Okay.. I know many of you got the edited version of the Bolt Claymate attack on Clay in Hartford...but here it is my "overly long-winded version"

So I met up with Senorita75 in Providence at about 2:15pm. We had a lot in common. We both already had tickets to the show in Providence on Aug 2...but we were both WAAAAAAAY to impatient to wait...so this week we both bought tickets to the Hartford show....my ticket was next to AI2rocks and Cookiedog...and hers was...well by herself....but much closer.

We met up with AI2rocks in Hartford ahead of time. MixnJude and her neice stopped by for a moment to say hi...we took some pics and planned to meet up after the show to wait for buses (and boy did we ever...more on that to come!)

AI2rocks mentioned that there were supposed to be alot of folks at the same restaurant from the TTC board....well, my sarcastic self couldn't help but mentioning that we'd probably be kicked out of their table for improper table discussion...not to mention I was happily drinking a beer in public!!! GASP!...not a TRUE CLAY FAN???? HAHA...LOL! We had a great time just getting acquanited with AI2Rocks...although honestly I did feel like I already knew her..yeah I'm talking about you BUG EYES!!! ...and of course Senorita and I had 2 hours in the car to dish all things Clay and listen to his music OVER AND OVER!!!

So we headed across the street to the Civic Center...LOTS OF RED SHIRTS AND SHOES EVERYWHERE! YOUND AND OLD, BLACK AND WHITE. While Senorita waited in Will Call for her ticket...AI2Rocks and I went out front to where a radio station was broadcasting and of course encouraging young teenage girls to scream their heads off for an hour in order to "earn" ticket upgrades....the radio station "field team" of hunky young 20-year old men made a bee-line for the two of us...it could be that we're both 5'10 and 5'11" respectively and stood out like basketball players at a chinese restaurant...or hell..I'll just believe its because we're HOT!!!! They asked us. "Who are you here to see? of course we said "Charles".....Yeah...we're kidding Grigsby...we love you! We told them "Clay" and they said "Ok, like everyone else here". They said EVERYONE they spoke with was a Clay fan...we just nodded knowingly. They said we should go over to the table and try to get upgraded. I said...I'm a tad too old to go scream with teenagers (which was hooey...because just wait till the show and you'll see why...) I asked "do you think if I just go up to the front of the table and show some cleavage that would work???" "Of course their fresh-faced college boy eyes lit up and like in a trance they all simultaneously nodded "YES"..."GO DO IT" they pleaded....Well as enticing as the upgrades were I just wasn't in the mood to "waste my wears" on some radio DJ who looked like he was about 18 and the kid in your highschool who DJ's all the highschool parties! I did go over and ask where my tickets where? He seemed confused..but I guess he'd never heard the direct approah.

Okay...remember I did say long-winded! We met up with Senorita again and the three of us went into the arena. After all the camera debacle and worrying about sneaking one in...I could have worn the thing around my neck snapping photos while I went through the turnstiles and they might not have noticed.I just put it over my shoulder and put a light coat in over it....they just peek in your purse...and unless they were worried about me tossing my tampon at Clay...they just let me by! (The tampon idea didn't escape me either btw....just to tell this board that I did it as a joke would have you guys in "fits" for hours!!! My suggestion was to write "CLAY...THIS NOT NEEDED THIS WEEK...WINK WINK" on it and toss it up.

OKAY, PIPE DOWN FOLKS ....THIS WAS JUST A JOKE!!!

Alright...the concert. You've heard about every nook and cranny of info on this show...but I'll just say this about the performers other than Clay..IMO

Charles- Love this guy. Can dance great...sweet voice and fun to watch. Entertaining.

Julia- It was her hometown...so she got some extra attention..which btw SHE DESERVED. She sounded great!!! None of that cracking under pressure that seemed to happen on the show. Her voice was stellar and she seemed to really enjoy her hometown crowd.

Ricky- How can you not love this guy. HER-CU-LESE HER_CU_LESE!!! No he didn't say that but a girl can dream. I prefer Ricky in is lower register so his first M. Jackson song wasn't my fav...a tad too nasaly...but otherwise great!

Kim C- I know many of you don't dig Kim..but I like her okay. She's got that rocker gravel voice that sound great doing those kinds of songs. She did a nice version on Pink's "Real Good Time" later in the show.

Trenyce- LOVE HER!!!! She kicked butt on all her songs...what a voice and precence!!! She nailed "Proud Mary" AND "I Have Nothing"...and those two really tough songs!!! Funny note about Trenyce. When she first came out for Proud Mary, she was thanking the crowd etc. Well then she says what sounds like "HOW IS PHILLY TONIGHT?????"""" I almost died...poor girl didn't even know which city she was in...but thankfully she repeated more clearly "I SAID HOW ARE WE FEELIN TONIGHT????""" LOL..just thought it was funny!

Carmen- Such a cute girl and can really dance. The yodeling was kept very minimum and she did a good job.

Kim Locke- Had lots of fans there too. She was awesome as well. Her "Over The Rainbow" will knock your socks off.

Ruben- Ruben impressed me the most!!! I've always loved Ruben the man...but honestly never was all that impressed with Ruben the singer...I don't think seeing him on TV does him ANY justice....now I can see what the judges were talking about (NOT THE WINNING PART GUYS!!! JUST HIS VOICE!!!) His voice is magical live. It does soar and is rich and just very pleasant. He was very personable and funny and HEY, I didn't even mind his Rap/Reggea(sp?) new single...it wasn't that bad.

We had Clay fans behind us ...three teens that I'm proud to say I was able to outshriek at any time!!! Yes folks...I still got it!!! Most around us were Clay fans..but the two ladies to our right were Ruben fans...and that was okay...they were older and couldn't shriek...LOL...j/k.

Okay...so lets dish about Clay. Alright I had promised Trish to call her and just leave TITN live on her answering machine...but I hadn't tested the phone number ahead of time. So I call it while KIM L. is performing and I can't hear the voice on the machine so I have to just assume this is TRISH'S answering machine. I say "IF THIS IS TRISH I HOPE YOU CAN HEAR THIS OKAY....IF ITS NOT...WELL JUST IGNORE OR ENJOY CLAY AIKEN IN CONCERT ANYWAY!"

The crowd begins to go wild as soon as Kim L. finishes her song...they just know! The electricity is palpable and the shrieks get louder and louder as his video intro begins. And then...there are the first few bars of TITN ...the smoke is flowing all over the stage and up from the center like dream comes Clay...clad in a dark suit with white shirt (Not a Tux folks) and his hair very spiky and a BIG GRIN ON HIS FACE!!!! THE CROWD IS GOING WILD!!!!!! He begins...his voice is crystal clear. Like warm water that runs over your body....its just amazing to hear it live!!! His first "LIFT ME UUUUPPPP" soared tho rafters and the house lights brightened so you could see the whole crowd standing in awe! AI2Rocks and I noticed how the smoke covered those big feet of his....he's such a tease!!!

Anyway...he got about a 2-3 minute standing ovation and this is what happened after everyone of his performances. The place errupted for any time he appeared on stage...any solo he sang and just anytime his precense was there. "To Love Somebody" gave me chills..."Can You Feel The Love" was great. "The Girl Is Mine" was priceless and great stuff between Ruben and him....and lets just say "Invisible" was AMAZING!!! No jersey and one TUG!!! He moved all over the stage and had the crowd in the palm of its hand.

Okay...other Concert News and Notes:

No panties or anything were thrown. Senorita who was down in front and had some stuff noticed they were escorting people from their seats who tried to throw anything...so she didn't want to get tossed.

Clay's bottom of his white sneakers after intermission are RED!!!!! This didn't go un noticed dear Clay...thanks!

He and Ruben led Happy Birthday to a Clay fan in the first row!!! Luck girl!

The part where Trenyce, Kim C. and Clay split up the audience for Ruben Intro....Kim C always has the RUBEN side, Trenyce always has the STUDDARD side and Clay always picks something new for down the center. Because it was Julia's hometown...he picked to yell "JULIA" which was really sweet!!! They also pulled her out front for a special bow at the end!!

After the show. Senorita had been working the security guys down front for back stage passes but to no avail...she did get one to promise to give her "class picture with the note she wrote to Clay"...she's a teacher and it was a photo of her bi-lingual class that are all now CLAYVERTED!!! So hopefully he'll get that and like it because he's a teacher too.

So we had to part ways with AI2Rocks here because she had to drive another girl home...IT WAS SO GREAT SITTING WITH YOU BUG EYES!!! I HAD A BLAST!!!

So Senorita met up with MixNJude and her neice Brooke at the place where the buses come out. They come out of an underground garage so there's no way to see them before hand. We waited for like an hour or so....they kept trying to tell us that they were already gone...but we knew differently. We tried to map out a plan of attack....Who goes on which side and does what....well at showtime they were moving everyone back and pushing us here and there. MixnJude ended on up with her sign on the other side of the entrance and myself, Senorita and Brooke were on the other side with a pair of red panties that we had a sticker on that said The Bolt Claymates Love You...lylekira, Senorita75, MixNJude and Brooke written on it. The first bus came....couldn't really see who was on it but there were people waving and the crowd was screaming but no definate Clay sigting..."had we missed him so easily???" NOPE!!! The 2nd Tour Bus pulls up the ramp and here we go GAME ON!!!

Clay is in the front of the bus next to the bus driver he's waving to everyone. The crowd goes wild. As the bus pulls up to the exit to turn right...Clay runs to the back of the bus where myself, Senorita, and Brooke are standing....and what do ya know...there's a window open and a band member sitting in there. Mix N Jude has now played forward defense. She's broken through police barriers and JUMPED IN FRONT OF THE BES TO KEEP IT THERE LONG ENOUGH TO GET THE PANTIES INTO THE WINDOW!!!

Brooke winds up and tosses....and BULLSEYE!!! Right to the guy sitting in the window!!! He's startled...looks down at them...sees the note and hands them back to CLAY who is right behind him...and says what looks to be "These are yours!"

HAHAHAHAH....we've successfully gotten the ONLY PAIR OF PANTIES IN ALL OF HARTFORD TO CLAY...and they have our SCREENAMES ON THEM!!!

(NOTE TO CLAY: I'll be expecting my private bolt note from you anyday now!!!)

So then CLAY heads back to the front of the bus and what to his wonderous eyes does he see????? None other than the crazy and wonderful MIX n JUDE standing in the middle of the street blocking the bus holding the WINK FOR THE BOLT CLAYMATES sign....

He was laughing and asking her over and over "What Does It Say???" But it was hard to read because she had to keep dodging cops. Finally one said "Just let her Go"....Needless to say MixnJude gets the Claymate "BALLS OF STEEL" award...but she was richly rewarded with Clay smiling at her and he said "OMG I Love You" to her!!!!

OMG we made such a scene beween Mix nJude at the front blocking the bus and screaming...and us at the back of the bus screaming for Clay and tossing the panties RIGHT TO HIM!!!! No one else seemed to even make an impression...we had him covered at both ends!!!!

It was soooooo much fun that MixNJude and Brooke are now gonna meet up with Senorita and I for our Providence concert too!!! We just did rehersal in HArtford....the real show is in two weeks baby!!!! We're gonna perfect this bus block down to an art form!!!

Thanks to Senorita, AI2Rocks, Cookiedog and her daughter, MixnJude, and Brooke for one of the funnest nights in a LOOOOOOONG while....we'll do it all again on August 2nd!!!

AND HERE'S THE BEST PART.....CHECK OUT MY PHOTO ALBUM FOR GREAT PICS OF THE SHOW!!!! I gave my digital camera to Senorita so I could have the closer photos...and nothing like a little zoom action to get REALLY close!!!

Thanks guys!!! Sorry this sooooooo long!!!

last updated 8/03/03