Sony & Holly's Obessive Tendencies

Today, I googled Adam to see what he was up to.  He had a new single automatically playing on his site and  within 15 seconds I had to quickly shut down the page!  It was a blend of Britney Gaga peppered with techno pop spewing filth into my living space.  I couldn't stand it!  It's as if he bottled up his raw essence since signing up with Sony and it's sitting somewhere in the corporate office in L.A. on the third floor, 8th door to the right.   


Let's face it. He has been commercialized for the masses and whoever is managing him at Sony just doesn't get it.  Only if that person would realize that Adam will only keep his world wide popularity by singing rock and roll and going on a raw diet.  The world has had enough of Madonna Britney - Gaga and that's all I see when I see his new photos.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe Sony does expect the world to end like in their new movie and is trying to cash out on Adam a.s.a.p...

On a brighter note, below is an eloquent article I found in June on Adam Lambert by Holly Interlandi. She has adeptly captured the essence of Adam, hot wired into the world and articulately reveal how this singer ignited the masses during his journey on American Idol earlier this year.

I laughed when I read this, wishing that I could ''let go of my mental control and embrace the unbridled spasticity of thought,'' which has been few and far in between motherhood.  I have rediscovered what it is to be excited and interested in everything again dear Holly.  Never stop writing!!!

Enjoy!

"Writers end up writing about their obsessions." -Natalie Goldberg

I've had a hard time of it, creatively, for about three months. When I was younger, I went through various passionate stages I referred to as 'obsessions'. I've been attempting to rein in my early 'obsessive' years for the fear that they put people off, or alienate them, or even make them feel belittled. I've been trying to 'grow up', so to speak - leave my crazy teens behind and start being responsible, whatever that means. After all, responsible adults don't get obsessive. They have too much work to do.

I am also a writer. And I recently became a writer with nothing to write about.

I started panicking. I tried to rediscover my love for words, but it seemed to have disappeared into the drawer alongside my band-aids and heartburn medicine. In all my eagerness to be acceptably nonchalant, the spark of inspiration had dulled.

Thus toned down, I went to bed on time and tried scheduling three jobs in the same day. I created a shiny new budget plan and allowed myself recreation accordingly. Instead of writing in notebooks, I degenerated into doing only crosswords before bed. I hemmed and hawed for subject matter, convinced something had permanently changed and I was turning into a dry, boring old fart.

And then...

... along came Adam Lambert.




"There he is, the perfect spiritual descendent of Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Queen, Hedwig, and all things gender-fluid and fabulous. He's the gorgeousness of glam rock rising, like an iridescent glittery phoenix emerging from America's cultural ashes. Eyeliner, black nail polish, incredible costumes, sexual ambiguity, a beautiful heart, and more originality and musical mastery in one finger than all the other Idols combined from any season." -Tosha Silver

Due to the constant brouhaha over this guy, I decided to see what the fuss was about, and I YouTubed him.

I found myself in awe of a pink-tinged rock'n'roll pixie with a gargantuan voice and an ever bigger personality. He can sing keystones from cathedrals, pulsates sexuality like a Velvet Goldmine character, and has the magnetism of a cathartic, melodious black hole. He's brought excitement to mainstream American music - something akin to a frenzy, which I normally look at with disdain, but this time find myself caught in. I am not a whining American Idol fan who thinks the vote was rigged. I could care less about American Idol, or even Kris Allen, whom I have nothing against but I find about as musically exciting as a wart. Adam has it. Regardless of what 'it' is, he has that spiritual spark from which stories are born. And I'm sure I still would have seen that had I discovered him playing to two people in a gay club in Hollywood five years ago. "Adam's popularity proves that perceptions of sexual orientation do not determine what makes a man irresistible. My friend John doesn't understand -- he thinks the possibility that Adam plays for the other team disqualifies him as the object of a woman's crush. A voice rooted in my loins responds, "So what?" His performances display a smooth-edged virility that transcends sexual preference." -Erika Cann Adam Lambert makes me grin. He makes me feel goofy. And oh lord, I have officially regressed back to adolescent obsession. But is obsession really regression? As I write this, tonight, it is nearly five AM, and the words are pouring out. I feel in touch with language once more. I feel a passion for it. And it's all that little glittery glam boy's fault. Perhaps I have been trying, in effect, to supress my personality, and in my misguided effort to do so, to attempt to curb any excitement in the way that adults try to color inside the lines. It's more measured, more precise, but much less fascinating than, say, the scribbles and blottings of a five year old. So I've decided to run with my obsession. Because I am an obsessive person. And I'm feeling more creative than ever. How awesome would the world become if we all just took our obsessions and ran with them? Decided that going gaga was the best thing humanity had to offer? Had grandmothers throwing underwear onstage and crotchety old men cheering for cheerleaders? Just accepted it all as lovely idiosyncrasy? Because this is exactly what Adam Lambert has done. He could have been boring and contained just for the sake of society, or responsibility, or the usual bland nature of a show like American Idol. But instead of control, he gave us unabashedly ridiculous glam and theatrics, because that is what he loves. I can't believe it's taken me thirty years of attempting to contain myself to comprehend that what produces my writing is not any degree of mental control, but the unbridled spasticity of thought. "I'm allowed an eye-roll now and then. I'm kind of ridiculous; I realize that." -Adam Lambert   Adam's outrageous performances and spitfire personality give me a feeling of pride that I haven't had since I first discovered Japan's Hideto 'hide' Matsumoto back in 1999 - not because they sound anything alike, but because they represent similar ideals. People have come up with all sorts of comparisons for Adam - a new Freddie Mercury, a new David Bowie, even the reincarnation of Elvis Presley. But to me, he has always recalled 'hide' Matsumoto, that little pink-haired imp from X Japan, who not only stole the spotlight from everyone else but had a transcendent outlook on life that can only be summed up as, "I'm here, I'm me, I'm outrageous, and bite me if you hate it, because that's okay."

 "Kiss your misery... dance until you wilt, until you accept all things as they are." -hide, 'Misery'

There's really something to say for a performer who doesn't just entertain, but makes you feel comfortable in your own skin.

Like hide, Adam makes me happy to be myself, to be here, to be alive as who I am. When I go to work and face customers after hearing his smoky vocals on 'Feelin' Good', I feel sassy and impenetrable. When I get dressed to his defiantly snarky version of 'Black or White', I look in the mirror and like what I see. When I listen to his heartbreaking cover of U2's 'One', I find myself believing that an airplane could fall in love with a starfish and somehow be happy. Even the cheesy pop song 'No Boundaries' carries inspirational weight when supported by his vocal.

Of course, his amazing voice is almost beside the point. An atttitude also counts - and his is golden.

 "I want to be an entertainer... I want to help people escape and just dance and have a great time and party and love each other, and I want to be able to raise awareness on a couple of things. You know, soapbox about it. Maybe pushing peoples buttons for a little bit. Always with a little wink at the audience, with a little camp. With a little seriousness in it, but I don't want to take myself too seriously. I want to upset people, I want to make people think, I want to keep people interested." -Adam Lambert

I have now determined that there is nothing immature about passion; there is nothing childish about adoration and ridiculous hyperbole; there is nothing WRONG with an outpouring of love and excitement. Adam just brings it out in people - there's a reason that so many of his fans are repressed, middle aged women. I've read articles written by ecstatic housewives who have to sit back and wonder what hit them.

Is this regression? Hardly, unless massive sexual euphoria is considered unhealthy. Whoever coined the term 'unhealthy obsession' was likely a cowardly politician who deemed personal offense as the worst possible sin.

So here it is: I have an obsession with Adam Lambert and his flaming fabulosity, and I am going to use that obsession to fuel my heretofore extinguished creative fire. I am going to write about him, and from him, and because of him, and if that makes me less of an 'adult', then I am happy to counteract the mold of becoming subdued, overworked, and buried in shame.

~~Holly Interlandi