Clay Mentions 1/5

Brief mention of the BAF...

Summer opportunities fair
Raleigh News & Observer

About 60 summer camps will be represented at the fair to be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Ravenscroft School off Falls of the Neuse Road in Raleigh. The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, founded by Clay Aiken, will have a booth. For more information, call 384-0031 or go to www.ravenscroft.org.

Why people go on American Idol- CBS News article.

Why People Go On 'American Idol'
Jan. 5, 2006

Not everyone has the talent of a Carrie Underwood, a Clay Aiken, or a Bo Bice. So why do people go on "American Idol," the reality TV show for the show-biz obsessed?

Article about the Toys For Tots toy drive which just ended with the help of many Clay fans.

President, First Lady pitch in to gather "Toys for Tots"
by JO2 Jake Joy
NDW Public Affairs

The president and first lady were not the first to recognize the merits of the charity and its dedicated workers. The program has received many accolades and awards from distinguished publications over the years, including "Gold Star Charity" status by Forbes, "#1 Children's Charity" by Readers Digest and Charity of the Year by the DMA Non-Profit Federation. The program has also garnered the public support of numerous celebrities. For this year's campaign, Rene Russo, Dennis Quaid, Clay Aiken and Dale Jarrett made television ads in support.

Article about a AI2 contestant who was in the same top 32 group as Clay.

From center stage to center ring
Jennifer Fuentes has been singing for years, and her latest gig is with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Fuentes' show biz background had been in pageants when she auditioned for American Idol. She was the reigning Miss Homestead when she appeared on the show, reaching the final 30 in the show's second year. She was in the same group of eight singers with eventual winner Ruben Studdard and runnerup Clay Aiken.

Dianne Austin's new Clay article

Clay Support, Clay's Support, Clay's Supports, Support for Clay...Whatever!
Dianne Austin

My goodness--is it already 2006? Where has the time gone, and how have I let this many weeks go by without writing something that is even remotely related to Clay Aiken? It's just not like me. Maybe it's because, since the review I did on his Joyful Noise 2 Tour, Clay was simply devoting his time to that endeavor and there's been nothing else to prompt any commentary on him (unless, of course one were to interview him in the flesh.) I don't download, lurk, post, or anxiously await blogs; hence, nothing to inspire me.

But then Clay mentioned an interesting idea in a recent interview. He wished someone had written a song about where he really belonged on the planet. So...I wrote a song.

Then I had the realization that 2005 was drawing to a close, and I noticed that no new Clay Calendar was on the horizon. So I wrote a piece about the waning year's calendar.

Unfortunately, neither of those will do you any good at this point, because I can't share them.

So--I was wading through the holidays, pretty clueless about Clay I must admit. Suddenly, I heard a voice beckon from my own Family Room to come take a look at this. My husband, the grand "Crossword Master" that he is, held up a section of the newspaper with a wry smile. "Check it out," he said, grinning and holding out the selection for me to share.

I grabbed it, not without a puzzled frown, and gazed down. I am not an observant person.

"Why are you handing me this?" I asked, somewhat annoyed, knowing I could be doing something infinitely more interesting for those few moments.

"Would you just look at the circled items?" he answered.

I looked again. There it was--how cute. Seventeen across--"Aiken's supports." My eyes went over to the puzzle to see the circled answer my husband had entered-- "FEETOFCLAY."

Clever. I wondered if this was the first time Clay had been the subject for a crossword puzzle question and answer. Probably not, was my guess. I was wrong--as it turned out, this could very well have been the first of its kind.

This puzzle was actually from 2004! Weird, I know. But then, so is my husband.

"What are you doing with a crossword from 2004?" I wanted to know. He shrugged and said, "I have a whole pile of 'em saved. When I run out of the new ones, I just pick from the old pile."

(Wow, big time crossword nut, I'm thinkin'.)

So, I guessed this could have been the first with Aiken's name as a clue, but it certainly couldn't have been the last. (*Note--the Crossword Master says he thinks he's seen subsequent Clay Aiken crossword clues, but in the puzzles he does, it is rare to find people's names as prompts for answers.)

It was, however, the first time I had seen the occurrence, and it was cute--especially cute considering the point of reference it ended up with--Feet of Clay!

Clay's feet happen to be great big supports. I don't know if their size has ever actually been stated in the press, but I'd guess they were somewhere in the vicinity of a size 13. I've seen 'em up close, and I stare every time. Sometimes he glares at me. I could be wrong, of course, but when he stands up on that stage, legs apart, two feet planted firmly on the ground, those babies look like they give the rest of his body ample support and a firm base. Let's just say he doesn't look like he's going to topple over or take off on some unexpected flight. He's grounded.

The other thing that comes to mind when first reading the crossword clue is that it could have been referring to two very cute girls by the name of Angela Fisher and Quiana Parler. Surely they would have indeed filled the bill as an answer here too, don't you agree? Because, not only do these two support him vocally, but I know for a fact that they support him in other ways as well. I've had the great pleasure of meeting and interviewing the two of them in the past and believe me, Clay couldn't have found better backups anywhere else on earth. Indeed, next to his oversized feet, they too are great supports for the performer at this point in time.

But then, Aiken's supports could just as easily be his fans--couldn't they? Of course they could! Although we'd have to alter the term a bit and call the fan base his "support." There is a tendency to think of the fans, especially Aiken's fans, as a single entity. But who would fret over one letter; who would press the point when boiling it down to the plural vs. the singular? One of his grandest supports would definitely be that multitude of wonderful people--from every walk of life, every age group, religion, ethnicity, location, political bent and socio-economic group that continues to follow the career of this talented and alluring young man.

It is a special bunch--take my word, because I have had first hand experience with many of them. And now that some time has gone by, I hope that Clay still appreciates and holds them in high esteem. It is easy to forget to do this after being in the position he's been in for even a short period of time. But, there is evidence that he hasn't forgotten.

For example, recently, at the finale of his Joyful Noise Tour he insisted on coming through the crowd from the back of the auditorium to sing "What Are You Doing New Years?" At this time he chose various women from his audience with which to dance. He also gazed longingly into their eyes.

And why does he take it upon himself to do this kind of thing?

Because he knows what it does--what it does for them. He does it because he knows how they feel. Not that he actually knows, because he claims to have never been a huge fan of a celebrity at any time in his life. But he is a man with the kind of depth and perception that enables empathy within; giving one the ability to imagine what something is like. He can put himself into someone else's shoes. Clay has the ability for empathy, and when he employs it, he succeeds in relating to his fans completely. He can love, honor and revere them.

But I know there have been times when he's found it a bit hard to do that. And then...

The wheel moves around a little, and the arrow ends up pointing to his fans. It becomes someone else's turn to understand. It is time to empathize and imagine what it's like for him. After all, it's a give and take situation.

Remember--he's human, he's young, he's complicated and he's difficult--because of his extreme creativity as an artist. How hard must it be for one person to have to deal with a million intense (all-be-them) joyful fans?

Couldn't be easy.

My wish for the New Year--keep it all in perspective. Shoot for well-behaved, kind and considerate. Ask him to aim for understanding, respectful and gracious. Then in so doing, everyone is pleased. I also wish for him to double or triple the size of his fan base in 2006. Now wouldn't that be nice?

Next time, it'll be 21 down. And the clue will read "Aiken's greatest support--even bigger than his feet." The answer will be . . "CLAYSFANS." Or it might be "CLAYFANS", or it could even be "CLAYMATES". It should be one of those.

So here's to more crosswords, big feet, adoring fans, a brand new CD and other large strides for Mr. Clay Aiken in 2006.

It's all good--I like the phrase. Keep saying it, and it'll come true.