AIKEN NEW NETWORK JUNE 28

[clayMaine-iac]

Good Morning, everyone!!

Dear Clay Aiken Fanclub Member,

The Official Clay Aiken Fanclub is pleased to present our EXCLUSIVE Meet & Greet
event ONLY available to YOU, for being one of Clay's Official Fanclub Members.

If you are planning on attending the July 30th stop on Clay's "Juke Box Tour
2005" at Darien Lake PAC in Darien Lake, NY, you can sign up now for the chance
to meet Clay Aiken in person!!! Just go to the "Tour" section of the fanclub to
enter your name for consideration.

10 lucky winners for the Darien Lake date will be chosen at random to meet
Clay!!! Entrants must have tickets to the show to enter the Meet & Greet.

Best Wishes,

Clay Aiken Fanclub Management

[clayMaine-iac]

Clay's Fan Club is officially open:

FAN CLUB

[clayMaine-iac]

The Giant is Awakening
by Linda Lanshe (2005/06/27)

It's starting.

All across the nation, throughout the Clay boards, the fans are stirring. There is a palatable energy surging from one message board to the other. Like a game of telephone, we are starting to hear rumblings from the giant. And it is good.

The past six months have been hard on Clay Aiken fans, especially the fans tuned into the Internet. Clay sightings have been few and far between. His last concert tour ended the last week of December, 2004 and his subsequent TV appearances have been scant - an appearance on Scrubs; an episode on Dr. Phil talking about teens who were bullied; the Discovery Channel's 100 Greatest Americans as a spokesperson; a Jimmy Kimmel appearance. These were tantalizing glimpses of Clay, to be sure, but hardly the amount we were used to. Clay appeared at two benefits for The Bubel/Aiken Foundation, one in Hawaii and the other in Florida. Video was procured and the fandom was satisfied... for a while.

Clay went to Banda Aceh for a week. News was scarce, but we did get to see video and pictures, assuring the Internet fans that Clay was indeed alive and well and doing good deeds. We marveled over his interaction with the children of that disaster, the resiliency they displayed in the face of horror, and the hope that emanated from that region of the world. Clay's speech for the "Forces of Nature" benefit to raise money for the victims was yet another sighting that satisfied us for a while, especially when he spoke in Malay. But it wasn't enough.

What was Clay doing? This was the longest stretch of time that the ClayNation has ever gone without a multitude of Clay mentions. What's happening with the CD? Is he recording? Is he in the studio? Has he chosen the songs yet? Does he have the arrangements laid down? Who is he working with? Who are the producers? The song writers? So many questions, so few answers.

Then two things happened. TeamClay started to announce Tour dates and the 'O'fficial Fan Club semi-launched, giving us a message board. What were we more excited over? Who knows, we were just glad to get something. The Official Fan Club message boards opened early to give the fans the advantage of pre-sale tickets for The Jukebox Tour. Yes, we found out what the Tour was called, but not from TeamClay, from an ad in one of the venues' local papers.

Both those events started the rumblings.

Clay spent time in Uganda, or U*****, as some boards filtered the name out. This was the one trip in his role as Ambassador for UNICEF that we didn't know a lot about. It was kept quiet from both the fans and the press. We still don't know a lot about what Clay did in Uganda; there was only one article that was found on an African website. That one article fed us for about a week. Hopefully, in the future, the trip and the results will be publicized for everyone to know.

In the meantime, what's a Clay fan to do? One of the Internet boards, Clayversity, designed a pin for their board members. Another internet message board, The Clackhouse, also decided to design a pin for their members. What started out small, grew and grew and grew all across the ClayNation. Lanyards, and key-chains, and pins, oh, my.... More and more boards jumped on board with designing pins (and key-chains and lanyards), each designing their pins specific to their boards. The creativity of Clay's fans is astonishing; the designs of these pins are amazing. In the end, about 40 message boards and fan organizations designed Clay pins - to wear, to show our support, to trade with other fans at the summer concerts. What started out among a sub-set of Clay fans, morphed into a fun way to share our community with each other.

The "Community of Clay" is alive and well, despite the fact that Clay hasn't been seen much lately. The 'O'fficial Fan Club is officially launching on Tuesday. We hope to get news of The Jukebox Tour, news of what Clay has been up to, news about the CD. We found an article in Billboard magazine that mentioned Clay's next CD is slated for release within the next six months, leading us to believe that it will be dropped in the 4th quarter of 2005. But again, we haven't heard this from TeamClay.

So... All across the nation, through-out the Clay boards, the fans are stirring. There is a palatable energy surging from one message board to the other. Like a game of telephone, we are starting to hear rumblings from the giant. And it is good. So we wait and we wonder and we speculate. The giant is awakening from a long slumber and the fans are stirring.

It's going to be a terrific summer of Clay, version 2005.

BEAVERS ON IDOL

[clayMaine-iac]

This was posted yesterday:

Going nutty
Clay Aiken is apparently allergic to nuts. And mushrooms and coffee and mint and chocolate and shellfish. But especially nuts.

A very detailed, 10-page concert rider posted on SmokingGun.com, stipulates that the American Idol runner-up doesn’t want nuts.

“VERY IMPORTANT – NO TREE NUTS OR ANYTHING TOUCHING TREE NUTS MAY TOUCH THE PLATES,” it reads. “This is truly very, very serious.”

Then it gives a list of the other no-nos, for example, the bottled water must not be Evian.

MSNBC

Here is the SmokingGun.com Concert Rider (it is 10 pages long):
THESMOKINGGUN

[clayMaine-iac]

Here are the top 50 searches on Lycos for the week ending June 25, 2005:

Search Term  Last Week Weeks on List:
39  Clay Aiken  #35     108
Allergic to Nuts  

LYCOS50

Come on, gang!!

We need to do more searching!!!!!!!!

[clayMaine-iac]

For Fantasia, the lights of ‘Idol’ haven’t yet dimmed
By OTIS R. TAYLOR Jr.

It takes more than a pretty voice and TV exposure to sell records.

In the four years since the competition began, “American Idol” winners learn their stars dim faster than the time it takes people to forget the also-rans. Even with the “Idol” title, it’s tough to shine in the crowded music industry.(snip)

With producers such as Missy Elliott contributing to “Free Yourself,” Fantasia has sold almost as well as “Idol” season one and two winners Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard and season two runner-up Clay Aiken. But the sales have not translated into a huge tour.

Fantasia, who won a show consistently watched by more than 20 million viewers, is actually opening for KEM, a little-known singer outside of urban music.

THESTATE

[clayMaine-iac]

Have a great day, everyone!!

Here ya go:
       

New Flavor of the Day:

Being powerful is like being a lady; if you have to tell people you are, you aren't

[Marilyn]

THANKS FOR THE NEWS, DEANNA-

VERY EARLY GOOD MORNING TO ALL- HAVE A GREAT DAY!!
   

[clayMaine-iac]

Your welcome!!

Nice to see someone else is an "early bird", too!!

Hi ho, hi ho--
off to work I go!!

Marilyn,
I hope your day goes better today!!  

[Marilyn]

Your welcome!!

Nice to see someone else is an "early bird", too!!

Hi ho, hi ho--
off to work I go!!

Marilyn,
I hope your day goes better today!!  

THANKS, SWEETIE!!

TIME TO HIT THE SHOWERS!!    

[Her]

Hi M.B!!!!  and Miss Marilyn, so lovely to see you, but it's a wee bit early for ya...have a great day....

Thanks for the news and   and flavor of the day Dee!

[grammaof6]

The Giant Is Awakening and the Clay Nation is stirring! Ain't them exciting words to start the morning with. I got tingles. . . . . . .

Thanks again for keeping us up on the latest in Clay land. The first thing I do when I get up is check out the news of the day. You do a terrific job!

[lorraine]

GOOD MORNING DEANNA AND FRIENDS.

YOU BETCHA THE NATIVES ARE RESTLESS AND WE SURE ARE STIRRING.  IT HAS BEEN A LONG DRY WINTER BUT THE BEST IS YET TO COME.          

CHECK BACK LATER FOR UPDATES IS  A SURE BET.

HUGS
RAINEY

[Pamela]

Deanna, you are the *bomb!*  (That's a good thing. )

Some of you have asked about news and info from the fan club being posted here.  

I know not everyone signed up to be a member, and that's fine. There is some info that is available on the front page of the fan club site for everyone.  Pictures and some news.  We'll share all that here and in the newsletter.  For example, this news is included there today:

06/27/05 / Clay in Uganda
There’s been considerable chatter on various message boards about Clay going to Uganda as part of his work for the United Nations. We understand some fans were upset when those topics were pulled from the message boards a few weeks back and some of the rumors were denied at the request of Clay’s management. Clay actually DID go to Uganda and arrived back safely in the U.S. on May 27th. What can be revealed now that could not be revealed before was that there were additional violence and new safety and security warnings in the area just prior to his departure. Therefore, it was important to take all available measures to keep the specifics of his visit as low-key as possible in order to provide for the maximum safety of all those involved. Your understanding is appreciated.

Other exclusive material will not be posted outside the fan club site.  Since the fan club is a paid membership group, we will not be providing any media that is exclusive to the fan club members.

We will continue to publish fan club emails, since many members are not
able to receive them.

We will also share any media or information that is also available from at least one other source.

Please do not post pictures, video, contest information or other details exclusive to fan club members. Thanks for your cooperation!

There's a discussion thread for the fan club HERE.

[ANGELA]

HELLO MY AIKEN FOR CLAY NEWS BUDDIES.
THANKS FOR THE NEWS.  DEANNA & PAMELA SOON THIS PLACE WILL BE BUZZING WITH CLAYCITEMENT.

HAVE A SUPER DAY EVERYONE,
ANGLEA