Posted on 05/18/2009 11:53:48 AM PDT by lewisglad
I am a greenhorn in the music world. If you gifted me an Ipod, I’d probably mistake it for a remote control. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift are names I have heard, but faces I could not place. I can’t operate a CD player and have always thought of concert-going as an activity other people do.
Until now. American Idol contestant Adam Lambert seems to have awakened my long lost music gene. It happened on a Tuesday in March when I coasted by the family room TV on my way to nab cashews from the kitchen. This male Elvira had cool, black nail polish, a Clark Gable confidence, an androgynous sex appeal and the ability to emote like I’ve never seen.
Heck, this is a concert I could attend, I thought.
With an alluring combination of pure talent, charisma, unpredictability and eccentricity, Lambert will no doubt go down in history as a superstar, not to mention American Idol’s greatest success story.
Commentators call Lambert a polarizing figure: you love him or you hate him. Could this stem largely from the partisan divide in America?
Lambert is a blue state. He is Hollywood, glamour and bigger than life. Using struts, vocal acrobatics, and bizarre song renditions, he sticks it to 'the man' and orthodoxy. He upsets society, chastising manners and mores, much the way Elvis Presley did on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. Lambert is a comic book hero for those with an anti-establishment bent, such as 70’s children like me who learned early on to distrust government and convention.
His competitor, Kris Allen, is a red state. He is good ole boy from Arkansas who attends church and married his longtime sweetheart. On stage, he is as placid as a lake, even against the raging waterfall, Lambert. Allen is humble, casual and could live in Pleasantville. Lambert would be the Picasso of Pleasantville, upsetting the status quo.
In many cases, Lambert clearly transcends the red-blue divide, as evidenced by the statistics presented on 'Dial Idol' and other websites that estimate the percentage of votes each competitor receives by state. But I have to wonder if some of his angry detractors are those with a deep-seated dislike for all things liberal and idiosyncratic. .
The controversy surrounding Lambert’s sexuality also plays into this theory. Bill O’Reilly, for example, thought it newsworthy to ask his Fox News viewers if they thought the singer was gay. Successful same-sex marriage initiatives are sweeping this country, and opponents may see Lambert as a poster boy for alternate lifestyles and as a threat to conservative values.
Could an Adam Lambert victory represent a new level of acceptance for difference? Would a Kris Allen win reinforce communitarian values and the familiar? Some may see this season’s contest as a battle of hope and change pitted against tradition and custom.
Win or lose, Lambert will be a music icon. And win or lose, I guess I’d better figure out what those shapes on the CD player mean.
________
Charlotte Laws, Ph.D. is a Los Angeles TV host and the author of the book, Meet the Stars, which explains how to hobnob with the rich and famous.
AI has taken care not to mention that Kris Allen is married.
He looks like a young teenager and the producers want to keep it that way.
Well, you’re an idiot.
Yeah, I did not know it until I read it on here. Of course I do not pay that much attention other than keeping an eye on what my daughters are watching and listening to what they say.
I hope Kris wins..let him have the handcuffs of the oppressive IDOL contract...I want to see Adam SOAR! Which he will. I LOVE HIM. Don’t care if he’s gay and 27 years old. I know talent when I hear it...and he’s got it.
I didn’t watch it then either. I don’t care for him either. The only reason I even know what’s going on this season is because a local boy made it to the finals and it’s all over the local news.
LOL. It’s a euphemism.
I don’t think he’s an idiot. I think the spectacle of young girls swooning over, and “idolizing” an obviously gay man is kind of nauseating.
LMAO.
My girlfriend convinced me to watch it since she knows I love "Ring Of Fire"...needless to say I was nonplussed with his take on it.
I told her at the time, the firing squad should be the death penalty for messing up a Cash song like that.
Anyone who thinks Kris is more talented than Adam is either deaf of prejudiced.
You’re not voting for priest of the day or teacher of the year.
It’s a talent show!
Why do politics have to creep into every damn thing for some people?
I thought Rock Hudson was handsome and sexy...sue me.
My 21 year old who has a very eclectic taste in music (everything from classical to Frank Sinatra to metal.) He thinks Lambert will be a great “metal screamer” (his words.)
Well I am surprised. He doesn’t have a gay voice.
I am not a big follower of AI, but I do watch the finals.
So did I. But, you recall, nobody knew that he was gay until he was nearly dead of AIDS. There was even a faux marriage to keep up the pretense.
who in the world thought that Freddie Mercury screeched into the microphone?.. he had a fine voice... was very talented... great performer...
I don’t care about any performer’s politics or sexuality unless THEY make a bit deal of it and make it a part of their act. So far, he has not. He’s been very gracious...
Women aren’t my preference either. I prefer to be alone, but when the time comes and push comes to shove, give me a woman.
“Well, you’re an idiot.
GREAT FACTUAL argument! That’ll teach him!
Pro screamers love Adam. He ain’t wearing well at our home.
Nor would we buy anything he recorded. But then, we don’t
like KISS either and many do.
In either case, he’ll have a great career.
Nothing new under the sun, the ladies swooned over Liberace back in the 50s.
So you wouldn’t have thought he was handsome and sexy if you knew it?
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