Amy Lee: Getting it in San Jose

“GETTING IT” IN SAN JOSE: A JNT EXPERIENCE

By Amy Lee

Reading some reviews of the Costa Mesa JNT concert last night, I realize that my recollections of concert experiences seem different from many. I am in awe of some of the fans who can remember so much detail about each song Clay sings. They can tell us when he changed up a single note or if he gave a smile at the end of a phrase. I’m sure I noticed such things while I was actually there looking at him and listening to him. But once it’s over, I tend to dwell on…other things.

Tonight I saw Clay in San Jose. Even though during one of his frequent interludes of banter, he referred to the locale as Santa Fe…twice, as a matter of fact…. He got warm love from San Jose. And even though there were some females somewhere in the audience for whom I definitely didn’t feel the holiday spirit---these would be the females who insisted on yelling in stereo “Happy Birthday, Clay!” and “We love you, Clay” between songs or worse, after he was finished introducing a song and before the music started---even with all that, the concert was breathtaking. Even though the women sitting behind me were talkative enough and giggling loud enough to make my neck turn a la “The Exorcist” so that I could give them a withering look, I was swept away by the talent and goodness that is Clay Aiken in concert.

This was my first Clay concert I had seen without having watched downloads beforehand. I had seen a few pictures just to—well, heck!---because he’s so danged good looking! But I had resisted actually watching and listening to him perform any of the show. I’m glad I resisted. Because when I did hear that first note---that unmistakable Clay voice---and I saw his tall, lean shadow emerge from the side of the stage, I reacted as if it were the very first time I had ever done so. He walked out there among the small children and the orchestra and the high school choir behind him and he was…Clay. There he was.

I immediately noticed that he wasn’t wearing the same outfit from his Costa Mesa concert. I’ve already seen differing descriptions of his clothes from people who attended this same San Jose concert. And so far, my own memory of the ensemble differs still from all those written. So let's leave it with "Clay looked hot, y'all!" And when he walked out in the second part of the show in his long black jacket with his trademark loud stripes on both shirt and tie, I joined the others in a collective moan of approval. The man knows how to wear a long jacket, friends. He looked great! And I was so happy to see him seemingly feeling better.

Which brings me to another one of the things that stayed with me---an impression of the evening that helps define it for me. Clay was in a good mood. He seemed happy and energetic and he was very, verychatty! He had all kinds of little stories to share and snarky comments to make. I LOVE that!

He hawked his book and his CD and his television special. When he talked about his show coming up, he said something like “8 pm on NBC; that’s channel 11 here in San Jose. Same time as the Billboards, but don’t watch that. That’s on FOX at the same time…it’s no good. Watch our show. Less foul language and dirty stuff.” The place cracked up. He, savvy comedian that he is, waited for the laughter to die down before continuing. Perfect comic timing, that man!

He also talked about his health. He said he had just gotten a clean bill of health from his doctor and he was ready to put everything he could into the concert tonight. Then he added, “Of course, that might mean I can’t sing a note tomorrow night, but that’s in Salt Lake City, so who cares, right?” Hopefully, no one in the audience tonight was planning on moving along with the tour to SLC!

He told us about Christmas memories and family and all kinds of warm and cozy traditions. Then he added that at his house when he was growing up the tradition was for his mom to make him shovel the snow outside instead of sitting in front of a crackling fire. Excuse me? Is this the same hometown he mentioned in his book as rarely getting enough snow to make snow cream? Poor baby. He seemed to love playing the “poor Clay” card with little anecdotes about “Christmas as a child”. Right before singing “I’ll be Home for Christmas” at the piano, he talked about how he had originally hoped to “do a little something different” this year. Seems he had been planning to learn to play a song on the piano.

Now Clay said that his Granny had always wanted him to learn the piano so that at Christmastime he or his cousin Jessica could play at family gatherings and they could all sing Christmas songs and the family could have a good ole’ time just hanging around together warbling beautiful carols. Unfortunately, he said, he was too lazy and too slow to learn the piano so that never happened. But, he added, that’s probably not a bad thing because everybody else in his extended family is tone deaf! Probably wouldn’t have been a good thing at all to have all of them huddled around some bad piano playing trying to sing, right?

I’m telling you, he was a stand up comic tonight! At ease, taking his time with his stories, walking on stage with a hand in a pocket, shaking his head in mock disgust and embarrassment. He had us at 'hello', folks.

I have to say, though, that my favorite Clay “story” was what I am hoping was an unscripted one. After singing one of the songs while sitting on a stool, Angela, Quiana and Jacob rejoined him on stage and took their own places on stools next to him. He turned as if to rise, but didn’t. He started talking about New Year’s resolutions and asking each in turn about theirs. Quiana and Angela said they didn’t have any yet. Jacob said maybe he’d get a haircut, which made Clay grace us with a wonderful Clay giggle/laugh.

Then Clay said, “I don’t do resolutions either. If something needs to be fixed, I want to fix it right then and there, not wait.” Then he said, “Like right now, for example. My shoe is stuck in the stool here and my resolution is to get it unstuck. That’s what I want to fix right now. Bet you wondered why I wasn’t standing up to sing the next song, huh?” And everyone started laughing as he kept mumbling about his stuck shoe, and leaning over to try to work it out from between the bars where he had rested his foot while singing. He said, “I gotta reach down here and unstick it and that’s not gonna look too classy.”

God, I love that man! Know what I thought about then? I thought about Ashley Simpson and her embarrassing attempt at adlibbing when her even more embarrassing failure at lip-synching left her swinging in the wind on national live television. Somehow I think that Clay’s quick treatment of his stuck shoe was classier than her humiliating dance when she realized things weren’t going as planned on SNL. Especially when the song he finally extricated himself from the vicious stool to sing was “Don’t Save It All on Christmas Day”.

This song is JNT’s “Solitaire”. Clay absolutely tore this song up. When he started jumping around and bending over with all the emotion he felt; when he surprised us with "those moves" we've come to love--the leg kicks, the bounces and little hops; when he played with us with his eyes and his growly voice on the phrase "a hug is warmer when you're in it, oh, baby, that's a fact" (sigh and gulp); when he literally stunned us all with the power and clarity of that…note...at the end of the song; and then when he killed us dead by even adding a “yea—aaaeah” after THAT. I couldn’t help but add a “woo hoo” to the loud yells of appreciation from the crowd. His throat was obviously feeling better and he was showing off, of course. And he can do that, you know. I don’t mind. At all.

Which brings me to the songs. The voice.

From the beginning I could tell Clay was not 100 percent vocally. He sounded so very good, mind you, but “The VOX” was not absolutely, totally there the way we have heard it so many times. His voice was raspier, huskier than usual and sometimes his switch between chest and head voice wasn’t as smooth as we’re used to expecting.

But the man sang, folks. He sang his heart out, and in doing so, he lifted ours. Whether he was springing around the stage singing the adrenalin inducing “Sleigh Ride” or soothing us with slow, sweet sounds of “Silent Night”, he was 100 percent Clay giving his usual 500 percent soul to the music…and to us.

Some things I remember:

*Change ups on some songs that included even higher notes than the CD recording. I wish I could remember exactly which songs, but I just know I thought at the time how remarkable that he would attempt to challenge himself on stage, unnecessarily since no one was expecting him to, when his voice was already in question.

*His singing some songs with a “hidden” mic anchored on him, leaving both hands free. It was a different look for him and during much of that time; his big hands hung quiet and still next to him as he simply…sang. It was an almost eerie presentation, but powerful too.

*How absolutely incredible he sounded on “Oh Holy Night”. Again, how he sang even more “glory” notes live than are on the recording and how he even seemed to jazz it up with a little scat note here and there. He was obviously feeling this song and enjoying it. It almost seemed as if he wanted to prolong this one; no one would have grumbled about it if he had, either.

*His oh-so-smooth and comfortable entrance into the orchestra seats as he sang, and how he so effortlessly began dancing with a young girl on the end of a row. And then how I hated sitting in the balcony because I couldn’t follow him as he continued back into the crowd to, I have read, kneel down to sing to an elderly woman and then kiss her.

*The pure JOY in his face as he sang...every single song. Think “Solitaire” “I Survived You” and “Measure of a Man” all wrapped up into one glorious countenance of that incomparably beautiful face and you might understand. There was a glitter, a shining in his eyes as he sang the words of the songs that told the Christmas story and of the things Christmas was meant to offer. No one could leave not knowing that he believes.

There is so much more I know I should say. There always is when it’s Clay I’m trying to talk about. A friend who was at Costa Mesa said that I was going to “die” when I saw him and that her JNT experience was the absolute BEST concert she had ever been to. I won’t go so far as to say that. My reaction to the Charlotte concert of his solo tour remains that for me. But I understand why she would believe such a thing of this JNT experience.

As I watched Clay through binoculars from my third row balcony seat, I could understand. I saw this man---this performer…back where he belongs…on stage. He was confident and happy and loving it all. Again. But there WAS more. Because he was singing about something very important to him. His eyes shone with a reflection of a personal fire he wanted us to experience. His hands, so much more innocent than when he has tantalized and teased us with a mic stand, were understated and perhaps even more powerful when he did use them because of that. His body was appropriately still and then flowing, those quiet long limbs serving to make his surprising elbow pumps and then his whole-body bends and turns more inspiring when they appeared.

And his love for those on stage with him, whether it was the children whose names he didn’t even know or the people in his band who have become his family, was so apparent in his generous acknowledgment of them and his thanks.

Clay makes me proud. Proud that I am so in love with him. I thought as I watched him tonight that I will be able to tell my grandchildren how I was a “groupie” of Clay Aiken when I was “younger”. How I knew from the beginning how special he was, even while the industry condemned him and ridiculed him for not being like them. How he brought out the very best in people from the very start and just kept changing minds and hearts with each new encounter.

How he shot to the top because of the loyalty and love his heart and his life inspired in others and how he never, ever failed to thank us for that support. How he never made excuses for himself and how he bared raw, personal wounds and fears both to his friends and to those who would use such honesty to hurt him if they could. How he remained true to himself and those who loved him through it all and continued to give us more than we could ever, ever be able to thank him for.

Because as I sat there tonight watching this very young man absolutely own the stage and connect with every person in that room, I saw him decades from now still doing the same thing. I could picture him still on a stage; still making us laugh with his wit and cry at the pure beauty of his voice. I could envision him a happy man, fulfilled with a sense of having made a difference through what he had chosen and accepted to do with his life---

The foundation, the children, the fans, the friendships, the networks of good works, the laughter, the happy painful tears of repressed emotions wrangled free by the siren soul in his song, the irrefutable proof of what one single person can accomplish in this world to make it better.

I bet Clay Aiken would today still blush and protest such things being said about him. But I’m ok with that. I’m very ok with just tagging along on this journey with Clay as he grows and makes his way. I’m extremely ok with bragging on his most recent feats of best selling books and record-breaking CD releases and ambassadorships and awards, and I’m oh-so-ok with traveling all over the country—and I’m sure internationally in the not so distant future---to watch and listen to him work his wonders again and again. I’m so very ok with continuing to love this man---who he is and what his song does to me and to the lives of us lucky ones who hear him.

But---decades from now---when I’m old and gray in my rocking chair watching Clay on his weekly variety show or shuffling with my walker on my way to his latest sold-out concert, I reserve the right to say “I told you so!” to all the music critics and “experts” today who just don’t or won’t “get it”.

I saw Clay in San Jose tonight and once again, I “got it” in person.

Thank you, Clay.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 by Amy Lee. Printed with the permission of the writer.