AIKEN NEWS NETWORK DEC 6

[clayMaine-iac]

Have a Terrific Tuesday everyone!!

Aiken In The Christmas Spirit
NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2005
 
(CBS) Clay Aiken's been a very busy man lately.

Not only is he in the middle of a whirlwind 36-city holiday concert tour, he's got a platinum holiday CD called "Merry Christmas With Love."

Aiken stopped by The Early Show Monday to sing a song (video) from the CD, the classic "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

It's his sixth tour since his second-place finish on the second season of "American Idol."

Aiken tells co-anchor Rene Syler that he's "always loved the Christmas thing. We did it last year, we did it this year, and we tried to add something new and did a little theatrical stuff."

Aiken wrote the script for the Christmas show, the first time he's written a script for any show.

"I'm kind of a control freak," he admits to Syler. "I was going to let someone else do it. Then I got overwhelmed and said, 'If you want something done right, do it yourself.'

"It's about an older lady who's kind of lost the Christmas spirit. It's a traditional story. She's lost the Christmas spirit and a neighborhood boy comes in and helps her find it. I play, in some sense, a guardian angel who's kind of a soundtrack to the show."

And he enticed his high school choir teacher to play the lead.

"She bossed me around and now I'm bossing her around," he jokes.

Aiken's brother just returned from Iraq, and Aiken plans to have him and other Marines, along with other family members and members of the tour troupe, at his Los Angeles home for the holiday. Aiken calls it an extended family Christmas.

CBS

[clayMaine-iac]

From the Broads:

The Voice and Totality of Goodness of Clay Aiken Day: The Color Purple

[clayMaine-iac]

From the Ideal Idol site:

HOW ABOUT THAT VOX

[clayMaine-iac]

LET IT SNOW!! A BLIZZARD OF HOLIDAY TREATS HITS FOX THIS DECEMBER
Released by FOX

"All I Want for Christmas" becomes a reality on the brand-new, original special DEAR SANTA, premiering Friday, Dec. 9 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT). The unscripted holiday hour features heartwarming stories of children whose letters to Santa will be answered. The U.S. Postal Service teams up with Hilary Duff, Clay Aiken and Raven Symone to share the kids' dramatic stories and to fulfill their holiday wishes, including those of a girl who wants to make the holidays special for needy children, a young boy who dreams of a safe place to skate, a little girl who hopes her dad will come home for the holidays from his military duties abroad and a girl who wants to further her education.

FUTONCRITIC

[clayMaine-iac]

Clay Aiken Back in School

New York, December 2, 2005 – “You can probably tell from my accent that I’m not from around here”, Clay Aiken told kids at a New York City elementary school on Friday. The UNICEF Ambassador showed off a “school-in-a-box”, a kit containing materials for students, screened a short video of his visit to tsunami-ravaged regions, and he explained the plight of Ugandan children forced into the military. Challenging the kids, Clay asked if anyone knew how many countries there are in the world. “Thirteen?” one guessed. Aiken said that there are more countries than that, but didn’t actually know how many; he had to ask one of the teachers.

The whole visit lasted about forty minutes, and then he immediately left the Greenwich Village building, without signing autographs.

ELITESTV

[clayMaine-iac]

Here is a new online radio station that features music from Idols from all four seasons.

Idol Waves

Listen to songs from the artists you voted for on American Idol! You can tune in for some Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Fantasia, Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Kimberley Locke, Ruben Studdard, Jasmine Trias, Diana DeGarmo, LaToya London, George Huff and more!

LIVE365

[clayMaine-iac]

POLLSTAR TOP 50
 
Last Week This Week Artist Power Index

16  15  Clay Aiken  .259 

POLLSTAR

[clayMaine-iac]

Clay Aiken rings in the holidays with songs, skits

01:00 AM EST on Saturday, December 3, 2005
BY TIMOTHY FINN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Like Perry Como and Andy Williams before him, pop vocalist Clay Aiken is using the Christmas season as a reason to perform his favorite holiday music. As he did last year, Aiken is exercising his jollies for "Jingle Bells" and other holiday standards in a nationwide musical revue.

This year, however, he's giving the show a twist. His Joyful Noise Tour, which comes to the Providence Performing Arts Center on Friday, isn't just a Christmas carol recital. Instead, he has written a script and hired actors and actresses to star in skits that loosely tie the songs together.

Intrigued or confused? He explained the concept in a recent phone interview.

Q: What will people see when they go to this show?

A: It's different from last year's show . . . . Last year we did a typical Christmas tour with a full orchestra and some singers. This year I wanted to do something different and more adventurous. So we decided to forgo the orchestra and hire a group of actors and actresses to follow a storyline that kind of brings the songs together and gives them some extra meaning.

Q: Whose idea was this, and who wrote the script?

A: It was my idea. I started thinking about it after last year's tour. So early this year I sat down and wrote the scripts. Then I hired my high school chorus teacher, Alison Lawrence, to play the lead in the show.

Q: How does this show fit into any long-term career plans you have? Are you positioning yourself to be something of a pop singer like Andy Williams?

A: I really don't want to pigeon-hole myself as any one thing. I mean, I didn't expect to be a singer; I expected to be a teacher. I didn't plan to be a performer and to do something like this for a career. It happened because I was open to it, we got lucky and we worked hard and we had success.

I don't have any 5- or 10-year plan because I want to be open to all possibilities. I don't want to pin myself down. It could all end in 2 or 4 or 20 years, but if it does, I don't want to look back and think I should have done something but I didn't because I was so focused on something else.

Q: You say none of this was planned or expected. How has everything that has happened over the past two years changed you?

A: I've matured and learned what to expect in the Hollywood climate. I knew nothing when I came out here. I've learned how to handle myself. I used to be a horrible businessman, but I've learned a lot about that, too. Mostly I've learned to stand my ground.

Q: Without pinning yourself down, what can you tell your fans about your next studio album?

A: I know for certain there will be one next year. My executive producer is Jaymes Foster-Levy, who was a judge on the Popstar show, the precursor to American Idol. She was the mean one [laughs], but she's been great.

We've been taking our time, trying to pick the best songs. The new record won't be too far off from the first one, but on the other hand I'm not going to try to be something I'm not.

Clay Aiken's Joyful Noise Tour is at the Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St., Providence, at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $40.50 to $75.50. Call (401) 421-2787 or go to www.ppacri.org.

PROJO.COM

[ANGELA]

DEANNA, HOPE YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS GREAT--HAVE A SUPER DAY.

THANKS FOR THE NEWS!!

HAVE A GREAT DAY EVERYONE,
ANGELA

[Her]

Mornin' Angel and M.B.!

[clayMaine-iac]

Good Morning Angela and Buddy!!

Have a great day!!

Here ya go:

[lorilovesgolf]

Good Morning Angela, Deanna and Jayne!!
Thanks for the news Deanna!

Anybody get snow last night??  (Not you Jayne  )

[Her]

Anybody get snow last night??  (Not you Jayne 

  Lori, heaven forbid!!! 

[KSChristian4Clay]

''American Idol" star Clay Aiken, who serves as an ambassador for the relief agency UNICEF, will be visiting kids at the Learning Project Elementary School in the Back Bay today to congratulate them for raising a whole lot of dough for the 2005 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF program. (Aiken's the national spokesman for the program.) How much you want to bet that a bunch of Clay Maniacs -- as Aiken's fans call themselves -- will show up?

Boston

Okay .... who told them we were going?

[lorraine]

GOOD MORNING DEANNA AND FRIENDS.

DEANNA - HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY AND MANY MORE TO COME.

GOD CLAY IS SO CLOSE TO ME TODAY BUT YET SO FAR.  I COULD NEVER GET ENOUGH OF THAT MAN EVEN AFTER MEETING HIM TWICE.

DEANNA - THANKS FOR THE NEWS AS ALWAYS.  WILL CHECK BACK LATER FOR UPDATES.  SURE HOPE MCWL DOES JUST AS GOOD THIS WEEK.

HUGS
RAINEY

[Pamela]

How much you want to bet that a bunch of Clay Maniacs -- as Aiken's fans call themselves -- will show up?

Okay .... who told them we were going?

HAHA! Good one Meesa!

Morning all!  Thanks for all the news! 

[mainer]

Deanna -- Happy Birthday!!!  I remember, in my Mom's day, the then-common expression, "Life Begins at Fifty."  And now I can say that I really GET it!  You will too -- the best is yet to be!!!  Many happy returns, from an older
Mainer

[stargazer]

Happy Belated  Birthday Deanna, Hope your day was full of fun and love.

Thanks again for the news . Loved the article  and pics from the from the broads.

[KSChristian4Clay]

Claytacular Concert Tonight

Sure, some people like to spend the holidays with family, friends, eggnog, and/or hangovers, but Bostonist is sure that some of you also love a good holiday concert to get you in the festive spirit. We’re also sure that lots of you out there have already bought your concert ticket to the Clay Aiken “Joyful Noise” concert at the Boston Orpheum tonight at 7:30p.m. Listen, you don’t have to be embarrassed. Bostonist has watched American Idol and although we were always routing for Ruben that season, there was something oddly interesting about the runner-up, Mr. Clay Aiken. Perhaps it was the magic of a new haircut that hid his ears or the possibility of someday learning the answer to the age old question "is he straight?", but Clay invaded America that year and has since been touring. After hearing comedienne Kathy Griffin talk about her love-hate obsession with Clay, we are quite curious to know what goes on at an actual Clay concert. Is the audience composed of only pre-pubescent girls or does he attract an older, more mature crowd of listeners?

Well, if any of you Clay-natics out there are going, write us and let us know how it was. Bostonist will be spending tonight watching our favorite show The Office instead. For those interested, tickets are still available and ain’t cheap ($49.50-$68.50 a pop!)

The Bostonist

My response :    (We don't have an appropriate emoticon for this.)

[ILClaymate]

Comments about UNICEF-USA celebrity ambassadors from Martin S. Rendón, VP of Public Policy and Advocacy at UNICEF-USA.

<snip>
Aiken had traveled to Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province in March. He saw firsthand how UNICEF was successfully addressing the physical and emotional needs of children affected by the disaster, and he brought this message of hope back to Congress. The new celebrity ambassador pointed out that the assistance Congress provides to UNICEF in the annual appropriations enables it to be an effective partner of the United States in responding to emergencies like the South Asian tsunami. He testified that the funding provided by Congress to UNICEF is an investment that yields returns for children in jeopardy around the world.

UNICEF