Adam Lambert

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Adam Lambert is widely regarded as one of the most successful contestants to come out of American Idol. In that sense, he defies the odds. After all, so many alums of the No. 1 Fox show fizzle as quickly as they skyrocketed to fame. But Lambert, now 30, has cultivated a loyal fanbase that he’s carried with him every step of the way since his 2010 debut, For Your Entertainment, and he’s counting on those so-called Glamberts to catapult him to the top of the Billboard album chart next week, when Trespassing, Lambert’s new album, is expected to debut in the No. 1 spot selling in the vicinity of 80,000 units.
Long considered among the more media-savvy alums, Lambert’s years in the theater have certainly helped ready the San Diego-bred singer for a career in music, but industry experience has been the best lesson, as he told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview.
The Hollywood Reporter: Your first album was hard to categorize in terms of genre, and since then, music has become very urban- and dance-heavy. Did that factor into your approach as you worked on Trespassing?
Adam Lambert: I actually find it a little irritating how everyone has to classify everything. I don’t really get why we do that so much because if you like a song, you like a song. I wanted to make something that was like pure pop. But pop is everything, so what does that mean? I think that on the last album and coming out of Idol, I had a little bit of pressure that I put on myself and maybe from some of my fanbase to have this classic rock fame. There’s still a lot of that energy on that album and there’s still a lot of that sensibility and spirit, but I think the genre is less exploited.
THR: You also record for a company, RCA Records, that’s fixated on Top 40 success…
Lambert: It’s been an interesting experience. And I think going into it the first time, I didn’t really understand the business of it much at all. Maybe as a consumer, I did, but not as much as I do now from the inside out. And it definitely does inform you and teach you things. First and foremost, I wanted to write music this time. I wanted to write from my perspective, figure out what I wanted to say and if it fit on the album and the executives liked it, then great, but it came more from me first this time. It’s been really cool too, because, yes, it is a business, but I’ve been working with incredible A&R who’s into the sonic sophistication that I think the album has, and my new management [Direct Management Group] has been really fantastic. So I think I have all the necessary tools to be able to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish this time.
THR: What’s surprised you most about the music industry and how it works?
Lambert: That there’s such an emphasis put on numbers, but what’s really exciting is when numbers are being emphasized on an artist like Adele, where it is about the music but it happens to be commercial. That’s exciting when the art and commerce comes together and that was kind of the goal on this album — how do we straddle that? Yes, I want it to be mainstream and connect with a broad audience, but how do I make it distinctly me — my point of view and my sound? I think we did it. I think we brought funk into it in a really cool way. Because I always have so much fun with those types of grooves live, like when I perform “Fever” or “Strut” — I love the way it feels up on stage. I love the beat. I love the way the audience is moving. I wanted more of that. And I also wanted to be able to have those moments, like on Idol with “Mad World,” where you can pull open the flood gates and be real and vulnerable.
THR: You spent so much time on the road, when did you do your writing?
Lambert: When I got home. I journaled a little bit and I did go back and kind of revisit moments and experiences to try and put them into song. What everybody always says is write about your ups and your downs. It really is cathartic. It gets you to the next place, and it did help me move forward and into the next chapter. Exorcise the demons.
THR: You’re listed as executive producer on Trespassing. How did that come about?
Lambert: I talked to RCA about it. In the beginning I had a meeting in New York with the heads of the label, Peter Edge and Tom Corson, right after I got off the road when I started the writing process. We had a great conversation during lunch where we just leveled with each other. I was like, “Look, if there’s something that you don’t like, just tell me.” And they were, like, “Okay, cool.” We just called out all the pretense and the bullshit and said let’s have fun with this and really communicate because we want the same thing. So let’s figure out how to do it. A lot of artists that I’ve heard about and read about are at odds with certain parts of the business and I didn’t want that. I wanted to have a very open, fun experience.
THR: Did you actually say I want to be the Executive Producer?
Lambert: Yeah, that came like a second later. I was, like, “I really want this to be from me, but you need to tell me if you think what I’m doing is bullshit or if it sucks.” They were surprised but I said, I’m a big boy. I grew up doing theatre, I’m used to rejection, you can tell me. It was really cool. And I think we figured out what we wanted to accomplish creatively and what we wanted to avoid, what we wanted to emphasize and what we needed to move past. We were all on the same page.
THR: But asking for that title on a second album is kind of ballsy…
Lambert: Well, I am ballsy. Sometimes to a fault. The thing about being executive producer, it wasn’t like, “I’m going to be in control; I’m right, don’t touch it.” It was, “I’m going to executive produce this project with you. It’s a team effort.” It’s not me taking over the whole business. There’s so much I don’t know about and didn’t know about a year ago, so it’s more of a creative statement. … Maybe the way that they look at it is, “Well, if doesn’t work out then we have nobody to blame but him.”
THR: That can be a frightening existence…
Lambert: And that’s the way I look at it, too. I’m putting my eggs in the basket here and putting myself on the line. Why shouldn’t I?
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Anne Burrell

SiriusXM host Romaine Patterson sat down with Chopped host Ted Allen for an interview to air on Monday, May 21st on SiriusXM OutQ 108 when talk turned to his fellow Food Network star, Anne Burrell.
“I also love it when Anne Burrell is on the show primarily because I have the biggest crush on her.” Patterson confided, continuing “Whether or not she’s a lesbian, I don’t care. She’s my girl!”
Burrell is well-known as the host of the Food Network series Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. To date, she has been mum about her romances, but Ted Allen gave a quick glimpse into her private life.
“I’m not going to put a label on Anne, but she is dating a woman right now.” Allen went on to explain that he just met the woman in question. “She was really cool,” he added. “You’ve got some competition.”
The full interview airs on the Derek and Romaine Show Monday, May 21st at 9:30pm ET, with a replay on Tuesday, May 22nd at 6:30am ET, exclusively on SiriusXM OutQ 108.
from Derek Hartley:  TV Viewer

UNITED KINGDOM – Complaints over an advert for bookmaker Paddy Power featuring transgender people have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The TV advert shown in February ahead of Ladies’ Day at the Cheltenham Festival invited viewers to spot the “stallions” from the “mares”.
The ASA investigated 92 complaints that the advert was offensive and condoned harmful discriminatory behaviour.
It ruled that it must not be shown again in its current form.
The advert stated: “…we’re going to make Ladies’ Day even more exciting by sending in some beautiful transgendered ladies. Spot the stallions from the mares”.
The advert showed a series of brief shots of people at the event while the voice-over tried to guess their gender.
In one scene, a woman was shown holding a dog while the voice-over said “woman” then hesitated while the shot changed to show a woman walking out of a men’s toilet, then said “dog, I mean man”.
The ASA said it received about 470 complaints, but only 92 of those fell under their remit to investigate because the majority followed the advert being watched online rather than on television.
Upholding the complaints, the ASA said: “We considered that the ad trivialized a highly complex issue and depicted a number of common negative stereotypes about trans people.
“We considered that by suggesting that trans women would look like men in drag, and that their gender could be speculated on as part of a game, the ad irresponsibly reinforced those negative stereotypes.
“And, particularly by framing the game in a way that involved a member of the public who had commented on Paddy Power’s Facebook page, the ad condoned and encouraged harmful discriminatory behavior and treatment.”
Paddy Power said that it did not intend to cause harm or offense and was “saddened” to learn that some viewers were offended.
It said it believed that the complaints had come from an organized campaign.
A Paddy Power spokesman said the company was disappointed with the ASA’s ruling.
He added: “This decision is especially frustrating given that the commercial was pre-approved by British television advertising clearance body Clearcast, who then considered the humor in the advert, while not to everyone’s taste, fell short of causing offense.
“Additionally, we reached out to leading UK transgender group, The Beaumont Society, for feedback on the script.
“Furthermore, we exclusively cast members of the trans community in the various transgender roles in the commercial.
“Finally, it is worth pointing out that the commercial has almost 600,000 views with twice as many ‘likes’ than ‘dislikes.”
The Beaumont Society told the ASA the script it was given did not include the scene in which a woman left a men’s toilet and was referred to as a dog.
It also said that it was not happy with the manner in which the terms “stallions” and “mares” were used in the finished advert.
from The BBC

Mariela Castro

HAVANA – Cuban first daughter Mariela Castro has been granted a U.S. visa to attend events in San Francisco and New York, sparking a firestorm of criticism from Cuban-American politicians who called her an enemy of democracy and a shill for the Communist government her family has led for decades.
The trip, which kicks off next week when Castro is due to chair a panel on sexual diversity at a conference organized by the Latin American Studies Association, is among several to the United States by prominent Cubans, some with close links to the government. Cuban academics, scientists and economists now frequently attend seminars in the United States, and Cuban artists and entertainers are also finding it easier to visit the U.S. due to an easing of travel restrictions by President Barack Obama’s administration.
Castro, 50, is a noted advocate of gay rights and head of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education. She has pushed for the island to legalize gay marriage for years, so far without success. She recently praised Obama’s stance in support of same sex marriage, and said her father, President Raul Castro, also favors such a measure, though he has not said so publically.
It will not be Mariela Castro’s first visit to the United States. She was granted a visa to attend an event in Los Angeles in 2002, during Republican President George W. Bush’s administration, and also made stops in Virginia and Washington.
Prominent Americans have also been frequent visitors to Cuba. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter came last March, and a bi-partisan delegation led by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, was here in February, meeting with President Castro as well as an imprisoned American subcontractor.
Carmelo Mesa-Lago, the dean of Cuba economy-watchers and an expert at the University of Pittsburgh, said Cuba has long had a large presence at the LASA conference, without sparking much protest.
“Academic exchanges like these are not new, but what’s different in this case is who she is,” he said.
The LASA International Congress, which includes hundreds of sessions on academic topics, takes place May 23-26 in San Francisco, a city closely associated with the history of the gay rights movement. Cuba’s state-run press said Castro will be among 40 Cuban experts in attendance.
According to the website of the New York Public Library, Castro is also to take part in a May 29 talk with Rea Carey, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, about international gay rights, as well as sexual identity and orientation in Cuba.
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Rev. Jesse Jackson

Some religious leaders are struggling with President Obama’s support for gay marriage but not the Rev. Jesse Jackson. In a statement released shortly after Obama’s announcement Jackson said, “If Dr. King and our civil rights movement have taught us anything, it’s the fundamental principle that all people deserve equal protection under the law. LGBT people deserve equal rights — including marriage equality. Discrimination against one group of people is discrimination against all of us. The State — and the Courts — should not sanction discrimination. We must be consistent in upholding human rights for all human beings.” I spoke to the Reverend about the impact of Obama’s announcement among blacks and the wider community of the faithful.
What do you think about the President taking a progressive stance on marriage equality when some of us are ready to roll with him and some of us are not?
I think the first thing is that the gap between theology and practice is not just in the black community. The issue has failed in 29 states because of the white church. The black church did not alone bear the cultural cross of this tension and transition. Some insist this has been primarily on the backs of black churches, but there are states where hardly any blacks live voting against the amendment.
The second point is that we live in our faith, whatever our faith beliefs may be, but we live under the law and we can’t have two sets of laws and one set of citizens. We are fighting for equal protection under the law. This decision is gonna free some people, it’s gonna expose the contradictions in other people. We accept the medical treatment of gay doctors. Legal representation of gay lawyers. Judgments of gay judges. The performance of gay and lesbian athletes. We accept the sermon of gay preachers. We accept the bloodshed on the battlefield of gay soldiers. We accept family members who are gay. We can’t have whereas, whereas, whereas.
It’s a matter of a cultural adjustment. I think people are going to look at the president in perspective. I mean, Cheney supports gay marriage because his daughter is a lesbian. So both parties have a fair amount of people in support of gay marriage. They’ve eased up and are offering civil unions as an alternative, but civil unions leave people so unprotected by law from insurance to inheritance to sick care, a whole range of legal protections. So it’s like the president has broken the bar. And I think it’s irreversible, really.
What do we say to those who say the Bible says marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman?
The definition of marriage has evolved over the years. We’ve had several variations of the institution of marriage. Saul had many wives and many concubines. Romney’s great-grandfather had five wives or something like that. The fact is, the Bible says teach love and fidelity.
Do you have a fundamental problem with using the Bible to try to define law?
No. I think that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. I understand that law. You are judged by how you treat the least of these. How you treat the most vulnerable. I understand that. Now people try to make the Bible toxic by trying to justify the oppression of women, which is just like those who sought to justify slavery by use of selective scriptures. For those who abuse the scriptures it won’t stand the test of love and justice. But abusing the scriptures won’t stand the test of love and justice.
I struggle with why some blacks are homophobic and supportive of legalized discrimination when we know what that’s like and how painful that is.
It’s deeply felt so we live out of what we’re taught. We’re taught that being gay is a sin to be overcome through conversion. Without that you go to Hell. If your theology is rooted in that view then there’s not much room to grow. But we engage with gay people every day as we should. I can’t help but say this is the front of the bus. If you get on the bus you have the right to not sit down, you don’t have the right to make me get up. You have the right to not engage in a same-sex relationship. You can get married to someone else, under the law. Your faith may forbid you, which is your right. We live in our faith under the law. The law affords us equal and adequate protection.
I like that you keep analogizing issues from the civil rights movement to what gays are going through. For some black people that is a very controversial point and they don’t want to have that connection ever made.
Well as far as I understand, we don’t have a monopoly on the principle of civil rights but we have a deep and spiritual example. We have been slaves. You cannot compare the gay struggle with the struggle to end slavery after 246 years. There were some gay slavemasters. Being gay does not get you categorized as three-fifths of a human being. You did not have to march for the right to vote because of laws on the books. But having said that, comparing degrees of pain does not address the logic of the matter. One need not compare slavery with other atrocities. That’s just a different set of issues. Expanding the big tent to include everybody and leave nobody out is the historic struggle.
There’s definitely a hypocrisy in that we accept the gay individuals we know in our lives but don’t want gays as a group to have equal rights.
That’s no different than some of my best friends are black, but blacks, they ain’t quite like us. We’ve seen this before. That’s the gap between theology and practice.
Do you think black ministers will support Obama like they did before?
I think they will, I hope they will, because if we judge political leaders by the box score, it’s not the home run in one inning that affects the chance to win an election. They have to look at the box score. After all, the battle troops are home from Iraq. He brought the automobile industry back from the brink. There are more people who are cared for insurance-wise than there were before. Gonna have to judge him by his box score. People have to look at his record and look at his opposition.
from Time Magazine
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