Caption this picture....

Max Hsu and Shaun Shankel are to blame for this. (See previous blog entry.) I know there are people who hate the picture below, but it's one of my favorites. I just had an epiphany a day or two ago about this hair. I realized that it was a deliberate shout out to a particular fan of his; it appeared first on the website of the symphony of her hometown, Detroit. It's on my second (or third?) favorite t-shirt - for the 2005 Christmas Tour.

How do you like my hair, CAP121?

For the three people reading this who don't know, CAP121's language about Clay's hair on any given day can be quite colorful, and she isn't easy to please.

So why do I love this picture so much? Let's take a closer look:



It's the eyes. Almost a smile but not quite, more of a smile than we saw on AI5 as he came on stage behind Sandecki. An enigmatic and attractive smile, but the eyes are what I love. They say, "Do your worst, I do not care."

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Shaun Shankel Max Hsu mohawk

Children in Need

Clay blogged today to talk about UNICEF's efforts in the current mid-east war. Thanks for the reminder, Clay. Once again, children are suffering the most in this situation. Regardless of your feelings about the conflict, those children will appreciate your help if you are willing and able to give.

UNICEF

Here is a link to donate.

Update - in around 24 hours, the Clay Nation donated $47,556.96. We rock!

Another update - today (Monday, July 31) the total is $66,723.12. Plus the matching donation from Rosie O'Donnell of $47,000.


Technorati tags: UNICEF Clay Aiken

Something Completely Different - Sumo

On the Clack House, to pass the time waiting for word on Clay's album release date, we were posting about encounters with famous people. I'd already posted my short list when djs111 posted this:

I did see Akebono and Musashimaru outside the sumo arena in Tokyo.

I immediately scribbled out a new post, and starting uploading photos. About that time, lots of exciting things happened. It was announced that there was a winner of the "guess the initials of the new album" contest, then the winner posted about her conversation with Clay, and then Clay blogged. So I decided to spare my fellow fans the details of my brushes with sumo greatness, and blog about them instead.

Now by the time I'm done, you'll be thinking I was some kind of sumo groupie, but it wasn't like that. Just dumb luck.

So, here I am with the first non-Japanese Yokozuna (top ranked wrestler), Akebono, born Chad Rowan in Hawaii.



(Where I am, you ask? Well you can't be incognito and post your own picture on the freaking internet, now can you? You'll just have to take my word for it.)

Here "we" are again:



When I brought the film with the Akebono photos into the photo processing kiosk up the street, I thought the owner was going to have conniption fits. I was treated like royalty forever after.

Here's Akebono with his game face on:


6' 8" tall, 540 pounds. He'd make Ruben look like a little pixie.

Now Akebono was a lovely man, unassuming and dedicated to the sport, but my favorite was Mainoumi. Here we are together (minus me, of course):



I liked Mainoumi because he was small but scrappy, like me. He could triumph over really, really big guys, like the morbidly obese Konishiki:



The other wrestlers said Mainoumi could stick to the dohyo like he had glue on his feet. It was still a struggle for him because he was so small, and he had the misfortune of having Konishiki fall on him once. Not good. Even though the broken leg healed, he was never quite the same and eventually he retired. Here's a shot of Akebono cutting off a lock of Mainoumi's hair at his retirement ceremony, broadcast on Japanese television.



Since he retired, he's become a famous Japanese television personality; minus the sumo attire and hair-do he looks like this:



His wedding was televised too. Sumo wrestlers are huge celebrities in Japan. But, as I said, I was lucky. Here I am (invisibly speaking) with another Yokozuna, Wakanohana:



Wakanohana and his brother Takanohana were Yokozunas at the same time, a rare event indeed. Their father had also been a Yokozuna, and ran the biggest sumo "stable" in Japan. (Sounds like a place for animals, doesn't it?)

Sometimes the wrestlers can let their hair down, like when they are traveling for exhibitions:



Yup, I took that picture "backstage". Now why couldn't I ever be backstage during a Clay Aiken concert??

I had some other great sumo moments, such as a number of social occasions with the esteemed gyoji Shozaburo:



He'd probably tell you about how difficult I was to feed, as I refused to touch anything remotely exotic. One of my funniest moments was watching how uncomfortable he was in a donut shop. Shozaburo's name changed when he was promoted, and then he retired too.

What else? Well, I went to a kareoke bar once with Daishi, who loved to sing Whitney Houston, and was very, very good.



Here's Daishi singing traditional sumo songs:



I don't have any photos of the time some of us took a bunch of wrestlers out to dinner. The bill was outrageous, and the menu very squicky. Imagine a large hibachi in the middle of the table with about 20 beef tongues on it, looking exactly like what they were. Ew.

I never did get to meet the wrestler I thought was the hottest: the Wolf, Chiyonofuji. He was retired by then, and a famous stable-master. Here he is before his retirement, in Peru:



And in the special ring-entering ceremony for Yokozuna:



Rawr.

So that's my story of hob-nobbing with the very famous in Japan. How did I do it? Connections. What can I say? Luck. Now if only I were lucky enough to have that kind of connection with the Aiken. Sigh.


Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clack House sumo Akebono Mainoumi Konishiki Chiyonofuji Shozaburo

Most of these photos I did not take, and those do not belong to me. The ones with me in them (invisibly) do belong to me. Photos copyrighted to those who own them.

On Being Cool, or "those on the edge don't follow the crowd"

My favorite quote from one of the founding members of the Korean fansite I mentioned here (International Fans) is:

For us, there is no 'cool/not cool' standard. If you like the song and the singer can sing, that's "cool".

Not too many people will argue that Clay Aiken is “cool”, or that being a Clay Aiken fan is “cool” either. What’s “cool”, when it comes to Clay, is to make bad jokes about him and his fans, to blog about every little piece of unsubstantiated gossip you can find, or even better--to make up stories about him and post them on the internet where they’ll be picked up and spread around. What’s “cool” is to make a living dissing Clay and other celebrities, like a certain celebrity gossip blogger has done.

Gee, do I wish I were “cool” like Conan O'Brien, Kathy Griffin, and Mario Lavandiera?







Or would I rather be a fan of this guy?



Duh.

What about you? Would you rather be a fan of someone who makes a living putting other people down, or of someone who is dedicated to raising people up?



Like Bloomingclay from Korea, Clay Aiken fans do not care what is cool, and neither does Clay.

I didn't mind if the other teenagers who worked for me occasionally laughed at me.... Kids don't need lessons in cool. They need to have fun. --Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life

Allison Glock, who ended up helping Clay write Learning to Sing, said in Elle:

Aiken's ignorance of all things hot translates into a doofy authenticity and a captivating vulnerability. He's so uncool, he's cool.*

Long ago, just as Measure of a Man was coming out, RCA executive Richard Sanders was quoted in a Time feature thusly:

Americans buy more vanilla ice cream than any other flavor. Yes, they like their Rocky Road and Cherry Garcia, but ultimately America wants to consume vanilla. So we're going to sell the best vanilla.*

In response, a group of his fans arranged to have several pints of Ben & Jerry's "Vanilla for a Change" ice cream delivered to RCA with the following note:

To Clive Davis and staff:

Those on the edge don't follow the crowd. Try some "Vanilla for a Change," and Let Clay be Clay.

and to the author of the Time article, this note:

Mr. Tyrangiel,
We want to write to thank you for your recent story on Clay Aiken. What we feel you may have overlooked is that Clay Aiken actually has a very sophisticated and internet-savvy fan base. Our tastes in music aren't pedestrian, quite the opposite. We feel that when the envelope has been pushed so far that those on the "edge" produce music as monotonously rhythmic and sexual as bad pornography, perhaps the true edge lies in the other direction.

Put simply, we've been starved for the cool, clean, sensual taste of vanilla...

And we're not alone. There is a reason Clay sold over 900,000 singles and why thousands of fans worldwide are meeting on October 14th to celebrate the release of his first album. It IS a revolution.

If Clay Aiken is indeed vanilla, he's a richly textured delight to the senses. Clay's fans appreciate a fine vanilla and have made our tastes known by having some excellent Vanilla ice cream delivered to the executives of RCA today. We sent cartons of Ben & Jerry's "Vanilla for a Change." It just felt appropriate.

The Clackhouse,
a Division of The People's Republic of Clay

So, to all those whose blogs are dripping with sarcasm and "cool" comments about Clay and his fans, to all the comedians with your cheap jokes about Clay: this is what is really cool:




___________________________
*Aching for Aiken, by Allison Glock. Elle; October, 2003.

**Building a Better Pop Star, by Josh Tyrangiel. Time; 10/13/2003, Vol. 162 Issue 15, p72-76.

Clay Aiken Clay Aiken fans Conan O'Brien Kathy Griffin Mario Lavandiera Perez Hilton Allison Glock Elle Learning to Sing Josh Tyrangiel Time Banda Aceh