Well, I’ve put off my review of Cary and Ashville long enough. So here I go, before I forget the whole thing! Cary first, then I’ll do Ashville later.
I went to both the Cary and Ashville concerts. Needless to say, I was excited about both. Cary because I had a meet and greet, and Ashville because Clay would be singing at the Biltmore Estates! I'll have more to say about that in a later article.
The major review below is of my meet and greet, with just a little bit about the concert. I’ll also mix in some of the pictures I took at the Cary concert below. Be forewarned, this review is rather long.
My flight to Cary left at 5:40 a.m. on Friday, and guess who missed her flight! Not good. Missing that flight means I missed my flight in Atlanta and ended up in Raleigh about 4 hours after I was suppose to arrive. Not good since we had to arrive early to pick up our meet and greet passes. We were a nervous wreck driving over to Cary and hoping we didn’t miss our meet and greet.
Thankfully we got there in plenty of time and they even actually had our tickets and meet and greet passes there! Whew…I could breathe again!
Now this meet and greet was especially important because a dear friend of mine was supposed to go with me to it. 
Linda LaPorte, my friend, passed away after a battle with cancer just a few weeks before the Cary show and meet and greet. She especially wanted to meet Clay and thank him for all the friends he had given to her. I was determined to bring her message to Clay myself. So, I made a picture collage with pictures of her, and I brought a wonderful memorial DVD that a friend made of all our times with Linda.
There were 10 of us in the meet and greet. All lined up in a row like crows on a clothes line! Some of those waiting were nervous, most had never met Clay before, and I (who have met him in the past) was just excited to get to see and talk to him again. It’s so much fun to just be in the same room as he is, and to hear him talk about what’s going on in his career was going to be especially exciting.
Finally, Clay, Jerome, Mary, and Jamie came in. Now, Clay does not just kinda walk in. Without meaning to, he somehow makes a grand entrance. Maybe it’s just me seeing it that way. When all 6’1” of him comes into a room, it just makes you sit up and take notice!
Clay came in and said hello and asked everyone their names. He remembered meeting about 3-4 of us before but couldn’t remember our names. “I’m good at faces but not so good at names,” he told me. He did recognize me, though, and remembered me as the lady who insists that green is his favorite color. He said, “I like your shirt.” I had to look down to see what color it was! I laughed and he said to everyone, “She thinks my favorite color is green. I don’t know where she gets that crazy idea though.” LOL! I will forever be known as the “green lady” I suppose. He can’t remember my name, but he remembers me making a book for him about his favorite color green!
Clay asked us all where we were from…he remembered that I was from Texas. Then he asked if any of us had a list of questions to ask him. A few of us held up our questions…I had about 8 on my list. So he asked who wanted to go first. One person said, “Tell us about Afghanistan.” He said, “That’s not a question!” 
So she rephrased it!! He told us this wonderful story about a little boy who he would have loved to have brought home with him. He said he was so cute. Every day outside his hotel, this little boy was there selling gum. Clay never bought any from him, but on the last day, he gave this little boy $50. He wasn’t sure he should’ve done it, but he did. But the little boy would not take the money unless Clay bought something from him. I can’t remember if Clay said he bought gum or not, but I’m assuming he did.
I wish I could remember every question that was asked, but I can’t. One person asked about his dogs, and he said he missed them but got to spend time with them recently when he came home. Someone else asked him about the architecture on his home – what was it. Clay was like, “Uh, I don’t know.” 
They wanted to know who picked it out and he said he guessed the builder did. I said, “Did they have 4-5 styles for you to pick from?” He said that no, the slab was already poured so he got what was there. He said he wouldn’t have picked that house if he could. He said he’d pick one way back in the trees so people wouldn’t be able to try to find it. I said, “I thought you had a gated community.” He said, “So did I!” Apparently somehow people are able to get through or get within seeing distance of his house. This is a shame, I think, because it’s an invasion of his privacy. Sure, we’d all love to see his house and take a tour of it, but that doesn’t mean we should take it upon ourselves to do it! I hope if anyone is tempted to do this, they will read this and change their minds.
Someone asked him if he picked out anything in particular in his house. He thought and wasn’t sure. We said, “How about your bean bag chair?” He said, yes, he picked that out. I said, “How about your blue and silver dishes?” He said, yes, the blue was his idea. Then he wondered how I could know so much about his house!
I asked Clay how he liked Houston and if he felt love and support there. He said that yes he did, and thought the Houston Symphony was especially good. He said a lot of cities he would like to come to don’t invite him. However, Houston did invite him back for Christmas, but he was not able to fit it into his schedule. This tells me that Houston wants him back. I hope for another concert in Houston in the future!
I also told him that I had heard he wouldn’t be doing a tour over the summer because 
he didn’t have an album out yet. He said he could possibly have the album out by then, but possibly not also. I asked him about doing a jukebox tour or something like that. Apparently they are working on some other things possibly for the summer and trying to work out all the details. Don’t know what they are, but I got the idea that maybe whatever he is working on would take the place of a tour. Only time will tell though.
Someone also asked him why he doesn’t sell his CD’s at his shows. He said that what with the middle man, etc. it would cost too much. He said about $20 per CD. He said that he didn’t feel right selling them for so much when we could go buy them at Wal-Mart for $10.
I wish I could remember the other questions, but I can’t. Anyway, about this time Jamie took up our items to be signed and Jerome started lining us up to get our pictures taken. I remember seeing one girl who wanted her picture to look like they were doing the Tango, so they posed with their arms outstretched as though dancing the Tango. Funny! When I got up there, he asked me what pose I wanted. I said, “I just want a great big hug!” So that’s what I got, along with a nice stubbly cheek on my cheek! Mary took the picture so quickly that I have no clue what kind of crazy look I have on my face!!
Right before Clay had to leave, I went up to him and told him about our friend, Linda, who had passed away. I let him know that she wanted to meet him, not because he was gorgeous or a great singer. He said, “It’s a good thing because I’m not gorgeous.” 
I replied, “Oh yes, Clay, you are gorgeous!” Anyway, I told him she wanted to thank him for all her friends but didn’t get to…that she had been very shy and introverted before, but had become very outgoing after meeting up with all of us. I gave him the picture and DVD I had and told him what they were and that they would show him the friendships she had made. I asked him to please watch it and he said he would on the bus. I trust that he has seen it by now and that he can see how, not just our group, but all groups have formed such close friendships because of him. That he has reached out to all of us without even realizing it and given us friends for life.
Jerome, Mary, and Jamie were all wonderful. Jamie is just as cute as she can be. I made sure to thank Mary for all her work. She works so hard and probably doesn’t get enough thanks for it. Jerome was so sweet. He has to be tough in his job to protect Clay, but he is really so funny. I even accused him of being as snarky as Clay is at one point during the meet and greet!
On the way out, we saw Quiana and stopped and talked with her briefly. Then we passed Angela, Jesse, and Sean. I wish I had stopped to say hi, but all I said was, “Oh look, the gang’s all here!” Why didn’t I stop to say hi?? Jamie’s little boy was out there playing and I also saw Quiana’s little boy.
As for the Cary concert, you’ve all probably heard about it by now. It was great, as always. But it was hot, hot, hot!!! Clay must have said 1000 times how hot it was. And with those lights on them and dancing around on the stage, it must have really seemed like 120 degrees! But he never lets such things stop him from giving a great show. His mom and grandpa were both there and I’m sure other family members. Jerry Aiken was there and I got to meet him and chat with him for a minute. He’s a very nice person and I know he’s going to do great things for BAF.
I’m sure I’m leaving something out, but this is pretty much how it went. I will say this. Clay is just as sweet and wonderful and funny in person as on the stage. What you see is what you get. It’s no wonder we all love him so much.
Another new pic of Clay at Cedar Point last month...
The CB's claysbuttercup99 has uploaded HUNDREDS of NEW photos from the Cary, NC concert... WOW. Check it out at SmugMug.
