NC Fans are "Achin' for Aiken"

Redding.com published this nice article on a few NC fans.

Achin' for Aiken

American Idol runner-up thrills north state groupies

By Christy Lochrie, Record Searchlight
September 4, 2005

Judie Bechtle doesn't want to be known as an obsessed Clay Aiken fan.

"He's a hobby," the Redding woman insists.

A hobby that had Bechtle, a retired San Jose schoolteacher, on an Atlanta-bound airplane in July. She had four reasons for the cross-country trek: Clay Aiken Jukebox concert tickets for performances in Atlanta, Greenville, S.C., Cary, S.C. and Vienna, Va.

"Someday I will have the chance to meet him," Bechtle said. She leaned back in her dining room chair and twirled her hair around her finger. "My turn will come."

Scattered across the table were two three-ring binders brimming with Clay Aiken articles, photos and ticket stubs. A stack of CDs towered near a squat orange "Judie's Clay Stash" jar. Some of the mementos she collected in person, others on eBay and still others from likeminded "Claymates," or Clay Aiken fans.

"When you go to Clay concerts, it's like going to a family reunion," Bechtle said, adding that the "American Idol 2" runner-up is the family member that everyone seems to know. And has stories about.

Her husband of 40 years, Carl Bechtle, stayed home for her cross-country concert tour. He accompanied her to one of the seven live concerts she attended. And he's grown used to her wardrobe: Clay Aiken T-shirts, 14 of them.

"Tongue and cheek ... we tease her a lot about needing to be enrolled in a 12-step program," Carl Bechtle said. "I'm nowhere near the fan she is."

Judie Bechtle's "hobby" started with "American Idol 2," a show her husband watches "only if I have to."

Judie Bechtle and thousands of other fans tuned in May 21, 2003. That's when Clay Aiken, then 24, was voted off the show. Ruben Studdard was voted the American Idol that season.

But fans will tell you Clay Aiken, a "geeky" young man who was studying special education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, stole their hearts with his soulful crooning.

Record deals and concert tours followed. So did multiplatinum recordings and fan clubs.

Clay Aiken's official fan club charges $29.95 for a one-year subscription. For the cash, Aiken hobbyists get a T-shirt (Bechtle has one), an Aiken photo, access to pre-sale tickets, a welcome letter from Aiken, access to his journals, blogs, photos and a chance to meet him, etc.

The club's mum on fan club members. Kat Darnell, a spokeswoman for the club, in an e-mail offered only "... I can tell you it is extremely successful and that Clay is very active in participation."

For Bechtle, logging onto the site is a daily ritual. And on a recent mid-morning weekday, 142 fans were logged in as well.

But beside the fan club site, Claymates, like Bechtle, also scour the Internet, newspapers and magazines for any Clay-related scoop.

And the mania has fans waving goodbye to family and friends as they leave to crisscross the country to attend concert tickets -- sometimes paying quadruple the face value for ticket.

"We're willing to spend big bucks to sit up close," Judie Bechtle said.

Dale Kosko, a 53-year-old Redding woman, said she's only been to six concerts "because I can't afford to go to any more."

Kosko, too, recently traveled to North Carolina, leaving behind her husband, Bob.

"I have to keep reminding her one is a fan, two is a stalker," Bob Kosko said, laughing.

But what's with the scrawny guy who studied special education?

"He just makes me feel young again," Dale Kosko said, gushing.

Kosko recounted a recent dream she had about Clay Aiken. He was sick. She tucked him bed, fed him soup and read to him.

"I have a motherly interest in him," Kosko said.

Maybe a crush, too? "If I was 25 years younger, you bet."

Bechtle, meanwhile, denies the crush factor. "I wouldn't say I have a crush on him. It's a hobby."

Bechtle flipped to the last page in her Clay Aiken scrapbook, pointing to photo of a youngish Harrison Ford.

"This is my former hobby," Bechtle said, adding she saw each of his movies.

But while the women waver about whether or not they actually have a crush on a man half their age, they say there's a difference from the concert days of their youth.

The five bucks to see the Beatles in concert was too much for Bechtle's college budget.

"Typically the more mature ladies seem to be represented more because we have the funds available to us," Kosko said.

Meanwhile, both women anxiously await the winter Aiken concert series. And news relating to Aiken, like his plans to move back to North Carolina and sell his Los Angeles home.

"You can call me a Claymate and I'm proud of it," Bechtle said.

Currents reporter Christy Lochrie can be reached at 225-8309 or at clochrie@redding.com.