Claymania In New York (Post)

The New York Post published this cute article about Claymania in today's paper.

Claymania
'Idol' star's tour buoyed by old ladies
By DEBORAH STARR SEIBEL

DON'T be surprised if you see a lifesized, cardboard cutout of Clay Aiken being toted around the streets of New York this weekend. "American Idol's" most famous runner up is preparing for Sunday's third and final night of the New York leg of his "Joyful Noise" Christmas tour at the Beacon Theater. And his fans, famed for their over-the-top enthusiasm, will be ready to celebrate at the before and after-the-show parties that typically surround Aiken's touring schedule.

In Los Angeles, for example, near the start of the 35-city tour in early November, the cardboard cutout, known as "Flat Clay," stood in the corner of Hollywood's Hamburger Hamlet. As Flat Clay looked on, some four dozen women ages 18-65 enjoyed burgers and party favors that included chocolates wrapped in Aiken's picture. These fans, many of whom met over the internet, leave home -- and often, their home states -- to share All Things Clay before the concerts. Flat Clay, for example, has made appearances on the east coast, the Dakotas, even Hawaii.

"He folds up," explains Zelda Gilbert, 60, from Sherman Oaks, California, the prop's owner.

Gilbert, a psychology professor at Woodbury University in Burbank, is fairly typical of the Aiken fans who put on a show almost as entertaining as Aiken himself when he comes to town. Populating websites such as the Clay Connection, Claydream Believers, the Clack House and the Claymates, these fans could have just bought his records and called it a day. But talk to them, and you get the feeling they think they created him."I'm surprised at myself," says Bar-bara Allen, 64, an interior designer from La Jolla, Ca., "because I've never done this before and I think I'm a little past having mid-life crisis. But I was really unhappy with what I was seeing and hearing in pop culture. In my view, it was not about the music anymore. It was about how sensational they could become, how vulgar, rather than offering a God-given talent."

To Allen and Gilbert, and many more, Aiken's talent has filled a big void, and they're determined to keep the flame alive. Says Gilbert, "It's like being a Deadhead but with clean urine samples."