I love rock and roll!

True Colors Concert last night. Five hours of absolute fun. That Cyndi Lauper sure knows how to throw a party. And we even missed one of the "surprise guest" openers because we couldn't get there right at 6. Carson Kressley (of Queer Eye fame) hosted and joked and changed outfits all evening. Wanda Sykes did her comedy routine. Andy Bell sang. Cyndi Lauper came out and sang acapella with him. I was in heaven! I've never seen the main act come out on and off all evening, but she did. To sing with Bell. To stomp down to a platform near the sound/light booth area and climb up with her mic and promote getting out and voting and her equality message which obviously being True Colors was the theme of the evening. We all matter - gay, straight, black, white, Jew, Protestant, Druid tree hugger, whatever. - Lauper's awesome. She's got near perfect pitch, can fix the sound system or tune the dulcimer, chat up the audience, support her causes and sing like a dream. Plus that voice when she 'tawks' just makes me grin. She is the real deal as a musician. No synthesizers hiding that chick's voice. AND -a set plus encore by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. I LOVE Joan Jett. Who doesn't rock out to "I Love Rock and Roll"? Seriously. You'd have to be dead. AND - the B52's!! who have never been my total favorite but hell, they sing Love Shack and like I say, who doesn't love that?? Five hours of a huge smile on my face. Husband having an equally great time. Okay, it was hot out. And humid. Lauper was worried that her makeup was gonna run. But it was the perfect summer night.

On other fronts, mother in law's back surgery went well. The recovery I'm less certain of. Cue a certain famous Amy Winehouse song. (see if you can figure it out, gentle reader)

Filled hospital waiting time with two YA's -Ethan Suspended by Pamela Ehrenberg and Meg Cabot's Jinx. Although it might seem odd to link them, they actually are. Both Ethan Oppenheimer and Jean (Jinx) Honeychurch are running from something they've done. Both have to adjust to worlds with with they're unfamiliar. For Ethan it's his grandparents' house/life in DC as the only white and Jewish family in a now all black neighborhood. For Jinx it's the private school, Upper East Side Gossip Girl type of world at her relatives house, rather than her former life as a preacher's kid in Iowa. And for both, the secrets they are trying to escape aren't so easily ditched. Other than that, the books are obviously not the same, although both mix humor and serious moments. Cabot's voice delights as always. and Ethan Suspended is Ehrenberg's debut novel from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers and came out in 2007. I'm glad I stumbled on it and I'm hoping she writes some more!

Til next time...