Cyndi Lauper pays surprise visit to super-fan’s Dunedin bar

Cyndi Lauper and super-fan Josh Thomas, co-owner of Woof! bar in Moray Pl, Dunedin. Photo / Twitter @DudleyBenson

A Dunedin bar has been thrilled to welcome American singer Cyndi Lauper to its premises, where they bonded over a mock gravestone for Donald Trump.

The singer is in the city to perform at Sir Rod Stewart’s concert at Forsyth Barr Stadium tonight.

Woof! co-director Dudley Benson said co-director Josh Thomas had been a super-fan of Lauper since his teenage years.

Thomas had made journals, posters and even looked like her around the time she was famous for her hit Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Benson said.

On the off-chance Lauper would see it, the bar had put up a sign reading ‘’Nau mai haere mai Cyndi”, in its front window in Moray Pl.

Yesterday, Lauper and her management team were driving through the central city when they saw the sign.

She had told her team ‘’Surely they can’t mean me,’’ Benson said.

Her management came to scope out the bar, which was playing Lauper’s music.

‘’An hour later we got a call from the manager saying Cyndi is going to come in now to meet you,’’ Benson said.

Normally, the bar does not open on Tuesdays, which are used for administration and preparation, and the five-person team had little time to get it ready for the star.

‘’We went from zero to 100,’’ Benson said.

UPDATE: ✨ Cyndi Lauper just visited Woof! and Josh got to show her his Cyndi journal ✨ https://t.co/kz8w49zC7k pic.twitter.com/sTWnlO0ElD

— Dudley Benson (@DudleyBenson) April 4, 2023

Just as they were putting on the finishing touches, Lauper arrived.

Benson said he wound up doing much of the talking, as Thomas appeared to go into semi-paralysis and could not say much.

For Benson, Lauper was a significant figure as an icon of female joy and empowerment.

He showed her some of his fan artwork, and she was bemused and polite. ‘’I get the sense that she gets that all the time.”

Lauper particularly enjoyed talking about elements of her musical catalogue, he said. “She’s such an artist.”

The bar had a gravestone embossed with ‘’Trump’' on it, which Lauper loved, he said.

She and the former US president appeared on reality TV show The Celebrity Apprentice in 2010.

Trump today pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after an investigation into hush money paid to an adult movie actress.

Lauper has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s policies towards women, the rainbow community and immigrants.

‘’We’ve had a really rough couple of weeks for the queer and trans community, in terms of hysteria around the Posie Parker visit and anti-trans rhetoric, particularly online. It’s been tough,” Benson said.

“Having a queer icon come to Ōtepoti in New Zealand in the middle of this is like a balm to that. So we’re so grateful to have her here.”

The visit was over in about 15 minutes and, while Lauper was not a drinker, her team would be going to the bar after the show, Benson said.

Woof! would also be opening early so people could visit beforehand.