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# 71: We're Happy with Clay, and What Else Matters!


ldyjocelyn

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As per New Year's Eve tradition, I always like to post the timeline from FCA, with all of Clay's activities for the year.  This one was a bit light, except for Grease!  Anyway, here it is -- and I'm starting 2020's timeline as soon as this is posted!

  • January 5 -- Clay starts the year in New York City, attending one of the last shows of Once on this Island on Broadway.
  • January 8 -- On a very sad note, Catherine Clayton Aiken, Clay's Granny (and Faye's Mom) died in the overnight hours.  She famously appeared with Clay on Martha Stewart's talk show in 2006.
  • February 21 -- After having the announcement that Clay's Drop the Mic episode come up earlier in the year, Clay retweets that the episode won't be shown. His battle with Ian Ziering was paired with a battle starring Jussie Smollett, who was part of a allegedly faked attack on him in Chicago.  Hence, no show for Clay -- which is too bad, because he won!
  • February 25 -- James Corden (executive producer of Drop the Mic) tweeted, Facebooked, and Instagrammed Clay's DTM battle.  Corden has a huge social media following, so this was great.  Clay also sits for an interview with The Hill website, to talk about the Trump administration (and homosexuality) and the Jussie Smollett event.
  • February 28 -- Clay LIVE on Facebook!  He announces that the musical entertainment for the Gala this year is the "lost" On My Way Here concert!
  • March 2 -- "Not Supposed to Love You Anymore," via Instagram, with Michael Ormond -- live from Las Vegas!
  • April 24 -- The National Inclusion Project announces a fundraising goal for the Gala.  If donations top $5000, "Forget I Ever Knew You" (a bonus song from On My Way Here) will be live streamed for all the fans.  If $7500 is reached, a second surprise song will be streamed.
  • May 2 -- Live stream goal number 1 reached!
  • May 2 -- Live stream goal number 2 reached!
  • May 16 -- Clay is the surprise guest host at the Triangle Rising Stars Awards in Raleigh.
  • May 17 --  The National Inclusion Project preparty, held at Fitzgerald's in Charlotte.  Clay mingles and says "hey" to everyone there, and gives a speech thanking everyone for their support.  
  • May 18 -- The newly renamed "National Inclusion Project Founder's Gala" is held in Charlotte, NC.  There was a semi-workshop during the day.  At night, Jerome Bell (Clay's former bodyguard) gave a touching speech.  Then Clay sang every song from the album On My Way Here.  He live streamed "Forget I Ever Knew You" and "The Real Me" as reward to fans for fundraising goals being reached.
  • May 20 -- Clay announces, via Twitter and Instagram, that he's playing "Teen Angel" in Grease, being held at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The dates are June 7-16.
  • June 6 -- Clay does a brief Facebook video for the Pittsburgh CLO, asking people to come to the show!
  • June 7 -- The premiere of Grease.
  • June 8 -- 2 shows of Grease.  He also posted a brief Instagram story.
  • June 9 -- 2 shows of Grease.  Today is also the day we find out that Harlem (Clay's dog) is with him in Pittsburgh.
  • June 10 -- Clay's a hit!  Two reviews in local Pittsburgh newspapers (the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh CityPaper) give Clay glowing marks.
  • June 11 -- Two media appearances to promote Clay's appearance with the Pittsburgh CLO.  One's a TV interview with the local CBS station, the other a radio interview on 100.7.  At night, a single show of Grease.
  • June 12 -- Single show of Grease
  • June 13 -- Single show of Grease
  • June 14 -- Single show of Grease
  • June 15 -- 2 shows of Grease
  • June 16 -- Final show of Grease, an afternoon matinee.
  • June 22 — A lovely version of “Somewhere Out There” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” was Instagrammed Live by Clay.
  • August 2 -- A picture posted on Facebook has Clay at a private birthday party in Illinois.  
  • August 24 —A “Memory” was made when Clay sang the song from Cats, via Instagram.
  • October 10 -- CNN publishes an opinion piece written by Clay.  The title really says it all:  Clay Aiken: Why I Support Joe Biden, Our Strongest Ally.
  • October 12 -- Clay is the special guest at the United Arts 30th Anniversary Gala, supporting the United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County.  It's held at the Talley Student Center Ballroom, North Carolina State University.  He performs!
  • October 14 -- The Power of Play Conference (sponsored by the National Inclusion Project) is held in Raleigh, and Clay attends.
  • October 17 -- Now This News publishes a video on Senator Thom Tillis, narrated by Clay.
  • October 26 -- Day one of Politicon in Nashville, TN.  Clay is involved in 3 events on this day:  moderating a discussion between Ana Kasparian and Tomi Lehren; a panel on speech writing with David Frum and Sarada Peri; and supervising "The Impeachment Debate" between Vanderbilt and TSU (who won!).  He also did a short radio/podcast interview for iHeart Radio, where he announced that he and Ruben are recording "O Holy Night."  It will be released in time for the Christmas holidays!
  • October 27 -- Day two of Politicon in Nashville. Clay moderates a discussion between Chris Hahn and Michael Knowles entitled "Unfinished Business" -- fan attendees say this one got pretty heated between those in the audience and the people on the stage.
  • November 8 -- Clay and Ruben both tweet/instagram a picture with a link: they have released "O Holy Night" (arranged by Ben Cohn) as a duet single!  This version was the finale of the Broadway show last year.  It's available to stream on Spotify, Tidal and purchase via Amazon music.
  • November 11 -- "O Holy Night" is available for purchase via iTunes.
  • November 23 -- Clay is part of the Raleigh Christmas parade, as a co-host of part of the televised portion.  He also does a "Carpool Karaoke" segment, featuring Miss North Carolina 2019 Alexandra Badgett and current First Lady of North Carolina, Kristin Cooper.
  • December 11 -- An appearance on The View (ABC) with Ruben.  They sing "O Holy Night."
  • December 24 -- The View appearance is rerun.
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Happy New Year a few days late.  :handshake: Like Clay I am hoping it will be a better year. Planning on going to the Gala this spring. Got some awesome tickets to the Men's' short program at the US Championships in a few weeks. Got some pretty close to the rink seats. Would have gone to some more programs but not crazy about driving much at night. Now if Clay was performing nearby I would be willing to drive to more than one show. 

Felt my age this year decorating in the house and lights outside. Everything is back up in the attic except for a small tree I forgot about. I'll get it put away tomorrow. 

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I keep a ton of email as well.  But I've been cleaning emails of a different sort -- I've been unsubscribing to MANY of the email lists I've ended up over the years.  With the new Apple watch, I was getting notifications every minute or so from my gmail account, and most of them were spammy type things.  So I've spend the past week or so either unsubscribing entirely, or saying "please send me one or two a month, rather than 3 a week."  Hopefully I'll catch all of them within a month's time!

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If anyone cares I’m appalled at the way Harry and Meghan went about making the announcement.   Comes across as so selfish and entitled!  I’m a huge royalist and all I can say is goodbye and good luck and a goldfish bowl is still a goldfish bowl even if you move it!

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Sorry I haven't posted in a while...part of it was just trying to get back into the swing of things at work, part of just general malaise.

The weather here has been all over.  One day it's almost 60 degrees, the next it's 20 and snowing.  Throw in some freezing rain once in a while too.

ninna, I'm starting to be a real nervous Nelly regarding driving in snow, although for me, it's actually more about the walking to and from my car than anything else.  After having hip replacement surgery, I don't trust almost any pavement anymore.

merrieeee, I don't quite know what to think regarding the whole royal thing.  I do think the British press has treated Meghan way more unfairly than any other royal in history.  I saw a FB post yesterday that compared headlines between something Kate did and the same thing that Meghan did, and it was eye-opening.  What I don't like about it was that they just kind of sprung it up on the rest of the family without consulting them.  :shrug:

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