Well, Clay blogged and made a big deal about how he was going to give a special "inside" gift for his fans on his birthday. What a guy, right??!? Clay never does anything if it doesn't serve a purpose for him. This house tour "gift" was not about his fans. Giving them a "gift" was never his intention. He was angry at one news organization and decided to get revenge on them by giving a "scoop" to a rival news organization. Making it a "gift" to his fans was an afterthought.
That helps explain the ugly Christmas tree that was so haphazardly thrown together. He had to do something to make it look like it was for the fans. But as always, it was all about Clay. Again, he used his fans and the ones who haven't woken up to his methods yet are thankful for the "gift" he bestowed upon them. THANKS, CLAY!!
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Christmas with Clay 'American Idol' idol to give holiday concert at Genesee Theatre
November 30, 2006
By DAN MORAN DMORAN@SCN1.COM
WAUKEGAN -- A little more than three years ago, Clay Aiken was just another kid with a voice going up against Simon Cowell. Today, having achieved his professional dreams, he is yet another star being stalked by a media helicopter.
On the phone Wednesday morning from his home base in North Carolina, Aiken said he had just conducted a media tour of the house he built nine months ago -- a tour he arranged as a bit of revenge against a local flying news crew.
"It started during this whole Kelly Ripa scandal," he said, referring to the tempest sparked earlier this month when he silenced and then outraged Ripa by placing his hand on her mouth while co-hosting "Live With Regis & Kelly."
"There was a news crew that was kind of rude about it -- they came up and rang my bell (and) flew their helicopter over my house," he said. "I thought, 'How rude is that?' So I called up their competition and invited them to come over to my house for a tour."
Though he laughed as he told the tale, Aiken was asked if he could do without the downside of his quick rise to fame. "Yeah," he said, "but I'm learning how to deal with it."
The "American Idol" star, who celebrates his 28th birthday today, is also learning to pace himself through life on the road. Friday night's appearance at the Genesee Theatre will be the first of 18 shows in 22 days, culminating Dec. 23 in Greensboro, N.C.
How will he pull off singing at the top of his register that often over that period of time? "Don't ask me how, because I've never done it before," he said. "When I did the first 'Idol' tour, we did, I think, 50 shows in about 60 days, so typically you do about five shows a week. This is six shows a week or more."
Adding to the challenge, Aiken said, will be performing at each stop with a local symphony. At the Genesee, he will be working with the FullScore Chamber Orchestra.
"Oh, my gosh, I'm going to tell on myself here, but we won't be doing any rehearsing ahead of time," he said. "We do have the same conductor who travels with us, but we're going to fly by the seat of our pants. (We'll) cross our fingers and hope it goes well."
Aiken then joked that "people will hear that and be like, 'Oh, I can't wait to see that train wreck.'" But he added that he will have the advantage of working with familiar material, having spent the last three Christmas seasons conducting some type of holiday tour.
"The first year, December of '03, I spent quite a bit of time leading into Christmas doing 'jingle jams' and (promotions) for radio stations. That did not feel like Christmas at all," he said. "But the last two years (with the Joyful Noise tours) and with a tour like this, people are in the Christmas spirit and we're doing all Christmas music, so it's kind of exciting.
"What I'm really excited about is that usually you just tour with a band; this is a full orchestra, and we're really going to focus on just the music," he said, adding that he has a tough time nailing down a favorite holiday song. "It's tough because every year it becomes something different. This year, I like 'Merry Christmas With Love' and 'Don't Save It All for Christmas,' which I close the show with. And then 'Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel' is probably my favorite standard."
