Tidbits 5/23

• AOL Music - AOL Music has compiled their list of the top 20 AI songs. Clay's Bridge Over Troubled Waters came in as #7. They say, "7. Clay Aiken, 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters' -- How'd he get a choir on stage? Regardless, Clay's unique rendition of the Simon & Garfunkel tune was truly inspiring."
• IdolHeadEd.com has a fantastic recap of what Clay's been up to since being runner-up in AI2 4 years ago -

  Season 2: Clay Aiken
  
  The transformation from nerd to chic will go down as the ultimate American Idol makeover. That, in addition to his voice, continues to drive many a Claymate crazy even 4 years later....
  

• A bunch of American Idol related mentions:
• Charlotte Observer -

  Perhaps the giddiness is on hold until Wednesday's two-hour results extravaganza (which, after all, will likely include some form of Sanjaya, unlike Tuesday's show), the show that last year delivered jaw-dropping amounts of both the random (Meat Loaf? Prince?) and the insane (a Clay Aiken wannabe? Also, Clay Aiken's hairstyle?). Or perhaps it's decided to just not show up at all.

• Philadelphia Inquirer -

  Face it: Men have fared poorly in the AI cosmos, the biggest success to date being cultural oddity Clay Aiken - if he didn't exist, Martin Short would have created him - and even Clay came in second. Blake is just a full-figured Clay.

• Entertainment Weekly comments on the first single for whoever wins Idol tonight and mentions TITN -

  Why not just drop the last ''w'' in the song title and call it ''This Is My No''?
  
  Ugh!
  
  As far as I'm concerned, it would be prudent to toss both Blake and Jordin's renditions of this so-called song directly into the same musical landfill where Katharine McPhee's ''My Destiny,'' Bo Bice's ''Long Long Road,'' and Clay Aiken's ''This Is the Night'' are quietly decomposing.

• New Jersey Star Ledger - "Clay Aiken, who lost on a night when producers underestimated the number of votes that would be cast and the phone banks got swamped."
• New York Magazine -

  What's America's dirty little secret? We think coming in second (or, heck, third or fourth) is a-okay. American Idol "loser" Clay Aiken has outsold victor Ruben Studdard. President Bush moved into the White House. And last night's show seemed designed to accentuate loserdom, from Paula Abdul's wishy-washy yet oddly appropriate concluding statement ("You know how it goes, they all end up winners, as you will see") to Chris Daughtry's live performance of the pack-your-bags-bro-you're-outta-here song "Home." Failures, stand proud: You run this country.

• Seattle Times -

  Pop singer Clay Aiken has sold more than 4 million albums in the U.S.
  
  Soul singer Jennifer Hudson won a best supporting actress Oscar for "Dreamgirls."
  
  Rock singer/guitarist Chris Daughtry's debut album hit No. 1 and went double platinum (2 million sales).
  
  What do these stars all have in common?
  
  They racked up these wins after they were losers on the hit TV show "American Idol."
  

• And a bunch of mentions of Clay's Dancing With The Stars appearance last night:
• Zap2it.tv - "Well, first we have to watch the previously booted contestants dance one more time and Jimmy Kimmel plug his fake DVD (with an assist from Clay Aiken) and those final interviews."
• The Trades - "A final Dance Along at Home with Jimmy, this time with them trying to tout a DVD of the same name, including a clever cameo by Clay Aiken.
  
• Entertainment Weekly - "The Jimmy Kimmel serial nightmare ended on a high note, even though there was something rotten in the state of Clay Aiken's hair."
• TV Blend - "Even Clay Aiken shows up for a jokey segment to remind us that ‘Dancing with the Stars” truly is just like ‘American Idol’….for your feet. "
• iVillage - "The best part about this was a cameo appearance by Clay Aiken. If there's one thing about DWTS that I love, it's that you never truly know who's going to come out of the woodwork."
• BuddyTV -

  The “special bonus” of Guillermo’s Moustache Magic offered with it has Clay Aiken promoting it. Tom Bergeron points out that this is not a real DVD, in case we’re gullible tonight.
  

• ... few mentions of the summer tour:
• TC Palm
• Atlanta Creative Loafing

• Southern Girl on why she thinks the comic strip Luann is awesome.
• There Was A Man has a nice recap from last night's DWTS appearance.