Aiken Fans Set CD Release Parties

TRIED & TRUE - The vintage 1950's green hues in this album cover graphic by AmazingCA help the Carolina blog celebrate Earth Week.

First Official Press Photo Revealed

Fans Plan T&T CD Celebrations

With countdown clocks steadily ticking toward the June 1 drop date for Tried & True, Clay Aiken's first album with Decca Records, fans have begun organizing parties to celebrate the new CD.

Pulling out all the stops is the Hollywood CD Release Party with a website coordinated and designed by Pam Bassett. The above link and double clickable image below will take you to "The Celebration Team 2010" page where you will be greeted by Clay singing "Mack the Knife."

Fans planning to attend the Hollywood CD Release Celebration should register as soon as possible. Payment is not due until May 12.

Double click on image to see Hollywood party website.

In the early planning stages, other CD release parties listed at Clayonline (Anything Clay >> Clay Soiree) include Raleigh and Southeastern Michigan (May 31) and Toronto, Ontario (June 5). More will be listed as plans are posted.

To set up a celebration website Hollywood style, click on this link and get started. You can choose from 2,000+ templates; customize the site with your own logo, graphics, text, domain name; and publish to the web with a click of a button.

Easy-to-use tools include point-click-drag images and text with no HTML required. Following a 30-day free trial, the fee is only $4.99/month.

Are You Ready for Clay Aiken 2010?
Montage by gerwhisp

In Are You Ready for Clay Aiken 2010, her latest montage, gerwhisp combined an earlier CA favorite, "Here You Come Again," with excerpts from the singer's March interview in Raleigh and promotional images from the PBS concert taping and upcoming Timeless Tour.

PHOTO INTERLUDE: Featured are double clickable T&T and Timeless TourAmazingCA (1, 3) and Fountaindawg (2).

Tour Ticket Sales Dates Revised

Despite conflicting reports, Timeless Tour tickets for the MGM Grand Foxwoods (Marshantucket, CT) venue are on sale through Ticketmaster now. For more information, check with the venue (866-646-0050) if you want to attend the Aug. 7 concert. This is the promo for Clay and Ruben from the MGM site:

Since coming to national attention on the second season of American Idol in 2003, where he was the unexpected runner up, only to become the biggest selling male artist the show has ever featured, Clay Aiken has evolved into a versatile and beloved popular entertainer.

He has also toured nine times, written a New York Times bestselling memoir, sold more than six million albums, produced and hosted television programs, starred on Broadway, and devoted considerable energy and resources to improving the lives of children all over the world.

After Idol, Ruben Studdard released his first single, "Flying Without Wings" and it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Advance orders for his debut album, Soulful, topped the 1 million mark before it was released and it debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Studdard received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male R & B Vocal Performance and in March 2004, Ruben won the NAACP Outstanding New Artist Award.

Other public ticket sales for the Clay Aiken-Ruben Studdard 17-city summer tour slated for Friday, April 30, include the following venues:

The Hammerstein - New York City, NY (Aug. 11 concert): Phone 212-279-7740. American Express Pre-sale Thursday, Aug. 22, 10 a.m. EDT - Thursday, April 29, 10 a.m. EDT; live nation pre-sale Tuesday, April 27, 10 a.m. EDT - Thursday, April 29, 10 a.m. EDT; general public, Friday, April 30, 10 a.m. EDT.

**Horseshoe Casino - Hammond, IN (Aug. 13 concert): Phone 866-711-7463. (Originally set for April 30, tickets will be on sale through Ticketmaster and at the box office on Friday, May 21.)

Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL (July 26 concert): Phone 727-791-7400, 800-875-8682. Ticketmaster and box office April 30. (Check back for time).

The coast to coast tour, which has been added to Clay's Decca site (under "Events"), begins July 23 in Asheville, NC, and ends in Biloxi, MS.

Clay Aiken Official T&T Press Photo/Vincent Soyez

A few minutes before I started teaching Friday, Clayonline added the final piece of the T&T photo shoot puzzle. Below are clickables of full-length and cropped versions of Clay on the train at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC.

Clickables of official T&T press photo.

Have an awesome weekend, Clay Nation!

Caro

Diary Details Clay Aiken Shoot

BACK IN TOWN -- Clay Aiken returned to his hometown of Raleigh, NC, for the concert taping of a PBS Special Friday, March 12. Graphic by Fountaindawg, photos by Jim R. Bounds/AP.

'Tried and True' CD

Photo Shoot Spotlights Triangle

The March 12 taping of Clay Aiken's PBS Special/Concert in Raleigh was just the beginning of a jam-packed weekend that also included the all-important photo shoot for his upcoming Decca release, "Tried and True."

Saturday Randy Hamilton, writer-photographer for the Durham Photography Examiner, filled in many details of the March 13 photo shoot with his piece, Diary of a professional photography shoot for Clay Aiken's "Tried and True".

The reprint here includes photos from several of the article's linked sites in the Raleigh-Durham area. Naturally, the lunch menu was Eastern syle North Carolina barbeque.

Local fans of Clay Aiken surely know he was in the area recently, recording a concert in Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium that featured songs from his new album, Tried and True. The album is scheduled for release on June 1, 2010, and broadcast of the concert is set for sometime this summer on PBS.

Private train car, American Tobacco
Photo by Randy Hamilton

What fans may not know is that, while visiting his home town, Aiken searched for locations for the art for the CD package of his new album.

Driving around Raleigh and Durham, he photographed locations that fit the theme of the upcoming album, the 1950s and the Rat Pack [Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin].

Among the locations in his pictures of Durham are a bar, a diner and several street shots. Others show parts of the American Tobacco Campus, including Bay 7 and the train car at the North end.

These Bay 7 photos will expand to a larger size.

Aiken also favored the Mecca Restaurant in Raleigh, a nearly perfect location for the images he had in mind for the package art.

Using his photographs to go by, it was necessary to scout the locations, to take additional photographs for determining their suitability and availability for the shoot.

With photographs of the interior of the train car at American Tobacco, the Mecca and others from a newly recommended site, the locations for the one-day shoot were set.

The Kenan Bar, Treyburn Country Club
Photo by Randy Hamilton


18th green at Treyburn
Photo courtesy of Treyburn Country Club

The day would begin at Treyburn Country Club in Durham, with shots in the bar and on the golf course.

Afterward, the crew would head to American Tobacco before finishing in Raleigh at the Mecca.

The Mecca - Photo by Jason Hamilton

Upon arrival at Treyburn at 7am, NY photographer Vincent Soyez began setting up for the first shot in the bar. Soyez, who uses the Norman lighting system, said, "You’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting an elaborate lighting setup. I just set up the lights where I think they should go, take some test shots and adjust the lights until I get the effect we want."

For the Aiken shoot, the desired effect derives from the dramatic light and shadow sometimes associated with celebrity photographs of the 1950s.

Following Aiken’s arrival and wardrobe preparation, the shooting began with work around settings at the bar. After a couple of hours, the crew moved out to the golf course. Luckily, the preferred location was at the 18th green, making it relatively easy to transport equipment and set up the shot.

Mt. Bethel Methodist Church in Bahama, NC

After completing the shots, Aiken bought lunch for the crew. One could easily see he was happy to be home and to introduce his NY colleagues to North Carolina barbecue, Eastern style of course. (And as it happens, his grandmother lives nearby. He described his visits to Bahama while growing up, with many Sunday mornings spent singing in Mt. Bethel Methodist Church.)

Following lunch, the crew finished with a few publicity shots, packed up and headed to American Tobacco.

Rain threatened the afternoon, but the crew managed to set up in the train car before the rain began, and by the time they had finished, the rain had stopped. They packed up again and headed to the Mecca in Raleigh, the final location of the day. The shoot wrapped up around 11pm.

While Aiken fans anxiously await the new music of his next album, photography fans might look for a copy to see how these locations, and Clay Aiken, are transformed by the work of Vincent Soyez.

In addition to providing some of the location photography, Jason Hamilton also contributed information for this article. By clicking on his link, readers can view examples of his photography.

American Tobacco Campus posted the following on Facebook Sunday:

American Tobacco Campus plays a big part in Clay Aiken's upcoming album and the photo shoot to illustrate his love of the Triangle!

You can read about the author of the diary, Randy Hamilton, here. Below is a clickable of Fountaindawg's concert graphic:

Have a wonderful week, Clay Nation! Is it June yet?

Caro