There Was A Man: Still A Star

"it's been almost 5 freakin' months since we've seen
him!! And that's about 4 months too long"

-- A Clay Aiken
fan
from The Clackhouse

Rumours are flying.

It was announced that Clay Aiken will be making an appearance on the AI Finale Show by both ET Online and The Insider. It's been quite a while since Mr. Aiken graced our TV screens, so there was some excitement over this appearance. Whether he will be there are or not is unknown, but the thought of the possibility brings back fond memories of his AI3 Solitaire performance where he looked gorgeous and sounded fabulous.

Singing "Solitaire"

Who can forget the 19 bondage-breaking Fantasy. Earlier, Clay had severed contractual ties with 19M reportedly due to conflict of interest. Clay had signed onto a new management company, The Firm, with Simon Renshaw as his manager. He sang the words:

Its your day, shining day, all your dreams come true

As you glide, in
your stride with the wind, as you fly away
Give a smile, from your lips, and
say

I am free,
yes I'm free, now I'm on my way

Singing "Fantasy"

Truer lyrics were never sung. Clay was on his way with some measure of control over his own career which 19M did not afford him.

So after a year's absence, there is a possibility Clay will again be on the that stage.* He might only be making a non-singing appearance, but that appearance would be seen by more than 30 million people. The American Idol stage might not be where I would want to see him, but realistically the show is a huge pop culture phenomenon. Clay is tied to it for the duration of its existence, so if there is some kind of symbiotic relationship, so be it. Clay hopefully can benefit.

Even if the information that Clay was going to appear on American Idol turns out to be no better than a rumor, it still proved Clay Aiken's star has not dimmed. Entertainment outlets from ET, The Insider, E!, radio stations, newspapers, etc were reporting an appearance by the Season 2 runner-up while virtually ignoring the confirmed appearances of Carrie Underwood and Daniel Powter.

*Latest rumor:

Caught Bill and Sherri's show on the way to work this morning (WRAL FM), and
they mentioned it again - twice. They said they had received a ton of calls and
that it was confirmed again to them that Clay would be performing. They went on
to say that they don't know why there was all kinds of confusion, but that the
information they are getting now is that he will be there, and that he will
perform. They went on to say that with all the hoopla about what will and won't
happen, everyone will just have to tune in to see the finale and find out who
and what actually happens. It was all positive, including their mention about
all the calls they had received.
Posted at The Clack House