#29: EEEEEEEEEEEE!!! It's really happening!

[cha cha trusty]

Just a quick post - I just got back from Downtown DC and seeing ausdon - who is a simply lovely person! Not a good day to be in Downtown DC tho, unless you want to be in the throngs of peeps here for the Cherry Blossom Festival (plus a few other misc events taking place)!

We opted for a picnic at the zoo. I brought KFC which her boys raved over! They have vowed to eat as much fast food as possible while they're in the states! My homemade potato and tuna salad went virtually untouched! We had a great time walking around the zoo afterwards, and even saw the Pandas outside in their exercise area!

I was sorry to leave them, but mr cha cha needs to work on our taxes tonight, and we might watch a Movie On Demand when he takes a break, and the ausdon's needed to pack for their early morning train to NYC!

Just wanted to add this about Clay t-shirts. I'll wear mine (I have about a dozen now...) any time I feel it goes with what I'm wearing! And as for the OTT fans, maybe if more of us Just FANS stood up and called ourselves "Just Fans" we could ease the rep "we" seem to have for being OTT. I'm just sayin'!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

eta: OH GOODIE!!! top of the page!!

[aikim]

Hubby and I were married Sept. 18th so this will be a nice way to spend our anniversary.

Playbiller Maybe I could have Clay come sing at the wedding; kill two birds with one stone; as it were (I think our guest list might double if that were to happen, LOL!)

Cha Cha Maybe we need t-shirts made up that say "Just a Fan".

Kim

[KAndre]

Hmmm, topic of the day....

I wear what I want, be it Clay t-shirt, halter top with hot pants or a full-fledged formal. I got over being "embarrassed" by other members of my various groups a loooooooong time ago - and have decided if anyone stereotypes me using whatever criteria they might have, whether being a Clay fan, black, female, over 40, blond, brunette or redhead, sci fi geek, romance novel reader - that's their loss. Though the romance novel reading is the one that came closest to blowing up ... I was reading on the bus...a trade paperback size that happened to be named "Enslave Me Sweetly". And I admit with a scantily clad woman on the front. Some pudgy, short, balding, upper middle aged white dude (hey, I told you people I was shallow!) apparently read the cover, cleared his throat loudly to get my attention, grinned leeringly at me, and said, "So, you like D&S, huh?" I could NOT believe he was talking to me! I was READING people! That means you don't want to talk to people, much less assholes! Then it registered what he said, and my lip involuntarily lifted at him and replied, "In your dreams, idiot. Why are you talking to me? How rude. I'm reading here." I admire myself for my politeness and restraint. If you are not Clay Aiken, Denzel Washington, Prince or Legolas, do not make a sexual innuendo to me on a freakin' city bus.

The last Prince concert I went to Houston looked just like a Prostitute's Ball. The Clay fandom frankly has settled down a lot since '03 and '04 - and a lot of (though not even close to all) people complaining about the Clay gear had t-shirts and blinkies and dealie-bobbers and signs and posters - it's just when they decided to quit, they seem to have decided everyone must quit too.

If I think it's appropriate, I'll talk about Clay. Just like I would do with any other artist I like.

Less than two weeks and the eHP will be in the Big Apple! I just don't feel like dealing with the very last weekend - concerts are different.

[keepingfaith]

I just have to ask, where did the name "the Trinity" come from? I understand it's three friends of Clay, but referring to them as the Trinity is tres creepie for me. Was this a fan created term?

And as for Paula, I lost respect for her and for Randy when they did the big high five when Ruben's name was announced. I'm sure he was their favorite, but I think it was gauche to do a high five about it. It looked like they felt THEY had won something. Had Clay won, I don't think high fiving would have been appropriate either. It was just damned tacky for judges, even non-voting judges, to do that.

[Gibby]

Oh, and which picture to vote for? Well, considering I cropped this one down to fit my widescreen monitor as wallpaper and that I just can't resist it when Clay tells me to come hither with his eyes, I voted for picture #1.

What a beautimous WP! Thank you, CG! It now adorns my laptop.

As far as t-shirt wearing - I actually hardly ever wear t-shirts of any sort, cuz they somehow always seem too baggy on me. I like to wear clothes that fit a bit tighter around the waist (whether it's appropriate for a woman of my age to do so or not!) So, I don't wear Clay t-shirts, either!

Wedding Update!

We have an offical date...Sept. 20th!

We have a Hall!

We have a Church!

Okay, I can breathe now...big sigh of relief!

Re: Vincident...I though Clay did a wonderful job on the song and never realized there was a mistake until the judges brought it up. Hated the suit though and hope he burned it!

Kim

YAY, Kim!! What a relief it must be to have those arrangements made.

Hmmm, topic of the day....

I wear what I want, be it Clay t-shirt, halter top with hot pants or a full-fledged formal. I got over being "embarrassed" by other members of my various groups a loooooooong time ago - and have decided if anyone stereotypes me using whatever criteria they might have, whether being a Clay fan, black, female, over 40, blond, brunette or redhead, sci fi geek, romance novel reader - that's their loss. Though the romance novel reading is the one that came closest to blowing up ... I was reading on the bus...a trade paperback size that happened to be named "Enslave Me Sweetly". And I admit with a scantily clad woman on the front. Some pudgy, short, balding, upper middle aged white dude (hey, I told you people I was shallow!) apparently read the cover, cleared his throat loudly to get my attention, grinned leeringly at me, and said, "So, you like D&S, huh?" I could NOT believe he was talking to me! I was READING people! That means you don't want to talk to people, much less assholes! Then it registered what he said, and my lip involuntarily lifted at him and replied, "In your dreams, idiot. Why are you talking to me? How rude. I'm reading here." I admire myself for my politeness and restraint. If you are not Clay Aiken, Denzel Washington, Prince or Legolas, do not make a sexual innuendo to me on a freakin' city bus.

BWAH, KAndre, I can so see you saying that!

Ausdon and Chach - I so wish I was there with you! Have a great time at Spamalot, Ausdon!

[Ansamcw]

Watching rewind....

Vincent really sounded great....and the way he came in after that pause...GREAT! I always loved Vincent...loved the story and love the melody, but it was not the right song for an AI competition.

Mack the Knife was sooo excellent and I thought the standing O Randy and Pala gave was very sincere....

I really got turned off by Klo when she said the choice was terrible...very tacky of her and she certainly didn;t do it justice.

I always liked Ruben but I don;t think he sang his songs as well as Clay sang his but I liked him much better than klo.

I was very upset with Paula with her ET coverage of top 3...the first and only time I wrote to a TV show. I used to love ET but after their AI2 coverage ....I lost interest.

The fans gave the trinity nickname.

[luckiest1]

Oops, I was watching a rented DVD and missed the first couple of minutes of Rewind. Looks like maybe I missed Kim's first performance. Sure hope I didn't miss any Clay.

Ruben - SSD - love the big teddy bear. Love him.

Clay - Vincent - I still get angry when I watch this beautiful vocal performance and then hear the judges trash it. Pisses.me.off. They didn't like the freaking song? Then why the hell did they make him sing it? I could smack them for pointing out the vocal mishap, because I doubt anyone else noticed it, he covered it up like a pro.

Kim - I forget the name of the song - meh.

Ruben - Smile - what's with all the clouds blowing around? The audience sure seems into it. It almost seems to me that he's trying too hard. Not my favourite Ruben performance.

Clay - Mack The Knife - I never understood why the judges would have picked this song to prove he's not a lounge singer....seems just the opposite to me. But of course, he blew it out of the water! Love hearing them call him cool.

Kim - Inseparable - I really liked this performance. You can tell she picked it because she really sells it.

Ruben - If Ever You're In My Arms Again - I don't think this was one of his best vocal performances either. He's feeling it, for sure, but not one I'd like to listen to over and over.

Clay - Unchained Melody - what an awesome choice, and what a stellar performance! Love the shot from behind that shows the audience, and his body language, how into it he is.

Contestant's comments - hee, Kim didn't like her songs, I didn't think they were that bad. Clay gets the opportunity to finally tell his side of the story about the Vincident. How interesting about the teleprompter....and the judges didn't know that? Oookay then. Still doesn't excuse their assinine comments. Awww, Kim calls us "insane". But at least her comments about being cut are nice.

Wow, it makes me schmoopie hearing the 3 of them talk about what great friends they are. Clay is just adamant about not being happy that Kim got cut. Makes me quite sad about how things have changed in that regard in recent months.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Next week's promo! Can't wait to see the final 2 show. The Clay and Ruben show! But can I skip the ending? Heh, just kidding. I'm over it.

No, really I am.

[gbmifan]

Well, AIKIM, we will both be busy on the same day. My sons wedding is also on Sept. 20th. They sent out magnets several months ago to let people know to save the date. When some read it they said they did not know the date that all it said was Sept. 20.08. They thought it was in Sept. 08 but did not notice the 20th. We got showers in July and probably many more things that I can not think of right now. I also have two bike trips this summer, so it will be really busy.

[aikim]

Clay is gorgeous, fun, and great!

All the cast is there tonight and there is a great crowd. There are more NJU folks than this afternoon. The men are laughing like crazy! Orchestra and mezz look full.

Clay did his little sing song line in the tower scene.

Big cheers when he sang the "Idol of my age" line.

During Knights of the Round Table, he leaned way over to see up the girls skirts and did lots of shimmying.

During Find Your Grail, he didn't do his usual dancing but pumped his arms and pointed with his fingers. toni said they got a little eye contact then!

Clay was getting down during the slow mo horse scene and his tongue was hanging way out.

All the knights are sweating but Clay. I noticed that too a couple of weeks ago. They are all dripping but him.

This was cute, when Clay first popped his head out of the tower, toni heard someone around her say "Oh my gosh, it's Clay Aiken!"

toni will call me back later.

[muskifest]

KAndre....I think you should get yourself a tee shirt that says:

If you are not Clay Aiken, Denzel Washington, Prince or Legolas, do not make a sexual innuendo to me on a freakin' city bus.

BWAH!

Finished one daughter's 'thang'--softball...now off to the other daughter's thang--

Her "grail", if you will...

MUSICAL THEATER! Alex is in the ensemble chorus of Fiddler on the Roof! Wheeeee! I get to see somebody try to do the bottle dance---pffftt! I'm sure Clay could teach them, aren't you?

[Couch Tomato]

Hmmm, topic of the day....

I wear what I want, be it Clay t-shirt, halter top with hot pants or a full-fledged formal. I got over being "embarrassed" by other members of my various groups a loooooooong time ago - and have decided if anyone stereotypes me using whatever criteria they might have, whether being a Clay fan, black, female, over 40, blond, brunette or redhead, sci fi geek, romance novel reader - that's their loss.

The last Prince concert I went to Houston looked just like a Prostitute's Ball.

Your entire post had me cracking up...but yeah, a lot of what "we" do isn't all that different from others. Cracking up at the prostitute's ball. I think if Clay were 50 years old nobody would bat an eyelash but he's so young and so new music that I think that's why such a big deal is made over his older demo. So I sometimes wonder if the media didn't make a dealio over it, would some of us. I do so enjoy being OTT about Clay..and I do think I am. I would never fly across the country to see anyone else.

[00lsee]

KAndre, is it any wonder that I love you madly?

Thanks for the texting link thingy, luckiest1. I haven't dialed it yet, because I've been out and about or in bed with a migraine, depending on what hour of the day we're talking about.

I love the recaps. LOVE. Can't wait to see this for myself, although I'm nowhere NEAR prepared for this trip.

Anyway, wanted to check in. Monitor hurts my eyes right now, so I won't be sticking around. Maybe tomorrow.

[Claygasm]

Didn't watch rewind since it doesn't air until tomorrow but I really did not like Clay's "Vincent". And I remember thinking at the time he forgot the words before the judges said anything (which knowing what we know now really wouldn't be that hard to believe!). I thought it was a sleep inducing performance. I will never believe having him sing it was part of any conspiracy. He pulled that song out of the bowl. As to adding something to the song and that messed him up - again, its part of TV and the time they needed to fill and in the end he still messed it up. He may not have forgotten the words, but he still messed it up.

All of which is why "Mack the Knife" is one of my very favorite of his AI performances. I think he came back so strong after messing up "Vincent". Some might have given up after that, but not Clay! "Mack the Knife" was awesome! LOVED IT!

"Unchained Melody" - all I remember of this performance was when his voice kind of cracked and made me cringe. Of course, I have never been a fan of the song even when Clay sings it.

I remember thinking at the time that Kim had actually had the best week of the three. But that was before we were suppose to hate her, so when I watch tomorrow it will be interesting to see if I still think that.

Back to t-shirts - I have one from every tour and, of course, Spamalot. I sleep in them or wear them around the house, but never in public. Of course, I rarely wear t-shirt in public period. I would wear them when I exercise - but since I rarely do......

[claytonic]

"Unchained Melody" - all I remember of this performance was when his voice kind of cracked and made me cringe. Of course, I have never been a fan of the song even when Clay sings it.

I remember thinking at the time that Kim had actually had the best week of the three. But that was before we were suppose to hate her, so when I watch tomorrow it will be interesting to see if I still think that.

Gosh, I thought everyone loved Unchained Melody, I agree with Simon that it is one of the best songs ever and I've been known to listen to Clay's version of it on repeat!!

Hate KLo? OK, fill me in .... what happened? I am still under the blissful impression that she, Ruben and Clay are devoted friends, the TEAM, as Ruben called them in an interview I watched on YouTube long ago..

And as for Paula, I lost respect for her and for Randy when they did the big high five when Ruben's name was announced. I'm sure he was their favorite, but I think it was gauche to do a high five about it. It looked like they felt THEY had won something. Had Clay won, I don't think high fiving would have been appropriate either. It was just damned tacky for judges, even non-voting judges, to do that.

NO KIDDING! I could NOT believe they did that! Ironically, the 2nd series for Oz Idol also showed all 3 judges doing a 3-way hand clasp when the winner was announced. Although I was thrilled with the result of the show, I felt it was totally insensitive to the runner-up and his family. Again ironically, the runner-up went on to become a big pop star and the winner's career took a major dive and was dropped by SonyBMG. (The runner-up's fans also reacted the same way as Clay's supporters did, following the close of the Finale)

[KAndre]

Ah, Rewind...From the highs of Bee Gees to the lows of Judges' Choice.

This was the closest I came to living on Conspiracy Mountain. I swear, Shack and I had some sort of mind meld going on...

Rewind starts out with "random pick". As was mentioned elsewhere - how random really were these picks? Did they all pick from the same bowl? Could Clay have gotten Band of Gold? Ruben Vincent? KLo SSD? I don't think so. I was always suspicious that each bowl only had one song in it. I frankly thought that Nigel did pick "Vincent" for Clay simply because it was a beautiful song - and I think Clay sung a complete and total downer song in an absolutely gorgeous way. But frankly, AI didn't reward songs like that in the competition. KLo strolls out with Band of Gold, and frankly I think her performance was weak and she never topped the duet she did with Frenchie. They upped the tempo of all the songs as well. And her outfit totally sucked - she looked like a soccer mom up on stage. Ruben and Signed, Sealed, Delivered - the increased tempo didn't do him any favors, but he sounded good, but with less of the resonance I expect from him. Clay and Vincent - I think these were his most pure vocals but clearly a song he never EVER plans on doing again. Ever. Who found that voice analysis of Grease? I sorta remember the one for Vincent, how she said she couldn't bear to listen to it again until like a year later they asked - and she was shocked at how gorgeous this was. For me, this was as close as Clay came to being Grobanesque - he really sounds almost classically trained on this (and totally kicks McLean's ASS) but with a warmth to his voice that Groban is missing for me (I actually listened to Groban's version. That's a couple of subjective hours I'll never get back). Vincent, the way Clay sang it was just amazingly beautiful. I really can't picture either KLo or Ruben doing it as well. And the judges pissed me off they were saying bad choice, bad choice - he didn't pick the damn song. Don't even much get me started on Pauls and her forgotten words. And Cowell? It's a song about a suicidal painter - how upbeat can you make it? Feh to them all. And the suit was HORRIBLE. But I still listen to my mp3 of Vincent every couple of days.

Next, Judges Choice. Wow. These sucked worse than the random pick. KLo started with Dionne Warwick's Anyone Who Had a Heart. Now Clay's talent reminds me of Dionne - subtle, sophisticated, complex and definitely marching to their own drummer. And when KLo attempted Anyone Who Had a Heart, it really showed what she was NOT capable of. This is a deceptively simply song that just had it's way with KLo. She wasn't bad, but frankly I don't want to hear her do it again. The ending was actually bad, I think she was losing her voice a bit. Randy was stupid. Paula was stupider (Sara Hughes?). Simon was closer to the truth with "good - ish" KLo was right that it was "terrible" choice for her but a great song.

Ruben and "Smile". Now this is another song Ruben will never EVER sing again even if someone holds a gun to his head. Ruben did what he could with it, but ewwwwww. He's getting a little hoarse too. And ewww again to Paula and her porn reference. Does anyone care about Quentin Tarentino?

Clay and "Mack the Knife". One of the songs where I diverge from much of the rest of the fandom. I thought Clay did well with this, but <conspiracy hat on> but Mack the Knife does ooze - but coolness ain't it. It DEFINES lounge singer for me. And Clay came out in full lounge lizard mode - open necked tuxedo, faintly bouncing on the balls of his feet, snapping his fingers - all he needs is a glass of Jack and Coke. He looks like what a gen Y person thinks a rat packer looks like. But he matches Paula. Now Clay can't sound bad - but this one I don't go looking for. And even though I love the glory noting - the last one just was there for me. The judges all loved it though.

Finally, the contestants' choice. KLo picks Inseperable by Natalie Cole. She doesn't actually have Natalie's range though. Some of those notes were a litlle too deep. KLo's voice was WAY off on a lot of this, and this was one of her least melodic performances. I didn't like it. Randy was stupid. Paula was just randomly stringing words together. Simon is pleased with all three and got a diss into Season 1. Yeah, Ryan wants to talk about reality - everybody and their brother knew she wasn't gonna make it. Hell, Saturday Night Live did a skit on it!

No one was surprised that Ruben picked If Ever You're In My Arms Again. A better choice than KLo's and Ruben did it well, though this was the closest to karaoke I heard Ruben - it sounds note for note just like Peabo's until the very end. Judges: kissy kissy suck up suck up suck up!

Clay - now this is where me and my sisters and my friends starting PULLING the conspiracy train with our teeth - we all SCREAMED "why the hell are they playing it so fast! They are trying to KILL Clay! They are EVIL, EVIL I say!" Even the Ruben fans in the house were convinced they were trying to undercut Clay. But when he hit "THE NOTE" we all shut up and said. "That boy can SANG." I could feel that Clay was feeling worried about the first two performances and he was laying it all out there for Unchained Melody. But UM is my man's SONG. Of course, I've listened to this so much the tempo sounds normal. And the way he HITS the mark when he sings, "I know that time goes by" woooo mama! Though this is where I first noticed live the mike switching and OH MY GOD IT'S DRIVING ME INSANE! STOP IT! STOP IT! This was the first time I was really aware of nerves on Clay's part. OMG! It's the first appearance of the badly arm waving people! Down in the left hand corner. They have slowly moved their way to the front in the current season of AI. They need to be stopped. Randy can't deny the truth - the arrangement was bad but Clay make it WORK. Paula when blah blah blah (To Love Somebody was better). Simon is a bitter, bitter man.

OK, KLo needs to shut up. No one cared about you because they knew you were going to be gone the next day. I knew they were trying to kill my baby! That bastard Nigel! Let Clay sing what and how he wants! Ruben is sweeter than sugar.

Elimation night! Ruben's outfit sucked. Clay and KLo's were cute. Clay had some seriously loooooong legs striding across the stage. Buh bye KLo! Hell, Clay and Ruben cried more than KLo did!

What Rewind left out: The "She's a Lady" pimpercial - I laughed so hard when I first saw the ending! And they three of them sounded gorgeous in the medley. KLo found the melodic nature of her voice again, but damn Clay was doing some serious projecting at his entrance - and the warmth and richness were back in Ruben's voice. And the choreography - oooh look! Clay and Ruben take three steps back - then three steps forward! Wooooo! (though Clay laughed because he almost missed going back) And then side to side! Woo Hoo! They're in the audience. There's that bastard, Nigel - he can't dance either.

Ah, nothing left but the finale - and Clay's incredible career.

[playbiller]

Vincident - Ok, this is getting to be old stuff, I can't remember the source, but I remember something about each contestant having separate bowls and Clay's bowl had 4 songs in it and one other was Moon River (the same song Nigel made someone perform this year that got them booted for "wrong song choice".

[muskifest]

Well, since I won't see this episode of Rewind until tomorrow, I won't talk about it tonight. Well, except to say that the main thing I remember of my reaction to Vincent that night oh-so-long ago was, "Holy shit, that guy is a pro!" I mean, it was obvious to me that there was some sort of mess up, but I didn't think it was that he forgot the words. It seemed more of a miscue with the music or entrance or something, but I also thought he did a hot DAMN job of continuing and making lemonade of of lemons. I mean, he came back in a hellacious vengeance, IMO, and finished (as Pauler said) with dignity.

Never liked that song and as soon as I heard Ryan Asscrest announce it, I groaned. Couldn't believe that it would've even been included in a bowl full of songs from which to choose. Of all the freakin' songs in the world...and of course, Clay had the 'luck' to get that one; Kim had the 'luck' to pick a song she'd already sung; Ruben had the 'luck' to pick a song that was just another in the genre he'd shown his strength in....

Whatever..long ago and far away. But when I listen to Clay singing that fateful song now...just LISTEN to the sounds...I hear a professional. A voice that does the right things at the right time with the dynamics and the tones; the song itself is a snoozer, but I thought Clay put some feeling in it and sounded beautiful.

The suit sucked donkey balls.

[Couch Tomato]

Ah, nothing left but the finale - and Clay's incredible career.

Thread title?

Idol was just great fun for me, then and now and Clay is still doing well all these years later. Kandre your recaps are great and so entertaining!! Even when I disagree with you. I have to say I'm in complete agreement with Mack the Knife. Loved Unchained Melody and Vincent.

[roseviolet]

I loved what Clay did with Vincent. I understand that Michael Orland said that Clay hated the song and that is why they did a short arrangement of it and they planned on using the extra time on one of the other songs. Wonder if that was why Unchained Melody was speeded up.

[claytonic]

I loved what Clay did with Vincent. I understand that Michael Orland said that Clay hated the song and that is why they did a short arrangement of it and they planned on using the extra time on one of the other songs. Wonder if that was why Unchained Melody was speeded up.

I love Clay's Vincent as well. Quite honestly, it is only through reading these threads that I am finding out things... like for instance that Vincent was not his personal choice and that he hated the song. So I am now speculating but I wonder if he may have had personal reasons for why he didn't like Vincent. He had personal reasons for why Solitaire held a lot of meaning for him, but he was open about that, and mentions it in LTS.

I hate to be boring but there isn't any song that Clay has done that I dislike. As I have said before, I may not absolutely love it, but I still listen to it because I always love his phrasing. Once I've heard a Clay Aiken cover, I no longer want to listen to the original. And that's saying a LOT because I use to be a huge fan of Art Garfunkle's BOTW and Neil Sedaka's Solitaire. It would seem that even Sedaka himself prefers Clay's version to his own!!!!

KAndre, I am STILL watching your DVDs, over and over, because each time, I notice something I previously missed. Good thing I saved them to my USB HD otherwise they'd be worn out by now! I've been coping with dial-up for two weeks now because my ISP is so darn slow at upgrading my broadband. Hence, your DVD's have been a life-saver in terms of easing my YouTube withdrawal symptoms!

[aikim]

After Clay revealed during the Prime Time Interview his sister Deb's suicide, there were many in the fandom who believe and probably still believe that AI chose that song knowing about Clay's family history in order to throw him off; sabatoge him, etc. There was a lot of outrage and how dare they's. Now, I am not sure if AI knew about that or not; doesn't seem like something Clay would volunteer; I know AI does background checks, is that something that would show up? It would not have been my first choice for a song for Clay to sing, but it fit the box they were trying to stuff him in...ballad boy. Like I said earlier, I thought he did a wondergul job on it and would not have known there was a mix-up if the judges had not mentioned it.

Mack The Knife...I honestly did not understand why the fandom was ga ga over this because it really is not one of my favorites. Too lounge singer for my tastes; if they were going to have him do Bobby Darin, I would have preferred "Beyond The Sea".

Unchained Melody...I really love this song, but hated the arrangement...after hearing about them adding a verse to Vincent, I wonder why they didn't lengthen this song instead. It was a little too theatrical for my tastes...my absolute favorite version of this song is when Clay sang it at the David Foster Gala.

Kim

[luckiest1]

Found this Friday night recap from our very own Scarlett at CH, originally from CV:

I was hoping to post this last night but I went to bed and slept like a baby instead. Thrilled to see that toni posted the pictures -- after seeing those from her camera's viewfinder it was so easy to wander off to dreamland.

Last night's show was especially fun because the part I love in Clay's Concert Tours that I miss most in Spamalot was his take-charge, "my name's on the ticket" position and the way it was up to him to make it all work. Well last night, even though the show is scripted and it is an ensemble show, all the other knights (Lancelot, Galahad, Belvedere) were still relatively new to their roles and were feeling their way around a bit so Clay being the most "senior" knight had his work cut out to keep their group together and deliver a cohesive performance that was still up to the standards of the show. He did a great job and I talked to several people who were seeing the show for the first time and they were every bit as estatic about it as others had been during the Feb-earlyMar period where the old gang (Clay, Chris, Rick and Brad) had the whole thing down pat and had meshed so well that they could both do it with their eyes closed. Each of the new "knights", though, brought their own take on their roles so I thought that was fun -- I think it's just boring to see someone take over a role and do it exactly the same way as the person before them, no matter how great. It was my main beef about the Lion King -- the costumes and dances were wonderful but the songs were still so very "Jeremy Irons" (which I love but only from Jeremy Irons not someone trying to sing "Be Prepared" in Jeremy Irons style) or "Nathan Lane" Hakuna Matata.

Enough of that and back to Clay... and what can I say after mumblety-mumble viewings of this show? He still made it seem all new and exciting:

I generally love anything that Clay does, so when he make me go "Ewwwww! Gross! Yuck!!! Ick! *shudder*" that's something. And that's how I reacted to the pants soiling scenes that he's taken to even greater heights. Each of the 3 times he does it(Black Knight, Knights that say Ni and Killer Rabbit) he soils his pants in a completely different way but every single one is so real that you could practically imagine the (warning: eew, this is really gross) the type, manner and consistency of the spurting (I warned ya it would really be gross). Someday, I hope to hear how he is doing this, what he's thinking of at the time (it had better not be pizza/hot pockets or I'll never eat them again) but I'll be holding my nose while he's explaining it. That part was supposed to be high praise for his acting even if it didn't seem like it.

I'm enjoying his reactions to the French taunter and I think these helped the scene along a bit since the new Lancelot was still working on the timing of things, eg. during the taunter's line about burning their bottoms, Clay reached behind him and rubbed his own bottom as though it had been singed. (not that he would lack for people willing to kiss the boo boo away). He wasn't turned completely away from the audience so it was rather nice to watch his reactions.

The sights -- the last time I watched this show I was rather mortified at going "Wooooo!" during one of the tunic-lifting scenes. If I had been the same tonight, I'd have sounded like a choo-choo train. The slow -mo horse, the getting off the horse, sitting at the piano, kicking at the mace-bearing girls, even talking to God... what can I say but "Squeeeeeeeeeee!!!" More! More!" ... when he "died" he killed us along with him because the tunic fell so far back that you could see the complete guard pants all the way up to the elastic waistband and then further up to the tucked-in chain mail shirt above that. If he had been standing instead of lying down it would have been like he was wearing a midriff. That's how far it went. I almost wonder if the edge of the tunic's on elastic and held down by string that gets cut by Lancelot's sword. (yes that's silly but a nice thought) I'm not complaining, not complaining at all, just contemplating and finding more ways to turn that picture over and over in my mind.

And I was actually trying to behave because I was seated directly behind the conductor so at the beginning of the show I told myself to be sure to behave because every musician in the pit would see how I was reacting. How awesome were the sights? I completely forgot about behaving nicely for monitors. So.... if someone saved off the video from the screen last night (or if anyone had been able to peel their eyes from the stage and look back at the mezzanine TV's ... they would have seen a nice view of ecstatic view of me. I guess someone could actually make a clip to show on late night Cinemax from it. I'll be better behaved today and tomorrow; I plan to stay calm and composed and besides I'll be off on the other seat, the one I'm naming the xxx4clay chair because of her great bottle dance experience.

I have to include something about the cow-throwing skills of this group of taunters: non-existent. The cow looked like it was on a bungee rope instead of a catapult.

The unexpected delight at the sung "Amen" was the high point of my evening. I'd never heard it before and I'd given up on it, thinking it had been an occasional Lent/Easter thing. All I can remember was that it was jaw-droppingly sublime because it was so unexpected and gone so quickly, like an early morning bird that sings at your window and flies off right after. I so wish I could remember more to replay it in my mind -- that'll teach me to pay attention more. Oh, and I like the way he delivers the Brother Maynard lines this time around; perfect pauses on the numbers (not too little like early in the show and not too much like when he started playing with it).

That's all I have for now because toni's already in the shower (she's so nice about leaving me lots of time for mine)

Oh, oh, before closing I have to say this about "On My Way Here" -- I can listen to it forever. It's a fun song but at the same time a gentle reminder that however sad you are today, that's how happy you can be tomorrow. Toni put it headphones last night because she didn't want to wake me and didn't realize that I'd been sleeping to it for a while. We're keeping it on tonight!

Oh and really really last thing: And the stage door, the powder blue Mr Rogers sweater, sandals, jeans, tousled hair and that tortured lower lip!!!! Wish they were giving out Arthurs for best carelessly casual but still knightly look because this would win hands down!

Missing you, canuckie, xxx and IBG!!! (toni's looking at me now and tapping --- the shower awaits!!!)

And this one from last night:

toni and scarlett's after Spam report

No stage door tonight. Lots of people were out there waiting though.

Knights of Ni sang "Tomorrow" from Annie and Rick used different voices when he was singing.

During the bottle dance, Clay was coming right at them...almost killed them! Clay's eyes were shooting to the top of his head as he was doing his dance. He got a great applause for You Won't Succeed on Broadway!

The coconut dance was lethal... he had one eye open and one eye closed!

The guard scene was the best toni has seen yet. It was more prolonged and Herbert's father stared while Clay was entranced with his ribbons. Clay was "in love with his weapon"!!!

Peasant was a guy in seat C101. When he was leaving the stage, Lancelot blew kisses at him. Clay smacked Lancelot's arm and said "stop it".

During the finale, when Clay, Patsy, and Bedevere are standing off to the side, they each took a turn dancing. After Patsy danced, he and Bedevere gestured to Clay and Clay did the robot dance! He did it for a long time...30 seconds or so.

During the finale, Hannah was mimicking Clay's dancing and laughing. Very cute.

At the end, Clay gave his two finger salute.

[bottlecap]

Just a quick "Hi" from laughn and me. We're heading to breakfast shortly and then will be On Our Way Home early this afternoon.

See you guys soon! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[ldyjocelyn]

bottlcap -- glad to hear from you, and I can't wait for your full report. I also just noticed your siggy -- I love it.

Topic du jour....

Vincent: I wasn't an online fan then, so I knew nothing about missing/added lines, the possibility of only 2 or 3 songs in the bowl, etc. It's not my favorite performance of his, even though he sang it beautifully. I think there are two things I like best about that: 1) as muski said, "what a pro!" I thought he handled it very gracefully, even with the mess-up. 2) Today, he still seems to me that he's not bitter about it all, and I find that refreshing.

Mack the Knife: I must love "lounge singer" then, because I thought he nailed the song perfectly. I loved the look too. In retrospect, I kinda now see this performance as "Grease, part 2" -- fantastic vocals, served with a wink and a nod and a laugh. I still love it.

UM: Love ya Clay, but this song will always be a Righteous Brothers song for me. I loved him hitting the high note, and thought this was thrilling. IMO, he's really refined his performance of this over the years. ITA with aikim that the Foster gala was probably his best performance.

Off to bell choir at church.

[KAndre]

I always believed Clay just hated the song because the song just sucked - but then again, as far as I can tell I can't STAND Don McLean - either American Pie or Vincent. I just think Clay sounds freakin' gorgeous on it. Ldyj, I think you're right, because for me that was almost a cartoony way of presenting it, though he was spot on (maybe I would have loved it better if he did my generations seminal version of it - Steve Martin's! To this day, I can't hear it without pretending my fingers are sharks.

Yeah, as good as Clay is, two versions top his for me - the Righteous Brothers and Amici Forever. Of course, I'm STILL pissed at myself for not going to David Foster's damn thing....