Mr. L

Gail Zimmerman from Detroit Jewish News had a seldom luck to meet with Adam Lambert at the meet&greet during American Idol Tour.
It ended up with a great and warm interview with Jewish edge, published by Naomi Pfefferman at jewishjournal.com.

Below the Adam-fragments of the article, the original link is here.

(Photo: Temple Of Arts, Saban Theatre. Adam Lambert and Cantor Ilysia Pierce sing ‘The Prayer’ )

An out-of-body experience

I see a tall figure with asymmetrically cut black hair — wearing jeans and a T-shirt — enter the room. Adam is smiling. Without his stage makeup, he looks younger than his 27 years. I concur with what Adam’s mom, Leila Lambert, said during an interview on ABC’s 20/20: “I always said he was like sunshine. He just walks into a room and he, he just glows.”
(…)
The publicist introduces me to Adam. (Like Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, I’d like to say, “Hello, Gorgeous.” But I am trying to maintain some sense of professionalism.)
Adam sits down next to me at the table and shakes my hand. We are face-to-face, sitting about two feet apart. He immediately makes an intense kind of eye contact, which he maintains throughout the interview, making me feel like I’m the only person in the room.
I abandon my notes and, hoping my tape recorder is working, decide to ask my prepared questions from memory. I don’t want to look away; I am having an out-of-body experience.
Adam laughs often and totally engages in the conversation. He is warm, polite, candid, good-natured and quick-witted, with a great sense of humor.

Conversation

Jewish News: Hi Adam, nice to meet you.

Adam Lambert: How are you?

JN: How are you?

Adam Lambert:: I’m very good. Thank you.

JN: Well, Adam, welcome to “the Jewish mom” interview.

Adam Lambert:: Yaaayyy! My people. (Laughing and opening his arms wide.)

JN: Speaking of your people, there are some things your Jewish fans are curious about. Are both of your parents Jewish?

Adam Lambert:: No, my mom is.

JN: The Rolling Stone article said you dropped out of Hebrew school at age 5.

Adam Lambert:: I think I was a little bit older than 5. Probably like 9.

JN: How were you able to sing those songs in Hebrew that everyone’s listened to over the Internet?

Adam Lambert:: Oh. All phonetic. I don’t speak Hebrew. I wasn’t bar mitzvahed, unfortunately.

JN: So did your family celebrate the holidays?

Adam Lambert:: We did celebrate Chanukah as opposed to Christmas. So we stayed true to our roots that way. And we celebrated Passover occasionally. I mean I hate to say it, but we were kind of Jewish by form. Lightly Jewish. Diet Jews. More of a heritage thing.

(True to his heritage, and to the spirit of tikkun olam, Adam has requested that his fans donate to charity rather than buying him gifts.)

JN: I loved the version of Muse’s “Starlight” you sang on Good Morning America and can’t wait to hear you perform it at tonight’s concert.

Adam Lambert:: Thank you.

JN: The song’s lyric, “Black holes and revelations.”

Adam Lambert:: Isn’t that beautiful?

JN: What’s the biggest black hole you’re afraid of falling into?

Adam Lambert:: Obscurity. That would be a shame. That would be a real shame. If I have anything to say about it, it won’t happen no matter what goes on with my career.

JN: What’s the biggest revelation you’ve had?

Adam Lambert:: You know, at the risk of sounding a little bit cliché, that anything’s possible. I really think that, to a point, if you dream something and really visualize it, I think that it can come true. I really do believe that now.

(The AI publicist has her back to me. I surreptitiously ask Adam if he can autograph my copy of “Rolling Stone” with him on the cover. “Ye-ah,” he laughs, as he signs it with the Sharpie pen I’ve brought for the occasion. Don’t be looking for it on e-Bay!)

JN: I know your mom’s going to be working for you.

Adam Lambert:: She’s going to be helping me with administrative stuff. Yeah.

JN: What’s the best piece of unsolicited advice she’s given you lately?

Adam Lambert:: You know, it’s funny [but] my mom doesn’t give me a lot of advice these days. I think it’s kind of in the vein of an unspoken kind of advice. It’s more of a support thing. My dad’s really Mr. Advice.

JN: There’s always one parent who’s like that.

Adam Lambert:: Yeah, yeah yeah. My dad’s my teacher. Teacher-parent.

JN: You have fans that range from age 8 to 80. Do you have grandparents who are alive to see everything that’s happening to you?

Adam Lambert:: Unfortunately, both of my mom’s parents have passed away. My dad’s parents are both alive, and they’ve been blown away by everything that’s been going on. I saw my grandma at one of the California shows. I think she came to the second L.A. show, and she was so sweet. She really enjoyed that.

JN: How is your family dealing with all the peripheral fame that comes along with all of this?

Adam Lambert:: I think they’re doing a pretty good job. Obviously, it’s a big adjustment because there are people trying to get to me through them sometimes, and it’s not something that anybody’s ever prepared to deal with, I don’t think. It’s interesting (laughs) … pretty interesting.

JN: November should be an exciting month for you. Your album is due to be released, and you’ve recorded a song for the film 2012 that will be in theaters about the same time.

Adam Lambert:: Yes, and it’s a really beautiful song. Very inspirational, and the production is gorgeous, very like a great classic rock ballad — very unlike the material that’s going to be on the album actually. The album’s going to be more modern electronic rock-pop, and [the 2012 track] is a more traditional, old school, heartfelt ballad, a little bit more like some of the stuff I did on Idol. The album is going to take what I did on Idol as a reference, and I’m going to launch it into today.

JN: With your album coming out, you’ll have to promote it. Would you like to host Saturday Night Live?

Adam Lambert:: Oh, my God. That would be amazing. That would be so much fun. That would be great. It would be very, very cool.

JN: When you go on the road in support of the album, would you like to tour to Israel?

Adam Lambert:: Yeah. I would love to. I want to go everywhere!

(The publicist puts her finger up for one last question, and I start to play a sort of “Jewish geography.” I ask Adam if he knows a certain family in San Diego, where he grew up.)

Adam Lambert:: Yeah (he says, with a look of surprise). How do you know them?

JN: I don’t. My next-door neighbor asked me to mention it. Her best friend in San Diego has a best friend in San Diego, who is the mom in the family.

Adam Lambert:: Well, her daughter Danielle is my best friend. And [Danielle] was sitting in the audience with my family during the [AI] shows. She’s my best friend in the world!

JN: Six degrees of separation.

Adam Lambert:: There you go! Nice meeting you! A pleasure. Have a good one. Have fun tonight!

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