The ebb and flow of tides are like time as the outgoing merges with the incoming, the old with the new, the past with the future.
As events of 2011 wound down on New Year's Eve, the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" gave way to the heralding of the infant 2012 with traditional New Year greetings by the media, online websites, friends, relatives, and associates.
Similarly, Clay Aiken fans are at once in retrospective mode while greatly anticipating the singer's 2012 agenda. Two events circled on Clay Nation calendars around the globe are slated for February:
Feb. 12 - May 20: Celebrity Apprentice, NBC-TV, 9 pm ET Feb. 20 - Reflections of Life - Distinguished Concerts International, Carnegie Hall, 7 pm ET
Clay's new single, "Bring Back My Love," a bestseller on Amazon and iTunes, will be sent to AC radio stations around the nation. In his blog today, Clay hinted that a 2012 tour is in the offing. He also suggested that fans watch the Today Showon Wednesday. Donald Trump will guest on Tuesday, so most are planning to watch both days.
For the inevitable rewinds on Clay Cyberspace, click on the retrospective graphics by Clayscience (2011) and Fountaindawg (2003 - 2011). Both are expandable.
The New Year's wish below links to a special Jacquie Lawson greeting for Carolina On My Mind readers. Quoting from Fountaindawg's graphic: 2012 -- Bring it!
GREETINGS to 2011! -New Year's graphic of Clay Aiken expands to wallpaper size. Design by AmazingCA, photos by Tasapio.
Inclusion Project Wins $50k Grant
What Were You Doing NY Eve?
Taking liberties on the tense of a longtime Clay Aiken holiday favorite ... What Were You Doing New Year's Eve?
Members of the singer's fan club not out partying spent the evening watching festivities on TV, listening to music, and casting final votes all the way to midnight ET so that the National Inclusion Project would land a Pepsi Refresh grant.
Maybe this doesn't register very high on the "fun chart," but it certainly is gratifying after a four-month long campaign.
The Pepsi board closed promptly at midnight and will remain silent until January's campaign begins on Monday. From final 2010 postings, it appears the foundation wound up in first place and will receive a $50,000 grant so more children with and without disabilities can participate in Let's ALL Play summer camps.
At the stroke of midnight, unofficial grant celebrations immediately joined New Year festivities on message boards throughout Clay Cyberspace.
Pepsi grant assures inclusive programs for more children.
Inclusion Project Celebrates Success
Special thanks to Inclusion Project directors Jerry Aiken, Aron Hall, and alliances; Royalle, who guided supporters with additional charity partnerships; Scarlett, who kept the plan in view with daily widget updates; and all who helped vote, enlist new supporters, teach others to text, etc., to put the foundation over the top in December.
The final day of voting was made much more enjoyable by EZ Does It Net Radio, an Atlanta-based station dedicated to memorable music from the decades of the last half-century. The clickable is a cap of of a 10-song span that included "Here You Come Again" from On My Way Here and "Unchained Melody" from Tried & True.
New Year's Eve Playlist HYCA and UM in one set!
Turns out Lane and Martha Wells, EZ Radio owners, became fans of Clay during American Idol 2. They were delighted when CA fans discovered their site and began requesting music. On New Year's Eve, the station incorporated a steady lineup from the singer's albums dating back to Measure of a Man in 2003.
Grateful listeners from several countries (Scotland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates) and states have posted platitudes and thank you messages to the station. See the latest comments here.
Contact EZ Radio and make requests via email -- EZDoesItRadio@aol.com -- or on the station's Facebook wall.
Clay Aiken: 2010 Recap View montage by SueReu full screen at You Tube. Download with this Sendspace file.
Montage Recaps Aiken's 2010
Before the first strains of Auld Lang Syne were sung in the continental US, SueReu uploaded one of her special montages recapping Clay Aiken's 2010 season.
The video, which begins with the Tried & True preview at Golfing for Inclusion 2010, spotlights the PBS Special taping in Raleigh, Phineas & Herb, the Timeless Tour with Ruben Studdard, the Gala, TV appearances, the Chicago benefit concert, Bringing Broadway Home, the VOX, the impeccable comedic timing and laughs that natural components of a CA concert.
A Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 set to a traditional folk tune, "Auld Lang Syne" is the song most frequently played and sung to celebrate the start of the New Year.
Carolina readers, be sure to click on the Happy New Year banner above for a special Jacquie Lawson greeting card featuring the song and its Scottish heritage.
Bidding 2010 a fond farewell and welcoming the infant 2011, the lyrics of the first verse and chorus of "Auld Lang Syne" are printed below. Learn more about the song's background here.
Auld Lang Syne (Old Long Since)
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
WORLD WELCOMES 2011: Photo links to a slide show of New Year celebrations around the globe, from Australia to Time's Square to Hawaii. Shown above are London, Japan, Scotland, and Brazil. (From The Daily Beast).
Wishing the Clay Nation a blessed 2011 filled with happiness, health, and many magical Clay Aiken concerts!
With the final strains of "Auld Lang Syne" still fading, Clay Aiken fans everywhere are celebrating the arrival of 2010 and the much-anticipated Decca Decade.
Ten-year welcome mats in place, Clay Nation residents replay past tours and performances at the drop of a hat. All week SueReu has been making this activity special with a series of retrospective montages. The first -- "The Music" -- was featured in the previous blog. She unveiled the second at an online New Year's Eve party.
Highlights from Clay's talk show appearances -- Small Screen Fun -- are featured in the second Retrospective montage, which even boasts a surprise ending.
You can view the montage in the player below or via the YouTube link. Downloads for "Retrospective, Part 2" are available in both Sendspace and MEGAUPLOAD files.
Clay Aiken, A Retrospective - Part 2, Small Screen Fun Montage by SueReu
The third Retrospective montage is scheduled for completion on Saturday.
Vintage Cards Popular Collectibles
A few years ago, I read a blog about vintage postcards the writer had discovered among her family's keepsakes; and I became intrigued with this creative mode of communication. Today's designs are in step with the latest technology and are available for use in emails and online networking.
In the beginning, homemade, hand-delivered greeting cards were mostly used by the wealthy because they were too expensive for common people.
In the 1400's, Germany began producing "woodcut" New Year's greetings and Christmas cards. Originally intended for decoration, these crudely made cards were also traded among friends and family.
In the mid 1800's, Germany again led the way when artisans began mass producing greeting cards with the new printing methods. This new and improved technology, combined with more modern postal systems, created a new industry. Greeting cards were now more affordable and practical to send to loved ones.
Clickable vintage cards
The postcard was even cheaper to send and became wildly popular during the late 1890's to the 1920's.
A flurry of competition evolved as artists and publisher's flooded the market with colorful postcard designs. Landscapes, historic events, exhibitions, advertising, souvenirs, famous people were among the topics of postcards in the early 1900's.
Postcard albums became very popular as people wanted a place to display their collections. For additional history and samples, see vintage greeting cards.
Look around your attic. You just may discover vintage card treasures from previous generations.
Below are clickables graphics by cindilu2 (1 and 3) and Cotton (2). Widescreen and no-date versions of the January 2010 calendar are available at the artist's Yuku page.
Happy New Year, all! Here's to the Decca Decade -- the Best is Yet To Come!!!
This blog is about my passions: family, friends, music, teaching, journalism, Carolina basketball, and Clay Aiken. Since 2007, visitors have dropped by from 170 countries, the most recent being Cuba, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Nicaragua, and Aruba. Hope to see y'all again soon! - Caro
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