8/8/05 - Made the short trip from Haymarket over to Lake Fairfax Park, which is only a couple of miles from the Wolf Trap complex. My concert buddy had travelled to Cary from Greenville to meet up with another friend of hers who lives in Leesburg and they picked me up to go to the concert. It rained something fierce for awhile, but then cleared up and we made it to the venue in relatively dry shape.








We got there early and, as a result, got pretty good parking. The people who work at Wolf Trap, the ushers, etc. are for the most part volunteers and they seemed genuinely interested in the Clay Aiken phenomenon - sold out assigned (under cover) seats almost immediately and people lining up for lawn admission early in the day. This is apparently unusual for them.....LOL. And, it was threatening rain, thunder and lightning.......but the lawn people were spread out on their blankets with wine and cheese and crackers. They looked very happy and I would have been happy to join them........at least until the rain came down.

I was in row K, but pretty far to the right (when the storm came I got quite a bit of rain drift, but it wasn't uncomfortable) and my two buddies were in row F a few seats closer to the center. Looking down my row I spotted Fay Parker. To my right a woman was brought in on a gurney.....she was obviously quite ill and I think she is a member of the clackhouse and has been battling cancer. It is my understanding that after the concert when they put her back on the ambulance Clay came out and spent a few moments wih her. The two ladies to my left were at their first JBT concert and one was cell certing someone I knew!!! It is a small world in Clayland.

The concert at Wolf Trap seemed to bring out the boy in Clay again......lots of practical jokes and I knew there would be an over reaction on the boards and there was. I popped into the cellcert later....and jumped right back out, sometimes it is just easier to keep one's council and not participate. I thought the joking was fine....all concerts are different and take on a persona of their own....this time Clay seemed to have the giggles. And I love a giggly Clay. Perhaps it might have been better if he did this in - say, Kettering....but SO WHAT. I loved sitting there under the cover of the timbers while the storm raged, the thunder and lightening lit up the sky......and Clay sang to us. A few miles from our Nation's Capitol, my RV parked at a camp ground down the way, life is good.

I especially like the Elvis medley.....Clay is getting it down. Having just been to Graceland I have been thinking about Elvis and his too short life and I hope Clay can find his way through the pitfalls of fame and fortune - and can avoid those with "rotten insides" - great visual, Clay. I have some concern about the "move home".......I don't think a person can go home again, tried it once myself and found people had moved on with their lives and it was not so easy to just slip back into the same patterns and relationships. I wish him luck in this endeavor.

I loved this concert.