MOAM Continues to Soar on Amazon.com

Currently, MOAM is aroun the 450 range on Amazon Music. The reason is probably because it is onsale for $9.99!

Malay Mail Article about Tsunami Concert

Force of Nature:Tsunami Aid fever sweeps Bukit Jalil stadium
By Terrina Hussein, Adly Syairi Ramly & Amir Hafizi
KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 19:
More than 13,000 people witnessed the power of the human spirit at The Force of Nature Concert for Tsunami Aid at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil last night.

For the first time in the country's history, a pool of stars from all over the world got together for the benefit of the Asian tsunami victims.

The backstreet boys wowed the crowd with thier performance

The crowd was entertained by amazing performances from Wyclef Jean, The Black Eyed Peas, Boyz II Men, Lauryn Hill and the Backstreet Boys, among other big names.

Also at the concert were Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Information Minister Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir and director and trustee of the Force of Nature Foundation, Kamaluddin Abdullah Badawi.

"‘Force of Nature' is a phrase to remind us about the power of the human spirit and this evening is dedicated to the spirit that brought everyone to Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil," said Force of Nature Foundation special ambassador Tan Sri Razali Ismail after the first act.
The crowd was also treated with surprise appearances by other international stars such as American Idol's Paula Abdul, Clay Aitken actor Alan Cumming and actress Bai Ling, jazz musician Ken Watanabe, Indonesian songstress Ruth Sahanaya, magician David Blaine, actor Nick Stahl from the HBO hit TV Series Carnivale, Joey Fatone from pop group ‘N Sync and former Baywatch star Carmen Electra.

IDOL-MAKER: Paula Abdul was one of the surprise celebrity guests.

"I just returned from Aceh and I can tell you first hand that the emergency workers deserve our respect and admiration for their sacrifices and lives they saved," American Idol Aitken said.

Datuk Michelle Yeoh also gave an emotional speech of her experience in Aceh. She later became a translator for Jackie Chan, who brought Nicholas Tse and Yumiko Cheng on stage for their performance.

But the highlight of the concert was the reunion of Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill. Both were former members of the Fugees. They belted out three songs — ‘Oh La La La', ‘Ready or Not' and ‘Killing Me Softly' — from their Fugees repertoire.

WE BELIEVE IN THE FORCE: The crowd at the concert proved that the Force of Nature is a force to be reckoned with.

Local artistes Sheila Majid, Innuendo, Dayang Nurfaizah and Anuar Zain performed five songs among them.

They sung ‘Ikhlas Tapi Jauh' together for their closing act.

The concert, scheduled at 7pm, started an hour later. But the delay did not dampen the crowd's spirit. Instead, they were moved by the sheer number of stars involved.

The concert managed to surpass its target collection of RM10 million, which will be used for relief efforts.

Forces of Change Relief Concert Videos

Available HERE.

Pictures from yesterday's Forces of Nature Tsunami Relief Concert

Courtesy of the CB's blue sky78.

Audio from Forces of Nature Tsunami Relief Concert

Concert held yesterday in Malaysia.
AUDIO (courtesy blueMoonOnMe)

BlueMoon's Heartfelt message:
From the CB

I have read all your response to my recap post..and right no i am just so overwhelmed ..u guys made me all teary again with the kind words u have for me ...a thank you is not enough..i had no idea that the report i wrote with a pounding headache(the late hour of the time i was writing the report and the whirlwind of activites i went through earlier in the day in the process of getting the tickets at the last possible time,and the contrasting emotions of joy and happiness and the adrenaline i was still feeling at seeing and just experiencing OMC and being there at the amazing concert for the greatest cause and reason was taking its toll on my tired mind and body) would bring such a deep impact to all you amazing human beings ....i've never thought i'd be making you guys feel the way you felt because of reading my report..i feel so honoured,so blessed,and deeply humbled by what has happened for me..

i'm just a 22 yrs old female undergraduate in a college here in Kuala Lumpur,the capital of Malaysia ,with a loving family of 6 members living in another state here in Malaysia,where i come from,and they live in a small little town,with a very small population.i have a different colour for my being,a different religion for my beliefs,a different language for my living communication..and yet here i am,reading about how i've made an impact to people across the world from me,and all over the world,people i know vary in ages,races,colours,beliefs and more,and whom i know i might never get a chance to meet in my lifetime.and what has made me able to connect and touched their lives so? what is it that we share in common that made everything that has happened for me possible??our love for CLAY AIKEN. (erm..and the Internet,of course)

I just wanna thank each and everyone of you,those who contributed for my tickets, those who were just plain helping ,those who offered me words of encouragement and support,those who read my reports and enjoyed it and gave me responses that made me feel like I’m the most blessed person in this world,those who was just willing to spend their time reading on the threads about my situation and read my report..everybody on the CLayboard for making this a possibility in the 1st place.. I could never ever repay you guys for everything you have done. and of course I have to thank the Almighty God ,for allowing this to happen, and for Clay Aiken.

The only thing I could do right now, is just to share with you guys the audio file of Clay’s speech at the concert ,the speech he made that gave me the best gift of all, Clay talking about the people who contributed for the Tsunami Victims in my Language, which would probably will never happen again.

My brother who went with me to this concert isn’t really the biggest Clay Aiken fan musically,but he always had respect for Clay for all the works he’s done with the foundation,and he knows all about Clay’s charity work ,and he has the deepest respect for Clay because of that .Unlike some guys who’d probably tease their little sis for being such a big fan of Clay,he actually encourages me and is always willing to listen to me if I ever want to gush to me about Clay and always reassures me that he knows that Clay is definitely worthy of my time, love and appreciation.He had just started his own company,and as you guys know I’m really in a bad financial situation,and so is he, as starting the company needs a lot of money and my family and I are trying his best to give him all the support he needs financially and emotionally , and he was also not able to afford spending money for the concert tickets.while he is not Clay’s biggest fan musically, he is however a big BoyzIIMen fan , has been one since his early teen years ,and because of the onderful people that is Claymates of the ClayNation, last night he was able to watch BoyzIIMen in their first ever appearance in Malaysia after so many years of their careers.my brother actually was all choked up when BoyzIIMen were performing, and was really just as overwhelmed as I was for our luck to be able to there at the concert .he wishes to thank everybody that was involved for our possibility to watch the show,and he wanted to say thanks to all Clay fans in general,for being so wonderful,amazing and unbelievable. he felt that the only way for him to repay u guys is with the audio he recorded with,as I’ve said before ,his sleazy mp3 player.he was just really glad that he actually managed to record something of Clay’s speech on it,you wouldn’t believe it. it was nice becuz we were in the arena which was in the middle so sounds reverbrating from throughtout the stadium were captured quite a lot.

partial Clay's Forces of Nature Speech


As you listen to the audio you can clearly hear my voice saying “tak boleh,tak boleh” which means “ I cant,I cant” ..that was me trying to say I cant believe this is happening ..and you can also hear murmurs of people around me talking abt Clay,and you’ll hear me trying to say yeah GoClay! and a few seconds later when I can BELIEVE it is happening,a SCREAM from an actually crying BlueMoon.and towards the end there will be shouts and screams ,and I think you can also clearly hear my brother’s scream of approval,amidst the roar of the crowd..and somehow I also found some energy to do the same,although my knees were so weak the whole time.

a pic of the crowd in the stadium i just found..this is the same crowd that ROARED for OMC!!


I will post here again the words Clay spoke in Malay and its meaning.

----------------------------------------
..part of speech...

...i just recently return from a week in Banda Aceh and i can tell you first hand that the humanitarian workers who have dedicated their time for the past few months,deserve our respect and they deserve our admiration and our appreciation..and for the lives they saved and for the
sacrifices they make ..

Marilah bersama saya(crowd starts to roar when they realized he's speaking in Bahasa Malaysia/Malaysian Language) memberikan tepukan yang gemuruh sebagai tanda penghargaan kepada mereka yang telah memberikan sumbangan (crowd roars again as a response to his invitation,and as a result of being more impressed)
Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan..(crowd starts to roar even more,it just grows pretty loud in the recorded version i cant even make out what was the next and last word Clay
said- besides, i was part numb and crying when he was actually doing the speaking so cant really remember from there)


translation:
Marilah bersama saya memberikan tepukan yang gemuruh sebagai tanda penghargaan kepada mereka
yang telah memberikan sumbangan ..(Come and join me in a big round of applause as a sign of appreciation for those who have been contributing) - means something like that

Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan(Ladies and Gentlemen) - when he said this he say it with such confidence and conviction and with just the right intonation,it sounds as if he really does speak the language!!
-----------------------------------------------------------



Sorry for talking so much and taking so much of your time ,I just really needed to get this off my chest.and again just thank you.i hope you like the audio.[/font]

and of course i also wishes to thank these wonderful people who had contact my angel Miss Trudy and contributed their money

Hardy, J
Hurley, J
Miller, J
Nowakowski, M
Stutz, C (2)
Vesecky, D

Boardnames:

allicat
Amy Brown
anncanada
bearcat4clay
catsmomsny
claireh48
Claybug
Claydorkable
clayglo
ClaysAlwaysAndForever
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codmag
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FanPower
flluvsclay
FloridaSugarPie HoneyBunch
From Claygary
gerwhisp
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hotclay
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ImAllEars
imsnoqueen
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jojoct
K4Clay2
katforclay
KissMyHeart
laughnoutloud
LeannaforClay
lindacov
LVClayCDparty
Mad4Clay
MarLovesClay
NCMama
nancee2024
nebclayfan
neelie2
nky4clay
numberoneclayfan
NY4Clay
Okie4Clay
pax et amino
Pennyb66
pinklady
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renee4clay
rosebud
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SFClayAreaFan
siclayfan
Starrgirl01
StripedShirts
Suzywhy
Topcat50
wandacleo
Yellowjack11
YouStopRightNow
2Smitten

okay i'm stopping right now.sorry this is so long
blueMoon

Next: Uganda

Clay will visit Uganda next on his UN Tour. Uganda was the original destination of his UN Trip prior to the devastating Tsunami in December 2004.

"Invisible" is an AOL Editor's Choice!

AOL's Editors have picked Invisible as an Editor's Choice!

Jakarta Post Article About Clay's UNICEF mission.

Aiken from 'Idol' sings in Indonesian
Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Clay Aiken, American Idol runner-up, has begun his debut tour in Indonesia this week. But rather than performing any songs, he was visiting the tsunami-ravaged province of Aceh as an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Fresh from his three-day trip that ended on Wednesday, Aiken said in Jakarta on Thursday that he was in Aceh as part of a fact-finding mission for the U.S. UNICEF committee.

The committee has raised money for tsunami victims, and the Acehnese have benefited from this, particularly in helping children continue their education.

"The trip was for fact-finding purposes. There are citizens in the U.S. who have offered their time, effort, money and resources. There are some who try to find out where their money is going, what type of work is being done," he said.

Aiken said that, so far, all the U.S. funding had been well-distributed to needy projects.

He said he also took part in publicizing UNICEF's School in the Box program for Acehnese students. He said that the most important thing to do was to keep children in school, and for that, the countries devastated by the tsunami needed long-term support.

"Because of that, we'll see children smiling and resuming their normal lives as far as they can. I think that's the picture that I want to see; what I hope to see is definitely the image that I saw when I was there -- of children, families, who have the hope of seeing their lives being rebuilt."

He became famous after his performance in the 2002 series of American Idol, when he came second after Ruben Studdard. In 2003, his debut solo album Measure of a Man sold over 2.6 million copies overall and earned him a Double Platinum sales certificate from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

But rarely have we seen his passion for education, especially for people with disabilities. In 2003, Aiken set up the Bubel/Aiken Foundation, whose mission is to encourage and facilitate programs that enable children with disabilities to integrate better with able-bodied people.

Aiken, who was born on Nov. 30, 1978, was named the U.S. Fund for UNICEF national ambassador in 2004. The native of Raleigh, North Carolina, is committed to supporting education programs for children.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina -- Charlotte, with a special education degree in December 2003.

"I am a teacher in the U.S. and have set up a foundation in the U.S. for children with disabilities. I think something like that sort of reflects what was going on here. The idea of the Bubel/Aiken foundation is also included here -- allowing all children to have access to all opportunities, regardless of disability."

He said his mission as an ambassador was to help children, with or without disabilities, in many areas like those hit by natural disaster, or in war-torn areas, to have access to basic needs like clean water, nutrition or other activities like education. His next tour would be of Uganda.

"After all, to be part of this does give me an opportunity in some way to teach on a larger scale. I'm not necessarily in a class room every day, but I'm in a situation where I hope to bring information to people."

Aiken showed up in a casual outfit -- a green-striped, long-sleeved top, Bermuda shorts and sneakers. He did not look like a star, and his modesty has won the hearts of Indonesians. He was accompanied by new UNICEF country director for Indonesia Gianfranco Rotigliano.

A UNICEF staffer said she was deeply impressed by Aiken.

"I asked him for a photograph along with me, I told him that my son adores him. He humbly said, 'Yes ma'am'. You know, I am also his fan, I shed tears the moment he sang Bridge over Troubled Water in the Idol final," said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.

She has kept the photograph of her and Aiken as the wallpaper on her computer. "He's very nice," she added.

A photo of Aiken talking to Acehnese children in a camp for displaced persons has attracted the attention of many Indonesian fans. To their disappointment, however, Aiken was not here to sing.

"Quite a lot of people called UNICEF and asked about Clay. I told them we have no information about his visit to Jakarta; he was accomplishing his job in Aceh," the official said.

But Aiken did sing something in Indonesian to Acehnese children. He sang an excerpt of an Indonesian scout song Disini Senang Disana Senang (We're Happy Here and There) to the delight of the audience at Thursday's news conference.

"I didn't do so well at the song, I tried, but I still have trouble with the (Indonesian) language. I do remember (singing) disini senang disana senang dimana-mana hatiku senang (we are happy, here and there, we are happy everywhere). And I could count satu, dua, tiga (one, two, three)," to the applause of the spectators.

He said he had learned that from Ferry Salim, Indonesian actor and UNICEF's Indonesian national ambassador.

ClayAiken.com Updated

The Message board has been moved from RCArecords.com to ClayAiken.com. A sign that ClayAiken.com will soon pull away from RCA?

Caregiver Magazine Highlights BAF

Caregiver Magazine has a write up for the BAF in the Mar/Apr issue.
MORE INFO.

Unconfirmed Reports: New Jersey Concert...

An unconfirmed report: Clay is to be at the Ritacco Center, in Ocean County, New Jersey on July 28th.

Clay participated in Tsunami Concert.

Occurred hours ago at at Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Malaysia.
FORCES OF NATURE CONCERT

Correction: LTS Paperback Release Date

The LTS Paperback release date is Nov. 29, not the 25th as previously reported.

CKX Acquires 19 Ltd.

A sport/entertainment company has bought Simon Fuller's Idol Company, 19 Entertainment.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Mario Vasquez, former AI 4 Contestant hires Aiken's Lawyers, Releases Album.

Ex-'Idol' Hires Clay's Lawyer, Releases Album

"Personal reasons" be damned. The secret is out (and so is the album).

Mario Vasquez, the guy who quit "American Idol" suddenly last week, has been "Clay-ed," or is that "Ai-way-kened?"

He's hired Clay Aiken's high-powered record-industry lawyer. And he may have jeopardized his "amateur" status by being featured on an album that's already been released.

Vasquez, I've learned, has gotten Atlanta entertainment lawyer Jess L. Rosen to represent him. Coincidentally — or not, depending on how you look at it — Rosen is most famous for extricating Aiken from his octopus-tentacled "American Idol" management contract with Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment last year.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Mario is featured on an album that was originally released last May and had a re-release this week, according to Amazon.com. He sings several pop songs as the only guest vocalist on "Worlds of Change," by an Argentine flamenco and R&B guitarist named Cesar.

Clay in Wolf Trap?

Clay is reported to be taking part in the Summer season of WolfTrap, according to NewsWire reports.

Clay's Visit to Indonisia Reported on CNN.

He was on the CNN Program Daybreak. See your local TV listings for re-run times.

BAF Auction Underway! Lots of Signed Merchandise!

A BAF Fundraiser Auction is Underway!
Take a Peek.

CDD Charts Updated!

CS has added a few new charts to the CDD Charts site.

LTS Paparback Release Date

Random House has announced that the paperback version of LTS is set for release on Nov. 25, 2005. Preordering is available at Amazon.com or .ca.

Calendar Continues to Soar

Clay's 2005 Calendar is #7 on Calendar.com's Top 10!

Clay Visits Southern Asia.

Clay has landed in Indonisia. Yahoo! has pictures that will surely touch your heart.
REUTERS/YAHOO