New Message Board Opens For The Younger (in age) Clay Fans

One of the things that is immediately noticeable about Clay's fans is the range of ages. Clay's fans range in age from 8 to 80, from teenagers to baby boomers, from the young to the young at heart.

And now, especially for the older teens and 20-somethings, comes a new message board just for them called The Young Claynation. This board was started by aiken4clayinseattlewashington, and she welcomes the fans of "Young Claynation" to "come join in the fun". This includes sharing pictures, talking about Clay's TV appearances, encouraging each other to vote, talking about Spamalot, and discussing tours and music. Sounds like fun to me! Hmmm, I wonder if I can pass for 18!!

Here's the link again: The Young Claynation

Tidbits 9/22

• Clay is back at #1 on the Lycos Top 50 search list. The reason given is his return to Spamalot.
  
  The report he has been on the chart for 458 weeks but of course that
  would be incorrect since that would come to 8.8 years. Actually he
  entered the list to my understanding on May 2003 and has not been off
  the list thus far. That would actually be 278 weeks on the chart.
  
  
• Broadway.com - How did we miss this one? Dated 9/19, on Clay's opening night, this article entitled All Hail Sir Robin as Clay Aiken Returns to Spamalot! is overflowing with praise as follows:

  If you were taking a cab across 44th Street on September 19, chances are it wasn't cheap. With Daniel Radcliffe appearing down the block in previews for Equus, the sidewalks got even more crowded with fans and onlookers, thanks to Clay Aiken's splashy return to Spamalot. After leaving the show in April (and becoming a father last month), the pop phenom reassumed the role of Sir Robin and brought down the house with his seemingly effortless performance and an ace rendition of "You Won't Succeed on Broadway." Aiken's signed on through January 4, so if you missed him the first time, here's your chance to be impressed. And trust us, the guy's pretty darn amazing.

  How great is it to hear a review that says, "Trust us, the guy's pretty darn amazing"!!

Meeting New Friends, Experiencing friendship

I was reading a post by Sue4AllYouDo at the Clayboard and I thought it was such a warm and familiar story that I would share it with our subscribers just in case they had missed it.

Last minute decisions.....they sometimes end up being the best ones...like late last night when I was invited to go into the city with a Clay Fan that I have never met!!! OH, what the heck, of course......the auction will be fun and I'll get to see Clay again!!!! I pulled up a single ticket.....F106.....one of the best seats in the house because it is dead center.....my what a view!!!
I was at the 7:00 show.....I think the new King has been taking lessons from Clay on "tunic flipping". This new King is fun to watch because he flips the front of his tunic around as he joyfully dances. Verra, Verra Nice!! The new Lady of the Lake was more interesting and diva-like tonight. She is getting a bit more bold with her part and it is very good and funny. I was surrounded by NJU's and they thoroughly enjoyed the show. Clay was great and the entire audience was responsive to him at all the right times. It was a good crowd. I noticed one really cute thing that Clay did at the very end. I didn't notice the usual salute.....instead he turned his back to the audience and shook his cute butt around...I think he is enjoying himself and really getting a kick out of dancing to the "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life" song!!!

I have the wedding bouquet. There were 2 couples sitting right behind me, one couple from New York and the other couple from California. We struck up a conversation right from the start. They wanted to know everything about Clay and I was happy to tell them. They laughed throughout the entire show and they could understand why Clay's fans would come to see him multiple times. When the Lady of the Lake threw the bouquet, the lady from California caught it. I congratulated her and told her the bouquet makes a wonderful souvenier of her visit to Spamalot. She insisted that I have it. She said it would mean more to me than to her and that I should keep it with all my Clay memorabilia. Not only do we get to meet up with new friends that we've only "talked" to on the internet, but we also get to share a few hours of friendship with complete strangers.....all perks of being a Clay Aiken fan!!!

The peasant was B101 again tonight. She seemed to be a fan, but she missed giving Sir Robin a handshake, and he was sooooooo disappointed!!!


Stage Door....as was mentioned earlier, Jerome said that Clay would not be coming out...he thought it wouldn't be fair to the afternoon crowd who could not have a Stage Door visit because of the Auction. We politely moaned a bit and I think Jerome realized that there were some fans there that might not get another chance to see Clay. He took a gal's book back in with him for Clay to sign. The 2 girls I came in with (Hi Gayle and Theresa!!!!) wanted to leave, but I insisted that we stay because I just had a feeling that Clay would come out.....and he did!!! He looked wonderful in his white hoody and he was very chatty. I don't know if it's his new hair color or if the lighting was just right, but his eyes were incredibly green tonight....he is a very handsome young man........sorry, we all know that don't we!!!!


So, my last minute decision was a very good one!!! Thanks to my "new" friends Gayle and Theresa for including me in on their plans!!! It was so nice to see Nancy tonight....it's been too long girl.....and Jonathan and family, too!! The auction was really fun and Clay's item went to a fan for $10,000......not sure who it was but I'm sure we will hear from her. We ate at Ellen's Stardust Diner on 51st and Broadway and what a fun place to eat!!! They have a 50's theme and singing waiters and waitresses....food was great and it was a blast!!!! What more can I say besides.....Thank You Clay.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids

There was an auction today for Broadway Cares, and as with last time, Clay had something up for auction of which there was a lot of action.

Check out the online bidding that went on until yesterday which was followed up today with the live part of the auction. Don't pay too much attention to the bid on that page, because that was surpassed at the live auction, for sure.

This is the listing:

Item Number L-33

Item Description

You and a guest will receive VIP House Seats to see the return of Clay Aiken in the Tony Award-winning musical, SPAMALOT. After the show, you’ll go backstage where he will give you a special behind-the scenes tour. You will also have the opportunity to have your photo taken with Clay and get his autograph. Go home today with a SPAMLOT poster, autographed by Clay and the cast when he was in the show earlier this year.

COURTESY OF Cheryl Jacobsen & Clay Aiken with special thanks to Allison Lee.

I started watching the auction online around 4:45pm and luckily there was a chat room as well connected to the sight, and I don't have to tell you that it was loaded with other Clay fans trying to watch the action. We all hoped that when they got to Item #33 that Clay would walk out of the stage door and the place would erupt, but instead when they announced his item, all of a sudden the auctioneer mumbled something about a special guest. The chat room was abuzz, LOL. They went on to the next item and we were sure he was going to come out. However, they went back to his item and no Clay. We found out later that Jerome had walked out of the stage door, and everyone thought that perhaps Clay was soon to follow. Well, that bad boy had positioned himself up in the window, the very same window he climbed out of on his closing night in Spamalot back in January. A fuzzy photo will appear hopefully later tonight. He was up there to watch his auction like a little school kid who was afraid to be seen just in case it didn't go to well. He should know by now that his meet and greets always go well, and this one went especially well, $10,000.

As reported on the Clayboard:

(caperkeeper @ Sep 21 2008, 05:36 PM) Attention!

butterflyshine just called me with this news: Clay was listening to his item being auctioned! Jerome was apparently outside and she thought we might see Clay but he was inside upstairs (remember the one guy looked up and said someone was 'mooning' them? at least I think that's what he said - that was probably Clay! Not mooning of course! Anyway she says she got a grainy picture of him in the window! A fan did win - butterflyshine wants to let her tell - but Jerome looked at butterflyshine and asked who? She pointed and he nodded ok.

Since I missed the very beginning of the auction, I am not positive, however I do believe Clay's item went for the highest price. Some items sold multiples, so that play actually raised more money but as an individual item Clay's was the highest. The next highest, get this was a walk on role in Wicked, meeting the cast, a signed poster, and several seats in the Orchestra section and dinner, it all went for $8500.

They had a very profitable auction today, and if Clay had just come out there and winked at the bidders, LOL, they may have raised another few thousand. Shame on you Clay, next time don't hide in the rafters...