#38: The man just oooooooooozes awwwwwness

[ldyjocelyn]

Ok...everybody...

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....

And as for oozing...no comment. *g*

[merrieeee]

Yeah I'll go for the ooos and awwwss

[Scarlett]

Awwwwwww! Never have "character and integrity and talent" been so thuddaliciously hawt!!!

ETA:

Thanks for the "release", ldyjocelyn!!!

[PermaSwooned]

Well crap!!! I just posted, so I'm bringing it over here so someone will read it!!

Whew!! Caught up!!

I'll try to be topical here.

chach I loved those mosaics!! So many great memories...thanks for bringing them over. Plus, they used a number of my pictures, and that's always fun for me, and it IS all about me, after all.

Dream venue for Clay? My dream venue for Clay was the Greek Theatre in L.A., so my dream came true last summer. I wish we could have filled it for him, but still. It's such a lovely location up there above Griffith Park, and the acoustics are just stellar. I've been to so many concerts there over the years, and it's really a big deal here. I'm so grateful to have been able to see him there. It was a dream come true, for sure.

There have been a few places that were new to me where I traveled to see Clay. I hadn't been to Charlotte and Raleigh before. I had the chance to drive around a bit. I preferred Charlotte to Raleigh, and HATES the beltways. My cousin & her husband have lived in Charlotte for years, and my college roommate lived there for a number of years as well. They all loved it.

I'd never been to NH or VT before. couchie has mentioned her dislike of that drive before, but nicegurrrrl and I loved it. We thought the scenery was spectacular....so different from our area here in SoCal. I really liked the Meadowbrook venue as well. So glad I missed the bugs this past summer.

I don't think I'd been to any of the 4 Florida cities from last summer, but the heat & humidity killed me, so my appreciation was limited!! My DH & I did go to the BAF Gala in Ft. Lauderdale, though, and that was wonderful. We had such a great room on a beautiful beach, and we loved taking the water taxi all over and eating at some amazing restaurants. Great fun.

My favorite city to see Clay is probably Washington, DC, because I LOVE Washington DC and have been able to do some museum hopping, and other fun stuff both times I've been there to see him for the JBT & for CITH. I love that whole area, love the Chesapeake Bay area, Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Annapolis. Now I'm hungry for Crab Imperial!! Yum!!

My favorite place outside the country is probably Ireland. SO beautiful.

Neck pictures, you say? I love this one:

[annabear]

Would it get me a pretty picture or two from your treasure trove of gorgeousness???

Well... OK! Here's some AWWWWWWWWWWWW for all of us...

[cha cha trusty]

oooooooooooooooooo - love that neck picture Perma!!

Glad everyone's enjoying the mosaics! I have to admit I've visited a few times myself! :lmaosmiley-1:

The man just ooooozes --- period!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

eta: anna - you have an awesome photobucket!!!

[Cotton]

Thanks for the purdy, Perma!

Oh, God! Florida last year nearly KILLED ME DEAD - and I'm just barely kidding! I had been sick since April (Perma, you'll understand - I had C. Diff colitis. It wasn't a very good year!) and I really shouldn't have gone.

And it was horrible. That was the heat wave. Horrible. Terrible. It was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Vacation of Heat and 99.999% Humidity. I thought I was gonna DIE! ™Gilda

heh

Yep. He oooozes awwness and hawtness and S.E.X.

I'm not gonna last much longer! I'm gonna be hitting the sack. My hands ache from the painting. And I'm TIRED, y'all!

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

:013085001176249046:

or

ETA:

I forgot to say thanks for linking Tasapio's photos. Gorgeous!

[ldyjocelyn]

Perma, you done good with your post...in both places! And annabear, love your pictures.

For me, this is awwwwwnesss...

God, I love our first pages....

[Iseeme]

Woo Hoo - first page!

Posting pretty pictures....

[Cotton]

Okay. Who got photoshopped out of that last one!

[spikesmom]

Awwwwwww, pretty pics!!! Thanks annabear!

Took a break from my book (Beautiful Lies, Lisa Unger, first time to read anything of hers) and saw we started a new thread!! Been reading a lot and just checking in periodically to see what's up. As much as I miss any news, it's kind of nice to focus on something else for a bit... I miss reading books (versus the board!) and so it's been kind of fun to get back to it... and I love bookstores... my dream job for retirement is a bookstore with a coffee shop in it! Of course, I'd probably get fired for spending my time reading and spend all my earnings there! So maybe for retirement, I'll just plan to hang out at the bookstore reading everything and drinking coffee! The heck with the work part!!!

eta: Ruh roh... I think I was supposed to post a picture for first page?... eek... off to see if I can figure out how... do I need my Photobucket account?

[Scarlett]

ETAA: Awwwwww, annabear! MUAH! And thanks bunches, Permaswooned, ldyjocelyn and Iseeme!!!

G'nite, Cotton!

[Ansamcw]

AWWWWW....the pics are great...keep em coming.

[playbiller]

Man, you write a long post and the system crashes.

Let's see, I invited Merrieeee and her daughter to the beach, I answered Annabear's question about taxes and I brought anotehr benefit that people probably don't know they have. Will post it in the money money money thread when I find it again after I google.

nice pictures

[annabear]

Oh yeah, those'll work, ldyj! They'll work for awwwwwnesss just fine! Nice JBT pic, Perma!

One of these days I'm gonna have to clean up my Photobucket.... :o But not tonight!

[Cotton]

ETAA: Awwwwww, annabear! MUAH! And thanks bunches, Permaswooned, ldyjocelyn and Iseeme!!!

G'nite, Cotton!

G'nite!

Going to read myself to sleep. I've returned to reading, too! I read two Robert Crais novels in the last 3 days!

Now I'm on a Dennis LaHane, called Sacred. (Crime/detective genre)

Thanks for all the pics.

RE: UNICEF

I wish they'd do the thermometer again.

You know Clay's fans like a challenge!

I hope the donations reach $100,000 again. It surely sounds like it's badly needed!

Nightie Night!

ETA:

My favorite all time look EVAH!!!

[spikesmom]

Well, it appears I don't have much to choose from... and what I do have is so old, nothing seems to be tagged so I don't know who's photos they are... so here's one I took (bwah!) in Spencer, Iowa while Jerome was doing the singing audition thing. Sis and I stood and watched so I clicked off a couple of pics... let's see if this worked... testing... testing...

ok, crap, that didn't work... hmmmm... off to try a different link...

hooray!! I did it! now I will have to figure out an avi... oh the pressure....

eta: yippee, that worked! I'm feelin' all computer geeky now... if only!! seriously, I guess I'll have to find a cool pic of Clay now, but for now, this one will do... since my spot has been naked for so long, it seemed fitting....

[PermaSwooned]

Ooooh!! I have to sneak this in because spikesmom talked about reading.

Thanks to bookwhore (dang! she was just here and now she's gone!!), I discovered the Library Thing website as a place to archive books you're reading, have read, want to read, etc.

I thought that was a good idea, since I am starting to buy books that I already have. Sort of like Quiana confessing in Ft. Myers that she had bought a top she already had.

Anyhoo, I've started adding books, mostly before I give them away or take them to the used book place, since you can't see my walls for the books!!

I hadn't been on the site for a couple of weeks, but logged on on Saturday. I saw that I had two messages...I didn't even know they did that!!! One was from the webmaster, telling me that she saw I had a book in my library by Michelle Richmond, and that she was doing an author chat on their site for a week, and I might want to join in. Cool.

The next message was from Michelle Richmond!!!! She told me that she had seen my review of her excellent novel "The Year of Fog". She thanked me for my "insightful and thoughtful review" and told me that she was pleased that I had noted a particular literary device she had used. She hoped I would join the author chat, and asked me if I would post my review at amazon.com. Woah!!! How cool is that!!!!!!

Of course, I missed the end of her week in author chat by one day, but still!!! Now of course I am motivated to buy all her other novels because SHE COMMUNICATED WITH ME!!!! She went and sought out my review!!! I'm stunned.

Fortunately for me, she's only written 2 other books, or I'd be in trouble.

On topic: :013085001176249046: and he makes me "awwwwwwww" all the time.

[Iseeme]

This has always been one of my favorite pictures......he has the most beautiful profile.

Perma - that is SOOO neat the author contacted you! Wow. That would make me run out and buy all her books as well!

I went to a National Kidney Foundation fundraiser in SF some years ago and met Pat Conroy - Prince of Tides (he was drunk on his feet - slurred his words, etc.) Amy Tan, Richard North Patterson, and some others I can't remember. It was kind of interesting. Each of the authors talked about their current book and writing in general - except Conroy who explained his drunkenness as a result of him being Irish. Prince of Tides is still probably my most favorite book EVAH....

Cotton - I like Richard Crais' books.....and Michael Connolly and James Lee Burke. Burke sets all his novels in New Iberia, LA, where my good buddy Clayanne lives!

[spikesmom]

perma - hey, that's cool! Now, this Library thingie... do you have a link? Lord knows I can never keep up with what I've read and what I want to read... I too discovered that I bought the same book (a hardcover no less! ouch!) of the same James Patterson (Double Cross)... and just last week, read a book that I read back in 2003 (must have been right before my Clay life!!) - luckily I really didn't remember it so it was like reading a new book!

[PoisonIvy]

There have been a few places that were new to me where I traveled to see Clay. I hadn't been to Charlotte and Raleigh before. I had the chance to drive around a bit. I preferred Charlotte to Raleigh, and HATES the beltways. My cousin & her husband have lived in Charlotte for years, and my college roommate lived there for a number of years as well. They all loved it.

I'd never been to NH or VT before. couchie has mentioned her dislike of that drive before, but nicegurrrrl and I loved it. We thought the scenery was spectacular....so different from our area here in SoCal. I really liked the Meadowbrook venue as well. So glad I missed the bugs this past summer.

I don't think I'd been to any of the 4 Florida cities from last summer, but the heat & humidity killed me, so my appreciation was limited!! My DH & I did go to the BAF Gala in Ft. Lauderdale, though, and that was wonderful. We had such a great room on a beautiful beach, and we loved taking the water taxi all over and eating at some amazing restaurants. Great fun.

My favorite city to see Clay is probably Washington, DC, because I LOVE Washington DC and have been able to do some museum hopping, and other fun stuff both times I've been there to see him for the JBT & for CITH. I love that whole area, love the Chesapeake Bay area, Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Annapolis. Now I'm hungry for Crab Imperial!! Yum!!

Awwww, Perma. No love for Chicago?*

*(Don't worry. I really hate this place sometimes, too.)

And interesting that you preferred Charlotte to Raleigh... other way around here. With apologies to those who like Charlotte, it was okay... but it just felt more ... generic ... big city but not much local flavor... whereas Raleigh seemed more Southern, more green, not so frenetic, yes big city but not TOO big -- and everyone down there seemed so nice. Even the guy I accidentally cut off on the road at night didn't get nasty with me, at least not outwardly.

As for Florida last summer -- I thought I was somewhat prepared for the heat and humidity... uh, no. Not when it's still miserably hot and humid at 11 pm, blah blah. Don't know how my aunt and uncle stand being there then. (Cotton, sorry I missed meeting you, even if you were sick... how did you get through it? You are tough to have been able to.) But for the BAF Gala the weather was gorgeous. *is GLAD no one got a picture of me going flat on my back into the drink. No wonder you can't drink sea water!*

And are y'all TRYING to kill me with those gorgeous pics?! *drool, soak drool bib, wring out bib and put back on, drool...* The perfect relief for sore, tired eyes. Thank you SO much.

[Iseeme]

Okay, one more and then I have to get some quilting done..............

[Scarlett]

Iseeme, wait, where did your pictures come from? Especially the ones on page 1! (I meant to ask but I waited for page 2 to give others a chance to be in front)

*waves at Kareneh below!!!*

[Iseeme]

Scarlett - the ones with Clay in the bluish-green tie and the pin-striped suit? I think that was the benefit where he met Rosalynn Carter? I think it was in Atlanta but I don't remember what the benefit was for! Didn't he look handsome?

[keepingfaith]

I am so antsy to see where Clay is headed next, because I know he'll manage to create a stir. When I catch bits and pieces of the celebrity gossip it's always about the same old boring cast of nutjobs, dipshits, alkees, druggies, and publicity hounds. Yawwwwwn. This helps explain why any little thing of interest about Clay is so often twisted into a splash story, but the publicity is always short-lived because Clay disappears into the ether like Kaiser Sose. *and just like that, Poof!, he's gone* He leaves them no follow up opportunities. The coterie of narcissists that populate the rumor mill seem to milk any kind of publicity to the last drop of absurdity. The tabloids, print and TV, will contort, exaggerate and insinuate when it comes to Clay because he's not giving them a thing. In my opinion, this makes Clay's brand much more valuable. He doesn't sell it, he gives it away to the causes he commits himself to, and doesn't use celebrity for the sake of fame. Clay has managed to evade all attempts of the media to get any information about his personal life other than what he chooses to reveal. So the media uses it's imagination, which can be a dangerous thing in a tabloid culture where the truth isn't as important as perception.

Anybody who can do what Clay did with 2-minutes on the AI5 Finale, being followed by Prince, and dominate the media and the water cooler for the next week to ten days, is in a position to explode on the public consciousness at will -- with a little help from the gods of timing. I believe that if OMWH, with Falling as a single, had been released immediately after AI5 it would have blown up and still be selling. There's no doubt in my mind that what happened at AI5 was unexpected by everyone involved, including Clay. Clay wanted to be a surprise contrast to the look-alike kid, and I don't think he realized just how hot he was going to be. I think Clay knows he has a career for life and he can go in several directions and be successful, but the big moment will happen when Venus and Mars ... , etc. etc.

I can honestly say that I look forward to whatever Clay chooses to sing, including more covers. In fact, I have a fervent wish for an album of soul music covers one of these days and believe it would be a massive hit. His voice was made to sing those songs, and I can't think of another white man I could say that about. Yes, Randy and Simon couldn't believe that voice was coming out of that skinny white boy, and most of America couldn't either. The Beatles were the first white boys whose music I fell for, and I went crazy for them. But before that, from when I was ten, and maybe earlier than that, I was mostly listening to Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, the Coasters, the Platters, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Jimmy Reed. I watched Hootenanny and my favorites were not the Serendipity Singers or the Chad Mitchell Trio, but Joe and Eddie, who sang the best version of Follow the Drinking Gourd ever recorded, IMO. I always preferred black male voices. As a kid I would get chills listening to Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. [ETA: William Warfield singing Old Man River is in a category all by himself.] Admittedly, I thought Dion was the dreamiest, but to look at, not to listen to. The Beatles were the first white guys I liked and I think when they did the legendary cover of The Isley Brothers' Twist and Shout, the deal was done for me. They got me exactly at that crossroads. But I digress, Clay has the voice. He did from the first day. He had the best original voice to ever come out of Idol. Now I love Ruben, but when I want to hear Luther, I'll just listen to Luther. There's nothing derivative about Clay's voice and delivery, and I hear derivative by gobs in Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie, Bo, Taylor, Kat, Kellie, Daughtry, Bucky, Jordin, Blake and the Davids. I think Clay could sing R&B successfully because it's a jolt when he does it so incredibly well. For some reason, I never expect him to do it as well as he can, and I'm shitfaced amazed by it. His voice is shockingly good on the songs that require a gifted voice to sing. Could just anybody sing a Four Tops song as well as Clay sang that little snip of (Reach Out) I'll Be There in the JBT? Hell NO! Just Levi Stubbs and Clay Aiken. I think his success was sealed on Idol with Can't Help Myself. He just kills on R&B/Soul/Motown, especially with a cool-cat hat, skinny tie and stovepipe pants! I flat out love soulful Clay and want as much as I can get. There are so many songs he could update from the fifties and sixties that would both rock and astound. Just like those bits of The Great Pretender and Only You from JBT, and I'd scream for Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Oh God, if I could just hear him sing Jackie Wilson's Lonely Teardrops ONE TIME. Or Jerry Butler's For Your Precious Love? Oo-Poo-Pa-Do anyone?

Now, to the Rolling Stones. I have two albums I couldn't part with, Flowers and Beggars Banquet.

I've come to the conclusion that people hear more randomly selected music at the supermarket than anywhere else. Unless driving alone, people in cars are usually talking and not paying attention to music, and even then I'd wager that more people are playing their own iPods and CDs while driving. Today I spent over an hour in Randall's and listened to one great song after another, from oldies to current day -- and heard stuff like Rita Coolidge's "We're All Alone" which is one fine sexy song, Jennifer Warne's "Right Time of the Night," Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be With You," and Clay Aiken's "Solitaire." I've heard cuts from MOAM and ATDW at retail stores for the last two years. When Clay said the label wanted to sell ATDW to the commercial market, I think this may be what he meant. I hear Clay's music at the mall, at dress shops, at restaurants, at Walmart, and at grocery stores. His music is getting heard, the issue is whether people know who they're hearing. But, I think that RCA makes plenty money from Clay.

Parting question: Is is too much to ask for Blue Bell to offer their Candy Jar and Banana Split ice creams in sugar free varieties? Yeah, I thought so. Dammit.