#45: He Owns Us...

[bottlecap]

Pokes FCA with a stick to see if it's dead or just sleeping...

[FearofH2O]

Nice pics bottlecap. You can keep us entertained singlehandedly.

[bottlecap]

[tribeca]

all of those pictures are so cute but is it bad I really want to take him shopping for new clothes?

hope that isn't to negative.

[jamar1700]

Hey! Stop poking. I'm trying to pack.

[liney23]

bottle... OMG... who volunteers to put a mirror on the inside of the Shubert stagedoor???

Sometimes he looks so handsome I ache, then I see a picture like this one and I just laugh and love him more. It makes him seem so human, so... Clay!

bottle... I right-click-and saved several of the pics you brought. Thanks! I have yet to put together my calendar (I know... procrastination is my middle name) and I think some of those are gonna make the cut.

[bottlecap]

It just bugs me that no one fixed his shirt collar for him.

Until I got to that particular page in my photobucket, I forgot that Clay had a run of wearing some quirky fugly funky sweaters.

tribeca, I don't know if I'd want to shop with Clay (because I'd bet he has a very short attention span for that sort of thing), but I'd love to shop for him. Clay, dude, send me your credit card info and I'll find you some more of those $300 sweaters you seem to like!

[tribeca]

Bottlecap

I would shop with him or without him which ever he wants I am kind of easy when it comes to Clay Aiken

Remember in his book he said something about his mom buying him ugly Bill Cosby sweaters well I guess he must have liked them more than he thought. But the jeans look good

[aikim]

Rubs arm and bats away Bottle's poking device (has smutty thoughts about Clay's poking device)

I love Clay's quirkiness in clothing choices...raises right hand...my name is Aikim and I love the green sweater..if Clay ever wants to get rid of it; he can send it my way!

Kim

[bottlecap]

If you like Clay's grey pouchy thing, it's now on sale at Bluefly! iPhone to weight down the pouch sold separately.

[tribeca]

I am so observant I never even noticed that pouchy thing

Aikim

My friend made a montage about that sweater

[gbmifan]

I love his quirky self. The first Sardi's picture I went what has he have on. Within a few I really liked it on him. He was so gorgeous that day. I love most of the pictures that showed up.

Seems that there is only a few of us who did not go to the show this weekend. I hope we get many recaps. I am just so thrilled that I did see it three times on the weekend we went. It will be a memory I will not forget. My friend who went with me told me tonight that they have a tradition in their family that they write down on a piece of paper something that happened this year that they do not ever want to forget and they place it into a big jar with the papers from other years. She wrote that she loved her trip to see Clay.

[tribeca]

guess I am the only wanting to take him shopping oh well not the first time I am in the minority

gbmifan

that is sweet about the jar

three times?? awesome

if it was a cheaper thing I probably would have gone a million times

[ldyjocelyn]

Heidi, getting to see Rick was an added treat. And yet...I would have also liked to have seen Tom Deckman and David Hibbard as well. I'm selfish like that.

aikim, I'll fight you for that green sweater. Maybe we can share? I don't live THAT far away from you.

I too love Clay's quirky clothes choices...and I wish I could afford one of those gray pouchy shirts. It looks really comfortable to me!

Would anyone like a true recap from me on my trip? If so...keep reading! If not...sorry. You're going to get one anyway!

My NYC and Spamalot recap…

The trip did not get started on a good note. My husband and I were scheduled to leave early Saturday morning, December 27. Except, we received a phone call from United Friday night – our first flight was cancelled! They could get us on a plane from a different airport (an hour away) on Saturday evening, though. Long story short – hubby and I made it to LaGuardia Airport at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning, and to our hotel by 3:15. Very interesting riding through Times Square at that time of the morning… Fortunately, I had the foresight to give the Millennium Broadway a “heads up” and they had a room held for us, where we fell into bed. (BTW, if you can afford it, the Millennium Broadway is a great hotel, just one block off Times Square, and down the road from the Shubert. We got a decent deal via PriceLine…)

Sunday was my husband’s day for sightseeing. We walked past Rockefeller Center (taking pictures of people ice skating in the 65 degree weather!) to get to The Frick Collection, along Central Park. This is a really nice small museum with varied paintings and sculptures from many time periods. We then walked across Central Park to pay homage at the Dakota, and then back to the hotel. My husband’s brother has a friend who lives in NYC, and he and his wife then took us on the subway to Chinatown for dinner. Joe’s Shanghai – the best soupy dumplings ever! Also, the only one’s I’ve ever had. Hee. We then went to the Iridium Jazz club for some live jazz. I think the room held maybe 130 people tops. Small, crowded, not smoky – and probably the best way to hear jazz.

Monday was my day. I had planned to do the NBC Studio tour, only to find out that I should have purchased advance tickets. Sigh. We still went to the Top of the Rock, though – it was a beautiful clear day, and we got some great pictures. Next was Central Park and a horse carriage ride, followed by a soup lunch at Trump Towers. Back to the hotel for some rest, and then off to John’s Pizza. Yum.

And then…Spamalot!

The reason this trip came about, in many ways, was because I was just playing around on Telecharge in September…and a pair of tickets, D101 and D102 came up. Talked to hubby, said “one in four chance,” and he said “OK.” LOL As it happened, it was not meant to be, but those are still fantastic seats.

It was definitely not a Clay Aiken crowd that night, as compared to my trip back in March. He appeared in the tower window – and no applause. I actually like it like that, as, to me, it makes it feel as if he’s part of the ensemble (IMO, as it should be). He did, however, get recognition from the “Idol of my age” line, which was cool. I think the biggest response from the crowd, though, was not for Clay, but actually for one of my favorite lines in the show: “well, that’s not something you usually say to a heavily armed Christian.”

It was very interesting seeing the show with a new King and LOTL. To me – I just can’t compare one to the other. Hannah is definitely more over the top, while Merle can be more restrained. I think Merle’s performance worked better in some parts of the show (Song that Goes Like This) while Hannah’s in others (Diva’s Lament). It’s the same with the King. I personally would have liked to see the show with Jonathan Hadary and Merle as the two leads. I appreciated that Rick, as the French taunter, added the line “I throw my shoes at you!” However, his take on “I like big butts” left something to be desired…hee.

As far as Clay’s performance – he’s become a seasoned pro now, and I like it. He fits seamlessly into the show. I gotta say though, that he’s developed this oral fixation. His tongue is out a LOT throughout the entire show; he chewed on the strap in the tower guard scene; and he chewed on the ribbons during the guarding Herbert scene. What’s up with that? Anyway, I love the little details that I could get from watching him up close – grabbing his foot when he was “dismounting” his horse; popping the hat out during the finale; the hip thrusts during the dancing at the end; the exaggerated looks he gives toward the audience during the beginning of “All for One.” Funny too that he held the chicken upside down that night; I don’t remember that from before. IMO, his comedic timing has been refined, and he works well within the group. He certainly flirts shamelessly during the entire show, especially during the Camelot number. I find that fun to watch. Oh, and during the curtain call – one of the female dancers came out with Clay’s top hat in her hand. Heh.

Yeah, I guess you could say that I liked it. LOL.

BTW, my husband said he really enjoyed it too. He wasn’t bored, which is good. He’s a Monty Python fan, so he understood much of the humor, and he enjoyed all the performances.

Anyway, after the show was over, my husband and I raced out to the stage door, and managed to get a good spot directly across from the stage door itself. I gave my husband the camera and said “just shoot.” Which he did – and I would say he did pretty good. He didn’t use the flash, as both he and I think it rude to use flashbulbs in someone’s face that closely. A link to my pictures is here: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/ldyj...r%2012-29-2008/ I also got to see Rick at the SD, which was a bonus.

And then, Juniors for cheesecake and coffee, back to the hotel for sleep, and then another long day of flying, including running through O’Hare Airport to make our connecting flight.

I am so glad I was able to experience NYC with my husband (it was his first time there). I am also so very glad I was able to see Clay as Sir Robin one more time, and revel in the show with the entire cast.

Look on the bright side, indeed.

[FearofH2O]

Nice recap ldyj. You really took in the city.

I love Clay's unusual sweater choices also. I was sweater shopping last weekend and bought a cardigan with argyle on the front and stripes on the back. Need I say more? It must be the NC air.

[HeidiHo]

I have a BlackBerry and I charge it every couple of days. I guess it depends on how much you use it. I use it to browse the boards while I'm at work on breaks and lunch and I use it occasionally as a phone.

I didn’t use it at all yesterday and the battery was dead when I got up this morning. I’m thinking something has to be wrong with it or I’m doing something wrong.

Yeah, ldyj - I love Tom and David too. I loved chatting with David last time I was there - he's very, very nice. I have a crush on all of them - Rick, Tom, David...and Clay, of course. <g>

[aikim]

Ldyj Perhaps we can take turns with it; one month at your house, one month at mine...just make sure you clean all the drool stains off before your return it!, LOL!

Thanks for the recap...sounds like you had a great time! I love hearing how Clay has changed things up and how far he has come as a performer.

Kim

[Thankful4Clay]

I have a BlackBerry and I charge it every couple of days. I guess it depends on how much you use it. I use it to browse the boards while I'm at work on breaks and lunch and I use it occasionally as a phone.

I didn’t use it at all yesterday and the battery was dead when I got up this morning. I’m thinking something has to be wrong with it or I’m doing something wrong.

Mine is almost two years old and still holds a charge well. Maybe you have a bad battery.

[tribeca]

I am so excited about going to New York tomorrow!!! our train leaves at 7:30 and right now my niece is too excited to go to sleep!!

I checked on line and the show isn't sold out (yet I guess)

We are going to the Friday matinee. I have kind of prepared her (i hope) that Clay probably won't do SD. Last time we went ( I don't mean this any offense way) it was BC & they wanted $300 for a picture w/Clay there was no way even though it was for charity I could do it. that's 1/2 my rent. I felt guilty to think it stink because it was for charity but I still thought it stunk. My niece did as I told you get an Clay's autograph from Jerome. She told him she didn't have an extra $300 and he said he didn't either. But she was so bummed on the way home and I think had we not watched all those SD videos she would not have expected anything. So basically it was my fault for getting her hopes up.

[muskifest]

Ah...cross-continental travel---gotta love it.

My flight delay fears were unfounded; we boarded only ten minutes late and were in the air only 30 mins behind schedule. I took the train to Penn Station and then the subway, ready to get out only one block from my hotel! I'd be bypassing all the chaos and crowds above ground and could just slip into my room and chill. Woo Hoo!

Uh....only not.

As we pulled into Times Square, the announcer dude said that the Times Square stop and next one were now CLOSED! because of the New Yea's Eve festivities.

But....but....MY stop was the next one! The train started again and chugged along---right through my stop---didn't even slow down. Shit. I looked at my watch and wondered if I was destined to spend the stroke of midnight on a smelly subway car with two outrageously dressed persons of questionable sexual orientations, a girl in the tightest jeans I've ever imagined in my life, and a guy who---despite the cold temperature----was proudly displaying two burly arms covered with tattoos. (Don't ask me what the tattoos actually were: I didn't want him to catch me looking at him. He was kinda unsettling.) So I got off at the first possible stop and lugged my freaking suitcase up the freakin' stairs. You do know, don't you, that some stations have no elevators so if you have luggage it's just tough titties for you? This particular subway stop was one of them.

There was a mob of police when I got to the top of the stairs and I grabbed one asking for HELP! getting to my hotel. He found out that an east-west subway line would take me there, but that I'd probably not be able to go anywhere once I got above ground since it was almost midnight and the streets would be barricaded.

Sure enough, when I got to the top of the stairs (yep, another station with no elevator), huffing and puffing, I became part of an already well-established mob scene. There were partiers pushing and shoving and being all happy and shit---and then there was I, sweating from getting the damned luggage up another interminable flight of stairs and then freezing because it was freakin' COLD outside! I told the cop I just wanted to go to the Sheraton and he pointed to my right. Great. Everyone else was looking to my left, and pushing in that direction, too. So I did some pushing and shoving of my own and finally made it to the front of the hotel.

But then there was a noticeable increase in decibels from the crowd and I turned to see everyone going nuts...and then I heard..."four! three! two! ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" So instead of being alone in my room I was among the crazies out on the streets of NYC when that ball dropped. I called hubby and let him listen to the wildness and then went inside to the reception desk and showed the guy my confirmation.

"M'am, I'm sorry but there are actually two Sheratons here and your reservation is for the other one. It's across the street."

"Oh...okay, no problem. Just across the street? Which way?"

"Well, it's actually that way, but you can't go out that door now. THe police have closed off the street."

okay.

"Soooooo...what would you suggest? Oh...wait. There's a bar in here, isn't there?"

Problem solved.

It was now about 12:20 am and although over two hours had passed since my plane touched down, it looked as if I still had a journey ahead of me before I reached my room. Tune in for the next chapter in which I:

1. join an Irish family in the bar, with whom conversation includes Obama, homosexuality in the fashion industry, the Clintons, Clay Aiken:cute or not?, and the difference in drinking ages around the world and

2. end up sitting in the hallway outside my room between 2:12 and 2:30 in the morning reading a book---even though I had the room key in my hand....

[gbmifan]

I was there during BC in November and thus no SD. I was lucky it was the first day that pictures were taken and I got my with Tom, Rick, and Clay for $50. That is all I had on me and if it would of been higher I could not have had it done. It is one of those things hubby does not know and if I had to charge it I would not of done it. I felt it was reasonable and really cherish the picture because I never dreamed it would happen. If it had been a week earlier I might of been lucky at the stage door but you never know.

[liney23]

ldyj... great recap! I'm glad you and your hubby both enjoyed each other's days. Sounds like you got a bit of this and a bit of that and that's the bestest trip, IMO.

muski... you give good recap, too! Can't wait for installment #2!!! Kinda cool that you were in the craziness of NYE in NYC and shared it with your DH!

I had yesterday off sick, but go back to work tomorrow for one day then get a weekend off. I like it, but it seems like I just had a weekend... like today is Sunday (football, ya know) and tomorrow is Monday, then Groundhog's Day, I get to have Sat/Sun again with more football! I could get used to this!

[muskifest]

So a woman walks into a bar....

...and ends up having a blast with a family from Dublin! We talked and laughed and drank---Peter and Betty and their three lovely daughters aged 21, 17 and 13---and we talked about things serious and silly. When it was all over we had agreed on politics, disagreed on homosexuality's influence on the self image of women, remained puzzled over the States' contradictory ages of 'legality' for fighting in a war and drinking, and agreed that Hillary Clinton most likely will NOT get another chance at the presidency. We also thought the bartender was trying to kill us all! But in the end I gave them my business card with my cell number and told them I hoped their next trip to the USA (they love it here and have traveled four times before to various spots) would include the SF Bay area so that I could show them around. Fun!

But all good things must come to an end and I was eager to get to a bed. Unfortunately, it would have only me in it, but still....At the desk the woman said, "I'm sorry but since it's after the date of your first check in day, the room was released."

"But that is through no fault of my own. The police...the stairs...the barricades....the subway wouldn't stop...the people were all going in the wrong direction outside....the exit was closed....I had to drink with an Irish family..."

She offered to put me in a room with one bed and then move me to my reserved room with two beds later. Fine. Just give me a room, please. (By this time it was 2 am.)

So I trudged to my room. The hotel, unlike the freaking subway stations, had elevators! And I put the card in....and I opened the door....and I....

...almost gagged. The 'no smoking' sign was as clear as day, but the room reeked of cigarette smoke. I mean REALLY reeked! I immediately called but was told the hotel was sold out and there was no where to move me, so I told them to get someone up there with some heavy duty air freshener---and I mean HEAVY duty!---right away! (About this time I was comparing this hotel experience with the types of hotels I usually am working with in my job. oy.) I waited. I waited. I tried to get ready for bed but I honestly could hardly breathe.

So I took my paperback book out into the hallway, sat down and read while I waited...and waited...and waited.... FINALLY, somebody came, sprayed and left. It changed the stink somewhat, but I kept waking up and smelling it all over again. And THEN! the hotel phone rang at a little after 7 and the front desk person said, "Sorry to bother you but could you confirm your last name for me, please?"

Say WHAT? WTF?

After telling them my name was Lucille McGillecutty, I got up and sprayed the room with hairspray, hoping to give myself a couple more hours of sleep without too many carcinogens.

The phone rang. AGAIN! This time it was Couch Tomato---whom I love beyond reason but wanted to ignore at that particular moment in time. But of course I didn't. I remembered that she had just arrived after a red eye flight, so who the hell was I to be grumpy?

And the rest is recent history.

Oh...except that after dinner with Couchie tonight I got a wild hair and decided to try for tickets to Spring Awakening. Went and stood in line with others waiting for cancellations since it was sold out. Then a woman came in asking if anybody wanted to buy a ticket, that she couldn't go. I ended up in center orchestra in row P for $50! AND another person in line bought her second ticket for sale, which was next to mine, and we ended up chatting. He's a young guy from Moscow visiting NYC for the first time. It was really interesting talking with him....

I love traveling. I'm in my 'real' room now and even though the electrical socket in the bathroom doesn't work and I have to dry my hair at the desk instead, and the bathroom is the size of....a very small bathroom, there's heat and a comfy bed and no rank, stinky smoke stink so I can sleeeeeeeep. AND......

I get to see CLAYYYYYYYYY! tomorrow AND....since my friend from Delaware couldn't make it to NYC after all, COUCHIE bought her ticket so she and I are going to see CLAYYYYYYY! together!

So good night, FCA, and Happy New Year!

[KAndre]

KAndre wakes up long enough to say...

Heidi, the guys at my office have found out the hard way that the new BB Storm is a complete and total power hog compared to the old BBs...and they are having some serious buyer's remorse.

[Scarlett]

Just got back from a nice post-show get together with goldarngirl, preden, couchie, mblovesclay, fromclaygary, memyb, shamrock, diamondjake, annabear and permaswooned !!! It was great to catch up with everyone and just sit and talk Clay for a while. We all met at various places so people were talking about shows past. In case you're lurking, glad to meet you tonight annabear (finally!), preden and memyb!

Oooh, KAndre's awake! Hi, K!!! *waves wildly*

ETA: Tried to catch up and got excited too quickly upon reading that people were claiming Clay's pouchie (what. it's page 69)... and then realized that it was a sweater. As sweaters go, I like his collection. I even have a cross between the grey pouchie and this one. Except that mine has a hood and probably cost 1/3 of his; it's very warm and soft though since it's cashmere from china/mongolia. Discovered today that thin&warm fibers are the key to layers -- can't believe I set a personal record of 5 layers of clothes today. Whatever Clay has about layers, it's contagious. Beware!

ETAA: I also still like the Rolling Stone sweater.

EYATA: And if you'll let me have a turn with it, ldyjocelyn and aikim, I'll mend the unraveling parts of the green sweater to make sure it's wearable for another 5-10 years.