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2004-05-14
9:51 p.m.
BEVR: MgM Pat ... Leno in Vegas, 05/12/04,
My first BEVR................where to begin?
Let's try from the start. We arrived in Vegas Monday at 2:00pm the exact same time approximately five thousand other people arrived. No kidding, I've been to Vegas twenty times at least and have never encountered anything like it. To take a cab or a shuttle was almost a two hour wait, that's how long the line was. The only answer to not waiting was to get a limo. Sweet brude husband decided to spring for it rather than wait. So we arrive at Paris Hotel in a long black stretch limo, looking to all the world like really important people, in our eyes at least.
The first thing we meet when we go inside is another line, and this is true, with about one thousand people in it. We were thrilled this was not the check in line, but a little surprised to find it is the line for the Leno taping that day. I talked to some unhappy people in line who thought they were guaranteed Invited Guest Tickets, but when they went to get them at Guest Services were told they had all been given out and instead were given a stand-by number. OH NO, THIS WILL NOT DO!!!!! We have come too far to not have a ticket. You can not pick them up until the day of the show. The window opens at 9:30am. My husband is in line at 8:00am. (he can be pretty determined, himself). Would you believe there are three other men there waiting, also? I guess none of them wanted to hear the whinning if no tickets were available. A kind person behind the counter took pity on them, found their tickets and sent them on their merry way. We held onto those tickets tighter than our money for fear of losing precious gold. We were told if you had Invited Guest tickets to start lining up at 2:30pm. At 12:30pm I decided to just check and see if anyone was there. Sure enough, about twenty people were in line. That's it, I'm joining them. I'm going to be up front if it kills me. Now the fun begins. I'm in line with six of the prettiest, smartest, friendliest ladies from the ClackHouse you could ever hope to meet. These are people in RL I would pick for friends. They were impressed that I was a Lecherous Broad. They read our Main Pages often and had high praise for the great writing. These ladies took me under their wings and I had friends to laugh, share the Clay love, look at beautiful pictures and just pass the time in comraderie. We even sat on the floor and played Fish (no one could concentrate enough to play anything harder In the meantime my sweet husband is pretty much visiting with everyone in the line. He would find other people from Louisiana for me to meet. One lady had a neat Clay Aiken shirt on she had made, he walked her over so we could all ooh and ahh for her. He also was happy to make drink runs. I think he sort of appointed himself Line Ambassador and quite enjoyed himself. Now these Clackhouse ladies are no dummies. They spent the night before schmoozing some of the Leno staff and managed to make pretty good friends with a Leno Lady Staffer. If at all posssible she was going to try to get the six in to see Clay after the show. The Meet and Greet was held before it started. They also talked to one of Clay's band members who told them they will be touring through December and adding west coast dates. There is hope for you out there. They did say Houston has been added, also. Finally, we are allowed into the theater. I'm not real impressed with the way this is handled, but all's well. We have center sixth row seats, Great view, actuallly. I will totally skip Pam Anderson and Lance Burton. They are merely time fillers before the main attraction. When Clay came bouncing out the whole audience erupted. He always looks so surprised at that reaction. He is so comfortable and at ease with Leno. There are no awkward silences or lack of conversation. After couch time when the show stops for commercial break, a crew of at least ten people completely take down the couch and desk set. They wheel in a platform with Clay's whole band set up.......and then they placed his microphone right in front of us, not more than ten feet away. The cameras were never in front of him, our view was not broken in any way. He came out, stood behind the mic, spread those mighty legs in that stance of his and just looked down for a few seconds......he looked up then, looked all around and smiled and did that eyebrow raise looky thing of his we all know so well, waved to us......he then looked down again and composed himself waiting for his cue. SOLITAIRE. His voice filled that showroom that was built for musical performances. I read on another board that he started shaky. I never heard or saw anything but pure perfection. One of my new friends sitting on the side of me was weeping. She is from Los Angeles, has been to the other two Leno tapings, the AMA's, Ryan Seacrest and the Christmas Show taping. She said that this was the most moving, gutsy, earthy performance she has seen. We were all awe stricken, spell bound....words sometimes are just inadequate.. He's done, he waves to us, smiles and is gone. When the room cleared we got the gesture from the Leno Lady Staffer to come down to the stage area. She would make no promises but did think she had access to Clay to ask him if he would see us just for a few minutes. We are just hanging around talking in an empty theater when Jay Leno comes out to meet us. (Now this impressed people at work but to us it was just another distraction.) He says we all look like the Spice Girls and he wants to have a picture with all of us. Fine. He calls for his cameraman and we all gather in for a hug picture with him in the middle. They take six or seven pics and tell us they'll mail them to us. Jay then wants to know where we are from...well everybody is from some where else. He seems a little confused and wanted to know how we are a group, what brings us together? We almost sheepishly all say together Clay Aiken. He laughed- did that heel of your hand to your forehead gesture-like Duh- and said "I thought it was me, I should have known. Of Course, it's Clay Aiken ." He leaves, Leno Lady Staffer returns with a message from Clay. He would love to meet us but cannot. CNN, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Tonight are all backstage with cameras to do interviews. Well, okay, I can see how that would take precedence over us. No matter, I had an absolutely wonderful day from start to finish and he had given me plenty of himself already. Other than his beautiful voice, I believe that what sets him apart is that he so totally gives himself to his audience. I always want more but that's because I'm greedy.......he has given everything he has. I LOVE CLAY AIKEN ~ MGM PATPosted by: Wendy in FL
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