...Well, the "weather" is a rather pleasant fog that I've been waiting to come all summer. And due to that, this blog is a bit late being posted. Delays were to be expected. And to think I used to laugh at the people that would have to wait a few days to post recaps. :) Turns out I'm one of them... But, enough about ME. Let's talk about CLAY. Agreed? Alrighty. He was wearing blackish jeans (they might've been just denim, but I couldn't tell by the lighting), and a royal blue dress shirt, striped socks, and a black jacket. They let us into the lobby at seven, and then let us into the theater at around eight. So mom and I sat to this couple that were at their first concert. It was a nice woman and a husband that I think got dragged along, but Clay grew on him. :) Couldn't really tell. No one on our other side, house didn't sell out. No one behind us, either. While we were in the lobby, I went and took five minutes to decide whether I wanted a poster or a large shirt (smallest shirt they had by the time five minutes passed). So then this woman came up next to me while I stood there looking from one to the other and she bought a large shirt, to which the stand moderator said, "Well, you're in luck, that was the next to last large T-shirt!" So I said "T-shirt, please." She laughed at me. But in a good way because she was talking with me while I just stood there watching the merchandise be sold. :) And for the couple that sat next to me, I'm sorry, but I was the one who bought the last large. :) Guilty as charged!! So Jesse Vargus came out with Sean and we clapped, and Jesse started playing HYCA, and then Quianna came out, and then Angela, and then Clay came out from the back of the stage, left side if you look at it. Sounded marvelous, as always. Went straight into EIH, and then sat down on his stool and said thanks for letting us come Tampa, or something like that. Then he started IWKWLI, and was fooled once again as to who would sing it with him. It was Quianna. :) And she did a marvellous job. And Clay, towards the end, was singing high notes with Quianna, having a little war with her, and then the music was done but they were still doing it, lol. When they were done he said that he had to be kicked backstage to prepare for those notes. So then he announced that it was Sean's birthday, and he started to ask a question, and he didn't even get past "Raise your hand..." before people started raisin their hands, so he snarked them and said "...if you're unintelligent--see that's why you guys need to let me finish my question before you answer. What if I had asked if you had bad breath?? 'Yes I do, and proud of it!'" lol. So then he finished asking how many of us had been to a concert before, and then asked who hadn't, and he asked them to keep their arms up. Then he chose two people to guess Sean's age, and he chose Sean's uncle by accident, and when Sean said who it is, Clay went "Oh, sit down, you don't count!!" And then he ended up choosing a woman (Antonio) and a man (Gene). I don't know if those are spelled right. And so Antonio guessed 18, and Clay said, "You really think he's 18?" And she said yes, so he said, OK, and then Gene said 30, and Clay said "WHAT?!?!?! How old do you think I am, 45?!?!?" And the crowd was in a riot because then Gene said nobody is under thirty these days, and Clay said he was insulted, and then Clay said that Gene won because Sean is 31, and Gene won $100. So then....so, um...OMG, I forgot. OH YEAH!Clay started naming a few people, I think, like family, for Q, A, Jesse didn't have any, and Sean's pack of groupies, which, according to Clay, is why Sean was hermitically sealed in plexiglas. :) So then Clay said he didn't have any family and friends here tonight and he made a sad pitiful face and asked if we'd be his family and friends, so we all said yes and he "cheered up".

WARNING! From here on out everything will be out of order. Time just flew. And I can't really remember the order the songs were sang in. But I'll just talk about the girls for a bit.

Quianna sang hers first, WTLGD. She sang it so beautifully, hitting every note along the way with stunning accuracy. The whole crew seems to do that when they sing, eh?? But she got a standing O. Then Angela sang Listen. O. M. G. It was so beautiful, hitting those notes. Mom doesn't know much about Q and A, but she looked at me and said "Dang. Those girls can sing!" :) So then Clay said something about giving them boring songs from now on so they don't make him look bad. Then Clay started to talk to Brendan in the audience, a little boy who I think won a meet and greet, and he had asked Clay who his favorite singer was, and Clay, after Q and A sang, said, "Now do you see why I said them, Brendan?" It was so cute. Okay. He sang WY wonderfully, and he sang ATD, which I thought he cut out, but apparently has been put back in. He messed up a verse in it, and he just giggled and resang it to where it was supposed to be. And then SSTBTHW, to which he messed up AGAIN! Then at the end, he sang "sorry" with emphasis and made a face with it. Then he made fun of himself, saying that he's never done that before. I think that's when Angela and him started to talk about what funky mood he's in today, and she said "Hyper." So he agreed, and then laughed, because he said that earlier while they were on the bus, Quianna asked him if he had taken his medication today, and he said no. So Angela, who was on the phone w/ her sister, threw down the phone and Started throwing things around yelling, "Where are they, where are they??" Mocks shaking a pill container like Angela "How many do you need, two? THREE???" rofl. The crowd was in tears. Now for the medley. Clay started talking to us about how he didn't think orchestras couldn't play fast songs because, well according to him, they just can't. And he was listing composers that wrote slooowww songs for orchestras, like "fettuchini". For all you slow ones out there, like some of my friends in school, and myslef, on occasion, that's a cheese. And so he went to Jesse Vargus's piano, and said "Well then, Jesse Vargus--his name is just one where you have to say his whole name-Jesse Vargus, Clay Aiken, Jesus Christ, like that. Not comparing, but it's just a name you have to say both of-- Jesse Vargus, just go on and wave your wand to them, wave your--what is this called?? A-a baton? A baton. I thought that was the thing you twirl. pretends to twirl while holding up above him Well, Jesse Vargus, wave your wand-er baton and play us a fast song." So they go into West Wing, I believe, and Clay, Quianna and Angela all left the stage while they played it. They came back afterwards and said, "I love touring with an orchestra, because you can always make them play whatever you want! That was the West Wing, btw folks. You see, I like, no I love to watch TV, me and Quianna. Angela is apparently too good for TV, right Angela?? turns to Angela, who answers yep Yeah, but I just love alll the show songs from back in the day, you know like this one!" Starts to play Brady Bunch, and whle audience is singing along, while Clay makes little hand movements, numbers, putting his two fingers together and making them "kiss" for the "more than just a hunch" part-lol. After that, Clay talks about how we were better than Ft. Myers in that, since we knew the words, and he told us about the competition they had to do to get them to sing along, about how they split the audience into three parts, one to Angela (left side of crowd rouses up and cheers while Angela encourages), one to Quianna (same thing), and one for me (everyone cheers). So we're gonna do that again, and Quianna, (right side stands up again) you're gonna get the top balcony makes a funny HAHA in your face face and luaghs Angela, you're gonna get the second balcony, and I'll get the floor!! (Everybody on the floor cheers) Alright, alright, Quianna, you'll get the right, Angela, you'll get the left, and i'll take the middle. Starts the TV Classics medley, whole bunch of songs, like the Facts of Life, the Jeffersons (which he danced his heart out in, lol) Charles in Charge, etc. I didn't know half of them. :) At this point, I think there was an intermission, I have no idea. All I know is that luckily that went by fast, along with my roll of Lifesavers, suspiciously. So then I think they do the who-knows-what medley, starting out with big butts, which all of us were laughing, on to songs like Sexy Back, Achy Breaky Heart, OPP, Like A Virgin, Bills Bills Bills, Shorty Got Down, Beat It, She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy (tons of whistles and such, lol), and, my personal favorite, Oops I Did It Again. At some point before playing the fast songs listed above, Clay was talking about all these instruments that are purdy (his words) adn he started out with the French Horn, and he said, "Go on, now, hold up your instrument", to which dirty laughter ensued, and he went on about how our minds were dirty and in the gutter. He continued, sayin, "GBe PROUD of your turns to audience MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. Play us something purdy, now. Go on, play somethin purdy! Plays something similar to the beginning of the little house on the prairie theme song "Now ain't that purdy?? Come on, now, y'all know that's purdy. Now, where's the oboe?? Put yo reed in, now and play somethin for us. Play us a ditty" plays a, er, a "ditty" Angela laughs and says something about Clay trying to play oboe, and he said, yeah, I tried for ten minutes, but nothing was that purdy. Then he says, "And now, the forgotten instrument in the orchestra, the viola. It's-it's like a cello,only you hold it under your chin. Play somethin purdy, now." plays a scale and arpeggio But, ya see, you can't play fast songs on these at all. starts up "Big Butts" I mean it's not like they can play that song, ya know, I liek Big Butts and I cannot lie, etc.etc. And then I believe he came back out and sat on his stool-oh wait, one more thing. Before any of teh fast songs, i believe, he was tellin us how nice and comfy these stools were at the beginning of the tour, and how they flattened all the cushion in it. Then he had an idea that they all should sign their stools and auction them off, and made fun of Q and A, saying theirs could be a two-for-one deal. Then he turned to us and said, "Bring your checkbooks, coss it ain't gonna be CHEAP!!!" And then he sang TOA at some poit in the beginning, I'm not going to back to add it, sorry. Also sang RHW, Rosanne in the Medley, and Angela was dancing with her mic stand like a pole, so Clay went over there and stuck the $100 of Gene's and stuck it in her belt, lol. Sorry this is random. I warned ya. Also TWYMMF, and once again, he pulled up the lyrics off the floor and sang the first few lines with it, then plucked it away and let it fall to the stage. Wouldn't let us sit down, saying how hard they worked to get us up and then we try to sit back down. After the radio songs, like OPP, for example, when he was done, he turned to Angela, and he said,"Ya know, I feel rather cool." And then he walked off to the side of the stage, and Angela said, "Well, Clay, coss your cool you have to walk different now," and he was walking like he owned the place. lol. And now for my favorite part. Lover All Alone. It was so beautiful. That was my suprise for me. That was the only thing I didn't listen to or watch on YouTube. He hit every note so perfectly and on key, it was extremely moving. Half the crowd at the end was weeping, and the entire time he sang it the audience was silent. You could've heard a pin drop. And then he went to the side of the stage and applauded the cello soloist. What I noticed?? He was biting his lip, kinda like he was trying not to cry. I know I was. It was just so raw, filled with emotion and truth and, yes, a lonely heart. So, to you, Clay, I just wanna say, that we're here for you. We love ya. We'll be here in the end. Afterwards the other band members came back out and they performed BYLM, and he was really singing TO us, sending his love and gratefulness via song. And we all waved our glow sticks off time and kinda spaztic, lol. And then people left to the bus line, but mom couldn't keep up with the crowd, so i called dad and he picked us up at around 11. Hope that was a good recap for you guys!! -pugg