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Philly to DC I had a
semi-adventurous drive from Philadelphia to Washington.
Fortunately, driving in California prepares you to drive pretty much
anywhere, although the one-hour gridlock getting through a tunnel into Baltimore
wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t really
the driving that was the problem. spotlight
apparently left her brain back in San Jose. In Philly I had tried to lose my brand-new cell phone, but was rescued by yalcteef and winkydink. I left Philly in my rental car Monday morning headed for DC. Just outside of Baltimore, I pulled off the freeway for a potty break and grease-guzzle at a Burger King. Grabbing my fanny pack, I go inside, use the facility, and get in line. Then I discover I’ve left my money in the car; I had my coin-purse in my lap from paying tolls. So I open the car door – and the purse isn’t on the seat. Or on the floor. Or in between the seats. Or anywhere. So I’m
shuffling my maps around on the passenger seat, trying not to panic over the
wads of cash that are now MIA, when a couple approach me from behind.
The man asks, “Are you looking for something?”
Thinking he’s seen my maps and is trying to give me directions, I say,
“Well, not right now, but I’m going to be trying to find how to get back on
the freeway soon.” A conversation
about east-coast freeways. I return
to my rooting, when a man with a Burger King nametag approaches.
He asks, “Did you lose something?”
Light dawns. “Yes!!!” “A
purse?” “Yes!!
It’s small and red, a coin purse!”
He pulls it out and gives it to me.
The original couple explains that they found it on the ground, and were
just trying to be sure it was mine. Noticing the thick Southern drawl, I ask, “Where are you from?” “North Carolina.” “Where in N.C.?” “Raleigh.” The look on my face must have been priceless. “Do you know who Clay Aiken is?” “Oh, of course!” “I’ve come from California to see him in concert in DC.” “Oh, he’s wonderful, he was robbed! He should have won! But I think he’s gonna do better than that other guy.” I hugged them both and thanked them profusely for saving my bacon. So in my hour of need, when there were no ProC-er’s around to watch my back, The Aiken sent two NC angels to watch over me! I could also have used their help when I got to DC. Everything you’ve ever heard about trying to navigate in this city is true, and more. I would swear that every time I went around a block, someone had switched the one-way signs to the opposite direction from my last trip. And what kind of a major city doesn’t have LEFT-TURN SIGNALS????
The line for Jerome is only beginning to form when we get there, two or three people ahead of us. A pushy older woman with security tells us we can’t stand there, we are blocking the aisle. I’ve already heard this ploy at Philly and we politely but firmly refuse to move. The line grows and the woman finally realizes she’s up against a force of nature, and asks us to move to the right and form a single line. Up ahead, a young brunette walks away sadly; someone says she has been refused because she’s already been backstage at another concert. This didn’t ring a bell for me until later. So finally I get up to Jerome. “Hi, Jerome.” “Hi there.” He doesn’t remember me from the night before. “You didn’t let me in last night, and you probably won’t tonight, so is there any chance of getting this (RS) signed?” “Uh…not right now, maybe later.” “So Jerome, if I monopolize your time and make you look at my photo albums over and over and pester the living daylights out of every security guard in sight, can I get backstage?” “Why? Who did that?” Total innocence, like he has no idea what I’m talking about. “The lady with the red shirt last night in Philly.” Jerome changes tactic. “Oh, but you know what, she just won the lottery that night.” “Two concerts in a row? At Wilkes-Barre and also at Philadelphia?” “It happens.” Unn-huh. So he takes my name and ticket number and I walk away. Then it hits me. Wilkes-Barre stalker gets to go backstage twice. Young brunette is turned away because she’s already been backstage once. Unn-huh. Here’s what my pretty-good people sense told me about Jerome. Outwardly he’s very friendly and jovial, but I get strong vibes that he enjoys the power trip he’s on, and he’s a con man who will say whatever is necessary to manipulate people. I think that’s part of his job, but I also think he gets off on it. I’m all in favor of the lottery idea, because as others have said, Clay doesn’t get mobbed and he can really talk to the few fans who get in. But I’m not convinced that there really is a lottery. And this isn’t sour grapes because I didn’t get in; like the Anomaly, too many things don’t add up here for me. I think he’s picking the people himself, and he has his own agenda, but I don’t know what it is. (This was later proved true by squeakyclean's experience at New Jersey.) DC Concert The DC crowd was
not as loud as Philly from the get-go, but I thought they warmed up.
It was clear from cheers at the TV clips that DC is a Ruben town.
Clay certainly got a great response, but Ruben had the edge.
At least in the beginning. Sisterlove and I were in the third row of a lower-level side section about halfway back; it wasn’t row 3 on the floor, but we had a good view of the overall proceedings. For the first time I actually saw what the dancers were doing. Ho hum. Sister was doing the “how many more til Clay?” squirm – been there, done that. TITN was wonderful, as usual; he wasn’t holding back and he added an embellishment I hadn’t heard before. This is my third concert and in all three he has done the full-out version, no easier melody with fewer high notes. I actually think his voice is getting stronger all the time. Sister leaned over and asked, “When is the microphone snatch?” And there it was! At one point after a song, maybe it was TITN, Clay said, “I almost fell off the stage!” Someone in the front row said something and Clay said, “So you’d catch me?” No kidding! The initial response for Ruben’s entrance was thunderous, a barrage of the Rooooooo-Boooooo, but StuporStar calmed them down quite a bit. SisterLove was particularly underwhelmed with the Vandross song. “He’s no Vandross!” she said. Ruben was exceptionally chatty, I think he felt the fact that it was finally his crowd and he was workin’ ‘em. SisterLove conceded that Ruben could be allowed to have one audience out of sixteen, but she definitely wasn’t feelin’ the love. I had asked Jerome if he and Clay left for New York right after the Philly concert, and he said yes, they drove up that night. So Clay got at most four hours sleep, probably more like three, and in the second half of the show you could see he was tired. I don’t think most of the audience noticed it, because whenever the spotlight was on him, he looked very bright-eyed and sang his heart out; but when he was in the background you could see a bit of a sag. It was easy for me to tell the difference because the night before, in Philly, he was a nervous bundle of energy. SisterLove confirmed that he looked pale and tired to her also. It’s a demonstration of his incredible presence and ability that he can out-perform anyone else even when dead-tired. Ruben was friskier than I had seen him before and definitely friskier than Clay in DC. Ruben’s mom was in the audience and they showed her onscreen. Before TGIM, Ruben asked who had seen Clay’s video. A bunch of people screamed. Ruben asked which part they liked best. He keeps on at this, and then springs it on them that Clay’s video isn’t OUT yet. He said that everywhere he does that, people always claim they’ve seen it. This was my third concert and the first time I’d hear that. At then end of The Girl is Mine, Clay asks Ruben if Miss Emily can be his mom too, and volunteers Faye to be Ruben’s mom in Raleigh. He also asked Miss Emily if he could have the girl, since Ruben won. Clay’s high voice was as good as ever. TLS was also excellent; I love the way he smiles when the audience starts cheering wildly at hearing the intro to TLS. He danced well in the medleys, although I think I saw him miss a move in one place and laugh about it. Not awkwardness, just a lapse of concentration. I had never really seen the Clarmen bump-and-grind before because I was too close; it went on a bit long. I had to restrain SisterLove from rushing up to scratch out Carmen's eyes. They did the “Clay can’t dance” bit with a young man from the audience. Clay demonstrated how he “cheats” on the move he supposedly can’t do. Trenyce and Kim demonstrate the real move, with lots of shoulder action, and the Clay holds his forearms stiffly at a 90-degree angle from his body and waves his hands back and forth. Very cute. Later in another medley, I watched him execute the correct move perfectly well. CYFTLT –
perfect. He could do this stuff in
his sleep now. Invisible was
wonderful, but I think there’s less spontaneity now; he’s got it pretty much
choreographed and works it the same each night.
He was wearing a jersey that said “Capitols” on it, hockey team
maybe? I took a partial video of
Invisible; it’s mostly of the Jumbotron, because I was too far away from him,
but it gives the idea. The crowd
response to Invisible was wonderful. The
screaming didn’t seem nearly as loud here as in Philly, but that could be the
acoustics and where I was sitting. Our
section was pretty calm, not a lot of rabid fans there.
But I got the idea that a lot of people were won over for Clay after
that. Ruben’s new song got the usual “Huh?” reaction from most of the audience, although Aurorabee said she actually liked it. Her shuttle ticket is ready (just kidding, bee, I love ya!!) By the time we got to Frying Wings, the Ruben love seemed to have cooled a bit and a lot of people started to leave; I think DC (actually, Virginia and Maryland) was Clay-verted. And of course, I’m totally objective. I had to pin SisterLove to her seat after Invisible, she really wanted to leave, but I told her I was getting my money’s worth. Clay wore a different shirt for Imagine and GBTUSA, a light gray I think. He was pretty subdued in GBTUSA. As usual he pulled out his earpieces to listen, and I saw him gesture to Kim Locke to do the same and she did. He was rubbing his eyes as the band was introduced, I think his contacts were bothering his tired eyes. Afterwards we chatted a bit in the lobby of the MCI, took a few pictures, and said our goodbyes; what, some people had to WORK the next day? So tomorrow I'm off to New Jersey, one more religious experience to go! |
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