Fundamental Rights: Cyndi Lauper

Grrrrrrrrl Power!
Cyndi Lauper

It's official. Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights!

Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning artist and activist Cyndi Lauper has designed and released her official “Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights” t-shirt. Inspired by the menagerie of protest signs using this empowering slogan during the worldwide Women’s March that took place on January 21st, Cyndi has partnered with Omaze in honor of Women’s History Month to raise vital funding for Planned Parenthood and the True Colors Fund.

“As I marched down the streets of New York City in January amongst a beautiful array of people of every sex, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and nationality, I was blown away to see so many people embracing the message of “Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights’ on their handmade signs,” said Cyndi Lauper. “Seeing this anthem continue to empower so many people to speak out and get involved, I was inspired to find new ways to further spread this powerful message of equality and justice for all. I am hopeful that this t-shirt will raise much needed funds to support the important work of Planned Parenthood and the True Colors Fund.”

Cyndi’s official “Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights” t-shirt is available starting today at www.omaze.com/fun and can be purchased for $25. A sweatshirt is also available for $39. The net proceeds from each t-shirt and sweatshirt sold will be donated to Planned Parenthood and the True Colors Fund.

About Omaze
Founded by Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cummins, Omaze is a fundraising platform that offers once-in-a-lifetime experiences and exclusive merchandise to raise funds and awareness for today’s most important causes. By leveraging the power of audiences and technology, Omaze is radically changing charitable giving and streamlining public participation with charitable campaigns to create impact in real time. Since launching in 2012, Omaze has impacted more than 200 charities and received donations from over 175 countries. For more information please visit omaze.com.

About Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California 
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (PPAC) is the statewide public policy office representing California’s seven Planned Parenthood affiliates. Through advocacy and electoral action, PPAC advocates for sound public policy in areas of reproductive and preventive health care, family planning and comprehensive sexual health education and information. For more information about Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, please visit www.ppactionca.org.

About True Colors Fund
The True Colors Fund, co-founded by Cyndi Lauper, works nationally to end homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. In America, up to 40 percent of the 1.6 million youth that are homeless each year identify as LGBT. Yet, only seven percent of the general youth population is LGBT. The most cited reason for this disproportionate rate is family rejection due to the young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Through a broad continuum of advocacy, training & education, and youth collaboration programs, the True Colors Fund is creating a world in which all young people can be their true selves. For more information about the True Colors Fund, please visit www.truecolorsfund.org.  

Cyndi Lauper & Friends

Let's get charitable...

Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Fund (www.truecolorsfund.org) announced the lineup for its 6th annual “Cyndi Lauper & Friends: Home for the Holidays” benefit concert on Saturday, December 3 at New York City’s historic Beacon Theatre to raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth homelessness. 100 percent of the net proceeds from the concert will support the True Colors Fund’s programs.

Cyndi Lauper will be joined on stage this year by Aloe Blacc, Ballets with a Twist, Big Thief, Billy Corgan, Grace VanderWaal, Judy Gold, Kate Bornstein, Maya Jupiter, Oxymorrons, Sara Ramirez, Sharon Van Etten, Theresa Caputo, Tyler Glenn, and host Carson Kressley. Additional guests will be announced soon. Tickets are available to the general public at Ticketmaster.com.

“For the sixth year, ‘Home for the Holidays’ will bring together an incredible group of performers to support the True Colors Fund’s work to end homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth," said Lauper, the organization’s co-founder. “Our voices are stronger when we say something together. I’m so grateful to the artists, who are donating their time and talent to bring attention to this very important cause.”

In America, up to 40 percent of the 1.6 million youth that are homeless each year identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Yet, less than seven percent of the general youth population is LGBT. The most cited reason for this disproportionate rate is family rejection due to the young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Co-founded by Cyndi Lauper, the True Colors Fund works nationally to end homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Through a broad continuum of public engagement, public policy, youth collaboration, research, and community organizing programs, the True Colors Fund is creating a world in which young people can be their true selves.

Some highlights of the True Colors Fund’s work this year include:
 

• Hosting the second annual #40toNoneDay, a national day to raise awareness about LGBT youth homelessness, which reached over 98 million people online.
• Partnering with The White House to conduct a Policy Briefing on Youth Homelessness to help prioritize the needs of youth experiencing homelessness within the Federal Government.
• Launching the National Youth Forum on Homelessness, a youth-led project focused on ending youth homelessness in America, in partnership with the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
• Releasing At the Intersections, the most comprehensive resource on LGBT youth homelessness, in partnership with the National LGBTQ Task Force.
• Holding the third annual sold out 40 to None Summit, the only national annual gathering focused on innovative solutions to end LGBT youth homelessness in America.
• Training it's second class of True Fellows, young LGBT leaders with experiences of homelessness, who conduct six-month service projects in their communities.
• Releasing its second annual 40 of the 40 list, which highlights 40 LGBT young people who have experiences with homelessness and provides them with opportunities to engage in the organization’s work.
• Providing free tools, resources, and training through its 40 to None Network for service providers and communities around the country to aid them in providing safe, inclusive, and welcoming support to LGBT youth experiencing homelessness.

“Home for the Holidays” is proud to have the support of: Platinum Sponsors Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Van Gogh Vodka; Gold Sponsors The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. and Jujamcyn Theaters; Silver Sponsors Kinky Boots, The Madison Square Garden Company, Masie Productions, Reveal, Stifel, and Keith Bell, Licensed Acupuncturist.

ABOUT THE TRUE COLORS FUND
Grammy and Emmy award-winning artist and advocate Cyndi Lauper co-founded the True Colors Fund to end homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Through a broad continuum of public engagement, public policy, youth collaboration, research, and community organizing programs, the True Colors Fund is creating a world in which young people can be their true selves. www.truecolorsfund.org

For more information please visit www.truecolorsfund.org/homefortheholidays. 

"True Colors" Cyndi Lauper

Performing for LGBT Youth Tomorrow Night in Los Angeles, CA

The True Colors Fund is excited to announce the lineup and honorees for its sold out inaugural Cyndi Lauper’s Damn Gala, taking place at the Hollywood Athletic Club on Sunday, October 9th in Los Angeles, CA. The organization, co-founded by Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award winning artist Cyndi Lauper to prevent and end homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, will feature a keynote address from Secretary Julián Castro of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“The True Colors Fund is honored that Secretary Castro will provide the keynote at our inaugural Damn Gala,” said Cyndi Lauper, co-founder of the True Colors Fund. “For the past four years, we have had the great privilege to partner with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to pilot and advance new solutions to prevent and end LGBT youth homelessness. We will end youth homelessness in America and, due to the strategic and innovative leadership of Secretary Castro and the team at HUD, tremendous progress has already been made.”

                                                              True Colors

The Damn Gala, which will feature performances by Ms. Lauper and True Colors Fund Board Member and Tony Award winning artist Sara Ramirez, will pay tribute to USA Network and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. James Paxton and Tyler Young, stars of USA Network’s upcoming series, EYEWITNESS, premiering October 16th, will be presenting the network with its award. The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s award will be presented by Marc Malkin, Managing Editor and Correspondent at E! News, and his husband Fabian Quezada-Malkin. In addition, Phoebe VanCleefe and Kahlib Barton, two of True Colors Fund’s extraordinary youth leaders, will present TED-style talks, while True Colors Fund Board Member and Emmy Award winning personality Carson Kressley will serve as the evening’s host.

“We are excited to honor USA Network and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, two of our longest and closest partners in the effort to end LGBT youth homelessness in America,” said Gregory Lewis, Executive Director & CEO of the True Colors Fund. “For over 40 years, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has been a national leader in providing life-saving services for LGBT youth experiencing homelessness. USA Network has worked tirelessly to open countless hearts and minds through its programming and its public service campaign Characters Unite, which was created to address the social injustices and cultural divides still prevalent in our society. Both USA Network and the Los Angeles LGBT Center have been true leaders in creating a more accepting and affirming society for LGBT youth and we look forward to celebrating them at Cyndi Lauper’s Damn Gala.”

The Damn Gala is supported by Platinum Sponsors NCompass, Pride.com (National Media Partner), and Van Gogh Vodka (National Corporate Partner); and Gold Sponsors Angeleno Magazine, Jason Mraz Foundation, and Tylenol PM (National Corporate Partner).

The Damn Gala is currently sold out, but those interested in attending can join the waiting list by emailing RSVP@truecolorsfund.org. If tickets become available, they begin at $500, and tables of ten start at $5,000. For remaining sponsorship opportunities please contact rob@truecolorsfund.org. The net proceeds from the Damn Gala will benefit the True Colors Fund’s work to prevent and end LGBT youth homelessness in America.

To learn more about Cyndi Lauper’s Damn Gala, please visit www.truecolorsfund.org/damngala.  

At Long Last Emmy, Sarah Paulson

Dynamic Duo
Marcia Clark & Sarah Paulson

 Honestly I really did not watch that much of the Emmy Awards last night. That being stated I did catch what I thought was a brilliant opening monologue by Jimmy Kimmel and as he pointed out, Sarah Paulson brought along the best plus one of the evening. In case you didn't see them at all it was none other than attorney Marcia Clark who she was nominated for portraying in American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson.

Marcia proved to be Sarah's good luck charm as she finally won a long overdue Emmy Award for bringing her to life in the limited series. 

Ms. Paulson dedicated most of her speech to Clark when she accepted the gold.

Way to go Sarah! So glad you finally won, and I am impressed with your savvy in choosing Clark as your date for the evening. This will be one of those Emmy moments for the books!

Sarah on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005299/?ref_=nv_sr_1  

Cyndi Lauper's De"tour"

Rhinestone Cowgirl, Cyndi Lauper
Photo: Chapman Baehler

CYNDI LAUPER KICKS OFF INTERNATIONAL 'DETOUR' TOUR IN NASHVILLE, TENN.

Lauper's 27-City Tour Includes May-July Dates

Detour Tour, say that three times fast. Do it, and do it now!

Music icon Cyndi Lauper will take a southern DETOUR across the U.S. and Europe during her 2016 tour as the Grammy®, Emmy® and Tony®-winning singer-songwriter promotes her upcoming country record (tour dates below). DETOUR, available May 6, includes her signature spin on a dozen classics from the 40s, 50s and 60s.   >> Cyndi Lauper sound bite: AUDIO | VIDEO << The 27-city tour kicks off in Nashville, Tenn. at the Ryman Auditorium. “There’s something so very magical about the Ryman and all the rich history there. Just to think it’s the same stage where Wanda Jackson and Patsy Cline performed so long ago and here I am singing songs they made famous on this record - it’s such an honor,” Lauper said. DETOUR features guest appearances from country music stars Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Willie Nelson. Lauper recorded the album in Nashville alongside a band comprised of the city’s top session players. Growing up, Lauper recalls listening to country music on her Aunt Gracie’s kitchen radio. “When I was a really young kid, country music was pop music, so this is what we grew up listening to. These songs are part of some of my earliest memories so it has been an absolute thrill to revisit them.” CYNDI LAUPER DETOUR TOUR: *denotes shows with Boy George May 09 Ryman Auditorium - Nashville, Tenn. May 11 Palace Theatre - Louisville, Ky. May 13 Carnegie Music Hall Homestead - Pittsburgh, Pa. May 14 Michigan Theater - Ann Arbor, Mich. May 16 Chicago Theatre - Chicago, Ill. May 17 Hard Rock Live - Cleveland, Ohio May 20 Mohegan Sun - Uncasville, Conn.* May 21 Wang Center - Boston, Mass.* May 25 Beacon Theatre - New York, N.Y.* May 28 Sands Bethlehem Events Center - Bethlehem, Pa.* May 29 Borgata - Atlantic City, N.J.* Jun 01 Wolf Trap Filene Center - Vienna, Va.* Jun 02 Charleston Music Hall - Charleston, S.C. Jun 04 Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts - Raleigh, N.C. Jun 05 Atlanta Symphony Hall - Atlanta, Ga. Jun 08 Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, Fla. Jun 09 Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts - Orlando, Fla. Jun 11 Mizner Park Amphitheatre - Boca Raton, Fla. Jun 12 St. Augustine Amphitheater - St. Augustine, Fla. Jun 22 Symphony Hall - Birmingham, United Kingdom Jun 23 Royal Concert Hall - Glasgow, United Kingdom Jun 25 Newcastle City Hall - Newcastle, United Kingdom Jun 30 Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith - London, United Kingdom Jul 03 Jazz Fest Wien - Vienna, Austria Jul 06 Parco Della Musica Auditorium Cavea - Rome, Italy Jul 07 GRU Village - Torino, Italy Jul 11 Grand Rex - Paris, France

It's A "Mad Men" Party

Sing Along With: Mad Men

With the end of the final season of Mad Men drawing near and fan anticipation growing of how the series will end, did you ever wonder how the cast celebrated the taping of the final episode of the Emmy Award winning drama?

Drink excessively? Chain smoke until dawn? Smoke pot and have a Bacchanalian orgy? You know the way they do on the show.

Christina Hendricks recently gave Vulture the 411:

“We partied for about a week straight,” Hendricks spilled. “We’re all surprisingly into musicals,” she explained “There was a lot of singing of "Little Shop of Horrors," ‘Defying Gravity’ (from Wicked), and a little bit of "Frozen.” The secret is out now, the cast of Mad Men are musical geeks “I wish we were cooler.”

Thanks Christina for that bit of fun information, what a great way to move on from a great show, that although I am dying to know how it all ends, I will be sad to see it, the cast and Jon Hamm's bulge go.

Go "Mad" at: https://www.facebook.com/MadMen

Way To Go, Margaret Cho!

Margaret Cho

Friend and "Entertain Me" favorite the one the only Margaret Cho landed the coolest gig ever recently!

That's right Ms. Cho has landed the role of the administrator in the untitled Tina Fey and Matt Hubbard university comedy for FOX simply known as "Cabot College" read on peeps...

Fox's untitled Tina Fey and Matt Hubbard women's university comedy has found its administrator in a familiar face.

The comedy takes place at a women's college that has just opened its doors to men for the first time. 30 Rock Emmy nominee Margaret Cho has boarded the untitled comedy known as Cabot College.

Cho will play the series regular role of Laura Thibault, the president of Cabot College who made the difficult decision to admit men into the school. She's further described as a divisive figure on campus and does her best to be welcoming of the male freshmen but is often irritated by their antics. 

Production on the comedy  begins in March!

The casting marks a reunion for Cho with both Fey and Hubbard after the actress played Kim Jong-Il and his son, Kim Jong-Un. She earned a guest actress in a comedy Emmy nomination for the former role.

Way to go Margaret!

Turn and face the Cho at: http://www.margaretcho.com/

That Rogue Romeo Has Been "Rebuilt"

That Rogue Romeo aka Kevin Stea has gone out and, thanks to technology been "Rebuilt".

Here to tell us about his latest incarnation is That Rogue Romeo himself Mr. Kevin Stea...!

"REBUILT,"is an amazingly successful experiment in which I took the original music from Machine and Magic and commissioned remixes to see if the music held up. It is 19 tracks featuring remixes of the songs of the debut album Machine & Magic.

What I realized is that these songs are pretty solid. I told the various remixers (Djnb, Ap, F3tto, Cr3) to let go of structure. They did not have to stay attached to the original song structure. I enjoy creating something new from the visions of many. I wanted to give these remixers room to play; but I did want this album to have a club feel, however, and make people dance. I wanted to see if my tracks could in fact play in clubs. Are they danceable? That was the bottom line. I realized my goal creating dance music that has lyrical impact. I want to bring lyrical content to the club. You can dance and jump around and still something meaningful.

"Go Rogue"

I have video concepts for every song I have (written). Once I’m done writing it, I instantly switch into visual mode, which is the way I conceive the song to begin with. My songs come from a space of visualization already. I imagine entire scripts and themes for everything. So it was natural to release the official music video set to the "Machine and Magic" remix with the remix album REBUILT. This video is definitely different than any other video I’ve done. Also, I look a little closer to Kevin than That Rogue Romeo in the video. I’m hardly in make-up. This is a dance video. It’s not super high concept.

The video is the first video shot from a successful Kickstarter project to create three music videos. It is directed by superstars Brian Friedman (X-factor, Britney Spears, AGT) and Chan Andre (ID Entertainment), and features ex-PCD Carmit Bachar and 12 of LA's top young dancers (Whyley Yoshimura, Judson Emery, Jon Burdine, Zack Venegas, Malik LeNost, Ryan Ramirez, Stephanie Sy, Britt Stewart, Yoori Kim, Niesha Smith, Deana Brickley, Mason Cutler), with choreography by Tessandra Chavez, and is styled by Emmy-award winning Marina Toybina".

"Special thanks to all the Kickstarter Contributors!!!!"

Check out the official "Machine and Magic" video after the jump...!

Get "Rebuilt" on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rebuilt/id674817792

View more videos by TRR at: http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinstea

Become a fan! : https://www.facebook.com/ThatRogueRomeo

How Does It Feel To Be "Stuck In The Middle" ?

"A mail room slacker dies after a bizarre experiment and finds himself sentenced to Purgatory - working in the mail room.  There he falls for his beautiful manager and to win her over, he must stop a greedy tycoon from closing Purgatory down and sending everyone to Hell" -

Yes, this is what it is like to be "Stuck in the Middle" - Written by brothers Joseph Pepitone a two time New York Emmy Award winner and Billy Pepitone a retired cop. 

"Stuck in the Middle" as Film Threat calls it: "Is more than just the novelty of its storyline, and is actually quite funny" 

Watch out Farrelly Brothers time to check in with the Brothers Pepitone and find out about their trip to Purgatory.

JP: Michael Shinafelt, how's it going?

MS: Fine, just let me shut something down I was doing on my computer while I was waiting for your call. How are you?

JP: Just fine I'm here with my brother who co-wrote the script, Billy.

MS: Hi, Billy!

BP: Hey how are you?

MS: Good. So Joseph, have you worked in a mail room before?

JP:  No, no, I've worked in offices, so I picked the occupation as the one that I thought would be the lowest on the totem pole. I've never worked in the mail room, but I have been working in offices half my life.

MS: Well you picked the perfect place for Purgatory, I've worked in a mail room before and it sucks that hard. (laughs)

Joseph & Billy Pepitone

JP: That's the feeling I got. (laughs)

MS: Yep, the mail room would be Purgatory in an office for sure! (laughs) OK, why did you choose auto-erotic asphyxiation as the cause of death for your mail room worker Michael?

JP: When I originally started writing the script it was going to be a wacky sitcom, and he died by getting his tie caught in a paper shredder. I thought it was lame and I needed something better. I was writing right around the time that David Carradine wound up killing himself that way. It was perfect, this is the way the character should die I thought.

MS: More effective than a paper shredder I must say. (laughs) Obviously your surroundings inspired the script.

JP: Basically, yeah, write what you know. Working in an office combined with sixteen years of Catholic School. Working in an office isn't really Heaven or Hell, it's just sort of dull, like Purgatory.

MS: If the concepts of Heaven and Hell actually exist, I think Earth is Purgatory.

JP: That's funny! I just did an interview where that is exactly what I said.

MS: How funny!

JP: We're living in Purgatory and we see what happens from here.

MS: Life on Earth is mostly just what it is, there are highs and lows, but most of the time it just is.

JP: We're on the same page.

MS: Billy you're a retired Police Officer, you have a lot of stories, tell me one.

BP: There's a thousand stories I could tell ya. Some of them are almost impossible to believe. So I tried to take some of the characters I've met over the years and incorporate them into Joe's story and it seemed to work well...a lot of the people in the movie truly exist. (laughs)

MS: Other than your obvious wealth of material to draw on what made you decide to go into writing with your brother?

Here We Are Now Entertain Us

BP: Writing was always a talent of mine that I never gave enough time, I've always been interested in it. Once I decided that I had enough time on my hands I decided that I was going to start writing. Screenplays, novels...when I read the script I immediately loved it. We developed a system, Joe writes sends it to me, I tweak it a little bit, we go back and fourth. Our styles are different and that seems to work.

MS: OK, tell me about the blasphemy, Film Threat stated there was blasphemy in your movie, I'm always up for that.

JP: I guess what they are referring to is Jesus actually is the figurehead boss of Purgatory. He's the boss's son and he's rarely there, he golfs all day - he has aligned himself with some of the bad guys in the film and started a merchandising business, Jesus has basically become a shill. (laughs) I think that's probably the blasphemy part. (laughs)

MS: Did you ever see Kevin Smith's film "Dogma"?

JP: Oh yea, I'm a very big Kevin Smith fan!

MS: Cool, I liked Alanis Morisette as God in it. So what's next for the Brothers Pepitone?

JP: We have two horror films in post production.

MS: I love horror!

JP: Great! One is called "The Meat Puppet" the other is called "Gravedigger" and we should be getting them to the horror festivals in the fall.

Feeling "Stuck"? "Stuck in the Middle" is released on Blu-Ray on Amazon July 30th: http://www.amazon.com/Stuck-Middle-Blu-ray-Eric-Etebari/dp/B00DWG5GTE/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1373913673&sr=1-1&keywords=stuck+in+the+middle

Become a fan at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stuck-In-the-Middle-Movie-Fan-Page/141946539200000

Keep up with The Brothers at: http://www.diamondjesusproductions.com/

R.I.P: James Gandolfini

The news that James Gandolfini had died of a heart attack yesterday in Italy caught everyone by surprise. Mainly because the Emmy Award winning actor for his signature role of Tony Soprano on "The Sopranos" was only fifty-one years old.

Although I have never seen "The Sopranos" - I know, my friends tell me I should and that they are sure I would like it, so now I will. There are plenty of other things I have seen Mr. Gandolfini in, and he was always  one of the if not the only highlight.

I will never forget seeing him playing a gay Hit Man, Winston Baldry in the really lame Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts vehicle "The Mexican". The role was like Tony Soprano with a twist, James got to demonstrate a distinctive and sharp comedic flair.

So if you will excuse me I have a lot of catching up to do and am off to watch "The Sopranos" now...

Tony Soprano: Retarded? What if Jerry Lewis heard you talkin' like that?

James on IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001254/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1