2003-08-20
4:30 p.m.

BEVR: Kath/St. Louis

I CANNOT BELIEVE I DID THIS! This all started just one week ago when I realized I had to see Sweet Baby Clay in concert. What was I waiting for? I may never get this opportunity again. By Wednesday, I had a ticket (thanks to Karen and Beth), air and hotel reservations. There was not much sleep in those couple of days before I left on Saturday, but I figured if Clay could be sleep-deprived, so could I.

SHOPPING FRENZY. Met Beth (the friggin' wax goddess!) and her daughter, Mini-Beth, on Sunday morning. Beth had a desperate need to shop for certain thongs, uh, I mean things. We drove down Clayton Avenue (the name Clayton is everywhere) and no sooner do we arrive at the mall when we got a call that the Idols were staying at the Hyatt and were due to check out at 1:00 P.M. This was the same hotel we were staying in! We were actually sleeping with Clay! That sped up our shopping considerably and Beth was a Broad driven. Heaven forbid anyone get in our way.

IDOL SIGHTINGS Time: 1:00 to 3:00 P.M. Location: Front of Hyatt on balcony Temperature: Easily 95+ Idol Buses: By front entrance People: A small sea of red Funniest Moment: Karen rubbing her butt on the side of Clay's bus.

Waited outside for about an hour with no Clay or Idol sightings. Met up in the lobby with Annie, Lisa, Melissa, Prudence and Judith, Beth and Mini-Beth. What great Broads! We stayed subdued (sort of) so if Clay or another Idol came walking by we would not be too obvious. Charles, Ricky, Kim C, Julia, Trenyce (who is the tiniest person) walked right in front of us and were all gracious enough to stop and have their picture taken. Carmen breezed by with her head down and didn't acknowledge us. Whether she's scared or just doesn't want to be bothered, I don't know. She needs to deal with it, though, as it did not leave a good impression.

One of the best moments of the afternoon was meeting Charles Sr. (They look alike!) He talked with us for about 10 minutes and sat for a couple of photos. You can tell he is one proud papa! We did not see Ruben or KLo.

Although we saw Jerome several times (he's hot!) alas, we did not see Sweet Baby Clay. Just knowing that he was in the same hotel, probably sleeping, was good enough for us. After discussing bribing the housekeeping staff for his sheets, towels, etc. we took a break before heading off to the Hard Rock Caf�.

HARD ROCK CAF�. The Hard Rock Caf� was loaded with Broads and ClaytonAiken.com fans. We had the best waiter ever who was crawling over chairs just to get our food to us. The music video for the song Y-M-C-A was on the monitors and the letters will forever be changed to C-L-A-Y. MnM brought along her own homemade DVD which was put up on the monitors. I t was all Clay's AI performances and everyone was singing along. It doesn't get much better than this!

CONCERT Time: 6:00 P.M. Destination: Savvis Center, a short walk from hotel Temperature: Melting, dripping, energy sapping

Anyone who spent time on hair and makeup wasted their time because we were all dripping by the time we got in the doors. Made my way to my 9th row floor seat where I met Stephanie. She is one fantastic young Broad and shares our love of SBC. I had instructed Stephanie that if I should pass out, I was not to be taken away. Clay was to be notified to give me mouth-to-mouth.

FIRST HALF Jumbotron video starts. Every time Clay's face appeared the crowd screamed. Lights dim and the music starts. Stephanie and I were laughing because we know it's almost Clay time.

Charles: I paid extra attention to him since I'm such close friends with his dad now (OK, OK, I'll stop). He had a lot of enthusiasm and stage presence.
Julia: Sounded nice, but to be honest I'm having a hard time remembering her performance.
Ricky: I've always thought that Ricky had a great voice (and smile) and he didn't disappoint.
Kim C: All the men in my section stood up when she performed. I'm glad they too had someone to lust after.
Carmen: Couldn't wait to get past her performance. (Maybe because she didn't acknowledge us earlier in day?)
Trenyce: Absolutely fantastic. She blew the house away with Proud Mary.
KLo: I can't wait until her album comes out. She has such class and style and delivers every song with power.
Ruben: Has a very nice voice, there's no question about that. There wasn't any passion in his performance, though.
Dancers: Absolutely NOT needed.
Musicians: Excellent!

Sweet Baby Clay. He rose from the floor in the suit and purple tie. It was surreal. There he was in person, smiling. With that sparkle in his eyes. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He looked older in person. Everyone was standing up during TITN and we all went wild. He stayed on the left side of the stage for a long time and since I was all the way on the right side of the floor, I thought "You better get your Krispy Kremes over to this side of the stage fast." He must have read my mind because that's when he headed over to give us several deep bends (take a deep breath). Oh, that smile! He was having a good time! After the song, he stood there with his left hand in his pocket just taking in the crowd. We were all on our feet screaming. He was smiling and laughing the whole time.

Stephanie and I were screaming and giggling and I did manage to take a couple of photos. His speaking voice sounded really high. Unfortunately, he didn't talk very long and went right into Ruben's introduction.

SECOND HALF

The second half of the show was good, but I could only watch Clay (HE WAS THE REASON I WAS THERE!). During the first group number, he was laughing like crazy. Afterwards when he was on stage with Trenyce and Kim C. he told us he finally had gotten the dance move down after all these weeks. He was beside himself and actually did the move again. He laughed a lot during the group numbers and was getting into the dancing. It was such a different side of him from what we are used to seeing on AI.

THIS GIRL IS MINE. Funniest part of this was a woman on my side of the floor dressed in a housecoat and curlers with a sign for Ruben saying she was his Kelly. Clay and Ruben were both laughing. There was a lot of stuff tossed on the stage after this number. Clay finally said "OK, we're going to stand back out of the way and then you can throw your stuff." Of course, no one did until he came back to the front of the stage. He proceeded to pick up something and put it behind his back. Ruben then held up a stuffed animal and said "This is family friendly." Clay then pulled out a large purple bra (MnM?) from behind his back and said "This is not family friendly."

CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT? Oh baby, yes! Sweet Baby Clay should wear black more often. When he appeared at the top of the stairs he had a huge smile on his face. The ending was the best as he walked over to my side of the stage and just mugged for us before singing the last note. He's such a ham and he knows exactly what he's doing. The crowd ate it up and he couldn't stop smiling.

INVISIBLE. First, he rises on stage crouched down so you don't see him until the very end. He had a huge smile and a look on his face like "Surprise, here I am! I'm down here!" He did not disappoint us. Lots of clutches, tugs, knee bends and hops. He came over to our side of the stage and gave us a look that said, "OK, I'm doin' it!" Then, he gave us a jersey clutch that made you want to drop to the floor. He gave us the biggest grin as if to say "Was it good for you?" You can tell he thinks this is really funny. A minute later, he pulled it out. I can't believe he pulled it out! (The jersey, that is.)

I would have loved more banter as I really love hearing Clay talk. Not much time was spent reading signs, or looking at tossed items (although at one point KLo picked up a red thong and Clay took it and stuffed it in his jeans pocket, again with a big smile on his face).

POST-CONCERT

The friggin' wax goddess invited us back to her room and gave us each a specially made Clay candle. Then we thought drinks were a good way to wind down and the entire discussion was about Clay and the concert. Great wrap-party!

I literally did not sleep at all that night. Met up with Broads Monday morning before Karen and I headed to airport. I played Clay's single over and over and had a big stupid smile on my face for the entire 8-hour trip home.

The absolute best part of this whole experience (aside from seeing SBC, of course) was meeting the Broads. I will never forget the lobby of the Hyatt-Union Station!

Beth. I'm so glad you've returned to your obsession. I was worried about you. You were a Broad with a mission and nothing was going to stand in your way. I can't thank you enough for all the effort you put in to helping me get there.

Karen. What can I say? You were/are a blast. In hindsight, the only question I have is "When you were hugging Jerome, why didn't you kidnap him to get Clay's room number and other vital information?" You could have taken him, Karen!!!!!

Annie, Lisa and Melissa. Really had fun with you Broads and will definitely meet you in Minneapolis or Chicago when Clay does his solo tour. If you ever get to my area, let me know. We'll have our own mini-convention.

Prudence. You go Broad! You're hysterical. (Why didn't we bribe the housekeepers? I could be sleeping on Clay's sheets right now if we had!)

Judith. I'm glad you came to St. Louis and that I got the chance to meet you. Margaritas again next time?

Stephanie. Thanks for being my concert buddy. We screamed, laughed and fell all over each other all for the love of our Sweet Baby Clay.

To Clay. Thank you for being you and giving so much of yourself to us. You have no idea how much you have made a difference in my life, not only with your music but also with your character and beliefs. I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE AND IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!

To God. Thank you for giving me eight new friends and giving Clay to all of us.

- Kathy

Note from Nelle: You, too, can participate in the LBFCA Summer Series, and have your Broad's Eye View Report, or, for any other Brude's out there, your Summary of Clay, about Clay's Summer Concert Tour on the LBFCA Main Page. Just send it to Nelle via email, and she'll post it ASAP. (If you are a lurker, or otherwise wish to remain anonymous, just let me know that in your email). Don't worry about your BEVR not being the same size or looking the same as anyone elses. Here at LBFCA we celebrate diversity. Every BEVR is unique. This is your personal experience of witnessing what Katynka so gloriously described as "a little hockey-jersey-clutchin,' white-leather-wearin,' DTTR revealin,' mic-flickin,' thigh-strokin,' eye-f***ing, smokin,' jokin,' singin,' hunk-o-burnin' libido."