Tom Blair: Jackson’s kids and Lambert in San Diego

Tom Blair is an SDNN columnist.

BLOODLINES: Singing phenomenon Adam Lambert comes home to San Diego July 18 when the 2009 American Idol tour lands at our Sports Arena. That’s sure to be a big ticket in Adam’s hometown. But then it’s only one show. If you want a more regular Lambert fix, check out Rebecca’s coffee house in South Park on the third Tuesday of each month. That’s poetry night, and audiences say Adam’s father, Eber Lambert, has become something of a regular with his poetry readings at Rebecca’s. It’s a smaller venue than our Sports Arena, and Eber doesn’t sing. But the other regulars give him high marks. And he does seem to have that Lambert performing gene.

THE WANDERING I: The long honeymoon between the daily newspaper and Mayor Jerry Sanders appears to be over. The mayor was reportedly fuming Sunday after a front-page “Watchdog” story in the Union-Tribune claimed the city of San Diego’s payroll had ballooned by $41 million last year because of “unpublicized  payouts, labor settlements  and costly benefits.”

The mayor didn’t comment directly, but his communications director Darrin Pudgil fired off a 9-page, single-spaced memo to city council members, among others, arguing nearly every point in the article and calling the Union-Tribune’s premise “a gross distortion of the truth.” . . .  Oldies radio station FM 105.7 (The Walrus) has been airing a series of commercials for the upcoming elections in Baja California-encouraging people to vote; talking about party affiliations; addressing the attributes of the parties and candidates. Probably the station’s signal carries south of the Mexico border. But why are the ads are in English? . . . Securities and Exchange Commissioner Troy Paredes comes in July 13 for a Corporate Directors Forum breakfast at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. The invitation says, “Please bring your questions.” But don’t blame Bernie Madoff on Paredes.  Paredes was sworn in just last August.

IN A FAMILY WAY: The continuing obituary of Michael Jackson has devolved into about 90 percent rumor and speculation, and so yesterday’s big story came as little surprise. The Web site TMZ stepped into the fray to report that Jackson was not the biological father of any of his children. Furthermore, according to the site, Debbie Rowe is not the biological mother of the two children she bore for Jackson. All three, it’s said, were conceived in vitro. The youngest child, Prince Michael II, was delivered by a surrogate who was never told the identity of the “receiving parent.” And yes, there is a San Diego angle. Three days after PMII was born, says TMZ, a Jackson lawyer came to Grossmont Hospital here to pick him up and deliver him to his new father.

ON THE RECORD: Preston Turegano, the long-time arts writer, has mixed feelings about all the Michael Jackson eulogies. “I loved some of his songs and moves,” Turegano says, “but I’m not convinced that, as a black artist, he was the first to break the color barrier between black entertainers and white audiences-as many of TVs talking heads have been saying.  Yes, he did cause MTV to start airing videos by black artists, but he owed some of his crossover appeal to his black predecessors. Artists like Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughan and, in the rock ‘n’ roll genre, Little Richard, The Platters, Ray Charles and Lionel Richie. None of those performers would have been successful without a lot of white people buying their records. This is not to detract from Jackson’s unquestionable talent,” says Turegano. “I just don’t want anyone to forget those other icons. Not since Princess Diana’s funeral has the media gone so ga-ga.”

THE BOTTOM LINE: Wendy Butler claims to have graphic evidence of the decline of newspapers. “My morning paper is now so thin,” she says, “I’ve been able to train my 8-pound Lhasa Apso to pick it up and bring it into the house.”

Tags: adam lambert, city, column, mayor, Michael Jackson, SDNN, Tom Blair, union tribune

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 6:59 am and is filed under Columns, Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.