Clay's Waukegan, IL Concert is Listed at the Genesee Theatre Site

Clay's first Christmas concert, which is at Waukegan, IL, has been listed at the Genesee Theatre website. This concert, scheduled for December 1, is the first of his Christmas tour. The website says:

Jam Theatricals proudly presents an evening with Clay Aiken at the Genesee Theatre on Friday, December 1 at 8PM. Tickets for this special Christmas performance are priced at $53 and $65 with a limited number of VIP orchestra pit seats for $78 and will go on sale Friday, October 13 at 10AM. Tickets can be purchased at the Genesee Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, charge-by-phone at 312-559-1212 or online at .www.ticketmaster.com

This is Clay's first concert this year, and it would be great to have a big crowd of Clay fans to welcome him back to the tour scene! So be ready to purchase those tickets promptly at 10 a.m. on the 13th. You might even want to check to see if there are presales earlier than this.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

New Poll and Infocenter Update on Monday

We'll be updating our weekly poll and infocenter on Monday due to server problems at our host.

-clayis

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tidbits 10/7

GrowlClay919 has posted some new photos from last month's Jimmy Kimmel min-concert. Click here to see them.

• From The Clayboard - Fringe Ratings Report: ABC Late-Night Programming, Week of September 25, 2006: On Tuesday (9/26/06), featuring guests George Lopez and Clay Aiken, "JKL" attracted its second-largest late-night audience ever (2.34 million) on any night, behind only the 2/6/03 telecast when ABC aired a Michael Jackson special in primetime. Read more at the Clayboard. Source: NTI (Live +SD), week of 9/25/06, or as dated.
• Target.com - A Thousand Different Ways is listed as a bestseller at Target!
• Naples News - something about a Clay Aiken look-alike on SNL.
• Clay's Larry King Live interview from late last month will re-air tonight on CNN @ 9 PM ET/PT.
• Claymatized - Run, don't walk, to Claymatized to see two pages of gorgeous pictures of Clay from The Martha Stewart Show. Have your thud mats ready. Here's one to whet your appetite!
• SoundGenerator - CD sales mention - ATDW.
  

• Awww... this is such a touching story from Chexxxy's -

  One of my best friends is a guy. I love him like family and when he hurts, I hurt. I put Lover All Alone last on the CD I burned for him because I wanted him to hear the other songs before he got to it. He told me he was listening to it and was really impressed with the song and Clay's voice when the words started to get to him. He put it on repeat for a long time and cried and cried. He said it was his new favorite song and that when he was done crying he realized that he wasn't alone, that people all over the world were feeling like they would never find love and that most people do eventually fall in love with someone who loves them back, but that he isn't a freak, he's normal.
  

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tyra Banks Show - Scheduling Change

We have some excellent news about Clay's upcoming Tyra Banks Show appearance. Clay will not be on the October 13 episode of Tyra Banks as previously antipated. But, worry not, a taping of the Tyra Banks Show with Clay as the sole guest (ie. 1 whole hour of Clay Aiken) will take place at Tyra's Los Angeles studios on October 13. This Clay episode of the Tyra Banks Show will air sometime in late October or early November.

We'll keep you posted as this story develops.

Here's what california Clay fan posted on the CH today:

UPDATE ABOUT THE TYRA BANKS SHOW

Oct. 10th fan show – Cancelled

Friday, Oct. 13th – Clay will be the only guest – he has the entire hour. The taping will be in the morning. Tickets all gone – audience will be Clay fans. The show will be on TV 2-3 weeks after taping and the producer will let me let me know the date ahead of time so that it can be posted.

Fan participation: Tyra would like to hear from 15 SoCal Clay fans (they called them “15 solid Claymates’) who would like to be on the show - age range: 16-40 - by this afternoon. This fan segment will also be taped on Friday, Oct. 13th, the day Clay will be on the show. They are looking for young, enthusiastic, die-hard Clay fans that wouldn’t mind talking about Clay and their participation in the fandom on the show. Even though the age range goes up to 40, the younger fans are most preferable. All 15 won’t be used, but Tyra would like to choose from that size of a group.

In order to participate, you will be pre-interviewed over the phone by the producer and a picture will need to be e-mailed to him. You must be available on Friday, Oct. 13th, for the show. And the dress code for the show is “Dressy, Club Wear, Upscale Casual”. Over this weekend, Tyra will go through the pictures and taped interviews and select those who will be on the show. Contact the producer, Marc, at:
marc.nicolas@tyratv.com
He needs to hear from you ASAP today if you are interested.

I don’t know how the fans will be used on the show. Their ideas change every time I talk to the producer. But he assures me that Tyra would not embarrass the fans or make fun of them. She wants it to be upbeat and supportive of Clay. I stressed to Marc that we fans would prefer for the show to be Clay talking and singing and not so much about the fans – so hopefully the fan segment they plan would be small. I even mentioned that he and Tyra should watch Martha Stewart this morning so that they could get an idea of what Clay is like – neither of them have ever seen him on TV. I suggested a couple ideas that were given to me of what could be discussed with Clay. I even told them Clay wants to be a TV talk host and maybe he could interview his own fans.
(Don’t laugh – it might be cute.)

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Hot Pineapple... Hot Clay - Grandma Aiken & Clay Cook with Martha

What's hotter than hot pineapple salad? Clay Aiken, of course - a cooking AND singing Clay Aiken. Appearing on The Martha Stewart Show today, Clay cooked an Aiken family classic, "Hot Pineapple Salad" (recipe here), with Martha and Grandma Aiken.

Clay's performance of "A Thousand Days" has been categorized as one of his "best performances" ever.

Find clack on this Clayboard thread - ClackUnlimited will have clack up soon.

Many thanks to gerwhisp for the caps.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tidbits 10/6

• Raleigh Chronicle - Hawaii Claymates celebrate the release of ATDW (great photos and article) ... doesn't that cake look delicious?
  
• Nice Clay mention on David Foster's website. "David Foster appears as composer, producer and arranger on Clay Aiken’s new album “A Thousand Different Ways”. The song “Everything I Have” (featuring William Joseph on piano) has been produced by Humberto Gatica and arranged by David with Jeremy Lubbock. “Lover All Alone” is a bonus track co-written by Clay Aiken, David and Eman. This track is available only purchasing the entire album on iTunes."
  
• Some more ATDW mentions
  
• Cumberland Times-News - Kenny Chesney's CD sales - mentions him following Clay and Justin on last week's Billboard 200.
• The State SC/LA Times - ATDW review (not so nice)
• Birmingham News - ATDW review
• The Advocate/WBRZ TV - very nice Clay mention - "His new music product made another impressive entry into the Billboard 200 album chart last week, debuting at No. 2."
• Foxes On Idol
• Monsters & Critics
  
• Dallas Fort-Worth Star Telegram - dealing with 'hate mail' -- "I get almost 250 e-mails a week, close to 500 when I really make people mad and nearly 1,000 when I mention Clay Aiken in less than glowing terms." Another article notes: "Clay Aiken has a new haircut. Yes, we know that's obvious, but if you make fun of Clay Aiken, you'll spend way too much time dealing with e-mails from his fans."
  
• Yale Daily News - some random Clay mention I don't have the time to elaborate on.
• Fort Wayne Journal Gazette mentions Clay's Dec. 2 Merrillville, IN Christmas concert. | Pocono Record - nice mention of the Christmas tour.
  
• Bradenton Herald - random Clay mention - sports article
• Kansas City Star - Kathy Griffin
• The State - TV picks - Clay cooks hot pineapple salad with Martha Stewart

• Southern Girl - thoughts on Clay's Hot Pineapple Salad recipe
• Southern Girl - a Claymate's Friday Feast
  

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Great Photo Gallery of Clay on MSN.com

MSN has a really wonderful photo gallery of Clay at MSN Music. Wanna see pictures of Clay from his American Idol days? MSN has several. How about his early career where he's singing his heart out? There's even one of him with his longer haircut. Just click on the picture to enlarge it. You'll love reminiscing as you look at each picture. The pictures included here are just a few of those at the gallery....note how Clay has changed (on the outside) in the last 3 years. You might even find a few you'll want to save to your pictures folder on your computer!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

UNCC Newspaper ATDW Review

Now this is what I'm talking about. University of North Carolina Charlotte's official newspaper published an awesome ATDW review. Clay, an alumni of UNCC, graduated in December 2004. Thanks to CV's scorpionlady45 for the scan.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Clay At Broadway's Hairspray

As reported in our Tidbits post last night, Clay was at last night's Hairspray, the New York Broadway play starring AI3 runner-up Diana DeGarmo and popstar Hilary Duff's sister Hayley Duff. Clay is pictured with Hilary and Hayley in the photo above and with Diana DeGarmon in the photo on the right (courtesy People Magazine - Star Tracks).

This isn't Clay's first time seeing Hairspray. When the show was playing in Toronto two years ago, Clay and the gang drove up to see AI2 finalist Vanessa Oliverez.

Clay attended the show with Mama Faye and Grandma Aiken who are both with Clay for his Martha Stewart Show appearance today.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

FOX50's "How Do You Say Clay?" Contest

FOX50, the Raleigh FOX-TV affilate is holding a Clay contest in collaboration with Target. All North Carolina residents 18 and older have a chance to win a $1000 Target certificate and a signed copy of A Thousand Different Ways.

To enter, write an original poem about Clay. The poem should be 200 words or less.

Here are the full details, as posted on FOX50's website:

Win a $1,000 Target gift card AND an autographed copy of Clay Aiken's new CD "A Thousand Different Ways"!

Enter "How Do You Say Clay" Contest!
Just submit an original poem to, or about, Clay Aiken. The most original poem will win the Grand Prize!

Grand Prize: A $1,000 gift card & an autographed CD.

25 Runner-ups will receive a copy of Clay's new CD.

Look we KNOW you LOVE Clay...but control yourself and try limiting your poem to 200 words or less! Clay Aiken's brand new CD features Clay’s amazing voice interpreting some of the most unforgettable love songs from the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, plus four brand new songs.

You must be a resident of N.C. and 18 or older to enter.

Time to get your creative juices running! Good luck everyone!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Clay on Tyra Banks Show - October 13

IMPORTANT UPDATE- CLICK HERE

Clay has been confirmed for the Friday, October 13 episode of Tyra Banks Show. Tune in next Friday for Tyra Bank's first sit down interview with Clay.

Tyra is inviting all Los Angeles area fans to her studio.

ARE YOU CLAY AIKEN’S BIGGEST FAN IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA?

Have you been obsessed with Clay Aiken since “American Idol”? Are you the ultimate “Claymate” or “Claymaniac”? Have you followed his career, know every piece of trivia, read every interview, tivo-d every appearance? Are you his biggest fan but have never been able to see him live? Is your entire room covered in posters of Clay? Do you own every CD, DVD, T-shirt- everything and anything you can get your hands on? If you think you’re Clay Aiken’s biggest fan and you want Tyra’s help to prove it, SUBMIT BELOW.

To register, fill out the form on Tyra's website.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Martha Stewart Published Clay's Family Recipe

Martha Stewart has posted Clay's family recipe - Hot Pineapple Salad- to her website. Clay appeared on The Martha Stewart Show tomorrow to cook the Aiken family classic with Martha and Grandma Aiken.

Hot Pineapple Salad
Serves 8 to 10

Two 20-ounce cans pineapple tidbits with juice

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons self-rising flour

2 cups grated medium-sharp cheddar cheese

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium bowl, combine pineapple, sugar, flour, and cheese. Transfer to a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with crushed crackers and drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Note: Recipe courtesy of Clay Aiken

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tidbits 10/5

This ad for Clay's upcoming concert with the Grand Rapids Symphony was published in the symphony's October newsletter. Scan courtesy Windtalker of the CH.

• The Atlantic Magazine- article about American Idol related books - "Terry Piper, Ph.D., asks in The Invisible Revolution: Clay Aiken and the Fans Who Made Him a Star, apparently not realizing that the answer, as Simon Cowell discovered when he shopped AI around, was American television audiences."
• SoulShine Canada - article about Suzie McNeil mentions her duet with Clay -- "She can also be found singing a cover of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” with Clay Aiken on his new release, A Thousand Different Ways."
• AOL TMZ- a perfect example why no one trusts TMZ. Pure crap, but read if you must. More crap from the New York Daily News.
  
• Edmonton Journal - banned from Alberta, Canada, Led Zepplin says he won't change his name to "Clay Aiken" - "Clay Aiken won't do," he said.
• Some more ATDW week 1 and 2 sales mentions:
• Los Angeles Times
• USA Today
• Monster & Critics
• Entertainment Weekly (Reuters)
• CBS Showbuzz
• London Free Press
  
• Electric New Paper (Singapore) - 2nd place "the best thing that ever happened to Dilana Robichaux, runner-up of the reality TV rockathon Rock Star: Supernova." -- "Just look at where it got Clay Aiken."

RCA has updated their press site logo. Notice the new Clay photo under the "A".

• USA Today Idol blog - baffled at ATDW, RCA's strategy, and our response: "I'm also intrigued by the anti-RCA and Clive groundswell -- the feeling that his label and its chief executive have betrayed and abandoned Clay."
• Another post from the USA Today Idol blog -- "Nonetheless, Clay's 211,000 opening week was not the superstar number many were expecting (far less than his first album's 613,000 and even worse than his Christmas album)."
• Chexxxy - how to deal with the Clay Aiken 'troll' | Watch Clay's Yahoo Music performance @ Chexxxy's.
  
• Something That Really Happened - some excellent Clay montages.
  

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Clay To Be On Regis and Kelly in November

A new date has been added to Clay's television appearances. He will be on Live with Regis and Kelly on November 17. Add this to your list of TV shows, including Martha Stewart this Friday and Tyra Banks next week.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Clay Interview and Performance of "Without You" at Live @ Yahoo Music

Live @ Yahoo Music has a great interview with Clay as well as a performance of "Without You". At their site, they say about Clay, "He may have come in second on 'American Idol,' but it's clear that Clay is #1 in America's hearts. See the beloved Idol belt it out in our studio, plus watch him discuss his unorthodox rise to fame. See him belt it out here!"

The interview is great, and once again he has great things to say about his fans! Of course his performance of "Without You" blows the roof off, as always!

Check it out for yourself at Live @ Yahoo Music.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

LBFCA Honor Jimmy Kimmel - A MUST SEE!

Over the years, those LBFCA have entertained us and made us laugh. They've even made some of us blush a bit when we read their stories! I have gotten many a picture that I didn't have from their site where they weave their tales of the life and times of Clay!

Today they have outdone themselves with a really great honorary presentation for Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy has become the most loved talk show host for Clay fans. Jimmy, the self proclaimed best friend of Clay...willing to be beaten to a pulp by Clay...putting out every Valentine gift from fans to Clay...calling himself the Claymate leader. We do love Jimmy Kimmel! So you can understand the Broads making this honorary presentation to Jimmy. You must head over to the LBFCA right this minute and check out this presentation. You'll be glad you did. And you will love Jimmy even more after seeing it. Thanks, Broads, for a great reminder of why we love Jimmy and why our love for Clay will continue to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow....

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

AOL Poll - Vote For Clay Aiken

AOL has another of its Idol polls up at their American Idol section. They want to know: "Who's your favorite 'Idol' of all time?" Clay's currently trailing Kelly Clarkson!

It's time to get your fingers clicking again - VOTE HERE.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

ATDW Moves 74K In Week 2; Drops To #8

A Thousand Different Ways' official second week sales are now in! According to Billboard, A Thousand Different Ways sold 74,000 copies making him #8 on the Billboard 200. The Billboard.com article notes: "Clay Aiken's RCA set A Thousand Different Ways takes a 65% sales hit in its second week, sliding 2-8 with 74,000."

These Soundscan numbers, although official, are somewhat puzzling. Hits Daily Double's final tally for ATDW released yesterday was 80,381. Where those other 6,000 copies went, we don't have the slightest clue.

Congratulations on another great week! Let's hope this album goes gold before Christmas!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tidbits 10/4

• Krystah at The Clayboard - She saw the ATDW commercial on Life Network in Canada, twice!
• Clay Aiken The Ideal Idol - "A Bad Fit Between an Artist and His Record Label?" by berkeleylovesourclay...This is an excellent article about Clay's relationship with RCA. A must read!!
• ATDW sales articles - Soundscan says ATDW sold 74,000 copies in week 2 - #8 on the Billboard chart.
  
• Reuters Wire
• UPI Wire
• MTV
• Billboard
• Syracuse Post Standard - Idol thoughts... don't miss Idol Waves radio station.
• ITV UK mention of a SNL skit Clay did 2 years ago following Janet Jackson's Superbowl wardrobe malfunction. "The show has already spoofed the Super Bowl incident, when Will and Grace star Megan Mullally ripped the breast pocket from American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken."
• MSNBC mentions Simon Cowell's recent remarks - "Yeah Simon... you seem like such a shy guy! I'm sure it was hard for you to call Clay Aiken an idiot! But don't worry, I doubt Aiken is crying into his pillow at night. After all he has Elton John on his side!"ClayReport.
• The Clayboard - Clay was at "Hairspray" last night. Ncsupack88 found pictures at Clayversity that were posted by washgirl. Pictures are with (1) Diana Degarmo, and (2) The Duff sisters....DON'T POST THESE PICS AT OFC

• There Was A Man - the HDD numbers game.
• Wow! ConCLAYve's response to AskMen.com's recent article of lies.
  

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Clip From Clay's Appearance on Martha Stewart's Show Shown Today

"Hey good lookin', What ya got cookin',
How's about cookin' something up with me!!"

This could very well be the cry of Clay fans everywhere when Clay and his grandmother cook up "Hot Pineapple Salad" on The Martha Stewart Show on Friday, October 6!

And All4Luv at The Clayboard tells us that a clip of Clay on Martha Stewart's show was shown today. Her comment about this was, "stubble..major" Clay, him with A and Q singing, Clay with an apron tied around him, saying "...you'll really LOVE this!!" His little granny was there!!! So this has been taped already!"

Also, Krystah from The Clayboard posted the following synopsis from the show:

American Idol's Clay Aiken brings his grandmother to share their family recipe for Hot Pineapple Salad. Later, Clay performs live. And, today's your last day to enter Martha's Ultimate KB Home Giveaway—watch for your final clue. Plus, Martha shows you how to make a great party decoration for your Halloween bash. And, our weeklong series on Going Green wraps up with Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth producer, Laurie David, who answers audience questions about the environment.

Hmmmm, something tells me that Hot Pineapple Salad is going to be cooking in the homes of Clay's fans everywhere after Friday's show!!

Another funny comment made by Ninamae over at The Clayboard..."The little icon up in the corner (of the pictures) should say, THUD WARNING, instead of flood warning"! I'm still laughing about that one! Ain't it the truth!!

Also, thanks to Gerwhisp, also from The Clayboard, for the great screen caps that we have included in this article.

Watch Clay on The Martha Stewart Show this Friday, October 6. If you need to know when and where Martha Stewart is shown in your area, go to Martha's website and enter your zip code. A listing of shows will pop up on your screen!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

GuluWalk 2006 - In Support of The Children of Uganda

As you all know, Clay made a trip for UNICEF to Uganda last year. He was able to be with many of the children who are "night commuters", those that have to leave their homes and travel to places of safety to keep from being abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army. We have heard him tell of these children and have seen pictures of him with them. These children are very close to Clay's heart.

Last year was the first GuluWalk, which was started to spread word of the plight of these children and to raise money for their cause. According to Dardar1126 from The Clayboard, "over 15,000 people in 38 cities around the world walked in solidarity with the children of northern Uganda." Once again, in 2006, people will be walking for the children in Uganda. This year's event will take place on Saturday, October 21, with a few cities' walk taking place on other days in October.

There are several sites online you can go to in order to get information about this year's Guluwalk. To find a city near you, go to FindaWalk. There are cities all over the United States and in other countries as well that will be taking part. You can also go to Guluwalk.com and Guluwalk.com/blog for additional information or to make a donation.

In addition Dardar1126 has shared some information at The Clayboard from the Guluwalk Newsletter about the 2006 Guluwalk. Below is this information, and you can also go to The Clayboard to read further about this fundraiser.

What a great way to share in the work that Clay has done with UNICEF by walking with others or donating to this cause.

Here is the information from Dardar1126:

GuluWalk 2006

Last year, in the inaugural global GuluWalk, over 15,000 people in 38 cities around The 2005 event was about telling the story of these courageous children; it turned into a fundraising event that collected over $40,000 to support youth programs in the night commuter shelters and internally displaced persons camps.

However, last year was only the beginning.

GuluWalk 2006, set for Saturday, October 21, will take place in over 75 cities in 15 different countries around the world. From Kampala to Kansas City to Calgary, there is a GuluWalk near you.

About GuluWalk & Northern Uganda:

Adrian Bradbury and Kieran Hayward first heard the stories of the ‘night commuters’ of northern Uganda In the spring of 2005. They kept reading these unbelievable accounts of children, as many as 40,000, who would walk every night from rural villages into the town of Gulu and other urban centres to sleep in relative safety and to avoid abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army.

In the midst of this 20-year civil war, not only do the children ‘night commute’ in northern Uganda, but over 1.7-million displaced persons have been forced into abhorrent conditions in camps where hundreds of people are dying every week because of a lack of clean water, food and medical care. These camps are a horrifically inadequate protection strategy, and the only answer for the Acholi of northern Uganda is peace.

The plight of these children sparked the idea for GuluWalk, a 31-day ‘night commute’ in support of these courageous kids. Every evening in July of 2005, Bradbury and Hayward walked 12.5 km into downtown Toronto to sleep in front of city hall. After about fours hours sleep they made the trek home at sunrise, all while continuing to work full-time and attempting to maintain their usual daily routine.

GuluWalk started in 2005 as an attempt by two Canadians to better understand the ordeal of the ‘night commuters’ of northern Uganda. It has now grown into an urgent, impassioned worldwide movement for peace and a fundraising effort for a generation of children being left behind.

GuluWalk 2006 is an international campaign of Athletes for Africa and is coordinated in the United States in partnership with the Africa Faith and Justice Network.

For more information visit www.guluwalk.com or please contact:

Adrian Bradbury, Founder & Executive Director
Athletes for Africa / GuluWalk
T: 416.668.1553

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

UPDATE - Hits Daily Double's Final Count For ATDW

In a previous CDD Tidbit, we gave you the number of Clay's CDs sold when the total was at approximately 70%. Hits Daily Double has now given the final total. For Week #2, A Thousand Different Ways sold 80,381, for a total of approximately 291,000 CDs sold. This is HDD's final total, but the actual total will not be known until Sound Scan makes that total known in the next day or two. It should be about this same amount, though.

Give ATDW a few more weeks, and no doubt it will go gold. Over time, we'll have to just wait and see if it goes platinum. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying listening to ATDW in 1000 different ways!! This is Clay in his element, in my opinion, though he can sing anything put in front of him.

Congratulations to Clay for an awesome CD, and we look forward to watching the sales go up, up, up!!

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tidbits 10/3

2 photos of Clay are now up at Jay Leno's NBC website.

• Hits Daily Double sales update- with 74% reporting, ATDW's sales this week are 62,776. Projected total sales for this week are between 80 and 85k. Fantastic! (read HDD article here)
• Ticketing information for Clay's December 1 Waukegan, IL concert is now available in our Claytracker.
• Elites TV- Diane Austin ATDW article - not new, but a good read.
• Kansun- Kathy Griffin article - Clay mention.
• Univ. of Maryland - Baltimore Retreiver Weekly - ATDW sales article.
• "Without You" is now showing up on Mediabase. The spins aren't stellar, but here they are anyway: Leaders chart, Starters chart
• Clay #15 on the Lycos50 this week - Clay's caption reads: "Stop asking him if he's gay!"
• Boston Herald- top 10 bestselling CDs in America

• Chexxxy's - Perfectly said, in my opinion - Clive Davis nothing more than a screwup?

  Take a multi-platinum recording artist with a large and loyal fanbase. Force him to record cover songs for his all important sophomore CD, give him no pre-release promotion or positive press. Send an un-supported single to radio after his CD is already released, make sure there are no posters or placecards in the record stores. Withhold CD shipments to the stores, especially in North Carolina and leave your artist twisting in the wind after he "only" manages to sell enough CDs to come in #2 on the Billboard 200, outselling all other new releases that week and selling almost as many as the guy who has 2 hit singles playing ad nauseum on the radio.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Look What B98.5 FM in Atlanta Says On Their Site About Clay's CD

JBDramey at The Clayboard brought to our attention that radio station B98.5 FM in Atlanta has Clay listed as #1 on their "Today's Bestselling Adult Contemporary Music" list. If you then click on the B98.5 Store, you can see that Clay's CD is the best selling CD in their store for today. I went through the process of "buying" one of Clay's CD's and found that they have teamed with Amazon.com to make ordering quick and easy. This is great news, and hopefully Clay will sell many more CD's through their site!

Hopefully in addition to selling CD's, 98.5 is also playing Clay's songs on the radio. Those in Atlanta might want to listen and see if they hear Clay being played on that station. If you call in, ask nicely for them to play a song from Clay's new CD, and only call in once or twice.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

3 Clay Songs On Promosquad Charts

3 of Clay's songs are on Promosquad. Promosquad is used by all major record labels to decide which songs are sent out as singles.

• "A Thousand Days" stays at #1 on the Top 20 Countdown for another week!
• "Without You" also holds its #2 spot for another week.
• "Lover All Alone" debuts on the HitBound chart.
  

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

2nd Week Sales Numbers Creeping In

2nd week sales for A Thousand Different Ways is creeping in at Hits Daily Double. With 22% of retailers reporting, 23,071 copies of ATDW were shipped. Extrapolating this data, Clay is set to move about 102,000 copies this week keeping him on the Billboard 200 Top 10 for the second straight week. The data published on Hits Daily Double is preliminary and we will not receive official second week sales data until Wednesday.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Tidbits 10/2

Clay and Canadian Idol 2 Winner Kalan Porter are featured today on Top Dog City. You can add virtual 'bricks' to Clay's building to show your support.

• ClackUnlimited has some of SecretlyLovesClay's unaired fan clips from last week's Jimmy Kimmel Show.
  
• Ask Men- Clay's profile (for some strage reason, it showed up on Google News today)
• The Hollywood News- glad movie "Invincible" didn't use Clay's "Invisible"
• Lawrence Journal World- Interview with Kathy Griffin - why she loves to make fun of Clay Aiken.
• Malaysia Star Online- Clay Aiken's version of "I Want To Know What Love Is" is 'nothing' compared to the original.
• Clarion Ledger- ATDW mention
• Teen Scene - Home News Tribune... finally a good ATDW review- "Clay Aiken's highly anticipated new release "A Thousand Different Ways," which was released Sept. 19, was well worth the wait."
• AllMusic - not sure what to make of this review. Gets 2.5/5 stars and mentions the gay allegations (yes... in a CD review)

  It's the first album from any American Idol contestant to sound exactly how they did on the show. Justin Guarini, George Huff, Josh Gracin, and even William Hung sound different on record than they did on the show -- but not Clay, one of the few genuine superstars from the show.

• Greenville Online- some random Clay mention.

• nothing today
  

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

CD USA Interviews Clay Concerning His New CD and New Look

Clayscience from The Clayboard has brought over an item from lehall60 at Claversity concerning an interview done by Clay at CD USA. CD USA is shown on Direct TV on Channels 101 and 334. Lehall60 says:

Each week they have different artists performing and they have CD news. Well I was flipping thru the channels, I came upon CD USA, and there was Clay doing an interview! It was taped and it included shots with him from the album photo shoot. It is very short but it is a new interview. And one of the shots from the photo shoot, it looked like he was taking a break from the shoot and he was in the blue shirt and he was laying down on the steps, twirling his feet like his feet were tired from standing all day.

A couple of the things that Clay says in the interview are:

"The album is about love. To me what is great about a lot of these songs is they can be interpreted in different ways. I didn’t really want to do just covers. Its kinda important that I still have the opportunity to do something original and only heard by us, so I do have 4 new songs on the album."

"I don’t want to necessary reinvent myself. Obviously the hair has changed a little bit now and I’m dressing differently. They’re slight changes, but you can run the risk each time of trying to change so much that people don’t know what to expect."

You can view the interview at Yousendit (thanks to mad4clay) until the downloads run out. You can also check out the screen caps at The Clayboard thread.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

KCFO Radio Plays Most Requested Clay Song Each Week

Every Sunday at 6 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. CST, Mejon of KCFO plays the most requested Clay song of the week. Jesben at The Clayboard has given us some new request information which includes the songs from A Thousand Different Days. Please note that you are only allowed one request per week and it must be requested by Thursday to be played the following Sunday.

To read all other information concerning requesting and listening to Clay's songs at KCFO, read Jesben's info as follows:

MEJON'S NEW REQUEST/SONG INFO WITH ATDW - UPDATED
Mejon has asked us to send in requests (via his E-mail) for Clay songs that he plays for us on Sundays. He has also stated that there will be an occasional "surprise," but the surprise will not be on a weekly basis. It is something he and I work on together, so the requests are important.

JON NEEDS ALL REQUESTS IN BY THURSDAY FOR PLANNING PURPOSES. Any requests received after Thursday will be counted for the following week. Please, only one request PER person each week. If any one person sends in forty requests for "I Will Carry You," it will only be counted as one request. (Jon does look at E-mail addresses.)

Jon's E-mail: kcfoccountry@hotmail.com (there is an extra 'c' in there)

To listen on Sunday, click on:

KCFO

When the site comes up, click on Listen Live on the left-hand side. A small screen comes up which plays the 30-second commercial, then the station starts to stream. The song is played 6:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Central each Sunday.

Here is what Jon has to work with:

A Thousand Different Ways
Because You Loved Me
I Want To Know What Love Is
These Open Arms
Here You Come Again
Everything I Have
Broken Wings

Measure Of A Man CD
Any song from this CD except for "Touch."

Miscellaneous
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Solitaire
On The Wings Of Love
What The World Needs Now (with Ruben & Rickey)
What The World Needs Now (with AI2 Group)
God Bless The U.S.A. (with AI2 Group)

Demos
Blood Will Never Lose Its Power
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Dream Lover
For Having You To Love
Go The Distance
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
I Know How The River Feels
I Will Be Here
In Not Of
Look What Love Has Done
Love Of My Life
More To This Life
My Girl
Open Arms
She Said Yes
Still The One
Unchained Melody

Cannot play "Not Supposed To Love You Anymore."

FOR THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
Merry Christmas With Love CD
Any song from this CD.

Miscellaneous Holiday Songs
Good News
Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
You Were There

A few other songs will follow as "surprises," and AFTER they are played they will be added to the request list.

Recently Added
The Great Adventure
Jesus Is Love/Emmanuel
I Knew You Were Waiting

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

Wal-Mart Soundcheck Clay Show Being Replayed

If you were among the ones who missed the sight of a thousand Clays on a thousand TV's last Friday, you're in luck! According to the CB's MainesClayGirl, Wal-Mart will be rebroadcasting their in-store Wal-Mart Soundcheck Clay show after complaints were received from Claymates about many Wal-Marts not broadcasting the show.

No date and time has been set yet. We'll keep you posted.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

"I Have My Own Nation" - Clay Tells ET

Entertainment Tonight showed just how "crazy for Clay" we are on their weekend show last night.
In a 4 minute long segment on the "state" of the "Clay nation", ET chronicles a day in the life of Clay Aiken by following him around last week's Virgin Megastore M&G.



Watch this clip in CDD's VOD player.

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible

I Survived ... Clay

slg111 finally shared her account of sitting on the same stage as Clay. She was lucky enough to receive an all-access pass at last week's Jimmy Kimmel taping.

Okay. Here goes. I’ll tell as much detail as I can remember. I got in, as you know, because George Lopez is a parent at my school. His wife put it together for me. I got there about 6:30 or 6:45, just in time to see Clay’s ADT rehearsal. I was able to pull my car in the lot right behind the stage, and then I dallied around so that I watch the rehearsal. When it seemed like they were through I asked a security guard what next. After much checking and rechecking, they took me through the studio to George’s dressing room. No one was there but me! It was the dressing room from the fight skit, because I recognized the set up, especially where Clay was sitting (at the make up mirror) when Jimmy first comes in.

So after a while the make-up girl shows up – apparently she is George’s personal make-up artist… does gigs like this and also at his show. Very nice person, easy to talk with. About 7:15 George and Ann arrive. Ann is the most fun, gregarious, enthusiastic, energetic person you could ever imagine. George, believe it or not, in real life, is very reserved – polite, cordial – but that crazy personality is his stage persona only. I think that’s pretty cool.

Soon after, the producer of George’s segment comes into say hi. I guess each guest has their own producer and they talk. Meanwhile other people are coming and going constantly – very merry go round. I perked up with CLAY’s producer came in to say hello. Small, older man who looked just like a producer. What he said to them was very funny – he wanted to say hello, but he had to hurry back because Clay is a very “clingy” guest. He only likes this guy to produce him and likes him to be around. (The dressing room was on the other side of the wall of the one I was in! ) Ann, bless her heart, pipes up and says, “This is my friend, slg, and she’s really like a chance to meet Clay.” I also had a bag for him that I wanted to give him – I had put two books, The Secret Life of Bees and Lovely Bones in it, as well as a three-pack of that Dentyne Fire gum he has said he likes. Anyway, the producer guys says he’ll see what he can do.

Time goes by. The show is getting ready to start. Still no sign of Clay. I see Andy Abad (very cute) and a couple band members in the green room playing pool. It’s bizarre. The “green room” is like a mini-club. There are big TVs on the wall with couches and chairs in front of the TVs and little bar type tables and chairs against the other wall. There’s another room off the main room with a pool table. There’s also a bar and a place where they set up all this catered food – very GOOD quality catered food.

The show starts. We watch the monologue and the cousin segment from the green room. We go back to George’s dressing room to watch his segment from there. A couple guys come back with us, along with George’s publicist. These guys were the producers of George’s comedy CD and they had an interesting talk about what kind of numbers are predicted for comedy CDs versus music CDs and what is considered successful. I enjoyed listening because we talk so much about that stuff on the board. These guys are both in their late 20s, early 30s, very hip.

George’s segment ends. I begin to feel kind of bummed, because I thought to myself, if I don’t get to meet Clay, I’d rather be in the audience watching his segment than in George’s dressing room. During the commercial break before Clay, I decide I better give my bag to someone on his team, so at least he’ll get that. I spot Jerome… MY GOD HE IS SO GIGANTIC. I meekly ask him if I would please get the bag to Clay. He asked if there was a card, I say no. Ann weighs in – she says, tell him it’s from the teacher I talked to him about in Canada. Jerome was very kind and said he’d make sure Clay got it and that he knew who it was from.

So we go back to watch Clay’s segment, which of course was a riot. I love this part. Somewhere towards the end of it, one of those hip guys, George’s music producers, turns to me and said, “You know what, I’m surprised. I think I like Clay Aiken!” The other one chimes in his agreement. I said, “Yeah, he’s really a lot of fun to watch on interviews.” Inwardly, I’m chuckling because Clay really draws you in whenever he talks… even hip guys who would never have thought in a million years they would like him.
Also during this time, someone brings me back a Sprint bill… when I gave Jerome the bag with books and gum in it, I had totally forgotten that I had also put my Sprint bill and two CDs in there – the Sprint bill had Ann’s cell on it in case I had a problem, and the two CDs were possibly to get them autographed. How funny. He gets this bag from me – here I’m giving you two of your own CDs. Yikes! Anyway, the guy says, I think this is yours, giving me the bill, and these are yours two… gives me back the CDs, which are both signed twice, both on the cover and the CD itself in pretty silver ink. Amazing.

The segment is ending and I see Ann kind of rushing around. I’m not paying too much attention because I want to hear every word he says, of course. Jimmy and Clay start talking about the fact he‘s going to sing, and she says, we have to go now! I’m like go where? Somewhere in all of this someone has given me a badge and told me to put it where it can be seen. I don’t really even look at it, because I think Clay was still talking. Later I look at it and it says, CLAY AIKEN: ALL ACCESS PASS. Yowza! Ann says, we’re gonna go on the stage and watch him from there. I’m like, OMG, that’s so cool! So we rush down this little hallway along with a bunch of other people and come to the ramp that leads up the stage. It kind of bottlenecks and we’re standing there waiting. I suddenly notice that Clay is about two feet from me, talking to a couple people. My whole body freezes, and I murmur to Ann, “Clay’s right there!”

No pause. She brays, best word for it, in the BEST sense of the word, CLAY!!!! CLAY!!!!! He turns and sees her and she waves him over, “Come here, come here!” My heart starts pounding. He sees her, cuts through the two people, and she says something about wanting him to meet me. I couldn’t even focus on what she was saying. My world shrank and it only contained his face, his eyes looking directly into mine, taking my hand for a good two or three seconds, asking me, what was my name again? I know I replied, but I was thinking about his hand – it was so smooth, very warm and very large. He is totally gorgeous and very tall. Ann was talking, probably about me being the one she had gotten his autograph for back in Canada. He smiled, I don’t know what he said, but then he was gone. He was actually on his way to the stage when she stopped him.

I stood for a while with the other people on stage right, and just as he was entering the stage with everyone cheering, someone ushered Ann and me to the couch. I was like, this is not believable. This is not real. I am sitting on stage with Clay, George Lopez to my right, and Jimmy Kimmel beside him, and Clay is right in front of me. At one point, George and Jimmy both got up to do something, and when they sat down again, Jimmy sat next to me. I really was having trouble grasping everything.

The whole concert was so surreal. Watching Clay, seeing the sea of people, feeling the flow of love between him and his audience – that’s where he is so different than any other performer. No one connects to an audience like he does.

When the concert was over, he was making his way off stage and Ann stops him and tells him how unbelievably awesome he is, and would he mind taking a picture with me. She has no fear! No shame! Thank goodness. Clay -- no hesitation (I’m sure he was itching to get back to his dressing room) – he says sure. Somewhere in there I ask him if he got my books. He smiles, says yes, "I've read the Bees one, but not the other one..." Then he gets slightly behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. That ABOUT did me in. To feel his hands lightly on my shoulders. Lord. This is funny – so we’re in position for the picture and nothing happens. I really can’t think about anything except that his hands are on my shoulders, and I hear him say something, but it was a jumble in my ear because all I could think about was the feel of his hands on my shoulders. We’re still standing there. I begin to realize something is wrong – I look up at him right when he’s telling Ann again, “You have to turn the camera on…” in that lovable southern drawl. He looks down at me and makes one of those funny faces like, “Well, duh…” Ann is like oh! So she snaps the picture finally. I thank him, tell him I think he’s wonderful, and he’s gone.

So just fleeting moments with Clay, but more than I could have ever hoped for or wished for. It’s hard to make people understand how we feel about him. And to have that depth of feeling for a person for so long, and to know that that feeling is never ever going to change – to suddenly have that person, in the flesh, right in front of you, touching you – it’s just unreal.

I met him briefly once before at a Meet and Greet in Ohio for the JBT. That was nothing like this. He was nice, but it was so quick, and I was lined up with other people. This was in the midst of an electric night – everyone surrounding Clay, the amazing enthusiasm and love from his fans, people running around backstage doing their jobs. The cool night air, filled with his voice and then the quiet after – but noisy still, with that controlled chaos that is giving a performance like he did.

It was a night I will never ever ever forget. The whole experience of being backstage the whole time, the moments with Clay, the amazing concert – I gave George and Ann a card the next day that said among other things, “If I said thank you a million times, it wouldn’t be enough.”

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, American Idol, Without You, Invisible