jmh123

Besides, it's obvious to me now that nobody can sing Beatles songs in the ballpark with the Beatles. Their great songs are iconic, and I'm even more impressed with their vocal talents the more I hear these lame attempts from the Idol wannabes. There haven't been any successful covers that I recall in 40+ years. Everything else pales by comparison. Give it up kids and buy a copy of Abbey Road and Revolver. If they knew more about the Beatles they would have picked from their GREAT songs -- and they did not.

Exactly my thought. I remember hearing Eric Clapton say once that the longer he made music, the more he appreciated simplicity. The seemingly simple Beatles songs are amazingly difficult to sing well, and the difficult, esoteric ones like "A Day in the Life" and "Back in the USSR" are impossible.

If they knew more about the Beatles they would have picked from their GREAT songs -- and they did not.

How AI managed to fill a whole night with the worst possible choices I don't know, when there are so many good ones to choose from. Wonder if AI was playing with the list, or only had permission for some of the songs.

Sars, Wing Chun and Glark are out at TwoP: Announcement from the founders. The Bravo announcement makes it sound voluntary, the message from the founders not so much, especially when coupled with this blog linking to the announcement: So…that happened. (tm State And Main). Perhaps Miss Alli went (or was ushered out) with them? She is a frequent contributor to this blog, which seems to belong to Sars, maybe all of them: www.tomatonation.com.

Couchie, I remember that now. She was talking about the Newsweek article I think--the one that stunk so bad. I do think Miss Alli crossed the line with those posts in the Clay thread (not that most anything doesn't go at TwoP, but she was breaking TwoP rules by repeating the same points over and over and I do believe some complained about it), and she looks a fool now to boot, because, as you pointed out, everything she said turned out wrong.

If you have a key with 'fn' in a small box (mine is beside the ctrl key) that's the one that makesthe print screen key work for me.

Hooray!!!! For years I have searched for the answer--and at last, this works for me. Thank you!!!

Is this "THE PICTURE"?

That's the one. Not one of my favorites, I confess. I think it's more about the jeans being too small for him than anything he's packing there in that particular pic. Compare with, say, this:

Same peek at the midriff and *ahem* other things, but more flattering. IMO. And if anyone is going to claim that's an epipen, all I'm going to say about that is: in the video, that epipen is alive and growing, y'all, and he discretely tries to push it down to a less obvious location with his thumb. Course he's in a stadium with a gazillion people watching, so that's kind of difficult to do. MUAH to permaswooned for the pic, and to artquest for the video, which is here: A Perfect Day indeed (beginning around 1:38).

Compare with this early photo from the AI2 tour:

Maybe someone who bought extras can give Hannah her own set!!

Something tells me she will be innundated with them.

Most users ever online was 225 on Sep 27 2007, 11:06 PM

What happened on that day?

I am doing my best to catch up on what everyone already knows.... I already impress some people , well okay, NJUs... with my knowledge about Clay.....of course they don't know where I get it all from....

Wasn't that the day of the (now deleted) post claiming Clay was buying real estate in Montana or some such place? That was then linked to lots of other boards? Or was it the day we were first with a sexy pic that got linked a lot? (one of Muski's favorites)

Umm wasn't that the day when the infamous pic from Tangerinee was posted and someone...I wonder who ....posted about it on another board and everyone came over to look atogle it

You might be right, being as how you had intimate knowledge of this. Heh.

I'm worried about couchie's mom too.

I pull a Sir Robin and "run away".

Uh... Would this particular Sir Robin that you would pull (heh) include the soiling of armor?

BWAH!! Muski, you are bad. I understand Perma didn't even soil her armor when face to face with Clay Aiken himself.

Perma, really funny story about that road trip. Thanks!

Wow. My teenager and I just watched two local network affiliates on television cover an impromptu 'walk out' that the two high schools in our town organized today. Evidently, our esteemed Governor's budget cuts in education funding has pissed off some kids in our district. The cuts mean elimination or reduction of some school sports, music programs and AP classes. Great. California is already about 48th out of 50 states in overall test scores, etc.

So, according to the news report and my daughter, after a school district meeting last night that a lot of student leaders attended and participated in, a bunch of text messaging happened this morning after attendance was taken (since schools receive funding per student, based on attendance! BWAH!), the kids started with the "get to ______ High School ( my daughter's and also the building where school district offices are) to let people know we care and want change! So hordes of students from teh other high school at the other end of our island town descended on Alex's school and congregated in the auditorium.

The school district superintendent left her offices and joined the group on stage, as did teachers, parents and students. The supt. said the only way things could be saved is a parcel tax that would add about $125 per year to property taxes. Somebody was interviewed and said, "I don't know what these kids think they can change...they're just idealistic."

Then a student leader (a guy) answered and said, "If young people throughout our history believed that, we'd be living in a far different kind of country that we are right now." One of the video clips showed one girl on stage saying, "If you want to make a difference, volunteer to go door to door and ask your neighbors to support the schools. Write your congressman, senator, the governor!" That girl is the goalie on Alex's soccer team.

Wow.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell them this is so admirable, and it's great that they were inspired to act to keep these essential elements of their education. Love it.

Perma, just know that sometimes you'll read something at FCA that will offend your sensitivity, and you won't see a whole lot of protests about it either. I want you to be warned so you aren't caught off guard. Criticizing Clay isn't a focus, but it will happen, and now and then you'll read something that you don't like. We do sometimes fight and disagree too. Sometimes there's drama. It isn't perfect here. The way the mods handle things here is really different, which is, they intervene as little as possible. People are supposed to mod themselves (not other people) and a huge percentage of the time that is exactly what happens. I think a post has been edited or deleted once ever, no twice, because there was the crazy real estate agent thing once--someone trying to start a false rumor. We have no secret threads. When I got here, under similar circumstances, I was just full of squelched things I wanted to say, and I could say them here. But if someone ever reads here and feels their board is being dissed, let me say we are not mean spirited here. We do rag and snark on moods or attitudes or trends in the fandom, and boards come up sometimes when one of them is going through some typical board meltdown and some people just don't feel that their needs are being met and they need shelter, and sometimes people vent here. I found after awhile that this place felt most like home, but I honestly can say that each board has its good and bad qualities, and none, including this one, is perfect. Sometimes you're just better suited to one group of people than another, but even here, now and then, you're going to read something you don't like.

But we are more special than most. Heh. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I say don't order the CD now unless you plan to order again later too.

Meh. The only performer/song combo I thought was really good was Brooke/Love is a Battlefield. Most of the songs were yelly and imitative. Meh.

Can I camp out here, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze???

I wanna talk about 3 favorite pieces of clack (although I reserve the right to count clack that had to be divided up because of size as one piece).

I promise to mend my ways, honest.

How about if I promise not to discuss the finer points of Clay's Spam costume from seat A1??

How about if I pledge not to bring over any NJU stories???

How about if I bring a gift??

It features eyelashes and everything.

So can I stay??? Please?? Can I???

Anyone?? Bueller????

You can stay and even bring over NJU stories--we're happy to have you. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Oh I liked it for an hour's TV. Very entertaining if you like musical shows. But no fever, no chills, nothing like that. But I enjoyed it. Some originality--I'm all for that whether it works completely or not. I thought Chikezie's arrangement was daring even if he didn't pull it off 100%. It was good enough to be entertaining instead of cringeworthy. Likewise David Cook. He pulled it off to the point that I enjoyed it. I wouldn't want to buy it, I don't think, because I prefer longer, full and polished versions to these shortie performances (unless its Clay).

Later. Not getting that oh my god I've got to hear it again feeling. But I'd like to see all of the contestants continue to improve--if that happens, I'll keep watching.

Wishing the best of wellness vibes to those who are under the weather. <- An apt cliche I'd say. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Oooooo, Marilyon, thanks for the pretties! Did you enjoy the show yesterday?

I sure did. Wrote a long and boring recap which I will NOT saddle y'all with!

Thank you for saddling us with that--it was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:PickMe-1: Another freecycle user here.

Here's my favorite location for cherry blossoms--Himeji castle.

near Hankyu Station, Kobe

We have some cherry blossoms down here now too, and more to come over the next few weeks. In Japan, theoretically speaking cherry blossom time is a time to contemplate the fleeting nature of existence, how beauty is ephemeral--it comes in its season and lives in its season and it dies in its season. Not because some evil has occurred, but because of the natural cycles of the world. That part of life I understand, but other parts--not so much.

The RL way many Japanese celebrate is to go to a part and sit under the blossoms and have a picnic and Maybe I should take up

YAY, Kareneh has arrived already. Hooray. Stories. Pictures. Yay. And to set about making a home. Good.

Entitled, needy fuckers. That's my explanation for the venom being shown towards Clay for not enabling doing the the stagedoor yesterday afternoon. For a fandom that so disdains the word 'we', I saw it being bandied about quite a bit yesterday. 'We' are being punished. We?????? Exactly how are you being punished sitting on your ass in where was it? Topeka?? hammering out complaints on your laptop? But I digress. It's very easy to sit in our cozy warm living rooms and armchair-quarterback every single move Clay makes or word he utters. As we sip our coffee (or smoke our crack it would sometimes seem) and type up and edit (and edit and edit) our oh-so-eloquent edicts on What Clay Should Have Done, Were He As Smart As I, we forget that Clay doesn't get an edit key. He doesn't get to go back and maybe take out that one word - or delete it altogether and let's pretend it never happened. The bottom line for me is - we were not there. We did not feel the embarrassment or anger and then have to decide RIGHT NOW how we're going to handle things (and do it knowing that the keyboards of thousands of 'fans' sit ready to vilify you either way). Walk a mile in his shoes.

Magnificent rant!!!

What was it Clay said about a bitter 13-year-old on a computer in Kansas? Heh.

All I can say is that Clay is so much nicer than me, it ain't even much funny - I'd be bitchslapping people by now. And making whomever I wanted to punish on Team Clay write down all stupid comments about how Clay should this, that and the other, pick on one seriously know it all fan, and do a listing of all the ways she's fucked up her life and ask her on her favorite board, "Why didn't you do better? What's wrong with you? You can't run your own and hell, Clay's doing better than you, why in the hell should he listen to you? Idiot."

Hee--Clay should hire you as his bitchslapper.

I've read a lot of things since yesterday and the one thing I don't get is where is Clay to blame in all of this? What did he do that was so wrong?

"We" don't know what went on backstage, "we" don't know how angry he was, "we" don't know what he told Jerome to say, "we" don't know what the cast said, "we" don't even know for sure what was done by whom and "we" are getting differing reports of what Jerome actually said!

All we have is circumstancial evidence but hey let's convict him anyway!

We don't know shit, but that doesn't stop some people.

And what are the odds that this would happen on the afternoon of the Clay Watch gathering for Spamalot?? [/snark]

This is going to be quick, so forgive any typos. If John gets back from Walgreens and I haven't showered my ass is grass! In the Residence Inn on Eldridge, being picked up at noon for our 4PM flight. Dog, 6 pieces of luggage, expectations galore. The past week has been crazy trying to get all done and ready to go but I have burned the all nighter oil a couple of times to keep up with Clay. I can't believe I downloaded the WRAL interview and didn't watch it for almost a day! Which reminds me I need to download the mp4 and synch my iPOd.....crap!

Thanks for the well wishes. The house in Baku already has its wireless set up so I should hit the ground running.....well a nice two point soft landing first would be ideal. Bye for now......and who knows I might be able to log in from Frankfurt!

God, I'm hating to leave Texas, though. It feels very weird now that it's actually happening....but back to North America at least in April for some Spam.

I wonder if they sell that at Ramstore?

Bye!!!!!!!!!! Except we'll get to talk to you right away so it isn't really bye. Please report in as soon as you can. I look forward to hearing all about Baku and your adventures, and wish you great good times and a feeling of home when you need it.

Have any of you figured it out yet? What is it about Clay? What draws you to him. Have you ever been this involved in another singer's career? Is it just the singing? What is the other key trait that makes you get on a message board every day or download some clack. And was it the voting and the nature of Idol that invested you so much?

I was thinking last night and ya'll know how dangerous that can be. I'm amazed that five yearss later my interest hasn't even begun to wane. In fact I think it's even greater.

voice ... humor ... QUICK. And really I don't think I discovered this about him on Idol. This came later when he hit the interview rounds after the show, the radio interviews during AI tour, his stage persona..the more he showed me the more I like it. I love the sarcastic part of it as well. And I can take it when it's aimed at a group but I really think he'd leave me a babbling idiot if I got into a snark off. I need time to think. I'd get him two days later cuz I've have thought of all the things I should have said.

... friends

Anyway, I think after the humor I think it's that he continues to surprise me. Constantly. Spamalot is a complete and utter suprise to me; that he conquered it. It just never gets old or boring.

What a great post. Spamalot is by far my favorite thing he's done, and I haven't even seen it yet. I'm lucky that way, in that for me this is a huge fantasy come true. I can't wait to see it and I've loved all the reports and the buzz and the photos and most of the media. Such fun! If I still lived up there I'd be a Spamajunky for sure.

For me, over time, I think his quickness, and the fact that he's so bright and determined and funny and such a great an entertainer and a humanitarian--all of that may have surpassed even the voice for me. Though without the voice, none of the rest would be quite the same, so it's the combo that's lethal. I think one thing that keeps it from getting old and boring for me is that I don't think we've seen even yet all of what he is capable of, and I'm so eager to see more, always looking forward to the next amazing thing he does better than I had even imagined he could do it, because I know he's got so much more to give.

What keeps me hooked? That. And the friends, as you've said. One part of my social life has come to revolve around concerts and trips and gatherings of friends, and I have such a good time. As much as some aspects of the online fandom may annoy me, it doesn't outweigh the friendships I've made, and the way I stay in touch with those friends is centered on the boards, although it goes far beyond them.

Voting/nature of idol? I never voted either, just dialed one time the last night, a few, can't remember, got a busy signal and gave up. I do think some of my need to defend and protect comes from Idol, and folks being mean to him afterwards, but I think the heart of any "campaigning" for Clay I have ever done is the fear of losing him. I want him to always be in the entertainment business because he entertains me 1,000 times more than most everything else in the world of entertainment does. I'm happy to say I'm finding it easier and easier to let that fear go and all the crap that goes with it, I think because I'm more and more sure he will always be around.

Other fandoms? Not like this. I've had two periods in the music world where I listened to a group or individual almost exclusively for periods of time. One was my Grateful Dead phase, and I went to only two concerts over a period of 15 years. I listened to a lot of bootlegs, and I listen to a lot of clack. I never thought of travelling to see them, though I had a friend who did and was a taper. The other obsession was Eric Clapton. I saw him once in concert, and I did travel for that. My sister got third row tickets and I flew to NC from NY to go. I was really obsessive after that for awhile, and listened to a lot of his music a lot of the time and read a biography. I thought that was major intensity. I never got involved with other fans or anything of that nature. Until Clay.

I'm on my 3rd Dell laptop and my mother's on her second. I'd definitely buy another. Never had a battery problem at all. I had one hard drive go after several years of use, but it lasted long enough for me to copy everything over to an external. Not discounting your problem. Perhaps there are certain models that are problematic.

OK, so I just watched the Wildcard show for the first time.... I have previously only seen Clay's individual performance but not within the context of the other performances, and WOW he was such a stand-out, surely everyone must have guessed that when the Judges did not pick him as their choice to advance to the Top 12, that he was clearly the viewer's choice.

Here's the part I am a bit confused about.... after he was announced the viewer's choice, I expected to see Ryan Seacrest call out the other finalists, one by one, and they run to hug Clay, one at a time... at least that is the vid I have seen on You Tube. Instead, they show each one come out and just stand in a line up. What the? I guess they had more than one intro.

QUESTION: They keep mentioning "TOP 10". WHY do they do that when it is relly "TOP 12"?

I was pretty sure he was the Viewer's Choice. Ryan made a show of letting the judges see the card that he had the name written on, and I figured the judges were not allowed to pick him because the viewers did. I never doubted he would make it.

There were two different endings--good eye. There was an east coast version and a west coast version. I think Ryan forgot to introduce Carmen in one of them??

I think the Top 10/Top 12 thing came about because they changed their plans and added two more people - not sure.....

The article and picture are INSIDE the current playbill, right?

Yes, the article and picture are inside the new Playbill.

Playbills always have a graphic for the play that you're seeing on the front.

So, two different forms of excellent publicity.

You are making your avatar blush becomingly.

I see a new playbill with him on the cover

Not Playbill, the NYC Official Guide - I think there's a copy in every hotel room??

I FEEL HAPPY TOO!!!