Marine Joshua Gracin Retreats From 'American Idol' Live Tour; Clay Hits RS Cover!

E! Online via Yahoo! News ^ | June 30, 2003 | Joal Ryan

[L.N. Smithee]

For all you Claymates out there -- He's on the cover of Rolling Stone on your newsstands now, and in the story inside, he addresses the rumors about his bio-father and the snide comments about his love life (or lack of same). The durn cover ain't gonna help those questions go away anytime soon.

At one point, an extremely crude question is asked, and he, according to the reporter, snapped, "Now stop that right now!"

[L.N. Smithee]

FYI

[Howlin]

Would you believe my MOTHER went out and bought that Rolling Stone magazine! I was floored!

[Ima Lurker]

He is such a cutie. Why, if I were 5 years younger....(and he was 30 years older)....well, nevermind!

[Feiny]

He looks like a woman on that cover.....

[L.N. Smithee]

He looks like a woman on that cover.....

If this were fifteen years ago, maybe. Now we're in the age of big boobs, big butts, and big lips. Clay's too flat to be mistaken for a cover girl in the 00's.

[randog]

He looks like a woman on that cover.....

Yeah, kinda like KD Lang. I wonder if he's a lesbian, too? :^)

[OldFriend]

Clay sold 100,000 more CDs than Ruben, hardly 'edging' out the AI.

[Luis Gonzalez]

"...my MOTHER went out and bought that Rolling Stone magazine..."

Did she wear flowers in her hair?

I got my tickets for the tour, I think they are here this month.

On a side note, I went to a Matchbox 20 concert tonight (great group, superb vocalist in Rob Thomas), and the opening act was the L.A. band "Sugar Ray".

I like Sugar Ray's music, they've strung together some very catchy Top 40 ditties these past few years, and I was pleasantly surprised at the energy, musicality, and performance by the band's lead singer Mark McGrath...I was FLOORED when, as he introduced their biggest hit to date "Fly", he stops, and makes a little speech.

I can't quote him word by word, but he said that he was on tour, and watching the news when he saw some Marines overseas singing his song, and that he has never been prouder of anything in his life, then he said that he came from Hollywood, but that he did not believe in the garbage spouted by the Tim Robbins', the Susan Sarandon's and the other "Hollywood types" and that he was dedicating this song to the American men and women "out there like a wall of freedom, protecting us all" so that we could have "freedom, and opinions", and "all that stuff all those people out there don't believe in", then I think he said "F them", but the crowd was going wild by then.

He then said "God Bless our Troops" and ripped into the song.

It was great.

Tell Mom to buy some Sugar Ray CD's.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Mark McGrath

[L.N. Smithee]

Like I said in the live thread, "Get over it!"

[OldFriend]

Why would I be taking your advice?

[L.N. Smithee]

Why would I be taking your advice?

I dunno. Maybe because it makes sense?

[bootless]

Excellent!! I think I'll check out some of Sugar Ray's music... :-)

[bootless]

Thanks for the ping. So, you think Rolling Stone airbrushed in the flyaway shirttail? I'm thinking that Clay, as the designated meat puppet, had no say as to what shots they took or printed! At least they didn't algore him! :-) I'll be interested to read the article...

[L.N. Smithee]

Let me remind you of what I said in the live thread, in context:

---

I stayed away from the internet until the show was over on the West Coast, which meant three quarters of the country were commenting on the results before I knew what happened. I was shocked that there over nine hundred replies on the live thread. I knew that among those, there was going to be whining from somebody regardless of who won -- either it was going to be "It's rigged, and they gave it to the black guy" or "It's rigged, and they gave it to the white guy." And I knew that I was going to be forced to say to supporters of whoever finished second, "Get over it!"

So, here I go: "GET OVER IT!"

Folks, remember, this is ONLY THE BEGINNING of their careers. This is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Remember, back in 1977, Elvis Costello was nominated for a Grammy Award as "Best New Artist." He lost to disco group A Taste of Honey ("Boogie Oogie Oogie" was their biggest hit). Earlier this year, twenty-six years and only one Grammy later, Costello was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. If the members of A Taste of Honey want to be in the Rock Hall, they have to pay their own fare to Cleveland and buy a ticket to get inside.

---

Like I say in my FR home page, "I can't promise that everyone will like what I have to say, but I will say it the best way I can, and hope that you all understand that there is no personal malice involved. Some of the folks here I have had my fiercest battles with have said things I agreed with wholeheartedly hours later." Indeed, that turned out to be the case this past Sunday. Thanks for the FReepmail, btw.

[Ebenezer]

What a contrast! Josh is back to being a tough-as-nails Marine, while pretty-boy Clay strikes this music-diva pose for Rolling Stone.

By the way, "retreat" is a dirty word for a Marine.

[L.N. Smithee]

By the way, "retreat" is a dirty word for a Marine.

Sorry. I didn't write the title.

[floriduh voter]

Clay looks a lot better on the cover of Rolling Stone than Algor did. I think they airbrushed Algor to look like the alpha male he was not. Anyway, there's a guy at Rolling Stone who was into Algor. Maybe he has a crush on Clay now. Poor Clay, not his fault.

[floriduh voter]

Sugar Ray's got a great video out now. It caught my attention and the song's real up tempo too. How've you been?