#59: Forget life -- It's CLAY time!

[FearofH2O]

I'm so happy for you guys. They didn't ask for volunteers in Raleigh or, I guess, Chapel Hill, so I'll be watching mine on my tv. Love to read about your interaction with Clay. He sure sounded playfull last night. I hope you all have many nights of happy dreams after this. :04:

[aikim]

35 Days until The Special Chicago Concert!

37 Days until The National Inclusion Project Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

Via the CH:

From CV:

cookie0

Well, I just had a pleasant surprise I thought I would share. I called Houston tonight to purchase 2 tickets to the T n T 2011 concert at Jones Hall. I wasn't aware that the girl that answered the phone was merrieeee. So, of course, I started selling Clay to her until we realized who we were talking to. After she took all of the pertinent information, I thought she said someone wants to talk to you, if she said a name I couldn't hear it. It really sounded as though they were busy, there was much talking and laughter. Someone got on the phone and said hello, and I said hello and I didn't think the other person could hear me. He said who is this and I said "Cookie" who's this, and the answer was Clay Aiken. And that was my pleasant surprise for the evening. I heard everyone close to him laughing. We started to converse and he said "Oh they're pulling me and taking my headphones off, I have to go". So we didn't do much talking, but it was unexpected and fun. So it was really worth the price of my concert tickets as it included a phone call with Clay. Oh, and he also thanked me for watching, which was a little tough to do since I am in Arizona and the Special was being televised in Texas, but what the heck!

Final postings from Scarlett's facebook:

"Thanks everyone -- I didn't get to close at the station because we went and took a group picture (well 3 group pictures) with him and while we did that the IT folks started shutting down/resetting the machines. Yes, Caro, what a night!!! Only... *sniff* I miss him already!!!"

" As we were leaving, he signed cd covers for those who brought theirs and the lady at the PBD station who'd been taking pictures all night said that she would e-mail her entire set with us. She's been taking pictures of him all evening, lol!"

" You're very welcome! Omg, so many typo's and errors -- i'm blaming it on the fog. hasn't laying anyting tonight, lol! Val, the interview is in a DVD package -- cover pic isn't Clay though, it's the interviewer and i did complain to them about it and pointed out that i'd have to tell everyone. Still, it's good that they prepared 1 interview so well!"

" Oh, and PBS said that it did very well tonight in $@@s. It might not have been apparent to him because the calls were heavily skewed to M&G's and tickets, but KUHT said that it was a GOOD night -- we checked with them before leaving. Thank you for a nice visit, Clay! Please come back soon!!! (not your soon)"

Desertrose

I just got home from PBS. OMG Clay was amazing. He was gorgeous and really interacted with all of us. When he walked in the first thing he did was to come over and chat with us. He wanted to know if we were all from Houston. We were, with the exception of JT Granny, who came in from Dallas. He told us that he would not be live in Dallas, I said," even though we are all going to be there?" He said, "it was too much flying." It was obvious that the PBS staff really liked him. He answered phones, and at one time leaned over Keepingfaith to take a pledge call. He was right next to me. He teased Merrrieeee about her English accent and spoke with his Spamalot accent. There were a lot of pictures taken. In the group picture he is next to me. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE We are supposed to get copies of all the pictures.

He told the PBS staff that when he got to his hotel room, the bed was not made, so he was sure that somebody was in there. I did not hear the end of that story because they started walking away. I read what Merrrieee, Scarlett, and Texwriter posted so they pretty much told most of what went on.

What I want to add is that he was standing for a while right in front of me, and boy does he have a nice tush. His shoulders were so broad, his arms looked so good, but it was that tush that I had my eyes on. I got a really good look. Wow what a hunk.

When we left we learned that the night was very successful pledge-wise. We got in the car and simultaneously said, "We've had the time of our lives." This was a fun night that I will always remember. Clay really made it so special for us.

The whole thing with Scarlett was under the comments section of her last status update. If I had realized that, I would have brought more of the quotes over last night!

[luckiest1]

Wow, sounds like you guys had a great night! And M&G's to boot!

[Couch Tomato]

Sounds like a great time was had by all in Houston! Yay.

Sorry I missed the action; my Ty Ty turned 11! Hard to believe he was only 3 when this whole crazy journey began! Time flies when you're having fun

[shortyjill]

Morning FCA!

Been reading the recaps here and at CV and it sounds like it was a great night in Houston!! If he had been that close to me like he was for Scarlett and merrieeee I think I'd turn into a puddle of blubbering goo.

Off to vote for NIP!

[bottlecap]

Question for the Houston PBS peeps: Did Clay have any entourage members with him last night (Decca / management peeps or friends) or did he seem to be by himself?

[liney23]

He looked wonderful, brown shirt, tie and jeans....at one point he was standing in front of me, leaning over keepingfaith and let me tell you those are some nice jeans!

The ass inside those jean, weren't too bad either, huh? And the stubble so close to my face, I could have licked it. And I can't spell while he's standing over me barking orders on how to fill out the form. At that point I couldn't find backspace on that computer to spell Ms. "Love"'s name correctly. He knew what he was doing to me. He knew I knew he knew. Merrieeee knew. Close contact, he was breathing on me, an autograph, a picture ...

Jesus Christ.

Best night of my life.

keeping... Thanks! I have the biggest grin on my face reading this. I'm so happy for you! What a great night!

[keepingfaith]

Question for the Houston PBS peeps: Did Clay have any entourage members with him last night (Decca / management peeps or friends) or did he seem to be by himself?

Cheryl was with him.

[Carolina Clay]

The Houston folks described their evening with Clay so well that I quoted parts of several recaps in the new Carolina On My Mind blog. Included are Desertrose, jtgranny, texwriter, merrieeee, Cookie0, and Scarlett.

In most cases, I edited down the recaps a bit; but there's still a lot there. Hope you enjoy! Thank you for your comments/visits/tweets/retweets/FB reposts/etc, which help with Google placement. For some reason, all my tweets go under "All Friends" and not "Clay Aiken," if you'd like to retweet the blog.

Also included is the latest grouping by SueReu for National Inclusion Project voting in the Pepsi Refresh campaign.

Thnx for sharing last night with us, Houston! Hope everyone is having an awesome day!

Caro

[ldyjocelyn]

HoustonPBS's Facebook Page

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I recognize several here in the pictures! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[ldyjocelyn]

New email from the OFC.

Official Fan Club pre-sales for Clay’s ‘Tried & True’ Tour in Charlotte, New York, Philadelphia, Waukegan, Dallas, and San Francisco will begin on Monday, Sept 20 at 10 AM PT. If you want access to this special pre-sale and are not yet a member of the fan club, join today!

There's also stuff there about the Merchandise sale and the Pepsi Refresh Project.

[treenuts]

OMG I'm positively giddy for all you lucky Houston bitches!!! Seriously, I'm sitting here grinning from ear to ear reading your licking, breathing, ass-scoping, fog inducing recaps!

And the pictures are even better

So glad it was a success for the station too

Now that's what I call a M&G!!

[keepingfaith]

I haven't written a recap from last night, because I got NO sleep after talking to merrieeee until all hours on the phone, then watching my DVR of the show, and then being unable to sleep at all. Then I had one of the busiest, craziest days in a long while today at the office. That was NOT good, but it was all worth it beyond price.

The interview with Ernie Manouse is available with any credit card purchase of Clay Aiken merchandise. I'm sure it will be worth it for that half-hour interview because Ernie is a most excellent interviewer. When he first mentioned this, before Clay arrived, I told him how thrilled I was about it because I consider Ernie to be the best interviewer that I've ever seen -- politicians, celebrities, anybody - and I watch him regularly. He does such a great interview that I've watched through an entire program without being "acquainted" with the subject beforehand. Ernie brings out the best in people. So toward the end of the evening, Ernie asks me why I haven't told Clay what I was "supposed to tell him," and I didn't understand what he meant. He said, you know, about me being the best interviewer ever. So I said, Clay, Ernie is the best in the world, and Clay said, Oh he put you up to that, to which Ernie said, No she volunteered that to me before you even got here. And Clay then said, Well, it's true. I think it's one of the best, if not THE best interview I've ever had. So Ernie said, Yeah, and I can't believe CNN passed me by for that Piers Morgan. They had to go for an Englishman, they couldn't find an American? Etc. etc. It was such fun.

If you think that shot of merrieeee ogling the Aiken backside was something - I only wish there was a picture of her when he bent down over me to point out something on the screen. I'm sure that picture of her eyes would have revealed a lot about what she was seeing! It was a surreal experience. I'm still a bit numb from it. All I can say is that very close up, he looks amazing. Gorgeous skin. Very well put together. The hair color was fabulous. His outfit MATCHED!!! Quite a guy. When he was lying on the concrete block, it was just crazy. There's Clay Aiken lying down on his back RIGHT THERE!!!! He's such a Master and Commander! Kept telling us to get to work! He's funny all the time. There was so much snark, but there's sweet humor behind all of it. What a great guy. The studio crew LOVED him. He took over. He was running the show. And we were told at the end that the show had done VERY well and they were quite pleased.

Now, just a note about the calls I had. I had two calls from women, one of whom was lucky enough to have Clay take the headphones and talk to her. Every one of my other calls, at least 20 of them, were from men. They ALL wanted the two concert tickets for $300. I anticipated women calling, but apparently there are going to be a lot of Houston women who receive a nice surprise for Valentine's Day.

A very good friend of mine of many years, my former boss actually, who kids me about my Clay love, and jokingly always refers to him by another name ... "How's Claude? What's going on with Clyde? So how's Clem?" -- he called in bought two tickets from merrieeee!! She told me he asked her to say hello and I was SHOCKED!

I don't know how I drove home last night. Oh yeah, I missed two turns on streets I drive every day! But the three of us in the car were having some out of body experience, I think. Nothing was the same.

My sister told me today -- Well, you're just starstruck aren't you? And the answer, Oh yes I am. I've never loved him more. I've written about how I never expected to ever, ever have a M&G because if it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. So last night we were "hanging out" with Clay, and I got a signed CD, and a picture with him, several in fact, and I'm going to get that M&G after all on Valentine's Day!! What the hell is going on in my life??

Maybe this was a life-changing event. All I can say it that I had a life-changing health problem in May that I had to overcome in order to attend the Reno and Biloxi concerts. Seeing Clay and traveling with my friends was inspiration to overcome a lot of physical issues. I've never had more fun in my life than I did in Reno and Biloxi. Until last night. What a summer! This is one for the book. And the book is all Clay.

It was a great treat to meet some fans I'd never met before.

Maybe one day I'll come down, but not yet. I don't see that happening yet.

Do I look happy, or what? Especially after he was scooching his butt to "get into the picture." That was world-class ass-scooching! I can't emphasize enough just how dominating the Aiken Ass was last night. It was always so THERE!

[ldyjocelyn]

Oh keepingfaith, you write a wonderful recap, even with no sleep. I'm so happy for you and all you Houston fans!

And this:

There was so much snark, but there's sweet humor behind all of it.

Even though I've never met the man, I can see that in him. Someday, someday...I will get to experience that in person.

Question: how can I go about making a donation in order to get that interview? I wanna see!

[keepingfaith]

Oh keepingfaith, you write a wonderful recap, even with no sleep. I'm so happy for you and all you Houston fans!

And this:

There was so much snark, but there's sweet humor behind all of it.

Even though I've never met the man, I can see that in him. Someday, someday...I will get to experience that in person.

Question: how can I go about making a donation in order to get that interview? I wanna see!

Ernie said the interview will air in two weeks. There should be some clack available from that when it happens.

Now, THIS picture I cropped. It just happens to be 3/4 of our Biloxi roadtrip. 00lsee, where were you last night? It struck me after desertrose mentioned last night on the way home that it seemed the magic began in the Beau Rivage elevator when we were singing "The Time of My Life." It was just getting started!

Great summer girls, or WHAT??? Orgasmic summer! We flat out had Clay Aiken all last night. Just fucking unbelievable. I signed up for this thing last night when they STRESSED to us, repeatedly, that Clay would definitely NOT be there. Oh My God. Was he ever THERE!

[bottlecap]

Pepsi Refresh Project Link

http://www.refresheverything.com/nationalinclusionproject

From your mobile phone:

Text* 102308 to

Pepsi (73774)

[bottlecap]

From texwriter at CV:

I so agree, about Clay being the one in charge from the moment he entered the studio.

He even took over Ernie's job at the very end, selling all of the pledge products. I just watched my tape, because I wasn't able to hear much of the breaks, since that was when the phones were really busy. Houston, actually got a glimpse of concert Clay. Since we won't have clack for awhile, here is some of his end-of-show banter. (Clay's words are in red)

If you pledge on your charge card, you get a copy of an interview with Ernie that I did a few months ago in New York. It's one of the best I've done. And that's the truth. And I'm not just saying that because he's standing here next to me and he's got a gun. (Ernie just cracks up at this point) Clay laughingly adds "I'm saying it because he really is very good. Or you can get tickets to my show. I'll be here February 14th at Jones Hall, right up close, where I will spit right on you. He gives the phone number. Then says "And we're going to throw it back to Abby right now, even though I'm not sure if she's ready."

Abby says "I'm worried that my job is at stake right now and that maybe next time we have a drive, you won't see me you'll just see Clay Aiken. You probably wouldn't mind that, but I would. (She was grinning like a fool the whole time she said it.)

It was such an amazing night!

[aikim]

34 Days until The Special Chicago Concert!

36 Days until The National Inclusion Project Gala!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[FearofH2O]

keepingfaith, you do a great recap. What a great night for a Clay fan. You and Kandre will have to share the FCA poet laureate title.

I read at FCA that merrieeee sniffed Mr Aiken. I hope I didn't miss a post here again. Details missey.

I hope everyone has a great day today. :thbighug-1: I'm having lunch with some friends I haven't seen in a long while and will bring them copies of TnT as well as making sure they turn on the TnT special Saturday night. They've been to a few Clay shows with me. Of course Mr Fear is going with me to lunch since they declared he was one of the girls. I have to remind him not to mention anything political as they are at the opposite spectrum from us, politically and religiously.

[Couch Tomato]

Loving all the recaps. Lucky beyotches heee. That night is way better than a meet and greet. So happy for all of you.

[justclay12]

How is it that he can look so damn sexy just leaning over someone or doing everyday things? Loved all of those pics.

Oh, and by the way, at the moment, I hate all of you who were lucky enough to be there. I am so jealous.

[keepingfaith]

I'm bringing this to all the sites I read for those who may be interested:

Here's something of interest about Ernie Manouse of HoustonPBS, who interviewed Clay in NY earlier in the summer. This will be broadcast on HoustonPBS in two weeks. I was checking wikipedia about him and saw this:

In 2004, Manouse launched the syndicated series InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse. This award winning series is distributed nationally to PBS stations across the country, and airs in more than 100 cities in the U.S. and the Virgin Islands. The show features Manouse in unedited, one-on-one interviews with noted personalities such as Patti LuPone and Jamie Foxx. Manouse thoroughly researches his guests before interviewing them, and arranges an informal setting to encourage spontaneous discussion.

If InnerVIEWS airs in over 100 cities, it may be available for almost all of you on your local PBS station. I hope so, anyway.

Check this out as it has more info and you can see some of his interviews. I've loved him for a long time, and I was excited to see that Ernie was hosting the show Wednesday night. He only does that for special people.

http://www.houstonpbs.org/site/PageServer?pagename=con_innerviews_ernie

You can also purchase any interviews directly from PBSHouston. Here's the list and it's quite a group he's talked to. And now Clay Aiken! I consider that prestigious. Clay's interview should go on sale as soon as the program airs.

https://secure2.convio.net/kuht/site/Ecommerce?store_id=4841&PAGENUM=4

[liney23]

The Houston folks described their evening with Clay so well that I quoted parts of several recaps in the new Carolina On My Mind blog. Included are Desertrose, jtgranny, texwriter, merrieeee, Cookie0, and Scarlett.

In most cases, I edited down the recaps a bit; but there's still a lot there. Hope you enjoy! Thank you for your comments/visits/tweets/retweets/FB reposts/etc, which help with Google placement. For some reason, all my tweets go under "All Friends" and not "Clay Aiken," if you'd like to retweet the blog.

Also included is the latest grouping by SueReu for National Inclusion Project voting in the Pepsi Refresh campaign.

Thnx for sharing last night with us, Houston! Hope everyone is having an awesome day!

Caro

Caro... I LOVED this blog with the recaps and the pictures! I left a comment for you, too. N.I.C.E.!!!

Oh keepingfaith, you write a wonderful recap, even with no sleep. I'm so happy for you and all you Houston fans!

And this:

There was so much snark, but there's sweet humor behind all of it.

Even though I've never met the man, I can see that in him. Someday, someday...I will get to experience that in person.

Question: how can I go about making a donation in order to get that interview? I wanna see!

Ernie said the interview will air in two weeks. There should be some clack available from that when it happens.

Now, THIS picture I cropped. It just happens to be 3/4 of our Biloxi roadtrip. 00lsee, where were you last night? It struck me after desertrose mentioned last night on the way home that it seemed the magic began in the Beau Rivage elevator when we were singing "The Time of My Life." It was just getting started!

Great summer girls, or WHAT??? Orgasmic summer! We flat out had Clay Aiken all last night. Just fucking unbelievable. I signed up for this thing last night when they STRESSED to us, repeatedly, that Clay would definitely NOT be there. Oh My God. Was he ever THERE!

keeping... your excitement just tickles me. I am sooo very happy for your happening with Clay and friends. Your recap is fantastic! LOVE your new avie... I'll bet that one stays up for a long while. Mavelous, dahlin', mavelous!

[treenuts]

Hee....cute avi, kf

Sandy and Clay

sittin' in a tree <<< well, I had to get in there somehow

L - I - C - K - I - N - G

Great blog, caro !