a&e features
Cyndi’s ‘Detour’
Lauper on going country, her tour, Donald Trump and more
Cyndi Lauper performs in Ann Arbor, Mich., on her current tour on May 14. She brings her show to Wolf Trap on June 1. (Photo by Colin McLeod)
Cyndi Lauper and Boy George
Wednesday, June 1
8 p.m.
Filene Center at Wolf Trap
1551 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va.
$40-95
Pop anthems “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “True Colors” may have skyrocketed Cyndi Lauper to the heights of stardom, but the singer has been itching to try her hand at a country album since the days she spent playing music on the back porch of her friend’s home in Nashville.
“I never was an insider. I was an outsider to Nashville and I kind of was making outsider music compared to what is done inside Nashville,” Lauper says during a phone interview. “When I was singing this record I did think, ‘Wow, why didn’t I do this before?’ but I guess I was too busy chasing something else. You get on that hamster wheel and you think, ‘You gotta, you gotta, you gotta,’ and once you get off, you realize you just gotta do what you want.”
“Detour,” Lauper’s 11th studio album, is a collection of classic country songs dating back to the ‘40s from country greats like Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson and George Jones. Recorded in Nashville, “Detour” features songs Lauper says she could relate to and believe. She brings her tour to Wolf Trap on Wednesday, June 1 where she’ll co-headline with Boy George.
“You don’t want to just do a song, you want to connect,” Lauper says.
The connection went beyond the 62-year-old singer and her music, to the many collaborators she worked with on the record including Jewel and Willie Nelson.
Jewel lent her yodeling vocals to the track “I Want To Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” after Lauper’s attempts to quickly learn how to yodel came up short.
“We looked for people to yodel and then it seems like it’s not really that popular, so I finally realized that Jewel yodeled and she might be living in Nashville. I texted Jewel and said, ‘This is Cyndi Lauper, is this Jewel? And if this isn’t, then just ignore it as another crazy text.’ One thing led to another and we asked Jewel to yodel on the song.”
Lauper says she had to work to stay professional while recording “Night Life” with Nelson because the experience was so surreal for her.
“It almost made me feel like I was in Bikini Bottom like in SpongeBob Land just floating in the water because it just was so magical,” Lauper says.
She promises to sing both new and old music in her show, but notes that even though “Detour” is her latest album release, it’s still “old stuff” and closely tied to pop music. Lauper says she remembers Cline and Loretta Lynn being on the radio when she was a child the same way pop songs are today.
She also says the album is not as much of a stretch from her last project — 2010’s blues album “Memphis Blues” — as it might initially seem.
“I thought the country one was going to be really hard, but once I found myself in it, I was OK. I think that all of it is the roots of the music I play. It’s a singer’s record. Of course I want to sing and I want to sing the roots of what popular music is because I love music. I really love music,” Lauper says.
She’s working on another musical, but declined to go into detail for fear of “jinxing it.” She’s hot off a 2013 Tony win for the hit musical “Kinky Boots.”
The New York City pop star’s passion for music goes beyond her own bubble of creativity. Lauper admits she keeps up with popular music today, specifically hip-hop and pop, and even incorporates new genres like the “beach-psychedelic” sound coming out of northern California on her song “Funnel of Love” on the album. She also takes time to check out international music charts to stay up to date on what people are listening to.
“Because I don’t think you should sing at people, I think you should listen back,” Lauper says.
As a long-time supporter of the LGBT community, listening is a skill Lauper, who affectionately calls herself a “friend and family member” of the community, has taken to heart in her personal life and social activism endeavors. She cites her sister Ellen, a lesbian, as a big part of why she is involved in LGBT activism.
“I grew up watching my sister struggle in times when it wasn’t so popular, in dark times. It’s started to get dark again a little bit,” Lauper says. “But I think you gotta be who you gotta be, you know? And celebrate your life triumphantly kind of like ‘Kinky Boots.’ I think my fans from the community are like my friends and family. Sometimes I used to work the clubs late at night, especially in the ‘90s, because I just needed relief from the straight world. I don’t know where I fit. But I don’t care, because I think everyone should be treated the same and your preference is your preference.”
While some musicians like Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr chose to protest North Carolina’s HB2 law, which prevents transgender individuals from using the bathroom corresponding to the gender with which they identify, by canceling their scheduled concerts in the state, Lauper opted for a different approach.
Lauper will continue with her June 4 performance in Raleigh, N.C., and will donate all proceeds from the concert to Equality North Carolina. She says there has always been a unisex bathroom in the studios where she has recorded and “nobody gave a hoot.”
“Fear is fear. And education is the way. Educate people on the facts and how to protect their civil rights; that there’s all kinds of people in the world and room for all of us. I lived through the civil rights period, I’m still living through the women’s rights period, because obviously all our rights are being stripped, one by one,” Lauper says. “So I felt that we could go down to North Carolina and teach people how to help themselves and each other and also at the venue where we were playing we insisted on a transgender bathroom. That’s going to be there forever.”
Lauper says she had to speak out.
“I can’t speak for anyone else. I’m a friend and family member so where I come from, you don’t allow somebody else to hurt your friend or family member. You don’t allow people to strip other people’s civil rights,” Lauper says. “In America, everyone is a freaking immigrant. Everyone, including Donald Trump. Unless he has some Native American action going on. They can try to change the facts and try to rewrite history and try to lie through their teeth, but they can’t shove that down my throat. Because I don’t have amnesia.”
Cyndi Lauper says her new country album is not as much of a departure as it might initially seem. (Photo by Chapman Baehler)
a&e features
Queery: Meet artist, performer John Levengood
Modern creative talks nightlife, coming out, and his personal queer heroes
John Levengood (he/him) describes himself as a modern creative with a wide‑ranging toolkit. He blends music, technology, civic duty, and a sharp sense of wit into a cohesive artistic identity. Known primarily as a recording artist and performer, he’s also a self‑taught music producer and software engineer who embodies a generation of creators who build their own lanes rather than wait for one to appear.
Levengood, 32, who is single and identifies as gay and queer, is best known as a recording artist who has performed at Pride festivals across the country, including the main stages of World Pride DC, Central Arkansas Pride, and Charlotte Pride.
“Locally in the DMV, I’m known for turning heads at nightlife venues with my eye-catching sense of style. When I go out, I don’t try to blend in. I hope I inspire people to be themselves and have the courage to stand out,” he says.
He’s also known for hosting karaoke at Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, Va., on Thursday nights. “I like to create a space where people feel comfortable expressing themselves, building community, and showcasing their talents.”
He also creates social media content from my performances and do interviews at LGBTQ+ bars and theatres in the DMV. Follow the Arlington resident @johnlevengood.
How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?
I have been fully out of the closet since 2019. My parents were the hardest people to tell because my family has always been my rock and at the time I couldn’t imagine a world without them. Their reactions were extremely positive and supportive so I had nothing to fear all along.
I remember sitting on the couch with my mom, dad, and sister in our hotel room in New Orleans during our winter vacation and being so nervous to tell them. After I finally mustered up the nerve and made the proclamation, I realized my dad had already fallen asleep on the couch. My mom promised to tell him when he woke up.
Who’s your LGBTQ hero?
My LGBTQ heroes are Harvey Milk for paving the way for gays in politics and Elton John for being a pioneer for the fabulous and authentic. My local heroes in the DMV are Howard Hicks, manager of Green Lantern, and Tony Rivenbark, manager of Freddie’s Beach Bar. Both of them are essential to creating spaces where I’ve felt welcome and safe since moving to the DMV.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?
Trade tops the list for me because of the dance floor and outdoor space. It’s so nice to get a break from the music every once and a while to be able to have a conversation.
We live in challenging times. How do you cope?
I’m still figuring this out. What is working right now is writing music and spending time with family and friends. I’ve also been spending less time on social media going to the gym at least three times a week.
What streaming show are you binging?
After “Traitors” Season 4 ended, I was in a bit of a show hole, but “Stumble” has me in a laughing loop right now. The writing is so witty.
What do you wish you’d known at 18?
At 18, I wish I would have known how liberating it is to come out of the closet. It would have been nice to know some winning lottery numbers as well.
What are your friends messaging about in your most recent group chat?
We are planning our next trip to New York City. If you can believe it, I visited NYC for the first time in 2025 for Pride and I’ve been back every quarter since. Growing up in the country, I was subconsciously primed to be scared of the city. But my mind has been blown. I can’t wait to go back.
Why Washington?
It’s the closest metropolitan area to my family, but not too close. I love the museums, the diversity, the history, and the proximity to the beach and mountains. It’s also nice to live in a city with public transportation.
Aging RFK Stadium has come down, but the RFK grounds are still getting lit up. Welcome back to the stage Project GLOW, D.C.’s homegrown electronic festival, on May 30-31. Back for its fifth year on these musically inclined acres, Project GLOW returns with an even more diverse lineup, and one that continues to celebrate LGBTQ antecedents, attendees, and acts.
Project GLOW 2026 headliners include house and techno star Mau P, progressive house legend Eric Prydz, hard-techno favorite Sara Landry, and bass acts Excision b2b Sullivan King, among the lineup of trance, bass, house, techno, dubstep, and others for the fifth anniversary year.
President & CEO Pete Kalamoutsos — born and raised in D.C. — founded Club GLOW in 1999. In 2020, GLOW entered into a partnership with global entertainment company Insomniac Events to produce live events like Project GLOW, which kicked off in 2022.
As in past years, Project GLOW not only makes space, but is intentionally inclusive of the LGBTQ community, one of its most dedicated fan bases. The festival’s LGBTQ-focused Secret Garden stage blooms again — a more intimate dance area that stands on the strength of DJs and musicians who draw from the LGBTQ community. D.C.’s LGBTQ nightlife mastermind Ed Bailey is the creative mind behind Secret Garden again. He joined Project GLOW in 2023.
“Kalamoustos says that “he’s proud of his partnership with Ed Bailey, along with Capital Pride and [nightlife producer] Jake Resnikow. It’s amazing to collaborate with Bailey at the Secret Garden stage, especially after the curated lineup we worked on at Pride last year.”
The Secret Garden will be a bit different from other stages: Eternal (“At the Eternal stage, time stands still. Lose yourself in the dance of past, present, and future, surrendering to the eternal rhythm of the universe”) and Pulse (“Feel the rhythm of the beat pulse through your veins as the heartbeat of the crowd synchronizes into one. Here, every moment vibrates with life as it guides you through a new dimension of euphoria”). The Secret Garden stage is in the round, surrounded by 16 shipping containers. The containers play canvas to muralists from around the world, who are coming in to paint them in a vibrant garden-style vibe. “We gave this stage some extra love with this layout,” K says, “ we finally cracked the code.”
K says that this will be the biggest lineup yet for the Secret Garden, featuring Nicole Moudaber b2b Chasewest, Riordan b2b Bullet Tooth, Ranger Trucco, Cassian, Eli & Fur, Cosmic Gate and Hayla. The stage is also the largest yet, featuring an expanded dance floor and 360-degree viewing.
Across all stages, K says that his goal for the fifth anniversary is “More art and fan interactive experience, more like a festival, strive to be like a Tomorrowland, as budget grows to add more experience.” Last year’s Project GLOW alone drew 40,000 attendees over two days.
K, however, was not satisfied with one festival this spring. GLOW recently announced a “pop-up” one-day event. Teaming up with Black Book Records, GLOW is set to throw a first-of-its-kind dance-music takeover of Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., headlined by electronic music star Chris Lake. Set for April 18, this euphoric block party will feature bass and vibes blocks from the White House. Organizers expect as many as 10,000 fans to attend. Beyond music, there will be food, activations, and plenty of other activities taking place around 6th St and Pennsylvania Ave NW – a location familiar to many in the LGBTQ community, as this sits squarely inside the blocks of the Capital Pride party that takes place in DC every June.
Over the past two decades, Club GLOW has produced thousands of events, from club nights to large-scale festivals including Project GLOW, Moonrise Festival, and more. Club GLOW also operates Echostage.
a&e features
New book celebrates 1970s dance music icons
‘A Night at the Disco’ features interviews with Donna Summer, Debbie Harry, more
If you’re a fan of 1970s-era dance music, don’t miss the irresistible new book by Christian John Wikane and Alice Harris, “A Night at the Disco,” which revisits more than 90 interviews conducted with some of the biggest names in pop culture.
“A Night at the Disco” (ACC Art Books) was published on March 24, and distributed by Simon & Schuster. It celebrates more than 100 artists who sparked a phenomenon in dance music from 1970-1979 and features excerpts from interviews with everyone from Donna Summer to Debbie Harry.
Lost City Books (2467 18th St., N.W.) will welcome author Christian John Wikane for a book signing and conversation about “A Night at the Disco” on Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. Details at lostcitybookstore.com. Bird in Hand Coffee & Books in Baltimore (11 E. 33rd St.) )will also host a Q&A with the author on Wednesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. Details at theivybookshop.com.
Below is an excerpt from “A Night at the Disco.”
“I’ll let in anyone who looks like they’ll make things fun.” Steve Rubell is guiding a New York Times reporter through Studio 54 as resident DJ Richie Kaczor dazzles the crowd with records by CHIC, Odyssey, and T-Connection. “Disco, that’s where the happy people go,” The Trammps sing as dancers spin and twirl underneath tubes of flashing lights. Seven months since Rubell and co-owner Ian Schrager opened Studio 54 in April 1977, it’s welcomed untold numbers of “happy people” … at least those lucky enough to pass through the doors.
“We were part of the chosen few,” says André De Shields, who immortalized the title role in The Wiz on Broadway at the time. “We could show up at Studio 54 and the doorman at the velvet stanchion would look over everyone and point to us from The Wiz to come in, that kind of thing.” As the lead vocalist in the GRAMMY-nominated Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, whose debut modernized big band sophistication for the discothèques, Cory Daye had carte blanche in the club. “The energy was like a New Year’s Eve party every night,” she says. “I would go up to the mezzanine and watch the mechanical light pillars go up and down, metallic confetti falling from the ceiling, the spoon and the moon. I was so fascinated and enamored by it.
“When a certain song came on, the people would just rush to the dance floor. There was no contact dancing — the hustle was pretty much on its way out — but it was just an amazing experience to see all the cultures together. It was a fusion of cultures, which described my life and my band, so I was right at home there.”
“Studio 54 was the place,” adds Linda Clifford. “Crazy parties. If you could think it, you would see it. It was like a circus. Just an amazing place to be. I worked 54 so many times. It was like a second home to me. The people there treated me so well. The crowd always seemed to enjoy my show. I always had a good time with them. That was the most important thing: making sure that they had fun.”
Well before Studio 54 opened, disco had become a business juggernaut. “A four billion dollar market and still growing,” Billboard announced in February 1977, with dance music offering more variety than ever. “There is no longer a single, readily identifiable disco beat, but a kaleidoscope of sounds that are melodic and danceable,” Tom Moulton told the magazine. In the clubs, records by veteran artists like Stevie Wonder and the Bee Gees were mixed in with a range of new acts like Grace Jones, Boney M., and The Ritchie Family, while everyone from ABBA to Marvin Gaye scored number one pop hits with songs that had club-centric storylines.
Beyond the charts, disco itself remained as idiosyncratic as ever, especially on several productions by Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis, whose studio creations, El Coco (“Let’s Get It Together,” “Cocomotion”) and Le Pamplemousse (“Le Spank”), joined their own “Lust” from Seven Deadly Sins (1977) among the most tantalizing releases on AVI Records. Rinder & Lewis also produced acts for the newly hatched Butterfly Records in Los Angeles, where Saint Tropez (“On a Rien à Perdre”) and Tuxedo Junction (“Moonlight Serenade”) reflected the duo’s high gloss sound, spanning everything from European sophistication to a more literal translation of the ’40s sensibilities popularized by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.
12-inch singles had also grown as the preferred format to approximate the club music experience at home. Nearly a year after Atlantic Records introduced its series of promotional 12-inch singles for DJs, New York-based Salsoul Records released the industry’s first commercially available 12-inch single, “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure, in May 1976. A year later, T.K. Records was the first label to certify a gold record for a 12-inch single when Peter Brown’s “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me” tallied one million sales.— Christian John Wikane
(From “A Night at the Disco” by Alice Harris & Christian John Wikane. Published by ACC Art Books.)
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