#13 The Aiken Experience. There's nothing else like it.

[ldyjocelyn]

I can't stand that I'm not going to any more.

I know, I know. For me, it's the bad part of seeing early shows. And being a responsible adult too -- that really sucks some times.

[laughn]

...being a responsible adult can really suck at times. *sigh* I'd go to another show in a heartbeat if I could. Nothin' wrong with some dreamin'.

Edited August 4, 2007 by laughn

[luckiest1]

What's a responsible adult? That is a foreign concept to me.

Haven't seen this yet. Found it on CH:

Clay Aiken is a riot

Clay Aiken on love songs, hair dye and Lenox

By DAVID GRAVES

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 08/03/2007

Clay Aiken is a riot. There's something genuinely comedic about the singer, care-free and, well, likable.

The Season 2 "American Idol" runner-up to the Velvet Teddy Bear Ruben Studdard has sold more records than any other "American Idol" alum besides Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. And this guy's tours sell out around the country.

So, yeah, consider him likable.

Now, the crooner's latest tour brings Aiken back to the ATL, where he first auditioned for "Idol" back in 2003. He'll be backed by the ASO at Chastain and will include cuts off his CD releases "Measure of a Man" and his latest, "A Thousand Different Ways."

We caught up with Aiken recently during a tour stop in San Diego.

You dyed you hair. What's up with that?

It started on "American Idol" and they wanted to change my image. I don't even know what color it is now. We just try everything — it could be beach blond next!

What can we expect from the tour?

We've had so much fun with this tour. It's mostly cuts from my new album. We sing past love songs over the past 20 years, and we also bring sexy back with "1999," "Baby Got Back" ... all with a full orchestra. It'll be fun and the audience should get a kick out of it.

Since you've found fame and fortune, what did you do with your first big check?

My first major purchase was a Volvo [laughter]. I'm such a dork! I didn't want to be too ostentatious, and I wanted something safe and reliable ... I also paid off my mom's car.

Where do you plan to hang out when you get to Atlanta.

People around me love Lenox. I love Fogo de Chao ... I always have to get back to the corner on Spring Street where I spent the night for my ["American Idol"] auditions at Merchandise Mart. So I'll try to get back over there.

What's Fogo de Chao?

[ldyjocelyn]

Fogo De Chao

I think I've heard of this place before. Sounds good to me.

[Maddy]

Thank you Maddy for posting that! Sounds like you've got a really nice relative there, to think of you like that. Also some nice insight into "the family." Very cool!

She is a sweetheart. There was divine providence at play too. Ordinarily a guy who is first cello would have been there, but he wanted to go to another event that was scheduled that night, so my relative was assigned the Clay concert. She said she's glad now because she really enjoyed it.

And Somebody Up There must like me.

David Graves...well, likeable?

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Try...well, loveable.

[muskifest]

I post this now, knowing that nobody cares at this moment---what with Clay Aiken singing at the Pala casino and whatnot...but since I have an early flight to LA tomorrow morning, I need to post and sign off. You heard...Carrie's team lost three in a row after their first amazing win here at the Nationals....they simply weren't good enough...the competition is fierce...a very interesting thing was that many of the teams here are from the Bay Area--teams we've played in our summer tournaments. Our region is SO tough---at one time there was a team from the Bay Area playing on each of the four fields at the same time! So we did what we could.

This morning Carrie reminded me that she's still just twelve years old. The girls felt the pressure and it showed. I haven't seen her that scared and with so little self confidence since her first tournament year two years ago. She usually is a bundle of energy, nervous smiles and shoulder circles and little bounces, along with moving lips as she sings to herself to calm herself down. But this morning she looked terrified and defeated before she even let the ball go...The rest of the team underperformed too---lots of careless errors and pretty much zero effectiveness with their bats.

This afternoon's game was more fun....we lost 7-3, but Carrie pitched well...the first five runs against us happened with the other starting pitcher. Bless her heart, she just couldn't do it and we were slammed. Then Carrie came on and did a good job holding them, but our bats just didn't materialize...so our second lost sent us home. There were a lot of tears, but the coach took them for a walk around the complex after the game. Alex took a picture of them as they walked away together, hand in hand...it was amazing.

We all went to dinner and then the parents of one birthday girl treated the whole team to Laser Tag at a complex across the street from the motel...so the girls are okay now. What an experience for them AND the parents! Yes, I missed two Clay concerts...but there will be others. Who knows if my little girl will ever be a part of something like this again? I do know that at NO time while sitting on those bleachers did I hope for anything but success and fun for the team, regardless of what that meant to my plans...What a treat to see these girls giving their all and being a team and having fun together! I'm a lucky woman....

Lucky, too, that tomorrow morning I get on a plane to hook up with CG, Couchie and Ansa in LA to catch the last two of the California 4-fer! Woot!

Oh, and by the way....that wonderful view of the Pala concert stage and grounds from their room? Ahem...they didnt' tell you why they have such a wonderful view, did they?

Ok...I'm off to join the parents poolside for some beer and conversation before everyone heads off to their various realities tomorrow...

:F_05BL17blowkiss: everybody!

And not only do ...I'm GONNA do Clay tomorrow night! :TourExcite: :medium-smiley-070:

[Gibby]

Hugs to Muski and Carrie, and the Blaze. Sounds like the Blaze did their best, which is all that anyone can ask of them.

And now Muski gets to enjoy another concert! Yes!!! I hope you have a fantastic time!

Maddy, thanks so much for sharing your story!

And I would LOVE to go to Fogo de Chao with Clay. The place sounds like great fun. And, of course, he'd be sexy and fun company!

I love this picture - it shows that he's so full of it!!

[playbiller]

Aw Muski, you bring such mixed feelings of - well, you know - sort of like Merrieeeee is back again, but she had bad news. Enjoy your concerts..

[YSRN]

Aw Muski, you bring such mixed feelings of - well, you know - sort of like Merrieeeee is back again, but she had bad news. Enjoy your concerts..

Yeah, that!

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

[muskifest]

I love this picture - it shows that he's so full of it!!

Gibby, I love this picture too...but I'm can't quite agree with the last part...I mean, the picture DOES end above the belt, after all..

:medium-smiley-070:

But after four years who really needs another picture of real estate further south to confirm that IT'S there...right?

Ok....really going to sleep now... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Ansamcw]

Clay was a riot...the new schtick is SSSSLLLLLLOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW....

he sang to flat Clay...he knelt i front of Angela...

He was so cool ...he was too cool for the audience...

will post more later....I am missing some funny shit from Kandre...we have a small party here...with lovespopculture, Kandre, CG, Angela's SIL...who had a moment at the Clay concert when she shouted AWESOME...and Clay heard her and had a bit of convo...and Couchie's friend...

ttyl

[Ansamcw]

Oh, and by the way....that wonderful view of the Pala concert stage and grounds from their room? Ahem...they didnt' tell you why they have such a wonderful view, did they?

CG here!!!

Ok, I must give credit where credit is due!! Muski is a master schmoozer. When we couldn't get the package at Pala, she schmoozed the reservations manager into giving us a room where we could see the stage area and watch the rehearsal. And because muski does schmooze brilliantly, we got just that! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

And muski my dear friend, you are a wonderful mother!!! Carrie did sooooooo well. Her team did sooooo well. They should be be VERY proud of themselves - at least as proud as you are of them. And as much as we missed you being here with us, there is nothing Clay could ever do that would have been as wonderful as what Carrie and the Blaze did. Please tell her I am proud of her too!

Can't wait to see you tomorrow!

[bottlecap]

CARRIE AND THE BLAZE ROCKS!

Shhh, I'll post quietly now, since I suspect the West Coasters are trying to sleep of a night of debacling a certain very cute boy and drinking mass quantities of alcohol. Off to read all about Pala....

[luckiest1]

Some pictures from toni7babe at CH:

I am not sure why I'm up so early when I stayed up so late, but I suspect it has something to do with all the ribs, funnel cake, and fudge that I ate. *rubs tummy*

[bottlecap]

EEEEEEE!!! over the RETURN OF THE RING!!! At least one, I see. I missed those guys.

ETA: I'm listening to the San Diego MP3s. "Do you know how long it took us to get you up?!" Ummm, I think they have medication to help with that now....

[luckiest1]

Hee, I've been sitting here for an hour and a half watching San Diego clack. The two medleys had me in tears. The man is seriously funny! He was just working that audience, trying to get them into it and up on their feet, wasn't he? I had to watch the George Jefferson dance from a few different angles. And the Classics....SexyBack....party all night. But I think he is sexiest to me during the TV medley when he is just moving and dancing to the beat while the girls are singing. But I've always enjoyed watching Clay when the spotlight is not on him....all the way back to that infamous St. Louis air drums clip from the AI2 tour....anyone know which one I mean?

ETA: In case anyone doesn't, or wants to, I actually found it on CU:

http://www1.clackunlimited.com/clack/Conce...03/StLouis/MnM/

How awesome is his hair in the Pala pictures? It's REALLY growing out. I wonder if he'll keep it long for the more southern shows....all that heat and humidity is going to be killer. Hee, cindilu2 and I "practised" for Cary by sitting out yesterday in the baking sun, waiting for the hot air balloons to inflate and rise at our annual Balloonfest and Ribfest yesterday evening. It was lacking in the humidity department but maybe we toughened up our white, Canadian skin a wee bit. Here are some pics we took (clickable if you are interested):

And, just because I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to do clickables (!!!), here are a couple of funny shots I took last weekend at the Elvis festival I attended.

Son #1 in his Elvis get up (don't anyone tell him I posted this, he'd kill me).

I took this pic for y'all....no idea why this Elvis decided not to wear any pants.

The happy just-turned-16 year old, son #2.

Edited August 4, 2007 by lickiest1

[ldyjocelyn]

licky, I think the name change is permanent. Or it is to ME, at least. :F_05BL17blowkiss: Nice balloon picutres. I so want to ride in one of those some day....maybe for my 50th birthday!

muski, you're probably on a plane RIGHT NOW TO SEE CLAY (EEEEEEEE!), but send my congrats to Carrie and the teams. I read your post and I could FEEL the caring you have for your daughter. *sniff*

What adorable pictures from last night!

licky, I CERTAINLY remember that show -- I was there live for it, and had my binoculars trainined on Clay that entire night. That's one of my all time favorite clips of him....just jamming away, totally unaware that so many of us were watching HIM>

I can't wait to hear more from the Pala girls!

Gotta run...a rehearsal this morning, then housecleaning all day. *waves at atinal*

[cindilu2]

OMG, lickiest1 - he's gonna kill you for sure. BWAH!! Those are great pics!

Last night's show sounded terrific - can't wait for Clack. Thanks California contingent for checking in. :F_05BL17blowkiss: I'm feeling your high all the way to Canada!

[Ansamcw]

CG here! Belive it or not, we are all up!!! We had such a good day yesterday - topped off by our boyfriend!! He was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute yesterday!!! He looked great, sounded great and was on his game wih his comedy routine. And the jumbotron guy deserves a medal cause he did a great job. They could have made a fortune selling the taepe of the jumbotron!!

So today we will pick upmuski at the Ontario airport (assuming Morticia helps s find it.....) and we get to meet up with JennaZ, so a great big huge bunch of EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE's there!

And of course we get to see our boyfriend again.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! This is so much fun!!!

P.S. Alcohol? Just because we felt the NEED to go buy a big bottle of tequila and maragrita mix and almost half seem to be one???? Pashaw! We are just being social!! After all, its a party!! We were entertained first by Clay, then by the one and only KAndre!! How can you NOT enjoy a beverage at a time like that!

Later gators. Need to get the show on the road!!!

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

[atinal]

Muski I was sorry to hear that Carrie and the Blaze lost their last tournament games. When you get back, it would be cool to let her read the posts of support for her and her team even after they lost. I know you said she was surprised how people who didn't even know her were congratulating her when they won. You have such a gift of recapping her games, have you ever thought of going back and printing some of your game recaps and saving them for her. In years to come I'll bet she would treasure them.

In the mean time - have a great time with Clay and the FCA gals at the Greek.

I'm really glad that all of you FCAers are having such a great time in CA, but I really miss you all on the board, just be sure to take it all in, I don't want to hear about that Aiken fog when you get back, I want details. Enjoy ladies.

[sheiladownunder]

Oops, this is in response to lickiest .all the way back to that infamous St. Louis air drums clip from the AI2 tour....anyone know which one I mean?

Like this one. It's been my avatar for years

Bwah! the Elvis festival looks like fun.

Edited August 4, 2007 by sheiladownunder

[YSRN]

Squeeee.... *waves to the SoCal partyers*

artquest and FlatClay were heelarious!! I just watched that part... OMG... too funny!

[Ansamcw]

Couchie here.. WOW he was really on fire last night. It was a perfect show for my sister in law who loves clay but have never seen him live. She REAALY REALLY enjoyed the show. Since she became a mommy I think i even forgot how social she was. She is not the shy and retiring type and she had a great time partying with everyone. I guess I have fallen down on the job because she only has Measure of a Man and Merry Xmas with Love. She didn't even know about ATDW. Damn, bad Clay fan. I'll take care of that of course. She loved Lover All Alone, Without You and Measure of a Man the most. But she just loved the whole thing... and I could hear her saying things like awesome. She said she'd forgotten how great his voice was.

Anyway, I want to go get in the big spa tub but I'm running out of time.

Jenna, will give you call...we should be in to our hotel around 1:30. But I'll call you at about 10. We're picking up Muski up at noon from Ontario and then we'll head on it. Can't wait to meet you!!

EEEEEEE!!! over the RETURN OF THE RING!!! At least one, I see. I missed those guys.

ETA: I'm listening to the San Diego MP3s. "Do you know how long it took us to get you up?!" Ummm, I think they have medication to help with that now....

Yes, apparantly the ring was more important than the concert itself to some people. Some where during the second song, the people behind me noticed the ring and went into some sort of conniption fit. "wow, the ring, he has on a ring...look, focus in on it...what is it..wow the board is gong to blow up"... I kept GLARING at them to shut the fuck hell up. I wish people will understand that even though this may be their twenty second concert, there are some people there that has NEVER seen Clay live and you are disturbing the crap out of me. And as much as I love cellstream, the same thing applies. In San Deigo somebody giving a cellcert - maybe it was just to a friend - was yelling over Clay. at the beginning of some songs - trying to impart informatin. The concerts are FOR the people there first of all. The rest of us are secondary. Sometimes toward the middle and end of these shows his concerts become more of a social event than a concert and that just isn't right for people attending the shows. I wish people would check their mouths and attitude at the door. Off my soapbox.

Whoo hoo... on to Los Angeles

ETA: OOOOH forgot to say we met Mr. Artquest twice yesterday. The first time we had just gotten off the elevator at our floor and we were talking about not brining booze into the hotel, as we were bringing in our booze into the hotel... I said I know I read that somewhere --then I said maybe Artquest posted that at CH. Then I heard a voice behind me say..ARTQUEST? It was Mr. Artquest. Heee. Then later we saw him and he told us it was him moving the flat Clay. That whole thing was hilarious btw. OK really going now.

[YSRN]

I love this picture!!

[playbiller]

Sounds like CA had a great concert yesterday. Clay just gets better and better - Floridians - watch out, he will have you jumping out of our socks (striped preferred)

I am in a "hold me FCA", delusions run rampant with people who are basically calling Clay a liar. What in the world strikes these people that they know him better than anything he says? good thing I have to get im my car a drive for hours today, them do lost of laundry and pack and then shop for nice clothes (threat by sister if I just wear my usual crap). nd pack some more and make some stuff for the parties.

OH, no! news is covering someone in my town who is obsessed by Weird AL and has his pictures all over the place! I must go hide in shame. Me? I just have one framed picture of Clay (my autographed club membership photo) stuck in among the family gallery.I figured it was Artquests flat Clay since it is the largest I have read about and who, but a husband not attending the concert would be available to dance flat Clay?