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jmh123

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Everything posted by jmh123

  1. And at least one fool poor unlucky person will show up tomorrow in a cast.
  2. Clay tickets no longer available - sold on Stub Hub. Been there for weeks without moving, but I reduced the price a whole lot in the last day or two. Maybe the PR posted above worked too. I'm pleased because at least I got some of my $$ back!! And whoever bought them must be pleased too. I couldn't list the location, only "orchestra" and "together." Surprise! Second row! PS - went and posted at CV, ldyj, as I wanted to get the word out quick and you are crazy busy!
  3. Thanks ldyj. I did get to the fall round, in Cary, and hate missing this one.
  4. Ldyj, I can't get it off either. You could try pasting it into a notepad file, or whatever Apple has that's the equivalent (i.e., a text editor that doesn't transfer most styling codes when you cut and paste). That could strip some of the unwanted codes out of it. Stay safe in this weather! I happened by especially to see how the storm is going where you are. I had a feeling you would post about it. In other news, my concert buddy for Lynchburg will be having surgery on that very day, so I won't be going (she was going to drive). I have two tickets on the aisle, row D, which is effectively second row in front of the pit seats. I'll sell 'em cheap if anyone wants to make a last minute dash to see the show. The new costumes look great! I knew when I bought the tickets that we might not be able to go. The old ticket-buying fever took me over. In still more news, I'm in the final stages of emptying everything from my house and putting it up for sale. Getting rid of at least half of everything I own, to move into an apartment half the size of my house. One of the remaining, final categories of things I haven't sorted and thrown most away of, is my Clay stash. I kid you not, I had convinced myself I had only two boxes, lol. When lilyshine was helping me pack months ago, I asked her to grab those two boxes from the closet in the room she was sleeping in when she woke up the next day - nothing else there but empty boxes, said I. When I woke up, she pointed, and the area upstairs looking out over the living room was piled with boxes! Then I remembered I used to have a "Clay closet". So, if anyone has somehow ended up without copies of any of the very many major magazines Clay has appeared in, sometimes on the cover, let me know. Otherwise, and this breaks my heart, most of them are going to be thrown away. Also around 100+ fan-made CDs and DVDs. Don't have room for it, nobody wants it, and I am still keeping a lot. Programs from every tour. I'm on the fence about tossing those, but really. Thankfully, I carefully labeled them all, which is making this easier. Oh, and those multiple copies of everything - remember those days?? Anyone need a copy of anything Clay ever sold commercially? Lost yours? Still use a CD or DVD player? Chances are I have an extra of everything up through the Christmas EP, All is Well. Hit me up. All is Well used to be hard to get, remember? I met my concert buddy in 2006 when she was wandering around Walmart right after it was released and I surmised that she was a Clay fan looking for it (sold out), so I gave her an extra one from my pocketbook. Years later they were selling them at concerts for cheap, weren't they? Oh, those were the days. At least I only bought one set of tickets for Lynchburg. What have y'all done over the years with your Clay stashes?
  5. TY, I gotta agree with the Grammarist, "best to stay with Noel." Here in NC, Nowell's is or was a clothing store.
  6. Nowell? Have I missed something, ldyj, some correction that's taken hold? Noel is such a beautiful and Christmas-y word.
  7. Missed this first go round. Luckily I was looking for the View date and found it again. I was looking at the video from Asheville by toni7babe, which I think was just a celebration of "September" the song rather than a video from this tour. Definitely Quiana. ETA: On the other hand, it is entirely possible that I totally made up the announcement that Ruben and Clay would be on the View singing a Christmas song.
  8. This one is amazing!!!!!!! Sound quality is good, not up to clack standards for video, but OMG. Took me back.
  9. Qiana y'all!! And red headed Clay. At least sometimes when the light is right.
  10. Hope you had a wonderful birthday, with tasty food and entertainment.
  11. Merrieeee, your daughter was such an amazing person!! 💜
  12. Not much of a guru, sadly. All I do is change colors. Way back in the beginning I could modify the layout, and it was pretty simple, but gradually Invision kept denying more and more access to the back end of the board structure as their system became more and more complex. They said they limited access because messing around back there could break the board next time there's an upgrade. I have broken the board all by myself more than once, but luckily kept notes as I went so I could undo whatever I had done that broke it. For some time I haven't been able to change the color of the quote box, for example, where it says, On 6/10/2023 at 1:29 PM, Mik4clay said: That box is now black, and will be forever black; probably left over from Valentine's Day or Christmas one year when there was a red theme. Another thing I cannot change that drives me nuts is the layout up top. The banner can only be that location and size, and the line next to it, where you log in and get notifications, will forever be there and the text will be white. It used to be that line went over the banner image itself, and the banner went all the way across the page, but that changed, and I couldn't modify any of it. That's why it looks kind of lop-sided. The banner size and location stuck-ness happened early on, but the white color is newer. I used to able to switch from dark to light text for that. There is a place now to enter custom css (styling) but it isn't working for me, or I'm not doing it right. All of this is related to the view on a computer screen. There are places where colors are different if you're on a mobile device, or at least some areas are designated for mobile, but I've ignored those. Now that I think about it, I think the banner size became tiny on mobile, and ldyj asked me to fix that, years ago, but I couldn't. If anyone understands wft I'm talking about, raise your hand. We might recruit you. Oops, forgot where I was going with all that. This time I found I can no longer change the color of the area where one's post appears, which is fine, or the part to the left of it where one's board name and profile are.
  13. I was once taken to work in a bulldozer. Does that count? I worked as a waitress at a hotel restaurant near Crabtree Valley. Back then, Crabtree Creek used to flood the mall and everything around it on a regular basis. People staying at the hotel were watching their cars float away. They were mad and sad and frustrated. They needed food. The restaurant manager literally swam in, and my father drove me as far as he could, and then I was taken in the bucket of the bulldozer the rest of the way. Fortunately the front of the house wasn't flooded. All we could give them was sandwiches, but they were much appreciated.
  14. Merrieeee, she was an amazing person, and led such an interesting life! I can't believe it was cut short like that; it's so unfair--for her students and friends, for you especially.
  15. gbmifan, I'm so impressed, such a long time in one job, but also, the job itself. My niece was in PICU for 17 days after she was born. They saved her life, and also her quality of life. 💜 But, unless you started your career as a child, you are around the same age as I am. You go on long bike trips and do ski patrol! I pictured you as much younger then me. ARGH!
  16. Woah, and there really a whole bunch new dates: https://www.rubenandclay.com/tour
  17. Oh merrieeee, I'm so sorry the two of you are going through this. I'm glad they are managing the pain--that's big. I wish we could somehow make it all go away--it seems so unfair. Lots of love to you both.
  18. I didn't realize the finale was so soon, doh, but I googled, and saw this article and interview with Clay and Ruben in Variety: https://variety.com/2023/music/news/ruben-studdard-clay-aiken-reunion-american-idol-season-21-finale-tour-1235610907/
  19. merrieeee, sending my best thoughts to your daughter, and great news that the surgery went well. Fear, I was wondering who John was - lol - sorry I didn't run into you guys. Enjoy Charlotte!!
  20. I was in Cary. Just got home. Still in the Aiken fog. I went with my friend Barbara, whom I met through the fandom, when we were both in the same Walmart, me looking for more copies of All is Well, and her for her first one. I had one in my purse that I bought for my mother, but ended up not giving it to her because she was too out of it that day to appreciate it, so I gave it to Barbara. We had also PMed on the old board that went with his fansite, when I knew I'd be moving back home and was looking to make Clay friends here--so it was fated. Anyway....I live like 45 minutes away from the venue, and she lives about the same, but neither of us like to driving at night, so we ended up making reservations for the night at a nearby hotel. We had planned to walk to the venue, but fortunately, we decided to drive there and park--so glad we did, there was a lot of walking anyway. We went early so we could get a good space, and ate at the venue. OKOKOK, I'm getting to it. So we're sitting in our seats waiting for the show to start, and right next to me was a gaggle of policemen and some lady, and my first thought was, she's being arrested. Poor thing! Then Lynda Loveland came walking up the aisle, and I thought, she'll vouch for her, and well it was Faye, being protected, not arrested. Faye was with two young men of about the right age to be Parker, and ever since we've been speculating which one (if either) it was. We also saw Jaymes with some friends and one of the maybe-Parkers hugged one of those friends. So this was how we were passing the time, waiting for the show to start. I have some kind of post-viral thing, have had it for years, and really didn't think I was going to make it. But it was Clay!!! So somehow I did. I felt almost like I was in a dream the whole time, an excellent dream. I will surely crash now for days, but it was worth it. OK OK, the show... The lead guitar player started playing the theme song for American Idol, and I don't think most people recognized it. I recognized those notes, dada dum dada dum, but then he went on from there. Shortly after, the PA system came on and played Ruben singing, and the judges talking to him, a male voice I didn't recognize, and then Gladys with the "Velvet Teddybear" line. Ruben came out and sang something, briefly, and then there was another bit about Clay, a male voice saying, what? Duh. I forgot! Something about him making it to the end or being competition for the rest or something. And Clay sang, something... briefly, and then off they went. They were very funny together and both in fine voice. It seemed like Clay felt very liberated to be able to sing as loud as he wanted, as this is a large outdoor venue. A very diverse crowd, not sold out, but good and full. There's seating in the very back, and then lawn seating, and then seating at the front of the stage, and that's where we were, last row on one side. I was surprised at how few people I recognized, which is good--not like the old days when it was the same fans at every concert. There were lots of men, people of different ages, even some families. Not good at set lists, obviously. I had not listened to any clack, but did download some, so I had some idea what to expect. The medleys were lots of fun--Clay actually danced very well in the Back Street Boys part. The back-up singer sang Let's Get Physical, and she had changed into this sexy outfit with cleavage and slit up to here on one side, and Clay and Ruben started doing some serious calisthenics, in unison, while she sang. They wore themselves out and had to stop to breath after, and she was pretend peeved at them for upstaging her. The first medley was Motown, and Clay sang TLS towards the end of that one, a long and gorgeous version. The back-up singer was good throughout, and seemed to get a kick out of them. They took turns joining her to sing back-up for one other many times. There was also a vocal track, as well as some instruments, that was played for some songs. Ruben did a Luther medley, which was wonderful. And then, a high point for me was this--I was expecting Barry Manilow, but Clay sat down on a stool and said, "For those of you who have been to other shows, we're going to do something different tonight. Ruben and I both have sons now, Ruben's is 2 or 3, a "mature 2", and mine is now 14, believe it or not, and has taken driver's ed. already." So, he sang Moon River and dedicated it to Parker. Sigh......... Unchained Melody was amazing--took me back to the first time I heard that, at the PBS taping, and came home saying, "What was that?" WOW. He did a little bit different vocals at the end, high notes of course, didn't do that run up to neeeeeed that he does on the album, but did do a beautiful high "neeeeeed your love" and some riffing at the end. I think this is where Ruben said, you're getting all excited because you're home, doing all these high notes and improvising and sang a high note back at him. Ruben made several nice comments about it being home for Clay, and Clay, of course, talked about being home. Someone from the audience said, "welcome back," and he came back quick as can be with, "I live here. Where've you been?" He also talked about why he had not been performing, and had been doing other things, and lots of people laughed even though he never said specifically that he had run for Congress, while he mouthed things like, "never again," and big mistake," and staged whispered, "please tell me don't do it again." There was also a short intermission, which I think wasn't the case in all the shows, and afterwards Clay did the "where's Ruben?" bit - but then he also sang quite a lot of "Hello" by himself before Ruben came out, and it was beautiful!!!! Clay also said some nice things about how fans not only supported them buying their music and tickets to shows, but fans had actually voted for them, and they would not have had so much success with the fans. Let's see, they bantered about going home for the top 3 and being blown away by how many people came out to see them, and Clay talked about landing in a helicopter in the middle of the Durham Bulls baseball field and there were 15,000 people there and he could not believe it. Ruben did a cute imitation of Clive Davis--they were in the final three when he met him, and he said, "should you make it to the finale, I have chosen these songs for you," and Ruben got Flying with Wings, and Clay said, "because you won, you're stuck with it." He got "This is the Night," and it was the hardest song to sing ever, and he would not be singing that again, but did BTOW instead. The encore was "Impossible Dream," and rather then singing it as a duet, they took turns line by line, and it was sooooo good. The meaning of the song really came through. OK, so I pulled a lot of stuff out of my hat and probably made some things up, but it was wonderful--it's been years and years since I've seen him perform live. So of course I now want to go again. LOL. Not likely to happen though. I looked for FearofH2O and Playbiller, but there were a lot of people there, and I never saw them. I hope they made it.
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