#42: We're still having fun, and you're still the one!

[jmh123]

OK, random comment brought on by the Sarah McLachlan being pumped into my head: Does anybody else think a Clay Aiken version of "Ordinary Miracle" be awesome?

Totally gahworthy.

[annabear]

I still find Clay fascinating after all this time - and still very surprising. My last words might be... in 50 years damnit - did you see that Clay Aiken's combover?

OMG - the combover comment made me LOL so loud I probably could have woken the neighbors! Would serve 'em right! :Kolobok_Laie_haha:

OK, random comment brought on by the Sarah McLachlan being pumped into my head: Does anybody else think a Clay Aiken version of "Ordinary Miracle" be awesome?

Absolutely! There was story in the news, I think last Christmas, about a service man back from Iraq who had met a little orphan boy with a disability while he was serving over there and decided to try to adopt him. Long story short, he & his wife did adopt the little boy and they talked about how he would sing that song all the time because he loved the movie it was from - Charlotte's Web, maybe? Anyway, the story made me think about Clay and TBAF and UNICEF and yeah, him singing that song!

Time out for some pretty:

<- - - My new avi...

G'night all!

[Claygasm]

Muski - no report from CG. Did she touch Clay and is she out there wandering the streets of NYC rambling to herself?

So Claygasm hasn't reported in yet, re: Spamalot last night?

Well geez! My train was late and then I had a book to catch up on here! I still haven't had time to read the blog!!!

Give me a chance!

What can I say. Clay is still unbelievably CUTE!!! But as muski told you, the show felt different. Its still very funny but the energy was very off. I didn't like the new king at all. He didn't enunciate and there was no affection between him and Patsy. When Jonathan said that Patsy was family, he said it with affection and you believed him. This guy said it in an almost dismissive manner. There was a warmth and kindness to Jonathan's king that seemed to work so well. Not with this guy. The new Lady was good. Very pretty, lovely voice, not as big as Hannah (in many ways...). Her Lady was not as over-the-top as Hannah's and I always thought Hannah's was too over-the-top, but that is strictly a personal preference.

The crowd was very much a NJU crowd. The orchestra was almost full, the mezzanine from what I could see was about 2/3 full and there were some people in the balcony but I couldn't really see how many. And this was on a Saturday night. One interesting thing. We were in row B dead center. In the first row from the aisle inward were a few Clay fans I have seen there many, many times before. I know the names of some but will not mention them here. Jerome came out before the show and sat himself on the stage to talk to them. We couldn't hear everything he had to say but he was telling them to not yell as much, to tone it down some in their reaction to Clay, that it was distracting to Clay and the other cast members! Now I have no clue what they had been doing or when, but obviously their behavior was not something that was appreciated! I had to wonder what the NJUs sitting behind them must have been thinking!

The crowd seem appreciative and seemed to enjoy themselves. There were lots of laughs but Clay got no more than anyone else. YWSOB was well received but nothing special. And for the very first time in the 10 shows I have now seen, I heard the entire "Idol of my age" bit! I did hear one guy in my row sort of laugh at that, but otherwise it received no reaction. He did sing the "Amen" but it was different, and the other knights all looked at each other like they were thinking "How are we going to do that??".

The whole show seemed almost rushed. It just had a whole different feel to it. Still very funny, but you know that old saying "You can't go home again"? Well, the magic that was there during round one just wasn't there this time. It had NOTHING to do with Clay, his revelation or anything else regarding him. It was just the show as a whole. I think round one was a very special cast that had just the right chemistry. Without Hannah and Jonathan (and to me, mainly Jonathan) the same chemistry just wasn't there.

Oh, and no standing ovations. A few stood up for the singing at the end but definitely no standing O for Clay or anyone else.

There were half price tickets available for the Sunday matinee today and neither my lurker friend or I had any desire to see it again so soon. I am not sure that would have been the case the first time round.

At the stage door there were maybe 50 people and as muski told you, more men than were ever there he first time! We were kind of boxed in where we were sitting so by the time we got out we were about 4 people back. No chance for a touch or a picture. But he did take his time signing and chatting and stopping for a picture. SO different than the last time! The stage door crowd also seemed much calmer so I think there may have been quite a few NJU there.

What was interesting to me was Tom Deckman, David Hibbard and the new Lady all came out after Clay to sign and stop for pictures. During the times I was there before that never happened and I always thought that was because the crowds were unruly and so Clay-centric. Even the stage door had a different feel to it.

But in a way, that was a good feel. It felt normal. Like Clay was a normal star on Broadway with relatively normal fans!

I still love this play and I love Clay in it and I adore David Hibbard and am glad he is back and I am glad Rick Holmes and Tom Deckman are still there. But I miss the magic of the first go round.

And I am worried about the attendance. I am not sure Clay being in it is having that much of an impact - certainly not like the last time. I get why, but I just hope the producers don't think it has anything to do with his coming out.

All in all, it was a good time. Always good to see Clay. And was I ever glad he was wearing a hoodie instead of one of those fugly shirts or sweaters he's been in seen in lately!!

Now, before I go read his blog, I have to take issue with all the "Touch" hate going on here!!! I LOVE THAT SONG!!!! And if Clay wanted to sing it and felt uncomfortable with the feminine pronoun (which I personally doubt) he could easily change the words a bit. He's done it before - sometimes even intentionally! :Kolobok_Laie_haha:

I just think he either didn't like it or won't sing it out of plain stubbornness!

Off to read the blog then see if I have anything clean to wear to work tomorrow. I don't want to go to work tomorrow!

Oh, and one more thing........

WOO HOO PHILLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wandacleo]

Off topic random observation.

I swear Clay's teeth look more like his old teeth than his new teeth.

Is it just me???

[cagney1950]

Luthor Vandross had such a beautiful voice. I can't imagine caring (but then I'm crazy about Rock Hudson and Doris Day movies, so what in the hell do I know.)

One of the funniest, most entertaining movies ever for me was

Send Me No Flowers. The writing was exceptional and Rock Hudson was such a terrific comic actor. I love watching that movie even today. Knowing he was gay doesn't change that for me.

With Clay, even when I believed him to be straight, I never could envision him doing a romantic video. Touch did not seem that believable to me either. But Run To Me, that seemed authentic. Actually, those words still work.

Lotus, a while back you wrote about a podcast of an NPR show where they made fun of clay fans "dumb as a box of hammers" or something like that. That was Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, wasn't it. I cringed when they did their little skit, Clay has been a target before. but they target everyone and I still like the show. What was interesting was that Mo Rocca was one of the guest panelists that day and he did not weigh in on the comments. For that I was pleased.

ETA: wandacleo I had the same thoughts about the teeth.

claygasm...Love those Phillies!!!!

[Couch Tomato]

yep regardign the teeth ..weird huh.

CG's alive! thanks for the recap.

Off to build up my upper body strength so I can push those men out of my way.

[liney23]

Now, before I go read his blog, I have to take issue with all the "Touch" hate going on here!!! I LOVE THAT SONG!!!! And if Clay wanted to sing it and felt uncomfortable with the feminine pronoun (which I personally doubt) he could easily change the words a bit. He's done it before - sometimes even intentionally! :Kolobok_Laie_haha:

I just think he either didn't like it or won't sing it out of plain stubbornness!

Off to read the blog then see if I have anything clean to wear to work tomorrow. I don't want to go to work tomorrow!

Oh, and one more thing........

WOO HOO PHILLIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CG... BWAH!!! to the bolded above and I thought of you when I saw the Phillies won! Congrats!!!

[muskifest]

wandacleo:

Is it just me???

yes

:Kolobok_Laie_haha:

Oh...and Cotton---thank you for your comments on my OFC comments. Seems that when I'm moved to write something, it always ends up at the bottom of the page and then I'm not sure anyone actually reads them!

[annabear]

Tonight's stage door courtesy butterflyshine - profile & stubble lovers, rejoice!!!

[FromClaygary]

EEEEEEEEEee for you FromClaygary. I bet you had to pay a bit of bucks for that. One of these days......

The Tuscan Grille sounds fine to me, but I don't think our numbers are going to be as high as 25.

Re the LWLHD~nope! I think I just saw it when everyone's attention was elsewhere. It will be well, well loved.

....and I'm hoping we would get 25...I think there will be lots of people there, but I don't know how many are staying through Sunday, of course. We're up to about 10-ish at the moment:

claylove(and hopefully Karen?)

georgiesmybaby

fearofH2O

luckiest1 (+ Donna?)

cotton

me

cindilu2

goldarngirl?

Anyone else my head won't come up with at the moment?

...

[Jaycee]

wandacleo:

Is it just me???

yes

:Kolobok_Laie_haha:

Oh...and Cotton---thank you for your comments on my OFC comments. Seems that when I'm moved to write something, it always ends up at the bottom of the page and then I'm not sure anyone actually reads them!

This is the first chance I have had to visit here today. I did read your post at OFC and it was wonderful. It made my eyes leak.

[Couch Tomato]

Muski can you share your post over here?

[jazzgirl]

<snip> The guys in Brokeback Mountain were straight. Didn't seem to affect most people's reaction to that movie. I don't know your reaction, or even if you saw it, but would you expect people to find it not believeable for that reason? Or is it OK for straight people to play gay, but not vice versa? What about bisexual actors? Can they play either, or neither? These are serious questions, and I hope you won't take them as criticism. I'm just boggled a bit.

Even the dad in The Brady Bunch was gay in real life *g*.

And I am worried about the attendance. I am not sure Clay being in it is having that much of an impact - certainly not like the last time. I get why, but I just hope the producers don't think it has anything to do with his coming out.

I would think all the Wall Street problems are pervasive. I talked to my elderly aunt today who visits the gambling boats weekly. She has cut her weekly gambling money from $40 to $20. Retailers are expecting very sluggish sales this season too, so I think the economy is affecting everyone.

[goldarngirl]

EEEEEEEEEee for you FromClaygary. I bet you had to pay a bit of bucks for that. One of these days......

The Tuscan Grille sounds fine to me, but I don't think our numbers are going to be as high as 25.

Re the LWLHD~nope! I think I just saw it when everyone's attention was elsewhere. It will be well, well loved.

....and I'm hoping we would get 25...I think there will be lots of people there, but I don't know how many are staying through Sunday, of course. We're up to about 10-ish at the moment:

claylove(and hopefully Karen?)

georgiesmybaby

fearofH2O

luckiest1 (+ Donna?)

cotton

me

cindilu2

goldarngirl?

Anyone else my head won't come up with at the moment?

...

Would be neat, but I am not sure I can get there, plus not sure how my SIL and BIL would love me running out on them three days in a row. They might think i was only coming to NC for Clay. Where would they get that idea???

[jmh123]

EEEEEEEEEee for you FromClaygary. I bet you had to pay a bit of bucks for that. One of these days......

The Tuscan Grille sounds fine to me, but I don't think our numbers are going to be as high as 25.

Re the LWLHD~nope! I think I just saw it when everyone's attention was elsewhere. It will be well, well loved.

....and I'm hoping we would get 25...I think there will be lots of people there, but I don't know how many are staying through Sunday, of course. We're up to about 10-ish at the moment:

claylove(and hopefully Karen?)

georgiesmybaby

fearofH2O

luckiest1 (+ Donna?)

cotton

me

cindilu2

goldarngirl?

Anyone else my head won't come up with at the moment?

...

Me.

[djs111]

Nothing anyone sings needs to be personal to me. I like to think it reflects them in some way. Naive, perhaps. I'll admit to that.

I can't find the link right now, because I switched to Mozilla and can't find my favorites file, but a while back some of Lucinda Williams fans were OUTRAGED to find that no, she wasn't all heartbroken and blue and whatnot. She basically told them to fuck off and stop being vampires, I heard, and her manager more nicely said that Lucinda is an artist, and that's what artists do - they interpret the song.

When I listen to Lucinda sing "Blue", for example, I don't think of her at all, I think of ME being blue. Gorgeous song. I feel like she wrote it for me. That's how I relate to songs.

Heeee.....remember when either Clay or Kelly or both mentioned that lots of times they are singing a sad song and wondering what's for dinner.

I figure if the boards I read start evaluating every song and word and gesture and picture and crowd, or start with the gay jokes or put-downs (yes, I have seen some), I'll just find something else to do for a while. Not an oh, I'm leaving!!!!! flounce, just an oh, not much interested so I'll wait it out sort of thing.

I realise that some of it may be natural, but it just is not my thing to be interested in.

(Maybe there seems to be more guys in the SD crowd because there are less fans this time around. Do we have an actual count of before and after?)

The boards, to me, can be fun and informative, but have nothing to do with my Clay fandom, if that makes any sense. I would cut the boards loose in a heartbeat, if they were unpleasant on an ongoing basis; I think I will keep Clay around in my heart forevah.

I don't read the Harry Potter thread, either. (runs away laughing).

[luckiest1]

WORD to everything jmh123 & wandacleo have said on the subject of sexuality and singing/acting. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

But Run To Me, that seemed authentic. Actually, those words still work.

Work? They damn near killed me yesterday in the car.

Claygasm, thanks for the recap. Interesting about Jerome & the front row.

....and I'm hoping we would get 25...I think there will be lots of people there, but I don't know how many are staying through Sunday, of course. We're up to about 10-ish at the moment:

claylove(and hopefully Karen?)

georgiesmybaby

fearofH2O

luckiest1 (+ Donna?)

cotton

me

cindilu2

goldarngirl?

Anyone else my head won't come up with at the moment?

I don't think Donna will be coming back into town on Sunday (but I will invite her & her sister just in case). I will have Claymatron & sassafras (from CH) with me for sure! I believe cindilu2 will also have her friend Karen with her. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

ETA:

I can't find the link right now, because I switched to Mozilla and can't find my favorites file, but a while back some of Lucinda Williams fans were OUTRAGED to find that no, she wasn't all heartbroken and blue and whatnot. She basically told them to fuck off and stop being vampires, I heard, and her manager more nicely said that Lucinda is an artist, and that's what artists do - they interpret the song.

When I listen to Lucinda sing "Blue", for example, I don't think of her at all, I think of ME being blue. Gorgeous song. I feel like she wrote it for me. That's how I relate to songs.

Heeee.....remember when either Clay or Kelly or both mentioned that lots of times they are singing a sad song and wondering what's for dinner.

Exactly. :Kolobok_Laie_haha: And Clay has been pretty insistent that people try to interpret the words to his songs and relate them to their own lives, rather than his. I don't think he was just saying that because he is & was gay. I think that's how he feels about singing, in general. He's a private person. Other than Lover All Alone, which he wrote, because as he put it he had "something to say".

[duckyvee]

Nothing anyone sings needs to be personal to me. I like to think it reflects them in some way. Naive, perhaps. I'll admit to that.

I can't find the link right now, because I switched to Mozilla and can't find my favorites file, but a while back some of Lucinda Williams fans were OUTRAGED to find that no, she wasn't all heartbroken and blue and whatnot.

No outrage here. Just personal preference.

[luckiest1]

Was anyone else at the Meadville JBT concert? That was the night he made it pretty clear to us that no matter how many people held up the Touch signs, he was never gonna sing it. LOL. Somehow I doubt that will change.

And it was also the night he sang a killer version of WAMLAW. His tone on the song is amazing. One of my favourite pieces of clack ever. I'm so glad I made the last minute decision to go to that concert.

O/T: Did any of our Canadians watch the CBC movie "Celine" last night? I missed the very beginning, but found it oddly fascinating and couldn't turn it off.

[djs111]

No outrage here. Just personal preference.

I understand, I was making a point, is all, using Lucinda's very real fan dealie. Some of her fans were furious when they found out she was pretty darn happy.

Anyway, how can you ever really know if what anyone is singing is really honestly from their own personal experience? Seems like it would have to be based on broad assumptions or whatever.

Do you feel you actually know if a singer really feels heartache or happy or is Christian singing Christmas carols?

It seems almost an impossible task!

eta - not making fun or being sarcastic, just had not really considered that approach to music. One of my favorite songs in the universe is a fado song sung by a woman who was 16 when she recorded it. Soaring heartache, loss - doubties that had happened to her, that her husband or lover had not come back from a fishing run.

And I assume everyone, gay, straight, bi, understands and has experienced sex and longing and sensuality, really.

[Scarlett]

FromClaygary, I'll do my best to coerce convince haul Solo and PerusingOne to brunch -- you're not starting too early are you?

Crazy work stuff - I scheduled a retaliatory 3 am meeting today but was thwarted when our building's power went on the blink over the weekend and so we couldn't get in because of the "security issue". Still, the others should be happy that I sent the cancellation e-mail last night instead of at 3am.

Have a great day everyone!

:nature-smiley-014:

I have one knitter lined up to try to take a sock-in-progress to the stage door at the end of October but the Yarn Harlot Challenge allows multiples (yes, they're like us). Are there any other knitters planning a Spam trip anytime soon? If you knit but don't knit socks because it's too difficult let me know and maybe we can get a speedy online tutorial going.

luckiest1, wasn't it at Clio where he said that if every single person in the audience had a sign that said Touch, he still wouldn't do it?

I think he should sing every song ever written regardless of lyrics.

...don't we deserve the best?

[luckiest1]

Scarlett, I think he said it a few times, but I remember at Meadville, I really got the message. People were passing out signs (and I was holding one) and he just seemed to have lost his patience with it.

[merryclay]

I always thought that it was silly looking for gender specific things in songs. I think he didn't sing "Touch" because he thought it was a stupid sounding out of date song. At the time , I don't it was a fit for Clay, either. Tom Jones, maybe. LOL!!!

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

12 Days until The BAF Gala!

18 Days until Clay is Roasting Matt Lauer!

55 Days until Clay's Golden Birthday!

90 Days until The Closing Night of Spamalot!

110 Days until Golfing For Inclusion!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

I guess there are really good reasons why actors and singers don't come out.

Sexuality does trump talent.

wanda, I know you are being ironic here...but sadly, to a lot of people, it really does. My office mate at work? The one who I had given a few CD's to, who loves Clay's Christmas CD, who liked that he seemed like this good Christian man? Now thinks that Clay's career is "ruined" by this news. Yes, ruined. She thinks he's going to lose fans left and right.

God, I hope we don't have to wait that long. Prejudice does seem to be so casual and pervasive. I don't think, however, it should ever be free of challenge.

To quote Clay: "Things don't change overnight." Yes, things should be challenged like that, but it has to be done with a rational voice, IMO. As soon as emotion gets thrown into the mix, it seems to me that all bets are off, and much just turns into a shouting match. One of the things I love about Clay these past few weeks is that he's seemingly very nonchalant about all this, and I honestly think that will change more minds than any gay rights rally.

Assumptions? I assume that everyone has them. *g* I honestly think it's going to be fairly natural for people to do a bit of that -- I listened again to LTS on my trip home last week, and in hindsight, it is very interesting. As long as searching for clues doesn't turn out to be my mission in life though (and I would say that 90% of the fans doing that will be that way as well), I think I'll be OK.

One more thing...hindsight to me is very pervasive. Many people want "the pieces to fit" when they think about this.

Darn, I need more coffee, and a lot more time to flesh this thought out. Maybe later this afternoon....