Chexxxy's Pearls

Clay Aiken's New Single

2012-01-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

Listen to "Bring Back My Love", Clay Aiken's new single released December 20th on iTunes and Amazon.

30 Seconds Of Clay Aiken

2010-05-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

30 seconds of Clay Aiken is just not enough. This short ad will most likely be run to promote Clay's PBS TV Special coming this summer.

There is also a much longer preview that must be seen and heard. This special and the album (to be released June 1st) can't come soon enough!

Clay Aiken Tried & True - June 1

2010-05-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

It is less than 3 weeks to the release of Clay Aiken's 5th album. He has outdone himself by freshening and re-interpreting classic songs from the 50s and 60s.

Can't Take My Eyes Off You and Misty are on Myspace

A preview of Clay Aiken: Tried & True Live! PBS Special concert is on Youtube. The Special is due on Public Television nation wide in August.

Clay and his friend Ruben are also going to tour this summer in July and August. Check for tickets on Ticketmaster. All venues are not for sale at Ticketmaster. Check clayonline.com and Clay's myspace page for a complete list.

Help the National Inclusion Project Win $50,000!

2009-10-24T07:22:00.000-07:00

Take the Challenge. Help Us Win $50,000!

As a friend and supporter, we know you share our passion for our cause. America’s Giving Challenge, presented by the Case Foundation, Causes on Facebook and PARADE Publications, is your chance to help us win awards up to $50,000. You can play a part in bringing about real and lasting change for something we both care deeply about.

Here’s how it works. From October 7th to November 6th, Challenge participants will compete for cash awards based on the number of donations to their cause, not dollars raised.

Please visit our cause on Facebook, and get involved now by leveraging your networks to help us recruit supporters and donations!

http://www.causes.com
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/330288

Thank you for your support!

Aapki Antara

2009-10-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

The following comment was left on an older blog today.

KartofflMuter said...

I'd like to leave this message for Clay and anyone else who's interested.

There is a wonderful and very important Soap Opera or serial coming out of India. It started several months ago and it's called Aapki Antara.

It is about a little girl with autism and how the family deals with it. IT IS GROUNDBREAKING!

You can't imagine how much more difficult it is in tradition bound India than it is in the U.S. Everyone thinks the little girl is crazy. They ban her from restaurants. They tell her parents to leave her at home for family functions. They push her,insult her,abuse her.

It's a daring project.

You can watch snippets on You-tube. Even in Hindi,you'll get the idea.We need shows like this. I get Zee TV so I watch it every night.

Clay would love it.

http://www.zeetv.com/shows/aapki-antara.html

Appeal for Help

2009-10-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken just posted on his Facebook page.

The National Inclusion Project needs your help! With just 2 minutes, you can make a huge difference in the lives of many children. All you have to do is click on the link below and vote for the National Inclusion Project as your favorite charity. The winning charity gets $10,000 – that money would fund an ENTIRE Let's ALL Play camp for the summer. We are currently several votes behind first place and would love to come back and put the National Inclusion Project on top! With your help, I think we can be back at #1 in no time.
http://www.ilovechristiecookies.com/contest/form.asp

All you need is an e-mail address and choose the National Inclusion Project in the drop down menu. Let's do it!

Clay Aiken Launches The National Inclusion Project

2009-08-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

The National Inclusion Project grew out of the relationship between Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel and Diane’s then 13-year-old son, Mike who had been diagnosed with autism. The bond between them grew strong as they shared a vision of a world where children like Mike could be fully immersed in society. They had both witnessed children with disabilities repeatedly turned away from activities opened to typical children.

As Clay pursued a degree in special education from UNC-Charlotte, he completed an independent study project where he created a foundation that focused on providing the support system for recreational and educational programs around the country to open doors to children with disabilities that had thus far remained closed. Both Diane and Clay realized that an organized effort could encourage and facilitate community inclusion and empowerment of individuals with disabilities.

This shared goal grew into reality on July 28, 2003. Since that time, the National Inclusion Project has established itself as a leading voice for inclusion working with a “Who’s who” list of youth organizations

YMCA

Best Buddies International

Boys & Girls Clubs

CampFire USA

ARC

– as well as many other local parks and recreation departments, community centers, and privately-run programs. They have also formed partnerships with:

Johns Hopkins University’s National Center for Summer Learning

The University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Center for Social Development and Education

The University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability

The University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center.

In 2008, both of the Project’s cutting edge inclusion models – Let’s ALL Play and the K-12 Inclusive Service Learning Program – were closely evaluated with overwhelmingly positive results. Children with and without disabilities in these programs saw growth in motor skills, social skills, and self-esteem, and the impact of the friendships made will last long into the future.

The National Inclusion Project has worked with hundreds of programs, trained numerous staff members and leaders, and provided inclusive opportunities for over 20,000 children. This far-reaching impact would not have been possible without the dedicated support of countless volunteers and supporters. With their help in raising awareness and funds through projects like Wrapping for Inclusion and Change for Change as well as local fund-raising efforts like cookbooks, gatherings, and online donation drives, the National Inclusion Project has dedicated the vast majority of every dollar into making an impact with our programs.

The National Inclusion Project is poised to continue to make an impact with thousands of children nationwide as well as raise the national consciousness about the need for and benefits of inclusion.

Click here for more information about the National Inclusion Project

~

Clay Aiken Fantasy

2009-07-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite performances by Clay Aiken.

It happened during one of the times that he returned to American Idol as a guest performer. This song isn't on any of his albums, but I get a kick out of it because of the back story and because he sang the heck out of it with such joy.

At the time Clay was just days away from the end of his contract with 19Management, which he had to sue to get out of. He was on tour, co-headlining an arena tour with Kelly Clarkson, and had been scheduled for an hour long interview on Larry King Live the same night, until 19E decided that he should perform something with the girls on American Idol instead. They had the power to do crap like that to the Idols under contract and if we only knew how often, and how many of the Idols under their control 19 had similarly screwed, I think we would be shocked. Or maybe not :)

I think he chose this song to express how happy he was to soon be out of their clutches, at least as far as management goes. He was still stuck with the recording contract under 19 for another 4 years, and we know how that turned out. Bastards!

You are finally free of them, Clay. Let's see what you have up your sleeves now!

Open Forum at Chexxxy's Place

2009-07-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

Do you have any questions? Something to say?

Would you like to meet the members or join the board?

Chexxxy's now has an open forum where you can post any questions or comments.

Click Here to go to Chexxxy's Place.

We are aware that there are a lot of great fans out there that are hungering for a happy and supportive place to enjoy being a fan. Ordinarily it is by invitation only but we know that not everyone knows someone who is already a member.

We are also aware that there are some nasty rumors about us and although we are not perfect, the rumors that we are fan policing ogres is just not true. I'm looking at you DM, QM and assorted others. If you would enjoy a virtually un-moderated board that treats adults like adults, and, if you are a loving and supportive fan of Clay Aiken, this is the place for you.

Foxydonna

2009-06-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

I have a bone to pick with you. Who the fuck do you think you are calling fans "the frauen"? According to Vote For The Worst a "frauen" is, by definition, a woman over 30 who is a fan of an American Idol contestant.

You fit the bill better than anyone, Donna. You are a fat old professional Idoltard. There is nothing wrong with people of any age or size being a fan, my problem with you is the hypocrisy of you calling anyone names when you are older and fatter than most. Do you think it makes you cool to put other people down? Do you think you are any better than the rest of the fans? I have news for you, you are worse. Check out the frauest frauen that ever fraued.

Notice that she is the oldest and the fattest person in the crowd.

Donna Reynolds writes for Foxes on Idol as well as the blog Idol Thoughts on syracuse.com which is the online version of the Syracuse Post-Standard. Not that its such a big deal, she's just a fan that contributes occasional content, no better than any other AI blogger, and at times much worse. She is known for writing articles based on unfounded rumors that are negative to those Idols she doesn't like and never retracting those false statements when she finds out she was wrong.

Do you think the paper she sends her articles to knows that she is such a hypocrite? Do you think they Google to see where their hits come from? I hope so.

Vote For The Worst re-published a rumor that was originally published at Queerty on June 4 2009. Without making any attempt to verify it, I might add. When the owner was told that the rumor was false he took down the blog but the thread discussing the rumor continues to bash Clay for the false story claiming that Clay's own foundation had dropped him. Not one of those posters have told them it isn't true, not even thefunnystone (the one that published and subsequently removed the blog). Donna, of course didn't bother to find out if its true either, she just bashes the truth tellers like the bitch she is.

Yes, Donna, Clay is a victim of poisonous pens like yours and Vote For The Worst doesn't allow fans, only haters and mockers are welcome. No one will post the truth and those people that know that it isn't true don't bother to post it because bashing is more fun. Donna Reynolds fits right in.

Stalker and Seacrest In Bed Together

2009-06-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

The little pissant just admitted that he is the one that plants malicious stories in the tabloid press. The Complete F*ing Idiot continues to out himself as a sociopath behaving with malice toward a celebrity.

Speaking of malice...

Ryan Seacrest, is a powerful producer on the E! Network and he is the mouth piece for American Idol. Ever since Clay fired 19's management company in 2004 (and also showed Kelly Clarkson how to fire their greedy asses) Ryan has viciously maligned Clay Aiken at every opportunity. On his radio show and on E!, the very gay (allegedly *snicker*), self loathing, and homophobic Seacrest regularly ridicules Clay's "gayness" and gleefully reports any tabloid gossip about Clay including the stalker's unsubstantiated stories, all the while in the closet himself (allegedly *snicker*).

The most glaringly obvious act of malice was the use of John Paulus (Clay's stalker), Kathy Griffin (who mocks Clay in her act), Ramin Satoodeh (a writer who botched an interview with Clay for Newsweek), assorted celebrities and comedians who don't know and never met Clay, and an old woman (who may have met Clay as an infant) and wrote an unauthorized biography (she tried and failed to sue Clay for not endorsing her fictitious account).

Never in the history of E! True Hollywood Story has there been such a malicious line-up of "experts" to trash a star.

The recent attempts by Idol to do damage control for their homophobic behavior towards contestants who they perceive to be gay, and their homophobic banter between Ryan & Simon on the Idol show, is not fooling anyone. They are using Adam Lambert to improve their reputation. GLAAD blasted American Idol for their bad behavior and Adam is their token gay. See! We LOVE gays. Look! We are nice to this one!

Is anyone so naive that they can't see it for what it is? They wanted another talented gay man to place high on Idol, to repair their homophobic image, but they wouldn't go so far as to allow him to win. Its deja vu all over again.

Runner-up Gets more press than the winner

Media Is All Over Him like a dirty shirt

Needs a bodyguard

Gets the Cover of Rolling Stone before the winner

Exclusive Interview with 20/20

Trying to recreate Clay Aiken.

Stalker Video Exhibits Drug Abuse, Deception and Desperation

2009-06-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

Gather around sports fans! The Complete Fucking Idiot has given us a gift. There is nothing funnier than watching a liar protest too much. Didn't I tell you that he has changed his story and is now calling RAPE? Yes indeed. He doesn't remember the details of his own fiction. He repeatedly says he doesn't ever lie and is honest and truthful. Does he think that if he says it enough that he might believe it himself, because no one else is that stupid.

You can read his body language, you can hear him stumbling and stuttering. You can see his nervous movements and his difficulty controlling his tics. Everything points to the fact that he is lying. The twitching and nervous fidgeting and fiddling is classic tweaking.

tweaking

Frantic and compulsive behavior often associated with methamphetamine abuse (crank).

Mute the sound and just watch him. The deception is all there. Is he using cue cards?

More videos please Moron. I'm entertained! Oh and the undershirt lends a nice trailer trash touch.

Ooooh, I love to picture Clay as the Big Alfa Male that can snap an army ranger in two with his bare hands. *fans self*

Adam Lambert Fans Listen up!

2009-06-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

I hate to give a particular piece of shit any attention but it has to be done.

I'm talking about John Paulus. He is a middle aged gay man who started out a fan of Clay Aiken's. He had Clay's pictures all over his computer and in Dec of 2005 he bragged to his sister that he was talking to Clay on Yahoo instant messenger. He didn't realize it at the time but he was talking to one of many impostors who amuse themselves by posing as a celebrity. Its nothing new, others have posed as celebrities countless times on the internet. Many other stars have stalkers too.

The problem this time is that he was convinced it was really Clay. The fake Clay was a young woman who was posing as Clay and entertained herself by sending Clay's picture to unsuspecting gay men and she flirted with them, sometimes going so far as to pretend to make a date to meet up with her victim and then not showing up.

There are numerous posts made by men over the past 6 years that claim that they had an encounter with Clay online. These men often expressed anger that "that asshole" stood them up and they go on to rant about how Clay isn't all that and who does he think he is anyway!

John Paulus was one of those men who the Fake Clay made a date to meet up at a hotel. Of course Clay Aiken didn't show up but this time the guy "screwed with the wrong queen" said Paulus. John attempted to extort big money from Clay Aiken before he went to the National Enquirer but Clay's lawyers told him he could pound sand.

He sold his story to the National Enquirer and made the rounds of every sleazy tabloid media he could get to listen. He told Howard Stern, Michael Lucas (porn producer), Perez Hilton, Queerty, Feast of Fools, Gawker/DListed and Billy Masters (filth2go) all about a sexual encounter that never happened. His story was rehearsed and coached by Michael Lucas so that it covered every possible form of character assassination that could be crammed into each telling. He went so far as to open several accounts on gay dating sites like manhunt.com posing as Clay Aiken to back up his story.

He wrote a letter to Queerty telling them his real name and location, which they published. He went on the radio with Bob Dumas of G105 in Raleigh to repeat his filthy tale and his sister also had her 15 minutes with Dumbass on G105. The interview with his sister Tina infuriated Paulus because she told things he didn't want told, including the fact that John was a huge fan (his version of the story was that he didn't know who Clay was before he "met" Clay online) and that he threatened to kill her for talking to the press. Her version did not match his and he was enraged.

Cue the Clay fans who went after him for telling lies about Clay.

Adam Lambert's fans are angry because there was an "insider" report that Adam is a bit of a Diva on msnbc.com. They are in a fury over such a sleight to his good character. Imagine how they would react if someone lied about Adam in the same way as was done to Clay!

Adam's fans need to be aware that this same sociopath that has been using his contacts with the National Enquirer, Star Magazine, msnbc, Globe magazine, Howard Stern, Michael Lucas (porn producer), Perez Hilton, Queerty, Feast of Fools, Gawker/DListed and Billy Masters (filth2go) has been planting gossip with those outlets for over 3 years.

He is responsible for most of the gossip and rumors that have been targeting Clay and his fans for years. He has made it his job to destroy Clay's life in every way he can. It is all payback because Clay's fans despise him and don't mind telling him so and because Clay has denied the tabloid rumors.

Every celebrity has haters, the more fame, the more haters. Its just how it is. Clay's haters have aligned themselves with Paulus and they work as a team to do as much harm as they can to Clay's career, his charity and to his good reputation. They often pose as Claymates and post in as crazy and as demeaning a way as they can to give Clay's fans a bad reputation.

Adam and his fans are in peril. Paulus not only is using Adam's fans to incite a fan war and to create more hatred for Clay, he is also trying to get Adam's attention and approval. Paulus owns and operates a number of blogs. The 2 that are of interest right now are clayaiken411 and adamlambert411, both on blogspot.com

Paulus is attempting to play the Adam fans into doing his dirty work. He is the one that sent the Diva rumors to msnbc and pointed his accusations at the Claymates. He is the one that sent the rumor to Gawker/DListed that Clay was not welcome at American Idol. He is the one that sent the rumor that Clay's charity is dropping him to Feast of Fools. He is the one that sent the rumor that RCA dropped Clay to msnbc. None of these stories or many previous ones, are true, but the above mentioned roster of idiot bloggers and tabloids will publish anything as long as they have a source. The source doesn't have to be legitimate and the story doesn't get checked out. All they want is someone they can point at if there is a lawsuit.

Be aware of what is being said and where you read it. Those blogs I listed above are despicable in their practices and if you think this is bad only 2 weeks into Adam's career, fasten your seatbelts because us Clay fans have been there, done that and got the T-shirt.

Yes I know that Clay didn't like Adam's ROF. He probably shouldn't have said so but he is so much like Adam that it is amazing. They both tend to tell it like they see it but they are both very nice guys who are getting attacked by homophobes and haters from all sides. Clay has been enduring this shit for years. His reputation has been harmed. If John Paulus continues to go after Adam, and if Adam doesn't give him the attention he wants, Adam and his fans are in for a rough ride.

In March 2007 Paulus confessed that it was a hoax,

then he took back the confession and changed the story. This time he claimed he was raped. It never ends because he is not sane.

Don't Miss Clay Aiken On 30 Rock Tomorrow!

2009-05-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

OMG! He is supposed to be Kenneth's cousin on the show. What a blast this is going to be!

Family Equality Council - VIDEO: Terry Boggis, Clay Aiken

2009-04-22T12:54:00.001-07:00

Great videos and the recognition given to Terry and Clay. They are both articulate spokespersons for the LGBT community.

read more | digg story

America's Next Top Model Preview

2009-04-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Next week on April 8th there will be a 2 hour episode of America's Next Top Model with special guest Clay Aiken, who is a close friend of Tyra Banks. The preview is hilarious and I can hardly wait to see the show.

The Very Best Of Clay Aiken

2009-03-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sony Legacy has compiled a Playlist of what they feel is the best of Clay Aiken. A fan made a montage of some live performances of the songs on the CD which is available on Amazon.com for pre-order and will be released March 31st.

Clay Aiken Could Start His Own Label

2009-02-27T23:29:00.000-08:00

Clay Aiken certainly has enough money to start his own label. He probably already has a recording studio in his home and his Producer, Jaymes Foster, just happens to live with him. Now all he needs is a great marketing and distribution company.

For a fascinating and informative interview with a man who knows the music business inside and out go to this blog and watch the video, Fred Croshall: Indie vs Major

~~~

Clay Aiken Says Adios to RCA!!

2009-02-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

Clay is Finally Free!!!

In People Magazine his Publicist, Cindi Berger, said: "We were unable to come to terms in a recent contract negotiation, and decided that it was best to move on."

and a hearty FU to Clive Davis and RCA!!!!

Ryan Seacrest and his buddies at E! think we are in mourning. Hahahahhahahaha!!!!!

Clay's Song + Twilight is a Perfect Match

2009-02-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

This montage set to Clay Aiken's "Something About Us" is so good that its a shame that the Twilight movie producers didn't use the song on the soundtrack.

Measuring Clay Aiken

2009-01-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty good article. I made it better by taking out the ridiculously forced attempts at cutesy language which detracts from the overall message. I started on the grammar and punctuation, but quickly gave up.

There's nothing wrong with occasionally writing "straight". No pun intended. Remember this:

"When we stop categorizing people verbally, then we'll stop categorizing them socially" Clay Aiken

It’s easy for some to heap criticism on people who have skeletons in the closet, because closets are for clothes. But here in post "Will and Grace" America, we of the free-to-be-you-and-me generation might insist that full disclosure is imperative. I’m among those who subscribe to the less popular opinion ‘in your own time.’ Must identity always be a political act?

Clay Aiken, American Idol’s favorite nerd, had every right to find himself, in his own time. That said, many of us weren't surprised to see the headline on People Magazine: “YES, I’M GAY” but he came out in style. Clay may be the only person in all of history to come out while holding his brand new baby in his arms.

I applaud Aiken for taking his interesting timing. Clay knew he didn’t owe a sea of strangers one iota of kiss and tell, but he did owe the truth to his son. In fact, he did come out to his mom years ago.

No one could’ve known that kingdoms of Claymates would erupt the moment the lovable nerd took off his spectacles. To this date, Clay is the most successful male Idol contestant of all, including the ones who actually won. Ruben who? I confess to being sucked into the American Idol franchise, never to escape, by the shy redhead alone. He blew me away with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” That big ol’ voice was just gorgeous, darling, and it made a Claymate out of me. What a sweetheart- go on, doll, pour some sugar on me! But like a hot potato, I dropped my crush on this cute special ed teacher as soon as he began recording- not sure what I was hoping for- maybe jazz standards? Vocally, it was out of sight, but the slick schmaltz that oozed from the sparkling Idol machine was the kind of thing they fight over at the senior’s centre, and that’s where I sent my copy of the lad’s first album, Measure of a Man. Was it any real surprise that he moved on to singing Richard Marx covers?

But just because some of us prefer a little edge- or at least a beat- from our torch balladeers, doesn’t mean we should all point and jeer because he’s queer. Still, there’s something refreshing about a southern Baptist who leaves the safety of his flock to set his own rules. Here’s a born-again Christian who doesn’t get married to hide his love away- instead he sires a son with his best friend, Jaymes Foster, a 50 year old woman, and comes out blazing. Now that’s panache. He could have spent God’s call picketing women’s clinics. Instead, he tuned out the noise, tuned out the boys, and set out to follow Jesus’ example- working with poor and needy children, using his newfound riches and clout to make a big difference.

Yes, what most people don’t know is just how much this rebel does for needy kiddies. In fact, it was the former Raleigh choirboy’s work with an autistic child named Michael that led him to his fame as runner-up on the second season of Idol, because Diane Bubel, the boy’s mother, encouraged Clay to try out. Today his primary charity is the Bubel Aiken Foundation, helping intellectually challenged children in dozens of ways.

Who knew that Clay Aiken is also an ambassador for UNICEF? Clay helps raise funds and awareness to get kids all over the world into the classroom. His participation in a tsunami relief telethon helped raise ten million bucks. He helped out with the South Asian tsunami as well. Fearlessly, he worked in dangerous northern Uganda, helping kids called “night commuters.” These night runners flee their towns to avoid being kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army, an armed and dangerous militant terrorist insurgency. The guerrilla army’s aim is to establish a theocracy based on the teachings of their leader, Joseph Kony. They use tactics of murder, rape, kidnapping, sex enslavement, and torture, in Sudan, Uganda and the Congo. In one horrifying incident, they hacked into pieces the bodies of 45 Congolese Catholics.

Clay had a busy year prior to baby Parker’s birth and his concurrent un-closeting in September of 2008. He was in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan helping give polio vaccines and visiting schools. He rushed to Mexico for Christmas, not to vacation at his Riviera villa or check out the hot tamales, but to help kids who were affected by major floods. He’s worked with Malaria No More.

In Africa, he was in Somalia, currently one of the most dangerous countries in the world. He learned that there are only 350 doctors there. “The lack of a permanent central government has contributed to Somalia’s status as one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world. Decades of civil conflict have shattered social structures and exacerbated poverty,” Clay wrote for his UNICEF blog. “A Somali child’s chances of surviving to adulthood are among the lowest of children anywhere in the world…What disturbs me most about this terrible situation for children is that most of the world has ignored it. Millions of children live in fear and poverty—where is the outrage?” Then it was on to more goodwill hunting in Kenya. After the 2008 elections there, political upheaval caused terrible violence. “Everywhere we went, there were the charcoaled remains of homes, schools and shops,” he writes. “We drove for hours and everywhere we went, we saw people trying to get their lives restored.”

Yes, well, that was just UNICEF. Three years ago, then-President George Bush (yuck) appointed the spitfire as adviser for the Presidential Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. So Clay was helping the former prez and the Department of Health and Human Services with program and service issues for those special kids he loves so much. He was also part of America’s Promise Benefits, Toys for Tots, and a spokesperson for Ronald McDonald House Charities. In his “spare time,” while performing on Broadway with Monty Python’s Spamalot, he raised money for Equity Fights AIDS. Plus, only two days into the new Obama era, Clay is already petitioning for presidential back up to save kids from malnutrition. But whatever happened to his studies? Millionaire or not, he finished his coursework while touring so he would still get the degree he started in special education.

Somewhere between today and Idol 2003, on top of all this charity work, Clay has released five albums, (like ‘em or not, and millions do!) toured the world singing, created numerous television specials, appeared on dozens of talk shows, and written a book called Learning to Sing. AND of course, all that was preamble to his cuddliest creation, baby Parker.

So what’s the deal with his son anyhow? Certainly, the media jump all over anything less than traditional in the great hunt for scandal. Coming out with your brand new baby in your arms makes amazing copy, but I think it also makes for amazing family. Best friends don’t have to break up. Talk about family values. Clearly, nothing in Clay’s unusual persona is about keeping up appearances. Despite all the cruel online jokes about the baby's conception, Parker's mother Jaymes knows that Clay’s genes ARE exactly what she wants: he won’t bellyache about babysitting or diapers or whether she’s getting too fat. He’s proven this from the beginning with his time and money, looking after the sick and the poor and the disabled. Unlike many mothers, she can be sure Dad’s prepared to put a child first. (And yes, the child was conceived through in vitro fertilization.)

I admire most those who turn a stereotype upside down when it really counts. And kudos to Clay for refusing to be the kind of Christian we are all used to and sick of. Unlike the other kind who are always pointing fingers at Tinky Winky or unwed mothers for causing the fall of society, he’s out in the world doing the work his Savior commanded him to do- feed the hungry, visit the sick. It’s certain that he is privately contending with struggles of faith and community as he forges ahead into his own brand of family values. I say that takes tremendous pluck and a heart filled with love. On the other hand, he isn’t interested in being a queer stereotype either- the poor dear is rather fashion unfriendly. And he came out in his own sweet time, for his own reasons, without bowing to public pressure. Plus, Clay wasn’t exactly a diva while getting his Versace good and dirty in the war-torn Middle East. No wonder he’s been voted the most loved reality star of all time! But Clay isn’t so sure he deserves the adulation. He told People Magazine that he regrets being too busy to do more!

Clay's "Something About Us" to be Featured at Inaugeral Ball

2009-01-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

Information from Ilovemycat0851 at Clayversity

The Obama "Love Story" montage, which is set to Clay's song "Something About Us", will be shown at one of the Inaugural balls on Tuesday. Maplestik, the person who created it was contacted weeks ago for permission to use it. She sent them a copy of the video, but she's not sure which ball it will be shown at.

Congrats to her, and hopefully the President-elect and his wife will dance to it.

Something About Us is a beautiful song sung beautifully by Clay Aiken.

Music Videos

2009-01-11T05:17:00.000-08:00

I had not seen some of these videos of Clay Aiken's songs from "A Thousand Different Ways" before. I am so glad that they were found on a British msn site, uploaded by Sony UK. I wonder why the first 2 were not released in America? The videos are also available for sale in Russia, as are most of Clay's albums.

Click on the pictures to view the videos.

Clay Aiken - These Open Arms

Clay Aiken - Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

Clay Aiken - A Thousand Days

Clay Aiken - Without You

~~~

Clay Aiken is Fat?

2009-01-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

No, but the bloggers are saying he is, so I thought I'd post a picture of him from the past week.

And he hasn't had plastic surgery. Geeze! He looks the same as he did in 2003, only 5 years older.

And get over the stage makeup. You'd think he was the first actor to ever wear it or to be photographed right after a performance with it still on.

I Survived You

2008-12-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

He sure did. Clay Aiken is a survivor.

Duet with Bing Crosby

2008-12-26T01:10:00.000-08:00

I was watching this tonight and enjoying Clay's beautiful voice and how well he harmonized with Mr. Crosby.

Peace on Earth. Can it be?

~~~

Jukebox Tour

2008-12-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

Clay Aiken started off the Summer Tour of 2005 when someone put a quarter in the JukeBox

50s banter + Unchained Melody

Elvis

The 60s

Solitaire

Motown Era

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

70s

Banter + Bridge Over Troubled Water

80s

Sailing

90s

I Can't Make You Love Me

Measure of a Man Medley

A Thousand Days

Tears Run Dry

Back For More

Invisible

Credits

~~~

Stage 46: American Idol is Fixed!!

2008-12-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

You may remember that I blogged about this book in October.

This is an excerpt from the book.

Stage 46: The Reality of Reality Television

During this first weekend in town and in between the photo shoots and rehearsals, the contestants signed their lives away. They gave up all their rights for performances and music for the duration of the show and for several months, even years, after the show ended. While signing the contracts, they were promised two full days off a week, usually the day after the show and one day on the weekend. The other weekend day would be spent in a recording studio or shooting cheesy music videos for one of the show’s several sponsors. This agreement of two days off did not last long, as the parent company pimped the contestants out every way they could: from ice cream to lip gloss to board games and video games. Each time another deal came through, the contestants were required to do a photo shoot so they would have fresh photos and videos to go along with the products and help with the marketing.

After two weeks into the live shows, the only time off the contestants had was at night, when they slept. The contestants were a little disappointed to learn that they would be earning considerably less per week than they all had originally thought. One would think that the contestants would be paid very well, especially since they were bringing in millions of dollars a week for the parent company. This was hardly the case: they were paid the bare minimum each week for their performances. I am sure it was more than any of them made on a weekly basis before they started the show, but they could have been paid a lot more. In my opinion, they deserved more, as did everyone else involved with the show, including myself.

The songs the contestants sang each week came from a preapproved list, and the singers each had the opportunity to pick the song they wanted. Once they picked the song, they rehearsed for a day, singing the song that they chose, then Andy and James would have the opportunity to listen to each contestant perform their song. If they did not like the way the singers performed the song, they were forced to change it, even if the contestant did not like or wasn’t familiar with any of the other songs that were on the weekly preapproved list.

This was very unfortunate; some of the contestants were critiqued by the judges harshly over the way they sang or because of their song choice, when in all actuality Andy and James forced them to sing the songs that they did.

To me this was always odd. I had my suspicions even before I started working on the show that people on the inside might have a hand in crowning the winner. Nothing confirmed my suspicions more than something that happened one day during rehearsals, which are closed-door. Only a limited number of people are allowed onto the soundstage: the rehearsals were done with contestant stand-ins, not the true contestants.

This was always off-limits to me, but in the middle of season I was given an urgent message to be delivered to a staff member who just happened to be sitting in on the rehearsals. So I made my way downstairs and over to the door that led to the soundstage where a security guard was standing. After reading the message, he opened the door and let me enter.

I entered from behind the stage and walked along the right wall, around to the front of the stage where the individual was sitting. Andy and James were up on stage with the stand-ins, making sure the camera operators knew how the elimination was going to unfold, where to focus the camera, and which contestant to follow. I thought this was weird: the performances would not be happening until the next day, and the eliminations a day after that, so there was no way to know who was going to be eliminated. Voting hadn’t even taken place yet for the show that they were rehearsing for.

All the stand-ins had the contestants’ names whom they were standing in for written on two large stickers, one on their chest and one on their back. It was very clear who was representing whom. I stood in the back for a few minutes because the person I needed to deliver the message to was busy discussing the show with Andy and James. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I waited my turn.

I continued to watch as Andy and James could not make up their minds as to how they wanted to make the elimination happen. After running out of options and getting frustrated, they used a previous routine that was used a couple of weeks before.

I waited until Andy announced that the rehearsals were wrapped for the day before I delivered the message and returned to the office upstairs. As I watched the live show unfold the next day, I thought that all of the contestants did very well, except for two of the male contestants. I figured that both would be in the bottom group the following day and that one of them would be eliminated from the show and sent packing. Many of the people in the office thought the same thing that I did, so we were all shocked when one of the best performers was eliminated the following day.

After the office calmed down following the shock of the elimination, I finished the last few things I needed to get done before my fifteen-hour day was over and I could head home. While I was driving home, it dawned on me that the person who had been eliminated was the same person who had been eliminated during the closed-door rehearsals just two days before.

That was too much of a coincidence for me. From that day on, I figured that people on the inside had a hand in how the results of the show were handled.

Or in less polite terms, your vote doesn't count.
~~~

O Holy Night: The Measure of a Singer

2008-12-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Clay Aiken is unparalleled as a live performer. Listen to him sing O Holy Night in concert. The video is not a professionally produced one by any means, but his voice overcomes that handicap. At one point he appears to be communicating with one of his sound engineers. Don't let that distract you too much. Its a live show :)

and for those who think that David Archuletta is the second coming or that he is Clay Aiken 2.0, here's David's version.

Here is Josh Groban, for those who think he sets some kind of standard. This is live from the Vatican and a professional production. No really!

and for the hearing impaired, here's Clay's O Holy Night in ASL.

What do you think?

Talks about Fatherhood, Spamalot and Coming Out

2008-12-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

Clay Aiken talks about why he returned to do another run in Spamalot and about life as a father. He and Jaymes Foster (Parker's mother) are raising the baby together and Clay talks about what he does best as a father. He is good at quieting Parker when he cries and is unfazed by diaper duty. Clay admits "He owns us".

Today's ET teaser indicates that there will be more on Parker's surgery and how he and Jaymes coped with it. Clay also talks about his apprehension and how he braced himself to be boo-ed by the Spamalot audience the day after he came out as a gay man.

Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised at how accepted he was and how normal his life is. He admits that his friends were right and he is glad he did it.

The Long and the Short of it

2008-11-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

Spamalot's Clay Aiken in costume as the dashing but not-so-brave Sir Robin.

Well, Rosie Live! came and went. Clay's 90 seconds didn't make or break the show and fortunately his bit was not one of the show's lowlights.

After reading dozens of reviews and comments, here it is in a nutshell.

_ There was too much Rosie.
_ There were lots of talented guests.
_ The talented guests were underused.
_ Clay Aiken should have sang.
_ There should have been more Harry Connick singing.
_ Poor Gloria Estefan. She's much better than the material she was given.
_ Jane Krakowski too.
_ The live theater setting was too dark and didn't translate to TV.
_ The stage setting, low level production and bad camera work looked cheap.
_ Nobody cared about Rosie's undergarments or cleavage.
_ Nobody wanted to hear about Rosie's political views.
_ She should not have tried to sing with Liza or Gloria.
_ The wrong guy pushed the pie in Conan's face.
_ Kathy should leave the comedy to professionals.
_ I'm told it was Alanis Morrissette but I think it was a palsied Bjork on LSD...
_ Ne-Yo was a No-Yo.
_ No more spinning rugs or random tap dancing.
_ No more dancing cupcakes. Ever.

Ellen has her variety special tonight. Break a leg!

~~~

Watch Rosie Live! Tonight

2008-11-26T00:08:00.000-08:00

USA Today.com

Rosie O'Donnell is ready to 'Live' a little on variety show

NEW YORK — It's Rosie with a Z.
Even comedian Rosie O'Donnell can't quite believe she's on stage with Broadway legend Liza Minnelli this rainy Tuesday morning. The two performers are rehearsing City Lights, which opens Rosie Live, an NBC variety special hosted by O'Donnell that's airing tonight (8 p.m. ET/PT).

During rehearsals, the two women shimmy across a Midtown stage working on a tune Minnelli hasn't sung in 30 years.

"Brightly lit by pretty city lights!" the two women sing in tandem. "Love those city lights."

"Good," O'Donnell says, nodding to Minnelli after they complete their duet.

On stage, O'Donnell, 46, is both practical and comical. "It's gonna be a very gay show, whether they know it or not. Gay is the new black — or at least the new pink," O'Donnell quips to the backup dancers and crew.

In fact, Rosie Live is meant to be neither political or controversial. It's an hour-long show featuring performances from Alanis Morissette, Clay Aiken, Gloria Estefan and 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski. If the special does well, it could become a series.

"It's like being shot out of a cannon. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic. I'm so nervous!" Krakowski says after a second performance of her number, a parody of You Gotta Get a Gimmick.

Those who work with O'Donnell say she's a perfectionist.

"For her, it's all about surrounding herself with people she likes and trusts," says Rosie Live executive producer David Friedman. "She's got a million ideas. Everyone says that (she's difficult), but she knows what she wants to do and she wants people around her who can execute and work hard. There is nothing difficult about her."

~~~

Believe In Zero!

2008-11-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

UNICEF Ambassadors Clay Aiken, Lucy Liu, Mia Farrow, Alyssa Milano, Laurence Fishburne, Joel Madden and others proclaim their belief in zero: a day when no children die from preventable causes.

Watch!

Visit http://ibelieveinzero.org to join the effort.

~~~

What Is So Special About Clay?

2008-11-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

People often ask this question and there are many correct answers. This is just one of them. We all know that he is a phenomenal singer and that his heart is in the right place because he is a selfless advocate and a tireless ambassador for children worldwide, but this is an example of his connection with his fans. What other artist would do this night after night for months throughout a concert tour?

Clay Extends His Condolences to Jennifer Hudson and her Family.

2008-10-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

"There are no words that you can find to give somebody like that. I don't even know where to begin, I've been upset by this myself," Clay said

Clay Aiken also knows that the Hudson family loss has been felt all over the country. "I know the whole country's thoughts and prayers are with her and her entire extended family ... and anyone who was touched by her mother, or her brother, or her nephew."

The new dad also tells Jann Carl that he hopes that the individuals responsible are found so that Jennifer and her loved ones can find some closure.

ETOnline

~~~

STAGE 46: Getting Ready To Hit The Shelves

2008-10-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

This looks like it might be an interesting AI Expose. I don't see a release date yet on the site. On the Stage 46 myspace page some former AI contestants are on the author's friends list. I can see Bucky Covington, Phil Stacey, Elliott Yamin, Chris Richardson, Constantine Maroulis, Jessica Sierra, Blake Lewis and Jim V.

STAGE 46: The Reality of Reality Television gives a hilarious and eye opening look into what goes on behind the camera of a Hollywood set. Based on first hand accounts compiled by interviews with former reality television employees, Stage 46 documents what it is really like to work on a top rated TV show.

Ben Walker, a small town guy from Northern California, lands a job in Hollywood that a million people are standing in line waiting for. Hired as a production assistant on the number one reality show, Ben quickly finds himself surrounded by drug abuse, sex scandals, money laundering, unfair employment practices, and daily verbal attacks from the executives. When Ben starts to realize that this so called family show, where the contestants are unknowingly forced to sign over their lives, may not be something he wants to be a part of any longer, he decides to leave the dark world of Hollywood behind. But before leaving, he finds himself turning the tables in any way he can on the show that is making his life a living hell.

STAGE 46 's Interests

General:
You've heard the rumors. You've watched the show. Nows your chance to find out if the rumors are actually true.

Television:
Reality Shows and what actually goes on behind the scenes.

Stage 46: The Reality of Reality Television Heroes. People who aren't afraid to tell the real story.

~~~

Earth to Media: Can we get some Content?

2008-10-22T04:46:00.000-07:00

I signed up for the Daily Newsletters from

and

These e-mails are delivered to my inbox each day. I skim them looking for updates on the celebrities that interest me. I'm a fan of pop culture, just like millions of other people, but am I the only one who is dismayed by the trend toward wasting space on the vapid and mundane crap that is filling these pages more and more often?

Check out a few "news" items in yesterday's People Daily.

Britney was caught driving without a license. Oh the drama!

Nick Bollea got out of jail. Why do we give this scum the time of day?

Beyonce gained a few pounds. Yawn.

and we are asked to guess who this is.

US Magazine was even worse:

We learn that Tina Fey glues down her ears.

We are asked to vote on a poll about Madonna's marriage. Why?

Whitney Port (whoever that is) makes out with some guys

and a slideshow of Kim Kardashian's ass.

Granted, it was nice to see that Ashton Kutcher coaches a kid's football team, Gwyneth Paltrow is still around and classy as always, and Mariah Carey took her boy to a charity thing for an art gallery (and to be SEEN!!!!), but come on!

Can we get some content? Something we should care about?

Did either mag mention that Clay Aiken took the weekend off from Spamalot to raise nearly half a million dollars for children with disabilities on Saturday night? Do they know that a substantial number of fans were there with their checkbooks out and giving generously?

Did they know that the Bubel/Aiken Foundation honored CVS Caremark Charitable Trust as this year's Corporate Champions of Change for their outstanding efforts to improve the lives of children with disabilities?

Did they know that Dan Habib (an award-winning photojournalist, director and producer of documentary films) and Betsy McNamara (a fundraising consultant and an inclusion advocate who is the mother of Samuel) were awarded the Champions of Change Award for their work and for their documentary movie "Including Samuel"?

Did they know that Rich Donovan was recognized as a Champion of Change for applying his world-class business acumen to creating means of empowerment for people with disabilities. He was a key to Merrill Lynch’s diversity strategy. As CEO of Integrated Process Solutions, Rich provides large corporations and governments with ready-for-action profit opportunities as a “return on disability”.

Now I know that Clay Aiken isn't the only celebrity that has done something newsworthy this week, but I use him as an example of things that are noteworthy yet not reported.

How about these magazines putting up a poll and asking their readers whether they would rather read about things of substance that celebrities do, and that go unrecognized, or would they rather look at pictures of some woman's ass.

I'm scared to see the outcome of such a poll because I'm afraid that society has been dumbed down to the point where many would vote for the slideshow.

In Response to Jim Smyrl's "Point of View"

2008-10-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Apparently someone failed to warn you that your "point of view" will remain in the Google cache forever. Your own words can never be taken back and that should upset you because as a pastor, you have failed your flock.

As the executive pastor of education at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL, you have done a disservice to those that you purportedly educate.

Your mission I assume, is to teach the word of God but I hope that I don't need to remind you that bearing false witness is a sin and when you twist people's words to suit yourself, you are doing just that. Need I remind you that all sins are equal in God's eyes?

In People Magazine this month Clay Aiken said about his son:

"I have no idea if he'll be gay or straight. It's not something I'll have anything to do with, or that he'll have anything to do with. It's already probably up inside the code there ... No matter what the situation you're in, if you're raised in a loving environment, that's the most important thing."

You falsely interpreted Clay's words like this:

"Sadly, the context of his statements is in reference to the apparent hope that his son will walk in his father’s homosexual footsteps, and, if he does, he should be man enough to let people know he is gay."

Apparently you can't be trusted to interpret plain language never mind the Bible. What Clay said was that he doesn't know his son's future and that he will raise his son in a loving environment because that is the most important thing. All parents should be as caring and accepting as that.

To add insult to injury , you presume that Clay will lie to his son about some obscure study from the Netherlands. Ironically, you make that unfounded accusation right after you lied about what Clay said.

You go on to reference Pitirim Sorokin’s study that analyzed cultures over thousands of years and concluded that cultures allowing gay unions almost without exception ceased to survive as a society.

Ironically, you don't mention that some churches have been plagued with charges of child molestation. Now there's a topic you should rant about. Is it any wonder that churches are struggling to survive?

You said:

"Before we raise ourselves above our own level of purity, let’s look at verse 32. There we see that our silence in regards to homosexuality is synonymously as depraved as the sin itself. When opportunities arise for Christians to voice their views regarding moral issues and we remain silent, we approve by apathy the sinful course of society."

Therefore Jim, I am morally obligated to use my voice and condemn you for encouraging hate toward your brother in Christ. You took God's place and judged your fellow man and compounded that sin by bearing false witness. Turn your righteous indignation on yourself where it belongs.

Shame on you for your intolerant and un-Christian character. God said "Judge not lest ye be judged" You can't hide behind religion... hate is a sin. God is disappointed in you and Google never forgets.

Coming out day? By Jim Smyrl

~~~

Clay Aiken talks about Fatherhood and Family

2008-10-08T02:38:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken on Good Morning America talks about his son, his new family and how they make it work.

Clay Aiken and Hannah Waddingham

2008-10-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

Hannah and Clay performed THE PRAYER on April 29 2008.

They presented their Spamalot inspired Easter Bonnet and a donation of $265,000.00 for Broadway Cares-Equity Fights Aids

apologies for a tiny bit of a synch issue between the sound and video.

The DVD of all of the performances and presentations by the participating shows is for sale at Broadway Beat

~~~

Clay Blogged!

2008-10-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Killing the elephants in the room.

10/03/08

What a week or so this has been. In fact, it's just been two weeks since I started back to the Spam. Jerome and I were just talking the other day, though, about how the past two weeks have felt like a month. So much routine to get back into and yet so much routine and consistency to break. No doubt, many of you have been going through quite a bit over the past week or so yourselves. What a bunch of headline news we have had in the past 10 days! Wall Street falling to it's knees. Congress propping it back up. Two debates. Hijackers in Somalia. New leaders in South Africa and Japan. You'd think with all of the important events going on in the world, there would be plenty to fill up the pages of America's newspapers, websites and blogs without the need for information on the private lives of the country's singers and entertainers. But, alas, thats never the case. In fact for the last five years, I've found what seems to have been an inordinate amount of interest (not from the public, but from the media) in my own personal life. The questions never seemed to stop. Oh sure, they die down for a period, but they resurface. The wind blows another direction, and I do yet another interview worried that my personal life will become a topic of discussion. No doubt the birth of Parker would bring the same scrutiny, just heightened. It's an interesting time we live in. Gone are the days when entertainers could go about their lives without the invasion of privacy that we now see everyday in the form of paparazzi and internet tabloid bloggers. So, in the hopes of being able to sing and act (and dance poorly) and do what I love to do for a living while raising my son in a hopefully more private and accepting environment, I chose to go ahead and confront things head on. Yes, I would have preferred to separate my personal life from my professional life. I would have been just as happy to go on without discussing my orientation. But, it seems like that was not an option. Make no mistake, its not because I am ashamed. No, not for a minute. I haven't always been as comfortable as I am now, but I am without a doubt, proud of who I am and make no apologies for it. Instead, I would have been happy to have kept my personal life private for that very reason. Because it's personal life and I have always considered myself a private person. But, living as myself without discussing my sexuality publicly would have been impossible. One chance to expose the truth would have been a payday for any greedy opportunist.

I went to American Idol, much like many of us did "back in the day". Naive. Unlike the contestants who join up today, we had no idea of the power and pull of Idol when we signed on. (I'm sure many of us season two folks like to think we are the reason the show got so big!!! ;-) ) There I was two months off of the biggest show in the country, sitting at a table with a reporter from Rolling Stone who was asking me every single question I would never think of. Twenty-four years old in the rest of America is a LOT younger and more naive than twenty four years old in the media business. So when this guy started asking me about things that I didn't really know how to answer for myself... things that I was not yet ready to admit to folks like my mother and my family.... things that I found intimidating and invasive, I responded in what I assumed was a benign way at the time. I attempted to "out spin" a professional. I wasn't as good as I thought I was. But, I have no regrets. The truth is, I don't apologize for the responses I gave to that reporter or any reporter over the past five years. I did make every attempt I could after that one interview to never say "I am not gay" or "I am straight". And I never said either. (some interpreted my vague answers to mean that... but I never said either) Some will say thats misleading. In truth, it might be defined that way. But, a better definition and a more accurate way to describe it for me, is a redirection and an attempt to change the topic to something that matters more. For some of you it won't be enough, but I can't apologize for keeping my personal business to myself. If someone feels that they were mislead, I can totally understand that viewpoint and apologize for that feeling, but I can't apologize for how I handled questions that affected me and my right to privacy.

In my opinion, sexual orientation is ALWAYS a private thing. I think the OVERWHELMING majority of people agree with that. Why in the world should someone's sexual orientation be a news item? Why should anyone care? Yet, for all we espouse as a society about tolerance and open mindedness we forget to allow folks the opportunity to be who they are without judgment. Making a decision to come out to family is a difficult and heavy decision. But, for every young man or woman who is struggling with it, it should be a decision that is made on his or her own schedule ONLY. It's never acceptable for anyone to make such a decision for anyone else nor to coerce someone to take such a significant step before they are ready. Not a friend, not a stranger, not the media. So, I waited until the time was right for me. For that I can't apologize either.

There are plenty of you who have anticipated this blog in hopes that I would "set the record straight" or "admit to lying for five years and apologize for it". For that small group of people, I am afraid I will have to disappoint you. My decisions over the past five years have been made with lots of deliberation and at times even heartache. Always with concern for folks who might feel mislead. Don't doubt that. But they have also been made as an attempt, not to hide my true self, but instead to allow myself the same liberties and rights that every single gay man and woman in the world should have... the right to determine for myself when I was ready to discuss my personal life. In as much as that, at times, was interpreted as misrepresentation, I feel badly. But I reserved that right for myself and I can't say I regret it.

I have endeavored over the past several days to allow folks to vent and express themselves as freely as possible without restriction on these message boards. There is no way to change a person's mind when you tell them they are wrong. We all, when backed into a corner, have a human instinct to swing. Having different feelings and opinions and viewpoints are only natural. The only way to deal with that is to accept everyone's right to disagree, and allow them to discuss their feelings. I always have, and I always will. That said, it hasn't been, nor do I imagine it will be, my intent to make the message boards or the OFC a clearinghouse or discussion zone for sexuality or such topics. I hope we can always continue to discuss the same things we have always found important. The need for inclusion for children with disabilities. The desire to make sure every child in the world has access to their basic needs for survival. And any other topics that will make our neighborhoods, our regions, our country and our world a better more acceptable place (where that relates to issues involving sexuality, I hope we are able to advocate, at those times for the acceptance of others)... and I hope we will all still use the message boards for the lively discussion of the need for better entertainment and music in the world!!!! ;-) That said, as of this posting, I have asked the moderators to archive the thread regarding the People magazine article and close it from discussion. For those of you who are still struggling, I encourage you to continue to talk to your friends and neighbors and fellow OFC members in the thread devoted to such support. It is not going to be as easy as accepting something over night, but I believe that we are on the right track. The moderators will resume their regular duties of moderating the boards in the fashion that they did prior to last week, and I (and hopefully all of us) will resume our routines in the same fashion as well. Talking about music, talking about potential tours and other performances and appearances, talking about me forgetting my lines or tripping on stage in Spamalot, and discussing with our friends how many times we have seen the show and will see it! (And... looking forward to the announcement of our Playbill contest winner!!!)

Finally, I will say that, also representative of most every other gay man and woman in the world, that I am not defined by my sexuality. No more so than each of you are defined by your sexual orientation. No more than a man or woman is defined by race or ethnicity. It is, simply, a small facet of the same person I have always been. Most of you realize that nothing has changed. I hope to continue being able to entertain you in the same way I have for the past five years. And I hope you will allow me to continue to inform you of the causes that I find important and entertain you with the music and performances I love. For I love and cherish you all. Yesterday, now and forever.

c

Always the teacher, I could not admire him more.

~~~

A little about me

2008-09-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

When I was 18 I fell in love with a beautiful man. He had just finished his stint at the Royal Military Academy, a very prestigious military college for future officers, somewhat the equivalent of West Point.

He was a very handsome and intelligent man in perfect physical condition and as male as they come. We were besotted with each other, were married a year later and soon we had our son. As a civilian he was an actor in TV, stage and movies. About a year after our son was born, we had a wrap party at our home with the cast and crew of the movie. One of the actresses at the party approached me that night and told me that she really liked me and felt bad for me. She asked me if I knew that when my husband was going for dinner with the guys after rehearsal or the days shoot, that he was not just going for dinner with his friends but that it was candlelight, wine and roses.

I was completely floored. I had no idea, never sensed a thing to be not right in our marriage. We were not only husband and wife but we were the best of friends. We had sex and everything seemed as normal as a marriage could be. Of course at 21 I completely over-reacted and immediately felt betrayed and made a fool of. I left him, taking our son with me. I retreated to my parents home and found myself in the middle of a battle between the in-laws. His parents felt that I was too young to raise a child alone and should put my year old son up for adoption. My parents felt it was wrong to let a boy grow up knowing that his father was *gasp* gay. They all agreed that if I loved my son that I would give him to a *normal* family to grow up away from this horror show that they felt was his future.

I eventually caved in for the sake of giving my son a shot at a life with 2 parents and all of the advantages. Oh, what I did for love. Oh how I regret it. I lost not only my dearest friend but my son because of my not yet formed character.

Looking back, years later, I see a tragedy. If I had not come from such a closed minded society I may still be with that lovely man. I had nothing against him except my naive belief that romance is a requirement of love and that children must have the traditional family to have a happy life.

Years later I did seek out the son that I had allowed to be taken from me. He was raised with 2 parents but the love wasn't there. The father let his wife adopt a baby to make her happy. To him it was like getting her a pet. He had zero interest in my son. He was divorced with children from his first marriage. He was a total bastard. Oh my God, how that broke my heart to learn that I had made the most monumental mistake.

Anyway. The thing I want to convey is that we all do the best we can with what we are given. The inability for all involved in this mess to be loving, empathetic, tolerant, accepting, forgiving and supportive is what was wrong. The problem wasn't that my husband was gay. The problem was that he was rejected for it by everyone including me out of ignorance and an inability to accept and forgive.

Sadly, as I got older and had more experience in life I learned a lot about people. I had friends who were gay and learned that they were just people like everyone else that have hopes and dreams for a full life. The difference is that we, the straights, are not persecuted for being straight. We have all of the advantages of being the ones with "stars on thars".

I have believed that a person has the right to self-identify. I have been extremely defensive of Clay because the ones that have mocked and ridiculed him for years were wrong to do so. I will never change my mind about the assholes, including the OCers and the haters who have made fun of Clay, used him for their slash and porn fantasies and helped to fuel the militant gay factions with salacious gossip. Whether Clay was gay or not, they will never be right for how they mocked him. There is no forgiveness in me for that. Clay may be gay but he isn't that caricature of a mentally ill, sex addicted, trolling man whore that they portrayed.

Clay is a decent man. A loving father. A dear friend, A passionate humanitarian. A supremely talented singer, actor, songwriter and author. He is a loving son and a responsible citizen that loves his God and votes his conscience. Oh, and he happens to be gay.

As for my ex-husband? He committed suicide.

He is Adorable!

2008-09-24T03:18:00.000-07:00

Set your Tivos for Good Morning America on Thursday, Sept 25th. The promo clip said:

After all the rumors, all the tabloids, he's ready to speak. Its personal, emotional and a gift he wants to give his son.

I'm looking forward to hearing him tell his story.

Clay Aiken fits Sir Robin and Spamalot like a glove

2008-09-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

Claymates and Clay Aiken Conquer Spamalot
By Edith Haight, Broadway Magazine

There was an invasion on Broadway this weekend, as American Idol star Clay Aiken returned to Spamalot to reprise his role as Sir Robin. Aiken first played the role last Spring, and then left for the summer. His return to the show was greeted with an outpouring of enthusiasm and accolades from fans. The most passionate Aiken fans are known as Claymates and they rival the theatre gangs of long ago.

The celebrated British actor Edmund Kean had "the Wolf Club." Kean's wolves were fans who would drink with him, and hound out theatrical rival actors with the violent tactics more commonly associated with criminal street gangs. The loyal fans of American actor Edwin Forrest and British actor William Macready fought to the literal death spurred on by their loyalty to their respective actor. The Astor Place riots were a real theatrical tragedy caused by passionate fans. Well, Clay Aiken can rest soundly at night knowing that he has his own passionate gang of theatre and Broadway fans known as Claymates, and they are ready to do battle for Clay if need be. From the moment the news of his reprise on Broadway broke, the Claymates have been out in full force supporting their Idol. Katie Holmes doesn't have fans like these. Few people do.

No worries about violence, the Claymates seem more about celebration than intimidation. Those fretting a Shubert Alley Riot with Claymates battling Ace Young Fans or Daniel Radcliffe enthusiasts will be disappointed. Looking over the sea of exuberant comments posted on Broadway.tv, Clay Aiken's return should give all Broadway fans a reason to smile.

Spamalot is a musical-comedy that embraces the absurd and delights in the unusual. As a recording artist, Aiken clearly has the vocal capacity to interpret any number of musical roles (one fan suggested "Pippin"). That said, that Aiken has chosen to come to Broadway and return to Broadway in this comedy says a great deal for his willingness not to take himself too seriously. His fans' enthusiasm and joy in his performance suggest that Broadway should enjoy taking Clay Aiken very seriously indeed. Like Fantasia igniting The Color Purple, or Reba transforming Annie Get Your Gun!, Clay fits Sir Robin and Spamalot like a glove.

Broadway Magazine

Live Feed from Shubert Alley

2008-09-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

BroadwayWorldTV- Broadcast your self LIVE

Watching for Clay Aiken to make an appearance between shows.

Clay Aiken is a Natural on Broadway

2008-09-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

Crowd Crowns King Clay

While he may be playing a “Sir” on Broadway in Spamalot, it is safe to say that he was King Clay Aiken at last night’s opening. Of course, Spamalot has an excellent new king in Michael Siberry, and an awesome Lady in that lake with Merle Dandridge too.

The new additions to the cast of Spamalot all seemed to walk on air, and this up close look at the celebratory curtain call can’t help but put a smile on your face.

American Idol star Clay Aiken is a natural on Broadway. This is the excitement that happens on those rare occasions on Broadway.

At the moment, forget Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in Equus, and Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise and their entourage of Scientology protesters at All My Sons, or even forget Entourage’s Jeremy Piven in Speed-The-Plow, or Ace Young in Grease.

The big story on Broadway today is Clay! He is back on Broadway, and the fun has begun.

broadway.tv.com

Clay It Again Spam

2008-09-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Spamalot producers are excited to welcome Clay Aiken back to Broadway. This ad appeared in the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

His "Triumphant Return" is to start on September 19th 2008 and promises to be another 4 months of supreme silliness. There will be much "soiling of pants" both on stage and off. Clay is packing up his family and moving on up to NYC for the duration. Everyone is hoping that Jaymes (she's a girl) Foster and Parker will make some public appearances because the fans are dying to get a look at little Parker and wish to congratulate the new parents on their bundle of joy.

The following video clip is kind of prophetic. Clay sang a few TV Theme songs as part of the fun on last year's summer tour.

So, Welcome Back to NYC Clay, and we hope that you and your family enjoy your stay "in that dee-luxe apartment in the sky"

Clay Aiken: Teams up

2008-09-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken: Teams up With UNICEF and Malaria No More to defeat malaria, a completely preventable disease that still kills one child every 30 seconds worlwide. But as UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken puts it in this short video, "It doesn't have to be this way.". He urges everyone to "give the gift of growing up"

For a limited time, Malaria No More will match your donation in the fight against malaria, helping UNICEF save twice as many lives. To learn more, click here. Or, "give the gift of growing up" and make an online donation today.

...

Celebrity Stalkers

2008-09-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Why Stalkers Often Cannot Accept Reality

Dawnette Knight believed she was in love with Michael Douglas when she allegedly threatened to slice up his Oscar-winning wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and feed her to her dogs.

Neither Douglas nor Zeta-Jones had ever met Knight. She had become infatuated with Douglas after seeing him in movies such as Fatal Attraction. After reading about an alleged affair by Zeta-Jones in a supermarket tabloid, Knight sent the actress more than two dozen threatening letters and allegedly made repeated phone calls to her agents and hotels where the couple would stay.

Experts say Knight's willingness to avenge Douglas for a supposed affair by Zeta-Jones illustrates the world celebrity stalkers often create when they believe they have a real relationship with the rich and famous.

"Celebrity stalkers tend to be psychotic," said Jack Levin, professor of criminology and director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University in Boston. "They often possess rich fantasy lives in which they feel personally involved [with the celebrity]. Many of the celebrity stalkers actually imagine they are having an intimate relationship with their victims."

A Reality of Their Own

Often celebrities have never had any contact with the stalkers who pursue them. Their stalkers may know them only as the character they play on stage or screen.

Experts say celebrity stalkers tend to suffer mental illness and are so disenchanted with reality, or unable to cope with reality, that they create their own. And their favorite celebrity is the center of their imagined universe.

"We don't really know an awful lot about what causes people to stalk," said Yvonne Downes, professor of criminal justice at Hilbert College in Hamburg, N.Y. "People who stalk celebrities tend to be so dissatisfied with their life — or are just so unable to cope with reality — that they create their own reality. The universe they tend to live in is an interesting one."

Besides hiring bodyguards and getting restraining orders, there is little that celebrities can do to protect themselves from stalkers. Ignoring stalkers or getting restraining orders will often just anger them.

Though men are rarely stalking victims, some people believe these cases could be under-reported and more prevalent than believed.

"Many of these stalkers often suffered a great deal as children and because of that suffering they grow up feeling a profound sense of powerlessness, So later, in their relationships with adults, they do everything they can to maximize a sense of power. They can't take no for an answer, and treat everyone as instruments, possessions and weapons."

Knight faces one stalking charge and 24 felony counts of making criminal threats for acting on an imagined relationship with Douglas. If convicted, she could face a very real sentence of up to 19 years in prison.

On March 2, 2007, Clay Aiken's stalker confessed that his story was a hoax and that the alleged encounter was a lie, but he couldn't let go of his obsession and has since relapsed. He flip flops like a flounder. One day he admits it was a lie, the next he insists that he was lying about lying but that this time he isn't lying. Honest!

You can read screen captures of his confession in the sidebar.

He is relentlessly obsessed. He continues to pursue Clay in an effort to get his attention. He continues to harass him with a daily litany of fabricated hook up stories with hundreds of men on a blog drenched in hate speech, mockery and abuse.

He has moved to within a few miles of Clay's home. He jogs and drives by Clay's house and manufactures ways to try to encounter Clay by frequenting his favorite restaurants, shopping at the same stores and even driving around Clay's mother's neighborhood in order to get a glimpse of Clay or a member of his family. He has sent Clay's mother flowers on her birthday, which must have creeped her out. He will do anything to try to have some kind of contact with something or someone close to Clay. He attended several concerts where he got as close to the stage as he could get, hoping that Clay would notice him.

He even owns several accounts on gay social networking sites where he has set up profiles that impersonate Clay in an effort to ruin his reputation and to destroy his career. He impersonates Clay on instant messages and e-mails. He sends pictures of Clay to convince people that it is really Clay they are communicating with and arranges for hookups with unsuspecting men, but then of course he doesn't show up. There are quite a few very angry gay men out there that are convinced that they had a close encounter with Clay. Sorry guys. It was just his stalker.

He thinks that if Clay were no longer a celebrity that he might have a chance to get near him. This is one very frustrated stalker. He even sold his fake encounter to the tabloids to get attention. He was hoping to go to court in a lawsuit so that he could force a situation where he could get near Clay and finally meet him.

David Letterman was stalked for years by Margaret Mary Ray. She was convinced that she was Mr.Letterman's wife and that he was sending her coded love messages through the TV screen. She killed herself in 1998

We can only hope that Clay Aiken's stalker will do the same.

This just in!

Stalker has moved on to Barak Obama. He assures his readers that Mr. Obama is a closeted homosexual, because stalker is, of course, the central clearing house and encyclopedia for all things gay [/sarcasm].

Watch your back Mr Obama, he's on your case now.

...

Clay Aiken Fans: Remember the Vanilla Revolution?

2008-08-27T13:13:00.001-07:00

It was about accepting Clay as he is. Remember the mantra, "Let Clay be Clay" ?

Vanilla represented the majority of the population's preference. It is not the choice of people who need to be seen as cool, the ones that jump on every new thing as if it were the best because it is new. New isn't better, new doesn't last and new isn't new for long. Clay is an old soul and his fans like him that way.

There is nothing wrong with music that stands the test of time. Some people want Clay to be a wallet chain and guyliner wearing rock poser or to be sexed up like the majority of Top40 radio stars. He has expressed repeatedly that it is not what he aims for. He makes the music he likes and most of his fans are loving what he chooses to do.

Clay Aiken is his own man, he will do what he feels is right for him and his family. If he doesn't please you then you have a choice. Accept him as he is or bugger off and find someone more to your liking.

Some of the message boards are bogged down with people who want to go on and on, whining and complaining that Clay isn't the virginal choir boy they thought he was. Complaining that he isn't making the career choices that they want him to make. Complaining that his choice of family would not have been their choice for him and complaining that his faith does not match their idea of what they thought was his faith.

Bugger off! Tell someone who cares!

The worst part is that the boards are becoming like old dogs that can't learn new tricks. The fans have learned a lot in 5 years. Most of all we have learned what we don't want. A fan recently expressed it like this:

This is exactly the reason that some of the newer boards were launched and are thriving. The CH is a mess, the CV is too regimented, the CB seems to be changing daily and I know of several people myself who have jumped ship there. It would take only minutes to check out those blog links and I think anyone with half a brain can see that the reason given [for deleting them] is a bunch of bull.

The fandom have been through way too much and know too much to want to be managed and manipulated anymore. They know they've been lied to by the mods and they know they have had things kept from them. And now, they can see that efforts to promote Clay are being censored [and blocked]. For what good reason? It's all politics and it has no place in our day to day desire to celebrate Clay Aiken. The fans are starting to take back the fandom from those that would have us do it their way.

Go to any of the above mentioned boards and you'll find a great deal of angst and infighting. Also a great deal of censorship on what you can and cannot talk about. Go to some of the newer boards and you'll find fans wanting to find their joy again, to celebrate their fandom and do something to promote Clay. Yes, the crap is talked about but it's not dampening spirits or putting fans into a tail spin of doom and gloom as some would have you believe. The times are a-changing and fans are finding a better fit for themselves and are making a decision on how THEY want to manage their fandom by supporting these new boards. I expect the trend to seek out "greener pastures" will continue and those larger boards will languish due to neglect and mismanagement of their greatest resource - the fans. It shouldn't be considered a privilege to belong to any one board, it should be a privilege to have fans want to call your board home. That's when you know you're doing something right. This fandom is changing and you better change with it or get left behind!

She's dead right in her assessment and the mods need to pay attention to the wants and needs of their members. I don't want to see any of the big boards fail but that is what will happen if things don't change and soon. A small handful of overly critical malcontents can bring down a board. They drive away fans that want a supportive environment. They want to be among their own kind so they can have fun and express their joy without reading the often cruel and bullying rants of the few who are not fans of Clay Aiken, but are fans of who they thought he should be, and sadly, fans of their own ego. These cancerous tumors need to be cut out so that the fandom can live on in a healthy and wholesome environment. Board membership is not a right, it is an invitation extended by the board owner. A board is only as good as its leaders and some of them have leaders who are corrupted by power without the benefit of wisdom. I suspect that some of them aren't even fans, which explains why they no longer work to support Clay and why they don't care what happens as long as they can continue to be social, but Clay doesn't matter any more.

One of the worst offenders is the Official fanclub. The operators of that board chose the mods from the worst fan board [The RCA Board] and put them in charge. What a huge mistake that was. It is not a place that I would recommend for new fans. Those mods can't even follow the board's Terms of Use.

The Clay Nation is in a state of revolution. It isn't about Vanilla this time. Its about providing a place for fans to be fans.

What is a fan? A fan is an enthusiastic supporter. If enthusiastic and supportive fans are no longer the population of a board, it is no longer a fansite and the fans need to seek out a new home.

People need to take a good hard look and decide if they are getting what they need from their home board (and what they paid for in the case of the OFC) and decide if they are in the right place. They have a choice to either fight for change or move on to a more joyous and supportive board that fills their needs.

The protection and pandering to chronic and abusive trolling non-fans has driven more people from the boards than anything Clay has done.

...

Technorati tags:fan,board,picture,vanilla,Clay Aiken,revolution,On My Way Here,message

Chexxxy for President!

2008-08-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

Hahaha! this is too funny. Thanks to the person that sent it to me.

Korean Olympic coverage featured songs by Clay Aiken

2008-08-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

Three of Clay Aiken's songs were used in the coverage of various events including medal awards ceremonies, before and after various events and for pre Olympic broadcast promotion.

A fan in Korea reports:

Now that the Olympics are over, one of the best things that happened during the Olympics was that we had many opportunities to hear Clay's songs on TV.

Promo for Olympics broadcast before the Olympics("On My Way Here")

After Park Tae-hwan won gold medal at 400m free swimming("On My Way Here")

Promo for Park's 200m free swimming("On My Way Here")

After Park won silver medal at 200m free swimming("On My Way Here")

Promo for rhythmic gymnast Shin Soo-ji's game("Where I Draw The Line')

Promo for female handball team's bronze medal match("On My Way Here")

Promo for marathoner Lee Bong-joo("This Is The Night")

During the evening news("On My Way Here")

Technorati tags: Park Tae Hwan, Gold Medal, picture, Jaymes Foster, Clay Aiken , first, On My Way Here, Olympics

A Glimpse of Clay Aiken's Son.

2008-08-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

That is all we ask. The anticipation is building for a glimpse. Just one picture. Just one. Yes, I know it won't be enough, but its a good start :)

Will there be a photo spread in People magazine? Will the first look be the work of papparazzi? Will Jaymes and Clay allow a picture to be posted at Clay's Fan Club?

Will Jaymes give an interview to Redbook or Woman's Day?

Will they do as other celebrities have done to keep the papparazzi at bay? I mean allowing one news outlet to have exclusive pictures is a very smart way to handle it. It takes away the incentive for photographers to compete with each other for the first photos and Clay and Jaymes can give the money to charity as other stars have done. A win win situation if you ask me!

Parker is only 2 weeks old, so maybe they are going to wait a bit, but I expect there are negotiations going on and I look forward to the first pictures of the little family soon.

Technorati tags: Parker Foster Aiken, baby, picture, Jaymes Foster, Clay Aiken , first, On My Way Here, magazine

Clay Aiken: The Real Deal

2008-08-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

click on image to enlarge

This is the current banner at Chexxxy's Place. The quotes are Clay Aiken's actual sentiments about his purpose and his direction in life. Some of these words were spoken 5 years ago and he has never waivered from his purpose. He not only talks the talk but he walks the walk. This is the real Clay and he doesn't even remotely resemble the twisted and cartoonish image the gossips attempt to project on him.

One of the members on our message board expressed her feelings about Clay.

joanie said:

It amazes me that the people who think they know Clay and what's best for him haven't a clue to the real Clay Aiken. None of us know what he does in his personal life, and we have no business trying to find out. What we do know is the public Clay Aiken. What the man stands for, what he does to help others in need, and the beautiful voice he shares with us.

In five years we've discovered what a talented, witty, kind, generous and loving man he really is. He's shown us some talents we weren't aware of initially. We know he can dance, though he tells us he can't. We know he can act; the theatre tickets sold for Spamalot proved that. We know he has the respect of Broadway, from the people who worked with him on stage and in the theatre, from the ushers to the box office people.

He's received accolades from people behind the scenes as well as the audiences. He performed under what most would call horrendous conditions. When he was so sick he couldn't even stand up to sing, and with someone [ a stalker] sitting in the audience who's tried to ruin his reputation and his career.

He's walked miles and miles of bus lines, and signed autographs in freezing cold weather. He's had many M&G's where he sits down and talks with his fans, and had to face fans that also are trying to bring him down for whatever reason.

Then he did something he said he's wanted to do for several years. He fathered a child. He wanted it so badly that he did it, knowing what the media, and some fans, would think. Even at the expense of disappointing or even losing some of his fans, Clay did what made him happy.

Clay Aiken is one of the strongest, bravest people out there today.

...

Clay Aiken - Where I Draw The Line

2008-08-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken's song continues its run on AOL Top 11 videos. It has a bit of a country feel to it. It isn't surprising that Clay can sing in that style because he grew up on country music and he used to front a country band (Just By Chance) before he appeared on American Idol.

Jaymes is a Girl

2008-08-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

As most of the world knows by now, on August 8, 2008, Clay Aiken blogged to announce the birth of his son on his fan club website:

Hello All...

I know it's been a while. I'm sure you know, it's been a full full summer. Sorry we haven't spoken in so long. But, I'm sure you know... I hate putting the cart before the horse. Not my way to tempt fate. But I wanted to stop by, if only for a second, so you could be the first folks I tell....

HE'S HERE!

My dear friend, Jaymes, and I are so excited to announce the birth of Parker Foster Aiken (No hyphens. One first name. One middle name. One last name.)

Parker was born at a hospital in North Carolina just this morning at 8:08 AM. Wow... 8:08 ..08/08/08

Weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz and measured 19 inches

The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy.Mama Jaymes is doing quite well also. The Aiken family, the Foster family, and the Parker family are all thrilled. We'll share more at some point in the future.

Love to you all!

Along with being Clay’s “dear friend” and the mother of his son, Jaymes served as the Executive Producer of Clay’s “A Thousand Different Ways” CD released in 2006, his Christmas EP “All is Well” released for the 2006 Christmas season, and his latest CD “On My Way Here” released in May 2008. It is believed that she has been his “dear friend” for a number of years. In his liner notes for “A Thousand Different Ways,” Clay dedicated these words to Jaymes:

How we ended up on the same page in each other's lives at the same time, I may never understand. What I do know is that I am thankful daily that God saw fit to introduce me to someone as talented, wise and genuine as you. That you believed in me enough to take on this project with me, and stuck with it through so much, has been one of the biggest blessings I've been given...but not as big as the blessing of having you as a trusted and indispensable friend.

David Foster, Jaymes Foster and Clay Aiken rehearsing for Clay's October 2007 performance at the Neil Sedaka Tribute and Gala at the Lincoln Center in NYC.

Clay and Jaymes at the David Foster Gala in Vancouver, 2006

Clay and Jaymes at Clay's Christmas Concert in Charlotte, NC, December 2006.

Clay and Jaymes leaving the David Foster Gala

Clay, Jaymes and Parker will be moving to New York City in September while Clay reprises his role as Sir Robin in Spamalot on Broadway. They will be there until January 4, 2009.~~BaldFaceTruth

...

Clay Aiken Headed Back to Broadway in Spamalot

2008-08-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken will return to the scene of his triumphant Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Monty Python's SPAMALOT this Fall. Clay's debut on Broadway earlier this year was met with wild enthusiasm from both his legion of fans and the New York press. He will reprise the role of 'Sir Robin ' at the Shubert Theatre from September 19 2008 - January 4 2009.

When he made his Broadway debut in SPAMALOT at the beginning of this year, Newsday said "Aiken is a charmer" and the Associated Press said that "Clay Aiken deftly handles supremely silly."

Clay Aiken became a music superstar following his success on the "American Idol" television series, and has sold more than six million albums; co-authored a best-selling book; and, played six sold-out concert tours.
---Broadway World

Aiken will reprise the role of Sir Robin, which he played earlier this year in an engagement that ran Jan 18th to May 4.

His previous run in "Spamalot" had a noticeable effect on box office. Weekly sales for the tuner surged the week Aiken joined the cast and took a steep tumble the frame after he departed.

---Variety

Clay Aiken will return to the Broadway company of Spamalot this fall as Sir Robin, a role he played for three and a half months earlier this year.

"Since leaving Spamalot in May, jokes have just not been funny," Aiken said in a statement. "Food has lost its taste. The grass is no longer green—the sky no longer blue. And babies WON'T stop crying!! I'm so excited about coming back to the funniest show in the world!" The "babies" reference presumably refers to Aiken's newest real-life role, as father to newborn son Parker Foster Aiken, born on August 8.

---broadway.com

Aiken released his fourth album, On My Way Here, on May 6th, just after leaving Spamalot. The CD debuted at #4, continuing Aiken's streak of all four of his albums having debuted in the Top 4.

...

Parker Foster Aiken "On His Way Home"

2008-08-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken leaves the hospital with his son in his arms. Well, one arm because he already has the "football hold" down pat :)

Clay Aiken - Still The One

2008-08-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken was always a consistently fine singer in concert. His audience has grown, the venues and set up are more expensive and he is a veteran performer compared to when he was fronting "Just By Chance" but you can see and hear that he is still the same talented and lovable guy.

2004

1999

Welcome To Our World - Parker Foster Aiken

2008-08-10T16:36:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Clay Aiken and Jaymes Foster on the birth of their son, Parker Foster Aiken. Clay said it best on his own blog.

08/08/08 Welcome To Our World

Hello All...

I know it's been a while. I'm sure you know, it's been a full full summer. Sorry we haven't spoken in so long. But, I'm sure you know... I hate putting the cart before the horse. Not my way to tempt fate. But I wanted to stop by, if only for a second, so you could be the first folks I tell.... HE'S HERE!

My dear friend, Jaymes, and I are so excited to announce the birth of Parker Foster Aiken (No hyphens. One first name. One middle name. One last name.)

Parker was born at a hospital in North Carolina just this morning at 8:08 AM. Wow... 8:08 ..08/08/08

Weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz and measured 19 inches

The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy. Mama Jaymes is doing quite well also.

The Aiken family, the Foster family, and the Parker family are all thrilled.

We'll share more at some point in the future. Love to you all!

C

The song "Welcome To Our World" must have been a very meaningful song for him to sing each night during his tour.

Clay Aiken's "On My Way Here" Used in Olympic Coverage

2008-08-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Clay's song has been used often on Korean TV lately. The most recent is the following clip from the Olympic Medal award ceremony honoring the Gold Medal win of Korean swimmer Park Tae-Hwan in the 400m freestyle.

Congratulations!

Technorati tags: Park Tae-Hwan, Olympic, Korea, Gold, Clay Aiken , Medal, On My Way Here, television

Remember this from October 2006?

2008-07-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

I know that people have things to say and there aren't too many places to say them, so there is a place now, but this blog is about Clay and about music. If you want to talk about things you can go to Chexxxy's Place and hash it out. There is only one rule. No bashing Clay.

I Want To Know What Love Is - Clay Aiken

2008-07-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

Last summer on the final night of his Soft Rock and a Hard Place Tour, there were the usual final night pranks. The singers, musicians and crew traditionally pull some pranks on each other and this tour was no exception.

Ordinarily one of Clay's 2 back-up singers duets with Clay on this song. Each night the backups decide between themselves which one will duet that night and Clay enjoys trying to guess which one it will be. On this final night the 2 girls made it more fun by both choosing to duet and therefore making it an unexpected trio.

Watch the fun these artists have with each other and their incredible ability to ad lib and harmonize their amazing voices. Enjoy!

UNICEF spotlights forgotten humanitarian crisis in Somalia

2008-07-09T13:05:00.001-07:00

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken recently returned from Kenya and Somalia. UNICEF provides children in war-torn nations with health care, education, nutrition, clean water and sanitation. Somalia is one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world. Clay shares his impressions, frustrations and concerns for the children he met there. This is the first in a series of blog posts he will write about his experiences in these 2 African countries.

Fieldnotes: Blogging on UNICEF's child survival work in the field

Clay Aiken asks:

Where is the outrage?

I recently returned from a UNICEF field visit that took me to northwest Somalia. What I saw there was both amazing and heartbreaking. In many ways, the children I was able to meet are doing better than their counterparts in the rest of Somalia. But in other respects, the situation there is still quite serious.

© US Fund for UNICEF / 2008 / Nick Ysenburg
UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken with children he met on his recent visit to Somalia.

For starters, the lack of a permanent central government has contributed to Somalia's status as one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world. Decades of civil conflict have shattered social structures and exacerbated poverty.

In such conditions—combined with an extremely arid environment and difficult terrain with settlements scattered over vast distances—a Somali child's chances of surviving to adulthood are among the lowest of children anywhere in the world.

Fortunately, UNICEF is there. It has been on the ground since 1972 and is the humanitarian organization with the largest presence in Somalia.

Since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991, UNICEF has continued to provide services to children and women in Somalia.

In Hargeisa, I visited UNICEF-supported schools and hospitals, as well as places girls are able to learn about leadership, get life-skills and play sports. I also visited UNICEF-supported maternal and child health clinics to observe some nutritional feeding and immunization activities. The good news is that these programs are working in the northwest and keeping children alive. The bad news is that one in eight children still dies before his or her fifth birthday in Somalia.

© US Fund for UNICEF / 2008 / Nick Ysenburg

One of the most incredible things I learned on my trip is that there are only 350 doctors left in the entire country, mostly because of the violence and insecurity. And many of these doctors are older than the average life expectancy in Somalia, which is only 45. I can't help but wonder, what is going to happen in a couple of years when there are no more doctors? What will happen to the children who struggle to survive?

What disturbs me most about this terrible situation for children is that most of the world has ignored it. Millions of children live in fear and poverty—where is the outrage?

At least we know something can be done. Help UNICEF save and improve the lives of children in Somalia. Donate online, right now.

read more | digg story

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken visits Somalia

2008-07-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

By Denise Shepherd-Johnson

NAIROBI, Kenya, 2 July 2008 – During a five-day visit to the self-declared republic of Somaliland in north-west Somalia, UNICEF USA Ambassador Clay Aiken was moved by the work that UNICEF is doing under challenging circumstances.

“In a country that’s better known for conflict, insecurity, drought and floods,” said Mr. Aiken, “it’s truly remarkable that UNICEF is still able to make a difference to the health, education and well-being of Somali children.”

Mr. Aiken travelled to Hargeisa, Gabiley and Boroma to see UNICEF-supported projects firsthand – projects that promote child health, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, primary education, child protection and girls’ empowerment.

Somalia is a country in which less than 25 per cent of the population has access to basic health services, and only 29 per cent have access to a safe water source. Fewer than 30 per cent of children attend primary school. It's also a place where almost every girl is circumcised, and it has amongst the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

‘The right to an education’
Playing basketball with girls in the enclosed facility of the Somaliland Cultural and Sports Association (SOCSA), Mr. Aiken saw the opportunity given to females by the UNICEF-supported organization.

“Here, girls are able to learn about leadership and health, acquire life skills and play sports within a safe environment,” he said. “Even the youngest girls that I’ve met at SOCSA impressed me with how confident and articulate they are as a result of this project.”

At a camp for 1,500 displaced families in Hargeisa, Mr. Aiken met Abduraman, 11, who helps to support his five siblings and blind mother by working each morning to collect stones. He uses his earnings to pay for school, which he attends in the afternoon.

“Somalia has some of the lowest enrolment rates in the world, but every child has the right to an education,” said Mr. Aiken. “UNICEF is working to help ensure that even working children get to go to school.” UNICEF has also provided the camp with child protection monitors, teacher training and school materials.

Providing for basic needs
In Boroma, Mr. Aiken saw how the town’s water system is functioning with UNICEF’s support. Under a public-private partnership, the system provides safe water to 95 per cent of the town’s population including schools and hospitals.

Mr. Aiken also visited maternal and child health clinics to see nutritional feeding and immunization activities along with projects supporting children with disabilities, the eradication of female genital mutilation/cutting and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

“Somali families want the best for their children and people really want to help bring about change,” he said. “Fortunately, UNICEF has always been there and continues to provide the support needed to make a difference.”

unicef.org

Clay Aiken appeals for world attention on Somalia

2008-06-26T19:49:00.001-07:00

By Guled Mohamed HARGEISA, Somalia (Reuters Life!)

Clay Aiken appeals for the world not to forget Somalia, where conflict and hunger have created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Aiken said U.S. and international...

read more | digg story

Clay Aiken - Forget I Ever Knew You

2008-06-20T05:26:00.000-07:00

FORGET I EVER KNEW YOU

I lie awake while the rest of the world sleeps happily
I'm tossing and turning in the dark
I try to make some sense of the mess that calls itself my life
Just wish I knew where I should start

I'd go back in time if I could
erase you from my mind for good
I get so tired of trying
Maybe I should just...

Walk away let my heart pretend
That dreams comes true when the story ends
I'll get on my feet and start again
Say goodbye to all I've been through
And forget I ever knew you

I'll turn the page I've got nothing to say but I'll start writing anyway
Something that gets me moving on again
Stuck in this place
Putting one foot in front of the other foot
Maybe today I'll let this be over and done

I'd make up my mind if I could
And leave this all behind me for good
I'm getting tired of trying
Maybe I should just...

Walk away let my heart pretend
The dream comes true when the story ends
I'll get on my feet and start again
And forget I ever knew you

I leave the past and rise above
I'd let you go and fall in love
With everything that I'm made of
Say goodbye to all I've been through
And forget I ever knew you

I'll start living life with no regrets
'Cause the best hasn't happened yet
I'm just fine with you out of my life

Walk away let my heart pretend
That dreams comes true when the story ends
I'll get on my feet and start again
And forget I ever knew you

I leave the past and rise above
I'll let you go and fall in love
With everything that I'm made of
Say goodbye to all I've been through
And forget I ever knew you

...

Easter Bonnet

2008-06-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

2008: benefiting Broadway Cares-Equity Fights Aids

Spamalot performs THE PRAYER

RENT performs LOVE HEALS

The Lion King performs LEGALLY BLACK

The DVD is for sale at Broadway Beat

Jaymes and David Foster's Friend - Clay Aiken

2008-05-31T02:24:00.000-07:00

In Sept 2006 Clay was in Vancouver, Canada to help out his friend, David Foster, to raise money for The David Foster Foundation. Michael Buble, Babyface, and Olivia Newton John also performed. I'm very happy that someone captured these performances on video. Clay sang Unchained Melody, Right Here Waiting and Without You..

Here are Clay's performances.

Technorati tags: Rock&Roll, Music, CD, Photo, Clay Aiken , baby, Jaymes Foster, Gala, David Foster

Clay Aiken - AOL Sessions

2008-05-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

Ashes

Everything I Don't Need

Where I Draw The Line

On My Way Here

Something About Us

Obama For Change

2008-05-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

Great Steely Dan musicians rock on Clay Aiken's new CD

2008-05-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

"On My Way Here" Musicians & Technicians Info

berkely has done some research into the musicians and technicians that worked with Clay on his new album. She said:

I’ve been meaning to take a look at the histories of the musicians and technicians who contributed to "On My Way Here" since the credits were first available --- hey, I read movie credits, too, since I’ve been in them and I see the names of friends all of the time.

It took me two weeks, but as I Googled their names, I laughed --- and then I laughed harder.

The men in the "On My Way Here" video bear no resemblance to the Central Casting pop band in the “Invisible” video. They have the look of people who have been around a while, and everything I could hear as I listened to the album revealed remarkable levels of musicianship. One of them, the guitarist, even looked a bit familiar to me, and I thought it was interesting that the pianist was allowed to sing on the CD.

The CD reviews were so at odds with the evidence of my own ears. On song after song, supporting Clay’s extraordinary voice, interpretive skills and growing artistry, I could hear some especially fine musicianship and the same kind of top-flight production that earned Kipper and Sting a Grammy for Best Pop Album.

These are the men behind the “uninspired, stock music.”

Keith Carlock - Drums (links to his MySpace):

Keith has played and/or toured with Steely Dan, Sting, James Taylor, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Diana Ross, Faith Hill, The Blues Brothers Band, Leni Stern, David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, Richard Bona, Chris Botti, Wayne Krantz, Harry Belafonte, Oz Noy, Paula Abdul and Grover Washington, Jr, to name a few.

Keith was recently voted number 1 Pop drummer and number 3 Best All-Around in Modern Drummer's 2008 Readers Poll.

There's some interesting stuff at Keith's website and in this article from Drummer World Magazine.

Freddie Washington – Bass (links to his website)

Freddie joined Herbie Hancock’s band at age 19, and has played in sessions or on tour with Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Al Jarreau, Aaron Neville, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, B.B. King, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, Donald Fagen, The Crusaders, George Benson, Denise Williams, Johnny Mathis, Burt Bacharach, and Kenny Loggins.

He has a platinum record as the songwriter of Patrice Rushen’s smash hit, “Forget Me Nots.”

Here is Freddie's Bio and a great article on his work with Donald Fagen from Bass Player.

Jon Herington – Guitar (links to his MySpace)

Jon has played with Steely Dan for both recording and touring. Jon has also toured with Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, Bette Midler, Phoebe Snow, Madeleine Peyroux, saxophonist Bill Evans, the contemporary jazz superband Chroma, and jazz/blues organ great Jack McDuff.

Read Jon's Profile and his reviews at his website, and watch him featured on "My Old School in this AOL video of Steely Dan.

Jeff Young – Piano, Organ, Vocals (links to his MySpace)

Jeff has played with Steely Dan, Sting, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, Phoebe Snow, Michael McDonald, Curtis Stigers and many more. He appeared in the acclaimed Broadway musical “Gospel at Colonus.” Vonda Shepard once sang in his band, leading to Jeff being hired to play for several episodes of “Ally McBeal.”

Back in February, I mentioned him before when I posted this from Kipper's website

Kipper
1 March 2007
USA trip and new music

I am currently in the good ol’ US of A travelling coast to coast. I have been to New York for A&R meetings then up to Chicago to work and hang out with my good friend and writer extroadinaire Richard Marx then down to Nashville and [b]now in LA staying with [u]Jeff Young[/u] of Steely Dan and Jackson Brown fame, now this man can play the Hammond!![/b] I lunched with Julia Fordham at Shutters on the beach and visited legendary producer Bob Clearmountain and his wife Betty, what a treat and sat in on a mix session for a new Bruce Springsteen DVD.

There's a connection between these four musicians.

The men on this CD are the longtime Steely Dan band, backing Donald Fagen and Walter Becker --- and not a single one of these “music critics” recognized them or their musicianship.

Fusing jazz, pop and blues, multiple Grammy-winners Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) are one of the most acclaimed bands in music history. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

See Clay's session men at work with Steely Dan HERE under “pics from the road.”

Assumptions are an interesting thing. Critic after critic, determined to dismiss any effort Clay put forward, wrote reviews with little or no bearing on the reality of the music on "On My Way Here" --- right down to trashing musicians they had praised in other reviews. According to multiple sources, Keith, Freddie, Jon and Jeff are considered among the best session men in the world --- unless they are playing with Clay Aiken.

And as for the “sound” of the album:

It was recorded and mixed by Nathaniel Kunkel (links to his MySpace.)

Nathaniel’s work with Sheila Nicholls, The Crystal Method, Lyle Lovett, Graham Nash, James Taylor, and Sting, among others, “has earned him the reputation of being one of the foremost authorities on engineering in surround sound.

“Nathaniel’s mix work has garnered him industry acclaim and awards, including Grammy awards for his work with Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, The Trio (Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton), and comedian Robin Williams; Surround Music Awards for his work with Graham Nash, James Taylor and Insane Clown Posse; and an Emmy for his recent work with Sting.”

Nathaniel is the son of drummer Russell Kunkel, a longtime James Taylor sideman.

Here's a great article on his work with David Crosby and Graham Nash from Mix Online, "the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry."

Read about his Studio Without Walls, and check out the artists Nathaniel has worked with.

Finally, Cameron Craig engineered the strings. (links to his MySpace)

Cameron is a Grammy-winner who has worked with Duffy, The Hours, Suzanne Vega, Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner, Joe Strummer, Garbage and Blur, among many others.

Unfortunately, none of these websites are up to date, so there's no mention of their work with Clay. (I suppose RCA didn't think it was worthy of note in their press release.)

So it doesn’t matter what some critics say, because they clearly don’t have a clue. I know that Clay got the best in the business to work on this album, people with experience, artistry, awards and respect within the music industry, where it really counts.

Working with Kipper and Jaymes Foster, Clay Aiken got to work with the best --- and the results are evident on "On My Way Here". It’s only fitting, because Clay is one of the best, as well.

The ConClayve

Critics, Do Your Homework!

2008-05-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

"On My Way Here" Musicians & Technicians Info

berkely has done some research into the musicians and technicians that worked with Clay on his new album. She said:

I’ve been meaning to take a look at the histories of the musicians and technicians who contributed to "On My Way Here" since the credits were first available --- hey, I read movie credits, too, since I’ve been in them and I see the names of friends all of the time.

It took me two weeks, but as I Googled their names, I laughed --- and then I laughed harder.

The men in the "On My Way Here" video bear no resemblance to the Central Casting pop band in the “Invisible” video. They have the look of people who have been around a while, and everything I could hear as I listened to the album revealed remarkable levels of musicianship. One of them, the guitarist, even looked a bit familiar to me, and I thought it was interesting that the pianist was allowed to sing on the CD.

The CD reviews were so at odds with the evidence of my own ears. On song after song, supporting Clay’s extraordinary voice, interpretive skills and growing artistry, I could hear some especially fine musicianship and the same kind of top-flight production that earned Kipper and Sting a Grammy for Best Pop Album.

These are the men behind the “uninspired, stock music.”

Keith Carlock - Drums (links to his MySpace):

Keith has played and/or toured with Steely Dan, Sting, James Taylor, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Diana Ross, Faith Hill, The Blues Brothers Band, Leni Stern, David Johansen and the Harry Smiths, Richard Bona, Chris Botti, Wayne Krantz, Harry Belafonte, Oz Noy, Paula Abdul and Grover Washington, Jr, to name a few.

Keith was recently voted number 1 Pop drummer and number 3 Best All-Around in Modern Drummer's 2008 Readers Poll.

There's some interesting stuff at Keith's website and in this article from Drummer World Magazine.

Freddie Washington – Bass (links to his website):

Freddie joined Herbie Hancock’s band at age 19, and has played in sessions or on tour with Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Al Jarreau, Aaron Neville, Lionel Richie, Anita Baker, B.B. King, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, Donald Fagen, The Crusaders, George Benson, Denise Williams, Johnny Mathis, Burt Bacharach, and Kenny Loggins.

He has a platinum record as the songwriter of Patrice Rushen’s smash hit, “Forget Me Nots.”

Here is Freddie's Bio and a great article on his work with Donald Fagen from Bass Player.

[url=http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=55065562][b]Jon Herington[/b] – Guitar[/url] (links to his MySpace):

Jon has played with Steely Dan for both recording and touring. Jon has also toured with Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, Bette Midler, Phoebe Snow, Madeleine Peyroux, saxophonist Bill Evans, the contemporary jazz superband Chroma, and jazz/blues organ great Jack McDuff.

Read Jon's Profile and his reviews at his website, and watch him featured on "My Old School in this AOL video of Steely Dan.

Jeff Young – Piano, Organ, Vocals (links to his MySpace):

Jeff has played with Steely Dan, Sting, Boz Scaggs, Jackson Browne, Shawn Colvin, Phoebe Snow, Michael McDonald, Curtis Stigers and many more. He appeared in the acclaimed Broadway musical “Gospel at Colonus.” Vonda Shepard once sang in his band, leading to Jeff being hired to play for several episodes of “Ally McBeal.”

Back in February, I mentioned him before when I posted this from Kipper's website:

Kipper
1 March 2007
USA trip and new music

I am currently in the good ol’ US of A travelling coast to coast. I have been to New York for A&R meetings then up to Chicago to work and hang out with my good friend and writer extroadinaire Richard Marx then down to Nashville and [b]now in LA staying with [u]Jeff Young[/u] of Steely Dan and Jackson Brown fame, now this man can play the Hammond!![/b] I lunched with Julia Fordham at Shutters on the beach and visited legendary producer Bob Clearmountain and his wife Betty, what a treat and sat in on a mix session for a new Bruce Springsteen DVD.

There's a connection between these four musicians.

[b]The men on this CD are the longtime Steely Dan band, backing Donald Fagen and Walter Becker --- and not a single one of these “music critics” recognized them or their musicianship.

Fusing jazz, pop and blues, multiple Grammy-winners Steely Dan (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) are one of the most acclaimed bands in music history. They are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

See Clay's session men at work with Steely Dan HERE under “pics from the road.”

Assumptions are an interesting thing. Critic after critic, determined to dismiss any effort Clay put forward, wrote reviews with little or no bearing on the reality of the music on "On My Way Here" --- right down to trashing musicians they had praised in other reviews. According to multiple sources, Keith, Freddie, Jon and Jeff are considered among the best session men in the world --- unless they are playing with Clay Aiken.

And as for the “sound” of the album:

It was recorded and mixed by Nathaniel Kunkel (links to his MySpace.)

Nathaniel’s work with Sheila Nicholls, The Crystal Method, Lyle Lovett, Graham Nash, James Taylor, and Sting, among others, “has earned him the reputation of being one of the foremost authorities on engineering in surround sound.

“Nathaniel’s mix work has garnered him industry acclaim and awards, including Grammy awards for his work with Lyle Lovett, B.B. King, The Trio (Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton), and comedian Robin Williams; Surround Music Awards for his work with Graham Nash, James Taylor and Insane Clown Posse; and an Emmy for his recent work with Sting.”

Nathaniel is the son of drummer Russell Kunkel, a longtime James Taylor sideman.

Here's a great article on his work with David Crosby and Graham Nash from Mix Online, "the world's leading magazine for the professional recording and sound production technology industry."

Read about his Studio Without Walls, and check out the artists Nathaniel has worked with.

Finally, Cameron Craig engineered the strings. (links to his MySpace)

Cameron is a Grammy-winner who has worked with Duffy, The Hours, Suzanne Vega, Amy Winehouse, Tina Turner, Joe Strummer, Garbage and Blur, among many others.

Unfortunately, none of these websites are up to date, so there's no mention of their work with Clay. (I suppose RCA didn't think it was worthy of note in their press release.)

So it doesn’t matter what some critics say, because they clearly don’t have a clue. I know that Clay got the best in the business to work on this album, people with experience, artistry, awards and respect within the music industry, where it really counts.

Working with Kipper and Jaymes Foster, Clay Aiken got to work with the best --- and the results are evident on "On My Way Here". It’s only fitting, because Clay is one of the best, as well.

New Video for On My Way Here

2008-05-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Clay Aiken on the Tonight Show

2008-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Clay talks about Meeting Jack Black, Clay's new look, Comparisons to Justin Timberlake, Spamalot and Monty Python, Getting into character, Superstitions, New CD

Clay Aiken performs On My Way Here on Leno 5/12/2008

Clay Aiken Loves Beni Hana

2008-05-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

CLAY AIKEN'S 'ON MY WAY HERE' on Good Morning America

2008-05-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

Pop sensation and "American Idol" veteran Clay Aiken has sold more than 6 million albums, and now he's adding to that number with a new CD called "On My Way Here."

Aiken joined "Good Morning America" to perform the title track from the CD, which has special pink packaging for Mother's Day.

His new album arrived in stores across the country May 6th.

It has been five years since Aiken has done an album of original songs. His 2003 debut, "Measure of A Man," went triple-platinum selling over 3 million copies.

"On My Way Here" chronicles Aiken's experiences since then, ascending from popular contestant on the second season of "American Idol" to pop superstar.

Aiken narrowly missed winning "American Idol" in 2003. Despite Studdard's win, Aiken has enjoyed more widespread popularity and success, emerging as the season's true breakout star.

Aiken just finished a highly acclaimed and successful 15-week run on Broadway in the Tony award-winning play "Spamalot," playing the role of Sir Robin.

He performed on stage in the musical nights and twice a day on weekends while recording his new album during the weekdays. Since he started five years ago, Aiken says he's barely taken any time off, but is looking forward to spending some time at his home in North Carolina this summer. He'll also be going on another Unicef field mission this summer.

The title track "On My Way Here" is the first radio single from the new album of the same name.

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 hit songs along with 4 original songs.

Aiken was raised in Raleigh, N.C., and trained in the Raleigh Boys Choir. He later fronted a local country band, Just By Chance. Although his stint on "America Idol" temporarily delayed his academic pursuits, Aiken graduated with a bachelor's degree in special education in December 2003.

He found his interest in special education while directing YMCA children's camps as a teenager; at age 19 he served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of students with autism at Brentwood Elementary School in Raleigh.

Aiken has been a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF since 2004. Not only has he testified before Congress, urging the government to allocate more funds for UNICEF's global work for children, he has also traveled to Indonesia, Mexico, Afghanistan and Uganda to see firsthand the devastating conditions affecting millions of the world's children -- natural disasters, disease, malnutrition, kidnapping and war.

The singer also created the Bubel/Aiken Foundation in 2003, an organization that promotes and funds educational and recreational programs to integrate children with special needs into recreational camps and activities alongside typical children.
(Ida Mae Astute/ABC)

eLATEd about Clay Aiken's New CD

2008-05-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

Today, LALATE NEWS gets “eLATEd” about Clay Aiken and “On My Way Here”.

LALATE NEWS premieres “eLATED”, its new celebrity news special. The first episode is about Clay Aiken and “On My Way Here”.America’s fastest growing celebrity news site, LALATE NEWS, is launching its first long format news broadcast in a new TV series.

Viewers now will be able to get “elated” for singer Clay Aiken as LALATE premieres its new show called “eLATEd”.

“eLATED” is the net’s first ever fan themed celebrity news program. Each broadcast will report on a major celebrity making news that week. Singer Clay Aiken will be the focus of the series pilot.

LALATE NEWS "eLATEd" for Clay Aiken and "On My Way Here"
by lalatenews

Correction: Bonus track “Forget I Ever Knew You” is on the Wal-Mart release, not Target.

;)

Clay Aiken Spills The Beans

2008-04-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Clay has recorded a fantastic 4th CD, " On My Way Here". You can listen to samples of the new songs here:

Song Samples at Amazon.com

He spoke about the songs and the process of choosing them in an exclusive interview with WRAL News NC.

WRAL Spills The Beans on Clay's upcoming New album

NEW YORK — Raleigh native Clay Aiken is a busy man these days, performing at night on Broadway as Sir Robin in "Monty Python's Spamalot" and working on his upcoming studio album during the day.

It's been five years since Aiken put together an original album, or one that is, he says, at least 95 percent original.

"Some of it is, you know, a kind of half-way version of original," he said. "But it's all stuff that I'd imagine 90 percent of people have not heard."

The songs had to meet two qualifications.

"They have to be something I'll enjoy and that I can do well," Aiken said. "And at the same time, they have to kind of fit into this common theme of 'On my way here.'"

"On My Way Here" is one of the tracks and might end up being the album title.

Aiken was working on that song and another the day he invited WRAL's Lynda Loveland to the recording studio. The second is called "Ashes".

"Someone told me (that) what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger," he said. "(The song) talks about bad things that might happen to you. You know, there's been some stuff that's happened in the last five years that I would rather have not happened, but you learn from things like that."

For the first time, Aiken's album, which he hopes will be released sometime after May, is being produced by one person. He kept that person secret, until now.

Known only as Kipper, he is from the United Kingdom and might be best known for producing a Grammy award-winning album for Sting.

"We wanted to find someone who had a great reputation and had done stuff in the past that was kind of edgy and current," Aiken said.

Kipper is coming up with a new sound for Aiken and even wrote a song for him that's got a bit of an R&B vibe to it.

"We've captured some really great moments," Kipper said. "I'm very optimistic we're going to have a record where people will go, 'Is that Clay? Is that Clay Aiken?"

Aiken also hopes to include a song he's penned with producer David Foster, "Lover All Alone," which was available as an iTunes bonus track on a previous album.

"It was my first attempt at writing anything, and David Foster wrote the melody," Aiken said. "He said, 'Take it home and write some lyrics.'"

It was seven months later, however, when Aiken was inspired.

"And then one day, I was sitting in Los Angeles, and all of a sudden, I had this idea, and I wrote it in, maybe, 15 minutes," he said.

Reporter: Lynda Loveland

WRAL Spills The Beans on Clay's upcoming album

New Clay Aiken Webisode

2008-04-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

From gather.com

Clay Aiken Handprints on Wall of Fame

2008-04-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

IN NEW YORK TODAY: CLAY AIKEN becomes a permanent part of Planet Hollywood with his autograph and famous handprint.

Clay Aiken, 'On My Way Here' -- Song Premiere

2008-04-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

Popeater has the first listen up on their blog

Posted Apr 7th 2008 12:00AM by Reg Gonzales
Filed under: Pop, Songs, Song Premiere, Exclusive, New Music
Artist: Clay Aiken
Song: 'On My Way Here'
Why You Should Listen: The pop superstar will be releasing his eagerly-awaited album 'On My Way Here' on May 6 -- his first collection of original songs since 2003. And since Clay fans are just "Aiken" to hear new music, satisfy your sweet tooth with the inspiring first single, written by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.

Click here to listen!

.

American Idol Extra: Clay Aiken

2008-04-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

Clay talks about his Spamalot experience, living in New York City and his new album , On My Way Here, due May 6th.

Aiken is well on his way to new CD
USA Today
April 3 2008

"I would like to have signature songs," Clay Aiken says, "songs that are identifiable as mine as opposed to 'Clay Aiken sings such-and-such.' " That's why the American Idol Season 2 runner-up conducted an intensive search for songs he could connect with.

"I went through a bunch of songs and found On My Way Here by (OneRepublic's) Ryan Tedder, and it hit me in the gut," he says. "It became the catalyst for the whole album to be lyrically connected — most of the songs relate to lessons I've learned."

On My Way Here became both the title track and lead single for Aiken's album, due May 6 on RCA. The album, produced by Kipper, is Aiken's first collection of new material since his debut, 2003's Measure of a Man, which has sold nearly 3 million copies.

Aiken co-wrote one song on the new album, Lover All Alone. Musically, he promises the new album has "a little bit of something for everyone, from symphonic-type ballads to upbeat, edgy stuff."

Carly Smithson Sings Clay Aiken's Version of Here You Come Again

2008-04-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

Listen to Clay's version and then to Carly's

Click on Carly Smithson to hear her version.

.

Clay's journey from Geek to Chic

2008-03-25T02:31:00.000-07:00

I was feeling nostalgic today. I think I'll post some video each day following Clay's journey from 2002 to today.

One of Simon's earliest criticisms for Clay wasn't about his singing, because that was always top notch, it was that he thought Clay didn't "look like a popstar"

Well, Simon, he sure does now.

But never mind Simon. His tastes run to Teletubbies, Spice Girls and Il Divo. Nuff said.

Here's some of the earliest Clay from Hollywood Week in 2002.

Unchained Melody - A capella

Superstar

Clay Aiken: Was Always Hot!

2008-03-23T04:04:00.000-07:00

Other than some hairstyle changes over the years, he still has the same great profile. He just gets better looking every year he gets older.

2002

2006

2008

3-D Night at Spamalot

2008-03-18T21:47:00.000-07:00

Today was the 3rd Anniversary of Spamalot on Broadway. It was celebrated with a special 3-D show, complete with the glasses that everyone received with their Playbill.

The audience posed for pictures too :)

Triplets got in free if they arrived together! Hee!

Clay Aiken's New CD to be released May 6th 2008

2008-03-05T21:45:00.000-08:00

It's official! The pre-order links are up on Amazon! WooHoo!!!!

Clay talked about the music he's been recording. There will even be a song on it that Clay wrote.

Amazon says:

1. Availability: This title will be released on May 6, 2008. Pre-order now! Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

2. Pre-order Price Guarantee! Order now and if the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and release date, you'll receive the lowest price. Here's how (restrictions apply)

Order yours now, and let's watch Clay's first week sales skyrocket!

Clay Aiken: Spamalot Clips on Fox News

2008-02-13T01:40:00.000-08:00

What do Ariel Levy and Simon Cowell have in Common?

2008-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Neither one has any idea who Clay Aiken is. One of them couldn't recognize a star if he tripped over it and the other needs to get out of her fascination with what goes on in everyone's pants long enough to take a breath of fresh air.

The following is an example of how to conduct an interview, Ariel. Ask questions relevant to the artist's work and report the answers without the smartass mocking of a highly talented and decent man that you stooped to in your piece. I understand that Clay Aiken is everything that you are not, but you're supposed to be a journalist, Ariel. Surely the fact that he is talented, polite, straight and male shouldn't be an impediment to your ability to report honestly and in the present. Surely you noticed that you had the man right there in front of you. He was there to be interviewed for gawdsakes. What made you think that taking select quotes from a book that was written years ago and using them, out of context, to paint a skewed and unflattering image of Clay Aiken was a good idea? It smacks of a desperate need to promote an agenda that does not reflect the real man, but rather a caricature that you were determined to create, with or without his input.

Kathy Henderson, Senior Editor at Broadway.com wrote the kind of article and interview that Ariel Levy of New York Magazine should aspire to write some day.

Clay Aiken
by Kathy Henderson

Everybody knows that Clay Aiken can sing, but—surprise!—he can also hold his own on a Broadway stage. To be more precise, he can hula, ogle scantily clad girls, discuss flying coconuts in a British accent, pretend to poop in his tunic, do a Cossack-style line dance and perform a lightning-fast patter song ("You won't succeed on Broadway if you don't have any Jews") without dropping a syllable.

As Sir Robin in Spamalot, the 29-year-old American Idol runner-up appears perfectly at ease in the world of Monty Python, which, he recently claimed, he thought was a person until he saw the show. The "fish out of water" angle of Clay Aiken starring in Spamalot has already led to a couple of snarky magazine articles, including one in New York in which the writer recorded Aiken's quotes in an exaggerated imitation of his North Carolina accent. No wonder his personal publicist now keeps a sharp ear (and a stopwatch) on Aiken's interviews.

The truth is, Clay is a smart guy who knows what works for him, and he was shrewd enough to realize that Spamalot, in its own nutty way, would be a good match for his talents and his sunny sensibility. "If somebody said to me, 'Who in this cast has never done theater?' he is the last person I would have chosen," says Hannah Waddingham, the Olivier Award-nominated British musical star who joined the Tony-winning musical as the Lady of the Lake the same night Aiken debuted. Three weeks into his run, Broadway's new Sir Robin shared his impressions of life in Spamalot.

A few of my favorite questions and answers.

How did you feel after your first Broadway performance?
I thought, "Well, thank god that's over!" [Laughs.] A lot of people had asked me if I was nervous, and I didn't know the appropriate response. I really wasn't. I don't know if that's bad—to not be nervous. Yeah, it was the first time I was doing this, but the audience thing doesn't freak me out that much. I figured I was going to screw up at some point, so there's no reason to be nervous about wondering when [laughs]. It was actually somewhat relaxing, because the rehearsals are sooo grueling. It's not just the schedule, it's all the information and learning "this that, this that, this that, this that." Having the opportunity to go out and do everything you learned was kind of refreshing and kind of nice.

So, who talked you into coming to Broadway?
I wasn't talked into it. My manager is not a pushy person at all; he brings opportunities to me and says, "Think about it. If you want to do it, that's great. If you don't, you don't." We had had...I wouldn't say offers, I would say interest from a number of shows in the past.

Which ones?
I'm not telling who I didn't pick! We'd had interest, but it was never something I ever thought I'd do. Nothing really struck me as exciting, but my manager said, "You know what? If you're going to do one, I think [Spamalot] is the one to do." And I was like, "Really?" So I saw the show and then I called him and said, "How do you figure this is the one to do?" He said, "Because of that reaction—because no one is going to expect it. It's not a show where you get to sing huge ballads and moving, soaring numbers. It's something completely different, and if you're going to do something like this, you should do it not as 'I'm bored,' but as 'This is an opportunity for me to grow and learn something new and branch out a little bit.'" And that's the reason I wanted to do it.

You didn't have to audition, or try out a British accent?
Well, almost all the people I work with are British; it's been that way for five years, so I just mimic them. I did meet with [Spamalot director] Mike Nichols and we discussed some things and I did a few lines with him. They didn't ask me to sing or dance; they probably should have asked me to dance. We sat down and very casually walked through a few things that they had already asked me to do before we committed to it on either side. I think they wanted to see how they felt about it and I wanted to see how I felt about it too, so we kind of auditioned each other. I didn't audition Mike Nichols—don't say that! But I wanted to get a feel for what this would be like, because I knew it was going to be very different from what I'm used to.

That meeting obviously went well.
There was a big concern for me—and I'll speak to you about this because your outlet speaks directly to [theater] people—about what they call "stunt casting." Based on some research I did, I know that a lot of diehard Broadway fans can't stand it, so there was automatic concern that people within the industry were going to be upset that I was doing this because I took [the role] away from somebody else or I didn't earn my way; I didn't audition the way everybody else does. I was concerned about that, not just in terms of Broadway fans but people in the cast who might have wanted to see somebody else get it. And I could not have been more wrong when it comes to the people who work in the industry. There's always going to be some 13-year-old sitting at his computer in Topeka who's bitter. But every person I've worked with has been unbelievably phenomenal and welcoming.

Mike Nichols isn't known for stunt casting. And in any case, you are a natural at this. What's been the biggest challenge for you?
It's so physically demanding, which is interesting because [original Sir Robin] David Hyde Pierce is an amazing actor, but he's not a dancer and neither am I. The fact that they would ask us to do this part cracks me up. David Hibbard, who plays Patsy in the show and whose dressing room is next to mine, has become one of my favorite people because he's been so warm and inviting. He was telling me that when he first got to the show, for whatever reason they had him play Robin for two weeks, and he said he was never able to breathe because it's such a hard part. And he was in Cats for years. I said, "How interesting, because I can't breathe either!" Every single night, it just kicks my rear end! It's exhausting. So I'm not to the point where I think I've got everything right. They say that eventually your body gets used to it and it doesn't wear you out as much. I'm hoping that when that day happens, I'll be able to reflect a little bit more as I'm doing it. When I do a concert, I know the songs frontways and backways; I can sing a song and be thinking about something completely different while I'm doing it.

Is it fun to sing the show's politically incorrect song about Broadway shows needing Jews to be a success?
You know, I'm kind of politically incorrect myself. I do worry sometimes, because it's a very fine line between humor and anti-Semitism, so I'm very careful as to how I say it. It's interesting, though—the first time I saw the show, I remember that being the song I laughed the hardest at. Every time I've seen it, it always gets the biggest laugh. I don't know that I'm doing it justice because I can't really get the audience's reaction. I'll watch other people's scenes and listen to the audience laughing and enjoying themselves, but in mine, I can't hear the audience for the amount of breathing that's going on in my ear [laughs].

What are you enjoying most about being on Broadway?
I love the people I work with. I really enjoy getting there [to the theater] and talking to them and listening to what goes on backstage. It's kind of nice to have a big group of people to work with as opposed to being by yourself [doing concerts]. I've only been doing this for three weeks, so it's still new.

What's been the biggest surprise?
I think I've been surprised at how much of a family the backstage is. David [Hibbard] put together this little quiz about knowing your fellow cast and crew members and whatnot. He got tiny secrets about each person, things that no one would expect about you, and he put about 100 of them into this quiz. You would not believe how much that has occupied everybody in the building. Everybody is running around trying to figure out everybody else's thing. It's really like a family.

How does eight Broadway shows a week compare in difficulty to ten weeks of competition on American Idol?
Sixteen weeks! Without question, Idol was harder because there was the rehearsal period, kind of like I was telling you about for this, and the performance period all put together. There were so many different things involved, with eight-hour days, 10-hour days, 13, 14, every day of the week on Idol. Here, it is eight shows a week, but only two and a half hours a night. The weekends are unbelievably exhausting because we do five shows, but Idol does beat it as far as the amount of work. I don't think people understand how much work is involved for the contestants on that show. It's not just showing up on Tuesday and Wednesday night. At the same time, it's different than a touring schedule. On tour, I do five shows a week, and they're not as physically exhausting because I'm not dancing. But I'm sleeping on a bus and traveling to a different city every night, so it's six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Are you surprised that so many American Idol alums have turned up on Broadway?
Not really. My situation is slightly different because I went into a show that was kind of unexpected; it's not a singing show. The other people who have done stage work from Idol have done shows where singing is important, and Idol finds people who are vocally talented. Fantasia was unbelievable in The Color Purple, but we always knew she could sing; we knew she had the ability to perform on stage. And we knew, because she was on Idol, that she had the ability to work hard. The same, I think, is true for everybody who has done [Broadway]. Diana DeGarmo was there with Fantasia, Frenchie Davis, Ruben [Studdard] is about to head out [on tour in Ain't Misbehavin'], so it doesn't surprise me that much. If you can handle three weeks of Idol, you've got the stamina [to do Broadway] because it's very stressful. I will say this, though: If I ever hear Simon Cowell insult someone on the show by using "You belong on Broadway" as a put-down, he can kiss my butt for that!

Story continues below

There you go!
People on Broadway are, without question, the most talented people in the country because they're doing seven things at once! They're dancing and they're singing and they're acting and they're speaking in tongues and they're playing piano and tapping. I mean, if Simon uses that as an insult again, he can kiss it! If you think about the people who are most well known for being phenomenal at their craft—Glenn Close as a prime example—the reason they're so good is because they started on stage. If you can do this Broadway thing, you can do anything. I'm considering running for President! [Laughs.]

How do you see your career progressing? Will you continue to do covers or record new music?
We did the cover thing last time; it's not a goal to do that again right now. Our next album is going to be all new stuff. That's kind of what I wanted to do last time and we took a detour. We're in the process of working on it. There's not horribly much to say about the next album, but we're hoping it's out in May.

Where are you on the spectrum of, say, a singer like Michael Buble vs. the kind of pop music they play on a top-40 station?
I'm not going to compare myself to anybody. I don't know that I want to be on the spectrum. I don't plan to be on the radio. I'm not cool enough to be on radio. I'm still dorky and not relevant enough to some people to be on radio, and it's not a goal of mine. We've got this amazing producer who's going to do the entire album, and one of the challenges for him has been not worrying about radio, because he's been so attuned to trying to make hits. We're like, "Uhhh, nooo," because once you try to cater to the radio stations, you stop catering to (a) the listener and (b) me. I was discussing this very thing with my executive producers the other day and we said, if you try to make the music fit what you think radio is going to want, you're going to miss the mark. But if we just go out and do what we do well, then it's going to be natural and maybe radio will like it. It's not something that I'm averse to; I would absolutely love it if it happens, but it's not something to work toward at the expense of doing what we want to do.

Read the rest of the interview at Broadway.com

Clay Aiken: Blast from the Past

2008-02-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

Interview with Java Joel at WKSC 103.5 on July 9 2003

Clay Aiken: Becoming Sir Robin

2008-01-24T01:54:00.000-08:00

Associated Press

Clay Aiken has made his Broadway debut in "Monty Python's Spamalot" as Sir Robin, creator Eric Idle's old role.

Associated Press Jan 23 2008

"There's a lot of pressure," Aiken says. "To think about how many people dream of doing something like this and to have the opportunity is pretty humbling."

Humbling, and possibly a little bit puzzling: What's a nice North Carolina boy with scant theater background and a penchant for pop lite doing in a scatological English stage comedy?

Exactly.

"One of the reasons that it intrigued me was that it was so different. Nobody I think would have expected me to show up in 'Spamalot,'" he says, laughing.

"It's very irreverent. ... I mean, my character soils his pants on stage multiple times."

This also is different territory for Aiken, who hasn't really acted much and was even cut from his high school's production of "Guys and Dolls." Just nailing the stage lingo has him rattled.

"I'm having to learn a whole new language. Upstage, downstage. I'm like, 'Upstage? What's that mean? Behind? Oh, got it. Why didn't you just say behind? ...' It makes me crazier than I already am."

Aiken, 29, has taken over the role of Sir Robin, the cowardly knight that Idle once played on film and David Hyde Pierce originated when the Tony Award-winning musical debuted in 2005.

"I think I'm probably just like the character — kind of chicken, afraid of everything and likes to sing. This particular character becomes a knight because he really just wants to sing and dance. He's so surprised when he finds out there's fighting involved. That kind of silly stupidity? — yeah, that's me."

Aiken, a performer who has sold 6 million CDs and continues to draw fans to his concerts, confesses to being sore and exhausted as he prepares for his debut. Aiken's first performance was Friday.

"Probably more preparation has gone into this than anything I've ever done," he says. "It's not just learning music and lines and even steps. It's mentally preparing yourself to do all of it at once."

Associate director Peter Lawrence says Aiken has been no idle diva; the singer asked to be treated like any other company member and has been surprisingly fearless.

"Clay really surprised me. When you meet him, he's this sweet kid from North Carolina with an accent. And you think there's no way he can do Cambridge material. And then he does," says Lawrence.

"It's been a total delight and a surprise for me and everyone in the company to work with Clay because he can do things you'd never imagine he could do."

The show is based on the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," which came out in 1975. The film, in turn, grew out of the success of the cult BBC comedy series.

Aiken, it turns out, was a stranger to both.

"Until three months ago, I thought Monty Python was a person," he says, sheepishly.

Not surprisingly, the Python-Aiken partnership started poorly. After being courted by "Spamalot" producers a year ago, Aiken went to see the show and left befuddled.

And why not? He was expecting something like "The Phantom of the Opera" and instead saw characters slapped with fish, dancing plague corpses, a killer rabbit and cow tossing.

"It was, in my opinion, the stupidest thing ever produced," he recalls. "There's no plot."

Persuaded over the summer to return, Aiken finally got it. "It's just completely off-base. So I went in and realized that. You have to go understanding that they even advertise it as being the silliest thing ever. It really is."

That's something Python purists will be happy to hear. Even so, Aiken is bracing for criticism from die-hard fans who can be more caustic than Simon, Randy and Paula.

"I'm anticipating and expecting some sort of fallout. I think it's a little bit different when someone who's never done Broadway before, who may be more well known in the pop world, comes in to Broadway," he says.

"There's always this skepticism that they've been brought in for the wrong reasons or they didn't play their dues or they're not going to do their part well," he says.

"So I even told the choreographer and the director ahead of time, 'I don't want you to go easy on me. I want to do everything that everybody else does. Don't change things and make them easier for me,'" he adds, laughing. "I've since changed my mind."

Aiken, who got a degree in special education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, was teaching grade school kids with autism before he tried out for "Idol" in Atlanta. He was a former member of the Raleigh Boys Choir, and occasionally sang at weddings and at church.

"There's not really a market in North Carolina to sing for a living. There's not that career path for people. So I never really assumed or had any dreams or aspirations to sing," he says.

That changed in the seventh grade when his mother took him and a friend to a local production of the musical "Big River," starring Martin Moran as Huckleberry Finn.

"It was the first time ever that I looked on stage and saw people — you know, adults — singing. And I thought, 'Wow, wait a second. You can actually sing for a living?'" he recalls. "From that point on, I kind of allowed music to be a part of my what-I-want-to-be-when-I-grow-up scenario."

After finishing second to Ruben Studdard on "Idol," Aiken went on to release his debut CD "Measure of a Man," which went double platinum in 2003. His other albums are "Merry Christmas With Love" and "A Thousand Different Ways." He's currently working on his fourth CD, due possibly by May.

In one of the weirder twists of Aikens' Broadway debut, he looked down at the Playbill while catching a "Spamalot" performance before he officially signed on and saw a familiar name: Martin Moran as Sir Robin.

"So I'll take over Robin from the same person who you could say kind of inspired me to actually make music something that I would do," he says. "It's a very small world — kind of a full-circle thing."

Clay Aiken's Spamalot Debut Tonight!

2008-01-18T02:19:00.000-08:00

Clay Aiken's big knight on Broadway

Friday, January 18th 2008
by Joe Dziemianowicz

Clay Aiken debuts as the cowardly Sir Robin in the hit musical 'Spamalot.'

Pop singer, how-to author and now, Broadway hatchling, Clay Aiken debuts Friday as Sir Robin in "Monty Python's Spamalot," the squirrely musical spoof of the Arthurian legend.

Aiken is the latest in an ever-expanding roster of "American Idol" contestants who've leapt to Broadway. The list includes Fantasia ("The Color Purple"), Diana DeGarmo ("Hairspray"), Frenchie Davis and Tamyra Gray ("Rent") and Josh Strickland ("Tarzan").

In the past couple of years, Aiken has fielded offers from other Broadway shows but passed because he was either busy or not very interested. He chose "Spamalot," he says, "because it's completely different. A lot of the stuff seemed, for lack of a better word, boring."

"Spamalot" is anything but. "It's the silliest thing on Broadway," he says, adding that it felt like a good fit even if Robin doesn't warble all that much. "I have a part with minimal singing," he says. "My big number is a Noel Coward-style patter song."

He goes on to say that most people would have expected him to do something more traditional and with more shots for solos. His powerful pipes are, after all, his claim to fame. The show's humor pulled him in. "It appealed to me," he says, "in the same way that it appeals to audiences."

Aiken credits fellow "Idol" alum Fantasia with playing a part in bringing him to Broadway. "Seeing her in 'The Color Purple' helped me decide to do this," says Aiken. "I was blown away. She said she was enjoying the experience."

Aiken has been relishing working with legendary director Mike Nichols. "He knows so much you have to be a sponge around him," he says. "He's the funniest person I ever met, so dry and wise."

He's even appreciated the rather bizarre visualizations and motivations Nichols uses. "He was trying to teach me to react to something," says Aiken. "He said, 'Imagine if you came in and we said, 'Every fifteenth performance, we cut off a toe.'"

Audiences will find out tomorrow if the tip actually helped, and they'll see the new bits of music and jokes "Spamalot" writer Eric Idle has added for Aiken. "It's just a touch here and there," says Aiken. Songs have been modified to better fit his voice.

Aiken can take comfort that he's not the only new kid on the stage. Hannah Waddingham, who played the Lady of the Lake in the London production, starts Saturday in that role at the Shubert Theatre. "I've kind of gotten past the whole audience-makes-me-nervous thing," Aiken says, "but this is the first time I've danced. I'm kind of a little weirded out about that."

Having his fans, those notorious Claymates, in the audience could ease his mind and let him know he's among friends. "They're coming out in full force," he says. "They'll be in the house."

And so will Clay - through May 4. When Fantasia's spotty "Purple" attendance record comes up, Aiken declares he's not using her as a role model when it comes to showing up for performances. "I plan," he says, "on making them all."

Clay Aiken News and Interviews

2008-01-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

Clay told APNews about his 2002 experience as an auditioner in Atlanta.

Raw Video:Clay Aiken offers 'Idol' advice

Our Exclusive Interview With Clay Aiken

January 15, 2008 - Posted by Marnie

Even with a grueling rehearsal schedule for his upcoming role in the Broadway show SPAMALOT, Clay Aiken conveyed nothing but high energy and endless enthusiasm during his interview with americanidol.com. This certainly isn't due to him getting a lot of rest these days, however. As Clay so bluntly put it, the rigors of Broadway are "kickin' my butt!" With the debut of SPAMALOT on Friday, his schedule will only get busier. The show will run once a day from Tuesday to Friday and then twice on Saturdays and Sundays! As Clay relayed, having to put together all the acts of singing, dancing, playing piano, and speaking in an accent is more than he ever expected!

This is not to say that Clay isn't enjoying the whole process. On the contrary, he is completely fulfilled by the experience and constantly amazed by those around him who do this on a regular basis. According to the popular singer, once you do Broadway, you can do pretty much anything. Clay is also astounded by the level of talent that has surrounded him during rehearsals. By the end of the day, they have filled his head with so much information that he has trouble remembering his own name! Clay admits that he was warned about the challenges he would face by another "Idol" alumnus, Fantasia Barrino. Thankfully, he is nothing but pleased with the result. He says that the show is "atypical of a musical," calling it a performance that's filled with "silly nonsense," which is what makes it so hilarious. Clay feels that he has really spread his wings by taking part in this, as the show doesn't even involve that much true singing. In fact, he admits that the one "big song" he performs is actually "talked sung."

Despite his participation in this farcical play and some guest stints on shows such as "Scrubs" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," Clay is reluctant to tout his comic abilities. As he joked to us, the only thing comical about him is that he is "funny looking." All kidding aside, Clay was quick to say that he doesn't think of himself as the complete marketing package, like Carrie Underwood or Chris Daughtry might be. Explaining further, he said that he knows he's "not this hip, cool radio guy," but he embraces the strengths he does have and enjoys pursuing things that will play up these qualities. In fact, one thing he thinks he would really excel at is hosting his own daytime talk show. While he doesn't want to pursue this to the point of missing out on other great opportunities, he did admit that this certainly something at the forefront of his mind. However, he realizes that this could be a long process and, as he said, sometimes it's best to "let go and let God."

Clay also discussed two things that are very close to his heart—his charities and his fans. What's interesting is the fact that the two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, his fans have helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for organizations in which Clay is involved. The Bubel/Aiken foundation, formed by Clay, helps to include kids with disabilities in things like summer camp and sporting events. He also works closely with UNICEF to raise awareness about poverty stricken areas around the world. As Clay mentioned, his fans were the ones that helped raise over $100,000 in the ten days he spent in Mexico recently, helping those who were devastated by floods. They also helped to raise approximately $250,000 during his time in Afghanistan last year.

"Claymates," as his fans are often called, can expect something huge in return for their loyalty—a new album by Clay! While his last album was something that was desired by others, Clay says that this album contains music that is definitely desired by him. It is also the first time he is having one producer help him to put out the entire album. The result, he says, will be an album of original material that is consistent in its sound and its message to his fans—look for it to hopefully be released this May.

OMG! OMG! OMG! New album in May!!!! WooHoooooooo!!!!

Marnie added a bit more commentary about her interview with Clay on her blog.

I did enjoy a wonderful chat with one of the most popular Idols in AI history, Clay Aiken! I have to say, I was a bit nervous. I'm glad he couldn't see my hives through the phone. It went very well, though, and he was an absolutely gracious interview. Unfortunately, the fifteen minutes the PR person gave me was a HARD fifteen minutes...no leeway there. I didn't get to some of your more...er...creative questions, but I did my best with the time given.

Clay Aiken For Dummies!

2008-01-11T23:54:00.000-08:00

OK, raise your hand if this is your boyfriend!

What you are seeing is a facsimile of a real live person. He is electronically generated and he lives in cyberspace. The WWW has many iterations of him.

Impersonating Clay Aiken online has been going on for almost 5 years. Some people first met him in chatrooms, in anonymous postings and instant messaging with faceless strangers who spoof and role play Clay Aiken online. There was and still is fan fiction and slash written about him and he has been paired with everything from Simon Cowell to Mrs Beasley and everything in between. I think the only one he hasn't had a fictional relationship with is Lassie, although I might have missed that one.

There are blogs, websites, social networking, myspace and LiveJournal sites and even message boards devoted to these fictional relationships. Some people even started up manhunt and other gay networking sites spoofing him. At one time there were over 80 myspace accounts alone that claimed to be Clay Aiken.

He's had more spoof Yahoo and AIM identities than we can count. Someone even auctioned off the AOL Instant Messenger ID of "Clay Aiken" a few years ago. For big bucks too!

Did you know that there are countless people who think they have made contact with the real Clay Aiken online? It boggles the mind of anyone still in possession of their senses. Don't they know that anyone they meet online could be anyone and anything they want? Don't they watch "To Catch a Predator"?

I'm shocked that there are so many gullible people out there. Clay Aiken isn't the first celebrity to have this kind of role playing and spoofing done to him. What will it take to make people understand that the little girl in a chatroom or the internet trolling pig they encounter online could just as easily be a Teamster in a TuTu sitting at his computer and laughing his ass off at you?

There are some new twists with the advent of recent technology. There is voice altering software that can make you sound male or female and even exactly like your favorite celebrity if you want. There are proxy services online that will give you a phone number in any state you want and it will hide your real number and identity. I could open an account at BigMuscle.com and be Brad Pitt if I want to. I can contact gay men online and send them private messages and set up a hook up date. I can send potential dates "my" picture that can be found online and I can convince any gullible guy that they just lucked out and caught the eye of Brad Pitt! Holy crap, he thinks I'm hot, they say.

The sad thing is that these people are not hot. Many of them are middle aged or average people who are lonely or depressed. Some are gay men past their prime.

Some are in their 40's. Out of shape, unemployed and definitely not eligible for membership in Clay Aiken's dating pool.

Interestingly enough there are 2 that fit that description. One male and one female. Both are deluded into thinking they have a relationship with Clay Aiken. Both have claimed that he is/was having sex with them. Both are out of their ever loving minds, but even Dave Letterman and Madonna have had crazy fans who thought they were married to them. They stalked them and even tried to break into their homes. One is now in jail and the other is in the nuthouse. UPDATE: David Letterman's stalker committed suicide.

This man:

will never have to make friends online. He will never have to resort to online dating services or sneak around in chatrooms or contact anyone online for a date, or to have sex with or even to ask for advice. If your relationship with any form of Clay Aiken has to stay secret, its a sham. If you have to call and leave a message for him to call you back because he won't give you his direct phone number, or if you spend hours text messaging with him at all hours, its not the real thing, honey. If he makes plans that always fall through. If he tells you shameful secrets or he doesn't know you or recognize you, if you ever get within 10 feet of the real Clay Aiken, you're being had by an impostor. Impostors have gone so far as to send photos, plane tickets and arrange for hook ups and hotel rooms, but they always fall through. Always. No exceptions.

Get a grip and get some help. Clay Aiken doesn't have the time or the need for any of this crap. He has a real life with real friends and family and he dates real girls he really knows in his real life.

Clay Aiken: Golfing for Inclusion

2008-01-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

The first annual "Golfing for Inclusion" tournament and dinner was held at the Mirasol Country Club in Palm Beach,FL on January 7th 2008. There was plenty of food, drink,and golf lessons for beginners during the day and of course plenty of golfers teeing off and enjoying the perfect weather in good company.

Clay spent part of his day as Wayne Player's willing sidekick. Wayne used Clay to demonstrate proper stance and technique.

Clay spent the majority of the day going from group to group socializing, 'gator hunting and having his picture taken with the participants.

After the tournament the players and their guests enjoyed a cocktail party, dinner, an auction to benefit the Bubel/Aiken Foundation and entertainment by Clay. He sang an assortment of familiar songs such as "I Can't Make You Love Me","At This Moment","Get Here". "Love of My Life", "When a Man loves a Woman" and "Unchained Melody" to name a few. One of the most popular auction packages included dinner with Clay in NYC complete with Carriage ride and Spamalot tickets. It was so popular that it was expanded to 2 packages that went for $20,000 each. There were also professional golf packages and even a private poker lesson with Greg Raymer.

Clay got a little sun kissed but he looked great, sang beautifully and if this picture is any indication. It was a great day!

Clay Aiken: Give a Little Bit

2008-01-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling a little bit nostalgic today. Remember this?

That's our Clay from 2004. He hasn't changed a bit. He still finds joy in contributing in a positive way to the children in need around the world. We're so proud of you. Clay!

Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

Clay Aiken in Mexico for Unicef

2007-12-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

How To Help:

Donate at: Clay Aiken's Special Fund Raisers Page

Progress: 110%
Raised: $ 109,665
Goal: $ 100,000 in 10 days.
or
Visit: http://www.unicefusa.org or call 1-800-4UNICEF

Behind The Scenes @ C1HCOI

2007-12-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

Star-Telegram

Holiday Celebration on Ice: Sasha Cohen and Todd Eldredge host this holiday-themed skating exhibition, but it's guest Clay Aiken, not the skaters, who is likely to draw viewers.

On The Style Network Dec 26th and 30th.

These are some great new videos from behind the scenes and at rehearsal.

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken in Mexico

2007-12-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Clay Aiken & Family Celebrate Christmas With Survivors of Mexico's Floods

CHIAPAS, Mexico, December 25, 2007:

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken celebrated Christmas at a flood shelter with the children of Ostuacan, Chiapas. In one weekend last month torrential rains produced the worst flooding the region has seen in more than 50 years. More than one million residents from Chiapas and the adjoining state of Tabasco have been affected, one third of which are children. (PRNewsFoto/U.S. Fund for UNICEF)

CHIAPAS MEXICO

UNICEF Ambassador Aiken visits flood affected states of Tabasco and Chiapas

CHIAPAS, Mexico, Dec. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- UNICEF Ambassador and
critically acclaimed recording artist Clay Aiken today wrapped up the first
leg of his trip to the flood affected areas of southeast Mexico by
participating in a gift exchange and "sing along" with over 300 children
and their families at a camp erected for flood victims.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071225/AQTU002)

Aiken, who is traveling in the region with his mother and younger
brother, a Marine on leave from Iraq, will also be part of a UNICEF
delegation scheduled to visit the state of Tabasco over the next two days.

"The situation in Chiapas and Tabasco has really become a forgotten
emergency," said the U.S. pop star who became an ambassador for the
children's agency in 2004. "Telling the story of these brave people,
especially the children, to a U.S. audience is the reason that I am here.
Sharing this experience with my family during this time of year makes it
even more special."

In one weekend last month torrential rains in Tabasco and Chiapas
produced the worst flooding the region has seen in more than 50 years. More than one million residents of the two states have been affected, one third of which are children.

While an integrated humanitarian response lead by government and U.N.
agencies has stabilized the emergency in Mexico, thousands remain homeless and displaced. According to UNICEF officials in the region, children are the most vulnerable in these situations. Hundreds of them are at risk of psychological trauma and many more are out of school due to extensive structural damage to school buildings.

Today's event, also attended by Hon. Isabel Aguilera de Sabines, First
Lady of the state of Chiapas, was held in the city of Ostuacan where 19
deaths were recently reported after a series of mudslides engulfed the
small mountain community of Juan de Grijalva and the search for six missing residents is ongoing.

Chiapas is bordered on the north by the state of Tabasco, on the south
by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Central American nation of
Guatemala and on the west by the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. Chiapas has 111 municipalities. Its capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, lies near the center of the state. Tabasco is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Mexico, to the south by the state of Chiapas, to the east by Guatemala and Campeche and to the west by Veracruz. Villahermosa is Tabasco's capital city.

How To Help:

Donate at: Clay Aiken's Special Fund Raisers Page
Progress: 62%
Raised: $ 62,385
Goal: $ 100,000
or
Visit: http://www.unicefusa.org or call 1-800-4UNICEF

Attention Broadcasters:
Hard copy b-roll footage available.
About UNICEF

For more than 60 years, UNICEF has been the world's leading
international children's organization, working in over 150 countries to
address the ongoing issues that affect why kids are dying. UNICEF provides lifesaving nutrition, clean water, education, protection and emergency response saving more young lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. While millions of children die every year of preventable causes like dehydration, upper respiratory infections and measles, UNICEF, with the support of partnering organizations and donors alike, has the global experience, resources and reach to give children the best hope of survival. For more information about UNICEF, please visit
http://www.unicefusa.org.