think it would be very tough to process all that really personal analysis, both good and bad. Just in case, though: Clay, buddy, is that penguin house broken yet? If not, make sure you tip the housekeeping staff at the hotel very well. The herring smell can be very hard to get out of the carpeting. Oh, and I took a quick look at the artist website he linked. Her paintings are, ummm, interesting, I guess, but look a little amateurish to me. I like the sculptures a little better than the paintings. YMMV.

Well, I might be willing to embrace the fugly jacket if I could then rip it off, throw it on the floor, and kick it under the bed. What, is that not what you meant? Thanks for the link to your montages, LuvTugs. I've got them in my download manager, and will check them out tomorrow. ________________________________________ eta: Sunday afternoon. LuvTugs, I checked out your montages at the site you linked. Wow, loved all four of them! Because He Loves - It really makes an impact to see his all his charitable appearances strung together like that, and that's just the stuff we know about. Clay is making more of a difference than he will ever know. The River - I liked the retrospective aspect, and I really liked all the bus shots, most of which I have never seen before. He really is the captain of his ship, isn't he? Walking in Memphis - Loved the NAT footage, and I literally gasped at the end when you did the transition from Elvis to Clay reaching out to the crowd. That was pretty powerful. Heart and Soul - This is the one I voted for. You really used some great JBT footage to show off his laser green eyes - both the intense moments, and the astonishingly sparkly ones!

Geez, I can't believe it's October already. And I also can't believe I have to look at the calender picture with the fugly plaid used-car salesman jacket for a month. Oh, well, I'll just have to concentrate on the kinda sexy, intense expression on Mr. October's face, instead of the jacket. I was watching some Toledo concert Clack (by the lovely and talent Scarlett). Right before he hits the jukebox to start the show, S'von jokes that Clay's working on his next single with Dr. Dre. Hah! I'm not sure how the random lyric generator would handle some rapid fire rap lyrics!

Waves to LuvTugs up there, who I see is a fellow avid Clackhouse lurker. Welcome to the main thread! So, I read in your introduction that you are a montage maker. Cough up those links, girl! I would think we would be done with brand new Clack for awhile, so I need some montages to download!

So, I've never seen Reba, but I have to say I'm impressed with this Melissa chick from The Insider baby shower piece. She was very funny in the interview, and she had the presence of mind to take every opportunity she could to hug and handle the Aiken. Of course, she has now probably added another thing to scream at her husband when she's in labor. Besides the classic: "You're never touching me again, you bastard!", or "Shut up about the breathing and go get me drugs!", she might add "OMG, why are you not Clay Aiken!" Also, Clay was quite the little fanboy with Reba, wasn't he? Watch and learn, baby!

I had a “Duh” moment when I was trying to figure out the reason Clay agreed to cover a baby shower for The Insider. Why would he want to be surrounded by a group of squealing, hormonally-charged women?….. Well, duh, I answered my own question there. It’s been over three weeks since Clay’s been on stage, and he misses us! We miss you too, baby! The teaser videos for The Insider are here. Very cute! A little piece on the shower, and a bit with Reba.

I have put all the Clack from the September TV appearances into a folder on my PC so I can burn a DVD easily when the month is over. Geez, there were a lot of little hits of Clack for September, and that doesn't even count all the new concert video that continues to flood in, plus all the great montages. I think I need to schedule some serious burning time this week-end, or I won't be ready for the JNT05 stuff in a little over a month! AWhooo HOoo! Clack, Clack everywhere!

60 Seconds with bottlecap: Football: Where two minutes on the clock means a half an hour in real time. 60 Seconds with Jimmy Kimmel: LOVED IT – The tone was perfect, and how scorching hawt was QB Clay? I was convinced. I’m looking forward to catching up on the male reactions. Went to bed for an hour or so – was reluctant to get back up at 12:30, and was a little pissed that the local news cast was still on. Time to check out the EEEEEEing! Apparently the Clay Nation approved of the MNF bit. Boy, there are a lot of advertisements for sleeping pills and mattress stores on late, late night TV. Goats: more than I needed to know. Clay on Kimmel: Great hair, loved the jeans and the boots, and was that the Kenneth Cole jacket? Then, the Sweater. Umm, do you think we could feed that atrocity to the goats? Other guests: Scott Caan is certainly small, and why was Weezer on wires? This morning: Diet Coke is my new best friend.

I hope not. I looked at this William dude's pictures and watched some of the video and can't say I'm really digging him. He looks like he would be the type of artist who would pull in a lot of money with a PBS special during the pledge drive week. He also looks a little on the short and squat side to me, although it's hard to tell for sure. I'll stick with our tall, pasty and handsome boyfriend, and his medium, dark and handsome musical director / sidekick, S'von. Of course, I'm not going to JNT05, and neither is my dog or my neighbor's dog [as far as I know], so I don't think I get a vote! In the meantime, I'm setting my alarm for 12:30 to try to catch Kimmel. That's probably too early, and I hope Nightline doesn't put me back to sleep!

Sorry, y'all, but the high pitched cliggle drives me up the wall. Does this mean I have to give up my fan club membership and turn in all my pins?

Since it's a little too early for Santa, I'm sending my Kimmel show wish list to the Great Pumpkin. Dear Great Pumpkin: Please let there be - A great outfit (no egg-yolk yellow or lime green shirt, please!) - Good hair. - An audience full of appropriately appreciative and screaming hoochies. - At least a passing mention of UNICEF, the Christmas tour, the paperback release, and pretty please, the next CD. - No giggling, shrieking or squealing. (Well, maybe a little squealing would be okay). - No cootie jokes. - No disturbing father / son cupid duos - Penguins, penguins, penguins. Great Pumpkin, if you come through for me on this, I solemnly promise that I will actually pass out the Halloween candy I buy, instead of eating it all ahead of time and hiding in my house with the lights off. Regards, bottlecap PS: If you could arrange for the show to actually come on at a reasonable time after Monday Night Football and / or be repeated next week, that would be great too!

Hook me up with one of the limited edition silver FCA pins, and I'll drop the topic faster than RCA dropped Guarini. If I happen to miss out, I'm willing to drag the joke out for pages and pages. [Exhibit A: Penguins, penguins, penguins.]