Clay Aiken – A Good, Good Year!

By musicfan123 · Comments (15)
Saturday, December 31st, 2011

 Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose.

~From the television show The Wonder Years

 It’s that time, isn’t it? It’s the time of year where we reflect on auld lang syne, remembering mostly the good of the year.  It’s also a time when we are thinking about what lies in the year ahead.

I am grateful for this time.  It is always interesting to reflect on what really happened in the year and look forward to a new beginning full of hope and promise.

As I look back on the part of my life that includes Clay Aiken, I realize that 2011 has been a good, good year.  Yes, Clay was out of the limelight for a long period of time, but the year was filled with so many amazing things I barely remember that time.  Let’s take a look at the year!

 

NHL All-Star Game - 1-30-11

Broadway Backwards - 2/7/11

Tried & True Tour - San Francisco 3/12/11

Durham Bulls Game - 5/9/11

Durham Bulls Game - 5/9/11

WRAL Interview About American Idol - 5/11/11

OutFest - Los Angeles 7/16-17/11

The Talk - 7/18/11

Drop Dead Diva 7/24/11

Secret Mission in New York - Oct & Nov, 2011

Cyndi Lauper -Home For The Holidays 12/4/11

Champions Gala - Raleigh 12/8-9/11

Bring Back My Love 12/20/11

 

Simply Amazing!!  

And… Just think what we have to look forward to in 2012!

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Clay Aiken – Using A Powerful Weapon

By musicfan123 · Comments (10)
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world

Nelson Mandela

Clay Aiken graduated on Saturday, December 20, 2003, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in special education from UNCC’s College of Education.
Clay obtained his degree during an afternoon ceremony at the school’s Halton Arena, and according to people in attendance at the ceremony, he was just another face among all of the black-robed graduates. Others disagreed and said he could be spotted because of his height and his signature spiked hair that stuck out from beneath his mortarboard.

Being the very last of the 593 graduates, Clay’s name was only mentioned as he walked across the stage. When he approached the stage, there were lots of flashbulbs that went off in the arena. As his name was announced, there was lots of applause with an occasional boo from a few hecklers. Because of his appearance at the commencement, the school was forced to impose a first-time limitation on tickets available to the grads. This was an unpopular policy with many of the students although it is commonplace at many universities.

James Woodward was the Chancellor of the university. He said, “One among you has received a bit more attention, and he would like to speak to his class.” He then asked Clay to join him on the stage.

Clay was humble, yet articulate as he spoke to the crowd saying,

“This has been an amazing year for me. This is more special to me than a lot of the things that have happened to me this year, because what happens here today says something to people. This is a day that makes for all of us a statement … how important it is to persevere and continue to work and strive to succeed.

Thank you for letting me be a part of this day. Congratulations and God bless. Thank you so much.”

His short speech was met with immediate and rousing applause.

After the ceremony, Clay held a short press conference where he spoke about the Bubel/Aiken Foundation. He presented a check from the foundation for $25,000 to the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. The Council presents the President’s Volunteer Service Awards to people who demonstrate a sustained commitment to their community. The Foundation’s gift was given to provide awards to those who make a sustained commitment to serving people with developmental disabilities.

Clay’s graduation and his attendance at the ceremony spoke loudly at how important the event was to Clay and his family. That he was able to graduate with all the changes in his life showed determination and purpose. Congratulations to Clay Aiken for the 6 year anniversary of his college graduation.

WRAL covered the graduation and the following video is their report of the event.

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Clay Aiken – His Name is Everywhere!

By musicfan123 · Comments (9)
Thursday, December 1st, 2011

I started Wednesday by looking up “Birthday Quotes.”  The following quote by John Oates caught my eye.  You remember John, don’t you?  He is best known as half of the rock duo Hall & Oates.  John’s quote reminded me of another very talented entertainer.

If you look over the years, the styles have changed – the clothes, the hair, the production, the approach to the songs. The icing to the cake has changed flavors. But if you really look at the cake itself, it’s really the same.

~ John Oates

Hurrah for the National Inclusion Project and the Pepsi vote!! Happy Birthday Clay!! What a great job by the entire ClayNation!!

It was so much fun seeing so many tweets, mentions and articles about Clay Aiken on the Internet.  So many people wanted to wish Clay a Happy Birthday!!  Here are a few fun things I found.

From Twitter:

unicefusa UNICEF USA

Happy Birthday to UNICEF Ambassador @ClayAiken! Thanks for everything you do for the world’s children!

TheBwayLeague The Broadway League

Wishing a wonderful bday to @ClayAiken, Dick Clark, David Mamet, Mandy Patinkin & @RedHourBen. bit.ly/v9RsMx

TVGuide TV Guide

Happy Bday to @KaleyCuoco, @clayaiken, Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) & Elisha Cuthbert! Are they in your #Watchlist? http://bit.ly/qT0nY7
2 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

MadisonAinsley Madison

Just asked to align my product with Clay Aiken. Is this my life? Am I dreaming? I love my product and Clay Aiken

AmericanIdol American Idol

Happy Birthday, @clayaiken!! bit.ly/th0kUE

idolsnow IdolsNow

Happy Birthday to CLAY AIKEN, who turns 33 today.

MichaelOrland Michael Orland

Happy Birthday, Clay Aiken!!!!! Since I can’t write it on YOUR wall, i’m writing it on mine for everyone to see.

Mentions:

WRAL mention

On the morning show with Bill and Linda, they talked about Clay and his birthday.  Bill said, Clay is a whopping 33 years old today, Can you believe?”  After some talk they played “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.  They continued with their memories of Clay after the song.  It was a great segment.

From Norman Byrd at the Myrtle Beach Examiner:

Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken released a collection of Christmas songs that to date has more sold more than three times all other “American Idol” alumni holiday albums combined. With over 1.416 million copies sold, Merry Christmas With Love has sold more than five times the number of albums of his closest colleague, Archuleta (246,000 to date).

Yahoo.com:

This site had a slide show of birthdays.  Clay is #6

YAHOO

American Idol Website:

One of American Idol’s most popular finalists, Clay Aiken, celebrates his birthday today.  Although it’s been nine seasons since Clay was introduced to Idol watchers around the world, he’s still as busy as ever!

Check out the entire article at American Idol

Today is World Aids Day

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988.

This is a day when I thank organizations like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.  It is an easy organization to support.  They enlist the entire Broadway community in the fundraising for fighting aids  and educating people  about aids…one of their mottos is:  What We Do Together Makes A Difference!

Broadway Cares

This is a wonderful time to be a fan of Clay Aiken!

 

 

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Clay Aiken – Brilliant, Clever, and Resourceful

By musicfan123 · Comments (9)
Thursday, September 15th, 2011

The more one learns about Clay Aiken, the more you realize that he is brilliant, clever and resourceful…and he has been that way long before he became a household name.

On Wednesday I was doing some research for a friend and I went to YouTube, hoping to find some information.  BIG MISTAKE!!  Somehow it is easy to get lost in YouTube.  It is a font of so much information.  You can stay there for hours!!

I found some videos of Clay Aiken that I had no idea ever existed…I thought I was somewhat up-to-date on Aiken News…but it seems I missed a lot.

Did you know that the shrewd Mr. Aiken contacted the local Raleigh media outlets when he returned from his audition in Atlanta, Georgia?  Clay auditioned in Atlanta on October 22, 2002. Upon the return to his home, he contacted the media to see if anyone was interested in his American Idol journey.  Within a few days, Lynda Loveland visited Clay at his home in Raleigh and recorded an interview.  He related the story of his Atlanta audition and even sang a few lines from Over The Rainbow and Always and Forever.  On November 2nd, about 10 days after Clay arrived home, WRAL broadcast the first video.

WRAL must have gotten a great response to the interview because the station covered Clay throughout his American Idol journey.  The station broadcast at least 7 different videos of Clay on the show…and Lynda Loveland even covered the finale live, in Hollywood.

The following video is loads of fun to see.  The quality is rather bad, but seeing Clay tell his story is exciting.

 

Fun, isn’t it?  If any of you have any videos of the WRAL shows from 2003, I would love to include them in a CANN blog.  Please e-mail me at musicfan@claynewsnetwork.com

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Clay Aiken – On TV

By musicfan123 · Comments (10)
Thursday, May 12th, 2011

What Happened?  A picture of Clay Aiken was shown on the popular Fox show, American Idol. This is the first time in many years that AI has remembered that Clay was an important part of the early years of the show.

Being completely honest, I do not watch American Idol, but the news of the picture was quickly announced on both Twitter and FaceBook.  The picture showed Clay when he took the private flight to Raleigh as part of the Top Three week on American Idol….Wow, Clay really looked excited!!


Perhaps the very best part of last night was watching the new interview with Clay Aiken on WRAL News.  The interview, broadcast from Clay’s home in Durham was full of positive excitement. The interview covered Clay’s remembrances of being a contestant on American Idol.  The following pictures are some screencaps from the video.

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Clay Aiken – How’s The Weather?

By musicfan123 · Comments (10)
Saturday, September 25th, 2010

May – 2003 – It was a busy month!

  • President Bush safely lands in a jet on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln returning from operations in Iraq. Bush makes a primetime address, surrounded by hundreds of sailors, in which he declares major combat operations in Iraq over while standing in front of a banner reading “Mission Accomplished.
  • The King of Morocco releases 9459 prisoners from Morocco’s prisons in celebration of the birth of his first son and heir, who was named Prince Hassan.
  • After a 40-year wait, Russian fans of  The Beatles finally get to see former Beatle Paul McCartney on the Red Square in Moscow.
  • Legendary entertainer Bob Hope celebrates his 100th birthday, quipping, “I’m so old, they’ve canceled my blood type.
  • Finding Nemo was released into theaters.
  • Boobs! The Musical, opens at the Triad Theater in New York City.
  • Clay Aiken is the weatherman at WRAL in Raleigh, NC.  It is a one-day only event!

What were you doing in May, 2003?

I am so glad I found this great video on YouTube today.  I do remember Clay doing the weather, but I haven’t seen this is a long time!!

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Clay Aiken: WRAL and NBC17 Video Interviews

By Deona · Comments (13)
Thursday, March 11th, 2010

While Musicfan123 is traveling to Raleigh, I will go ahead and post the video interviews with Clay from WRAL and NBC17.


Clay Aiken talks about new album
Former “American Idol” finalist Clay Aiken talks about his new album and upcoming performance in Raleigh.

Dressed in a blue button down shirt and blue jeans, Clay Aiken sat down for an interview with NBC17 Thursday at the Progress Energy Center.

Aiken announced in February that he will perform a one-night only special event to help kick off the release of his new album “Tried and True” and that this concert will be taped which will air sometime in June on PBS.

Within minutes of tickets going on sale, they sold-out. Many of those tickets were bought by some of Aiken’s most loyal fans who said they will travel across the country to see him perform. Something he hasn’t done in quite some time.

“It’s always a surprise when folks are willing to put so much effort forth,” said Aiken.

He was just as much surprised as he was flattered that his fans will travel to see him and is always appreciative for their support.

Among his fans in attendance, Clay said some family and some of his biggest supporters will also be in attendance.

“Quite a few of my teachers are gonna be here, too,” he said excitedly.

Aiken said the album and concert are a product of months of preparation and hopes his fans will have a good time. His concert will take place Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m. at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.

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Clay Aiken – Honest and Truthful Reporting

By musicfan123 · Comments (12)
Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Lynda Loveland is a good friend of Clay Aiken. As a news journalist in Raleigh, North Carolina, she has followed Clay’s entertainment career from the first notes on American Idol.

Because of her honest, truthful reporting, Clay trusts her to report the true story about what he is doing. For that reason, Lynda gets invited to interview Clay and get some scoops.

On February 27th, 2008,  Linda ran a feature on WRAL about Clay Aiken and his new CD.  Lynda had the opportunity to visit Clay in New York and join him in the recording studio.  She watched him work on two songs.  He started with On MY Way Here, a song that eventually ended up the first single of the CD.  Clay also spent some time working on Ashes.  Clay told Linda:

“Someone told me what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.  Ashes talks about bad things that might happen to you.  You know, there’s been some stuff that’s happened in the last five years that I would rather have not happened, but you learn from things like that.”

While talking to Lynda, Clay revealed the producer of the album.  Known as Kipper, he is from the United Kingdom and is best known for producing a Grammy award-winning album by Sting.

Clay told Lynda that picking the songs for the album was a long process. He said:

“The songs have to meet two qualifications; they have to be something I’ll enjoy and that I can do well. And at the same time, they have to kind of fit into this common theme of On My Way Here.”

The following is a video of the interview.  Every time I watch this, I feel so sad that more people didn’t have the opportunity to hear this wonderful album.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPyhIKInIKc

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It is not always about performance art, but about receiving positive energy from people with positive spirits. Sometimes we can see someone's spirit, and those are the people with great energy. Those are the people that get me through the day, especially on Broadway. -Clay Aiken

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