# 62: I live in Clay World. And I'm not moving!

[merrieeee]

From artquest:

The new song is lovely. I like it a lot. He also sang I Survived You and sang the damned!!! And did Invisible with shirt tugs wearing rhe blue shirt and tie from the NAT. He Aldo more than hinted that we would see a new Clay in the next months. Said his mom was already sedated! And that he really really doesn't like bossy people. Whoa! Those board rooms must have been something!

Also he and Quiana sang Hallelujah!

I really really want to know what the hell happened on CApp.

Best night ever, fabulous, fantastic and it was f*****ing orgasmic!

[luckiest1]

Wow. I still can't believe all I've read about the gala. It's like my ultimate gala. Why oh why was I not there? :cries:

I have yet to hear the second half of the Adam Carolla interview. No time! But plenty once I get home. I have no doubt that Clay on CA is going to blow all of our minds, not just Faye's!

[aikim]

Loving all the reports from the Gala; sounds like a wonderful show..cannot wait for 2012!

9 Days until the new single is available on Amazon!

63 Days until the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

jmh and I are signing in from the afterworld here...

We are still both speechless after last night's performance. As jmh just said to me, she's never seen a more speechless bunch of Claymates leaving an auditorium. He was, in my mind, the perfect boyfriend in every way. He satisified me, plus all those around me, with extra to spare. I never want to come down from this high.

I'll try to write a better recap later, but suffice it to say, it was worth every. freakin'. penny. Shit, I would have paid 5 times the amount for that show.

Off to breakfast.

[shortyjill]

Just did the quick catch up version of only reading a few basic red reports from last night. I sooooo wish I could have attended!!!! The whole thing sounds like it was truly amazing.

Instead, I ended up spending the night at my boy's. lol. I went to the opening of the new exhibit down at work and made plans to go over to his place after. Well, I don't know what has been wrong with me lately but my memory has just flown out the window. A couple weeks back I left my keys in my car in the ignition while the car was unlocked in my driveway. Then, twice in 3 days this week, I left my scarf someplace (restaurant on Thursday, studio last night). THEN. I left my keys in the ignition of my car AGAIN last night while I was over seeing the boy. And this time I was dumb enough to lock it. He had NOTHING to get it open with and it was close to 4am, he insisted I spend the night.... sweet guy he is offered up the guest room and then stayed in there with me to make me feel a little better. It didn't really help and I only slept about 2 hours total. He slept way better than I did. Finally my mom texted around 730 this morning asking if I was okay and I told her what happened....she drove all the way over there and gave me my spares to get in. I don't know what has made me so flustered lately but I felt like I was imposing and being a bother to Justin but he said nope, it was fine and no one would care. He and his family are soooo nice. *sniffle*

[duckyvee]

I got our song, couchie...As Long As We're Here. Im estatic!

Ok NOW I will cry that there's no recording

LOL

I need details of nothing but this KAndre!!

I'll leave the details to Kandre, but it will say that it was truly magnificent. Truly.

Another highlight for me was I Survived You, my favorite song from MOAM, and one that I never before heard Clay sing live. I agree, Kandre, we got more than we paid for by far!

[aikim]

These are the lyrics Clay sang in Hallelujah "fans self":

Clay definitely sang this part:

There was a time when you let me know

What's really going on below

But now you never show it to me, do you?

And remember when I moved in you

The holy dove was moving too

And every breath we drew was Hallelujah

[FearofH2O]

What a truly amazing Gala. I'm another "As Long As We're Here" lover. But I'm also another "Where I Draw the Line" fancier. Both were filled with emotion and feeling. He has really reacquired his enthusiasm to perform after his time off. I loved every single song and kept hoping it wasn't the last. It was exciting with people screaming, dancing and singing along.

I was at the Friday night Q&A with Clay and Diane Bubel. I sat about ten feet directly in front of Clay. Loved his cardigan sweater with a collar and shirt and tie. On stage it looked brown but at the picture taking, it looked blue. He always looks so young to me when he has no makeup on as compared to Saturday night where he was a handsome guy. He sounded so excited about the changes being made to the NIP and moving it up another level. They added two new impressive directors to the board and moved Dr Brame from the board to a new advisory board. Sounds like non of them were sitting around on Clay's "time off".

I totally forgot to pick up the picture after the Gala. Just didn't feel good all weekend.

Continuing excitement at the roundtable this morning. According to Aron, the national Inclusion Project will become a well known national name. At this time not all camps are being funded but instead some of the training sessions are revenue raisers.

Looking forward to the event.

[ldyjocelyn]

Home, after a long travel day, one that was supposed to be Raleigh-Minneapolis-home, but turned into Raleigh-Detroit-home, because of mechanical problems. (And, of course, Detroit "forgot" to send my luggage on to my final destination. Sigh.)

I've got a recap started, but I'm so tired I can't see straight. Here's what I can tell you, though:

I'm in love all over again. He does that to me every single time.

The concert was definitely a "best of all his other concerts" tied up in a pretty little bow. I loved every single song.

I don't cry very often about Clay things, but when he started singing "Hallelujah," the tears flowed. That was a dream realized.

More later...love you all.

[aikim]

8 Days until the new single is available on Amazon!

62 Days until the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

Doing this instead of going to work...

National Inclusion Project 2011 Gala, or, Hallelujah -- I was there.

I am still in shock over the weekend's activities. I had been to one other Gala, in 2009. While that one was nice, and had a killer "Moon River," this one could not hold a candle to it, or for that matter, any other Clay thing I have ever attended. It was THAT good. Pretty well organized as well -- the only real problem was at the end of the night, when those of us who bought silent auction items were trying to pay for them. Organized chaos. (BTW, I got two hand bound journals, made by lilyshine, and the Dragon*Con Program and pins set, autographed by Kate Mulgrew -- Captain Janeway to us Star Trek fans).

The luncheon was a good place to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Yeah, it was disappointing not to have Clay there, but I can understand. jmh and I had a good chat with geekette from the CH. She also sat with us at the concert that night. Our other luncheon mates were two Raleigh people who are fans, but don't post at boards very often. It was great to talk to them, and I was able to take their picture to send to the person who sold them the tickets.

The venue for the show was perfect. The three of us were in the fourth row of the balcony, and yet, it felt as if I could reach out and touch Clay. The acoustics were phenomenal. jmh told me later that it's designed for opera performances.

The show started with Jerome coming on the stage, asking us all very politely (but firmly) to turn off all our cell phones, and that recording would not be tolerated. Period. We were all excellent soldiers, and I didn't see one cell phone recording at all. I know this is heartbreaking for many of you who couldn't be there, and I understand your pain. Just know that all of you at FCA -- you were with me in spirit!

And then...the room darkened. The opening notes of "All is Well" started. He sang...and I melted. He looked so good in his gray pinstriped suit. The lighting made it hard too tell what color the shirt was. Brown loafer type shoes.

At this point, it's all a blur. I tried my best to remember things as a good reporter, but you know that Aiken fog! I really liked the format of music -- award -- music -- award etc. through the first part of the night. I was blown away by the Gala honorees. I think Kevin Connolly, the gentleman without legs who has traveled the world, was my highlight. He was funny, charming, and amazing. (Siide note: he was on my flight on Friday from Minneapolis to Raleigh. I'm sorry I didn't talk to him on the plane!)

I love Lynda Loveland. She somehow got onto the topic of wearing footie pajamas, and how she could never wear them because of her height. I was raising my hand the entire time saying "me too!" (I'm actually thinking of emailing her today, thanking her for her contribution to a fun evening.)

When they announce the intermission, I was thrown for a loop! More? Well, I knew the auction was coming, but wow...there was so much more!

Clay was hysterical with the huge poster of himself during the auction. He is a dirty, dirty man -- that's all I'm going to say. *g*. He was also amusingly cloy about "tickets to an event" up for bid. I hope that he can get three sets of tickets so the Project can get over $60,000 just from that! (He also kept mentioning how "some of us aren't going to like him much this next year." I am like "BRING IT!". I will come up with more on that later...)

The Dutch auction raised a whole lotta moola! Clay saw everyone of the bidding numbers, even for those of us in the cheap seats, and read them off FAST to Kristy, who was scribbling furiously.

And then...there's the music.

It was a great retrospective of the memorable moments of Clay concerts through the years. The IT purple shirt (with "the stain that we couldn't get out still on it"). The shirt tug, the high "smartest," and the electronic "I already am" during "Invisible." "Oh baby...that's a fact..." during the first version of DSIAFCD. The ending high notes at the reprise of DSIAFCD. "I Survived You." The airplane note of "Unchained Melody." All we needed was the growl from "Celebrate Me Home" to make the complete set, but alas...

Hearing two of my favorites from OMWH was certainly a highlight.

He only sang "A Thousand Days" from ATDW because he said "the rest are too high." Hee.

Quiana looked incredible, and she sounded fantastic. My favorite was "Christmas Time Is Here" (more famous for being part of Charlie Brown Christmas). Very sublime, IMO.

When he left the stage after DSIAFCD, we all knew. It was time. Time for the new song. He introduced it as, "many things going on next year for me -- and this is one of them." I think it is an amazing song, which showcases his voice tremendously. The bridge of the song is really great, with two measure sets -- band playing chords quickly, followed by Clay with the lyrics. It's hard to explain, but I'll see if I can't find something that has that same type of thing going in it later tonight. I'll also say that the entire song is very much an earworm.

At that point, I was expecting him to leave the stage. So, when Quiana came to join him, I was thrilled that we were getting one more song. Clay said, "we always try to leave you with a surprise." Ben started playing the chords; many of us recognized it and gasped and screamed. Of course, then Clay couldn't hear Ben and got the giggles! Finally, he pulled it together, and sang Hallelujah. I sat there stunned. Now, I'm not one to get very emotional over Clay singing, but for this? The tears flowed. That has been a dream of mine to hear this since he suggested it as a possible recording several years ago. (Anyone remember when that was?)

I'm most familiar with the kd lang version of the song -- which pretty much ignores the verse that everyone is chattering about. So, when that started, my mouth dropped again. I don't think it really registered with me what he was singing. I'm floored...in a good way.

So, then, we all stumbled out of the auditorium. I'm still not sure how I managed to pick up my auction pieces, find jmh (whom BTW, is a GREAT hostess!), and make our way back to the room. A quick call to couchie to squee, and then we went to the bar. jmh and I met up with bigappleforclay and had a great time...except that the food we ordered never came in a timely manner. I think the manager had to wake up a kitchen cook to get us our burgers (yes, not WW friendly..sue me), but because of the lateness, they were on the house. We also met up with Fear, mums fumm, another friend (can't remember name), and briefly later, justclay12, canfly, NikiKiwi and another of their friend. We also got to chat briefly with about half of the eHP before the show.

We also saw Ben, Sean and the rest of the band in the bar. I was sorely tempted to go talk to Ben, thanking him for the killer arrangement of UM, as well as the arrangement of Hallelujah, but I couldn't get up the nerve.

It was a whirlwind weekend, and while I think it will be hard for Clay to top this next year -- I think I'll be going to every single one of these from now on.

Regarding how our opinion will change with the coming year -- I still think CA could show us the best example of "the real Clay" that we've ever gotten. I think most fans will be OK with it, but who knows? And we really don't know what it is he's talking about. Most are assuming it's because of his cussing, or being bossy, or whatever. He might say something nasty about the fans that will make people see red. (I still remember how many people got upset over his "rotting souls in LA"...)

OK, time to go to work. Sigh. I don't want this weekend to be over.

[ldyjocelyn]

I knew it! When I talked to couchie the other night on the phone, and she knew that he had done "As Long As We're Here," she was like "he's never done it live before." I could have sworn he did it at the other Gala I went to, in 2009. And I was right!

(YouTube link)

[KAndre]

waves at ldyj overhead....

Oh, I am back in full over-the-top Fandom mode - simply because of my man (ooh, possessiveness feels so good!) This weekend was sa-weet!

This deserves a total recap!

This year has been a lots of lows for me and only a couple of highs....turning 50 has really bothered the hell out of me. I mean, not dealing well with it at all. Being laid off was one of the high points. Son in Afghanistan...not good. Some idiot backing into my car...no good. Beijing, Shanghai, Bangkok....great. Surgeries (once I could stop the paid meds)...great.

My Clay fandom has mellowed into comfortable. He wasn't doing anything I had to run off and see (the last Gala I went to was OK, but not enough to inspire me to jump on the tickets as soon as they rolled out). In me 'n Clay's marriage (hell yeah, we're married - it's been 10 frickin' years. It's not my fault he's a polygamist/polyamory kind of guy.), we had settled into the peck in the morning and poking each other every other night. It was good. After I got laid off (does a couple of high kicks), I told my peeps, oh what the hell, I head off to the Gala. I got time, and four live songs from Clay (even if I'm indifferent to the songs themselves) is worth it. Looked for cheap fares to Raleigh, and horror of horrors, the best fare was on US Air. U. S. Air. At five frickin' fifteen. In the MORNING. I mutter under my breath at my completely inconsiderate husband. (You don't want to know what I called him when the evil Continental/United dropped their freakin' reasonably houred fares the next week.) I have my (totally elective but involving parts I'm not telling y'all except to let you know that sitting, standing, walking, and laying down was not fun, in any shape, form or fashion) surgery on Monday. Tuesday, I had promised my sweetest brother-in-law I would tape his band for him. So I did. In retrospect, I really shouldn't have. Really. Wednesday and Thursday, I spend recovering from Tuesday. I called SuperShuttle to pick my piitful ass up at 3:30 am. Yeah, it says "3:30 am". I pretend I'm striding manfully to the van, and crawl in. Make it to the plane (and no, there was NO sprinting through the airport at this time). Have an uneventful flight to Charlotte except I notice a little person across the aisle from me, and another boards. My brain make note. I am also greeted by a former co-worker whose name I couldn't remember (because I am really bad at that, but I did look him up on my cell so I could actually refer to him by name) who expressed that they missed me. I said "Good" and laughed. He laughed as well, because he knows me. Uneventful flight, we land in Charlotte, I meander my way to my connection, and have another uneventful flight to Raleigh. Make my slow way from Terminal B to Terminal C to wait on Perusing One's plane. Fall asleep in the surprisingly comfortable chairs. Wake up in time for PO to get off her flight. Have to repeatedly ask PO to slow the hell down. She arches one eyebrow in surprise as toddlers and elderly are passing her as normal, but slows down. After about two hours and maybe 1500 feet, we clamber aboard the Hertz bus and go to pick up the car. PO is a little grumbly because the eHP has a tried-and true responsibility list: If Solo isn't there, it's my job to drive (you'll see why later). Merrieeee never gets to drive but is responsible for all social activities, gossip, and letting us know what to do.

I realize how familiar Raleigh is by now. We go to the same hotel as always, recognize the landmarks, try a different local restaurant (Winston's Grill rocks, people - the service, food, and bathroom was excellent!). We had no social activities since merrieeee wasn't there. I take more pain pills and we eventually go to sleep.

It's late Saturday morning, PO heads off to go get merrieeee because the idea of riding in a car if I don't have to doesn't seem like fun. My phone rings and it's merrieeee wondering who was coming to get her as her flight was a little early. Since transportation and accommodation isn't in her realm of responsibilities, when she leaves Houston, she doesn't actually know where she's going, or who's picking her up or where she's staying. I let her know PO was on her way, and she told me she couldn't get a dial tone for PO. Know that she was on her cell, I thought that was odd, but she insisted. But by then, she was in the car with PO and on their way back to the hotel. When they arrive, PO and I ask her what do we do now, as we didn't actually read any of our correspondence from NIP. That's merrieeee's job. Unhappily, there is gonna be black mark on merrieeee's evil review because she didn't actually read any of the stuff either. But at least she brought it and all three of us looked at it for the first time around 12:30p. We saw the lunch thing and asked each other, "were we invited to lunch? We didn't have lunch last time; surely Clay would personally call us up individually if we were invited to lunch - besides we would have dinner tonight" so we went off to some bar and grill. We came back and started getting dressed for dinner (which mainly involved me taking off my shirt, pulling my bra straps down and putting my dress over my head. No, I didn't actually take my pants off. I did put on heels, though. I still looked good.) Merrieeee actually starts reading the stuff for the Gala and says, "They didn't mention dinner." I'm like, "Whaddaya mean they didn't mention dinner? It's the Gala, there's always dinner." We are now suspicious that they don't plan on feeding us. As we leave the hotel, we notice another little person down the hall and then in the parking lot, a light bulb goes off - there's a van for Micro Championship Wrestling. One mystery solved. PO's new GPS wanted to send us to the "Barefoot" Auditorium for some reason, but we eventually arrived at the Fletcher, which we remembered from the Tried and True taping. Again, nothing new in Clay land. PO randomly circles the parking lot but eventually we head for the Gala, wondering how the hell they're gonna feed us in there, and we come across ldyj, who apparently does read her correspondence and managed to make lunch. Right now, I'm annoyed at Clay - he knows it's alway's dinner, then sex. That's how we've doing it for years now. We wander through the auction items and I bid on (and eventually win) an astrology reading which I'm gonna have to track down. 6:30p we head into the auditorium, which is really a nice space. Good acoustics. Jerome comes and tells us to behave, specifically mentioning Scarlett by name. The curtain goes up, there's a couple of guys on guitars and a drummer to the right and Ben, his keyboards and Apple laptop to the right. Linda comes out and the Gala starts.

The NIP has matured well. It's professionally done, and I am proud of what they's managed to accomplish especially since the early efforts to kill it off. But y'all know me. I was bored out of my skull waiting for Clay. And then, there he was! Qiana came out too (looks like she lost a little weight) I'm not sure why people were calling the suit gray because it looked beige to me, more business casual than anything (Honey, if you gonna put "black tie optional" on the freaking invitation, you have to dress up. Seriously). He then sang my Xmas song, "All is Well" and sang it well; a couple of minor bobbles in the middle, but freakishly good as always. Ya know what? One day, my dream will come true - the fandom will realize that the bad note in wherever-the-hell-it-was was a goddam anomaly and you don't have to applaud one freakin' note before the goddam end. It would be nice to actually hear him hit it! Oh well. I relaxed in anticipation of a good night - he's hitting songs I like and this is gonna be good. They did some NIP stuff. He rolled my favorite classic Xmas song, "O Holy Night" and his voice was even more on track. More NIP stuff. What? I recognize those opening bars...my Lord, he's singing As Long As We're Here live! And I'm here! Christ on a cracker, this alone was worth that $250! Couchie's gonna DIE! And it was gooooooood. More NIP stuff. A Thousand Days. Clay talking classic Clay smack about Cindy Lauper and Ripa. More NIP stuff...wait a minute...this guy is actually interesting! And fucking funny! And really, really hot even lacking legs (serious upper body strength trips my trigger, if ya know what I mean) - even though I was there for my hubby Clay (who was clearly poking me with interest), I suddenly remembered other men can be entertaining as well. Clay kicked "Mary Did You Know" and the curtain came down and they announced an intermission and we said to each other, "intermission? Srsly? Whoa!" Clay has brought my spirits up but not enough for me to actually leave me seat during the intermission. So they came back and did the auction (they had a new auctioneer - he didn't play with Clay and the audience as much as the old one). But Clay did obscene things with the giant poster, and tried on his baseball jersey and got way more money for his dinners then I expected and teased the hell out of us with the two tickets for his "event" - apparently wicked/asshole/evil Clay will be in evidence. I'm all excited!

Linda comes back out and tell us she didn't wear high heels because Clay likes to be taller then she is - so he went back to "do something to his hair". She goes away and Clay rolls out in that damn blue shirt and tie from 2004 (those are NOT the same jeans though) and the opening notes of Invisible rock out - and I mean rock out! You could feel the adrenaline in the room and out of nowhere blinky lights appear (even in the rich people seats!) The he said, "I'm gonna do my favorite song from that tour" and I got I Survived You, which worked up ALL my tingly parts...he was kicking ass! I know the boy loves Qiana - and she is a good singer, but frankly I love Clay's version of Grown Up Christmas Wish and I Can't Make You Love Me better. He was clearly losing his voice by then. He then mentioned Jacob of all people and did that rendition of Emmanuel. Beautifully. He did his version of Unchained Melody that I can't stand and made me love him (but still not it) more. He did DSIAFCD and I noticed he didn't do the mike drop but then he did his new song that I didn't like the clip of (made me think retro 60's Dean Martinish pop) and made me like the fucker live. Damn him. Then he went totally Classic Clay with a song he didn't know the words to (missed the entrance a couple of times, blamed Ben, giggled with Qiana) and sang Hallelujah (and I have never liked that song) and the SOB made me like his version too! Bastard. Then being Clay, he said "Fuck it" and redid the last of Don't Save It All with the mike drop and yes, we in the balcony could hear him, clean, clear and breaktaking.

Clay clearly ordered some of that testosterone stuff that the weird looking doctor who says he's not Photoshopped (which is a lie) sells, and did me up again the side of the theater, again the wall, on the table, bent over a chair, slapped my ass and asked "Who's your daddy?" That was good.

[KAndre]

Wow, you're good J and I didn't remember that either - I think I only went to the 2010 Gala - but this year's ALAWH frankly was WAY better.

[ldyjocelyn]

Oh yeah...this year's was MUCH better!

*hands cigarette to KAndre*

Loved the recap...love that snark, done with love!

[ncgran4clay]

Oh yeah...this year's was MUCH better!

*hands cigarette to KAndre*

Loved the recap...love that snark, done with love!

Bwah!!! Ya'll have brought me out of lurkdom with your funny recaps!!! I was there and all I can say is "DITTO".

Well except for this part ** and did me up again the side of the theater, again the wall, on the table, bent over a chair, slapped my ass and asked "Who's your daddy?" That was good.

[KAndre]

KAndre eyes ncgran4clay knowingly as she puffs away...

Suuure you didn't do that part...we have a reputation to maintain, don't we?

I was only mildly excited for CA - honestly, now I've got my good sheets on the bed, lots of cheap wine and candles ready and waiting!

[merrieeee]

The guy is good. He had his way with quite a few women on Saturday night! Pass the ciggy over here. I'm going to take up smoking..........I need it!

[FearofH2O]

Kandre glad you got to see your boyfriend again. Your recap cracked me up.

It was so nice to see you, ldyj, jmh,merrieeee, ncgran4clay, cam, Perusing One, justclay,

Evelyn, DesertRose, Predenand so many others who I'm not sure even post here. I think next year calls for a full blown FCA party. It's never too soon to plan. I can't forget Scarlett who was nice enough to invite me to lunch so I could meet Carolina Clayand aspiegirl and her partner in Greensboro on our way home.

Hi to georgiesmybaby and Clayslove. Always great to see you guys.

Thursday evening I volunteered to stuff those bags for the Gala and blow up beachballs for the kids' carnival. I met the very nice woman who does the Clay News Network, Musicfan. I really enjoyed chatting with her. I hope you all go over and read her blog that she does daily.

Clay cracked me up on Friday when a woman from Montana questioned why there are no Let's Play camps in the state. He responded that you can't go where your not asked. Only three states have not requested Let's Play: North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. He continued to snark on her the whole evening but gave her a great big wink.

[gbmifan]

All I can say is that for my first Gala I came away spent. I loved it and to read all the recaps I can not add anything. I walked out of there in a true fog. Sorry I did not meet anyone, it is so hard to find people, we should have some kind of names on us!! I did meet Desertrose because we shared a cab back to the airport and realized we were on the same flight. I was only able to go because it was in December and I hope at sometime it can return to this month. I had so much fun and would love to do it again. The Gala awards were so moving and I thought Linda did a great job. My husband does not understand how I can spend the money to do this but what he does not realize is that I would do it in a minute again. Did I say I love Clay Aiken and his voice does things to me that no other performer can do.

[Couch Tomato]

Thanks for all the recaps. I had no clue he did the song before. How on earth did I Miss that.

[ausdon]

You sure give good recap KAndre

[aikim]

7 Days until the new single is available on Amazon!

61 Days until the premiere of Celebrity Apprentice!

Happy Birthday to all celebrating!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[merrieeee]

Whine, whine.."...I want more Clay!

Typical man...no phone call! Maybe it wasn't as good for him as it was for me!

[ldyjocelyn]

I know. He never calls. He never writes. He just takes my money.

It's all a joke, in case you can't tell.