Idle-wandering

More on the new album - webisode from mp3.com

2008-04-07T15:21:00.003-04:00

AOL First Listen - lead single

2008-04-07T02:09:00.002-04:00

Popeater: "On My Way Here" - Song Premiere

"Clay Aiken to Release Brand-New Album, On My Way Here, on May 6th 2008".

2008-04-04T21:23:00.004-04:00

EAGERLY AWAITED COLLECTION IS THE POP SUPERSTAR'S FIRST ALBUM OF ORIGINAL SONGS SINCE 2003
NEW YORK, April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Multi-platinum selling pop
singer Clay Aiken will release his fourth album, On My Way Here, on RCA
Records/19 Entertainment on May 6th, 2008. The collection is the
29-year-old Raleigh, NC, native's first album of original songs since his
2003 chart-topping, double- platinum debut Measure of a Man.

On My Way Here chronicles Aiken's experiences over the past five years,
ascending from popular contestant on the second season of American Idol to
pop superstar. The album's theme came to Aiken when he and his executive
producer Jaymes Foster fell in love with a song written by OneRepublic
frontman Ryan Tedder called "On My Way Here." The message of the lyrics --
how the lessons we learn while growing up shape us into who we become as
adults -- struck a very deep chord with the artist. The title track "On My
Way Here" will be the first radio single from the album to be released
later this month. Additionally the single, "On My Way Here" will premiere
as an "AOL First Listen" on Monday, April 7th.

"I thought if we could find songs that relate to what's gone on in my
life over the past five years and address what I've learned from my
experiences, it would be a great concept for my album," Aiken says. "Since
I got into this business, I've learned so much about myself. I think this
album covers how far I've come, personally and professionally."

The chance to record new material was an opportunity Aiken didn't want
to miss. His previous two albums, 2004's Merry Christmas with Love (which
went platinum within six weeks of its release) and 2006's gold-certified A
Thousand Different Ways, featured 10 cover versions of well-known songs
popularized by Celine Dion, Elton John, and Dolly Parton. Aiken's vocal
performances on songs like "As Long as We're Here," about not waiting until
it's too late to tell someone you love them, and "The Real Me," about being
in the public eye, resonate with the kind of emotion that can only come
from someone who's experienced this firsthand. "Although," Aiken says, "it
was important to me that the songs be interpretable in all kinds of ways.
People should be able to find their own meaning in the lyrics."

On My Way Here will be released just as Aiken finishes up his Broadway
run playing Sir Robin in the Tony Award-winning musical Monty Python's
Spamalot. Since January, Aiken has spent his days in the recording studio
with On My Way Here's Grammy Award-winning British producer Kipper (Sting, Chris Botti), and his nights onstage in Spamalot. "I guess I'm a glutton
for punishment," he says with a laugh.

For more on Clay Aiken, please visit his official website
http://www.clayaiken.com.

SOURCE RCA Records

link to PR Newswire

Webisode about the new album

2008-04-04T21:10:00.002-04:00

American Idol Extra: Clay talks about Spamalot and the new album

2008-04-04T00:31:00.002-04:00

Here You Come Again

2008-04-02T13:32:00.004-04:00

Clay Aiken's version.

Linking to a great blog, and a bit of editorializing

2007-07-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

The person who runs cdd.blogspot has had it with the media! Read this great blog: Media, this one is for you. I thought about writing on this topic, but the writer of this blog has all the points are covered, including some examples of the kind of crap that ended up being "reported" by some media outlets about the Great Airline Debacle of '07.

Here's a link to a blog I wrote last August when Clay's presidential appointment was announced: Is it asking too much?

I understand that celebrity gossip is big business these days, and scandal draws hits, but whatever happened to reporting? You know, fact-checking and stuff? Working to get the information right? OK, so Clay's only a celebrity, and who cares about being fair to them? So what if he's assaulted in his sleep on a plane and ends up getting slammed in the media for it because AP deliberately chose to leave out an integral part of the story, sensationalizing it and creating the impression that the incident was his fault. So what? He's just a celebrity and he's icky and probably gay anyway, right?

Wrong, because disliking people is no excuse for publishing lies about them, or even for getting a kick out of reading lies about them. The appetite for celebrity gossip is a complete mystery to me, and the fact that "legitimate" news outlets are engaging in it so often these days to compete with the gossip hounds is evidence of the pathetic state of journalism today.

More importantly, equally distorted misinformation is being published about politics, wars, and other vital national and international issues every day. Sure, I care about what the media has done to a pop star with humanitarian ideals and a big heart because I'm a fan, but it's about much more than that. It bugs the hell out of me to see the truth manipulated for the sake of hits, rating, and attention. As someone who used to idolize Bernstein and Woodward back in the day, who felt that journalism succeeded where other checks on government corruption had failed, I find the state of the media today appalling. Back then we had Bernstein and Woodward, today we've got Perez Hilton. 'Nuff said.

Clay speaks up about airline incident

2007-07-09T17:19:00.000-04:00

From ET online and the Insider online:

"While sleeping on a plane over the weekend, my foot evidently found a home on the arm rest of the passenger seated directly in front of me. I didn't realize I was causing the woman any distress until she woke me up with a quick hit to the chest.

"Unfortunately, being that this happened on a plane, the FBI was called in to investigate and eventually we were all sent on our way. I'd like to thank everyone for their concern; I am fine and have taken steps to prevent any foot wandering in the future."

Clay cleverly implies that there are far greater sources of distress in the world. "Now that I have your attention," he continues, "if you'd like to learn more about how you can help the world's children, please visit www.unicefusa.org."

Can I get a witness?

2007-07-09T15:10:00.000-04:00

An eye-witness account of the now fabled airline incident reported by cdd.blogspot.com here:

I was sitting across the aisle from Clay Aiken and the woman who hit him. I looked over at him at one point and he appeared to be sleeping. I would have loved an autograph, but didn’t want to bother him. I was reading a magazine when suddenly I heard the woman across the aisle shouting, and I saw her hitting at Clay. He looked startled, apparently just woke up, and tried to talk to her and calm her down but she kept hitting at him. At that point a flight attendant came over and blocked my view so I couldn’t see anymore. Later on I signed a statement as a witness to her attack. I don’t know if Clay pressed charges against her or not.

See other eyewitness reports here and here .

Slow news day, huh?

2007-07-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

Well, as expected, the news of Clay's "altercation on a plane" is all over the news today, with no mention of the fact that he was sleeping when it started. This blog, ClaySpots, includes his version of the story:

I was in a meet and greet with him tonight before the concert......Clay told us exactly what happened and he was asleep...He didnt even hear her talking to him until she began screaming at him, at which point he pulled up his visor and she started swinging....

This one, Excuse Me While I Take a Moment, takes a humorous approach, suggesting that the woman was taking the measure of the man after becoming entranced by those 13 1/2's.

There's a YouTube up now of his joking about the incident, but he didn't give it a lot of time. Lots of other funny stuff though:

Video by spotlightlover.

It's odd to me that people like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears work so hard for publicity, topping each other with outrageous misbehaviors, and Clay, who could care less, can stir up a media frenzy in his sleep.

Clay Aiken in trouble for sleeping on a plane

2007-07-08T02:41:00.000-04:00

Earlier today a "breaking news" item was posted in the Tulsa paper, regarding an incident in which a sleeping Clay Aiken was smacked awake by a woman who was unhappy about his foot being on her armrest. Here's how the story read:

Aiken apparently questioned after airplane incident

By World Staff
7/7/2007 5:52 PM

Former "American Idol" singer Clay Aiken was apparently involved in a disturbance with another passenger Saturday while on an airplane headed to Tulsa International Airport.

The dispute occurred on a Continental Airlines flight between a woman and a man, whom FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson confirmed was a former "American Idol" contestant.

Aiken, who was a runner-up on the TV talent show in 2003, was headed to Tulsa Saturday for a performance at the Brady Theater. His management could not be reached for comment Saturday afternoon.

Johnson said he was told the dispute was over one passenger's feet resting on another passenger's armrest.

Apparently, a former "American Idol" contestant was asleep in his seat and a woman roused him to get him to move his foot, Johnson confirmed. An argument then followed.

There was an allegation that the woman gave the contestant a "minor shove" during the argument, Johnson said.

"At that point the flight crew was able to resolve the situation," he said.

The disturbance occurred Saturday morning, said Tulsa Airport Authority spokeswoman Alexis Higgins.

Higgins said the passengers were held until FBI agents arrived to question them.

No injuries were reported and no arrests were made. The disturbance did not interfere with the flight of the aircraft, Johnson said.

As Aiken was travelling from Houston where he had performed with the Houston Symphony to another night's concert in Tulsa, there were several fans on the commuter flight with him, and the eye-witness reports came in quickly. Here's what was soon posted on one of his message boards:

One of the organizers of the pre-concert event was on the flight and witnessed the kerfuffle. She was questioned and had to sign a witness statement and everything.

According to the people who witnessed it, Clay was asleep with one leg crossed over the other (kind of parallel to floor) and his foot was apparently touching the armrest. The woman hit at his foot and told him to get his foot off her arm. Clay slept through that apparently and she got pissed and started swatting at him and smacking him. He woke up to the woman hitting him.

According to the witness, they were all questioned by authorities after the flight touched down and the woman was "led away" by authorities. They think she was arrested but don't know for sure, just that she was in custody.

Next thing you know, it's on the AP wire, and here's the version they're telling:

Clay Aiken involved in airplane spat

08:46 PM CDT on Saturday, July 7, 2007
Associated Press

TULSA, Okla. – Former American Idol singer Clay Aiken was apparently involved in an airplane disturbance with another passenger Saturday while headed to Tulsa International Airport.

The dispute on a Continental Airlines flight occurred between a woman and a man, whom FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson confirmed was a former American Idol contestant.

Aiken, runner-up on the TV talent show in 2003, was headed to Tulsa for a Saturday performance at the Brady Theater. His management could not be reached for comment on the alleged incident.

Johnson said he was told the dispute was over the male passenger's foot resting on another passenger's armrest. He said the disturbance minor.

There was an allegation that the woman gave the male passenger a "minor shove" during the argument, Johnson said.

"At that point the flight crew was able to resolve the situation," he said.

The disturbance occurred Saturday morning, said Tulsa Airport Authority spokeswoman Alexis Higgins. Higgins said the passengers were held until FBI agents arrived to interview them.

No injuries were reported and no arrests were made. The disturbance did not interfere with the flight of the aircraft, Johnson said.

Agents forwarded the results of their investigation to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which declined to file charges, he said.

Later in the evening, the Tulsa paper had rewritten their version to remove the part about Aiken being asleep, to correspond with the AP story. So now the "news" is on the Comcast home page, MSNBC.com, the late evening news in LA, and who knows where tomorrow. With no mention of the fact that he was asleep.

Meanwhile, Aiken regaled the Tulsa audience with his version of the story, and was being teased by his backup singers about it. Unfortunately, the fabled video-gathering capacities of the Clay Nation were no match for the eagle-eyed Tulsa security watch, so there will be no You Tube tonight, but the jist of it was that he was asleep and woke up to this woman smacking him. Only Clay could manage to get embroiled in a scandal while sleeping on a plane--or rather, I should say, only the media could manage to get Clay embroiled in a scandal for sleeping on a plane.

Pretty pictures from tonight:

The offending foot, in Frisco, TX, July 4:

Photos copyrighted to jtgranny and scrpkym

Something completely different

2007-07-07T18:55:00.001-04:00

Clay's take on top 40 radio:

Video by spotlightlover, 07/06/07

Tags: Clay Aiken Houston Symphony radio classics

There are no words

2007-07-07T01:32:00.000-04:00

Just listen...

Video by SecretlyLovesClay, 07/06/07

Tags: Clay Aiken Tulsa Lover All Alone

The best thing ever

2007-06-12T23:46:00.000-04:00

This is, the ABC's of Clay Aiken. It's from a Japanese blog, but the ABC's are in English. Clay is Quirky, Religious, and Splendid. Hot, Intelligent, and Jovial. And XYZ? "eXamine Your Zipper." BWAH!! It's divided over several blogs. Scroll down almost to the end of the page, to the blog that has ABCDEFG and work your way back up. The pictures are perfectly chosen. So clever and cute!

newclayaiken blog - The ABC's of Clay Aiken

He da man

2007-06-09T10:49:00.000-04:00

Lots of folks think of Clay Aiken as a rube or a wimp. Watch this and you may change your mind. Look at the eyes at the end.

If you are a fan already, this is Ldyjocelyn's famous Dayton "I Survived You" from the Dayton NAT in 2004. Thanks Ldyjocelyn for taking this, and YSRN for reminding me of it.

Clay Aiken

Clay's trip to Afghanistan

2007-04-12T13:28:00.000-04:00

Press is just starting regarding Clay's trip to Afghanistan, which ended yesterday. A press release was issued by UNICEF via PR Newswire just a few minutes ago: UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken Draws Attention to the Critical Needs of Children in Afghanistan . A fund-raiser has been announced on the UNICEF website: Clay Aiken's Afghanistan Appeal: $100,000 in 10 days!. More details as they emerge.

There's a long press conference, held at the end of his visit, reported here: Press Briefing by Clay Aiken, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Catherine Mbengue, UNICEF Representative for Afghanistan and Aleem Siddique, UNAMA Spokesperson’s Office .

Here's Clay's statement from that press conference:

Clay Aiken, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador:

It is a pleasure to be here, we have had an amazing time observing the programmes and the people of Afghanistan over the past week. I’ve traveled with Catherine, UNICEF’s country representative here in Afghanistan, and my high school teacher, Mary Props, two people who individually who have in different ways had a major impact in the way that I look at world affairs and the needs of children all around the world but especially here in Afghanistan.

There’s a very distinct impression that those of us in America have been given about Afghanistan, the people and the children and the situation here in Afghanistan. Because of major media in the US unfortunately only had the opportunity to see the more negative aspects, the more painful images of what’s going on here in Afghanistan. For that reason I didn’t really know exactly what to expect when I found out I was traveling here and was not really anticipating such an amazing and positive welcome from the people both in the city of Kabul and in Bamiyan where we have just returned from. The people of Afghanistan are without question it’s greatest natural resource because we have been greeted by nothing but wonderful hospitality since we’ve been here and it’s been really amazing to see not only the generosity but also the strength of the people. Some of the most impressive people without question, I would think are the national staff in the office at UNICEF. Not to negate or take away from the international staff, like Catherine [UNICEF representative] and those who have come from other countries. But there’s an amazing number of [national] staff from right here in Afghanistan who are working with UNICEF to make sure the children of this country are given every opportunity to survive be that through education, through health and nutrition, through sanitation and water access. There’s a lot of work going on here by UNICEF through not just the people who have come from outside Afghanistan but also lots of Afghans too.

Thanks to Catherine and her colleagues we had an opportunity to visit a high school here in Kabul [Macfee High School] where we met a number of young women who have an amazing positive outlook on their future now in post conflict Afghanistan and it really provides a backdrop of hope, there’s an amazing sense of hope and promise not only in the country but in the young people here too.

In Bamiyan, which is some the most beautiful country that I have ever seen in my life. We had an opportunity to visit other schools and one very interesting school where boys and girls are learning together in the same classroom which is extremely promising and very exciting for me to see. We visited clinics I actually got an opportunity to give polio vaccine to a new born [baby] that was exciting for me and risky for the mother and the new born! But it’s indicative of the type of work UNICEF is doing in every area of the country but in Bamiyan they are having a lot of success with polio vaccines, with healthcare in general, prenatal and postnatal healthcare in Bamiyan.

I could speak on and on about the different activities and programmes that we saw taking place, we did see a literacy centre for both young and old women who are learning to read now in post Taliban Bamiyan. Instead of pin pointing each and every experience that we had I think it’s more important to give you a sense of the overall feeling that we got. I have never in my life, and I’ve traveled with UNICEF to a number of countries and of course have seen all parts of my own [country], I have never in my life seen such a thirst and an excitement for learning, seeing children, women, men, boys and girls to be so excited about learning, to be so excited about being in school it’s actually something I know makes my former teacher [Mary Props] quite jealous! That kid’s are so excited about being in school and really being on the forefront of making sure that they have the best education possible and that’s exactly how and why I know that Afghanistan is such a powerful force to be reckoned with because the natural resource in its humans and the people who are thirsty for knowledge is just so evident.

That idea that education is so important is why I asked my high school teacher to join me. A lot of the children in the US don’t really have access to or the desire to learn about issues that are facing our world outside of our own country which I find to be a horrible situation, that kids don’t have that desire so I asked my teacher to come along and she’ll be able to provide some different perspective on education here in Afghanistan from an educator in the United States perspective and Catherine will be able to provide more insight into exactly what UNICEF is doing.

I really appreciate you giving us the opportunity to be here and talk with you.

Thank you.

I Could Not Ask for More

2007-02-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight on American Idol some guy named Phil sang "I Could Not Ask for More." Not a good idea, unless you can sing it better than Clay did. Simon said Phil's performance didn't match up to someone who had sung it previously, and bit his tongue before the words "Clay Aiken" came out of his mouth. As far as I know, no other contestant has performed this song besides Clay, and certainly not Daughtry. (You Tube hates me, but here's audio of Clay's performance in Season Two. Listen and see what you think. (Click on the player.)

Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken American Idol Phil I Could Not Ask for More Daughtry Elliott Yamin Simon Cowell

Who knows where her hands have been?

2006-11-21T19:21:00.000-05:00

Several great blog entries by Thistle Hut are here.

Here's a link to a bunch of great blogs on "handgate".

An hilarious montage by Aspiegirl:

And a short but sweet one from pixieglitter:

A moving montage by no1tvfan63:

Technorati tags: Kelly Ripa Regis Philbin Clay Aiken

Still the coolest guy around - Clay Aiken

2006-09-23T14:07:00.000-04:00

In honor of Clay's new album, and of the round of publicity he's had this week, I wanted to bring back an old favorite. Clay Aiken is back, and he's cooler than ever. Most of the media reaction to his interview with Diane Sawyer has furthered the speculation that he is gay, but still won't admit it. As he told People, "It doesn't matter what I say. People are going to believe what they want." The most sophisticated talking point the media has come up with so far is whether someone's sexual orientation is anyone's business or not. CNN Showbiz Tonight ran a long piece on this topic as its lead story Friday; note the poll at this link on the left side of the page below A. J. Hammer's picture. Of course, they ran a caption saying that Clay has never said that he isn't gay, which is not the case. Hey, you can't expect accuracy from the media these days; it doesn't sell. Most of the media have been even more simple-minded, and have focused on why he won't just come out--or have suggested that he did so by omission. (Special kudos, however, to Lara Spencer of the Insider for her great interview, which you can watch in two parts here: Yahoo! TV and to People, for presenting Clay's story straight in their print edition, without the distortion of selective editing to sensationalize.)

Now just suppose for a moment that Clay isn't gay. If that were true, it would mean that he really doesn't care what people think. He doesn't mind if people think he's gay. Had Clay said this week, again, that he isn't gay, he would have continued to be mocked and disbelieved--maybe even moreso than before. Now he has introduced a new element to the discourse--shifted the focus--and given people something to think about. Pretty cool, eh?

For the record, I neither know nor care what Clay's sexual orientation is. Makes no nevermind to me.

For a great blog that goes much deeper into this week's interview, and the history that precedes it, see Is Clay gay or straight? It's none of your business!

Three people who have made a lot of money and gotten a lot of attention by mocking perceptions of Clay's orientation are featured in this old blog entry--people a lot of folks think are cool (because mocking someone for their perceived sexual orientation is cool, right?). So, in their honor:

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.

Technorati tags: 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

Is it asking too much?

2006-09-07T02:00:00.000-04:00

Is it asking too much to expect the media to get the facts straight? Take that infamous "fan suit" for example. There never was a suit--just a few pranksters who released a press release saying they were thinking of suing RCA for misrepresenting Clay's image. Not a single news outlet checked to see if the press release had any merit. They just reported it. Oh, one music writer for the Delaware County Times did question whether or not it was a hoax. A couple of prestigious writers for foreign papers analyzed the suit's deeper meaning as it reflects on American culture--but without checking the basic facts. So much for the "news" media's dedication to accuracy in reporting.

So today, the media is starting to pick up the story of the Presidential appointment. This morning Clay's hometown paper, the News & Observer, published the following short news item on their website:

The White House has announced that President Bush intends to appoint Clay Aiken -- or Clayton Aiken, as he is listed in the press release -- to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Aiken is a Raleigh native who rose to fame as a runner-up in the "American Idol" competition. Before his singing career took off, Aiken worked as a counselor at a YMCA.

The committee advises the president and the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues relating to programs and services for people with intellectual disabilities, according to the committee's web site. The committee was first established, as the President's Panel on Mental Retardation, in 1961 by President Kennedy.

He worked as a counselor at the Y? He received this prestigious appointment because he was a counselor at the Y? What about his degree in special education? The very successful foundation he started three years ago to foster inclusion for children with disabilities? Ambassador for the US Fund for UNICEF? These are not difficult facts to find. Three minutes with google would do it.

But the craziness doesn't stop there. This evening the AP wire service picked up the story directly from the News & Observer. A close paraphrase. Oh wait, no, something was added to later releases: the fact that Clay has a CD coming out later this month. That's nice. So he was chosen for his experience as a camp counselor and because he has a CD coming out soon.

I know there are more important things in the world to worry about, and, sadly, the media isn't getting a lot of those more important things right either. Celebrity gossip--that's the name of the game these days. Suri Cruise's first picture--now that's news. If Clay were to be seen out partying with Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan, that would be a story worth investigating.

OK, reporters, my Clack House mate Berkeley has saved you some trouble. Here's a news item for ya with some substance to it:

Aiken brings considerable experience to the President's Council.

He received his BA in Special Education from The University of North Carolina, Charlotte, in December 2003.

Five months earlier, in July of 2003, Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel, an advocate for children with disabilities who is herself the mother of a child with autism, co-founded the Bubel/Aiken Foundation. BAF's mission is to integrate children with disabilities into the same life environment as their typical peers. In just three years, BAF has presented hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to advance its mission and has sponsored an inclusive summer day camp for three years. The foundation has received multimillion dollar grants from State Farm Insurance and from the U.S. Department of Education to develop an inclusion curriculum for elementary schools.

In addition to appearing at benefits in support of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving and America's Promise / The Alliance for Youth, Aiken has been a keynote speaker at the Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities and the Fearless Caregiver Conference.

In 2004, Aiken was appointed to be a National Ambassador for UNICEF (the United Nations Childrens Fund), with a focus on education. Following the tsunami in December 2004, he made field trips to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, to observe the rebuilding process. He also visited camps for people displaced by rebel violence in Northen Uganda, helped raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and served as the spokesperson for the 2005 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign.

Here's the link to Clay's page at UNICEF: UNICEF - Clay Aiken. The other links you need are in my last blog. In case any media types reading this wanted to do some research, this is a start for ya. Knock yourself out. Or you could just take my word for it. Oh wait, maybe I should just issue a press release.

Other blogs about this news: The Conclayve - Berkeley's blog
Webweaver's World - Clay's Presidential Appointment

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken UNICEF Suri Cruise Lindsey Lohan Paris Hilton Clack House

Presidential appointment

2006-09-06T00:57:00.000-04:00

So Jessica launched her album with a made-for-publicity romance with John Meyer, Justin Timberlake's been talking a lot about drugs and bringing sexy back...oh wait...

Sorry, I had to Take a Moment. Anyway, Aiken's launching his new album with a Presidential appointment.

The President intends to appoint the following individuals to be Members of the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities:

Dallas Rob Sweezy, of Virginia, and upon appointment designate Chair, for an additional two year term expiring May 11, 2008.

Clayton Aiken, of North Carolina

Stephen Bird, of Virginia

Valerie Billmire, of Utah

James Boles, of New York

Stephanie Brown, of Florida

William J. Edwards, of California

Brian J. Kelly, of California

Mary Margaret Pucci, of Illinois

Linda Hampton Starnes, of Florida

Stephen Henry Suroveic, of Pennsylvania

William E. Tienken, of Illinois

The Press Release: Personnel Announcement
The Committee: The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
A little about the Bubel/Aiken Foundation: BAF develops curriculum, with funding from the US government and State Farm; Clay Aiken releases grant for children's book

Photo is copyrighted to the gifted Invisible926

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Bubel/Aiken Foundation State Farm Presidential Committee new album Jessica Simpson Justin Timberlake

Without You

2006-08-19T11:44:00.000-04:00

I know, I know; at some point I should probably address the disparity between the Nashville thread and the covers album we're getting. Whatever happened to 'Compromise', the Bronleewe song that was definitely going to be on the album? What was Shaun Shankel doing with Clay so recently, as he isn't listed as a producer, or was his input trashed too? Maybe I'll talk about it eventually; maybe I won't. Maybe I'll talk about the producers for the album that is; maybe I won't. Maybe I'll just move on. After all, we've known it would be a covers album since April (or really, February), so the research and extrapolation has really been mostly about the original gems that we knew would be included, the musicians and producers, the possible musical styles.

Once the 'too cool for school' reviewers start with the "What was he doing for the last three years?" and American Idol kareoke critiques, I hope some readers will remember and link the Nashville thread blog entries in their responses. I certainly am not counting on reporters actually doing research when it's so much easier to get the facts wrong when a Clay diss is involved.

Nashville thread - part I

Nashville thread - part II

Nashville thread - part III

Anyway, for now and perhaps forever, never mind all that.

Just listen to this voice: Without You

Also available at: www.myspace.com/clayaiken

Here's a track list for A Thousand Different Ways, including producers, writers, and original artists for the covers. There are four original songs, by the way, on one of which Clay has a writing credit. And John Fields rocks!

RIGHT HERE WAITING
Originally recorded by: Richard Marx
Written by: Richard Marx / Produced by: John Fields

WHEN I SEE YOU SMILE
Originally recorded by: John Waite
Written by: Diane Warren / Produced by: John Fields

WITHOUT YOU
Originally recorded by: Badfinger and then Harry Nilsson
Written by: William Collings, Thomas Evans, Michael Gibbins, Peter Ham, and J.C. Molland
Produced by: John Fields

LONELY NO MORE
(NEW SONG)
Written by: Andreas Carlsson, Samuel Waermo, Mimmi Waermo & Clay Aiken
Produced by: Andreas Carlsson and Samuel Waermo

SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD
Originally recorded by: Elton John
Written by: Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Producer by: Per Magnusson & David Kreuger

EVERYTIME YOU GO AWAY
Originally recorded by: Paul Young
Written by: Daryl Hall
Produced by: Adam Anders

EVERYTHING I DO (I DO IT FOR YOU)
Originally recorded by: Bryan Adams
Written by: Bryan Adams, Michael Kamen & Robert John “Mutt” Lange
Produced by: John Fields

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS – Guest Vocals by Suzie McNeil
Originally recorded by: Foreigner
Written by: Michael Jones
Produced by: Russ Irwin, Marti Frederiksen & Charlton Pettus

THESE OPEN ARMS
(NEW SONG)
Written by: Jon Bon Jovi & Desmond Childs
Produced by: John Fields

BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME
Originally recorded by: Celine Dion
Written by: Diane Warren
Produced by: Eman

HERE YOU COME AGAIN
Originally recorded by: Dolly Parton
Written by: Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil

EVERYTHING I HAVE – Featuring William Joseph on Piano
(NEW SONG)
Written by: Jeremy Bose
Arranged by: Jeremy Lubbock

A THOUSAND DAYS
(NEW SONG)
Written by: Christian Leuzzi, Aldo Nova & Emanuel Olsson
Produced by: John Fields

BROKEN WINGS
Originally recorded by: Mr. Mister
Written by: Richard Page, John Lang & Steve George
Produced by: Eman

Who's bringing sexy back?

2006-08-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

This guy?

Or this guy?

There are times when size really does matter, so click (and click again on "all sizes" above the photo) for the biggie size (and a few more inches where it counts).

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken A Thousand Different Ways Justin Timberlake Sexy Back

Sneak preview

2006-07-31T18:21:00.000-04:00

12 seconds of Clay only from the "I Want to Know What Love Is" duet (with Suzie McNeil from last year's RockStar INXS); portions of the duet showed up on Promosquad today:

IWTKWLI.mp3

Caption this picture....

2006-07-27T23:22:00.000-04:00

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

Updates - OFC Nashville thread

2006-07-27T21:15:00.000-04:00

I've started a separate entry for updates. From this point on, if there's no attribution, the commentary is mine (so don't blame anyone else :) please).

On July 4, Clay launched a contest on the OFC to guess the initials of the album title, and on July 14, announced the winner: ATDW. Speculation began to center in on "A Thousand Different Ways" early on, although there were other strong contenders. On July 17, in the wee hours, Clay and his executive producer, Jaymes Foster, implied that A Thousand Different Ways was the album title.

grumpypuppy wrote (July 15, 2006):

Speculation alert!!!!!

There is a song called "A Thousand Different Ways" listed on ascap written by Judith Owen and Stephony Smith with no artist listed as the performer.[/speculation]

Stephony Smith is a Nashville based songwriter and has written hits for Trisha Yearwood, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, and Reba McIntyre. It looks like Judith Owen might be a jazz influenced artist.

luckiest1 added (July 15, 2006):

It seems Stephony's written quite a few #1 hits, including one that was chosen Song Of The Year. Is there some way we can tell when the song was registered?

Bouncer15 wrote (July 15, 2006):

There are two titles for A Thousand Different Ways at ASCAP, the second choice has no singer listed:

www.ascap.com

The songwriter Judith Owen, has many songs credited to her. She is the only singer listed on all the songs except for one where another "singer", is listed: Java Records.

here is her page on Amazon:

Judith Owen

renee4clay wrote (July 15, 2006):

This is what it says about Judith on Amazon.

"Lost And Found" is the new CD by Judith Owen, the jazzy Celt with whip-smart lyrics and a penchant for giving cocktail treatments to hard rock tunes. Album features Keb'Mo', Richard Thompson and Cassandra Wilson. Judith's distinctive style coupled with her diverse collaborators broaden her appeal and attracts fans of Adult Alternative, Jazz and Classic Rock.

UsingMyVoice wrote (July 17, 2006):

BTW, the other listing at ASCAP for A Thousand Different Ways is a song written and performed by Yenrav's Karma (a.k.a. Will Varney). It's on his album called 'An Accepting Son' that was released, I think, in 2004. I don't know if that would be something Clay would have 'covered.'

jmh123 wrote (July 19, 2006):

Just in case: Access Hollywood:

[Samantha] Cole appeared on 30 episodes of MTV's "The Grind," and her first self-titled album came out in 1997, according to her MySpace page. The blonde songstress toured America with a Top 40 song called "Happy To You" which was re-recorded by none other than Clay Aiken!

As Clay recorded Cole's "Without You" with Kim Locke, some think AH made a mistake. Cole does have a song called "Happy With You". Who knows?

notacanuck wrote (July 19, 2006):

As it happens, Clay has been working on his new album, the followup to 2003's "Measure of a Man." Dick Hodgin, partner/producer at Raleigh's Osceola Music, reports that Aiken was recently recording some vocal tracks at Osceola -- "And we got a keeper vocal on Sunday," Hodgin says.

"Look What Love Has Done, Volume 2" was engineered, mixed and mastered by Osceola Studios.

(source - N&O blog)

43dudleyvillas wrote (July 19, 2006):

Clay was also working at Osceola Studios in May of this year. This blurb indicates that he was picking songs and doing vocal sessions there at the time.

jmh123 wrote (July 19, 2006):

dudley's link goes to this cached post on www.theindustrycosign.com's forum:

Friday, 19 May 2006
Raleigh's Osceola Recording Studios (www.osceolastudios.com) is making changes this year. The studio, which was purchased by Reggie Miller and Leslie Hall of ICED Media (www.Icedmedia.com ) Fall 2004, will be officially, renamed Osceola Music Inc. (OMI).

****

OMI partners, engineers and producers Ian Schreier and Dick Hodgin, have been hard at work over the past few weeks. Dick Hodgin has recently completed several in-house vocal sessions at OMI with American Idol CLAY AIKEN, who is currently in the process of picking songs for his new CD.

Hodgin also mixed the audio for the live video of the internationally known band CONFESSOR, on the French record label Season of Mist from the band's performance in Oslo, Norway. He is presently putting the final touches on the new CD from metal rockers BIND, as well as completing tracks for modern rockers MELTDOWN YELLO.

dudley comments:

wonder if this will get any kind of mention in album press...the notion that Clay went back to where he had started, in a sense, as a recording artist. Why, yes, I'm still speculating on possible narrative elements, why do you ask? *g* It will be interesting to see what kind of presence Osceola Studios has in Clay's album credits.

jmh123 comments:

We know that Clay did "tweaking" in Raleigh for MCWL--he was shown in footage on WRAL doing so, but no Raleigh studio was credited on the album notes for this, so since he has been rumored to be "tweaking" in Raleigh recently, it could be just more of the same.

From moonhead (July 22, 2006):

Here's a a little tidbit I found yesterday while "googling":

On this MySpace of bass player Tony Tino, he mentions playing/recording with Clay...

Hey Peeps, I'm a bass player living in the Riverdale/Bronx, NY. I've been freelancing in and out of NYC with many talented artists such as RCA/J Recording Artist Gavin DeGraw, J recording Artist Clay Aiken, Capitol Recording Artist Brendan James, Universal Recording Artist Rachid, Ronnie Spector, South Side Johnny & The Asbury Jukes....

Clay is also mentioned on Tony Tino's official website:

Ever since Tony has been on the scene, he's played and recorded with the likes of RCA Recording artist Clay Aiken, Platinum Selling J-Records artist Gavin DeGraw, Ronnie Spector, G.E. Smith, Wil Calhoun, John Scofield, Carl Burnett and many other talented musicians. Check out the complete list on the left by clicking on Artists.

(jmh comments: There's that J records thing again...well, once for J and once for RCA. Google's cache of Tino's official site here shows the Clay listing was there on Jun 24, 2005.)

43dudleyvillas wrote (July 26, 2006):

Speaking of Christmas music (possibly), Phillip Swann seems to be under the impression that Clay recorded a song that he wrote:

As staff songwriter and producer for DreamWorks SKG, Phillip Swann’s songs have been heard in both television and film and recorded by such major label artists as Clay Aiken, Lee Ann Womack, Lee Greenwood, John Berry, The Kinleys, Lisa Brokop, Keith Norris and Kristin Garner.

Now, Swann co-wrote "The Season For Romance" (the title track for Lee Ann Womack's 2002 holiday album), which Clay sang during the JNT05...so maybe Clay recorded the song?

topcat commented:

my stomach did a somersault to see Dreamworks and Clay in the same sentence. Matter.of.time.

mine too, mine too.......

Another update from 43dudleyvillas (July 17, 2006). This one is definitely new info, and exciting. I'm going to cut to the chase, rather than copy her post, because a lot of the info she refers to is already here. So the commentary is mine, all mine, unless otherwise attributed.

From Max Hsu's weblog:

So Shaun Shankel is fresh off of finishing a song for an artist whose name rhymes with Clay Aiken.

You have to wade through a lot of pictures of Shaun with a mohawk to get to this. Hey, Shaun, if you see this, did you ever see Clay's fauxhawk? After taking a look at yours, I think Clay's the one who should be having a reaction, man.

Earlier, in another entry, Hsu mentions that Shankel's

producer credits include American Idol alumnus Kimberly Locke, Clay Aiken and Hilary Duff.

Hsu, by the way, said this about us in a previous entry:

So there I am the next day wondering what I'm going to do about my violin part before mixdown the next day and while I'm pacing in my back yard thinking, a car pulls up, a guy gets out and walks into Shaun's part of the house. (That would be Shaun Shankel btw... who's producing a track right now for an artist that Clay Aiken fans would love to know about... Clay Aiken fans are true believers... I mention the words "Clay" and "Aiken" and the next day I see a 300 hit increase in traffic).

dudley comments:

The latest blog entry features many pictures of Shaun Shankel, that may leave a few of us hoping desperately that Shankel and Clay collaborated on music and not a new hairstyle. *g*

and on a more serious note, she said:

Nashville songwriter Kyle Jacobs said that Clay had recorded a song that he had written, called "Taken". Shankel co-wrote that song with Jacobs and Tiffany Arbuckle (Plumb). So it's possible that "Taken" is the track that Shankel is producing for Clay. But it could obviously be something else. Whatever the case, it seems likely (though not guaranteed, I guess), that the collaboration with Shankel, apparently in play for at least 7 months, will make its way onto Clay's album.

An update that is truly exciting. We now (July 27) have a pretty good idea what one of the covers is on the album, thanks to a broad hint in Clay's blog. Originally performed by John Waite with Bad English. Written by Diane Warren.

When I See You Smile

Sometimes I wonder
If I'd ever make it through
Through this world
without having you
I just wouldn't have a clue
Cause sometimes it seems
Like this world's closing in on me
And there's no way of breaking free
And then I see you reach for me
Sometimes I wanna give up
Wanna give in
I wanna quit the fight
And then I see you baby
And everything's alright
Everything's alright
When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining
right through the rain
When I see you smile
Baby when I see you smile at me
Oh yeah
Baby there's nothing in this world that could ever do
What the touch of your hand can do
It's like nothing that I ever knew
Hey
And when the rain is falling
I don't feel it
Cause you're here with me now
I wanna ask you baby
It's all I'll ever need
All I'll ever need
When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining
right through the rain
When I see you smile baby
Baby when I see you smile at me
Sometimes I wanna give up
I wanna give in
I wanna quit the fight
Then one look at you baby
And everything's alright
Hey everything's alright
It's alright
When I see you smile
I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything
When I see you smile
I see a ray of light
Oh I see it shining
right through the rain
Yeah
When I see you smile
Yeah I can face the world
Oh you know I can do anything now
When I see you smile
Oh yeah
Baby when I see you smile
Smile at me

Here's a list of artists who have performed the song.

OK, things are getting serious now. Today, July 31, Clay blogged that the release date of 9/19 is official. Promosquad added two songs: "1,000 Days" and a duet with a mystery female of Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is".

ETA: Mystery woman identified: Suzie McNeil of last year's RockStar INXS. She's been out touring with Pink.

Suzie has been featured singing a duet on INXS’ 2005 release; “Switch”, as well as a duet with American Idol finalist Clay Aiken on his upcoming album release.

Last year, Suzie was the last woman standing in the CBS television reality series Rock Star: INXS. Since then she has had ongoing media exposure, toured singing backup vocals with rock diva P!nk on her North American “I’m Not Dead” tour , as well as the chance to work with some music industry legends, including A&R guru, John Kalodner, and a-list producer Marti Frederiksen.

Suzie has a completed album, due to be released in the winter of 2006.

From www.buddytv.com

Fascinating choice! I hope there's a music video for this one. She sounds fabulous, and they sound great together. All we heard of Clay by himself is in the snippet in my next entry.

To be continued........

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clay Aiken new album A Thousand Different Ways songwriters Nashville Jaymes Foster

Children in Need

2006-07-27T16:48:00.000-04:00

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

Mock Album Cover

2006-07-19T15:08:00.000-04:00

The talented Fountaindawg, of the Clack House, made this fantastic mock cover for the new album. Click on the photo and select "all sizes" from the menu above the photo to see the large version:

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken new album A Thousand Different Ways Clack House

Album research - the OFC Nashville thread, Part Three

2006-07-19T01:42:00.000-04:00

A Thousand Different Ways to make an album, final part

It's June now in the Nashville thread. Who knows whether any of this information will tell us any more about the actual album than anything we've found so far? The one thing that strikes me is that there is precious little in this or any other part of the archive to indicate the presence of covers of sleepy love song ballads on the album.

Nyama's archive continues....

Part 3.

Remember ... much of this may not be pertinent any longer to the final version of the CD we're getting!

43dudleyvillas wrote (June 4, 2006):

I was surfing around the 'Net on a bit of whim, and came across this http://www.bkentertainmentgroup.com, which lists credits for a Producer/Mixer/Engineer/Arranger named Steven Miller. His credits indicate that he was involved in the mixing and recording of 3 tracks for Clay's upcoming album. Given Miller's previous work, I think it's likely that John Fields produced/is producing the 3 tracks recorded and mixed by Miller (Miller is the engineer with whom Switchfoot recorded the Fields-produced Nothing Is Sound; Miller also says he mixed and recorded 2 tracks from the Backstreet Boys' Never Gone -- Fields produced "Crawling Back To You" and "Lose It All" on that album; moreover, Miller mixed Delta Goodrem's "Disorientated," which Fields also produced).

Some disclaimers apply. For one thing, I don't know how frequently Miller's credits are updated. I haven't gone through all the albums listed to determine when they were released (because that would narrow down the timeframe for when the page could have last been updated). But all of the albums that Miller lists as "upcoming" are yet to be released. And off the top of my head, the Switchfoot album was released last September (OK, I checked...13 September 2005), so it looks like the page was definitely updated after that. By way of another disclaimer, I've no idea whether this guy would know whether the tracks that he recorded with Clay can be expected to make Clay's album.

So, really, this doesn't tell us much. But I still enjoyed seeing that a guy who has worked with people like Dar Williams, Glen Phillips (whose Winter Pays For Summer Fields also produced)/Toad the Wet Sprocket and Patty Griffin has also worked with Clay.

more from 43dudleyvillas:

Well, I own Phillips' Winter Pays For Summer and Williams' End of the Summer, both of which Miller mixed and recorded (Miller also is the producer and arranger credited on End of the Summer). I can't pretend to be an expert on mixing, but I will say that both records have a really accessible hooky and folky pop sound to them -- the sound is slick and clean, but not overly so the way so much of mainstream pop is today. And I think the vocals are showcased and complemented very well on both records. I can't speak to Miller/Field's work with the BSB and Delta Goodrem...I've heard the BSBs' "Crawling Back To You" a couple of times, but didn't pay close enough to attention to form an opinion on whether the mix/production differed substantially from "Incomplete" or any other track on the album. And then, there's Switchfoot's Nothing Is Sound, of which I've only heard a few tracks. I'd say the sound is clean and accessible. Overall, Miller's work suggests to me that he would be a good guy to showcase Clay's vocals in a way that might showcase their personality and also to capture the purity of Clay's vocal tone but also a bit of the rawness of a live vocal performance. Having said all that, I'm really not an expert on this kind of thing. I can't really speak to one person necessarily being a better mixer than another, but what I'm trying to say is that I think Miller's work has, well, worked as a showcase of some pop/folk/rock artists whom I really like.

smittenlilpup wrote (June 6, 2006):

another mention of clay in regards to a recording studio engineer -

Mixdown
The task of making local bands sound professional, however, will chiefly fall to Mixtape Engineer Ben Jackson.

The lanky 24-year-old audiophile recently relocated from Dallas, where he spent two years as a staff engineer for Maximedia. At that $1,000-a-day studio, Jackson refined his art in the company of high-profile clients like The Polyphonic Spree, Vanilla Ice and Clay Aiken.

“There was a long period when I was pretty much the only staff member around and I had to do all of it,” he says. “Some moments are birth-by-fire, but you get through them and you’re better for it.”

Aside from the desire to run his own studio, Jackson says he also split Dallas because he was becoming frustrated with the cutthroat music scene.

“Dallas has a ton of bad hip-hop,” he says. “They’re not there because they want to make music; they’re there because they want to look cool and throw some money around. It was just a very different mindset than what I found up here.”

What Jackson has unearthed during his eight months in Lawrence, he says, is a supportive community of bands that root for each other to succeed.

“I’m amazed at the quality of hip-hop in Kansas,” he says, citing groups like ID and Sleeper, Archetype and SoundsGood. “It’s such a nice change to walk down the street and hear bands at every other bar.”

link to article re: a sound studio in lawrence, kansas, i think....not sure.

http://www.lawrence.com/news/2006/jun/05/mixtape_media/

austinclaymate wrote (June 7, 2006):

Okay, so I found a link to Kyle Jacobs' myspace where it says "Other artists whom have recorded Kyle's songs include Lee Brice, Plumb, Clay Aiken and Joy Williams." So I sent him a message asking about Clay and he responded!! Here's my message, and then his:

I wrote:

On your profile it says you've recorded with Clay Aiken--is that for his new CD coming out? What songs have you recorded with him? Thanks! Your songs are great!!

Lizzy

Kyle wrote:

hey lizzers...clay did cut one of my songs, "Taken"...i am not sure if it will make his new album, but we will see...you can hear the song if you itunes the band "Plumb"...it is on her "Beautiful Lumps of Coal" album...the clay version is very different but i think it is equally as cool...it is a very personal song to me...

thank you for your interest in my music...which song is your favorite on my profile...?

just wonderin'

kj

link to Taken lyrics

Sample 30 sec. from Yahoo music : music.yahoo.com

jmh123 wrote (June 7, 2006):

Plumb's album Chaotic Resolve was produced by Matt Bronleewe. www.finelinemusic.com/:

Recorded in Nashville, with sweeping, orchestral strings recorded in Prague, Chaotic Resolve is lush and luminous with the intuitive production talents of Matt Bronleewe.

Kyle Jacobs' myspace:

Kyle Jacobs hails from Minneapolis, MN and moved to Nashville in 2000. He achieved pop success in 2003 with American Idol finalist Kimberley Lockes Top 10 single 8th World Wonder. Kyle writes on a regular basis with producer Shaun Shankel (Destinys Child, Hillary Duff) and collaborates with many of the industrys top songwriters including Doug Johnson, Kylie Sackley, Melissa Pierce, Nicole Witt, and Dennis Matkosky. Other artists whom have recorded Kyles songs include Lee Brice, Plumb, Clay Aiken and Joy Williams.

Notacanuck wrote (July 3, 2006):

I found a Clay mention in a MySpace blog:

My internship at Avatar is awesome, although I do miss producing and engineering. But I pretty much get into the studios more than the regular interns there because I have to repair and make sure the studios are working properly, so I guess it all works out. So far, I've run into John Mayer, Harry Connick Jr, Clay Aiken, David Foster, Joshua Redman, Branford Marselis, and Arif Marden (RIP) while working.

Here's the link for Avatar Studios, NYC. A check of "Who's Been In" does not have Clay's or David Foster's names listed (and it appears to be current to May 2006). I'm assuming that if this intern ran into Clay it would be at Avatar.

ETA:
This person posted this blog entry today and says that she's been working in NYC for just over a month and the "sightings" is with the mention of her internship with Avatar, so I think she saw/met him recently at the studio.

nyama wrote (July 3, 2006):

I just went there and found Clay listed twice (in the "about us" section). He is on their "artist" list: http://www.avatarstudios.net/aboutus/index.html

and he is also listed under "live performances." (???) http://www.avatarstudios.net/aboutus/location.html

Doesn't say when as far as I can see.

(Sure looks like a nice studio, though!)

trapsmv15 wrote (July 4, 2006):

I went through my Clay CD's and couldn't find a mention of this guy:

Jason Goldman has gained prominence as a saxophonist, composer and arranger in the fields of jazz and popular music... Mr. Goldman has arranged for multi-Grammy winning producer David Foster, Michael Bublé and American Idol contestant Clay Aiken.

http://www.usc.edu/schools/music/private/faculty/jasonmgo.php

Again, the ties to Foster.

ETA: It's dated Feb. 2nd, 2004, but it could be of other relevance:

Matt Zarley -

It’s been so gratifying to hear other people singing my material. My producer [Andy Zulla] has worked with Kelly Clarkson and Heather Headley, and now he wants to pitch my songs to Clay Aiken.

http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/84154.html

trapsmv15 wrote (July 8, 2006):

Well, in my mind, it's official. John Fields has to be producing the whole thing! Ross Hogarth served as Engineer for Fields in recording Clay's new CD.

Add to this the rumors of Clay being in Sweden to work with Max Martin, and, now, we are truly looking at a Pop/Alternative frenzy! EEE! http://www.hoaxproductions.com/discography.html

(I'm aware that, to my knowledge, the J Records listing is an error. Clive runs the show of them all, basically, but I still believe he's under the RCA wing.)

jmh123 wrote (July 8, 2006):

I searched here and a couple of other boards to find out if he had been mentioned before, and found a post by moonhead at CV on April 28 that quoted his main page thusly:

Ross was in the studio in the fall, cutting tracks for Canadian rock band, Oliver Black for T.V.T. Records and tracking the hot young rock/punk band, The Bronx (Island) with producer Michael Beinhorn.

Ross was just prior with producer John Fields tracking for Mandy Moore (Warner Bros.), BackStreet Boys (Jive), Eric James (Puretone Music) and Clay Aiken (J records).

None of this is on the main page anymore; the Moore album is also listed under discography, also with Fields as producer. Five projects are listed for 2006, including producing/engineering/mixing for Ziggy Marley's album, "Love is My Religion". Marley in his album PR indicates three tracks are co-produced by Hogarth. Hogarth's website seems somewhat up to date, and has been updated since moonhead's post in late April. It's not totally up to date, because on his main page he says Marley's album was "recently finished" and "due in early summer", but it was released July 2.

So traps, from the way things are listed, it isn't clear whether this listing represents the whole album or a few tracks, it isn't clear whether more recording was done after last summer or whether the album will contain these tracks that were recorded "before fall", or if these tracks are even still on the album. I would think so, or I think the listing would have been removed when the updates were made.

I asked 43dudleyvillas for her opinion on the Hogarth situation. She had posted about Steven Miller about a month ago. Notice that the Miller link she posted, www.bkentertainmentgroup.com no longer lists Clay. Today she said:

It is, I think, old info. I was poking around the 'Net about a month ago, and found this link to Hogarth's credits -- didn't post it because moonhead had already pointed out his name before, but it confirms that Clay recorded with Hogarth last year. Clay is also listed in the collective credits of Joe D'Ambrosio Management talent, but not in Hogarth's bio on the site (yet Clay is listed among Hogarth's credits, as mentioned before).

I can't figure out how the various listings bear on the likelihood that the songs that Clay recorded with Hogarth will make Clay's album, honestly. But Steven Miller, another engineer connected to John Fields who said he had recorded 3 songs with Clay for his upcoming album, no longer lists Clay among his credits. I don't know whether that suggests that he knows the tracks he worked on won't make it or just that he shouldn't have listed Clay without knowing for sure his work will make the album. The picture I'm getting -- assuming, of course, that Hogarth and Miller were working on different tracks (which may not be the case) -- is that John Fields was the studio producer for many, if not all, of the songs that Clay found with Jaymes Foster last year.

Given that Clay's April album blog indicated that one of the challenges that he had met was matching the right producers to the right covers, I'm thinking that his album will feature several different studio producers, instead of just one (like John Fields). I still think we're likely to see some Fields-produced tracks on the album. It'll be interesting to see the eventual mix of talent on Clay's album -- I can't wait to see the credits!

To be continued, in the entry called Updates, until we get some real information....... If anyone would like their board name removed from a quote, or the quote itself removed, please let me know. Thanks to everyone involved for the diligence and effort. -jmh123

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clay Aiken new album A Thousand Different Ways songwriters Nashville Jaymes Foster

Album research - the OFC Nashville thread, Part Two

2006-07-19T01:40:00.000-04:00

A Thousand Different Ways to make an album, continued....

Spring, 2006. We thought we'd have an album in May. A blurb in Entertainment Weekly in February had disconcerted a lot of people, as it said:

according to an RCA spokesperson, he'll be hitting the studio this March--with an eye toward a May release date--and is sorting through potential material now, which includes both original tunes and "lots of covers." (Click to enlarge the scan below.)

Covers! Where did that come from? What happened to all those tidbits reported in Part One--the original songs written for Clay, the musicians who had been recording on album tracks? In late April Clay would blog to confirm this, saying that the decision had been made in December to dump it all and that Clive Davis had the idea that he should record covers, but there would be a few "original gems" on the album. Eeep! The fandom went beserk!!

Meanwhile, the search for information continued, and was archived by nyama in the Nashville thread at the OFC. The archive in this part is chronological. The archive contains most of the researchers' screen names, and I've tried to fill in the few missing ones when possible. You'll see the screen name moonhead a lot; she's one of the participants on the HDD thread at Clayversity; she, and they, have done a lot of great research.

Part II.

http://www.musicconnection.com

MMF member Mike Gormley, who represents the talents of Lisbeth Scott, Paul Schwartz, and Kelly Fitzgerald, has been a manager for 20 years and a MMF member for three years. “The networking aspect is the best,” says Gormley. “I just put a major songwriter together with Paul Schwartz to do some writing for Josh Groban and Clay Aiken, because of a conversation with a New York-based MMF member.”

http://www.paulschwartz.com

In 2000 composer/producer Paul Schwartz created a musical phenomenon with State of Grace, a collection based or traditional religious texts which blended vocal, choral and orchestral elements with his trademark affinity for seductive ambient grooves.

****

The project also features a powerful guest appearance by legendary guitarist Carlos Santana, who used the popular State of Grace song "Miserere" as the basis of the new tune "Curacion."

****

"This record had a sense of freedom for me that I didn't feel on the first State of Grace. I think it's because earlier this year, I had a chance to collaborate with (Grammy-winning producer) David Foster on a new tune for Josh Groban, and saw how quickly David worked, how relaxed he was about the process. I convinced myself to let go and enjoy the ride, and it made all the difference."

****

Schwartz entered the musical theatre world himself, serving as Musical Director for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera" and "Song & Dance" as well as Rogers & Hammerstein's "On Your Toes."

****

rosebud wrote (March 10, 2006):
He made his Top 200 debut in 1997 as producer with the best selling soundtrack CD Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. He's also scored various independent films (including Ratchet by Altar Rock Films) and, while still with Astor Place, created a chamber music project based on eleven Beatle tunes called Revolution.

Post on the Clack House by mic stand, March 12, 2006:

i went to a conference last week with a friend of mine, who's a local singer here. it was mostly business management and other areas within the music business. he has his own production company, that he would like to take further, as well as further his music career.

****

i mostly just stayed by my friends side, listened and observed. and this is where things got fun! for me at least.. i'll tell you one thing though.. Clay's name gets dropped; a lot. i actually lost count with how many times i heard his name (mostly used as an example while someone was telling someone something). however, there were two mentions that made my ears perk up and made me eeee!!! a little on the inside.

one of the guys that my friend was talking to had made a comment about a friend of his 'doing some work on Clay Aiken's latest album'. i didn't catch the name of the person if he gave it, what kind of work they did, or if they were still working on it, but he said that he had 'heard a few tracks' (don't know if they were rough recordings or a finished product) and that what he had heard was 'supreme' (i personally thought that an odd choice of words, but shrugs), 'superb' and 'vocally stunning and amazing'. he also said it was some of the 'best work he'd seen from any artist in a long time.'

****

the second big mention of the night was when my friend was talking to someone who does a lot of PR here for local talent, and he was asking him what kind of things he can do to further his career, whether it be music wise, image wise, or just overall 'package' wise. this guy started giving him examples and ideas, and then goes 'well, you know who Clay Aiken is right?' and my friend nodded, so he continued (this is paraphrasing, but as direct as i can remember) and went 'take him for example. his latest will be like nothing people have ever heard from him. not just musically, but visually. it will be very different from how people remember.' he was basically saying that if you want to evolve, you need change. and with change comes different types / styles of music and a different type of image. he was basically indicating that Clay's new music was going to be something different (gee, where have i heard that before? *g*), but that he was going to look different as well. and then the conversation from there went into image changing, etc.

the over all impression that i got was very positive. the guy who was talking about his friend that did some work on it (the album) seemed really impressed with whatever it was that he heard; hopefully it'll be something that's actually on the album and not something that gets thrown out! it definitely excites me though that the 'buzz' about Clay and this next album has reached Orlando, where most stuff usually doesn't....

moonhead wrote (March 29, 2006):

While "googling" I found this reference to John Fields/Clay (I'm assuming it does not have to do with the UNICEF Give a Little Bit Campaign since neither John Ondrasik nor India.Arie are mentioned)...

In addition to Bland, a few other big names have signed on to help the band. Phil Solem of the Rembrandts and “I’ll Be There For You” fame has been a constant co-writer for the group, and an A-List of musicians including Tommy Barbarella (Prince, Mandy Moore, Switchfoot), John Fields (Switchfoot, Backstreet Boys, Clay Aiken, Pink, Andrew WK, Evan and Jaron), Ken Chastain, Tommy Stinson (Guns and Roses, The Replacements, Soul Asylum) and Jimmy Anton (Johnny Lang) have had varying degrees of input on the new project.

http://www.catchpennyband.com/bio.htm

moonhead wrote (March 30, 2006):

Here's something else I found today while "googling"...

at both of these MySpace sites:

my space - Curb Music Publishing

http://www.myspace.com/kylejacobsmusic

Kyle Jacobs hails from Minneapolis, MN and moved to Nashville in 2000. He achieved pop success in 2003 with American Idol finalist Kimberley Locke’s Top 10 single “8th World Wonder”. Kyle writes on a regular basis with producer Shaun Shankel (Destiny’s Child, Hillary Duff) and collaborates with many of the industry’s top songwriters including Doug Johnson, Kylie Sackley, Melissa Pierce, Nicole Witt, and Dennis Matkosky. Other artists who have recorded Kyle’s songs include Lee Brice, Clay Aiken and Joy Williams.

This quote was worded differently when dudley found it on Curb Publishing's MySpace on January 11. At that point it said:

He works on a constant basis with hit songwriter/producer Shaun Shankel (Destiny's Child, Hilary Duff, Clay Aiken)

jtx4clay wrote (April 4, 2006):

Steven Curtis Chapman is in the studio at KLTY, a huge Christian station in Dallas and just talked about Clay.

I wish I could remember it word for word, but it surprised me.

He talked about writing for Clay and Clay having a brother in the military. Apparently Clay wanted a song about that but Steven said it probably won't be on the album since the record company wants love songs or something.

ClaysMyMidlifeCrises wrote (April 9, 2006):

I thought you would all like to know this. Matt and I have been emailing each other for a while now and he's okay with me sharing this part of our latest emails.

Matt is the one who blogged last Spring about the 60 songwriters in Nashville for Clay. He's also one of the writers of the song COMPROMISE. Many wondered if we were hearing COMPROMISE in the background on the WRAL site (link is below), so I asked him today. Apparently, we have some very good detectives here!

This is my email to Matt:

On Sunday, April 09, 2006, at 02:28PM

Hi again! Could this be a snippet of Clay singing Compromise? After clicking on this link, click on the smaller of the 2 photos. Then click on (4) at the bottom of the screen. Click on Play Audio Clip, and see if you can tell if that's Clay singing Compromise in the background. I'd love to know if this is your song. Some of us think we're hearing the word Compromise in the song but can't tell for sure.

www.newsobserver.com

Margie

Matt's response:

Gee whiz. I think you're right. But I believe that's the original demo of COMPROMISE playing, and not a version of Clay singing it. I could be wrong...but it sounds like our demo...

She later notes:

I don't know if COMPROMISE has made the cut or not. Apparently Matt doesn't even know yet. I try not to ask him too many questions or bug him too often.

I don't know when the songwriters find out if their songs have made the cut, but I remember the writer of MCWL saying he didn't know Clay recorded his song until he saw it in a store.

Matt didn't know until I told him yesterday that COMPROMISE was listed on the ASCAP site, but we've known it for quite some time now. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he doesn't know at this time.

trapsmv15 wrote (April 10, 2006):

Compromise was co-written by John Christopher Farren. Known as Chris Farren, he co-wrote the Backstreet Boys' track, Crawling Back to You. Guess who produced that track? John Fields. Anyone remember the rumor of him being producer? (They weren't sure if it was a certain track or the whole album - this could be the track.) They've worked together before....

moonhead wrote (April 12, 2006):

blog written by Matt Conner about GMA (Gospel Music Association) week:

*Dinner was with Infuze staffer Matt Bronleewe tonight. Matt has been incredibly busy writing and producing for several upcoming projects, including Michael W. Smith’s upcoming project, Leeland (see below), and even writing a song for Clay Aiken’s forthcoming release.

http://www.infuzemag.com/

moonhead wrote (April 20, 2006):

I was looking around the ASCAP site today and noticed that one of the entries for Tears Run Dry now has a "variations" title of "When the Tears Run Dry". This is the Tears Run Dry entry written by Alexander Cantrall, Carsten Schack, Kenneth Karlin, and Lindy Robbins. Does anyone recall if that title variation was always there or is that new?

43dudleyvillas wrote (April 20, 2006):

moonhead, interesting find. The only place I had previously found a listing for "When the Tears Run Dry" is at EMI, and there, I didn't see an alternate title of "Tears Run Dry." And that particular entry wasn't in ASCAP until pretty recently, I think (it certainly wasn't there through February of this year). I think Nick Lachey's "What's Left of Me" is a poor man's version of "Tears," and Lindy Robbins is one of the co-writers of "What's Left of Me." So it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out Robbins had co-written this one. Although I was kind of thinking "Tears" sounds like a Jess Cates/Lindy Robbins co-write. Perhaps we'll know one day...

I also found an entry for Just You at ASCAP (amongst the many Just You entries ) written by Glen Ballard (co-writer of Groban's Believe), Jay Graydon (D. Foster connections), and Cliff Magness. I don't know if this entry was there before either. But, it sure sounds like it could be the Just You that Clay sang considering who the writers are.

TheDCMomo wrote (April 21, 2006):

Looking at the ASCAP site there is a song which we are guessing might be the one Clay sang during the JBT [Jukebox] tour. "When the Tears Run Dry" ...it was written by a collaboration of people. ALEXANDER CANTRALL, CARSTEN SCHACK, KENNETH KARLIN, and LINDY ROBBINS. Two of them, CARSTEN SCHACK, KENNETH KARLIN are a Danish duo called Soulshock and Karlin. They have a group called Soul Power Productions. Alex Cantrall is a songwriter/producer who has worked on songs for a number of artists from Fantasia to Jojo to Dru Hill. He did have a song on one of the Shrek soundracks. He has also worked with Soul Power Productions in the past. Lindy Robbins was the last collaborator. She has a varied background as she is listed as a Rogers and Hammerstein writer/producer as well. She also cowrote on IWCY and Shine.

a Clayboard poster, name unfortunately lost, wrote (April 22, 2006):

saw this at the ascap site in relation to the ascap songwriter's convention this week.

but, what song(s) did he provide to clay ? i don't have moam handy, and i've looked at moam recently and don't remember his name.

Jim Vellutato is currently the Sr. Director of Creative Affairs at Sony/ATV Music Publishing. After graduating from UCLA in l981, he began his career in the tape room at Chappell Music, and then worked for seven years at Famous Music (Paramount Pictures Publishing division) as Creative Director. For the past 13 years, Jim has been at Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which controls the songs of such major acts as John Mayer, Fallout Boy, Destiny's Child, Sarah McLachlan, Crossfade and System of A Down. In his publishing career, Jim has been involved in the signing and development of Paula Cole (Warner Brothers Records), TQ (Epic Records), Angela Via (Atlantic Records), Puff Johnson (Columbia Records), Martika (Columbia Records) and Wild Orchid (RCA Records). He manages writers and producers such as Billy Mann (Stupid Girls/Pink), Cory Rooney (Holdin' You Down/Jennifer Lopez), Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida (Walk Away/Kelly Clarkson)and has provided songs for such artists as Josh Groban, Fantasia, Bo Bice, Natalie Imbrulia, The Veronicas, Brandy, Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson and Jesse McCartney among others. Sony/ATV also represents the catalogs of many musical legends including the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, and Graham Nash and David Crosby.

Vellutato

notacanuck wrote (April 27, 2006):

www.infuszemag.com

Matt Bronleewe writes for this weblog about Christian entertainment. Is Compromise one of the originals on Clay's album?

Updates on Clay Aiken, Michael W Smith, High School Musical, Ted Dekker, and so much more...

CLAY AIKEN. It appears that Clay will be recording a song I helped write--"Compromise"--in the studio, one of only a handful of originals that will appear on his upcoming pop classics record. I'm anxious to hear the results!

ClaysMyMidlifeCrises wrote (April 28, 2006):

Now that Clay has blogged about the CD I'll share some things that Matt Bronleewe has included in some of the emails he's sent me (he won't mind me sharing some of this stuff):

February 22:

Quote:
I have a song on hold with him currently, and we've heard that John Fields (switchfoot) will be producing it.

Quote:
David Foster's sister, Jaymes, is acting as A&R. Be watching my blog for any further developments....and feel free to comment on any blog....comments are the best!!

April 8:

Quote:
I can assure you that Clive intends for nothing but success for Clay. I believe that it has been the success of the new record by Barry Manalow that has influenced the "pop covers" direction. But I don't think you should be dismayed. I've heard a couple early examples of what might go on the record, and I think they are very fresh. modern takes on the songs.

Quote:
The rest will be classic pop covers. I'll be in LA next week and hope to hear more about the latest details....

OneSingerGal wrote (May 4, 2006):

found another news nugget in the new Music Connection magazine, 5/8 - 5/21/06 issue !!!

cover story: Brian Culbertson - How he became the hottest ticket in jazz.

in the article:

describes Brian Culbertson's music as 'ultra-catchy, easy-grooving' with a 'sensuous, lightly grooving and highly melodic style'. and is the rage in the jazz market. he's a 20 year-old keyboardist and trombone player. has 8 hit albums and 20 No. 1 Radio and Records airplay singles.

Brian Culbertson's most frequent collaborator, however, is the lesser-known Stephen Lu, who Culbertson met through another of his former saxmen, Jimmy Reid. Lu, who does string arrangements for John Fields and has also worked with Clay Aiken, has what Culbertson calls 'a similar production brain to mine,' and the two wrote one song together on Nice and Slow (2001) and several others on Come On Up (2003). It's On Tonight is evenly split between Colbertson songs and collaborations with Lu.

you can sample steven lu's work with brian culbertson here.

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com

see the sampler in top left corner.

you can sample brian's culbertson's cd It's On Tonight here....

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com

list of collaborators on the album include:

Stephen Lu (2-5, 8-9, 11) Keyboards, Drum Programming

Chris Botti (9) Trumpet

LALady4Clay wrote (May 4, 2006):

I read in Brian's bio that one of his musical influences was David Foster.

I also read that he did Funky 70s style. Don't know about Lu.

musicvixen wrote (May 5, 2006):

John Fields produced Switchfoot's first CD, and I believe it won a grammy that year. It also won several Dove (Christian) Awards.

Switchfoot plays rock, and the Give a Little Bit clip that Clay did with John Fields is pop/rock. So, that doesn't sound too snoozy.

dda wrote (May 5, 2006):

John Fields has credits on quite a few albums...
Artist Direct - John Fields - http://www.artistdirect.com

Producer, Engineer on Swithfoot's 2005 Nothing Is Sound album...
Rollingstone Review -- Nothing Is Sound - Rolling Stone

Producer, Engineer on Mandy Moore's 2003 Coverage album...
Rollingstone Review -- Coverage - Rolling Stone

Keyboards, Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Fx Vocals, Bass, Guitar, Piano --
Backstreet Boys 2005 Never Gone album...
Rollingstone Review -- Never Gone - Rolling Stone

moonhead wrote (May 8, 2006):

post by Rob Seals (a singer-songwriter, session musician, producer & visiting artist) found on his website forum:

I hope your summer has been a good one. I had the great honor of heading the Songwriting Department at the Seth Riggs Vocal Camp in Los Angeles for about ten days in July/August.

***

But in practice this was a gathering of 150 excedingly talented musicians from all over the globe who came to LA to study with the legendary voice coach to the stars, Seth Riggs. Seth created "Speech Level Singing," a remarkable technique that has not only helped careers (Michael Jackson, Josh Groban, Michael Bolton, Barbra Streisand...) but saved and repaired wounded voices (Stevie Wonder, among others). For more about Seth and his programs world-wide, go to the Seth Riggs website.

Each afternoon classes would break for a guest lecturers series.

***

I put together a visiting lecturers series of my own on songwriting. Two vastly talented and generous luminaries from my own personal planetarium gave graciously of their time and insight: Peter Case, frontman of the 80's band The Plimsouls (did you see 'Valley Girl'? the band in Nic Cage's dive bar, the hit "A Million Miles Away"), now a rootsy Americana singer/songwriter of great conscience and consequence; and John Fields, musician turned producer genius whose production credits read like a Billboard Charts roundup (Switchfoot, Pink, Andrew W.K., Glen Phillips, Backstreet, Mandy Moore, the new Clay Aiken).

I was thrilled to have them both come sit in on my classes before the lecture. Peter mesmerized the room with some of his songs and stories and offered up some useful writing exercises that dovetailed nicely with work we were already doing. But John's arrival starched the proceedings a bit. You have to love a guy like Peter Case. He stands for a ton, and his songs communicate that with every breath. He took great issue with a "hit maker" being in the room, and immediately went on the offensive. But John couldn't have been more rock and roll about the whole thing. He feels the same frustrations with the music industry; he's just found a way to ply his talents for commercial success. It was fascinating to hear two guys who live and breathe music talk about such different sides to the beast, the art, the machine. Passion was all any of us in the room had in common.

***

The thick traffic on the 405 and the 101 allowed for lots of conversation about mix engineers and artists. John couldn't have been cooler or more interesting. Just an encyclopedia of musical knowledge. He even played me some Clay Aiken mixes from that to-be-released record, and some incredible Glen Phillips mixes that didn't make the cut for his lovely Winter Pays for Summer record that John did. Oh man, if the label released a CD of the ones that didn't make the grade, that would be easily as good a record as the one they released. Things like that are at once frustrating and inpiring in this business. So much good work never sees the light of day. But there was still a moment in the room when those musicians knew they were doing something special. Those moments, thick and sweet as honey, keep us coming back.

rainlover wrote (May 8, 2006):

New songs are on ASCAP.. DREAM and TRY

ASCAP

Works performed by:
CLAY AIKEN
1. BACK FOR MORE
(Title Code: 321596690)
2. CHRISTMAS WALTZ
(Title Code: 330057022)
3. COMPROMISE
(Title Code: 332002498)
4. DON T SAVE IT ALL FOR CHRISTMAS DAY
(Title Code: 340438682)
5. DREAM
(Title Code: 341756738)
6. FLYING WITHOUT WINGS
(Title Code: 360608246)
7. I SURVIVED YOU
(Title Code: 390959990)
8. I WILL CARRY YOU
(Title Code: 391165934)
9. INVISIBLE
(Title Code: 390788120)
10. MARY DID YOU KNOW
(Title Code: 430431857)
11. MEASURE OF A MAN
(Title Code: 430805784)
12. MERRY CHRISTMAS WITH LOVE
(Title Code: 430347092)
13. ON THE WINGS OF LOVE
(Title Code: 450153147)
14. PERFECT DAY
(Title Code: 460945013)
15. PROUD OF YOUR BOY
(Title Code: 460345779)
16. SHINE
(Title Code: 491899935)
17. SLEIGH RIDE
(Title Code: 490079251)
18. SOLITAIRE
(Title Code: 490307512)
19. THE WAY
(Title Code: 501580810)
20. THIS IS THE NIGHT
(Title Code: 501270253)
21. TRY
(Title Code: 502989959)
22. WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR S EVE
(Title Code: 530036569)
23. WHEN YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME
(Title Code: 530935678)

NY4Clay wrote (May 8, 2006):

Dream:
Writers...
MATTHEW RYAN BRONLEEWE
JASON INGRAM

Try:
Writers...
BEN GLOVER
MATTHEW RYAN BRONLEEWE
JASON INGRAM

COMPROMISE
Writers...
JOHN CHRISTOPHER FARREN
BENJAMIN GLOVER
MATT BRONLEEWE

If anyone would like their board name removed from a quote, or the quote itself removed, please let me know. Thanks to everyone involved for the diligence and effort. -jmh123

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clay Aiken new album A Thousand Different Ways songwriters Nashville Jaymes Foster

Album research - the OFC Nashville thread, Part One

2006-07-19T00:31:00.000-04:00

A Thousand Different Ways to make an album

A title for Clay's album was announced in the wee hours of the morning on the 18th. In celebration of that moment, with nyama's permission, I am blogging her compilation of all the fan research, from all the different message boards, concerning Clay's upcoming album. She has put together many, many bits and pieces culled from various parts of the internet and print media, with a wee bit of word of mouth here and there, beginning over a year ago. As the album progressed many changes were made, and at this point none of us have any idea what the album is going to be like yet. I'm dividing the blog into parts, beginning at the beginning, so the older the information the less likely it is, in general, to reveal anything about the album to be released this year.

The thread was named "the Nashville thread" because it was news of a songwriters' conference in Nashville that started it all. Without further ado......

Part I.
SO ... are you ready for the MOTHER of all roundup posts, version 3??? LOL I've tried to organize it, including what info we have so far about the Nashville writers, as well as other writers and musicians who may be involved with the CD. Also included are some relevant CD related snippets from various articles and interviews, plus a few posts from people who have friends/acquaintances in the music industry.

Keep in mind that MUCH of this may refer to the earlier incarnation of this CD and not the one we're actually getting!! Still, I wouldn't be surprised to see at least one little snippet of info from here pan out to be pertinent ... especially some of the later stuff.

Writers/musicians

Matt Bronleewe blog: www.infuzemag.com

MOLDING CLAY

I just got back from a big song meeting regarding Clay Aiken's next record. In the room were fifty (50!!!) of some of the biggest songwriters in music today, all vying for a spot on his record. Wild stuff. I think even those of us in the music industry didn't realize the level of competition on this record. The cool thing is that quite a few of us in the room are good friends, and right away we all talked about how we could help each other get some songs together for the project.

After the festivities had subsided, I got together with a couple other songwriters to discuss the spectacle we had just witnessed. One of the guys was completely bummed out. I asked him why. He said it was because he just found out, in front of everyone, that the song he had pitched for Clay's album had been rejected. Ouch. I consoled him with my story of once having a song of mine rejected by the Muppets - and let me tell you, when you are rejected by foam puppets, you've reached the bottom of the rejection pile. Oh well. You just have to dust off your boots and press forward, because right around the corner can be something AMAZING. Anyone in the creative industry has to quickly get used to rejection. For the creative professional, it's not just a common occurrence, it's a lifestyle.

Musicrow, an industry newsletter.

On May 25 the ASCAP Connection featured Clay Aiken's executive producer Jaymes Foster Levy at the PRO’s Nashville offices. Levy, along with Nashville consultant Barry Landis and ASCAP's Dan Keen, hosted 60 writers and publishers from the Country and Christian communities for an inside look at the song needs for Aiken's next project. Among the writers in attendance were Rivers Rutherford, Mike Reid, Allen Shamblin, Kim Carnes, Dan Muckala, Shaun Shankel and Third Day's Mark Lee...

From Rolling Stone, re: Clay's attendance at an ASCAP awards presentation - Neil Young was honored:

Prior to Young's award, dozens of awards for hit songs were handed out. Unlike other awards shows, no speeches were given, as recipients posed only briefly for photos with their plaques before leaving the stage. OutKast's Big Boi, Ashford and Simpson, and Usher were among the artists recognized for their songs' significant airplay in 2004. Guests ranged from author Maya Angelou to Clay Aiken to ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons.

And here are some pictures from the awards ceremony, one with Clay and someone named Jeff Jernigan: ASCAP awards

Nashville Songwriter's Association: http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/

(Nothing on their site re: Clay)

Nashville Songriter's Foundation:
http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/

(nothing on their site re: Clay)

September 2005, website of Canadian songwriter/producer Justin Gray’s music production company:

Daniel “Danny P” Pierre joins Justin as his new partner in their brand new production team known as “The Dynamic Duo.”
Between the two, they have sold over 50 million albums world-wide, and have had their work appear on albums by artists Joss Stone, Robbie Williams, Emma Bunton, Aaron Carter, Alex Parks, as well as many many others. In just a short 2 months, they have written and produced songs for Columbia Records recording artist and 12 year-old phenom Tiffany Evans (mixed by Tony Maserati), Columbia Records artist Shean Williams, the first single for SonyBMG Netherlands artist Boris, and have songs on “hold” for EPIC Records recording artist Sara Paxton, Leeann Rimes, Clay Aiken and are currently working on new material for Joss Stone next album. The Dymanic Duo are joined on Tiffany Evans’ album by other producers Soulshock and Karlin, Walter A, SupaFlyaz, The All-Stars, and Beau Dozier.

From a guitar player named Tariqh Akoni: http://www.tariqh.com/

October, 2005
...
Recently, I've been also doing a lot of sessions from home. The studio is finally done (and I'm slating November to finish the record), so I've been having people send me their songs, and I put my guitars on at home. I did some sessions for Clay Aiken (they were demos, so hopefully they'll make the album).

About Tariqh from an earlier post:

He played guitar on Lucia Micarelli's Music from a Farther Room --- and Jaymes Foster has an A&R credit on the CD. He has played guitar on several contemporary jazz-influenced albums.

Hmm. I just checked Tariqh's site: he went to Berklee College of Music (don't know if he was there at the same time as Daniel Pearson, though) and he was scheduled to play at Clive Davis's pre-Grammy party.

From the website of Moses Toth: Moses Toth

In 2004, Moses won awards for both Best Artist and Best Songwriter at the Embassy Music Competition in Nashville, TN. This has since afforded him the opportunity to submit songs to the Christian recording groups Avalon and Jump Five, as well as secular pop artist, Clay Aiken.

From an interview with Aldo Nova (though not clear if he's talking about past or ongoing writing for Clay): electricbasement.com

Nova traded guitar necks for notation paper, penning material for Bon Jovi, Celine Dion and Clay Aiken. Clay Aiken?

"Yeah, it seems a stretch, but I've always been into all kinds of music." And the man who lived the fantasy life - albeit briefly - still leads a prolific career. In this ElectricBasement interview, he discusses that career, songwriting and his solo debut, recently re-released on Epic/Legacy."

***

Who are you writing for these days?

"Celine Dion. Clay Aiken. I'm also writing for one of the Irish Tenors."

Ira Seigal (played acoustic guitar on MCWL) lists Clay's name under Upcoming CD's. http://www.irasiegel.com/

a partial list of potential songriters (where are the others ?):

Sean Hosein
Dane DeViller
Rivers Rutherford
Mike Reid
Allen Shamblin
Kim Carnes
Dan Muckala
Shaun Shankel
Mark Lee
Justin Gray
Daniel Pierre
Kay Hanley
Moses Toth
Ben Glover
Matt Brownleewe
Chris Farren
Steve Kipner (?)
Aldo Nova (?)
Chris Ward (?)

Allen Shamblin is the guy who wrote "I can't make you love me": http://www.allenshamblin.com/

Dan Muckala produced songs for Aaron Neville, Mandy Moore, and a lot more:
Dan Muckala

Shaun Shankel produced/composed songs for Point of Grace and Kimberley Locke including "8th World Wonder."

Sean Hosein and Dane DeViller wrote "Back For More" as the team "bananatoons": http://www.bananatoons.com/index_flash.html

from an earlier post:

Ben Glover is a pop/Christian writer from Nashville and he and Chris Farren were writers on Compromise which is the only other song besides BFM that is new on ASCAP.

FARRENUFF MUSIC
% CHRIS FARREN
1609 17TH AVENUE SOUTH
NASHVILLE , TN, 37212

Ben Glover Matt Bronleewe and Chris Farren collaborated to write "Compromise"
http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/artists/benglover.html
http://www.windsweptpacific.com/thewriters/m_bronleewe.asp
http://www.windsweptpacific.com/thewriters/c_farren.asp

Kay Hanley has written for Hilary Duff, Paris Hilton, the Backstreet Boys, The Pussycat Dolls, Lillix, and Fefe Dobson

Aldo Nova wrote "This is the Night".

Rivers Rutherford: http://www.riversrutherford.com/home.html

Has written for many, many artists, including: Gretchen Wilson, Gary Allan, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Keith Urban, Trick Pony, Blake Shelton, Deana Carter, Clay Davidson, Jamie O’Neal, Brooks & Dunn, Tim McGraw, Josh Gracin,and Andy Griggs

Article about Steve Kipner: http://www.songwriteruniverse.com/kipner.html

Has written for Christina Aguilera, Dream and 98 Degrees, among others

Newspapers/articles re: the CD

Snippet from the Oregonian, 11/01/05: www.oregonlive.com

(to Clay): Have you almost completed your next album?

Clay: Not quite. We're in an interesting quandary. A number of songs have been recorded. It's a matter of what we should keep. There are a couple of different ways we can go. I've recorded some traditional Top 40, minus the hip-hop, some adult contemporary and some covers. If it's going to be a theme, do I want it to be favorite love songs? The good thing is that the songs are recorded. The only way I'll record more is if our theme is Mongolian polka. Then I'll have to record some new songs.

From Canoe: jam.canoe.ca

North Carolina pop crooner Clay Aiken calls Canadian Jaymes Foster-Levy "absolutely wonderful." The runner-up on 2003's American Idol and the best-selling artist from that season has been working with the sister of acclaimed producer David Foster (Josh Groban, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion) on the follow-up to 2003's "Measure Of A Man" and they have been taking their sweet-sounding time.

"We have been in the studio throughout the past four or five months," says Aiken, who is taking a break from recording for his second annual Joyful Noise Tour, which launched in Vancouver Nov. 2 and ends with a pair of shows in Florida, Dec. 29 and 30.

"She used to be at Warner Bros, and went out on her own," says Aiken. "It was a match made by my management company. We interviewed a number of people to see what gelled and what didn't and she and I got along famously, so we decided to work on this together. She's absolutely wonderful and she and I see eye to eye on a lot of things."

****

"The last album ('Measure Of A Man') was something that I was proud of in the sense of' Wow, I have an album,'" Aiken says with a laugh. "So it was cool for that, but there were some songs on there that I did not necessarily connect with, songs that talk about being lovelorn and full of angst because someone wronged me -- and I don't know anything about that. I didn't know anything about that then; I don't know anything about that now."

****

"More important than what it sounds like is what is says to me," Aiken says of the next album. "That's why we're taking our time. I want to make sure that what I sing represents something that I know something about and I feel. Some songs we find and we said, 'That is it. We're gonna do that' and so I've gone and recorded them. And then there's been some other ones where we've gone in and we've liked the song a little bit; we wanted to change it some and see if we could make some modifications.

"So it's all up and down, completely across the spectrum, where we are as far as each song goes. Some have been recorded; some we have been listening to submissions and we continue to get them daily."

Still, in his quest to forge the direction with which he's happy, he's won't be co-writing any songs as many singers are wont to do after first-time success and freedom.

"I'm not much of a writer," he admits. "A few lines I can pull off in a song. I know there is a lot of people out there nowadays who say they've written a song and that means they've written a line or so. So it may be possible that I'll go in and change a line or two, but I don't think it's fair to take credit for writing songs, if I just change the line (laughs).

"So I'm not really going to do any writing, but we've taken our time and focused on finding really good stuff and, as a result of that, we've found a lot of stuff (laughs), so the problem now is trying to figure out which songs make the album and which don't, or do we want to put out a larger project or multiple projects, or do we want to do the best of the best? So right now, we're in this quandary, exactly what we've found do we want to go with."

From the Eugene Register Guard: http://www.registerguard.com

"If I was being completely honest, I would say that more time has been spent on touring, but we are working on the album and we do want to have it out next year," he said. "We've conceptualized and recorded songs that would fit on four different albums.

"We have so much material now, which is great because last time I did an album we had such a short amount of time, it was like I sang these songs and that's what I did and when I was done we put out an album. And now we have four and five albums worth of material.

"We just have to figure out exactly what to do with it."

Snippets from The News and Observer article: www.newsobserver.com

He's still signed to Fuller's label. But he's determined to release an album different from the first. Aiken wants it to fall in the middle, something that would appeal to stations that sound like WRAL-FM. He's still going around with the record company about it, but he's firm.

"Nothing's going to happen on this album that I'm not happy with, and that's where I've gotten more businesslike," he says. "I think, after a while, if you get kicked enough, you learn not to kick back necessarily but at least wear shinguards."

****

He knows how to handle pressure.

Aiken hasn't had to face many professional failures, other than last year's NBC Christmas special, which was trounced in the ratings by an episode of "Lost." But the more he takes charge, the more the pressure builds -- much of it self-induced -- to make sure his career doesn't falter.

The new album, which he hopes will be released in April, is a prime example. He wants it to be a hit and says so with a mix of earnestness and self-deprecation.

"A lot of it has to do with not really wanting to face the reality -- my life changed so much in 16 weeks -- not really wanting to go back and have it change again," he says. "And then, of course, nobody wants to be a punchline."

****

When the executive producer of his next album, Jaymes Foster-Levy, asked him if he had any ideas for song titles for his new album, he gave her the phrase "Where I Belong." The writers can take that in any direction they please, he says.

"I think that would be a great title track for this next album because it will come out about the time I'm getting back to Raleigh, which is where I want to be," he says. "People in my life are falling into the place they need to be, and I don't know if my career is necessarily, but at least how I control my life is finally getting to the place where I'm comfortable with it."

"Where I Belong" fits.

Re: the "dual disc" concept: http://www.entertainmentmanagementonline.com

(from Billboard, February 11, 2006) The DualDisc, introduced about one year ago in an effort to replace the regular CD with a CD/DVD combination disc, is currently not looking like a very lucrative initiative. Many major labels and indie labels agreed to stand behind the new format. However, after a year, it appears that the only company actually promoting and producing a significant number of DualDiscs is Sony BMG. Sony BMG is slated to push over 100 different titles on DualDisc this year; last year it shipped over 13 million units of the media over 102 titles. Some artists expected to be featured on DualDisc this year include Pink, Clay Aiken, Weird Al, and the Dixie Chicks.

From [message board] posters who say they've spoken with people who are either involved with the CD or in "the business" :

From renybc, who spoke with Jaymes Foster in Seattle:

I do know that Clay had recorded quite a bit of music that he was very happy with before the JBT even started as somebody who heard it told me how amazing it was. At that time, a theme and/or direction had not been chosen and JFL was just coming into the picture. More music was recorded, various decisions were made and she held her meeting in Nashville.

I don't know what she played at that meeting or if it was that music that Calliek's friend heard but it stands to reason that it was some of the music that was recorded prior to the JBT, either before or after JFL was hired and was considered "amazing" but those who heard it.

Excerpt from calliek's post:

When talk of a release date began surfacing, I made some inquiries. Didn't hear anything for a while and thought maybe I wouldn't this time. And then I did. Like what had been rumored, I heard May. May is not only good, it is strong, it is ideal.

And even though what else I heard was vague, it gave me every confidence that all will truly be well. First, the reiteration that the choice of JFL was "smart," that she is "well-thought of" in the industry. A concession from those on the inside that hey, this man knows what he's doing. Next, a mention that his "next effort" is "already impressing" industry people. The term "vocally and stylistically amazing" was used. Finally, there was an overt reference to "sessions out there." Now, I don't know what was meant by that. But I do know it's common for recorded bits to float around months before even promo-squad type testing is done. What was equated to those "sessions out there" was one word. "Stunning."

Excerpt from LALady4Clay:

My songwriter friend came up to me today (we haven't discussed Clay since well before Christmas) and told me his pub called him because Clay was looking for songs again. He told me that he was told that Clay will be going back into the studio in March to finish recording. He said that his cd will be mostly covers with a few new songs. I was so shocked. I told him that Clay said he had finished recording. He said this is what his pub told him. He said they had not found the quality/kind of songs they were looking for so they would be doing "big" or "famous" (can't remember which he used) songs. Don't know if they be rock/pop/ballads or what. It's possible his pub is working from old news but this is what he told me, today, Feb 14. He had no idea I knew of the covers.

He said the labels spend lots of money putting out a cd for their artists and the process can be very complicated. TPTB want the cds to do well and make money so they often work toward targeting the market that they feel is best suited for and make the most money for. He also said they things can change so nothing is in stone and this is only what he was told.

Excerpt from ClaysMyMidlifeCrises

Remember John Fields? He produced the 'Give A Little Bit' video that Clay was in on the cartoon network. It's rumored he is the producer of Clay's new Cd.

Remember, this is a RUMOR! As we all know, anything can change at any time. It comes from someone in Nashville who has connections, and this is the latest he has heard. So take it for what it's worth, a rumor.

****

He said John Fields was producing 'it'. We were discussing the entire CD and one tract in particular. The way it was presented to me, it's impossible to tell whether he was referring to John Fields producing the entire CD or the one tract we were discussing.

And last, an old [message board] rumor, originally posted April 2, 2005:

I didn't see this posted here yesterday and as always, keep salt lick handy but I read the following on CV and thought I'd post if for those who don't go over there.......

Quote:
This is probably supposed to be secret but I know someone who is close to the insiders in NC (she doesn't live there herself, but she's very credible) and she said she has heard 5 songs that Clay has recorded so far.

Quote:
I have been sitting on this info for a few weeks now just biting my tongue. I really can't see any reason why you all shouldn't know too. All she said about them, Starhorse, is that they all sounded great and one of them reminded her of some big 80s singer whose name escapes me right now. Oh, and that he'll be recording a bunch more and who knows which ones will wind up on the CD.

Quote:
I was with Claym8 the night we got the info, and have no doubt as to the credibility of the person who shared the info. She said that he had completed 5 songs, and would record 15 or more in total, and then the selection for the album would be made. She said that one of the songs was a Richard Marx-like song, and then mentioned one of Marx's earlier hits - the song escapes me now but I'll know the title when I see it. I don't know if we should be sharing this information or not, but like Claym8 said, I'm not sure what the harm would be in so doing.

Quote:
She also told us that Clay would not be going on to Uganda from Indonesia (he was in Indonesia then) because there was a family situation which would soon become public that he had to fly home for. She didn't share what the problem was. Two days later we learned that Brett was being deployed and he was on his way home. I believe that she has heard the songs, and my impression from the conversation was that she had heard them rather recently, but that's just an impression I got from the conversation.

Quote:
She did mention the song, and I immediately recognized it, but can't remember it at the moment. She also said she loved the song which was the Marx-like one and hoped it made it unto the album.

Quote:
I don't know who has written it - and I could be entirely wrong about the board discussion around a songwriter who wrote for Richard Marx who was supposedly writing for Clay. All I know is that the recorded song that was heard reminded her of Richard Marx's song Right Here Waiting for You.

The identities of many of the posters of the original items of research were not preserved in this part of the archive. If anyone would like to be credited, please leave a message for me in the comments section. If anyone would like their board name removed from a quote, or the quote itself removed, please also let me know. Thanks to everyone involved for the diligence and effort. -jmh123

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clay Aiken new album A Thousand Different Ways songwriters Nashville Jaymes Foster

Something Completely Different - Sumo

2006-07-16T16:33:00.000-04:00

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"

2006-07-05T19:08:00.000-04:00

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".

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

Stereotypes of Clay and His Fans--Then and Now

2006-06-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

This time around three years ago I would’ve been thrilled to have a blog like this to record my thoughts about Clay Aiken. I knew some big articles and interviews were forthcoming, and I hadn’t been impressed with what I’d seen thus far, so I decided to write my own. Now, post Elle, post Rolling Stone, post Entertainment Weekly, post Time, I look forward to the print features I anticipate will be appearing soon as the new album promotion rolls out. I know now that I couldn’t possibly write anything remotely as interesting as those articles were.

While we’re waiting for these, I want to take a look back--not only for nostalgia's sake, but also because as great as those features were, they did not fully dispel some misconceptions that people had, and some still have about Clay. In the fall of 2003 I had three major concerns.

1) I wanted people to know that Clay is a handsome and sexually attractive man–that his AI-created image was false. Clay’s geek to chic makeover was quite effective, but it was also emasculating. Before AI Clay wasn’t a fey theatre boi, he was a geek--a college student who was tied to his laptop. During the summer after AI, he grew from boy to man. He gained in confidence, he learned to move. He has phenomenal stage presence. He has charmed politicians, upstaged Jay Leno, and bedazzled the goddess of older Clay fans everywhere, Diane Sawyer. He is witty, genuine, entertaining.

And--damn!--he photographs well. The man Simon Cowell called ugly is a photographer's dream. I wanted people to know that Clay’s a chameleon--he has a thousand different faces. He can go from looking like a teen to looking like a man in seconds, and a myriad emotions can play unguardedly across his face in just a few moments.

I wanted people to know that Clay could sing a lot more than just ballads, that he is funny and entertaining--funnier than most working comedians--that he's mesmerizing to watch and listen to, and a totally effortless live performer.

2) I thought people had missed the point of Clay’s place in the television landscape that year, and in television history. 2003 was arguably the peak year for reality TV. Survivor, Extreme Makeover, the Amazing Race, and MTV’s the Real World were favorites, and American Idol was an upstart that had just entered the scene a season before.

To my mind, Clay is the ultimate reality show winner (even though he didn’t win). He played American Idol like it was Survivor--analyzing and reacting to a wide variety of cues to make himself the most competitive contestant. He changed his appearance dramatically, as they did on Extreme Makeover, but without needing surgical help--just by his changing hair style, clothing, stance. Reality shows reveal a lot about their participants: Clay showed that he is personable, easy to get along with, a leader, and that he has strength of character. He is clean-cut, but quirky enough to be interesting--most of his fans knew by then that he is neither saint nor saintly. In the sense that the goal of all of these shows is to win big money, change one’s life, and/or be a great media success, Clay is the ultimate reality show winner of our time. It’s not a question of winning American Idol or any reality show--it’s what you can accomplish given that exposure, that opportunity. Quick! Name a non-Idol reality show winner or participant who has sustained a public presence since the show ended or who is widely recognized for his or her accomplishments since winning.

3) I wanted people to know about the people, mostly women, who are Clay’s fans--that we are intelligent, diverse, “cool” people. I wanted them to know that I’d never met so many women who are so adept in computer technology. Some of his fans work in tech industries, and others taught themselves and learned from generous fellow fans all kinds of wonderful skills: photoshop/blends, web design, photography, audio and video recording, DVD burning, montage making, file storage and archiving, live cell streaming, and so forth. The Clay fandom is a girl-geek’s paradise.

I wanted people to know about the charitable efforts of Clay and his fans. A couple of good blogs have been written about this recently: In the Beginning.....Look What Love Has Done and There Was a Man.

I wanted people to know that we are professors, lawyers, housewives, artists, students, rocket scientists, truck drivers, male and female, all ages. That we are generous, organized, and focused on making positive changes in the world.

__________________________________

Three years later, with Clay’s third album on the horizon, some of these stereotypes have been dispelled, but for many, thanks mainly to crass comedians, they are stronger and more distorted than ever. Hopefully, with his coming press for the new album, further steps like the surprise AI5 appearance will be taken to change that.

So, as we wait for yet another album and its attendance publicity, and, hopefully, for more stereotype-breaking moments, here’s an essay I wrote back in 2003 just before Measure of a Man came out. I framed it as a letter to TV Guide (though I never sent it). (Little did I know then that he would make the cover–not then, but three times so far.) It addressed some of those stereotypes that concerned me then, and still concern me now.

________________________________

10/1/2003

If the folks at TV Guide are not already planning to put Clay Aiken on next week’s (Oct. 11-17) cover, you should be: He appears on Jay Leno (NBC) October 13, Good Morning America (ABC) October 15, the Early Show (CBS) October 17, and the View (ABC) October 17. He was featured last week on a Primetime Special (ABC), and sang at the Miss America pageant September 20. Aiken has been nominated for an American Music Award as best male pop vocalist, without having ever released a commercial album. More copies of his platinum single, “This is the Night,” (with "Bridge Over Troubled Water") were sold in the first week than of Elton John’s 1997 “Candle in the Wind” tribute single to England’s Lady Diana, the next highest contender.

Many of the estimated 24 million people who watched the American Idol finale last May have not seen Aiken since the flurry of post-show interviews ended. Even some in the music business who ought to be better informed are not aware of the fact that Aiken is on his way to a stellar career. Those of us who have had the good fortune to see a lot of him since last May would like to prepare you for some surprises.

1. Clay Aiken’s new album, “Measure of a Man,” is about to be released on October 14, but this is not his first album. Aiken recorded several “demo” albums long before the American Idol show. The “demos” are low-budget, local productions to be sure, made for himself, friends, and family rather than to shop out to record labels, but the quality of his voice makes everything else irrelevant. Tracks include standards like “Unchained Melody” and “My Girl,” pop hits like Elton John’s “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and Bobby Darin’s “Dream Lover,” country tunes such as “I Know How the River Feels,” “Not Supposed to Love You Anymore,” and “Look What Love Has Done,” as well as several Contemporary Christian songs. The best of these to me, and I am not normally a country fan, are the country tunes. This is less surprising when you know that he sang with a country band and in country music showcases back in the Raleigh area as a teenager. Whatever he sings, Aiken’s voice is divine. There are more than a few, I among them, who say his music has spoiled them for any other singer. His phrasing, his vocal power, the clarity and depth of his tone and emotion are that impressive.

Over the months since the AI finale, tracks from these demo albums have become widely available, on eBay and as free downloads from numerous sites on the internet. The few remaining originals sell for hundreds of dollars. All of Aiken’s AI performances were made available for free download by Fox. With a wealth of material to choose from, every self-respecting Clay fan has customized at least two or three different CD’s for her or his personal listening pleasure, and burned CD’s for others as well. Does this mean no one will buy his new album? On the contrary, his fans have dedicated themselves to the cause of making it go platinum in the first week of sales. If ever there were testimony to the value of free downloads in promoting the success of a recording artist, these homemade Clay Aiken tracks are it.

The “Measure of a Man” album to be released on October 14th is completely new material. Not an oldie is to be found on it (although older fans are still hoping for a bonus track of “Solitaire”). Despite his substantial baby-boomer fan base and his reputation as a crooner on Idol, RCA has decided to market Aiken as a “pop star.” After all, they might respond to our arched eyebrows, he is only 24 years old. The result is an ambitious, boundary-crossing production that aims to please teenagers and their parents alike.

2. The next item does not begin with a surprise, at least to those who voted for Clay. The AI finalists’ summer tour entertained in 40 venues throughout the country; they sold a lot of tickets, it was an excellent show, and Clay Aiken was the undisputed star. He proved himself to be a natural in an MC role, and in radio and television interviews all over the country he charmed everyone he talked to. The highlight of the show was Aiken’s performance of his new single, “Invisible,” recently released for radio play. Here’s the surprise–Clay CAN dance. He came into his own on this tour, and he was devastatingly seductive. Women screamed and threw panties, and a new term was invented--the Thud (the sound of a fan hitting the floor). Free fan videos of the concerts circulated wildly on the internet. Tribute montages were created, odes were written to every part of his body. Once geeky Clay Aiken is now a sex symbol, and without baring anything more than his forearms. Contemplate that, MTV!

3. Perhaps the biggest surprise to some who have not seem him lately will be my assertion that, second only to his voice, the popular appeal of Clay Aiken lies in his physical beauty. “I’m not a model, that’s for sure,” he said about one of the first times he was photographed for a magazine. But since then he has been photographed endlessly, and if you’re in the celebrity photography business, you already know that he is a dream to shoot. He is a kaleidoscope of personalities. His facets are so many and so varied that one can scarcely believe all are the same person. Some people who saw Clay on American Idol regarded him as giggly and effeminate, and he can be that, but he can also be unmistakably masculine. People who meet him for the first time say they are struck by how tall he is (6' 1"), and, as the photographs have revealed, he’s no smoothed-skinned girly-man. He has moved from the wispy gamin look of the July Rolling Stone cover to the September Entertainment Weekly cover portrait in stubble, t-shirt, and sunglasses. A feature article in the October Elle was accompanied by a photograph of Clay in a tux that caused the Thud heard round the world. The writer, Allison Glock, is an obvious and unashamed victim of Aiken’s charms. She begins thusly: “Clay Aiken smells like fresh laundry. It’s the first thing you notice about him–that he’s well-scrubbed, radiant in his cleanliness, a walking, freckled dryer sheet. The second thing you notice are his lips, which are plump and ripe and shell pink. Much has been made about his hair–the whole flatironed, geek-hipster, red nest of it all, but little, too little, has been made of his lips....”

4. While Aiken’s transformation from geek to gorgeous may be a surprise to some, it will be less of a surprise, at least to AI fans, that Clay speaks in public easily and well. He is charismatic and quick-witted, and these days he radiates self-confidence. Labeled the “thinking woman’s idol” by Diane Sawyer, and "the fantasy fodder of sophisticated women everywhere" by Glock, Aiken was as impressive delivering a speech on education this summer in Washington, D.C., or helping Mayor Bloomberg open the new Wachovia bank on Wall Street, as he is as a singer.

A topic as frequent among his fans as his good looks or his voice is his character. Aiken demonstrated admirable selflessness when Ruben was named the American Idol, and he has refused to engage in controversy over the vote. During the concert tour, he graciously and enthusiastically introduced Ruben every night as “your American idol.” He has displayed humility and genuine concern for others countless times in countless ways. He’s the kind of pop idol you want your kids to admire. While launching his new album this fall, he is also completing his college degree in special education, hoping to graduate in December. Many of his fans are parents of children with special needs, and a host of stories have circulated about Clay’s easy, thoughtful manner with these kids at fan gatherings before and after the concerts, and about the kids’ reaction to him and even to his recorded voice.

This summer Aiken created the Bubel-Aiken Foundation to support inclusion of children with special needs into mainstream programs like the Y and children’s camps. His fans raised $42,000 in less than a week to donate to the Foundation on the occasion of his return home for the Raleigh, NC, concert, spearheaded by a group who named themselves after one of his demos, Look What Love Has Done. Additional checks poured in at every AI concert this summer. For those of you who may have missed his performance at the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon on Labor Day, Clay sang in the time slot traditionally held by Frank Sinatra, and Jerry Lewis made the comparison explicit in his introduction. Fans raised over $30,000 for the MDA. A number of other charitable projects have been initiated by Clay’s admirers.

Neither Aiken nor his fans are wanna-be saints. Aiken has a snarky wit, for instance, and can be abrupt at times; he admits he is “not as innocent as he seems,” but even his faults can seem endearing to those who have been captivated by the total package that is Clay Aiken. He is a man with a huge heart and a playful nature whose caring for others shines through in everything he does.

5. By now it should be no surprise that an avid fan base for Aiken has developed, largely on the internet. These fans freely share gigabytes of photos, audio and video files from concerts; they have created hundreds of internet sites; message boards with thousands of members hang on his every breath, analyze his haircuts, his eating habits, his music, and his sexual attractiveness. While some of what you may find on these sites is unexceptional, and sometimes even off-putting, Aiken has attracted many supporters of great wit, intellect, and humor. After the AI concert tour began, odes to Aiken’s sexual appeal proliferated: The Weapons of Mass Seduction thread, which evolved into a message board; the Lecherous Broads for Clay Aiken website, known for its BEVR’s (Broad’s Eye View Reports of the concerts)–the LBFCA got their own picture in Rolling Stone. It’s by no means all about sex appeal; there is a bounty of websites and message boards with a depth and variety of offerings that should prove attractive to anyone who wants to catch up on all that’s been missed as this new phase of Clay Aiken’s career begins.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken fans Clay Aiken American Idol stereotypes

Mt. Iwaki

2006-06-28T11:09:00.000-04:00

I noticed that a lot of Japanese fans have been visiting this blog, so I just wanted to let you know that my background and profile pic are photos of Mt. Iwaki in Japan.

For those who don't know Iwaki-san, it's near Hirosaki, in the Tohoku region. I went there for an autumn festival, and fell in love.

Iwaki-san is a dormant volcano. It's been dormant so long that a crater looks like this now:

The day I went to the top it was very foggy:

My friend and I had planned to walk down from the mountain top. After riding a bus up the switchback in my background, taking a ski-lift without a safety bar, and then climbing up, up, up a rough path, including some huge boulders, to the very top, we began the walk down. By the time we had reached the lake in the crater, my friend said, sorry it's too foggy, and it's very dangerous -- we'll have to go back. And of course, to get down, first we had to climb back up!

That's OK, it was the festival we came for anyway. Here's the view from the base of the mountain on festival day:

Here's a similar view when there's no festival going on:

At the top of that long flight of steps framed by the torii gates is a Shinto shrine. This picture was taken from the level of the shrine entrance. Beyond the shrine is the real beginning of the climb to the top of Iwaki-san.

The shrine was newly painted for the festival, and looked beautiful:

Many people spent the night on the mountain to greet the sunrise on festival day. Here are a few on their way down in the morning.

This little girl is so cute!

Here's a case where a picture is not worth a thousand words. This was a once-in-a-lifetime sight. The man in the middle of the circle did an amazing shamanic deer dance. I had never seen anything like it, and probably never will again. The photo doesn't begin to do it justice.

One last photo. This is a beautiful view of Iwaki-san with some ugly ducklings (LOL) on a lake below.

I just had to add a link to this blog I found giving an account of a full climb up and down the mountain. The blog includes some really nice photos!
Greg's Japan: Summiting Mount Iwaki and Descending a Small Intestine.
At the end there's a link to more photos: Greg's Iwaki photos

I'm going to steal one. Click here to see the full-size version:

The photo of swans on the lake, the photo of the steps to the shrine when there's no festival, and the switchback photo are scans of post cards. Thanks to the photographers and the post card makers for their use. Thanks to Greg for his gorgeous panorama. Rights belong to the owners.

Technorati tags: Japan Iwaki-san

International Fans

2006-06-25T02:00:00.000-04:00

I found a new fan site today. It's been up less than a month. Biography, discography, photos, great design. Clay's official site should only be so nice! It's Japanese: The New Clay Aiken.

Awhile ago, maybe a year and a half or two years ago, a few fans in Korea started a fan site after "Shine" was used in a camera commercial starring a famous Korean actor. Today that site has over 10,000 members! Clay's never been to Korea; he has never been promoted in Korea. The interest in him is totally spontaneous, and is nurtured by random American TV appearances rebroadcast in Korea and lots of clack: Korean site.

Here's what one of the first members, Bloomingclay, said when they had reached 5,000 members:

Clay's Internet fan cafe in Korea, now 5,000 people joined!!!! WITHOUT any promotion.

Isn't it really neat people search if there is any fanclub site of him after they just watched his music video (sometimes played on cable channel) or a video clip of his performance on the internet and find here, and then join??

Many of those who joined even didn't know what American Idol is. They just saw the clips of him performing or listen to one or two songs of his album, thought he has great voice or the songs are pretty good and became interested in him. There are pop/rock fans, r&b/soul fans, and those who haven't listen to pop music until they get to hear Clay. For us, there is no 'cool/not cool' standard. If you like the song and the singer can sing, that's "cool".

American Idol was shown all over the world this year. Clay's appearance on the AI5 finale yielded approximately 1,000 new members to the Korean site! Message board posts from international members indicate the response was fantastic in many other countries as well. Not bad for two minutes on TV, eh?

Well, it took less than a
minute for a lot of us to fall
for him in the first place.

Clay's never been played much on the radio, hence all this interest has been generated by television. Not the usual way for a pop star to gain fame, but nothing about Clay Aiken happens in the usual way. With this new album, I predict Clay's international popularity will skyrocket.

Analysis of google searches over the last few years shows that the countries in which searches for Clay Aiken are highest (as a percentage of total searches) are Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Phillipines. Oh, and the US (comes in fourth). Also Canada, Sweden, Australia, and the UK. (Thanks to moonhead for the research. Much more detail can be found here: Clackhouse post.)

The Korean and Japanese sites are by no means the first Asian Aiken fansites. Smaller but closely-knit fan clubs have existed a long time for fans in Singapore and Hong Kong. There are many international fans on the Aiken message boards, with the largest number being Canadian. When Clay visited Indonesia last year, he stopped by Malaysia afterwards just to say a few words at a Forces of Nature benefit for tsunami relief, and charmed the audience by speaking in the native vernacular. See Out of Sight, a blog with many photos and a video of the speech, and this live journal entry, Forces of Nature, for a local perspective.

Now a Japanese site has been created. Did TBPB notice how many Anime montages on YouTube use Clay's music? Did they decide to give him Anime hair because they plan to market him in Asia? How long before his Japanese fandom skyrockets?

International fans - please add a comment and tell me where you're from!

ETA: *waves* at the fans from Canada, Argentina, the UK, Singapore, Thailand, the Phillipines, and New Zealand who have already visited since I wrote this blog a few hours ago!! ETAA: And to more visitors from these countries, as well as Germany, Slovenia, Estonia, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, South Africa, Dubai, Kuwait, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, and Korea.

I am very excited to have received a comment from the creator of the Japanese "New Clay Aiken" fan site.

Edited again: I learned of two more international fan sites, both from Brazil: Flogao Official Clay Aiken and Clay Aiken: Brazilian Fan Club. (Thanks pax!) I think the latter is the site of Lucia, who has attended a number of concerts and is a member of Clayversity. Here's Lucia's blog: clayaikenbrasil.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken American Idol Japan Korea Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Phillipines Canada UK Australia Sweden Brazil tsunami Forces of Nature Anime

My Boyfriend's Back

2006-06-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

My friend WinkyDink found this montage at GoFish, and I'm getting the biggest kick out of it. I've looked to see if I could find it posted at a fan site, and haven't been able to find it. It's by tbio; it's very cute and more than a little appropo. Enjoy!!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken My Boyfriend's Back Jukebox Tour

My mother is losing it!

2006-06-02T14:49:00.000-04:00

My mother is almost 93, still healthy, lives alone, and until recently has been pretty clear-headed. There seemed to be some deterioration in her mental clarity after the Raleigh ice storm of 2002 when she was without power for 8 days. She refused to go to a shelter or anyone else's home, and though she had a roaring fire in the fireplace, the temperature inside never left the 50's.

Still, it was just minor things at first. Always a stickler for correct grammar and spelling, she would misspell words when playing Scrabble. She tended to repeat herself a bit. Nothing major, nothing to be really concerned about. After all, she is quite old.

It’s only in the last six months that she’s been really slipping. My sister came up to visit me in March, and my mother called me in a panic because she couldn’t find her in Raleigh, even though we’d talked to her on the phone after my sister arrived.

And now I know for sure that she has lost it. Why? She’s a big fan of Clay Aiken’s, so I told her to be sure and watch the American Idol finale last week. When I talked to her later, I asked her if she saw it. “I’m not sure,” she said, “I don’t think so.” Ever since her old remote died and she's had to figure out a new one, she's had a hard time finding channels and knowing what station she's on. Still, you'd think she'd be able to tell if she was watching American Idol or not! Well, OK, the look was a big change–she just didn’t recognize him, I thought, so I sent her some pictures.

I talked to her again yesterday, and she asked me how Clay was doing, as always. I told her his AI appearance had been a great success and caused quite a stir. “Did you see the pictures I sent you?” I asked. “You mean the one with a hat?” she replied. I laughed, and said, “Well, it might have looked like a hat.” “No it was a hat,” she insisted, and then I realized what picture she was talking about. This one, which I e-mailed to her last August:

My mother and I became Clay Aiken fans together. Every week after American Idol the year he was on, we would talk about the show and his performances that week. She had a friend who knew Clay well, and we were all thrilled that a Raleigh boy had advanced so far in the competition. That was my nickname for him back then: “Raleigh boy”. After the show ended, I got hold of his demos on e-Bay and made her copies for her birthday. I gave her a copy of the Rolling Stone when it came out, and it disappeared mysteriously into her bedroom. I bought her each single and album, and put copies of his AI performances, photos, and television appearances on her computer. She liked these better than the CD’s because, she would always say, “I need to look at him when he’s singing.” Every now and then she’d chuckle and say, “I may be old but I’m not dead yet.” She compared Clay often to Frank Sinatra–“It’s just like Frank,” she would say–the screaming fans, the pop culture phenomenon. I think Clay made her feel like she was his age again:

Then it seemed that her interest cooled. I’d start to talk about him and she would change the subject. I don’t know what happened, and I probably never will, but my theory is that she was tormented so often by my Clay-hating sister and brother that she became embarrassed about loving Clay so much. I know she didn’t really stop caring, because when we went to see my cousin a couple of summers ago–my cousin is also a Clay fan--my mother took all her clack along to share with her. But Mom wouldn’t talk about him with me anymore.

My mother’s laptop crashed that winter, and with it went all her clack. I wasn’t in town, and my brother bought her a new one and replaced all her files–everything except the Clay stuff. No more clack, and too much pride to ask for more.

Last December the whole family went to see Clay’s Joyful Noise concert in Raleigh–everyone except Mom. She hates crowds and doesn’t get around well, so she wouldn’t go. I had bought her a ticket, so I gave hers to my brother. My niece loves Clay, so of course I had a ticket for her, and my sister, who had agreed to go along "just to keep us company". My brother's son decided since "everyone else was going" he wanted to go too, so we got him a ticket at the box office. Everyone enjoyed it immensely. The show put us all in the Christmas spirit, and we were giggly and uplifted by the experience. My brother recorded the concert on his i-Pod, and we all downloaded it onto our mp3 players. On his recording you can hear my sister going "wah hoo" at the end of "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem, and exclaiming at how cute little Gregory was in his Rudolph nose--gotcha Sis! Clay was the talk of our household for a couple of days before and after that concert.

Since then, my mom talks about Clay again. She still won’t admit to being a fan, but she does want to hear all the news. I don’t think she remembers much of it, and I guess she’ll never know the “new” Clay, but she definitely remembers this:

The story behind the picture. During the Jukebox Tour, Clay went into the audience every night to find a man to come up and dance with his back-up singers. He tried to find the guy who looked least like he wanted to be there. Funny stuff, great Aiken ad-libs. One night, as he was returning to the stage, he spotted this lady in the audience and took her with him to the front to a better seat. What a sweet man he is!!

Technorati tags:
Clay Aiken Clay Aiken fans Frank Sinatra ice storm Raleigh Rolling Stone mother mom

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

2006-05-27T12:10:00.000-04:00

I've seen message board comments by people looking for a full version of Clay Aiken singing "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." The best place to find all kinds of mp3s of Clay singing live, from age 10 or so to the present, is findingclayaiken.com. There's an early version of "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" here, from a demo album he recorded after high school. Embedded here is the American Idol 2003 Wildcard Show version. This is the song that put him back into the competition after he had been eliminated earlier. Just hit the little play button below (you might have to hit it twice).

codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0"
width="400" height="15" >

quality="high" align="center" height="15" width="400" bgcolor="#E6E6E6" name="xspf_player" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">

The big hit of Clay's Jukebox Tour last summer was his bluesy, plaintive remake of "I Can't Make You Love Me". Following "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is a recording of his Atlantic City performance late last summer.

Check out some Jukebox tour mp3s here: Jukebox Tour.

Go to Marhaven's blog for more embedded audio. Below her links list is the player, and she has quite a list! "Fantasy" from Clay's AI3 performance, "Proud of Your Boy" from the Aladdin DVD, "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem," which he sang for his grandfather at the Joyful Noise tour stop in Raleigh, "Not Supposed to Love You Anymore" from the demos--GAH--and more. There are other blogs from the list on the left where you can see You Tube videos of Clay singing much more upbeat stuff--his Elvis is amazing.

Clay and his people have been very generous with the "clack", as we call it. Because he's a touring machine, and someone from the fandom is always there with increasingly better video and audio recorders, there's some great stuff out there. It's kind of like my days as a Grateful Dead fan, only different (Clay can actually sing--no offense Jerry & Bob, but if you're a Deadhead, you know what I'm talking about). Dig around and find some video if you can--oh, and check out the vintage microphones and the amazing instruments the band is playing. But I digress--this blog is about audio. Fans fill the time between tours by making our own compilations of Clay's music, with well over a hundred different songs to choose from. Since--up until now--RCA has not found a way to capture that voice in a recording the way it sounds live, it's a pretty good deal. So until the single is released--and many hope it will be the very un-Clay Aiken-sounding "Back For More"--there's a lot of clack out there to keep a person occupied.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Elton John Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me Bonnie Raitt I Can't Make You Love Me clack

Reactions to the New Clay

2006-05-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

There were some big stars on American Idol last night: Al Jarreau, Live, Meatloaf, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Bert Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, even Prince. OMG Prince was amazing!!!! Oh, and yeah, a new American Idol winner was crowned.

So what was the "wow" moment of the night? Clay Aiken!!!

Here's a round-up of reactions:

rickey's AI blog:

CLAY CLAY CLAY CLAY CLAY CLAY

CLAY!!!! CLAY!!! CLAY!!!!

THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME SHOW EVER!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!

CLAY AIKEN IN THE HOUSE!!!!

The Idols sing Burt Bacharach songs… don’t they do this every year?

But my god, nothing can top the Clay Aiken moment. Next to Kelly he’s the biggest star this show has produced. Go Clay!

San Jose Mercury-News:

syndicated:

LYNN ELBER
Associated Press

Second-season runner-up Clay Aiken, with a slick new look, performed a "duet" on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" with his alter ego, a wannabe "American Idol" contestant who evoked the originally geeky Aiken.

realitytvmagazine.com

...there was one shining moment that will likely go down as one of the funniest moments in American Idol history....

Leslie Gray Streeter at the PalmBeachPost.com:

That fake Clay kid who couldn't sing even after a second chance is singing "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me." Who's that behind him...Clay Aiken!!! He's almost hot. Did you hear that, Claymates? I said he was hot! Did you hear me? Are you happy now?

People Magazine photo and poll

and article on line:

But the biggest show-stoppers were Clay Aiken, who debuted a jaw-dropping new hipster hairdo, and Prince, who performed two songs solo before an ecstatic audience.

E! News online:

Season two runner-up Clay Aiken returned with an edgy new look to appear alongside an imitator, who was mocked by the judges at his audition for his attempt to evoke the once-nerdy Idol alum.

Yahoo News photo:

caption: Former 'American Idol' winner Clay Aiken performs during the show's finale at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood May 24, 2006. REUTERS/Chris Pizzello

(well we can't expect the media to always get the facts straight, can we?)

www.topix.net:

But the show did hit one perfect note when Clay Aiken surprised an off-key Clay Aiken-wannabe on stage for a wonderfully impromptu duet.

Fox News online:

Perhaps the biggest laugh of the night, however, came during an appearance by Michael Sandecki, a sensation from an early audition episode (sensational only for how bad he was), who did a "surprise" duet with Clay Aiken.

They performed "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" and it really was akin to watching a before and after video, with Sandecki playing the role of the younger, naive Aiken, almost too enthusiastically.

From the fan boards:

txblonde, from the Official Fan Club via Clayversity via the Clackhouse:

The local reporter for the FOX station in Houston is reporting live from the Kodak. She summarized the evening with this quote:

"Hands-down the favorite reaction from the 33 media crews watching the live show.......Clay Aiken!

"Then the lady anchor said, "I thought he was great! I like his new hair, too!"

Penny, the Clackhouse:

two separate people on my LJ list called Clay's appearance the "best moment in Idol history". \o/

g35luzzter on the Clayboard:

I was watching MSNBC cover post AI5 show.
The host Rita interviewed a California DJ that hosted Katherine Mcphee's hometown watching party...
This is what I saw and heard.

The DJ (male) said, regarding not winning AI : "Look at Clay Aiken. He was on fire tonight. The crowd was crazy about him."

That's a quote.

Arlitexas, on the Official Fan Club via the Clackhouse:

I'm watching the local Fox News here in Dallas. The female anchor introduced the segment with Clay by saying this was one of the best moments of the show, simply hilarious and fun. The male anchor agreed that it was a great moment!

sharinlilbit, on the Official Fan Club:

From a TV blogger for the Akron Beacon Journal --

"Amazing, though, how eagerly people will show up on TV even if the reason is mockery. Crazy Dave Hoover's being there I can understand since he's, well, crazy. But Clay Aiken wannabe Michael Sandecki obviously didn't get the joke; then again, he got to meet Clay in the second-best moment of the evening.

"Sandecki, a terrible auditioner who tried to exploit a deliberate resemblance to old Clay, was invited to sing -- then was interrupted by Aiken's arrival. Sandecki didn't seem to mind at all. He labored to duet with Aiken, and then, when he was offered a seat, continued to have a look of sheer joy. Aiken, meanwhile, has moved way past his ''Idol'' look -- long hair, nice suit. Still has that big voice."

Ericapl, on the Clayboard:

Our local Fox news (Fresno, CA) mentioned Clay's part as one of the highlights of the night--along with Prince, of course. It was brief, but nice.

nowrite2000, on Television Without Pity:

I missed Season 2, I can't call myself a Clay fan and I've never posted here before, but I must say--if this dude can cause so much heated debate and notice in the press and web over his haircut, he must be in possession of some irresistable cultural pheromone. I've never witnessed the level of hysteria amongst the AI watchers sitting next to me than when that backscreen parted. It was as if Jesus was high-fiving Buddha as Allah popped and locked in the background. Incredible.

Faux Clay's stumble backwards was shared by many apparently.

BLOGS:

Oh what a night...

Clay Aiken...Making an Entrance

Holy crap!

The AI5 Finale... And the Return of Clay Aiken

That's Clay Aiken

THAT'S Clay???!???

American Idol Surprises!

That's Clay Aiken???

He's Baaaack!

I'm sensing a theme here with the blog titles. Heh.

___________________________________________________________

There's more, but I think you get the idea. So the Clay Nation is kaput, eh?

____________________________________________________________

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clay Aiken fans American Idol finale

That's Clay Aiken!

2006-05-24T23:27:00.000-04:00

Thanks to DeepSouthGurrl for the cap

Thanks to Permaswooned for the cap

Thanks to Wendy in FL for the cap

more: Lecherous Broads
more screen caps: Claymatized

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken American Idol American Idol Finale

Clay Aiken on American Idol Tonight

2006-05-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

So I heard on MSNBC earlier today that Clay's career was over. HA! The fan boards are absolutely buzzing tonight because CLAY'S GOING TO BE APPEARING ON AMERICAN IDOL TONIGHT!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

The lead story on every entertainment news program for three days now has been, "Will Clay Aiken appear on the American Idol finale?" He didn't even win; he was the runner-up in 2003. He hasn't been on TV all year, no new singles, no new nuttin'. HUGE stars will be performing tonight. And still the possibility of an appearance by Clay on the American Idol finale turns the entertainment world upside down.

Here's one of my favorite bits, from the Insider today:

The Insider correspondent, Victoria Recano, says: "But the big buzz is, Clay Aiken may perform right here tonight." Footage is shown of Clay on the Emmy red carpet, then of the "Invisible" video.

The scene changes to an interview room where Paula, Randy and Simon are sitting. Recano asks the Zero Trio...Will Clay Aiken sing on AI tonight?

Paula bites her nails, Randy says, "I don't know--Simon? He might be performing." Simon says snarkily: "Oh Gosh, I hope he is, otherwise I'm not going to sleep."

Tsk tsk, poor Simon. Hated Clay then, hates Clay now, hates Taylor Hicks, and now he's going to have to watch Taylor crowned the American Idol tonight. Heh.

I guess the truth is I like Kat a bit more than I do Taylor, but for me, it was "Idol Found, Game Over" in 2003.

The Meerkat Blogosphere is all about American Idol today. Check out some of these links:

Three Years Later, Clay Aiken Is Too Popular to Be Idle,

The Anomaly...A time to Celebrate!

American Idol - The Final 2 Perform

American Idol - Final 2 Performances

Approximately Three Years Ago Today....

Top 10 Idol "Moments"

American Idol Finale

The Final Two

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Clay Fans' Musical Tastes

2006-05-19T10:22:00.000-04:00

People in the media (and that silly Clive Davis person) are always saying that Clay is like Barry Manilow, and that his fans like that kind of music. I'm sure there must be some Clay fans who like Manilow, although I've never actually met one. Check out these blogs written by Clay fans about other favorite musicians.

Music Memories: Folk, Rock, Jazz That Touch My Soul

Life changing moments

What's on Your Soundtrack?

Too Much!

Chris Botti

The Beatles, Clay Aiken and Me

Jason Mraz

Rock Star concert

One of the side benefits of finding Clay (Keith Urban)

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken Clay Aiken fans musical tastes Chris Botti the Beatles Rock Star INXS Jason Mraz folk music rock jazz Keith Urban

My favorite pictures of Clay

2006-05-14T00:09:00.000-04:00

He cleans up nicely too!

A few more:

How could I have forgotten to include this one!

And, last, a new favorite:

all photos are copyrighted to the photographers

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Clay Aiken in Uganda for UNICEF

2006-05-12T22:37:00.000-04:00

One of the links on the left is to an organization called "Invisible Children". They are publicizing the plight of the children of Northern Uganda called "night commuters". These children walk for miles every night to sleep wherever they can in the cities rather than risk being kidnapped in their villages by the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA captures children and turns them into child soldiers, or tortures or rapes them, or makes them commit unspeakable acts, such as the murder of a parent or sibling. The LRA call themselves Christians--imagine that! This has been going on now for 20 years!

Clay went to Uganda on behalf of UNICEF last year. He didn't get a lot of publicity for it, but his fans did become educated about these children and have contributed generously to UNICEF and other organizations on their behalf. See the link to Bead for Life. This is a group that raises funds by selling very cool bead jewelry made by Ugandan villagers. Check it out. It's a great group. Fans had bead parties at lots of Clay's concerts last year.

Pictures may be the only way to communicate how meaningful this experience was for Clay, since he has had few opportunities to talk about it in the press. So here are some pictures of Clay in Uganda:

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Clay Aiken fans

2006-05-10T20:18:00.000-04:00

I was going to write about Clay's fans, but I just read a blog that said everything I wanted to say. So go read it! Blow Your Mind: Clay Aiken Fan Segment The Media Forgot.

Here's another short little blog about Aiken fans: Clay Aiken Fans Are Good People.

I remember when Jim died. It was a tragic accident, and it broke my heart. I never met the guy in person, but still felt as if I knew him. We lost another fan recently. She had the best screenname ever: laughingoutloud. She will be sorely missed as well.

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Thoughts on Clay Aiken's new album

2006-05-07T11:31:00.001-04:00

First of all, I just can't wait to hear it!! There's a lot of controversy among fans about the fact that it will contain "lots of covers". I'm more interested in the sound than the songs. Here are some of my posts from Clay's official fan club message board about that:

*The question is now, how much of this investment in Clay's artistry will actually made it to the album? I'm hoping better production is a given, something I think Clay would now insist on. Merry Christmas With Love, though a niche album, was a big step forward from Measure of a Man in that respect. Good sign. Sue me, but I think Clay's new album will be an excellent album, and not the boring, tossed out standards that some have predicted, whether he gets his entire "vision" or not. Words others have posted from "insiders" like "stunning" "amazing" and "modern" have a way of sticking in my mind in a favorable way.

*Each tour, each event, each recording he brings it. He is ever improving, ever adding more nuance. It isn't just the way he sings, it's the things that he can do with his voice that color his presentation of a song and make it unique. After what I saw and heard on the last two tours, I am certain this CD is going to be absolutely amazing.

*I think that he is finding a way to put "his own sound" out there in a world of pop music that appears to want singers to all sound alike, or have a very similar or recognizable musical style, that he is looking for music and arrangements that will best suit "his own sound."

*What I hope to see on this CD (for the original music--which, like you, I had hoped for more of than it looks like we're going to get--and for the remakes) is music that goes beyond genres and niches. I think the way they plan to deal with the diversity of his fanbase (and of his talent) is to go for an eclectic sound.

*The source of the songs matters less to me than the sound. Clay has a beautiful voice, an exceptional voice. There are others with exceptional voices, but Clay can do things with his voice that really capture my attention. He can modulate tone, add "noise" (growls, wails), add an edge to the beauty. He can capture considerable variety not only in terms of his vocal range, but also in his stylistic range. He's capable of the melisma that others use so often these days, but when he uses melisma, he holds to the center of the notes; he very rarely goes out of harmony with the melody. I think he has room to grow in terms of improvization--I was one who was not impressed with the TFN variations that he added in the JNT II--but I believe that he is working in this area and experimenting with it. Most of all, Clay is an original; he doesn't sound like anyone else. Even when he sings an arrangement that has been done many times, even when he is inspired by the artist who first used that arrangement, he sounds like himself, not the person associated with that arrangement. I'm thrilled that he is seeking original arrangements created for him, new takes on classic songs. I'm very excited to hear what he and the people he is working with come up with.

*I also admire his ear for a lyric--for a song that tells a story. What it appears that he is aiming for in original music will be difficult to achieve, and may take longer than he has before this coming album is finished. I think he wants songs that inspire without being overtly religious, songs with a storyline, songs of varying styles and tempos, songs with beauty, songs with a beat. I'm sure he will keep striving for this in his career. Right now he has made great progress towards a style and a sound that relies on, but builds on, the Rock and Roll classics, and with the attention that is being given to production, I have my fingers crossed that many will be very pleased with what they hear in this album.

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