Global Dust Music - Have You Added Your City?

Global Dust Music is a site where fans can register for their artist of choice. As of today, approximately 2900 Clay Aiken Fans have registered from all over the United States, as well as all over the world. Not only can you see the distribution of fans around the world on their map, but you can find by city and state fans that live near you.

Clay has more fans registered than any other artist. If you haven't registered, head over to the Global Dust Music site. This link should take you to Clay's home page. Click on the "Add Your Location" red button above Clay's picture, and add your information. The map shows that a much larger group of fans from the eastern U.S. have registered than from the west. Come on West Coast fans, get the western portion of the map filled out!!!

Tidbits 4/01

• From Knoxville TN's Star 102.1 - The DJ announced Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You" this way: "She's the biggest star to come off of American Idol so far...unless you count Clay Aiken!"

• Top Dog City - Go here to add your brick to the Claymania Building for the month of April. Click on "Music Buildings" on the right and follow instructions.

• John Hopkins Newletter - A Hopkins Idol Contest is being held, and Clay's name (along with Kelly Clarkson's) is mentioned as someone whose shoes they will be trying to fill.

Detailed Information About Clay's Clothes on Display at North Carolina Museum of History

For the Clay fan who wants to know everything about Clay, Khrystah at the Clayboard has found some detailed information about the outfit that Clay wore on American Idol when he sang "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch". This outfit was donated by Clay to the North Carolina Museum of History and is now on display there.

Click below to find out everything you ever wanted to know about the outfit and then some:

The Shirt

The Trousers

The Shoes

Go to the North Carolina Museum thread at the Clayboard to see several pictures of the outfit taken at the museum as well as to see a video of Clay singing the song on American Idol.

2006 Figures Show Low CD Sales For First Week of Releases

On the Clayboard, sashntash and a few others have been busy this year tracking the sales figures from Hits Daily Double (HDD) for all of the #1 albums released thus far, including the figures from the first week and the second week of sales. This gives us some comparison figures for when Clay's second CD is released.

Sashntash says, "The thing that is striking is how low the sales totals have been so far this year for the #1 albums week after week. Of course, there haven't been any blockbuster releases yet, so this could change....."

Here are the figures that she has accumulated this year:

W/E .........Artist................... 1st wk................ 2nd wk
2/05/06....Barry Manilow........151,388.........136,916....-10%
2/12/06....Curious George ......149,226.........108,691....-27%
2/19/06....Jaheim...............144,363..........53,072....-63%
2/26/06....H.S. Musical.........105,686.........120,826....+14%
3/5/06.....Ne-Yo................305,974.........111,734....-63%
3/12/06....Juvenile.............175,756..........66,646....-62%
3/19/06....H.S. Musical(again)..134,012.........153,202....+14%
3/26/06....Prince...............184,450.........??????

As sashntash said, these figures can change, and let's hope that a change for higher sales comes during the week of Clay's new CD release!

US Airways Magazine Includes Small Writeup and Picture of Clay in Raleigh Article

The April 2006 US Airways in-flight magazine includes a picture of Clay and a small writeup about him in a feature on Raleigh, North Carolina. The article, which is several pages long, has a nice blurb about Clay on page 217. The portion that includes Clay says, "An unassuming special education teacher became a singing sensation when he competed for top honors in the televison show "American Idol" in 2003. Aiken was the final runner-up in the competition, and his single "This is the Night" went platinum."

So if you happen to be flying on US Airways in April, be sure to check out this great mention of Clay! Gives a whole new meaning to Clay's song, "On The Wings of Love"!!

Tidbits 3/31

• MTV - An American Idol article called "No Love For Idol Losers" has a couple of Clay mentions.

• Discovery Health Channel - There are three repeats of the show entitled "Sextuplets Turn 12", which includes Clay with a couple of the sextuplets when he was in Indianapolis for the Jukebox tour.

• IWCY Clay Club - Be sure to check out the IWCY Clay Club, which is now up and going strong with almost 1200 members!

RCA Apologizes to Clayfans for "Internal Mis-Communication"

RCA Records today released a statement via RCArecords.com apologizing to Claymates for what they are calling an "internal mis-communication". Last Friday, June 20 was posted on RCArecords.com as Clay's sophomore album's release date only to have it removed less than 24 hours later.

RCA is reassuring Claymates that they are not abandoning ship and that the album will be out very soon (spring or summer).

Here is the full statement:

03.30.06 - Attention Clay Aiken Fans, a non-confirmed release date for Clay Aiken's upcoming LP was accidentally posted this past weekend due to an internal mis-communication. Clay is currently in a studio working hard on his pending album. Title and release date are TBD. Sorry for the confusion!

Update 6:49 PM: RCA re-worded its statement:

03.30.06 - Attention Clay Aiken Fans, an unconfirmed target release date for Clay Aiken's upcoming LP was accidentally posted on this site over the weekend. Clay is currently in a studio working hard on his new album. Title and release date are TBD. Sorry for the confusion!

AD: Sophomore Album

Tidbits 3/30

• Vote for Clay on AOL's Best American Idol poll. Clay currently holds an astounding 72% lead!
• The CB's teddyhugz11 wrote this fantastic essay about inclusion for her English course last year. Read it here!
• Contra Costa Times: Leave Clay's private life alone!
• Blogcritics ... another AI article (how many is too many! They've been putting new ones out everyday!)
• Charlotte Observer AI article
• Elites TV AI article

eBay Auction for World Vision -- Two Signed Clay Items

Two items autographed by Clay Aiken are being auctioned on EBay for World Vision. A signed picture and a signed Independent Tour program are two of several items that are being bid on.

World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty.

For more information or to bid on these items, click below:

Clay Aiken Picture

Clay Aiken Independent Tour Program

"I knew he was special the first time he opened his mouth": Lawrence

Clay's former music teacher, Allision Lawrence talked with Clay Nation News recently. The interview was published today (click here to read it). In the interview, Lawrence says she knew Clay was special "the first time he opened his mouth and sang."

Lawrence said that although the relationship was tense to begin with, thanks to Clay's class-clown act (Clay talks about it in LTS), the two quickly bonded. In fact, Lawrence helped Clay on several projects even after leaving her class.

The interview goes on to discuss the Joyful Noise 2005 tour, which had Lawrence play a key part in.

Tidbits 3/29

• Reality TV Magazine has the Clay mention made by Simon Cowell on the Tuesday AI show
• Go to You Send It to download a video of Simon and Paula comparing Taylor Hicks style to that of Clay Aiken on American Idol this past Tuesday.
• Jazz News - In an article where StubHub announces an exclusive music based sponsorship, Clay is mentioned as one of the recent artist packages that they have offered.
• Simon Cowell last night toldAI5 contestant Taylor Hicks he looked too much like Clay Aiken Paula retorted back saying Taylor looks nothing like Clay. Several articles on this: ETonline, MSNBC, Birmingham News, Blogcritics, zap2it, Reality TV Magazine, Gambling 911.
  
• Following Clay and Ruben: former AI2 Contestant Josh Gracin article
• Article about Michael Buble - Clay 'fellow crooner'
• VariousAndSundry Blog: AI article
• Article tells Kid Rock: "trashing Clay Aiken is so 2003!"

"Idol Live" on TV Guide Channel

The TV Guide channel airs "Idol Live", a show that comes on each week before American Idol. Today there were a couple of Clay mentions on the show. A Clay fan standing in line was asked 2 questions about Clay:

Question #1 - Clay is short for what? Clayton was her correct answer
Question #2 - This was a multiple choice question - In what city and
state was Clay born - Her correct answer was Raleigh NC

In another mention, a second Clay fan chose Clay as her favorite....Its always great to hear Clay mentions when you least expect it!!

Idol Live is hosted each week by former American Idol contestant, Kimberly Caldwell.

Service Disruption Update

An update on the service disruptions this week and next week.

J4Clay (Jan) will assume all news posting responsibilities between Thursday, March 30 andl Monday, April 3.

These sections will not be updated during this service disruption:

• Claytracker
• Charts/Stats
• Info Center
• Video On Demand
• CDD Clay News Weekly

CDD Ads/News wil continue operations as usual, as will our daily newsletter, CDD Clay Today.

I'd also like to again thank J4Clay for stepping up and volunteering her time with us.
THANK YOU!

Clay Mention on MSNBC

Clay was mentioned in today's edition of Scarborough County on MSNBC. The panel debated voting practices used on American Idol and one analyst suggested that the vote between Clay and Ruben in 2003 was rigged.

From the CB's fancynails4:

They had on some guy- don't know who it was- can't see tv from this angle and also the guy who started VOTEFORTHEWORST.COM website.
The first guy said he thinks the Clay/Ruben vote was 'rigged'. He even called the FCC on it. He also had some information that Clay won the vote 60/40!!!!! (I think it could of been even bigger spread) He said people were getting busy signals when calling Clay's line when Ruben's mother got in 200 votes. IMO- that happened because Clay had so many MORE people trying to vote for him and clogged up the lines. Less people voting for Ruben; so his votes got in. That is not hard to figure out!! He even mentioned that company that was getting some of Clay's votes in error. But I don't think those were enough to make a big difference. I likened the problem with Clay's votes to trying to call Ticketmaster for tickets to someone like Billy Joel or Neil Diamond and getting a busy signal for over an hour (happened to me many times until I started buying tickets on-line and even then, I sometimes couldn't get tickets to Neil's or Billy's shows). But I think the producers knew Clay beat the pants off Ruben and they could of still called Clay the winner if they really wanted to.
(I also posted this in the TV & Movies forum - along with another mention of Clay on Rita Croby's show also on MSNBC)

Tidbits 3/28

• New York Daily News -- Idol/Barry Manilow article, "parade of well-scrubbed grinners - Clay, Kevin Covais"
• Stub Hub PR... just small, unimportant mention about StubHub working in the past with Clay.
• This Blogcritics article is generating quite a buzz... the writer seems confused about how AI actually works and said Clay sang original songs on AI.... (hmmm... the only song that was original was TITN!) -- FYI.. the Clay part has since been removed, but scroll down and there's comments regarding the Clay mention.
  
• BeaversOnIdol AI article
• EW: Former AI4 contestant Mario Vasquez is looking to join Clay Aiken's "loser success" with new J Records album, out this summer.
• Another little thing from AntiMusic trying to sort out this big 'problem' they created a few days ago with an article jokingly suggesting Clay might be appearing at Ozzfest.

Clay Moves Up to #32 on Lycos 50

Clay moved up 9 spots on Lycos 50 from number 41 last week to number 32 this week!! Great work, Clay fans!!

Dean has written under Clay's name and number "America's Idol". Dean is always good about including great positive titles under Clay's name! If you get a chance, write and thank him!

Now let's see if we can move Clay up into the 20's by searching Lycos every day for the next week!

Check out the website of Lycos50 to see the entire list.

A Pal For Raleigh? -- Clay Spotted in California

Clay's apparently working on the sophomore album in California. He was also spotted buying a new doggy pal for Raleigh- unfortunately, they "did not get along."

From the CB's utahtexas4clay:

Just wanted to share a Clay/Raleigh Story. My friends were visiting in California at a friend's Condo who informed them that their dog was given to them by their neighbor which was Clay Aiken. They were introduced to him and he told them he purchased the puppy for Raleigh to play with but they did not get along. He went on to say that he was living there until his cd is completed. I asked what he was wearing and they said he was very nice but was wearing a stocking hat. (I asked for his address, but they refused me, go figure.)

Keep in mind this is a rumor and is unconfirmed.

Get the Sophomore Album As Soon As It's Available...

CDD's renee4clay discovered a nifty Amazon.com feature. You can now sign up for new release alerts for specific artists.

By signing up, Amazon.com will e-mail you each time a new item is added matching your criterial.

You can add a Clay CD alert by following these steps:

1) Click here to go to Amazon.com's Clay Aiken search results page.
2) Once there, scroll down and find the little mail carrying birdie on the right hand side of the page.
3) Fill out the required info and click "Sign Up"

Tidbits 3/27

• The Tartan Online: Article about reality TV... mentions Ruben beating Clay
• Blogcritics: AI article
• Hopefully none of you were unintelligent enough to fall for the AntiMusic article we posted a few days ago cause according to AntiMusic's corrections/clarifications article today, some did!
• ClaysMyOnlyWay is walking to raise money for March of Dimes.
• Don't foget to check out the new website of the IWCY Clay Club... their message board is really hopping- over 4000 visits since last week!
• ... and while you're at it, check out these old, but thudlicious scans from previous issues of a variety of magazines.
• And, if you need copies of the March issue of MySchoolRocks magazine, featuring Clay, a ton of them are available from the publisher via eBay.

Tidbits 3/26

• LBFCA commentary about those new fanclub photos available only to fanclub members.
• Blogcritics- music article.