artquest

You bet, sweetie! Diva, too. And pretty much everyone else. Wheeeeee, it's a love fest. OK, I'm done now. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

Artquest raises her hand. I looked for the definition to confirm my poddish status but couldn't find it. In lieu of an offical report, I name myself pod person, or at least pod-lite. However, there are lots of people here I really like (waves to Muski and Karen Eh? and Couch Tomato and Ansa and JennaZ and many others), so I think I'm staying.

After the segment was over, Clay dismounted (heh) in the usual fashion. He looked like he knew what he was doing - nothing clumsy in the maneuver. (Why does this keep sounding like smut?) Then they led the horse off and put back the chair and a little table next to it for Clay's water glass. After the second segment, they added the sofa. There was one guy with a bottle of water whose job, it seemed, was to keep Clay's glass full. He was a very busy man. They looked like boots but not cowboy boots. In the break between Aida's segment, she and Clay talked, talked, talked, first as she was sitting on the chair, and in a later break, when they were sitting on the sofa. I think she might have put her hands on the man just a tiny bit more than was necessary, but who am I to judge, right? The air in Los Angeles has been very dry. During the Griffith Park fire, the humidity dropped down to single digits, which is unusual for us. The entire basin was kinda smoky yesterday, and closer to the park smelled of smoke. I was surprised that Clay was wearing his contacts, but it must not have bothered him too much. We who were outside in line all afternoon weren't too bothered by the smoke either. Just the heat. Once they let you inside the Kimmel building, you usually have to wait, in line, crunched in together, for up to an hour before they let you inside the studio. There's a HUGE screen on the wall that plays Kimmel video to keep us amused. For the last three visits, it's been the same video. This time we got new stuff, including a lot from the Jimmy Kimmel salutes Jimmy Kimmel primetime show. There were some nice clips of Clay slamming Jimmy against the wall and Clay and Jimmy singing together. This got endless cheers from the crowd.

As requested, here's a little recap: Kimmel was fun. I'm always a little surprised when it is, because after waiting in line all afternoon, some of that in the hot afternoon sun, I keep telling myself I'm never going to do this again. And then the little shit shows up on a horse, does an interview, on a horse, and rides off into the sunset, on a horse. Hysterical. Clay and Aida really hit it off. During the break they were talking with great animation. Our supposition later was that the topic was Gregory and his diabetes, but who knows. However, you can tell that she enthusiastically jumped onto the sofa to sit with him, where they kept talking to each other and looking at each other and stuff throughout the rest of the show. I'm not shipping here, just saying that the man's easy charm is hard to resist. During Alexa's song, Clay had his arm along the back of the couch. His fingers were never still, tapping along with the music while he generally grooved to the song. He seemed to have a great time, as did we all. And while I'm at it, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE to the new CD!

BWAH!

I'm laughing so hard the tears are rolling down my face. You are so, so right about all of that. It first happened at the AI2 Anaheim show when I wound up in a bed with two other people I had never met before and, as you said, for whom I only had nicknames. It was a little unsettling, but that was only the beginning. Still, I would not have missed any of this for the world. ETA, Scarlett has a last name?

Enablers, the lot of you. In fact, Clay was right: the entire fandom is full of enablers. I remember sitting in a bar in Nashville before the NAT concert, innocently drinking my beer, when my phone rang. Next thing I know I've got a ticket to a concert in Albuquerque. I didn't even know how to spell Albuquerque, but there you go. Had a blast. Went to the New Mexico State Fair, had a conversation with a pleasant but psychotic man who was hallucinating flies all around himself, and bought a pair of cowboy boots. Great concert, too!

We had a really good time. I had been looking for an excuse to see a concert there, so this worked out well for me. The place is set up in a circular format, with seats all around, some even behind the stage. We were well up on the side, stage right, behind the front of the stage. Which meant we saw a lot of bootie as well as all the glowsticks in the audience. In preparation for the Il Divo performance, they handed out the sticks and made us practice waving them in sync. We did well in practice, not too well live. Sort of haphazard but enthusiastic! There was a huge ovation for Ellen. Alas, they didn't give her much to do. Too bad because she's super at this kind of thing. Il Divo? Not so much. There were some cheers for the sound check but only nice applause after the performance. Contrast this to very enthusiastic responses to Kelly and Josh and Annie and wild standing ovations for them all. For what it's worth, during the break, the off camera host asked one of the ladies sitting in the front row if she liked Josh. "Oh, yes," she said. "I've been to NINE concerts!" "Pfffffhhhht," said my concert buddy in my ear. "Amateurs!" Hee. There was a huge jumbotron hanging from the back of the stage. We watched the live feeds from the Idol stage there. During our own concerts, the backdrop was part of the set, so I had to wait till I got home to see how everything looked on the TV. I have to say that Groban and Clarkson and Lennox sounded absolutely fabulous live. However, the broadcast version didn't sound so good. Apparently the Disney Hall acoustics are very kind to live performances but the balance may not be so good for broadcast. Who knows. Anyway, Lennox brought the house down. Mostly a great show. I'm glad we went.

I was in Disney Hall watching the live show there and the live feeds from the Idol stage. The show started exactly on time for the East Coast feed and ran right through till the end. There just wasn't time to do any editing. What there was time for was for the director to switch cameras from one view to another as the live show progressed, based on that person's judgement in the moment. That is likely to have presented a different image to the TV viewers than what people were focusing on in the auditorium. Time to cut and paste? Nope. Sorry I can't seem to get the quotes in the right place. Guess I can't cut and paste either!

I have Kim's Where the Boys Are. PM me and let me know where to send it. The full quote from the Kimmel via ImNotWorthy is I laughed out loud.

Hey, not so fast with my jacket there, chickie!

Sweating Blood for Clay Tickets

Excellent question! My favorites are my PROC and Zombie Hoard t-shirts and the oddest bit of Clack ever that a dear person shared with me: It's a card offering entry to a raffle for Clay concert tickets if the card holder donates blood. Really! You can't make this stuff up. Should I dig it up and post a scan? And we just thought that sweating blood for Clay tickets was a metaphor.

I'm not Muski, but I do have a Mac. I dropped by to see how the new site looks (wonderful!). The tour section is fine, the text on the Independent Tour starts right under the photo. Hope that's what you needed to know.

Not boring, not at all, at least to me because I was thinking the exact same thing: That first rush of infatuation, where it's all you can do to keep breathing because you've become obsessed with the person you love, doesn't last forever. Thank god. I mean it's wonderful, but it's exhausting. I've been married almost 40 years to a man I love more each day, but it's a deep, mellow, companionship love that's sustainable for decades. I imagine the same thing is happening with Clay as it does with any beloved entertainer once those first intense times are over. Or at least any entertainer who's going to have legs. Or so I tell myself, but at the Kimmel concert in September I cried through all five songs because I was so happy to see him!

Here's a problem I'm running into with the gift box pin. I chose the metal clutches instead of the usual rubber ones because I thought they would blend in better if folks hung them on the tree. Now I'm finding out that these metal backs tear the heck out of my plastic bubble wrap envelopes. I've had more comments on damaged pins and ripped envelopes than with anything else I've done. In fact, I got a pin back in the mail today, and the envelope is punctured in a lot of places. I've taken to double wrapping the wait list and replacement pins in extra bubble wrap. Plus, I don't think I'll use these metal backs if I ever do pins again. Did anyone else have this problem or were you all smart enough to use the rubber backs?

And now for something different: I have a bunch of defective Jukebox DVD pins. Over 800, in fact. Since the first batch of pins arrived with the "pages" in the wrong order, they've been sitting in the guest bathroom while I worked on getting the right pins to the right people. Now that that's mostly done, I have to figure out what to do with these babies. 1. Throw them away? 2. Sell them for the cost of the shipping & handling (about $1.25 each as they're really heavy) 3. Sell them for more and donate the surplus (everything over $1.25) to the BAF or UNICEF or such? 4. Distribute only a limited edition, put a few on ebay and retire wealthy? (OK, maybe not that one . . .) I don't want to dimish the value of the ones that were done correctly. Any suggestions?

The customer service part should definitely include some suggestions on ordering extra pins to cover damaged goods and replacements. The price of individual pins should include a little extra to cover this "cushion."

I looked through my stash very quickly and did not see a photo pin from Pin Pros, but I could easily have overlooked one. The Annointed Voice pin was done by National. RedJet used Jeff at Pin Promotions for her sketch pins. I did see several that were done by Lapel Pins and some by Pinz. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Let's see where to begin: I've never worked with Pams Creative's, so I have no opinion. I've now worked with Jeff three times. I would work with him again, even though our history hasn't been smooth. The reason? He always came through. Always. Sometimes it took a long time. From start to finish the Jukebox DVD pins took almost four months. First they had problems in manufacturing that necessitated making the pins again but making them bigger. Then they shipped but had been assembled incorrectly. So they made them again and shipped, and they turned out to be pretty amazing. The Holiday Gift Pins took four weeks, but then he said they would take three to four weeks. Both of these were hinged pins, which complicates and slows down the manufacturing process. The Great Balls of Fire pin process was flawless. In and out in less than ten days. Jeff's pretty responsive, but you have to be prepared to stay in touch with him. It didn't work for me to wait for him to call or write. I found him always pleasant, though. The proofs looked exactly like the pins. Except the pins are prettier. Hope this helps. And thanks for letting me know about The Way We Make a Difference pin.

I'm interested in hearing from people when they get their Jukebox DVD pins. I'm also VERY interested if they DON'T arrive. In other news, I made a donation to some group this summer and was supposed to get a pin. I don't think it ever arrived. Does anyone remember this group and/or pin? Finally, I just got off the phone with Jeff at Pin Promotions. I was checking on the shipping date of the Holiday Gift pin. Turns out he's in the path of Hurricane Wilma. He's sent everyone at the company home except for himself and one other. They seem to be planning on riding out the storm there. I wish him well. He always came through for me, even through long, sometimes very long, delays. {{{{{{Jeff}}}}}}

The Jukebox DVD pins have landed!!! Mr. Artquest says they look great, but I have to get home and hold these babies in my hands to be sure. I won't be able to start packaging them until tomorrow night, and then they'll be mailed out by the number of pins in each order. Look for the one and two pin orders to go out on Friday, the rest on Saturday and Monday. Everyone has been so patient! No one person has whined or complained or gotten angry. Not a single person. Thank you all for your patience.

I just got shipping dates for the two sets of pins I've been waiting (and waiting and waiting - oh, wait. That's whining, and this is a no whining zone. Sorry.) for. The Jukebox DVD hinged pins are set to ship on October 18th. The Holiday Gift Pin is set to ship on October 22nd. We'll see. * Artquest crosses fingers, toes and eyes. * Start looking for them in your mailboxes about 8-10 days after the shipping date. Those on the waiting lists for these pins should hear something about the same time - about 8-10 days after the shipping date.

So I called Jeff at Pin Promotions this morning, just to check in, and he said the pins are on their way!!!!! All of them. In three boxes!!! I was so happy I cried. Then I said, "Holy Shit." And Jeff said, "You said a bad word." And I said, "I'm sorry. Only not!" And then I did a happy dance all around the kitchen. So he and I will talk on Tuesday about the design for the Christmas pin and what we've learned and what, if anything, needs to be altered to make this easier. And then I have to put it up for orders as it'll take two months to deliver, which puts that towards the beginning of November. Whew. Did I say I was happy?

I used my AOL ftp site for the ordering page for the Great Balls of Fire pin and the pin jpeg. I tried the aol hometown page 7 or 8 years ago as a home page for a craft club and was turned off by the endless advertising. Have they stopped that? My post office asked me to bring them in bins, one for each weight category. I actually put them in separate bins for each number of pins in the order: 1 pin, 2 pins, 3 pins, etc. I could have used those sturdy plastic bins from the post office, but had already bought cardboard bins from Staples ($1.95 each). These worked great, and I could write on the side what the contents were. Now a question of my own: What pin makers have folks worked with and what were your experiences? I'm having some rocky times with Pin Promotions, although they may come through in the end. We'll see. However, if I make another pin, I would like to consider another company. What has been all y'all's experience?

Not that any of us would ever do this again, *grin*, but . . . Over at The Clackhouse we've been thinking about something additional for our holiday pin, which you view here. If we can get the ribbon loops actually cut out, we're thinking you could put one of those hanging thingies through that and hang the pin as a tiny ornament on one of those small, table-top Christmas trees. It seemed like a really good idea, so I thought I'd pass it along.