2009 Adam Lambert's AI 8 Performances

Inearly October, Out sat down with Adam Lambert for an hour-long talk about his upcoming album, life inside the American Idol machine, and how carving out a career in the music industry is still easier for him than being in love. (Lambert and then-boyfriend Drake LaBry broke up following that interview, after Out went to press.)

In this second half of our extended interview transcript (to read the first half, head here.), Lambert talks about the responsibility that comes with being a role model -- it doesn’t involve being a “goody two-shoes” -- plus the community of counterculture artists who keep him grounded. He also opens up about fighting codependency in his past relationships and struggling to be a good boyfriend.

Out: Let’s talk about Freddie Mercury. There was a moment in the finale when you and Kris were singing Queen, and Brian May looked at you like he was going to start crying.
Adam Lambert: He’s really cool. There was some wild energy going on during that performance. And even with Kris up there. Kris was really connecting with me, too.

“We Are the Champions” was a great song choice for the two of you.
It was very cool, and Brian was a sweetheart. Yeah, that felt really good. It felt really like the progression of that -- it’s so sad, because Freddie was definitely an idol of mine. His voice, first of all, and his showmanship. Then when you really look at it, he couldn’t be who he was publicly. That was one of the things [we considered] when we decided I should just talk about it in Rolling Stone and just get it out of the way. I just don’t want to live my life trying to hide anything, or putting up a front. I don’t -- I will not do that. Too many people have had to do that in the past. It’s just so sad.

I don’t think it’s very good for your art, to put up a front.
My mentality is, if I lose some fans, fuck it. I need to be happy, too.

Do you feel like you learned how to make a music video from doing camera work with Idol?
Yep. And that’s the thing that was so funny. I walked on the set [for the “Time for Miracles” video] and the production crew were the same people that did those Ford music videos. So it felt really comfortable. We were on the show and we would always be like, “Ugh, why the hell are we doing another one of these Ford commercials? They’re so stupid.” And now I look at it and I think, you know what? That really was good training. Because I felt so comfortable and I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. When you do anything in slow motion, they speed up the music and you have to sing with it faster. And we did that for the commercials on Idol. And I think had we not done that, now I would’ve been like, “What the fuck?”

In videos for the album, would having a pretty boy love interest be too much?
I don’t know yet. I’m gonna kind of play it by ear. But eventually it would be cool to be able to do something like that.

Do people come to you with ideas that are more out there than you would have come up with? Or are you one who’s pushing them?
There are definitely creative ideas that come up, but sometimes they’re just not right. Sometimes they’re out there, but they’re corny. Camp and corny are two different things. Camp has to be done just right, or else it isn’t right. It has to be like, sophisticated. I love high fashion and theatrics and things that are really conceptual. But if you push that too far then it gets kind of self-indulgent.

That’s always the question with Lady Gaga -- how far is too far?
I think she’s smart. I predict that she will experiment and change it up a little bit. She’s got to show a little crack in the veneer for the audience to really get a three-dimensional view of who she is. I love that she’s brave enough to be that eccentric. I think it takes balls to be that out there.

Do you worry about not being brave enough?
No, I don’t worry about it. It’s more calculated than that: when do you go all the way out and when do you pull it back? It’s like how it was on Idol for me. Musically and visually, you have to do both, highs and lows. You have to do [something] crazy and over-the-top and then you have to strip it down and do something sensitive.

I have to say, I didn’t really expect to see someone on Idol tour jerking off a mic stand.
You know what was really funny about that -- a woman came up to me in the autograph line and was like, “This is a family show. You need to make this more appropriate.” And I looked at her and said, “I don’t need a lecture from you.” I kinda smiled and she was like, “But there’s little girls in the audience.” I said to her, “They probably don’t know what I’m doing. You do. They don’t know what I’m doing. They just think I’m playing with my mic! They don’t know that I’m jerking off. They don’t get that yet. Come on! And, if they do, then…sorry.”

They didn’t learn it from you.
Hopefully it will facilitate a conversation. And it’s not different from what Elvis and Michael Jackson did in their day. Relatively speaking.

Tell me about working with Linda Perry.
She’s great. I remember she said to me at one point, “Its funny, I’ve never worked with a gay guy before.” She keeps it real, and she also has a ton of artistic integrity. It’s not commercial with her. She doesn’t want it to be what everybody else is doing. She loves thing that are different and out of the box.

Do you feel like there is more room for you in a rock genre?
Yes and no. Because, yes, I can sing a rock song. I love rock music. I love drums. I love the sound of a guitar. I love thinking this track is going to be played at a bar where people are drinking and having a good time and wanting to feel sexy. That’s what this song is for, to make you feel hot. It’s not deep, necessarily. But sometimes you should just have fun.

It’s nice to meet a gay man who enjoys drugs that aren’t meth or coke.
I stay very far away from those things. It’s funny too because I remember after that [Rolling Stone] article, my mom was like, “I don’t know if you should have said all that stuff about drugs, Adam. You know there’s a lot of kids…” And I said, “But that’s life, that’s real.” I just wanted to be careful that it didn’t turn into a fucking pageant. It doesn’t have to be goody two-shoes. I’m not. I can fake it sometimes. Maybe. There is an element of responsibility. I’m not a jackass. There are kids exposed to things. I don’t want to fuck up some kid’s life or something, or make a parent's job really difficult. But at the same time, it’s like --

What are you doing that would do that?
I don’t know. To some people, me being sexual is really offensive because I’m gay. They’re like, he’s being really gay. And I’m like, actually, no, because there’s no other guys up here. I’m just being sexual. And male sexuality is frightening to America. Female sexuality -- it might not be the best example of it, but it’s all over the place. Overt female sexuality might be degrading. It might not be the most feminist type of sexuality, unless you look at it like the woman’s in control, so she’s got the power. Sexuality is just -- people are so freaked out by it. The double standard is that a woman can get away with it but a man hasn’t been able to yet.

How famous is too famous?
I don’t know. I really think it’s relative. The hardest thing to do in this situation -- but the best thing to do -- is to not take it too seriously. By doing that you don’t let it run your life and freak you out. It’s all kind of ridiculous, if you put yourself outside of it and try to look at it as objectively as possible. It’s all ridiculous. The whole thing. It’s crazy. It’s hilarious. It’s funny. It’s great. It’s really positive. And when you start letting the pressure get to you -- our job as entertainers is to not let the pressure get to us. Our job as entertainers is to be like, OK, I’m just going to keep doing what I do. And obviously I’m being an idealist right now -- but I kind of have to be, or how else am I going to last?

Can you go back to Burning Man?
I hope so. I’ll just wear disguises. Fame doesn’t freak me out, and I can handle it. But sometimes out in public there are people that just are so rude. Like, people are really cool about it and they’ll come up to you and they’re just like, “Oh, hey man, I really liked you.” It’s brief, it’s sweet, it’s genuine. But some people freak out. And I’m like, "Why are you freaking out?" I don’t get that mentality. I’ve never felt like that about a celebrity before -- except maybe Madonna. When I met Madonna my heart was racing. That’s my one experience being star-struck. And I told her, “I’m freaking out.” And she said, “Why?” And I said, “Because you’re fucking Madonna.”

But there are kids who feel like that about you already.
But even though I was star-struck [about Madonna] and freaking out, I internalized it. And I made sure that I didn’t make her feel uncomfortable. And some people, it’s like they just don’t get that.

Or they don’t respect themselves in that situation.
It’s a boundaries issue. They feel like because they know you and they like you that you owe them something. And it’s a difficult situation because I do owe them something, with Idol. They voted. If it weren’t for people out there voting for me, I wouldn’t have made it on the show. So I do owe them a lot of gratitude, I do. But I think that that's what I owe them -- gratitude. I don’t owe them to come join me for dinner when you’re coming up to me in this restaurant and I’m trying to eat. “No, you can’t sit down. No, you know what, I’m actually trying to eat dinner, can we take a picture another time?” It’s just about boundaries, and respect. It’s the one thing about being famous that’s difficult to adjust to.

What are you doing to stay sane?
I haven’t been going out that much. And I miss it a little bit, but I’ve been busy. I was definitely a night owl before all this. And when I go out and do errands, I’m literally like, I’m going to put on a baseball cap and sunglasses so that I can just do my thing. It’s not that I don’t like people coming up to me or appreciate the genuine sentiment. I’d just like to be left alone a little bit. No one can prepare you for that.

Is that the thing that’s changed the most?
Yeah. Because at the heart of me I’m the same guy doing the same thing on a larger scale. I’ve always been an entertainer. But it’s just, the lack of anonymity. It’s going to sell the album, but it takes away from your personal life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think it’s a fair trade. If that’s what I have to sacrifice for getting what I want, then fine.

How do you balance that mainstream success with having come from a community of performers who are much more underground?
There are tracks on the album that are artier and weird and experimental. And there will be things on it that are more mainstream and commercial. I like both kinds of music. I understand why you have to have both kinds. It’s kind of like what Lady Gaga is doing. She has huge commercial success but what she’s doing is wild and out there. I think there’s so many different elements that go into a persona and entertainment. If one of my songs sounds commercial, hopefully I’ll be able to create a visual that’s different, to give it a whole new twist.

Do you feel a responsibility to do that?
Yeah. Because I don’t want to be generic. I want to give people something to look at and talk about it. When I did “Ring of Fire,” which was a classic country song that I turned into this psychedelic Middle Eastern thing, I loved the way it turned out. And I loved what I was wearing. That was probably the most me, just as far as my taste goes and the kind of stuff I like. It was very Burning Man. And it was very polarizing. Some people loved it, and just as many people were like, "Ugh." I think there’s going to be some stuff on the album that does the same thing. And I hope that it does have a strong point of view. I don’t want to be bland. That is the last thing I want.

Are you worried about that?
No. But the big business of the music industry, if it’s not navigated properly, can end up making you bland. It’s all about mass appeal.

Who are your biggest allies?
The producers. Linda and I have had a lot of great conversations. Same with Greg Wells. They’re both very pro creative/artistic vision. Other allies are my friends that get it, that know. People that I did The Zodiac Show with. People that I’ve been performing with for years, that I did theater with. They get it. They get the line between integrity and commercialism. Big theater is like that. I was in Wicked! That’s a perfect example of a great piece of musical theater, but it’s also very, very finely constructed to have mass appeal to women, mostly. They knew their demographic. It’s totally calculated, but it is good. That’s kind of the way I look at what I’m trying to do. Something that does have mass appeal, and does have commercial appeal, and will be successful, but at the same time, it has quality. I definitely straddle the line -- I’m a business person, but I’m an artist.

How do you balance that yourself? How do you go home and chill out?
It’s been hard because I don’t compartmentalize as well as I’d like to. So I tend to be thinking a lot about the music. But the relationship has been very helpful, as an escape in a way.

And you get to see each other enough?
Yeah? I mean, we didn’t for a while because I was on tour. But now we’re in the same city. We’re both busy, but it’s definitely better.

You’ve talked in other interviews about how much falling in love for the first time changes you.
It really does change you, though, you know? But this is only the second relationship I’ve had in my entire life, and I’m 27 years old.

What did you learn about yourself from the end of that first love?
What you realize is that when you fall in love, especially for the first time -- the first major relationship that you have where you’re with somebody for a long time -- is how much of an impact somebody can have over you. And how much they can shift who you are, both in your own discovery of yourself and how they rub off on you a little bit. That was weird for me. I always thought of myself as extremely independent, and I do have a lot of independence about me. But when it comes to love, I have to fight codependence a little bit. I get a little clingy, I think, and it’s very out of character for me. So it becomes very confusing, because I’m like, wait, I’m usually fine. But all of a sudden, I’m like [waves hands] "Ahhhhh."

Like it’s easier to walk in and talk business.
Oh yeah. That’s something I actually said to him yesterday. I said, "You know, it’s funny. I’ve figured out a lot about life, and I have a lot of life experience, but I don’t know shit about love."

What was the wall you hit with him?
Sometimes it’s hard to, like, be a boyfriend for somebody, because you don’t know what that means. What does that mean? Especially if you haven’t been in many relationships. And being in the gay community, we don’t grow up with any role models for that. We don’t know what we’re supposed to be. And I think that’s funny because there’s so much -- again, it’s something that’s being evolved out of, but in the gay community there’s so much promiscuity. It’s socially accepted in the gay community to be promiscuous. It’s like, oh, we’re both men, we’re supposed to want to fuck all the time and cheat on each other. And it’s OK, open relationships are fine because we’re all men. And I’m not judging that, but I don’t think that’s for me. I don’t think it’s emotionally healthy.

Then you have to balance that with being away so much, being on tour.
So who knows, you know? The other thing that’s really hard is that you have to decide whether or not you have the focus and the energy to give to the other person. That’s a difficult thing, too. And who knows what the future could hold with that. I might have to say, “You know, this is how much I love you, that I have to let you go. I can’t give you what you deserve right now, so this isn’t going to work.” Hopefully it works. I want it to. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Out of the love I have for him, I don’t want to neglect it. [Sighs.] God, I can’t believe I’m saying all this. I think we put all these expectations on relationships and create this idea of, oh, this is how it’s supposed to be, because this is what all these other relationships that I see, that’s how they are. I think it’s really hard but really necessary to be like, but what are my needs? And what are your needs? And that’s our relationship. And that’s the hardest thing, because no one tells you how to do that.

And you don’t have all these other models. Not that they necessarily fit so well for straight people.
No, but there’s more of them. Even in the arts, a lot of art is about love and relationships, and there’s a lot of hetero art about it. But when it comes to the gay community, there’s just not a lot. And some of it’s so -- I have such a love-hate relationship with the concept. Like, I can only watch Logo for a couple minutes. It’s a little too --

Well, if it’s not good, it’s not good.
Yes, if it’s not good, it’s not good. That’s the best way to put it. I think when you’re more impressionable it’s more important. Like, seeing gay movies was important when I was young. But they were horrible. It’d be nice to see a movie about gay people that was well acted.

What else do you want to talk about?
I don’t know. [Long pause.] My job is to make this look easy and fun. That’s the illusion, the vibe I’m trying to create for people to feel. That’s what I want to do as an entertainer, create a mood that rubs off on people. This is scary, and it is a lot of work. And I’m OK, I’ll be fine. But, wow, this is a lot. And I hope that people are compassionate about that. I took a chance, stepped my life up a little, have some opportunities, have a little money, and I’m doing the best I can. I’m doing the best I fucking can, you know?

Thanks Junior. Thanks to everyone for coming out today. Thanks to everyone that helped organize this fund raiser and the toy drive. I’m still not sure who the Stunnas are and what they do exactly but thanks to them as well.

First of all - according to the agenda I’m scheduled to talk for a half an hour. I’m certain if that were the case everyone would be shuffling over to the Pink Elephant by 5 after and open a tab and continue to watch the game. So I’ll try not to bore you to death.

So hello my name is Eber Lambert. The only reason I am up here is that my ex-wife and I raised two sons: Adam Lambert the singer trying to break into the top 40 and Neil Lambert the politically outraged writer trying to break into media. We did all this in a bizarre corner of the world known as North County Suburban San Diego.

Now one thing I’m well aware of is that many of you are saying to yourself not only who the hell is this guy. But who the hell is Adam Lambert. Which is understandable. I still am surprised at the variation in responses by the general public.

During jury duty selection last summer, I was up for the role of prospective juror #5. I was answering the list of questions they give you which included identifying family members and occupations. I said I have two sons, one an entertainer in LA and one unemployed in NYC. The lawyer made me clarify that the description entertainer in this case meant singer. The Judge interrupted and asked if I was Adam Lambert’s dad which surprised not only me but the poor defense lawyer doing the questioning who clearly had absolutely no clue who Adam Lambert was.

So it goes from the extreme of me being incredulously recognized at the gas station as a result of my amassed total of 38secs on national television to people saying whats American Idol?

But most people at least know about American Idol. Though if you are like I was a little over a year ago, you might not know what it is. When Adam called me in sept 08 and told me he had to quit his job to go on American Idol my response was “youre gonna quit your job to go on a game show?”.

My prime time TV viewing tappered off to nearly zero somewhere around 2001. He explained that it was the biggest show on TV and that if he did well he would start making money 9 months later. To which I responded …”How exactly do you plan to live without income for 9 months?” As you can imagine as father-son phone conversations go, this one went down hill quickly. But it all worked out.

But if Adam wasn’t my son, its safe to say I would be among those of you out there looking at each other saying who the hell is this guy and I certainly wouldn’t be the guy up here explaining to you why I’m the guy up here.

Theres some of you that may not have heard about Adam until the recent fiasco with the American Music Awards. And if you are not up on what happened at the AMAs a few weeks ago allow me to give you a brief run down.

Apparently in addition to the Grammys, the Billboard music awards, the People Choice Awards and the MTV music awards there is a need for something called the American Music awards. And after 3hours of primetime televised performances, most with suggestive, occasionally bleeped out lyrics, accompanied by racy and scantily clad choreography, crotch grabbing, all sorts of variants of dry humping, smashing whiskey bottles on a piano, throwing a mic stand thru a plate glass window then lighting another piano on fire, it’s a family show.

Adam closed the show with a performance that included Adam briefly pulling a male dancers face into his crotch , fondling several female dancers and french kissing his male bass player. As you might expect this created a minor media firestorm for the next few weeks.

Popular music and choreography has been focusing on sex for along time, describing it in detail, alluding to it, euphemizing it and simulating sex for 40 years but apparently televising a man pulling another mans head to his crotch for a few seconds and kissing another man is a serious transgression in the sordid world of pop music.

Kids might be watching people say. There was an FCC obscenity complaint filed by a conservative east coast religious group. ABC cancelled scheduled appearances of Adam on several other shows.

It amazes me in 2009 how much concern we have to exposing kids to sex and sexuality even in its reasonably benign forms.
Even in positive forms. That’s not to say any of what happened at the AMAs was either benign or particularly positively displayed. Or for that matter in particularly good taste. Everyone has an opinion here.

Yet violence in its various forms, most far from benign, has long been accepted on prime time television, movies and video games. Eight of the top ten video games are rated as very violent. If Adam had pulled out a toy gun and simulated blowing the dancer away, there wouldn’t have been so much as a peep in the media the next day.

Some would respond that violence on TV and in video games doesn’t make kids violent or accepting of violence – a dubious argument considering the millions of advertising dollars spent drilling jingles and corporate catch phrases into our subconscious- but if that is true,if violence on TV doesnt have a major negative affect , then whats the big deal with kids seeing sex and sexuality portrayed on TV?

Just to assure you I’m not going off on a rant, this does tie directly into the event here tonight. When Junior first approached me about speaking here. He explained that the event was made up of various SD sports groups , all culturally diverse organizations, and connected with the Toys for Kids drive from the Gay Lesbian Center/Imperial Court. All brought together with the goal : Bring some holiday cheer to less fortunate kids and raise money for a charter school serving for kids from Low Income families. He didn’t even have to guilt me that much. How can you say no to supporting something like this? Here I thought when he showed up at the front door he was going to b**** about me always stealing his parking spot. I agreed and he gave me the flyer. Version 1 of about 7 I think. Junior is nothing if not prolific.

But then a couple days later he called explaining that the school was concern about an affiliation with the Gay Lesbian Center and that may cause problems with the board.. The school was fine with the donation but not the affiliation. So the next version of the flyer had to have all mention of the gay and lesbian center removed.

This is where our society is right now. Here you have a Gay & Lesbian organization doing some very cool charitable efforts. Contributing to the community in the most positive way imaginable. Supporting schools. You cannot get more community oriented than that. Many associated with the Gay and Lesbian organization are parents themselves. But the stigma still exists.

My hope is that as we go into 2010 and leave this decade we don’t have a name for yet… what is it the ones? The 0’es, the ands?? Whatever we decide to call it, hopefully going forward we’ll see this latest version of instituted bigotry continue to fade away.

And fortunately another school came along, Memorial Prep School in Barrio Logan, they welcome the support of the Gay Lesbian Center and all of the other organizations represented here tonight. And the kids at Memorial will benefit in more ways than one.

So Junior wanted me to talk a little about raising Adam and Neil. This brings us to another irony. Here I am talking about my kids to the members of SD American Football league the SD Tennis Federation and SD Hoops league when the only family members ever interested in sports were me and a yellow lab named Maggie.

Maggie was a huge fan of tennis balls. I use to play basketball at work a few days a week back in the 80s but only because I was usually needed in to even the teams.

But I tried to get the kids involved in the suburban sports scene. T-Ball, Soccer. I believe even to this day I am the only parent coach on record at the Poway Kids Indoor Soccer facility that can boast back to back 0-11 seasons. I was the bad news bears coach for a group of 7and 8year olds. All the other teams had played together for months, I had all the new kids, a couple with coke bottle glasses and inhalers, one who had recently lit his family garage on fire, basically we were Team Ritalin.

This was about 20 years ago so I’m guessing by now a couple of my best players are now either nonathletic geeks in well paying desk jobs or coming up for parole somewhere. Perhaps both.

Adam made a noble attempt at sports. He understood the concept of Tball but was always happiest when sitting on the bench. Same with soccer. Although my memory of Adam playing soccer is limit to him and another kid checking out a catapillar while the rest of the kicking cluster had the ball 30 yards down field. That and his only career goal at indoor soccer where he kicked the ball and the 40lb girl playing goalie holding the ball into the net.

It counted in our house.

At the end of each introductory season I would ask him if he had fun and if he wanted to do it again. The answer was always a pleasant no not really and no. Fortunately at age 9 he discovered the sport of musical theatre.

Neil lasted a few more seasons at Tball/league and soccer. But by age of 8 gave up organized sports for Video games and Piano lessons where he accelled at both . So sports to him became regularly kicking my ass at Madden Football on Playstation. He also join the theatre group and it really became our regular family Saturday social event.

Watching sports on TV was left to me and the dog enduring a miserable existence as life long Raider fans. Although even the dog gave up on the Raiders when they signed Jeff George.

But I guess that is our jobs as parents. To expose our kids to team sports or whatever group activities and see what takes. There is that delicate balance between pushing them enough to get them across the threshold of being good enough to enjoy it and pushing them too hard, too much and creating a problem. That’s the tough part. Finding that balance.

You go to any T-ball or youth soccer game in north county and you’ll see at least one parent thats pushing way too hard. But you’ll also see hundreds doing it right. Kids building self esteem and learning teamwork and discipline. And that’s whats youth sports is all about.

The other thing that Junior asked me to touch on, and I get asked this a lot from friends, is about being the parent of a gay child. I think this is another thing that’s in transition in our society. You hear about parents freaking out when their kids come out. Some parents need various amounts of time to adjust.

I think as time goes on and there more exposure and acceptance of the gay and lesbian community, and healthy relationships. This will continue to be less of a stigma for parents. My ex Wife and I were fortunate to have a couple of gay friends that we could consult with on how to navigate the coming out process. This was our issue. We really didn’t know if we were suppose to approach him or just give him space and let him tell us when he was ready. We were told the latter.

Teenage years are angst ridden as it is, throw in the additional struggle with ones sexuality, and non supportive/understanding parents and it can be down right evil. So thats my advice to parents talk to your gay friends, if you don’t have any find some, go to places like the Gay&Lesbian center which I think my ex-wife did at one point. But also trust your instincts. Realize its ok. That its all about love. And love is never a bad thing. Especially in this world.

Any parents of kids that are coming out as hard right conservative Republicans. I got nothing. You have my complete and total sympathy. I hear there been some success with deprogramming centers but its hit and miss…Its tragic really.

By the time Adam was around 14 I was pretty sure he was going to be batting left - just trying to stay with tonights sports theme. Actually I confirmed this when I discovered he was going to some gay porn sites on the family computer. That history icon can be a double edge sword.

When I told Leila, she thought maybe he might have just been curious until I explained to her that there isnt a heterosexual 14yo male on the planet that would surf thru gay porn for 2 hours. Especially with a sea of hetero porn just a few mouse clicks away.

So I delicately explained to Adam that it was ok to be curious but to be careful that his little brother didn’t find out and showed him how to clear the history. Neil and Adam were in the final few years of all out brotherly warfare and did not get along at all. I spent much of the mid 90s breaking up fights around the house. I figured an 11 year old totally outsized by his older brother with the gay bomb suddenly added to his arsenal could get pretty ugly.

A few years later Neil matured and understood and we all patiently waited together for Adam to come out. When he finally did come out at 19 I got big kudos from him for the Porn incident which I had all but forgotten but clearly he hadnt. And although he still went thru his struggle with sexuality, there was this never again spoken assurance that whereever he ended up, I would be ok with it.

With Neil it wasn’t sexuality, it was navigating through struggles with peer pressure and drug and alcohol use. On this one as a parent you toe the line of being credible and understanding and setting limits vs just being a dick, punishing and lecturing. Then going downstairs and having a beer or a few glasses of wine and shrugging off the hypocrisy.The trick here was not to bulls*** him. Kids can always see through bulls***.

For me Neil’s issues were much harder than Adams sexuality. Adam in High School was a piece of cake when it came to drugs since his clique was mostly Morman girls from the Chorus and Drama club. Although thank god for his orientation because some of those morman girls were got pretty wild their senior year.

And this comes back to the sports thing. And whether its sports, or art and drama clubs, music groups or whatever the group activity outside the classroom is. There needs to be a positive peer team function to build socialization and acceptance, tolerance and understanding of other people.

And this why its really scary that school budgets are pinched for whatever the reason and that these programs are getting cut.
Last summer when Adam was on tour , he had fans sending him clothes and jewelry, some of this stuff was pretty expensive. Fortunately he hooked up with an organization called Donorschoose.org whose charter is to raise funds and get donations to sustain art programs in underfunded schools. He was really excited about that and his fans latched on to it as well and in a few months raised a quarter million for the organization. I know he’s very proud of that.

I think sports in schools is going to be in the same boat soon but fortunately there is a lot of independent sports organizations available for families. Unfortunately not for all families.

When Junior told me that the folks here tonight were going to be from Sports organizations and the Gay Lesbian Center. At first I thought it was an odd combination. But when I thought about it I thought that actually it’s a natural pairing. Sports in our culture has always been on the leading edge of civil rights.

In the early days of baseball and football, this is where bigotry against certain religions and nationalities were diminished, Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans segregated in cities came together is sports. In the 50s and 60s pro sports integrated African American and Hispanic players and later Asian players. I read somewhere that there are currently 1700 players and field coaching personnel in the NFL. Which means just from the population that there is easily 100-150 gay men in the NFL if not much more. Yet no openly gay players exist. You could do the same math with the NBA or MLB.

Because as you all know, in sports it doesn’t matter what race or ethnicity you are, your religion, your orientation usually not even your gender, you just need to show up and bring it. That’s all that matters. Play the game.

So I think and hope in the next few years we’ll see pro sports once again be a pace setter in civil rights. This would be pretty cool.

And it would take some of the burden off of the open gay pop singers in the world.

Before Junior yanks me off the stage I just want to put in a quick plug for any creative writers or poets in the crowd. I want to plug an open mic that I have down at Rebeccas on the third tues of every month at 7-9 and for those who like flash fiction – 3 minute short stories read by the author I recommend checking out DimeStories.org run by my highly significant other Amy Wallen who also hosts a prose open mic the first Friday of every month at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest.

Thank you for listening and thanks for supporting the kids and Memorial prep.

Eber Lambert posted the FULL TEXT of his speech here:
www.adamofficial.com/us/blog/true-north-tavern-12132009

Adam’s brother Neil Lambert blogged at Something Awful dot com during the Idol competition. Below is what Neil said about Kris; Kris’ win; American Idol; Michael Sarver; and why Adam didn’t talk about his sexuality on the show:

Before the Finale:

- I like Kris. I wish him luck and I’ll just let the chips fall where they may.

- What a day! I’m simply beside myself for a Kris vs. Adam finale. My family and I had dinner at the same restaurant as Kris’ and we kept running into them and showing each other how we were voting for the other family’s kid. It was adorable. His family are all really sweet people and I’m not at all pissed if he ends up winning the whole thing. That said, vote for Adam .

I was determined to not have Adam lose to Gokey, but I don’t mind if Kris wins simply because he was such an underdog and so obviously talented. I just wish the finale could have been a 3-way competition between Kris, Allison, and Adam.

Adam will be fine no matter what. He’s got a lot of people knocking on his door. Besides the shame of having someone as lame as Gokey beating him, it might even be better for him to get 2nd. Like I said, no matter what happens, i’m happy with the outcome.

Kris Allen’ Win:

Oh the sadness! Middle America kicked our rear end. But all’s not lost, Adam’s in good hands and has quite a few people knocking on his door. Slash thinks he’s awesome and wants to collaborate. So he’ll be fine. Kris and his family are nice, genuine people. Even if they were somewhat fueled by people voting simply for the Christian guy, I’m happy for them. He’s talented, so it’s not like it was a complete mugging.

I got a bit sour grapes too, and had to keep reminding myself that this outcome is the best possible outcome. It was only a selfish pride thing that I wanted to see Adam win, but truthfully Kris needed the win and Adam didn’t. loving SLASH wants to work with him. Queen? Tons of producers. He’ll be fine.

The nerves finally hit me at the big reveal, but I wasn’t surprised. I mean, dialidol had informed me of their fate the night before. My mom was who I worried about, but she was ok too. The thing is, seeing the utter joy and complete shock from the Allens was really nice. After the show they were hugging and kissing their family and friends and it was simply wonderful. I’m very happy for them. Kris’ brother’s a good guy and we both occupied that my-brother-is-on-idol space so it was nice to watch him finish that journey. Kris’ father’s name is Neil as well, so I have a special affection for him too. And hell, Kris is talented. Like I’ve always said, the only thing that would have sent me flying into a rage would have been a Gokey victory. Plus, who ****ing cares who won? My brother just sang on stage with QUEEN AND KISS. I don’t think he could have been happier. The entire show, actually, was pretty damned entertaining. The afterparty was good too.

American Idol:

The production staff are all very nice people, the contestants for the most part are cool. The only thing I hate is the audience. Not those of us that sit around and simply talk/make fun. I’m talking about the incessantly screaming tweens. I had to sit on the set of American Idol Extra to watch Adam’s exit interview and I couldn’t handle it. I actually left and went around the corner to have a drink with Adam’s/Allison’s hair stylist and a former Idol contestant, much to Mom’s chagrin. Perhaps I’ve never been a 12 year old girl (perhaps), but I just don’t understand the idea of screaming someone’s name in a vain effort to get their attention instead of actually listening to what they’re saying or paying attention to the show. Great, you’re having fun. But it’s at everyone’s expense. These are the people that fuel idol for the most part and for that reason I’m glad Adam didn’t win. Perhaps I sound really arrogant here but I think he’s bigger than this show. I want him to do bigger things than this.

Michael Sarver:

I’d love to throw a rock at Sarver, though. He’s a dick. Gokey seemed like he was just joking… [Atozinco Note: in a video that Sarver made it shows Gokey saying about Sarver, "I love this guy to death. In the..right way?" Sarver said, "In the Godly way". Gokey repeats Sarver but looks unsure, "Um, in the Godly way... I mean, what do you say?"]

I’ll quote Sarver on this endlessly:

MICHAEL SARVER POSTED:
Where I’m from, you’re either in the closet or you’re dead.

hurrrrrr.

With Sarver, well…. Mom and Dad always taught us that it isn’t what you say but how you say it. That’s how I got so sardonic. So if what he said offended Adam, it probably had some teeth to it. Do I think he hates gays? No. Do I think he’s an ignorant shithead with no concept of diversity and how to interact with people that don’t match the narrow archetype of everyone you grew up with? Yes.

Alright, I’ll stop derailing about Sarver now and just say this. He’s not at fault for being ignorant if he’s never stepped outside his comfort zone. But if I were in a similar situation in which I found myself in his neck of the woods, my first inclination wouldn’t be to tell the people around town that where I’m from we all think they’re inbred hicks. Just sayin’.

Adam’s Sexuality:

What pisses me off is that people think he’s not talking about it because he’s scared of what’ll happen. Look at the loving TV and tell me he’s scared of weirding people out. Yeah right.

The truth is, American Idol shouldn’t be about the contestants’ silly personal stories. Had Danny Gokey not gone the Pity Party route, he would’ve been out sooner because he’s just not that exciting of a singer. I don’t want to see Adam on-screen whimpering about how hard it is to be a gay man in America because it doesn’t have to do with his singing. Adam didn’t want to fuse a sob story into his Idol persona. He wants to sing and entertain, not make people vote for him out of sympathy.