It has been 6 months since I last blogged so what has changed. The economy now sucks, many people have lost their jobs, Waterford Crystal has declared bankruptcy and Spamalot has closed. But the one thing that remains the same is the Clay Nation.
The shock of the news that there would be a Baby Aiken brought the Clay Nation to a stop. We sat by our computers waiting to hear from the man himself. We were ignored. Then the baby was born to a 50 year old women and a closeted gay man. The meticulous timing to have that baby born at 8:08 on 8/8/08 must have taken quite some planning. We heard the news from Clay himself then waited patiently for pictures and further detail.
Then the introduction of this baby to us on the cover of "People" where his father announced to the world he was gay was to some of the "holier then thou" Clay Nation the biggest shock and deal breaker with them. But to most of the fans "finally" the Clay Nation was able to discuss the true Clay or so we thought. The angst and the bitterness was rampant on Clay's own fan site. The fire was fuel when Baby Aiken's mother posted to the fans which alienated the nation even more. Her "ding ding ding" really made me dislike like her more than I already did.
The mother is Clay's Executive Producer of his last two CDs of which neither was highly acclaimed or successful. He says she is his Best Friend. Before the baby news was leaked in May there had been quite a discussion that she was a lousy EP and that she had to go. After finding out her role in the baby making I guess she will always be around holding Clay and his music back in the past, the forties, fifties, seventies and eighties. When she stepped into his personal life she should have stepped out of his professional life. To me she took the hottest music commodity of 2004 "Clay Aiken" and brought him to what he is today, a fuel for tabloid gossip who cannot even sell his CDs or get radio play. Is the best yet to come as she said or has the ship sailed? With no news down the road except maybe baby #2 what does the Clay Nation have to look forward to?
Clay avoids the Clay Nation. He doesn't blog on his fan site. I'm still waiting for a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, thanks for buying my CD or thanks for coming to see me in Spamalot blogs. For someone who is constantly on his computer this seems a strange way to treat the people who pay his bills. He inconsistently did the stage door during Spamalot disappointing many fans who traveled far to see him. He spent an entire 30 seconds above Shubert Alley on his closing night and was gone before many fans could even spot him.
In December we told by a tabloid that Clay has a "friend". Was the leak several days before the "Star" intentional so we could get know him. I feel so. Many fans fell a little in love with the quite talented and good looking "flying monkey". He left his My Space open so we could get to know him. Now again we are shut out of Clay's life.
Clay has not shown his fans a picture of his "family" recently. The family he would not have if there had been no Clay Nation. The Special Ed Teacher in North Carolina would never have met the Sainted Executive Producer from California if it wasn't for America Voting.
Do we have a "right" to know is not the question. Of course we have no "right". But as someone who needs his Clay Nation for his work, it would be nice to interact with his fans more than he does.
Someone has started a new blog who wanted to share things with the Clay Nation. Again we find we have the "haves" the secret behind the scene message boards who have tons of clack of Clay and the "have nots". We have the fan police trying bully this blogger. We have people attacked because they said they didn't like a outfit worn by Clay. Nothing has changed. The Clay Nation itself has made it difficult for people who want to be fans to come on board and the media who is just tired of the constant harassing they receive whenever then mention Clay.
Time will only tell what lies ahead in Clay land. But as of now it looks like it will be bleak.
Just Me!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Why Do We Have To Fight
Today I made a comment on my home Clay Aiken board an within minutes I had the usual suspects telling me my opinion is wrong. It's funny. It's always the same people. The people who think nothing is wrong in Clayland.
In Clayland we have two extreme ends of his fandom. Then we have the rest of us who are really the majority but in most cases are afraid to say anything. We have the "haters" on one side. They spend their life trying to bring Clay down. They discuss him 24/7 and no matter what he does find fault with him. They talk about his music, his looks, and his humanitarian work. They call him evil incarnate.
Then you have the extreme opposite. The "do-goers". Their "job" is to defend Clay even though he has told them to stop it and ignore all the crap that is said about him. They engage the "haters", the media and fans. They attack any fan that goes against their agenda. They call you a bad fan. They have a wall of shame. I'm sure I'm on it having been banned at one time.
Most of us fall somewhere in between. We support Clay and his projects. He has brought awareness of the plight of children in many areas of the world and the misconception that most people have about children with disabilities. We support his music. We love to go the concerts, many time more than once because of the friendships we have made though our Clay fandom.
Do I believe that Clay is perfect? No. He has his faults and his fallacies. Don't we all. He was thrust into the limelight. Every word that he has uttered publicly has been dissected to pieces. Things he said five years ago are still used against him. He is no longer the naive young man that we saw in 2003 but a man whose life has been torn asunder.
This summer bought us new gossip. We haven't heard from either principles but yet everyone feels they know the truth. We have several more weeks before the expected event and I hope at that time the principles will share their reasons and feelings. It's their private life and they have every right not to, but that would be the first step in healing this fandom. Many people just want to hear from Clay. Let the fans leave if they can't accept Clay as he is and not try to make him fit their perception.
I have said before that Clay had me at "take" and I am here for the long run. My love for Clay is unconditional.
Just Me!
In Clayland we have two extreme ends of his fandom. Then we have the rest of us who are really the majority but in most cases are afraid to say anything. We have the "haters" on one side. They spend their life trying to bring Clay down. They discuss him 24/7 and no matter what he does find fault with him. They talk about his music, his looks, and his humanitarian work. They call him evil incarnate.
Then you have the extreme opposite. The "do-goers". Their "job" is to defend Clay even though he has told them to stop it and ignore all the crap that is said about him. They engage the "haters", the media and fans. They attack any fan that goes against their agenda. They call you a bad fan. They have a wall of shame. I'm sure I'm on it having been banned at one time.
Most of us fall somewhere in between. We support Clay and his projects. He has brought awareness of the plight of children in many areas of the world and the misconception that most people have about children with disabilities. We support his music. We love to go the concerts, many time more than once because of the friendships we have made though our Clay fandom.
Do I believe that Clay is perfect? No. He has his faults and his fallacies. Don't we all. He was thrust into the limelight. Every word that he has uttered publicly has been dissected to pieces. Things he said five years ago are still used against him. He is no longer the naive young man that we saw in 2003 but a man whose life has been torn asunder.
This summer bought us new gossip. We haven't heard from either principles but yet everyone feels they know the truth. We have several more weeks before the expected event and I hope at that time the principles will share their reasons and feelings. It's their private life and they have every right not to, but that would be the first step in healing this fandom. Many people just want to hear from Clay. Let the fans leave if they can't accept Clay as he is and not try to make him fit their perception.
I have said before that Clay had me at "take" and I am here for the long run. My love for Clay is unconditional.
Just Me!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A McCain Tribute
Yesterday morning I decided to start this blog because of something that happen on the message board that I frequent. There has been a YouTube video of Obama and his wife and a person was posting the hit numbers followed by a dancing banana. Doesn't seem like much but it set several of us off. I told the person posting that it seemed that they were pushing their own political agenda onto the board which is a no no. Of course their answer to me was that it was just viral marketing of Clay Aiken so that the not just us fans can hear his music. They could be right.
I also said in all fairness then where is the John McCain video to Clay's music on YouTube? Well today there is one. It's a beautiful tribute to Mr McCain set to my favorite song off of Clay Aiken's new CD ON MY WAY HERE. The song is Ashes. You can listen to it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK5S-3IMBQA
Let's give it YouTube hits.
Thanks for reading,
Just Me
I also said in all fairness then where is the John McCain video to Clay's music on YouTube? Well today there is one. It's a beautiful tribute to Mr McCain set to my favorite song off of Clay Aiken's new CD ON MY WAY HERE. The song is Ashes. You can listen to it here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK5S-3IMBQA
Let's give it YouTube hits.
Thanks for reading,
Just Me
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
It's Just Me
In 2003 I was a computer illiterate. I didn't even know how to log onto to the Internet. My family had banned me from using the computer if they were not around since I had locked everyone out of the Internet.
Then came the summer of 2003 and a runner-up from a reality show came into my life and my life hasn't been the same since. My computer skills have greatly improved. I can now surf the web. Do my banking online. Book vacations and communicate with all my family and friends. This doesn't sound like much to some of you but to a middle-aged women it's quite an accomplishment.
I have been a member of several message boards and lately I have been disillusioned. It's seem you can only post what a few chosen members want to hear otherwise you are attacked viciously and told that your opinion is wrong. Post are deleted, post are edited and the reprimand from an administrator and the post that say your opinion is wrong follows. Where can I go to voice my opinion? Why here. This is the reason that I decided to start this blog. You can agree with me or not but here I don't care. This is my blog.
Yes I am a fan a Clay Aiken. He had me from the moment when he sang "take". I voted throughout the season and was disappointed when he was not "allowed" to win. Why, we will never know but many people think he did. The day after the "anomaly" as it is called in Claydom I started looking for information on this remarkable young man with the beautiful voice. My computer days began.
I have followed his career and with my husband and family have attended many concerts and this past spring Spamalot. I have met many wonderful people though my fandom. But then again there are the over the top fans that embarrass us all. I don't consider myself one of them. They are just are clueless that they do more harm to Clay's career than good. They give the hate bloggers and talk show host fodder of making jokes at Clay's expense. They respond to every negative mention or appeared diss of Clay causing more fuel to the fire. I am tired of being ridiculed by these people because of these few over-top-fans.
Why all the hate? Why so much time hating on the man. I have read where they say Clay only stays in 5 star hotels when he travels with UNICEF. But in an interview from yesterday from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/sfl-0706celebtravel,0,6215686.story he tell about while visiting Afghanistan he stayed in a bare bones hut with no toilets or running water. Today he posted about his trip last month to Somalia. You can read it here. http://fieldnotes.unicefusa.org/field_visit/.
I wish there were more people in the world like Clay Aiken. I seems that he is doing and living his life his way. He is trying to make a difference in this world. Not trying to make a buck.
In the future I will not always blog about Clay but hope to voice my thoughts about other subjects. Thanks for reading.
Just me!
Then came the summer of 2003 and a runner-up from a reality show came into my life and my life hasn't been the same since. My computer skills have greatly improved. I can now surf the web. Do my banking online. Book vacations and communicate with all my family and friends. This doesn't sound like much to some of you but to a middle-aged women it's quite an accomplishment.
I have been a member of several message boards and lately I have been disillusioned. It's seem you can only post what a few chosen members want to hear otherwise you are attacked viciously and told that your opinion is wrong. Post are deleted, post are edited and the reprimand from an administrator and the post that say your opinion is wrong follows. Where can I go to voice my opinion? Why here. This is the reason that I decided to start this blog. You can agree with me or not but here I don't care. This is my blog.
Yes I am a fan a Clay Aiken. He had me from the moment when he sang "take". I voted throughout the season and was disappointed when he was not "allowed" to win. Why, we will never know but many people think he did. The day after the "anomaly" as it is called in Claydom I started looking for information on this remarkable young man with the beautiful voice. My computer days began.
I have followed his career and with my husband and family have attended many concerts and this past spring Spamalot. I have met many wonderful people though my fandom. But then again there are the over the top fans that embarrass us all. I don't consider myself one of them. They are just are clueless that they do more harm to Clay's career than good. They give the hate bloggers and talk show host fodder of making jokes at Clay's expense. They respond to every negative mention or appeared diss of Clay causing more fuel to the fire. I am tired of being ridiculed by these people because of these few over-top-fans.
Why all the hate? Why so much time hating on the man. I have read where they say Clay only stays in 5 star hotels when he travels with UNICEF. But in an interview from yesterday from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel http://www.sun-sentinel.com/travel/sfl-0706celebtravel,0,6215686.story he tell about while visiting Afghanistan he stayed in a bare bones hut with no toilets or running water. Today he posted about his trip last month to Somalia. You can read it here. http://fieldnotes.unicefusa.org/field_visit/.
I wish there were more people in the world like Clay Aiken. I seems that he is doing and living his life his way. He is trying to make a difference in this world. Not trying to make a buck.
In the future I will not always blog about Clay but hope to voice my thoughts about other subjects. Thanks for reading.
Just me!
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