Vancouver Province Serves Up 2 Articles

The Vancouver Province today published, not 1, but 2 article about Clay! Clay performs tonight at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, kicking off his sixth national tour - the Joyful Noise Tour 2005. Clay was also featured on the paper's Arts section front page (left).
1st article:

Local Claymates throw bash to celebrate hero
Stuart Derdeyn
The Province
November 2, 2005


Left: Kelly Bond and her seven-year-old daughter Alora are big Clay Aiken fans.

FAN EVENT

A Clay Family Christmas

Where: Seymour Room, The Bay, 674 Granville St.

When: Today from 5-8 p.m.

Tickets: $15, pre-register at vancouverclayparty@shaw.ca

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He may be satirized as the uber-geek on Mad TV but, to his devoted followers, Clay Aiken is the the man all others are measured by.

To celebrate the Vancouver debut of American Idol's No. 1 loser, local fans -- Claymates -- are throwing a bash with dinner, videos and prizes to celebrate Aiken's Joyful Noise tour.

Event committee member Kelly Bond is hosting Clay-boys and girls from across North America attending the local date opening a 36-city tour, the sixth cross-country slog by the multi-platinum artist since 2003.

"I only watched American Idol's second season because I'd broken my ankle," says Bond. "About halfway through his appearance on the show, I became a fan."

It's been about 18 months since Aiken last played this region, appearing in Seattle with Kelly Clarkson.

"Northwestern Claymates are thrilled to be part of this tour which was highly successful last year. That time, he had orchestras and choirs."

"This year, he has dropped the choirs but made the show more theatrical with some vignettes."

Among the actors on the road with Aiken is a young boy who the singer, a licensed teacher in his home state of North Carolina, is tutoring. These kinds of acts, his campaigning for the Bubel-Aiken Foundation for children with developmental challenges and his professed Christianity connect with Claymates as much as his music.

"He's got a charisma, for sure, and a uniqueness that he brings to every performance that connects with the audience. He's got that geeky little boy in all of us that rose above it all."

sderdeyn@png.canwest.com

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FEATS OF CLAY

Name: Clayton Holmes Grissom

Born: Nov. 30, 1978

Hometown: Raleigh, N.C.

Education: B.Ed Special Education

Albums: Measure of a Man (Oct. '03) -- fastest-selling solo debut in a decade at time of release; Merry Christmas With Love (Nov. '04) -- fastest-selling holiday album since '91, tied with Celine Dion for highest chart debut (No. 4) by a holiday-themed album.

Books: Learning To Sing: Hearing the Music In Your Life (Random House, co-authored with Allison Glock). Paperback version due out in November

TV: Host of Saturday Night Live (Feb. '04); A Clay Aiken Christmas (Dec. '04); Kenny on Scrubs (Feb. '05)

Tours: Independent Tour (with Kelly Clarkson, Feb.-April '04); Not-A-Tour (Summer '04); The Joyful Noise Tour (Nov. '04); Jukebox Tour (Summer '05); Joyful Noise 2 (Nov. '05)
© The Vancouver Province 2005

2nd article:

Clay bells ring for his holiday tour
Aiken launches Christmas shows in Vancouver
Tom Harrison
The Province

Wednesday, November 02, 2005


IN CONCERT

Clay Aiken

Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Georgia and Hamilton

When: Tonight at 9:30

Tickets: $49.50-$89.50 at Ticketmaster

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Clay Aiken loves Christmas.

"It's a Christmas show!" he exclaims of the Joyful Noise Tour, which is 40 shows long, starting tonight in Vancouver.

"That's what we love to do. We're trying to start it early. Even though we are starting early, we try to get people in the spirit."

Shouldn't be hard. If everybody survived Halloween, the shift into Christmas already has begun. The ornaments are out, the sales campaigns are prepared.

At The Province, we've seen the catalogues of Christmas music and have started to receive Christmas CDs.

And why not? Aiken's Christmas CD, Merry Christmas With Love, was the biggest-selling Christmas album of 2004.

He knows people need some uplifting news. What with tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, Christmas can't come too soon.

"Our tour went so well last year, we decided to do it again," Aiken says.

"Christmas is my favourite holiday. I would do this show all year."

There are differences. It's actually the singer's sixth tour since becoming the most-famous runner-up on the TV series American Idol in 2003. He's made a few records, notably the single "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," but a Christmas album so soon bespeaks his confidence, as does performing on previous tours with symphony orchestras.

You might conclude that he is very ambitious -- why else would he enter American Idol unless he had vision? -- but Aiken's vision isn't ours.

"It's an opportunity to do what I've always wanted to do," says the 25- year-old Raleigh, N.C., singer. "I don't ever want to get to the point where I think, 'Oh man, I wish I'd done this, or had done that.'"

Those differences. As Vancouver didn't see last year's show, Aiken's effort to keep the show as "fresh as possible," won't mean much, but he has programmed his concert with actors and dancers who will tell a story of Christmas written by Aiken himself. As well, he has shaken up the set list and will do some songs that aren't on his album.

The Christmas theme, then, might be a surprise, as it's usually a domain inhabited by singers with longer careers, but maybe it's Aiken's way of establishing his name.

"Some people think we're not performers and we can't alienate people," he says. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that show. At the same time, you want to be recognized as an individual, not the guy who was a runner-up on American Idol."

tharrison@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2005