#52: "He doesn't need the spotlight. He just glows."

[Clayzy]

Wow, new old pictures of Clay! Those ones in the black leather suit jacket are hotttt! It's like getting whacked over the head with a saucepan - in a good way, of course! *drool*

[liney23]

From CV:

GAH!!!

merrieeee... S.W.O.O.N!!! Thank you from the bottom of my Clay-loving heart!

(ETA: Don't know why those picture didn't post... I needed to see them again... especially the black leather jacket one... GAH!!!, indeed) My fave of the new ones...

We all are taught things as children; by our parents, our teachers, our church...but then as we grow and experience life; it is natural that we start to question ideas and theology; examine our own feelings and reactions. To never question; to just accept is to become stagnent and closed off...we have these wonderful brains with which to feel and learn and educate ourselves...to me it is a disservice to not use them.

Kim

aikim... A.M.E.N!!!

If I drank I would raise a glass to all you open minded people! :11:

I love Clay Aiken. He's a good man!

I don't post much, but just wanted to say that the part I bolded says it all. Clay Aiken is a good man and when all is said and done, that is all that matters.

(that and I have to tell keepingfaith that No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition made me chuckle)

ETA: I guess I don't post much is quite an understatement!!!

SueReu... come play/post some more. I love your montages, by the way! You change from Dog Walker when you hit your 51st post, so you have some talkin' to do!

I kept reading the posts after beryl's post - I didn't go off to read her "goodbye" - and thank goodness.

Yeah me either, I'll just say...'buh 'bye.

I am a Christian and I know that GOD is my judge and that the only person that needs to live by my moral code is me.

----

That said....

Can we talk about certain politicians who feel a need to protect the sanctity of marriage from "those gay people"? IMO they would be better served by protecting the sanctity of their own marriages. You want to defend traditional marriage? Try keeping your pecker in your own marriage and stop lecturing everyone else.

*oooo was I channeling wanda there for a bit?*

jamar... I was so tired of the infidelity situation by the end of my news night last night that I could have wailed on him for doing it as much for what the idiot did to his family as my having to listen to it all night. Idjit!!!

All y'all are (as usual) much kinder and more open-minded than I.

Not me.

Proud to be an unforgiving bitch.

LOL

I thought something actually interesting with Clay had happened. But no..nothing as interesting as THE STORM storming back at the bottom of the 6th inning..when they were down 5 to 1 - scoring 5 runs to win the district 4 championship. 5 RUNS in the inning!! I was already formulating my "you gave it all you had" speech. Whoo hooo. That was amazing. And little league picked up the celebration party. It doesn't get any better tha that.

Clay is just as amazing!

couchie... that is so cool for you, your family, and your nephew!!! When my son was 13, their soccar team went undefeated in 22 games and won the Orange County championship. It was so much fun! The celebrating just got bigger and bigger as they kept winning. Now he has a 12 yr old son. Where did the years go????

Don't know why that lady joined when she no longer like Clay, I mean If i need to commit board suicide, I wouldn't announce it on the board.

Yeah, I turned into a cynic because things these days make me cynical.

And please do not throw tomatoes, but there are some fan from 03 and 04 that I have seen on message boards ,( probably from the hardcore evangelical religious type fans who probably left after he came out or got offended and left the fandom when they saw WDC in 2004) where fans put him on a pedestal and expect him to act like they want him to act. And when he gets off the the pedestal they bash the heck out of him. I mean why, the darn guy is a human being.

soulsista... Yeah, that ^^^

[jmh123]

We all are taught things as children; by our parents, our teachers, our church...but then as we grow and experience life; it is natural that we start to question ideas and theology; examine our own feelings and reactions. To never question; to just accept is to become stagnent and closed off...we have these wonderful brains with which to feel and learn and educate ourselves...to me it is a disservice to not use them.

Kim

When I was a child, I listened to the most virulent kind of racist talk in Sunday School and church and witnessed racist actions in church and by church members--but I never bought any of that shit. I mean, the words of the song didn't go: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white....except for the kids down the street," now did they? To be fair, I wasn't getting that racism reinforced at home at all, and maybe that made all the difference in my attitude. A number of us rebelled against all that crap big time as teenagers--it didn't go over very well. But I personally don't see the difference between church-supported racism in the south in the 50s and 60s and "Christian" teachings about homosexuality today. Hatred and rejection of others have no part in Christianity. Period.

Don't know why that lady joined when she no longer like Clay, I mean If i need to commit board suicide, I wouldn't announce it on the board.

Yeah, I turned into a cynic because things these days make me cynical.

And please do not throw tomatoes, but there are some fan from 03 and 04 that I have seen on message boards ,( probably from the hardcore evangelical religious type fans who probably left after he came out or got offended and left the fandom when they saw WDC in 2004) where fans put him on a pedestal and expect him to act like they want him to act. And when he gets off the the pedestal they bash the heck out of him. I mean why, the darn guy is a human being.

Darn right, soulsista. He's a human being and some people wanted him to be a saint.

.....

And a rock star.

[treenuts]

Fan-tastic montage by luvgreatmusic posted this morning at the CH!!

It's not new but it's new to me and the Solitaire blend is amazing!!! The guy singin' aint bad either

Give a listen

He really is one in a million and I'm so damn proud to be his fan!

[keepingfaith]

He's a human being and some people wanted him to be a saint.

.....

And a rock star.

Well, he IS a star ... like a rock!

I can report that I was good and did NOT go to the Clapton/Winwood concert last night and did the birthday dinner like a good MIL. However, I'm not sure I feel that good about doing the right thing now that I've found out Big Abe was on drums last night, as in Abe Laboriel, Jr., Paul McCartney's drummer. Damn! I wish I did not know that.

[liney23]

kf... awwww! Pretend you don't know nuttin' bout no drummer! Think of the peace you maintained in your family...

[keepingfaith]

Just saw on HuffPo that TMZ is reporting that Michael Jackson died of a heart attack.

[jmh123]

He's a human being and some people wanted him to be a saint.

.....

And a rock star.

Well, he IS a star ... like a rock!

I can report that I was good and did NOT go to the Clapton/Winwood concert last night and did the birthday dinner like a good MIL. However, I'm not sure I feel that good about doing the right thing now that I've found out Big Abe was on drums last night, as in Abe Laboriel, Jr., Paul McCartney's drummer. Damn! I wish I did not know that.

I'm sorry to hear you were good.

Just got word today that my DVD finally shipped!! YAY!!!

[strummer6]

Saw all the pages and thought something Clay-related had happened. So, um ... oh well.

But it did make me want to come out and say hi to y'all. I'm mostly a lurker these days. I come over here when I can to read coz you guys are fun, random, interesting, love the travel recaps (so, like, what country is KAndre in today?) and the sporting news (yay for the team, Couchie!), and take the linear format to new levels.

Now if maybe one of you guys could please fix the economy? Or give it a little tweak? I'll be in the corner, over and off to the left ... mmkay and thanks!

*Blows kisses to ldyj*

[keepingfaith]

That celebrity deaths in threes thing is truly eerie:

Ed McMahon

Farrah Fawcett

Michael Jackson

[treenuts]

They are now reporting that Michael Jackson was rushed to UCLA Med Center due to cardiac arrest and is now in a coma.

Such a sad strange day it's been

Now if maybe one of you guys could please fix the economy? Or give it a little tweak?

strummer, I'd be tha-rilled to toss some money around if that Clay Aiken dude would just give me a reason to! Give me something to buy, Clay. A CD, A book, a TICKET!!!

[cindilu2]

I also heard an 'unconfirmed' report that Michael Jackson died. What a shame - whatever else may have transpired (I for one don't believe he ever harmed a child, but I stopped being able to defend his overall oddness a long time ago), he is (was) an unmatched talent in what he did.

[aikim]

LA Times is confirming his death:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009...steve-ruda.html

[justclay12]

I'm watching CNN now and they said that the LA Times and CBS are reporting that Michael has died. And this actually makes 4 because David Carradine also died recently.

[strummer6]

Both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett have passed?

And Ed McMahon gone too?

All three were such pop culture icons, each in their own way and time.

And Jackson, in his prime, was truly the King of Pop. I still remember watching Billie Jean on the Motown special and my jaw literally dropping. Back then, during the Thriller era and before all the changes, he was electrifying.

Whoa. And, yes, so very sad.

R.I.P.

[Clayzy]

Man, Michael Jackson dead... Just doesn't compute. I was never a huge MJ fan, but I gotta cop to loving Thriller and Billie Jean and Beat It... my MJ big three.

[jmh123]

And Jackson, in his prime, was truly the King of Pop. I still remember watching Billie Jean on the Motown special and my jaw literally dropping. Back then, during the Thriller era and before all the changes, he was electrifying.

I saw that too and was likewise stunned by it. With Top 40/pop stardom so uninspiring (IMO) today, it's hard to even imagine that a single performance could once have transformed the music scene the way that performance did. Even today the effects can still be seen in music and in dance.

[aikim]

MJ singing Man in the Mirror at the Grammy's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zpTQCQEFhg

[cindilu2]

R.I.P. Michael.

So many groundbreaking contributions to the world of Pop. I remember seeing Thriller for the first time and being blown. away. I confess to having Billie Jean and Wanna Be Starting Something and Man in the Mirror on my Zen and always singing along when they come up in the rotation. I am still a sucker for perhaps the cheesiest song ever recorded (She's Out of My Life). We Are The World. The Moonwalk.

And two of my favorite Clay concert moments have been the result of Michael's songs. The Way You Make Me Feel was such fun on the DCAT, and The Girl Is Mine with Ruben on the AI2 tour was one of the highlights of the show. I still listen to it!

[Scarlett]

RIP MJ, Farrah and Ed. Thanks for all the memories.

[SueReu]

Michael Jackson also broke down the color barrier that was on MTV. He presented the video for Billie Jean and they told him they don't play black artists. His management told MTV that either they play it or they would make sure that Sony Music (could have been CBS at the time) pull every one of their artists from the station (this was around 1984 and at the time, he had that kind of influence).

I just did a montage to I'll Be There (for Father's Day Clay/Parker). Michael Jackson was an amazingly talented person.

I hope the media allows him some dignity (but I won't hold my breath)

[Desertrose]

RIP MJ, Farrah and Ed. Thanks for all the memories.

Amen

[jmh123]

And two of my favorite Clay concert moments have been the result of Michael's songs. The Way You Make Me Feel was such fun on the DCAT, and The Girl Is Mine with Ruben on the AI2 tour was one of the highlights of the show. I still listen to it!

And don't forget Beat It--the vocal performance of that song was outstanding.

[Couch Tomato]

But it did make me want to come out and say hi to y'all. I'm mostly a lurker these days. I come over here when I can to read coz you guys are fun, random, interesting, love the travel recaps (so, like, what country is KAndre in today?) and the sporting news (yay for the team, Couchie!), and take the linear format to new levels.

Hey strummer..I love that description of FCA ...especially random. hee

Wow I can't believe MJ is dead. I've been bummed out by the weirdness the last few years. I don't understand where his family was and why there was no intervention. (ETA ..they may have tried but when you're that rich and famous I guess you pretty much can write your own ticket). It's such a shame. BUT -- like many have said -- he was fantastic - not just during the Thriller era - but his complete body of work. My favorite MJ album was Off the Wall but loved Thriller and tohers. I can't even begin to pick my favorite songs from him - there are a ton of them for me.

SueRue - I'm with you but I have a feeling this will turn into a media and freak show. Thinking back to Anna Nicole Smith - who is not even in the same universe as Michael Jackson -- I just don't hold out much hope.

[Desertrose]

I'm working on adrenaline & fumes because I had to get up at 3am this morning to get to a boat dock on an island south of here by 5am, so although I will try not to offend I'm not sure I'll be very successful. By the week of March 6, 2009 we'd pretty much established where most of the members of this board stand with regards to Clay. That week was also characterized by much ribaldry and play-teasing, with merrieeee calling me on my sleeping with half the fandom and then in turn I sent feelers to and got rejected (sob!) by canfly. We talked a lot about whether or not we gave a hoot about some comments that we were starting to be a gay-centric board/fandom (Lol on merrieeee's explanation). So why in the world would someone join us at that time and then today, when most of us have hardly been around all week, get up and leave on a, um, let's just say eye-catching stance? I haven't seen any noteworthy news other than PH getting decked so I'm rather mystified.

I think you make some very valid points. The time line is a bit odd and the reasoning(?) a bit too detailed, colorful. Why pick an outspoken free speech board with no rigid rules as a place to look for like-minded people if by like-minded you really mean close-minded? Sounds too structured to me.

I get that this and other boards might not suit everyone. Heaven knows I would not be a good fit for a bible thumping religiously conservative board that cannot accept Clay as he is, a decent, giving, honorable and talented man. I would hope that when I discovered the incompatibility that I would bow out quietly without insulting the established members. But, then if I wanted to stir shit before leaving, maybe I would do otherwise.

I think these posts say it all. Why join a board and stick around if you do not fit? Close minded people definitely do not belong here. I do not see how judgmental people can consider themselves to be good Christians. If she was a board member for such a short time and joined knowing that Clay was gay, why does she feel that she needs to explain (lecture) to us why she is leaving? Goodbye and good luck to her