#23: Lordy. He is one more hunkalicious dude!

[merryclay]

Has anyone watched the behind the scenes stuff with Sasha and Clay....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too cute for words. She even says at one point..."you're so cute".

CV has it in the vault and I don't have a clue how to bring over the link...sorry.

I loved that behind the scenes stuff. They looked like they're having so much fun. I love it when she says, "you're so cute".

The thing I'm really looking forward to with the NYU people that go to see Spamalot, is that they will probably have minimal expectations for Clay since they won't realize how funny and OTT he can be. I'm hoping that will work in his favor with critics, too. Crossing fingers and toes.

Hey skybar. It's nice to see you.

[Claygasm]

Has anyone watched the behind the scenes stuff with Sasha and Clay....WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too cute for words. She even says at one point..."you're so cute".

CV has it in the vault and I don't have a clue how to bring over the link...sorry.

I have to go to work and can't watch it until I get home!!!

NOT FAIR!!!!! I want to se cuuuuuuuuuuuute Clay!!!!! **stomps foot and pouts**

I just looked at the last couple pages of another board and...

well....

Here's the thing: :fssign:

etc.

sitting here with hubby watching a Season 4 episode of Northern Exposure....I LOVED that show!

You know, I started to go elsewhere to read, but got distracted. I had heard it was getting bad out there. I don't get it. I LOVED the skating special - even if he did look puffy! He got far more face time than I ever expected. He had 2 great interviews I hadn't expected (I even loved his "cheesy" remark!). On the whole he sounded great. He was treated with respect and like the star that he is. How could anyone NOT be happy with it? The only ones who might complain were those who tuned in primarily for the skating and thought Clay was too much the star!

I think I'll schedule an appointment tomorrow to get my hearing checked, I just didn't hear some of the vocal problems during DSIAFCD on the skating special that so many others did. (I've just read repeated comments elsewhere) I just rewatched the download and still didn't notice it,

Oh, DSIAFCD was not his best. His voice cracked and groaned all the way through until he got to the glory note. I think even a NJU would have noticed he was a bit off. But Clay's "off" is better than most singers' "on", so I figure it was no big deal. Frankly, the only thing about the DSIAFCD number that got me upset was THAT BLONDE BITCH WHO HAD HER PAWS ALL OVER MY BOYFRIEND!!!!! BACK OFF BITCH!!!! :thdom2:

Now I really must get to work......

[cindilu2]

I've come to the conclusion that some people just refuse to be happy. Every compliment has a 'but' or an 'if only'. It's like pure enjoyment is somehow wrong. Whatever. And all this is with a tour just ended, a wave of Spam and Unicef publicity, and a two hour long network tv appearance on hand. Imagine how much fun it will be after a 4-5 month drought.

Couchie, I admire and respect your ability to see this stuff as people's 'right'. You are a bigger person than me.

I can't find this behind the scene footage you guys are talking about. Do you mean the stuff on OFC? Cuz I don't see it in the vault under Capital One.

[luckiest1]

The clack can be found here:

http://www.clackunlimited.com/clack/Online_Media/icenetwork

[merryclay]

I've come to the conclusion that some people just refuse to be happy. Every compliment has a 'but' or an 'if only'. It's like pure enjoyment is somehow wrong. Whatever. And all this is with a tour just ended, a wave of Spam and Unicef publicity, and a two hour long network tv appearance on hand. Imagine how much fun it will be after a 4-5 month drought.

Couchie, I admire and respect your ability to see this stuff as people's 'right'. You are a bigger person than me.

I can't find this behind the scene footage you guys are talking about. Do you mean the stuff on OFC? Cuz I don't see it in the vault under Capital One.

I agree.

[atinal]

Oh, DSIAFCD was not his best. His voice cracked and groaned all the way through until he got to the glory note. I think even a NJU would have noticed he was a bit off. But Clay's "off" is better than most singers' "on", so I figure it was no big deal. Frankly, the only thing about the DSIAFCD number that got me upset was THAT BLONDE BITCH WHO HAD HER PAWS ALL OVER MY BOYFRIEND!!!!! BACK OFF BITCH!!!! :thdom2:

.....

CG, I did go back and watch and listen to it a 4th time, and I agree that maybe it was not his best, I don't think I would go as far as to say his voice cracked and growned all the way through to the glory note, but that's ok, we've already talked about how this stuff is subjective. What I've read elsewhere is like reaching for something to be pissed about.

My daughter in law and I went after Christmas shopping yesterday (she's Chinese), I told her I wanted to play my Itunes Clay Christmas CD to preview it before I downloaded it to my IPod, when a couple of his live performances came on, I pointed out that these were live recordings from his concerts. She responed with, so many singers cannot sing well live, but his voice is beautiful even live. She is not a fan, but always comments on his voice when I play his music in the car.

[Gibby]

I totally agree that there are people who don't want to be happy. I think that some of them don't know how to be happy. Finding things to complain about is what they like to do. Unfortunately, I encounter people like this in the hospital. There are plenty of patients that are very appreciative and grateful, but others who will be unhappy no matter how much you bend over backwards to help them. At that point the problem isn't what you are/aren't doing for them, but that they don't want to be happy or satisfied. And since Clay has fans of every sort, he has fans like that, too.

Capitol One DSIAFCD had a few vocal bobbles, but overall I think there was a lot more right about it than wrong. Most vocalists probably couldn't have pulled it off even that well. And considering that Clay had rehearsals that day, interviews, and came back to blow AIW out of the water, I'm satisfied. I'll give him a pass on just a few little bobbles. I'm going to put the audio from Capitol One on my ipod. I think the quality of the sound is GREAT, and since I was there, it's a night I want to remember!

[underthespell]

I've been a member here for a long time but I don't post. I really needed a respite from some of the harsh criticism going on so I thought I'd drop in and I see so many familiar names and a few friends here. I don't know if I can catch up so I hope it is okay to just jump in and say hi. I'll be back to join you all soon.

Hi skybar, it is so good to see you here. I have been very busy with the Holidays and was catching up at some other board before to come here. I cannot understand all this criticism. Life to me is very busy, my husband is disabled and really Clay is an escape for me. I cannot dwell on all this negative. I love Clay, do not like everything he says or does but really it is rare. I hope he follows his path and continues to sing for us for many years to come.

I've come to the conclusion that some people just refuse to be happy. Every compliment has a 'but' or an 'if only'. It's like pure enjoyment is somehow wrong. Whatever. And all this is with a tour just ended, a wave of Spam and Unicef publicity, and a two hour long network tv appearance on hand. Imagine how much fun it will be after a 4-5 month drought.

Couchie, I admire and respect your ability to see this stuff as people's 'right'. You are a bigger person than me.

I can't find this behind the scene footage you guys are talking about. Do you mean the stuff on OFC? Cuz I don't see it in the vault under Capital One.

cindilu2, I agree.

I think I am going to make myself at home here. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[cindilu2]

I totally agree that there are people who don't want to be happy. I think that some of them don't know how to be happy. Finding things to complain about is what they like to do. Unfortunately, I encounter people like this in the hospital. There are plenty of patients that are very appreciative and grateful, but others who will be unhappy no matter how much you bend over backwards to help them. At that point the problem isn't what you are/aren't doing for them, but that they don't want to be happy or satisfied. And since Clay has fans of every sort, he has fans like that, too.

You are right of course, Gibby. I encounter people like that in my everyday life as well. Having always worked with the public, it's inevitable. To me though, the boards magnify and concentrate it, since it is always focused on the same subject. I have to wonder if these people are so critical and judgemental of the 'real' people around them. My wish for them is that they have people equally as caring in their lives. I am just glad that my career doesn't depend on having fans.

[playbiller]

Well, I have a question - what is the Icenetwork? Is it a network or is it a website. Well, I guess I could google. I just had no idea where this video came from, It does not show up in googoel,. Boy, Clay is so used to those flashes. Of course he is not singing now. At least it did not make him too dizzy to sing. I have a feleling it was a long day making this TV show, not two different days.

Here is a thought for discussion. This question is not a critcism, but about choices for humor. Why did Clay "act" as if he knew nothing about skating. I understand the comedy of the klutz, but there are many choices. Was it scripted or do you think it made it funnier for him to not be able to skate?

[luckiest1]

I think alot of it had to do with him being on figure skates as opposed to hockey skates. In those behind the scenes clips, he is skating fine, it's when she shows him stuff like spinning or using the toe pick that he acts like he cant' skate. It's not as easy as it looks!

The Ice Network is an online only network that you can subscribe to ($$). I tried to subscribe at the beginning of the skating season (because the TV coverage of eligible skating competitions sucks nowadays) but they wouldn't accept Canadian subscriptions.

[cindilu2]

Well, I have a question - what is the Icenetwork? Is it a network or is it a website. Well, I guess I could google. I just had no idea where this video came from, It does not show up in googoel,. Boy, Clay is so used to those flashes. Of course he is not singing now. At least it did not make him too dizzy to sing. I have a feleling it was a long day making this TV show, not two different days.

Here is a thought for discussion. This question is not a critcism, but about choices for humor. Why did Clay "act" as if he knew nothing about skating. I understand the comedy of theklutz, but there are many choice3s. Was it scripted or do you think it made it funnier for him to not be able to skate?

This was behind the scenes stuff - it really didn't focus as much on that during the actual show. The image of Clay as an athlete is pretty foreign to people, so yeah, playing it up some and then have him skate well at the end, escorted around the ice by two beautiful young women is a bit of a hook. Entertainment value.

From what I understand the musical guest is not often (if ever) as much a focus of the show as Clay was, so they (and he) used his willingness to have fun and poke fun at himself to a huge advantage. JMO

[Gibby]

I don't have much skating experience, but I do know that Clay has skated with hockey skates in the past, and he was wearing figure skates at the show. That's why he was asking Sasha about the toe pics on the figure skates. The skates are different, which likely contributed to Clay not feeling as comfortable on them.

(ETA: Looks like Lucky beat me to this little bit of information!)

I do think his schtick is that of the dorky klutz. He often talks about his big feet and that he can't dance. So I can see how he would extend that to acting like he can't skate on figure skates, especially around people who are so skilled and athletic on skates.

I'm just glad that overall he looked pretty comfortable on the skates in the finale. They edited out most of his clowning around and acting like he was going to fall. I especially like the part where they show his, Sasha's and Surya's skates and then pan up. That part is YUMMY!

[atinal]

Play, I agree with what Luckiest and Cindilu have said, I have always heard that there is a big difference in hockey skates and figure skates. I would add that for all we know, that Hurricanes game was probably one of the very few times in the past 4 years that he's put skates on, it takes some time to "feel" the ice again. I thought it was cute when he asked her if she wanted to race.

Welcome to Skybar, it's nice to see you here.

[Ansamcw]

CG...I don't even think an NJU would notice much of the vocal imperfections...maybe one or two notes in the end. Before I watched the show Christmas night, I knew he was a bit off on DSIAFCD from the fan videos...but watching Shaelynn skate to his beautiful voice...I really didn't hear the very very small baubles in the beginning and middle of the song. I had to go back this morning and listen closely on audio only to notice them...and really NJUs' won't watch this show that way. The notes in the end that I did notice.... really not unusual for any live performances...by any performer out there. Just remember every live award shows you have seen where all kinds of artists, from legends to newbies would sing live or almost live and almost everyone of them would have some imperfections, its jsut part of live TV. I think Clay fans should let go of the notion that Clay has to be note perfect EVERYTIME!!! he is no longer in a competition where an off note can mean losing a vote somewhere. He is an established recording star so people need to learn to chill...if an NJU will be turned off by an imperfect note...then that person would not be a potential clayvert even if he was note perfect...he cannot conquer everyone out there.

I do think what is happening is pre-spamalot jitters. The concerts are over...some are looking towards New York and they are worried about how Clay will do so everything he does or ever done is getting scrutinized. I think Half of the fandom will be holding their collective breaths until the opening night...just ready for disaster. I know I will not be venturing around the fandom at this time...

BTW...for those that are downloading the skating show...I see that scarlett has a widescreen version which is truly excellent so if you already got the other version I think it would be good to check this one too.

[playbiller]

Heh, OK, I wandered over to the Icenetwork.com and watched the other behind the scenes video with Sasha. It was fun, she even showed Clay Aiken's door (much like his home tour, where you just see the door), then she showed his stool and mike and piano heh. I loved the booties for the skates, so cute compared to the plain blade protectors. It was interesting to see the other vidoes there as well.

I am wondering if the rest of the people who appeared to sing did not make themselves available or maybe they did not bring their own fans by the hundreds. That dinner must have been so amazing to the others. hee. I thought it was quite well done and amazed at the amount of work that went into it. I wandered around a bit until I found someone to thank, don't know if it was the right person, but I found someone.

Thinking b ack to the show it is interesting that the few other specials I caught on TV, the singers were lip syncing. I guess when any singer sings, they have to trust that they will reproduce the sound pretty much so the skaters are not surprised by silence. It must require great trust on the skaters part when a singer doesn't lip sync.

[Gibby]

BTW...for those that are downloading the skating show...I see that scarlett has a widescreen version which is truly excellent so if you already got the other version I think it would be good to check this one too.

The XviD widescreens are GORGEOUS. Everything about them is beautiful. If your computer can play them, download them, by all means! I also downloaded all of the mpg4s for my treo.

[KAndre]

I am finally caught up - and have to entertain myself for the next 9 hours and so plan to inflict myself on y'all.

Hugs to jumping jacks and Couchie's mom!

As for the topic du jour - and yester-jour:

Y'all all need to post like me. If you can't (or worse, don't wanna) post like me, I don't think you really tried. But if y'all are serious about this free will stuff - the way I look at it is that the fandom is a community, for better or worse, and we are all affected by all the members - and sometimes scrolling doesn't help. Happiness, unhappiness, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, positivity, negativity, horror and glee tend to be contagious, and I think people's opinions are affected by a general atmosphere - if only to be contrary - especially on the Internet. That "no man is an island" stuff have some basis in reality. It's hard not being influenced by people you have voluntarily been drawn together by a common interest. Constructive criticism? Honestly, nine times out of ten, all the person hears is the criticism. Constant and continuous praise (even though, hell, especially when everyone knows it wasn't really perfect) and not mentioning the problems don't make them go away. Honestly, unremitting sunshine up one's butt comes across as insincere. Part of the problems is that no one really pays attention to the moderates, because the extremes tend to be attention hogs. And the moderates are not as entertaining. I think laughn has something of a point when she mentioned that some have problems with being embarrassed by negative statements - but aikim has a valid point as well - some have problems with them because they internalize them. While some just don't like negative/critical stuff - they don't like sad books or stories or songs. They just don't. And don't understand why other's would. Lots of stuff I don't understand. Sometimes I wonder if the difference between the people who express critical observations and those who don't is just how detail oriented they are. I know that if I'm really, really into the minutae of something, as much as I like it overall, I'll mainly comment on the little things. If I'll just into the "big picture", I either like it or I don't. Some parts of Clay, particularly his singing of particular songs, I am into the minutae of every note. Some parts of Clay, like his dancing or his hair or his alleged puffiness, all I see is the big picture.

The child spanking metaphor? Not as much into that - as I do believe in corporal punishment and occasionally public punishment was simply an immediate reaction to a child's action was the reason for doing it in public. In my family, if a child did something embarrassing in public, they were immediately removed from public view and disciplined.

I generally do say Clay has never disappointed me because I have no real expectations for him beyond singing pretty for me on CDs and in person. He sings pretty even when he sings songs I dislike, like that damn mouse song, so we're good. Whispery breathy part of My Grownup Christmas List does not count as singing so I can dislike it with a whole heart. I have to admit, I totally disagree with the idea that Clay's fans are "gifting" him with a career, any more than my company has "gifted" me with one - at the very least it's a exchange of equal value. We really don't throw money at him for free. And it is possible to enjoy his talents for a lot less than we voluntarily spend on him. Us commenting on a note he missed or the Random Aiken Lyric Generator is for us - it's not like he gets a do-over.

Defensiveness on either side is bad. Avoid it. Aggression can be fun - if you are entertaining. If you are not, you will be crushed. Passive aggressive just works my last nerve. Tone in any communication counts for a lot.

waves back at cindilu2 who has the right idea about not being Clay's friend, but notice she didn't deny being his lover and wonders...

I also refuse to think about thrumming crotches at work! You people!

I've always been iffy about how much feedback from the fans is actually useful to Clay - since I frankly don't think we could get more than 10% of the fans to agree on less than 5% of anything. Not his singing, not his clothes, not his hair, not his glasses, not his cargo pants, not his mandals, not his giggle, not whether his eyes are really green, not whether he's actually human, not whether he loves me best of all...I think we could all agree that he should avoid getting sick. And continuing singing. That's about it. Hell, Team Clay probably has a hell of a time determining that the organism known as Clay Nation actually thinks. I think it just rampages around strictly on instinct.

What the hell is Clay Nation stressing about now? I shall go and look - and then I shall probably mock a little. It's what I do.

Now, multiples of stuff? If I like it, I'll like it again. It's why I have turned my child's bedroom into a small library (hey! I bought him a futon! He can sleep among the books!). It's why I have approximately 1700 of my very favorite songs in WMP. It's why I own about 40 DVDs. And that stuff's the same each and every time I consume it. Clay is a little different because he is different in each live performance. I personally don't need a huge amount of novelty - if I like it, I don't get bored with it.

All my exes quickly learned not to debate with me - they would lose and I would dance around their smouldering corpses.

Claygasm succinctly expressed my feelings for skating heifers touching my boyfriend.

I agree that Clay likes to stick with the "klutz" persona, keeps expectations low for areas not in his expertise, and puts him as a sympathetic character.

[Claygasm]

OK, its a bit slow at work today so I ventured out of these hallowed halls to see what was being discussed elsewhere. Let me know if this summary is about right.

I think I have discovered that the downfall to Clay's career is that he lied when he said he was cheesy and saying that just doomed his next CD because no one will know its a rockin' CD and that his voice sucked so badly the special wasn't even worth watching, and his hair looked liked Moe from the Three Stooges - which would turn most everyone off - but the worst offense of all was - and I was SHOCKED to read this - SHOCKED I tell you - the worst offense, the one truly unforgiveable thing, was a badly, sewn back flap on his suit jacket!

No wonder he hasn't won any Grammy's! No wonder he doesn't get radio play! Doesn't he know the key to success in the music industry is a well sewn back flap??????

[jmh123]

I've been a member here for a long time but I don't post. I really needed a respite from some of the harsh criticism going on so I thought I'd drop in and I see so many familiar names and a few friends here. I don't know if I can catch up so I hope it is okay to just jump in and say hi. I'll be back to join you all soon.

You are very welcome here, skybar22. I really enjoy your posts at the CH.

Lost the quote, but ditto and welcome to you too, underthespell.

I totally agree that there are people who don't want to be happy. I think that some of them don't know how to be happy. Finding things to complain about is what they like to do. Unfortunately, I encounter people like this in the hospital. There are plenty of patients that are very appreciative and grateful, but others who will be unhappy no matter how much you bend over backwards to help them. At that point the problem isn't what you are/aren't doing for them, but that they don't want to be happy or satisfied. And since Clay has fans of every sort, he has fans like that, too.

This is so true. This is my mother.

Luckiest, djs111, I so agree about the attitude that gets conveyed sometime by criticism. My friend who was a vocal performance major in college was "corrected" yesterday by someone who, as far as I know, is no better educated and perhaps less in vocal technique. There's an air of superiority that bugs. I also agree that if people aren't happy with Clay Aiken for who he is, then just move on already. It's not like he was someone else on AI and changed--some people have been bitching about the same personality characteristics for 4 1/2 years now--get over it already! It reminds me of people who marry someone with the intention of molding them into the person they could be, instead of loving them for who they are, and then hate them for not changing.

Lot of bossy, bitchy, insecure, unhappy people in this fandom, and they all remind me of my mother in her heyday--I don't like it.

Fact is, Clay had a two hour special on Christmas Day on a major network. He sang beautifully. He was featured in a couple of interviews. He was cute, funny, and talked about his charities. Why fans can't celebrate these moments with more enthusiasm I don't know. It was entertaining and warm, perfect Christmas fare. 50,000 + people bought ACAC, MDYK video from that special was in the top 10 on AOL this Christmas week, lots of people like cheese. Clay is getting press for being in Mexico for UNICEF. There's so much to celebrate!!

[merryclay]

KAndre-- I also think this seemingly klutzy, humble guy might coast right into some great reviews in Spamalot because of low expectations and the fact that most of the NYU folks don't know that Clay is "wicked" funny.

[KAndre]

See, CG - that's where you're WRONG!

It wasn't a badly sewn back flap - he NEVER CUT THE LITTLE STRINGS HOLDING THE FLAP SHUT!

So uncool.

merryclay, I think you and I are absolutely right! I know, it surprised me too!

[Ansamcw]

There are more videos online???

tell us more!!! what dinner?

I learned all about the difference of figure skates and hockey skates from one of my favorite feel good movies, The Cutting Edge...Hockey star can;t keep up with figure skater on skates because of the pesky toe picks...hee

What I loved about this skating show, is how the skaters and the producers treated Clay. He wasn't just background music...he was a collaborator who had an active role in creating the whole piece. I also love the fact that the skaters will continue to skate to his music for the whole skating season. This is great clayversion tools

I also thought he looked great in the show, not much difference from his fifth grader appearance. I think the problem is...we got used to CITH Clay...where he is much thinner. But with his Mexico UNICEF trip, I suspect he will continue to lose weight and will look different again come spamalot time.

[atinal]

OK, its a bit slow at work today so I ventured out of these hallowed halls to see what was being discussed elsewhere. Let me know if this summary is about right.

I think I have discovered that the downfall to Clay's career is that he lied when he said he was cheesy and saying that just doomed his next CD because no one will know its a rockin' CD and that his voice sucked so badly the special wasn't even worth watching, and his hair looked liked Moe from the Three Stooges - which would turn most everyone off - but the worst offense of all was - and I was SHOCKED to read this - SHOCKED I tell you - the worst offense, the one truly unforgiveable thing, was a badly, sewn back flap on his suit jacket!

No wonder he hasn't won any Grammy's! No wonder he doesn't get radio play! Doesn't he know the key to success in the music industry is a well sewn back flap??????

Yep, that just about sums it up. I think you might have missed the comments about him not warming up, oh and how badly he and Clique messed up the stories and readers for the tour

[jumpingjacks]

After reading all the posts since I went nighty-night...I'm very glad I didn't go where ever you guys were reading. I probably would have gotten smacked upside the head for being a smartass.

Has anyone ever equated this fandom to a major bi-polar episode? It seems to cycle far faster than most bi-polars but the highs and lows are still there. I've never seen a group where the happy lasts about as long as it takes for the credits to roll.

Perhaps we can give them all a big prosac lick.

Big HI to skybar!!!