Tidbits 11/1

A new billboard with Clay 's photo is gracing the Las Vegas skyline tonight, as the countdown to the taping of NBC's Holiday Celebrations on Ice hits the home stretch. The special TV Christmas special, with Clay being the exclusive music guest, will be taped at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday November 6. NBC will air the special on Christmas day.

• Access Hollywood had a 2 second blurb about Clay on "5th Grader" during today's show. Cap is available at SendSpace courtesy gerwhisp.
  
• Reality TV World - Carrie Underwood posts impressive first week sales, but fails to surpass Clay's 613K:

  Due to "Carnival Ride's" first-week success, Underwood became the first former Idol champ to post a debut sales week of more than 500,000 copies and was also the first to have his or her second album outsell their debut, according to Daily Variety. (American Idol 2 runner-up Clay Aiken, remains Idol's all-time debut week sales champ. "Measure of a Man," his 2003 debut album, sold 613,000 copies in its first week of release.)
  

• Niagara Gazette - Clay mention in Chris Daughtry article -
  

  Davis is, of course, is the head of RCA Records and one of music’s legendary record executives. He’s had huge success in signing other “Idol” winners, including Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken and Fantasia Burrino. He certainly must have recognized that the groundswell of support for Daughtry — and the publicity that surrounded his departure from the “Idol” competition — made the singer a hot commodity.
  

• Clay joins Spamalot:
• Broadway World -

  Break a leg to Clay Aiken as he prepares to join the Broadway company of Spamalot. Actually, I hear that putting new actors into Spamalot is quite easy. They just push them on stage and tell them to just repeat everything the audience yells out.
  

• Christmas tour mentions:
  
• Poughkeepsie Journal - They call Clay a heartthrob!! Also here is info about purchasing tickets:

  American Idol heartthrob Clay Aiken will perform at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie Dec. 8, with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic.
  
  Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday and cost $56.50 for gold circle seats and $47 and $41 for reserved seats. Tickets can be purchased at the Civic Center box office, 14 Civic Center Plaza, Poughkeepsie; and Ticketmaster, which can be reached at 845-454-3388 and www.ticketmaster.com.

• Akron Beacon Journal -

  Also on the holiday concert trail is Clay Aiken, whose 2004 holiday album was given the more creative title Merry Christmas With Love. The American Idol runner-up (as he apparently will be forever known, even as we collectively forget the guy to whom he lost) will be playing at Cleveland's Playhouse Square on Dec. 17, backed by a 45-piece orchestra.

• Citizen's Voice
  
• FemmeFan.com - fiddler shared the stage with Clay -

  Fiddle player Jennifer Spingola has been trained in classical music on both violin and piano. She tours with Dee Snider of Twister Sister fame on his Van Helsing's Curse production. She has shared the stage with legendary guitarist Steve Vai and former American Idols Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson.

• Southern Girl - Clay on "5th Grader"