Golfing for Inclusion: The Photos

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Six Years and Counting

Today is the 6th anniversary of "Take"--the first time many of us heard Clay sing in the Atlanta audition episode on American Idol. To commemorate the occasion, here is this lovely retrospective montage by hosaa:





For other wonderful blogs on Clay Aiken, visit Carolina On My Mind and Clayigraphy: In Honor of the Sixth Anniversary of "Take"....


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Golfing for Inclusion: The Performances

Here are the promised performance videos from yesterday's charity benefit:

Vocals by Clay Aiken and Ben Cohn on piano



~I Don't Have The Heart to Hurt You~


~This Is The Moment~


~Right Here Waiting~


~Proud of Your Boy~


~Mandy~


~Sorry Seems to be the Hardest World~


Among the many auction items was a dinner for four with Clay which went for an amazing $35,000. Awesome.



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Golfing for Inclusion

Hot off the presses pictures from the golf course at Mirasol Country Club where The Bubel-Aiken Foundation is holding their second annual Golfing for Inclusion. First up golf, then dinner, an auction, and a performance by Clay in the early evening.







Clay is traveling around on a golf cart visiting with the golfers and taking group pictures. Stay tuned for more reports and hopefully some performance video.

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Small Steps to a Bigger Problem

From One.org:

I’m Clay Aiken, and I am a UNICEF Ambassador.

The U.S. Fund for UNICEF is proud to be a partner of ONE. ONE has mobilized millions of Americans to speak up about the importance of tackling global poverty – saving and improving lives around the world.

I’ve had a chance to see many wonderful children, full of laughter and hope, in even the poorest places around the world. And I’ve seen the incredible work of UNICEF to help those children and their families survive and thrive. But I have also seen children sick and dying from lack of basic nutrition and medicines. And I cannot forget that despite UNICEF’s work, 25,000 children die every day, mostly from preventable causes. I believe that number should be “zero”– no child dying unnecessarily.

All of us can help to save children’s lives – individuals, nonprofits, corporations, and governments.

So I am asking President Barack Obama to launch a Presidential Initiative to Accelerate Child Survival. And I am asking YOU to join me, by signing a petition to the President.

ONE supporters care about helping the most vulnerable people on our planet. Please join me in telling the next President of the United States that Americans want him to make global child survival a top priority. For more information and to sign the petition, go to:
http://volunteers.unicefusa.org/activities/advocate/presidential-initiative-to.html.

-Clay Aiken, UNICEF Ambassador

Also visit Tap.org



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Montage of the Day: An Obama Love Story

In honor of the inauguration of our 44th President, here is a montage dedicated to the First Couple. The creator of this montage was contacted by the Inaugural committee for permission to play it at one of the balls.



~"Something About Us" performed by Clay Aiken~

~~Lyrics~~

Something About Us

Stop the music, play the song
We'll dance together all night long
The spotlight glows, somehow it knows,
That there's something about us
Something about us

People smile when they walk by
There's too much magic to deny
A fool can see we're meant to be
'cause there's something about us,
Something about us

The words on every poet's tongue
Every love song ever sung
About us, it's about us
From Romeo and Juliet,
To plays they haven't written yet
It's old and new, it's a classic tale of two
Of our perfectly perfect love

You can see it in our ways
In how we spend our nights and days
A crazy laugh, a photograph
There's just something about
Something about us

The words on every poet's tongue
Every love song ever sung
About us, it's about us
From Romeo and Juliet,
To plays they haven't written yet
It's old and new, it's a classic tale of two
Of our perfectly perfect love

So stop the music, play the song
And we'll dance together all night long
We'll reminisce of moments like this
Cause there's something about us
Something about us
Yes, there something about us..



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The Cluben Lives

Clay went to Ruben's show, Ain't Misbehavin', in Greensboro last night. Here's a lovely photo of Ruben and Clay looking not too much different than they did in 2003.



~2009~



~2003~


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2008: What a Year!

As we are starting a new year, I look back on 2008 as a time of change within the fandom. We've been on this road with Clay for over five years, and it's never been an easy path, but the best things in life aren't easy or handed to you on a silver platter. We experienced the highs of success and the lows of unfilled expectations. As a fandom, we've laughed, cried and had fun together. The fandom has forged individual friendships that go beyond Clay Aiken. Not all the faces and online names are the same or perhaps even quite as many, but for those of us still here, the best it yet to come.

Professionally in 2008, Clay Aiken took Broadway by storm, released a beautiful, personal (if under-promoted album), went to a dangerous and war-torn Somalia for UNICEF, and raised a lot of money for both The Bubel-Aiken Foundation and Broadway Cares. 2008 has been perhaps the most freeing and happiest year personally for Clay Aiken. He and his dear friend, Jaymes Foster had a beautiful baby boy, he decided to satisfy the invasive curiosity of the media and told us that he is indeed gay, and hopefully has found romantic love. That's a lot for one year, but what the heck, Clay has always been a multi-tasker. One thing is evident, there is an aura of happiness--genuine happiness, not a switch he throws on for the public--about the man these days. It suits him.

I was going to do a timeline respective for 2008, but others have done them much better than I could. Check out ClaySpots for a great timeline. Instead I bring a few of my favorites moments and photos from the year.

An Extraordinary Man

And for a another look at 2008, here is a fantastic montage by the talented Suz4:

~My Favorite Things: 2008~

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Discovered Treasures

Two more video surfaced for songs from A Thousand Different Ways. RCA must have recorded several videos (let's face it--they didn't cost a helluva lot) before deciding on which song to release as a single. As we know, they decided on "Without You" which, while a great song that Clay song the shanitz out of, was probably the wrong choice since it is so well-known.


~These Open Arms~



~Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word~

Clay Aiken video These Open Arms Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

---

All Good Things Come To An End

Photo Montage by fountaindawg



On January 4th Clay Aiken played his last performance playing Sir Robin after 123 performances in his first run and 110.5 in his second run. The Shubert Theatre full of love from cast, crew, and fans alike. Alas, the end of the Spamalot Broadway era is coming to an end for good. January 11th the lights will dim for Spamalot for the last time. I wouldn't be surprised at a revival of this wonderful show somewhere down the line.

From the boards:

I have to mention the huge applause that greeted ALL the cast members when they first appeared on stage. It was amazing and they were eating it up. When Tom came on to start the introduction, the applause was deafening and it was hysterical. He waved at the audience, which made everyone crack up. When the LOTL walked out to do here "Diva's Lament", she was again greeted with applause and she said "Thank you", in a funny way, and which she has never said before, and we all cracked up agaiin. It just continued like that all evening and was a big hoot.

The overture started. Tom/historian got such a loud applause when he entered. It was hillarious. The show felt like family tonight. It was very different from how it felt on Friday where it was more NJU and not even people familiar with the play Spamalot. Today it felt like people saying inside jokes to one another...only they weren't inside jokes...they were the jokes in the play itself and we all knew them...and we were relishing them. It's so hard to explain. Everybody when they came out got huge applause. It was love given to the whole cast. But Tom got so bemused with the applause that was so loud and wouldn't stop.
Clay? What can I say. There was love in that theater tonight. When his cute head popped out of that tower he got the loving...the applause was pretty dang loud. I don't know if there was anything "special" so much as the cast was loose and doing practical jokes on Clay...like not pulling him back to stop him yodeling on All For One. He got thunderous applause for Idol of my age...and it was the first time for the Redux that I couldn't hear the next lines...and the golden larynx line at all.

Oh our Dear Robin!!! Huge standing O at the end. We did show him the love and he did smile as he stood there with damp messy wonderful Clay hair.

The house lights dimmed... a warning about cell phones was given (yeah, right!)... the trumpet player was ‘shot’ which elicited a somewhat nervous laugh from the audience. We all knew that this was going to be special... little did we know HOW special!

The Historian walked out on stage and the applause erupted... he let us ‘get it out of our systems’ for a bit (yeah, right!) and then motioned us to silence. The curtain was raised and David received enthusiastic applause to show him our appreciation. We heard the clip clop signifying the arrival of King Arthur who was showered in applause as well. We held our collective breath as we knew that Clay’s appearance in the tower was imminent... and then... there he was... The theatre exploded with our applause... we were allowed but a few seconds of it and the show went on. When Rick appeared, the same love shown David was bestowed upon him.

When Bradley declared that he is a man... we showed him our love... and when Merle emerged from the ‘lake’ she was greeted by our enthusiastic applause as well.

Then came the ‘introduction’ of the knights... when Sir Robin joined the line-up of knights... the applause simply would not die down... so he shrugged, walked back into the wings and reappeared a few seconds later, to our obvious delight... The Historian acknowledged that we were certainly all aware of Sir Robin’s prowess but felt he should deliver the line anyways... While all this was going on, poor Patsy could not contain his guffaws!!! When Clay hit the high note of the yodeling, Lancelot and Galahad left him hanging and did not pull him back which resulted in Clay holding that note for a good long time until he backed up of his own volition once he realized that they were not going to pull him back!

And then the magic of YWSOB happened... Clay was simply magnificent... Put new little twists and intonations here and there even then, his last show!!!!! After shushing us, he walked to the piano, gingerly sat down, making very sure that the lift of his tabard did not reveal anything of his backside... he waited for the unavoidable AWWWWWWWWWWWWWs, turned around and gave us a ‘Gotcha’ look... priceless!!!! When he finished his number, four or five brave souls in the audience stood up and within seconds, Clay had a full standing ovation that went on and on and on.... The King and Patsy both had these goofy grins on and looked on Clay with this almost paternal pride... Clay in the meantime was making coocoo gestures to show the King that we are crazy... Yes Clay, we ARE crazy... crazy about you!!!!

By the time final curtain call started, the entire audience was standing, so the girls from the ensemble came out on stage to find us on our feet, letting them know that they too have been embraced by Clay’s fans... When the guys came out, a few of them had surprised looks on their faces but they hammed it up and soaked it up... Every character cast member received proof of our appreciation for an outstanding run on Broadway... When the LOTL came out, she took her bow and motioned us: “Just a minute!” and... then Clay appeared without his wig... No longer Brave Sir Robin, but our dear Clay... as much as the Shubert may have erupted before... now we simply blew the roof off!!!! Clay ever gracious... refused to let us go on and started the ALOTBSOL... At the end, he reached into the orchestra pit and shook the conductor’s hand – he is one class act!!!!

Yes, I think a good time was had by all.

So now, Broadway is at an end for now. Until we meet again.



Waving goodbye to fans one last time from ledge of the Shubert.




Spotlight Video: Good-bye Sir Robin by luluasst





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Spotlight Video: Year in Review 2008

It's been quite the year for Clay and the fandom. Here is a wonderful retrospective montage by Dreamlarge:



and a wonderful retrospective picture montage by fountaindawg:



or to view in large size, please click the thumbnail, and then click again when image appears:



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