Tidbits 4/5

• Springfield State Journal Register - article about summer fairs & concerts - "Lately, we’ve all been spoiled by increasingly early releases of who will play each Illinois State Fair. That’s good, as we’ve made surrounding state fairs work around our dates for a change. But peeking at their schedules generally is a strong indicator of who might fill our remaining slots (such as Clay Aiken’s mini-tour of state fairs in 2004)."
• Broadcasting Cable - American Idol isn't fair?

  A Clay Aiken fan, she lost faith in the process after making a shocking discovery last year: No matter how often she tried, she couldn't place her vote.
  
  Law says she tried to dial "five or six hundred times" on the final night of competition but hasn't tried since. "I'm not gonna get suckered into voting again," she says. "Why should we sit here and waste two hours of our time when our votes aren't going to be counted?"
  

• TIME - on the success of American Idol - "Idol Season 1 champ Kelly Clarkson has sold more than 8 million albums; Season 4 winner Carrie Underwood, 5 million; and even Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken, more than 4 million."
• NY Post - new MTV show makes fun of Claymates... There's another mention of this at theDetroit Free Press -

  This time, it's a fictional talk show on a public-access channel in North Carolina co-hosted by a couple of Clay Aiken fanatics.
  
  If the sketch proves anything, it's that no more comedy ore remains to be mined from the topics of public-access cable and Clay Aiken.

• Murfreesboro Daily News Journal - another Idol article -

  Since the show's inception six seasons ago, the five "American Idol" champions — Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks — in addition to Clay Aiken who was a runner-up, have sold more than 23 million CDs, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

• St. Louis Post Dispatch - Illinois tourism board to announce winners of "Seven Wonders of Illinois" contest, but "even the runners-up take some solace in knowing they came close. Sort of like Clay Aiken on TV's 'American Idol.'"
• Fayetteville Observer - why Sanjaya Malakar is so darn popular -- "The last and only time I voted in “American Idol” was season 2, when Ruben Studdard was facing off Clay Aiken for the title. I cast a single vote for Ruben. But Tuesday night, I spent 20 minutes text-messaging 30 votes for Sanjaya, marking my official entry into the ranks of his “Fanjayas.”"
• The Ithacan Online - review of new movie "Blades of Glory" - Clay comparison:

  Ferrell’s foil in “Blades of Glory” is an eerily androgynous Jon Heder, who plays the delicate professional skater Jimmy MacElroy, a flamboyant combination of Clay Aiken and Brian Boitano.

• Carolina On My Mind - Claymates & Clay celebrate The Bubel Aiken Foundation's fantastic work.