# 12 An Evening With His Royal Highness Fantasy Fodder

[bottlecap]

I see y'all have been busy while I was off, ya know, doin' Clay. I'm back now, and I'm warning you, my brain is ready to dump and my typing fingers are itchy...

Short story: Clay can SANG! Tonight's orchestra rawked the HOUSE! Angela has her PERIOD! Clay thought that was TMI and tried to puncture his eardrum with Jesse's BATON! YSRN is supposed to be PACKING!

Back later, when I'm done writing and when I've managed to wrestle the annoying CAPITALIZATION thingie under control.

[atinal]

YAY!!,Bottle's home.

[muskifest]

oh.my.god.

I just watched and listened to Clay and Quiana's "Listen"....

wow.

I don't think Q can do this quite like Angela (but only the highest parts)...and I wish I could've seen Clay's face while he was singing...but

wow.

[luckiest1]

Just walked in the door from Sterling Heights. Certainly not up to writing a recap tonight, hee. But I have to tell you that I didn't think it was possible to surpass Canandaigua for the best.show.ever. Until tonight. Holy shit. I have never heard him in better voice. MOAM was in another realm, and even he knew it. The Listen duet was to die for - cindilu2 took clack of it, if nothing else surfaces. I know that canfly got some stuff but was having camera problems, and I heard that someone else may have got the whole second half. I spoke to clayizzaqt prior to the show and she was thinking about taking clack. Don't know if she did. I can only pray that everything was captured because it will be a crying shame if it wasn't. This was the best outfit, by far, of the whole tour so far. The pants were so low they were almost off his butt at the back. The belt was fabulous.

We started out in extreme right row LL (great for his little trip up the aisle to sit on the ledge while the sun was setting), but moved ourselves to perfectly centred row FF at intermission, which rocked. No idea why those seats were empty but we took full advantage of it!

Anyways, off to bed. More in the morning. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[playbiller]

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE Their baaaaaaack - SO much better to be right here waiting than to be angsting.

[Couch Tomato]

Wow.that was totally great. And the show must go on...Clay always rises to the occassion. Quiana was fantastic too. Well to Lickiest and Clindi and Laughn and Bottle, you got something extra special tonight.

[atinal]

WOW, with that I'm going to bed.

[laughn]

It was a freakin' amazing show!! I am exhausted.

I will have to recap later...just the best show ever.

Gah! :party038:

[playbiller]

heh, I can't go to bed yet, setting up my new hard drive, copying files over to it. Lots of copying to do.

[muskifest]

If I may, women of FCA, I'd like to post a flyer about a very cool pre-concert party that a good friend of mine is organizing. From what she tells me, it is a special party that has BAF's backing. She's been working with BAF the whole way. Great merchandise---key chains and mousepads, etc.---fun and money goes to BAF!

Here's more that my buddy wrote to me about the event:

This Pre Party is an Approved BAF Fundraiser. We have been working very closely with the BAF on all this project to help raise awareness and money for this wonderful cause.

Like you I am not one for Pre-Parties at all, but when the opportunity arose that we could have an event at this amazing place I jumped on the band wagon full force knowing we could create a wonderful affair and raise some money at the same time.

I would so appreciate if you could post our flyer's on the sites you frequent. Especially Finding Clay Aiken ... We have worked so hard on this event, we have some amazing Clay items and non Clay items that will be up for auction and some great Clay signed items we will be raffling off. Again all to benefit the BAF.

Sounds great! I won't be there, dang it...softball and all that, but I hope it gets good attendance. If you know of someone who lives in the area or is going to the concert at Pala who you think might enjoy this event, please pass on the flyer...thanks! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[keepingfaith]

I saw this picture tonight from the Philly concert and felt the need to spread it around. This smile just seems to light up everything around him. This has to be my favorite look on his face. I was worried that this smile might have gone away from some of the teeth talk, but YAY here it is, and it hits me hard every single time.

And then of course there are the other Philly pictures that are sooooo niiiiiice ....

[bottlecap]

I have a THEME for my Sterling Heights recap. See if you can figure out what it is.

PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T PUNCH ME: lickiest1 thankfully doesn't hold a grudge about my typo becoming her new screen name. I met the poster formerly known as luckiest1, and she didn't take a swing at me or anything. It was great to meet her and another of the Canadian FCA contingent, cindilu2. cindilu2, did you get any comments about your DCAT shirt?

PEOPLE I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO PUNCH; The obnoxious drunk woman somewhere behind me that thought it was appropriate to yell "Sing I Survived You" a couple of times. Also, I felt like pummeling the the security guard and the usher chick who relentlessly prowled the aisle looking for flashes and people trying to sit in seats that didn't belong to them. I swear the security dude was in my sight line about 75% of the second half of the concert. The venue had three sections on the main floor, and since I never learned how to tell stage right from stage left, I will just think of them as the Angela section, the Clay section in the center, and the Quiana section. Anyway, since I was in the Angela section on the inside aisle, the Clay and Quiana duet ending up looking more like a trio, as my binoculars moved from focusing on Clay, to the back of Security Dude's head to Quiana. Frustrating.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE PEOPLE: Did you know there's a TEAM ETHEL? It's just one woman right now, appropriately clad in a neon green t-shirt, but I think this is going to take off. I expect the TEAM ETHEL shirts to start flying off the shelves at Kitson soon. I bet Paris will buy a miniature version for her dog, and Britney will be photographed wearing a cheeto and coffee-stained version within a week or so.

PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO LICK: Clay, of course. Duh! He was wearing a black jacket, a darkish royal blue shirt (tucked in!), low rider jeans (more on those later), and a BELT, I KNOW! Who even knew he owned a belt? Anyway, he looked gooooood. And he must not have had Tulsa-esque pit problems, because he got the spirit during his George Jefferson dance, ripped off his jacket and swung it around over his head before tossing it on the stage. Quiana picked it up, and it's probably listed on ebay right now.

PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO LICK PART TWO: When I was looking at Clay through my binoculars, a super-cool brotha in the violin section caught my eye. He was slick, with his shaved head, mustache, and funky sunglasses. (He took off the sunglasses fairly early on, and the man had some beautiful eyes,,,sigh) Anyway, obviously, this guy was the antithesis of the stereotypical Clay fan - male, a "serious" musician, and way cool. But violin dude, when he wasn't playing, couldn't stop smiling. He looked like he was loving the show and he was highly amused by the dorky white boy's antics. Love you violin dude!

PEOPLE WHO GOT THE TRAVELING BUG: The show opened pretty conventionally, with Clay strolling out of the stage door on the Angela side. There was a little blurp when Clay couldn't figure out who was singing "I Want to Know What Love Is', with him, but it was a minor bump. For the next song, he moved his mic stand to the extreme edge of the Quiana side of the stage. He was on the move again for "When I See You Smile", jumping off the stage and making his way up the outside aisle to a sort of a deck area half way up the amphitheater. He ended up sitting on the railing of the deck, and he did the TV show banter from there. He explained that he was trying to help the audience avoid the sun, which was low in the sky at that point, and streaming directly into the venue. Clay also joked that the front row people were probably pissed off that they weren't exactly in the front row anymore. The whole trip was just totally unexpected and probably done on an impulse, and it was sort of a casual and spontaneous thing to do that suited the mood of the show.

PEOPLE I'D LIKE TO LICK, PARTS THREE AND FOUR: The man is soooo not fat.

Exhibit A - the return of the razor sharp cheek bones. They particularly caught my attention when he had his head thrown back singing "Everything I Have". Beautiful.

Exhibit B - Remember these jeans from the People article?

They were low on his hips tonight. Really low. Like, if he didn't have a belt to hold them up and a long shirttail tucked in, about half his butt would have been hanging out. Did I mention they were low slung? And Angela, please don't tell Clay that his pants are falling off like that's a bad thing. Hence Clay's crack (heh!) that we had both the sun and the moon tonight...

PEOPLE WHO PROBABLY WISH THEY COULD HIT THE REWIND BUTTON: Clay, after he dinged Angela about something and quipped: "She'll be giving it to me later tonight." Oops! As soon as that was out of his mouth, he know it didn't sound right. Dirty, dirty, dirty [tm CHA] Hee. "Dear Mrs. Parker..."

OTHER PEOPLE WHO MAY BE HEARING FROM THEIR MOMMAS AFTER TONIGHT'S SHOW: Quiana, who felt lead of Jesus, I guess, to reveal one of the reasons why Angela was feeling under the weather tonight. Clay is such a guy, and tried to puncture his own eardrum with Jesse's baton. Quiana's definition of PMS as "Problems Men Start" led Angela to run over for a high five.

PEOPLE WHO EXPECTED A "SEAN IS SHORT JOKE" AS SOON AS CLAY STARTED TALKING ABOUT CEDAR POINT: That's be me. I haven't been to Cedar Point since high school, but I remember the "You Must Be This Tall to Enter This Ride" signs very well. I'm glad they enjoyed the park, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Angela might have screamed herself out of her voice riding the roller coasters there.

PEOPLE WHO MOMENTARILY RECREATED A LITTLE WDC ACTION: The usual suspects. There was dippage (Angela's still very bendy) and I'm pretty sure Clay's leg was momentarily between Angela's thighs. Have mercy....

PEOPLE WHO APPLAUDED LIKE CRAZY AND PEOPLE WHO EARNED EVERY MOMENT OF THAT APPLAUSE: I swear, everybody on that stage must have been chugging guarana at intermission, because during the second half, that orchestra really rocked the venue. Measure of a Man? Clay turned it up to 11. Even Quiana was dancing and grooving on her stool as Clay wailed that song. I've just skimmed a couple of comments, and I imagine the impromptu duet on "Listen" might end up getting most of the attention for this concert, but MOAM was the showstopper for me. The audience gave him one of many standing ovations for that performance, and although Clay tried to shut the applause down, we ignored him and kept on and on. Well deserved. Bravo!

PEOPLE WHO ARE SUDDENLY EXHAUSTED AND ARE READY FOR SWEET CLAY DREAMS: That's be me again. And on that note, I think I'll line up some Clack to download and call it a night.

I reserve the right to edit, expand, or otherwise alter this recap when I can see straight again and can catch up on the cellstream thread. This was another really, really great show. Michigan had a completely different vibe than Columbus, but it was fantastic in it's own way. I'll treasure the memories of both shows, and continue to be mightily grateful to laughn who arranged the logistics for both of these trips.

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

[muskifest]

woot! Bottle, that was a fantabulous recap! :F_05BL17blowkiss: SOOOOO glad you got to see it and sooooo glad you stayed up long enough to write about it...

we really MUST figure out when we'll be at the same concert... :Tour3: :TourExcite:

[Couch Tomato]

great recap Bottle. Very funny! How do ya'll do that right after a show? I want to meet her too. Wah! Must get to her neck of the woods!

[YSRN]

Aww, keepingfaith, that first picture is adorable and I can almost not even tell he has new teef. Hee. It's old AI2 Clay. Awww.

Bottle... your recap is sooo entertaining! Sounds like you guys had another blast.

Off to bed. I must finish packing in the morning.

But first... some pretty from tonight:

Damn. Boy looks good in dark clothing and the fence shots? Priceless.

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

'nighty night.

[bottlecap]

But first... some pretty from tonight:

Damn. Boy looks good in dark clothing and the fence shots? Priceless.

Love those shots of Clay on the deck railing. He was so cool to do that. Jerome and the other security guards may have been having heart attacks, and Clay complained about the reverb he heard when he talked, but it allowed the audience to turn their backs to the sun and get some relief from the glare until the sun set a bit.

Yeah, I had fours hours of sleep and no real reason to be out of bed yet. Internal clocks that won't turn off suck!

[bottlecap]

One pre-concert note. We were standing in a line outside the venue before the gates opened, on the other side of the chain link fence from the big blue bus. There was a little knot of teen-aged girls hanging around by the gate, and a rather bored looking security guard stationed there. I snickered at the PYTs a bit, because did they really think Clay was going to leave the bus and come over and speak to them or something? But then, standing in line, I experienced the draw of the BBB myself. I felt compelled to position myself so I could peer through the slates of the fence and see if anyone got on or off. Alas, the only activity during my vigil was Jerome-related as he came out to speak to some people he seemed to know - perhaps family members. Oh, well....

A second pre-concert note. One of the female parking attendents was teasing us on the way in by telling us how she had been listening to the sound check. She seemed highly enthused. Prolonged exposure, even from a distance, can lead to addiction...

[ldyjocelyn]

Gah, why do I have to work? I want to sit and read and reply to you great women and watch clack and download pictures....

Anyway, just a quick message to say YAY to lickiest1, cindilu2, laughn and bottlecap for getting to see a fantastic show. I missed the cellcert last night (BAD fan, I know....but I was too into Harry Potter!), so the recaps and pictures I'm getting are fantastic. bottle, I love your PEOPLE. *g* Can't wait for more.

And keepingfaith -- thanks for the grin picture. God, I love that smile.

Almost forgot -- watched Listen this morning. Um. Yeah. That was pretty darn good. I personally wouldn't call it outstanding, but for an "on the fly" moment, that was great.

One more edit -- I like this one for some reason....

Oh hell, let's keep going...

And he can put his hands on his hips like this ANY time...

[bottlecap]

More catching up: I saw the posts about ATD and LAA and wondered where they were coming from. I see this was a comment from the M&G'ers. ATD, eh, I always thought it plodded, although the orchestra rocked it last night. If it's hard on Clay's voice, that seems like a good reason to drop it.

I don't care if Clay is thinking about hitting the funnel cakes stand while he's singing Lover All Alone or not. The song is gorgeous live and the audience is mezmerized and silent. Based on my limited Clack viewing and my own filters, I think the live performances I've seen of the song might be slightly less intense then the earlier versions. That could due to Clay becoming more familiar and comfortable with performing the song, but he didn't come across as being bored to me. I think the level of the passion he brought to the intial performances might be hard to maintain over the long-term, but I thought it came across as heartfelt and the staging facing the lead cello player is fantastic. I have no worries about this song, based on what I've seen and heard live.

[luckiest1]

I just posted my seriously long assed Sterling Heights recap here. Make sure you've had your coffee before you attempt to read it so you don't fall asleep.

Now off to catch up. Eventually maybe I'll even wander into work today. Hee.

[jamar1700]

Bringing this over from the Sterling Heights thread cuz I don't see it being discussed anywhere.

Couchie posted this last night .... from a meet and greet report

He read the review in the paper - he's thinking about dinner and food and going through the motions ... when he wrote the lyrics to LAA he was just trying to make things worked. Diane Buble miscommunicated the fact that he wrote his own songs on Oprah.

Am I the only one that finds that statement rather interesting given the amount of weight that some have put into those particular comments she made?

Edited July 24, 2007 by jamar1700

[luckiest1]

jamar, I suggested that once over on OFC and got ripped to shreds for it. Very interesting.

[laughn]

starfishy2000 posted these youtube videos:

I still can't find words to express my feelings on last night's show. I can't. Maybe I will later. Maybe you had to be there....don't know. It was like magic. I am a bit overwhelmed.

bottlecap... :F_05BL17blowkiss: What a fantastic recap! You are amazing!

I'm afraid I'm still in a Clay fog....thing is, I'm not sure I want to come out of it.

[jamar1700]

Oh good for a bit there...I thought I really WAS alone. Hee.

I always thought that was the case, given the fact that he's gone out of his way to state the he does not write songs at every given opportunity. But of course...those comments were all brushed aside. Just like ... I'm sure there is some sooooperpersekrit reason for him to be saying this to fans now.

Anyone? Bueller?

Hee. I remember back in the day, in another lifetime when I was an English Major, I considered myself quite the poet. So much so that, to this day, my parents ask me if I'm still writing. I just think "Oh GAAAAWD NO!" I've saved the little volume that I considered my best stuff. Even named it. But it's awful, ya'll. A.W.F.U.L. Most of it anywho. What isn't truly awful was mostly borrowed from the work and phrasing of other things I'd read. Yeah.

[bottlecap]

I'm afraid I'm still in a Clay fog....thing is, I'm not sure I want to come out of it.

Sing it sister, and AMEN! It's disconcerting to be so off-kilter, but it's also grin-inducing.

You California Girls best buckle up and get prepared to be blown away by Hurricane Clay. He's gonna rock your worlds...