CHARLOTTE, NC-BLUMENTHAL PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 2/23/10

[Marilyn]

BONILEE

will give you a small recap of my Charlotte meet and moo.

As you know, we were divided into groups of about 10 and had pics made. When they were lining us up I went to the back as I am taller. Clay came up and started shaking hands. He reached through the first 2 rows and looked at the girl in front of me, then looked at me, and said,Are you two related?" we both said no and he said,"y'all have such pretty eyes!" then he ran around the back of the group and to where I was standing, and grabbed me around the waist and pulled me in tight! I figured since he was holding me, I would hold him too! I gently put my hand around his waist and his sweater was soo soft. Let me tell you, I was one happy girl! I just love this man more than I thought I ever could!

[Marilyn]

Michelle, I am so sorry you had a horrible meet and greet. I believe it was the PBS stations fault- and I think they also oversold the Glenside ones. Then they had the auction ones, the fan club ones, and I think even UNC did something. Someone said Clay was surprised by how many- I guess they dont tell him until he gets there. You are absolutely right it is horrible to pay so much money for such a quickie. Someone said that they only paid $75 for their meet and greet. I know some of the auction ones went for quite a bit more than that.

But the choice of songs was known ahead of time- he is touring supporting the album and the PBS special. I am so sorry you didnt like them, but I think we all knew that most of them would be slow. I hope that whatever his next non Christmas album is, he peps it up a bit. The poll on TC facebook shows that most people liked MOAM and On My Way Here better, so hopefully he will pay attention to that.

Oh geez I see that even radio stations had contest meet and greet winners. He might as well M&G with the whole danged audience!!

[Marilyn]

happyclayday

Ladies, I am not good at recaps but I will give it a try.

My friend and I arrived in Charlotte around 1:00 pm yesterday and checked in our hotel. We went and grabbed a bite to eat and then went to the venue to pick up our front row center seats which came with the charity meet and greet I won only to find that our seats were in the 2nd row off the the right. I questioned them and was told that's what Clay's people had left with them. When we went back to the venue at 6:15 to meet up for the meet and greet the other charity winner was there and she was questioning Mary about the seats as they were right next to ours. Mary explained that the venue had sold our front row center seats and had contacted the buyers and tried to buy them back but of course they couldn't. I mean, who wouldn't want front row center seats? Mary then told us 4 to hang around after the meet and greet and she would take us in the venue and show us the seats and another option she had.

On to the meet and greet. The 9 of us were taken back and Jerome came in and arranged 9 chairs in sort of a semi-circle with Clay facing us. He said he'd be back soon. We must have looked like a calm group because he didn't mention any rules...only said we could ask him anything we wanted, not that he would answer but no question was off limits. Jerome left to get Clay and about 5 minutes later Jerome came through the door with Clay behind him. (The first thing I noticed was the hair! Sticking up like he'd stuck his finger in a light socket! HAHA) One of the ladies got out of her seat to ask Jerome a question and during this time Clay went around the semi-circle shaking our hands and asking our names. He sat down when he was done and by this time the lady was sitting back down in her seat. Someone mentioned he missed her and he snarked..."Well, she should have been in her seat!" It was actually pretty funny. We took our things out for Mary to give to Clay to autograph while we were all chatting. Everyone who told me he puts you right at ease was so right! He's like an old friend...chatty, chatty. The very first thing he said when he sat down was that he was absolutely exhausted. He did look tired. I'll probably remember more later but here's some of the conversation...

He was asked by one lady how he stayed in shape. He laughed loudly and said he doesn't. He said he does nothing. She told him he should try Pilates and he said he had during Spamalot but the girl who worked with him didn't do it on a strict schedule. He said she'd come a couple of days in a row and then miss 2 or 3 so he didn't think it did him much good. He also said some days she'd come in and ask did he just want to be stretched that day and he'd say yes. And some days she'd come and he'd tell her right off the bat...just stretch me today. When he said that he rared back in the chair...stretching out those long arms and legs. Too cute. My friend said that Clay said he weighs 184 pounds. I must have been in a fog because I missed that.

We talked about his socks. They matched and he said he hadn't changed them. They were the same ones he'd worn the previous day and I noticed he was still wearing the same ones during the show.

I asked him if he'd consider doing some video blogs at the OFC and he said no. He can't commit to doing regular blogs much less video blogging.

For some reason he didn't personalize the autographs but when he signed the pillow I took him to sign for Mark I asked him if he would and he said of course. I was able to tell him a little about Mark and one of the other meet and greet winners also has a child with disabilities and thanked him for the work the project does. He of course said he didn't invent inclusion but thanked her.

Another older lady had an old bookmark from a Christmas tour that was half chewed up that she wanted signed. Of course he questioned her about it and found out it was her favorite possession. Her dog had gotten ahold of it and chewed it up and then she mentioned she had had to put the dog down last week and she got very teary which got several in the group teary. Clay was so sweet to her.

One lady asked if he'd ever sing "Some Enchanted Evening." It was her and her husband's song and he passed away last year. He said it was a good song and he might consider doing it sometime.

Not a single person in our meet and greet had ever met him before. He told one lady he thought he recognized her but she said, no, they'd never met. THEN he pointed to me and said, "I think I recognize you." I told him I'd tell him why. At the gala back in October I had to use the restroom and had to walk right by Clay at his table. When I got near the table Clay looked up and our eyes met. That's what I told him..."You looked up and we locked eyes." He was so cute...put his hand on his heart like...be still my heart. He's a doll y'all.

He pointed to my friend and a couple of more and said they hadn't said anything. My friend said she was a virgin...new to all this, had never been to a show or anything. He told her he hoped she wasn't scared off. He spoke to her several times during the show, asking her once if she was ready to get up and leave yet. She really, really enjoyed it. She said she'd definitely go again. And she talked about how sweet and funny he is.

He was asked what books he read to Parker and of course he said he didn't discuss Parker but he would say there's a lot of Dr. Seuss in his house.

He said we asked good questions and he got tired of the same ones over and over again. He also said that's the reason he quit answered questions at the OFC. Same ones over and over...and some ridiculous.

Picture time....My friend and I were the last 2 to get ours made. I went first. Lordy that man is solid! And he's not thin, not fat, just right. After the picture he gave me a big hug. He's a great hugger! Anita stepped up and asked him if for her picture would he do one of the 3 of us together. He said sure! So we made a juicy Clay sandwich!

That's the extent of my memory right now. I'm running on 3 hours sleep and had to drive 200 miles home today. I'm tired!

Oh, and Mary took us in the venue and the other option was 4th row center. We kept the 2nd row and they were still pretty good seats. I still couldn't help but be a little disappointed but it wasn't Clay's fault and it wasn't his "people's" fault. Mary did ask if we were going to another show but unfortunately it was our only one.

If I remember more I'll post it at a later time.

Oh, and perma, the photo you sent me autographed beautifully! I took a silver marker like you said but he came prepared!

I'll post pictures of the autographed items later. I've got some cleaning up to do around here...leaving 3 guys home alone is not smart!

ETA: I made several errors so you may want to reread. I meant it WASN'T Clay's fault about the tickets!

[Invisiblelove]

Has anyone been able to figure out when/how we get access to the WTVI group shots? I thought we were supposed to email the person's name on that WTVI business card with our group number. I sent an email this morning but haven't heard anything, and I also haven't heard about anyone else being able to find the pictures.

I'm going crazy here

[Marilyn]

claysto

Charlotte recap:

I was at the M & M (Moo) cattle call with a bunch of people lined up it seemed -- around the block. They (the PBS staff) checked us in with these words, group picture with Clay, no signings of anything, no questions. I was so disappointed as I'm think everyone was -- PBS seriously messed up, IMO. Each group was given a number (to later get our pics) then clumped together in sets of 10 people. While one group was getting their pic taken, Mary moved our group to a diff. spot in this big room. Clay came by shaking our hands, asked our names and ran around behind our group and stood between a friend of mine & myself. Very, very nice. He looked great -- as others have described: jeans, college sweatshirt (have no idea which one), sneakers -- hair a little spikey. He looked like a college student himself. Clean shaven.

Concert: Seat: Row N, center -- his look on stage last night was just about the best look I've seen on him. Turquoise shirt, printed cuffs turn back & pushed up, white shirt, great looking pants, same shoes. He sounds amazing as only Clay can sound. I love the jazzy-medley -- so good to hear those songs although I hope he will sing them again sometime as he sang them before. Fun joking with the audience as he walked back & forth across the stage. UM always takes my breath away. BSN is just so touching and Clay sings it with such feeling -- his chat about the fans and the dedication of IML makes me want to cry -- so touching also, but in a different way. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and will be in Greenville tonight. Can't wait to experience that Clay concert feeling one more time.

I can't bare to think of him not touring for a while. This man owns the stage -- he sings like no other -- somebody give this guy an outlet for all that talent.

Quiana sounded wonderful -- my favorite is Cry Me a River. I love all the guys on the stage making their wonderful music for Clay. Hard to believe all that sound is coming from only 4 guys their drums, guitars, and keyboard with the unique use of 2 computers & 4 iPADS. They sound so good!

Ushers were up and down the aisles all night -- it was very distracting. Evidently the word that it was okay to take pics & vids either didn't reach them or it was a venue policy and Clay had no control. But all those ushers moving around was really very disruptive.

Did I say how good he looked? Hope we get some good pics from someone who was not spotted and chastised or cameras taken away.

[Tiffany]

Has anyone been able to figure out when/how we get access to the WTVI group shots? I thought we were supposed to email the person's name on that WTVI business card with our group number. I sent an email this morning but haven't heard anything, and I also haven't heard about anyone else being able to find the pictures.

I'm going crazy here

Hi and Welcome. Have no idea. Sorry

[Invisiblelove]

Hee, thanks. Guess I didn't do a very good job introducing myself for my first post I feel like I might have had an account here back in the fandom glory days or something, I've certainly been a Clay fan since day one!

The PBS M&G, while admittedly pretty disappointing, was handled probably as well as it could have been with all those people. And even though it's a group shot and not the individual one I think we all were hoping for, I'm still dying to see it! I can't believe I haven't come across any other clamoring fans in my Internet scouring

[Invisiblelove]

claysto



Ushers were up and down the aisles all night -- it was very distracting. Evidently the word that it was okay to take pics & vids either didn't reach them or it was a venue policy and Clay had no control. But all those ushers moving around was really very disruptive.

That was OUTRAGEOUS. The ushers' hovering was infinitely more distracting than people who wanted to take non flash pictures. Seeing them swarming the whole night was VERY irritating.

[charlotte49erclaymate]

In regards to the meet and greet at Blumenthal, I was totally disappointed!!!  This was my first meet and greet, and from this experience I do not plan to waste my time and money on another.  I waited at least 45 min. to shake his hand and get a group picture made in about a minute's time.  It was the most expensive handshake that I have ever had.  It was definitely like being shoved through like a herd of cattle.  I was totally disappointed since I have attended all of Clay's tours since 2003, and I was finally attending a meet and greet.  When I contacted people from WTVI, they blamed Clay's handlers.  I only received my tickets about 1 1/2 weeks before the concert, and I figured that this was done to prevent any selling on ebay.  If I had wanted to sell my tickets for the concert, no one would have purchased them on ebay due to the poor location.  I truly enjoyed the March 2010 concert in Raleigh and the Biltmore concert with Ruben in July 2010.  My afternoon and evening at Blumenthal were disappointing.  I also brought my daughter to the meet and greet and concert, and she could barely stay awake with all of those slow ballads.  Why can't Clay sing more upbeat songs?  My daughter's favorite part of the show was when Clay would sing songs with a variation.  The bluegrass and rock variations added some spunk.  It saddens me that this might be Clay's last tour, but there are empty seats at these venues.

[Marilyn]

Scarlett's video of the Jazzy Medley from Charlotte. The pants in MOTION...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr1qKyFfedY

The following Scarlett clips from Charlotte have been uploaded to You Tube:

"Tic Toc" Auto-tuned: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebq-OmMV0ns



Links can travel.

[Marilyn]

I am confused. Clays Tried and True CD is SLOW LOve songs. Every interview and piece has mentioned the love songs. The PBS Special was slow love songs.

This tour is in support of slow Love songs- the Tried and True CD. A couple of exceptions were Buttercup and Suspicious Minds.

The Timeless Tour in the summer of 2010 was a lot livelier. Thats because they were doing different songs through the years.

This tour has never been advertised as being anything different. However, if you have not read anything on line, or seen/read any interviews,or purchased the CD,  I can understand why you would be disappointed.  This is a different direction than the last album, On My Way Here, which was never supported by much promo or which never had a tour to support it.

Who knows what future direction Clay will go in? I myself am intrigued by whatever comes our way-but others may not wish to follow. Its all personal preference, and all of us are entitled to our opinions.

charlotte49erclaymate-  How did you feel about any of his other concerts that you have seen? I am sorry you were disappointed. I did want to say that the tickets did not come from Clay's team, they came from the venue. I got tickets for the Sunday concert in PA. I ordered them a loooong time ago, and I was constantly emailing the PBS station to find out where they were. The VENUE sent the tickets, and they did not receive them until last week. I finally got the tickets on Tuesday of this week. Its going to be another cattle call, because PBS oversold. Evidently its the venue that handles the ticket donations to PBS, and PBS allowed far to many meet and greets in several concerts. You can bet your life I will not order tickets through PBS ever again.
 

[Invisiblelove]

So I got an email back from someone at WTVI about when we could expect our pictures ...

"We are deciding which way will be best for us to deliver these photos to our members. I will be sending out an email early next week to inform you of this process. "

Aaaaah I don't think they realize how long that calculates into fangirl wait time

[Marilyn]

[Marilyn]

[Marilyn]