#21: "Surprisingly, the ice did not melt."

[jmh123]

I never saw this one before--what a goofball!!!

so if we're actually going to the show we don't need to buy a playbill right?

Right--you'll get one at the show.

[keepingfaith]

I have heard very little about last night in Wilkes-Barre ... got home too late for a cellcert and didn't see much written about it. But .. I'm reminded of the concert there last year, at least I think it was in Wilkes-Barre when Clay was doing his "I'm just not classy" banter that a woman shouted out, "You're HOT, though!"

And that made me think ... Last Christmas the banter was "I'm just not classy" and this year a formal concert and very classy Clay. Extrapolating .... extrapolating ... is it too much to hope for that since Clay spent the summer doing "I'm just not cool" banter, that Clay's next pop tour will be master cool?

[cha cha trusty]

I never saw that one before either -- which venue is it from????

Inquiring minds want to know!!

[bottlecap]

I snagged Mr. CrazyLegs from CV yesterday. Apparently it was from Tampa - the Brady Bunch dealie from before the TV medley.

Ah, Tampa, source of some wild Clack...

[lilyshine]

Download Trillian. And delete AIM.

I really like Trillian. I've used it for 5 or 6 years now. My grand daughter and I use it more than anything else to communicate. I only used AIM once and got rid of it fast. It was a very annoying program.

[cindilu2]

I never saw that one before either -- which venue is it from????

Inquiring minds want to know!!

Hee! It almost looks like there might have been a little Sir Robin in-training goin' on there.

[jamar1700]

OT but OMG.

There has been a mass shooting in Omaha Nebraska at the Westroads shopping center. 9 dead 5 injured. Most victims found in the Von Mor store? Suspect in hand. Conflicting stories going on as to whether the suspect tried to commit suicide. Is there just one or two shooters, etc. God I worked at this mall for 2 years. Jamar, Bookwhore do you have the TV on?

ETA: 9 dead including the gunman. He shot 30-40 times.

This happened at the Mall where I park my car and get on & off the bus. When I got on the bus to go home they weren't even going to drop me off there but they got the go-ahead about half-way home. There were still police all over the place and I had to show my ID to get out of the parking lot. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. : (

eta...Von Maur is an upscale dept. store. It's relatively new (5-10 yrs) to the Mall Clazor. It's the anchor store on the south side. The shooter is dead. 19 yr old kid who said he wanted to "go out in style."

They haven't released any of the names of the victims yet.

[Bookwhore]

Yes, Clazor, I have the TV on, but I'm not in Omaha, I'm in Kansas City. I heard about the shooting as I was leaving work and rushed home to check on JaMar. I was worried.

[jazzgirl]

There were still police all over the place and I had to show my ID to get out of the parking lot. I couldn't get of there fast enough.

Glad to read that you are safe Jamar!

[muskifest]

I have heard very little about last night in Wilkes-Barre ... got home too late for a cellcert and didn't see much written about it. But .. I'm reminded of the concert there last year, at least I think it was in Wilkes-Barre when Clay was doing his "I'm just not classy" banter that a woman shouted out, "You're HOT, though!"

And that made me think ... Last Christmas the banter was "I'm just not classy" and this year a formal concert and very classy Clay. Extrapolating .... extrapolating ... is it too much to hope for that since Clay spent the summer doing "I'm just not cool" banter, that Clay's next pop tour will be master cool?

Ooooh.....I LIKE it, babe! I LIKE it! :00000441: :club0: :me0:

[muskifest]

BTW...I'm about to burst! I just came back from dinner---went to a local joint called "Mother's" and had fried catfish, cabbage and fries and a beer.

YUM! But my tummy's screaming at me...I suppose I could go to the hotel's fitness center....

nah....I think I'll watch Clack instead.

[Couch Tomato]

Glad you're ok Jomar. That's scary..oh so random.

Muski..I love New Orleans. What do you think of the city now.

[ldyjocelyn]

jamar, glad you're safe.....

Title thread poll at the top of the page. Several good choices there....probably too many....

I've loved all the gifs today. That Brady Bunch one cracks me up!

[Couch Tomato]

that was a hard choice LdyJ.

[Gibby]

Oooooh, Jamar, I'm so glad you're okay! That's scary.

I loved all of the gifs posted today! I have quite a few gifs, but didn't have all of the ones posted, so I had a good time adding them to my gif folder. Thank you!

You are better off putting you own video up there, you can edit the comments that way and I do ALL the TIME!.

I heard that a certain JP has put up video and linked from hios blog - and that just invites those comments - so why not request that the video be taken down since it is yours, and put it up yourself or let me put it up for you since I patrol the comments all the time and when I find it linked from questionable places I takle downthe link abilities for 5 days and then restore it. it is kind of like a job.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice on the inappropriate youtube comments. And thanks, play, for the offer to put my videos up! I went to youtube to check on the comments after work this evening, and found that the comments had already been edited out. I wrote the person who put the videos up, thanked her for editing out the comments, and let her know that I'll write her again if more inappropriate comments show up. As long as she edits out the comments, I'll just let her keep them up. Several of them are linked to Clay blogs, so I'd rather not break the links.

Lots of good potential thread titles! Too bad we can only vote for one.

[Thankful4Clay]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THANKFUL4CLAY! I left some greetings on EAYOR, but here's to you here, too! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

:large-smiley-003: :bday2: :04: :00003653:

Tuesday was a really busy day for me and I'm just getting here now. Thanks for the birthday wishes, everyone!

[luckiest1]

Some story reader recaps from Wilkes-Barre from CV via CH:

WARNING!!! Very long, only semi-coherent recap of my reading adventure follows. Good luck staying awake. If you get lost in there, I'll send out a search party in an hour!!!!!

I got to the venue will-call window at 4:35 or so, as the email telling me I’d been selected to read stated to be there between 4:30 and 4:45 for rehearsal. I got the email Monday night (the night before) at around 10:00 PM. It totally surprised me! I really thought I hadn’t been selected, and was feeling somewhat okay about that.

My feelings of okayness (yeah, I know, it’s not a word -- so deal with it) had to do with the fact that I had attended my first concert on Sunday night in DC. When I watched the readers on Sunday, I remember thinking “oh wow, there’s just a microphone. No podium. Nothing to hold on to. Just standing there in the spotlight reading from a black binder. At that point, I wasn’t sure I could do that. So, I recall saying to myself that maybe it’s a good thing I hadn’t been selected after all. Of course, the very next day I get the email saying I won.

So, now, I’m waiting and I’m nervous and jumpy as can be. But, I recognize another woman there – and it’s Sweet Carolina Girl. I introduce myself, telling her I recognize her and we start chatting. That helped – a lot! A third reader was there as well (she doesn’t post on CV but she was very nice as well). It turns out the fourth reader had already read her story in DC, so she did not attend the rehearsal.

Anyway, Jaime finally comes to get us. We go through the maze of stairwells, turns, hallways and more stairs to get to the place backstage where we will wait to go on. We learn how to adjust the mic, and each take a turn reading our story, getting used to the lights, the sound of the mic, etc. While the others were reading, I was checking out Clay’s platform and the steps leading up to it which he uses to enter and exit the stage. He has to lean over to get through the entrance. I also noted that the entire stage is very crowded – not much room for anything else up there.

As Jaime led us on our way through the backstage areas, we passed by Clay’s “production room, Q & A’s dressing room, the “band” dressing room, (the doors were all open on all of these) and then by the double doors of Clay’s dressing room (which, darn it all, were closed!). But it was interesting to me to glance into the rooms and get a peek at how they function backstage.

Sorry, this is turning into War and Peace here. I’ll pick up the pace. So, Jaime tells us to meet her at 6:50 at the designated spot in the lobby and she’ll come get us to take us backstage. We’re there. She comes. Once again we’re following the same twisting, turning path backstage to arrive at our “holding area.” I’m the first reader, so I have the binder. Now, thank goodness we had our rehearsal earlier. Because, as I started to read my story then, I noticed that Mr. Aiken (in full schoolteacher mode, I’m sure) had edited out quite a bit of my story. Like, the funny parts. Sheesh. Lucky for him he’s so freaking adorable, charming, and yada, yada, yada or I’da been some kind of mad at him! Anyway, it’s his fault if nobody laughed!

So, Clay finishes singing "Merry Christmas With Love" and Jaime gives me the nudge and off I go. The spotlight comes on and I open my mouth and hope to God something comes out. It did. Actually, it seemed pretty okay. Now, that’s not to say I wasn’t nervous, cause I sure was. But this kind of rush kicked in and it was totally a blast up there. Hopefully no one could tell that my right knee was shaking – couldn’t have stopped it if I’d tried!

Finished my story, turned around, walked back off stage and Wow! I wanted to scream and shout and jump up and down and EEEEEEEEE. It was such a feeling of euphoria! But, decorum won out and I managed to contain myself. (decorum is highly overrated, btw) I found my way out of the backstage maze and found my seat in the 2nd row (woohoo!) and enjoyed the rest of the concert.

Okay, almost done here. Hold on a bit more. Or scroll. You know the drill.

Now we readers met up with Jaime, again, to go backstage after the show. By now we can find our way through the maze in the dark if we had to. They seat us in a room and we’re chatting away, waiting to Clay to come tell us what a magnificent job we’d done (well, you know, wishful thinking!)

Anyway, I see Q, A and Clay coming down the hall because there is a mirror in the room and I see them approaching through the reflection. So, we have advance warning to stop chatting and get ourselves appropriately sane, composed and (hopefully) intelligent looking. The others pull this off completely, since they are sane. composed and intelligent. Me, not so much. But, they all troop in, looking beautiful in their concert clothes, and do proceed to tell us we done good. He tells us that we (the readers in general) are a wonderful and important part of the show, and that although we can’t see it, he can see the audience when we are reading and that they are enjoying and connecting to the stories. He expresses his gratitude to us for helping with the show. He hands us our signed, nicely printed copies of our stories (suitable for framing!). He’s been standing most of this time. Now, suddenly he flops down in a chair RIGHT NEXT TO ME. I swear he’s practically rubbing shoulders with me. Then he crosses his leg and his big foot is swinging there right in front of me. Gah! He chats a bit with each one of us. Asks scg if she’s from Texas (huh?), and they have a bit of a conversation. This works well for me, since when scg addresses Clay, that means I have a legitimate excuse to look (i.e. stare) at him right there beside me. I see the tiny bit of stubble peeking out from the makeup. Sitting there looking at him in profile right then, he looked very young to me. So fresh-faced or something. And he looked fiiiiinnnnnneeeee. Tall and slender in his black shirt, tie, PANTS! and huge black boots. I can handle it, thank you very much!

Okay, sheesh, did I really say I was making this quick. I’m trying, I really am. Now, picture time. He calls us up in order, so I’m first. It’s a group “cast” shot. We’re 4 abreast, starting with Q, then Clay, then me, then A. We all have our arms around each other. (sigh) Then, just when I think it doesn’t get any better, we break rank after the shot, and he turns to me and holds out those arms and gives me a big hug and says, again, thanks so much for helping with the show. (My pleasure, Clay. Really. I mean it. Any time. Okay?)

So, we all get pics and hugs. And it’s time to go. But wait, he has one more thing. He asks if we are coming to more shows. We are, except for one of us. He asks her if they can find someone else to read her story if they choose to use it again. Then he turns to us and says there is always a possibility they may use our stories again. Good Lord! Oh, and he asked us when we got our notification that we were going to read. When we told him the night before, he looked shocked. He said, “last night?!!!!” When we confirmed this again, he looked around at Mary and Jerome and Jaime and kind of laughed and looked sheepish and said something to the effect of “well, it isn’t my fault” in a snarky, laughing kind of way. Oh, and he said he’s still not done with all the reading and he’s not near done in making the selections for the last five shows.

Anyway, I think that’s about it. (finally!). Oh, just one other adorable thing he did. The woman who read about her grandson, Reis, had a picture Reis had made to give to Clay. When she handed it to him, he immediately said he had to get something to give back to him. He was looking around and finally said he’d just sign a piece of paper for him. After Clay left, she showed it to us. It was a little note, signed to Reis, thanking him for his picture and signed and dated by Clay. I thought that was sweet.

The End.

I can do a partial recap now and maybe add some more later. I will mostly respond to ncwannabe's great recap and add some more. Some of this stuff has nothing to do with Clay or a concert or a Christmas story, so skip arround at will.

First of all, I must say that I only wrote a story because Clay said "B A Part" and I wanted to play. The man spoke, and I just had to obey. Besides, reading/narrating is my "thang," so to speak. I just love it. I'm not good at ad libbing or other kinds of public speaking (well, except in a classroom, which is a different thing entirely), but I can narrate/announce like nobody's business. I have announced the homecoming court at my beloved high school for 27 years. It's become tradition. (Next year when the school splits, I'm going to ask if I can announce at both schools. I would love that.) People sometimes call me "the voice." (Thank goodness they don't call me "the mouth." ) Sometimes I announce for the band, too, and once got to announce during halftime at an NFL playoff game between the Carolina Panthers and the Dallas Cowboys. Our band had been invited to play, and they brought me along to announce. It was all kinds of cool. A major rush!!! I have narrated lots of school and church stuff, too. I've always said that I'd rather narrate than sing, and I love, love, love to sing. Unfortunately, I don't get to do nearly as much as I'd like because most folks want a male narrator. Bummer.

Anywhoo, when Clay announced the contest, I knew I'd love to be up there reading, but, unless someone offered me a story to read, I guessed I'd have to write one. I thought that I'd write a story for Mama and tell about growing up in the 1920's or something. I nagged her for weeks to tell me more stories of her childhood Christmases. She did, but nothing was interesting at all, so I had to give up. So I decided to write about the completely uninteresting little Christmas ornaments I made when I was little. Yawn. Clay said add details, so I did. Analogies. Alliteration. You name it. Every literary device I could muster appeared in that story. I slaved over it. When I finished, I was quite pleased with the way it was written, but I still thought it was very boring and that Clay wouldn't have any interest in it at all. I sent the emails and put it out of my mind. Totally. I was truly shocked when the email came saying he liked it. What? Why?

Thing was, I had written the story in third person -- as if it had happened to someone else. I tried writing it in first person, but I just didn't like doing that. I figured if Clay could us the royal "we," I could use third person. So the email asked if it was a real memory and said if it was could I possibly rewrite it in first person, which I did. (I still think it reads better in third person.) I was less excited about it now but figured if he liked it that was cool. Then I got another email asking me to record it, which I also did. That was a trip in itself, as the answering machine kept cutting off and we had to call back and pick up where we left off. The other readers and I had fun talking about how we had done that.

I got to the venue will-call window at 4:35 or so, as the email telling me I’d been selected to read stated to be there between 4:30 and 4:45 for rehearsal. I got the email Monday night (the night before) at around 10:00 PM. It totally surprised me! I really thought I hadn’t been selected, and was feeling somewhat okay about that.

I still didn't think I had a chance, but after hearing others talk about their stories and experiences, I began to allow myself to get my hopes up. The email I had received originally said "Washington," and I have to admit that when I didn't get a notice for Washington, I was pretty bummed. Well, a lot bummed. But then I went on to the concert, and Clay's beautiful voice soothed my soul, and I began to feel better. I finally figured it just wasn't meant to be and was pretty much at peace about it. When the email arrived at 9:56 pm on Monday, I was just dumb-founded. Yikes!! It's real!! It's really going to happen.

I showed up for rehearsal a few minutes before ncwannabe did. Lisa, who read about her grandson Reis, was already there. She is from West Virginia -- I think she said Buckhannon -- and she was so very nice. She says she lives on a farm and had driven 7 hours yesterday to get there. She said it was hard because she was needed at home to do something with the cows, but since I'm not a farm girl I don't know what it was, but it sounded important. (She told me later that if Clay wanted her story read again that she'd probably just have to get someone else to tend to the cows instead of allowing someone else to read it. I sure do understand.) She said she wasn't the least bit nervous. She and her husband had said a prayer before she left that she wouldn't get nervous, and I guess it must have worked.

ncwannabe and I had a great chat. She kept talking about her nerves, but I thought she did a great job and no one would ever know she was nervous.

Was I nervous? Well, by mid-morning on Tuesday, I was a complete wreck. I was so nervous I thought I would throw up. It wasn't reading in front of people. That's no problem. It was reading in front of the MAN!! OMG!!!

So about 4 pm, I pulled out my secret weapon. Let's just put it this way! When ncwannabe asked me why I didn't seem nervous, I just smiled and said, "Better living through pharmaceuticals." :biggrin: By the time I got to the venue, I was oh-kay! :wiggle:

Anyway, Jaime finally comes to get us. We go through the maze of stairwells, turns, hallways and more stairs to get to the place backstage where we will wait to go on. We learn how to adjust the mic, and each take a turn reading our story, getting used to the lights, the sound of the mic, etc. <snip> As Jaime led us on our way through the backstage areas, we passed by Clay’s “production room, Q & A’s dressing room, the “band” dressing room, (the doors were all open on all of these) and then by the double doors of Clay’s dressing room (which, darn it all, were closed!). But it was interesting to me to glance into the rooms and get a peek at how they function backstage.

We were all winking and pointing at Clay's closed dressng room door. :giggle: At one point, Jamie stopped at the door and called inside that she'd be back in a while since she was working with the readers. EEEEEEEEEEEE. Jamie, by the way, is very tiny. Skinny little thing. Very cute.

Now, thank goodness we had our rehearsal earlier. Because, as I started to read my story then, I noticed that Mr. Aiken (in full schoolteacher mode, I’m sure) had edited out quite a bit of my story. Like, the funny parts. Sheesh. Lucky for him he’s so freaking adorable, charming, and yada, yada, yada or I’da been some kind of mad at him! Anyway, it’s his fault if nobody laughed!

I noticed he cut out a few lines of mine as well. I have no idea why. But he had, thankfully, left in my favorite part. You see, the email we received asking us to record our speech clearly stated that we'd better read it exactly as was printed below and must not change anything. I discovered that my favorite analogy had been removed. Darn. But I guess he changed his mind because the final script included it. :banana:

We rehearsed. Jamie stopped me in the middle of mine and said that Jesse wanted me to talk faster. Faster? I had to laugh. Lord have mercy! Don't ask me to talk faster after a lifetime of telling my drama kids to speak more slowly. Then again, we always had crappy acoustics, and we had to speak more slowly to be understood. Clay's sound system, of course,was first class. :stud: So, sure. Faster it was. Whatever you want.

Now we readers met up with Jaime, again, to go backstage after the show. <snip> They seat us in a room and we’re chatting away, waiting to Clay to come tell us what a magnificent job we’d done (well, you know, wishful thinking!)

I won't repeat what ncwannabe so wonderfully wrote, because I don't remember any of it. I do remember the girls coming in in their gowns and looking gorgeous. I do remember the man coming in looking gorgeous. But I don't remember anyone telling us we did a good job. I don't remember his saying anything about watching the audience reaction. I don't remember any of that. None. Zilch.

He’s been standing most of this time. Now, suddenly he flops down in a chair RIGHT NEXT TO ME. I swear he’s practically rubbing shoulders with me. Then he crosses his leg and his big foot is swinging there right in front of me. Gah! He chats a bit with each one of us. Asks scg if she’s from Texas (huh?), and they have a bit of a conversation. This works well for me, since when scg addresses Clay, that means I have a legitimate excuse to look (i.e. stare) at him right there beside me. I see the tiny bit of stubble peeking out from the makeup. Sitting there looking at him in profile right then, he looked very young to me. So fresh-faced or something. And he looked fiiiiinnnnnneeeee. Tall and slender in his black shirt, tie, PANTS! and huge black boots. I can handle it, thank you very much!

Before Clay came in, Lisa was saying that people were commenting about her West Virginia accent. She was getting all concerned a stuff because she didn't think she sounded that bad. I told that I thought she sounded simply wonderful, which she did. Clay said that he didn't think her accent was as pronounced as mine!! What? And I used my stage voice, too, which is nothing like my yakkin' it up talkin' voice. Well, I guess I've been "wrong all along." Humph!! Not good to know.

Anyway, here is a rough, rough idea of our convo:

Clay: Now, you must be from Texas or somewhere.

Me: No, I'm from Western North Carolina. (I always qualify because we westerners have more of a mountain sound, sort of like Dolly Parton, who is from just across the ridge in east Tennessee.)

Clay: (apparently not understanding me and thinking I was giving the name of a town) What? Where?

Me: The town is named Drexel. I met you before and told you I was from Drexel and you said you knew where it was.

Clay: Well, then I lied!!

Me: (quiety) Well, ok.

Clay: I know about Drexel University. That's in Philadelphia. (He was looking up at someone else when he said this.)

Me: It's the home of the Drexel Heritage Furniture Company. (I was going to say that surely his mom had decorated with Drexel Heritage furniture at some point.)

Clay: Well, maybe I do know then. Is it near High Point? (High Point is supposedly the furniture capital of the world. High Point is near Greensboro.)

Me: No, in the foothills, between Asheville and Charlotte.

Scintillating conversation, right? :yawn:

I really didn't want to talk about my hometown or my accent. Liver spots are more interesting than my home town, and my accent is very similar to Clay's. Nuff said.

As far as his sitting down goes, this is what I remember. His legs are very, very long. The lower part of his legs between the knees and ankles are exceptionally long. He sat in the chair and his knees came way up. Why had I not noticed that before? I have no idea what he said to the other ladies because I was staring at him. He was so purdy. And, yes, he did look very young. Fresh faced young. A taller version of Clayton. Honest.

Now, picture time. He calls us up in order, so I'm first. It’s a group “cast” shot. We’re 4 abreast, starting with Q, then Clay, then me, then A. We all have our arms around each other. (sigh) Then, just when I think it doesn’t get any better, we break rank after the shot, and he turns to me and holds out those arms and gives me a big hug and says, again, thanks so much for helping with the show.

I was last. I was in a fog while the others were having their picture made, so I didn't really know what was going on. I think there may have been some arms involved. While we were getting in place, I told him tonight was my "golden" night -- my fifieth.... I think he thought I was saying it was my fiftieth birthday (yeah, right! :giggle: ) but when I said "performance," he said, "oh, you've been to fifty concerts. I don't think I've even been to fifty concerts." Huh? That must be his stock answer when fans -- like me, apparently -- are stupid enough to tell him how many concerts they've been to. :doh: I do remember the hug, though. I don't know what he said during the hug or what stupid remark I made back, but I do know there was hugging involved. Oh, my.

He did seem quite animated and most definitely large and in charge. There is no doubt who is the boss.

I'm sure that there are lots of errors and typos in the above post, and I will correct them as I can, I promise.

[luckiest1]

And this M&G recap from CB:

A friend has a meet and greet last night and gave me permission to post this:

She asked clay how he feels about clack and he said he did not mind at all. BUT . . . he does not appreciate it when people post the stuff on you tube especially when he makes mistakes. You talked about the "All Is Well" from last year and was upset that it was all over the internet. He thought it was rude to post. Also, he said he felt it was very rude of people to post the Capital One Skating show on youtube since it had not even been aired yet and he didn't own the show.

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

A whopping 3 degrees here this morning; have I said how much I hate winter?

16 Days until Christmas in Merrillville!

19 Days until The Skating Special Airs!

32 Days until The BAF Golf Outing!

43 Days until Clay is on Broadway!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[cindilu2]

And this M&G recap from CB:

A friend has a meet and greet last night and gave me permission to post this:

She asked clay how he feels about clack and he said he did not mind at all. BUT . . . he does not appreciate it when people post the stuff on you tube especially when he makes mistakes. You talked about the "All Is Well" from last year and was upset that it was all over the internet. He thought it was rude to post. Also, he said he felt it was very rude of people to post the Capital One Skating show on youtube since it had not even been aired yet and he didn't own the show.

And there is an endless thread that follows this post. She eventually took the word 'especially' out, which many took to imply he didn't want any clack posted. By all other accounts, he did not say that. Filters apply, clearly. But the gist from the other M&G'ers was that he didn't appreciate his 'mistakes' being posted all over youtube. Can't blame the guy for that. And he's said as much, albeit snarkily, quite a few times in concert.

ETA: just to be clear, all accounts say he DID say he didn't appreciate the mistakes or things that haven't aired yet being there, just not the 'especially' part, which implied more.

[Gibby]

And this M&G recap from CB:

A friend has a meet and greet last night and gave me permission to post this:

She asked clay how he feels about clack and he said he did not mind at all. BUT . . . he does not appreciate it when people post the stuff on you tube especially when he makes mistakes. You talked about the "All Is Well" from last year and was upset that it was all over the internet. He thought it was rude to post. Also, he said he felt it was very rude of people to post the Capital One Skating show on youtube since it had not even been aired yet and he didn't own the show.

That's exactly why I didn't upload my Wichita AIW to the vault. Clay sang AIW magnificently in Wichita, but struggled a little on the last note. It wasn't as bad as the first concert last year, but still, I didn't want it ending up on youtube. And now, with these comments, filtered or not, I'm very glad I made that decision.

Aikim, it sounds like it's cold there today! BRRRRRR! It's 35 here now, and the forecast calls for snow over the next three days. We haven't had much snow this season, so I don't mind, as long as the roads are okay. We need Clay's scarf and hat to keep warm - hopefully they will be available at the online store soon! I wouldn't mind snuggling up to a warm Clay blanket, either!

[ldyjocelyn]

aikim, it's 9 degrees F. here, and we're expecting 4 inches of snow overnight. I guess winter is finally here.

I too can understand Clay not wanting his "mistakes' broadcast all over the net. But if people are taking that as "no clack period," IMO their filters are pretty darn strong.

I didn't turn my main computer on last night. I usually get home from work and then fire up my computer, leaving it on all night for AVG to update and run its scan. Since I got home almost at bedtime last night, I just used the laptop instead. This morning, AVG decided that it didn't like my computer any more, and would NOT turn on. Had to reinstall the whole program. Sometimes I really hate computers....

masslive.com/The Republican

Clay Aiken Prepares 4th Yule Show

Clay Aiken prepares 4th Yule show

Thursday, December 06, 2007

By KEITH J. O'CONNOR

When Clay Aiken's record company proposed the idea of recording a Christmas album, he was hesitant at first.

"My first response was that I would love to do one, but not just yet," said Aiken, who is bringing his Christmas in the Heartland tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena on Sunday.

"I had just released my first album and thought we should give it a year, with another album in between," said the popular "American Idol" finalist.

But as powerful record companies often do, they prevailed.

"They were very adamant in feeling that this was the time to do it, and it did work out well," said the singer, whose voice thrilled millions of Americans who watched the performer rise to the top on year two of "American Idol."

And, so, on Nov. 16, 2004, RCA Records released Aiken's "Merry Christmas With Love," which set a record for fastest-selling holiday album in the Soundscan era. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and tied Celine Dion's record for the highest debut by a holiday album in the history of Billboard magazine. The album went on to sell more than 1 million copies in six weeks and was the best-selling holiday album of 2004.

In support of his Christmas album, Aiken launched a tour in November 2004 that revolved around a Christmas theme. He also starred in and executive produced his first television special in December, "A Clay Aiken Christmas," to coincide with the album and tour. The TV

show's featured guests Barry Manilow, Yolanda Adams and Megan Mullally. It was released on DVD later that month.

Aiken said with the fourth Christmas tour this year, "it's always tougher to create something a little different for the fans," but noted they have.

"We sent out a call to anybody able to write who wanted to share their own Christmas memories with us, and we've selected several of them to come up on stage at each concert to share their stories with the audience," Aiken said.

"It's almost like creating a Christmas card and we do it in such a way that the stories fold right into the next song," he added.

Born in 1978, Aiken began singing at an early age and by the time he reached his teen years was a member of the Raleigh Boys Choir in his native North Carolina. However, when it came time to go to college, music wasn't his major. He studied special education instead and had dreams of attending William and Mary for a master's degree in administration.

Before he could further his education, he ended up wooing 21 million television viewers on "American Idol" each week from February to May 2003. His rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" earned him a spot in viewers' hearts. Although he finished second to Ruben Studdard, Aiken's loss was not taken lightly. He landed a deal with RCA within weeks of the show's finale.

Aiken's debut single, "This is the Night," made history by going to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. It sold more than 392,000 copies during its first week, beating Elton John's record for "Candle in the Wind 1997."

Later that year, he issued his first studio album, "The Measure of a Man," which went on to No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 during its first week of release. After the Christmas album, Aiken waited two years, until September 2006, to release his third album "A Thousand Different Ways," which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart - making him the fourth artist to have his first three albums debut in the Top 5.

After his current Christmas tour, Aiken said he expects to go into the recording studio in January or February to begin recording his fourth album, which he hopes to have out by the middle of next year.

WOOHOO!!!

[Ansamcw]

Lucky...thanks for posting those recaps and reactions....I have been busy with Christmas stuff...yesterday was first shopping spree. Pretty late for me but I got all the minor gifts out of the way. Now its time to put up the tree...do xmas cooking, I make traditional meat pies, and baking, then the big xmas items for the girls.

I do love this time of the year even if it can be very tiring.

That last m&g report...it goes without saying I think. I lot of us know that it would bother Clay to have his mistakes up...a lot of us knew that it probably isn't good to have the skating show on you tube cos its not his show. But for some reason some of us still do it. I was not too worried about the skating stuff because the skating portions were never shown...so for those wanting to see the show for the skating, it seem more like a sneak peak. But...as the artist in these videos, I'm sure it is awkward for him to have his fans violate NBC's rights in this instance. So I guess we learn from this and try not to do so again.

This makes it interesting about spamalot clack. There are spamalot videos on you tube, but the focus is really on the whole cast, the whole show...not one artist can be blamed for this. So when Clay is there and I am almost positive there will be clack...I do hope people remember that Clay is only one cast member and it may not be in the shows best interest to flood you tube with clack...I wonder if he will make a clear statement on this.

[cindilu2]

If the current thread title poll trend continues, I say we have one as the main title and its companion as the sub-title. I love those quotes!!!

[playbiller]

Today is my day to EEEEE.

Gotta get some stuff done, but EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE