So now we have the TMZ Fox Affiliate with their own attempt at getting a little publicity for themselves at Clay Aiken's expense. I think it's just one unsavory employee but it's still a reflection on the station and the network, in my opinion. According to first reports hitting the internet, a couple of local talents were "bumped" from a concert because Clay wanted to sing an extra song. Well, after a couple of people checked it out they discovered that the concert had the same set list and ran about the same amount of time as the others except for the couple of concerts where there were strict time constraints at the venue and Clay left out one of his own songs rather than cut the orchestra's time short. Hmmmmm... doesn't sound divaish to me. We also found out the local talents at his last concert were NOT "bumped" by Clay Aiken.
Someone actually asked a couple of questions and got some honest answers from Ms. Crawford of the Greensboro Symphony and they are as follows:
1_ Greensboro Symphony was hired by a promoter to be the orchestra for Clay Aiken
2_ The promoter informed the Symphony that we needed to prepare a 50 minute first half
3_Although we protested and said it was too long and people were coming to hear Clay, we were still requested to prepare a first half. This was also included in the rider sent by Aiken management.
4_ After checking with several orchestras, we prepared both a 50 minute and 30 minute first half.
5_ Due to our contracts with musicians, we are not allowed to perform something without a rehearsal, if it has not been performed within 30 days.
6_ We were told that we would only have about 15 minutes to rehearse. We informed promoter we would be performing pieces from our Holiday Concert so we would not need much rehearsal time. Our Holiday concert is mostly singing. We informed promoter we would have singers and e-mailed the program
7_ We received an e-mail from Community Theater asking if the 2 Triad Idol singers could perform on concert. They had performed with us in October at our education concerts. We checked with promoter and were given the green light to invite them to perform WITH the Symphony not WITH Clay Aiken.
8_ Once rehearsal began, Aiken management asked that we not perform any non-Holiday songs. We only had orchestra charts for the Triad Idols for 2 songs and they were non-Holiday.
9_ We told the 2 Triad Idol singers, we would need to cancel their songs. We still wanted to include them in the concert and we asked Aiken 'MANAGEMENT' if they could lead the Christmas Song sing-along. Aiken management was very gracious and said this would be fine along with the little girl singing the Hippo song. When we told the Triad idol singers, they seemed very glad to still be part of the show. Throughout the evening, they did not indicate they were unhappy.
10_ We cannot control what people do in order to gain 15 minutes of fame. We do not believe in feeding a media frenzy over nothing.
~~~
Now the young man comes forward and tattles on whomever did the interview and here are the pertinent admissions:
"Well, I was on the news Fri. before the concert and Fox 8 was expecting me to be on stage Sat., and I wasn't!!! So they called me Wed. @ 9:27 AM and asked me what happened!!! And all I did was answer honestly!!! It is not my fault that not everything of my 45 min. interview was put on the news!!! So all you people saw was what was against Clay!!! You people need to understand that all I did was answer questions!!! "
~~~
Oh, we understand quite well but what the young man doesn't understand is Clay Aiken had NOTHING to do with this set of circumstances. This was between/among the Greensboro Symphony, the promoter, the Community Theater representative who sent the e-mail, the Triad Idols, and Clay's MANAGEMENT who wanted to keep with the Seasonal Songs because it was a CHRISTMAS CONCERT........HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Clay Aiken doesn't even enter the picture...probably because he was still asleep when the decision was made and it was made by whomever told the young Idols... who, according to the above, still made an appearance leading in the singing of a.. ummmm... Seasonal Song.
My heart goes out to the youngsters who got a taste of show biz. Major acts have been "bumped" by major shows because they ran longer than planned with other guests. These major stars that are "bumped" often spend hundreds on flight, taxi, and hotel accommodations only to be asked to come back at a later date. It's tough for anyone to have to suck it up when you're looking forward to sharing a spotlight; the show must go on and that's just what happened.
Perhaps a certain interviewer should have had a little more maturity in his thinking and should not have subjected a 15 year old to "Creative Editing" consequences...which I'm sure he (the interviewer) was counting on. It happens everytime an unsavory person (in my opinion) has an unsavory agenda.
Mr. V and TMZ, shame on you! Would you like beers to go with that egg on your faces?
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34 comments:
How sad is it that a simple schedule change by CA's management not CA causes such a big stink.
What is interesting is that in the TMZ story how homophobic and prejudice their story is concerning this event.
Too bad that your TRUTHFUL account of this whole thing won't be picked up by the freaking internet sources that printed this load of sh-t in the first place!!!
TMZ/Fox/jv owes Clay a BIG apology - guess I won't hold my breath waiting for THAT to happen.
Perhaps this info should go to the station that was invited to tour parts of Clay's home. Sweeten the competition a little. One station shows their agenda and another shows the truth and exposes the agenda.
Why the Fox station would even bring Clay into this equation is beyond me. It wasn't even his decision and he wasn't the one who made the call.
And for the record, there is no doubt in my mind that the person posting at TMZ as the 15 year old boy is one of the asswipes.
Why would Fox care about the truth? You forget that the 6th season of AI is about to begin. That's what this is all about. Smear Clay Aiken and garner ratings for the show at the same time.
This is a slanted piece by a desperate fameho on his last 15 minutes who's desperate for an interview with Clay to propel his blog (and his career) into the mainstream. It's a form of blackmail. Try to force Clay to sit down to an interview in order to defend himself and do it by trying to incite the fans.
Varner calls himself a journalist? Talk about biased, innuendo-laced reporting. He wasn't interested in the true story because it didn't fit his agenda. The truth is that it was a non-story. Look how easy it was for the true story to get out. He either didn't bother or didn't care.
I'm not a fan of that 15 year old kid (who seems to have an awfully high opinion of himself), but he was used by Varner and Fox to bash Clay. Varner isn't a journalist, despite his degree. He's a poser. A real journalist would have had both sides of the story before he determined whether there was a story worth printing. This opportunist was looking for attention for himself and using Clay's name was the way to do it. Sound familiar?
This particular FOX station has been loosing their news viewers to the other two stations.
I don't know about the rest of you but I sure would love to hear what questions were asked to get the kind of answers this kid gave.
I'd bet you anything that regardless of how this kid felt a negative spin would have been put on the interview.
I'm sure the negative spin was in the questions as well in order for this jerkoff Varner to get the desired responses to work with in the editing.
To repeat what I said last night: I do NOT believe that a 15 year old boy would have the wherewithall or the interest to seek out this asshole's blog so I will monitor any posts made about him. No sense in bashing a kid who was probably led by the nose in the interview and then impersonated by the asswipes on yet another wannabe celebrity blackmailer's trash blog.
Having fun with Josh:
"Well, I was on the news Fri. before the concert..." [How exciting! Who contacted whom? What was the newsworthy story on Fri? I'll bet you contacted them to announce your lucky break to sing with CA? Am I close?] "...and Fox 8 was expecting me to be on stage Sat.," [Expecting? Could it be because that's what you told them?] "...and I wasn't!!!" [Oh, but you were!!! At least for 30 seconds.] "So they called me Wed. @ 9:27 AM..." [Let me get this straight. Fox 8 TV was expecting YOU to be on stage. Were they there Sat. night? Were they taping the concert? They had no interest in the "star" of the show? Just you. They were so looking forward to seeing YOU, and were so concerned at your absence, it took them 4 days to contact you? Strange they didn't notice it Sat. night, but thankfully, something jogged their memory by Wed. "...and asked me what happened!!!" [Exactly. I can see their interest...there had to be a blockbuster news story there somewhere!] "And all I did was answer honestly!!!" [I believe you. And days later you're still being honest, correct?] "It is not my fault that not everything of my 45 min. interview was put on the news!!!" [It took 45 minutes to explain 'what happened?', or just the really important stuff?] "So all you people saw was what was against Clay!!!" [Imagine that! So you did say stuff that was against Clay? "You people need to understand that all I did was answer questions!!!" [Honey, 'we people' DO understand what happened. You've just learned a very important lesson. Be careful how you answer questions and remember, what's important to you may NOT be important to the media! What's disappointing is you haven't retracted anything the media quoted you as saying; therefore, 'we people' may assume it's all true. So, what's your problem? Take a bit of advice. You may want to consider being a music critic, or a concert reviewer. You certainly can do as well as some professionals I've seen. Just stay away from pretending to be a fan. That'll get you everytime.
Polly Graf, I love the way you do that. I would add it to the front page if my blog post wasn't so long already.
Varner is a complete idiot if he imagines Clay will ever give him the time of day over this silly non-story.Clay doesn't even give interviews to real journalists to answer this kind of BS. Why would he ever waste his precious time on this jerk? Does Varner actually think he matters to Clay? Talk about delusions!
I hear that Varner refuses to believe the e-mail is legit. Well, wouldn't you think that a hot shot reporter like him would just call up Lisa Crawford himself to find out? Nah, why let the truth get in the way of his slanted story? Instead, in typical scumbag fashion, he leaves a sarcastic remark and then runs for the hills.
Such a staunch upholder of the truth he is. NOT!
I think the kids interview was butchered to make Clay look bad. 15 years old is still a boy in my eyes so lets leave him alone. If the criminals get a hold of this kid and exploit him then we definately have a major crime being committed and can get the police involved, i.e. corruption of a minor.
Real theater goers will have no sympathy at all for a rake amateur who is whining about not getting on the stage with the star. Can you imagine how NY theater goers would feel if they paid for tickets to a show, and NYers know the time limits, then find out that some of their time is going to be taken up with the local high school kid instead of the symphony orchestra and the star singer they paid to hear? Sorry, but the only people at Greensboro who might have been disappointed that the kid didn’t sing was his parents.
One thing that bugs me is he said his parents paid $500 just like everybody else.
First off, most paid normal concert price from either the box office or Ticketmaster. $500 sounds like an eBay price.
Second, wouldn't the kid have been given at least 2 tickets for his parents since he is a minor and would have to have at least one adult with him?
Ergo another reason why I don't believe that the person who posted as the boy was actually him. Too many hater variables in there.
Unless Joshua's parents took the whole family to the concert, I can't see where it would cost them $500. This number sounds so arbitrary. Either Joshua is a terrible whiner or someone is impersonating him, in which case his parents should be informed.
If he is being impersonated, he should finally realize what Clay's been going through this past year.
Wake up, Josh!
Oh Crap said...
And for the record, there is no doubt in my mind that the person posting at TMZ as the 15 year old boy is one of the asswipes.
The Haters will not even admit they have nothing to work with. I'm glad those posts are on that TMZ blog. I believe any sane rational person who is not a fan will finally see some of the hate Clay suffers for no reason. That Varner must be some piece of work. Did he really think Clay would be bullied into talking to him? Nice try though Varner. Only NOT.
Varner is a sleazy wannabe who did whatever it took to get Clay's attention. Obviously, he's on his last minute of dubious celebrity and wants an interview with Clay and the subsequent hits from the fans to propel his blog into the big time. Either that, or he'll settle for veiled accusations to rile the fans up and hopefully get a reaction from Clay. Porker Perez does it all the time. Same MO. Except Varner tries to come off as a "fair minded" reporter. That's a laugh. Could his posts be any more slanted?
Do you suppose the new sleaze will get a screen name so he can pretend to be Clay as well. We know Groucho uses Revnoles and Perez and Bina are ValleyPrettyBoy. Maybe they'll teach him how to photoshop webcam style.
If Fox 8 had any integrity (I know, an oxymoron), they'd fire Varner's ass for the stunt he pulled. He's no journalist. He's a hack and a poser. He tried to force an interview with Clay to promote his own career with an innuendo-laced blog and he used and manipulated a 15 y.o. boy and his parents for his own self interests.
Hey, Varner! You want the truth? Call Ms. Crawford at the GSO and ask her if that's her e-mail. It's completely legit. Go ahead, we dare you. That is, if you want the truth.
Great Blog OC - thank you!
Also lots of great posts from others. You gals rock!
Thank you.
Yaaaaay for you!!!!! Soooo glad you posted the e-mail on the TMZ site!
Do you think they'll EVER stop using Clay as target practice for their hate? And for people who proclaim they have no interest in him or don't like his music, they sure spend an awful lot of energy fabricating stories about him!
P.S. Blogspot won't let me log in, so I'm having to post this as "anonymous" which I don't care to do.
celebhith
celebhith.blogspot.com
Sheeeese!
celebhith, did you try to log in with a new Google ID or the old blogger ID? I never switched to Beta so the old blogger ID would work. I have had too much aggravation with beta blogger to make the switch to it on this blog.
When you said Clay was used for target practice, you have no idea how right you are.
As far as posting the 10 points email from Ms. Crawford, I have no idea who posted it at the TMZ site. I just posted it here.
The day will come when blogger will not give you a choice OhC.
If Varner was really interested in the truth, it would only take one phone call to Ms. Crawford. But then, maybe the lady doesn't want to talk to him.
Eventually, the truth will come out. It always does.
Non-Clay:
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2006 Weekly, Live Broadcast- New Years Program
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Re-broadcast
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How absolutely exciting for William Joseph. I bet that is a dream come true for him because I think he's Mormon, isn't he?
Truth, don't know about getting Beta Blogger because I have a message that they are "Out of Beta".... thank Heaven.
All that means is that they've moved out of the testing stage and are using the new version. Your still on the old version.
You can tell the difference by the new one has your email on the upper right of the main page.
Why can't they leave well enough alone if the old version is working so well and the new one is not? It's sometimes days before I can get into the comments section on Truth Rules and the private blog and Polly Graf never could get into the comments.
Happy New Year everyone.
It's not just blogger. I've got to set my cookies to accept all just to get into one of my credit card pages to pay the bill. It was never like that before. Then I have to remember to reset the filter when I'm done. It's a royal pain.
And this blasted thing isn't letting me sign in.
Make sure your pop-up blocker is off Ladies.
Is TMZ affiliated with the Fox Network in any way?
snort!
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