Posted on 12/09/2004 7:28:16 AM PST by wjersey
If students earned grades from the school of hard knocks, the teenagers in Clearview Regional High's Vocal Ensemble deserve an A for stomaching the sour taste of fame.
Give the grownups around them high marks, too, for trying to protect the kids from another close encounter of the mean kind with aw-shucks American Idol star Clay Aiken.
Me, I'm not afraid of freckle face.
He has more hair than I do, but I could take him in a wrestling match.
And I have a zero-tolerance policy for Hollywood heavies pulling ego trips on teenagers and teachers.
Which is what happened last week when the Gloucester County school's vocal group got the opportunity of a lifetime to sing with Aiken at his sold-out concert in Washington Township.
By night's end, the Claymates had been bullied and berated. They were stiffed for their services.
When one grown-up dared to speak up, Aiken dressed her down.
He told her she was a disgrace.
Only it wasn't some pushy stage mom he had tossed from the performance hall. It was the 2003 New Jersey teacher of the year.
Not that she, or anybody at Clearview, wants to relive the humiliation.
They fear paybacks. Supposedly, the boy toy threatened to "make trouble" if they talked to reporters.
As one parent confided: "My son wants a future in show business. I don't want him saying anything negative about the industry."
The story of fear and loathing in the key of C begins before Thanksgiving.
That's when the Clearview singers got a last-minute invite to perform with Aiken when his "Joyful Noise Tour" stopped here last Thursday.
Not long ago, Aiken was just another geek with glasses and bad hair.
Thanks to his American Idol makeover, he's adored by teenage girls, gay men, and a group calling itself Lecherous Broads for Clay Aiken.
As I type, he's got both an inspirational memoir and CD on the charts.
"A Clay Aiken Christmas" aired on NBC last night, with Barry Manilow among the very special guests.
Tickets for his concert cost up to $127.50. At his official Web site, www.clayaiken.com, you can even buy holiday wrapping paper stamped with Clay's face for $15.
Clearview's Vocal Ensemble doesn't have a merchandising deal yet, but it does have a sterling reputation.
It has sung Mozart's Requiem at Carnegie Hall. It has performed on the Today show.
Details of the students' real-life pop opera emerged from interviews with people too scared to let me quote them - and from one teacher's account e-mailed to friends and posted at the Web site www.gawker.com.
Those in the know confirmed all the ugly details.
How Aiken went diva on them and reneged on promised face time and autographs with the students.
How he sicced security goons on a student who snapped a photo during rehearsal. How he fought with the award-winning teacher who dared to stand up for her kids.
How the pop star's people made a big show of handing over a promised $500 donation to the Vocal Ensemble - and how the envelope was empty.
And how Aiken's crew kept the students hungry for hours, only to deliver a meager supply of ice-cold chicken nuggets just before show time.
Happy Meals - for high schoolers?
What were they thinking?
I'm not surprised Aiken's reps didn't return a call for comment.
After teachers told me they couldn't talk, Clearview Superintendent Mike Toscano spoke for all of them.
Ever diplomatic, he said the brush with greatness had taught the students lessons they could never get in a classroom.
"They got a bigger picture of the music industry," Toscano said.
"They got their eyes opened. They got a taste of real-life show business maybe they didn't have before."
And if sours them on it for good?
They can thank the American Idol.
I hate Clay Aiken!
Wait till she gets her hands on his homemade, night vision porn tape!
Sounds like the students didn't have a Gay Old Time.
So what? A bunch of celebrity fans and wannabes tried to get in on an industry that is notoriously cold and narcissistic and they found themselves left feeling empty? Is the sky not blue?
Not that I'm standing up for Hollywierd, the music biz, or this Clay Aiken guy (gal?). But when you worship a false Idol, you should expect to be disappointed.
As an aside, knowing what I know about the education industry (i.e., the Leftist monopoly of the NEA), any individual awarded "2003 New Jersey teacher of the year" is immediately suspect in my book.
Let me stick up for SOME teachers. At least here locally, there have been a couple of "teachers of the year" that were pretty conservative, if not out right Republicans. They were effective BECAUSE of the conservative leanings. They demanded and got great results from their students.
Chicken nuggets for highschoolers???????? LOLOLOLOLOL......probably a step up from their usual lunch fare.
Poor journalism. Sounds more like a riddle:
'How Aiken went diva on them . . .
How he sicced security goons on a student who snapped a photo . . .
How the pop star's people made a big show . . .
and how the envelope was empty . . .
And how Aiken's crew kept the students hungry for hours . . .
What were they thinking?'
I give up. Just lazy journalism and fact checking.
The article sounds like it was written by Reuben Studdard's manager.
I'm not sure who that Aiken guy is, but he sounds like a class A jackass.(if your story is true and accurate)
I don't mean to doubt you, but a story like that needs corroboration from people with names who are willing to repeat the story. See if you can get them talking.
Man you totally nailed it. The best thing about "American Idol" is that it really cuts down these freaks who believe they can sing and have Mommy and Daddy and other smiley-faced liberals saying they're the 2nd coming of Barry White.
Total reality check given to these people. I read a story on how R & B singer Brandy used to be called ugly and had zero talent by the people in the music industry. Hollywood is really a meat grinder.
No one forced you to click on the thread.
Thought you might be interested in this.
That is soooo lame. (shaking head)
Isn't gawker.com a liberal Jewish tabloid?
Huh? There are big holes in this story. I'm not saying it is not true, just that it seems a lot of details are missing.
Thanks for the ping!
I don't believe a word of it.
I do believe the fame has gone to his head, but I don't buy the whole diva-tantrum thing at all. He was very wonderful to my wheelchair-bound friend, taking the time to take pictures with her, etc.
Methinks someone has a grudge.
I think it has something to do with wearing white after Labor Day...
Bob Dylan old AND new couldn't sing (have you heard his VOICE?) and that is what makes him a unique singer.
The show isn't about whether you deserve to be on the charts, could get work as a professional singer, etc. It is about whether they see in you the clay that it takes for them to mold an package a pop star.
They could just as easily call it "Who Wants To Be A Monkee?"
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