Artists Against Bullying (as opposed to the ones who kinda dig it!) tackle the Cyndi Lauper classique...

Cyndi Lauper takes note of NPR not taking note of her (or Madonna) in a piece on the dawn of the MTV era. How could you overlook them? Along with acts like Michael Jackson (after MTV relented on its racial glass ceiling) and Duran Duran, those chicks ruled the roost.

Performing @ XL in NYC, age 59

Cyndi Lauper to Time:

"When 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' came out, I was 30. They were saying, 'How old are you?' and even then I was like, 'Why? You think I’m a car? You need to check under the hood and kick the tires?' I had a mindset to contribute to music and make an effective change that would help women in the world. When I was told 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun” would be an anthem, I thought about how it really could be an anthem. And you know, I burnt my tra'ning bra, kinda-sorta, at the first women’s demonstration in Central Park. I was there."

So when Cyndi was 30, she was having her first hit. When Britney Spears was 30, she was...joining The X-Factor almost 15 years into her career. There are exceptions on either side, but it's shocking how much younger stars are today, and how much younger they continue to get. I noticed it as a teen-mag editor because when a new act would pop for us (Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez), we'd only have a couple of months with them before we were competing with Us and Vanity Fair.

Tonight was a special cocktail hour (from 8PM to 10PM) featuring dance troupe Ballets with a Twist at XL and a special performance by Cyndi Lauper. Not having known about Lauper's two fantastic-sounding events in NYC this week (a book-signing and a Q&A at the 92nd Street Y), I didn't want to miss this one, even if she was only scheduled to perform "True Colors".

Bitch can sang

I was supposed to be at a table with Joe Joe.My.God. Jervis and DJ Junior Vasquez (!), but wound up finding my own spot and meeting up with my friend Michael, meeting new pal Steve, a huge Lauper fan who's met her more times than Captain Lou Albano, RIP.

We were near pornstar Dakota Rivers and had some Kinky Boots participants in our eyeline, but I never saw Junior, so if he calls...I'm not here!

We had a great spot but were totaly unprepared when Lauper OPENED the show with her song as little girls did some balletic-with-a-twist moves.

She then wished us a good evening and took off, but since she was staying in the hotel, we weren't sure if she might return.

Cyndi Lauper tells a caller on Watch What Happens Live that she never really got to know the very "closed-off" Madonna, who "seems like a nice girl"...

I just finished reading Jancee Dunn's laugh-out-loud funny memoir But Enough About Me from a few years ago, so I'm pleased to see she is the writer credited with Cyndi Lauper on her own autobiography. But I'm not so pleased to read in National Enquirer (September 24, 2012) that Cyndi at one point in her life contemplated suicide:

"I nearly killed myself. The only thing that always prevented me from suicide is that I never wanted a headline to read: 'Girl who wanted to have fun just didn't.'"

Not sure what made her suicidal. We'll have to read the book. 

It's always one pop diva vs. another, isn't it? At least this 1985 South Korean mag didn't make any pretense about it.

The jacket for Cyndi Lauper's memoir looks very Just Kids. I would have insisted on an instantly brand-recognizable, yellow-haired image just from a sales perspective, but this is classy.

Thoughts?

With Cyndi 17 years ago and yesterday

Out of the blue, a friend contacted José and I to ask that we join the group marching with Cyndi Lauper in the NYC Gay Pride March yesterday. Lauper was plugging her new charity, The Forty to None Project, dedicated to stamping out homelessness among LGBT youth (or, as the site forebodingly promises, "helping to bring an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth experiencing homelessness"). Look, one way or another, we gotta get these kids offa the street! And what an honor and a treat it was to be able to march alongside such a tireless advocate for gay causes, not to mention one of my very first musical idols.

It's important to care for your slave properly—sunscreen is a must!

My pals Angel & Gerard are about to make it legal

Imagine a relationship older than Stonewall

Kiehl's was keepin' it real (Chris Salgardo, CEO of "Kiehl's Since 1851", was a marshal)

Sidenote: Before Madonna for me, there was Cyndi. (Even before Debbie Harry, who I didn't get into until Rockbird.) I was absolutely floored by She's So Unusual, which I still think is one of the most perfect pop records ever. It propelled me into a music store to buy my first-ever poster (which, if you've been reading me a while, you'll recognize was the start of something big), a fabulous, punky shot of Cyndi that was, unfortunately, a little crushed. Nonetheless, it became the very first poster on my wall in a room that would be covered (including the ceiling) by the time I left home.

In 1995, Cyndi was the first person I ever interviewed. I was working as a news assistant at Reuters and pitched a Q&A with Cyndi to my bosses. They went for it, she went for it (she was plugging Twelve Deadly Cyns), and so I found myself spending probably 45 minutes chatting with her in an office. I remember she kept looking at my pages of questions, probably wondering if they'd ever end, yet she answered everything at length and gamely posed for some pictures with me after signing quite a few odds and ends I'd brought with me. (I didn't care if it wasn't professional—I hated that job otherwise!) I'd even brought my "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" picture sleeve, at which she'd exclaimed, "Oh, that! Well...that one I liked, though." (It was "Goonies" that she kinda hated.)

Crowds assembling to march

Cyndi was in heels and on wheels

Ignore that URL, you want this one instead

Flashing forward again: José was traveling in Puerto Rico, so I arrived to the March with my Madonna Cyndi husband Jason around 11AM at 41st between Fifth and Madison. It was hot but not unbearably so, sunny and breezy, and as always, as goofy as Pride might seem before you're in the midst of it, there was an infectiously optimistic vibe of unity radiating from the diverse crowds milling around their meeting spots. We were all about to march in a parade whose roots go back to that history-changing night at the Stonewall and nobody's feet were going to be dragging.

Once we found our area, I wound up wandering a bit and snapping atmosphere shots as well as, of course, photos of sexy menz—I always have pervert pride, though I wound up asking quite a few of them, which was a new concept. I was also killing Jason by tawking and singin' like Cyndi Lauper (complete with lip snarl) at every available opportunity.

I boldly went there with George Takei

My good friend Rich with GLAAD was with George Takei and Jennifer Tyrrell, the lesbian booted from being a boy scout den mother due to her sexual orientation (had interviewed her here), and he graciously introduced me to George and facilitated a photo op.

I told George that I've been supporting him on Twitter a long while and he thanked me and was supernice, looking spiffy and giving us boy scout realness. "Oh, my!"

Their true colors were shining through

Cyndi's float was certainly good enough

Back to Cyndi's group, I waited with camera in hand and caught great footage of her as she emerged from the Andaz decked out in what could only be described as a Twelve Deadly Cyns top hat. Between that and her ageless face, it was 1995 all over again for me. Cyndi was businesslike as she positioned herself in her red convertible, allowing photographers to swarm over her and briefly acknowledging the crowd. In a flash, she took off and we all filed into place behind her car and banner.

Having a Cynfully good time

Before things really got going, I was able to get lots of close-up footage and photos of Cyndi in her parked vehicle. At first, tons of people were approaching her for photo ops (which she was granting liberally), so I asked a handler if I could snag one for my blog. He said yes, so I went around and commandeered a fabulous photographer (Jason was still amongst the marchers) named Marie to take my shot and e-mail it to me later. She complied as did Cyndi—and it came out pretty terrific!

When Cyndi met Tom

I'm sure Cyndi was a bit more excited to meet and speak with New York State Sen. Tom Duane, who helped us achieve marriage equality and who was the country's first HIV-positive person elected to office (or at least the first to be open about it, which is what counts).

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After having posted about my Madonna meeting and pic-with, I thought I'd put some distance between that and this post—my wrap-up of the entire Truth or Dare fragrance event—to spare those Boy Culture readers who aren't Madonnaphiles.

I arrived around 5:45PM armed with my wristband but knowing I may not have to use it—I'd been cleared for the press line, and all media would be checking in at the same time as the party guests.

Attendees (including many friends, like Anthony, Angel, Jeannie and more) were lined up facing east at the side of Macy's and press and photographers were clotted around the entrance to the tent area right out front. Photographers are a motley crew (not the band).

"Who's gonna be here?"

Some girls...the mostly helpful PR brigade

I had one skanky woman turn and say, "Are you press? Yes? Oh, if you weren't I was going to say to back up." Then, a minute later, she turned to say, "No, seriously—back up." (We were all jammed together and I was in no way on top of her.)