April 7, 2013
CYNDI LAUPER AND HARVERY FIERSTEIN WRITE A MUSICAL, GARNER RAVE REVIEWS; NEXT STOP: TONY AWARDS!!!
April 4, 2013
Theater Review
High Spirits, Higher Heels
Cyndi Lauper knows how to work a crowd. Making her Broadway debut as a composer with “Kinky Boots,” the new musical that opened on Thursday night at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, this storied singer has created a love- and heat-seeking score that performs like a pop star on Ecstasy. Try to resist if you must.
But for at least the first act of this tale of lost souls in the shoe business, you might as well just give it up to the audience-hugging charisma of her songs.
“Kinky Boots,” with a book by Harvey Fierstein and directed by Jerry Mitchell, is a reminder that you don’t always have to be a masochist to enjoy being smashed by a steamroller. From the outset, this show comes rushing at you head-on, all but screaming: “Love me! Love me!” It’s a shameless emotional button pusher, presided over — be warned — by that most weary of latter-day Broadway archetypes, a strong and sassy drag queen who dispenses life lessons like an automated fortune cookie.
Yet, for a good while, “Kinky Boots” manages to ride over the skeptical grumbling of your conscious mind.
That has a lot to do with Ms. Lauper (who, though she did appear on Broadway in the 2006 “Threepenny Opera,” is not in this show). From the time she soared to fame with the album “She’s So Unusual“ in 1983, Ms. Lauper has been known as the ultimate tough but vulnerable misfit, bright and hard on the outside but with a sweet and melting center. Unlike her more commercially savvy coeval Madonna, Ms. Lauper has held on to the same goofy image throughout her career, and, equally unlike Madonna, she has always seemed to sing from the heart.
That sincerity comes through in “Kinky Boots.” So does the defiant quirkiness that made even Ms. Lauper’s gooier recordings palatable. The leading players here — notably Stark Sands, Billy Porter and Annaleigh Ashford — pick up on the trademark Lauper mix of sentimentality and eccentricity, but each makes it his or her own.
Under Mr. Mitchell’s precise and affectionate direction, they do what you want performers in musicals to do: they define specific characters by the way they sing and move. From their entrances, the cast members build up a bank of good vibrations. This is fortunate, since we’ll need to cash in those vibes in the show’s second half, when the preachier aspects of Mr. Fierstein’s script take over, and all the clichés stand naked before you.
Inspired by the little-seen 2005 movie of the same title, “Kinky Boots” is assembled from plot parts that have shown up all too frequently during the past decades in shows that were also based on films. Like “The Full Monty” (choreographed by Mr. Mitchell) and “Billy Elliot the Musical,” it is set in a hard-times British factory town, where jobs are in jeopardy and spirits need lifting. Like “La Cage aux Folles” and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” it presents drag queens as the show’s official spirit lifters.
And like “Hairspray,” the musical this production most resembles in tone, “Kinky Boots” is about finding your passion, overcoming prejudice and transcending stereotypes. Never mind that this plot formula has become a flaming stereotype all by itself.
In this case, the character in need of spiritual direction is Charlie Price (Mr. Sands), an heir to a venerable, money-hemorrhaging shoe factory in Northampton who longs to escape the provinces and join upwardly striving London with his status-conscious fiancée, Nicola (Celina Carvajal).
But when the senior Price (Stephen Berger) dies, Charlie is forced to reinvent the business, its product and himself. His guide in this transformation? Lola (Mr. Porter), a strapping drag performer whom Charlie meets by chance. It’s Lola who makes Charlie realize that there’s an untapped niche market: cross-dressers who need well-made footwear.
Don’t ponder the business logistics of this idea. In fact, it won’t do to ponder much of anything in the plot. But the point is that during the first act, you’re not allowed to ponder, as you’re confronted with a dialectic that could happen only in musicals: provincial conservatives (that’s Charlie and his employees) meet their antithesis, a troupe of flamboyant drag queens (that’s Lola and her backup girls, the Angels). And the synthesis? Liberation and justice for all, along with the realization that though you can’t judge a book by its cover, a cover with sequins and feathers is usually better than a plain one.
The production reaches its high point in two late first-act numbers, in which shoe folk meet show folk. (David Rockwell is the designer of the charming storybook set.) Lola and her Angels give Charlie and company a lesson in aesthetics, via a song with brisk and nifty lyrics called “Sex Is in the Heel.”
It’s the mounting pulse of Ms. Lauper’s music and Mr. Mitchell’s wittily illustrative choreography that sends the number soaring. Then the production improbably tops itself with a first-act closer that makes inspired use of an assembly-line belt and introduces the title characters.
Yes, I mean the boots (and how could I not have mentioned the costume designer, Gregg Barnes?), which are big red scene stealers. That we keep our eyes on the cast has to do with the care that has been taken to give each ensemble member a specific identity. (And how great to have a chorus line with such an assortment of body types.)
Mr. Porter’s role is the human equivalent of those boots, but he gives Lola enough snap and sinew to make her more than just another glamazon with biceps. Mr. Sands (“Journey’s End,” “American Idiot”) is terrific, finding strains of rock ’n’ roll agony in a tabula rasa part. And Ms. Ashford, as the factory girl who falls for the boss, creates a completely detailed portrait, which charmingly suggests an earthy British variation on Ms. Lauper (who has written satisfyingly characterful solos for Mr. Sands and Ms. Ashford).
There are some perfectly good songs in the second act, too, but here the script is ascendant, and “Kinky Boots” is far better at walking than talking. The sticky, sermonizing side of Mr. Fierstein — evident in parts of his book for “La Cage” and even in his breakthrough play, “Torch Song Trilogy” — casts its holy glow, and it is not a flattering light. Let me give you one little taste of what to expect: a dejected Lola sings an anthem of love and respect in a nursing home to a man in a wheelchair, who turns out to be ... .
Oh, well. The show recovers its first-act zip and zeal with its finale, “Raise You Up/Just Be,” one of the best curtain numbers since “You Can’t Stop the Beat” sent “Hairspray” audiences dancing out of the theater. If your memory is forgiving, that’s what you’ll take away from “Kinky Boots,” along with that first-act anatomy of the irresistible sex appeal of a perilously high heel.
Kinky Boots
Book by Harvey Fierstein; music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, based on the Miramax motion picture “Kinky Boots,” written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth; directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell; music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Stephen Oremus; sets by David Rockwell; costumes by Gregg Barnes; lighting by Kenneth Posner; sound by John Shivers; hair design by Josh Marquette; makeup design by Randy Houston Mercer; associate choreographer, Rusty Mowery; music director, Brian Usifer; music coordinator, Michael Keller; technical supervisor, Christopher C. Smith; production stage manager, Lois L. Griffing; associate producer, Amuse Inc.; general manager, Foresight Theatrical/Aaron Lustbader. Presented by Daryl Roth, Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jyne Baron Sherman, Just for Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergère, Allan S. Gordon and Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein and Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom and Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp and Jujamcyn Theaters. At the Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200, telecharge.com. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes.
WITH: Stark Sands (Charlie Price), Billy Porter (Lola), Annaleigh Ashford (Lauren), Celina Carvajal (Nicola), Daniel Stewart Sherman (Don) and Marcus Neville (George).
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December 16, 2012
HERE I'LL STAY JUSTIN HAYFORD 2012
I have been listening to this CD for over a week now and I have to say it is wonderful. For more on Justin's bio and links to obtaining any of his 4 CDs, see the Not Diana Ross page or links below. I love his tone which is just right and so perfect that on many of the songs unrecognized by me I looked for credits to see if perhaps he wrote it. I read something he said that reminded me of something Barbara Cook has often said and which I thought of while listening to this CD. It is something to the effect of, and obviously I am paraphasing here, "it's not how big your voice is, it's how you use it." Which means to use the voice to service and showcase the song, not show off the vocal talents.
From what I read the selection here are probably less obscure than his prior recordings, since I am familiar with many of them. For example, "Blame It On My Youth" has always been a favorite; I found my favorite recording of it prior to this in a Nancy Wilson release from 2004. I recognized the lyrics from "Dreamer" listening to KJAZZ on the car radio - it was performed by Sergio Mendes and Lani Hall.
Other favorites are:
http://www.lmlmusic.com/artist/justinhayford/ recommend this web site for catalogue
I say support our own and give yourself a treat by checking out this outstanding cabaret artist at one of the web sites above.
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December 16, 2012 Dynamic Superiors
I was thrilled to finally get their first album on CD. It remains
to me one of the greatest records ever made. The CD includes their 2nd album as
well. I have now received and had time to listen to expanded CD editions of
their 3rd and 4th albums. They include many wonderful tunes. You can read
about them at the link below and order through that site, ITunes or Amazon. Led
by the flamboyant and out lead vocalist Tony Washington, appearing on stage in
full make-up, they can be thought of as the East Coast version of Sylvester,
although they are a band. Another similarity I notice is the remakes or covers
of popular songs of the day. Just as Sylvester blew us away with his cover
versions at the Elephant Walk and other locales, the DS covers of Ain't Nothing
Like the Real Thing, All In Love is Fair, Nowhere to Run,provide a unique take
that is unmatched by any other artist including the original. But it is their
own songs, or those written for them by Ashford and Simpson and other noted
songwriters, where they truly shine.
http://www.soulmusic.com/index.asp?S=5&T=9&ART=2409
http://www.soulmusic.com/index.asp?S=5&T=5&ART=612
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http://www.soulmusic.com/index.asp?S=5&T=9&ART=2409
http://www.soulmusic.com/index.asp?S=5&T=5&ART=612
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Barbara Cook November 14, 2012
Disney Concert Hall Los Angeles
Another outstanding show by the mistress of the theatrical musical stage.
Although she hobbled on stage with a cane and finally made it to her chair where she remained, being seated did not diminish either her vocal power or audience connection.
She described it as either a schizophrenic or eclectic show and it was the most varied I have seen her do, being only the 3rd show I have seen, and the first and only one accompanied by an 80 piece philharmonic orchestra. .She only did about 2 Sondheim songs and skipped the Liza Minelli song which disappointed me. (“Losing My Mind” - I think everyone knows that's a joke). She talks incessantly and acted out Stephen Sondheim reacting to her song choices of swing jazz and blues by saying something like, ‘Barbara have you gone crazy?’
I only cried when she sang "Till There Was You" to start the show, although I might have gotten a little moist one other time. Not knowing she had just recorded it, the highlight for me was “House of the Rising Sun”, performed a capella. The only song I would have been more surprised to hear would have been “Love Hangover”. Of course it was magnificent; she followed with a lightly supported “Bye Bye Blackbird”, another surprise, which she then had to explain to a dense and typically lazy LA audience, which could not rise from their seats, was about leaving a house of ill repute. She closed the show standing center stage, or rather leaning on her cane, performing “Imagine”, sans microphone. Nothing more moving than a pure human voice, lightly accompanied by piano.
Other highlights included the most unique version of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and a performance of “Makin’ Whoopee” that was as if you were hearing it for the first time although you know every word. She performed “No One Is Alone” from “Into the Woods” which I now recall was my other moist moment, as always when she performs that song. She recalled how Sondheim used to leave the room when hearing one of his songs. Now he stays and listens and appreciates his accomplishment. Her comment provided me with my own introspective moment as I reflected on a theme regarding my own development that I am developing for my blog.
New to me is “If I Love Again” which I thought of joining with my poem and Selfish Ones on my blog - something about lighting a fire inside and walking away by a writer I never heard of who was one of several she liked to say if he never wrote another song that was enough. She yakked so much that the times when she started a song without explaining the meaning history or biography of the writer stood out. But you never wanted her to shut up. I could have listened to her all night - talk or sing, no matter.
She told funny anecdotes about the addiction of you tube and staying up till 3 am. I can relate. I need to search for Ella singing “Lover Man” on the Andy Williams show which she mentioned after performing the song. Somebody sent her a country song with a wacky title and she then read off wacky titles of country songs she found on you tube. The funniest and most memorable was "If I shot you when I wanted to I'd be out by now." Imagine!
Brock S. Evans
November 15, 2012
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Review: Barbara Cook rejuvenates song standards
At 85, the singer fully grasps life's meaning and channels it through songs we know but have never before heard like this.
By Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times Theater Critic
6:22 PM PST, November 15, 2012
Legend has it that Juan Ponce de León set off for the New World in search of the Fountain of Youth. Five hundred years later, Barbara Cook, the ageless 85-year-old singer, can be credited with having found it — not in some secret Florida spring, but in the American songbook.
On Wednesday, Cook brought her rejuvenating magic to Walt Disney Concert Hall in a program with the Los Angeles Philharmonic that she characterized as "schizophrenic" and "eclectic." But "enchanting" would be a more accurate description of a bill that blended musical theater standards with swing and allowed this Broadway baby to reconnect with her Southern roots.
The evening started with the overture from "Candide," the operetta that put Cook on the map with the showstopping aria "Glitter and Be Gay." Leonard Bernstein's score, conducted by Rob Berman, established just the right ebullient mood.
Walking with a cane and forced to perform in a chair, Cook exuded the same radiance and "gee-whiz" charm of her younger Social Security years. Her soprano may not be as athletic as it once was, but it is every bit as expressive — maybe even more so.
The memory of my first encounter with this peerless interpreter of lyrics is one I'll treasure forever. It was at New York's Café Carlyle, and Cook stunned me with her handling of "Before the Parade Passes By," the "Hello, Dolly!" song I had heard a hundred times before but never really heard at all. She sang this Jerry Herman number not from the standpoint of a matchmaking dynamo but from the perspective of a person who had been to the bottom and was determined to rise again before it's too late.
That deep human understanding that draws us to great actors — the fellow feeling of a survivor — lit up her rendition of Stephen Sondheim's achingly beautiful "No One Is Alone," sung with the faith of someone who has doubted at moments whether there is anybody there.
The quick tempo established by Cook's pianist and musical director Ted Rosenthal set up fears that the pace might diminish the poetry. But a resonant emotional through line soon clarified itself in the succession of early numbers that included "Let's Fall in Love," "It Might as Well Be Spring" and "A Wonderful Guy." It was the spirit of a singer who appreciates more than ever the life-stirring sensation of romance. Time, rather than making her jaded about love, has intensified her delight in the wonder of two people coming together.
"Georgia on My Mind" aroused memories of her childhood in Atlanta. She conjured an image of a girl with her "face pressed to the glass of life" — a life, she says, she eventually found on stage in New York, which she still calls home.
A haunting a cappella version of "House of the Rising Sun" was seamlessly followed by "Bye, Bye Blackbird" — with Cook explaining the connection between the two songs having to do with houses of ill repute, one woman returning, another leaving and starting anew. This background was interesting, but her singing established a link that was even more meaningful.
"Funny how the time just flies" — this line from "Here's to Life" had a special gravity coming from someone who's already starting to plan her 90th birthday celebration. But Cook, who admitted to being something of a YouTube addict, isn't mournfully looking back.
For an encore, she delivered a shattering interpretation of "Imagine," sung without a microphone, to just piano accompaniment. It was a prayer for the future from an artist who feels the past and still wants more.
charles.mcnulty@latimes.com
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Grace Jones Brings Fierceness, High Fashion to Pre-Hurricane New York City: Concert Review
Getty Images
The Bottom Line
The veteran performer keeps it tight with her avant-garde music, out-of-this-world style and a Hula Hoop.Venue
Roseland Ballroom,New York City
(Saturday, Oct. 27)
As the Tri-State area braced for the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Grace made landfall Saturday night at the historic Roseland Ballroom in New York City. The 64 year-old singer stormed the stage in wrap-up stilettos and dazzled the sold-out crowd for two solid hours with a hits-heavy set that featured a different costume for every song.
Her only U.S. appearance this year, the show was a one-of-a-kind event conceived by U.K. milliner Philip Treacy to feature the singer (and former model) in outfits by designers Issey Miyake, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. Jones stayed in a black corset with thong, fishnets and heels the entire evening and spent the night accenting this with her various changes offstage, though she never made clear which designer she was wearing (most of the hats probably were Treacy, and one or two of the more unusual pieces probably Gaultier). Her fans dressed up, too: Holding the concert on the Saturday before Halloween only sealed the deal as the room looked like it was packed with extras from Party Monster and Paris Is Burning.
Fronting a six-piece band and two backup singers, Jones took the stage in near darkness and opened with “Nightclubbing.” The woman is in phenomenal shape and appears downright ageless. As she stood on a riser above the stage in an outfit that lit up, her sultry take on the David Bowie/Iggy Pop song set the mood for the evening as she sang, “Oh, isn’t it wild?”
PHOTOS: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Concert [5]
Jones moved off stage for the first of her 15 costume changes while the lights dimmed, though she held on to her microphone and addressed the crowd: “Welcome! I love you already!” The singer was brightly convivial all night, and surprisingly coarse. At one point, she announced, “Oh my God, I need to suck a dick!” Her salaciousness fit with her leering, preening manner, and the audience ate it up.Jones returned to sing “This Is Life” from her most recent album, 2009’s Hurricane, and followed it with “My Jamaican Guy” and her cover of Pretenders’ “Private Life.” Whether she’s singing or talk-singing, Jones was in excellent voice all night. One of the many highlights of her set was the costume she wore for her take on The Police’s “Demolition Man,” which featured the singer with a shining metal hat and carrying two cymbals, which she crashed to great effect. “I keep it tight,” she said with a laugh.
Jones’ music ranges from avant-garde disco and new wave to reggae, funk and pop. Emerging from the darkness in gold sequined top hat and tails, she asked for a glass of wine; when she began speaking in French it became obvious what song was up next: her lilting light-jazz rendition of “La Vie en Rose,” one of her biggest hits. However, when the song began playing, she stepped on a revolving turntable, started joking with the crowd and missed her cue. She continued, though she admitted her mistake, which only served to unravel her and leave her and the crowd laughing.
Q&A: Adam Ant on Fashion, Michael Jackson, His Current Comeback and That Mental Breakdown [6]
Jones featured two more tracks from Hurricane (“Well Well Well,” “Williams’ Blood”) before returning to classics like “Warm Leatherette” and her cover of Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug.” Her costume for “Pull Up to the Bumper” was a riding crop and a horse tail, fixed at her lower back. She pulled a young man out of the audience and danced with him onstage; after the song, she made him take off his shirt and flirted with him mercilessly.
Jones seemed to be having as much fun as the crowd, drinking wine, making lewd comments and at times even yelling at the spotlight operators: “I’m over here; no one’s over there!” When she sang, her voice was powerful, and when she wasn’t singing, she was dancing. And, as she famously did at Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee concert in June, the singer emerged from the shadows at the end of her set carrying a Hula Hoop. Jones then called in “Slave to the Rhythm” and proceeded to hula for the entire song, while singing in a thong and heels.
Jones returned for an encore of the aptly chosen “Hurricane.” She appeared in an Issey Miyake parachute wrap and stood in front of a fan that blew the fabric well behind her as she clutched a pole. The song finished, Jones left without saying a word. She is a tremendous performer, and at an age when many people are thinking about retirement, she looks and sounds far from it. Like a hurricane, Grace Jones packs a wallop.
Set List:
Nightclubbing
This Is Life
My Jamaican Guy
Private Life
Demolition Man
I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)
La Vie en Rose
Well Well Well
Williams' Blood
Warm Leatherette
Love Is the Drug
Pull Up to the Bumper
Feel Up
Slave to the Rhythm
Encore:
Hurricane
Twitter: @THRMusic [7]
Her only U.S. appearance this year, the show was a one-of-a-kind event conceived by U.K. milliner Philip Treacy to feature the singer (and former model) in outfits by designers Issey Miyake, Jean Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen. Jones stayed in a black corset with thong, fishnets and heels the entire evening and spent the night accenting this with her various changes offstage, though she never made clear which designer she was wearing (most of the hats probably were Treacy, and one or two of the more unusual pieces probably Gaultier). Her fans dressed up, too: Holding the concert on the Saturday before Halloween only sealed the deal as the room looked like it was packed with extras from Party Monster and Paris Is Burning.
Fronting a six-piece band and two backup singers, Jones took the stage in near darkness and opened with “Nightclubbing.” The woman is in phenomenal shape and appears downright ageless. As she stood on a riser above the stage in an outfit that lit up, her sultry take on the David Bowie/Iggy Pop song set the mood for the evening as she sang, “Oh, isn’t it wild?”
PHOTOS: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Concert [5]
Jones moved off stage for the first of her 15 costume changes while the lights dimmed, though she held on to her microphone and addressed the crowd: “Welcome! I love you already!” The singer was brightly convivial all night, and surprisingly coarse. At one point, she announced, “Oh my God, I need to suck a dick!” Her salaciousness fit with her leering, preening manner, and the audience ate it up.Jones returned to sing “This Is Life” from her most recent album, 2009’s Hurricane, and followed it with “My Jamaican Guy” and her cover of Pretenders’ “Private Life.” Whether she’s singing or talk-singing, Jones was in excellent voice all night. One of the many highlights of her set was the costume she wore for her take on The Police’s “Demolition Man,” which featured the singer with a shining metal hat and carrying two cymbals, which she crashed to great effect. “I keep it tight,” she said with a laugh.
Jones’ music ranges from avant-garde disco and new wave to reggae, funk and pop. Emerging from the darkness in gold sequined top hat and tails, she asked for a glass of wine; when she began speaking in French it became obvious what song was up next: her lilting light-jazz rendition of “La Vie en Rose,” one of her biggest hits. However, when the song began playing, she stepped on a revolving turntable, started joking with the crowd and missed her cue. She continued, though she admitted her mistake, which only served to unravel her and leave her and the crowd laughing.
Q&A: Adam Ant on Fashion, Michael Jackson, His Current Comeback and That Mental Breakdown [6]
Jones featured two more tracks from Hurricane (“Well Well Well,” “Williams’ Blood”) before returning to classics like “Warm Leatherette” and her cover of Roxy Music’s “Love Is the Drug.” Her costume for “Pull Up to the Bumper” was a riding crop and a horse tail, fixed at her lower back. She pulled a young man out of the audience and danced with him onstage; after the song, she made him take off his shirt and flirted with him mercilessly.
Jones seemed to be having as much fun as the crowd, drinking wine, making lewd comments and at times even yelling at the spotlight operators: “I’m over here; no one’s over there!” When she sang, her voice was powerful, and when she wasn’t singing, she was dancing. And, as she famously did at Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee concert in June, the singer emerged from the shadows at the end of her set carrying a Hula Hoop. Jones then called in “Slave to the Rhythm” and proceeded to hula for the entire song, while singing in a thong and heels.
Jones returned for an encore of the aptly chosen “Hurricane.” She appeared in an Issey Miyake parachute wrap and stood in front of a fan that blew the fabric well behind her as she clutched a pole. The song finished, Jones left without saying a word. She is a tremendous performer, and at an age when many people are thinking about retirement, she looks and sounds far from it. Like a hurricane, Grace Jones packs a wallop.
Set List:
Nightclubbing
This Is Life
My Jamaican Guy
Private Life
Demolition Man
I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)
La Vie en Rose
Well Well Well
Williams' Blood
Warm Leatherette
Love Is the Drug
Pull Up to the Bumper
Feel Up
Slave to the Rhythm
Encore:
Hurricane
Twitter: @THRMusic [7]
_________________________________________________________________________
Cyndi Lauper releases memoir
By David Kirby, Published: September 14
If you’d been her parent, the sight of a slouchy teenaged Cyndi Lauper in tank top and platform heels, as seen on the cover of her new book, “Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir” would likely have triggered an automatic “Go to your room, young lady!” Not that it would have worked: She was mouthy then and she’s mouthy now, and if the events of this memoir are to be believed, when authority wags its stern finger in her face, she still responds with a finger.
As a youngster, she had plenty of reasons to be rebellious, including a creepy stepdad whom she fled when she was 17. She bounced from job to job and lover to lover like a ricocheting bullet, and when she finally says, “At the time, I didn’t know that what I might have had was ADD,” you buy her self-diagnosis.
She always had a big voice, though, and as she bounced from band to band, it just got bigger, expressing itself best in one of the greatest pop songs of our time, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Early on, record executives said they were going to make her into the next Streisand and have her sing ballads, but Lauper told them that she was a rocker. Actually, what she remembers saying was, “I can’t take enough medication to stand still that long, okay?”
The original “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” was written by a man and portrayed women as trampy airheads. Initially, Lauper was put off, but her producer kept urging her to rework it in her own terms. She changed the song’s key and added a reggae bounce as well as a guitar riff from “Feel So Good,” a catchy tune by Shirley and Lee.
Girl-group pioneer Ellie Greenwich, who wrote and produced “Leader of the Pack,” was brought in. The first thing she did was to take Lauper into the studio hallway and have her chant what became the song’s hook: “Girls / They want / Want to have fun.” A Buddy Holly hiccup was thrown in on the word “fun,” and by the time it was ready to record, says Lauper, her most famous song had become “a combination of a Bob Marley blues approach to reggae, some Elvis Costello, a little Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lymon, some Ronnie Spector and of course Shirley and Lee.” By standing on the shoulders of giants as well as staying true to her own sense of what it means to be a woman and an artist, Lauper came through with a breakout hit that lodged at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and netted her two Grammy nominations as well.
Lauper never had the career of Madonna, whom the press pitched as her rival, even though the two like and admire each other. She fought a constant battle against sexism in the industry, and not just with crass businessmen: When Bob Dylan said, “I would have you in my band — and that’s saying something, because I don’t like chicks in bands,” she had to explain that his “compliment” was an insult.
There were later hits, though, such as “Time After Time” and “True Colors.” And she opened doors for performers like Lady Gaga. President Obama introduced Lady Gaga at a 2010 human rights dinner and said it was his privilege to open for her. When Lauper teased him later, Obama, ever the diplomat, said, “She took all your moves! You’re the original.”
Mainly, though, there’s that one song. There are YouTube videos of Lauper in the Buenos Aires airport in 2011, entertaining a group of stranded passengers with an impromptu version of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” The big voice hasn’t aged a bit, and people in the crowd, most of whom look as though they hadn’t been born when her 1983 hit came out, sing along delightedly as they celebrate a great tune and an even greater truth: There are two halves to the human race, and each is as entitled to pleasure as the other.
Kirby teaches at Florida State University and is the author of “Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll.”
Cyndi Lauper A Memoir By Cyndi Lauper with Jancee Dunn Atria. 338 pp. $26
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