Gyoza, Glinda and Glambert

I had an interesting evening this past Monday.

I re-connected with a good friend who I hadn't seen in a few months. We'd both been busy but had made plans to get together for drinks and dinner. We met up after work and walked up from Christopher Street into Chelsea and settled on a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Conversation picked up pretty easily, as it does with good friends even if you haven't seen them for a while. We talked about work, romance, travels, cats and such. It was very pleasant. I also - amazingly - had my head together enough to remember to bring her container of holiday cookies, as she and her husband were leaving in a few days for a five week trip to Thailand to visit family.

We each had a glass of wine and chatted for about two hours then headed out for another stroll, as it was a clear and not-too-cold December evening. We then decided that we deserved dessert and headed to the Donut Pub on West 14th. Its one of those good old fashioned coffee shops that have doughnuts and muffins in the window and a long counter for patrons. I had a cinnamon swirl and a cup of tea and my friend had some mini-doughnuts and a coffee. We talked more and then headed to our next destination.


(More, and a Glambert photo after the jump!)





This time of year it's hard not to get double-booked, so the second part of the evening involved heading over to Splash Bar for Musical Mondays. I hadn't gone in ages but another friend was having a small post-birthday gathering there so I agreed to meet up and my friend was happy to tag along. We got there a little after 9PM, when there was still no cover (yay) and found the birthday boy.

I really have missed singing along to showtunes. I used to be a regular at a piano bar called 88's that closed at the turn of the century (don't you love that you can say that now?). Even though at Splash it was just videos from Tony Award broadcasts, clips from films, or performances from the Macy's Day Parade, it was still fun. And it was nice to see a decent percentage of younger guys mixed in with the more senior members of the community. And the younger ones had developed their own "bits" to go along with the song clips. For "Defying Gravity," one fellow had his green phone light shining up into his face as if he were Elphaba. Cute.

There was a fair amount of newer songs featured, but I have to say, any time Barbra's face flashed on the screens, it got quiet and people always cheered at the end of the number. Some performers are icons for a reason, ya know?

Well, while we were hanging out, chatting, drinking ( I had a Budweiser) and singing, we noticed a large crowd starting to gather near the rear of the bar. I didn't think much of it until my friend asked "wait, is that Adam Lambert?"

I looked and could only see a tall figure clad all in black, with a shaggy hairdo. I supposed it could have been him, or some other goth-y glam-y young gay man. But as we continued to peer, and as the energy in the bar began to hum - as it often does when the presence of celebrity begins to infect all those present - it became clearer that yes, indeed, we were in the company of the latest American Idol also-ran.

photo courtesy of Len Evans

While the initial impulse was to see if some kind of contact could be made, so as to prove the truth of the event to others later, the experienced New Yorker mindset quickly shut that idea down. Unless I'm at a performance where the celebrity is deliberately on show, or I'm in a situation where we are both invited guests at some event, I prefer to let the person alone. They are there to have fun and socialize, not be pestered. And besides, I really didn't give a damn about him anyway.

We went back to our chatting and singing and drinking and at some point the Glambert had disappeared. And then he was back again. And then he and his small entourage walked.right.past.us. Truly he was less than a foot away as he passed by. He looked exactly like the photos and videos. A baby-faced giant goth creature. With fingerless gloves.

Eventually the hour became late, I said my goodbyes to the group, escorted my friend back to the subway and headed home. Upon arrival, my own little black-clad celebrities greeted me, and shortly I was ensconced in bed with the two little beasts snuggled on either side of me.