Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

When we show up, we win.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

No one could have predicted…

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

In after Baud. Damn.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

We will not go back.

You are here: Home / Music / Entertainment Open Thread: Wild, Wise Women

Entertainment Open Thread: Wild, Wise Women

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(Doubt it’ll happen, but I’d pay money for a video of one of these performances, or even a livestream… )

… The Cyndi Lauper- and Harvey Fierstein-created musical landed on Broadway in 2013 in the middle of the Obama administration, a big hug of acceptance, tolerance and love. It reappears off-Broadway now at Stage 42 as same-sex gains and privacy rights seem under threat.

The Tony- and Olivier-winning musical is about a staid British shoe factory on the brink of ruin that retrofits itself into a maker of footwear for drag queens and embraces its queerness.

Lauper, whose hits include “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time,” has long been an advocate for the LGBTQ community, starting the nonprofit advocacy organization that would become True Colors United in 2008. She also backs abortion rights and just reworked her 1993 song “Sally’s Pigeons,” which she wrote about a friend who died from a botched abortion.…

AP: “Kinky Boots” is all about acceptance and reaching out. Do you worry about the tone of the country now that many seem to be opposed to that sentiment?

LAUPER: Who died and left them in charge of everything? Well, I’ll tell you: If you didn’t vote, you left them in charge. As soon as you didn’t vote, they’re in charge. They’re changing the laws.

AP: Why did you release a new version of “Sally’s Pigeons”?

LAUPER: Because I think that we have forgotten what it was like when “Sally’s Pigeons” was a common story. Not a lot of people remember that because they didn’t live that.

AP: Do you think the right represents the wishes of most Americans?

LAUPER: In my mind and in my heart, and in the people I have sung to all around this country, Americans are mostly fair-minded people. We have been put to the test with this COVID thing. We had been put to the test with finances. But do you really want to lose your democracy?…

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  7. 7.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    I absolutely adored Cyndi Lauper when I was a little girl (I remember begging my mom to let me do that waffle thing to my hair) and still love her now. I’d like to agree with her that Americans are mostly fair-minded, but…

  8. 8.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    @Elizabelle: Or they’re just casting a wide net for viewers. I’m indifferent to her, but she has a lot of people following her. Why not get their attention?

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    @Wyatt Salamanca: Agreed! I’m glad to see her getting lauded and receiving so much love. I was pleased when a nasty troll left a mean comment about her appearance on some news FB post, there was a torrent of angry pushback against him. After everything she’s been through, some bros are still angry that a woman has the audacity to age and/or not look hot for them.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): that name brought me up short, but if the Clintons (and the Dems) can bring her even some fraction of her followers toward the light (and the voting booths)…? We’re playing a game on inches for as far as I can see, when every election is the most important one of our lives

  15. 15.

    Steeplejack

    @Miki:

    “This content isn’t available right now.

    “When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.“

  17. 17.

    Geminid

    Yesterday I was a little surprised to hear that Johnny Mathis will be singing next month at tbe Paramount Theatre in Charlottesville. Mathis is 86 years old and has been a wealthy man for decades, so he must really love to sing.

    Mathis’s life story is interesting. He was born in Gilmer, Texas, in 1935 and his family moved to San Fransisco not long after. He started playing piano and singing at a young age. Later, a voice teacher gave Mathis lessons in exchange for houshold chores.

    His other love was sports, and Mathis won a track scholarship to San Francisco State University. He was a hurdler, and the second best college high jumper in the state (Bill Russell was better).

    Johnny Mathis was invited to try out for the 1956 US Olympic team. The trials were scheduled the same time as Mathis’ first recording sessions, in New York City, and he chose to sing.

  20. 20.

    Honus

    @Geminid: Johnny Mathis and Bill Withers (Slab Fork, WV) became good friends when they served together in the Navy, and Withers wrote “I Am My Father’s Son” for Mathis to sing for Bill Russell in 2013.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    @Honus: Hey, Honus! I think I lost your number. Please shoot me a text when you get a chance.

    I hope all is well with you and yours.

  22. 22.

    prostratedragon

    @HumboldtBlue:  Watching a documentary about Ida B. Wells on Chicago PBS right now. Among her many projects,  she helped a local gambler kick off a theater as a class entertainment venue.

  23. 23.

    HumboldtBlue

    @prostratedragon:

    I know what rabbit hole I’m going down tonight.

    @Geminid:

    His other love was sports, and Mathis won a track scholarship to San Francisco State University. He was a hurdler, and the second best college high jumper in the state (Bill Russell was better).

    Johnny Mathis was invited to try out for the 1956 US Olympic team. The trials were scheduled the same time as Mathis’ first recording sessions, in New York City, and he chose to sing.

    That’s a note to add to the I learned today file.

  25. 25.

    Old School

    (Doubt it’ll happen, but I’d pay money for a video of one of these performances, or even a livestream… )

    I guess I’d be surprised if it didn’t end up on a streaming service or get filmed for a physical release.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    Slightly younger demographic, but Meghan Markle has a podcast now and her first guest was her good friend Serena Williams talking about what it’s been like to be a top athlete who’s also a Black woman.

  28. 28.

    Mai Naem mobile

    If you want to talk about a woman that made a significant difference to the world, I give you Dr Frances Kelsey the woman who figured out that there was a problem  with thalidomide.. I am kind of surprised Hollywood has never done a movie about this woman. I guess showing kids with no limbs is not the easiest thing to show in a movie.

    https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_182.html

  32. 32.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @HumboldtBlue: She also invented frequency-hopping radio which could have made a huge difference in communication security (it would be decades before it was reinvented) but the military leadership weren’t interested in a woman doing science, and told her to just go off, be pretty and sell war bonds.

    I got this from the documentary called Bombshell The Hedy Lamarr Story. Check it out if you can.

  36. 36.

    sab

    Healing is harder becaise it is all under duress so not real. I am deeply angry right now. I will take care of him but I am angry

    ETA  And he lashes out because he is crippled by the surgery and he hates that.

    We are not in a good place mentally right now..

    So he calls his sister in, and she is a trouble maker.

  39. 39.

    Jager

    @Jackie:

    When I was a high school kid, here’s how it worked: if your girlfriend got out the Johnny Mathis records, you were in for some heavy “necking” on the sofa. A few years later the Righteous Brothers took over Johnny’s job.

  42. 42.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott: ​
    I was expecting this one:

    Biden winds down his speech in Maryland: “In this moment, those of you who love this country — Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans — we must be stronger, more determined, & more committed to saving American than the MAGA Republicans are to destroying America”

    Telling it like it is.

    ETA: I assume “American” was a typo on Rupar’s part.

  45. 45.

    Soprano2

    @Geminid: It’s definitely not about the money. When you’re a musician, it’s not something you do, it’s part of who you are. I always thought my previous conductor would die on the podium; he only retired at the age of 83 because he got an infection that became septic and almost died (he was a Christian Scientist, his wife called 911 when he passed out and fell down the stairs. She probably saved his life. He died from Covid at the age of 89.) You can’t not do it.

  46. 46.

    lowtechcyclist

    @WereBear: ​
     

    It was good to hear a major Democrat – and you don’t get any more major than POTUS – say that the MAGAts are trying to destroy this country.

    Too often Democrats have been reluctant to say just how bad the Rethugs really have gotten and what they’re really about, afraid it might rattle the teacups of people like Maggie Haberman, and I think that’s at least a small part of the reason why things have gotten to this point in the first place.

    But now that we’re here, we’re in an existential fight for this country (and really the world, given climate change), and it’s important that our leaders not pussyfoot around that reality.

    So major props to Biden for spelling it out. And yeah, framing it to put the MAGAts on one side, and Dems, independents, and sane Republicans on the other, was perfect. There may not be that many sane Republicans left, but if they’re even just 2% of the electorate and we get their votes this year, we should be able to do what we need to do this November.

  48. 48.

    JWR

    @There go two miscreants:

    I like the jab at Chris Christie at the end too!

    Heh, indeed!

    In 2016, another Livingston native, Chris Christie, sought the Republican nomination for president, but withdrew after a dismal 7% showing in New Hampshire.

  52. 52.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Elizabelle: She’s fairly popular so if she can use her popularity for good, I’m cool with that. I’m not a fan and have never watched her show(s) but I recall that she talked Orange Bigot into freeing at least one Black woman from prison, which was good.

  53. 53.

    oatler

    My mother liked my “Forever Changes” album because it was “pretty” and the singer sounded like Johnny Mathis.

  55. 55.

    Josie

    @zhena gogolia: ​
     Is your convalescence not going as well as you had hoped? I find that, as I get older, even minor injuries take longer to heal. Patience is required and that is hard.

  56. 56.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    2 weeks ago today the usual suspects in the media were gleefully predicting the FBI search would lead to a rpublican backlash at the ballot box and then they lost a R+3 district on Tuesday.

  60. 60.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Yeah, I found out about Hedy LaMarr’s career inventing IT security from a biography I read about ten years ago.

    A friend of mine does a one-woman show about her called Stand Still and Look Stupid, based on this episode in her career.

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