NWCFans on Local Newspaper

The Portland Tribune today published an very complimentary article about Claymania in the northwest today, NWClayfans' Nadine Kincaid.

Claymates share "clack" and "glowing feeling of love"
Nice guys don't always finish last. Remember Clay Aiken? He competed in the 2003 season of "American Idol," the talent search TV show. Although he lost in the final round, to Ruben Studdard, you haven't heard the last of the green-eyed singer with the choirboy voice.
Aiken, who looks even younger than his 26 years, is still performing regularly, and in big venues, too -- he'll be at the Rose Garden Arena on Nov. 3. In fact, I predict that he's still on his way up, thanks in large part to an unconventional and extremely loyal fan base.
Believe it or not, the most clamorous of Aiken's fans can best be described as moms. He has admirers young and old, male and female, but I think it's safe to say that the majority are women in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
"I liked the Beatles," Nadine Kincaid says, "but I've never been like this over a singer before." She is an organizer for an unofficial fan club called NWClayfans (www.nwclayfans.net). Kincaid gives her age as "way too old to be a teeny-bopper." She lives in Southwest Portland, works in the security department of George Fox University and has two college-age kids.
She's a very normal person, unless you consider this level of devotion to a pop singer an aberration. She collects Aiken merchandise, uses her background in photography to create professional-looking portraits of him in concert and, once a month, gets up at 4 a.m. to put in time in a 24-hour prayer cycle for the man she's never met.
The other women who have convened at a Wilsonville Izzy's Pizza today certainly don't think she's going overboard. One of them, Trudy Barbison, attended 25 of the 26 concerts on Aiken's summer tour this year, flying across the country and logging around 8,000 miles on a rental car.
She fell for Aiken during "American Idol." She tells me, "I cried when he didn't make it. ... But then as time went by, I realized it was really best." She doesn't want to give her age: "I'm one of Clay's older fans," she says. "Let's just put it that way."
Seventeen women are gathered here to talk about Aiken, especially his impending visit to Oregon. They're planning a pre-concert party, but when it comes to obtaining tickets, "it's every woman for herself," as Kincaid puts it. Previous meetings have drawn women from as far away as Seattle and Redding, Calif.
Four laptops are displaying clips from Aiken concerts. Some of the ladies have become computer savvy just for Aiken's sake. Various magazines -- Rolling Stone, TV Guide, Today's Caregiver -- with him on the cover are fanned out on a table, along with lapel pins and other knickknacks.
In the parlance of Claymates, as they sometimes call themselves, anything having to do with Aiken is called "clack." It's a contraction of the words Clay and crack, as in crack cocaine, as in, he's that addictive.
One woman tells me her husband is jealous, and others report being teased by their brothers or sons. Robin Graham's husband, on the other hand, is so supportive that he drove her all the way to Salt Lake City last year for a concert.
"He thinks Clay is the next big (thing), you know, like Elvis," she says, adding: "He's really glad I have this. ... I haven't traveled, didn't take vacations, I never left home, and now I've flown across the United States three times."
She's effusive about Aiken. "I love him like he's one of my own kids," she tells me. "He gives so much joy ... I get the same feeling when I come across a picture of him as I do when I (see a photo of) my own grandchildren. ... It's a glowing feeling of love, which I know is strange."
What is going on here? "I think it's because he's more than just a really good voice. It's the person. He's an incredibly compassionate man," Kincaid explains.
As soon as he became successful, Aiken founded the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, which works for the rights of developmentally disabled children. He also has traveled to Indonesia and Africa as an ambassador for the U.N. Children's Fund.
Not only that, but he's a kind of anti-rock-star. These women aren't looking for a rebel or a bad boy. "He stands by his principles," Graham believes. "We have all these kids growing up, looking at people who are -- barely any clothes on, all this foul language. This guy needs to be supported so our children have somebody to look up to."
NW Clayfans are not alone. Across the country, moms and grandmas are joining online message boards, collecting clack and encouraging one another. They travel long distances to see Clay, sharing rides and offering one another places to stay. I get the feeling this is the beginning of a very big groundswell.