Reading your column, Dan is such an education in so many ways. For one, Since my specialty was as an opera singer, I didn't have the opportunity to know about Cyndi Lauper and the other sonwriters you mentioned, so listening to "True Colors" was wonderful. I worked with so many of those young men in the 80s who died in NYC; in fact my on pianist/accompanist was one of them. So, hearing this song which had so much meaning was very emotional. Thanks.
Chacal, thank you for your thoughts and the link to the AIDS Quilt. I hope you see this message. When I click on your message to reply, I get directed to my substack. //Vince//
"Understanding and empathy" towards all humans is a very valuable message. Thank you for expressing this, Dan and Elliot. Especially now when it is so needed in our political discourse. I find it disappointing that there is so much hatred readily turned towards anyone who has different ideas and principles, or is simply in a different political party. The people who do this seem unaware of how it harms them. Energy and attention can be used creatively and profitably. Hatred is always a destructive waste of both, harming everything it touches. Your message is uniting in spirit.
I am overwhelmed by the response to my comment. I really have never felt so cared for and so accepted in my whole life. I have tears in my eyes as I write this ,and I cannot express how grateful I am to feel cared about! THANK YOU! This is a wonderful place, and I will feel safe to share other things in the future. I thank all of you, but especialy Dan and Elliot!
"TRUE COLORS (LIVE)," Cyndi Lauper, 8-31-21, YouTube: That may be a wig in this video but she looks great in what might be her true color hair, trimmed in a sleek style. In this performance, she plays a dulcimer. When she released this song in 1986, people noted the irony of a lady with shock orange hair singing about true colors. This take was inevitable: "True Colors - Cyndi Lauper Parody," Holderness, 4-17-20. Kim wants hair colorists to be listed as essential workers during the next pandemic.
Ms. Lauper's version with a chorus behind her featured the American Boychoir from Princeton, NJ. They also did the Kodak commercial version. The school is now closed, but I still have their holiday CD which featured them singing it on their own. With and without the luminous Miss Lauper -- beautiful.
One of my reasons to smile: at a family Christmas gathering years ago, I watched our then-16-year-old nephew interacting with both male and female friends he'd invited. Afterward, I asked my husband if he'd known our nephew was gay. He hadn't. We made no comment to anyone, as we felt it wasn't our place to do so. His being gay made no difference to us. In fact, as he came into who he really was, he became kinder and more mature.
Two years later, our nephew came out to his mother, who immediately threw him out of the house and refused to speak to him for three years. In that time, he met a partner (they're still together, more than 10 years later), and they set out together to start their careers, moving to several other states for training and opportunities.
Long story short, they're both now successful in the medical field, and our nephew's mother, after watching her son lead his life with his partner, now champions LGBTQ causes and supports her son and his partner completely.
All this to say that, though it's rare, sometimes people DO change their opinions when their negative mindsets are brought home to them. There IS hope.
That’s a good reminder. People can and sometimes do change. When everyone including public officials find that those they are ‘othering’ are in their family or circle of friends and their families, things begin to change. We saw that happen before. I believe it is happening again.
Jerry Miller was my very Republican legislator until he retired. Pleasant, mild words, no controversies and lots of equivocating put him in leadership. I almost fell out of my chair when I read local reporting on his testimony against legislation limiting gender affirming care. He is afraid it could limit care his grandchild may want and need in the future. He said his daughter was considering leaving the state if the bill passed. He admitted if it wasn’t for his grandchild he wasn’t sure he would have opposed the bill.
The legislature later passed a worse version of the bill. That’s the bad news but not the whole picture. In the GOP primary the most obnoxious candidates did not make the cut. In the general election they tried to capitalize on the incumbent Dem governor’s veto (overridden) a very “scary” negative campaign. Fail.
Even state GOP analysts predicted this is not where voters in Kentucky are. Overwhelmingly voters (including 62% of Republicans) want legislators to mind their own business.
If you can’t win on the tried and true antis (abortion & LGBTQ rights) in a state like KY, and are being called out by high profile party members … it tells me people are changing and leaving those ideas behind.
I always love when you share meaningful and timely content related songs and lyrics ! Thank you. As a songwriter I feel blessed when others cover my songs… Sadly, but humbling, I noted that the song I had written in 2019 as a tribute to all Holocaust survivors, their families lost, and as a promise to future generations… HERT ZICH Tzu ( listen)- WE WILL REMEMBER YOU… has been covered, sung and played in the last month as a tribute to all those killed in in Israel. https://youtu.be/qviANorRAvQ
But to all who are suffering as result of this Middle East crisis , I offer MY PRAYER…. - lyrics excerpt : “ there will come a time when there’ll be only hope, no need to shed a tear no reason for despair… that is my prayer - yeah yeah” https://youtu.be/mvMiy-c7DXE?si=Ycm4YW7xRNgYmyn4
In another of my songs (LOVE IS WHERE YOU START) I write: “ … and though evil begins, remember love, love is where it ends”
May we all one day live in a world where love for each other overcomes all the evil and hatred.
Thank you to all of the wonderful people who responded to me. This is a very special place and I look forward to knowing more of you kind, understanding and special people! ((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))) Maria
From Maria's comment and many others here. I loved hearing these songs, although they come with tears: So familiar, as I had a parent who told me when I was 8 that I had wrecked her happiness by bring alive, thus "forcing her to stay in a marriage she detested", and later, seeing a 10 year old child I taught, die alone because his parents were convinced that the Aids he had some how acquired were due to his being "devil spawn"
Reading your column, Dan is such an education in so many ways. For one, Since my specialty was as an opera singer, I didn't have the opportunity to know about Cyndi Lauper and the other sonwriters you mentioned, so listening to "True Colors" was wonderful. I worked with so many of those young men in the 80s who died in NYC; in fact my on pianist/accompanist was one of them. So, hearing this song which had so much meaning was very emotional. Thanks.
Chacal, thank you for your thoughts and the link to the AIDS Quilt. I hope you see this message. When I click on your message to reply, I get directed to my substack. //Vince//
Thank you for a beautiful tribute.
Thank you for being here for us. We need you both now and into the future. Happy Thanksgiving to you both!
Thanks for fixing the links!!! ❤️🩷💜
"Understanding and empathy" towards all humans is a very valuable message. Thank you for expressing this, Dan and Elliot. Especially now when it is so needed in our political discourse. I find it disappointing that there is so much hatred readily turned towards anyone who has different ideas and principles, or is simply in a different political party. The people who do this seem unaware of how it harms them. Energy and attention can be used creatively and profitably. Hatred is always a destructive waste of both, harming everything it touches. Your message is uniting in spirit.
I am overwhelmed by the response to my comment. I really have never felt so cared for and so accepted in my whole life. I have tears in my eyes as I write this ,and I cannot express how grateful I am to feel cared about! THANK YOU! This is a wonderful place, and I will feel safe to share other things in the future. I thank all of you, but especialy Dan and Elliot!
"TRUE COLORS (LIVE)," Cyndi Lauper, 8-31-21, YouTube: That may be a wig in this video but she looks great in what might be her true color hair, trimmed in a sleek style. In this performance, she plays a dulcimer. When she released this song in 1986, people noted the irony of a lady with shock orange hair singing about true colors. This take was inevitable: "True Colors - Cyndi Lauper Parody," Holderness, 4-17-20. Kim wants hair colorists to be listed as essential workers during the next pandemic.
Ms. Lauper's version with a chorus behind her featured the American Boychoir from Princeton, NJ. They also did the Kodak commercial version. The school is now closed, but I still have their holiday CD which featured them singing it on their own. With and without the luminous Miss Lauper -- beautiful.
One of my reasons to smile: at a family Christmas gathering years ago, I watched our then-16-year-old nephew interacting with both male and female friends he'd invited. Afterward, I asked my husband if he'd known our nephew was gay. He hadn't. We made no comment to anyone, as we felt it wasn't our place to do so. His being gay made no difference to us. In fact, as he came into who he really was, he became kinder and more mature.
Two years later, our nephew came out to his mother, who immediately threw him out of the house and refused to speak to him for three years. In that time, he met a partner (they're still together, more than 10 years later), and they set out together to start their careers, moving to several other states for training and opportunities.
Long story short, they're both now successful in the medical field, and our nephew's mother, after watching her son lead his life with his partner, now champions LGBTQ causes and supports her son and his partner completely.
All this to say that, though it's rare, sometimes people DO change their opinions when their negative mindsets are brought home to them. There IS hope.
That’s a good reminder. People can and sometimes do change. When everyone including public officials find that those they are ‘othering’ are in their family or circle of friends and their families, things begin to change. We saw that happen before. I believe it is happening again.
Jerry Miller was my very Republican legislator until he retired. Pleasant, mild words, no controversies and lots of equivocating put him in leadership. I almost fell out of my chair when I read local reporting on his testimony against legislation limiting gender affirming care. He is afraid it could limit care his grandchild may want and need in the future. He said his daughter was considering leaving the state if the bill passed. He admitted if it wasn’t for his grandchild he wasn’t sure he would have opposed the bill.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kentucky/articles/2023-03-14/former-kentucky-lawmaker-makes-plea-on-gender-affirming-care
The legislature later passed a worse version of the bill. That’s the bad news but not the whole picture. In the GOP primary the most obnoxious candidates did not make the cut. In the general election they tried to capitalize on the incumbent Dem governor’s veto (overridden) a very “scary” negative campaign. Fail.
Even state GOP analysts predicted this is not where voters in Kentucky are. Overwhelmingly voters (including 62% of Republicans) want legislators to mind their own business.
https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2023/02/23/kentucky-legislature-transgender-health-care
If you can’t win on the tried and true antis (abortion & LGBTQ rights) in a state like KY, and are being called out by high profile party members … it tells me people are changing and leaving those ideas behind.
I always love when you share meaningful and timely content related songs and lyrics ! Thank you. As a songwriter I feel blessed when others cover my songs… Sadly, but humbling, I noted that the song I had written in 2019 as a tribute to all Holocaust survivors, their families lost, and as a promise to future generations… HERT ZICH Tzu ( listen)- WE WILL REMEMBER YOU… has been covered, sung and played in the last month as a tribute to all those killed in in Israel. https://youtu.be/qviANorRAvQ
But to all who are suffering as result of this Middle East crisis , I offer MY PRAYER…. - lyrics excerpt : “ there will come a time when there’ll be only hope, no need to shed a tear no reason for despair… that is my prayer - yeah yeah” https://youtu.be/mvMiy-c7DXE?si=Ycm4YW7xRNgYmyn4
In another of my songs (LOVE IS WHERE YOU START) I write: “ … and though evil begins, remember love, love is where it ends”
May we all one day live in a world where love for each other overcomes all the evil and hatred.
Thank you, Dan, for letting us hear that very poignant song! Beautiful!
Thank you to all of the wonderful people who responded to me. This is a very special place and I look forward to knowing more of you kind, understanding and special people! ((((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))) Maria
wonderful ! Thank you
Wow. That hit me deep...
From Maria's comment and many others here. I loved hearing these songs, although they come with tears: So familiar, as I had a parent who told me when I was 8 that I had wrecked her happiness by bring alive, thus "forcing her to stay in a marriage she detested", and later, seeing a 10 year old child I taught, die alone because his parents were convinced that the Aids he had some how acquired were due to his being "devil spawn"
OMG, I am so so sorry !