2004-04-16
8:36 a.m.

BEVR: Michelle & Heather / Anaheim & L.A., 04/03/04 & 04/05/04

BEVR: Michelle & Heather
Anaheim and LA, April 3 & 5, 2004

We Sway for Clay �or- Thank You, Frederick�s of Hollywood!

(Michelle�s BEVR is stuffed and overflows after being with Clayton in Anaheim and LA. With additional commentary by Heather)

It all started with a crazy idea I had to win backstage passes from KIIS or whoever was going to be giving them away for the Anaheim or LA shows. "What if we say we�ll do a hula � whenever and wherever they want � to get passes?" I asked my friends. We decided to go for it and chose MOAM, as we felt it would be easy to express and because it is special to Clay (workin� the angles, baby, workin� the angles). As this idea began to progress, we thought it might be a good idea to let anyone and everyone we could think of who had contact with Clay know that we would be coming over from Hawai�i (and Seattle!) and would love to give Clay our gift of aloha (ahm talkin� bout a HULA, ladies). And this was in no way a grandstand effort to try to get backstage (well, maybe just a little). A couple of wonderful guys responded but we had nothing definitive when we headed to Cali.

In the meantime, Cynde from our group had been sending a fresh flower lei to Clay at every concert venue. This was done just to show how much aloha she has for him and in no way was a grandstand effort to get backstage (ha ha). Well, even before we left, Cynde, who was already in SoCal and had gone to the San Diego show, knew that Clay was looking for her. Here�s what he said in an interview with the Orange County Register:

"I'll say this: There is one lady who actually shipped me a homemade lei from Hawaii to every venue I was at the first two or three weeks on this tour. And then she stopped doing it. I'm a little disappointed. I hope she's OK.

That was clearly an attempt to get backstage, but it's one that worked. If I get another one from her that tells me what her seat numbers are (at a coming show), she'll be backstage."

Cynde hadn�t stopped sending the lei, but apparently the venues had been neglecting getting them to Clay. Some wonderful board friends read his comment and felt sure it had to be me. There was a flurry of activity as people from 3 boards posted and tried to contact me. I hoped I�d straightened out the misconception before I left. So we jetted off knowing that Cynde (maybe plus 1) was going to lei Clay � in person this time, unlike my long-distance lei�ing in Seattle last year.

We arrived at the Ayres Hotel in Anaheim, conveniently situated directly across the street from Arrowhead Pond, where we met up with lots of wonderful Clay fans. Many were well-known message board luminaries, including the infamous Goood Baby Brush, whom I bowed down before.

We�d arrived at the hotel quite late and the night before the concert was spent practicing the hula and making signs for the concert. I�d asked a couple of friends back in Hawaii to come up with some ideas and they came up with one that made us all scream! Half the group said �do it� and the others said it was too far beyond family friendly. Indeed, there was no way you could interpret this message that was not naughty, naughty, naughty. When Krissy said she would use it if I didn�t, I decided I had to. What if she had the sign and he acknowledged it? So, I proceeded to make the sign I proudly held aloft from Row 2 in Anaheim (which, according to Heather he did see) and then retired before the LA show because I didn�t want Clay to see me holding it after I�d met him and would be seeing him later that evening. The sign was surrounded by fake flowers to represent a lei and said:

CAN I BE YOUR HOTPOCKET?

We went to the concert with flowers behind our ears and our lava lava (sarongs) in our purses � juuust in case Clay might say "hey gurrls, come do the hula for me!" We were asked to dance at the pre-concert party in the parking lot and were amazed to see people crying. At that point we thought "maybe this thing won�t be awful!"

-----

HEATHER: When we arrived at the concert we all jumped out of the car when we saw crowds by the buses and I went right up there. I was able to get Jerome�s attention and Cynde was with me. I kept saying, "Here�s the lei lady!" and Jerome took her seat number. That is how he knew how to get her.

-----

During intermission at the show, I saw a bunch of women magnetically drawn to a blond man behind the barricade next to the stage. When I saw Goood Baby Brush go up I knew I needed to get up there. Thinking this might be Clay�s publicist I waited for the grovelers in front of me to be rebuffed and said "Roger, I�m Michelle from Hawaii." He reached out and took my hand and said "Hi Michelle. I don�t know what Clay wants to do yet. Where are you sitting?" (EEK!) I turned and pointed to our 2nd row seats where Heather, who must have been watching like a hawk, waved and smiled like a beauty pageant contestant! Roger said "Is that the lei lady?" I told him no, that she was in row 2 in another section & gave him the info.

To make a long, long story slightly shorter, security came and got Cynde and put her in front of the barricade directly below Clay so she could watch his performance up close and personal (she mentioned nose hairs). After the show we waited by the barricade, hoping we all could go back. At that point apparently they told Cynde only 1 person could go with her. My friends were calling my name and waving me over. They said "Get back there. You�re going too!" I can�t believe how happy and sad I was at the same time. They let me past, and then immediately we all were shooed back out to the seating area. I said "Boy, that was a quickie!" We all waited in the seats opposite the meet & greet group when shorter Jerome came over and pointed to Cynde and me. I felt so sad for my friends who love Clay just as much as I do, so I decided that I would get his autograph for my friend Krissy instead of for myself.

We were escorted backstage with the rest of the meet & greet people and put in the room with the table, and got the stern Jerome lecture � �single file, NO TOUCHING, write name on paper for autograph, you may only talk for as long as it takes them to sign the autograph and then KEEP MOVING! Give your cameras to this person & you will have your picture taken in groups of ten until we get to the end of the line & then however many are left for the last group.� Well, I noticed that Cynde and I were at the end of the line and thought "Hmmm, we may end up in a smaller group shot!" Well, in the next couple of minutes maybe 8 people in line found an excuse to get out of line (excuse me � is there somewhere I can get a drink of water�.) and then got back in line BEHIND US! I told Cynde "Uh-uh. This is not happening. Come with me." We walked across the room to shorter Jerome and I don�t even remember what blah blah blah I said to him and then we went back over and got back at the end of the line. I looked at the people who had tried to get behind us and my expression said "You wanna do this again? Cuz we can."

We waited for awhile and I was standing next to a doorway at the back of the room. Thinking they were coming in the front where the table was set up I was startled to hear Kelly�s voice over my shoulder. "They�re coming in this door!!!" I said to Cynde. Just then in walks Jerome, Kelly, and the Master whose arm brushed mine as he walked past. OK, I thought that was the best thing that had ever happened to me in my life and nothing would surpass it. Little did I know what awaited us.

Everyone calmly and quietly stood in line as the autograph session began. No one took their eyes off him. It was heaven just to have the time to stare at his beautiful, beautiful face and watch his interactions, especially with the children. He�d lean down so that he was at eye level and took extra time with each little one. Somehow a couple of people had gotten behind us in line again and Jerome (god, how I love that man) came over and said "Would you please move in front of these two? We want them at the end." "GAAAAAH!!!!!!!" Cynde�s and my eyes said to each other.

While we waited I called Jerome over and asked if I could get his picture when we were all done. I told him my friend Sharon in Hawai�i has a mad crush on him and thinks he�s really hot. He smiled the most beautiful smile and said "Tell Sharon thank you. Of course you can get a picture." Cynde said she wanted in the picture, so I said "Me too, so I can make Sharon jealous!"

When my turn came I was thankful for my decision to wear my �I [heart] Nerds� t-shirt. I was vacillating between that and a hoochie top, since we had all gone shopping before the trip and ended up in Frederick�s of Hollywood buying the Extreme Cleavage bra (let me tell you this bra is like magic! I fell in love with myself when I put it on!). Hmm. Cleavage, nerds. Cleavage, nerds. Which would appeal to him more? But when I tried on the nerds shirt and saw how prominently the words were displayed with my new extreme cleavage bra under them I knew that was the way to go. Subtlety is my forte.

I stepped in front of Kelly who said "I have that shirt too!" I replied that we both had awesome taste. I told Kelly her performance was great, which it was, and moved in front of The Clayton. The first thing he did was POINT AT MY BOOBS (Thank you, Frederick�s of Hollywood!) and say "Kelly, look at her shirt!" I believe at this point I actually threw my shoulders back and did a little shimmy and looked over at Kelly. Kelly said "I know! I told her I have one, too." Then he said "This is the lady who�s been sending the leis!" I told him that it wasn�t me, but Cynde. Then I gave Clay flowers from one of our friends who couldn�t get backstage. I said "Clay, these are from the rest of the Hawai�i group. They couldn�t get backstage tonite, and are out waiting by the buses." I thought that maybe if he knew he would acknowledge them when he left the arena.

The Precious looked up at me and said "No, we�re workin� on that for Monday. Aren�t we?" He turned to someone standing next to him who nodded yes. He pointed across the room and said "You go talk to Roger when we�re done." YES!!! HE GAVE ME AN ORDER!!!! YES!!! Then I remembered I still had the good lei that hadn�t gotten thrown on stage and I said "Clay, can I lei you?" He grinned and said "Yes, you can." And then he got up and leaned forward over the table. I anticipated Jerome grabbing me around the waist and bodily carrying me from the room as I reached up with the lei and said "You know this means I have to kiss you on the cheek." He said "Uh huh." I put the lei over his head and kissed his amazingly soft right cheek. Then I said "Thank you." He said "Thank YOU."

I approached Roger who was already walking toward me. Baffled, I said "Roger, Clay said to talk to you." He said, "Yeah, we want you guys to do the hula at Staples Center on Monday." I said, "Hula? All of us?" Roger: "Yes. I�ll call you Monday morning. We�ll probably want you to come over around 4. Come over here and talk to me." Cynde joined us after going before the throne, and we spent about 10 minutes talking to him while Clay and Kelly did the group pictures in another room. At least I think it was in another room, cuz I can�t remember it. Cynde and I were lobbying hard for Clay to come to Hawai�i.

Then Jerome walked over. I was startled to see Clay and Kelly with him. He said, "We have to do the picture now." We scrambled in our bags for our cameras and gave them to the woman who would snap the picture. OK, here comes the good part � Clay walked over TO ME and stood next TO ME and put his arm around ME. I was brain dead at this point, but managed to get my arm around his waist. I looked over and saw that Kelly didn�t have a lei on (Heather had thrown one onstage during her set and she picked it up and wore it briefly). I said "Kelly you don�t have a lei!" and took mine off and put it on her. She said "Thank you so much!" Then, of course, I stepped back into nirvana (that would be next to Clay with his arm around me and mine around him).

As I look at the picture now I realize I didn�t even put my purse down - it was between us! But Krissy says it�s the Holy Purse now because it was up against The Clayton. And then, like the absolute idiot I can be, I pointed to �I [heart] nerds� as the woman took the picture. She laughed and said, "Hey, WHAT are you pointing at?!?" I said, "No, the words! I�m pointing at the words!" Everyone said thank you to each other and Clay and Kelly left the room. Then as the woman who used my camera started to give it back to me, Jerome said, "Wait. I need to get a picture with these two!" Cynde and I got on either side and we were so happy at that moment that the picture looks like we�re having a m�nage a trois! I don�t really know how we ended up all glommed on each other or how Jerome�s tongue ended up peeking between his lips. When people look at the picture they go "Were you drunk???" And I say "no, just happy."

Then we thanked Roger and walked out of the room. While we were walking down the hall Clay and Kelly came past us again. They both said something to us, though I can�t recall what. I turned back to Kelly as they walked down the hall and said "See you on Monday!" We said goodbye again to Roger and I reached out to give him a hug and kiss. Cynde said, "Hey, let me have some of that!" and gave him a hug and kiss, too. The rest of our screaming and spazzing friends (I�d called Krissy on her cell as soon as we walked out of the meet & greet room to give them the good news) were waiting outside by the buses. What a welcome committee they were! The crowd waiting for the buses instinctively knew something big had happened and as they tried to listen in we attempted to be very discreet while going absolutely bonkers.

Our fairytale continued on Sunday, when another wonderful, wonderful man, a great friend and supporter of Clay, who was working on the taping of a TV special honoring the 45th anniversary of Motown Records gifted all 9 of us with tickets to the sold-out taping at the Shrine Auditorium that night. So here we are in our dress-up clothes, watching Smoky Robinson, Lionel Ritchie, Gladys Knight, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, Brian McKnight, Michael McDonald, KLo, and many more. Could this weekend get any better? Yes, it could.

Monday afternoon, as we were on our way to the pre-concert party at the Holiday Inn, I got the call from Roger who said, "Michelle, you guys are dancing for Clay backstage after the show tonight." He told us to wait by the side of the stage after the show and that he�d come for us. GAAAAAAH!!!!!!! No one REALLY believed it could happen until that magical phone call! Did I mention how much I love Roger??

We had already decided to wear our lava lava, our ClayHui t-shirts (hui is Hawaiian for club or group) and our flowers to the show. That morning we�d panicked about the flowers. While we had enough extra lei left for Monday (since the flowers we chose are hardy & longlasting) the orchid blossoms we had worn behind our ears on Saturday did not, of course, survive until Monday night. Some of our group found a flower shop that sold orchids, but they turned out to be just the plants and were like $20+ each with just a few blossoms. One of them happened to notice a stalk with orchid blossoms sticking out of the dumpster out back, so they bought one plant and then they all went rummaging through the dumpster looking for salvageable orchid blossoms! It�s OK, folks, this was Hollywood.

We were again honored to dance at the pre-concert party at the Holiday Inn and Trish rented a room so we could rest and practice before the show. We already had a gift for Kelly and Jerome, and scrambled to put together a gift for Roger, who was making all this happen. I also realized I told him he would get lei�d on Monday too (he said "You don�t have to do that," and I said "but we want to") and I worried that we didn�t have enough for each of us and Clay and our other special friend who�d be there as well.

As we walked over to Staples Center we realized that we had food (macadamia nut candy, cookies, etc.) in our gift bags and wouldn�t be permitted to bring them into the arena! DUH! There was a big hooha with the arena security, who finally were marginally convinced that we weren�t scamming them and got through to Jerome who sent the event manager to take the gifts backstage.

Krissy and I didn�t get to our seats before the Beu Sisters began and decided to wait in the lobby, where we saw Roger. He pointed and smiled, and we made our way across the lobby to each other and got another warm greeting. After telling him to be on the lookout for his gift (I said "Roger, what dorks we are! Yours and Jerome�s gifts have food in them and we didn�t realize until the last minute that they wouldn�t let us bring them in!"), he told us "see you by the stage after the show." Yes, more confirmation that this was actually happening.

I need to interject something here. Has anyone noticed the all-access pass that the tour personnel wear? Trish noticed it on a crew member by the buses on Saturday. She said it was Clay in the red sweater with the horizontal stripes (like in some tour promo material), but it was only from his shoulders to his thighs! Wellll, let me tell you something. When I was talking to Roger in the lobby I noticed the pass hanging from his pants and it was (wait for it) ---- CLAY�S ASS IN JEANS!!!! I am not kidding you. I think it�s the "backside" of the pass Trish saw. It�s just a picture of CLAY�S ASS!! What is up with that?!?!?! I pointed to it and said "Krissy, look!!!" Roger just smiled.

After the show we gathered by the side of the stage that leads to backstage and the arena security repeatedly tried to make us leave since we didn�t have any actual passes or wristbands. They said "we�re tearing down the seats here, it�s not safe." I said "Fine, then we�ll just wait here in the first row of the risers." The guys kept saying no � you have to leave. I kept saying "call Roger W or Jerome, we�re meeting Roger here." After just a few minutes of squabbling with security and holding our ground we saw Roger walking across the arena toward us. Without breaking stride he pointed to us and told the security "They�re coming with me," and walked into the backstage area. YAY!!! The other women who were still hanging around trying to get backstage were green. I heard a woman behind me say "come on, let�s go with them!"

We proudly sauntered past security and were led to the performers� dining room, which was closed down for the night. Roger told us that Clay would be in shortly and that if anyone had a problem with us being there to tell them to talk to him. Well, let me tell you, when we were left alone in the room to wait for Clay, every one of us had our own personal reaction - from an eerie calm to bouncing off the walls. A few minutes later Roger popped his head in to say "Clay will be here in 20 minutes." I thought it was so nice of him to let us know, and to do it himself. He could have sent subordinate to deliver the message.

In the meantime the wonderful Fred Bronson of Billboard came in and we asked him if he�d like to have his own personal performance of our hula. He said he�d love to. We were delighted. Oh, we lei�d him, too. We were quite loose with our favors that night!

About 15 minutes later Roger reappeared leading a group of about 20 people into the room. I�d seen some of these people right after the show ended. They�d walked up to arena security at the barricade, showed something and were immediately let backstage. I figured they were somewhat "higher level" guests than the "average" fan. They all trooped in and sat down at the tables and looked at us! We all looked at each other and went "EEEK! I think they�re going to watch us dance!"

A few minutes later I heard one of our group say "There�s Jerome! Clay�s coming!" We were all clumped together across the room like a colorful herd of � what�s a cute creature with HUGE EYES?? Clay walked into the room, looked across at us and made a funny face that I interpreted as �what am I in for?� When he looked directly at me I instinctively made a goofy face at him � not a seductive, don�t you wanna try an experienced older woman face � a GOOFY face. I couldn�t help it. He was so Clayton and not Clay.

That was when I realized he was wearing the same Nebraska sweatshirt as Saturday night, but with RED � BASKETBALL � SHORTS!!!! Thank you, God. We were gifted with Clayton�s beautiful, skinny, white legs! On any other man I would have said "ew!" but to us they were the most beautiful legs on this planet. Later, a couple of our lucky group said they looked at each other and said "he�s wearing his underwear!!!" This fashionable ensemble was completed by the plaid-top sneakers and no socks. (Of course, at the time I didn�t know they were the plaid sneakers. We are piecing this together bit by bit. It�s so fortunate that there were 9 pairs of eyes locked on our gorgeous guy.)

He walked through the seated group and said "Ahm gonna sit next to Vanessa (Taub)" and proceeded to grab a chair and plop down in front directly in front of us. Our friend Chris started the music and we began to dance to Measure of a Man. A few bars into the song as we were dancing Cynde said to him, "Feel free to join in and sing if you�d like." He replied, "No. YOU�RE on stage now."

The proper and correct way to hula is to always look at your hands, because they are telling the story. I believe that the trained hula dancers among us may have done that regardless of the situation we were in. The rest of us have confirmed that we did not take our eyes off Clayton. I think I looked at my hands occasionally, but mostly I stared at Clayton. And when Trish in the front row was in my way I took a bigger or a smaller step so that she didn�t block my view!

At first he had a funny little smile on his face and I was afraid he found it funny or uncomfortable, but he suddenly sobered and then about halfway through the song he did what we have all come to know and love. He closed his eyes and bit his lower lip to hold back tears. We�d all said we hoped he wouldn�t cry because we would all start crying and then totally flub up. But we didn�t. We were so happy to be in his presence and have the honor of giving him this simple but heartfelt gift.

Shirl from our group had suggested changing the ending of the hula the day before and we�d practiced the new ending. At the last line "is that how you measure a man?" we gestured to Clay. The people in the room went "Awwwww!" Clay jumped up and came toward us with open arms and one by one asked each person�s name, thanked them, hugged them and said something special to them. To one woman he said "Thank you SO much. It was SO beautiful."

-----

HEATHER: As you know, I am pretty outspoken and a spaz, but when Clay asked me my name, I completely lost it and forgot how to speak! Also, he hugged me twice! He came up to me with open arms, hugged me and the pulled back a little and with both hands on my shoulders asked my name. He then said, Thank you so much, Heather, that meant so much to me." I said you�re welcome or something and then he hugged me again. They were full body, two-armed hugs which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then I forgot to lei him and after everyone was done said, "Clay, I forgot to give you my lei." He came over and let me lei him and said thanks again. I got to hiss him on the cheek, too!

-----

We proceeded to pile the leis on him and he said "Ah hope ah don�t get a rash!" Lynne said "Clay, this is how you�d look if you�d just graduated in Hawaii." He said "Really?" Besides the flower leis, Shirl had made a lei out of packs of Dentyne Fire and Nutter Butters. She put it on him and his eyes got big and he let out a laugh.

When it was my turn I realized that I�d had my glasses on when I met him in Anaheim but hadn�t worn them to dance. For some reason it was important to me that he recognize me. So when I got to him I dorkily said "Aloha Clay. I�m the �I love nerds� one." He smiled and said "Yes, ah remember." I lei�d him again and once again kissed his, this time, VERY stubbly cheek. We said thank you to each other and I moved away.

Then Roger (love him!) took the group picture with Clay towering above us all.

As Clay wrapped up his time with us I was standing near him and I saw that for some reason he had his hands clasped in front of him at his waist. I became totally transfixed by his hands. I reached over and squeezed his hands and said the dorkiest thing yet - in a singsong voice like a little student to her teacher I said "Thank you, Mr. Aiken!" He smiled and replied "No, thank you."

He then went to greet the other guests in the room and proved again how instinctively good he is with people. I believe he knew he only had a few seconds left with each person. When he said hello to each woman he took off one of the lei and placed it on her. I was stunned at how he knew how to make those few seconds memorable for these special guests. And I was again stunned at his innate aloha spirit. It�s a spirit of giving and I�ve always said for a North Carolina guy, he really embodies it.

Then Jerome went over and took him by the shoulders and said "We need to go, mister." As they walked out the door, he turned and I think some of us instinctively blew him a kiss and called out "Aloha Clay!" I think that turned his head around and looked back and then was gone.

Chris lei�d Roger with a special lei and then he also hugged each of us and turned us over to the event manager who escorted us to the backstage elevator. We emerged into the lobby we had entered a few hours earlier. Everything was the same and everything was different.

Clay,
Ku�u lei aloha mae �ole,
My never-fading lei,
ku�uipo henoheno,
my cherished sweetheart,
hu wale ke aloha nou
affection surges forth for you
no na hana maikai�i au i hana ai.
for the works of good you have done.
Hanohano no�oe i ku�u maka
You are indeed glorious in my eyes
ku�u punahele, ku�u �anela.
my favored one, my angel.

Aloha me pumehana,
With deepest affection,

Michelle
with the bestest Broad in the land, Heather

Lovingly and tearfully posted by Erin