CULTURE | FAME
“Astonishing!” “An evening you will never forget!” E HOLLYWOOD JOURNALIST
Dare to Believe!
JayOwenhouse.net
Saturday , September 28 4PM & 7:30PM
ticketswest.com • 800-325-SEAT
November 9, 2013 Gala Dinner and Juried Auction at the Historic Davenport Hotel
Delight in this region’s largest juried art auction showcasing the work of Inland Northwest artists. $100 per person includes complimentary wine and beautiful art catalogue
For more information
509-363-5323
or inquiries@macartauction.org
36 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 26, 2013
“BORN THIS WAY,” CONTINUED...
H
e didn’t become Glamorous overnight. As a kid, he played with makeup and his mom’s clothes. And until high school, Lang says he was just like any other teenage boy: flannel shirts, Vans shoes, skinny jeans, messy hair. He started playing with eyeliner in middle school — dotting it around his eyes first, then posting videos of himself on YouTube giving makeup tutorials. He got his laptop taken away by his parents for that one. But he’d found a world of androgynous people online, and soon considered his best friends to be the faces he’d talk to after school and at nights on Myspace. “It always felt like, even if you were to go to school and have a bad day, you would go home and there’s Myspace with everybody that’s the same,” he says. “The Internet was definitely like a best friend for so long. “Middle school was my hard time, because of other kids. But when I got into high school I was like, ‘OK, I’m running this shit. I’m not going to be the kid that gets picked on all the time,” Lang says. He makes it clear that his image isn’t a sexual thing — in fact, he says his sexuality isn’t important. This is his way of showing his true identity. He likes to bend the confines of gender. And sometimes he’ll still throw on Vans and a flannel if he wants to keep a lower profile. Despite the fact that he’s never made any music to get famous, it’s his attitude — to stand up and be who he is — that’s preemptively made Lang a star. In YouTube videos he phones fans he’s never met before, telling them that he loves them. He writes manifestoes on believing in yourself, ignoring the haters and being who you want to be. He’s become this sort of platformshoe-wearing, selfie-posing, self-help guru for the adolescent set. And now he has the full support of his family. His dad, a graphic designer, built his website and designs his merchandise. Last week, he shared with his fans a photo of himself at age 14 — chubby-cheeked and awkward — meeting Jeffree Star, an androgynous
Some of Lang’s fans sporting the shirts he sells on his website. male pop star, for the first time. “It was such an embarrassing picture for me,” he says. “But I was like, ‘Listen. You guys can be whoever you want.’” When he talks about the rest of his career — the part he hasn’t built yet — Lang’s confidence rises. He knows what his stage will look like one day. He knows that before concerts he’ll dress in disguise and appear in the audience to surprise his fans. He imagines his stage outfits and his name in glittering marquee lights. For now, he spends his days folding T-shirts at Hot Topic and answering fan messages (on this particular Monday, he says he’s gotten 329 in the past 24 hours). He’ll start recruiting a band soon. Maybe move to California next year. He knows there’s a long road ahead for him to become a rock star, but says he couldn’t be surer that he’ll reach his goal. “It’s hard to focus on anything else. In school my grades weren’t great because that was what was always on my mind. Always,” he says. “I know that if you work for something hard enough, it will happen. That’s just my mind-set. And there’s no Plan B. “That’s all I have to keep telling myself. … I cannot accept anything other than what I want.” But even if he doesn’t reach that dream one day, he’s already changed the lives of many of his fans. Shawnee Sample, a 14-year-old from San Bruno, Calif., says over email that Lang has helped her be the person she wants to be. “He cares about every one of his fans and that means the world to me. He actually cares and he actually listens,” she writes. “With the times I’ve talked to Gage he has truly made my outlook on life more positive. I feel Gage inspired me to do my best, to not take crap from people, and just be myself. “That’s all I ever need to be, Gage helped me realize that.” leahs@inlander.com Follow Gage Glamorous on Instagram (GageGlamorous), Twitter @GageGlamorous or Facebook (facebook.com/GageGlamorous)