Author Topic: AIKEN NEWS NETWORK MAY 22 (Read 2129 times)
Pamela
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AIKEN NEWS NETWORK MAY 22
« on: May 22, 2004, 03:00:52 AM »
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CLAY TO HOST AI FINAL FROM NC
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The Greensboro Coliseum will host an “American Idol” viewing party at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Triad fans have the opportunity to come out to support their own as Fantasia Barrino of High Point battles co-finalist Diana DeGarmo to see who captures the crown for the third season of FOX’s “American Idol.”
Former “American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken will be at Greensboro Coliseum to serve as the viewing party’s host and provide live cut-ins to the program’s nationally broadcast two-hour season finale.
Since being catapulted into stardom last year by his runner-up performance on "American Idol," Aiken has seemed omnipresent, with his smooth vocals and boy-next-door appeal.
The Coliseum will open its doors at 6 p.m. and fans are expected to arrive early. Admission is free and seating is general admission. Parking is also free.
“American Idol” came to the United States in the summer of 2002 and became an overnight success, growing to an audience of over 30 million viewers for the first season’s finale.
GO TRIAD
clayMaine-iac
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AIKEN NEWS NETWORK MAY 22
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2004, 07:08:36 AM »
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REMINDER:
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An all new American Idol special, "American Idol: The Phenomenon" tells the story of American Idol's rise to becoming one of the most popular shows in television history. This special airs Sunday, May 23 (9:00-10:00 PM) on FOX.
AMERICAN IDOL: THE PHENOMENON is a one-hour special, will take a look at how this series has grown into the No.1-rated show among Adults 18-49 for the 2003-2004 season. It will look back at the past three seasons, how it all began, and how the show has grown.
Host: Ryan Seacrest
Episode: SP-0460
Airdate: Sunday, May 23
Airtime: 9:00 PM
Network: FOX
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Clay "is" the "News"
When Words Fail--Let Music Speak
clayMaine-iac
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AIKEN NEWS NETWORK MAY 22
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2004, 07:11:05 AM »
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Is Clay Aiken Sexy?
by B. G. McCarthy (2004/05/21)
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What's sexy got to do with Clay Aiken? The man lambasted by GQ, talk show hosts, that critic who wrote recently in an L.A. paper about his performance at Wango Tango that Clay had zero sex-appeal. But for me, one weekend, the discordant words sexy and Clay melded into the same thought one heck of a lot.
I was hard at work one weekend when I took time out to look at the Wango Tango pictures. I should have known better because they had the same disastrous effect on me as the Rolling Stone pictures. Acute writers' block followed. Made me question all my long-held beliefs about what sex appeal is all about. And I had to really search myself for answers. Yes, I consider myself an expert on what makes a sexy male. I've made it my job as a writer to study sexy men. I even take notes. Make lists.
I have been struggling to get my thesis/lesson plan done for a writing class I'm giving next month called: "Creating the Perfect Sexy Hero." This is something every writer of good romances has to know. Ask any writer or reader what makes a great romantic hero and they'll answer in one word: He has to be sexy. And to make this sexiness transpire in a character we are creating, a writer has to know what makes a man sexy. Okay, that used to be clear to me. I had that all down pat. Then the myth exploded, thanks to a lanky North Carolina native who insists he wouldn't know his own sex appeal if it broadsided his Volvo.
Yes, he drives one. No, Volvos are not that sexy. Soccer moms drive Volvos. Rock stars drive Hummers and Vipers, maybe Bentleys.
Is Clay getting a little bit buff? I asked myself, leaning closer to the screen, wishing I had a pair of tweezers to peel back the tiny green bowling shirt in the pixilated screen. I was thinking the shirt really looked kind of tight and form-fitting. And since when is a clothing item that looks like it shrunk in Cosmo Kramer's wash, sexy? Well, the jeans were nice. Surprisingly so. Boy howdy, they fit his narrow hips and lovingly hug those long, lean legs. And the boy - THE BOY - has great shoulders.
No, I told myself. Do not go there. You must not go there. You are in the Clay's a sweetie, the-he-doesn't-do-anything-for-me-that-way camp. Must remember... I only like his voice, don't I? And I'm supposed to be writing about what makes a sexy hero today. No, I told myself, have told myself many times, I just want Clay Aiken for his voice.
But is he getting a little bit buff? Isn't he? Or am I imagining it? I admit defeat. I can't concentrate. I download the When Doves Cry videos against my better judgment.
Okay, you ask, what does Clay Aiken - who with a weight gain of twenty pounds would probably still blow over in a mild windstorm - really have to do with my thesis? Well, he keeps sticking his freckled nose into my head, that's what, exploding the hackneyed myth and cliché of every point I was trying to make for my class.
What is sexy? What makes a hero sexy? And can it be defined for a writer? A music critic. A judge on a cheesy contest. An editor of a magazine. Or the casual male observer who is perturbed by this phenomenon called Claymates? Anyone, for that matter. Can one woman's idea of sexy be someone else's unfunny joke?
Everyone has a different idea of what sexy is, of course. And of course the advertisers and the people who contract books in New York and cast movies in Hollywood haven't quite caught onto this fact yet. Take the French, for example. What's sexy in a male to the French would make an American cringe.
Before I met Clay - and, no, I don't exactly know him personally - I had vastly different ideas of what a hero and sex appeal, should entail: Certainly not young and innocent, not a virgin, not reed slim, not red-headed or freckled, not geeky, not a mama's boy, not someone possessing the ability to speak a mile a minute punctuated by giggles, certainly not anything as mundane as a country-boy teacher...
You know the type of man I mean. The guys we adore in the movies and novels: Tall, dark and deadly. Bad boy. Macho. Bossy. (Okay, I hear Clay is bossy), Alpha Male, better known as control freak, walks around shirtless all the time, might have a tattoo from his Navy Seal days and he swears occasionally, too wild to set his size twelve foot in a house of God. You've got the picture.
Okay, I hear Clay can be grumpy. That works for the novelist in me. Clay Aiken: Grumpy Navy Seal.
Clay Aiken hates water, but I hear his feet are big. But he turns them backwards on request. Is that sexy? Maybe to someone...
Okay, I know that when I'm writing a hero, I want my reader to fall in love with him, no matter his quirks. But can a man as quirky as Clay - a man my husband, and many men, critics, talk show hosts and Simon What's His Name equate with the likes of Gomer Pyle - be sexy? Can a man who is labeled effeminate for his gentle ways and antiquated ideas about social graces and seemliness ever be considered romance hero fodder?
I look at those pictures at Wango Tango and wonder: Is Clay Aiken two people? What happens when that boy gets on a stage? It seems to be a whole body thing. An awareness that translates to the camera. Is it sex? Is it innate? Or is he fooling with us?
I don't know for sure. And that's what I'm struggling with now.
I asked my hubby, who seems to have an opinion on everything, what makes a sexy man. Men's opinions on male sex appeal differ from women's of course. And I don't make the mistake of mentioning my boy toy, Clay. Hubby's opinionated, and a little close minded when it comes to Clay. He is in the camp that considers Clay a new-day Gomer Pyle. At worst Richie Cunningham. The question actually didn't faze him. His first answer: Tom Selleck in the old Magnum series is my hubby's ideal man.
Okay. We have a tall, dark, handsome sort with bushy eyebrows - and short-shorts that looked cool in the seventies, but give me the creeps now - a man's man. Yet, he had his quirks, didn't he? But his laugh was insane. High-pitched. Did people call that laugh girly? And he didn't seem like the most graceful runner on the planet, kind of tripped on those big, old feet like a dork. Maybe we're onto something here. I'm old enough to recall that Tom Selleck was a sex symbol. Even with that laugh.
Okay, Clay has a wild giggle and he can laugh at himself. He trips on his feet. But is he sexy in today's world? Getting no help from hubby I turn to my daughter. She's madly in love with the singer, Jeff Buckley. He's dead. Why do you love him? I ask. Same reason I love Morrisey of The Smiths, she tells me. They're poets. Sad poets. Suicidal. Dark. Deep. My daughter is beautiful, brilliant and unconventional. My daughter likes Clay. She says he's adorable. But, no, she doesn't find him sexy. He's way too happy with himself and the world, she says, to be brooding. Brooding, a la Heathcliff, is sexy to my daughter.
Okay. No help there. I turn to the ladies in my list group. They're all writers. Some of the comments were strictly to be expected: Hot Bod. Ruggedly handsome. Tattoo in strategic place. Beard stubble. Well endowed. Corded biceps. Tall. Dangerous occupation. Bad boy. Deadly serious. Deep voice. Aims to please. Women drool when he comes in a room...
I guess I could argue that Clay Aiken has some of those attributes, making ladies drool included and he has freckles and all pervading sweetness and fun and impishness about him and he wears a patchwork shirt like a loveable rag doll.
Someone suggested a sexy hero should be the type of man to whom women are drawn for reasons only science could explain: the kind of guy we want to take home to mother, to talk to, to feed, to look after, to listen to, to have listen to us, to nurture and care about, give us babies.
Hmmm... interesting. I may be getting somewhere. A sexy hero needs to be self-possessed. A bit of a tease. Just a bit. But he can be vulnerable as well. Women love vulnerable.
Okay, I'm getting somewhere now. He has to know all about sexual tension, how to make us interested, take notice, fidget. It could be as subtle as a look in the eyes, a smile, a lip bite. He has to make us want more. It should never be blatant or obvious. And this seduction of us can be planned, of course. Our sexy hero has to know what he's doing, doesn't he? Usher with his falling off pants and Brad Pitt in his nakedness in Vanity Fair? Nah. Too unsubtle. Too much info.
A sexy hero needs to be aware of himself, but not too aware of his own potency, his own allure. He is human after all. He has to be open to fun, just as he has to be sincere enough to enjoy the wonders of life and faith... Ah, maybe I am onto something here. Sincerity. And openness. A hero needs a good rapport with children and dogs...
A man's not very sexy if he doesn't adore his mom. He has to listen and care and have purpose and foresight. A drive to succeed. The ability to say yes and no. Faith in himself, his ability to learn from his past mistakes, but he can call on us, his heroines to help him in his quest. And a sexy hero is always on a huge quest... a journey...
Quests are so sexy. I ask myself if Clay has ever asked the Claymates to come on his quest? I think he has.
A hero has to say what he means and mean what he says and do what he says he'll do. And yet, it's kind of sexy when he can change his mind just a little. Shows he's flexible. He may be new at something and he's not afraid to try even if it ruffles a few feathers, raises a few brows. Like dancing. Dancing is sexy. Dancing badly is endearing and maybe a little sexy...
Ah... I think it's coming to me now. A sexy man trusts his instincts, but he might let someone else tell him what to wear. A hero turns what some might perceive to be set-back into a triumph. A hero has spirit, not just a great come-on line or a current style.
I think I'm feeling better about my lesson plan. When I speak to my fellow writers, I think I'm going to say that what makes a hero sexy is in the eye of the beholder: different strokes for different folks. I think I can admit now that I find Clay Aiken sexy for a whole lot of good reasons which don't always jibe with what some media type has decided for me. Women, as individuals decide what's sexy, don't we? If we think Clay's sexy we'll show the world, maybe change it a bit.
I think I'll go back and have a peek at the Wango Tango pictures before I polish this puppy up. Is Clay Aiken getting buff?
BEAVERS ON IDOL
clayMaine-iac
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AIKEN NEWS NETWORK MAY 22
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2004, 07:16:14 AM »
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This Week's Hits: Maroon 5, Avril Lavigne, Coldplay
From James Maguire,
Your Guide to Top 40 / Pop.
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Clay Aiken will be performing in a special benefit concert in New York City, in a show to benefit the Children and Family Initiative of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS charity. He'll sing a duet with the Tony award winning actress Heather Headly. The two will perform "Can You Feel The Love?" from The Lion King. The show is a one-night concert at the New Amsterdam Theater on May 24. Tickets range from $50 to $500.
TOP 40
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clayMaine-iac
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AIKEN NEWS NETWORK MAY 22
« Reply #5 on: May 22, 2004, 07:19:52 AM »
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DIVA TALK: A Chat With a Gal From Oz, Isabel Keating Plus "American Idol" Thoughts
By Andrew Gans
21 May 2004
"IDOL" THOUGHTS:
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Well, it's down to two. Next week will determine the fates of 16-year-old Diana DeGarmo and 19-year-old Fantasia Barrino, who hail from, respectively, Georgia and North Carolina. Earlier this week, Hawaii's Jasmine Trias was eliminated from the competition. To be honest, Trias stayed longer in the competition than she deserved; she possessed a fine voice but, to me, never seemed to have any connection to the lyrics she was singing. Whether she was performing an upbeat dance number or a sad ballad, she tended to offer the same smiley rendition. And, as good a voice as DeGarmo possesses — the young singer sure can belt impressively — it's been Barrino who I've been rooting for since early in the competition. If the previously ousted La Toya London boasted a smoother, more controlled instrument, it's Barrino who is and was the star of the third season of the FOX-TV program. (I had hoped Jennifer Hudson, who was voted out much too soon, would make it to the finals; I think she would have grown to become a formidable opponent for Barrino.) As for the effervescent Barrino, though, I don't think she's given one performance throughout the past several months that hasn't been exciting, whether tackling Aretha Franklin standards, pop hits or Porgy and Bess's "Summertime." I've been constantly amazed by her ease on stage, her emotional connection to the material she is singing and her unique, textured voice. Plus, anyone who can shed a tear because of what she is singing — rather than how she sang it — impresses me. Barrino is an original, dynamic performer with star quality who is deserving of the crown "American Idol." That said, I also thought last season's Clay Aiken should have been awarded the top prize, so I won't be surprised if America hands the title next Wednesday to DeGarmo. . . Let me know who you think should win!
(By the way, Clay Aiken will join Heather Headley at Monday's Home concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre, 214 West 42nd Street. Headley's Broadway Cares benefit concert will also include appearances by Norm Lewis, Adam Pascal, Michael McElroy and the Broadway Inspirational Voices. Call (212) 840-0770 for tickets.)
PLAYBILL
