6.18.13 Adam out and about in New York!!
Jun 18, 2013 0:51:56 GMT -5
Post by Q3 on Jun 18, 2013 0:51:56 GMT -5
Adam on the red carpet at the World War Z premiere adam-pictures.com
Pittsburgh declares June 15, 2013 Adam Lambert Day
File #:2013-1621 Version: 1
Type: Proclamation Status: Adopted
File created: 6/17/2013 In control: City Council
On agenda: Final action: 6/17/2013
Enactment date: Enactment #:
Effective date:
Title: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare June 15, 2013 to be “Adam Lambert Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.
Sponsors: Darlene Harris, All Members
Indexes: PROCLAMATION - MS. HARRIS
Attachments: 1. 2013-1621.doc
WHEREAS, Adam Lambert was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and raised in San Diego, California, where he began performing amateur theatrical productions as a child; and
WHEREAS, in 2009 Adam Lambert came into prominence during the eighth season of American Idol, where he finished runner-up, and became a fan favorite; and
WHEREAS, Adam Lambert has had a tremendous career, selling millions of albums around the world, and receiving numerous awards and recognitions, including a Grammy Award Nomination for Best Male Pop Performance in 2011, and an Honorary GLAAD Media Award in 2013; and
WHEREAS, Adam Lambert has been recognized as the first openly-gay mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major record label in the United States, providing inspiration to countless aspiring artists; and
WHEREAS, the critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, Adam Lambert, will be performing on Saturday, June 15, under the stars on Liberty Avenue in Downtown, Pittsburgh, as part of the week-long 2013 Pride Fest; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare June 15, 2013 to be “Adam Lambert Day” in the City of Pittsburgh.
SPONSORED BY: COUNCIL PRESIDENT DARLENE M. HARRIS
CO-SPONSORED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS:
RICKY V. BURGESS, COREY O’CONNOR, PATRICK DOWD, THERESA KAIL-SMITH, BRUCE A. KRAUS, R. DANIEL LAVELLE, WILLIAM PEDUTO, and NATALIA RUDIAK
*****
Adam at the World War Z premiere
Adam attended the premiere with Charl Brown who is currently performing on Broadway in "Motown the Musical". Adam and Charl are friends. They were in “Hair” together.
adam-pictures.com @adam_pictures
HQ pictures of Adam Lambert at the World War Z New York Premiere (June 17) - bit.ly/10rPGnT
After the movie, it appears that Adam ended up at the Boom Boom Room. He tweeted:
Adam Lambert
@adamlambert
OMG BOOM BOOM ROOM IS BOUT TO GO AAWF
The Boom Boom Room is a lounge located
at the top of the Standard Hotel in the meat packing district across
from its sister club, Le Bain. It is without a doubt the most opulent nightlife establishment presently operating in NYC.
The views from the lounge are
incredible, the decor is first rate and the door is impenetrable. Of
the places that claim to have a guest list only policy, this appears to
be the only one that truly lives up to it. Despite its super posh
decor, and elitist atmosphere, the place just isn’t all that fun on a
consistent basis. It is much more of a place that you would come to
meet up with your friends, and then perhaps head somewhere a bit more
lively (like across the hall to Le Bain, for instance).
That being said, the venue is host to
some of New York’s most desirable parties, especially during fashion
week. Like many other top venues, it closes in the Summer when the
money crowd migrates to the Hamptons to do its frolicking.
As a side note- it should be mentioned
that nearly anyone can go to this venue for drinks earlier in the
evening, but at 11 they kick everyone out and then re-open with a gust
list. If you want to have a few drinks and soak in the view, but cannot
get on a guest list, then going between 8-11 is a good option.
However, this method does not offer the same experience as going during
later hours.
Crowd Description – The
crowd here tends to be slightly older and more established than at many
other places, with plenty of young pretty girls who seem omnipresent in
these types of places. As the door policy is invitation only, the
crowd tends to be very well connected.
Link: www.socialyeti.com/clubs-and-lounges/lounges/boom-boom-room-nyc/
*****
Neon sign on a bar entrance, Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh, PA, June 15, 2013. Photo by Mr. Q3.
My wild and wonderful trip to Pittsburgh
6.18.13 by Q3
I spent the weekend in Pittsburgh. I went to Pittsburgh with my husband to attend an Adam Lambert concert. But that was just a small part of a wild and wonderful trip. Pittsburgh is a marvelous city filled with great food, comic book meccas, amazing art and interesting people. I will return to be a tourist. Now to the important part, the Adam part!!
Walking 31 blocks to get to the concert and stand 1 block from my hotel room for a really long time....
Thanks to a post from SandySVA I was lucky enough to get “Premium Pit Tickets”. No one knew exactly what that meant, but I thought it would mean we could avoid the GA line. I planned to attend with my husband who I was certain would not be willing to wait in line all day. And I wanted to be close to the stage. . (I normally do not care if I am that close to the stage but for this concert I just wanted to be close to the stage.)
1:00PM We arrived in Pittsburgh and checked into the Westin Hotel. We got in the elevator and a nice woman asked if we were there for the Arts Conference, we explained we were here for Pittsburgh Pride and to see Adam Lambert in concert. I could see the wheels turning in her head. “You mean from American Idol?” she inquired and looked at us like we were a bit nuts. A guy in the elevator who had on a conference badge said, “Oh I love him! I wish I know he was going to be here.” I recommended seeing him live in concert sometimes. We started to talk about Adam concerts and fashion. The woman looked at us in fear/awe and hopped out of the elevator on 19. The three of us keep talking about Adam and completely missed the 22nd floor. We get off at the top, 25 I think, caught the next down elevator to 22 and started to come back to earth for a moment or two.
Our room was perfect and had a view of the stage and the area marked off for Premium ticket holders – just a block away. So convenient! I was proud of my great HotWired.com deal!
We had a great lunch – Pittsburgh is filled with great food, properly prepared. A big switch from the Pittsburgh I visited once a year when I was growing up (my dad grew up in Pittsburgh). The weather was amazing – blue sky, fluffy clouds, 78 degree, slight breeze. It was too good to be true!
2:30PM Premium Pit Tickets in hand, we did advance reconnaissance and talked to the ticket/search supervisor about how it all was going to work at 5:30PM. We were told that we had to line up on 7th and go through the bag search and that we could not walk down Liberty Avenue because it would be closed. OK, I can live with that. (Tally: 8 blocks walked.)
We headed back to our hotel room on the 22nd floor of the Westin Hotel and relax. I was having a lot of trouble thinking about anything except that Adam will be singing in 7 hours, 6-1/2 hours, 6 hours, then I heard Adam’s voice and the band. I looked out the window and had a perfect view of part of the stage and could hear the entire soundcheck – the sound was amazing.
6:00PM We left our room. Liberty Avenue was cordoned off, so we headed toward Penn to take the long walk around. As we walked along 10th, we passed a wide alley that people were walking down to get to 7th. We joined about 100 people taking this shortcut passed the dumpsters and back doors of restaurants and bars. When we got to 7th , we were confronted by the line. (Tally: 13 blocks walked.)
So we headed along 7th away from the entrance. The line turned and ran down Penn for blocks. We reached the end and we were back at the Westin Hotel! I remain cheerful. Honest. (Tally: 18 blocks walked.)
We got in the line. Time passed. The line moved forward. We met some really nice people. I had a good time. We finally got to the search area and (thankfully) my bag was acceptable, our tickets were scanned and we were admitted. (Tally: 22 blocks walked.)
We got gorgeous yellow wrist ribbons and happily walked through the crowd to the stage. 3 more blocks and we were at the Premium Pit area. We presented our tickets and were told we needed blue wrist bands and learned that we could have skipped the line. (Tally: 25 blocks walked and we are where we started, looking up at our hotel room at the Westin.)
We headed back to the ticket area, this time we avoided the line. We got the proper wrist bands and finally arrived at the area fenced off for the Premium Pit ticketholders. (Tally: 31 blocks walked and we were looking up at our hotel room at the Westin.) A bit like doing the treadmill! But at least I get to see Adam!
The scene
Pittsburgh does Pride really well. Liberty Ave. was filled with almost naked young men hawking vodka jello shots, tubes, and Syringes. The crowd was diverse. The only things that the crowd seemed to have in common was a commitment to equality, a desire to party and a love of shredded, cut and mangled attire. And generally people were in a great mood
I talked to some of the volunteers and they said how nice Adam is. I was proud – like somehow I was partly responsible. A woman said she watched the soundcheck and said he was so nice to the fans. Later I saw this video and I understood why she was so complimentary.
The weather started to change – but it won’t rain on Adam!
It had gotten hotter and more humid, but no one seemed to care. I noticed that there were a few more clouds.
I had brought a couple ponchos with us nut after seeing the blue sky, I left them in our hotel room. I look up longingly at my hotel room. I could see it, but id I really want to walk out of there and walk 8 blocks around again?!? NFW! I will just get wet.
The show
There were four acts before Adam plus a DJ filling in the breaks.
The show kicked off with a beautiful performance by Ryan Amador & Jo Limpert of Ryan’s song, “Define Me” youtu.be/HyNSGff-Nh4
The next act, David & Devine, a self-described “new age blues pop” act was not really notable. I remember little about their music except it was dancy and I wanted it to end. I think they were like a dance-pop version of Captain & Tennille but watered down and in black. I expected more from their bios -- Dave Yaden is a Grammy award winning songwriter who has written and performed with Lady Antebellum, Eric Hutchinson, Josh Kelley, and One Republic. Candace Devine has performed as a backup singer and recorded for a number of artists including Christina Aguilera, Tony Lucca, StevenVan Zant, Survivor, and The Tubes. Candace has also written and recorded for national and international films such as Georgia Rule and Princess Diaries 2.
Next was the first of two pleasant surprises for me – Sharon Needles. She won season 4 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and was crowned “America’s Next Drag Superstar” in April 2012. She was just spooky, raunchy, delish fun. The only thing that would have made the show better would have been if she had introduced Adam and done a campy duet with him.
After a long DJ break, Joe McElderry made his US debut and was also a pleasant surprise. We later learned that it was his 22nd birthday when they presented him with a cake. Joe is pretty much unknown in the US but he won the 6th season of the X Factor UK in 2009. His first single “The Climb” reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart on the wake of his post win popularity. He was also crowned the winner of the 2nd series of Popstar to Operastar in 2011.
He is also openly gay and cute as can be. He is an excellent vocalist in the style of George Micheal – he even wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans. (If they want to recreate Wham, he would be the perfect lead vocalist.)
Joe did some of his music, a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” which he introduced by asking the audience “Do you fancy a sing-a-long?” and closed with a nice rendition of "Nessun Dorma" all with enough energy to power all of Pittsburgh and with .
Joe is talented, cute and very likable. His career has been a bit of a struggle and he was dropped/split from SYCO records (Sony/Simon Cowell) after 1 album. He subsequently signed with Decca Records (UMG) and put out 2 studio albums and a Christmas album. The first Decca album was very successful (certified gold in the UK). Unfortunately, his last album only sold 28,000 copies in the UK and the two singles were not hits. It is not an easy business.
Waiting for Adam
Joe left the stage. Someone from the Delta Foundation, a couple politicians, and “Tall Kathy” from 96.1 KISS appeared on the stage to talk about Adam. I remember a county supervisor pandering and saying Adam was the best American Idol ever. “Kelly who?” I did not believe he actually believed what he is saying. I just wanted Adam to perform.
A rain drop. Did I really feel that? Plop. Yes, it is raining!
The rain starts to fall.
The production guys started to cover the equipment with plastic tarps. Then they started to fool around trying to move two white tent pavilions over the equipment. It was entertaining to watch the “Lucy Show” style effort of putting the tents over the equipment. I wanted to scream out – unscrew the legs. Finally, someone in the front of the audience, suggested unscrewing the legs and putting it over the equipment and then screwing the legs back in. Duh?!?
The rain goes away. It sprinkles a bit.
It does not seem as much like forever as it actually was partly because the DJ kept the music playing and there was a lot of alcohol available.
The band took the stage. Adam burst onto the stage. He was literally glowing and he looked fantastic. (Someone screamed out “Shave off that mustache!” There was a murmur of agreement around me.)
Adam started to sing. The people in my section went crazy. Half of the section was Adam fans, but half were Delta Foundation folks, major donors and the volunteer leaders. So it is not a given that this would be a totally Adam-friendly group.
The advantage of being up close was that I was close. 4 people from Adam. The big disadvantage was the sound -- all distorted because the speakers were set to blast the sound down the street over a block. Some parts sounded great, other parts were so distorted that I did not know what was happening to my ears. Also, I am certain that they cranked up the sound levels before and after Adam took the stage.
My impression was that only about a 1/3 of the audience were Adam fans the rest were LGBT folks out for a party and fans of Sharon Needles. I could not really see what was going on behind me because I could not take my eyes off of Adam. But the few times I dared to turn around, the crowd looked like they were into it.
The bad news, Adam said, “Are you having fun?” twice!!
The good news, Adam looked fantastic and seemed to be having a great time. He was loose and dancy and just having fun. Even the song order mix-up was just funny.
The great news, is that Adam’s entire set had a rock edge to it. More of a rock edge than any Adam concert I have been to (and that is a lot of concerts). It makes me optimistic for A3.
He did some new things with his voice
The Improv on Chokehold was….well just listen to it...
And toward the end of Shout...
I need to pass the baton to Cassie on this one. Adam was doing some things with his voice I never heard before. He ended one song with almost a soft growl noise. In other places he had more finesse and almost bent the notes.
I could not take it all in. I will have to watch and listen to the videos to actually know what I actually saw and heard. There was just so much going on. But overall, the band was as good as I have ever head them, and Adam was joyous fun.
Something else was different
I have been attending Adam concerts for 4 years. I have lost count how many times I have seen him. And every concert I have attended is different. But there was something different about Adam and it was more than his hideous mustache. (I liked the beard but despise that mustache! Hopefully it will never be combined with aqua board shorts!!)
Somehow Adam seemed more in control and more confident. He was there to entertain a crowd, and having a good time doing it. Perhaps it was because he was performing at a Pride event or because he is more secure now. But he did not seem to need to hear that applause or approval. The only word that comes to my mind is he seemed “self-contained”.
Finally I want to respond to a comment I read in a review
Scott Mervis wrote a review of the concert in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette which included this, “Unlike Melissa Etheridge last year, who poured out heart and soul, there was no acknowledgement whatsoever that he was at a Pride event. Clearly, a heartfelt rallying cry was in order, but it seemed like he just missed the point.”
. The entire review is here: www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/music/adam-lambert-leaves-crowds-wanting-more-at-pride-in-the-street-concert-691912/
I believe Mr. Mervis actually missed the point. Adam did include a rallying cry in his performance – the encore, Are You Gonna Go My Way & Trespassing. This one is for you Scott…
I don't need no sympathy. I won't cry and whine.
Life's my light and liberty
And I'll shine when I wanna shine.
And on Saturday night, Adam stood on that stage at Pittsburgh Pride and shined brightly and celebrated light and liberty.
Upcoming Events
Check the Adamtopia calendar for more events and links to more info.
June 20, 2013 Shred Of Hope Celebrity Online T-Shirt Auction begins. 100% of all funds raised by Shred of Hope will go directly to the Ali Forney Center. To bid on shirts, visit www.shredofhope.com
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
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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Adamtopia Daily News & Information thread is for discussing current news. Keep the news focused on Adam news. Please try to follow all the site guidelines. And most importantly, stay glittery and golden.
Birthday greetings may be posted on the first page of comments. After that, please post birthday greetings in the Member News Section or send a PM. Two members have been designated to post birthday greetings whenever they get here -- our Confectioner Extraordinaire (Reihmer) and our Humorist (soeulmate). Birthday thread: atop.proboards.com/board/10/birthday-greetings
Personal news and requests for advice should be posted in the Member News thread: atop.proboards.com/board/21/member-news-advice
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We don't have a lot of rules here but they are essential. Just as a reminder...
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/
Adamtopia News Thread
Adamtopia Daily News & Information thread is for discussing current news. Keep the news focused on Adam news. Please try to follow all the site guidelines. And most importantly, stay glittery and golden.
Birthday greetings may be posted on the first page of comments. After that, please post birthday greetings in the Member News Section or send a PM. Two members have been designated to post birthday greetings whenever they get here -- our Confectioner Extraordinaire (Reihmer) and our Humorist (soeulmate). Birthday thread: atop.proboards.com/board/10/birthday-greetings
Personal news and requests for advice should be posted in the Member News thread: atop.proboards.com/board/21/member-news-advice
Help Keep Adamtopia a Great Place
We don't have a lot of rules here but they are essential. Just as a reminder...
Adamtopia Guidelines
The Adamtopia guidelines are quite simple. To be a member of Adamtopia...
1. You must be an Adam fan.
2. You must be respectful of other members. Feel free to express your opinion, but be glitterier and golden.
3. Strive to be funny, entertaining or informative when you post. Avoid posting something that has already been posted.
4. Never question anyone's right to post, the appropriateness of a topic or define the proper way for an Adam fan or Adamtopia Member to behave.
Let the moderators do their job.
More rules will be added if the need arises but, if everyone follows these rules, we will not need a lot of rules.
Read more.
The Adamtopia guidelines are quite simple. To be a member of Adamtopia...
1. You must be an Adam fan.
2. You must be respectful of other members. Feel free to express your opinion, but be glitterier and golden.
3. Strive to be funny, entertaining or informative when you post. Avoid posting something that has already been posted.
4. Never question anyone's right to post, the appropriateness of a topic or define the proper way for an Adam fan or Adamtopia Member to behave.
Let the moderators do their job.
More rules will be added if the need arises but, if everyone follows these rules, we will not need a lot of rules.
Read more.
Happy Birthday
elkatbert, liuzita, mamagail, nannygoat and vee!!
elkatbert, liuzita, mamagail, nannygoat and vee!!
RT @billymagnussen: No good. @adamlambert @thecharlbrown pic.twitter.com/NWwgNL9ikO 
Q3, Thank you for your brilliant recap!!
