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2006-09-29 - 5:23 p.m.
I met Clay!
So I flew out to Los Angeles to see Clay on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show. Thanks to my dear friend Nelle for gifting me with an inside ticket and for my dear friend Suzy for encouraging me and holding my hand.
A couple of weeks before I flew out, we found out that Clay was going to do an album signing across the street from where the Kimmel show tapes at the Virgin Megastore. This made my crazy trip to L.A. a little more reasonable. And OMG, I was finally going to meet Clay Aiken! I knew it would be a quick drive-by signing, no photographs taken with him, etc., but that actually kept me from getting overly anxious.
I flew into LAX late Monday night. I had a terrible flight...I was almost bumped because they booked too many people on the flight, one of the passengers had a "medical emergency" during the flight and the flight attendants had to make a "Is there a doctor on board?" announcement, and the cabin pressure turned my headache to a migraine. But I made it.
Yay! It's been 21 years since I was last in Los Angeles!
I took the Super[scary]Shuttle from LAX to my hotel in Hollywood. I really thought I might die in that van.
I was exhausted, but relieved, when I arrived at the hotel at 1:00 a.m. eastern time.
Finally I was back in the arms of Nelle and Suzy. And Suzy had drugs! I slept like a baby (on good medication) and woke up Tuesday refreshed and ready to see Clay! My friend Mitzy and her friend Debbie had driven up from San Diego and I was delighted to see them.
We drove down to the Kodak Centre/Virgin Megastore that morning to stake out our places in line(s).
Nelle was kind enough to volunteer to stay in the Kimmel line. Because even though we had tickets, they had issued more tickets than they could seat in the theater. (Everything has to be complicated, doesn't it?)
Suzy and I got in the cd signing line across the street at Virgin. They had huge displays up of Clay.
Ooohlala! Clay...Paris...and Suzy!
The Virgin Megastore is also right next to Grauman's Chinese Theater!
We immediately starting running into Broads and other Clay friends. We saw Paula in the Loo, MLK, Sheri in Seattle, Mare, Sharon in Edmonds, Ethel, and many more. It was so good seeing and hugging friends. I have really missed this part of being a Clay Aiken fan. Seeing Clay Aiken isn't just about Clay Aiken, it's about seeing Clay Aiken with friends, loved ones, the most amazing women in the world.
I had one of the most amazing days of my life standing in a line! Like Suzy said, "I'd stand in line with you guys, just to stand in line." The weather was perfect, 75 degrees, we were in the shade, at the Kodak Centre with snack shops, convenient bathrooms, television crews, French tourists, and giddy Clay fans. MGM Pat and Lurker Anne joined us in line. I also spotted Gini, Cotton, Debya, Alyse, and Barbara/Imallears in line. It was like one big family reunion.
Because we spent the day gabbing, catching up, just hanging out and having a blast, the time flew by and I never got really nervous about meeting Clay.
As soon as they started opening the doors at 1:00 p.m. and taking people inside, we called Nelle to cross the street and she was able to join us and get her cd signed, too!
Finally it was our turn and we were whisked in. Inside Virgin they were blasting Clay's album and there he was...on a platform, under lights, GLOWING!
And Angela and Quiana were inside!
The next thing I know I'm handing my cd and the little piece of paper with my name on it to Mary (Clay's tour manager) and I'm walking up to the table to see Clay!
I decided to use the video feature on my camera phone and film my "meeting Clay." I was worried that I would space out and forget what he said, so I wanted the audio. The video is crappy as I wasn't trying to focus on anything in particular and I certainly didn't want to spend my moment up there with a phone stuck in his face.
I was worried that I might get my usual case of "stage fright" and start hyperventilating like I normally do when I get really nervous. But you don't hear one quiver in my voice, do you? Talking to him wasn't nerveracking at all, I think I was just kind of awestruck at his beauty, kind of like the cat had gotten my tongue, but I didn't feel nervous.
The meeting was almost as blurry as my video. When I got up there and I looked at him, I saw those big eyes and then I saw those big nostrils. Because of the angle, I was looking straight up them, and they were hairy!!!
The whole time I was up there, I just stared up his nose and thought about how I would love to get a nose hair trimmer up in there.
Clay was engaging with everyone and seemed really happy!
Shortly after my group went through, we heard a big commotion and some guy yell, "I love Clay Aiken!" Suzy turns around and says, "There is some idiot with a sign!"
We didn't know it, since we were on the other side of the store, but the guy was Jimmy Kimmel!
It's a shame that we don't get the Jimmy Kimmel Live show here in Atlanta because Jimmy Kimmel is hilarious. I started watching him on "The Man Show" with Adam Corrolla. It still seems insane that Jimmy Kimmel gets and likes Clay Aiken, because on the surface you wouldn't think so, but he does. I attribute this to the fact that Clay is able to laugh at himself and is upstanding professional, and Jimmy can't help but respect that. Jimmy keeps referring to Clay as his best friend, and I'm starting to believe him. Hee.
So now it was time to get our wristbands for the Kimmel taping. I saw Roger (Clay's publicist) outside and man was he looking good! Roger always looks a little unkempt and kind of greasy in all the pictures I've seen of him, but he looked beautiful on the streets of Hollywood. His hair looked nice and washed and his skin was perfection. I said hello to him and he was very cordial.
While the Virgin Megastore people were very easy to deal with, the Kimmel people were idiots. We all had to be over there with our entire group by 3pm or we wouldn't get into the show.
But everything worked out and we were able to get the wristbands with no problem.
Then we had to stand in line for 3 and 1/2 more hours waiting to be let inside. That line wasn't nearly as fun as the Virgin line because we ended up getting really squished. I thought I might start losing it if I didn't get some elbow room. Plus we were standing near some nice, but not my kind of Clay fans.
Finally they opened the velvet rope (and yes we so were standing behind velvet rope!) and we were let inside the theater. We were squished inside a lobby area where there are multipe flat screen t.v.'s showing highlights from the Kimmel show. Suzy said it was just like going to Disneyland/world and she was right. You get excited thinking that you're finally getting to the ride, but nope, they put you in some holding room and try to distract you from how tired your feet are by a little entertainment. Thankfully there were about 4 clips of Clay Aiken on Jimmy Kimmel's highlight reel. I'm quite tickled that everyone who goes to see a Jimmy Kimmel show gets saturated with Clay Aiken. Of course we screamed everytime he was on.
Finally we were let in. It was t-tiny and wasn't nearly as cold as I expected. Of course there was a warmup guy whose job was to get us pumped up (uhh, who didn't really have to work hard to do that) and tell us the rules. Basically he just screamed Clay Aiken a lot and we screamed like wild banshees back at him.
There were 3 men in the entire audience. 3! Every single person there was a Clay fan. It was insane.
Jimmy came out and said hello, of course he looked 30 pounds lighter than he does on t.v. and even in those pictures I posted above where he's wearing the Clay t-shirt. His monologue was hilarious. He showed video of him going over to the signing and scaring Clay.
Jimmy did a spot with his cousin about the Italian food festival that had just been in L.A. and then George Lopez came out. He was funny, too.
Then it was finally Clay's turn!
I had been put smack dab in the middle behind the main camera thus blocking my view of Clay. Suzy was kind enough to scoot over as much as she could so that I could lean over the armrest and watch Clay. At some points, I practically had my head in her lap. But I wanted to watch Clay and not the monitors. Especially when they showed the video of the 2 girls who got Clay to autograph their backs and then immediately went and had the signature tattooed onto them.
Clay was dying watching them get their tattoos. He made a million and a half funny faces. Then they brought the girls up on stage and they got even more hugs from the Aiken.
bitches
After his segment, Clay took off outside to the big stage and we shuffled our way out there.
There seemed to be about 500 people already out there (those who didn't have inside tickets). We had to scurry as the show was coming back from commercial.
Before Clay started singing he kept fiddling with his pants as if they were falling off. He walked over to Angela who helped adjust them.
Clay performed "A Thousand Days" and then "Invisible." Only about 30 seconds of "Invisible" made it to air as they were running the ending credits over it.
So the Jimmy Kimmel Live show officially ended. But Clay was there to perform a mini-concert and treated us to 3 more songs ("When I See You Smile," "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word," and "Without You."
He looked freaking gorgeous.
Even though I had seen the hair sing on t.v., I hadn't seen it sing live, nor had I seen it sing while Clay sweated. The hair + sweat = hotness.
At one point Clay swung his hair around and it was just glued to his face. Gahhh!
I was so fixated on the hair that I'm ashamed to say that Suzy was the one who had to point out his package. It was insanely busting out of his jeans. I do hope we end up getting some good video of these songs just for the crotch-goodness alone.
Suzy and I got separated from everyone else, but we rocked it hard up against the fence. In fact, you can see 2 crazy people jumping up and down, pumping their fists in the air like manzees in the back right where the fence ends/begins as they camera swoops over the audience. We rocked that place, even if was Clay Aiken singing love songs. We sang them right back to him - with fervor.
After it was over, we floated out of there (well I skipped a little) down the sidewalk and into the Hamburger Hamlet where we meeting up with everyone else for the Clackhouse party.
We were all buzzing. Especially after the multiple martinis. I just started going down the menu and trying every martini they had listed. Suzy, Mitzy, Debbie and I sat up at the bar. I ate the pork tenderloin and Suzy ordered ribs because she said, "I need to suck on some bones."
I think we all did darlin'.
After more visiting and some attempted drunk phonecalls, the party pooped out on us and we went back to the hotel just in time to watch Kimmel air on t.v.
We ooohed and aahhed and giggled like schoolgirls. (Tipsy schoolgirls in mine and Suzy's case).
Finally it was off to bed, it was 4:30 a.m. eastern time when I finally fell asleep. I was wiped out, but giddy.
The next morning we rejoined Nelle in her room to watch Clay on the local L.A. news show, KTLA. He looked good with some finger feathered hair. He commented and joined in the discussion of the day's news - Terrell Jones so-called attempted suicide, political stuff, etc. Clay filled in some blanks and even added information when it came to the political stuff. He is so damn smart. I really wish he would forget this talk show hosting crap he keeps talking about wanting to do and just stick with politics. I don't care if he's a political commentator, covers political events, or runs for office himself. Becoming the next Oprah/Phil Donahue isn't going to work, but a Mr. Super Sexy Singer who moonlights as a political expert/news junky would be fantastic.
Like I said, Clay did an excellent job on the news, even one of the newsmen exclaimed, "Clay Aiken is my favorite guest ever!"
The reason why: "He knew shit," according to Suzy.
Shortly after Clay's news stint ended it was time for me to say my goodbyes. It was one of the most difficult goodbyes I have ever had to say. I did not want to leave these people nor this experience. I could live Tuesday, September 26, 2006 over and over like in the movie "Groundhog Day."
In the immortal words of Nelle, "It's good to come together."
Thanks to ChaCha Trusty for the Kimmel screencap and to mee2u2 for the pictures of Clay at the signing.
DO NOT POST THESE PICTURES AT THE OFFICIAL FAN CLUB!
Soundtrack to my day: Clay Aiken: A Thousand Different Ways
Last night I...watched Survivor (go Yul!) and The Office (go Jim!)
