Clay Aiken and his group of fabulous musicians shined brightly Wednesday night as they performed at the Blumenthal PAC in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Clay must have felt right at home as he stepped on the stage and saw the many familiar and friendly faces in the audience.  Among the audience were Clay’s mother and Grandmother, Diane and Emma Bubel, and even a long time school chum named Audra.  She was introduced to us in Clay’s book, ”Learning To Sing”.   Among the full auditorium, there were many friends, old and new, and fans from throughout the country.

The Charlotte concert marks the midway point of the Tried and True concert.  The 22-city tour closes on March 12^th in San Francisco, California.

On Wednesday, there was another group of wonderful articles about Clay and the Tried & True Tour.  Each one was positive and even though the headline was written to attract attention (as it should), had nothing but praise for Clay and his music

James Grant is a feature writer for Fort Wayne.com.  This is a part of the News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  James conducted a wonderful telephone interview with Clay about his up-coming concert on March 2^nd, at the Embassy Theatre in Fort Wayne.  Clay talked about the PBS special that was filmed last March.

“We’re doing it a little bit differently from the PBS special, just to kind of give us some flexibility in the music we do, … (and) the order we do it in,” Aiken said in a telephone interview.

“The PBS special was such a big production itself; in order to take that on the road, you kind of lose some of the intimacy that I like to have in the show … . It’s the same vibe, it’s the same sound, but it’s not going to look exactly the same.”

While the PBS concert was a big production, more important to Aiken was the fact the show was shot in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C., in front of family, friends and people who made an impact on his life.

“I had about 15 to 20 teachers who had taught me at various grades all the way from second grade up to senior year, college actually,” Aiken said. “I had one teacher from every grade except for first and kindergarten who were at the show. That was probably the neatest thing, to be able to do it (the PBS concert) in the theater that I grew up seeing shows in and had not performed in before or had not performed in since ‘Idol’ at all.”

Please visit the article by Mr. Grant and the entire article.  He has also included a link to the phone interview with Clay.  You can read the article at FORTWAYNE.COM

WCNC is News Channel 36, a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Clay appeared in station for a live interview.  The hosts had met and interviewed when he was first on American Idol and seemed to enjoy the conversation with Clay.  The headline is “It’s None of Your Business” as Clay addressed his decision to come out on People Magazine.

“I wasn’t in the closet before,” he said. “I was out to friends here in Charlotte; I was out to pretty much everyone I knew. I feel like there’s a little bit of hypocrisy there. People who are gay who live in Charlotte, who live anywhere else, they don’t have to come out to the world. And I didn’t either. People knew, I had told my family, I’d told friends, people knew but I had not told ‘you’ and it’s none of your business.”

Please visit this wonderful site.  They have the written article, a video of the interview and a great slide show.  You can see this at WCNC

ExploreLI is a part of Newsday, Long Island.  Glenn Gamboa wrote about his interview with Clay.  The Tried and True Tour will make a stop on Long Island on Saturday, February 26^th.  The concert will be held at the NYCB Theatre in Westbury, Long Island.

Clay talked on many subjects including his stint on American Idol, his involvement in GLSEN, and his choice of music.  About the record industry, Clay said:

The industry is more interested in immediate hits rather than careers that last.

The music industry has certainly changed.

It’s in the process of reinventing itself and we have to look at things in a different way. A few years ago, you had to have a major label behind you. Now, it doesn’t necessarily behoove you to have one…. just won the Grammy for Album of the Year and they’re on a tiny, tiny label in Durham, near where I’m from and that’s not exactly a music industry Mecca. With everything changing so fast, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be in a long-term deal. It restricts you.

Please visit EXPLORELI and read the entire article by Glenn.  It is an interesting read.

Isn’t it wonderful to read all the interesting articles and interviews about Clay Aiken?  I hope there are many more in the next week.

Today is Greenville, South Carolina.  So, any guesses on which sweater Clay will wear?