“Waiting for Adam: Interviews and Obsessions” is one of the best reads of the summer for many reasons. It tells the tale of celebrity interviewer Eileen Shapiro’s rise to Journalistic fame in hopes of one day having a conversation with her rock star hero, the iconic Adam Ant.
Although Shapiro has a healthy fan-base, there are those who aren’t familiar with the fact that she is a NY Times Best Selling author who penned “The Star Trek Medical Reference Manual”, or that she currently writes for over 50 publications world-wide, or that she is an award winning publicist. But even if you don’t know her, there is a good chance that you do know many if not all of her interviews included in the book.
While hoping to interview Adam she collected a resume of celebrities along the way that would make any writer jealous. Her thought was that if she interviewed artists including: Boy George, Diana Ross, Emma Stone, Annie Lennox, Fred Schneider, Rick Springfield, Cheap Trick, Spandau Ballet, LeAnn Rimes, Brooke Shields, Jennifer Hudson, Lizzo, Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Nettles, Kesha, Billy Porter, Lisa Stansfield, Sandra Bernhard, CeCe Peniston, Doctor Dre, and about 100 others of that nature that eventually she might secure an interview with Adam. Three continents and six years later she finally did.
The book includes many of those interviews mentioned above as well as an array of superstar photographs. It also spews out many backstage stories connected with those artists. It’s well written, full of heart and very funny at times. There are also cute stories about her own personal experiences in becoming a writer from owning a gay bar to owning a PR company with her partner Jimmy Star who also wrote the forward.
I found it difficult to put it down once I opened it and to me that is the makings of a good read. Although the book touches on her experiences with Adam Ant, it is not primarily about him. Rather it’s a legacy waiting to happen and a refreshing distraction from the world’s situations…..
5/5 Stars
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The official website for Eileen Shapiro may be found at https://www.eileenshapiro.rocks
Photos by Billy Hess