Here's a new one for the Clay dictionary!  Claypel Tunnel Syndrome!  Lately I have had a pain in my left arm if I raise it any higher than chest level.  I tried to figure out what I have been doing differently that could have caused this.  Then I realized what it was.  In the ten years I've been at my company, I have never had a cd player or a radio in my office.  After MOAM, that changed.  I bought a cd player and put it in my office.  I play MOAM all day, every day.  My desk is shaped like an L, and my cd player is behind me to my left.  Every time the phone rings or the big boss comes in the office, I have to reach back and turn my music down and then I have to reach back and promptly turn it back up when my phone call is over or the big boss leaves.  I have been doing this every day, except weekends for over a year now!  So that it how I came to have what I call 
Claypel Tunnel Syndrome!

Deanne B. 

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Okay, I am like one of the biggest Clay Aiken fans, so you can see why I did this! I'm 17 and I waitress at Red Robin's and there was a cute little kid in there, who asked for some ketchup. I feeled particularly spunky and hyper that evening, so I decided to put some on a little plate, like a smily face. Instead, I made a face and put spiky hair. I wrote "Clay" under my work of art. I set the plate on the table, and the boy giggled at the little face. His mother leaned over and laughed. "It's Clay Aiken!", she said. "Yup, I love him!", I said. The woman nodded in agree, and I felt so good to please another Claymate! You Gotta Love That MAN!!!!

HannahBanana6709@aol.com

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My sister and I were in the mall one day. We were in a Macy's or something. Anyway, we were going up the escalator when I said "Emily, do you hear that?" And you could tell she was listening to try to hear what I heard! But I swore I heard Clay singing "Invisible"!!! And it was coming from the floor we were just on! So once we got to the top, I grabbed my sister's arm and ran back down the other escalator to the bottom floor and started running towards Clay's voice! I finally saw the T.V. where his video was playing. It was right next to a clothes rack. So we tried to look calm and look at shirts. But really, we were watching his video!
 
 

"LuckyLousTattoo"

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MY grandmother has to be one of the biggest Clay fans out there. Well you know election time came along and it was time to vote. My grandma being a big supporter on the thing goes to vote. I come home from school and ask her who she had voted for.  Her response was "that Edwards guy" I said, "Well, why him"? she said, " Because Clay and he are both from Raleigh." All I could do is laugh. She loves her Clay.
 
 

"No1luvsclayasmuchasgrndma"

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All in fun October, 2003
 

"... Is there a Mr. Aiken there?"
"Yes sir, this is he."
"I'm calling to inform you that you've been nominated for an American Music Award in the category of Best Pop Male. How do you feel?"
"Get aaaaooouuutttttaaaa town! You stop raht now! Ahm just me. Oh, Justin Timberlake is also nominated? Ahm screwed!"
"Well sir, we would like you to come and be in attendance."
"Will there be Krispy Kreme, BBQ and sweet tea?"
"Excuse me sir?"

You can take the boy out of NC, but you can't take the NC out of the boy!
 
 

-Paula Jacobs

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Clay Had His Way With Us (In the AI2 Tour)
_________

'THIS IS THE NIGHT'

He preens, he struts, he shines, he grabs our attention, a peacock displaying his feathers, magnificent in black suit and violet silk tie. We sit up and take notice. His stylized, scripted arm and body movements as he stands behind the mic are like the ritual courtship dance of a grouse or the antlers display of an elk. We see you, Clay, we see you.

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'THE GIRL IS MINE'

He makes us choose HIM.
 

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(WE WILL DO ANYTHING HE WANTS)

He walks to the left of the stage, other Idols spread out behind him. He gently raises his palm. He wants us to stand. We obey. We leap to our feet. Why? We don't know. Does it matter?

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'CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT'

At last, he gently makes love to us but pauses before the climax. He makes us BEG him to finish, and we scream for the final note of the song endlessly while he smirks, listening to us plead and waiting until our cries thunder through him. And then he gives us what we want, that last motion, that last thrust, that last note of the song. We are exhausted.

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'INVISIBLE'

"Ready to do it again, honey?" he seems to say as he rises up out of the stage, looks out at the crowd, and smiles at his lovers. He teases and plays with us, galloping from one side of the stage to the other, tugging and clutching and laughing, wailing his words to the sky, as we sing in ecstasy along with him, approaching our communal climax. At last it's over, and we lie back, spent but happy as he walks from the stage. 

-by Elena Felsig

 
"I teach Junior Kindergarten (3 and 4 year olds) and every day we have rest time. I usually play quiet lullabies in the background while my students are resting, 4 or 5 of
them will usually fall sleep. For my own sanity recently, I have been playing Clay. Now almost all of my students go to sleep. I'm not sure whether to feel offended or blessed!"

-"Anonymous"

____________________________

"We have some workmen at our house now, and I was playing my Clay CD when they came in. This was our convo

Workman: "Is that Clay Aiken you're playing?"
Me: "Yup he's great!!!!"
Workman: Yeah he should have won the show, he was the best on there"
Me: Yeah!!!!!!!!!!
Workman: I just heard on the radio that he is on the cover of Time Magazine! Thats great!
Me: Yeah I know I can't wait!!
Workman: Keep playing that music, I'll enjoy it while i'm working!
Me: okay! sure!
My dad: You probably just made her day "
 
 

-message board
 

____________________________

"In Raleigh after playing 'Invisible' (WRAL RADIO)  DJ Jim Kelley said he talked to Mama Faye last week and she told Jim that Clay bought a car while in LA. He calls her up and says "Mom, I think I made a mistake. I shouldn't have bought a convertible". She said,  "Now you've spent all this money...why is it a mistake?"
He said while he's riding around with top down, all the paparazzi are running up to him to try to get his picture.!
Well, you've arrived Clay! 

-"clayaikenfan99" 

Response to above from "Toonces":  "Forget the press, what about the multitudes of women trying to launch themselves into the vehicle?!?! " 

____________________________

"I was standing at the deli counter waiting to place my lunch meat order on a very busy summer morning at the grocery store in our favorite vacation spot. My little ticket said that I was number 22 in line which couldn't be that bad. After all, they were waiting on number 78 at the moment! That's right, forty-four people times at least two and a half pounds of lunch meat a piece meant that one hundred pounds of ham and cheese would have to be sliced and wrapped before they got to me. This is a situation that ordinarily would make me very disagreeable, but under the influence of Clay, I was calm. I shopped. I came back. I waited. Then a miracle happened! A woman said to me, "Here, take my ticket, it's up next and I 'm being waited on because someone else gave me her ticket." To which I replied, "THANK YOU! THIS IS BETTER THAN FIRST ROW CLAY TICKETS!". Everyone laughed and had a good time joking about it. And we all survived.

 
Okay - It's not really better than first row Clay tickets, that's why they were all laughing at me. Silly woman." 

 

"I went to Granny's Pie Pan last night and Faye was there." 
"While we were there, Sharon pulled out a pair of Clayton's shoes Faye has loaned her.  Whoppers they are!  We checked out the size...13!  Sharon plans to use them to make painted footprints on the floor as people enter the restaurant (Clay walked here), and then put them in the Clay display case with caption "Feats of Clay".
 
 

NOTE: [For those of you who have been living in a cave, "Faye" is Clay's mom.
However you might not be aware that "Granny's Pie Pan"  is owned
by another of Clay's cousins, Sharon.  It is located  in Smithfield, NC, 
which is nextto Four Oaks where Clayton's stepdad, Ray, was raised  .]

-from an e-mail sent to me (the webmaster) by Clay's cousin Kim  on 8/23/03

Update to the above information:
Granny's Pie Pan in being sold and will soon have another name.
There is no word on whether or not the new owners will keep Clayton's shoe prints.

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Below: Granny's Pie Pan in Smithfield, NC
 

From an e-mail:

"Hey, my name is Kasey P_____, from Four Oaks, where Ray was raised, and I am friends with Ray's family, ["Ray" was clayton's dad/stepdad] and my dad was really good friends with him before he passed away. Knowing that Sharon, Clay's Aunt, owned Granny's Pie Pan in Smithfield, I visited a few times. A couple of weeks ago, when Clay was home to be in the Raleigh Christmas Day Parade, my friend and I went in to eat. 

About 2 weeks later, we went back, and noticed the 'Clay Aiken was here!' footprints painted on the floor. We started getting excited about how we 'thought' Clay had been there within the two weeks between our two visits. Funny thing is, my mom was across the street at the movie theater the day they had Clay's birthday party there, and swears up and down that she saw Jeff, Clay's step-brother there standing outside the resturant, so I was like "He really was here!!" Then after reading the other Granny's Pie Pan story here on the site, I realized that he never really came in between those two weeks, and laugh at myself for the way my friend
and I reacted. :) 

Thought I'd just share my little story. :)"

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"Okay... the funniest T-shirt I saw at the Charlotte concert was actually a family of red t's. [T-Shirts]  Mom, Dad, and two daughters. The Mom had something like "Buttercup" on hers and the daughters had "Sugar Pie" and "Honey Bunch" on theirs.  The father had "Make it Stop" on his!"

-From "That's the Clay Board"

____________________________

Clayton's cousin Kim (pictured below) sent me this photo (at left) of Clay and his mother, Faye, that was taken by Kim's 11 year old son, Ethan, at the 'Pig Picking' Clay had for family at his home in Raleigh.   Kim says,  "Yes, a big pig gets cooked on a grill and you pick off the meat...a southern tradition complete with sweet tea which is sadly absent in the west". 

 At right:  Clay and Kim at 
Louise's Italian Restaurant in
Los Angeles after an American Idol show in April of 2003. 

Welcome to Clay-Town!
A PowerPoint presentation by 
Clay's cousin Kim's son, Ethan!

When given a compliment by guest judge Neil Sedaka on the American Idol show,  who told him, "You sing like Andre Agassi plays tennis!  Perfection!" Clay demonstrated his endearing mixture of young boy and perfect gentleman as he grinned, looked a little sheepish, and said, "Wow!  thanks!" nodding his head in respect for the renowned song writer and performer.