#43: Even more beautiful now, inside and out!

[Scarlett]

omg. i'm still going anyway, if nothing else to hang around the shubert over the weekend waiting for some news. {{{really the bravest knight}}}

[annabear]

Aww, poor hopping hottie knight... {{{{Clay}}}}

[cagney1950]

Here is the link to the Obama montage:

If anyone wants to help ... the count on the Obama Love Story at Youtube is up to 299,923. Expect it to go over 300,000 soon.

ETA It is now at 300,253 +

That was fast.

In two and a half days, the total is up to 315,152

ETA http://video.aol.com/video-detail/an-obama...tory/1272256778

For the last few weeks, the montage has gotten about 1,000 views a day. It has had 15,000 + views in two and half days. I believe the difference is that there has been a link somewhere on AOL. I think ncgurrl put the AOL link on CH. I'll try to find it.

{{{{Couchie and mom}}}}

{{{{Clay}}}}}

[luckiest1]

Well, he tried. I guess now he'll be out for at least a day or two to let it heal a bit. Sometimes sprains can be more painful than fractures.

[FromClaygary]

Couchie and Mama Tomato :thbighug-1:

Clay :thbighug-1: You get to bed and let Jerome and Jaymes take care of you!!

claylove I thought maybe the weekend worked. Just got home from work and it's too late to call you tonight but will try tomorrow night.

[Scarlett]

Well, he tried. I guess now he'll be out for at least a day or two to let it heal a bit. Sometimes sprains can be more painful than fractures.

Hoping for a Saturday show (but only if the pain is gone) since I can't make it early enough on Friday anyway... so, does anyone still need the new Playbill?

[jazzgirl]

to Couchie and Mama Tomato. Couchie, you are a wonderful daughter. As hard as it is to deal with what you are dealing, you still have your mom. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Scarlett, enjoying the download. Have a great trip too!

[Cotton]

So - between the Matt Lauer roast and the Wicked thingy, maybe Clay can just rock Parker for a day or two! He could do both of those on crutches if he had to!

Wonder how little Sweet P is doing?

Did y'all see that gorgemous picture of Jaymes that Permaswooned took??!!!

[Couch Tomato]

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Clay!

My mom is doing much better than last night. Hoping for good news tomorrow. Thanks for all the good wishes!

[Cotton]

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Clay!

My mom is doing much better than last night. Hoping for good news tomorrow. Thanks for all the good wishes!

I'm so glad she is better!!!

:thbighug-1:

BTW, have all you US types done the Early Voting thing??

You know you can even vote on Saturday?/!!!

How cool is that?!

G'NIGHT!

[Thankful4Clay]

Well, he tried. I guess now he'll be out for at least a day or two to let it heal a bit. Sometimes sprains can be more painful than fractures.

Hoping for a Saturday show (but only if the pain is gone) since I can't make it early enough on Friday anyway... so, does anyone still need the new Playbill?

I do!!!!

I talked to you at the gala, but I don't think you remembered me. We met in Minneapolis. At the gala, I asked if you would get good video and I think you answered that you'd at least get good audio.

If you can get a Playbill, I'd love to have one. I'd be happy to pay for postage.

[muskifest]

Hey, Scarlett.... A word to the wise.... ....don't trust that Thankful4Clay woman....

Take it from me....you'll live to regret it.

Hee! jk, of course... Thankful... :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Couchie, YEAY! GIve MamaTomato (I LOVE that! ) a hug for me, 'kay?

Hey, Cotton, yep! I'm voting early---gonna vote this Saturday since I'll be in North Carolina on Election Day. Since most of our staff will be arriving that day, we're all going to gather in our executive director's suite for the election coverage after the polls close. As far as I know, we're all of like mind on this particular presidential choice.

Who, you ask?

Well, I won't get too political here, but let's put it this way: I work with a bunch of people who CHOOSE to work in a lower paying non-profit educational organization that promotes public charter schools and equal access to quality education for all students, regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status or first language, along with early education opportunities for those children who normally don't get it, and for development of alternate assessment methodologies in addition to testing to express students' achievements of educational goals.

Gee, I wonder who we'll be supporting.

ETA: At our conferences we sell some books and dvds that we've written and produced (When I say 'we', I mean some staff members) and tee shirts. One of the tee shirts says "ASSESS THIS!"

Bwah!

[Scarlett]

Sure thing, thankful4Clay!!! (and I'm sorry about the Gala, I think I was in a daze!) -- & lol, muski!

[FearofH2O]

Couchie, hope your mom is doing better. Maybe having your family nearby will take off the pressure on you.

Scarlett have a great time. Can you stay for the Wicked benefit?

I really wish the election was over already. I'm exhausted and of course it's all about me. My candidate is in a dead heat with the incumbant. We still have the rally and three more days of campaigning at the early voting sites as well as phone banking. Tomorrow I get to clean for our games night with my friends. It's usually a lot of fun.

Glad to see you all are doing better tonight. Except for Clay. Hope he heals quickly.

[Scarlett]

Couchie, hope your mom is doing better. Maybe having your family nearby will take off the pressure on you.

Scarlett have a great time. Can you stay for the Wicked benefit?

I really wish the election was over already. I'm exhausted and of course it's all about me. My candidate is in a dead heat with the incumbant. We still have the rally and three more days of campaigning at the early voting sites as well as phone banking. Tomorrow I get to clean for our games night with my friends. It's usually a lot of fun.

Glad to see you all are doing better tonight. Except for Clay. Hope he heals quickly.

Playbiller and I are in the far-away seats but in the house (!) and that's the important thing, right?

Hope he heals quickly too -- this is one time I wish they were adamantium instead of titanium so that he could heal as quickly as Wolverine.

[Gibby]

Glad to hear that couchiemama is on the mend!

I already voted, via mail-in ballot. I'm on permanent mail-in-ballot status by choice. It's so nice to avoid all of those lines, and I can study the ballot at home and take my time deciding on the issues. This year there are a ton of issues in Colorado, and the ballot was reallllly long. So I'm very glad I'm not going to the polls, where I'm sure the lines will move at a snail's pace, thanks to the long ballot!

Have a great time this weekend, Scarlett and play!

[luckiest1]

Some Spam recaps from CH and the aforementioned Permaswooned pics of Jaymes:

From CB:

From Jax:

Hi guys...back from the show tonight! After crossing my fingers all day that Clay would be okay, we learned that he would be in the show. I went with my dad (his frist time at the show), Clayngel, and Clayphan76. The theater was actually full, which is awesome!

Now for the more important parts:

Clay was his usual self in the tower scene, and even Not Dead Yet..he was really into the "I CAAAN'T!" and the dialogue before the song. After seeing the show so many times, I could tell that the way he was walking was a little different. It wasn't a limp as much as it was just him being careful not to hurt himself.

All For One was a little bit more awkward. He just wasn't as steady on his feet, and that progressed throughout Knights Of The Round Table. He was jumping and stuff fine, but I think it was more obvious in the smaller movements he made. By the time Run Away came around, he could barely pick up his feet at the end. At the part where he has to scream and then run, he definitely was limping while running away. At the beginning of intermission, they made the announcement that he wasn't feeling well and he wouldn't be doing act two.

I also heard that he had an air cast on under his armor. I didn't see that myself (I was in standing room), but people who were up front noticed that. One of my friends in Row F (Hi Sasha!) said he seemed in some pain. Most commented that if you didn't know any better, you would not have known that he was injured. Maybe a little bit during Run Away, but you'd also have to be watching him pretty intently.

Like I said, I've barely started on my photos, and...you know...the lighting sucked...but will start sharing anyway.....

I know that a few people commented that we didn't have too many pics of Jaymes. For the most part, she was facing away from me, but at one point she turned to watch Clay go out in the audience. She looks ridiculously good for 50, doesn't she?

http://permaswooned.smugmug.com/photos/400049551_uKWqH-L.jpg

http://permaswooned.smugmug.com/photos/400049563_gSrah-L.jpg

I know that the quality of this picture is really, really terrible. They were getting ready to show a video and they dimmed the lights even more than usual. He was sitting at his table, so there was no light on him at all. I've done everything I can think of to clean it up, but it's hopeless. And yet.......I love his expression, so I'm sharing it anyway.

http://permaswooned.smugmug.com/photos/400750290_7EvRp-L.jpg

The thing that's so fascinating about taking pictures of Clay is that you can take a thousand pictures within a few minutes of each other, and he's not going to look the same in any two. His face is SO expressive, it's just irresistible. He had WAY too much fun with the auction, as you all have seen:

http://permaswooned.smugmug.com/photos/400064490_hFxjB-L.jpg

OK, these aren't good either, but the moment was SO special. He had just finished singing "Right Here Waiting" and the applause hadn't started yet. toni7babe will smack me for this, but I never had really been able to warm up to that song. I didn't like it on ATDW, where I thought it was way too nasal sounding. Didn't like it on the early clack from the time of the ATDW release. I liked it a bit better during the (not really named) SRHP tour, although it still wasn't a favorite. But Saturday night? OMG, it was perfect. It was SO tender, and gentle, and loving. The man simply held his heart out to all of us, hoping that we would take it, but "taking the chance" to hold it out there regardless. At our table, we were singing along very, very softly on the choruses, until he started singing a capella at the end. By then we were all crying (audibly!) anyway. He still had a suspicious sheen to his eyes as he looked around the room:

http://permaswooned.smugmug.com/photos/399262316_UFUcW-L.jpg

And then he gave us a little smile as I'm sure the sniffling sounds reached him on stage:

http://permaswooned.smugmug.com/photos/399262336_izWLo-L.jpg

It meant a lot for his fans to experience Clay as himself that night, I think. But you know what.... I think it meant a lot for Clay to experience us as well. A lot.

A big hug to everyone I saw in Raleigh last weekend. A huge hug to all of you who were with us via cellcert and later through clack. When scenes of my life are flashing in front of my eyes on my deathbed, visions of that night are going to be prominently featured.

I haven't read anything more than the last page but I was there (and stayed ) and the few people who left really didn't cause any impact inside the theater.

Sure it was disappointing not to see Clay the second half, but it was also intriguing to see someone else's take on the role. What I noticed more than anything was how much faster the show seemed to go with several of the main characters out. I guess all the playing up the lines that we've come to know so well adds to the running time.

As the curtain came down, I was struck that, though some of the sparkle had certainly gone out of the evening, SPAMALOT is still a really joyful show that just sweeps you along in the frivolity.

[bottlecap]

A couple of examples of the everlasting CUTENESS via CV:

By maplecookie - AI 2003 and Gala 2008

===========================================================

ClayIzzaQT made this GIF from one of her Gala videos. It's big, so I'm just posting a link and it may take a bit of time to load.

Freakishly Flexible

===========================================================

Hugs and licks to all who need them! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[luckiest1]

Hee, I noticed that in the video - what was he trying to do? Crack his ankle? Not that I would know anything about that annoying habit....

I feel bad for anyone who is holding Spam tickets for this weekend, but honestly, I kind of hope Clay decides to rest until Tuesday and give that ankle a chance to heal. Heck, my son's best friend sprained his ankle this past summer, and was off the baseball team for 5 weeks! I know tickets are expensive, but I hope not too many people need to get refunds if this happens. I am sure Clay feels bad enough for not being able to perform, knowing full well how his fans will travel great distances to see him. But with the economy the way it is, and Broadway struggling across the board, every butt in every seat is probably quite important to Spam right now. {{{Clay & Spam attendees}}}

TGIF. I have been trying to catch up on my sleep, but work keeps getting in the way.

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

"Matt Lauer's Roasting is Down To The Wire,

Breathlessly Waiting for Clay Aiken's Prose...."

(My apologies to all Christmas Song lovers everywhere; but it just got stuck in my head and I had to paraphrase...anyone care to continue?)

Ahem...

3 Days until Clay is getting Wicked!

37 Days until Clay's Golden Birthday!

72 Days until The Closing Night of Spamalot!

94 Days until Golfing For Inclusion!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[Cotton]

I think I'll shut up, Kim!

I already screwed it up at CV!

:cryingwlaughter:

Scarlett? Still got Playbills? I'd like one!

Muski!

Yay for early voting!

And - can I get a job with your company??

Is your conference in Raleigh? You said NC, but I missed it if there was other info on it.

[Scarlett]

Sending virtual mp3's of all his songs back to him (can't think of anything else that eases pain better)...

(((Hugs))) to our brave knight!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

And have a great weekend to everyone else!!!

Ok, 2 playbills total: Thankful4Clay & Cotton

No, don't stop, Cotton -- laughter is the best medicine!

[cindilu2]

A couple of examples of the everlasting CUTENESS via CV:

By maplecookie - AI 2003 and Gala 2008

===========================================================

ClayIzzaQT made this GIF from one of her Gala videos. It's big, so I'm just posting a link and it may take a bit of time to load.

Freakishly Flexible

===========================================================

Hugs and licks to all who need them! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Ummm... and which video, exactly, is this from???? Neeeeeeeds to see that biggie!

[djs111]

BTW, have all you US types done the Early Voting thing??

Voted yesterday, here in Florida. Stood in line for an hour! That's awesome, really, and the poll workers said the turnout is amazing, every day.

I don't trust the mail-in votes here, the addresses on some that were mailed out to Democrats by the McCain organisation had the wrong return address on them. Seriously.

Couchie, glad to hear your mom is doing better. Does traveling really make her stressed?

[muskifest]

Cotton, our conference is in Charlotte...but I'll be visiting a friend near Raleigh on my way to Charlotte! She's one of my very first friends from the Clay Friends Network! She, Claygasm and Totally were my charter Clay friends.

Actually, this lucky friend lives in Clayton, NC.

No lie!