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# 68: The Absurdly Charming Clay Aiken


ldyjocelyn

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I have NOTHING I have to do today for the first time in weeks! Might try to figure out windows 10, can't upload from my nook since I installed it. Could shift a little snow in case we get any more out of the storm coming in tonight and tomorrow. Love my tablet, cuz I don't have to get out of bed to get online.

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An early "throwback Thursday": 38 minutes of Clay in 2003 with the WRAL news team. How young he looked!

http://history.capitolbroadcasting.com/media-assets/american-idol-finalist-clay-aiken-appears-on-wral-morning-news/media/media.mp4/

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As you probably know, I keep the Clay Aiken timeline current at FCA. As you may also know, this is the time of the year when I post everything that transpired with Clay over the past 12 months. Here it is for 2015:

  • December 20 -- A final appearance on "Third Rail" (Al-Jazeera) for 2015. This panel discussion had the topics of Donald Trump's running for President (and if this was good for America) and also dealing with ISIS, and how many innocent people would be hurt by doing things like "carpet bombing."
  • December 11 -- Clay is part of the Hollywood Christmas Parade, which is broadcast on The CW network
  • November 24 -- "A Year in Pictures," an art opening with artworks by children with disabilities, will honor Clay. This exhibition will be at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York City.
  • November 22 -- Another appearance on "Third Rail" on Al-Jazeera. The topics for this episode were the acceptance of Syrian refugees into America, and the destigmatization of HIV in today's world.
  • November 16 -- A tweet! A great tweet! The web concert is scheduled for Monday, January 4, 2016 at 8 pm Eastern time!!!!
  • November 15 -- Clay and Keala Settle attend the play "Misery" on Broadway.
  • November 4 -- The non-profit organization Aid for AIDS holds a "My Hero Gala" in New York City, and Clay attends.
  • October 18 -- An appearance on "Third Rail" (Al-Jazeera network). Two issues were brought up during this panel discussion -- in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants, and training children to defend themselves during school shootings.
  • October 10 -- Day two of Politicon. His first appearance is a roundtable called "Celebrity Influence in Politics." During a quick break, Clay joins Reddit, and does an "Ask Me Anything" in the politics subreddit. "Big Money, Big Politics" is Clay's next panel discussion. Finally, he judges a series of multi-school roundtable debates.
  • October 9 -- His morning starts with an appearance about Politicon on KTLA's morning news show. Once Politicon starts (at the LA Convention Center), Clay is part of two events. The first is a showing of "The Runner-Up." The second is entitled "Religious Freedom: From Bakeries to Courthouses."
  • October 8 -- Clay appears on "Good Day LA" to publicize the Politicon event in Los Angeles. He also appears on CNN online to discuss Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
  • September 27 -- After being in NC all weekend, Clay flies back to New York City to attend the premiere of "Spring Awkening" on Broadway.
  • September 26 -- The National Inclusion Project Gala is formally held. The big news is Jerry Aiken's retirement as Executive Director, and the naming of Clay's good friend Nick Leisey as the new Executive Director. Congratulations Nick!
  • September 25 -- National Inclusion Project Gala Reception. The Project raised $82,000 with two auctions for "pizza/game night with Clay!"
  • September 16 -- The second Republican Debate is held in Simi Valley, California, and Clay is once again a contributor forEntertainment Tonight. He seemed to draw as much attention from the other media as the candidates themselves! He also did a short Periscope after the debate, waiting for the candidates to arrive in the Press Room.
  • August 29 -- Another Saturday night, another Periscope! This one was a gorgeous version of "Always on My Mind."
  • August 22 -- Clay Periscopes with Ben a version of "Open Arms," from somewhere in Canadia!
  • August 18 -- An appearance on "America Now with Meghan McCain," talking politics.
  • August 15 -- Clay is again working with American Idol, this time taking the place of Ryan Seacrest as a host/cheerleader for the contestants in Philadelphia. He later Periscopes, along with Ben Cohn. Clay sings "Somewhere" from West Side Story.
  • August 14 -- He attends a performance of "Dear Evan Hansen," a musical with Ben Cohn as musical director. The show is at the Arena Stage in Washington, DC.
  • August 11 -- Clay Persicopes from his car, as he heads into what looked to be a nasty storm.
  • August 10 -- A Periscope appearance with his cousin Jamie, who is coloring his gray hair! He also mentioned that he's got more work to do for American Idol. He also did a second Periscope, basically to announce that he was going to try live streaming on Facebook.
  • August 7 -- Another appearance on Entertainment Tonight with wrap-up coverage of the Republican debate the night before.
  • August 6 -- Clay is Entertainment Tonight's special political reporter, talking about Donald Trump's possible performance during tonight's Republican debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
  • August 3 -- An appearance on John Fogelsang's SiriusXM Insight Channel radio show.
  • August 2 -- American Idol calls, and asks Clay to be at the final season's auditions in Philadelphia. He accepts, and listens to several singers with Michael Orland, musical director of AI. Lots of pictures/tweets and a few videos.
  • July 21 -- Clay shows Periscope to his friend, author Allison Glock. Nothing earth shaking, although -- when asked if he was writing a book, he said, very softly, "maybe."
  • July 13 -- Clay takes Parker to see "Penn & Teller on Broadway" -- Parker's first Broadway show!
  • July 12 -- Ken Arpino (from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat") joins Clay for two Periscopes. The first has Clay showing Ken what Periscope is all about. The second? Clay's going out and he wants to wear sandals, but can't find his toe nail clippers. So what does he do? Uses scissors, and (yuck!) we watched!
  • July 6 -- Periscope! The first Periscope was a "non-starter," but the second one was a treasure trove of information. He, Benji and Parker were on the train from NC to NYC. Clay talked about incentives for people going to the Gala, talked about seeing "Jurrasic World" and "Inside Out," and sang a snippet of "Always and Forever." Parker was watching "The Lego Move"; Clay wouldn't let Parker's face be seen, but we got to hear Parker say "hi" to everyone, and saw that Parker was wearing a "Clay for NC" sticker on his shirt! He does one more Periscope later in the day, talking about the trip (and its lateness), we hear more from Benji about yoga, and the real treat -- Parker singing "Everything is Awesome!"
  • June 29 -- Clay blogs about the Supreme Court Ruling allowing non-partisan districting commissions for each state. This was an Arizona court case, but with this ruling, it becomes the law of the land.
  • June 26 -- LOVE WINS! The Supreme Court ruled in favor of same sex marriage, in a 5-4 decision. Clay was in North Carolina, but he called Larry Flick's radio show to give his take. He also appeared on "The Daily Share" (Headline News channel).
  • June 25 -- Another appearance on "The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick" on OutQ. Once again, no ruling on same sex marraige, but the Supreme Court did rule to uphold the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). Clay was in the studio with a panel to discuss this ruling, and also Donald Trump's entry into the presidential race.
  • June 22 -- Once again on "The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick," this time as part of a panel regarding the Supreme Court's rulings on same-sex marriage. However, the court didn't rule on it. This means Clay will be on again in a few days.
  • June 19 -- The first of a few appearances on "The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick" (Sirius XM radio, OutQ station). He spends approximately 40 minutes talking to Larry about tragic church shooting (and the racial motivations behind it) in Charlotte, SC on June 11, and also about his hopes for the Supreme Court's upcoming ruling on same-sex marriage.
  • June 18 -- He attends a Broadway show, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," and takes pictures with the cast.
  • June 13 -- Clay's best friend (and former financial manager for his campaign) Nick Leisey gets married! Clay tweets out a picture of Nick and his bride Courtney. Clay is supposedly a groomsman at the wedding.
  • June 7 -- A Periscope from Clay; it's him and Ruben walking down the street in NYC. It was cut short when people started to recognize them! They went to brunch at Melba's Restaurant in Harlem.
  • June 6 -- Clay attended "Something Rotten!" on Broadway, according to a tweet picture.
  • June 3 -- Two Periscopes from Clay, both from the New York City Botanical Gardens. The first is Clay and two friends (Dan and Tali) going through a rose garden. Clay talks (in, um, descriptive terms) about getting better from food poisoning. The second clip is the three at a stream and waterfall; Clay sings "Just Around the River Bend" and "Colors of the Wind" from the Disney movie "Pochahontas."
  • May 23 -- Clay appears on "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" (NPR), hosted by Peter Sagal. The segment has Clay answering questions about Claymation, and he also got to talk some about both American Idol and his run for office. In other news, he does three Periscopes. The first two are from his car, as he, Ben Cohn, and his friend Benji drive to a private concert in Maryland. The final of the evening is a performance from the concert of "On the Wings of Love." Woo!
  • May 21 -- The Periscope for the day is Clay taping his segment for "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" in his apartment. It was a phone interview. Sadly, for those who didn't get to watch live, this one wasn't saved for 24 hours!
  • May 20 -- "Celebrate Our Future" is a benefit for the Lower East Side Girls Club in New York City. Clay attends, and Periscopes part of the event to fans.
  • May 19 -- Clay goes to a diner with Jenny Hill (a cast member of Spamalot and a friend), and he introduces her to Periscope.
  • May 18 -- More Periscope adventures with Jamie and Brian, along with another friend, Dan, this time at the Hudson River. Finally, we see a Periscope with Jamie touching up Clay's hair by adding color to his roots!
  • May 17 -- Clay Periscopes an outing in New York City with his cousin Jamie and her husband Brian. One of the trips was to Chinatown, where they all end up getting pedicures. At the end of the day, Clay does one final Periscope to talk about the days adventures.
  • May 11 -- The new clayaiken.com goes live! It has several sections, including news articles on Clay, a great biography, a "causes" section, and blogs from Clay. In other news, Clay appears on Inside Edition to talk about the cancellation (in 2016) ofAmerican Idol.
  • April 28 -- Fourth and final episode of The Runner-Up. "I Approve This Message" focuses the one ad Clay's campaign produced. Should they go negative or stay positive? In the end, it went slightly negative, only to have factcheck.org question the validity. On election day, the campaign bus breaks down. The last few minutes are of the campaign staff watching the election results. (Spoiler alert: Clay doesn't win...) However, the last segment ends with Clay's triumphant appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher from April 17.
  • April 27 -- An appearance, surprisingly, on Howard Stern's Sirius XM Radio show. It is a wide-ranging interview, covering almost all of Clay's life. Clay talked freely about the Kelly Ripa incident of 2006, admitted his celebrity crush is Seth McFarlane, and also gave his true feelings on Rep. Renee Ellmers. This last comment garnered him some attention in the media. The entire interview exposed Clay to a new audience, very successfully.
  • April 25 -- According to Twitter and Instagram, Clay attended the Broadway show "Matilda."
  • April 21 -- Third episode of The Runner-Up. This episode is called "Into the Belly," and focuses on problems getting recognition from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). It also delves into the problems of being a gay candidate but not running on a "gay platform" (which many wanted him to do, but could jeopardize his chances in his conservative district). Finally, this episode shows Clay speaking at a Tea Party caucus -- hence the name of the episode.
  • April 20 -- Promotion continues with an appearance on the KTLA Morning News.
  • April 18 -- Clay is the honoree at the New Horizon's "Havana Nights" Gala Fundraiser. It will be held at Calamigos Ranch at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.
  • April 17 -- Clay starts the day with Access Holllywood Live. Then, an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO).
  • April 14 -- Second episode of The Runner-Up, entitled "Go for the Jugular." This episode focuses on the debate with Renee Ellmers -- all the prep work, trying to be authentic versus getting on Renee's nerves, and finally the actual debate. It also includes brief footage of the National Inclusion Project Gala and a fundraiser with Ruben Studdard and Fantasia.
  • April 13 -- Clay appears on C-SPAN talking about the documentary and takes calls. This was 45 minutes of Clay, without commercials, talking politics and the show...really top notch interview.
  • April 9 -- "Hope for the Future: A Community Conversation about NC Public Education" is held at the AIA North Carolina Center for Architecture & Design (Raleigh), with Clay as guest speaker. Sadly, on March 30, this event was cancelled, due to scheduling conflicts.
  • April 7 -- The Runner-Up premieres. It is a 4-part docu-series on the Esquire Network. The episode, entitled "Run, Clay, Run!," focuses on the primary run, and ends with Clay winning, with the sad circumstances of Keith Crisco's death hanging over it at the end. In other news, Clay appears on HuffPost Live.
  • April 6 -- Clay is interviewed by Jenny McCarthy on the SiriusXM Stars radio channel. He also makes the rounds on other SiriusXM shows, including Larry Flick's, Pete Dominick's and Sway's shows. He also appears on Thomas Robert's MSNBC show.
  • April 3 -- An excellent article about The Runner-Up appears on the Daily Beast website.
  • March 24 -- An appearance on Good Day New York to promote The Runner-Up. He also does a media junket that involves several print media.
  • March 23 -- Clay appears on MSNBC's show "Morning Joe," along with one of the producers of the docu-series.
  • March 17 -- A second appearance on CNN, this time on CNN Tonight.
  • March 16 -- He appeared on CNN, talking about the boycott of fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana by the LGBT community.
  • March 8 -- Clay is part of a committee that hosts a fundraiser for a film entitled "Roads to Olympia." This fundraiser is held in New York City.
  • February 7 -- Clay attends "Ping Pong for Public Ed" held at Morrisville, NC.
  • January 25 -- A long awaited blog from Clay! He reassures fans that he's not retiring from singing, several times. He also tells fans that he's going to be splitting living arrangements between North Carolina and New York City. Finally, he reveals that the OFC will be changing -- the message board will close and there will no longer be a fee to be part of it.
  • January 15 -- Clay attends the TV Critic's Association Press Tour, to help Esquire Network publicize the upcoming docu-series on his campaign. Many critics are in attendance, and the reception for the show is very good.

Happy New Year, One and All!

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Happy New Year! Hubby and I made it to midnight, but went to bed soon after.

Now watching the Rose Parade (streaming KTLA through Apple TV), but will be leaving soon to 1) go to Barnes and Noble (hubby gave me a gift certificate so I can buy some adult coloring materials); 2) go to see Star Wars again; and 3) go out for pizza (Friday night is always pizza night at our house; usually frozen, but every once in a while we go out!).

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I'm hoping quite a few people tune in. Having said that, I'm keeping my expectations fairly low on this, for some reason. I'm excited for the concert, don't get me wrong, and I think it will be fun.

Clay posted a video to his Facebook page. It's a clip from the old "Roseanne" show. I can't watch it now, as I'm getting ready for Downton Abbey, but will watch later....

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That was hella fun! I simply love watching Clay and Ben work together, and Clay sang some of my most favorite songs (I Don't Have the Heart being one of them).

Love that every one of us had a front row seat.

Also, I was wearing a hoodie to watch the show. Clay and I have a connection!

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Sorry, Clay. No season 7 but maybe a movie?

@clayaiken: First Patmore/Hughes scene of @downtonabbey season 6 is probably my favorite scene of the entire series. Please give us a season 7!!
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