The 54-year-old New Yorker brought her second annual True Colors tour for human rights to the Molson Amphitheatre on Wednesday night with Toronto critical darlings The Cliks, Indigo Girls, The B-52s and TV personalities Carson Kressley (Queer Eye) and Rosie O’Donnell also on the bill.

Lauper is doing her best to stamp out discrimation against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people and part of the proceeds from the festival are going towards Egale Canada’s Safe Schools Campaign.

In other words, spiritually and musically, Lauper had it covered. She opened her hour-long set by climbing the stairs to the top of a fake Statue of Liberty torch singing her old hit Change Of Heart, backed by her five-piece band, and wasted no time getting the crowd to stand on top of their seats in a singalong.

By the next tune, Rocking Chair, from her dance-happy new album, Bring Ya to the Brink, she was joined by O’Donnell, who sang backup, with the onetime talk-show host later returning to play percussion during Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Sheila E., your job is safe) and again as part of the final all-star performances of Everyday People and True Colors.

Truth be told, Lauper’s new tunes, including Set Your Heart and Into the Nightlife, came across better than some of her older hits like She Bop, whose lyrics she screwed up as she concentrated on playing guitar.

Still, the undisputed standouts of the night were her passionate renderings of Roy Orbison’s I Drove All Night, her own Time After Time — with Lauper on dulcimer — and a duet with Cliks transgendered lead singer Lucas Silveira (formerly Lilia) on Money Changes Everything, which saw the two singers rolling around on stage together.

Otherwise, giving Lauper a run for her money in the entertainment department was the newly revitalized B-52s, who are touring in support of their first studio record in 16 years, Funplex, and it’s a doozy.

Such new fun dance songs as Pump, Ultraviolet, Juliet of the Spirits, Hot Corner, Love in the Year 3000, and the title track stood up nicely alongside older chesnuts Your Own Private Idaho, Roam, Love Shack and Rock Lobster and people were mostly on their feet shaking their hips.

Frankly, it was hard not to.

“We’re a dance band — we don’t mind,” frontman Fred Schneider said dryly when people were seated too long for his liking.

Singers Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson were in great harmony and they made up for the lack of beehive wigs with glamourous attire and first-rate dance moves while Schneider — aka the Paul Lynde of New Wave — and guitarist Keith Strickland didn’t disappoint in the slightest.

Kressley filled in nicely as emcee between musical sets and O’Donnell, who told the audience she’s been a full-time mom since leaving The View in the midst of some headline-making drama a year ago, delivered both a funny and poignant half-hour of comedy as she talked about her children, losing her mother to cancer when she was only 11, and her burgeoning homosexuality as a teen.

True Colors Tour
Molson Amphitheatre
Wednesday night
Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Toronto Sun

Special Guests On Select Dates to Include Indigo Girls, Joan Armatrading, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Regina Spektor, Tegan and Sara, Wanda Sykes, Nona Hendryx, Deborah Cox, The Cliks

Tour Kicks Off May 31st in Boston at the Bank of America Pavilion

NEW YORK, NY (March 5, 2008) – The True Colors Tour will hit the road again this summer with an exciting new line-up of legendary and up and coming artists including headliners Cyndi Lauper, The B-52s, Rosie O’Donnell with host Carson Kressley and many more. After receiving rave reviews and a successful debut in 2007, the True Colors Tour is expanding to meet demand in many more cities. The tour will kick off Gay & Lesbian Pride Month on May 31st at Boston’s Bank of America Pavilion.

Produced by True Colors Concerts in partnership once again with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the 24 city North American tour is presented by Logo in support of the newly created True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation. The concerts feature nearly five hours of nonstop music with exciting special guests appearing on select dates throughout the tour including Wanda Sykes, Tegan and Sara, Regina Spektor, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Joan Armatrading, Indigo Girls, Nona Hendryx, Deborah Cox and The Cliks.

This year’s tour will highlight the need for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and their straight allies to get out and make their votes count this fall. HRC and this year’s other non-profit partners – CenterLink (the nation’s LGBT community centers) and Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National – are joining with the True Colors Tour to bring together Americans across the country to voice their solidarity for LGBT equality and raise public awareness about the issues that face the LGBT community.

The True Colors Tour was conceived by Cyndi Lauper stemming from her desire to give back to the community for the love and support they have given her throughout her career. The True Colors Tour is a celebration of the basic values and freedoms that should be shared by all Americans. Fans will experience these values through the music of both legendary icons and the newest and coolest acts this generation has to offer.

“I’m so excited and honored that we’re taking True Colors out on the road again this year,” said tour producer and creator Cyndi Lauper. “We had a blast last year and we are proud that the tour also brought about visibility and discussions of issues that LGBT citizens face in our country today. This year I am once again joined on the tour by an array of incredibly talented artists. The tour is a non stop 5 hour music party with a message. This year the party only gets bigger and our message to the fans is to get out and vote in November. The True Colors Tour asks for equality for all, not just for some, that is the principal upon which this country was founded. So let’s celebrate and have fun this summer while we spread the word to get out the vote and all become a part of the changes in this country.”

“True Colors is a good way to get out the vote,” said The B-52s’ Fred Schneider, “and get out of the house and party!”

The True Colors Fund of Stonewall Community Foundation was created this year to generate financial support to directly benefit the tour’s non-profit partners. Funds will be raised through sales of official benefit t-shirts, an EBAY auction of tour and music memorabilia, the True Colors Jewelry Collection by Love & Pride, the tour’s Official Jeweler, as well as individual donations to the fund by visitors to the tour’s website. The True Colors Jewelry Collection, selected by Cyndi Lauper from creations made by renowned designer Udi Behr, is currently in production and will launch this June. In addition, through the True Colors Fund, $1 of every ticket sold will once again be donated to HRC.

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization with more than 700,000 members and supporters nationwide. HRC works to secure equal rights for LGBT individuals and families at the federal and state levels by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other LGBT organizations.

“Thanks to the overwhelming success of the first True Colors tour last year, we were able to send a loud and unmistakable message to all Americans that it is past time our federal hate crimes laws be updated to include sexual orientation and gender identity. This year, we are going to build on the grassroots power of the tour by launching a massive, nonpartisan voter outreach campaign that will educate, engage and organize equality voters in this year’s election,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “This year’s True Colors Tour will provide us with an historic opportunity to organize our community to achieve a powerful voice in the 2008 elections.”

Tickets for select cities will go on sale beginning March 15th and will be available at www.ticketmaster.com.

The True Colors Tour is presented by Logo and produced by True Colors Concerts, LLC in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign.

Logo, the leading digital cable channel and online source of entertainment from MTV Networks for the LGBT audience, is now available in 30 million homes and has 130 advertising partners supporting the channel which features a mix of original and acquired shows, movies and news.

Louise Gannon meets Cyndi Lauper, the singer whose look and attitudes predated the Material Girl.
Cyndi Lauper is standing in a hotel suite holding two copies of her latest CD’s in front of her naked breasts. A photographer snaps away. “It’s for the Sun,” she yelps in her Betty Boop comic-strip voice. “They’re gonna put me on Page Three.”

Ten minutes later and dressed in a grey jumper with her hair coloured blue and green, she shrugs her shoulders: “They’re not exploiting me. Hell, I’m exploiting them. I used the album and the single. You won’t be able to miss them in that shot.” She lets out a quick burst of laughter. Cyndi Lauper hasn’t had a hit in a while. Fifteen years ago, it might all have been different – if Cyndi had wanted it to be. There was a time when her look, her attitude and even her voice proved the inspiration for another New York wannabe.

“In the early Eighties I got famous,” She recalls. “I found it terrifying. I felt embarrassed because I thought I wasn’t good enough. I spent the first few years trying to find places to hide away. “I remember the first time I saw pictures in a magazine of a girl wearing the same sort of freaked-out clothes I wore. I went cold. I felt that my identity had been stolen. It probably explains why I changed my look so often. I’m always running away.”

So when the fellow New York lost girl Madonna came along with her similar image and similar songs, Cyndi stepped back and allowed her to get on with it. Many have attacked Madonna for cashing in on Lauper’s ideas but she just smiles; “I could never had done what she did or live the life she does.” At 43, Cyndi seems to be having fun again. She looks in excellent shape. Her figure is tiny and toned (yoga and jogging) and her skin appears unlined. “It’s a family secret,” she says. “I’ve been putting moisturizing creams on my face since I was nine.

My grandmother is 96 and she has the skin of a baby.” But Cyndi doesn’t want to talk about skin-care. She wants to talk about her music. “People are still more hung up about how I look than how I perform.” Her new album, Sisters of Avalon, is released on February 10th and the single, You Don’t Know, should enter the charts this Sunday. She is excited about the project, believing that it’s one of her best albums.

“When I was a kid I really, really wanted to be famous. I loved to sing, I loved to dress up. I loved to live in an alternative world to the one I was stuck with. I had a lot of misery with a step-father who physically abused my mother and terrified me, my brother and my sister.” Cyndi has since found her own happiness. In 1992 she married Scots-born film director David Thornton (he is currently working on Home Alone III). “He sorted my head out. I have a lot of daemons but he can handle them. I’d split up with my fiancé, who was also my manager, and fallen into a really abusive relationship. David came along and I was calm again.”

She would like children, but refuses to be traumatized if nothing happens. “I love that I am working again even though it keeps me away from David. He encourages me to put down my thoughts and feelings on paper. At first I hated it because I’m dyslexic, but now I love it. David told me that I was a poet and I could express myself better than anyone, even if the spellings are all wrong.” She smiles and adds: “And with a man like that, you can see why I am so happy.”

Which is definitely something Madonna can’t say.

Higher Plane
Disco Inferno
True Colors
Shine (Dance Version)

Comments
Comments by Cheryl White
It was a great day! Cyndi looked fabulous! I was able to walk up 5th ave to find Cyndi. She was on top of an old yellow firetruck with lots of “firemen” Her mom and sister were on the truck too. The coolest thing was that in front of the firetruck 2 guys held a poster that had a huge double picture of Cyndi’s face and it says in small prnt “Shine” on her upper cheek and said “Cyndi Lauper” on top. Is this the album cover? If so, it is really a beautiful picture. She is sporting short brown hair with a few strands of colors and very nice make up. Anywasy I was able to hear Cyndi sing Disco Inferno, True Colors and Shine. They played a dance version of Shine, which Cyndi was lip synching to. I got some great pictures of Cyndi and her mom and sister. Cyndi’s mom was nice to say hi to me when they were stoppped at the light. All in all it was a great day full of wonderful people!!!!

Comments by Al Hollus
I arrived at the Parade at about 12:30 pm. I, myself, happened to be marching with a group which happened to be only several blocks ahead of PFLAG, where Cyndi was. So, before I actually had to “step off” at the beginning of the Parade, I ran up to where Cyn and the firetruck were at and luckily was able to get some (hopefully) good shots of our Diva, her mom and sister, Ellen. Her mom, looked absolutely fabulous decked out in combat gear! And Cyndi, with the showgirl/Vegas outfit — incredible!

I took some pictures of the album’s promotional sign with the words “Shine” written on it. While I was taking the pictures, Cyndi had some really good looking “firemen” surrounding her, as one wound up holding her down the parade route so she wouldn’t fall. The songs I heard her sing to the backing tracks, especially down by Christopher Street (the end of the Parade) was Jr’s. True Colors mix and Higher Plane. She had all the “girls” going nuts in the streets! Too amazing to see.

After the parade was over, I wound up walking in the heart of The (Greenwich) Village… and accidentally stumbled upon the firetruck that Cyn was on — and she still on it, too! Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera at that time as she was surrounded by volunteers of PFLAG, the dancers and family – thanking them as they thanked her for helping them out. She was a vision to see. By the way…her latest look is absolutely divine!

Comments by Brian
I will comment on this as if I were talking directly to Cyndi, Last summer I had the great opportunity to attend NY Pride. Prior to that I had the honor to hear you perform during Cher’s “Believe” tour. You were amazing!!! It was the stop in Cleveland after the show and you were in the DJ booth looking fierce as always at a bar appropriately called “The Cage”. I was dancing my ass off and conversing with my higher self saying “Cyndi, you have yet to SHINE” I almost went up to the booth to say that to ya until I realized , I just said it, you got the message!!!! 0 ; )” When I heard your voice in the NY Pride Parade tears rolled down my face when I saw you on the float. “That” was a moment I’ll never forget. You are a beautiful spirit. that I always keep in my heart.. Now, it really is your time to shine baby! I’m working on my own music career and would love to collaborate with you in the future! Who wouldn’t?!! You have been a big inspiration to me and I thank you for bringing me back to myself. Keep on rocking your stage shows girl! The rest of the world will “get it “sooner or later. Peace in the middle east and love from the heavens above, son e boy .

ROCK ON-Once,they proved you didn’t have to be a guy to jam; now these boomer artists are showing you don’t have to be 21 to rock
by Lauren David Peden.

Cyndi Lauper
THEN: The Grammy winner was known for jangly pop tunes such as “She Bop” – and for her multihued hair.

NOW: Married, with a three-year-old son, Lauper, 47, is whipping up songs for a CD expected out this summer. Don’t look for colorful strands. “Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt”, she says.

And she also believes she can act. You’ll be surprised to find that you agree when you see her emote as Christopher Walken’s girlfriend in The Opportunists, a tongue-in-cheek indie about a small time crime caper that takes place in Queens, New York. It’s not going to set film history on fire but it’s beautifully shot and does show off a newly toned-down Cyndi.

With a voice that doesn’t grate and a hair color your mother might choose, she’s utterly convincing as a tough but sensitive bar owner who wants her beau Walken to just be a good guy and marry her.

In person, however, Cyndi was back to purple tresses, although her hair style and her garb were rather classy. The girl was fit and ready to let loose.

PlanetOut: At the Joni Mitchell tribute concert which was recently broadcast over TBS, some folks said you gave the best performance. You were the one who brought the house down. Did you find many people shocked Cyndi Lauper was doing Joni? Most music fans probably only know of your early career.

CL: Oh, no! If you listen to “Time After Time,” you see how the poetry had to be influenced by somebody, and it certainly wasn’t the Beatles. I mean they were excellent and they influenced me in a lot of ways, and their writing was incredible … and I can’t say that John Lennon wasn’t a wonderful poet, but because, my God, he was, and he did influence me. But then there’s some stuff in there that definitely came from growing up and listening to Joni Mitchell.

PlanetOut: When you sing a song like “I’m Going to Be Strong,” you just milk it brilliantly. That’s a sensational performance. But do you get upset with folks who can’t see past your outrageous persona? Your outfits?

CL: You know, maybe for a time I did. But it’s been such a long time now, I’ve just come to settle on how I feel about myself. I like color. I do do funny things, and I am kind of funny sometimes even when I don’t mean to be. Maybe part of it’s stupidity. You know what I mean. But I think you’ve got to be who you are. It isn’t my issue to tell everybody what it is that I do. My issue is to keep doing it and to keep the channel open because while you’re doing it, and you’re in the moment of doing it, sometime greatness touches you.

PlanetOut: Well, being a great artist, one has to be selfish. Look at Tchaikovsky. [Cyndi laughs] Lots of gays are going to be seeing this film, The Opportunists, because they adore you. You have done so much for the gay community and AIDS.

CL: All right! Let me just say one thing. I’ve done what I could. I wish I could have done something really incredible. I only did what I could do, but it’s not like a separate community for me. I’m a friend and family member, OK, and when you have a gay person in your family or they are your close friends, you’ve got to stand up and say, “Hey, I’m proud of you. You’re a great guy. You’re a great gal. I’m proud of you.” Because if you don’t, and you really love that person, and you don’t show up, that’s really sending the wrong message to the person.

To the world. We’re all blessed to be born in this country because this is a wonderful country of real opportunity. I mean it’s hard but we weren’t born in a war torn country. We didn’t have major volcanoes all over us. You know we don’t have earthquakes. We do but we haven’t been devastated like other parts of the world, right? I mean Serbia. What if you were born in Serbia, what would your career be like then?

PlanetOut: Sadly, financially, not much different.

CL: Well, the only thing that I see that’s unfortunate about this country is not what happens to us, it’s what we do each other. And so if we can extend our arms and give support to each other and celebrate our differences, we got something. Me, growing up, my sister is a lesbian. She’s one of the most fantastic people I know. She’s always been heroic to me. She has always tried to do something good in the world. She’s been an inspiration to me, and I know I’m not just … I ain’t just talking, you know.
Everybody in this country has somebody in their family. Like I used to go to weddings, and they’d be like, “Oh, you’re sister’s the . . .” And I’d go, “The photographer” because you know … and I wore a tuxedo too because I knew they were going to give her a problem. And this is way before k.d. lang. So if you don’t stand up for each other, what’s going to happen? What are we going to do? Closet ourselves again? I’m not up for it. And that’s a little arrogant of me and it’s a little selfish of me because I’m comfortable within the community because that’s kind of like an extension of my own lifestyle except I’m not gay. I’m heterosexual, but I could give a (leaves a pause for an expletive) you know, if you are or not. It’s who you are. I have so many wonderful [gay] friends and my family whom I love deeply, you gotta show up. It’s just a … You gotta show up. It’s half-selfish, and half I feel an obligation, so I do what I can. I don’t see it as a heroic thing because it ain’t.

PlanetOut: So you’re a mother now. … What’s his name?

CL: Declyn. We spell it the Scottish way. … He’s 2 and 1/2. … He’s a great guy. He’s very funny. I’m enamored with the kid. Yeah, he’s my kid. He’s fantastic. He’s a lot like his dad. Unfortunately he has my temperament. I hope he has my voice. because if has my temperament and his father’s voice, we’re all in trouble.

PlanetOut: Getting back to the gay thing, you’re just being modest.

CL: No. No. No. If family members like me would stand up as opposed to not saying anything and if they’d say, “I’m loud and proud,” it would send a message out into this country that we’re not all bigots and homophobic and you know what I mean. You got to stand up and say it.

To find Cyndi Lauper, flip to a “Mad About You” rerun, and you’ll likely see her in her Emmy-winning role as Marianne, Ira’s loud ex-wife. Or check out the big screen this summer, where she’ll be costarring with Christopher Walken in First Look Pictures’ “The Opportunists.”

Walken plays an ex-con now trying to live an honest life as an auto mechanic. But when a stranger (Peter McDonald) who claims to be an old cousin arrives and asks him to help in a last heist, Walken risks his stable life for the money. Lauper plays his girlfriend Sally, who loves him but doesn’t want to watch him go to jail.

“That was the tough one,” Lauper says of her character’s dilemma. “But sometimes you gotta just do the right thing, otherwise it’s just gonna get worse, or that’s what I thought she was thinking.”

While Lauper is sporting a mane of purple/white/black hair nowadays (purple is a “healing color,” she says), her character in “The Opportunists” is much more subdued, the opposite of her gum-snapping “Mad About You” role. Lauper says she was attracted to the film, after previous big-screen turns in “Vibes” and “Life With Mikey,” because of its realistic portrayal of down-on-the-luck life in Queens.

“I’ve been told my whole life there’s a list of rules about what’s right and what’s wrong, but all my life there’s been a gray area where real people live. And I guess that’s what attracted me to this film, too, because this was the gray area where real people live,” Lauper says. “They don’t have cars blow up, big shoot ‘em up, blah blah blah. … This is where real people live and where real people can’t deal with the rules cause they’re different or whatever.”

Lauper is no stranger to breaking rules; after all, her first album, appropriately titled “She’s So Unusual,” spawned four Top Five singles and established the singer-songwriter as the force behind the happy anthem “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Fifteen years later, the wacky wife and mother (son Declyn Wallace was born in 1997) is still moving with the times.

“I oughtta tell all those people who used to yell at me all the time and call me ‘comedian,’ that now I have an Emmy to prove it,” Lauper laughs.

Lauper’s next album is due in 2001. In the meantime, “The Opportunists” is set to open Aug. 11.

Girls just want to have fun, but for now a cup of coffee will do. Just hours off the red-eye back to New York from a weekend of shows in California, Cyndi Lauper is slumping in the makeup chair of a photo studio located between a housing project and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where the next generation of Dolces and Gabannas are honing their craft. Lauper says the California gigs-including an appearance at San Diego’s gay pride festival-were a blast, but it seems all they’ve left her with are exhaustion and rainbow-colored nails, which, she says, sadly, will have to be changed for the shoot. Pride’s become an annual tradition for married mama Lauper, and she speaks of it in terms of a deep obligation.

“You have to stand up for your friends and family and be proud of them,” she says simply.

Set in Lauper’s old Queens stomping grounds, The Opportunists (First Look Pictures) also stars Christopher Walken, but both he and Lauper have been cast against type-so don’t buy a ticket expecting him to play another psycho while she busts out the Betty Boop shtick for comic relief.

“It’s very simple, very to the point,” she says of the film. “No violence, no cursing, and it holds your attention with no sex.” It doesn’t have a lot of laughs either. From her riotous early videos through her Emmy-winning guest spot on TV’s Mad About You, Lauper has always been a crack-up, but as Walken’s long-suffering barkeep gal pal Sally, she holds her own in a dramatic setting and looks great doing it.

Like all the roles she chooses, the resilient Sally is reminiscent of “people I knew, who I grew up with, who were the foundation of what I thought the world was like. It’s shocking once you leave Queens!” More movie roles are a possibility if the right part comes along, though nothing’s set for now. Plans for a sitcom are on the back burner, too, while she plots her next musical direction.

Currently, Lauper’s writing new material with none other than Junior Vasquez. Their collaboration dates back to 1992′s Hat Full of Stars album, on which they shared writing and producing chores; most recently, they teamed up on a Grammy-nominated remake of Disco Inferno for the A Night at the Roxbury soundtrack.

Though Hat Full of Stars ran a gamut of moods and pop styles, Inferno was the kind of dance floor call-to-feet Vasquez is best known for.

“Junior feels like we should do a whole album of dance,” says Lauper, “but I can’t. I don’t wanna be homogenized.”

Though it’s been awhile since she’s been a presence on the radio, Lauper’s records have sold consistently, and with the recent rise of gutsy, flame-haired singers like Pink and Gwen Stefani-not to mention the return of the World Wrestling Federation-her tutti-frutti worldview has come full circle. It’s not that big a step from Girls Just Want to Have Fun in vintage petticoats to “girl power” in Union Jack platforms, so did Lauper feel any kind of kinship with the Spice Girls? She scoffs, “I like things with a little more edge, like Cibo Matto and Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.”

The makeup’s on, the pride manicure is gone, and the camera’s loaded. Jet lag be damned-suddenly, Lauper comes alive. The camera loves her, and the feeling is mutual. Having given lighting tips to the photographer, using the books of old silent movie stills she brought along as examples, she works those Clara-Bow-meets- Louise-Brooks features for all they’re worth.

Costume No.1, a vaguely monastic black getup, is rejected-”too Sister Mary Scary”-though the contrast of her pale skin is radiant in the Polaroids.

The studio office assistant doubles as a DJ and starts a set by spinning Prince’s Lady Cab Driver, while Lauper, in a marabou-trimmed number, makes like graduation day at the Barbizon modeling school, “I’m wearing feathers, and I’m happy,” she laughs. “You know, I saw Mahogany! I didn’t really-I just saw the coming attraction where the guy says ‘You’re fabulous, you’re fabulous!’”

It’s just as well she was spared the unhappy ending.

Costume No.3′s a purple brocade coat-”A steal!”-over a black skirt with roses. Soon she hikes those roses skyward and, with an imp ish grin, thrusts her bare foot at the camera. The rainbow manicure may have been painted over, but the gay-pride pedicure is taking a defiant turn in front of the lens. Beautiful like a rainbow, Lauper’s true colors are still shining through

PRARIE MILLER: I hear you went on a pub crawl to prepare for this movie.

CL: Oh yeah! I had to research. I knew what barmaids kinda look like. And I know that like when you’re a barmaid, it’s the crowd you bring in. You have like your own crowd, if you’re a draw. So being a musician in a band, and having different nights of the week in different clubs, you gotta draw, you know what I mean? So everybody has their thing.

PM: Now were you in these bars undercover, or did you mingle?

CL: You know, I guess it’s been so many years since I’ve been famous, that I don’t bother looking not to be seen anymore. And at the height of my fame, it was very hard for me. Because my method of writing lyrics would be walking around endlessly, and watching. Now how can you do that, if everybody knows who the hell you are? You don’t get a second. One time a car pulled up, and all the people jumped out and came rushing towards me. It was just an autograph thing, but after that I was like, I can’t deal with this. And I got kinda worried.

But now I figure, you know what? It’s not my issue, it’s not my problem. And if they recognize me, don’t lie because that’s nasty. So I just say yeah, I’m her. But in the bars, they kinda didn’t do that. My hair was kinda fading from pinkish orange maybe, and I had to wash it out. You know how that is, the stuff washes out. So it was different every time. And now basically I just put my jeans on, and we went out and had a beer. And it was great. Because these bars are different than the others bars. This was an old Irish neighborhood. And as a musician I like Celtic stuff. I like the whole mix, You know, this is America, so we’re rich and full with everything. I feel lucky I was born here. So when I went into these bars, you go and there’s bagpipes playing in the next room.

But I got to see a lot. And there’d be the drinkers at the bar with the ruddy complexions. They’d tell you, hey go home and visit your family! Because they never go home. They’re always there.

PM: What about getting the local female look just right?

CL: Well, I’m there looking at a lady, and her hair of course was the blonde with the roots. And the eye makeup that closes up your eyes. But I couldn’t do that in the film, because they always have like a heart attack. Like. ‘It can’t be that real! They’ll never see inside your eyes!’ So I just watched.

PM: Where do you see your musical side fitting in with acting in The Opportunists?

CL: Well, you know, I’m a musician. I’m a lifer. I’ve always been. And I loved doing this movie, I learned so much. When you’re a musician, everything’s based on rhythm. Being creatures of rhythm, we always respond to that. It’s all rhythm, including the rhythm of our speech and action. And you snap into a different reality. You can be so in it, that it’s lyrical. So it was a wonderful experience, it was magical. So that’s more of what I do. I have a wonderful imagination that I’m very grateful for, and you can use it in a lot of different mediums. If I couldn’t sing though, I don’t think I could feel as alive as I do. There’s something about music that keeps me very much alive and vibrating.

PM: What were you doing before you made it as a musician?

CL: I worked in a department store. Because when you’re in a band, where are you gonna get a job? My hair was funny, my clothes were weird, I worked until dawn. And then you know, you show up cross eyed, at eleven or twelve o’clock. Who’s gonna hire you? So I worked at a concession stand. And one of my first fans was the assistant manager. And he got me a gig with Doris, the lady there who engraved jewelry. But what that taught me was how to write an autograph. You know, it was always like, ‘Dear Grandma, Merry Christmas.’ So I got a lot of practice on a pie plate. But hey, everything comes in handy.

PM: Your look is still pretty…unusual. What does your son think about that?

CL: He’s still too young to say Ma, why can’t you look like everyone else? He’s only two.

PM: Were you a little intimidated working with Christopher Walken on The Opportunists?

CL: Wouldn’t you be? You know, I took the gig because I met him already. I knew he was nice. Then this opportunity came up, and I said, why not. At first I told myself, you’re out of your mind. But I read for it anyway. He’s great, he’s very artistic. He’s kooky too, okay? Lemme tell you, working with these artistic people, they’re all a little nutty. I know, and I’m sitting here with this purple hair talking like that! But I get there, and it very surreal. The reason I’m saying this is I want you to understand the look of the place, it looked like a painting. Then Chris walks in, and he’s completely in black.

The walls are white, and there was no roof, it was all sky. So I’m sitting in a painting, as far as I’m concerned, okay? Like I went to art school, but not for nothing. This is performance art, this is a painting acting! So they all start doing the reading. And I just went right along with it. Why make waves, right? I may have look different, but I’m a blender, really. And I started reading, but before I knew it, I called him a rat. But it was all within the contents of the scripts, you know?

Then I thought, after it came out of my mouth, I’m done for. That’s it, I called Christopher Walken a rat. But you know, it was in the script. But then the director told me, hey Chris was really impressed that you called him a rat. And I said you know, it was in the script! I mean, I was reading it, and it just slipped out.

PM: How do you think that happened?

CL: Well, I am from Queens. And it’s not like with my husband. He comes from an educated family, so they have discussions. In my neighborhood, it was the loud neighborhood. We didn’t have discussions, we had arguments. And they would…yell. It wasn’t like, I disagree with your point of view. It was, shut up, you’re stupid, what do you know anyway? And that was the end of that. So of course it heightened to, you rat. What can I say? But that was my first actual…artistic thing with him. Now hey, that wasn’t the Readers Digest version, I’m sorry.

PM: No problem. How do you feel about the changing images of young female pop singers like Britney Spears now?

CL: Well, how do you say this in a positive way? I think what’s happening is a little sad. This is a seventeen year old girl whose mom helped her get a boob job, because she felt that’s how she’d become more popular. And what’s sad is, that did help her. Yeah, I used to have fantasies. Yeah, I used to chase after the Monkees. But Chrtina Aguilera, who is all of nineteen, an old lady now compared to the standard. You don’t have to be some little tart. And you know what? It’s great coming to the power of your sexuality. No one wants to take that away. But why the adults have to stick their hands in and muck about, I find very sad.

Now with the heavy saturation of syrupy sweet pop comes the dance trance, the unraveling of the song. And also the cynical lyrical content. The problem is not that you want to discover and make new music. The problem is the negativity. And it’s being perpetuated by people who are in business who don’t live it, who are feeding off of the anger that you feel when you’re coming through puberty.

PM: Where do you see yourself as fitting into all of that?

CL: You’ll hear it very soon. I’m comin’, don’t worry. I’m not gonna not make a statement. I’m comin’. I see the void, there’s a perfect spot for me. And I think somebody’s gotta stand up and do it. I’d like to be the one. We’ll see. But I’m not talking yet! But I got a list, and I’m going down to mess with some things tomorrow. I’m very excited. I want to take some very vibrant energy and life force, and bring it into the forefront. Something with a more positive view or story about humanity. Not unlike this movie. But to me more of a real humanity than, you know, watching a car blow up. Awright, that’s it. Was it too heavy for you? I’m sorry! Awright, I’ll see ya later.

Cyndi Lauper did not have an easy time growing up. There were definite obstacles that stood in her way, but she always had a talent for singing. She had difficulties both at school, due in part to dyslexia and in part to her simply being different, and at home, but her singing was nurtured through the love of her mother and siblings.

From the beginning, Cyndi was always her own person, never afraid of who she was. She realized that in order to find herself, she would have to leave home on her own and find what it was that was truly important to her. Around the age of twenty, she decided to move to Manhattan, not far from her childhood home in Queens just across the bridge, and it was then and there that she discovered that she could really sing and wanted to try and make a life for herself making music.

After singing for awhile, she began to lose her voice and she realized that this time, it probably wasn’t coming back. Doctors told her that she wouldn’t be able to sing again. However, with the help of a vocal coach and a few months of coaching, Cyndi’s vocal cords had healed and she began to sing again.

At this point in her career, Cyndi joined a band called Blue Angel and with this, met a long-time collaborator. However, the band did not have much success though it was clear that Cyndi’s talent was immeasurable. With the help of her new friend, David Wolff, Cyndi was signed to a record contract.

Cyndi was one of the first women in the music industry to demand that her work be her own.

In 1983, She’s So Unusual was released and Cyndi was practically an instant pop music star. She had the strong desire to express her ideas and feelings in her music and she did not want to be controlled by record executives. This first album of hers was an unbelievable success. It made her name known all over the globe and almost every girl I knew at the time watched in awe as she danced across the screen in those wild outfits around the time of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. With this song and Time After Time, she proved that she could not only sing a rock song, but also a ballad.

Cyndi was a person who’s personality, outfits, colors, and attitude were as much a part of her performance as her music, but it was the music for which she had a true talent.

By the end of 1985, she became the first female rocker to have four songs in the top five on the pop music charts. Her album went platinum and she won Grammy awards, American Music awards, and MTV Music Awards. She was a universal female pop icon. She even participated in the We Are the World fund-raiser for Africa with 45 other top music acts. Her career was taking off.

Soon after, Cyndi released her second album, True Colors. The title track was a hit and the album generated a few other popular songs, but it is said that it simply did not have the same thunder as She’s So Unusual. To me, this is the biggest misconception about the career of this unique and unbelievably talented woman. Cyndi was writing from her heart refusing to be made into a specific image by the music industry. For her, making music was not about being number one, it was about expressing herself musically and creatively and making the music that she wanted to make.

Many people who are not true fans of her person and her music think that Cyndi’s career ended in the 80s after the release of these two albums. However, the truth is that she has continued to make music throughout the years and has several more albums. She may have moved away from making music that made her popular, but Cyndi writes from the soul, from the heart.

To a true fan like me, this woman’s accomplishments are unimaginable. From the time that I was five years old and her first album was released, there was something about Cyndi’s voice that mesmerized me. According to my mother, I used to sit for hours and listen to Time After Time over and over again. There was something in her music, even at such a young age, that touched my soul and inspired me to be my own person… to be an individual and to not be scared of that person I was inside. There has always been something about her, this kind of air she gives off, that is about going out and living life and doing what you want to do.

As I have grown older, I have listened to her music and learned more about Cyndi as a person. Though she has sold less albums more recently than in the beginning of her career, to me this does not mean that she has become less successful. In fact, in my eyes, she has become even more of a success by writing from her heart and writing about the things that truly mean a great deal to her. Cyndi is a non-conformist and that is something that I strongly relate to. I have used her music as an outlet throughout all of my years to deal with many serious issues that have arisen in my own life. I have encouraged others to listen to her and feel what she is trying to say, because for those who feel it, her music is a great inspiration.

Cyndi Lauper has accomplished many wonderful things in her life. Aside from her musical endeavors, she has directed many of her own videos and has acted in a few movies. She has also won an Emmy Award for her guest appearances on the television sitcom, Mad About You. Apart from her professional life, she now has a loving family with her husband David Thornton, an actor, and new son Declyn.

Being a long time fan, I admire both her personal and professional ventures. She has overcome so many obstacles in her life, beginning with her rocky childhood, which is something that was also a prominent aspect of my own life. Though she is almost untouchable, I feel that I can relate to her, both through her experiences and through her music. I have always taken comfort in her voice and her lyrics. They have gotten me through some of the most trying times of my life.

Cyndi has always been my hero and idol-the one person who I found I wanted to model myself after. Her devotion to her individuality and what is in her heart has always been an inspiration in my own life. It has always been my dream to meet Cyndi and tell her all of these things.

A few years ago, this dream came true for me. After twelve years of being what I though was her biggest fan, I finally had the opportunity to see her in concert. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life and I sat in awe next to the stage as I watched her perform all of the songs that I spent my life listening to. After the concert, I had the opportunity to meet with her briefly. Of course, I was a bit starstruck. I mean, here was my lifelong idol sitting right in front of me, but I was able to tell her that I have always been a fan and I admire her with all my heart. She was extremely kind and appreciative and gave me a hug then a picture was snapped. I carry this memory with me always.

I consider myself to be a dreamer and I know that if I try hard enough, someday I will have the opportunity to meet her face to face again. I would just like the chance to express my extreme gratitude to the woman who has inspired me to be the person that I am today. More important than all the crazy outfits and hair colors that she may be known for, to me, it is what is inside her and in her music is what is most significant about this woman’s career.

She is not afraid to speak her mind, be her own person, and make her own music. I think this is a metaphor for life that every girl needs.

Be your own person and don’t let anyone tell you what to wear or who to look like or what to do with your life. Pursue your own dreams and live your life for you because at the end of each day, it is only you that has to be happy with yourself. And Cyndi, if you are out there, thanks for everything.