Tidbits 5/26

• Above: iTunes is advertising OMWH in their "Best of Store" weekly playlist and in their Pop Vocal section.
  
• Great Clay mention in Filipino News, writes the CB's SUNSHINEWAGON:

  How do you plan to celebrate your 50th year?
  "I had a great celebration here at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
  They gave me a great tribute. My songs were sung by singers who made them popular,
  such as Natalie Cole, Connie Francis and Clay Aikin, and other artists who have covered my songs.
  Being written is a musical play about my life; it's coming out in 2009. It's about the Neil Sedaka life,
  with all my compositions, and it has many characters in my family."
  

• And here's a great review of OMWH from the Philippine Star:

  Inspiring Clay Aiken in new CD
  
  SOUNDS FAMILIAR
  By Baby A. Gil
  Monday, May 26, 2008
  
  Chris Daughtry is not the only American Idol loser, or maybe I should say, also-run, whose career is going great guns. There is also Clay Aiken who lost to Ruben Studdard in Season 2 in the first male-to-male face-off in the contest. But since then the sweet-voiced tenor has recorded six solo albums and sold over six million CDs. He has no Grammy yet but he has already won at the American Music Awards where fans vote for the winners. He has written a book that made the best-sellers list and he recently launched his career as a Broadway actor in the Monty Python musical Spamalot.
  
  Aiken also released a new CD two weeks ago. Titled On My Way Here, this is his first all-original collection since Measure of a Man five years ago. Now, I really prefer listening to Aiken when he sings covers. He has a very distinctive kind of voice that makes even the oldest songs sound new and different. That is the reason why despite lots of other versions of the Neil Sedaka song, his heart-tugging rendition of Solitaire has become his trademark.
  
  It may take listeners longer than usual to get to know On My Way Here and for them to appreciate its values, but I have a feeling that this will be Aiken's most enduring album. Loneliness is the theme for most of the songs but Aiken's soaring vocals keep them from being painfully sad. They are, in fact, inspiring as they focus on insight gained and lessons learned. As it is, he has chosen songs that people would want to hear again and again, and later would surely know by heart.
  
  Take a look at the chorus of the title cut composed by Ryan "Alias" Tedder, the front man of the hot rock band New Republic: On my way here/ where I am now/ I've learned to fly/ I have to want to leave the ground/ I've fallen hard but I've been loved/ and in the end it all works out/ faith has conquered fear/ on my way here.
  
  Or what about Grace of God which is particularly touching and puts into song a thought guaranteed to make anybody kinder, nicer and a better person all around. It ends this way: So when I'm thinking it's a bad day/ feels like nothing's going my way/ I pass a wreck out on the freeway/ and pray they survived/ there but for the grace of God go I. Play Aiken's song when you wake up in the morning and keep it in your head. You will be assured of a blessed day.
  
  Other songs included are Ashes, Everything I Don't Need, Something About Us, Falling, Where I Draw the Line, The Real Me, Weight of the World, As Long As We're Here, Sacrificial Love, and Lover All Alone, which was composed by Aiken and the legendary David Foster.

• The Celebrity Cafe - OMWH review ...

  After finishing in second place on American Idol, Clay Aiken has gone on to more success than most Idol winners to date.
  
  On My Way Here is Aiken’s fourth studio album, and first album of original material since his 2003 chart-topping debut, Measure of a Man.
  
  The album’s title track, written by Ryan Tedder of One Republic, is a tender, emotional song about finding one's way through life, while "Lover All Alone," a song Aiken co-wrote, is a beautiful, vulnerable track.
  
  With this album, Clay continues to establish himself as a recording artist, and although it doesn’t show much growth from his previous releases, it’s sure to be a hit with the Claymates.
  

• Carolina On My Mind - grandson joins the Clay nation