Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 27, 2013 Page: 6 of 44
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■ coverstoiy
Marvelous Molly
was just sort of an organic, creative venture.
Anna Waugh
dallasvoice.com 09.27.13
6
Favorite It Girl dishes on new jazz
CD, her gay fans and what’s next
before her State Fair of Texas debut
Dallas Voice: Is this your first time at the State
Fair or in Texas? Molly Ringwald: Not my first
time in Texas. I was in Dallas for like two nights
but not for a while. And I just got back from Austin
last weekend.
While Molly Ringwald is most known for defin-
ing a generation, she's continued to redefine her-
self throughout her career.
And through it all, the actress, author, singer
and mother has spoken out proudly on LGBT is-
sues, making her as much of a gay icon as a teen
icon.
Of her two books, Getting the Pretty Back: Friend-
ship, Family, and Finding the Perfect Lipstick and
When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories, the latter
featured a story about transgender youth.
Her supporting role on ABC Family's The Secret
Life of the American Feenager led to her character
coming out as lesbian late in life.
The show ended earlier this year, but Ringwald
wasted no time delving into something new: her
first jazz album, Except Sometimes.
Ringwald, 45, began singing before her acting
career, which shot her to stardom after the trifecta
of John Hughes films in the 1980s Sixteen Candles,
Fhe Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.
The Brat Pack star added a touch of nostalgia to
the disc with a jazz cover of Simple Minds' "Don't
You (Forget About Me),"which was featured in
Fhe Breakfast Club.
She sat down with us before her Oct. 4 show at
the State Fair to talk jazz, her love for the gays, fu-
ture TV shows and another CD.
How was that? It was fun. I'd never been to
Austin before. It was really a blast. I like Texas. I've
always had a good time there.
What was the inspiration behind your jazz
album? I started out as a jazz singer before I did
anything else because my dad's a jazz musician. I
love all different kinds of music but [jazz has] been
something that's always kind of been my go-to.
It's like my musical version of comfort food, I
guess. And I had wanted to get a jazz album to-
gether — actually like a jazz group together — for
a really long time.
I didn't even think that I was necessarily going
to record an album. But I started to record with
these guys and was having a great time and our
sound was really good and so we ended up doing
the album. So that's kind of how it came about. It
You were a vocal opponent of Prop 8 and even
appeared in a PSA. What was your reaction to
the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in June? It was
awesome. I always felt like it was just sort of a mat-
ter of time. Even when Prop 8 went through —
even though it was incredibly disappointing and
disheartening—I always felt it was like losing the
battle but not the war. I always felt like people
would come to their senses. I mean you really
can't stop history and I really felt — even though
I don't put my kids in anything that Ido—I really
felt like it would be really cool for my daughter to
have been a part of that.
You were the grand marshal of L.A. Pride pa-
rade last year. What was that experience like? It
was crazy. It was really fun. It was a real honor for
me to be asked and also to feel the love back from
this community that I feel like I've really been a
part of for so long. I did it with a bunch of my
friends and I had all my kids there because I want
them to feel like a part of it, but it was really hot. I
had so much sunscreen on and I still got burned.
It's been said that you played a part in your
character on The Secret Life an American Teenager
coming out as a lesbian late in life. Why was that
storyline important? I just thought it would be an
interesting thing to show my character going
through. And also just the fact that I have so many
associations, people know me from so long and
people have kind of related to me in so many dif-
ferent ways that I thought it would really have a
special impact.
What has motivated you to be an outspoken
ally for the LGBT community? I think a couple
things. I think intellectually I feel that everybody
needs to be treated equally despite the color of
their skin or their sexual preference. We all need
to be treated equally, and I feel that very strongly.
On top of that, I have so many friends, for many,
Why do you think you have such a big gay fol-
lowing? Well, I think the movies that I did. I think
I sort of had this outsider aura, for lack of a better
word. My characters didn't feel like they quite fit
in, they were a little bit different and I think that
the gay community feels that way. I don't know
many years, who are gay, lesbian and trans, so for
me if s also an emotional issue.
why exactly somebody becomes a gay icon but I
definitely have.
What's next for you, another album or book?
Probably both. I don't know what I'm going to get
to first. I'm also working on some pilots for TV, so
I think all of these different things I do are going
to have to arm wrestle and somebody's going to
MOLLY, Page 11
DALLAS DEBUT | Molly Ringwald has come to Dallas a few times before, but never for the State Fair of
Texas. She’ll be in town next week to perform hits from her new jazz CD — and to see all of her gay fans.
One of the tracks on the album is a version of
Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me),"
which was on The Breakfast Club soundtrack.
Why did you decide to include that song? When
I was in the middle of putting the songs together
and doing the arrangements and everything, John
Hughes, who I'd done three films with, had
passed away. And he was in my mind and
thoughts a lot. So one day I just thought, "Hey, do
you think there'd be any way that we could do a
jazz version of this?" I didn't even know it was
possible, but Peter, my pianist and arranger,
started working on it and it sounded really cool
and I just thought it'd be a nice tribute to him and
also kind of a nice bridge in terms of what I'm
most known for into some stuff that I'm doing
now.
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Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 27, 2013, newspaper, September 27, 2013; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1179805/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.