07/02/2007
DEBBIE HARRY: BIRTHDAY BLONDE
Here's wishing legendary Blondie singer Debbie Harry a very Happy Birthday (OK, slightly belated: it was yesterday). Harry, who just wrapped up the 16-city gay rights True Colors Tour along with Cyndi Lauper, Erasure and a host of others, is now busy promoting her new Super Buddha-produced single, "Two Times Blue," off her upcoming CD "Necessary Evil," her first solo album since 1993's "Debravation." I, for one, cannot wait.
Posted 9:34 AM EST by Kenneth Walsh in Music | Permalink
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Debbie looks fantastic! Divas to the dance floor please!
Posted by: Princess Superstar | Jul 2, 2007 9:48:55 AM
I can't wait for Cyndi Lauper to release her new album too. She supposed to be working with some pretty amazing dance producers. This tour was absolutely amazing! I took two of my best straight friends to the show..We has a blast! Cyndi Lauper was absolutely AMAZING!
Posted by: Steve | Jul 2, 2007 9:52:41 AM
I saw her in Boston with the tour. She looks fantastic and her voice is better than it's ever been. She's no parody of herself like some become. She had all new music and it rocked!
Posted by: Pugzz | Jul 2, 2007 10:06:08 AM
Deborah is an amazing woman. We saw her performing live in a lovely little venue in Dublin (Ireland) a couple of years ago, and it was about the best concert I've ever been to. She and the band were in superb form. The band eventually made her stop, as she needed to rest for the following night's show but she was having such a good time, she could have sang all night! Happy Birthday dear, and many more!
Posted by: Sean R | Jul 2, 2007 11:36:07 AM
saw the True Colors show in LA and it's sad to report that Debbie has lost her magic. But the show otherwise was spectacular.
Posted by: Call Me | Jul 2, 2007 12:27:26 PM
I saw her on the True Colors Tour. She was very good! Cyndi Lauper was incredible!Both are true legends!
Posted by: Jake | Jul 2, 2007 4:08:55 PM
Cyndi stole the show in San Diego!All I can say was WOW!
Posted by: martin | Jul 2, 2007 4:10:01 PM
Review of the Bay Area show from SF Chron:
>>>Gay icons rock Berkeley for a cause in post-Pride 'True Colors' celebration. O'Donnell is cattily amusing.
Pity the word "empowerment," so abused that it's hard to remember it can be as much a call to action as a self-help bromide. On Friday, Cyndi Lauper issued just such a call when she reminded a packed crowd at Berkeley's Greek Theatre that they were partying for a purpose: passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, a bill that would add homophobic-based crimes to existing federal hate crimes laws.
"I hope this night will make you feel empowered," she called over a wave of cheers, "because a hate crime bill that don't include everyone is un-American."
Benefiting the Human Rights Campaign and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the True Colors tour was, as its wisecracking emcee, Margaret Cho, dubbed it, "the world's first all-gay-icon music festival." The five-hour extravaganza combined old-school heroes with the younger bands they inspired, from Lauper, Deborah Harry and Erasure to the Dresden Dolls and the Toronto band the Cliks. Rosie O'Donnell even made an appearance, first delivering a brief comedy routine and then sitting in on drums during Lauper's performance.
"Where are my gays?" the ex-star of "The View" demanded, peering into the amphitheater, which went predictably wild. "Oh, there you are. I know you're sick of me. I'm pretty sick of me." O'Donnell went on to eviscerate, hilariously, the usual suspects: the women on "The View" ("They'll stab you in the back with a high heel if you're not careful"); Donald Trump ("a little mouth that looks like an anus"); Larry King ("a human Pez dispenser"); and tabloids that delight in discussing her weight ("For a lesbian, I'm practically Paris Hilton; only I'd have had a lot more fun in prison").
If O'Donnell was a pleasant surprise, Lauper -- whose 1986 hit lent the tour its name -- served as the night's heart and flamboyant nexus. Arriving onstage in a hat resembling a parasol covered with rainbow feathers, she quickly stripped to a long black wig and finally her own cropped lavender hair as she danced through a euphoric 60-minute set in her stocking feet.
She's still got the multi-octave pipes and distinctive accent, and she knows how to use them. On the ballad "I'm Gonna Be Strong," and a slow, bluesy reinvention of "She Bop," she crossed near-operatic range with cabaret attitude and her own eccentric pop sensibility. She rocked out on an electric guitar for her cover of Prince's "When U Were Mine" and transformed "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" into a sing-along declaration of, yes, empowerment.
Erasure, the 2-decade-old electro-dance duo that's just released its best album in years, "Light at the End of the World," warmed up the crowd for Lauper by turning the outdoor theater into an open-sky disco. While Vince Clarke sequenced the music and a trio of singers shimmied and harmonized, vocalist Andy Bell interspersed new songs ("Sunday Girl," "I Could Fall in Love With You," "Sucker for Love") with familiar rave-ups like "Oh L'amour" and "A Little Respect."
Bell proudly wore a Debbie Harry T-shirt with Platinum Blonde emblazoned across the front. During her own set, the lady herself, still blonde (though not platinum) and still infuriatingly beautiful, sidestepped Blondie nostalgia to focus on solo material that included samples from her upcoming "Necessary Evil" album. Harry sashayed across the stage with the confidence of a veteran diva, whether delivering power-pop sweets such as "French Kissin' in the USA" and the new single "Two Times Blue," getting playfully glam with "White Out" or doing straight-up rock on "Rush, Rush" and the clever "You're Too Hot."
The Dresden Dolls and Toronto band the Cliks began the night with short but powerful sets; Lauper closed it with the tour's namesake song, "True Colors," as giant balloons floated over the audience. Members of the opening acts then joined Lauper onstage for a collective rendition of Abba's "Take a Chance on Me." By that time, the show had morphed from concert to belated Pride party as fans danced in the aisles, exchanged group hugs and snapped souvenir photos of the stage and each other.
As Lauper pointed out, knowledge and activism are essential in the fight for equal rights. And sometimes, in a world that wants to squash you, so is celebration.<<<
Posted by: Leland | Jul 2, 2007 7:34:59 PM
I have so much more respect for Cyndi and everyone that was part of this tour. I had a great time in Denver, never seen so many brothers and sisters singing and crying proudly to the True Colors lyrics, A night I will never forget!
Posted by: Jay | Jul 2, 2007 9:51:21 PM
Great concert!Hope they do it again next year!Happy Birthday Debbie! Chicago show was great!Cyndi Lauper is my new hero!I really was glad to participate on this historic concert!
Posted by: Hector | Jul 2, 2007 10:09:58 PM
Cyndi on her blog:
cyndilauper.com
"As a friend and family member of the community I hope I can remind folks that ya got to stand up for the people you know and love. Hopefully this tour stirred and woke the hearts of as many as we can. Just like the people whose actions and words inspired me and woke me up… I am always in awe of the people of my country and their energy. We are all so different, so unique in our prospective that I think if our differences are lost, so are we. Because without many veiw points how will we survive the future. Why sileince a voice that might be the answer to a question we’ve been trying to figure out. If we could only learn to be inclusive of each other and our differences. If we could only stop trying to fit a suare peg into a round hole. Well maybe we’d be getting somewhere.
So glad to see that our community is finally giving her a second chance, she is brilliant!
Posted by: Josh | Jul 3, 2007 1:38:03 AM
Happy Birthday Debbie! You were great on the True Colors Tour!(Debbie and Cyndi, thank you for supporting our community!)
WE LOVE YOU BOTH!
Posted by: Matt | Jul 3, 2007 1:48:49 AM
Cyndi and everyone - the show was amazing, inspiring, heartwarming, beautiful and a LOT of fun. My wife, brother and sister and law all saw the show at Radio City and had a great time. As friends and family ourselves we salute you for making this effort and pulling this all together. You are an inspiration to so many people - it is appreciated. Jason
Posted by: Jason | Jul 3, 2007 1:50:21 AM
From all the reports amd reviews I heard, Miss Debbie was a total mess on the True Colors Tour. I did not see it, and I have always loved DH, and I was saddened to hear what I did, because it really sounded ugly.
Posted by: lee gordon | Jul 3, 2007 8:38:41 AM
She sounded good on the True Colors Tour but being next to Erasure and Ms. Lauper...it was hard to compete!
Posted by: Pete | Jul 3, 2007 10:08:32 AM
I would have to agree that the Debbie you saw on stage was not the Debbe we all saw back in the 70;s. But c'mon now, at 62, I can't see that any of us who are not punk/rock/pop musicians can possibly have to say about this. Debbie focused on her career's solo music instead of the old tired Blondie catalog. And wisely so. The new stuff is both edgy and powerful, and sweet and sentimental at the same time. There's a growing process in life that leads us to style, expression and fashion at each different phase.
While other bands fell back to rehashing old popular tumes, Debbie stuck to her guns and gave a fierce mix of new songs, and old solo gems that gave the audience an idea of who she really is...not just that singer from the Swifty-Nifty floor cleaner. My biggest problem eith Debbie is that she is forever pigeonholed into the Blondie persona. At any rate, you either like her or don't like her. Totally your prerogative, and the world is a better place when we can agree to disagree,and god forbid eventually realize that YOU don't have to like something that I like just becasue I can give you a million reasons why I disagree. So, thank you for your comment about Debbie. Reading comments such as yours only makes me want to go back and isten more, to find more and more amazing things about hr performance.
Necessary Evil - oh yes, oh no.
Posted by: Tom | Jul 4, 2007 4:33:26 AM