#40: He simply makes me smile when I see him.

[playbiller]

Maybe Clay taking responsibility for another adult can convince some fans he can take care of himself (and his career). I do believe some people are caught in time where he needs some baby sitting.

Hopes and good wishes for those we have not heard from. I think the electricity being restored as several weeks is for the most outlying areas. Houston is a big city and they lost a lot of transformers and some ofthe power plants are inaccessible.

Did anyone cover that ship that was stranded in the gulf?. This is likethe headless chicken story from when we were children. Every day there would be a story for 5 days about a chicken whose heads cut off and it got up and was running around. It kept saying and the chicken is still alive, and the chicken is still alive. and thent he stories stopped. At no point was there a story the chicken died. I was 7 and I searchedthe paper forthe chicken story and they never covered it. I came to the conclusion taht I was to make an assuption it was no longer news because the chicken died. But a floating freighter should still be big news.

[muskifest]

Clay made a decision or a set of decisions to sing the songs he wants to sing and live his life the way he wants to live it (not play "the game") and it seems - again to me - that's what has caused his lack of so-called acceptance or acknowledgement among the critics and industry

Iseeme, this struck me from your post because it is what my husband said during the whole "gay or not" media frenzy. When Clay's appearance on GMA with Diane and then again on Larry King still left all the tabloid-loving public without him declaring in single-syllable headlines, "Yes! I'm straight!" or "NO! I'm not gay!", my husband said, "By choosing not to answer the question the way they want him to, he's not playing their game so they're gonna punish him. His right and his choice."

Yep.

I, too, would love to hear from keepingfaith and Desertrose....

And I agree with calurker about the 'production' factor of CNN...I saw Anderson Cooper standing in the water in those hip boots and thought WTF? And during the worst winds and rain, reporters are trying not to be blown away while they're talking about how difficult it is not to be blown away. :fssign:

My heart goes out to all those without power and/or internet. Hell...I'm crabby when my neighbor goes away for a few days and we can't steal her wireless signal. :glare: That means that I have to sit here at the desktop and type.

[playbiller]

So the NYT had a story about the one guy who stayed Surfside. When they found him he was drunk. Then they had a homeless guy who decided to stay in Galveston but decided to go to a shelter too late and didn't make it to the shelter and rode the hurricane out under a park bench. o story on the ship yet. Still looking, but it seems people survived in Galveston. The surge was 7 feet less than predicted and the strom was not as strong as predicted, I wonder if theies means fewer will leave next time?

Well, whether fans like or dislike Clay's choices no arguing that they are his choices to make. I think refusing to discuss his sexual preference made it a little bit less ofa story, he would have been mocked mercilessly if he had gone on TV and said I AM STRAIGHT! without providing a girl friend and if he had provided a girlfriend, she would have been mocked mercilessly as well. As she would today. I thin Clauy is not about dragging people into his personal hell, he does not even believe in residing in that place himself, so he takes it all out of the equation, "argue among yourselves, but leave me out of it" seems to be his philosophy.

[luckiest1]

play, I read yesterday on CNN that the ship's crew survived the storm. Don't know where the story has gone now though.

Hope our remaining FCAers are able to check in soon!

[Jaycee]

Clay made a decision or a set of decisions to sing the songs he wants to sing and live his life the way he wants to live it (not play "the game") and it seems - again to me - that's what has caused his lack of so-called acceptance or acknowledgement among the critics and industry . He isn't cool - but then, he doesn't try to be! Just my opinion, however!

Iseeme I agree with this regarding what Clay would sing and that he was never willing to play the game. I imagine it was hard for whoever was in charge of getting him publicity, that he wasn't willing to go to clubs and be seen where all the other young stars are seen. He could have gotten a pretty girl and been seen everywhere with her right in the beginning and then switched to another pretty girl. That would have taken care of alot of the talk out there about him. But, in a time when other young people, that want to get into some part of show business, are willing to do ANYTHING, Clay wasn't. He didn't like those kinds of places and he wasn't going to use some girl that he hardly knew or even one that he did know, to try to get the media to see him differently. He wasn't willing to play games.

He wants this career but he wants it on his own terms and I am sure he has been told over and over again that he needs to do this and that but he isn't willing to do it. We have no way of knowing how many things his management has brought to him over the years that he has turned down; or what his publicist may have come up with that he wouldn't go along with.

Some people might say that Clay doesn't want his career enough. He doesn't want it more then his integrity and to me that is a good thing. Better to have a smaller career and be able to look at himself.

[aikim]

I've already noticed that there are some fans who are worried that Clay's "virgin ears" may be singed at the Friar's Roast for Matt Lauer...not surprising...there are some fans who just refuse to accept that Clay is a grown man and not a 10 year-old that needs to be protected. It just annoys the heck out of me; I know Clay had this squeeky clean image coming off of AI, but In the 5 years since he has grown out of that and has been pretty clear that he can be bawdy and sexy and is not that sheltered boy from NC anymore...if he ever was.

Kim

[Couch Tomato]

I've always admired Clay for the way he lived his life. He just does what works for him. He's not a wannabe. He's not fake. And those are rare qualities not only in a celebrity but people in general. I love that he never got into the whole social/party scene in LA or anywhere just to be seen and photographed and deemed one of the cool crowd. And the moment he starts proclaiming he's not gay all over the place he will be punished even harder for being a homophobic. But I love it that he can still surprise me. He's really so not a stick in the mud but has a clear sense of what is right for him. I think about him wanting "ordinary" people in his videos and how he picks people from his audience regardless to do things and joke with or dance with and it's not based on anything even remotely cool and I have to respect and love him for it. I love how he embraced his older fanbase as well, when even some of us can't. That's why when i heard about Jaymes I felt strongly that it could be an absolute lie or completely true. I love that he isn't predictable and that he just follows his heart and his conscience.

[playbiller]

Thanks Luckiest nice to know they are well, I was in a sudden squall (75 mph gusts) in a small open sailboat with a fool of an instructor and had to take charge at one point, not my strong point, but the desire to live was kind of strong. We almost lost the boat, got soaked, but managed to survive a long distance from where we started. What I did was make them take down the sails when I saw the clouds racing towards us, they we going Whee, we are getting wind and then had them put out a sailing anchor (bucket) and move to the center of the sound before the worst hit (actually in the reverse order, heh). I noticed that every other boat was leaving the sound and going to anchor or dock, while we were still tooling around far from an anchorage, idjits. Unbelieveable how fast you can sail under bare poles, it took us hours to get back to our dock after about 15 minutes of a storm. Four boats and their crews/ families, were lost in that day on the sound.

I think Clay did not enjoy the party scene in Hollywood (rotting souls) and I can understand it. He did not seem so enamoured with the gift bags, greed, invasive red carpet, and fake nicey nices.I don't think that he went to any red carpet he did not need to attend besides the Wicked one.

You know

is one of my favorite videos - it is Clay being interviewed before Hollywood week (WRAL) - he is so the same guy today, only older and wiser. I really love watching it. I wish we could find Jassy, she had the best stuff before taking her site down. So sad taht all that old video is now missing, she used to cap stuff before anyone else, mostly during the AI season, and closed down that summer. Unfortunately I did not have a spare drive and ended up deleting a lot of stuff I wish I still had.

ETA - explaination of babysitting, sometimes I think fans think he is still a poor picked on little boy and needs another mommy - change his clothes, change his look, change his what ever - date this person, do this, do that, etc. And some still believe in the clorilla which I am starting to think was always a myth mistakenly emerged from some good fortune. Basically, I believe I am (barely) an observer who can only affect Clay's future by buying stuff and watching him on TV, etc. not by changing the any personal part of his life amd can only withness the parts he cares to share.

[Cotton]

Maybe Clay taking responsibility for another adult can convince some fans he can take care of himself (and his career). I do believe some people are caught in time where he needs some baby sitting.

Okay, Play.

I need a translation of what's bouncing around in your brain on this one!

hee

Could you fill in the blanks for me?

ETA:

Do you mean Jaymes as the adult he's taking responsibility for?

Do you mean some fans are stuck back when he was so innocent about the business that he needed 'handlers' moreso than today?

And forgive me if I missed a post that might have explained this.

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

[djs111]

Maybe Clay taking responsibility for another adult can convince some fans he can take care of himself (and his career). I do believe some people are caught in time where he needs some baby sitting.

Okay, Play.

I need a translation of what's bouncing around in your brain on this one!

hee

Could you fill in the blanks for me?

Of course I can't answer for Play, but to me this means that some fans still think of Clay as a bumpkin who is willfully refusing to do what he is told, is too stubborn to sing anything but what he wants to sing, and is too dumb to realise he needs to jettison his family and friends and get all new better cooler ones, and is so naive that he can easily be seduced and taken advantage of. And too stupid to realise he needs to have a different social and private life, or too willful and childish to kiss media or invasive public ass.

This would, of course, be some completely mythical Clay, and thankfully it looks like he is staying true to himself.

JMO and all that.

[lilyshine]

Technology has so changed disasters. Son just called from Houston to ask me to search the net to find any suggestions for what to do about a fish tank during a power outage! (Don't feed the fish!)

He also asked me to check CenterPoint Power's website to see if they had a map of outages or a timetable for power restoration.

Within 15min. I was able to call him back with the information.

[Claygasm]

Claygasm said:

Would be nice but I wouldn't count on it - especially considering the out-of-the-ordinary circumstances of Parker's conception and birth.

For all I know someone here (FCA) could have had "an unusual" birth. Doesn't mean I would not respect them. Respect comes as a result of working hard in your field, being talented in your field and willingness to experiment. If cool was all that counted I could think of quite a few entertainers that would be unemployed now. Unfortunately the internet has colored our impressions of what "talent" is. If it's all about conforming or being scandalous, thank goodness Clay is not cool.

We don't know the circumstances of Parker's birth, so to call it unusual is just your opinion. Clay has and I presume will continue to hold all personal information "close to the vest". Therefore I don't anticipate his discussing this with fans or the media. JMO For myself, I am "over the moon" happy that Clay and Jaymes have Parker in their lives.

Well, the one fact we DO know is unusual. Let's face it, it IS unusual for a 29 year old man to have a baby with a 50 year old woman. It is unusual for a 29-year old man to have a baby with a 50-year old woman who he declares publicly is his dear friend IMPLYING they have a platonic relationship. Hell, its even unusual for a 50 year old woman to have a baby - period! And no where did I say I expected him to discuss it. My point was that since this whole thing is unusual it gives the media and the so-call critics more chance to put their own, unflattering spin on things, therefore not helping him gain any respect. My point was his becoming a father would have no bearing on his getting respect in the music industry. And that would be true even if he were happily married to a woman his own age.

Respect comes as a result of working hard in your field, being talented in your field and willingness to experiment.

If that were true, Clay would have had respect all along. He hasn't. He entered the music scene in an area where being cool DOES count. A lot. It may not be right, but its true. Coolness often counts more than talent. Is there any more shallow arena that the pop/rock world? But the fact is, this is where Clay has, up to now, marketed himself. He chose not to conform to their coolness factor (for which I applaud him) and one of the things that has suffered for it is respect.

In a pollyanna world you would be judged just by your deeds, your talent, the kind of person you are and those things would earn respect. In the real world of pop music, that just isn't the case. It DOES seem to be the case in the Broadway world and we saw that when Clay was in Spamalot the first time. I remember saying then that it seemed like for the first time in his professional life Clay was receiving respect from the critics, from his peers, even from the media. But it didn't follow him back into the pop arena.

Two different worlds. Two different set of rules.

Too bad.

[FromClaygary]

Good day!

I've been tooling around Facebook a little ( to annabear). I didn't realize until someone said so the other day, that Clay had a facebook page, so I just added him, and was looking at some of the fans listed there.

There are TONS of overseas fans! Not a huge surprise, but a surprise at some of the locations. Who would have known that Mauritania, Egypt, Russia, Poland have heard of Clay?

...and interestingly for the Canadians, TONS of fans in the Maritimes that I certainly didn't know about! I wonder if they're at all organized? There are no names that I particularly recognize.

....and lots and lots of men!

It was quite interesting.

[wandacleo]

I don't think that Clay was ever the goody-goody that some people made him out to be, and I don't think he even suggested he was. He did say that he felt a responsiblity to be a good role model in his public llife. You can be quite bawdy in private and still be a good public role model. I think that as it's clear that Clay's audience is not primarily teeny-boppers, he is more free to be the man he really is.

[bottlecap]

WHAT?!

Only more days until

SPAMALOT PART DEUX!

I've missed those deep discussions about the carrying capabilities of migrating swallows.

[cha cha trusty]

Technology has so changed disasters. Son just called from Houston to ask me to search the net to find any suggestions for what to do about a fish tank during a power outage! (Don't feed the fish!)

He also asked me to check CenterPoint Power's website to see if they had a map of outages or a timetable for power restoration.

Within 15min. I was able to call him back with the information.

lilyshine - could you share that info about the timetable for power restoration? I looked up the CenterPoint Energy web site but don't see anything about power restoration. Was there a timetable?

We have relatives in Houston who still have no power and I've heard it could be weeks. :o

There is also an Irish relative who was trying to get out to come here and needs to go to NY eventually to fly back home. Last report was that the airport is still closed.

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

[spikesmom]

Some people might say that Clay doesn't want his career enough. He doesn't want it more then his integrity and to me that is a good thing. Better to have a smaller career and be able to look at himself.

Jaycee - you said a mouthful here... and I totally agree with you. I've always admired that Clay wasn't willing to sell himself out for a "cool" career. Twenty years from now, he still has to be able to look himself in the mirror and he should be proud of who he sees (and IMO, he will be). I don't think being cool and having fame are worth much when it comes time to take an accounting of one's life and how it's been lived.

[Cotton]

I don't think that Clay was ever the goody-goody that some people made him out to be, and I don't think he even suggested he was. He did say that he felt a responsiblity to be a good role model in his public llife. You can be quite bawdy in private and still be a good public role model. I think that as it's clear that Clay's audience is not primarily teeny-boppers, he is more free to be the man he really is.

It used to bug me no end that people couldn't see the difference in his attitude towards publicly doing or saying something and privately doing or saying something.

I taught in North Carolina. Your public self had to have some strict controls. On language. On where you went with friends. (I'd have been hog-tied if students had seen me out drinking with friends. No matter that I was over 40!)

Not to mention cursing!

Especially in elementary school!

Setting an example of a certain standard of behavior in public is not the same as being a prude.

Some people have no discriminatory judgment.

Sheesh!

[playbiller]

Can you put a link to Clay's My facebook? I guess I have to register for something eles =what name should I pick....Hmmm

You know fface book is how the animal rescue places beat BAF for 6 degrees., it would not be a bad place to advertise BAF.

[FromClaygary]

Can you put a link to Clay's My facebook? I guess I have to register for something eles =what name should I pick....Hmmm

You know fface book is how the animal rescue places beat BAF for 6 degrees., it would not be a bad place to advertise BAF.

Clay's Facebook page

Non-official BAF page on Facebook

[Couch Tomato]

And Claygasm that is why it is important that Clay not live his life to any kind of media cool standard. Because hell I remember him going into a school to give an award and even that was made fun of. Clay just has to keep on keeping on and he'll be fine and at least he won't live with regret.

As for Clay and Jaymes... yeah it's such a shame that a young man/older woman in 2008 is still seen as unusual while a 50 year old man and a 30 year old woman is the standard in hollywood movies and not even a head turner on the street. All we can do is start with our own self to get that prejudice out of our heads and maybe it will spread. As michel J would say..I'm starting with the (wo)man in the mirror. But again, it makes me smile that he is willing to say fuck it (only in his head of course or maybe he just says fudge ) and just do what feels right for him.

Cha Cha told me about the Best Western/Presidents hotel and I just made a 7 day reservation in January for a very good rate. Check it out if you'll be there then.

ETA because it is 2008, not 2007

The raiders won a game...I might be in need of resuscitation.

But the 48ers still suck so all is right in the world. sigh.

[duckyvee]

But I love it that he can still surprise me.

Me, too!

[lilyshine]

lilyshine - could you share that info about the timetable for power restoration? I looked up the CenterPoint Energy web site but don't see anything about power restoration. Was there a timetable?

We have relatives in Houston who still have no power and I've heard it could be weeks. :o

There is also an Irish relative who was trying to get out to come here and needs to go to NY eventually to fly back home. Last report was that the airport is still closed.

:F_05BL17blowkiss:

"And sometimes the answer is no."

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a timetable or schedule for restoration of power. The best I could do was find the outage map that, supposedly, is updated twice a day.

It's HERE Click on "map & details"

At least it shows where they seem to be working.

ETA - You have to click on the smaller maps on the left side to see any green (restored power) areas.

[FearofH2O]

Thanks couchie, you answered CG for me. Was my mother weird when she had my brother at 43? I didn't think so. In fact all my friends were jealous that an 18 year old would have a new born brother. James was 49 when she became pregnant. As long as one is healthy what does it matter how old they are? Just because the gossip sites say it's weird doesn't make it weird to me. Or as Clay said "I don't care what others say about me, it doesn't make it true."

Anyway I've been cataloging a bunch of our books today and moving them into a new bookcase. We have first editions, limited editions and signed copies. Many of them are very old as my FIL was a book salesman. One of the books was an old leather bound book of poetry from 1925. One section was epithats and I loved this one:

My days were a thing for me to live,

For others to deplore;

I took of life all it could give:

Rind, inner fruit and core.

The book was called "Color" and the author Countee Cullen, an African-American poet. The other poems were absolutely wonderful. It 's life's experiences in poetry.

[PerusingOne]

from Scarlett. She is in good spirits. The Walmart in her neighborhood is opening in a few minutes so she decided to drive to the store. She doesn't need anything but wanted to see what they had. She used her time in the car to recharge all of her electronics and get a better signal on her cell. We also went over the open gas stations in her neighborhood. She's hoping that her work place is open tomorrow so she can be back on the net. Needless to say she's already giddy about seeing Clay next weekend.

ETA: KAndre also says, "Hi." She decided that the Galleria Mall would be a perfect place for her since there are open restaurants. No need to cook if she doesn't have to. She definitely won't be working tomorrow as she works downtown.