Tidbits 1/12

uh....

Detroit Fort-Worth Star Telegram - making fun of American Idol -

Clay Ache Hen

Song: The Chicken Dance

Judge's comment: [Simon Cow] Well, I'm at a loss. That was just dreadful. It was like being at a wedding, watching your drunken uncle flap his arms on the dance floor, making a complete idiot of himself.

• Clay's appearance on The Meghan Mullally Show last December will be repeated on January 24. The show is in re-runs after being axed in a round of cancellations last week.
  
• Malaysia Star Online E-Central - In an article entitled, "Rising Star", there are two Clay mentions:

  Of course, runners-up Clay Aiken (S2) and Bo Bice (S4) (and most recently, last season’s Katharine McPhee, who has already duetted with Andrea Bocelli), have also made their name, and now an army of previous season finalists has begun to strike gold.
  
  Underwood and Clarkson dominated 2006 but as the year ended, 15 Idol-related albums were actually listed on the Billboard Top 200 album charts, also featuring the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Daughtry, Kellie Pickler, Miranda Lambert, Aiken, Studdard, Kelly Clarkson, McPhee, George Huff, Tamyra Gray and Barrino.

• Hartford Courant - AI article - "And when Clay Aiken showed up it was not to sing "Invisible" or any of the tepid tunes he has belted out as a solo artist but to take another run at 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me.'"
• Tennessean - Sony BMG's marketing success with Carrie Underwood (hope someone over in RCA's marketing department is taking note)...

  On the surface, it doesn't seem like any big feat that Underwood went on to secure a string of high-profile TV appearances and that her album Some Hearts has sold more than 5 million copies in the space of about 14 months, scoring as 2006's third best-selling album of any genre.
  
  After all, American Idol's average audience hit 30.6 million viewers last season and past stars of the show, including Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken, have gone on to find plenty of media exposure and sell lots of al bums. Love it or hate it, Idol creates an intense buzz.
  

• Foxes on Idol - CD sales update.
• Daytona Beach News-Journal - small Clay mention in a sister about the Beu Sisters. The group opened for Clay during the Summer 2004 Not-A-"Tour"
  
• Kelly Ripa/Clay/O'Donnell mentions:
• PR Leap
• iVillage Beehive

• Coral and Opal (non-Clay blog) says Clay's appointment to President Bush's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities is a fantastic move. Well said!
  

  I came across a look-back article by Phil Kloer of the Cox News Service entitled, "Could This Year Have Been Any Stupider? " (as an aside, the definition of "stupid" is "lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull," which could aptly be applied to the writings of Mr. Phil Kloer).

  Sandwiched in between a lawmaker wanting to make red clay the official dirt of Georgia, and someone being awarded a patent for a cordless jump rope is this nugget of "stupidity":

  
  

  September: Clay Aiken named to the President's Committee for People With Intellectual Disabilities.

  
  

  Actually, Mr. Kloer, naming Clay Aiken to this post is an excellent move by President Bush. If he had named Justin Guarini, Diana DiGarmo, or some other American Idol runner-up to the Commission, that may have been a questionable call. But Clay Aiken is a grand call. Quite simply, Mr. Kloer, you have no idea what you are talking (or writing) about.

  
  

  In 2003, Mr. Aiken graduated from college with a degree in Special Education. He helped run YMCA camps for children and served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of students with autism. He also worked as a personal assistant to a young child with autism.

  
  

  Think he's a bad choice? Well, he's no MaryMargaret Sharp-Pucci or Harris Hollin, that's for sure. Never heard of them? Well, how about any of the following: Ricardo Barraza Jr., Herb Bartlett, Valerie Billmire , Stephen Bird, James Boles, William Edwards, Casey O’Halloran , Linda Hampton Starnes, Brian Kelly, Stephanie Pershong Brown, Thomas James Reilly, Steven Rhatigan, Neil Romano, Steve Suroviec, William Tienken, Carmela Vargas Gonzales, or Sharman Word Dennis, M.Ed.

  Not ringing any bells for you?

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, A Thousand Different Ways, ATDW, All Is Well, Merry Christmas With Love, Invisible