• Melanie Brown and husband Stephen Belafonte, stopping at the Borgata Hotel %26 Casino in Atlantic City en route to Egypt to renew their vows. “They were holding hands the entire time,” a source says of the two, who wed in June 2007. The lovey-dovey pair danced and shared champagne all night long, telling their friends how happy they were. The former Spice Girl raved that she “couldn’t wait to get married again!”

• During their whirlwind New York trip, Jennifer Garner and daughter Violet went shopping at FAO Schwarz. The two started looking at candy at the FAO Schweetz shop, then browsed the Lee Middleton dolls. Last but certainly not least, the pair hopped on the big piano and played around - even performing a little dance number. An onlooker tells us: “Violet loved it!”

• Alex Rodriguez, running on the treadmill and lifting

weights during a workout at Sports Club/LA in Beverly Hills.

• Patrick Swayze, hanging out and drinking cosmopolitans at Chicago’s The Drawing Room cocktail lounge in Le Passage with wife Lisa. He stayed for a few hours, was in great spirits and was really friendly to everyone, a source says. Swayze was low-key and in a great mood, joking with staff that he was “living it up and kicking cancer’s ass.”

• New dad Clay Aiken, celebrating producer friend David Foster’s birthday and new CD/DVD Hit Man: David Foster and Friends at New York’s Bon Appetit Supper Club and Café. “Clay had a great time,” a partygoer tells us.

• Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, buying a gift box of chocolate at Max Brenner in New York’s Union Square. Also at the store: Susan Sarandon, who stopped in for some hot chocolate power with

her son.

• By K.C. BAKER, JENNIFER GARCIA, MAUREEN HARRINGTON, KIM PEIFFER and CHARLOTTE TRIGGS

Celebrity Hot Spots.

Monday’s Couples Watch >

Source:www.People.com

This has been quite a season for announcements from Clay Aiken.

Aiken, who besides making news as an openly gay father, is currently starring on Broadway in Monty Python’s Spamalot.

His latest accomplishment is the announcement of the winner of the “Write Clay’s Playbill Biography Contest,” which provided members of the singer’s fan club the opportunity to pen his official bio for program of the Tony-winning musical.

And the winner is: Jo-Anne Lopez of Carlsbad, Calif. Her publication-worthy prose (which takes into consideration the musical spoof’s humorous reference to Finland):

Two weeks after Clay Aiken announced he is an openly gay man, the Spamalot Broadway actor has taken to the Web to explain his coming-out decision to his fans.

“I would have preferred to separate my personal life from my professional life,” Aiken, 29, writes on his clayonline.com. “But, living as myself without discussing my sexuality publicly would have been as impossible.”

Writing on various message boards, many Aiken fans expressed feelings of betrayal by the American Idol alum.

No Apologies

Discussing himself in a 2003 Rolling Stone interview, Aiken opined that male celebrities are either considered womanizers or gay. “Since I’m neither one of those, people are completely concerned about me,” he said.

He says he will not apologize for the response, saying, “When this guy started asking me about things that I didn’t really know how to answer for myself, things that I was not yet ready to admit to folks like my mother and my family, things that I found intimidating and invasive, I responded in what I assumed was a benign way at the time.”

In conclusion Aiken blogs, “I am not defined by my sexuality. It is, simply, a small facet of the same person I have always been. Nothing has changed.”

RELATED GALLERY:
• 2003: Relive Clay’s Idol days!
RELATED ARTICLES:
• 2006: Clay addresses those persistent gay rumors
• 2004: Clay talks touring and Claymates!

The burning question is, will Matt Lauer still be speaking to them in the morning?

Lauer, 50, is slated to be the victim - that is, “honoree” - when the Friars Club gathers at the New York Hilton Oct. 24 and rakes the Today host over the coals, humorously, at its annual celebrity roast - an event noteworthy for wildly uncensored remarks at the expense of the guest of honor.

Among those scheduled to appear at the by-invitation-only, not-for-broadcast event include Lauer’s predecessor Bryant Gumbel, his former sidekick Katie Couric and the current one, Meredith Vieira - as well as his across-the-channel rival, Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer.

Trump now is on the bill to help roast Lauer.

Also promised by the entertainers’ fraternity to deliver no-bars-held remarks at its event: Clay Aiken, Joy Behar, Bob Saget, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vanessa Williams, Aretha Franklin, Eric McCormack, Tony Shaloub, Jerry Stiller, Mario Lopez and others.

Clay Aiken’s fellow American Idol stars are thrilled for the new daddy - and one even has her own baby news.

“Congratulations! I am very happy for him,” Rickey Smith, 29, told PEOPLE. “He has great morals and ethics, and I think his baby will be brought up in love.”

Smith added that baby Parker Foster Aiken’s birthdate of Aug. 8 has a personal significance.

“My grandmother’s birthday, God rest her soul, was August 8,” Smith said. “I lost her, but here, another life has been born, so that’s pretty memorable to me. Eight is a lucky number in my family - so tell %26#91;Clay%26#93; welcome to the family!”

“Before Idol, he worked with children %26#91;as a teacher%26#93;, so I definitely think that experience will help him,” she said. “He’ll be a great dad, and a great role model. And I hope %26#91;the baby%26#93; grows up with his voice, for sure!”

An ecstatic Carmen Rasmusen sent big news with her congratulations. The Salt Lake City, Utah-based singer is expecting her first child with husband Brad Herbert, 25, son of Utah Lt. Governor Gary Herbert.

“I’m actually expecting my first boy this Christmas,” the five-months-along former Idol contestant, 23, told PEOPLE. The couple met at Brigham Young University and married in 2005.

“Isn’t this crazy? We’re going to both be parents! It’s so exciting - we went from being nobodies to being on American Idol together, and now starting our families %26#91;at the same time%26#93;.”

Clay Aiken sure has a lot to sing about lately.

The American Idol runner-up’s son, Parker Foster Aiken, was born in North Carolina on Aug. 8. And now comes word that the singer will reprise his role as Sir Robin in the Broadway musical Monty Python’s Spamalot.

Aiken, 29, who performed the role earlier this year from January to May, will perform in the show from Sept. 19 to Jan. 4.

According to Variety, Aiken’s initial run in Spamalot “had a noticeable effect on box office. Weekly sales … surged the week Aiken joined the cast and took a steep tumble … after he departed.”

-David Caplan

Eight is definitely enough for Clay Aiken and his best friend Jaymes Foster. The two welcomed their son Parker Foster Aiken at 8:08 a.m. on 8/08/08.

So what do all those eights add up to?

Numerology expert Daniel Hardt says the proud parents may have business on the brain for their newborn.

“Eight is a very powerful number. It’s a number of mastery,” says Hardt of Life Path Numerology in Indianapolis, Ind.

Eight is also a lucky number in Chinese culture, which is why the Opening Ceremonies for the Summer Olympics are scheduled for 8/08/08.

Hardt cautions that though eights signify business acumen for the child, they come with a caveat.

“Some people try for an eight because they think it will mean money,” says Hardt, “but sometimes you will end up causing some challenges in the life that will not necessarily be desirable for that child.”

Ultimately, he believes eights will bring the tiny Aiken luck. Says Hardt: “I think in this case, it’s going to be a good situation.”

Clay Aiken is a daddy!

The former American Idol contestant and music producer Jaymes Foster welcomed a baby boy Friday morning, the singer said in a statement on his Web site.

“HE’S HERE!” Aiken, 29, writes. “My dear friend, Jaymes, and I are so excited to announce the birth of Parker Foster Aiken (No hyphens. One first name. One middle name. One last name.)”

Parker, whose name is his grandmother Faye’s middle name, weighed 6 lbs., 2 oz. and was 19 inches long. He was born at 8:08 a.m.

“Wow … 8:08 … 08/08/08,” added Aiken. “The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy. Mama Jaymes is doing quite well also.”

Clay’s mom also said that baby Parker has “dark hair” and that Clay is “smiling from ear-to-ear” about the news.

In May, it was confirmed that Foster, 50, became pregnant via in vitro fertilization.

Though they are not romantically linked, Clay and Jaymes plan to raise the child together. The two met when Aiken competed on Idol, and Foster - who is the sister of legendary music producer David Foster - has produced several of his albums.

• Reporting by DAVID CAPLAN

Clay Aiken is just weeks away from becoming a dad, so it’s only fitting that the singer and UNICEF ambassador is blogging about children’s issues.

Aiken, 29, recently visited Somalia and Kenya, and has been blogging about the trip on the UNICEF Web site.

In his final posting, Aiken writes how violence during the country’s election earlier this year left thousands of children homeless. And even though the unrest has decreased, many of the kids have not returned to their schools.

Aiken continues, “Every child has the right to an education. Education transforms lives and breaks the cycle of poverty that so many children are caught in. And an educated child will make sure his or her own children receive an education too.”

Next up for Aiken? Fatherhood. As PEOPLE confirmed in May, Aiken artificially inseminated music producer Jaymes Foster, whom he met when he was on American Idol. Foster, the sister of legendary music producer David Foster, is due in August.

Clay Aiken’s friends are sending him support and good wishes after hearing news that he’s going to be a father with music producer Jaymes Foster.

“Congratulations, Clay!” says American Idol alum Jennifer Hudson. “I think he will be a good parent.”

Actor Eric Roberts and wife Eliza says their close friend Foster - the sister of music producer David Foster - pulled them aside at her 50th birthday party in Los Angeles in March to tell of her pregnancy with a friend, whom they later learned was the 29-year-old Aiken.

Foster, who has been friends with Aiken since they worked together on Idol, was artificially inseminated, and is due in August, a rep for her Foster’s brother tells PEOPLE.

Eliza Roberts stresses: “People should understand: It’s not like he’s the donor and she’s the surrogate. These are two people who made a very loving decision to have a baby together.”

Talked on Bus

Former Idol contestant Carmen Rasmusen, who toured with Aiken after the second season, says, “I’ve always thought Clay would make a great dad. He’s great with kids. … He’s accomplished a lot in his career, so it’s probably a good time for him to be a dad.”

While on the tour bus, Aiken would talk about wanting to become a father, Rasmusen says.

“I remember him saying, ‘I can’t wait to be a dad and have a family and have my own kids,’” recalls she. “He really was looking forward to being a father, even five years ago. I thought it was so cute that that was a priority for him.”

• Reporting by MOLLY LOPEZ, TIFFANY McGEE and PAMELA WARRICK