#31: The Very Handsome Sir Clay of Aiken

[cha cha trusty]

GRRRRRRR (t/m Dennis)! I guess the SUPERIOR GRADE speaker wires need SUPERIOR tools in order to use the damned things! I got the wire strippers...yeay! But the damned plastic surrounding the wire is so damned SUPERIOR that I can't separate the two lines in order to put them in the right slots.

The wire I took OUT of the speakers is a smaller gauge and the plastic is EASY to separate...but the SUPERIOR 14 GAUGE plastic casing is so damned SUPERIOR that I can't for the life of me separate the damned SUPERIOR wire groups...

Shit.

I'm putting the one speaker closer to the damned amplifier and using the old wire---the long piece that wasn't burned---I'm getting pissed and I want to listen to Clay in a peaceful mood, you know?

GRRRRRR>

muski - have you tried just plain ole SCISSORS or a sharp knife??

I know - it's probably an obviously silly question...... but........

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

Not to make anyone jellus or anything - but I have mine playing on the stereo right now - IT'S GORGEOUS!!!!

ETA: for anyone who is interested - Michael Johns is on Ellen today....... it plays at 2 PM here. (I have it paused to watch when the CD is thru playing! )

[Claygasm]

Why do I have to work!!!!!

Ohyeah - to pay off all my bills from this weekend and to afford the CDs and to pay my rent and buy food...

I want to play!!!!

[muskifest]

:09: :club0: :me0: :00000462:

I'm rockin' out, y'all! :EmoticonRingAround:

:dj10:

All speakers firing! I'm playing around with the sound controls---

LIVE!

CONCERT HALL!

FLAT!

SOFT!

HEAVY!

SUB WOOFER LEVEL---4!

PARTY!

DISCO!

CLEAR!

SURROUND SUPER SOUND!

Oh. Yes! Yes! :nature-smiley-014:

And shit! HOly SHIT!

Everything I Don't Need?

You KIDDIN" ME? The growls...the bluesy tone....the anger he spits out in some of those words! Shit!

I'm so his bitch.

Gah.

I'm waiting for the cops to show up in response to neighbors' complaints about the volume level.... heh.

NOT!

C'mon, coppers! You'll succumb, too, suckers.....

[Clayzorback]

:F_05BL17blowkiss: annabear, for putting my name on one of the K-Mart cds.........

I had a nice post all written and posted it and it piss.a.deared.... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....I hate it when that happens. I'm too busy to rewrite it. Have to go to Wal-Mart and see if they have the cds, in my store, with the extra song. Like someone, above, said she got. Then I have more plants to plant. I just thought I was caught up planting yesterday. Nice to have friends who keep giving you starters of things. It saves you a lot of money. However I didn't feel like planting today. I felt like Clay today...................

[luckiest1]

EIDN was doing funny things to me at work. I had to turn it off. Heh.

This is my favourite album of all time. It is intense, I can't concentrate when I listen to it. Do you think that will get easier as time goes on? Because I can't afford to get fired. I neeeeeeeeeed to start a fund to buy tickets to the next tour. Many, many tickets.

[Penny]

I'm so fucking PISSED OFF at iTunes--I pre-ordered, plus ordered the actual CD from QVC, Target, and Barnes & Noble, so I'm otherwise covered, but when I went into iTunes to download I was informed that I needed to upgrade, so I tried, but I don't have Windows XP or Vista. Meanwhile, I've had no trouble dowloading individual songs at any time. So? Seems I can download individual songs from OMWH at 99cents a pop, which I DID, but regarding my $9.99 for the album, who the fuck do you TALK to about it? Technology's a wonderful thing up to a point--sucks when you can't talk to a HUMAN about stuff!!

End of rant.

I am ke-AZY about this CD, from beginning to end. It's beautiful, moving, sexy, extremely satisfying..and not just because we waited so long for it--it's a wonderful job, Clay sounds wonderful on it, and I'm glad it's here.

[muskifest]

aural orgasmic bliss interruptus for this 'coss it just CMSU!

butterflyshine at CV wrote:

BJ just called -Clay shakes your hand and talks to you for about10 secs and then signs your CD...she was with Tugger, and some other PAT girls....they are on cloud nine...., and i normally wouldn't do this, but FBM and HD tried to cut in line in front of them and one of the girls talked to the security guard and they got bumped to the back of the line....

:lmaosmiley-1:

Oh..and BTW?

Sacrificial Love is fuckin' gorgeous.

[cha cha trusty]

I haven't been out anywhere today yet - except the mailbox!!!

I've been watching all the FOX news clips I can find that are streaming Clay's CD promo this morning.

I can't believe he is dissing AI like he is!!!

Anyhow - I compiled as many as I could find (so far only 4)

on this page -- CLAY'S NEW CD "ON MY WAY HERE"

so now - I thought - LET'S GO HAVE BREAKFAST! (I keep forgetting to eat!!! )

:F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss: :F_05BL17blowkiss:

WOW - what about that CLAY AIKEN guy?????

I just got slaughtered by the weelelelelelelelllllllllllll on EIDN --- uhnnnnnnnnnnn!

[Solo]

If anyone is waiting for their Walmart CD to arrive in the mail or can't find it in-store, Greg Critchley put Clay's version of "Forget I Ever Knew You" on his MySpace.

[ldyjocelyn]

cha cha -- two more of your page:

My Fox -- Birmingham

My Fox -- Milwaukee

[YSRN]

If anyone is waiting for their Walmart CD to arrive in the mail or can't find it in-store, Greg Critchley put Clay's version of "Forget I Ever Knew You" on his MySpace.

Thanks, Solo! Yay!

Penny, you might want to talk to laughn, who had the exact same problem. I think if you click support you can log the problem and they'll refund you. I've done that before with iTunes and they're pretty good about it.

[playbiller]

Well after hitting a few stores I found a Kmart with posters, clerk said she got 20 albums and 7 posters. Hmmm good planning.

Glad people are having fun att he signing, still a bit annoyed the Virgin did the wrist bands so slow we missed out, but then again, I didn't leave my house until 10:20PM last night and was back by 1:20 AM and was too cheap to park in the city, so guess who is really to blame. Met some real nice ABB people in the line though, and one was 82 and quite used to traveling by herself.

[ldyjocelyn]

And now for something completely different...

Gather's Interview with Clay Aiken

Gather's Interview With Clay Aiken

by Music Editor

May 06, 2008 03:03 PM EDT

views: 3

Last week, we had the pleasure of interviewing Clay Aiken. We asked him as many member questions that time allowed. Enjoy!

Gather: Robin Noack asked, "I was just wondering what made you start this foundation. Was it because of a personal experience or someone you know?

Keep up the good work!"

Clay: Well it was a kind of a combination of both. I taught special ed for a couple of years and worked with kids with disabilities. At the same time I also ran a summer camp in Raleigh for several years as well, and the powers that be at that camp who had more control than me found it difficult to include kids with disabilities into the camp programs because they didn't have the resources. We didn't have the training staff or the ratio to allow kids with disabilities in and so that was always a sticking point for me.

One of the intersections of my special ed career and entertainment career came from a lady whose son I was working with and she was the person who convinced me to try out for American Idol. When I did that the YMCA became something that I would talk about on Idol and in a very short amount of time the YMCA had $50,000 worth of donations and I said WOW - if I can do this just based on that than lets start talking about things that are really important to me. And that's how the Bubel Aiken foundation started where I could take on problems that were important to me.

Gather: Karen M. asked "As for UNICEF I would be interested to know of the locations that you have visited; which is the first one that you would you like to return to for a follow-up visit? Why?"

Clay: I've been to Indonesia, went there after the tsunami, I've been to Uganda in the same year to see the effects of the war and that was one of the most devastating things I've ever seen in my life. I went to Afghanistan last year for what UNICEF was doing there, and spent this past Christmas in Mexico.

Gather: "Any that you would like to do a follow up visit to?"

Clay: Well it's hard to know. They don't send people for fun and it's not an easy trip. It's to raise money or awareness and if I have done that then great. But if I went and wasn't able to raise money than there would be no reason to go back. In Afghanistan, if we were able to raise money then they would not send me back to do a follow up. UNICEF likes to really spend their time and resources where it is needed the most. I do plan on doing a trip next month to another country.

Gather: Jean A. asked, "You have recently mentioned that you may be going on a UNICEF trip this summer...can you talk anymore about that? Your trips to Banda Aceh, Uganda, Afghanistan, and Mexico brought so much awareness about the plights of others around the world. I'm looking forward to your next trip!"

Clay: We usually don't talk about trips before I take them for security reasons. While we don't say where we're going, but of course when we talked about Mexico, its ok, but typically they like to send me places where they are scared that they could lose me so we don't usually don't talk about where I'm going before I go for those reasons.

Gather: Dawn C. asked, "Clay, I recently read some success stories about service dogs helping children with autism. With your love for dogs, do you think the BAF might do work in the future with organizations like 4pawsforability? Did Mike Bubel have a dog? Congratulations on your new album!"

Clay: First of all BAF does not focus on just autism, we try to be as universal as possible and work with all different disabilities and disability levels and get them into as many fitting programs as possible. We take a hard look at every single grant and have a strict rubric for grant applications to make sure that they all fit into our criteria. It's not enough to work with specific disabilities. It's all based on the characteristic of the need and the grant application and to make sure that we fit everything together as best as possible.

Gather: Sandy P. asked, "Do you get to go to any of the camps and participate with the kids. I hope so, I know how much you love and care about them. I hope you get to enjoy their joy at times."

Clay: I have done that a few years ago and we tried doing them last summer but I was on tour. We want to try to do some more of that this summer. I miss that part of my life. At the same time it can tend to be a distraction and that's not what I want to cause. It's not beneficial to disrupt the routine, but participating and interacting is something I love to do.

Gather: Chae M. asked, "Clay, you say that as a UNICEF Ambassador, your biggest focus is helping raise awareness of what's going on in the world. When you went to Uganda in 2005, you said "I'm thinking of composing a song about the plight of (Internally Displaced Persons) in northern Uganda. We should think of creative ways of sensitizing the international community about the crisis. It's unfortunate that such a tragic situation is not adequately publicized.

"My faith...my belief... God places a person to do things in a certain way. Each person has certain responsibilities, which they can fulfill in a way they choose."

What way have you chosen as a musician to help raise awareness? Have you found a song that speaks to your UNICEF experiences?

Thanks for your service."

Clay: I actually have, one that's on the next album that I actually found when traveling to Indonesia and found the lyrics to be very universal but they speak to that theme without question. The name of the song is As Long As We're Here.

Gather: Peggy B. asked, "We all how difficult it is for a relatively new foundation to raise sufficient funds, and you know your fan base tries to support BAF as much as possible, but have you been able to sign on any corporate sponsors? If so, can you tell us what some of them are. I would like to give my support to them, as much as possible, as I am sure many others would.

Thank you for your time."

Clay: A lot of corporations have philanthropies that are already built into their corporate entity. We found a few just recently but we're still in talks with them.

Gather: Debra B. asked, "Hey there Clay--just wondering what book are you reading right now? And do you have a favorite book from your childhood that you would love to read to your own children someday?

Keep up the good work! You have an awesome voice and a good heart. =)"

Clay: I'm actually not reading anything right now, but recently bought my favorite book from when I was a kid which is The Magic Hat of Martimer Wintergreen by Myron Levoy.

This is the website where one of the webisode's was posted, the one about UNICEF and the BAF.

*waves to my Gather peeps*

[Claygasm]

http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx...6673&nbc1=1

http://photo.wenn.com/index.php?ref=on%20m...&version=us

[cha cha trusty]

http://www.wireimage.com/ItemListings.aspx...6673&nbc1=1

http://photo.wenn.com/index.php?ref=on%20m...&version=us

OMG -- he looked GORGEOUS today!!

BTW - I heard he was shaking everyone's hand and talking for about 15 seconds with each person before signing the CD!! What a gorgeous man!!

eta: thanks ldyj - the Birmingham one works, but I can't get anything on the Milwalkee one!

[YSRN]

[ldyjocelyn]

Oh, is he looking good or what?

__

New York Post

Aiken Back

AIKEN BACK

By MAXINE SHEN

May 6, 2008 --

ATTENTION all Claymates: The second-place finisher in the second season of "American Idol" is finally putting out his second album of original tunes.

Between releasing his 2003 double-platinum debut, "Measure of a Man," and today's "On My Way Here," Clay Aiken released a Christmas album, a disc of cover songs and a Wal-Mart exclusive Christmas EP - and, as of Sunday, completed a 31/2-month stint in Broadway's "Spamalot."

And just so you know, the five-year gap between original albums wasn't Aiken's idea.

"We had a Christmas album [the 2004 album 'Merry Christmas With Love'] come out right away, then we kind of got sidetracked," the 29-year-old says.

"Since the Christmas album did so well, I think the label thought, 'Hey, well, we don't need to be on the radio necessarily, let's just do songs that people know and let Clay sing them.' "

He admits that the cover songs were "not my favorite thing in the world to do, but we did it and we made the best of it."

When the suits started talking about a new record, "we really just pushed and said, 'Listen, that's fine and all, but I really want to do my own thing,' " Aiken says.

"On the first album, many of the songs were picked for me, or we picked it because it had a great hook. [This time] we tried to find lyrics that were powerful and meant something." He sings about everything from coming of age and relationships to self-introspection and being in the public eye.

Interesting, then, that Aiken wrote just one song on the 12-track album, preferring instead to record songs written by the likes of OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder (the title track) and contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Natalie Grant ("The Real Me").

The one song Aiken wrote, "Lover All Alone," only happened because his executive producer, Jaymes Foster, forced him to do it after getting her brother, David, to whip up some music for Aiken.

"I'm not a songwriter, I'm a singer," Aiken says. "I know what I'm good at, and I know what I'm not good at - we'll leave the writing up to the experts."

Another thing Aiken intends to leave to the experts is dancing. Although he got some practice while playing Sir Robin in "Spamalot," don't expect to see him bustin' a move during future concerts.

"Dance requires a lot more natural skill than choreography, which means you can follow directions and put your leg where someone tells you too," Aiken says.

"I don't have enough rhythm to be able to move my body naturally in a way that dance would require. I don't think there'll be dancing in any shows at any time soon - or at least, not by me. We want people to stay in their seats."

____

Dude, that last paragraph? Just so wrong on so many levels. Dude.

[muskifest]

I just have to and with my bud, Claygasm...because....

He's not wearing eyeliner today at the Virgin CD signing! Woo hoo!

He looks sooooo edible.

eta; Yeah, ldyj....When I read this part, I smiled at the first paragraph, figuring KAndre would be at that but then that last paragraph made me . I wish the man could turn down the self-deprecation a tad. I swear, he puts himself down or downplays things in every freakin' interview. And yes, I KNOW 'that's Clay'...so never mind reminding me *g*...I'd just enjoy an interview where he's not employing that life-time learned defense mechanism of "it's just me"...

Now...back to the cd. I was RUDELY interrupted by a call from daughter #2, asking for a ride home from school. I made the mistake of asking her to listen to Ashes, telling her she just might enjoy it.

Oh well....

(Not to be confused with Clay's 'welll...welllllllllll'' in EIDN. )

[Claygasm]

Yummy!

**slurp**

I just have to and with my bud, Claygasm...because....

He's not wearing eyeliner today at the Virgin CD signing! Woo hoo!

He looks sooooo edible.

And this is why!! YIPPEE!!!!!! The eyeliner went away!!!! Woo hoo!!! My boyfriend's back!!!

Next maybe the chestnut hair will return!

Only 1/2 hour left of work - although heaven knows I have enough work piled up here that I should stay late.

But not today!

After one quick errand I am going home, feed my kitty, pour some wine, put out the cheese I have left over from Muski's visit and then my boyfriend and I will have a very special date!!!

[playbiller]

Well, gee, duh, he is not on stage tonight. Sheesh.

[aikim]

I cannot tell you how much I love this CD...hated to go to work today; libraries are not conducive to blasting Clay Aiken music and I only live 5 minutes from work...so that is about 2 songs worth...I may have to find a longer route to the Library!

But, the kids are all gone tonight, hubby will be heading off to bed soon and then it is just me and Clay...course no blasting since hubby will be sleeping, but at least I can listen without headphones.

Suprising that he says "As Long As Were Here" is about UNICEF, I think "Grace of God" would be a perfect UNICEF anthem.

And Clay, big apology, I was not really sold on Everything I Don't Need on QVC, but now, love, love , love it. Cannot wait until the tour for this CD, it is going to be rockin'!

Kim

[muskifest]

Well, gee, duh, he is not on stage tonight. Sheesh.

I still haven't listened to the WalMart bonus song! AAACHHH!

[Claygasm]

Well, gee, duh, he is not on stage tonight. Sheesh.

Well, there was no reason for the eyeliner in the afternoon at QVC HOURS before he went on camera. But he had it on anyway - and quite a lot of it.

And besides, its dioi, not duh - no matter what Sir Galahad says!

[Ansamcw]

Well, gee, duh, he is not on stage tonight. Sheesh.

Well, there was no reason for the eyeliner in the afternoon at QVC HOURS before he went on camera. But he had it on anyway - and quite a lot of it.

And besides, its dioi, not duh - no matter what Sir Galahad says!

Well he also had on be on stage...the QVC stage and on camera. sorry you don;\'t like the eyeliner...but I actually think it gives his eyes more definition in the strong light...that is what its there for. I wouldn't be surprised if he would have it again in any of the upcoming TV performances...just get ready for it. But I really don't think this has become a habit for him... so I doubt we will see it on concert.

Sigh...still listening to the CD...still loving every minute of it. I just want to enjoy it and not analyze the words too much or his voice and the production.

its Banner time...but I was wondering if any of our banner makers would like to incorporate some of the gorgeous Virgin photos...we can wait...hee

oh and permaswooned daughters gorgeous on the marquee shot...wow.

Anyway...back to listening to the CD.

[Claygasm]

its Banner time...but I was wondering if any of our banner makers would like to incorporate some of the gorgeous Virgin photos...we can wait...hee

oh and permaswooned daughters gorgeous on the marquee shot...wow.

Or.... how about a transitional thing similar to the one we have now only going from Sir Robin to the magnificant marquee shot to the CD signing pictures!