Tidbits 9/17

• The Clayboard - Tiggy52winkle from The Clayboard posted some great news about the Spamalot Playbill:

  I just got a call from my friend Fab4Clayton who is at Spamalot tonight with her hubby (they've been in NYC for ballgames). She said Clay's name is ALREADY in the playbill and the guy who is playing Clay's parts tonight is listed on an insert in the program (this is what they do when someone is substituting in a role). Woooo hoooo! They are ready for Clay's triumphant return!!! She also asked about the merchandise during Clay's run and was told that they will be selling the same items as last time: the shirt, magnet, button and poster in the program. Nothing new.

• AOL Home Page - The following title is on AOL's home page where Jennifer Hudson's photo is (her photo is on #8 of 8 items on the left side of the page). Look for this: "'Idol' Alum's Drawing the 'Line'
  Doesn't Want to Be Heartbroken (Again)". From AOL's page, click on the words "Doesn't Want To Be Heartbroken (Again)" and you will be taken to "AOL Sessions" and Clay's song, Where I Draw The Line. Or click on the words "AOL Sessions" above to go to AOL Sessions. Right now this song is #2 on the list of "Most Viewed" songs. Give it a hit and let's move it up to #1!

All Songs From "On My Way" Here in AOL's Top 20 Most Played Songs

AOL's Top 20 Most Played Songs is a list that is constantly changing. A song can drop from #7 to #10 in a matter of minutes. But two things are for certain:

1. On My Way Here has stayed #1 for a long long time, not dropping at any time in the last 2-3 weeks.

2. Today, Friday, June 27, all 12 songs from OMWH are in the Top 20 of AOL's Most Played Songs. Now, that is quite an achievement.

Here is the ranking of the 12 songs from his CD:

1. On My Way Here
2. Ashes
4. Grace of God
5. Everything I Don't Need
7. As Long As We're Here
9. Falling
13. Weight of the World
15. Where I Draw The Line
17. Lover All Alone
18. Something About Us
19. Sacrificial Love
20. The Real Me

These songs are being listened to, it appears, by not just Clay fans but others who are liking what they hear. Let's help keep them in these top numbers on AOL.

Carolina On My Mind Blogs About OMWH As It "Chugs Up The Charts"

If you are like me, you have been watching various music sites as the songs from On My Way Here are slowly climbing their charts. AOL songs and videos is a perfect example of this. OMWH is dominating the top songs at AOL. Like the Little Engine That Could or the tortoise who began the race slow yet still beat the hare, OMWH is doing great things right now.

Carolina On My Mind has written a blog that tells us just what OMWH is doing at some of the online sites. Read her blog below and then click on the links that lead you to those sites. And while there, give Clay's songs and videos a hit and listen to some really great music!

'Little Engine That Could'

OMWH Songs Chug Up Charts

"On My Way Here," the lead single on Clay Aiken's new CD, has aptly been dubbed "the little engine that could" by Internet fans. Slowly but surely, the song and others from On My Way Here are chugging their way through a host of music industry charts, as well as into the hearts of many new fans.

Cagney1950 of Clayversity reported 120 Mainstream AC spins for "On My Way Here" Sunday morning, a +17 over last week and .235 audience impression. The song is currently #27 on the Mainstream AC Chart "with a lovely red bullet." Saturday the song #29 on the Mainstream AC Jump chart with +13 spins.

For the week ending June 12, "Ashes" was #9 on Billboard's Top 10 Video Streams, moving up from #20 the previous week.

Clickable AOL Top 11

"OMWH" and "Ashes" are currently #1 and #3 on the AOL Top 11 Music Video Countdown AND in the "most viewed" videos listing at AOL. [NOTE: "Ashes" moved to #2 Monday morning.]

At AOL Music, "On My Way Here" continues to hold its stronghold as the #1 "most played" song in all genres. At 3 p.m. Sunday, seven other OMWH songs were listed in the top 24, including "Ashes", 3; "Everything I Don't Need," 6; "Falling," 10; "As Long as We're Here," 11; "Something About Us," 19; "Lover All Alone," 22; and "Weight of the World," 24.

This list changes constantly and currently represents 509 songs. To join other CA fans streaming, listening, and viewing at AOL and Yahoo, use these links:

* Audio song tracks: AOL Music
* Five-song video performance: AOL Sessions
* OMWH video at Yahoo Music.

12 Songs From "On My Way Here" in AOL's Top 50 Most Played Songs

On Monday morning, June 16, Clay's CD, On My Way Here, had a total of 12 songs in AOL Music's Most Played Songs.

Check these numbers out in AOL Music's Most Played Songs:

#1 - On My Way Here
#3 - Ashes
#7 - Everything I Don't Need
#15 - Lover All Alone
#16 - Falling
#23 - As Long As We're Here
#25 - Grace of God
#31 - Where I Draw The Line
#41 - Something About Us
#46 - The Real Me
#49 - Sacrificial Love
#51 - Weight of the World

That's 12 songs in the Top 50 (okay, the Top 51). This is great news. Hopefully more people are finding out why this is an amazing CD and will go out and purchase one for themselves.

Keep listening at AOL and watching the videos at AOL Sessions.

Four Songs From OMWH In AOL's Top 20 Most Played Songs

Clay's CD, On My Way Here, has four songs in AOL's Music Section top 20 Most Played Songs. The songs and rankings are:

#1 - On My Way Here
#3 - Ashes
#5 - Everything I Don't Need
#20- Falling

Keep listening, and don't forget to go to AOL Sessions and watch the five songs that are there.

Two Songs From OMWH In AOL's Top 11 Videos

Two songs from On My Way Here are in AOL's Top 11 most popular videos for the week. Ashes is at the #3 spot and Everything I Don't Need is at #7. Both songs are from AOL Sessions.

Ashes views are much higher than the other four songs in AOL Sessions. However, AOL has taken the counter down, so there is no way to see what the count is today. Hopefully AOL will get it back up and running again soon. Meanwhile, check out the Sessions videos for a listen to some great songs by Clay.

LALate.com posts:

Good news to our ClayLate readers. Clay Aiken today is now the only singer to have two songs ranked as the top 11 most watch videos on AOL.The AOL chart ranks songs based upon plays of AOL-enabled videos.

So Aiken fans and news sites (like this one) that have embedded AOL enabed vids in their posts have been bringing Clay to the top. Aiken today Tuesday ranks #3 spot with Ashes and #7 with Everything I Don’t Need.

Ironically Aiken ranks behind Leona Lewis and Danity Kane with big budget music videos compared to his studio recorded AOL Sessions vids. To date, no tour has yet been confirmed to support his current album despite widespread fan request for such a tour.

CNN Interviews Clay In Soundcheck Video

CNN has put together a great video, complete with interview with Clay and information about On My Way Here, how he deals with the tabloids, and why he likes living in Raleigh. They interviewed Clay when he was making the AOL Sessions videos in May.

Under the video on their website is this title:

Soundcheck: Clay Aiken Former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken talks about his new album and why he's so guarded about his private life.

Denise Quann of CNN states:

Clay Aiken will talk about anything, anything but his personal life, and don't try to read meaning into the lyrics of his new album On My Way Here."

Clay says in the interview that the songs are not just about what he has experienced in the last 5 years but about what anyone would experience. The video also shows a 2003 interview where Clay says that the tabloids make assumptions based on the fact that he is a "mama's boy" and that he doesn't sleep around. "Personal business is off limits" because it doesn't really matter what he says, the tabloids will believe what they want. And to Denise's credit, she never pushes him for any personal information.

Bravo CNN for a great interview and video of Clay!

And here are a few screencaps from that video:

"On My Way Here" #1 On AOL Most Played List; AOL Sessions View Numbers Continue to Rise

Great news! Clay's song, On My Way Here, is #1 today on AOL's Most Played List of Songs.

In addition, Lover All Alone is #26 today on AOL's Highest Rated Songs!

Let's keep Clay's songs on the lists at AOL. Head over to AOL Music and listen to Clay's songs as well as watch his five songs on AOL Sessions. These songs are great and getting lots of hits. Clay's picture and link to his Sessions songs is still on the main page of AOL Music.

Number of times viewed for each song on Sessions is as follows (and climbing):

• Ashes - 55,005
  
• Everything I Don't Need - 23,764
  
• Where I Draw The Line - 17,650
  
• On My Way Here - 20,900
  
• Something About Us - 15,454

Clay Tells AOL He's An Entertainer

Clay spoke briefly with AOL's PopEater blog during his recent AOL Sessions mini-concert.

Clay Aiken Says He Isn't a Musician

Posted May 27th 2008 5:00PM by Christina Lang
Filed under: Sessions

"I don't really consider myself a musician so much as I consider myself just an entertainer," says the man who finished second on 'American Idol,' sold millions of records and now stars in the hit Broadway musical 'Spamalot,' when he stopped by the AOL Studios for his Sessions taping. Clay Aiken knows his place in the entertainment pantheon and he's just fine with it, thank you very much.

Besides (not) being a musician, Aiken has also taken an active role with several charities. Uniting the "Claymates" in an effort to support autistic children, Aiken and his good friend Diane Bubel formed the Bubel/Aiken Foundation to support mainstreaming autistic children into the classrooms, play groups and other normal day-to-day activities for children.

The benevolent Aiken took time out from his busy schedule to perform five tracks and talk with AOL Music about his first studio album in two years and more.

Clay's AOL Sessions Up!

Clay's mini-concert with AOL Sessions has been posted to AOL Music. Run, don't walk to go over to see beautiful performances of:

1. Ashes
2. Everything I Don't Need
3. Where I Draw the Line
4. On My Way Here
5. Something About Us

There are also several interview clips. The CB's dardar compiled this list of links which will get you directly to the individual videos:

Ashes (3:36)
http://music.aol.com/video/ashes-aol...-aiken/2131396

EIDN (4:28)
http://music.aol.com/video/everythin...-aiken/2131397

Where I Draw the Line (4:09)
http://music.aol.com/video/where-i-d...-aiken/2131398

OMWH (4:26)
http://music.aol.com/video/on-my-way...-aiken/2131399

Something About Us (3:33)
http://music.aol.com/video/something-about-us-aol-sessions/clay-aiken/2131400

What are your tour plans? (18 sec.)
http://music.aol.com/video/qanda-wha...-aiken/2131328

How is OMWH different from your previous albums? (43 sec.)
http://music.aol.com/video/qanda-how...-aiken/2131329

What have you learned during the process of creating this album? (1:02)
http://music.aol.com/video/qanda-wha...-aiken/2131330

What is the difference between performing theatrically as opposed to performing in concert? (1:03)
http://music.aol.com/video/qanda-wha...-aiken/2131331

How do you feel about using your celebrity to help people? (39 sec.)
http://music.aol.com/video/qanda-how...-aiken/2131332

Clay's OMWH AOL Sessions Debuts May 27

Clay was recently in the AOL studios to record a live AOL Sessions Mini-Concert. According to sources at RCA, Clay's concert included 3 songs from "On My Way Here":

• "On My Way Here"
• "Everything I Don't Need"
• "When I Draw the Line"

To get a taste of AOL Sessions, you can watch Clay's "Measure of a Man" AOL Sessions from back in 2003 at Clay's page at AOL Music.

AOL's Mo Rocca Chats with Clay at Benihana Restaurant

AOL News' Mo Rocca had a 5 minute sit down interview with Clay at the Benihana Japanese restaurant in New York City. In the interview, Clay talked about why he loves the restaurant, shares his thoughts on the new album, and picks up a few lessons about "edamame", which he finds out are soybeans, not peas.

Don't miss this interview! It's one of the best ones we've come arcoss in a while!



Thanks to the heads up from Anew and Afresh and the ConCLAYve.

"On My Way Here" Lands at AOL's Full CD Listening Party

The wait is over! Claymates, AOL Full CD Listen Party has the new CD in its entirety for you to listen and enjoy ahead of tomorrow's release.

Make sure you head out to the stores to pick up copies of OMWH. You can also purchase it through online vendors such as Amazon MP3 and iTunes to show your support for Clay.

In OMWH news today:

• Charlotte Observer had 5 questions for Clay, as part of Clay's big media interview tour for the new disc:

  Why the five-year wait between your last album of original material? "We had label folks who had certain ideas. They wanted to do the Christmas album, then the cover album, and had certain marketing ideas."
  
  What makes this album special? "It's something I've been wanting to do for five years, and that makes it plenty special. There's a song on it called `On My Way Here.' We found that song, and the lyrics just really struck me. We already had songs chosen, but we scrapped them because we loved this song. The lyrics are really kind of powerful and almost personal."
  
  Would you perform on Broadway again? "I've had a great time. Would I seek it out again? I don't know. I loved the atmosphere and it's a nice little community the show is a part of."

• Idolator - Clay not looking to be "Justin Timberlake" on new album -

  "I'm not trying to be Justin Timberlake. Thank God we have him, but I'm not him. ... I'm not gonna bring anybody's sexy back." Oh, Clay. Even as you try to erase what fan base you have left with ever more horrifying haircuts, I'm sure there are a few people left who like to imagine the possibility of you showing up in their room wearing nothing but pointy shoes and a Keebler elf cap. Aiken's new album, On My Way Here, comes out tomorrow and its chock-full of power ballads and powerless ballads that describe the struggle that is La Vida Clay. The struggle of a man who went from heartthrob David Cassidy to seething, diva-esque "fine, Broadway it is" David Cassidy In less than a decade.
  

• The Associated Press issued a wire story about the new album -

  Clay Aiken is realistic about his niche in the musical landscape.
  
  "I'm not cool, you know what I mean? I'm not gonna lie," the good-humored singer told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I'm not trying to be Justin Timberlake. Thank God we have him, but I'm not him. ... I'm not gonna bring anybody's sexy back."
  
  Aiken embraces his pop-lite sensibility in "On My Way Here," his first album of all-new material in more than four years.
  
  The 29-year-old "American Idol" alum — he placed second to Ruben Studdard in the Fox show's second season — was the first non-winner to release a successful album, "Measure of a Man," which went double platinum in 2003. He followed that up with two cover albums: "Merry Christmas With Love" and "A Thousand Different Ways."
  
  The North Carolina native has racked up more life experience since his "Idol" days, and felt a deep, personal connection to the songs on the disc.
  

• Merrillville Post-Tribune - time to "Play with Clay" -

  Merrillville's favorite "Idol" (er, runner-up) has a new album dropping tomorrow.
  "On My Way Here" is his first all-original album since 2003. Now to people who don't like/care about Clay Aiken, this isn't such a big deal. But for those very vocal Claymates - and yes, there are loads of you out there - this is a pretty huge deal.
  
  I can't underestimate the power of Clay Aiken. My fiancée herself is a Claymate of sorts, and we've been to a pair of his Christmas shows. Those fans, man, they are crazy about the guy. And by the way, if you type in Merrillville in the YouTube search engine, (or click here) what types of videos will pop up the most? Clay Aiken fan videos, made by Claymates catching him at the Star Plaza Theatre.
  
  So yeah, don't mess with those people. They are a force, I tell you what.

• LiveDaily - new in music this week:

  Clay Aiken [ tickets ]
  "On My Way Here"
  (RCA)
  
  The "American Idol" star, who finished second to Ruben Studdard during the reality show's second season, releases his first album of original material since 2003's "Measure of a Man."
  
  Aiken's last two efforts were a holiday offering (2004's "Merry Christmas with Love") and an all-covers record (2006's "A Thousand Different Ways," which featured the singer's renditions of Top 40 ballads). Most recently, Aiken has been performing nightly on Broadway in Monty Python's "Spamalot."

• Newsday's review of OMWH ... not too great:

  Clay Aiken has always seemed like the most bewildered of the " American Idol" graduates -- his insta-fame cut with a bit of what-just-happened? caution, his music a hit-or-miss split between what he wants and what he's supposed to want.
  
  Five years later, on his second full album of originals, "On My Way Here" (RCA/19), Aiken is starting to figure it out.
  
  He is at his best when he wraps his big voice around big ballads, usually ones with big messages attached. He maximizes the drama on "As Long as We're Here" to poignant effect, with booming phrases that would make Celine Dion proud, followed by vulnerable questioning that emo leading men would secretly admire. He undersells "Something About Us" like it was a classic Johnny Mathis ballad and fills "The Real Me" with a quavering uncertainty that makes it work.
  
  Aiken turns the title track, written by the omnipresent Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, into one of those ballads that could have been written anytime in the past 30 years or, probably, in the next 30. But when he tries his hand at songs that sound timelier -- the poppy "Falling," a clone of his hit "Invisible," or the Pink-ish "Ashes" -- he starts to lose it.
  
  As much as his record company would want him to be, Aiken isn't a crossover pop star. He's a male Celine Dion, a nerdier Michael Bublé, a new-millennium Barry Manilow, and there's nothing wrong with that. The sooner he embraces that, the better his albums will sound. With "On the Way Here," he's not quite there.

• redOrbit via Raleigh News & Observer - Aiken is on his way to a new CD -

  For a man who loves to brag on his hometown, Clay Aiken has barely seen Raleigh in recent months.
  
  Since the beginning of the year, the former "American Idol" contestant, pop hitmaker and Broadway star has spent exactly one night in his own bed. It was a couple of weeks ago, when he flew down from New York on his day off, just to see home for one evening.
  
  So after he finishes promotional duties for his new album, "On My Way Here," which comes out Tuesday, Aiken, 29, plans to spend the summer in the Triangle. Touring will have to wait.
  
  "I'm going to enjoy the backyard a little bit," he says on the phone from New York.
  
  The last few months have been extremely busy for Aiken, as he just finished a 15-week run in the role of Sir Robin in Broadway's "Spamalot." He spent his days in the studio working on the album and his evenings at the theater.
  
  "On My Way Here" is Aiken's first album of original material since 2003's "Measure of a Man." It's also the first album in which his label, RCA, gave him control over which songs to sing.
  
  [...]
  
  The album features eclectic sounds, he said, from pop to a bit of R&B, as well as a couple of songs with big string parts, which he called "almost orchestral."

• Voice of America News -

  NEW ALBUM RELEASES
  
  New albums scheduled for release on May 6 include: "Gavin DeGraw" by Gavin DeGraw, "Home Before Dark" by Neil Diamond, "On My Way Here" by Clay Aiken

"On My Way Here" #1 Song at AOL Music This Week

Wow! 57,000 plays in one week! Clay's new single, "On My Way Here" skyrocketed to #1 on AOL Music's top songs list for this week.

Keep streaming the song at AOL's PopEater blog.

Album Interviews You Tube'd

In case you missed it: Clay's recent interviews about the new album with AOL and MP3.com are up on Clay's YouTube page.

It appears this video is blocked to those of us (including myself) outside the United States.

New Photo Alert: THUD!

I don't think this post requires any write-up. Pure perfection. New RCA press photo courtesy AOL PopEater.

AOL Webisode Promotes New Album

AOL has put out a 1 minute, 23 seconds "webisode" promoting Clay's new album, "On My Way Here", hitting stores on May 6. You can check out the video at AOL Music, or play it in the media player below. The clip is an interview and in-studio tour with Clay, focusing largely on his Grammy award winning producer, Kipper.

More Media Coverage of Spamalot!

AOL Music asks: "Are These Stars Better Off Blond?"

Spamalot is getting even more coverage around the media as a result of that new article and photos from the Associated Press. These Spamalot media coverage reports are off the various message boards:

• MSN TV - Clay's interview with AP was on MSN's homepage yesterday. Although it has been removed, the fantastic interview is still at MSN TV.
• Syracuse Post Standard ... via the CB's snarkystripes -

  On the front banner of the CNY (Lifestyle) section they put that most GORGEOUS new AP interview picture of Clay in the upper corner and it says:
  
  "CLAY AIKEN TAKES ON SPAMALOT"
  "American Idol" finalist Clay Aiken has enjoyed success from his CDs and tours since coming in second to Ruben Studdard. Now, he's making his debut on Broadway as Sir Robin in the Tony Award-winning musical "Monty Python's Spamalot." (Story D 4)
  
  Then I turn to page D -4 and OMG!!! They show that pic of him sitting with his hands clasped (3.5 x 4"). The headline reads "Clay Aiken takes a walk on odd side with 'Spamalot' " Subtitle: The former "American Idol " contestant has made his Broadway debut.
  

• Boston Globe ... via fancynails4:

  On Page B10- The 'NAMES' page (all things for celebrity news updates)- going across the very bottom is a large red arrow with the words (snarkily) "Quite an endorsement" - then this: 'It was, in my opinion, the stupidest thing ever produced. There's no plot.' Clay Aiken, who now stars in "Spamalot" on Broadway, describing his reaction the first time he saw the musical'. Then a small head shot of Clay from the AP interview.
  

• 24 Hours Toronto ... via Khrystah:

  It's the same AP article from yesterday, with a whole LOT snipped out. So that you can read EXACTLY what is in the article (and so that I don't have to squint to try to see and type up all that text...I'm partially blind so it's difficult for me to type up printed articles), I have copied the exact text that was taken from the article which was posted on Yahoo news yesterday and used to create this article. I've also added the headline that the 24 Hours paper used.
  

• Metro Toronto ... mention of the Newsweek interview via the CB's Khrystah -

  Hubby brings me the free 24 Hours and Metro papers everyday when he gets home from work. Well imagine my surprise when I got to page 24 of the Metro paper and saw Mr. Gorgeous looking hawt as heck and smiling right back at me. image
  
  It's a tiny article about the Newsweek interview complete with a BEAUTIFUL fairly recent headshot of him standing in front of the UNICEF backdrop wearing his dark blue suit and the sexiest smile ever while an errant lock of his gorgeous brown hair falls over his forehead.
  

• CTV Toronto News - via the CB's Khrystah -

  I usually watch the local 11:30pm news every night but since Clay debuted in Spamalot, I've been spending all my late nights here reading the fan recaps of he performance. Because of that, I missed the news last night. Fortunately, the same boradcast repeats at 6am the following morning.
  
  So I was up WAAAAY late, couldn't get to sleep this morning (lying on the couch) so I started surfing channels and landed on the local CTV channel here in Toronto. The broadcast had just returned from it's FINAL commercial break and was closing with it's usual "super short" story for the last 30-45 secs of the show. As soon as she said "Well he may have finished 2nd on American Idol" my head whipped up and my eyebrows shot to the top of my head! I KNEW before she said another word that she was about to talk about Clay and his Spamalot debut! image
  
  She then continued with (paraphrasing here) "but now Clay Aiken is aiming to be another kind of Idol". This is when I shot up and squeed so loudly I scared the living daylights out of my poor cat who was sleeping on top of me! image
  
  Basically she talked about how he has taken on the role of Sir Robin on Broadway...pretty much the same stuff that was mentioned in the AP article the other day. It was a super short mention as I said, but it was really nice. While she was talking about it, they showed the pic of him holding the rubber chicken, as well as a few other fairly current ones (sorry I can't remember which ones), one of him in a dark suit and one or two others. Looked like ones that had been taken in the last year or so. They also showed one pic of him from when he was on Idol really belting out a song. image
  

AOL Names Clay "American Idol"'s Biggest Loser

--- and no, it's not bad at all! Clay has been named AOL Television's Bestselling American Idol "loser" -

1. Clay Aiken
SEASON 2 (runner-up)

WHO HE LOST TO Ruben Studdard
WHY HE'S STILL A WINNER Aiken's passionate fan base (the Claymates, benevolent hijackers of message boards everywhere) are so rabid in their devotion that, in addition to nearly 5 million albums, they snatch up things like a "Snuggle Up With Clay" embroidered fleece blanket from Aiken's official site.

AOL Television: Vote for Clay's Appearance on The View

Clay's The View appearance on Tuesday has been nominated in AOL TV's daily poll of the best moments on TV. Head to AOL Television to cast your vote for Clay & The View!

Aiken's Got Moves
'The View'
(Weekdays, ABC Daytime)

Claymaniacs rejoice! Clay Aiken gets all the 'View' ladies down on their knees.