Copious Notes

Kris Allen is the new American Idol, shown here playing "What's Going On" on the May 19th final competition show. Photo by Frank Micelotta | FOX.

Well, it looks like it was well worth American Idol’s time to come to Louisville last summer.

Kris Allen auditioned in the Derby City, and then much like this year’s Derby winner, Mine That Bird, worked his way through the field and finished first. Some Adam Lambert fans had to be like Jill Baffert, wife of Pioneer of the Nile trainer Bob Baffert, at the Derby saying “Who the (bleep) is that,” as Allen advanced through the competition. His audition barely registered on the Louisville audition episode, and early on, he seemed like one of those competitors who would probably be somewhat anonymously voted off in the winter.

But the dark horse kept his head down, worked on making some terrific music and wound up in the winner’s circle.

Give the man from Conway, Ark., a blanket of roses. He earned it.

The American Idol judges at Churchill Downs in September: Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell. Photo by Michael Becker | Fox.

Word came out early from the American Idol producers that Louisville had been a good city for the show. Simon Cowell dished out high praise, by his standards, telling Zap2it, “Louisville was good.”

Yes, it would have been nice to have had an actual Kentuckian who auditioned in Louisville in the final 13. That would have made the story of the Bluegrass State’s AI debut complete. But at least we can walk away from Season 8 saying Kentucky can pick a winner.

Some high notes:

• Heckuva a show for taking two hours-plus to tell us a few key words. I thought the return of Norman Gentle was great and the show kept getting better. It seemed Kiss had to be the highlight, and then Queen came out. Good Lord, Adam could front that band . . . As one who enjoys genuine surprise, Kris’ reaction to winning was delightful.
• Catch Adam Sandler’s University of Kentucky shirt in the Funny People commercial?
• Make sure to read Phil Stacey’s final Idol blog for LexGo.
• And take another look at our Louisville audition video, featuring Alexis Grace.
• Yes, Joanne Brokaw, it was the year of the worship leader.
• I was right. Wish I’d done that well at the Derby.

With two weeks left in the American Idol competition, Entertainment Weekly came out with a bit of a bold cover story for its current issue: “Loving Adam Lambert: The Most Exciting American Idol Contestant in Years.”

Sorry Danny Gokey and Kris Allen, but one of the leading entertainment magazines in America is brushing right past you and presuming the man with the sky-scraping vocals should be anointed the newest American Idol. Bold, but OK, EW does pride itself on being a taste-making magazine — and this blog is on record as supporting the astonishingly-talented Lambert.

Here’s what was funny in EW’s headline and story. There was an asterisk on the  headline, “*And Not Just Because He Might Be Gay.”

Initial thought: Being gay, alone, would make someone exciting? The bigger issue is that when you get to the story, the sexuality question is hardly an asterisk. After an opening that talks about how Lambert has defied an Idol history of humility and blandness with a bold, individual approach, writer Mark Harris zeroes in on the sexuality question and stays there.

The presumption seems to be that it would be groundbreaking for Idol to annoint an openly gay winner. For the record, Lambert has not directly addressed his sexuality in interviews with the craftiness of a politician not wanting to tick anyone off as the election draws near.

OK, Idol has not crowned an openly gay winner, yet. But in the world of pop music and pop culture in general, this ship sailed a long, long time ago. Regardless of what opinion polls have said, music fans have turned many artists who are openly gay or have ambiguous sexual preferences into big stars: Elton John, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Queen’s Freddie Mercury, and Melissa Etheridge, just to name a few. Ellen DeGeneres has become an afternoon television star, and got a standing O from her audience when she returned from a summer break and talked about her wedding, in which she married Portia di Rossi.

We may have expected EW to spend a paragraph or two on the  gay buzz about Lambert. But what makes EW such a strong magazine is that it usually concentrates on the art, the product, and leaves the gossip rag stuff to magazines like In Touch Weekly and People. And there are interesting questions about Adam Lambert the artist I was frankly looking for EW to explore:

• Did his bottom three finish two weeks ago indicate he’s more of a critics/judges’ darling than fan favorite?
• He’s been in L.A. trying to break through for a while. Is Idol just the break he needs, or is his past an indication he’d be more of a Taylor Hicks than Kelly Clarkson if he won?
• Lambert is bringing a style — glam — to the Idol stage we have not seen in years, well over a decade. Could one American Idol winner bring a genre back?

After all, one of the reasons people started picking up on a gay vibe was Lambert’s penchant for theatrics and makeup. But back in the ’70s and ’80s, those things were de rigeur for many male pop stars, gay and straight. I remember jokes about whether Duran Duran bassist John Taylor and his supermodel girlfriend got their makeup mixed up. Lambert would have looked like a Marlboro Man on the L.A. hair metal scene.

So, Lambert’s run is fascinating, and Entertainment Weekly had a chance to make a bold statement with its cover story. Instead, they asked a pretty weak question and failed to talk about what makes him exciting.