I love classic rock. I love nerds and smart people. And geeks. You may already have known that. I like odd looking people (see Clay Aiken). But hey, this guy is the epitome of all that.

You may have already known that I was a major Clay and Taylor Hicks fan. Clay — because he’s a spectacular vocalist and Taylor, because he was a charismatic, fun performer.

I thought (and even swore) that American Idol would never come up with anyone I’d “idolize” to this degree. Well I was wrong. I do believe that David Cook is my most favorite contestant on American Idol ever. EVER. That’s hard to say, especially being an almost “rabid” Clay fan 4 years ago. But here’s why.

David Cook is cool.
He looks interesting (the hair is off somewhat, but getting better). So he’s falling into the strangely handsome category for me, plus did you see his baby pictures??! I mean, what were those? I always thought ALL babies were beautiful but MAN, now I’m not quite sure…
David Cook has awesome vocals and is almost pitch perfect. He glory notes the way Clay Aiken does. So that gets me.
David Cook sings ROCK. My favorite genre of music ever. No, not hard or metal or southern rock. Classic or alt. rock are my preferences. So he falls squarely into that niche.
He performs like a true rocker should. Not a poser, not like Robbie whatever-his-name-is. Sorry, don’t want to offend anyone here but that other guy Robbie Carrico was just giving off some kind of boy bandish vibe.

Those are my reasons for loving David Cook and why I believe he’s the best American Idol contestant I’ve ever seen and heard.

Oh and the comparisons to Chris Daughtry and Bo Bice? Well, as they’ve said everywhere else, “different strokes for different folks”. I have mp3s from Chris and Bo and I still prefer David’s voice. There’s a deep polish to it. But again, that’s just my opinion.

If you’ve heard some of David Cook’s pre-Idol songs, you’ll know what I mean.

It’s just like when you hear an old song and you are sent back to a time when you heard it elsewhere, or when you fall ill and some kind of strange regression takes place and you feel deja vu about being sick in bed as a kid under the care of a guardian. Perhaps it’s some Pavlovian thing that happens to me but I certainly get that effect with tv shows that really pack me a punch….most notably this one.

There are already American Idol Season 6 advertisements appearing and reminding us that they’ll be back in January. Just great — I can’t wait to revisit my old haunts such as the boards, the spoiler sites and this special place: the awesome DialIdol site.

DialIdol is where all the post AI performance night activities culminate and you find out whether your voting efforts are really paying off. It’s a real-time vote tracker for the show and being the geek that I am, I find it fascinating how it works. It extrapolates voting totals using downloadable software that people use to set up and track their land line calls for specific American Idol contestants. It counts busy signals from your phone, using this as the measure for “popularity” when you call for certain contestants and through some formula calculates the contestants’ relative rankings. And recently, the site has expanded to cover more programs that involve audience voting such as So You Think You Can Dance?, correctly predicting Benji as the winner and Celebrity Duets, again correctly placing Alfonso Ribeiro on top. It now is in use during Dancing With The Stars and is there to confirm what is known all along, that Joey Lawrence and Mario Lopez are leading in votes.

It is such a great invention and am glad it’s around to keep things honest for the producers of these talent shows. Can’t wait to play this game again.

Where’s that drool bucket when you need it? The metamorphosis of Clay is just reaching its peak. I can’t believe the scrawny guy from American Idol Season 2 is now this pop deity.

Last week, its second week on the charts, Clay’s “A Thousand Different Ways” found its way to #8 with 74,000 units sold — a slide from second place with 211,000 sold on the first week. Justin Timberlake’s “FutureSex/LoveSounds” moved down to #5 from #1 after 3 weeks.

C’mon Clay fans… where’s the love? Well, to answer my own question — it’s reportedly a downward trend for physical album sales. Sales by this medium are being cannibalized by digital music sales, such that general CD sales are down 5 percent from last year. To see how it all stacks up, here’s how Clay’s first week of album sales have done historically:

To place those numbers into perspective though, A Thousand Different Ways made the Digital Sales chart at #3 and the Internet Album chart at #1. I know not what the real numbers are for these charts though. Still, that’s something to sing about.

It all doesn’t change the fact that Clay’s pop star is shining quite brightly. The Magical Mystery Tour look totally becomes him, so much so that the folks who used to tease me about liking Clay for his nerdiness are now curiously asking how he got to look so attractive. The guy grew up and gained some weight, that’s what. And to be real, it helps to have deep pockets; pockets whose depth and thickness I’m contributing to, quite happily.

To see how your other favorite idols are faring, check out this chart watch!

 
 
Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol, Claymania, Claymates, ClayNation, Measure of a Man, Bubel Aiken Foundation, Simon Cowell, Justin Timberlake, clack, music, music charts, television, celebrities

I am no longer a People Magazine subscriber since I started downsizing my subscriptions and periodicals. But the October 2, 2006 issue of People with Anna Nicole Smith and her son Daniel on the cover, contains this humongous spread and article on Clay Aiken, so I had to snatch it up from our local grocery stand with utmost immediacy.

That was a nice cap to the Clay buzz that went on for the last couple of weeks, and am just glad Clay’s doing so well. His album, A Thousand Different Ways, is #2 — it actually sold 211,000 — second to Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds on the first week of release. For a cover album, I think it’s a superb effort.

What is also superb is how Clay is handling his interviews with the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, Larry King and Diane Sawyer. As interviews go, they always ask the same questions, so this helps to allow for crafted, well rehearsed responses once you hit the tube. But leave it to Clay to inject his trademark gregariousness into every appearance, making it always fresh. So no matter how squirmy those questions can make him feel, Clay is always ready with a hearty chuckle to bring his points home, which are:

• yes he’s on Paxil and it helps prevent his panic attacks no thanks to the castigating bullies of the world who have been harrassing him all these years
• no he’s not answering the gay rumors because it’s none of anyone’s business and whatever he says won’t change anyone’s impressions anyway
• he wants to have kids one day in the biggest way, so I’m putting myself on the line here by saying, see he’s not gay; he wants to be a father so badly he can’t be gay, right?

Out of all the interviews and appearances I’ve seen of Clay the last couple of weeks, my favorite has been the one he made on Jimmy Kimmel. What I find so intriguing is how much the relationship between Clay and Kimmel has evolved over the last three years. As it goes, when Clay first got out of American Idol, Jimmy Kimmel was a late night host who catered to a predominantly male audience. And to cater to them, Kimmel would continually bash Clay, using him as the butt of the rudest late night “humor” you could imagine. What followed was nothing short of amazing as Clay’s fans bandied together to protest Kimmel’s actions. I remember participating in many a spamming session designed to bring down Kimmel’s star. Sure, I was impassioned then, but that was three years ago and was going through some “first-time parent jitters”. I’m not as melodramatic now. But nevertheless, something happened — perhaps Jimmy Kimmel heard our grievances, perhaps Kimmel really got taken by Clay (yeah we always thought he had Clay envy…), perhaps he wanted to open his show to female viewers — and now Clay and Kimmel are best buddies.

If Clay fans can forgive and embrace Jimmy while they line up for Clack, I’m more confident that there’s hope for world peace. But one thing’s for sure, you need to count Simon Cowell out of it…. that jackass.

 
 
Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol, Claymania, Claymates, ClayNation, Measure of a Man, Bubel Aiken Foundation, Jimmy Kimmel, Diane Sawyer, Larry King, Jay Leno, People Magazine, People, Simon Cowell, Justin Timberlake, clack
 
< Thank you to www.claymaniacs.com and clayizzaqt! >

The party, which started promptly at 9:00 PM, was held in the Virgin Records Megastore in San Francisco, California. We arrived wearing our Clackwear, basking in the energy of Claymania, wondering if this party will be just like the one for Measure of a Man’s arrival, 3 years past. For the most part, it was.
 

 
Upon entry, we were greeted with American Idol Season 2 auditions on the store overhead television sets, projecting Clay’s younger visage. We came upon the “welcome table” with a bunch of stuff on it but what caught my eye were sign up sheets for information on the BAF (Bubel Aiken Foundation), which is Clay’s foundation for children with learning disabilities, as well as for general Clay fan news and information (Let’s all Stay Connected and such!). There was also a large placard of printed devotional haikus on the side, which you needed to read so you could vote for the best one. Whoever won got some Clay related surprise — usually a prized art piece by Laurie McAdam, noted Aiken portrait artist.
 

 
I spent most of the time schmoozing with new people though I saw many familiar faces as well. I met someone named “PinoyClayFan” who is a member of the ClayDawgs, a message board for male Clay fans (YES THEY DO EXIST!). His 14 year old son was cool enough to join him. I was particularly shocked to meet an old acquaintance who had emceed my parents’ 25th wedding anniversary many moons ago. In fact, I didn’t know what was more shocking — that I remembered who she was after seeing her once, ever(!), some 15 years ago, or that she was a Clay admirer. She handed me her real estate business card — apparently, real estate is still good business in California!

The minutes flew by and I noticed rather quickly that there were no refreshments within arms length. That was one huge difference from the last CD release party which had soda and tons of Krispy Kreme doughnuts (Clay’s favorite) for the likes of us ravenous fans. Aaargh. No chairs either. So we had to sweat it out. Mostly on the floor. I distracted myself from my hunger by purchasing a goody bag with various Clay embossed badges in various sizes as well as a kick ass Thousand Different Ways pin that looked like an expensive brooch that I can now wear at weddings. Seriously, it looked glitzy enough to pass for real jewelry to me.
 

 

 
Towards the end of the evening we were presented with the requisite raffle for Clay memorabilia with the ever present, highly coveted items being the aforementioned Clay portraits in charcoal, chalk and was it crayons? It’s what everyone who shells out $1 a ticket hopes to snag. But empty-handed, we called it a night in order to relieve our babysitter of her duties at 30 minutes less the witching hour. With work the next day, we couldn’t stay up for Clay’s official album release, but it’s all good; I just got my A Thousand Different Ways today through the mail, thanks to Amazon. I can’t wait to foist a copy or two upon my unsuspecting colleagues at work as I make my usual Clayversion (aka Clay conversion) rounds.

Another event down and more to go, here in the ClayNation. Can’t wait for the Hicks Chicks festivities next on the horizon.
 
 
 
Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, CD release parties, CD release party, CD release, A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol, Laurie McAdam, Claymania, Claymates, ClayNation, Measure of a Man, Bubel Aiken Foundation, ClayDawgs

 
 
 
Clay is making waves with his Amazon pre-sale orders. He is now ranked at #9! Go ClayNation! For those curious about Clay’s track listings for his CD “A Thousand Different Ways” coming out on September 19, well here we have it. I was amazed that Clear Channel streamed the CD. This is the entire album and I can’t believe I can get my grubby little hands on it right here, right now. But that won’t stop me from buying my obligatory multiple copies, as a card carrying member of Claymaniac. The CD is mostly cover versions of classic love songs but includes 4 original songs.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, CD release parties, CD release, A Thousand Different Ways, Measure Of A Man, American Idol

< Credit: About.com and Clear Channel Sneak Peek>

In case you are wondering, “Clack” means “anything Clay that gives a fan a rush”. We needed some outfits for the CD Release Party, so we fashioned some for it!

Direct from ClayNationNews, Clay’s Calendar of Appearances:

 
 
Technorati Tags: Clay Aiken, ATDW, CD release parties, CD release, A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol

< Check out www.claynationnews.com for updates! >

September 19, 2006 will go down as one of the biggest days in ClayNation history, as that is the day Clay Aiken’s new CD, A Thousand Different Ways, will be dropping into stores all over the nation. And all over the nation, there will be much hooping, hollering, clapping and partying as Clay fans from everywhere emerge from hiatus to rejoice their beloved’s own return to the spotlight.

And I will be joining them in their revelry, for I am one of those earnest Clay fans and members of ClayNation who has helped catapult Clay to the top of the charts. I am proud of being a Clay fan and proud of what the fandom has done for its hero.

On September 19, I will be somewhere in a California Virgin MegaStore, joining the excited crowd of mostly middle-aged women and teen girls in toasting the magnificence of Clay, his new look and his new sound. There will be dinner, haiku writing contests, trivia contests and raffles. And lots and lots of “Clack” (read: anything Clay you can get your hands on). And probably a life-size figure of Clay on cardboard. And store speakers dedicated to playing Clay Aiken music non-stop. And a television showing Clay’s performances….on replay.

Yes, I’ve done it all once before (try October 13, 2003 at a Great Mall from 7:00 till midnight, all for Measure of A Man). And I’m sure I’ll keep on doing this whenever and wherever ClayNation chooses to celebrate.

< Please visit www.clayreport.com for Clay Aiken and Idol news, and details on Clay’s Album drop and the Bay Area Release party! >

Here are some NICE photos of the concert care of huntsville.about.com,

since from where I was, the only photos I could get were these:

And here were the Idols in order of appearance:

• Mandisa: one of the standouts — literally — since I could actually see her fairly well without needing a binocular or telescope. I did not even have to squint. She looked great! Her songs were blah.
  

• Ace Young: He did George Michael proud. I loved his Father Figure rendition replete with chest pulsations, dramatic fall-on-your-knees moments.
  

• Lisa Tucker: Way to go! Piano + vocals ala Elton John with Your Song and Someone Saved My Life Tonight. Why does she remind me of a Mouseketeer? Must be because Mouseketeer = Star Search alumnus.
  

• Paris Bennett: Boring except she’s looking like Destiny’s child and sounding more and more like that.
  

• Bucky Covington/Kellie Pickler: Unfortunately, I.Detest.Country.Music. And You’re The One That I Want from Grease the Musical didn’t bite me either.
  

• Chris Daughtry/Elliott Yamin: Bravo to rock and soul. After a restless slumber through the previous numbers, I managed to get one eye open to take in the ultra loud ensemble of once again rehashed Wanted: Dead or Alive and showtuney Moody’s Mood For Love.
  

• Katharine McPhee: Think was all over the place — she went in and out of the song for some reason. And if I hear Somewhere Over The Rainbow again in any way, shape or form, I will hurl. But the cute little kiddies in ponytails and glitter were sure loving it.
  

• Taylor Hicks: I woke up to Jailhouse Rock, Living For The City, Taking It To The Streets and Do I Make You Proud. Taylor always makes the same old songs fresh with his antics and stage presence. I was afraid his bobblehead-on-a-dirt-road movements would cost him a concussion, but no…he made it through in amazing form! Go Soul Patrol!
  

My burning question is: why don’t they give the idols some new material for the concerts? What’s with this attachment to the songs from the contest, transmitted to both idol CD track and now to pop-tarts concert form? I guess that’s what I get for $38.50.

< Tagged in Technorati as: American Idol concert>

Simon: “If your lifeguard duties were as good as your singing, a lot of people would be drowning.”
Piers: “I don’t think it’s very easy to arrange car crashes.”
Gordon: “Escort these two ladies please… Back to plastic surgery.”

Simon: “Why are you having a normal conversation with him? This is a dairy farmer dressed as a woman.”
Piers: “We now know that one of the footman at the palace was a Daily Mirror journalist…”
Gordon: “The problem with Yanks is they are wimps.”

My Meanness Ratings?

Simon: amusing, funny
Piers: uncomfortable, as if he’s trying too hard
Gordon: hard-core

At any rate, I do get a kick out of some of those heartless comments uttered by Mr. Ramsay, my favorites being “You Donkey!” (which sounds more like “Yeewww Dunkee!”) and the truly refreshing “Move Your Ass!” (or was that “Mewv Yer Arse!”) It awakens in me some strange glee that I had seemingly relegated to a childhood full of rambunctious mischief, especially when some other poor sucker of a kid would bear the brunt of my misdeeds (I learned the art of finger pointing rather early; that is, the skill of blame deflection). But glee aside, does anyone really believe that the skull and dagger talk is the way to figure out what hopefuls are made of — to filter the cream from the dregs, or as they say, the way to separate the meat from the chaff, the men from the boys? I’m amazed at what the poor blokes on these tv contests have to put up with week after week. All to get a shot at stardom and victory.

Let’s see, that brings to mind some fond memories… there was a time when I once withstood two years of almost daily castigation:

“This bloody piece of @#&*(%#$)% hell better make it to !@&^*(#% tomorrow or else I’ll bloody have a @#*%$&#%!!!!”

from a boss from hell. Funny… he was also, coincidentally, an import.

< Credit: thinkexist.com for the chuckle-worthy citations >