I would like to share with you an important source of information of all kinds about Clay.
"Clay's Daily Double" is a blog updated on a daily basis, with information as well as follow-ups on rumors and gossip about Clay. One can subscribe to a weekly e-newsletter or a daily digest, and the site offers a weekly poll as well. I always find information there that I don't see anywhere else - the person in charge is really up on Clay news!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Me and Clay's Jukebox tour (Part 3)
Hello everyone,
Here is part 3 of my account of a Clay concert last summer. (If you like, you can read Part 1 and Part 2 of "Me and Clay's Jukebox tour".)
At the beginning of the concert, Clay joked that he would be doing a marathon concert, singing all night. The crowd went nuts, roaring our approval! I would have loved it, myself. The almost four-hour concert (including breaks) flew by for me - it seemed to last only minutes. But by the end, I actually didn't want Clay to sing anymore - for him, not for me! That's because we could tell his voice was going hoarse - it was cracking, and I felt bad that he was giving us so much of himself that he was actually paying for it personally. His throat must have been hurting. Although he seems to love what he does, so that was reassuring.
There were only two moments during which I felt uncomfortable, in that they didn't seem true to Clay and his spirit. One was the infamous "Clangela" dance, in which Clay spooned one of his singers, Angela Fisher, and danced together with her in a way that was quite suggestive: more grinding than dancing, actually. It rang untrue to me, unbecoming of Clay. Not that he can't be sexual or sensual! That's fine, and he has as much right as any one of us to express his sensuality. I'm just saying that from what I know of Clay, he is quite private about the intimate aspects of his life, so that dance just didn't jive with what I understand to be his values and usual behaviour.
Also: during the break I checked out the gift booth, in case I felt like purchasing some momento from the concert. I didn't - nothing appealed to me much. But I noticed a g-string underwear, with something like "I love Clay" written on it. Again, just like the Clangela dance, that didn't jive for me with what I know and understand of Clay. G-string underwear, Clay? With his name written on the crotch, no less? And yet, since his name is on the product, he must have given his stamp of approval to sell it, so I suppose he is ok with it.
Clay must have his reasons, and honestly, who am I to say anything about them? I'm just sharing what went through my mind during this incredible evening - the good (99% of the time) and the not-so-good (1% of the time).
One of the high points for me was listening to the world premiere of "Tears Run Dry", one of Clay's new songs which will probably be included on his upcoming album. I loved that song from the first few bars! I find it really shows the range and depth of Clay's voice, and I love the rugged quality in his voice one hears towards the end of the song. You can listen to Tears Run Dry by downloading it here from the All Things Clay Aiken Web site.
Another thing I loved about hearing this song is that it was a world premiere, so no one had ever heard it - hence, no annoying people singing/screaming along with him throughout the song... I was actually lucky, in that for almost all of the concert, I had quiet people next to, in front of and behind me, just enjoying the music as I was. Towards the very end, not sure why, two young sisters (maybe 8 and 10 years old) moved into the seats behind me and decided they had to sing along with Clay, every lyric of every song! And they had no ear, singing off-key the entire time. Plus, at the end of each song, the older girl whistled - not regular whistling, but the kind one does with two fingers in the mouth. At least they weren't there long, so it was not enough to ruin my evening. :-) Plus, they were kids, and my level of patience is always far higher with kids than with adults. If they had been of major age, they would have had an earful from me.
When it was clear it was the very end of the concert, I began to feel sad, wondering when I would see Clay again. As he left the stage, I blew him a kiss, not caring what anyone would think. And the smile I wore since the beginning of the concert never left me, neither at the end nor in the days that followed! Even the manager of the hotel where I was staying noticed my huge smile when I walked in, close to midnight that evening.
Clay's voice and joyful presence just rub off, making me - and many others around him - feel happiness and a deep sense of peace in our lives.
When is Clay coming back to Canada? Clay, will it happen? I hope it will be soon. :-) If not, I will just have to travel again, head on somewhere down the highway, because I can't wait to see Clay again in person. He's the best!
Here is part 3 of my account of a Clay concert last summer. (If you like, you can read Part 1 and Part 2 of "Me and Clay's Jukebox tour".)
At the beginning of the concert, Clay joked that he would be doing a marathon concert, singing all night. The crowd went nuts, roaring our approval! I would have loved it, myself. The almost four-hour concert (including breaks) flew by for me - it seemed to last only minutes. But by the end, I actually didn't want Clay to sing anymore - for him, not for me! That's because we could tell his voice was going hoarse - it was cracking, and I felt bad that he was giving us so much of himself that he was actually paying for it personally. His throat must have been hurting. Although he seems to love what he does, so that was reassuring.
There were only two moments during which I felt uncomfortable, in that they didn't seem true to Clay and his spirit. One was the infamous "Clangela" dance, in which Clay spooned one of his singers, Angela Fisher, and danced together with her in a way that was quite suggestive: more grinding than dancing, actually. It rang untrue to me, unbecoming of Clay. Not that he can't be sexual or sensual! That's fine, and he has as much right as any one of us to express his sensuality. I'm just saying that from what I know of Clay, he is quite private about the intimate aspects of his life, so that dance just didn't jive with what I understand to be his values and usual behaviour.
Also: during the break I checked out the gift booth, in case I felt like purchasing some momento from the concert. I didn't - nothing appealed to me much. But I noticed a g-string underwear, with something like "I love Clay" written on it. Again, just like the Clangela dance, that didn't jive for me with what I know and understand of Clay. G-string underwear, Clay? With his name written on the crotch, no less? And yet, since his name is on the product, he must have given his stamp of approval to sell it, so I suppose he is ok with it.
Clay must have his reasons, and honestly, who am I to say anything about them? I'm just sharing what went through my mind during this incredible evening - the good (99% of the time) and the not-so-good (1% of the time).
One of the high points for me was listening to the world premiere of "Tears Run Dry", one of Clay's new songs which will probably be included on his upcoming album. I loved that song from the first few bars! I find it really shows the range and depth of Clay's voice, and I love the rugged quality in his voice one hears towards the end of the song. You can listen to Tears Run Dry by downloading it here from the All Things Clay Aiken Web site.
Another thing I loved about hearing this song is that it was a world premiere, so no one had ever heard it - hence, no annoying people singing/screaming along with him throughout the song... I was actually lucky, in that for almost all of the concert, I had quiet people next to, in front of and behind me, just enjoying the music as I was. Towards the very end, not sure why, two young sisters (maybe 8 and 10 years old) moved into the seats behind me and decided they had to sing along with Clay, every lyric of every song! And they had no ear, singing off-key the entire time. Plus, at the end of each song, the older girl whistled - not regular whistling, but the kind one does with two fingers in the mouth. At least they weren't there long, so it was not enough to ruin my evening. :-) Plus, they were kids, and my level of patience is always far higher with kids than with adults. If they had been of major age, they would have had an earful from me.
When it was clear it was the very end of the concert, I began to feel sad, wondering when I would see Clay again. As he left the stage, I blew him a kiss, not caring what anyone would think. And the smile I wore since the beginning of the concert never left me, neither at the end nor in the days that followed! Even the manager of the hotel where I was staying noticed my huge smile when I walked in, close to midnight that evening.
Clay's voice and joyful presence just rub off, making me - and many others around him - feel happiness and a deep sense of peace in our lives.
When is Clay coming back to Canada? Clay, will it happen? I hope it will be soon. :-) If not, I will just have to travel again, head on somewhere down the highway, because I can't wait to see Clay again in person. He's the best!
Friday, February 10, 2006
Me and Clay's Jukebox tour (Part 2)
Hello everyone,
(Here is part 2 of my account of a Clay concert last summer. You can read Part 1 of "Me and Clay's Jukebox tour" here.)
I took my seat, in the middle of the third block of seats away from the stage (and yes, I tried to move up into the second block, but there were guards posted *sigh*). I could see all of the stage, which was great, but people and things on it were quite small. Thank goodness for my binoculars - what an idea to take those with me! There was a jukebox on stage, and I kept thinking to myself - "am I really going to see Clay Aiken live, here, in the next few minutes?" It seemed hard to believe that I was soon to be in such close proximity to the young man I have come to admire since that famous audition in January of 2003, when he brought tears to my eyes...
The band members came onstage and struck up a few chords, then ... sweet Clay himself came on out and greeted us warmly. Beyond my control, tears were streaming down my cheeks, past my wide grin, over and over again. It was an automatic reaction, like when I first heard Clay sing : his presence, his voice, his smile - they inspire such happiness and emotion in me that I can't help smiling and tearing up at the same time!
And I smiled all evening, until the very last song and beyond into the night and the next few days. I loved the fact that there were people (mostly women and girls) of all ages in the audience. On my way to the concert, I was sure I would be the oldest person there (I'm in my early forties), and that I would be surrounded by a bunch of teeny-boppers. I was even slightly embarrassed to tell anyone I was going to a Clay Aiken concert. I was wrong - there were many teens and pre-teens, but most of the fans present were adults, from barely adult to seniors.
The concert was tremendous: Clay catered to all of us, from all generations. The older women were boogeying and clapping when Clay sang Elvis, whereas I especially loved his 60s and 70s medlies. In fact, I loved the entire concert - as far as I'm concerned, Clay could sing the phone book and I would be there, paying to hear him sing! I don't even like Elvis particularly, but I loved Clay's renditions of some of Elvis' classics. I don't think I have heard one song ever in which I preferred the original to Clay's interpretation. He's that good, to my ears, that he even improves on musical classics. And yes, I do have an ear for music, so I can tell (I almost became a professional classical musician in my younger life - I didn't because I decided that social and community action was more important to me).
I especially love when Clay sings Elton John and James Taylor, two singer-songwriters I have always held among my top ten favourites. Yet Clay sings them... better than they do! Yikes, some will say that's sacrilegious... so be it.
Clay has such a great stage presence and amazing rapport with his audience. I had heard that, and I could easily anticipate that someone as sociable, sensitive, funny and compassionate as he is would have been wonderful onstage. I was not disappointed! Clay talked to us, chatted us up, cracked jokes, laughed at himself ("I think my feet have grown again") - basically made us feel like he was talking directly to each one of us and only us. An incredible humanity, an astounding talent, an endearing human being. That's Clay!
More to come in Part 3...
(Here is part 2 of my account of a Clay concert last summer. You can read Part 1 of "Me and Clay's Jukebox tour" here.)
I took my seat, in the middle of the third block of seats away from the stage (and yes, I tried to move up into the second block, but there were guards posted *sigh*). I could see all of the stage, which was great, but people and things on it were quite small. Thank goodness for my binoculars - what an idea to take those with me! There was a jukebox on stage, and I kept thinking to myself - "am I really going to see Clay Aiken live, here, in the next few minutes?" It seemed hard to believe that I was soon to be in such close proximity to the young man I have come to admire since that famous audition in January of 2003, when he brought tears to my eyes...
The band members came onstage and struck up a few chords, then ... sweet Clay himself came on out and greeted us warmly. Beyond my control, tears were streaming down my cheeks, past my wide grin, over and over again. It was an automatic reaction, like when I first heard Clay sing : his presence, his voice, his smile - they inspire such happiness and emotion in me that I can't help smiling and tearing up at the same time!
And I smiled all evening, until the very last song and beyond into the night and the next few days. I loved the fact that there were people (mostly women and girls) of all ages in the audience. On my way to the concert, I was sure I would be the oldest person there (I'm in my early forties), and that I would be surrounded by a bunch of teeny-boppers. I was even slightly embarrassed to tell anyone I was going to a Clay Aiken concert. I was wrong - there were many teens and pre-teens, but most of the fans present were adults, from barely adult to seniors.
The concert was tremendous: Clay catered to all of us, from all generations. The older women were boogeying and clapping when Clay sang Elvis, whereas I especially loved his 60s and 70s medlies. In fact, I loved the entire concert - as far as I'm concerned, Clay could sing the phone book and I would be there, paying to hear him sing! I don't even like Elvis particularly, but I loved Clay's renditions of some of Elvis' classics. I don't think I have heard one song ever in which I preferred the original to Clay's interpretation. He's that good, to my ears, that he even improves on musical classics. And yes, I do have an ear for music, so I can tell (I almost became a professional classical musician in my younger life - I didn't because I decided that social and community action was more important to me).
I especially love when Clay sings Elton John and James Taylor, two singer-songwriters I have always held among my top ten favourites. Yet Clay sings them... better than they do! Yikes, some will say that's sacrilegious... so be it.
Clay has such a great stage presence and amazing rapport with his audience. I had heard that, and I could easily anticipate that someone as sociable, sensitive, funny and compassionate as he is would have been wonderful onstage. I was not disappointed! Clay talked to us, chatted us up, cracked jokes, laughed at himself ("I think my feet have grown again") - basically made us feel like he was talking directly to each one of us and only us. An incredible humanity, an astounding talent, an endearing human being. That's Clay!
More to come in Part 3...
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Me and Clay's Jukebox tour (Part 1)
Hello everyone,
This is a relatively quiet time for Clay fans, since he is not touring at the moment, nor is he so much in the public eye through his social action commitments. And Clay's new album is only set to be released ... sometime this spring (we await with bated breath!).
So my thoughts return to a lazy warm day last summer when I had the great fortune to attend, for the first time ever (but not the last!), a Clay Aiken concert. It was an incredibly memorable experience, one of the best - if not the best - concerts I have ever attended in my life. And I'm no spring chicken, so I have seen a few.
Clay and his band were most of the way through the "Jukebox Tour" - a retrospective of five decades of rock and pop music. I hesitated for a month or two after the tour was announced (I now can't believe I actually hesitated!) before buying a ticket, arranging to get time off at work that day, reserve a hotel room and get myself to the other city, where the concert was held.
I headed down the highway in the late morning, a sunny, hazy day. A number of hours later, after checking into my hotel room and leaving my overnight bag, I headed out towards the venue on the waterfront, where Clay would be in just a couple of sweet hours. I had bought my ticket online some time before, but since I hadn't purchased it right away when tickets went on sale, it wasn't the best seat - far from it. I intended to upgrade my ticket when I reached the ticket office of the venue, because I really wanted to be as close as possible to the stage. And usually when one is alone, getting one little seat up front is not a problem... Well, congrats to this venue, they made it a problem.
After arriving at the front gate, I asked a young lady at the ticket counter whether I could upgrade my ticket. She told me she was in charge of general tickets for the venue, not Clay Aiken concert tickets (!?). "Go further inside the site, to the Clay Aiken ticket counter", she said. So walk inside I did. And walked, and walked. Never to see another ticket counter. Only a checkpoint, where my backpack was searched, my ticket verified, and I was shooed on past turnstiles, into the venue itself. Once inside, I asked an attendant where the Clay Aiken ticket counter was, since I was told to go there to upgrade my ticket. "You have to go back towards the entry, where the ticket counter is". So back I went - only to be told at the checkpoint "no one leaves here now". When I explained that I just wanted to find the Clay ticket counter to upgrade my ticket: "no exceptions - you may not leave". I was fuming! How can they be so disorganized as to not direct a person to the right place. Sheesh, I was willing to pay top dollar to upgrade my ticket - seems to me they would want to help? And I was annoyed with myself: how come I never saw it on my way in? I am not a distracted person, and on top of things, I was paying special attention because I really wanted to find that counter! It was ridiculous. But after a few moments of internal griping to myself, I decided I was there to see Clay, and if it was to be from afar, so be it. I had brought binoculars, in case! And I learned my lesson for next time. So I went back to my seat, determined to thoroughly enjoy the show.
And did I ever enjoy it! I grinned from ear to ear throughout the almost-four-hour show, so much so that my cheeks were hurting at the end of the evening from so much smiling! What sheer bliss that show was - and what a joy Clay is in person, even more so than when I have "seen" him before (on TV, etc.).
More to come in Part 2...
This is a relatively quiet time for Clay fans, since he is not touring at the moment, nor is he so much in the public eye through his social action commitments. And Clay's new album is only set to be released ... sometime this spring (we await with bated breath!).
So my thoughts return to a lazy warm day last summer when I had the great fortune to attend, for the first time ever (but not the last!), a Clay Aiken concert. It was an incredibly memorable experience, one of the best - if not the best - concerts I have ever attended in my life. And I'm no spring chicken, so I have seen a few.
Clay and his band were most of the way through the "Jukebox Tour" - a retrospective of five decades of rock and pop music. I hesitated for a month or two after the tour was announced (I now can't believe I actually hesitated!) before buying a ticket, arranging to get time off at work that day, reserve a hotel room and get myself to the other city, where the concert was held.
I headed down the highway in the late morning, a sunny, hazy day. A number of hours later, after checking into my hotel room and leaving my overnight bag, I headed out towards the venue on the waterfront, where Clay would be in just a couple of sweet hours. I had bought my ticket online some time before, but since I hadn't purchased it right away when tickets went on sale, it wasn't the best seat - far from it. I intended to upgrade my ticket when I reached the ticket office of the venue, because I really wanted to be as close as possible to the stage. And usually when one is alone, getting one little seat up front is not a problem... Well, congrats to this venue, they made it a problem.
After arriving at the front gate, I asked a young lady at the ticket counter whether I could upgrade my ticket. She told me she was in charge of general tickets for the venue, not Clay Aiken concert tickets (!?). "Go further inside the site, to the Clay Aiken ticket counter", she said. So walk inside I did. And walked, and walked. Never to see another ticket counter. Only a checkpoint, where my backpack was searched, my ticket verified, and I was shooed on past turnstiles, into the venue itself. Once inside, I asked an attendant where the Clay Aiken ticket counter was, since I was told to go there to upgrade my ticket. "You have to go back towards the entry, where the ticket counter is". So back I went - only to be told at the checkpoint "no one leaves here now". When I explained that I just wanted to find the Clay ticket counter to upgrade my ticket: "no exceptions - you may not leave". I was fuming! How can they be so disorganized as to not direct a person to the right place. Sheesh, I was willing to pay top dollar to upgrade my ticket - seems to me they would want to help? And I was annoyed with myself: how come I never saw it on my way in? I am not a distracted person, and on top of things, I was paying special attention because I really wanted to find that counter! It was ridiculous. But after a few moments of internal griping to myself, I decided I was there to see Clay, and if it was to be from afar, so be it. I had brought binoculars, in case! And I learned my lesson for next time. So I went back to my seat, determined to thoroughly enjoy the show.
And did I ever enjoy it! I grinned from ear to ear throughout the almost-four-hour show, so much so that my cheeks were hurting at the end of the evening from so much smiling! What sheer bliss that show was - and what a joy Clay is in person, even more so than when I have "seen" him before (on TV, etc.).
More to come in Part 2...
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Has Clay Aiken changed your life?
Clay Aiken has certainly changed my life - has he changed yours? If so - a lot? Somewhat ? Completely? Or not at all?
Take my online poll to share your answer! You will find the poll in the right hand column of my blog - scroll down the page a bit to see it and vote.
Take my online poll to share your answer! You will find the poll in the right hand column of my blog - scroll down the page a bit to see it and vote.
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