There’s a lady that I know, if I didn’t know her…
she’d be the lady, I didn’t know…

Doesn’t Paula Collins look like the prototype Kara ‘Studio 57‘ DioGuardi in this sketch? Anyway, watching the AI8 finally tonight, I just couldn’t get past the similarity between the lyrical stylings of these classic Derek Stevens (Dana Carvey) hits. Poor Adam Lambert and Kris Allen had to suck it up for their final performance and belt out their best version of a comically bad song ‘No Boundaries‘, courtesy of Idol Judge DioGuardi. Someone had it right when they decided that the losing contestant tomorrow is the one that gets to face the further humiliation of having this gem of a track on their next album. Welcome to L.A. I think we’ve got a hit on our hands.

The Zodiac Show just relaunched their brand spanking new web site with stylish Flash design. The Zodiac Show is a interdisciplinary performance showcase which grew out of underground parties at Los Angeles photographer Lee Cherry’s studio. Thus Lee Cherry and performer Carmit Bachar turned the Zodiac Party into The Zodiac Show.

Because Adam Lambert performed at The Zodiac Show, the event has been in the news on MTV and FOX Extra. An interesting trivia point is that, for tonight’s American Idol finale, producer Simon Fuller chose a song for each contestant. Simon Fuller selected Sam Cooke’s Civil Rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” for Adam Lambert. “A Change Is Gonna Come” is one of the most-covered songs in American pop music history. Most recently, hard rock’s Jon Bon Jovi and soul’s Bettye LaVette performed the sing for the Obama Inauguration concert. Adam Lambert performed “A Change Is Gonna Come” to many kudos at The Zodiac Show back in 2004.

At any rate, The Zodiac Show has a nice looking new web site. Given that my first glance through showed a pic or two Forrest Black and I shot on there, I hope they add a link to BlueBlood.net once they get the site more fleshed out. Designer Rusty Segars is a wiz with the Flash and the Zodiac performances are over the top, so it is worth checking out. In honor of the launch, we’ve posted a little gallery of Zodiac Show performance photos we shot while working on a magazine feature about The Zodiac Show. Studio and location work is more our thing than straight-up event shots, but they are kind of fun and give some of the feel of the event. You can also check out the video below of Adam Lambert’s previously lauded performance of “A Change Is Gonna Come”.

A Change Is Gonna Come lyrics by Sam Cooke:

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river i’ve been running ever since
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But i know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It’s been too hard living but i’m afraid to die
Cause i don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But i know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and i go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don’t hang around
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But i know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then i go to my brother
And i say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhh…

There been times that i thought i couldn’t last for long
But now i think i’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But i know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

If you are alt-identified, yet want Kris Allen to beat Adam Lambert in this week’s American Idol finale, then you are complicit in your own oppression. Rebels who want Adam Lambert to lose must just hate themselves.

People like to fuss about sex and sexuality, but the place where Adam Lambert is actually unusual is that it is rare to see new musicians with serious larger-than-life star quality in the spotlight today. I just watched a top 20 video countdown and Eminem was just about the only one who would turn heads in a room he walked into, on force of presence alone. So it is exciting to see someone who has the right counterculture vibe with a mix of subcultures gothic, punk, hard rock, rockabilly, emo, scene and more blended together for something unique and compelling. To anyone who states people like Adam Lambert are a dime a dozen and FOX is just not in-the-know, I have to say there are a lot of people with some of that general sort of style, but not a lot with that vibe and that level of both charisma and musical talent.

To receive the same kudos as someone who comes across more normal and mainstream, I often feel like I have to work at least twice as hard and produce work which is twice as good. I would be fine with this, except for the part where the whole process plateaus early. Allow me to explain. In a way, simple badges of flamboyance and theoretical nonconformity, such as tattoos or unnatural hair color, have become fairly common by 2009. Someone who truly has an artistic and offbeat spirit is still likely to have to be better than the next guy to achieve the same recognition. Unfortunately, people, who identify as somehow alternative or creative or freaky, tend to want to root for the underdog. This means that, as soon as one of their compatriots is about to come over the top and succeed for real, they get an enormous backlash from former supporters. So I see all these people, who were super excited by Adam Lambert’s early successed on American Idol, who are now not into him because he is perceived as the obvious front-runner; they think maybe they like the other final two member Kris Allen because he is the underdog.

Kris Allen is an appealing enough performer. In particular, I liked his performances of “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Heartless”. I most likely would not flip the channel if a music video of his came on. I actually think American Idol fans got it exactly right for the AI8 final two to be Kris Allen and Adam Lambert. (Alison Iraheta might be more demographically similar to Adam Lambert, but Kris Allen is a more ready-for-primetime performer.) Kris Allen is not the underdog to win this contest because he is somehow disadvantaged and just needs a little love and support. Kris Allen is not some sort of stray spaniel puppy in need of a home. Kris Allen is the underdog to win the American Idol competition because Adam Lambert deserves it far far far more than he does. Some of the web chatter about the final American Idol vote suggests more that people want to vote against Adam Lambert for being successful more than they want to vote for Kris Allen for any positive reason.

Opinionated and forthright judge Simon Cowell has stated in interviews that he would like to see Adam Lambert win. Led Zeppelin does not normally permit American Idol to use their songs, but they gave permission for Adam Lambert to sing “Whole Lotta Love”. U2 does not normally permit American Idol to use their songs, but they gave permission for Adam Lambert to sing “One”. When Slash from GNR mentored the Idols, he posted to his Twitter that he was especially impressed by Adam Lambert. When Katy Perry performed on the show, the legend on the back of her Elvis cape read “Adam Lambert”.

It seems like if Simon Cowel, Paula Abdul, Robert Plant, Bono, Slash, Katy Perry, and a host of other notables all feel strongly that Adam Lambert should win American Idol, then he should be a shoo-in sure thing. But he is not. The reason he is not is that inexplicably hot people with smudgy eyeliner and leather jackets and big boots hate themselves. Now nonconformity does tend to get push-back from the overculture, so I understand why many bohemians do not necessarily expect to always get praise. Getting praise, however, does not mean that you lose your individuality merit badge. You should expect to be able to win people over, when they see what you are really like.

No disrespect at all to Kris Allen, but Adam Lambert deserves to win American Idol. Adam Lambert earned the win. I know, I know, rebels figured out that 19E and the powers-that-be want to have Adam Lambert win, so it would be (oi oi) rebellious to vote for Kris Allen instead. A good rebel is ready to take the power, not just cry like a baby over whoever seems to be an authority. Voting against Adam Lambert is not sticking it to the man; it is just building a glass ceiling for your tribe. Hopefully Wednesday night still ends up being a coronation for Adam Lambert.

Adam Lambert gave American Idol every inch of his love tonight on American Idol. Actually, I have no idea what I mean by that, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say for Rock Week. After a bout with swine flu, following my bacon-eating tour of southern Arizona, I have been off writing duty for the week, but here is a quick American Idol update.

American Idol front-runner and Blue Blood fave Adam Lambert kicked off the show performing a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”. At first, I was not as impressed as I usually am with his performances. When the Studio 57 chick started her judge’s critique by calling Adam Lambert a “rock god”, it clicked for me what the problem was. Partly, Adam Lambert has set his own high score so high for rock numbers after doing such a rocking good job with a classic like Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild”. But it is more that I found myself, while I watched, comparing him to . . . well . . . Robert Plant, rather than the other American Idol contestants.

This points up a problematic career point for all creative people. When you first start getting good at something creative — singing, dancing, photography, writing, sewing plush dolls, putting rivets on leather jackets, whatever — you get a lot of positive feedback. Unfortunately, when people start to really feel that you are good enough to be a real professional, you start getting judged in a whole new way with a whole lotta different standard. A show like American Idol is fascinating partially because it bridges some of the road between amateur and pro, unknown and star.

So anyway, Kara “Studio 57″ DioGuardi, called Adam Lambert a “rock god” before he has won Idol, much less had a long and influential rock career. A few charting iTunes songs and capturing America’s attention for a few hot weeks may arguably make a rock star, at least for a while, but not a rock god. Puh-lease. Talk like Kara DioGuardi’s is exactly why many Adam Lambert boosters assume they do not need to vote for him any more. Then again, Kara DioGuardi also told the Lenscrafter-endorsed Danny Gokey that he might have done better performing early Aerosmith . . . when he performed “Dream On” which is off of Aerosmith’s effing debut album. How early did she want?

For Rock Week on American Idol, each of the remaining four contestants — Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Allison Iraheta, and Danny Gokey — each performed a solo song and then a duet as part of a pair. Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta did a really kickass performance of Foghat’s “Slow Ride”. They fed off of each other’s good energy and looked like they were having fun in a way which made it fun to watch them.

Allison Iraheta said Adam Lambert had hooked her up with his hairdresser this week and her hair looked even more fantastic than usual and her hair usually looks pretty great. In her pre-performance interview with Ryan Seacrest, they give props to Adam’s hair girl Zabria, but I can’t seem to find a Hollywood hairdresser named Zabria on the interwebs, so I might be spelling it wrong. Hair girl has great people to work on there, to be sure, but she’s crazy talented, so I’d love to know the details on who she is.

At any rate, Allison Iraheta and Adam Lambert looked fabulous performing “Slow Ride” and I liked Adam Lambert’s outfit change for “Slow Ride” better than what he was rockin’ for “Whole Lotta Love”. In particular, he was wearing some gray and black striped pants which were very entertaining (and sexy) if one happened to watch The Mighty Boosh on Adult Swim (where “The Chokes” episode is still streaming free) this week and see Dan Brown’s Bollo the gorilla helping Noel Fielding’s Vince Noir zip his super tight skinny stage pants.

Earlier this week, on his Twitter, Slash, of GNR and Velvet Revolver fame, who mentored said “Those AI kids can sing their asses off, especially Adam.” This week, Blue Blood top crush of 2006 Anderson Cooper told Jay Leno that he thinks Adam Lambert is the best singer on American Idol right now. Because most folks watching (or making book on) American Idol are so sure Adam Lambert is going to win, I think a lot of people didn’t bother to vote for Adam Lambert last week, so he ended up in the bottom three, although he escaped elimination. Hopefully, Adam Lambert will get the votes to win it all because he deserves it.

---

“Whole Lotta Love” lyrics by Led Zeppelin (and possibly some blues guys they did a legal settlement with), made famous by Led Zeppelin and covered by a lot of folks:

You need coolin’, baby, I’m not foolin’
I’m gonna send ya back to schoolin’
Way down inside, a-honey, you need it
I’m gonna give you my love
I’m gonna give you my love, oh

Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love

You’ve been learnin’
And baby, I been learnin’
All them good times
Baby, baby, I’ve been discernin’-a
A-way, way down inside
A-honey, you need-a
I’m gonna give you my love, ah
I’m gonna give you my love, ah

Oh, whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
I don’t want more

You’ve got to bleed on me, yeah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ha, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
ah, ah, ah, ah, ha, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah
No, no, no, no, ah
Love, love, low-ow-ow-ow-ove
Oh, babe, oh

You been coolin’
And baby, I’ve been droolin’
All the good times, baby, I’ve been misusin’-a/Oh
A-way, way down inside
I’m gonna give ya my love/Ah
I’m gonna give ya every inch of my love/Ah
I’m gonna give you my love/Ah
Yes, alright, let’s go/Ah

Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love
Wanna whole lotta love

Way down inside/ Way down inside
Way downinside, woman, you/woman
woman, you/you need it
need/Love

My, my, my, my
My, my, my, my/Ahh
Oh, shake for me, girl
I wanna be your backdoor man-a
Hey, oh, hey, oh/Ahh
Hey, oh, oooh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Hoo-ma, ma, hey
Keep a-coolin’, baby
A-keep a-coolin’, baby
A-keep a-coolin’, baby
Uh, keep a-coolin’, baby, wuh, way-hoh, oo-ohh

---

“Slow Ride” lyrics by Dave Peverett, originally performed by Dave Peverett as lead singer and guitarist of Foghat and covered by a lot of folks:

Slow ride, take it easy
Slow ride, take it easy
Slow ride, take it easy
Slow ride, take it easy.

I’m in the mood, the rhythm is right,
Move to the music, we can roll all night.
Oooh, oooh, slow ride – oooh, oooh …

Slow ride, take it easy – Slow ride, take it easy
Slow down, go down, got to get your lovin’ one more time
Hold me, roll me, slow ridin’ woman you’re so fine

Woo!

I’m in the mood, the rhythm is right,
Move to the music yea, we can roll all night, yea.
Oooh, oooh …

Slow ride, take it easy – Slow ride, take it easy
Slow down, go down, got to get your lovin’ one more time
Hold me, roll me, slow ridin’ woman you’re so fine

Slow ride, easy, slow ride, sleazy – Slow ride, easy, slow ride, sleazy

Slow down, go down, got to get your lovin’ one more time
Hold me, roll me, slow ridin’ woman you’re so fine

Slow ride, take it easy – slow ride, take it easy
Slow down, go down – Slow down, go down

Oh come on baby, take a slow ride with me,
Come on baby, take a slow ride.
Oh feels good, mmmm, feels so good, I like it yea,
I feel good, oh I feel alright!

You know the rhythm is right
You know the rhythm is right
We gotta rock all night
We gotta rock all night
You know the rhythm is right, yeah, we gotta rock all night,
You know the rhythm is right, we gotta rock all night.
Whoa, c’mon now
Woo, Yea, Woo, Whoa!

Elevate me mama – Elevate me mama – Elevate me mama – Elevate me mama.
Oww!
Woo!

Slow ride! Yea!

Adam Lambert was feeling good tonight on American Idol. The producers of the show chose to put him in the final performance slot of the night and it is a good thing they did because nobody else on there could have followed him. He took a fine strut down the towering American Idol staircase and sang a terrific rendition of “Feeling Good”. My only quibble of the evening is that Adam Lambert was wearing a white suit with a black shirt this week and a shiny black suit last week. This week is Rat Pack week and last week was Disco. Maybe the American Idol stylist and tailor were running behind schedule on the John Travolta Saturday Night Fever white suit outfit and ahead on the updated mobster chic black suit. Or maybe Adam Lambert was just looking to defy expectations and I can get behind refusing to be predictable, especially when the guy is that talented. And looks that fine in both black and white suits.

“Feeling Good” is a song made Rat Pack famous by Sammy Davis, Jr. It was, however, originally written for a critically-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning, commercially unsuccessful musical called The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley wrote a lot of songs and musicals and are some of the most successful modern composers on the planet. Blue Blood readers will be most familiar with the work of Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Their first big musical success was the circus-themed and wittily-titled show Stop the World – I Want to Get Off. Rat Packer Sammy Davis, Jr. had a charting song with Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s “What Kind of Fool Am I?” from Stop the World – I Want to Get Off and a number one chart topper with “The Candy Man Can” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Perhaps The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd did not catch on with London theatre-goers because it was more blatantly about class issues than the class-bound British tend to be comfortable with. This is purely my social anthropology guess, based on knowledge of British culture and the subject matter of the musical, so it is possible that the cast was not appealing enough or any of a zillion other possible monkey wrenches gummed up the works. Certainly, Sammy Davis, Jr. was able to get a huge audience for his rendition of the song “Feeling Good”.

Both Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley have had their music used in an impressive number of soundtracks for both television and movies, both works written as a team, independently, and with other partners. “Feeling Good” in specific is a very popular song to be covered. Jazz musician and civil rights activists Nina Simone did one of the best known versions of “Feeling Good”. Some other notables who performed “Feeling Good” include Bobby Darrin, John Coltrane, and more recently George Michael and The Pussycat Dolls. Torchwood heartthrob John Barrowman covered it for his 2007 album Another Side. British alt rock band Muse covered the song a few years back and had their version promptly snarfed by Nescafe in a no-permission fashion which apparently resulted in an out of court settlement. The version of “Feeling Good” which Adam Lambert performed so beautifully on American Idol appears to be the Muse arrangement of the song. In a nod to the recently past underperforming disco night, I feel compelled to mention that Olivia Newton-John also covered “Feeling Good”. Maybe I only count Olivia Newton-John as disco because I saw her in Grease go from good girl to awesome sexy, black-clad, big-hair bad girl opposite a sexy, lean, young John Travolta. And I saw Grease a loooooooooong time before I actually saw John Travolta strut his stuff in Saturday Night Fever (not Saturday Night Live) in his iconic white disco suit.

---

“Feeling Good” lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd and made a Rat Pack favorite as performed by Sammy Davis, Jr.:

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Reeds driftin’ on by you know how I feel

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
blossom in the trees you know how I feel

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don’t you
know
Butterflies all havin’ fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good

How is it possible that a pop treacle show like American Idol can suck at disco? When collegiate-cutie-marketable-to-preteens Kris Allen did a slowed-down version of Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money”, I thought he totally owned it because Kris Allen is not a guy anyone would really see doing disco and the song was still enjoyable. I liked it the same way I liked Adam Lambert’s industrial world music take on Ring of Fire. Only, ya know, less so. Because I really really liked Adam Lambert performing “Ring of Fire” and would listen to that again repeatedly on purpose. Unfortunately, almost all the American Idol contestants tonight failed to do disco. What is the point of having a theme, if nobody does anything which really fits it?

Then again, this is a show where they inexplicably added an actual judge who can confuse Saturday Night Fever aka the movie which made disco a phenomenon with NBC’s successful comedy sketch show of the last three decades Saturday Night Live and the revered and legendary disco nightclub Studio 54 with Studio 57 aka the imaginary nightclub in her otherwise less-than-full head. (PS Dear Kara DioGuardi, the guy from Saturday Night Fever is actually John Travolta and Clark Kent is really Superman.) I understand that Kara DioGuardi is otherwise very accomplished and live television is very difficult, but I’d think American Idol judge would be as competitive a position as American Idol winner. I guess this just goes to remind us that not every American Idol winner has gone multi-platinum. Although I predict and hope the charismatic and talented Adam Lambert will.

But this evening American Idol front-runner Adam Lambert performed a molasses-slow version of “If I Can’t Have You, I Don’t Want Nobody, Baby” for the American Idol Disco Night. I think Adam Lambert radiates star quality. I thought he looked fabulous in a sharp shiny black suit and white shirt, and I could even forgive the emo-hawk because it looked so effing good on him. I thought it was both classy and savvy that he thanked American Idol associate musical producer Michael Orland for helping with the arrangement. A man who will give credit to collaborators, while bringing that much to the table, is someone everyone will want to work with, and rightly so.

It is just that I thought the arrangement and performance of “If I Can’t Have You, I Don’t Want Nobody, Baby” was both smart and cynical. I liked Adam Lambert rocking the American Idol stage, never missing a beat as he danced across the whole space, performing Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” last week. But it got lukewarm judge response. Ditto for Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” with accompanying quality gyrations. Don’t get me wrong. I loved when Adam Lambert did the very still and beautiful performance of Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears”. But the whole alternating slow and fast performances thing just really falls flat when the theme is disco. Adam Lambert obviously has the chops to have done fantastic disco, so it just kinda sucked to see him not even take a stab at it.

Plus the song didn’t really work performed that way. In the pre-song interview with host Ryan Seacrest, Adam Lambert said he was doing the song off the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I had thought “If I Can’t Have You, I Don’t Want Nobody, Baby” was a straight-up Bee Gees song, but the movie Saturday Night Fever received an R rating when it came out, largely for featuring a gang-bang sex scene and one use of the word “cunt”. As a result, I was not allowed to see Saturday Night Fever as a child. I did, however, own the Bee Gees greatest hits double album. Many American Idol sites are listing “If I Can’t Have You, I Don’t Want Nobody Baby” as being by Yvonne Elliman. Although she did the first recording of the song, and her recording from the Bee Gees’ Saturday Night Fever soundtrack absolutely did become a number one single, the Bee Gees actually wrote the song and later recorded it themselves as well.

Due to the wonder of the interwebs, I am listening to the Bee Gees while I write this. But I haven’t been able to listen to the Bee Gees in a long time because I tossed their Greatest Hits album years ago in a spasm of cool. Mind you I still have Andy Gibb’s Shadow Dancing on vinyl, although I haven’t owned a record player in an equally long time. Worse yet, I possess fewer than a dozen vinyl records today. I even sold my vintage Runaways album to buy the CD version (and about a bazillion more CDs for what that was worth.) But I own two copies of Shadow Dancing because they are each scratched in different places. I thought it was gothic to like Andy Gibb because he poetically committed suicide, at a young age, over a woman, specifically actress/entrepreneur Victoria Principal. Unfortunately, Wikipedia informs me that Andy Gibb died “just five days after his 30th birthday as a result of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle due to a recent viral infection”. Some opine that Andy Gibb’s well-known prodigious drinking and cocaine usage could have contributed to myocarditis. Still dying of a broken heart; still goth. Plus, Wikipedia cites 2001 as the first release date of the Bee Gees Greatest Hits and, unless my parents shopped for me with an effing time machine, that is comedically inaccurate. 1979 would seem to be a bit more correct. The internet does inform me that Best of the Bee Gees Volume 1 was released in 1969, so maybe the Bee Gees are just immortal top 40 hit spawning vampire monsters, who can only be killed by a stake through the heart or losing the love of a good hard partying woman.

How embarrassing. I wouldn’t have thought of myself as a disco person at all. I mean, at all. So, no videos tonight, just lyrics to point out why it was unnecessary to slow it down to make the Bee Gees song sound sappy enough and Donna Summer was not talking about hookers.

---

“If I Can’t Have You, I Don’t Want Nobody, Baby” lyrics by the brothers Gibb and originally sung by Yvonne Elliman:

Don’t know why
I’m survivin’ every lonely day
When there’s got to be no chance for me
My life would end
And it doesn’t matter how I cry
My tears, so far, are a waste of time
If I turn away
Am I strong enough to see it through?
Go crazy is what I will do

If I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you…uh-huh-huh, oh
If I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you…uh-hoh

Can’t let go and it doesn’t matter how I try
I gave it all so easily to you my love
To dreams that never will come true
Am I strong enough to see it through?
Go crazy is what I will do

If I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you…uh-huh, oh
If I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you…uh-hoh

If I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you…uh-huh, oh
If I can’t have you
I don’t want nobody, baby
If I can’t have you…uh-hoh

Oh! If I can’t have you…

---

Okay, I guess it is debatable and maybe “She Works Hard for the Money” is a song about prostitution, after all, so check out the words for yourself and tell me what you think. “She Works Hard for the Money” lyrics by Donna Summer and Michael Omartian and originally sung by Donna Summer:

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

Onetta there in the corner stand
And wonders where she is and
Its strange to her
Some people seem to have everything

Nine a.m. on the hour hand
And shes waiting for the bell
And shes looking real pretty
Just wait for her clientele

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

Twenty five years have
Come and gone
And she seen a lot of tears
Of the ones who come in
They really seem to need her there

Its a sacrifice working day to day
For little money just tips for pay
But its worth it all
Just to hear them say that they care

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

She already knows
Shes seen her bad times
She already knows
These are the good times

Shell never sell out
She never will
Not for a dollar bill
She works hard

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

She works hard for the money
So hard for it honey
She works hard for the money
So you better treat her right

So Linda Holmes of MSNBC just posted an article where she called FOX’s American Idol front-runner Adam Lambert “self-indulgent and not particularly creative”. I know FOX and MSNBC are competitive with one another, but I just think Linda Holmes is way off-base. She goes on to say:

“But what, exactly, is the Adam Lambert constituency of the future? He would be popular with fans of … what? The judges seem to think that the answer is “Twilight,” but what kind of sense does that really make? . . . But before anyone goes anointing him some kind of highly marketable future star, take another look at that performance of “Ring Of Fire,” and ask yourself whether you’d hear that on the radio.”

First off, I feel like Twilight and Adam Lambert are two of the only major mainstream pop culture phenomenons of the new millennium which actually are made for an incredibly underserved demographic. When I look for Blue Blood appropriate subject matter which is new, Twilight and Adam Lambert are two of the only things on the radar there. The Twilight soundtrack has been in the Billboard top 10 for twenty-two weeks now. Carter Burwell’s freaking score for Twilight entered the Billboard charts five weeks ago and is still hanging in there. So, if MSNBC doesn’t see the relation between Adam Lambert and Twilight and what a lot of people would like to be entertained by, they need new pop culture analysts. (I’m expensive, but I invite them to get in touch.) American Idol winners also hold multiple spots in the current Billboard top 100 with Kelly Clarkson, David Cook, and Carrie Underwood all charting. So American Idol fans do buy music.

Secondly, turn on the radio or MTV and listen to the most recent Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson David Bowie or Ministry or Combichrist or VNV Nation or Depeche Mode or Godhead or KMFDM or Marc Almond or Sisters or Mercy. Oh wait. You can’t. If you like either a goth-industrial and/or glam sound or a goth-industrial and/or glam look, you probably still don’t know which of those acts have new albums out. Because radio is not playing them. Yet many of those artists still movie significant units without radio airplay or MTV support.

Yet the MSNBC writer goes on to say:

“For all the discussion of Adam’s originality and freshness and relevance, his aesthetic is an inky-haired, nail-polished cliché — perhaps appealing and perhaps not, but certainly nothing you couldn’t see in New York, Seattle, or, for that matter, Akron. The sulky glower, the whimper-face, the moaning, the Sad Elvis sneer … there’s nothing wrong with it, per se, but to praise it as particularly creative screams, “I do not watch MTV.””

Does Linda Holmes watch MTV? I love music videos and I get multiple MTV channels, Music Choice downloads, and FUSE. And I’ve been publishing work with a dark glam gothic vampiric aesthetic for more than sixteen years and doing rock journalism, including covering the 80’s glam scene for a bunch of years on top of that. So I feel pretty qualified to say that MTV has very little to offer those who like inky-haired and nail-polished men. In point of fact, I must sorrowfully admit that the only options for that general taste are Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Rev Theory. Maybe Good Charlotte and Avenged Sevenfold if any of the video channels were currently playing them, which they are not. I would also include Queens of the Stone Age based on musical talent and approach. And that is about it. Not that the music and merch sales there are poor.

I don’t have an iTunes account at the moment, so I can’t confirm this, but I hear that Adam Lambert’s performance of the Tears for Fears song “Mad World” was a top download. The voting on American Idol this year breaks a new record every episode. And both Vegas bet-makers and internet data analysts are pretty sure Adam Lambert is going to win American Idol this year. So somebody is interested in Adam Lambert, beyond the average American Idol audience.

I didn’t really have a lot to say about Adam Lambert’s performance of “Mad World” last week on American Idol, but, in light of today’s MSNBC article, I’m going to comment on it now. The show ran a bit overtime, but I always set my TiVo to record a few minutes extra at the end of live shows like sporting events and at the end of shows on networks like Comedy Central, Showtime, HBO, and NBC who have trouble telling time. So, unlike a few million Americans whose TiVos were not set for extra time, I saw Adam Lambert’s stripped down “Mad World”. He did the song bathed in blue light, without costuming, and with very little motion, and it came off powerful. Personally, I like guyliner and swivel hips, but I understand entirely why sometimes it is necessary to demonstrate that the eyeliner and pelvic moves are sizzle on an excellent steak. Otherwise, a genuinely talented performer who employs costume and drama can be dismissed as all sizzle.

The “Mad World” ode to teenage depression and alienation was originally written and recorded by Tears for Fears in 1982. That’s a bit before my time, but I was still a bit surprised that I had not recognized it when Adam Lambert performed it. Apparently, the version he sang was one redone for the Donnie Darko movie. I’ve never seen Donnie Darko, but I understand it is an aesthetically pleasing and depressing update of the James Stewart vehicle Harvey. (Not really, but they both have big rabbit phookas advising the main character.) I’m entertained that Richard Kelly, the writer/director of Donnie Darko, is one of the producers for the upcoming Tucker Max movie, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell. (If only Tucker Max wore eyeliner.) At any rate, Richard Kelly had wanted to use a U2 song for the closing credits, but U2 were too pricey to license, so he had a gent named Gary Jules cover the Tears for Fears song instead, in order to stay within budget. The spare and emotional Gary Jules version turned out to be very popular and successful and has been used in a number of sountracks since.

So technically, Adam Lambert was supposed to perform a song on American Idol from the year he was born, 1982, but he kinda sang a song from 2001ish when Donnie Darko was released. But it did sound and look nice. Tears for Fears bassist Curt Smith who sang the original synthpop version of “Mad World” tweeted on his Twitter:

“Morning tweeps, still spring break in the Smith household. Ton of twits and e’s about Adam Lambert’s Mad World, for the record I thought his vocal performance was pretty great bar a wobbly last note. Sobering that the original was released year he was born. I must officially be an old man ;)”

I guess Curt Smith did tweet from TweetDeck, instead of Spaz, which is what all the cool kids are using, but still:

From MTV, Tears for Fears “Mad World” lyrics by Roland Orzabal and originally sung by Curt Smith:

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying
Are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It is a very, very

Mad world
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what is my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

Whoo-hoo! Agent Aeon just alerted me about being on the cover of Star Magazine this week. A few days ago, a charming editor from Star (who knew they had nice peeps over there?) contacted me about the sexy blue photos Forrest Black and I shot of Adam Lambert. He also interviewed me about my impression of Adam Lambert, formed while shooting him at a Blue Blood-sponsored event, that I wanted Adam Lambert to win American Idol, etc. Mostly, we talked about Led Zeppelin (both fans, although only he has a Zoso tattoo) and booze (for excess, he prefers red wine and I prefer beer, he likes Pabst Blue Ribbon, I like Stella Artois, and we both like Shiner Bock.) I knew there was going to be a feature in Star, but I didn’t realize it was going to be a cover feature.

I am really happy, just tickled pink to have photography in Star without adjusting shooting style at all. The photographic work that Forrest Black I produce is very much about shooting individuals who, whether or not they are celebrity famous outside of their immediate circle of acquaintance, have enormous star quality with an alternative unusual aesthetic. Even in a room full of sparkling people, Adam Lambert shines extra bright. The night we photographed him, there were actually people who were pissy that Forrest Black and I took our time with someone like Adam Lambert and didn’t just shoot any random rude person who made no effort getting into costume yet felt entitled. When we shoot at an event, or select who to book for anything, we look first and foremost for quirky, unique, larger-than-life personalities. At an event, we also focus on people who really embody the spirit of the event. So, to anyone still holding a grudge that we took extra time for people like Adam Lambert, I’d just like to point out that maybe, after this many years, we’ve got a good eye for raw stardom.

Adam Lambert got more of our time and attention because he deserved it. I knew I wanted to shoot Adam Lambert the moment I laid eyes on him. Even on an extremely competitive show like American Idol, they do not get many people with an Adam Lambert level of gracefully powerful presence. I’m watching AI this season and rooting for Adam Lambert to win. It is not just that he has rockstar appeal, but that he stands out even next to other really fabulous people.

Also Pete Wentz from Fallout Boy parties with tattooed strippers, Britney Spears might have sex with Kevin Federline on purpose, and Bruce Springstein is named as the other man in divorce papers. Star Magazine hits newsstands tomorrow.

During country week on American Idol, I expressed mild surprise that Adam Lambert had not gone for a more Elvis country vibe when he covered a song made famous by Johnny Cash, the original man in black, called “Ring of Fire“. Maybe someone should give me a music label or a reality show to produce because during the kickoff to Motown week today, Adam Lambert performed “Tracks of My Tears” in a sharp pale cool gray suit with a dark shirt and went for a less made-up look with just dark mascara and a rockabilly hairstyle with a clearly intentional Elvis circa 1957 vibe.

The judges seemed surprised that he cleaned up so well. Judge performer Paula Abdul went so far as to call his look for the evening “classy“. Did she really not notice that there was a hot man under the guyliner there before? Elvis dyed his hair black too. Most people who can do one flamboyant look fabulously can also do another. I am a fan of eyeliner on guys and a rocker look, but everybody likes Elvis Presley and any rock guy who can do an Elvis look is going to do so some time. It’s like a rule. I was more impressed by the emotional range Adam Lambert’s performance showed.

“Tracks of My Tears” is a song about putting a happy face on and showing everyone else a good time, while you ache inside. I know it is a song which really speaks to me personally. “Tracks of My Tears” was first performed by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles in 1965. Smokey Robinson was on hand tonight to check out this season’s American Idol contestants. “Tracks of My Tears” was written by Smokey Robinson, Miracles guitarist and fellow founding member Marv Tarplin, and bass singer and fellow founding member Pete Moore. In addition to having a long and storied, wildly successful, and industry-changing career with 4,000 songs to his credit, Smokey Robinson must have an excellent pact with the devil because he is sixty-nine-years-old and he looked fantastic on American Idol tonight. Although he got to listen to young performers doing renditions of his songs for most of the night, Smokey Robinson gave Adam Lambert’s tender soulful rendition of “Tracks of My Tears” a standing ovation. Can’t really ask for better than that.

Tracks of My Tears Lyrics:

People say I’m the life of the party
‘Cause I tell a joke or two
Although I might be laughing loud and hearty
Deep inside I’m blue

So take a good look at my face
You know my smile looks out of place
If you look closer it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears

I need you…
Need you

Since you left me if you see me with another girl
Looking like I’m having fun
Although she may be cute, she’s just a substitute
‘Cause you’re the permanent one

So take a good look at my face
You know my smile looks out of place
If you look closer it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears

Outside I’m masquerading
Inside my hope is fading
I’m just a clown since you put me down
My smile is my make up
I wear since my break-up with you

Baby, take a good look at my face
You know my smile looks out of place
If you look closer it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears

In response to the recent Adam Lambert photos post, Forrest Black commented on Adam Lambert’s performance during country week on American Idol, saying:

“I’m a big Cash fan and I really enjoyed Lambert’s rendition a lot. I thought it had the right level of heat. I expected something more Elvis country, but this was a version of the song I’d listen to again on purpose.”

On the show, at the time of the performance, American Idol judge Randy Jackson compared Adam Lambert’s rendition of “Ring of Fire” to Nine Inch Nails singing Johnny Cash. In point of fact, Johnny Cash sang NIN’s Hurt so Trent Reznor and Johnny Cash have collaborated. The cross-promo Johnny Cash and Trent Reznor did with the Hurt video was pretty awesome because it introduced a lot of each of their fans to great new music. The man in black and the man with a honey with head like hole black as your soul do have similar measures of anger and anguish and torment and insight in their work.

At any rate, Blue Blood has been receiving emails informing us that Adam Lambert’s American Idol performance of “Ring of Fire” was not his rendition at all. These emails then go on to detail erroneous “facts” which the writers appear to fervently believe.

The Random House Dictionary defines rendition as “an interpretation, as of a role or a piece of music”. The American Heritage Dictionary defines rendition as “An interpretation of a musical score or a dramatic piece, a performance of a musical or dramatic work”. Princeton University’s WordNet defines rendition as “a performance of a musical composition or a dramatic role, the act of interpreting something as expressed in an artistic performance”.

On American Idol, Adam Lambert told country singer (and American Idol performer coach for country week) Randy Travis that he had “found” an alternative arrangement for “Ring of Fire” which he liked. Use of the word found implies that it is not his own arrangement. Given the whole point of a pop idol is for them to be capable of working with composers and stylists and directors and photographers etc., while still bringing a lot of their own to the table, I’m pretty sure everyone on American Idol every season has help with every musical arrangement they use. The American Idol contestants are singing cover tunes, so they are being judged on singing ability and charisma and not on songwriting, lyrics, or composition.

In the judging episode this week, judge Randy Jackson referred to it as the Jeff Buckley arrangement. Randy Jackson may have meant that the arrangement was reminiscent of Jeff Buckley. Jeff Buckley does not appear to have ever done any official version of “Ring of Fire”, although we can’t vouch for what might have happened during drunk karaoke some time. Some people feel the arrangement was by genre-bending Doors-like band The Tea Party. Although whoever put the Middle Eastern-tinged take on “Ring of Fire” together may have been inspired by the Tea Party’s song “Sister Awake”, the Tea Party does not appear to have ever done any version of “Ring of Fire”. Although, once again, we can’t vouch for what might have happened during drunk karaoke some time. Some particularly pissed-off people on the internet seem to feel strongly that this particular version of “Ring of Fire” was the Dilana version from Rock Star Supernova. Yeah, I didn’t know what they were talking about either, even though this references a show which runs on CBS and I usually see what they are plugging because I watch CSI (only the Vegas one). Apparently Rock Star Supernova was a show where otherwise generally gainfully employed musicians Tommy Lee (Motley Crue, Methods of Mayhem, Sex Tap), Jason Newsted (Metallica), and Gilby Clarke (I know I’m supposed to say GNR, but I fucking loooooved Kill for Thrills.) form a supergroup and then hopefuls compete for who will join them. Apparently, Dilana was not the winner of the CBS reality show, but they took the runner-up on tour anyway. At any rate, her rendition of “Ring of Fire” is below, so you can judge the similarities for yourself.

Now it is kind of poetic to see people freaking out over who did the musical arrangement for a particular performance of the song Johnny Cash made famous. Partly there is the humor factor of watching folks with no idea what an arrangement even is try to debate technical aspects of music. I know I’m not qualified to do that, not being a musician and all myself, but apparently there are a lot of non-musicians who feel passionately up to the task of such a debate.

Most everyone knows that Johnny Cash sang the best-known version (rendition if you will) of “Ring of Fire”. He did not sing the first published version of the song, however, nor did he receive a songwriting credit on it. Anita Carter, Johnny Cash’s then-future sister-in-law, released her rendition of the song well before Johnny Cash did. Songwriter/band manager Merle Kilgore and Johnny Cash’s then-future wife June Carter are officially credited with writing “Ring of Fire”. In the movie, Walk the Line, there is a scene where June Carter is penning the tune and she said in interviews that the song came to her while she was driving around trying to figure out what to do about her irresistible attraction to this bad boy who was already married. Some conjecture that, because of her religious beliefs, June Carter might have also been literally afraid of the hellfire that might consume her for stealing a married man from his wife. Now that Johnny Cash, Merle Kilgore, and June Carter are all dead, there is a ferocious legal dispute over who really wrote “Ring of Fire”. Johnny Cash’s first wife Vivian Cash says in her memoir, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny, that of course Johnny Cash wrote the song and he told her, at the time, that he was giving June Carter credit because he felt sorry for how broke she was. Former Johnny Cash backing musician Curly Lewis has testified that Johnny Cash and Merle Kilgore wrote the song together and the lyrics refer to June Carter’s ladyparts in specific. Personally, I want to watch the estate hearing where the judge has to listen to a tape of Curly Lewis saying “We got a female part involved . . . vagina is the ring of fire”.

So, anyway, everybody is clear that American Idol is a competition for who brings the best charisma, good looks, nice vocal timbre, and impressive range, right? Not a songwriting and composing competition for people who scorn covers. Good. I’m glad that is clear and I look forward to all your non-angry emails telling us you’ve seen the light.

Love is a burning thing
And it makes a fiery ring
Bound by wild desire
I fell into a ring of fire

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher

And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher

And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
Cool new version of johnny cash
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down down, down down, down down
And the flames went higher higher higher

And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

And it burns, burns, burns

The ring of fire

The ring of fire
Oh yeah!
The ring of fire