Tidbits 2/22

• Former American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis mentioned Clay in an interview with the Washington Post, the CB's fodderwing reports:

  I didn't see that this had already been posted, so here goes. In the Weekend Section of the Washington Post there is an article about Constantine Maroulis and they asked him to play a little word association in reaction to a few names from AI. He commented about Kelly Clarkson, Clay, Sanjaya Malakar, Jordin Sparks, Ruben Studdard and Justin Guarini.
  
  His comments re Clay Aiken were:
  
  "He's got a vulnerability about him. I think that's what draws him to people (I think he meant "that's what draws people to him"?) He's really talented; not my cup of tea but definitely good at what he does."
  

• Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - Clay Aiken ready to release new CD -

  Aiken album out soon
  
  Get ready, Claymates: A new Clay Aiken album is just around the corner, People magazine reports.
  
  The former “American Idol” contestant is in New York recording his fourth album, which he expects to be “out about May 6,” he says.
  
  Aiken is starring in the Broadway run of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” as Sir Robin.

• Clay - The Man always has great stuff... check out their latest offerings.
  

Tidbits 8/13

• Florida is bracing for a quadruple dose of Clay Aiken, as the 2007 Summer tour enters its home stretch. The Sun Sentinel republished a Houston Chronicle interview from last month in advance of Clay mania in Florida -

  Bringing dorky back
  Singer Clay Aiken of American Idol fame will perform with orchestra at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Kravis Center, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets are $10 to $100. Call 561-832-7469 or visit www.kravis.org
  

• Nice find from the CB's ClaysMyMidlifeCrisis - a photo of Clay with venue security during his Christmas tour stop in Wilke Barres last year. It just dawned on me how long his hair was back then ... (click the photo on the right to enlarge).
  
• Short blip about Clay and California Claymates in USA Today, says the CB's claymate11. The "Clay Aiken fanclub" being referred to in the article is a group of fans who held their Pala pre-concert meet up at Tori Spelling's inn before Clay's concert at the Pala Casino Starlight on August 3 (see the invitation on the right):

  • 

  On page 2D of today's issue of USA Today there is an article on Tori Spelling's new reality TV show. In the article is this quote "What will be shown this season is Spelling becoming ordained and performing a @#%$ wedding , the arrival of the Clay Aiken Fan Club (but no appearance by Aiken)" Her show is on Oxygen and is called Tori and Dean: In Love. She plays the hostess of a B & B. Did anyone else catch this mention? What fan club is going to be featured?
  

• CBS Showbuzz - you don't have to win Idol to find success -

  Constantine Maroulis finished sixth place on Season 4 of "American Idol." To some, that might not be the greatest showing, but former Idols are proving again and again that you don't have to win to be a star.
  
  Chris Daughtry from Season 5 is enjoying immense success with his band, Jennifer Hudson from Season 3 won and Oscar for her role in "Dreamgirls" and Season 2's Clay Aiken is a household name.

• "Idol: The Musical" is calling it quits. The show has officially closed in New York -
• Playbill News -

  The Aug. 12 opening night of Idol: The Musical Ð based on the fan worship of former "American Idol" contestant Clay Aiken Ð was also the show's closing night.
  
  The new musical, which began previews July 5, has closed. A press statement issued Aug. 13 reads, "Todd Ellis, the producer of Idol: The Musical, has chosen to close the show due to a lack of advance ticket sales, a lack of positive feedback from audience members and critics, and a lack of sustainable financial resources."

• Broadway World - "Idol: The Musical, which began previews on July 7th and opened August 12th at the 45th Street Theatre, has announced that it has closed due to poor ticket sales."
• NJ.com -

  Based on a concept by producer Todd Ellis, who premiered the show earlier at the Syracuse Civic Theatre he runs in upstate New York, "Idol: The Musical" regards a group of high school misfits who worship Clay Aiken, the singer of "American Idol" fame.

• Backstage.com -

  Idol: The Musical aspires to be The Full Monty for the Gen Y crowd — a look at a group of small-town misfits, who see in American Idol winner Clay Aiken a hero and role model.
  

• There Was A Man - Clay plays to 3000 strong crowd in Asheville
  

Tidbits 8/8

Video of Jerry Aiken and Aron Hall's appearance on UNC-TV's N.C. Now is now up on ClackUnlimited. What great exposure for the TBAF!

• Clay is #9 this week in the Lycos 50, as you will see in the Lycos PR issued today (scroll down... it's near the middle of this post). He moved up 5 spots from #14.
  
• Des Moines Register - "Juice" - tips for AI auditioners: "Wanna be the next Ruben Studdard? OK, maybe Clay Aiken?"
• New York Post - article about AI4 6th placer Constantine Maroulis -

  EVERYONE knows even losers are winners on "American Idol."
  
  Need proof? Take a gander at Clay Aiken and Chris Daughtry - both are chart-topping, platinum-selling artists, even though they weren't crowned "Idols" - and don't forget Jennifer Hudson's Oscar win and Katharine McPhee's McPheever.

• Atlanta Journal Constitution/Access Atlanta -

  First place is overrated.
  
  Just ask "American Idol" losers Clay Aiken or Chris Daughtry — or Miranda Lambert.
  
  The country singer from Texas placed third in the first season of the USA Network's "Nashville Star," "American Idol's" country cousin, in 2003. But like those other two runners-up, Lambert has climbed higher than most of the series' winners.
  

• Raleigh News & Observer - Raleigh rap artists looking to be the next big thing out of Raleigh -

  As Raleigh police hurried the video shooters and bystanders off the corner early in the day, Small World thought about why he'll follow Clay Aiken as the next big thing from Raleigh and why North Carolina rappers haven't made a dramatic dent in the hip-hop scene.
  

• United Press International wire story - top search terms at Lycos -

  The week's other most popular terms were MySpace, YouTube, Pokemon, Naruto, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Disney, Clay Aiken and WWE.

• Earth Times- Lycos Inc. PR -

  The Lycos 50(TM) Top 10 Search Terms for the Week Ending Aug. 4, 2007:
  9) Clay Aiken

• Entertainment Weekly interviews Simon Cowell regarding his "talent search" based movie... uh... I think I'll pass on this one -

  EW: Any plans to cast past Idols as judges or producers of the competition?
  
  Simon: I can't imagine Clay Aiken producing the fictional show in this movie somehow, no. [Laughs] Maybe a choreographer or something, I don't know.

• Foxes On Idol - article about "So You Think You Can Dance". Mentions Clay in these paragraphs about how people vote.
  

  What surprised me was that Sara joined him out the door, not Lauren! However, I think a little American Idol history can explain just why she went now. In the second season, the final five were Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Kimberley Locke, Josh Gracin, and Trenyce.
  
  Josh was clearly the weakest at this point in the competition. Although the other four were all talented, Trenyce was seen as the weakest of them and everyone thought that after Josh left Trenyce would follow him.
  
  But Josh had fans that called and called and called to save him and Trenyce was sent packing instead. She wasn’t as memorable as Ruben or Clay and she split votes with Kimberley, who was considered better. And with Carmen’s departure a week earlier, her fans also became complacent.

• Houston Press - well... I completely disagree with this:

  There’s a lot to be depressed about during the holiday season: a smaller-than-expected Christmas bonus, in-laws coming to visit, Clay Aiken television specials.
  

• Tour mentions
• Knoxville Metro Pulse... what does "dark in there" mean? "Sunday, Aug. 12: Clay Aiken performs tonight at the Tennessee Theatre at 8 p.m. Just one question, Aiken: Is it dark in there?"
• Northwest Herald - Waukegan Christmas concert

• Taking A Moment's Jemock sure has a story she's been waiting to tell... LOL -

  SOMEBODY went and posted those pictures of Clay wearing some seriously and perilously low-slung pants. Gravity-defying britches, people. I don't know what's holding them up. Well, actually I know EXACTLY what's holding them up, but this is a family board, so cypher your own darn physics. I can't do everything, gosh. Oh, and he has his arms raised. Oh mama. Do you know the pictures I'm talking about? They're floating around all over the fandom, you can find them somewhere, I'm sure. Just make sure you have some bail money in your pocket, because these pictures are barely legal. And by "barely legal" I mean "awfully nice in an artistic and spiritual sense". What it is, is Clay's singing and dancing his big o'l heart out, and he's wearing a shirt with the tail untucked and the famously-ubiquitous undershirt has ridden way up somewhere around armpit level, and he's not wearing a belt and he's got some fine, fine hips on him, of which 90% of said hip is nekkidly visible

• Carolina On My Mind - Clay gains new fans in California
  

Tidbits 8/7

Some great shots from Indio over at myDesert.com...

• Asheville Citizen Times - Clay's Biltmore Estates concert a near sell out:

  “American Idol” star Clay Aiken looks like the biggest live show in Asheville this weekend – his Saturday night concert at Biltmore Estate is virutally sold out.
  
  Some 3,000 tickets were originally available for the concert on the South Terrrace lawn at Biltmore and just a few scattered seats remained Tuesday, with none expected to be available at the gate by Saturday.

• Asheville Citizen Times blog - about a confrontation at a B-52 concert this past weekend held at Biltmore Estates - "Will I go back to Biltmore to see another concert this summer? Probably not, even though I can't imagine Clay Aiken or Chris Issak fans getting that excited."
  
• Chicago Tribune slams AI4 6th placer Constantine Maroulis' album, but makes the case for why AI runner ups are important -

  Because if runner-ups like Daughtry and Clay Aiken can put out better (and better-selling records) than some of the actual "Idol" winners, that means there's room for everyone.

• Dallas Morning News - American Idol sales numbers:

  Clay Aiken, second-season runner-up:

  Measure of a Man (2003), 2.8 million

  Merry Christmas With Love (2004), 1.3 million

  A Thousand Different Ways (2006), 516,000

• Dallas/Fort Worth Star Telegraph - article about giving teenagers their own debit cards... remember the Clay Aiken MyPlash MasterCard thing?...

  Checking and savings for kids; debit card with checking; "Stash Your Cash" financial education program for middle-schoolers, featuring former American Idol stars Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and Fantasia

• USA Today Listen Up - Jann Arden's version of "Solitaire" better than Clay's... what? "Arden’s simply, sweetly sentimental reading, from Uncover Me, serves Neil Sedaka’s chestnut far better than Clay Aiken’s overbaked version did."
  
• Delaware Online - Here's the not caring... Michael Buble "makes Clay Aiken sound like a karaoke singer at the Hi-Ho Tavern."

• There Was A Man - recaps and photos from Pala, CA show.
  

Tidbits 2/13

TIME TO GET TO WORK CLAYMATES!
AmericanIdol.com wants to know which idol "has the most powerful voice?"
Click here to cast your vote!

• Clay drops to #22 on the Lycos50 this week. Keep searching for Clay on Lycos, everyone!
  
• The CB's Khrystah says she spotted Clay on E!'s show 10 Ways to Superstardom on StarTV here in Canada:
  

  I Couldn't sleep last night so I was flipping around the dial and at around 2am ET I stopped on Star! TV which airs a ton of E! stuff here in :claynadian A Show called "10 Ways to Superstardom" was just beginning and since I was bored and there was nothing else on, I figured I'd just leave it on while I tried to get to sleep.
  
  Well, didn't I just wake right up when Clay suddenly appeared on the TV!!! :lol
  
  Can't remember anything about the show other than seeing Clay 3 or 4 times. I believe he was included in #7 or #8 on the list (which was to be "geek" which is now considered "chic").
  
  They never mentioned him by name, but they did show 3 or 4 VERY short clips of him (along with many other "nerds" (their term not mine) ). From what I can remember, they showed 2 or 3 clips from the Invisible video, and the last clip was Glasses Clay and I *think* it may have been the Disneyland clip (?) it went by so fast I barely had time to register the outfit/look he was wearing (glasses, green/white striped shirt and short hair).

  
  
• NorthJersey.com - In an article about Constantine Maroulis, it says, "Like some other "American Idol" contestants who technically lost (Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken), Maroulis' career has had a kind of radioactive half-life."
• Knox News - The article "Morrow: 'Idol' needs to pick it up already", says, "In that 24 will be our new Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia or Clay Aiken, maybe."
• Gamespot News - "Game companies appear eager to get into the American Idol craze that has spawned millions of Clay Aiken wannabes across the country."
• The Washington Times - "If you wanted to take the positive point of view, you could say that Miss McPhee crushed season one loser Justin Guarini (57,000 in first-week sales) and season three loser Diana DeGarmo (47,000 in first week sales). However, the most recent "Idol" runner-up, Bo Bice, sold 225,000 copies of "The Real Thing" when it debuted in December 2005. That's not even getting into the 613,000 in first-week sales for Clay Aiken's 2003 debut, 'Measure of a Man.'"
• ZeroPaid - Torrent sites cashing in on the success of Hollywood stars... illegally...

  After opening the Pirate Bay website, type a search query in the box and press ENTER. We'll use the ever talented Clay Aiken as our test case.
  
  You'll see a variety of Clay Aiken material to choose from. We'll select Clay Aiken Clips.
  
  This will bring to you where the tracker download is located. The tracker is what will help the client server keep track of the seeders and leechers in the swarm and thus download the file or files. In the interest of legality, I am not going to download the Clay Aiken video clips here as shown in the picture, nor from anywhere else EVER for that matter, but rather will download a tracker from legaltorrents.com instead. So we'll pretend I clicked on "Download This Torrent," but in reality I clicked on another tracker instead.

• TV Guide - in an interview with TV Guide, AI2 contestant Kimberley Caldwell had some nice things to say about Clay:

  The reason people have been so successful on Idol is because they're original, they don't look and conform like everybody else. Ruben Studdard is not the typical American Idol, and neither is Clay Aiken....

• Sign On San Diego - why American Idol is so successful... AWESOME mention!
  

  It's also about the pure joy of watching talent trump everything, whether it is the heartbreaking “Solitaire” turning the sweetly awkward Clay Aiken into a star, or the voices of gifted dreamers turning a money-grubbing, ratings-hogging TV beast into something beautiful.

• E! Online- comedian Dane Cook jokes about Kelly Clarkson's song "Since U Been Gone"...

  Having no trouble in the popularity department in funnyman Dane Cook. Numerous girls flock to his table, trying to pick up a joke—or something. But apparently all the comedian can think about is an American Idol winner. “I’ve been singing Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since U Been Gone,’ ” he says. “It’s stuck in my cerebellum, and it won’t escape.” Cheer up Dane, it could be worse. At least it's not Clay Aiken's "Invisible."

• Courier Journal - more on Clay's "Build A Scandal" contest... wonderful press for Clay.

• Taking A Moment's Jemock has a wonderful idea for Valentine's with Clay... ROTFL!!!

  I have an idea on how we can all tell Clay how much we love him this Valentine’s Day. He can’t have a box of chocolate because, well, basically it would kill him. So here’s what everybody should do. Go out and buy the biggest box of chocolates you can find, something approximately the size of a funeral arrangement. Then, eat all the chocolate. Dump the paper wrappers in the floor, and find your digital camera. Hold the camera out at arm’s length, and snap your picture. Think about Clay and smile real big, or go with a sultry, seductive look. Take your camera down to Wal-Mart and have a 16 x 20 print made. Run back home and using the box as a template, cut out your picture so that it fits inside the box. Glue it in there so it won’t come out if it gets slung across the room when Clay opens it and is overcome with love or something.

  
  
• Southern Girl - TV alerts for Jimmy Kimmel and FOX Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.