Clay and AI2 Rewind -- Looking at Pictures From Four Years Ago - 3rd In Series

The next AI2 Rewind show will go to Austin to audition people to be on American Idol. Surely the great state of Texas has a lot of talent just waiting to be discovered! In fact, this is where Kimberly Caldwell will get her gold ticket to Hollywood. I am thankful that Kim made the finals, because if not, I may never have watched American Idol and been introduced to Clay. Only because I found out a local girl was in the final did I even want to watch the show! Thank you Kim!!

It'll be another great show, another great walk down Memory Lane, and another fantastic narrative by Clay. Here, to remind you of Clay's time on AI2, are a few more pictures for you to enjoy:

Clay and AI2 Rewind -- Looking at Pictures From Four Years Ago

Many of us have already enjoyed watching the first show of American Idol 2 Rewind (New York tryouts), narrated by none other than our own Clay Aiken. If you are like me, I hadn't even planned to start watching AI2 Rewind until the Atlanta auditions...until I heard Clay would be narrating it. All of a sudden those first couple of audition shows sounded a lot more interesting and fun to listen to..uh, er, to watch.

Listening to Clay narrate and watching these shows from the second American Idol are especially fun for me. I didn't get to watch the first half of AI2 the first time around. I didn't watch the first season of AI because I thought it was just "some of that awful teen music that was being played". So why would I watch the second season? Until I found out that a "hometown girl" had made the final 12. That would be Kimberly Caldwell, who is from the Houston area. "Hmmm," I thought, "Maybe I'll watch a couple and root for the hometown girl." Well, all it took was watching the first show to hook me on the skinny southern guy, who I had heard from being on America Online was a nerdy guy with a great voice. That's all I knew about him other than that I had seen a picture of him online at AOL that looked to me like he had stepped right out of the 50's or 60's, and he always came in 2nd place when the AOL voting took place...2nd place to a guy named Ruben Studdard who I knew nothing about either. (2nd Place...seems the AOL members knew as little as the American Public knew about who should have come in first place!).

By now, CDD readers know that I love doing article series with lots of pictures in them. So for the next two or three times, I thought we would look back at some pictures of Clay from AI2 first time around. Not the pictures of him on stage singing. We looked at those not long ago in yet another series! But just hanging out type pictures of him. These AI2 Rewind shows will bring back some great memories, so let's bring back a few more memories with some pictures of our man Clay.


He may have missed making it in Charlotte, but he showed everyone that he doesn't give up easily!


Clay talks to the media after trying out for the three judges in Atlanta.


They liked me...I can't believe they liked me!!


No, I'm not trying to tell yall that I am "square"!

Tidbits 3/20

• The CB's claysladylove says Tyra Banks mentioned Clay on her show today:

  Hi Everyone! I was just watching The Tyra Banks Show and she mentioned Clay and showed 2 pictures of him. One with Ruben and another one from American Idol 5.:confstars :wheee :wheee I thought I would let all of you know that. Also Carmen Rasmussen from American Idol 2 is also a judge on Tyra's show today. Have a Great day!
  

• Freep.com - In the article, "'Idol' Contestants Change Their Looks to Fit The Image of a Star", by Julie Hinds, she says about Clay, "Other contenders require more help from products and flat irons. During Season 2, Clay Aiken's hair was transformed from messy-geeky to artfully tufted. Nowadays, he's evolved post-post-show into a much lengthier, lankier 'do."
• TV Guide - TVGuide.com spoke with Kimberly Caldwell and Rosanna Tavarez, the hosts of TV Guide Channel's Idol Chat, Idol Tonight and Reality Chat, about the Top 12 Idols. When discussing the forgetting of words, Kimberly said:

  "It isn't about, "Oh, my god, I forgot a couple of the words," it's about how you recover and if the audience can't tell you forgot the words. I remember Clay Aiken forgot the words during my season [of Idol], and that was during the top four or five. It's not like, "You're a bad singer and can't be the next American Idol," it's just that Haley and Brandon, both of their faces just went blank. You could tell they were hunting for the words. Do a crazy dance or start doing runs, but don't let the audience know that you forgot.

  It was actually during the Top 3 that Clay forgot the words to "Vincent" because a verse was added at the last minute. But Kim is right...Clay acted like a pro and picked right back up as though nothing had happened. That is because, in my opinion, he is a pro!
• Lycos 50 - Clay has dropped 3 spots to #19 on the Lycos Top 50. He was at #19 two weeks ago, #16 last week, and back to #19 this week. We need to get him back up again! Under his name this week, the caption reads, "March 31st Raleigh concert sold out". This would be the Gala!
• TV Guide via The Clayboard - Clayaikenisthegreatest at The Clayboard tells us this:

  From ObLaDi at the CH: "Just got the new TV Guide (3/26-4/1), and there's a small AI piece (Page 83) called "Loss Leaders." "Here's our favorite half dozen who have proven that winning isn't everything." There's a picture of Clay (from the AMA's) with the caption: Quote: Say what you will about Season 2's runner-up, but the kid's voice is crazy good. And his CD sales totally lap the guy who beat him." ObLaDi said: "It's a small mention, but "crazy good" works for me."

• Newsday - who would give Rosie O'Donnell "dead flowers" for her birthday ... "Kelly Ripa, lambasted for secretly wishing Clay Aiken had worn sanitized gloves when muzzling her."
• The State - review of Jamie Foxx concert ... Foxx jokes about Clay:

  Foxx cracked on Britney Spears, Beyonce and Michael Richards, the “Seinfeld” star who shouted racial epithets onstage and then insisted he wasn’t a racist.
  
  “That’s like me wearing a Tevin Campbell T-shirt to a Clay Aiken concert and sayin’ I’m not gay,” Foxx said. He later explained to the audience how (proper) usage of the N-word can describe such mundane things as the club and girls.

• FastCompany.com - not so good mention ... "The American public doesn't always know what a talented individual looks like. I mean -- Clay Aiken -- need I say more."
  

• Nothing here yet.