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# 64: A super smart, caring, determined, classy, easy-going, and genuinely good, likeable guy

ldyjocelyn

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shortyjill personal manager

shortyjill

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Wow so I was just checking out how Clay was selling at Detroit (because it's still looked anemic as of yesterday) and someone must have bought some group tickets OR there has been some sort of promo put out there or something because suddenly there are far fewer seats available on the floor! Like chunks just not available anymore! I hope this is good news! :)

Balconies and the far sides on the floor are all still pretty much available, but I was getting pretty worried there for a while that if they didn't start selling they'd have to cancel. I personally haven't seen or heard of promo anywhere but I haven't sought out anything either (I rarely listen to radio [and if I do it's not the kind of station to play/promote Clay] and we don't get the paper). There HAVE been a lot of TV spots for other Christmas shows at Fox Theater but none for Clay. I hope that changes in the next week, he could still use the sales boost...

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FearofH2O Chairman

FearofH2O

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Ladyj, I had the most wonderful evening. If this was the only concert I had I would be content. But it's not. I'll be in Atlantic City and will get there early enough for the special boardwalk show. Leaving this evening for my flight to NJ.

So nice to see jmh sitting near me. She didn't look stressed at all and was her usual sweet self.

I posted this at CV after I finished indexing this morning. Got home too late last night and I was pooped.

Clay knocked the socks off of his audience in Durham last night. He rocked, he crooned, he prayed and then sang the most glorius power notes ever to rip the roof off the building. In my ten years of fandom I have never heard him sing like this. I am so fortunate to be able to go to a few more concerts. There is absolutely no way he can top this performance unless he sings an opera performing all the roles.

When Clay asked how many people were there to see him for the first time there was a good amount of applause despite this being his hometown area. I couldn't give any NJU reports because sitting in the third row I knew everyone around me. I did hear an usher saying that she hoped we enjoyed the concert as she thought it was very good. We hurried out as we had a 2 hour drive home.

Clay would look in the wings and laugh at some of the comments he made, leading to me to think he had friends on the stage who might not have seen him this tour. I remember in a few tours where I had up front seats, that when the lights dimmed Clay would go from smiling to all about the business, I didn't see this last night. He is one happy man. Ten years after his first appearance on the National scene, he can still wow his fans and the rest of the audience.

He mentioned that he had more men in the front row than he usually sees at his shows. Asking each one of the three men up front if they were forced to come each said no, including one whose wife said she wanted to go with her girlfriends but he insisted on going with her. One man had his young daughter with him, who ended up on stage singing the Christmas song selected from the tub. She was very young, beautifully dressed and tottering on heels as if she has never worn them before. Meagan proceeded to select the "Little Drummer Boy" and she and Quiana sang it together. Clay pretended to be upset at her winning the prize but gave her a little hug at the end to show he was kidding. Very cute moment. The tub by the way was topped by a pathetic little purple Christmas tree, all bent out of shape.

Quiana's appearance was another nice moment as she and Clay had planned a big appearance which misfired when the cue was missed and he ended up having to pull her out of the audience. She was dressed very au currant and had a new hairdo, the sides where very short and looked like a buzz cut and the top was very tall and colored a reddish blonde. It looked really good on her. Her voice was as good as ever. I love how they have remained so close over all these 10 years. I am sure it was bittersweet moment with them not touring together for the first time.I'll post later if I can remember anything not mentioned yet. Today is also Mr Fear's birthday and with my son here from the West Coast we are planning a very nice lunch at a winery. Hoping my other son can join us.

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luckiest1 Stylist

luckiest1

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Fear, thanks so much for the recap. I listened in on the cellcert and I am so glad that he performed well in NC! And it was so nice to hear Quiana. I'd love to know why she isn't touring with him this year. It just seems so wrong.

shortyjill, I know I got an email from the Olympia Entertainment Online Club that promotes different venues, and Clay's Detroit concert was included. So maybe that is helping? In any case, glad to hear that there appear to be some seats selling. I know there are 15 of us coming from here! But we all bought our tickets the day they went on sale.

ldyjocelyn, thanks, I was beginning to wonder.... :rainbowsmile:

Happy Birthday Clay!

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ldyjocelyn Campaign Manager

ldyjocelyn

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Hee...I'm working...*cough*

From playbill.com:

Happy Birthday Clay Aiken!

Includes MANY clips of Clay from AI and Broadway performances.

Starting with clips from the show last night (I can only put 2 YouTube clips in one post at a time...)

Scarlett clips from Durham:

Downloadable mpg(s) link:

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0BwNYwUaGAgJ5NkNieGRYam9SaWs/edit

You Tube links:

"Merry Christmas With Love."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydWl7qH8jvk&feature=youtu.be

"What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" Banter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy5jXFXSikY&feature=youtu.be

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merrieeee Baby Sitter

merrieeee

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:happybirthday04:Clay!

May your day be merry, bright, and full of fun, and your year be joyful, successful, and -- what you want it to be!

Huh hmmm! That should be merrie I think. Hee Hee!

Happy birthday to my favourite singer man!

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ldyjocelyn Campaign Manager

ldyjocelyn

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And the final two:

"Sentimental Medley."

"Don't Save It All For Christmas Day."

____

nj.com

Singer Clay Aiken Bring Holiday Show to Atlantic City

Singer Clay Aiken brings his holiday show to Atlantic City

By Kristie Rearick/South Jersey Times

on November 30, 2012 at 7:18 AM, updated November 30, 2012 at 7:20 AM

11918074-large.jpg

Clay Aiken will perform at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m.

Photo provided

This is Clay Aiken’s fifth time “doing the holiday thing,” and he couldn’t be happier about it.

“I took a break from doing the show a few years ago,” said Aiken. “And it was kind of one of those things where the fans said, ‘it’s just not Christmas without this show.’”

So the fans got their way.

Aiken — along with a full orchestra on stage — kicked off the “Joyful Noise Tour 2012” earlier this month, with a stop planned at Trump Taj Mahalin Atlantic City on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Each year he tries to “keep it fresh and do it a little differently,”said Aiken.

“We add a song or change a few of the songs,” he said. “We keep it from being the same show every year.”

One year, he had a five-piece band on tour with him. And on another year, “snow” fell from the ceiling.

But there won’t be any “snow” this year, he said.

“I don’t think that would work with the orchestra being on stage,” he said with a laugh.

Aiken got his big break in the music industry in 2003 on the second season of the hit TV competition show “American Idol,” taking the runner-up spot. Since his time on the show, he has released five albums, including his first solo CD, “Measure of a Man,” which sold three million copies and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 list. That album — which went double platinum — was the highest-selling first album for a solo artist in a decade.

Aiken took the second-place prize for the second time on another reality TV show this past spring. On NBC’S “Celebrity Apprentice,” he was the runner-up to Arsenio Hall, becoming an audience favorite and beating out contestants Debbie Gibson, Aubrey O’Day and Lisa Lampanelli.

“The tasks weren’t hard. It was the show’s schedule that was grueling,” Aiken said, adding that a room filled with 18 Type A personalities didn’t make it easy, either.

“Arsenio and I found ourselves stepping back and letting the others be ... water finds its level and that’s probably what made us more successful,” he said.

Aiken raised $300,000 for his charity of choice, The National Inclusion Project.

Aiken’s popular holiday concert came about after he released a Christmas CD, “Merry Christmas with Love,” in 2004.

“I think Christmas songs work well with my voice,” he said. “And I do love the music. Back in 2003, when I was putting out my first album, I knew I was never going to be Justin Timberlake or anything. I was born a decade or two late, and Christmas music, that’s really the kind of music that’s timeless.”

And this is a show that’s about something special, he said.

“When I do regular shows throughout the year, those shows are really about me. This show is about something more than you. It’s about the season,” he said.

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ldyjocelyn Campaign Manager

ldyjocelyn

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One more birthday wish article (with YouTube's embedded), via greginhollywood.com:

Happy Birthday to Singing Star Clay Aiken!

The clips are BOTW from AI, the 70's medley from the Reno Timeless Tour (I was at that one!), and "Home" from Broadway Backwards. I love the choice of all three of those clips: two showcase the voice, and the Timeless Tour is all about the humor, IMO.

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ldyjocelyn Campaign Manager

ldyjocelyn

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mcall.com

With Broadway, "Celebrity Apprentice" and New Holiday Tour, Clay Aiken Anything But Idle

With Broadway, 'Celebrity Apprentice' and new holiday tour, Clay Aiken anything but idle

By John J. Moser, Of The Morning Call

7:28 PM EST, November 30, 2012

When Clay Aiken gave his first concert in the Lehigh Valley in 2004, it was a year after he came in second to Ruben Studdard on the second season of television's then-highest rated show, "American Idol." His debut album, "Measure of a Man," had gone double-platinum with the hit "Invisible."

He set a then-record with the fastest sellout ever of Musikfest's 6,500-capacity RiverPlace stage.

Aiken returned to Musikfest in 2005, and in 2006 and 2007 performed at Easton's State Theatre. And he'll be back again in the Valley Dec. 4, bringing his "Joyful Noise" Christmas show to ArtsQuest's Musikfest Cafe. The show is sold out, although the venue is one-tenth the capacity of RiverPlace.

Most artists might view that as a precipitous career drop, but Aiken says it was expected — and he's comfortable with it.

"The thing with being an 'Idol' contestant and having a huge-selling first album and having my first single ever debut at No. 1 on the Top 100 — everything's sort of downhill from there, always," Aiken says in a phone call from New York.

"Most people work and pay dues, play small venues to sell a few albums here and there, and they work their way up to — if they're lucky — one day, many years down the road they'll sing for stadiums and arenas. My very first two or three tours were me singing to 20,000 people in an arena. And so nothing's ever going to top that."

Aiken says that career has given him the opportunity to do projects he wants to do rather than chase popularity. "I don't have to try to search for a new audience, necessarily, by doing stuff that gets on the radio," he says. "I get to do stuff that I want to do, like … doing a Christmas tour."

It's not as if Aiken hasn't done anything high-profile lately. He starred on Broadway in "Monty Python's Spamalot" in 2008-09 and was a contestant — again finishing second (to Arsenio Hall) — on Donald Trump's NBC-TV show "Celebrity Apprentice" this year.

Aiken has done Christmas-themed tours since his turn on "Idol," and with good reason. His sophomore album, 2004's "Merry Christmas with Love," was the fastest-selling holiday album of all time. (He's not sure it still is, but "you can say it if you want to; I'll wear it," he says with a laugh.)

He hasn't hasn't done one since 2007, but says he felt it was time for another.

"The holidays just don't seem correct without a holiday tour for me. People who have worked for me since the beginning have all said, 'You know, it doesn't feel like the holidays unless we're doing this.' And people — audience members and fans — have said, 'When are you going to do a Christmas tour again?' So we wanted to get back on the road this year and make the season bright again," he says, laughing.

In prior Christmas tours, Aiken sang with a band or with "dancers and singers and actors," but this tour has a 20-piece orchestra. "I think it is kind of my favorite way to do it, because it feels like more of a holiday if you have the strings and the French horns."

Aiken also has felt lucky for the opportunity to sing covers of standards such as "Moon River," "What Kind of Fool Am I," Roy Orbison's "Crying" and "Unchained Melody," a song that got him acclaim on "Idol," on his last CD, 2010's "Tried and True." The disc was re-released as "Steadfast" in March after his "Celebrity Apprentice" appearance.

"I think my voice and my musical taste has always been a little bit older than I am," says Aiken, who turned 34 on Nov. 30. "And that album was really just an opportunity to sing stuff that I had grown up listening to — my mom listened to when I was a kid. And my voice was just, I think, more suited to that type of thing than it is to sort of the more pop stuff.

"I don't even know what pop sounds like anymore. … I think I gotta do stuff that is right for me, versus trying to fit myself into some box or into some sort of pop sensibility that I don't necessarily fit into."

"Spamalot," Aiken says, was a "strategic choice."

"We wanted specifically to do it. We'd been asked for years to do Broadway stuff and we always said no. We said yes to 'Spamalot' because it was an opportunity for me to do something different and not just do the same old 'Clay sings this song.' "

He says he would consider other Broadway roles, but they, too, would have to be a good opportunity. "I've done that now, and it was easily in the top three things that I've ever done, but I don't want to go back to Broadway just for the sake of doing that," he says. "I want to go back and do the right thing."

He says he also turned down several TV spots for the same reason before accepting "Celebrity Apprentice." He says it also gave him the chance to win money for a foundation he created to promote the inclusion of children with disabilities (Aiken was a teacher for the disabled before "Idol.")

"I was disappointed as much in losing that as I was in losing 'Idol,' " he says. "Of course when you get down to the Top 2, you really, really would like to say you won. But interestingly enough, the people on each show that I became the closest with and became the most friendly with and really had the best relationship with turned out to be the person who I ended up in the final against.

"There was a part of me that really wanted to win, but it's hard to be upset when it's a friend of yours winning instead. … I was surprised; I kind of thought I had that one. But, you know, it's my lot in life to come in second place. I will never get in a competition with a black man again, I'll tell you that," he says, laughing.

Aiken says he would have been more upset about losing to someone such as singer Aubrey O'Day, with whom he feuded on the show. Or, perhaps, magician and "Apprentice" contestant Penn Jillette, who in a new book says he would rather be waterboarded than spend time with Aiken.

"This is for Bethlehem, Pennsylvania — you are a dirty interviewer for bringing that up!" Aiken says. But he says the book actually was written right after Jillete was voted off the show, and they have since developed a relationship — of sorts.

"I have a lot of respect for Penn as an entertainer, as a businessman who's really created a great career for himself," Aiken says. "He knows full well I don't want to take any long car rides with him, I don't want to talk to him any longer than he wants to talk to me. But he and I, we stay in touch. We have an interesting relationship."

As for the interesting career he has, Aiken says while he fully credits "American Idol," he hasn't followed it since Carrie Underwood won in 2005, two years after his show.

With "American Idol" now 10 years behind him, Aiken says it's hard to answer questions about it "because it's been so long. It's like I have a new normal now. … Remembering how I felt in that moment is impossible to tell you."

But he says he thinks the show offers less of a chance for a career like his these days.

"I think part of it is that the show's judges are the stars nowadays, whereas it used to be the contestants that were the stars," he says. "The contestants are just an afterthought now. They're just musical filler between judges' comments.

"And it's a disservice to the kids that go onto that show and hope to have a career like Kelly [Clarkson] or Carrie [underwood] — or even me. Because you just can't do that when you're an afterthought on a show."

john.moser@mcall.com

610-820-6722

CLAY AIKEN 'JOYFUL NOISE' TOUR

•What: "American Idol" runner-up sings holiday songs with an orchestra.

•When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 4

•Where: Musikfest Cafe, ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem

•How much: Sold out.

•Info: http://www.artsquest.org, 610-332-1300

Copyright © 2012, The Morning Call

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jmh123 Chairman

jmh123

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You rock ldyj!!!! Fear, you have no idea the relaxation mantras I had to do all day yesterday! And was all wound up again by the time I got home. But in a good way.

Off to NY tomorrow, only one more concert, but looking forward to visiting friends and relaxing for realz! Just gotta get to the plane.

ETA: made it! I'm at RDU enjoying the only free wi-fi I'll probably see til I get to my destination.

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ldyjocelyn Campaign Manager

ldyjocelyn

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Found this on CV, a review of the Durham concert from a lady who posts on a lap-band (weight loss) board. This is why CA was good for Clay:

Clay Aiken Concert Review

Clay Aiken Concert Review

Posted by ♥carolinagirl♥, November 30, 2012

Believe it or not (me and hub are metal heads...gimme ac/dc or van hagar and judas priest) but I loved Clay and his voice in person is better than anyone can imagine. (started liking him after seeing him on Celebrity Apprentice).

It was a one man show with a terrific orchestra. I never saw an orchestra play before. It was very intimate. The Dpac is not very large so we were all close to him. He was his usual quick witted self with a few one on one moments with audience members. The two hours flew by with no intermission. I could not believe it was over when it was over.

He offered one woman who flew from Japan the night before to see this concert free tickets to the next night's concert, and a 5 o'clock meet and greet to an audience member from Brazil for the next performance.

My favorite moment song was "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day".

The audience sung him happy birthday when he first walked on stage and Clay walks off, comes back and then walks off again and comes back with a cassette player and turns it on and sings.

Hub went to (go with me)

Clay asked the 4 men in the front (where we were) did you come on your own because you liked me or because you were dragged there and told them to raise their hands..

guess what my hubby did........

Loved the last part...

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