AIKEN NEWS NETWORK JULY 27

[clayMaine-iac]

Good Morning, everyone!!

All Access: Clay Aiken
POSTED: 2:52 pm PDT July 26, 2005

It takes a brave singer to cover the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire. But Clay Aiken isn't afraid.

In fact, when we caught up with him as he prepared for his upcoming tour, he told Access Hollywood's Shaun Robinson that from here on out, he's going to do things his way.
 
"I think the thing that is hard about L.A. for me is that it is so big and unfortunately people who I have met in L.A. -- a lot of people who I work with who work inside the music industry -- they are not always the most savory characters," Clay revealed. "But there are people in the industry who spend to much time on the wrong things."

Harsh words from Clay -- the unlikely heartthrob who has sold over 4 million albums to the legions of "Claymates" worldwide and is now apparently ready to give up the big city livin'.

"I just miss the small town atmosphere," he added. "It's so much slower and the people that I come into contact with daily in North Carolina don't necessarily have an agenda."

But before Clay packs his bags, he's got a brand new funky tour and only Access was there during the funky 70s rehearsal session, as Clay sang some classics from Earth, Wind and Fire to the Bee Gees.

For an exclusive peek inside Clay's rehearsal, check out our photo gallery!

ACCESS HOLLYWOOD

[clayMaine-iac]

Go here to see the video:

ACCESS HOLLYWOOD VIDEO

[clayMaine-iac]

TV Guide is having a Jukebox Tour Sweepstakes!!

One lucky winner will receive a trip to Atlantic City and a chance to meet Clay.

Go here to enter:

TV GUIDE SWEEPSTAKES

[clayMaine-iac]

State Of The World's Children 2005: Childhood Under Threat (State of the World's Children)
UNICEF Publications
Book from Unicef
Release date: 09 December, 2004

Conflict in northern Uganda has displaced approximately 1.4 million people, 80% of them children and women, as the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) seeks to overthrow the Ugandan government.

UNICEF Ambassador Clay Aiken traveled to the conflict region of northern Uganda to witness the phenomenon of "night commuters": children who trek from the countryside into slightly more secure towns and UNICEF supported shelters every night to avoid being abducted by the LRA.

Each evening, the threat of LRA attacks and abductions drives over 40,000 child "night commuters" to leave their homes. An estimated 12,000 children have been abducted by the LRA in the conflict-affected districts since June 2002 to serve as child combatants and sex slaves.

"Northern Uganda is one of the most dangerous places in the world for children," said Aiken, American Idol's most famous and successful runner-up. "Children are being forced to commit appalling acts of violence. Children are being killed and raped. It was all too clear that those living in the conflict-affected districts of Uganda deserve much more. The global community must act now with utmost urgency to put an end to these atrocities. No progress will be made until there is peace throughout the country."

Aiken toured UNICEF supported projects in northern Uganda, including internally displaced peoples' (IDP) camps, night commuter shelters and reception centers for formerly abducted children in Kitgum, Gulu and Katakwi districts. There are currently more than 200 IDP camps scattered across the eight conflict-affected districts.

"In the UNICEF supported reception centers for formerly abducted children, I witnessed children receiving psycho-social counseling," said Aiken. "These children spend anywhere between a few days to several months in these centers." UNICEF and its partners are also providing services in the areas of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education, child protection and emergency shelter.

In March, Aiken went on his first UNICEF field trip, where he visited primary school students and camps for the internally displaced survivors in the tsunami ravaged province of Aceh, Indonesia.

By now it's clear that Clay isn't just about Clay

BLOGCRITICS

[clayMaine-iac]

CNN Transcript:

VARGAS (voice-over): Clay Aiken is hearing the sounds of criticism, and not for his music. Critics are saying his charity, the Bubel-Aiken Foundation, which was set up to benefit children with disabilities, could be, well, no charitable.

Aiken`s charity raised more than $1 million last year, but critics point out that less than a third of that money went towards grants to individuals or outside organizations.

For the first time on camera, Aiken is defending his charity, exclusively on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. He said a distinction should be made between grants and direct services programs.

CLAY AIKEN, FOUNDER, BUBEL-AIKEN FOUNDATION: We`re not a grant giving organization, so we do spend less than one third on grants. It`s true. We do spend less than one third on grants. But over a half of our money, in addition to that, goes to programs like summer camps, able to serve programs, youth service programs.

VARGAS: Aiken told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT an independent accountant looked into their numbers and, according to Aiken, his organization charitably spends 85 cents of every dollar raised. He says that`s right in line with other nonprofits.

Aiken told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT the negative media reports were frustrating.

AIKEN: It`s just kind of a disappointing thing, because you hope that people would get the entire story and people would want the entire story, but it`s been a -- it`s been disappointing thing that I`ve learned in the past year. People are more interested in sensationalism than they are with getting the facts.

VARGAS: But the publicity was not all bad. Aiken told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT his charity is coming out on top.

AIKEN: After that story came out, we probably raised more money in the past five days than we did in the entire previous two months. So I think most people are understanding that we are, you know -- they realize that what we`re doing is appropriate and we have a good cause.

VARGAS: But Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, told SHOWBIZ TONIGHT be careful with celebrity charities.

DANIEL BOROCHOFF, AMERICAN INSTITUTE PHILANTHROPY: Too often it`s happened to me that we wasted too much dollars giving money to celebrity oriented organizations that really haven`t amounted to much. There`s a lot of hoopla, a lot of excitement at the beginning. But unfortunately, a lot of times they fizzle out, and this is not a good use of our charitable money.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VARGAS: Well, Americans certainly love Clay Aiken. His juke box tour kicks off in New Jersey this Thursday. It`s his fifth tour since "American Idol" and has him singing some 70-odd songs from five decades, everything from Sam Cooke to Barry Manilow to the Bee Gees and the Goo Goo Dolls. His tour ends September 1.

A.J., back to you.

CNN TRANSCRIPTS

[clayMaine-iac]

Pollstar Top 50 Concert Search

POLLSTAR TOP 50
 
List updated every Friday.
Last Week This Week Artist Power Index

19  29  Clay Aiken  .309 

POLLSTAR

[clayMaine-iac]

House of Blues Top Artist Searches:

top artist searches
1. Clay Aiken
2. John Mayer
3. Dolly Parton
4. Stevie Nicks
5. Pretty Ricky
6. Scream Tour
7. Howie Day
8. John Mayer
9. John Legend
10. Pearl Jam

HOB

[clayMaine-iac]

Now. What, precisely, does this have to do with Bo Bice and every other artist that is discovered through our lovable American Idol discovery machine?

This: I'm quite sick and tired of the stodgy, lumbering music industry (and its archaic and teetering-on-obsolete subset, Old Radio) giving some pretty talented, unique and magnetic singers (and their fanbases) the snob treatment.

Just because they were formerly the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful gatekeepers of the charts (i.e., The Establishment), the fact remains that "they" were unable or unwilling to find and sign multi-platinum artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, and (peering into the idolhabit crystal ball) Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice.

Again, this is an industry that has a success rate of .001. I will briefly review: out of the approximately 32,000 cds released every year, only about 250 will sell more than 10,000 and fewer than 30 will sell more than 1 million.

By contrast, let's look at the American Idol success rate:

In four seasons, American Idol has produced 46 finalists, including 4 runners-up and 4 winners. This group of 46 artists has released at least 22 full-length solo albums. (To restate, this figure does not include singles or compilation discs.)

Of these 22 albums, 6 have sold more than 1 million copies. At least 14 have sold more than 10,000.

The top two sellers---Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken---alone are responsible for over 8 million albums sold.

With Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino, the three American Idols plus Clay Aiken have sold over 11.6 million discs.

Counting a platinum album as "success," this means that the American Idol discovery machine has a success rate of 6 out of 22, or approximately 36%, compared to 1/10 of 1% for the music industry as a whole.

 I have much more to say on this point than I can cram into this one post. But check this out: in June 2005, industry bigwigs reportedly were breathing a sigh of relief and exclaiming "We're saved! We're saved!" when Coldplay's X&Y sold 737,000 copies its first week and held the number one spot for three weeks.

Interesting, but . . . no similiar "he's Saving The World!" sentiments were expressed when Clay Aiken sold 613,000 copies of Measure of a Man in its first week and held the number one spot for 2 weeks. (Measure of a Man fell, barely, against Outkast and Rod Stewart in week 3. However, by week 3, it had sold 979,000 copies.)

IDOLHABIT.BLOGSPOT

[clayMaine-iac]

Clay who? 'Idol' finalist remembered as class clown
Clay Aiken -- then and now       
 
By Alisha Puckett The Herald
My seventh-grade year, his eighth-grade year. Fall 1992.
The room was silent, and no one was working harder than Clayton Grissom. While the class was diligently working on yearbook layouts and figuring out how to photograph the winter dance, Clayton's mind was elsewhere.

It always was.

Clayton was busy masterminding jokes and witty remarks, which he conjured up with great ease. He was one of Leesville Middle School's class clowns. Often sarcastic, often theatrical, borderline annoying.

But the witty, funny boy that I shared my middle school, high school and college days with is all grown up; now, he practices his talents of a different kind -- singing in front of millions on national television every week.

Clayton Grissom is Clay Aiken, one of two finalists vying for a recording contract and pop stardom on Fox TV's hugely popular show, "American Idol 2."

Clay changed his last name after high school and shortened his first name at the suggestion of friends and "Idol" producers. It's weird to hear people call him Clay, because I think, "Don't they mean Clayton Grissom?"

Of course, it's weird to know a kid I grew up with in Raleigh, N.C., is rubbing elbows with celebs like Paula Abdul, living it up in the Hollywood hills and making girls everywhere drool at the sight of his green eyes and wild hair.

Of course, his hair wasn't like that when I knew him, and his eyes weren't as easy to see under his inch-thick eyeglasses, rimmed with bright gold.

His face bore tons of freckles and some zits, too, until "American Idol" artists got ahold of him. It's amazing what makeup and some mousse can do.

And he's always had the lanky, beanpole look to him. Clay's reddish-brown hair used to be neatly trimmed and styled, never out of place.

His clothes were never trendy. He loved to wear jackets -- it didn't matter if it was raining or cold.

To top things off, Clay wasn't a "ladies man," and he didn't have many girlfriends. The Web sites and message boards filled with women clamoring to get his autograph or gossiping about his relationship status would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. He remained low on girls' radar screens until college, when I last saw a few ladies swooning over him at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2002. I'm still convinced it was his sweet voice that won them over.

Clay's appearance and image have undergone an extreme makeover, but his genuine convictions to music, his faith and to helping children haven't changed since I met him in 1992.

In yearbook class, in the middle of conversations, in the middle of lunch and even in the middle of lecture, Clay would break out into song. He had a voice, as we all know, and he loved to practice for anyone who would listen.

My classmates and I would go to choral concerts, and Clay was the easiest to spot and had the most recognizable voice. He was front row and center, the only boy among 40 girls, yet he looked like he was having fun on stage.

Growing up, Clay would tell me stories of his auditions at the Raleigh Little Theatre or his travels with Leesville High School's top choral group.

He starred in a few musicals and loathed the hard work, but he basked in the delight of singing to an audience who clapped just for him. He would tell me his singing might not take him anywhere in life, but he still enjoyed doing it for children at hospitals and for the elderly at Christmas. And that was why God had blessed him with such an awesome talent -- not to make six figures and live in a recording studio, but to tickle the ears of people who needed to hear his music.

It's funny to recall the conversations we had about his singing. All of the obstacles he would have to go through and the competition he would face seemed daunting, but he was determined to keep up his passion.

The last time I talked with Clay was a couple of months before he auditioned for his big break on "American Idol 2" in Atlanta. I was the editor-in-chief of UNCC's campus newspaper, and Clay called me, begging to have a reporter cover a charity dance he was organizing; it would benefit disabled senior citizens.

After he informed me of his plans, he chided, "Don't you think college kids would rather read about a bunch of old geezers on the front page of the newspaper instead of mundane academic topics?"

I was stunned at his putdown of the people he was trying so hard to help.

He chuckled, and I imagined a wicked smile coming across his face. What a jokester.

Clay said he was kidding, his program was more than worthy of coverage and I'd be a fool not to offer publicity of such a worthwhile cause.

Some things never change.

Clay may be the next Justin Timberlake or, heck, maybe even the next Elvis.

But to me, he will always be Raleigh's Clayton Grissom, and the class clown who was the only boy in concert choir and whose hair was never out of place.

HERALD ONLINE

[lorraine]

GOOD MORNING DEANNA AND FRIENDS. 

I COULDN'T START MY DAY UNTIL I WAS ABLE TO GET ON THE SITE.  NOW I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER. THANKS FOR THE NEWS AND YEP WE ARE OFFICIALLY


             IN THE CLAY ZONE

WILL CHECK BACK LATER FOR UPDATES.

HUGS
MRS. RAINEY AIKEN[/color][/color=pink]

[Marilyn]

GOOD MORNING ALL AND THANKS FOR THE NEWS! COUNTING THE HOURS UNTIL FRIDAY!!

[liney23]

I'm laughing... cautiously!  Clay first put his foot in his mouth (for some) by saying "LA" in the TV Guide article, then on Access Hollywood, pushs it further in by saying, no, it was just the music industry people who were not "savory."  He sure knows how to win friends and influence the people he has to work with.  Good thing his feet are plenty big! (ha ha)

If anyone can make this whole "I don't like the music industry, but want to make my living in it, AND, I don't like living in LA, but want to be in the entertainment industry" thing work, it will be Clay.  I wish him all the best luck in the world and I will help any way I can.  He's totally right, but not so politically correct to say so. IMHO

Edited to add:  I just saw a post on The Street that a CT DJ that never played Clay or seemed to like him is now saying how brave he is and how right he is.  So, I guess some people respect him for telling it like he sees it.  That's good!  Also said that Alanis Morrisette has said the same things Clay did.  Made me feel better.  I do believe that if anyone can make it work it will be Clay... he is so incredibly strong.

[ANGELA]

I THOUGHT THIS WAS INTERESTING;

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - One of the nation's biggest music companies, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, agreed Monday to pay $10 million and to stop paying radio station employees to feature its artists to settle an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The agreement resulted from Spitzer's investigation of suspected "pay for play" practices in the music industry.

A Sony BMG spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Spitzer said Sony BMG has agreed to hire a compliance officer to monitor promotion practices and to issue a statement acknowledging "improper conduct" and pledging higher standards.

He commended the company for its cooperation.

"Our investigation shows that, contrary to listener expectations that songs are selected for air play based on artistic merit and popularity, air time is often determined by undisclosed payoffs to radio stations and their employees," Spitzer said. "This agreement is a model for breaking the pervasive influence of bribes in the industry."
Spitzer had requested documents and information from EMI, Warner Music Group, Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group as well as from Sony BMG, which is a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

Spitzer said his investigation showed Sony BMG paid for vacation packages and electronics for radio programmers, paid for contest giveaways for listeners, paid some operational expenses of radio stations and hired middlemen known as independent promoters to provide illegal payments to radio stations to get more airplay for its artists.

Spitzer also said e-mails among company executives showed top officials were aware of the payments.

Spitzer said Sony BMG employees sought to conceal some payments by using fictitious contest winners to document the transactions.

In one case, an employee of Sony's Epic label was trying to promote the group Audioslave to a station and asked: "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET AUDIOSLAVE ON WKSS THIS WEEK?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen."

In another case, a promoter unhappy that Celine Dion's "I Drove All Night"
was being played overnight on some stations threatened to revoke a trip to a Dion show in Las Vegas unless the play times improved.
Sony BMG Music is an umbrella organization for several prominent record labels, including Arista Records, Columbia Records, Sony Music International and So So Def Records.

Star artists signed with the Arista label alone include Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, OutKast, Pink and Sarah McLachlan.

The $10 million will be distributed to not-for-profit entities and earmarked for music education programs, Spitzer said.

Record companies can't offer financial incentives under a 1960 federal law that made it a crime punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to a year in prison to offer money or other inducements to give records airplay. The practice was called "payola," a contraction of "pay" and "Victrola" record players.

The law was passed in response to the payola scandals of the 1950s and early 1960s that implicated some then-famous disc jockeys.

Deanna & everyone else thanks for the news, comments & opinions

Take care,
Angela 

[Her]

Angela-thanks for the article...very interesting!  Maybe, just maybe, Clay's second go round with his next CD will see more air play!

Hi M.B.....I'm late, late, late, but wanted to say hi nevertheless....thanks for all of your hard work!