This week's LVW col: Come Hither, Adam Lambert

Y'all saw the vague first draft of this one last week, but now I've got input from Strip execs, including one who says that they've been pondering the Strip potential of...Susan Boyle! Enjoy. -sf

Larger than life, perfect for Vegas

Someone here needs to sign American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert right now

BY STEVE FRIESS

Until last Thursday, I had never watched an entire episode of American Idol. Yes, I’m one of the six.

As any halfway-conscious consumer of celebrity news would, I generally keep up with the Fox mega-competition in a vague enough way such that by May each year I’m usually able to identify the two finalists the same way I know the teams in the Super Bowl every February. I don’t actually care in either case, but nor do I clamp my ears and squeeze shut my eyes and actively avoid what will inevitably climb into my brain via any available pore or passage anyway.

I wouldn’t have watched this finale, either, except that my 9-year-old nephew and 14-year-old niece, whom I was visiting in Pennsylvania, are nuts for the thing. It struck me as an opportunity to see how the folks who love this phenomenon interact with it.

Plus, I admit, I was curious this cycle because of all the lip about whether the nation was ready for its first probably gay American Idol in one flamboyant Adam Lambert. Lambert had been crowned the favorite months ago and already appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.

So I subjected myself to two bloated hours and did my best to explain to the young’uns who cameo stars Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, Queen Latifah, Santana, Kiss (“What’s with the makeup?” 9-year-old Daniel wondered) and Queen are. And for the first time, I watched Lambert and co-finalist Kris Allen perform and interact with host Ryan Seacrest.

Knowing nothing of any of the other performances to date, it nonetheless seemed fairly obvious to me who would win. When America was allegedly stunned that a handsome, sweet-natured balladeer from the Deep South bested the big-voiced, costuming-prone, guylinered reincarnation of Freddie Mercury, my sole surprise was that anyone expected a different outcome.

I mulled this with a gay AI–devoted friend in Chicago via Facebook later that night wondering what is typically next for these folks. Geoff recited the drill: summer concerts with the rest of the AI top 10-ish, a likely record deal with 19 Entertainment, a solo tour perhaps.

“He should get a show in Vegas,” I wrote.

“That is … brilliant,” Geoff responded.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

The Strip is LIVE tonight w/Carlos Santana

We're finally airing our chat with Carlos Santana this week as he begins his first set of his 36-concert-a-year gig at the Hard Rock Hotel's new Joint venue. Plus, we'll discuss some explosive remarks from my interview last week with Sheldon Adelson and we've got plenty of banter about everyone from Adam Lambert to Pansy Ho.

As always, join us at 6:45ish p.m. PT at LVRocks.Com to hear the live show or grab the podcast edition when it's posted by Thursday morning. Subscribe (it's free!) in iTunes.

Memo to Vegas Scouts: Sign Adam Lambert. Now.

America did Adam Lambert and Las Vegas a ginormous favor by crowning milquetoast, inoffensive, adorable but unmemorable Kris Allen tonight as this year's American Idol. Now, if Las Vegas talent scouts are smart, they'll Terry Fatorize the liberated, beholden-to-none runner-up. Lambert defines the next-gen Vegas megastar: He's got the costumes, the pizzazz and, although this is hardly necessary in these parts, that brilliant voice.

Millions of fans -- and especially the gays and the cougars -- would flock here to see the new superstar. No need to build up the name cred; the biggest TV show of our time just took care in a few months of what would otherwise take years of touring to accomplish. Bring in Thierry Mugler for costumes, Dave LaChapelle to direct. Start Adam off singing big-voice rock standards, let him work his new material in. Give audiences a sense of discovery.

Paris and Wynn have empty showrooms. The Joint is now in the resident-act market. The Hilton has turned toward this demo with Monster Circus.

Show Lambert the money. Do it as quickly as possible. He's a one-man multiplier effect. AI's given us Oscar winners, Tony nominees, country music superstars. Why not a new Strip headliner?