AIKEN NEWS NETWORK APRIL 29

[clayMaine-iac]

GOOD MORNING, EVERYONE!!!

I DECIDED THAT INSTEAD OF "HAYFEVER" THIS SPRING,
I AM GOING TO HAVE "CLAYFEVER"!!!!! :roll:  :roll:

[clayMaine-iac]

SOME APPEARANCE NEWS:

Thursday, August 19
An Evening With Clay Aiken

Event Time: 8:00 PM
Description: American Idol Clay Aiken will visit America's County Fair Thursday, August 19th! Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 5 at 9am. Tickets are available at all Tickets.com locations in Tops Friendly Markets, at the Agri-Center Box Office, online at tickets.com or by phone 1-888-223-6000. Blue Ribbon seating is $42 and grandstand seating is $30.

AMERICA FAIR

[clayMaine-iac]

Clay Aiken mounts solo headlining tour this summer

by Jon Zahlaway
liveDaily Staff Writer
April 28, 2004 10:50 AM - "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken (news | tickets), who recently completed a co-headlining run with first-season winner Kelly Clarkson, sets out on his own this summer.
         
Aiken is due to kick of the run in early July, and a steady stream of shows are booked through the end of August; the singer's schedule also includes a handful of September stops, and a lone October performance.

The tour supports Aiken's debut album, "Measure of a Man," which surfaced last October. The set, which debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart, houses last year's top-selling single, "This is the Night."

Also included on the album is Aiken's hit "The Way," which he recently released as a CD single. The disc features the non-album track "Solitaire," a cover of the Neil Sedaka original.

"Since the end of 'American Idol,' the requests for a recording of my version of Neil Sedaka's 'Solitaire' have continued to pour in," Aiken wrote in a message posted to his website last month. "I'm thrilled to say that, with the help of producers Steve Mac ('This is the Night') and Cliff Magness ('I Will Carry You,' 'Perfect Day,' 'I Survived You'), I have recorded the song and we are ready to get it to you!"

Aiken plans to perform "Solitaire" on the May 11 episode of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," according to Aiken's website.

LIVEDAILY

[clayMaine-iac]

Clay Aiken to perform at 2004 N.C. State Fair

RALEIGH – Hometown pop sensation Clay Aiken will perform at the 2004 North Carolina State Fair Monday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. in Dorton Arena.

Fairgoers can purchase reserved tickets for $15 online at www.ncstatefair.org beginning Friday, Sept. 3 at noon. Reserved concert tickets will also be on sale during the 2004 State Fair unless the show sells out beforehand. Because only 6,000 seats are available, a limit of four tickets per fairgoer will be offered for the Clay Aiken concert. There will be no free seating available for this show.

“We are excited to have Clay come home to perform at the State Fair," said Agriculture Commissioner Britt Cobb. “The Fair always looks to book big-name entertainment for fairgoers, and this year we are fortunate to have booked one of the most popular performers in the country."

Fairgoers will also be able to purchase advance admission tickets and discounted ride books online at the same time they buy their concert tickets. The rest of the 2004 entertainment lineup will be released by the middle of May. Fair admission will be required for all concerts.

Please contact Tiffany Budd at tiffany.budd@ncmail.net or Mike Pleasant at mike.pleasant@ncmail.net for more information.

NC STATE FAIR

[clayMaine-iac]

In honor of next week being the week before Mother's Day, the CBS Early Show is featuring famous Mothers during their programming.

Mrs. Parker will be on Thursday, May 6, and Clay will be featured sharing stories about his Mom. :  :  :

[clayMaine-iac]

Here's the transcript from the interview with Mrs. Faye Parker on the Mike and Nicki Morning show on WQDR (Raleigh country radio station)
Wed. morning 4/28/04, as posted on RHT.

Intro: playing Invisible

M: Clay Aiken. All over the place.
N: Always all over the place.
M: You know, the 2nd place finishers had so much publicity, if we could all finish in
2nd place in events and do so well…
With us on the phone is I guess the lady that’s been referred to as “Clay’s Mom”
for such a long time now she doesn’t even know she’s Faye Parker once in a
while. Faye, how’re you doing this morning, huh?
F: I’m doing fine, thank you. And you’re right, I don’t have an identity.
M: When did you stop becoming Faye Parker?
F: When he was born. (Laughs)
M: (laughs) When he was born he was that much of a …
F: …he was a ham. He was a ham when he was born. He started singing early.
M: You said he snuck in this weekend for a quick visit to Mom’s house. Did he bring
the laundry?
F: I think he left the laundry. (laughs)
N: What are you supposed to do, ship it back?
F: He said ship it back. I’m not looking to see if it needs washing first. (laughs)
M: Do you regret all this fame, or are you just enjoying every minute of it?
F: I don’t regret it at all, absolutely not. Enjoying most of it. It’s really more than I
expected. I guess, you know, when you think about someone getting a recording
contract or something, you don’t realize what comes with it. But I think the
exciting part is that what came with his is because he was a hit so fast and so
quick and he had such devoted fans that we all love.
N: Oh my gosh, does he have devoted fans or what?
F: You know, it’s just kind of phenomenal. I think if it had grown slowly, I could
have gotten accustomed to it a little better, but it came so fast, it’s overwhelming.
N: It did come fast, and from everywhere. I know people that have traveled from far
ends of the country to come to Raleigh just to be in the same town where he’s
from.
F: Oh, yeah. In fact, I think at Clayvention, we had 34 states represented, with
Canada – Nova Scotia. I think the farthest someone came was 4,000 miles to be
at Clayvention.
N: That is…can I use the word “crazy” and get away with it? (lol)

*(They were laughing over this – I do believe this is what she said)
F: Of course you can. I heard another new one the other day, too. Let’s see, they
were talking about something being a tearjerker and said “get your Claynex out.”
(all laugh) I’ve got to find all the Clayisms. There must be hundreds.
N: There are hundreds, it’s like a dictionary. It’s so funny when I went up to New
Jersey with you guys, I made fun of those ladies the whole weekend. Every other
word out of their mouth. So finally, I just said “Hey did somebody say ‘Clay”?”
F: You were in the car with the ones that were really Clayverted, huh? (lol)
N: Exactly, yes, I was Clayverted. (lol)
M: By the way, in case everybody doesn’t know, Nicki had rode up for the Miss
America pageant, back in the fall?
N: September.
M: That would be back in the fall.
N: Yes that would be.
F: Yeah, right. We had a good time that weekend.
N: It was a very good time. It was a large time. I won $400. at one of the casinos.
M: Yeah, she’s got gambling fever. Thanks a lot.
F: Uh oh. (lol)
N: Can’t help it, sorry.
M: Faye, are you keeping up with this years American Idol?
F: I’m trying to watch it as much as I can. I watched last night(Tues.) and I was
judging a contest last Tues. night, but they had it on the big screen before the
contest started. So I’ve watched quite a bit of it. I actually voted one night. The
nice thing is this year I don’t have to hang up and vote. I do it because I want to.
(lol)
N: Can I ask you who you voted for?
F: Yes, I voted for…I meant to vote last night and I was going out to dinner after the
show, so I didn’t get a chance. But I voted for Diana and Toyo (corrects herself),
Latoya. Toyota – well listen at me. Latoya.
N: Oh, good. I love those. Can I ask you another question real quick?
F: Sure.
N: What do you think about John Stevens? In my opinion, he’s trying to cash in on
your son’s performances.
F: Well, I don’t know that he’s trying to cash in so much as that media is trying to
play him up because he has got an innocence about him.
M: I like him.
F: I like him, too. I think he’s not versatile. I think he sounds the same. The first
couple of weeks I heard him I thought this guys really got a great voice, but I see
that he cannot sing the genre of the music that – well last night was obviously not
a good night for him.
N: Latin.
F: Latin. I don’t know if I’d put it quite as harsh as Simon did. (lol) Chocolate ice
cream and onions. (lol) I think that he probably should have been gone by now.
I think he’s being voted on because he’s a cute guy and I think, too, people are
craving the kind of music that he sings. And I think that one thing that made
Clayton popular, too, because of the innocence and the type of music that he’s
bringing back, people want that. I guess I didn’t realize how much people
were craving for that until I read some of the fan letters – the mail that comes in –
so supportive of his music. This is something that everyone can listen to as a
family and we don’t have to worry about the dirty words or anything in it. So I
think John is kind of representing that. And I think he’s playing the little quiet
boy, but I think probably that’s part of his personality – a little bit.
M: Can you hold on just for a minute?
F: Sure.
M: We’ve got to take a little break then we’ll be right back. We won’t keep you too
long. I know you’ve got a busy day.
N: But you’re so fascinating that we want to keep you around.
F: LOL

*After a commercial and a song(not Clay?), they cut to middle of WYSYLM.

N: Everybody in this town knows this voice.
M: Clay Aiken. One day he’s sucking on a Snoopy’s hot dog down there on
Hillsborough St., and then whamo – sitting on top of the world. Faye Parker is
with us. Faye, do you want to say hello to Frances?
F: Hi Frances, hope you’re listening.
M: Hey Frances, we appreciate you supporting us. I see where Clay was on the cover
of Country Weekly, a little insert on the cover this week. When you make the
cover with Garth and Trisha you know you’ve got to be big time.
F: I hope so.
N: He’s been on the cover of several huge magazines. So he’s not hurting, that’s for
sure.
F: Yeah, he’s made the covers quite a few times by himself.
M: Are you going to have to buy a new house just to put all the stuff up in?
F: If it does keep coming in, I may have to.
N: I’ll bet you’re gonna have to.
F: We lovingly call the place over the garage “the shrine”. It’s full of his souvenirs
from his fans. Pictures that people have drawn. Some of the most beautiful
quilts.
N: People are sewing him quilts?
F: Oh, yes. I can think of three. They send squares, fans that are on the boards.
Each fan will do their own square and they send it back to one person and she
puts the quilts together. They’re really pretty. I’d love to put them some where
on display. They’re just so beautiful.
N: That is awfully nice of them to do. Just wonder what people are thinking when
they do stuff like that. Like, do they think “oh he’s definitely going to get this”.
“This is going to end up on the shrine wall at his Mom’s house or…”
F: Actually I’ve heard from a couple of people in a round about way that they saw
something on TV that they had sent. Because the media has been out filming, in
fact, Thursday before Mother’s Day, CBS Early Show is doing the Mother’s Day
thing. I think Thursday is the day that I’m on. And Clayton – I don’t know when
- I think he’s supposed to be doing some quotes with them. They’re spending
that whole week – I think Luther Vandross’ mother and myself and I can’t
remember who else, but each of us have a day there.
N: Wow, that’s so cool.
M: You’re just busy. You’re a judge now on Fox50’s “Gimme the Mike” which I
think that’s great.
F: Well, that’ll be fun.
M: That’s kind of like our own local reality…
F: It’s open to the public. I think you call Fox50 to get tickets, or watch Fox50.
Tickets are available for that. They pretape the shows on May 19th & 20th and it
Will be live on July 7th. I think it will be shown in June, if I’m not mistaken.
N: I was flipping channels last night, I did see a little thing on that. I noticed there
was a lot of people from Raleigh that are performers on “Gimme the Mike” which
is kind of different from when we were watching American Idol and there was
only one contestant from Raleigh.
F: Right. (lol) It’s going to be done very nicely. It’s going to be done at the Fletcher
Auditorium. I saw a copy of the stage set and it’s going to be very, very nice. I
think it’s very impressive.
M: Are you going to be Simon?
F: I think they’ve found a Simon. (all laugh)
N: I can’t see Faye pulling off Simon.
M: Yeah, she’s too nice.
N: She’s way too nice.
M: She’s just the nicest southern belle I’ve ever known, besides my mom. (lol)
F: Thank you. (lol)
N: He’s got to throw that in there, because she’s listening.
F: You’re supposed to do that. (lol)
M: Faye, thank you so, so much for your time. Give us a call again sometime.
F: Well thank you a lot and just one more thing. Some people may not know, he
will be in Greensboro July 16th.
N: Oh, really?
M: Mark that calendar.
F: Mark your calendar July 16th. Tickets are already on sale at Tickets.com.
N: Tickets will be sold out by the end of the day, now. Thanks Faye.
F: Thank you guys.
M: We’ll sit in the suite with Faye.
N: Yeah, save us a seat, Faye.
M: Thank you, Faye. Bye Bye.

[clayMaine-iac]

The sales charts have been updated for this week.  MOAM  sold 9,802 units this week and is 111 on the Billboard chart.  Solitaire sold 15,396 units this week to remain the best sellling single for the 6th straight week!!!!!!

View the updated charts here:

SALES CHARTS

[Pamela]

Clay was on the radio yesterday, on a couple of different stations.  Apparently the interview was taped.  Here are a couple of recaps.

KIIS-FM in Des Moines:

When they interviewed Kelly a few weeks back, she told them to ask Clay if he has every kissed Kim L. No answer from Clay, just a bunch of his cute giggles and laughter. Siad the DJ had held up his end of the deal by asking the question, but Clay not giving an answer.

He's going back to LA for a while for some R&R and taking a vacation in June. He says he's not much of a tropical person (comments and says "have you seen how white I am?") Him and the DJ start talking about Ireland and that Clay would like to go there in June.

Also says he will be recording the Christmas album when he is in LA now, which is when I figured he would do it.

Started talking about AI and says he tries to watch it every week. I'm NOT QUOTING HIM..... BUT he said something along to the lines of them not being all that great last week.... which NO DUH!!! the whole country thinks the same thing. He did say Fantasia was good though....

Explained how not too many people new about it in Season 1, tons of talented people came to try out in Season 2, and everybody else came out for Season 3. He says there still are talented people out there. DJ tells him how he and his wife are huge fans of his and says what a voice. Made a joke about voting for redheads.

Clay said how he, Ruben, an Kim are TV stars. Mentioned something about his music not being played on the radio or it's just harder to get his music on the radio.

Thanks to Notacanuck.

Apparently the same interview aired in Cleveland:

I was in my car, and heard the Cleveland Kiss station talking about Clay. I thought they were going to play a song, which perplexed me, since they never play Clay. I sat and listened, and it wasn't a song, it was the CUTEST interview! (Too short, though.)

<snip> Anyway, the DJ, Valentine, apparently digs Clay. Tidbits:

When Kelly was on, she told Val to ask Clay if he's ever kissed Kim Locke. Clay sounded embarrassed and laughed and said he wasn't going to answer that question. He questioned whether Kelly even suggested that, and Val insisted that the question was her idea, and Clay said, "Well, you've asked me, so you've fulfilled your end of the deal."

Talked about AI3. Clay is still pimping Fantasia, but he made the point that the group this year consists of those who didn't make it through last year. Val laughed, agreed, and said, "Dude, that's harsh." Heeee.

Val and his wife LOVE to listen to Clay. Val said, "I like Kelly's voice, but man, Clay, you are IT. The best to come out of AI, and the best voice on radio today." (Paraphrasing.) Clay very humbly said a simple thank you.

Clay said he is taking a vacation in June. Val asked if Clay is a "tropical" kind of guy, and they both agreed that they are too pale for that. Clay mentioned that he'd like to go to Ireland after Val mentioned that he is Irish, and Val said, "I'm going to Ireland in August, come with us!" Clay said, "I'm already going in June!" Val said, "Well switch it to Aug., and we'll hang!"

Val brought up Kelly's phobia of sharks (during the "tropical" conversation), and Clay said, "That's like a phobia of snakes." They both said that the same time, "Who doesn't have a phobia about snakes (and sharks)?" Clay said that he has enough phobias for both he and Kelly, he must have gotten his PLUS hers.

Which segued into discussion of the last time Clay was in the Kiss studio. It seems that Valentine was pretending that they had a cat in the studio, and Clay kept saying, "That wasn't funny." Val would, "But it was! The look of relief when we finally told you there wasn't a cat here was priceless!" Yet another, "But it wasn't funny." Val tried to placate him with a few, "You know I love you, man" interjections. Heeee.

The interview ended with Val stating that he can't wait for the Xmas CD, he'll be looking forward to it hitting the stores. It was great listening to this DJ on the "cool" station bond with Clay, even though they did trot out the gay issue when mentioning the upcoming interview. (Two people were stating that Clay is not gay, and one in the studio was questioning, "He's not? Do we know that for a fact?" Of course, no one bothered to ask, "Oh, wait, and do you have proof that he's gay?" But whatever. They all followed it up by stating what a great voice he has, and what that has to do w/his sexual orientation is lost on me, as usual.)

Thanks to xfileluv.

[lorraine]

THANK YOU FOR THE NEWS PAM AND DEANNA.  I HAVE TO ADMIT I HAVE CLAYFEVER ALSO AND HAVE HAD IT FOR A VERY LONG TIME.  NOW I CAN OFFICIAL START MY DAY.



LORRAINE

[dudley5]

M: You said he snuck in this weekend for a quick visit to Mom’s house. Did he bring
the laundry?
F: I think he left the laundry. (laughs)
N: What are you supposed to do, ship it back?

THANKS FOR THE NEWS - I WAS HOPEING HE COULD GO TO HIS MOMS AFTER HE FINISHED HIS TOUR AND LONDON ETC SO HE COULD VISIT WITH HIS FAMILY AND REST BEFORE HEADING BACK TO L.A. AND IT SEEMS HE DID - MAKES ME WONDER HOW HE COULD "SNEAK IN" TO RALEIGH - MAYBE HE WORE HIS TOUR HAT :roll:  I FIGURED HE WOULD AT LEAST GO SOMEWHERE NEAR THERE TO PICK UP RALEIGH TO TAKE HER BACK HOME TO L.A. WITH HIM SO I'M GLAD HE MANAGED TO ACTUALLY GET TO HIS MOM'S.

[ChrisieD]

Can't wait to see the mothers day show. We'll get to see Clay before May 11 !!!! I need a fix. Great article with his mom, Thanks.

[Glory]

Thank you so much fo the interview.I bet Raleigh was glad to see her daddy.i saw the subject of moms but did not hear who was going to be on.Faye certainly raised him well.did she not.?thanks again Glory (Note)

[Pamela]

CLAY STAY AWAY FROM THE MALL!

[houstonclayfan]

CLAY STAY AWAY FROM THE MALL!

And all our Claygirls and Clayguys from the LA area too !

 :evil:  :(

[ACcountryFan]

Solitaire sold 15,396 units this week to remain the best sellling single for the 6th straight week!!

--------------------------

not only that, but the song is the most played "new" song, according to the R&R AC chart. 193 airplays on 36 AC stations have been reported. it's #1 on the R&R AC "New and Active" list.

this means that on the first chart in May, Solitaire should be on the main R&R AC Top-30 chart if airplay keeps up this week.

[cjrmax]

Found this over at MTV.com

If Clay Aiken's co-headlining tour with Kelly Clarkson was a sure thing, his upcoming North American solo tour might be the real measure of the man.

Aiken, who wrapped up his stint with Clarkson April 16 (see Cutielicious: Kelly And Clay's Live Show Heavy On The Sugar"), will return to the road on July 8 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The crooner will play 28 concerts, eight of which are at state fairs. Dates are scheduled through September 19 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and one additional show has been booked for October 18 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Before launching his tour, Aiken will play the KIIS-FM Wango Tango show on May 15 in Pasadena, California, which features 21 acts including Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson, JC Chasez, Maroon 5, Big Boi, Hilary Duff, J-Kwon and William Hung.

On May 11, Aiken will sing a cover of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire" on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." A recording of the track was released on March 16 as a B-side for his new single, "The Way."

Clay Aiken's summer tour dates, according to his label:
7/8 - Grand Forks, ND @ Ralph Engelstad Arena
7/9 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Sioux Falls Arena
7/10 - Appleton, WI @ Fox Cities Stadium
7/17 - Greenville, SC @ Bi Lo Center
7/18 - N. Charleston, SC @ N. Charleston Coliseum
7/20 - Portsmouth, VA @ NTELOS Pavilion at Harbor Center
7/24 - Syracuse, NY @ OnCenter
7/29 - Mashantucket, CT @ Foxwoods Casino
7/30 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Caesars
7/31 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Caesars
8/3 - Kingston, RI @ Ryan Center at University of Rhode Island
8/5 - Gilford, NH @ Meadowbrook Farms
8/6 - Bethlehem, PA @ Bethlehem Musikfest
8/7 - Clearfield, PA @ Clearfield County Fair
8/11 - Columbus, OH @ Celeste Center
8/12 - Jackson, MI @ Jackson County Fair
8/15 - Des Moines, IA @ Iowa State Fair
8/16 - Indianapolis, IN @ Indiana State Fair
8/19 - Hamburg, NY @ Erie County State Fair
8/20 - Clio, MI @ Clio Amphitheater
8/21 - Clio, MI @ Clio Amphitheater
8/28 - Dayton, OH @ Ervin J. Nutter Center
8/29 - Fort Wayne, IN @ Allen County Memorial Coliseum
9/11 - Spencer, IA @ Clay County Fair
9/15 - Portsmouth, VA @ NTELOS Pavilion at Harbor Center
9/16 - York, PA @ York Fair
9/19 - Springfield, MA @ Eastern States Exposition
10/18 - Raleigh, NC @ North Carolina State Fair

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1486684/20040429/aiken_clay.jhtml?headlines=true

[clayaikenwow]

Mrs.parker is ogin to be on CBS early show for mothers day how cool is that !! I'll be looking forward to seeign that !!!!! And CLAY!! still bring his laundry home to his mom , and getting her to ship it back taht is halarious! I guess boys never do change!! I guess she probably misses doin it for him !! Poor thing is sio busy he never gets a chance to do much other than work!!! But still its so funy!!