AHHHHHHHHHH-CYNDI-AHHHHHH!!

Well, we went to see Cyndi Lauper on Friday night. Not by my own choice. We don’t always share the same musical tastes, but after 12 Porcupine Tree shows, 4 Blackfield shows, 5 Bob Mould shows, 2 Tori Amos shows and a Devo show (all this year!), I guess I owed it to Bubala to go to a show that he wanted to see. I tried to get out of it at the last minute by saying I felt a cold coming on, it didn’t work though. He made me go anyway. I guess I made my own bed, now I had to sleep in it.

Bubala said he wanted to get close to the stage as well. (Oh joy!) So, we got to the 9:30 Club a little before the doors opened to find a hand full of middle-aged women who used to “just wanna have fun,” and a whole line of gay guys who probably don’t need much more fun standing behind the girls in a line that stretched around the block and then some. After a bit, the line started moving. We got into the club and snagged a place pretty close to the stage. Then, (you know the drill) we stood around all night waiting for the show to start.

First up was Jill Sobule. Remember her? She kissed a girl in the 90’s, and everyone became annoyed about it. She was actually pretty entertaining though. I’d by her CD just because her songs and lyrics are so funny and liberally-politically charged. Good stuff.

Next up, Sandra Bernhard. She was kind of ("fucking") scary. She sang and did some stand up, which was ("fucking") funny. She sang a ("fucking") Whitesnake cover that kind of made me squirm, because people were actually digging it.

Somewhere between the acts, some drunk queen decided that I was a wall and started pushing and leaning against me. I can be tolerant of queens, and I can be tolerant of drunks. Put the two together, however, and it’s a zero tolerance policy for me. The drinks go in, the flames rise higher, and I’m quickly annoyed. Even though I shifted around to move away from him, this dude just kept leaning on me like I was the wall. Finally, I did a more aggressive shake and shift of my body which kind of threw him off balance a bit. Bubala decided to move me on the other side of him to avoid any further complications or altercations. Now, had the drunk queen been my type, I wouldn’t have minded him leaning on me so much...

Finally, Cyndi came on, and everything was fine again. Cyndi Lauper is kind of like the Betty Boop of Rock and Roll. She is a lot more fun than some of her “Gay Iconic Diva” co-conspirators, and she actually plays instruments like the guitar and the dulcimer. She can also belt a note forever, and she did on some songs. Bubala was close enough to be able to hold her hand during a song, and she gave him a Matthew Shepard Erase Hate bracelet. It was not as good a show as the time we saw her do a free show up in Playland amusement Park in Rye NY a few years ago, but it was an okay show. Way too many gay guys though. I would hate to have been that one guy whose wife dragged him along to see Cyndi... Oh, wait a minute....I was one of those guys...

You just wait until Rush tours next year, Bubala, I’ll get even.

What, you want a setlist too? Okay, just don’t tell anyone I had anything to do with it.

All Through The Night
I Drove All Night
Change Of Heart
Goonies (A capealla for a yell out request)
Sisters Of Avalon
She Bop
Home On Christmas Day
Above The Clouds
(some song with Jill Sobule)
True Colors
Shine
Money Changes Everything
Time After Time
All The Young Dudes (With Jill and Sandra)
I Saw 3 Ships
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (But, not more than gay guys do!)