AIKEN NEWS NETWORK FEBRUARY 5

[Pamela]

Oh Happy Thursday!   Lots of news today...good news!

But first, I love these particular words of wisdom:

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.”  - Abraham Maslow

Now, after my sad  :(  post yesterday about MoaM sales numbers last week and how Clay wasn't on the HDD sales chart AT ALL, but that maybe Soundscan numbers would lift him up, well, it happened!

MoaM is #38 on the BILLBOARD 200 ALBUM CHART!

YESSSS!  Remember, we are tracking sales progress here:

http://claymaniacs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=826#826

Invisible is #10 on the AC chart, and moved down to #80 from #77 on the singles chart.

[Pamela]

CLAY AND LUANN

[Pamela]

As previously reported -

AIKEN INDUCTED INTO JCC MUSIC SHOWCASE HALL OF FAME

WNCN-TV Updated: 1:44 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2004

10:06 a.m. EST January 16, 2004 - Clay Aiken is receiving another honor
from his home state.

Johnston Community College is inducting him into its Music Showcase
Hall of Fame. Aiken was once a regular on the program.

The JCC Country Music Showcase celebrates its 11th anniversary on Feb.
6-7 and Aiken's award will be presented during the festivities.

Aiken won't be able to make it home for the event but his mother, Faye
Parker, will accept the award on his behalf.

The show will be in Smithfield in the JCC auditorium on Feb. 6 at 7
p.m. and Feb. 7 and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for evening performances and $8 for the Sunday afternoon show.

For information regarding tickets or shows, call (919) 209-2099.

MSNBC LINK

[Pamela]

CLAY IS IN THE MARCH ISSUE OF POPSTAR

If anyone has had a more exciting debut in recent memory – show us! Prove it! Clay Aiken’s first album was released without a hit Top 40 radio single to help it out and sold over 600,000 copies. That’s Britney numbers! And Clay sure deserves it. With “Invisible” he scored that overdue radio hit, and the rest of his album showcases the main reason he (should’ve) won American Idol – the best voice in pop. Ruben who???

The picture is in The Photo Album.  It's good.   8)

[Pamela]

GRAMMY ARTICLE FROM USA TODAY

However, this crop does not reflect the national epidemic called American Idol. Second-season champs Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard were shut out, to the cheers of critics and the dismay of fans.
"Ruben and Clay put out some good products, but maybe the Grammy voters decided they already had too much exposure," Mitchell says. "Labels are having a hard enough time selling the new acts they sign."
Grein adds, "It may represent an attitude that the Grammys would rather mint their own stars than rubber-stamp what American Idol did months ago."

USA TODAY LINK

Fact checker please!  Ruben WAS nominated for a Grammy.  Hello?!

[Pamela]

THE TV SHOW THAT CHANGED POP HISTORY

Davy Jones thought the girls were shrieking for him.
After all, he was a Broadway star accustomed to the attention of hyperventilating stage-door Jennys.
Plus, he was patently adorable.
With that British accent, that cute face and devil-may-care Artful Dodger demeanor, Davy Jones was simply irresistible.

(snip)

Jones laughs. He's funny. Quick with the quip. That well-known wit (and his Brit status) has gotten some new attention from L.A. producers, who note there's a 2004 British invasion in the works, thanks to Simon Cowell and American Idol. They've asked Jones to think about taking on some Cowell-like projects, but he's not sure.
"I don't know if I want to criticize people at this point in my life," he says. "I'm at the Frank Sinatra/Perry Como phase of my career."

He chuckles at the American Idol phenomenon.
How strange is it that after 40 years, another dark-haired British guy -- this time, the acerbic Cowell -- has captured the world's attention by turning kids like Clay Aiken into scream-worthy superstars?
Clay's sweet. Wholesome. Talented. Vulnerable.

And you know, Jones reminds you: "That's what people like."

PALM BEACH POST

Shout out to my friend Tricia - David Jones' biggest fan!  Hey Tricia!

[Pamela]

GRATUITOUS CLAY MENTION OF THE DAY

Calm down, it's just a game

(snip)

Why does it seem only games elicit such a strong, violent response from people?

When Ruben won American Idol, Clay Aiken fans didn't storm the streets demanding blood and vengeance (give me a second...I'm just trying to get a visual image of what blood-thirsty Aiken fans would look like).

LUMBERJACK ONLINE

Bizarre!   :

[Pamela]

CLAY SAYS:

"Naivete is probably the biggest thing that went into playing this because I didn't know what I was doing." - American Idol star Clay Aiken, asked by AP Radio to describe the qualities he needed to portray to play himself in his acting debut on NBC's Ed.

WINSTON SALEM JOURNAL

[Leveland]

From NBC:

NEW YORK -- February 5, 2004 -- Emmy Award winner Megan Mullally hosts the February 7 episode of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" (11:30 pm – 1:00 am) – the first of three all-new shows in a row-- with musical guest Clay Aiken.

Mullally, who won an Emmy for her portrayal of "Karen" on "Will and Grace" in 2000 and was nominated in 2001, 2002 and 2003 makes her SNL debut. Castmates Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes have hosted the show previously. Mullally has appeared on numerous television series including "Seinfeld," "Frasier" and the HBO movie "Winchell" opposite Stanley Tucci. She also won acclaim and awards on Broadway opposite Matthew Broderick in "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" and Rosie O'Donnell in "Grease."
Also making his SNL debut is musical guest Clay Aiken. Aiken, who exploded on the music scene from the phenomenal show "American Idol." Less than six months after the release of his first single, Aiken won an American Music Award and a Billboard Music Award, was voted Favorite Reality Star in a TV Guide poll, was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year and one of People's sexiest men, as well as gracing countless other magazine covers including Rolling Stone. His first album, "Measure of a Man" shipped double platinum, selling 613,000 units during its first week of release, the highest first-week total for a debut artist in over 10 years. "Measure of a Man" was No. 1 on The Billboard 200 for two weeks, and even though it was released in the last quarter of the year, was ranked No. 11 on SoundScan's list of the best-selling albums of 2003.

www.nbcmv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-2004

[outthereforclay]

DING DANG! OUR MAN IS HOT HOT HOT!!!!!

Yeah, I read that USA Today ariticle this morning and wondered how Ruben AND Kelly reacted to this writer's..uh..."Cliff Notes" approach to journalistic thoroughness. :?

Funny, all these little references dotted all over creation about Clay being the "real" winner of AI2 and, more recently, about the "weirdness" of Clay not being included in the Grammy nods.

ALthough I found the USA Today writer's take on the "snub" rather lame..

Grein adds, "It may represent an attitude that the Grammys would rather mint their own stars than rubber-stamp what American Idol did months ago."

Now...wait a minute..."mint their own stars"??? :  I thought that was the whole beef the industry had with Clay and the AI singers--that they had been "manufactured" by a tv show!?????

What's wrong with the logic, here? :roll:

[mackncsu]

I LUVVVVV LUANN!

[Claymate16]

I LUVVVVV LUANN!

I don't think I've ever really read the comics before this, so I agree completely!