American Idol Holiday Special 11-25-03

I just watched their Holiday Special. I was pleasantly surprised to see the American Juniors perform. I watched their progress all last summer........cute kids. Kelly, Clay, and Kimberly were great and Ruben, well Ruben was Ruben, cuddly and cute to listen to. I was hoping that Ryan the Canadian Idol would make an appearance as well as Justin.......... 42

I was soooooooooo dumb and I screwed up the recording time... I got the opening and Kelly's song... yippeee... I missed Clay, what'd he sing?? and was Clay having double duty? Did he MC? Or was Ryan there or... ?

I really enjoyed the show. Clay was awesome and he did MC the show and he was a natural at it The American Juniors were on also which was a nice surprise and I thought that they sang well together. I was glad that they were on. Kimberly I thought was 100% better then Kelly. I thought that Kelly was struggling to hit the high notes and someone should have told her that dress was a bit to tight around her middle. Ruben was ok nothing to write home about. Tamyra has a good voice too. I liked her. But, Clay
made the show for me. He has come so far, in such a short time.
I think I'll stop there otherwise I'll just ramble on and on.
The show was deffinitely a 10.

cb

I hope and pray that they re-air it!

I just caught the end of the show and was wowed by Tamyra. I think they only showed Ryan in the Canadaian version. Same as the cd...hes only on the Canadian version.

Its too bad that they didn't show Ryan on the American Channel's. It would have been nice for the peopl in the US to see our Canadian Idol.

FOX is planning on re-airing the show. Sometime in mid-December, I believe. I'm sure one of the Clay message boards would be able to tell you.

"Nick at Nite" had a holiday special on last night. Clay sang a duet with Bing Crosby (his computer image of course). Clay's voice can be so pure and clear, without any voice gymnastics, it is beautiful...........It will be replayed I think this Wednesday night....42 (better check the listings to be sure)

maxell1313 said:

FOX is planning on re-airing the show. Sometime in mid-December, I believe. I'm sure one of the Clay message boards would be able to tell you.

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being as how I'm banned from most of them because of my opinions on some Clay subjects that just doesn't help me.

show 42 said:

"Nick at Nite" had a holiday special on last night. Clay sang a duet with Bing Crosby (his computer image of course). Clay's voice can be so pure and clear, without any voice gymnastics, it is beautiful...........It will be replayed I think this Wednesday night....42 (better check the listings to be sure)

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You mean they removed David Bowie's performance from that classic duet in order to put in an American Idol contestant's performance? Oh great.

Yup, it appears so, but it was as well done as David Bowie's pairing with Bing, I'm sure.....42

Tonichelle said:

being as how I'm banned from most of them because of my opinions on some Clay subjects that just doesn't help me.

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Then find a Ruben board...or a Kelly board...or ask on the AI newsgroup. I'm sure even TV Guide would tell you unless you've been banned there too.

don't see why they would... no need for sarcasim...

so I was totally against the whole "lets throw our underwear at Clay to show him how much we love him" and was a little more vocal than they thought nessecery...

hmmmmmmmmmmm maybe I'll sneak a peak in at a Ruben board.

show 42 said:

Yup, it appears so, but it was as well done as David Bowie's pairing with Bing, I'm sure.....42

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No offense, I really mean that, but how is using a video clip of someone dead for 26 years to be digitally paired with a current performance "as well done" as 2 singers sitting together, live, on the same set at the same time, singing to exactly the same music?

I have to ask - have you ever even seen the Crosby/Bowie duet? It shows up in holiday video compilations every Christmas. I remember the last time I saw it was on VH1 (owned by Viacom, the same company that owns Nick at Nite, what a surprise). Is American Idol also owned by Viacom (or Paramount, which is owned by Viacom itself)?

At that time, David Bowie had been more or less the "Marilyn Manson" of his time, in terms of being on the "bleeding edge" of costuming, makeup and ambiguous sexuality in his performing persona. To do a duet with someone like Bing Crosby (who had been a major star for close to 50 years at the time), and to have the duet work so well and be remembered and cherished to this day 25+ years later, was a watershed in Bowie's career.

Sorry for the rant, but I wanted to put this in perspective for the younger posters here. I've said this on another board, but I'll say it here too - what would have been REALLY cool is if Clay or his "handlers" connected with AI had managed to convince David Bowie to RECREATE the duet, with Bowie doing Bing Crosby's part and Clay doing Bowie's. "Passing down the torch" and all that, though Clay Aiken is about as far from Ziggy Stardust and "Suffragette City" as I can imagine.

I will back up valuvsmk. I posted this on another board, and I'll add it here.

The Nick at Nite version was a bad imitation of an absolutely beautiful moment . The original duet occurred in 1977 if I'm not mistaken. It was a magical moment, where as val noted, Bowie delivered his first real "mainstream" performance. While they were certainly an odd pairing, their voices blended perfectly, and it is considered a classic Christmas moment. Bing died before the special was released, making the duet even more poignant. When Christmas specials are highlighted on TV, the Bing and Bowie duet is always shown as a magical moment in the history of holiday specials, and the recording, kept only from the recording done during the special (not done as a studio recording) is still played constantly at Christmas.

The Nick at Nite performance upset me a great deal--the Bing and Bowie duet is very precious to me, I skated to it at Christmas 2001 in a time of great turmoil because I truly believed in striving for peace, and I still do. Nick used a very bad "film" of Bing, and I'm sorry if I upset Clay fans by saying this, but Clay did not perform the song to the original standard--he was off tempo and badly off key more than once, and the combination of that with the bad animation made it look thrown together and frankly, tacky. I realize that Clay was probably given the "bit" to perform and had little choice in the matter, but it came off like a cheap attempt to rip off a classic Christmas moment. Clay is very talented and has a great career ahead of him, but this was not the way to show his strengths. I hope the AI people will consider letting him shine on his own merit instead of putting him in situations like this. They seem to thrive on putting their stars in bad situations intended to capitalize on their fame and make money without considering their longevity (witness Justin Guarini's short career with a bad album that didn't sell and that awful movie with Kelly). Clay deserves better than what he was given on Nick at Nite, and those of us who cherish the original performance deserved better, too.

Hi Yazmeen, yes I have seen the Bing and David pairing many times before. While I like much of what David Bowie puts out there musically, in my opinion, his voice quality is not superior to Clay's in any way. They have different styles and range of notes, so of course Clay wouldn't sound like David Bowie, nor should he or be compared vocally. I didn't feel Clay was off tempo or off key at all. (It is harder to sing with an "image" than it is to sing with someone in person).

Although I would have liked to have heard Clay sing his own song during the special (I thought the special as a whole was not very appealing), I think it must have been flattering to have been chosen to be paired with the great Bing Crosby. Perhaps, another one of his songs, such as "White Christmas" could have been used instead of "Drummer Boy", but we "Clay" fans take what we can get................ 42

show 42 said:

Hi Yazmeen, yes I have seen the Bing and David pairing many times before. While I like much of what David Bowie puts out there musically, in my opinion, his voice quality is not superior to Clay's in any way. They have different styles and range of notes, so of course Clay wouldn't sound like David Bowie, nor should he or be compared vocally. I didn't feel Clay was off tempo or off key at all. (It is harder to sing with an "image" than it is to sing with someone in person).

Although I would have liked to have heard Clay sing his own song during the special (I thought the special as a whole was not very appealing), I think it must have been flattering to have been chosen to be paired with the great Bing Crosby. Perhaps, another one of his songs, such as "White Christmas" could have been used instead of "Drummer Boy", but we "Clay" fans take what we can get................ 42

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Though I'm not Yazmeen, I will respond, since I have posted in this thread.

I think the choice of this "duet" (and, from what I have read on the Net elsewhere, it has been approved and indeed encouraged by the Crosby estate (and I have my own feelings on that)) was ill-advised for Clay. I agree that letting him sing any holiday songs except "Peace on Earth" or "White Christmas" (talk about disrespect to Bing Crosby) would have been in much better taste.

Well, while I respect and understand your views on this particular duet, I don't see how it disrespects Bing Crosby at all. Both Clay and David Bowie did fine jobs on these two pairings and I don't really see what the uproar is. Anyone else have an opinion here, or am I totally in left field? (It wouldn't be the first time)....42

show 42 said:

Well, while I respect and understand your views on this particular duet, I don't see how it disrespects Bing Crosby at all. Both Clay and David Bowie did fine jobs on these two pairings and I don't really see what the uproar is. Anyone else have an opinion here, or am I totally in left field? (It wouldn't be the first time)....42

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Don't get me wrong - you have every right to your own opinion.

I felt that whoever dreamed up the Crosby/Clay "duet" was, IMHO, extremely disrespectful to David Bowie.

The "White Christmas" comment, along with the comment on disrespecting Bing Crosby, was based on comments at other boards that Clay's "handlers" and Nick at Nite may have considered a "duet" involving BC and CA on that song - and that would have truly made me shudder if it had actually occurred.

my grandma doesn't like Clay at all ... saying he's "gay and can't sing" (at least she didn't say they go hand in hand ) so I can understand the feeling of disrespect for whomever... still I don't see why one singer should have the market of doing funky duets with someone... dead or not...

yeay Clay!