Oh Clay I am so glad to hear that your opening night went well and that the Clay fans behaved themselves! Congratulations. I hope you will be able to maintain your level of energy for the performances that are yet to come. I only get to see you once and that will be in the middle of the week in the middle of your run. Don't forget that will be my ONLY chance to see you in "Spamalot"! Please thank EVERYONE who made this happen for you on behalf of your most grateful fans! We owe them big time!

Seeing those promotional pictures of you holding the rubber chicken reminded me of something. I was in an organization in college that gave out two awards from time to time. One was an award for someone who had done something really outstanding and noteworthy either for the organization or the community. Then there was the "Rubber Chicken Award". This went, by vote of the membership, to the person or persons who had done something silly, foolish and ridiculous the previous week. The funnier and more embarrassing the incident, the more likely one was to win. It fits right in with the "Spamalot" theme! My senior year, my roomates and I, who were all members of the same group, won the award on a regular basis. We kept it in our kitchen vegetable bin. We won so often that the occaisional "lucky" winner who wasn't one of us would comment on the faint aroma of onions that the rubber chicken had aquired. I won't tell you all of the exploits that garnered us such accolades but I will confess that I once won on "general principles". LOL-true story! Also, a note about the word "accolade". I was double checking the spelling and I noted that the dictionary entry mentioned one defintion of the word as being a ceremony that conferred knighthood! You have earned your accolades, Clay, rubber chicken and all! Well done!

P.S. In a few days, I will tell one of the stories of how we won the chicken. LOL hint: It involves the words "not by hair of my chinny chin chin." LOL