jmh123

WOO HOO for Broadway Cares! That's alot more important in my mind than the People review!!! There are really good things happening in Clay's life right now and alot for us to be happy about. I'm happpeeeeeeee........

I'm happppeeeeee too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are so many fabulous things going on!!!!!!!!

Muski, kf, we will have to have a polygamous marriage with "well now."

He's going to kill me dead on May 6 listening to the album! And seeing him on TV so much in May. YUM!!

Time to break out the spork. I actually woke up this morning thinking of doing my reviews (subliminal messages, luckiest?) but once I got out of bed, I totally forgot. Looks like we'll have some down time after the first round of album promo and will be in need of something to keep from going nuts. So there's still hope.

Well Kandre - We spent alot of yesterday talking about why he wouldn't/couldn't/shouldn't tour in the West. We also spent alot of yesterday talking about what's OTT and what isn't and how people view that differently. And then today we start off the morning describing OTT behavior at ticket booths like it's an every-concert occurrence and that's why "some" venues won't book Clay ( maybe!) So I'm sorry if my post was annoying but I still think that pretty much sums it up! Broad generalizations and exaggerations are made here frequently - I guess they just become annoying if you dont' agree with them.

Not trying to start anything here - honest. But I don't think your post was fair.

And now I must leave for work. I'll read about my crucifixion tonite! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

We don't crucify people here. If you are argumentative, chances are you will get an argument. Simple as that.

And I think that's true at any board.

By the way - when do the predictions come out about how many CDs they think Clay will sell the first week! Is that after the release date? I can't remember.

Friday we should get the first predictions, based on shipments, and Wednesday we should get another prediction based on Tuesday's sales.

KAndre, you've said some really brilliant things, and are inspirational to boot. I don't think I've ever seen you write so eloquently about a serious subject. You rock!! I always worry way too much about what people think, and it just makes me shrink up and be boring. Great insights about the fanbase and about the value of an intense fanbase no matter what they look like. Intense fans are by nature...intense. I think we all realize on some level the irony of middle aged fans cringing at all the middle aged fans, but some of us cringe anyway. So I love your attitude!!

On the other topic du jour: sings "I've looked at life from both sides now." Not really, because NC is still on the east coast and usually gets a concert per tour (although none for CITH), maybe two, but it sure is different from when I lived in the NE. I've travelled much more often, and much farther than before I moved. And you know what, the trips have been really fun, on so many levels. So I love travelling to see Clay!! I know for some people travel is impossible, and I haven't had to go cross country, or across the world (claytonic and ausdon and our other faraway members are the ones who are really deprived), so I have lots of sympathy for those who aren't as lucky as I. All in all, living in ClayLand was the bomb y'all.

Population density map of the US:

Most of Clay's tours have been built around the areas of greatest density in closest proximity to one another. Rightly or wrongly, it's really obvious this has been the methodology by which it's been decided where he will go.

I can't find a link to the Amazon snippets. Going through Amazon download site, I only found OMWH. Can someone help out a poor snippet whore in need?

Here you are: Amazon snippets. It really isn't easy to find.

YAY for the new album by Sir Clay of Aiken, coming next week!!!

And with that, I think I'm going to call it a night. Must be up early tomorrow. I could use some prayers and/or positive thoughts, if you're so inclined. I've got a doctor's appointment for something that's most likely nothing, but the slight possibility of it being something is freaking me out a bit tonight. Thanks! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

You got 'em. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I was busy imagining the album and what it's going to sound like. From the small group of musicians he had there and the tracks TC had added into the mix, and his vocals, I got enough of an impression to believe that is going to be a complex album, musically and stylistically. I love the dissonance of EIDN, the melodic grace of SOU. Where I Draw the Line is very catchy and fun, and yet complicated as well. These are great, great songs he has found, and they all suit his voice so well. Kipper is good, really, really good. I cannot wait--one more week and I'll be headed to Walmart in the middle of the night. Maybe, or maybe just to iTunes. LOL.

:flirtysmile3: :flirtysmile3:

Can't vouch for this as I haven't checked myself but...from CH:

CLAY STO wrote:

You don't suppose they will sell out of his CD at QVC before he's on tomorrow night? eek. I want him on for the full hour and then some, if possible -- maybe singing six of his songs. yes, I'm piggish that way

That could happen.....F05428 (the number for earlier delivery) is already gone from the QVC site, I had to order using F05386 for delivery after May 15th.

And now I am off to CPR training. Have a good day!

The correct order number if F05386, so that was misinformation. F05428 is the number for the back-up, later delivery orders.

Clay will be there for at least the full 1/2 hour. I have no doubt. Cancelling a live appearance and moving on after an item or item theme runs out is entirely different. They can get as many CDs as they need, hence the back-up order number. The CD will probably remain on sale on the site even after the show is over.

I'm cool with it too, Gibby. It's new music from Clay!!! I think WINY must be from about the same era (that is, recorded around the same time) as IYDKMBN, which is one of my favorites from ADTW, and that was a bonus too.

Yes, I'm really looking forward to WINY. I was thinking that was originally rumored to be recorded for MOAM, though. Are you saying, jmh, that you thought IYDKMBY was also possibly recorded in that time frame?

Yes, that's what I've always thought. It just sounds more like AI Clay to me

I'M ALIVE AND HOME!

Runnin' on empty a little bit - but both New York and Clay both kicked ass!

Let me sleep a bit and I'll tell y'all about it....

YAY!! Looking forward to hearing from you and the rest of the eHP!!!!

We get to see Clay on TV tonight. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

The Matthew Rolston TITN video was never officially released, so I assume that's the one.

I'm cool with it too, Gibby. It's new music from Clay!!! I think WINY must be from about the same era (that is, recorded around the same time) as IYDKMBN, which is one of my favorites from ADTW, and that was a bonus too.

EEEEEEEE! If you zoom in on the extra CD/DVD at QVC, it says that Invisible, I Will Carry You and and Measure of a Man are live, and enhanced. Hmmmm, wonder what performances? And TITN is listed as an unreleased video. All of this sounds GREAT to me!

If you zoom in some more, it says the songs are from AOL sessions recorded live, November 2003 and December 2004, I think. So we've had those awhile, although I don't remember any 2004 Sessions recordings. I'm pretty sure TITN is the video that was made and never officially released--it's in the vaults too. So I just paid $15.00 for WINY.

cha cha...I agree that they sound like he could've written those, but I could swear that I read somewhere earlier that this song was written by some guy and the lyrics are online somewhere...I think the guy's version is out there somewhere (I mean, the actual singing of it)..

I'm sure you're right muski. I believe it was playing on the writer's MySpace. Sorry I can't remember who wrote it.

I remember hearing about some sng writtena nd sung by another that was on Clay's album, but I don't remember it being "Grace of God".

When I google the song title I get nothing close to it being a song. All I get is an album (by someone else) a group called GOG and a TV show (Medium) with that name.

I'd be interested in anyone else's results if they find where it was before!!

Grace of God was written by Don Mescall. You can still hear the song on his MySpace: Don Mescall

Dagnabit I've got the top of the page curse again but good!

I saved these, but didn't save the information on where I got them. Sorry.

Where I Draw the Line

It’s all as it should be

You’re the best thing that ever happened to me

I melt every time we kiss

Never felt anything like this

It’s almost too perfect

Just like the thunder brings the rain

Something beautiful brings on the pain

Looks like it’s gonna be the same this time around

I wanna let you in but I don’t know how

I’ve been here one too many times

Seems like whenever I let somebody get this close

I’m right back where I got hurt the most

That’s why

That’s why

Around my heart is where I draw the line

I wish I could just forget

Not have one more regret behind me to remind me

Of what I’ve given up

Could I ever live with this

Knowing that I might have missed

My last chance for love to find me

I could stay here drowning in the rain

Unless you have the strength to save me

Nothing’s gonna change

And it’s gonna be the same this time around

I wanna let you in but I don’t know how

I’ve been here one too many times

Seems like whenever I let somebody get this close

I’m right back where I got hurt the most

That’s why

That’s why

Around my heart is where I draw the line

Whether you’re gonna rescue me

Or you’re gonna be the death of me

It’s gonna be the same this time around

I wanna let you in but I don’t know how

I’ve been here one too many times

Whenever I let somebody get this close

I’m right back where I got hurt the most

And that’s why

That’s why

Around my heart is where I draw the line

Around my heart is where I draw the line

As Long As We're Here

why do we have to fight

why can't we spend our time trying

I wanna be close to you

Keep love from slipping through... my hands

The words said in anger aimed at someone

Are hard to take back once the damage is done

Let's stop now....

As long as we're here... alive on this earth

I'm gonna love you... for all that it's worth

And one of these days ... we're gonna take off and fly...

Let's make the most of of our time

As long as we're here... (yeah...)

Some people live their lives

Holding their fears... inside them

Afraid to build windows

To let the light of the world in...

They hide in the darkness of self-imposed walls

If they could just tear them down... they'd have it all

As long as we're here... alive on this earth

I'm gonna love you for all that it's worth

And one of these days ... we're gonna take off and fly...

Let's make the most of our time

As long as we're here...

When you're with me

i breath easy

you are my need

right now love me

As long as we're here alive on this earth

I'm gonna love you

And one of these days ... we're gonna take off and fly...

As long as we're here... alive on this earth

I'm gonna love you for all that it's worth

And one of these days ... we're gonna take off and fly...

Let's make the most of of our time

I'll make the most of our time

As long as we're here...

As long as we're here...

Forget I Ever Knew You

words and music by Greg Critchley

I lie awake while the rest of the world sleeps happily

I’m tossing and turning in the dark

I try to make some sense of the mess that calls itself my life

Just wish I knew where I should start

I’d go back in time if I could

and erase you from my mind for good

I get so tired of trying

Maybe I should just…

Fly away let my heart pretend

My dream comes true and the story ends

I get on my feet and start again

And forget I ever knew you

I leave the past and rise above

I let you go and fall in love

With everything that I’m made of

Say goodbye to all I’ve been through

And forget I ever knew you

I turn the page I’ve got nothing to say but I’ll start writing anyway

Something that gets me moving on again

Stuck in this place I’m putting one foot in front of the other foot

Maybe today I’ll let this be over and done again

I’d make up my mind if I could

And leave this all behind me for good

I’m getting tired of trying

So maybe I should just…

Fly away let my heart pretend

My dream comes true and the story ends

I get on my feet and start again

And forget I ever knew you

I leave the past and rise above

I let you go and fall in love

With everything that I’m made of

Say goodbye to all I’ve been through

And forget I ever knew you

The sun can shine a little brighter now

I’m gonna make it on my own somehow

And I will start feeling alive again, yeah

I’ll start living life with no regrets

‘Cause the best hasn’t happened yet

I’m just fine with you out of my life

I’ll just, fly away let my heart pretend

My dream comes true and the story ends

I get on my feet and start again

And forget I ever knew you

I leave the past and rise above

I let you go and fall in love

With everything that I’m made of

Say goodbye to all I’ve been through

And forget I ever knew you

And forget I ever knew you

I never knew you

Say goodbye to all I’ve been through

And forget I ever knew you

On My Way Here was written by Hunter Davis, Anna Christina Faulk and Ryan B. Tedder

Agreed, playbiller. It was charting on the mp3 download only chart, no biggie--but it was starting to attract attention and the word was getting out, which might expose the Idol machine at work. No wrong-doing on Cook's part that I can see. He put the album out two years ago.

Muskifest, go to the CH and see the responses to your post there. It's old news and much discussed. This is a perfect example of how the press can spin something as negative that really isn't. See: Presidential election. As yourself why you are reacting to this the way you have, when three contestants have released albums from major labels and actually changed their names on Idol to try to avoid discovery of that fact (Carly, Michael Johns, and Kristy Lee Cook), and five contestants have albums currently for sale on Amazon (those three, David--whose album was pulled after this column--and Brooke). Also, consider the source (Roger Friedman), a nasty old gossip who was always hanging around the swamp and trying to get dirt on Clay.

There is one thing--if your mother ever was married to a man who was a veteran, there is some assistance available from the VA. Don't know much about this, but worth looking into if it fits. If she's doesn't have enough money to pay for her own care, she definitely qualifies financially.

You have to be "the surviving spouse ... of the deceased veteran" so divorce may make her ineligible.

• The VETERANS' AID AND ATTENDANCE SPECIAL PENSION

INTRODUCTION TO THE VETERANS' AID AND ATTENDANCE SPECIAL PENSION

The Veterans' Administration offers a Special Pension with Aid and Attendance (A&A) benefit that is largely unknown. This Special Pension (part of the VA Improved Pension program) allows for Veterans and surviving spouses who require the regular attendance of another person to assist in eating, bathing, dressing, undressing or taking care of the needs of nature to receive additional monetary benefits. It also includes individuals who are blind or a patient in a nursing home because of mental or physical incapacity. Assisted care in an assisted living facility also qualifies.

This most important benefit is overlooked by many families with Veterans or surviving spouses who need additional monies to help care for ailing parents or loved ones. This is a "pension benefit" and is not dependent upon service-related injuries for compensation. Most Veterans who are in need of assistance qualify for this pension. Aid and Attendance can help pay for care in the home, nursing home or assisted living facility. A Veteran is eligible for up to $1,519 per month, while a surviving spouse is eligible for up to $976 per month. A couple is eligible for up to $1,801 per month*.

The Aid and Attendance Benefit is considered to be the third tier of a VA program called Improved Pension. The other two tiers are Basic and Housebound. Each tier has its own level of benefits and qualifications. ... If you or your loved one does not qualify for Aid and Attendance, you may want to check to see if you qualify for another level of the Pension.

what to expect when applying, what materials are needed

VA site about the VA pension

Spouse and child pension

.

Hey! Welcome back! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee walking out the door..whoo whoo.

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Couchie, I hope you have a wonderful time! You'll be missed.

Have a ball!!!!!!!!!! Check in when you can, but mostly just have a great time!

The Alzheimer's Society has been a huge help to me. I just looked them up on line and called, and two different people talked to me for long periods. I went to their offices and they gave me all kinds of resources and referrals, but mostly just helped me to see that I wasn't alone, and a lot of my problems, others have had as well. Get this--their office is two blocks from my Mom's and I never knew they were there. There are support groups for people in this situation, and special support groups for daughters, even. Lilyshine has helped me a lot, so I hope she'll have some ideas too.

Something you said really clicked with me. I had to come to a hard realization, an acceptance--that my mother is not capable of caring about me, or being aware of my needs. It's all about her. And she's whack. Once I accepted that, it was easier somehow, though sometimes still sad. I'm so fortunate that I don't have to pay anything for her care, as that would just add so much to the burden and I can't even imagine how hard that is, and there is no troublesome boyfriend, although we get our share of advantage-takers--but nothing like that.

Another thing--you just have to say "no" and take care of your own needs. You just have to. It will suck you in completely if you let it.

Oh, and one more. You can't fix this. Do what you can to improve the situation, but don't expect yourself to be able to make the whole situation OK. It's too much to ask of yourself, and there will be situations you just can't make 100% OK.

I guess the main thing is to just to give you huge hugs--I so understand, and this is so hard. Dealing with my mother's dementia and all the ways it affects other parts of my life is the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life by far. It has changed my entire life. Keep us posted, and if you don't get enough answers quick, post again and we'll keep trying.

I am so enjoying everyone's reaction - and feeling very virtuous that I have yet to listen!

Of course, I suspect I may hear a little something during his QVC appearance, but that's different because he will be there singing to meeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Back to reading everyone's excitement!

I'm so glad you will be representing for FCA that night. Please be a better recapper than I am.

Broadcast on all the earthly airwaves a few minutes ago!

Weaklings of earth, we will conquer you while you are listening to your Clay Aiken album snippets. Little did you know he was an alien that we have nurtured to addict the greatest minds of the earth into incompetence!

I thought that happened in September 2006. :alien31: This time they are coming to save us.

I'm going to try not to listen to the longer snippets again. I listened a few times, maybe like 4 x in quick succession and I know that I really will enjoy the whole album less if I do much more of that. 30 seconds is enough to tell me that this is good, even better than I thought, and I thought it was really, really good, but 30 seconds is too long, too much of the song without hearing the whole song, if that makes sense. So I'm reclaiming my virginity (for the rest of the night anyway). I called a non-fan friend and talked for an hour and a half about other things, and that helped.

Y'all gotta see these wallpapers Betty897X made. Link: CH wallpaper thread.

For those who want them, snippets, in one continuous file, thanks to Invisible926: Amazon snippets

Great minds, bottlecap.

Claygasm, I sent that baby right to myself. I don't need no blinking youngun'.

OT, but please indulge me:

California University Gets 'Grateful Dead' Archive

By DON CLARK

April 24, 2008; Page A4 (Wall Street Journal)

Surviving members of the Grateful Dead have decided to give the group's

archives to a university library in Santa Cruz, Calif., which some

Silicon Valley executives hope to help turn into a mecca for scholars

and the band's "Deadhead" fans.

The trove, to be transferred to the University of California at Santa

Cruz, includes photos, artwork, press clippings, posters, letters,

backstage passes and other documents assembled by the band over 30

years, as well as memorabilia sent to the group by fans. It doesn't

include the Dead's huge vault of live recordings, which still spawn new

releases and generate revenue.

Rock artifacts typically are collected by institutions such as the Rock

and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Such collections in a university

setting are unusual. But the Dead, which helped define the San Francisco

psychedelic sound, gathered a large amount of material that reflects the

1960s.

"The Dead's sense of history means that they just have more stuff than

most people," said Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valley investor and musician

who has served as an adviser to the group. UC Santa Cruz could use the

collection "to develop a whole study of American culture using music as

a centerpiece that is really different," he said.

Mr. McNamee and Bill Watkins, chief executive of Seagate Technology and

a longtime Deadhead, are expected to join a committee to oversee the

project, which is likely to require considerable fund-raising, said Tim

Jorstad, general manager and chief financial officer of Grateful Dead

Productions.

The band played as the Grateful Dead from 1965 to 1995, the year that

guitarist Jerry Garcia died. Since then, surviving members have

sometimes reunited, calling themselves the Dead.

Sales of recordings and merchandise are managed by Rhino Records, a unit

of Warner Music Group Corp. Some material from the Dead's archives

already can be viewed on the site dead.net. Mr. Jorstad said that is a

fraction of Dead material now stored in a warehouse.

Band members considered giving the artifacts to Stanford University and

the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Jorstad said. But they

settled on Santa Cruz, a beach city south of San Francisco.

Rhino needs continued access to the archives for such purposes as

finding material that could be distributed with CDs. UC Santa Cruz was

most "flexible in understanding our contractual needs," Mr. Jorstad

said.

Gotta think of a project so I can go there and do some research in a few years. YAY!!

A Deadhead’s Dream for a Campus Archive

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: April 24, 2008 (NY Times)

SAN FRANCISCO — It may be the ultimate collection of paraphernalia of a band known for its fondness of paraphernalia, legal and otherwise.

The Grateful Dead, whose songs celebrated personal freedom, American idealism and mind-altering drugs, will donate a cache of their papers, posters and props on Thursday to the University of California, Santa Cruz, which plans to use the musical miscellany as part of a research center to be known as Dead Central.

What exactly is to be donated, of course, is something of a mystery even to band insiders.

“It’s kind of a surprise box to us as well,” said John Perry Barlow, one of the group’s lyricists. “We’ll get to find out what’s in there as well.”

University archivists say the collection was drawn from the band’s various studios and business offices and dates back to the Dead’s founding in 1965. Among the items are rare photographs, press clippings, stage props, vintage posters, backstage passes and set and guest lists for some of the band’s innumerable concerts, which were famed for their lengthy jams and die-hard tape-swapping followers, the Deadheads.

The head of special collections and archives at the university, Christine Bunting, said much of the material to be unveiled Thursday at the Fillmore, the San Francisco rock club, was in fact sent to the band from Deadheads, including band-inspired artwork and personal letters. “And lots of, you know, poems,” Ms. Bunting added.

Unfortunately for fans, the collection includes no new music from the group, which formally disbanded after the death of the guitarist and singer Jerry Garcia in 1995, though some members have continued to play together occasionally. Ms. Bunting said much of the material, which covers about 2,000 square feet, had been in a warehouse at an undisclosed location in Northern California, but would be open to the public in a renovated room at the university’s library.

While the band inspired no end of drug paraphernalia, Ms. Bunting said none was in the collection.

The university, located in a hippie-friendly city 75 miles south of San Francisco, already teaches a popular undergraduate course about the Grateful Dead’s music, and is known as “a hotbed of current Deadhead culture,” said Bob Weir, the group’s rhythm guitarist.

Mr. Weir said the band had decided to donate the memorabilia in part to keep it from getting lost as years went by.

“It seemed to all of us that the stuff really belongs to the community that supported us for all those years,” he said. “And Santa Cruz seemed the coziest possible home for it.”

Regarding the bolded lines, do you think Clay has a warehouse somewhere for gifts? Have to laugh at the poems part. Keep future possibilities in mind when you're writing Clay little love notes.

Ha Ha!

I'm all checked in!

Good morning ... I've started packing!! KAndre is really in her happy happy joy joy place and I love it!

I'm checked in too! Eee Happy Happy Joy Joy!!

Y'all check in with us frequently, ya hear? Please feed the need of those of us who can't be there with you and really wish we were!

Does anybody else think that Clay wouldn't just completely shirk his duties on that presidential committee and that perhaps arrangements were made? Or maybe there just isn't anything for him to do! The Washington Post kind of irks me have they nothing really interesting to write about?

Someone from the swamp started all that--actually contacted the Washington Post and asked them to investigate. But then so did a Clay fan who was expecting to be right that he had attended. The Post didn't care, until they found out that others did. They're only writing about it because it gets attention. Their first response in an e-mail someone copied to me was "these positions are largely ceremonial anyway."

Spooky is going to have to add a room on to her house to showcase all of Clay's clothes she's won!!!! And on a teacher's salary I believe!

I've been to Spooky's Raleigh house for a Raleigh Nomads event. She has lots of room for Clay's stuff, as she has almost nothing else in the house at this point. I haven't seen the "museum"--don't know if it was there or not that day. It's a big house, and I didn't see into but 4 or 5 rooms downstairs. She's a nice lady, not "fancy" or hoity-toity at all. She may be/have been a teacher, but there's money coming from somewhere else. Right now I think she commutes back and forth every few months from CA to NC.