Raleigh News & Observer Clay Article

They get their say on Clay

By BARRY SAUNDERS, Staff Writer

Forget about it. Stop asking. Tain't gonna happen.
No matter how many calls and e-mail messages I receive from people who think the State Fair got taken for a loopy ride by paying Clay Aiken $200,000 for Monday's two performances, I'm not writing about that.

After I suggested that possibility in May when the deal was made for one show for $100,000, I was assailed and called everything but a Reuben sandwich -- and a Ruben fan -- by angry Aiken fans.

Regardless of what one thinks of his music, the State Fair can't possibly make back its investment. Couldn't Tiffany Budd, the fair's promotion specialist, have said, "Yo, Clay dearie, since you're already in the neighborhood, want to hang around and do another show for, say, $50,000 and all the turkey legs you can eat?"

Clay strikes me as a sincere, courtly chap -- who could use a few pounds of turkey legs. He might've gone for such a deal, too, but those of his fans from whom I heard took pride in his exorbitant fee. You usually have to go to a bowling alley -- or show up at your first ex-wife's house at 2 a.m. -- to get called the names I was hit with after thoughtfully suggesting that maybe, just maybe, we fairgoers had overpaid for Clay.

Won't say that again. I will say, though, that the fair will have to sell a whole lot of turkey legs to offset the hole it went into to book Clay at that price.

Some people got the impression that I was an anti-Aiken, just because I said the only thing he could do worth $100,000 would be to travel the state and paint all of our houses.

A typical response of the close to 500 I received after that initial column was this one from Dave: "If the hard working people of some hillbilly county want to [urinate] away their money watching Clay, what is it to you? What else should they spend their money on?? Prisons? Welfare? Crack mothers?

"Why not have a rap group in, loot the place and shoot each other up?"

A reader from Wausau, Wis., called Clay "a man with a heart of gold and a voice of pure heaven. ... We are sick of singers spewing foul language and lewd behavior. ... You are a #$%*@!^&." Honest.

Gail F. wrote, "You have lost me as a reader unless I see some apology. ... Clay is definitely the American 'eye-doll.' "

Another self-described Claymate wrote, "Wake up and smell the coffee. He is a great singer with a great personality and an all-round nice person -- which are three things more than you have going for you."

Me? Not a great singer? She obviously has never heard my soul-stirring a cappella rendition of Chuck Berry's classic "My Ding-a-Ling."

A Claymate named Bunny wrote a very un-Bunnylike response: "Get a grip, dude, or better yet, some journalistic talent. ... My advice? Crawl back under the rock from which you come."

Connie, a fan from Raleigh, wrote that Clay "is the hottest singer since Elvis and Sinatra. I am not a person of wealth, but I have gladly paid more than my mortgage for floor tickets to see Clay in concert every chance I get. ... I just thank God that he is coming home to Raleigh."

So, now you see why I won't be writing this time about Clay not being worth $200,000. To some people, maybe he is.

Call Barry at 836-2811 or send him e-mail at barrys@newsobserver.com.