A Friend Stopped By | 06/02/2009 11:00 pm
What Is It About Adam Lambert? by Allegra Huston
The author of Love Child reflects on the panty-throwing days of yesteryear … and on the latest inspiration for the flinging of undergarments from ‘American Idol.’
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Editor’s Note: Allegra Huston’s new book, Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found, hit bookstores in April and has received rave reviews from Melik Kaylan at Forbes, the Daily Telegraph and wOw’s own Liz Smith, among others. Allegra is the youngest daughter of film director John Huston and sister of Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston. She was born in London, raised in Ireland and Los Angeles, and now lives in Taos, NM. She was a publisher in London for nine years and has been a freelance writer and editor since 1994.
In the early ’80s, I moved to London and discovered that housewives were throwing their panties at Freddie Mercury. I found it baffling. Tom Jones I could understand, though I didn’t buy into it; but Freddie Mercury was so obviously gay. These 40-something women in polyester dresses and perma-set hair were making idiots of themselves on the BBC, as if they didn’t understand what gay was.
| I haven’t had a crush on a famous person since my yearning, aged 14, for John Travolta to rescue me from the mountaintop house ... |
Could they really not know? I was only 16, but I knew perfectly well – maybe it was because I came from Los Angeles. I’d gone to Frederick’s of Hollywood with my stepmother to buy pink ostrich-feather mules in a size 13 for her friend Philip, to assist in his transformation into Marcia Hardridge.
And now I’m in my 40s, and, if I were the panty-throwing type, I’d want to throw mine at Adam Lambert. What has happened to me?
I’ve never liked the front-combed hair-in-the-face look. I don’t know that I’d actually vote for the black nail polish. And I’m a bit worried that he’s got some ghastly secret piercings. To be honest, I’m not really sure I want to find out. But there’s something about him that keeps me — and half the women I know — replaying old "American Idol" episodes on DVR and gazing at photographs of his blue-penciled eyes. (Let’s not forget that Brando did eyeliner too.) Bravery, maybe — he hooked me with “Ring of Fire.” The damn-the-torpedoes flamboyance, the oh-my-god-what-did-I-just-do look when he finished. The intense self-discipline obvious behind the recklessness. And the sweetness. And the smile.
Frankly, I don’t mind whether he’s kissing a guy or a girl in that photo with the overcoat and scarf and purple hair held back by sunglasses; it’s a very sexy photograph. I wouldn’t want to print it out if he was kissing a girl. I’d be jealous of her. A guy, I can’t compete with.
I’m thinking it may be better to have a crush on a gay man. I haven’t had a crush on a famous person since my yearning, aged 14, for John Travolta to rescue me from the mountaintop house that, behind my grandmother’s back, we called Gloom Castle. I felt like an idiot then, and I’d feel like one now if I was mooning around over photos of Johnny Depp or Denzel Washington and wondering whether, if we were stuck in an elevator together, they just might be up for it. Of course, they’re more my age. I was at university listening to the original “Mad World” when Adam Lambert was born.
He’s utterly unattainable. So what am I thinking? This way, I can really laugh at myself. I’m not like those Freddie Mercury housewives; I know the score. This is not a sad obsession. I’m hoping it might be chic.
More From Allegra Huston:
"What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?" Seduce Adam Lambert, Obviously
Read more about: A Friend Stopped By, Adam Lambert, American Idol, Books, Denzel Washington, Entertainment, Freddie Mercury, Homosexuality, Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando, Relationships
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12404 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
Well , Jeannot, you, me and Dona ( of the regular wowers ) I was almost afraid to bring it up, especially after my Book Club literally LAUGHED at me when I revealed my obsession with Adam - I will never forgive them, with their highbrow snickering !!
But I am so not surprised to to see you here, with your openness and caring personality, to see the charm and love that emanates from this talented young man. Did you know he is jewish ? And have you seen him singing Kol Nidre ?
Watch this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNb2Qsh0F_Q&feature=PlayList&p=A4A4B10D29…
Why is Adam Lambert like cocaine to some middle age and older women? Let me count the ways.
He’s a mezmerizing entertainer with an incredible vocal range and power who can sing any musical genre and wants to do just that. He’ll keep surprising his fans.
He’s strikingly good looking and overtly sexual and stylized onstage, which is a real turn on.
Offstage, he’s like a big, eager puppy dog who loves meeting new people, is quite touchy feely and seems incapable of being dishonest. With a big disarming grin on his face, he talks about how he nervously chips the polish off of his nails, loves shopping for clothes and is afraid he looks fat on t.v.
He has a lovely, well developed and droll sense of humor and enjoys playing cat and mouse with the entertainment media.
It’s no wonder that we’ve fallen madly in love with him. He’s symbolic of our yearning for men who don’t fit the usual mold and who get our desire to break out of our own molds, which for many women of my age (65) have been suffocating.
Adam talks about being a role model for kids who are different, but he’s also a beacon of light for those of us who didn’t have role models like him and never lived out our dreams. He gives us joy and hope for future generations.
Finally, about 18 years after the death of Freddy Mercury, we finally have a brilliantly talented young gay man who is is starting his recording career out of the closet. Let’s hope that this is the beginning of a new era, in which persons who are different from the majority can celebrate that difference instead of hiding it until shortly before their death. Bravo Adam!!
Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes. You nailed it exactly !
Yeah, no offend to Kris or his fans, but Adam just totally ruled the stage with Queen and KISS. I do not even like KISS. Adam makes me like them with that performance. I wish he would sing "Beth" again! That’s got to be the best performance of the night.
I stumbled upon this site as I was doing my daily Adam Lambert google. I am a 41-year-old housewife who has borne a child in each of the last three decades! I LOVE ADAM LAMBERT!!! There is such an evocative element in his voice, mournful, sexual, powerful, a combination of sex meets hope meets world peace. I don’t understand it myself but I do want to hear it. I listen to his track off of the Moses musical (His performance completely upstages Val Kilmer’s Moses.) every morning, Is Anybody Listening, and I feel like doing good things. I can’t wait to see him perform on the international stage.
I am sooooooo glad it isn’t just me! Adam is the epitome of the "bad boy" persona (no matter what his leanings are), he has the sneer that Elvis had, actually if Elvis had had a son this would be him! Or even more eerie, could Elvis’s spirit travelled into Adam when Adam was born?? I am 53 and find him to be sexy as hell. Is talent is amazing, yes to those that said it, he has "it". Intangible, can’t put it into words but he has "it", when he walks on to the stage you feel as if you are in for something amazing! He should have an amazing career ahead of him looking forward to purchasing his music.
Caren, from in the beginning I saw Elvis’s face in his, take away the dark hair and just look at the chisseled face and it is him.
What Adam has more off m I think, is outpouring of care , like he is only singing to you. Check out the Utube from EKA is it fantastic
I am also one of those 40somethings that can not get enough of Adam. He just oozes sex appeal to me. Who gives a flying f if he is gay. I can not wait to see what he does in concert. I may have to sit on the front row!!! And I think it is not only his sexiness, it is how he presents himself….gracious, nice, humble ….he is the total package. You rock Adam and keep it up. We love you.
PS My first crush was John Travolta too!!!!