#37: Whenever he's ready, I'm ready for whatever he's ready for.

[playbiller]

I am betting we will see more of Clay on TV than movies because I think he believes he is a personality.

As far as fans knowing when to release an album - well when ATDW was released in the fall it was criticized because other idols would come out then, I remember many fans saying that the album would have been much better released in the spring. The problem with the spring is that TV shows go onto hiatus and there is not enough time to appear on a lot of them.

The amount of money spent on an album and the amount of promotion done is taken into consideration when evaluating how an album sold. as long as we are pulling on our personal experience, I have been a free lance consultant in NY for many years in many many jobs and have friends in many other jobs - I see the financial side of things having worked on credits and debits for far too long, well that and retirement plan financials the last few years. (check your retierment plans regularly - they are never calculated correctly - I know the management and the programmers and the actualries!) I come to my opinions based on financial facts. That and by basically believing Clay when he did say there would be a phase II.

Someone on IDF came up with an interesting statistic - last year by the 6 month marker 18 albums had gone platinum, this year it has only been 3. So sales are significantly off this year. Of course, they weren't defending Clay, but another artist. Still, interesting nugget.

I lost way too much respect with CNN for the number of commercials they shoved into that show. Oh wait, I lost respect for CNN after Ted left.

[Scarlett]

Can we get word in chinese too? heee who is going to make icons out of this stuff!!

Hee! This is fun. I think WORD is either 说得好 (was right when he said) or with the middle character removed, 说好 (that good!)

Yes, please could we have icons?!!

[Couch Tomato]

I'll ask Cindilu ..I think she knows how to make emoticons. If someone else knows how let us know.

[muskifest]

私はClay'を愛する; sの陰茎。

BWAH! I'm so bad. That (according to bablefish) says, "I love Clay's penis"....

Because I'm not so much an ass woman.

To some I might be an ass, true.

But I'm not so much a Clay ass woman.

Oh...here's what it says Clay's name looks like:

粘土

[jmh123]

CG - you make some very good points. There is no way Clay would be a UNICEF Ambassador without his celebrity!

I looked up Good Charlotte--their album sales have been declining (as these things naturally do). They have been in the business since 1996, released their first album in 2000. They peaked with their second, and have sold significantly less with each subsequent album. That's a pretty typical pattern actually. They have sold more albums than Clay has. Radio play? Just OK. Some of their singles haven't done as well as Clay's. Every one of his singles has made it at least to #30 in the charts. They've been on Top 40 more often than he. So it would appear that UNICEF has chosen a new ambassador whose career is "in decline" and who isn't hugely well known to begin with, beyond a certain segment of the population. Not only that, Madden got a woman pregnant and didn't marry her, and she's Nicole Richie, not exactly role model material from some points of view. Gee, what were they thinking? Perhaps that he has a history of activism, a good heart, and a connection to a dedicated group of fans; that he is interesting to a certain demographic, and has a desire to make a difference?

[wandacleo]

I never worry about Clay.

Never.

He's smart, handsome, talented, and charismatic.

And a trifle eccentric (my favorite thing).

Clay always comes up with something new, and I'm just flat out excited waiting for it!

[claytonic]

I am betting

we will see more of Clay on TV

than movies because

I think

he believes he is a personality.

I totally agree. I see Clay doing a TV variety-type show, where he gets to interview people who have a message to share, as well as people in the entertainment industry. I see him singing on his own show and also doing duets with some singers. His show would also include comedy skits, and I'd see him as Executive Producer, so that he can control the content (Clay's too smart not to capitalize on the knowledge he has gained in the last 5 years). It will be entirely different from Kimmel/Letterman/Leno etc, because Clay's show, while primarily an entertainment program, would also bring awareness to issues close to his heart.

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Here's something for the USA people.... I can't believe how fast things are changing in our everyday life.

[Scarlett]

Japanese name is Kurei Eikun (the top leftmost vertical black characters):

[treenuts]

<snip>

He's smart, handsome, talented, and charismatic.

And a trifle eccentric (my favorite thing). <snip>

And Fearless!

Of course, I'm easy, he could just sleep on stage and I'd pay money to watch him do it.

I don't know about you, justclay, but I already did! I even paid airfare, hotel fees and cab fare not to mention standing out in an alley in the freezing wind! But watching his chest rise then fall for mere minutes (among a few other things) was oh sooo worth it

[artquest]

Eeeeee! I got 3 out of 5 characters right! No, I got 3 out of FOUR! Yay me! Woo Hoo! Now get artquest to tell us how to say, "Your butt is fine - come along with us."

Oh wait...should I have put that in a PM?

Naaaaaah!

EEEEEEEE!!! You got 4 out of 4, chickie. The difference is that Babelfish gave you traditional Chinese characters, like they use in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Scarlett and I are learning Mandarin as spoken in Mainland China. They use simplified characters.

We can do "WORD" if we can get a precise definition of what it means in board-speak.

[Scarlett]

Just to complete the pics, I took these of the Chinese MOAM sometime ago. (click for the clearer full images).

Does anyone know if there were any non-US ATDW or OMWH CD's?

[Couch Tomato]

BWAH..JMH..it just goes to show how much I'm up on Celebrity gossip... I haven't seen the CNN thing yet..I was out so will just watch my DVR tomorrow. But I thougt John Madden was the new ambassador - you know..FOOTBALL John Madden. heeee. I was like John Madden got Nicole Richie pregnant? That's after I went..Nicole Ritchie is pregnant? I had to do a quick google search to see..oh JOEL Madden.

[muskifest]

Japanese name is Kurei Eikun (the top leftmost vertical black characters):

Bwah! And after the katakana pronounced "Ku re ee Eh ee kun" are the immortal titular words, "Meh-zyu-ru Oh-bu Ah Mah-nn"

OMG...I've forgotten so much of both katakana and hiragana, never mind the kanji! I bet he would fill arenas in Japan! Lots of screaming girls!

[Couch Tomato]

Muski..I see you down there. I wanted to comment on what you said about not swooning over Clay holding a baby. Well this is a new condition for me. I didn't even go gaga over babies until my sister had hers ...and the oldest is 8. I remember one time I was work and one of the sales guys walked in with his new baby..every woman in the office got up and ran over and oohed and aahed and I just kept working Totally not intersted. hee. So it's funny to me that now since I've watched my neice and nephew grow up ..up close and personal... that I now swoon over perfect stranger's babies..and of course my white pasty boyfriend holding one - well...makes my heart swell. He's such a natural holding one. I won't touch a baby until they are at least walking and talking.

Playing with all my adminey <tm ansa> tools tonight... thought this was interesting...

number of posts by month:

July 05 - 1129 (probably pin people traffic, setting up the board, etc)

Dec 05 - 1612 (JNT 05 cellcerts)

March 06 704 (clay where are you? pin trade moves on)

May 06 582 (AI appearance)

June 06 254 (CLAYYYYYYYYYYY where are you)

Sep 06 749 ATDW yippee (first way of refugees... including me)

Nov 06 2425 more refugees, RCA blah blah blah - ripagate

Dec 06 2510 JNT06 Christmas tour/cellcerts and chat

April 07 1842 Afghanistan

July 07 4121 DCAT BABY

AUG07 5076 More DCAT

Sep 07 6250 biggest month ever... must have been when we had an influx of newbies and were buring a thread every six days

Dec 07 4388 CITH

Jan08 4075 SPAM starts

May 08 5466 Spam Ends/OMWH

June 08 4767 last completed month stats

what does it all mean...? who knows... except we're pretty much as chatty as we've ever been

and after reviewing the first half of 2006 on the 2006 timeline.,,,I don't ever want to hear the word drought again. This is child's play. :lmaosmiley-1:

[claytonic]

CG - you make some very good points. There is no way Clay would be a UNICEF Ambassador without his celebrity!

I looked up Good Charlotte--their album sales have been declining (as these things naturally do). They have been in the business since 1996, released their first album in 2000. They peaked with their second, and have sold significantly less with each subsequent album. That's a pretty typical pattern actually. They have sold more albums than Clay has. Radio play? Just OK. Some of their singles haven't done as well as Clay's. Every one of his singles has made it at least to #30 in the charts. They've been on Top 40 more often than he. So it would appear that UNICEF has chosen a new ambassador whose career is "in decline" and who isn't hugely well known to begin with, beyond a certain segment of the population.

Not only that, Madden got a woman pregnant and didn't marry her, and she's Nicole Richie, not exactly role model material from some points of view.

Gee, what were they thinking? Perhaps that he has a history of activism, a good heart, and a connection to a dedicated group of fans; that he is interesting to a certain demographic, and has a desire to make a difference?

I don't feel it has mattered for quite a while now whether the parents are married or not, it only matters that they are good parents. I feel that Nicole Ritchie has very different priorities now that she is a mother. For similar reasons, it doesn't make any difference in my mind whether or not Clay's child's parents are married. I know too many dysfunctional people whose parents followed social traditions to the book.

[ausdon]

Hi Y'all (heee ,I said Yall)

It's taken me all day to catch up, you chatterboxes! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I have been away for the last three days watching my younger DS play in a baseball tournament and DH umpire. It was vv cold and muddy but thankfully only rained at night. He really gained in confidence and held his own even though he was playing in the under 12s and he's only 10 and a small 10 at that. It was great to see all these kids from far and wide come together in this "friendship tournament". Their enthusiasm and good sportsmanship was heart-warming. (A few of their parents could learn a thing or two from the kids! Its a few unfortunately vocal minority who apparently wrote the rule book but just can't get off their not inconsiderable backsides to actually umpire. Oh they werent loud and it mostly wasn't about my DH but I'm sure they didn't realise I was sitting there with my dumbo ears a'flappin! - I moved and then all was dandy! End of rant!

Sorry about the Morgan [b]ChaCha and Mr Chach I hope you had fun at the show anyway.

My first time seeing Clay live was the JNT show in the infamous Sewell, NJ. I clearly remember my first thought when he walked onto the stage, "OMG. He's real!"

:8: I don't know what took me so long to start going to Clay concerts. I had been on the boards since early on in AI and was a fan from the time I his audition tape first aired.

Once I broke that seal, though....

(Hey, who said there is something wrong with 3 dots.....)

What was so infamous about Sewell?

So many people who were at Sewel - how come I never met any of you?

hee isn't it funny to meet people later who have been walking a parallel journey. It's one of the things I love about FCA..getting to meet so many of you years after we started down this road.

I love the comment about a "parallel journey". My DH and I did this for a few years before we met, attending the same functions, going to the same parties , standing a few feet away from each other on certain occassions, knowing the same people yet not meeting until the time was just right, until I was old enough and he was mature enough (heee).

It's easy to say "Don't worry", but sometimes it's very hard not to, for whatever reason. (((Jaycee)))

Personally, I hold on to a moment at about 5:00 in the Mo Rocca interview, where Mo asks Clay what he'd be doing if he wasn't doing this. Clay pauses and says: "I have absolutely no idea." I think Clay maybe used to have a Plan B in mind, but not so much anymore. I have confidence that opportunities that we can't even imagine yet will be coming his way in due time. IMO, YMMV, and all that jazz.

Do they ever cast Americans in the Harry Potter movies, and have we already seen all of the older Weasley brothers? I've lost track.

ITA about the not worrying and plan B thing except I think his plan B would have changed is all. I always find it helps to calm my tendancy to be a natural worrier if I have a plan B (and c,d,e,....

An older Weasley brother! Brilliant Bottle! Or some kind of weasley relative!

I thought this was actually Kf!

And I think we'll take our Chinese discussion to e-mail before we get a little note or whatever the admins do here when we're waaaaayyyy off topic.

go get a sandwich? :lmaosmiley-1:

:lmaosmiley-1: too

[ivy]

Playing with all my adminey <tm ansa> tools tonight... thought this was interesting...

number of posts by month:

July 05 - 1129 (probably pin people traffic, setting up the board, etc)

[...]

Nov 06 2425 more refugees, RCA blah blah blah - ripagate

[...]

what does it all mean...? who knows... except we're pretty much as chatty as we've ever been

I was one of the early refugees so I think I know what some of it means. I'm not a prolific poster here but appreciate that we have alternate fan boards these days where people can actually "talk" directly to each other, where being snide and negative did not replace fun snark like it did on a couple of older boards, where Clay is respected and where the discussion is not controlled/censored. One more thing, a place where fans are still trying to have fun. That is what it means to me.

ETA: Looking at my join date, I did not realize how long ago the angst/negativity got to me. Where does the time go?

[luckiest1]

So after for lots of posts, the only thing I have to add is that people sometimes seem to forget that we don't know everything about Clay's life and his career. We don't know what he does when we're not watching. There's a whole helluva lot more about his life and career that we don't know than there are things that we do know. We don't know what his goals are, what his ambitions are, what his plans are. We don't sit in on the meetings with record company executives, or bigwigs like Mike Nichols, or with his management. We're not with him when he's chatting with his friends and acquaintances in the business, or when he's doing private performances or making preparations for his next career move. If you add that lack of knowledge about his real life to the fact that none of us are in the same line of work, haven't been the kind of success that he has been in the music or entertainment business, I don't see how anyone can seriously think they know better than he what he ought to be doing. When I say I trust Clay to make the right choices for himself, it is because he is in on those meetings, he does have all those friends and acquaintances, he does know his goals and aspirations--what he wants from his life and his career, and he has been successful and deeply engaged in his line of work for five years. What wouldn't he be the best person to make decisions? Why not assume that you just don't know all there is to know, and that if you did, his decisions and actions would make more sense? It's kind of like reading one page out of every 50 of a novel and then criticizing it because it didn't make sense to you.

Wonderful post, saved me a lot of typing. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Blargh for the start of another work week. I know, I know, I'm lucky to have a job. Baseball to look forward to tonight, yeah! Starbuck's to look forward to this morning, heh. Life is good.

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

Enjoyed catching up and just word to everyone's posts regarding Clay, his career, etc.; I have been nodding my head in agreement.

So, this week-end I started walking again; have been pretty lazy lately and with the Wedding in two months, I figure I should at least try and get this old body into some kind of shape. Plus, my husband and I are going to be doing a 5k run/walk at the end of August. A couple that we bowl with lost a daughter to a drunk driver about 10 years ago and since then have started a foundation in her name and have this race every year to raise money. They have been asking us to join in and we finally decided to this year. I thought I better get used to walking and hopefully I can get through the race without embarrassing myself...at least not coming in last place and actually finishing the race.

Anyhoo, I got out of bed this morning and I could not believe how sore I am; guess I really am out of shape...but a good sore.

Well, off to do dishes and get some laundry done before I head to work.

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[Cotton]

I like Clay to be going only up up up

I just wanted to summarize Couchie's post.

[Cotton]

Snag it!

[keepingfaith]

What was so infamous about Sewell?

I dunno. Maybe the same thing that was so historic about the Brady Theatre in Tulsa? (Which I would rename the Hotbox Brady Theatre.)

It was wild going from this place on Friday night:

to this one on Saturday night.

Nevertheless July 7, 2007 (07/07/07) was a GREAT show -- the Day of the Creeping Toe -- and the Day Clay Touched My Hand.

Just a few Tulsa pics to start the day off right - beginning with two classics captured byPermaSwooned:

[djs111]

What I AM saying - and maybe didn't say it well - is that it's a damn shame that we're hanging on threads and counting spins and cheering when those spins go up a notch or two....it's a little like grasping at straws IMO at this point.

Goodness, please don't say "we" - I am just as interested in Clay and his career as I always was, I have absolutely no sense of grasping at straws, just interest. Maybe it is because I just cannot see any reason to angst, I am just enjoying the show as it unfolds. So I don't think the damned shame sentiment is needed globally or anything like that.

(Also some of the intense interest in OMWH spins is really just thinly disguised glee that it may be slowing, because some "fans" decided Ashes would be better and have been pushing it in surveys and requests.)

It was cool to see Clay sing Sugar Pie Honeybunch on Rewind yesterday. Julia was better than I remembered. She looks kinda leathery or something now - all the girls looked so fresh and young and beautiful back then!

[claytonic]

It was cool to see Clay sing Sugar Pie Honeybunch on Rewind yesterday.

Julia was better than I remembered. She looks kinda leathery or something now

- all the girls looked so fresh and young and beautiful back then!

That is EXACTLY what I thought when I was watching the Rewind series (thanks to KAndre).... Julia was the only one I could barely recognize; if she hadn't been shown as part of the REWIND series, I would not have known who she was.

[i loved Clay's Sugarpie Honeybunch]

[Iseeme]

Wow - I'm sure glad y'all had fun with my posts last night!

I love Clay Aiken. I want him to be a success. I'm a realist. I speak only for myself but maybe I used the royal "we" too much for someone's taste. I have been caught up in the emotion in years past and I'm just not going there anymore. His career is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy from being over - but if he's to remain a recording artist I think either this CD or the next CD is going to have to do a little better. This is my own opinion based on nothing. It doesn't mean I care any less for him, his music or his desire to do things his own way. I admire him for sticking to his guns - and assume he is very aware of the tradeoffs. I will buy whatever he puts out there, attend any concert that is financially feasible, and still think he has the most compelling voice I've ever heard in my life.

Regardless of Good Charlotte's sales record lately - they can still play in largish venues and the place is clogged with young'uns. I know this for a fact dear ones because I had a step granddaughter who hasn't missed an appearance anywhere within a 300 mile radius of where she lives in the past 6 years. They are considered "cool" by the younger set and I doubt seriously that the lack of marraige is making a bit of difference in how people view the Madden/Richie hookup. The baby is adorable and spread all over the magazines and the success story is how Nicole has cleaned up!!! And she's been forgiven. So - look for Madden to bring in money from a segment of the population that heretofore has not been interested. I would bet that was the purpose in appointing him an Ambassador. On that note, however, he doesn't strike me as one who will be reading up on the country and trying to understand their culture like someone else we know. But - I could be surprised. I'm surprised in here every day!

Business is business KAndre - it's still all about the bottom line no matter what field you're in! Simple fact. I don't know of any company, corporation, business, store front, kiosk or pushcart that isn't about money and the making of it. So however it's twisted to make a point, it's still the bottom line that matters!

I never claimed to know when a CD should be released - merely was asking questions and saying the timing was curious!!! It generated some discussion and that's a good thing....I think.

I like seeing Clay holding babies. But I also like seeing any man holding a baby and look like they (1) know how to do it without dropping the little thing; and (2) are enjoying it!!!

So - no bear last night! Feel like I've been run over by a mailtruck after working in the heat yesterday. And I'm taking a day off from the internet.