5.30.13 Adam to receive Hope of Los Angeles Award

Schedule:

May 30, 2013: City of Los Angeles LGBT Heritage Celebration to honor Adam with the Hope of Los Angeles award. Opening celebration event time 6pm – 9:00PM PDT at City Hall South Lawn.

May 31, 2013: City Council presentation May 31 at 10:00AM – 11:00AM PDT at City Council Chambers.



About LGBT Heritage Month

LGBT Heritage Month was created by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Christopher Street West/LA Pride in 2011 to promote and celebrate the diversity, history and culture of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in the City of Los Angeles. LGBT Heritage Month is the newest Heritage Month celebration, presented each June by Toyota Motor Sales, USA and Toyota Financial Services, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Christopher Street West/LA Pride, the Department of Cultural Affairs and the City of Los Angeles.



Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Christopher Street West/ LA Pride Present: The 3rd Annual LGBT Heritage Month honoring Adam Lambert, Mia Yamamoto and Rodney Scott.

The Opening Celebration will be held Thursday, May 30, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at City Hall South Lawn (200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles). A City Council Presentation will take place Friday, May 31, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at City Council Chambers (200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles). The event is FREE and open to the public.

Adam Lambert to receive the HOPE OF LOS ANGELES Award

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the City of Los Angeles and Christopher Street West/ LA Pride will honor Adam Lambert with the HOPE OF LOS ANGELES Award.

When Adam Lambert appeared on the eighth season of American Idol, people couldn’t stop talking about the shape-shifting, 6’1” singer with the glam-rock sartorial flair, razor-sharp sense of humor, and jaw-dropping, powerhouse voice.

In 2009, Lambert released his debut album, the Platinum-certified For Your Entertainment, which scored the smash single “Whataya Want From Me,” and set out on his 2010 Glam Nation World Tour, taking his electrifying show to thousands of fans across the globe.

Whether it’s about asserting himself as an outsider in society on ‘Trespassing,’ or the seductive power of non-verbal communication on ‘Broken English’ or taking on the discrimination of the LGBT community on ‘Outlaws of Love’, each song lifts the veil off Lambert’s personality a little bit more. There are songs about the intoxicating hunt for connection and the thrilling freedom of marching to one’s own beat.

The Indiana-born, California-bred Lambert was a seasoned theatrical performer before competing on American Idol, where his stunning performances are still widely regarded as some of the most riveting moments in Idol history. When the show ended, he toured the U.S. with the other Top 10 finalists while working on For Your Entertainment, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and earned Lambert a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance,” in addition to scores of international awards and honors. He graced the covers of Rolling Stone, Details, Entertainment Weekly, The Advocate, and Out, appeared on every major late night and daytime talk show, and became the first openly gay mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major record label in the United States.

Lambert channeled his newfound fame into raising awareness about issues close to his heart, advocating on behalf of LGBT causes The Trevor Project, Equality California, and GLAAD, as well as for charity organizations MusiCares, charity:water, and DonorsChoose.org. Other achievements include becoming the first American Idol finalist to tour the world in support of a debut album in the year following their season — a thrilling spectacle documented on Lambert’s 2011 DVD Glam Nation Live, which bowed at No. 1 on SoundScan’s Top Music Videos chart, and became the best-selling debut of any release on the Music Videos chart last year.

The City of Los Angeles is proud to honor Mr. Lambert for his accomplishments and advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.




More Adam News


Pharrell Williams ‏@pharrell
“@billboard: .@pharrell Williams' Top 40 return: 10 songs that prefaced his pop comeback blbrd.co/10I0Ijr ”
Retweeted by Adam Lambert



From songs with Frank Ocean to Adam Lambert, check out Pharrell's fascinating work leading up to "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines."

Looking at the Top 20 of the current Hot 100 chart, a familiar name appears twice: Pharrell Williams. For fans of early '00s pop music, this is hardly an unusual sight -- time was, Williams was about as consistent of a presence as there was on the charts, both as a behind-the-scenes producer and as a go-to hook man and featured artist on smashes by Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Clipse and countless others. But as the golden age of the baby-faced rapper/singer and his production team the Neptunes (with longtime partner Chad Hugo) faded with the rise of rawer hip-hop sub-genres like crunk and snap, and as Williams and Hugo moved in different directions creatively (the former releasing his first solo album in 2006, and both continuing work in the experimental alt-rap group N.E.R.D.), the hits dried up. As of early 2013, Pharrell had not worked on a single that cracked the Top 40 of the Hot 100 -- either solo or as part of the Neptunes -- in over half a decade. Amazingly, his last hit came way back in late 2006 with Gwen Stefani's No. 6-peaking "Wind It Up," which Williams co-wrote and the Neptunes produced.

However, that's not to say that Pharrell had become dormant or static as an artist -- far from it. Despite his quiet end to the '00s, his first few years of the '10s have actually represented one of the most artistically fruitful periods of his 20-plus-year career in popular music. Since 2010, Williams has diversified his musical portfolio while affirming that he was still one of the best at doing what he'd always done -- crafting catchy, funky, and instantly memorable hip-hop beats. It was only a matter of time until one of his songs re-introduced him to the Top 40… and as if to over-compensate for lost time, two of them, the Daft Punk disco throwback collaboration "Get Lucky" and the clang-and-shuffle of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," arrived almost simultaneously this year.

Daft Punk's Visual Evolution: Why 'Random Access Memories' May Not Require Music Videos

Both of those songs are great, and deserved hits, but they're just the latest chapter in the uniformly impressive decade that Williams has had leading up to them. If you've been sleeping on Pharrell during his time spent out of the spotlight, here's some of the better songs he's worked on in the meantime, many of which pointed the way to his inevitable comeback -- and a number of which were comeback-worthy on their own.

SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA, "ONE (YOUR NAME)" (2010)

In 2013, just about everyone in hip-hop seemed to be jumping on the EDM bandwagon, but Williams was way ahead of the curve, providing guest vocals for the breakout single from dance supergroup Swedish House Mafia back in 2010. The song was already banger enough as an instrumental to catch Williams' attention, but it was his tacked-on vocal, with its unusual cadence and exceedingly odd phrasing ("I wanna know your name / You just killed me, could you at least do that?") that really made it stick with listeners, and helped to send the DJ trio on their way to superstardom.

N.E.R.D., "HYPNOTIZE U" (2010)

Though obviously the most successful to date, "Get Lucky" was not the first collaboration between Pharrell and Daft Punk: the Neptunes first remixed Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" about a decade earlier, and DP returned the favor by co-writing and producing the second single off N.E.R.D.'s "Nothing" album in 2010, "Hypnotize U." With the song's restrained rhythms and repetitive hook, it's no surprise that "Hypnotize" stiffed commercially, but it's a transfixing groove and a fascinating-in-retrospect early mind-meld between the two artists.

BUDDY, "AWESOME AWESOME" (2011)

Like many hip-hop impresarios of his stature, Pharrell has had a series of proteges over the years, including the young Compton rapper Buddy, who P helped discover and whose debut single "Awesome Awesome" he produced. Neither the song nor rapper took off commercially, but "Awesome Awesome" demonstrated Pharrell's impressive adaptability as a producer, sounding more in line with the grand drama and bombast of a Lex Luger beat, but maintaining a litheness (particularly with its pogoing, constantly-repeated title hook) to keep it distinct.

PUSHA T FEAT. TYLER THE CREATOR, "TROUBLE ON MY MIND" (2011)

As half of the Neptunes and Clipse duos responsible for era-defining smashes like "Grindin'" and "When the Last Time," Pharrell and Pusha T have had a long history of bringing out the best in one another. But on "Trouble," it's a newer creative partner who steals the show, with Odd Future mouthpiece Tyler the Creator--long on record as music's biggest Pharrell booster -- riding the understated, "Top Billin'"-quoting beat with the kind of casual dominance it demands. It makes you wonder whether the hero and student can get together for a longer-form collaboration.

KANYE WEST & JAY-Z (THE THRONE), "GOTTA HAVE IT" (2011)

On an album starring two of hip-hop's biggest artists and personalities, the presence of Williams on "Watch the Throne" was unsurprisingly lost in the shuffle. However, he got a co-writing (and the Neptunes a co-producing) credit on one of the album's most popular tracks, the low-key and jarringly brief single "Gotta Have It." The song's Eastern flute hook has echoes of Neptunes hits past like N.O.R.E.'s "Nothin'," and along with the chopped-up James Brown samples -- far closer to the trademark of co-producer West -- showed that Williams was able to blend his own style seamlessly with that of one of music's most commanding presences.

ADAM LAMBERT, "TRESPASSING" & "KICKIN' IN" (2012)

Even Pharrell's most devoted followers had to be caught a little off-guard by the writer/producer's work on "American Idol" alum Adam Lambert's "Trespassing" album, churning out both the barnstorming, "Another One Bites the Dust"-esque glam disco of the album's title track, and the strobe-light throwdown of "Kickin' In," arguably the album's finest track. Lambert gave Williams his finest pop muse since Justin Timberlake ("Rock Your Body," "Senorita") back in '03, and P responded with two of his most creative, intoxicating and boundary-stretching tracks of recent years, both of which would have been mega-hits in a fairer pop universe. Clearly, Pharrell and disco were meant to have further success together.

USHER, "TWISTED" (2012)

Maybe the Pharrell track of the '10s that most points the way to the old-fashioned soul/funk of "Blurred Lines" was Usher's "Looking 4 Myself" album track "Twisted," with its dissected Motown groove and showman's sense of audience engagament ("All the girls! Make sure your skirt ain't too tight!"). It's a little on-the-nose at points and not quite funky enough at others, but it's a worthy first draft of the "Lines" blueprint, fun and classy and with energy to spare.

FRANK OCEAN, "SWEET LIFE" (2012)

Perhaps the song from Pharrell's bountiful 2012 that most turned heads was Frank Ocean's "Sweet Life," a soul number that felt like a total about-face for the writer/producer. Not that the genre was anything new to Williams, but we'd rarely heard a number of his that was quite this organic-sounding, maintaining a loose vibe that contrasted starkly to the locked-in rhythms and precision-timed hooks we'd become accustomed to. The song's sunny horns, gentle keys and expansive groove helped make it a fan favorite on Ocean's debut mainstream release.

KENDRICK LAMAR, "GOOD KID" (2012)

More of the Eastern-tinged instrumentation of "Gotta Have It," but this time paired with a lurking, sinister bass line to create a queasy feel for the opening number to the second act of Lamar's hip-hop masterwork, "good kid, m.A.A.d city." Few would cite the song, which mostly serves as a transitional number, as an album highlight, but it demonstrated that Williams was re-emerging as a go-to producer for the highest-profile hip-hop releases -- in 2012 alone, Pharrell worked not only on "good kid" and "Channel Orange," two of the year's most acclaimed albums, but also Rick Ross' "God Forgives, I Don't," Tyga's "Careless World," T.I.'s "Trouble Man" and Wiz Khalifa's "O.N.I.F.C."

DESTINY'S CHILD, "NUCLEAR" (2013)

In 2003, news of a Destiny's Child and Pharrell collaboration would be enough to shut down the pop world for weeks at least, and even in 2013, their collaboration was feverishly anticipated. However, the resulting track was not the radio-ready, undeniable smash that many anticipated -- instead, it was a moody, meditative R&B/dance hybrid more in the mold of a PM Dawn or Shai track from the early '90s. "Nuclear" was far from a commercial success, but it was actually quite a lovely song, intimate and engaging in a way different than any other Destiny's Child song had been before, showing just how far outside the box both artists were capable of operating.

The spreading diversity, explosive creativity and steadily increasing profile of Williams' productions and collaborations over the last three-plus years -- only a fraction of which are even listed here -- were simply bound to bubble over into his first mainstream hit in far too long. Taken as a whole, his recent discography demonstrated that the writer/producer was far from a relic of the early '00s, and was actually doing some of the most inspired, accessible and challenging work of his career.

Though none were hits on their own -- few were even released as singles -- each track paved the way for Pharrell's return to prominence, where artists like Daft Punk and Robin Thicke can now trust him with guiding or playing a key supporting role in their new albums' lead singles. "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines" helped make us realize just how much we missed him during the years he was mostly absent from the mainstream pop landscape. If, over the next few months, the sound of Williams' unmistakable falsetto and the Neptunes' trademark rhythmic shuffle once again become unavoidable on Top 40 radio, it won't come a summer too soon.

Link: www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/1565044/pharrell-williams-top-40-return-10-songs-that-prefaced-his-pop



Hump Day With Adam Lambert: Ali Baba Superstar
by snicks | May 29, 2013



t’s no secret we love Adam Lambert and the energy and joy he brings to the otherwise sterile, manufactured world of modern pop music. But he’s such a worldwide whirling dervish that it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of where and when he touches down. Hence our weekly feature Hump Day With Adam Lambert, which will hopefully keep us up-to-date with his appearances, performances, and interviews. And on those weeks when Adam’s talents lie dormant, we bring you classic pics and performances.

Adam had a fabulous week, jetting off to Vienna for the 2013 Life Ball, which is the biggest charity event in Europe supporting people with HIV or AIDS. While there, he performed the new song “Love Wins Over Glamour,” which was written exclusively for Life Ball (more on page two).

Let’s start things off by taking a look at some pics and captions from Adam’s Instagram Account.




“Look who was next to me on da plane to NYC! @bravoandy !!!”


“Fixin to land #lifeball”


“Late into the LifeBall cocktail party…”


“Red Carpet in jacket by Mugler, pants by Les Hommes”


“#lifeball Ali Baba Superstar”


“gracious hostess @fergie”


“@fergie put on a Vogueing Ball! I got to help judge along w @kellyosbourne @dsquared2 Fatima, @boombox_project”


The theme of this year’s Life Ball was Arabian Nights, and that’s all Adam needed to hear, as he turned the introduction of “Love Wins Over Glamour” into a classic Adam glitter spectacle. And gotta love those backup dancers.



And here he is in the recording studio. The funny thing is … I don’t think a translation is really necessary. Like I’ve always said, Glambert is the Universal Language.



Below you can see Adam arriving in Vienna, on the red carpet, and performing.

















Link to original article: www.thebacklot.com/hump-day-with-adam-lambert-ali-baba-superstar/05/2013/

Upcoming Events
Check the Adamtopia calendar for more events and links to more info.

May 30, 2013 City of Los Angeles LGBT Heritage Celebration to honor Adam with the Hope of Los Angeles award. Opening celebration event time 6pm – 9pm PT at City Hall South Lawn.

June 15, 2013 Pittsburgh Pride In The Street Festival, Pittsburgh, PA. Adam is the headliner. More info: www.pittsburghpride.org/tickets

June 29, 2013 Adam in concert in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios Florida.
More info: www.orlandoinformer.com/universal/summer-concert-series-2013/

July 2, 2012 Adam performs in San Diego, CA, San Diego County State Fair
More info: www.sdfair.com/index.php?fuseaction=info.calendar&op=detail&pkid=1379&month=7&year=2013&calCatID=


Radio Links

Every Saturday from New Zealand -- Adam Lambert Hour -- Live 5:00PM EDT US.

Link: theflea.co.nz/
Check out the ALH page for podcast of previous shows.
This is the only weekly Adam Lambert show in the world.

Energy Radio (UK) www.energymusicradio.co.uk/



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