Tidbits 8/16

The Palm Beach Post is continuing their 4 days of Clay, profiling a new Clay fan everyday until Clay's concert in Palm Beach on Saturday. Today's lucky Claymate is Carolyn Valenti.

Bringing nerdy back: "I always thought he was cute. I like my men a little dorky. Everyone has a thing. I like when he wears his hair short. But long, short...it could be in pin curls and it wouldn't matter to me....As Baby Boomers, we redefined what masculinity means. He has a sensitivity, a cute kind of nerdiness."

Her first television Clay encounter: "The wild card show (during the second season of "American Idol"). He had been sent home, and it was sad. But once he was there, that was it."

Her first Clay encounter, live, up close and personal: On the Massacussetts turnpike after a show, when he and the crew were getting hamburgers.

The article goes on to list the writer's top 5 Clay Aiken songs and talk about Kathy Griffin.

1) "Solitaire" - Having been a teen drama queen, I was a huge version of the weepy, sweeping Carpenters version, but Clay's voice brought it to new heights of glorious misery. "...And solitaire's the only game in town..." SOB!

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• Clay is #16 at this week's Lycos50.
  
• Associated Content - nice promo for Clay's appearance on "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader", but at least get the spelling of his name right... :(

  Clay Akin, who came in second to Ruben Studdard on American Idol's second season, is now a multi- platinum recording artist. But he'll soon appear on another reality show: An all-celebrity version of "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" on Fox TV some time in the coming season.
  
  He is the co founder of The Bubel/Aiken Foundation (TBAF), and for his appearance of the show, the foundation is guaranteed to receive at least $25,000. The way it will work is that the foundation will receive money for each question he gets right. If he gets all 11 questions right, the foundation will receive one million dollars. He was a special education teacher before he tried out for American Idol and he hit it big in the musical industry, so he may do pretty well.

• More buzz surrounding the 5th Grader appearance:
• On E! News, reports the CV's starhorse:

  Was watching the E! Channel this program about Reese Witherspoon and the E! News Ticker came up on the bottom. Like 5 different stories popped up.. The first one was about Britney... the second was about Clay and said something like Clay Aiken will appear on the celebrity addition of Are You Smarter then a 5th grader? and that he is playing for his own charity the Bubel Aiken foundation that focuses on chirdlren with special needs. Pretty cool if you ask me that they deemed it news worthy enough to put it in the ticker

• On a Portland, OR radio station, says the CB's hanapepe:

  The sky is loaded with flying pigs in Portland, OR as a local radio station just announced Clay's appearance on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" for their morning celeb newsbits. While this station isn't really Clay-friendly, they DID mention that his appearance would benefit his charity.
  

• A few tidbits of Clay's scheduled appearance on the Neil Sedaka 50th anniversary concert -
• Undercover.com.au - "Showbiz legend Neil Sedaka is to be honoured for his 50 years in the biz by Natalie Cole, The Captain & Tenille and Clay Aiken in New York in October."
  
• Tour mentions:
• Palm Beach Daily News -

  Country orchestra: Clay Aiken will perform with orchestra at 8 p.m., Saturday, at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets $20 - $100. Call 832-7469.

• Bradenton Herald -

  IDOLIZED
  
  Clay Aiken, a runner-up on the second season of "American Idol," is a major star now, since his television appearances and 2003 release of "The Measure of a Man."
  
  He's released two more albums since then, and now is coming to Tampa Bay for a concert.
  
  Aiken performs with a 42-piece orchestra at 8 p.m. Friday in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $55.50 -$75.50, and can be purchased online at tbpac.org, at the performing arts center box office, or by calling (800) 955-1045

• Guam Pacific Daily News - "Guam Idol" wraps up -

  Auditions for a shot at being the next American Idol, the show that launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken and Fantasia Barrino, wrapped up Thursday night as Guam Idol held their seventh and final preliminary round to determine the 14 participants for a final sing-off on Aug. 22.

• More "Idol: The Musical" mentions:
• The Stage News - "The musical takes place in Steubenville, Ohio where a group of high-school students belong to a club fanatically devoted to all things Clay Aiken, a former American Idol contestant."
• National Post - "A musical about fans of American Idol's Clay Aiken lasted one night on Broadway."
• iFMagazine - someone send them a fact checker! The musical wasn't even started by Clay fans; but then again, it's the American media... what do you expect? -

  In a shocking turn of events, Clay Aiken’s fans, known as Clay-mates, were dealt a serious blow to their attempt at world domination this week as their self-promoting theater project, dubbed IDOL: THE MUSICAL, was s***-canned after just one night because of poor ticket sales, a lack of positive feedback and the whole thing about critics lambasting it as a bucket load of baby vomit.

• AOL TMZ -

  An "American Idol"-themed musical inspired by Clay Aiken and his army of obsessive fans has gone up in smoke just one day after it went up in lights on a Broadway marquee. Did we mention it was about Clay Aiken obsessives?
  
  Backstage magazine called "Idol" "interminable, amateurish, headache-inducing," and that was just in the first paragraph of its review. Just for the record, neither Aiken nor "American Idol" the show were involved in the production.

• The Advocate - "It was an open-and-shut case for Idol: The Musical. August 12 was the opening night for the show that depicted young intense fans of Idol season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken, who wanted to get out of his small town. It closed the same night."
• Raleigh News & Observer -

  "Idol," based on the fan mania surrounding Clay Aiken, closed after Sunday's opening-night performance in New York City. Before that show, the production ran through 47 preview performances.
  

• AOL TMZ on Clay singing Sexyback (tabloid site... negative)