ClayManiacs

:wave Kat,
How about Chugging along Chasing Clay at Chastain Park...lol

 :hugg

M & G Report

Wearing 5250 polo
10 people in the meetngreet
arm fur and leg fur growing back
looked thin
sat in semicircle.
Asked names and where everyone was from

Girl told Clay that there were NOT bats at Biltmore, but birds. Got in debate. Clay asked rest of group what they thought and all but the first girl agreed with Clay that they were bats. Said "See I win"

Someone asked if he and Jimmy K friends. Said they are. Became friends during that appearance with the mock fight. Enjoy each others company and humor. Celebrities have contacted JK to do a similar type skit like Clay's, and Jimmy has turned them all down. Likewise, Conan contacted Clay wanting to a reconcilatory skit like the JK one, but Clay turned him down too. They are very loyal to each other.

Doesn't do any kind of warm up routine before concert. Usually consists of having a grilled cheese sandwich.
Does, like to find A&Q before show and evesdrop on them and get some stuff against them to use on stage.

Was handed one of those autograph doll which was covered in autographs. He couldn't find a spot to sign. He said.."well the crack is available....and ended up signing his name on butt.

Someone asked why it takes so long to get CD out. Clay said could get another CD out there real quick but it wouldn't be what he wanted. Has been approached to do another cover CD, but he said no. Just today, they got the first 2 songs approved that he and Jaymes submitted, so it looks REALLY good chance that they are gonna get the album they want! Hoo Hoo!

ok, talking to the cellcerter....via CV-...Clayisacutie, i know that is the wrong spelling...but that is who gave the meet n greet report

she had a meet n greet

10 people

5230 shirt

brownish khaki

arm fur growing back

light make up

very blue eyes tonight, contacts

looked so slight...so seem filled out on the stage but in the room he was normal size

sat behind stage area

asked names and shook hands
asked where from

first question:

Biltmore not bats they were birds and brought documentation

debate over birds vs. bats

Clay took a poll about bats...everyone but the one lady voted bats...he won

He and Kimmel and friends...yes, does consider him a friend...they became a friends ...intially he didn't watch Kimmel, but he heard there were jokes, he didn't take it personally...the mock fight...really enjoyed each other company, great guy...

Jimmy has been contacted by other celebrities wanting to do a similar fight with Jimmy...but he has turned them down...

Conan O'Brien has invited Clay on the show and has been asked to do a similar skit, Clay has refused

He didn't say he wouldn't go on Conan, but that he won't do the skit

next question from a nurse...

socialized medicine....that's kind of personal...no, not the reason...what about the socialized medicine...no one at hospital spoke English...given him erothmycin...he is allergic...

specific warm up routine before concert....he sleeps right until the meet n greet...Idol...Ruben, Kim and Clay did no warm ups...he used to ate a grilled cheese sandwich...thinks the no diary is urban legend

if doing a new song...he does prepare...he does have to stretch to do that...he loves to change it up...

mentioned at the JNT02 it was death to him b/c he couldn't do the change up...

I like to find out where Angela and Quiana are to evasedrop to get info...to use for the stage

European McD are the quarter pounder or meteric....most countries they are quarter pounders....

some kind of autograph dog...or doll...not sure...it was already signed....do want me to write really small...the crotch is available...they all laughed...room on the butt...he signed it on the butt

most interesting thing...

why they have to wait for the next CD...he could put one out really quickly if you really want it...approached to do covers, but he said no

approved two songs...positive sign to get the CD he wants

her question...who would he like to win a meet n greet...historical or otherwise...gave her a funny look...that's a really hard question....initially he said Mr. Rogers, but that doesn't fell right...he needs to think about it...he is still thinking while they do the photo...talking the entire time...thinking a celebrity ....no not necessarily...wouldn't mind Winston Churchill...no, he smokes...so he thinks about it....offers him a different question...no, he will think about it...

7 more people...

3rd possibilty...Jimmy Carter, but he has already met him

steps back into the room...goodbye...never got answer....

so down to earth and friendly, put everyone at ease...

:wave Hey Meesa, you still in a fog too..lol

She also asked about the european healthcare clay had problems with when he was so sick. He didn't want to discuss the specifics, but he said that they told the hospital that he was allergic to Erythromycin, but they gave it to him anyways and it made him sicker.

I used Lewis' binoculars the seocnd half of the concert, and I could see that the arm fur was returning, and I could  also see eyelashes, as I had hoped!  :lol :wink

:birthday Barb.
I spent my birthday night here too...lol

Isn't it crazy how dependent we become on some things.

Pop singer Clay Aiken has been off the chart since his 2nd runner-up finish on American Idol. Aiken’s debut album, Measure of a Man, “Joyful Noise” Christmas tours and recordings, and recent CD, A Thousand Different Ways, are all best-selling juggernauts.

At least he's  'off the chain' now cause he's coooolll!! :roflmao

Oh, "how's your Volvo?"  He said "That sounds personal. Don't ask a woman that!  Be sure to enunciate!"    

Jeez, Clay! :eek

Jeez, Clay! :eek

Well, he is a man now Sunny, remember?   :blush 

<cough> Um, yeah.

I think I blinked out a contact lens on that one. :para

<cough> Um, yeah.

I think I blinked out a contact lens on that one. :para

Heather - Great pics!  :clap

I just realized it's a terrifying process to write a Meet and Greet recap! I want to be accurate! But my memories are filtered through a happy haze of meeting Clay and may be incomplete.

I had a fanclub meet and greet at Atlanta. There were six OFC winners and four auction winners. We stood outside of the box office in the 100 degree heat until it opened around 6 pm and picked up our "tractor badges". So funny, no one put them on, we just wanted to save them unused. Jerome literally appeared a few moments later and checked the numbers in the group and led us down some steps to a lower parking lot where the tour bus was parked. There we were told the "rules" of no cameras, one signed item, no touching Clay. Jerome was really cute-he told us that he couldn't name all of the body parts we couldn't touch and that "He is going to hug you."

Then thank goodness, we went inside to an air-conditioned room. Jerome even asked if anyone needed to go to the bathroom! The room had a couch, loveseat and several folding chairs in a semi-circle plus a coffee table, end tables and another kind of sofa table. Food was out and there were coolers with beverages and Jerome offered us a bottled water. He told us to put any presents on an end table and then left. We sat grinning a bit nervously and waited just a few minutes.

The door opened and in walked Clay! Looking mighty fine! Parted hair, little bit of makeup, clean-shaven (my personal favorite!), slim and tall, tan 5230 polo (maybe tucked in? pictures will have to confirm), dark not-ratty (!) cargo pants, and the criss-cross sandals. Jerome, Mary and Jamie were also there. A warm "hi" and then he went around the room and shook everyone's hand and asked us our name.
 
When he sat down, he commented that one of the ladies in a folding chair was slightly behind him and she told him she had been kicked off the couch (not really!) and he asked why. I told him we were hot and sweaty and that there were indoor venues in the South.

Then Clay went into a story of how hot it was in Cary and that Asheville was better but the bugs were bad. Now sadly, I must confess that I am "batwoman". I didn't bring any presents but I had printed off a page about Chimney swift (slang chimney sweep) birds and addressed it to Quiana and Angela telling them they were birds, not bats and GOOD birds that ate bugs! I picked up the page off the gift table and told Clay that the things at Biltmore were birds, not bats. He adamantly disagreed! And asked everyome else "Who thinks they were bats" and EVERYONE raised their hand. Then he asked "Who thinks they were birds" and I was the only one! He smirked that everyone agreed with him and I smirked right back that would he rather be agreed with or be right!! I told him he needed to be right on the fifth grader show!

Now the rest of my account may be out of order. I told my husband that Clay was a great politician but he said no, Clay was a great teacher, engaging the whole "class". Most people asked a question and if someone hadn't talked much, he talked to them. I am not sure if we had a shorter meet and greet than some others or whether it was because Clay talked alot and was comprehensive in his answers but it seemed like the time flew!

In no particular order:
Someone asked how he and Jimmy Kimmel became such good friends and he said that he had heard that Jimmy had made jokes about him and when he was asked to be on the show that he was such a good sport about the fight scene that they became friends right away. He said other shows had asked him to do a fight scene and mentioned Conan O'Brien by name and said other celebrities had asked Jimmy to do a similar skit but they both would not. One of my fellow Georgia Claymates told him that we had just gotten Jimmy's show in Atlanta and that Jimmy had given Clay the credit. Clay said they just got it in Charlotte recently, too, and that he had told people to watch the show before and had been told it wasn't on.

One young, very pretty girl told him how much she admired him to which he replied "that's not a question". But "thank you".
 
One of the meet and greeters was a nurse and asked him about socialized medicine and further explained that he had had something about his experience in Europe when he was so sick. He didn't give any details but did say the doctor didn't speak English. Most Europeans speak some English but he said this doctor was German and they were too good to speak English! He was trying to tell them he was allergic to erythromycin but they gave it to him anyway. Someone asked what kind of reaction he had but he said there were so many things wrong that he couldn't tell!

Someone asked what he did to get ready before shows and he said nothing! And went into a story about how it was like a runner who ran a mile everyday so that soon it would take two miles to make him winded. Singing the same show every night was like that for him. He was fine but if he had to sing a song he hadn't sung for a while, he might have trouble. I told him that they did change up the tour as it went along and he said he liked to do that and said that as much as he liked the JNTII with the play, he hated having to do exactly the same thing over and over each night.

In this same answer he said that he, Ruben and Kimberly never did anything before singing while on Idol and that he ate grilled cheese sandwiches and other supposed bad things. What he DID do before songs was hang out with Angela and Quiana who chattered like birds (with hand motion!) and try to get something on them for the show and that they hadn't learned not to talk in front of him if they didn't want it repeated.

Another lady was a teacher and one of her students asked if MacDonald quarter-pounders were called that in other countries. He liked that and engaged Mary in the answer and mentioned other countries had their own "special" names and products but that quarter-pounders didn't have a metric name he thought.

He asked us where we were from, pointing to my friend in her Ga Claymate shirt and saying "Georgia" and asking who had come the farthest. I said I was from Georgia but also from North Carolina a long time ago. He went into a story about how "everyone is from NC-I drove thru NC once, my cousin's aunt twice removed is from NC." Really funny! Everyone seems to think NC gives them a connection to him! Well, it does!

Now sometime during the session,he said he needed to start signing things but that he would still answer questions. This was when someone asked why it took so long for a new CD. I "remember" him saying he could have a new CD tomorrow but that it would be covers because that what "they" wanted. But that he believed "they" had agreed to let them make the album they wanted and that he and Jaymes had just heard today that two songs they submitted had been accepted. So no time frame was mentioned but it looks to be the album he wants so far.

Also sometime during this time, Jerome's phone rang and he left the room and Clay said if we wanted to jump him, now was the time!

I had him sign my tour poster and asked him to sign it "Make a Joyful Noise" (a family joke since I can't carry a tune in a bucket!) One lady had a beautiful picture mosaic of his moustache. Others had books and the Rolling Stone cover. Funniest thing was an autograph stuffed dog with very little space left on it. He said he could sign the crotch but ended up signing the butt!
 
Another lady asked what historical figure he would want to meet but he drew a blank on that one. Said he would think about it but all he could come up with was Mr. Rogers who wasn't really a "historical" figure.

I am at a loss for other tidbits right this minute. Hopefully others will add their recaps "soon". Mary called our names individually and we went out in the hall for our pictures. I may have hugged him! Clay stuck his head back in and said goodbye. Jerome escorted him wherever he went and then came back and escorted us out.

Great memory! Love the new meet and greet format. Chitchatting with a friend who is interested in what you have to say. I'm still grinning!

Also sometime during this time, Jerome's phone rang and he left the room and Clay said if we wanted to jump him, now was the time!

... Jerome's phone rang and he left the room and Clay said if we wanted to jump him, now was the time!

Was that an invitation? :wink