Cyndi Lauper Interview: Inside the True Colors Tour

The coolest woman in the universe? Cyndi Lauper, natch. Yay!

Hey Gays! In case you hadn't heard there's a big huge concert tour this summer called True Colors, spearheaded by pop icon Cyndi Lauper, and it's heading your way. The tour features a terribly festive line-up of talent like Lauper, Deborah Harry, Erasure, The Gossip, the Dresden Dolls, the Misshapes, Margaret Cho and special guests like Rufus Wainwright, the Indigo Girls, Cazwell, Rosie O'Donnell and more! It's all a big fundraiser and consciousness-raiser for LGBT organizations and causes and it's getting tons of coverage. All good stuff... (Plus, it's sponsored by Logo so expect to see more about it on the TV, yo.)

I got to chat up the tour's founder, Cyndi Lauper, about all of this, and trust -- she's the PFLAG mom or aunt or sister we all should be lucky enough to have. And she can sing and put on a fun show like nobody's business so this whole event should be more fun than a gay barrel of rainbow-dipped monkeys. The True Colors bash kicks off its month-long nationwide tour this Friday night (June 8th) in Las Vegas (I'm going!), and then it'll be hitting a town near you, so GO.

Anyway, here's sonme of what the always sassy Lauper had to say about gay causes, this big tour and Gay Pride. And drag queens. Plus, there are some fun video clips and links, too. She-bop, already!

I know you get this a lot, but how did this True Colors tour come to be?

I’d been bugging my agents about doing a big tour, a big spectacle, for years. And you know, whenever you go out on the road, you want to have a big party. So we went back and forth on ideas, and he said, “Why don’t you do a ‘True Colors’ tour?” And I said, if we do anything called a True Colors tour, we’ve got include the gay community, because of how much that song means. And, at this present time, it’s such a good thing. And then Logo agreed to sponsor and so we all got together with the HRC and some really great other organizations like PFLAG and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and it just seemed like a great thing to do, y’know? And I always celebrate my birthday during Pride, so why not?

I’ve seen you celebrate. I’ve seen you on a fire truck coming down Fifth Avenue in the Gay Pride Parade a few years back...

Oh wow, that was with my mom! That was the first year we celebrated Pride with my mom; it was the sweetest thing!

Cyn in the classic "Girls" video way back when. "Me? A future gay icon? Ya kiddin' me???"

More Cyndi chat, and drag queeny video, after the jump!

 

She's So Unusual: Cyndi back in "She-Bop" mode circa, 1985.

Will your Mom come to see True Colors?

Oh, absolutely! She’ll be at the Radio City show, are you kidding?

I’ve heard some mention that there’s going to be a big finale number on the tour, with you and Erasure and all the other artists coming together at the end. Can you tell me what’s going to happen along those lines?

Oh, we’re going to have a good time. [Laughs.] We’re going to do an old song; right now, that’s the plan, but we’ve got to figure it out this week... The best laid plans, but it’ll be fun! And y’know, I didn’t want to write something per se just for this, because I thought it would be too corny. I had written part of “We Are the World,” and those kind of songs are nice, but maybe it’s better to just make music and then donate the proceeds, instead of writing music just for a cause. I don’t want to do something preachy...

Well, just by the nature of what you’re doing, by all of you banding together and doing this tour, it's a big statement unto itself.

People, when they band together, are very powerful. And this is a very powerful community. There are great leaps and bounds that we can accomplish.

Do you remember when you first realized that you had such a massive gay fan base?

I never really noticed until I started reading the emails, way back in about 1996. That's when I started reading emails -- because I was pregnant, and email, back then was like, unbelievable! And I start reading not one, not two, not ten, but every other email I got was about how when people came out and how they were mistreated and disenfranchised from their families and their jobs and their friends, and totally cut off. And I just thought, “No one should ever be that depressed about who they are!” But really the first big event was at Yankee Stadium, when it was the first Gay Games in 1994. And I’d never done something that big at Yankee Stadium, and I thought it was just fantastic! And I had all of these drag performers with me, and it was really fun.

And from the very beginning, as early as "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," you've been a gay favorite.

I must say, when I redid “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” in 1994, it was because I wasn’t really nuts about doing the song over and over and over. But when I did it with the drag performers live for that show at Yankee Stadium, it just changed everything. I looked at them, and they were so fabulous—I mean, the shoes alone! And then I did a tour through Europe with 12 drag performers, who I had to say were dancers otherwise the television shows wouldn’t allow them on! [Laughs.]

That’s funny.

Yeah, it was an interesting eye-opening time. And it was fun. And that’s why I wrote “The Ballad of Cleo and Joe” for those friends. So it’s all been a journey for me. And then when I started reading those emails, and then I started working with PFLAG, like when you saw me on the fire engine, I was on there with my sister and my mother, which was so much fun... And then I went on this cruise with Rosie, and it was so moving. She and Kelli are such an inspiration, that you can do things and have fun and still make a profound difference in people's lives. So I thought, “Okay, maybe this time I can do this.” And hopefully, there’ll be a time when we can all celebrate that we all have equal rights. We’ll all be able to celebrate.

And now is such a politically charged time...

There is one thing I want to mention, the President is likely to veto the Matthew Shepard Act, which has passed the House, and which would extend hate crimes to everybody. Right now, he’s singling out the gay and lesbian community and wanting to not include them in a hate crimes bill. So if you can, urge everyone to call your Senator before the Senate votes. This is a very powerful community, raise your voice. Friends and family, raise your voice! People in the community, raise your voice! Write your Senator, call your Senator, hound them. Tell them, if you make a law it should extend to everyone, not just some people.

Well, it's great having you out here, rallying the troops and getting involved. And in addition to all the attention and awareness that the True Colors tour is going to raise, it’s also going to be a big fun party.

Oh, it’s gonna be a big party. It’s going to be a lot of fun. And yes, you can have a good time and make a difference.

I can also imagine that given all of you—you, Debbie Harry, Erasure, The Gossip, Margaret Cho—you guys are going to be having a huge party backstage, too.

Well, I’m hoping! I’m bringing along my trombone and dulcimer, just in case anyone needs trombone player! [Laughs.]

Cyndi and Debbie Harry hang after the Vh1 Divas bash in 2004.

BONUS: MTVU has a bunch of fun True Colors-related stuff, including a guy from Rutgers who gets to interview Cyndi! And the True Colors page at LOGOonline is crammed with stuff, too.

FINAL BONUS: Go here to watch the full-length video of Cyndi doing the theme song from "Goonies." The video features a bunch of whacked out wrestlers (including Rowdy Roddy Piper) and lots of late '80s insanity. Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Where's Chunk?

 

Comments

[Omar]

Cyndi Lauper is my favorite artist at all I want to prove in that tour all what they say about she songs live exactly like in her albums , she's an awe contemporary voice her supervivence through the time with all the media's detraction on her every time proves that exists true arists still now and not only people product of the furtive and criminal mediaof tv :) impressive Cyndi

[Lisa]

I adore Cyndi. I can't wait to see her in Toronto!

[Scott]

I love Cyndi Lauper,
and Debbie Harry is great too, I love the pic of them together!

[Paul]

I freaking love her so much!

[Jake]

She does so much for our community and gets nothing in return. Her music is so underrated!Nobody's supported the Gay and Lesbian community longer than Cyndi has).
She's worked with PFLAG, and Matthew Shepard Foundation, and she was at the very first AIDS Benefit in LA,
and she was the first to donate all the profits from a song to AIDS research.
Cyndi's Version of "When You Were Mine" was about her still loving a guy who was going with another guy
(anyone else do a song like that in the mid-80's?). Don't think so....
I can't wait to see Cyndi in Denver.

[Larry]

I may seem like Cyndi is a sugar coated pop tart but don't be fooled!

I will NEVER forget when I went to a benefit concert to hear Patti Labelle. Well Cyndi came out to do a song with her. I laughed to myself and said "oh please, Patti is gonna make mincemeat outta that mouse!"

Well...let me tell you, Cyndi not only sang her ass off but she kept up with Miss Patti in power and volume! The whole audience was in shock and then went ballistic! I have had nothing but respect for Cyndi ever since. And her avid support of the gay community is just icing on the cake.

[Nancy]

She is so cool!

[Critter]

I'm hardly able to contain myself as I pack. I'm leaving for Veg-ass tomorrow after work and I will be at the show. I'm as happy as a little girl! I hope it's a success and everybody has a great time.

[Cliff]

I have to agree with Larry's comment. I first saw Cyndi not expecting too much (At Last tour) but she completely blew my mind. She has consistently been the best live performer I've ever seen. She can sing like no one else. She's a huge benefit to our community too. We're very lucky to have her. Can't wait for the NYC show!

[Rob]

I can't wait to see her in Denver. We are very lucky to have her as part of our community! Her new album should be out pretty soon! We love you Cyndi!

[amanda]

this is wrong y do u like homos and lezbians, u use to be my fav singer, but not any more, u got children u who look to u, and u go sing to homos

[MOCKREVOLUTION]

SEEING HER SOON. AND I BET IT WILL BE GREAT. I'LL LET YOU KNOW TOMORROW. EVEN BETTER THAN GREAT IS WHAT I'M THINKING.