#32: Man with titanium balls and the voice to back them up!

[ldyjocelyn]

From the CB:

Clay pre-determined his placement:

(from Spam)

Quote:

"....and the number shall be THREE...not four and not two except if followed by THREE..."

again!

And there, but for the grace of God, goes he....

I guess that's what they call divine intervention.

___

pkmiller, I wondered about that too.

[wandacleo]

Almost 93,000!!!! That's damn good! Just imageine how Josh Groban's fans are feeling. And Clay's number don't include Canada and Korea (and they love him there!)

Just for clarification, I am not one of the "we" who find OMWH boring. I think it's beautiful, and I love every note.

Do the we's of the world assume they have the last word?

[playbiller]

CDs given out do not count. That would be an easy way to inflate sales. When prince gave his out, he stated they were included in the purchase price of the concert ticket, hence purchased. That is no longer allowed.

[atinal]

That would be me, I am saving up to buy it with Pepsi points.

Play every time you post about the Pepsi points, I get this picture of you sitting at your computer up to your ears in Pepsi bottles poised to click on the "download now" button

Yay for Clay, :F_05BL17blowkiss: Ya done good!!!

[muskifest]

You know....I didn't say the song was boring. I said that I agree with some who think that no matter how great the song is as a song and even how much THEY love the song, the song's presentation on tv doesn't really do it justice or (IMO) make the average person think, "OMG! What a song! I HAVE to go buy that CD!" THIS IS MY OPINION. I Like the freakin' song. He sings it real purdy.

Chill, please. I wasn't saying that (GOD FORBID!) Clay's song or his singing or his anything isn't/wasn't/won't always be just hunky dory to every sane, rational person on the planet. I might be blowing smoke outta my ass, but I just don't think--as a 'taste' of the new music---that it's a real 'grabber', you know?

And if you go read Spot's actual recap, you'll see that she was reporting things as her perception---she wasn't trying to throw cold water on anybody's enjoyment of Clay's appearance. She found the difference from the 'usual, Clay-centric' audience odd feeling because she's been part OF that Clay centric majority in tv audiences before. This was a new experience and she merely commented on it. She wasn't trying to convert anybody to some new anti-Clay cult from what I could read of it.

Chill. All is Well. geez.

[keepingfaith]

Everybody in the world isn't going to love Clay but he isn't playing to the studio audience he is playing to a much larger audience and really all he needs to crack is .001% of that to help with album sales. To me, it sounded like the same old same old audience so the 50 hardcores sure made an impression to me, the home audience.

Funny, but I heard great applause and cheering for Clay from the audience last night. Even the kids remarked that Clay's fans must have packed the audience for him to get a bigger response than Jack Black. Good to know that wasn't the case and that Clay was popular with a regular audience. The times they are a'changin'!

Was Spot the reporter of snotty hair from 5th grader? Is that how that started? Because I was expecting something nasty and turns out I thought he looked great. I remember this exchange between my parents the next day ... and I quote:

My mother: "He was just the cutest thing last night!"

My increasingly hard of hearing father: "Who're you talking about? Regis?"

My mother: "Of course not, Roy!! Are you losing your mind? I'm talking about Clay. Regis hasn't been cute for 50 years!"

They're a pair of doodles, those two. Will be married 65 years in September.

[pkmiller]

This is totally OT but I have not seen it posted...if it is, I'm sorry for bringing it up again. Just skip over.

I was reading a Google alert I got from Variety.com. Part of the article says:

"On the other hand, the departure of American Idol alum Clay Aiken from "Monty Python's Spamalot" ($519,454) caused sales for the tuner to plummet by more than $300,000, the steepest slide of the sesh." (bolding mine)

Sorry for Spam but that should give Clay some clout.

[laughn]

Almost 93,000!!!! That's damn good! Just imageine how Josh Groban's fans are feeling. And Clay's number don't include Canada and Korea (and they love him there!)

Just for clarification, I am not one of the "we" who find OMWH boring. I think it's beautiful, and I love every note.

Do the we's of the world assume they have the last word?

I didn't know out of country didn't count. wow...and I don't know about the 'we' question. I guess I assume we are all 'we's to someone, therefore we all count.

My mother: "He was just the cutest thing last night!"

My increasingly hard of hearing father: "Who're you talking about? Regis?"

My mother: "Of course not, Roy!! Are you losing your mind? I'm talking about Clay. Regis hasn't been cute for 50 years!"

They are couple of doodles, those two. Will have been married 65 years in September.

[playbiller]

That would be me, I am saving up to buy it with Pepsi points.

Play every time you post about the Pepsi points, I get this picture of you sitting at your computer up to your ears in Pepsi bottles poised to click on the "download now" button

Yay for Clay, :F_05BL17blowkiss: Ya done good!!!

Yeah, cough, slurp, cough that would be a pretty silly picture. cough, cough, oops knocked another one of the desk!

[Couch Tomato]

Play, what the heck is a pepsi point?

Muski, I don't think anyone is personally disregarding your opinion. It's not surprising to me that not everyone will laugh at what his die hard fans will laugh at. We saw that in Spam...just clay saying a curse word would send us into laugter while non clay fans wondered what the hell was going on and commented that we were laughing in all the wrong places.

It's a fact of life and nothing really new. Hell, when Clay used to go on MTV I thought he was out of place and not getting the response I would have liked. That's life.

[keepingfaith]

I guess I assume we are all 'we's to someone, therefore we all count.

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. kew-kew-kachoo! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[ldyjocelyn]

muski, I understand what you are saying -- and yet, there are reports from people such as kf, who have people close to them that the song, even in abbreviated form, "caught" them. The point is, it's hard to judge. One man's "boring" is another one's "OMG, gotta get it." *shrug*

Anothe case in point about perceptions: maybe it's just MY perception, but the feeling I got from MY TV was that it wasn't a Clay-centric crowd as much as it USUALLY is. I'll have to do some daunting research when I get home -- but I think if I compared the sounds of the crowd from last night to any other Leno appearance, the difference would be felt. But again, I could be blowing smoke.

I remember this exchange between my parents the next day ... and I quote:

My mother: "He was just the cutest thing last night!"

My increasingly hard of hearing father: "Who're you talking about? Regis?"

My mother: "Of course not, Roy!! Are you losing your mind? I'm talking about Clay. Regis hasn't been cute for 50 years!"

They are couple of doodles, those two. Will have been married 65 years in September.

That's it. I'm moving in with you and your family. Adorable.

[atinal]

I know Spot has been to a lot of tapings and I'm sure she can offer a perspective of how the audience differed from past experiences. That said, I agree with Ldyj, that it is good for Clay to be playing to a crowd that is not stuffed with just his fans, and I also agree with those who said that from my TV it looked and sounded like the audience was enjoying it. I think too, her perspective could have been colored by the recent crowd reactions to him in Spamalot which was not always just Clay fans. I'm not saying it's true, just a possibility.

There was also a later post by someone else who had been there who saw things quite differently.

[Couch Tomato]

I agree with Ldyj, that it is good for Clay to be playing to a crowd that is not stuffed with just his fans

I actually think it's a good thing too. Maybe we're realizing we don't always have to be Clay'a applause...or was this just a hard ticket to get LOL.

[muskifest]

There was also a later post by someone else who had been there who saw things quite differently.

Exactly my point. And hers in her post. She said she'd be interested to hear from others in the audience, that maybe her perception was skewed by the 'too cool for school' people in the front...

I don't think people are discounting my opinion, couchie...I just think there's a bit of what we tend to notice in those who immediately jump on the negative things about anything Clay---I suggested that one person had a different experience that didn't fit the "OMG, CLAY AIKEN!" one we, as hardcore fans, are used to having when we're surrounded by other hardcore fans, and I found that interesting.

But then it seemed as if I'd thrown down a gauntlet! I'd suggested that not everybody was gah gah over Clay! And so the post/the perception had to be dissected to figure out in what ways that perception must be "faulty" or we have to be careful not to let it sway our own enjoyment, etc.

Not fun.

[keepingfaith]

I repeat, I thought last night was PERFECT!

If it's an audience of ringers, devotees, or the man off the street, doesn't matter in my book. It was perfect for me!

[spikesmom]

I only hate speculation when whatever it is does not happen, and then people actually get mad and blame Clay and/or his associates for not making it happen. That is ridiculous, really.

Yep, totally agree... we should be able to have fun with speculation but so often, it rockets out of control and then the disappointment/anger level when it crashes is toxic... ugh.

As far as OMWH being sung, and others wanting "something else," well to me that turns dangerously close to that "speculation that becomes fact," which I mentioned earlier. I can't do anything about that, unfortunately, but I understand what luckiest1 is saying, the feelings of certain others tend to color the moods of some of the fandom. I try to distance myself from that as much as possible. Not an easy thing though....

Not sure I'll get to my point easily but here goes... I remember when I first came to the boards right after the anomaly... had never done anything like this before - didn't have a clue that it even existed... so I was pretty naive and easily swayed with people who really sounded like they knew what they were talking about... lots of confidence in their posts and what did I know, I tended to believe a lot of what was posted... just paint "sucker" on my forehead... man, five years later, I take what I read, salt some of it, maybe salt it again and then just move on. If it happens, ok, if not, ok. But I do know that when I read posts from those folks who always sound like they are talking with TC (or anyone's) authority - whether a good post or a bad one, more often than not now, I just roll my eyes and move on... quickly. I try really hard not to let it run my fandom... I just let the chips fall where they may... it's a lot easier on my digestive tract....

[FearofH2O]

That would be me, I am saving up to buy it with Pepsi points.

Play every time you post about the Pepsi points, I get this picture of you sitting at your computer up to your ears in Pepsi bottles poised to click on the "download now" button

Yay for Clay, :F_05BL17blowkiss: Ya done good!!!

Now that's funny. I was there and had to enter the 8 digit codes for her. She is actually surrounded by mounds of Pepsi bottle caps, she does recycle the bottles, thank goodness. Now she has me saving the Pepsi boxes from cans of diet pepsi which also have the codes.

Here is the post from CV which has a different point of view:

paige4

I sat right across the aisle from Spotlightlover (4th row). The first 3 rows were VIP or guest list people. The first 3 rows were all (or mostly) Jack Black fans and very enthusiastic when he came out. Whereas they didn't react like WE do to Clay they did clap and smile at his humor. Of course I could not see the people in back of me so can't comment on them. I do think Clay got the biggest welcome from his fans (we are a loud bunch) and since the audience was 50% JB and 50% Clay......thought it was great that they seemed to enjoy Clay but then this is JMO. The 1st 3 rows also were very much younger than us. I thought the whole show was good.........but did find JB little boring in spots (okay a lot of spots...LOL). Whereas Clay sparkled!

[aikim]

So finally numbers are in...not bad...looking at the top 3 and the difference in their totals, Clay did very well. Of course, as predictable as the fandom is some are still forcasting the end of his career; I swear you could set your watch by some of these people. Will be interesting to see Soundscan tomorrow.

Clay and Tina...I could get behind that; much better than the Clay/Kelly redux tour that some were touting yesterday. Whether true or not, it does bug me that once again Clay is trumped by his fans...and as someone posted, I am sure the venue harrassment has already started.

Regarding the Leno audience, I think it is a good thing if there were less regular fans there; fans are always complaining about Clay not reaching new people, but how the heck can he if we monopolize every show he is on and then of course the fans become the story. I was very happy last night that Leno did not mention the fans.

Off to find something to eat for dinner.

Kim

[luckiest1]

Ok, who is the bad Clay fan who failed to buy the extra 7641 CDs that would have put him ahead of Toby Keith???

I knew I should have second mortgaged the house and bought out all the stores in Michigan!

And if you go read Spot's actual recap, you'll see that she was reporting things as her perception---she wasn't trying to throw cold water on anybody's enjoyment of Clay's appearance. She found the difference from the 'usual, Clay-centric' audience odd feeling because she's been part OF that Clay centric majority in tv audiences before. This was a new experience and she merely commented on it. She wasn't trying to convert anybody to some new anti-Clay cult from what I could read of it.

Chill. All is Well. geez.

No need to get all defensive. I was basically stating what you just did - that everyone's perception is different. And while you or I may be strong enough not to let it influence our judgements, not everyone is. There are a lot of "sheep" (for lack of a better word) in this fandom.

Was Spot the reporter of snotty hair from 5th grader? Is that how that started? Because I was expecting something nasty and turns out I thought he looked great.

I can't remember, but I don't think so. But some posters have a bit of a reputation for either liking almost everything they post about (*waves wildly*) or not liking much of anything Clay does (and every thing in between those two extremes as well). That colours how we read their posts......at least it does for me. I've certainly read enough times that my opinions carry little to no weight with some, because I am "Mary Sunshine". Oh well. That's just my posting style, and honestly, when it comes to Clay, I'm easy. I admit it. There's not much he does that I don't like. And if there was, I wouldn't post about it.

I don't think people are discounting my opinion, couchie...I just think there's a bit of what we tend to notice in those who immediately jump on the negative things about anything Clay---I suggested that one person had a different experience that didn't fit the "OMG, CLAY AIKEN!" one we, as hardcore fans, are used to having when we're surrounded by other hardcore fans, and I found that interesting.

But then it seemed as if I'd thrown down a gauntlet! I'd suggested that not everybody was gah gah over Clay! And so the post/the perception had to be dissected to figure out in what ways that perception must be "faulty" or we have to be careful not to let it sway our own enjoyment, etc.

Not fun.

No gauntlet thrown as far as I can see. I was just stating my views on how some people's opinions can be swayed by the perception of others. And as spikesmom pointed out, it does happen. I know, because early on in my fandom, I used to let it happen to me too. I used to think that people who spoke as if they were important or had inside connections or whatever must have some basis in fact. Now, I don't give their opinions any more weight than anyone else's opinions. That's one reason I like FCA, because I don't think it happens here. We're all equal, as we should be. We're all just fans.

Anyways, enough of my ramblings. Didn't mean to start anything. It's a beautiful day here, the birds are singing, the grass is finally cut (YAY!) and I'm starving. Off to find something to eat and watch Leno again. My god, wasn't he beautiful last night?

[Couch Tomato]

I think there are two different issues here. Fan response at the Leno audience..since it sounded like a great response to the home audience I think most Clay fans will be happy that Clay reached a non Clay audience even if he didn't win them all over. And they are probably thrilled that the fans didn't become a major part of the story. I actually loved that they responded to the "dancing" part. I didn't hear anyone say that Spot's opinion was wrong..only agreeing that it's her perspective which she herself said was may be skewed by the youngsters upfront. And IMO even when Clay was on MTV he wasn't wooing those people or the too cool for school DJs so nothing new there for me. I'm glad he stopped catering to that crowd. I liked hearing her opinion cuz she is so detailed oriented..and for the life of me I don't notice shit when Clay is on the stage.

Does the song come across as boring to the home audience. Is it too short, not able to build, not sung well, not appealing..well each person can only speak for themselves and each opinion is just as important as long as nobody tells you you are wrong. It's all just opinion.

[Clayzorback]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOKWHORE........

CONGRATULATIONS TO CLAY........HE KICKED SOME MAJOR ASS THIS WEEK!!!

I'M SO HAPPY FOR HIS 3RD PLACE.

I remember what he said.

I am sure we all look at the sales numbers with a bit heavier heart than we had hoped to. I won’t lie, I wish they were better myself, and would have loved to have thought we could come in with a #1 on the first week. Who knows, maybe we still will. (We can have Hillary Clinton optimism!)

I had, and still have, that Hillary Clinton optimism, myself. Speaking of, she is kicking some major ass herself, today.

I reread his blog and it just cmsu. Fell on deaf ears, though. Maybe he should start outing people by name. Sometimes the ones who need to get a clue can't........... I wish he would of had the mods sticky his blog to the top of the message board.

I almost slapped the crap out of a coworker yesterday. Scared the bejesus out of myself, I did. She had my blood boiling and I got right in her face, wagged my finger and gave her the riot act. I'm so ashamed, except not. After 3 separate attempts to tell her I did not like her constant need to try and find something negative to say about my work, she still couldn't get a flippin clue. Well, by God I bet she has one now. I told my boss to get her under control or I was walking. Never had that happen to me before. I give 110 % of myself on any job and I don't have to put up with some youngin with an inferiority complex. Who has to find fault with everyone she works with just to make herself feel good. Now do I? Hee Hee. I've paid my dues to the work force and I just don't have to put up with that nonsense. I can retire.

I'm not going down that road called ATDW ANGST all over again, with this cd. I don't want to track how many CD's are in what stores, or worry about CD stock. Don't care what he shoulda, coulda done. I don't want to try and protect Clay from his own fans anymore.

[annabear]

From clayniac2 at the CB:

Clay pre-determined his placement:

(from Spam)

Quote:

"....and the number shall be THREE...not four and not two except if followed by THREE..."

again!

Uh oh! :o Now *that* may be enough to make Clay superstitious!

Hey, he's in the top 5 and I'm still not convinced there isn't something out there that will actually bump him up to 100,000 before it's all said & done. No sooper sekrit insider info, just my non-edumacated opinion. And even if that turns out not to be the case, he still did damn well!

Thanks for using your voice & giving us a wonderful new CD, Clay! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[Couch Tomato]

I have a favorite song on the CD. The Real Me. That is all.

subject to change without notice.

[atinal]

I have a favorite song on the CD. The Real Me. That is all.

subject to change without notice.

I think that's my favorite to couchie, I repeat it more than anything else and I feel like I hear his emotion in the song. It's also one of the songs that as I'm listening I'm thinking WTH are these critics talking about when they criticize the lyrics in these songs?

Oh, and I like your disclaimer!!