Tidbits 7/13

• Apparently, RCA has been sending a weird email to some of you. The email, which is itself blank, is titled with the subject "Clay Aiken presale tickets"... But then again, RCA has done stranger things in the past... like putting 1969 instead of 2007 on ClayAiken.com (by the way, that one has STILL not been fixed, 2 months later!) /// UPDATE - some people did get the email - read here.
  
• Philly Burbs has an awesome article for Clay's Philadelphia concert, which rolls around on Tuesday -

  Clay Aiken has been doing a lot of charity work for UNICEF, but he still manages to tour once or twice each year. Tuesday night, the “American Idol” TV show runner-up will be backed by the Mann Festival Orchestra at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 5201 Parkside Ave., Philadelphia, to sing tunes from his mostly-covers album “A Thou-sand Different Ways” and his debut CD “Measure of a Man.”
  
  Among the pop classics that Aiken put on his new CD are Richard Marx's “Right Here Waiting,” Nilsson's “Without You,” Mr. Mister's “Broken Wings” and Elton John's “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.” He has taken some jabs from the press for not recording new material; but so far, the 2006 album has sold well.
  
  Aiken's first CD went multiplatinum behind the hit single “Invisible” and strong Barry Manilow-inspired songs like “No More Sad Songs,” “Shine,” “Perfect Day” and “I Will Carry You.”

• Philadelphia Daily News/Philly.com also has a nice mention of the concert -

  Clay Aiken: One of the biggest success stories from "American Idol" (and he didn't even win!) performs with the lavish Mann Festival Orchestra. Mann Center for the Performing Arts, 52nd and Parkside, 8 p.m. Tuesday, $39-$69, 215-893-1999, www.manncenter.org.
  

• Buddy TV - American Idol to start a clothing line ...

  The show is also responsible for launching the careers of today’s most popular artists, such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino, all of whom have received recognition for their work.

• NY Post - Idol: The Musical listing ... Clay mention: "A musical about small-town folk who worship pop-star Clay Aiken"
• SyFy Portal - Jericho...

  Every once in a great while, you'll open up SyFy Portal and see us talking about some fan campaign somewhere. It could be efforts to bring closure to "Farscape," or some fleeting attempt to give us more Star Trek, or even Clay Aiken single-handedly saving "Jericho."

• 411 Mania (warning: coarse language) - article about Al Gore's Live Earth concerts mentions both Gore and Clay were famous runner-ups:

  As for Live Earth, the Q'n'D has the HARD numbers on this concert to fight global warming. Was this massive event a success? Has the world's most famous runner-up [Al Gore] (well, second if you count Clay Aiken) saved this climate in crisis?

• Northwest Herald and Kane County Chronicle are both already listing Clay's Nov. 29 Waukegan, IL Christmas date - "CLAY AIKEN, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 29, Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee St., Waukegan. Tickets: $68-$83."
• Student Operated Press - talented 14 year old Barry Harris the next Clay Aiken? "Mary Hart: (Entertainment Tonight) 'Could this be the next Clay Aiken?'"