Charlotte Observer 'Q&A with Clay Aiken'

Another pre-concert article/interview. This one's from the Charlotte Observer. Clay plays his 2nd hometown of Charlotte, next week at the New Charlotte Arena. Tickets are available from the venue's website. Many thanks to the CB's CharlotteClayFan for the scans.

Q&A with Clay
COURTNEY DEVORES
Special to the Observer

Clay Aiken may not have won the top spot on "American Idol's" second season, but over two years later the N.C. runner-up's career is still going strong.

He debuted at No. 1 with both his first single and album. He published a best-selling book and has a top-selling 2004 holiday album and tour. He's also hosted his own NBC Christmas special, guest-starred on the sitcom "Scrubs" and monitored the red carpet alongside Pat O'Brien at the 2005 Emmys.

To beat it all, Aiken's done it on his own terms -- maintaining a responsible image while appearing as one of People magazine's "Sexiest Men in America" and continuing his work as an advocate for people with disabilities through the Bubel/Aiken Foundation and as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

The UNC Charlotte graduate, whose "Joyful Noise" holiday show, now in its second year, makes it to Charlotte Bobcats Arena Wednesday, spoke with the Observer from a tour stop in Providence, R.I., recently. He talked about his return to the Carolinas, his work with UNICEF, and the story line for his latest holiday tour.

Q. So I hear you're moving back to Raleigh. What's makes this the right time? I always wanted to live at home. Whenever I saw the opportunity to get back I jumped at the first chance. We got into a position where we thought we would be able to sustain what we were doing from further away. So why not?

Q. Will you keep a home in Los Angeles as well? I'll probably have some place I can stay in L.A. or New York. I kind of just want a home base no matter what.


Q. Do you think being recognized will be more of a problem here? Coming off a reality show was a little different than people would expect. We have the recognize-ability and the neighborly approachability, which makes it complicated to live anywhere. I haven't lived in North Carolina since I've been doing this, but people are much more laid-back at home. I think it'll be something that I'm going to learn to deal with, because I love being there. My mom says eventually people will get used to the fact that you live here and they won't bother you anymore. At this point I don't care. I just want to come home.

Q. Tell me about this "Joyful Noise" tour. Weren't you more involved in the whole production this time around? I'm a control freak. I was involved in everything. We just wanted to change things up. We didn't make it (to Charlotte) last Christmas, but we did do a show with a regular orchestral production. We wanted to include the same songs, but connect them together. So, I sat down and tried to do an outline -- what could be said or done between songs to give it more warmth and meaning because in a Christmas show you want everything to have a meaning because Christmas is very emotional.

Q. You cast Carolinians in the leads? As I was doing that I started thinking about my high-school music teacher. I thought, "Wow, she'd be so funny in this part," and kind of wrote it around her. Then we called her up and asked her if she'd do it. So my old high-school music teacher is on the road with us now. She's playing the lead role.

We hired a little boy out of Raleigh because I was too cheap to hire a tutor. I'm still able to teach (in North Carolina), so I said, let me do it myself.

Q. What's the story line? We see this older woman who has lost the spirit of Christmas. This little boy comes in and he's kind of precocious and annoys her at first, but she eventually tells him the story of what Christmases were like for her when her husband was alive and her son was still living at home. Through flashbacks of these memories she regains the meaning of Christmas, the feeling of Christmas. It's got the classic Christmas story arc, but it does it with the help of some guardian angels. Myself and two ladies who sing with me on the show direct the action and provide for the flashbacks and provide the soundtrack as well.

Q. What about your involvement with UNICEF? I went to Indonesia as a practice trip. They wanted my first trip to be to Indonesia after the tsunami because I could see first-hand what UNICEF does. I remember getting off the plane in the hardest-hit area and seeing the devastation and thinking, "This is practice?"

I got an understanding of what UNICEF does, then I went to Uganda, and decided Indonesia probably was practice because in Indonesia there was a sense of hope. In Uganda this war's been going on for 18 years. Children have to leave their homes every night to walk to the cities to be safe. They can't stay in their homes because they're being kidnapped to become child soldiers or sex slaves or be killed. There is less hope. I understood at that point why Indonesia was practice. They've both been life-changing opportunities. I'd think, "I'm sitting here in Los Angeles complaining about traffic and I don't really have a right to." I certainly won't complain about traffic on I-77 anymore.

Q. When you started in the entertainment industry did you immediately see it as a way to do more charitable work? Absolutely. I remember the very first question I was asked in one of the interviews, was why do you want to do this? I couldn't help think of Oprah. I didn't use to watch Oprah, but everybody knows who she is. After 20 years, she can say the name of the book and people will read it. When she says she's not going to eat a hamburger, the beef industry sues her. That's how much power she has. That's an amazing amount of influence and she uses it for what she feels is important. I'd like to be in that position as well.