Rabid Clay Mates handling criticism
July 28, 2004 4:18 PM   Subscribe

Wilmington News Journal features writer Ryan Cormier wrote a review of a Clay Aiken concert today. Word reached "The Clayboard" with a link to Ryan's newspaper-hosted blog which then got slammed with angry comments from Clay Mates. There are other News Blogs from this paper; they even cover scandals and legal transgressions by elected officials. But Ryan? He's done touched a nerve.
posted by mathowie (22 comments total)
 
My favorite part is the 9 pages of Clay fan posts. I've never seen so many emoticons used in a single page.
posted by mathowie at 4:20 PM on July 28, 2004


Hey, I AM a songwriter, and I think the boy's talented. Not everybody has to be in the same box. If Britney and that Aguilera chick can make money in the music biz, why begrudge a skinny Southern white bread boy?


(and don't mess with the Claymates. Obsessed they are. My mom is a fan, and she bought her very first Rolling Stone magazine in her midsixties because Clay was on the cover.)
posted by konolia at 5:46 PM on July 28, 2004


HAHA this is great.

I also like how many of the blog comments are posted by Anonymous.

But hey, I guess it's good to have fans that are this rabid about you. Hopefully Clay never disapoints them though. I wonder what would happen then.


I've never seen so many emoticons used in a single page.
oh, i've seen many more matt. you just have to know where to look.

posted by Stynxno at 5:51 PM on July 28, 2004


on further thought, i understand why most are posted by Anonymous....i'm an idiot. carry on
posted by Stynxno at 5:56 PM on July 28, 2004


Aiken, dressed in an untucked blue button-down shirt, a yellow tie and khakis, sucked every bit of emotion out of the seminal U2 song.

Must ... resist ... making ... gay ... Clay ... joke ...
posted by WolfDaddy at 6:09 PM on July 28, 2004


Well, now I know who Clay Aiken is. I've been studiously avoiding knowing who Clay Aiken is for well over a year now. Thanks, Matt. *shakes fist*

I love that the fans are called Clay Mates. I also love that they have a mantra: 'HERE'S TO NOT CARING!!!", which I counted 9 times in the first 2 pages of the post on the Clayboard.
posted by iconomy at 7:00 PM on July 28, 2004


I've never found myself inspired to travel to the Delaware State Fair to watch one of the bands.

Don't know why they don't get bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or the Decemberists, or godspeed you! black emperor. Oh yeah, I guess I do.

Country bands and boybands/teen attractions are a formula that has succeeded in that part of Delaware for years. Some nights they don't even have a band. For entertainment, they try to guess the weight of livestock. Good times.

I'm really pleased that the News Journal started some blogs, and the political one has been getting even more comments from unhappy citizens than the claynation army mustered for an attack on Clay's reviewer. More small newspapers should follow their example.
posted by bragadocchio at 7:04 PM on July 28, 2004


I got to see the Spin Doctors at the Delaware State Fair many years ago. They were on their slide out of popularity, and had already gone to a back-up guitarist. That was a small crowd, but not a bad show. I also saw The Judds there once. Please don't judge me; a coworker gave me the tickets and I had to be there for work anyway...

A side note: Much is made, in the Claymates-Clobbering-Ryan debate, of the rain that fell on that Clay Aiken show. It should be noted that a defioning characteristic of the Delaware State Fair is that in years of rainy weather, Fair-week is bone dry. In dry years, it rains in biblical proportions.
posted by mmahaffie at 7:41 PM on July 28, 2004


Frank Sinatra Jr. once performed the Gumby theme song (it's great!). If "Clay" Aiken is man he'll do the same thing. If he has a heart then Gumby's a part of him.

(Btw, I once saw Jason and the Scorchers at a county fair, long after their 15 minutes. It was fun!)
posted by octobersurprise at 9:11 PM on July 28, 2004


I have fond if smelly memories of sheep judging down thar' in Harrington- good times is right.
posted by moonbird at 9:11 PM on July 28, 2004


Okay, I'll bite. There are a couple of comments at Ryan Cormier's blog that try to insult both Cormier and Clay Aiken by implying that both are gay, so we get some ugly and not very well hidden homophobia in evidence. Could this factor into the review, which is pretty snarky. Also, and I think this might be worth thinking through further, a number of the posters took issue with the possible sexism in Cormier's review-- and I always so find it interesting to note that anything with a predominantly female audience always seems to instantly acquire low status. Clay Aiken, romance novels, long complex multi-character narratives (soap operas), whatever.

*cough* Okay, I've done my best. Personally, I think his stuff is awful and loathesome and I have avoided it as much as possible.

Also, what the hell does this mean? "Clay does take his energy from the crowd, but judging from the cellcert, he still gave a tremendous concert."

'Cellcert'?
posted by jokeefe at 9:47 PM on July 28, 2004


According to some Google results cellcert is, "When an attendee at a live concert cell phones another person so that person can hear the concert live. Hey, it is fun. Interestingly enough, the word "Cellcert" has a trademark application pending by none other than Clay Aiken." I'm not sure if it's a noun or a verb.
posted by euphorb at 10:23 PM on July 28, 2004


Y'all should've seen some of the shit I caught for writing bad, bad things about that Metallica movie. Ouch.
posted by muckster at 10:42 PM on July 28, 2004


Actually, I take that back. Compared to this rabid mob, Metallica fans are kittens.
posted by muckster at 10:49 PM on July 28, 2004


The "Claymates" still haven't gotten over the fact that Aiken lost American Idol and now they have some psychological need to see him be number one in everything that he does. It's almost a sickness, really. While they spend their hard earned money buying 10 copies of his album and every magazine he's in, Aiken's laughing all the way to the bank. They also place the man on a pedistal and he's thought of almost as Jesus, and he can do no wrong in their eyes, so I can understand how they can't believe that someone would actually not love, or even like him.
posted by gyc at 12:02 AM on July 29, 2004


I am reminded of the old reporter's bit of wisdom: Do Not Write a Bad Neil Diamond Review.

And as to the review of Britney covering U2, I have a CD with a Front Line Assembly/Tiffany cover of "New Year's Day".

So there.
posted by Dagobert at 1:30 AM on July 29, 2004


Why does this kind of insipid, throw-away pop need to be reviewed by anyone at all? Seriously, even if it's "good", it's still shite. I'm sure the reviewed felt ridiculous even having to be there at all.
posted by psmealey at 7:20 AM on July 29, 2004


Clay Aiken sorta reminds me of Eoin McLove from Father Ted.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 7:28 AM on July 29, 2004


Why does this kind of insipid, throw-away pop need to be reviewed by anyone at all?

[koff!] paycheck [koff!] What, you wanna mess with Ryan's rice-bowl?
posted by lodurr at 8:36 AM on July 29, 2004


Every time Clay Aiken grabs some girl's boobs God kills a Clay Mate.
posted by junkbox at 9:37 AM on July 29, 2004


LOL... Dear Diary [/David Spade]

I can't believe Clay would ever do anything like that. I know he is not gay because i know his mother but just thinking of him running up behind a woman and grabbing her breasts just makes me want to puke.For some reason i feel like i don't want to be a claymate anymore....

posted by psmealey at 12:45 PM on July 29, 2004


I am reminded of the old reporter's bit of wisdom: Do Not Write a Bad Neil Diamond Review.

But... why on earth would anyone want to write a bad Neil Diamond review? Neil's da man. No dissing the Neil. *trots off humming Holly Holy*

Now that's music.
posted by jokeefe at 10:09 PM on July 30, 2004


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