Kimberley Locke
To Run The San Francisco Marathon
By Tim Gaskin

American Idol 2’s Kimberley Locke, along with boyfriend Sgt. Harvey E. Walden IV, set to run the scenic San Francisco Marathon Sunday, August 3, 2008. The "Coolest Summer Marathon,” is also a Boston Marathon qualifier. Later that night, the Idol alum will sing for Help is on the Way 14, a fundraiser benefiting The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation (REAF), a non-profit organization established to raise funds for AIDS service provider agencies through the production of quality entertainment events.

In all, you’ve had seven top ten adult contemporary hits?
As Kimberley Locke the artist, I forget that. It’s nice to know that I’ve had that much success, for sure.

Are you having financial success, are you making the money?
Absolutely. You know, trust me if I wasn’t, Id be back in school. It’s not easy; it’s a tough business. You know, I have fans out there, everywhere. Thanks on my fans they keep working. I think because of my American Idol fan base, because that fan base ranges from small kids, teenagers, parents and grandparents. So, if I do a concert, I’ll have three generations of women show up; the daughter, the mother and the grandmother. When I do my gay and lesbian events, then that fan base is very clear. They are who they are! [Laughs]
I do two shows; I have a family show and I have my gay & lesbian show, because they embrace me and they like to have fun, and they love to hear my stupid little stories, you know, they’re not stupid, but they like to hear about what is going on in my life. You know, sometimes I talk about my boyfriend and how stupid he is.

Well your fans want to know are you dating trainer Sgt. Harvey E. Walden IV
I am. Just like any other relationship, it takes time to get to where you want to be, wherever that is. Its good, he's a great guy.

You were a plus size model, a Jenny Craig spokesperson, you lost that weight, you learned how to keep the weight off, is it tough being with someone who is a trainer
Oh my gosh, uh. For me it’s tough, it gets tough sometimes, because he is very very disciplined. But I think, you know, one of the first things I told him is let me be who I am, don’t try to change me to make me who you are, because that’s not going to work. He respects that for the most part. The bread comes to the table, he wants some, great, cause I’m gonna have some. You know, he always give me advice and I always ask, because hey, you know, look at him! [Laughs] He knows what he’s doing! [Howls]

He’s a first sergeant, is he a kitten in the bedroom? I mean he can’t be that way all the time. Are you the general in the bedroom?
You know what, I told him when we first starting dating; I said, you know there are two rules. Rule number one is that you are not going to run around yelling at me and screaming at me like you do other people. And rule number two is that we fight fair, because we are two dominant personalities. You know, as long as we’re behind our four walls, just the two of us, yes I do get the softer side of him. But when we’re out in public, you know, his image is very important to him.

You were just invited back to American Idol in 2008, 30 million people. How do you go from 3,000 to 30 million? And then how do you go back?
[Guffaws] Well, you know the thing about it, the beauty of it is, when you are in the studio doing the show on American Idol. There’s only about five hundred people in the studio, if that. So, the other 30 million, they’re out there in TV land. So you really don’t have to focus on them so much, you just kind of know they’re there.

It’s a good feeling, a great feeling actually for me to be invited back. I felt proud to go back. I felt like they acknowledged my success, even though I’m not under the umbrella of BMG and Nineteen Management. And that made me feel really good. It made me feel proud to be part of that family and that they acknowledged that.

After I walked off the stage I said, I am so glad its over. It’s like going back to your old high school giving a speech, and it was a lot of pressure.

Well, you succeeded. You blew it out of the water. It was incredible.
I succeeded, I’m glad I did. Thank you so much.

Okay, controversy. Dustin Diamond is now coming out with a book, he’s selling out his  “Saved By The Bell” cast members.
That does not surprise me one bit. In fact honey, I was watching “Saved By The Bell” the other day. And I looked at him and was like, “Wow, could that possibly be the same kid or is that his evil twin that I was working with?”

It doesn’t surprise me that he’s throwing his cast members under the bus. Um, and they would probably say the same thing.

You help a lot of nonprofit organizations, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, YouthAIDS, the Human Rights Campaign, but you’re coming back to San Francisco August 3, 2008 to perform one song to help Help is on the Way 14 at the Palace of Fine Arts. What will you be performing that night and why do you keep coming back to San Francisco and that fundraiser?
I can’t tell you what I am performing; it’s a secret! I can’t tell you that, I can’t tell you what I am singing but I will say this about Help is on the Way. This is my third year, and I look forward to doing this event every single year. Um, I don’t know, I really can’t put my finger on it why this event is so special to me besides the cause and what it represents. It’s nice to see so many artists and so many talented people in one place doing their own thing.

As a matter of fact, right before they called me I asked my manager, “Has Help on the Way called yet, for the event?” You know cause I want to put on the calendar, because its one of those things as an artist that I look forward to doing every year, and as a person you know. It’s a time, where you get to do ‘A’ the things that you love, with great people, and its for a great cause. It’s a very fun event.

When you are in San Francisco, you don’t waste anytime?
You know what, usually when I am in San Francisco, Um, I have a gaggle of gay friends in San Francisco, whom I love very dearly. And they host an annual spaghetti dinner with me, um around this event. So that’s what I do there.

Actually this weekend, believe it or not, I’m running a half marathon there in San Francisco (The San Francisco Marathon), on Sunday, at 5:30 a.m., Harvey and I are running that marathon.

Well I can’t wait to see you; I’ll have to cheer you on!
Yeah, we’re doing the half and in October I’m running the full marathon in D.C. runsfm.com

Help Is On The Way, August 3 at the Palace of Fine Arts. VIP Reception: 5:00pm Gala Reception: 6:00pm Performance: 7:30pm Underwriter Dessert Reception: 10:00pm richmondermet.org
Tim Gaskin is the producer & host of OUT Spoken, a weekly gay community TV show, outspokensf.com