Working at the DAR has given me the opportunity to go to a lot of concerts. Constitution Hall is a great venue and you can’t beat $2 employee tickets, 7 rows from the stage. Saturday night I took my friend Laura to the True Colors Cyndi Lauper show. My first indication that this show wasn’t what I’d expected came when on my way into the hall, looking hot in a new dress and heals, the group of guys I walked passed did not check me out. Clearly something was wrong. Then I considered what type of guys might be going to a Cyndi Lauper concert. Sure enough the tour was organized to promote gay and lesbian rights and the entire gay and lesbian population of DC was there. The show was hosted by Carson Kressley, from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, who pranced around the stage talking about his wardrobe changes. There were 4 acts to the show, which is why I’d gotten the tickets. The first act was Teagan and Sarah, 2 Canadian Lesbian sisters who rocked out on the guitar. They were followed by the very talented Regina Spektor. She was fantastic! She’s a one woman show and sounds amazing a capella. At one point she was stomping her left foot, playing the piano with her left hand, beating the drums with her right hand and singing! I can’t even rub my belly and pat my head at the same time. It was quite the performance. Next came the party known as the B-52’s. If you’ve seen the Love Shack video, you’ve seen the B-52’s; crazy guy yelling, chics with big hair, outrageous clothes and everybody dancing. All in all a lot of fun. And finally out came Cyndi Lauper; 55 but with all the energy and of her 1980’s glory days. She’s quite the performer and had the crowd on their feet right away. As she started in on her second song, Laura and I sat down, but no one else did. When you sit down that close to the stage you can’t see a thing thats happening on stage. We didn’t know the song so we weren’t paying much attention. I leaned over to say something to Laura and the next thing I know Cyndi Lauper has me by the right arm and is pulling me out of my seat! I did not at all see that coming. She then proceeded to stand on my chair and sing to the crowd but not before turning to me and pointing with the Cyndi Lauper scowl only she can give. I was dumbfounded. I stood there staring at her singing to the crowd and standing in my chair. When she got down a minute later she stepped on Laura’s purse, then bent down and picked the purse up off the floor and put it in Laura’s chair, all the while singing her song. It was one of those experiences where you ask yourself, “did that just happen?” Yeah, it did. Cyndi Lauper pulled me by the arm out of my seat, folks. The rest of the show was fun, especially when they released dozens of giant balloons into the audience and everyone who’d performed came on stage to sing True Colors. Laura described it as the gayest night of her life. I’ll second that!
