Columnist Spencer Patterson: Lauper just wants to have freedom of speech

Spencer Patterson

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 8:46 a.m.

Cyndi Lauper just wants to have fun, but when talk turned to Linda Ronstadt during a Monday phone interview, the New Yorker got serious in a hurry.

"That's a very scary thing," Lauper said upon learning that Ronstadt had been escorted from the Aladdin after dedicating her encore to filmmaker Michael Moore Saturday night.

"I wasn't there, and I didn't see it, but that's so upsetting and so sad. It was like that in Germany just before the Second World War. You couldn't say anything."

Lauper, best known for a string of '80s pop hits that included "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Time After Time," "She Bop" and "True Colors," said she doesn't bring politics into her own show.

"I don't go there," Lauper said, speaking from a car en route to a show in Fresno, Calif.

But she vigorously defended Ronstadt's right to speak freely onstage.

"I live in the United States of America, where there's freedom of speech and freedom of thought without being escorted someplace," Lauper said.

"George Bush has just as much right to say what he wants as I do as Linda Ronstadt does as my mother does as your mother does. Because we live in the United States."

Lauper plays the Mandalay Bay Beach at 9 tonight. Tickets are $44.

The 51-year-old vocalist has been a frequent Vegas visitor in recent years, performing here on her own, opening for Cher, co-headlining with Meat Loaf, participating in VH1's "Divas" show and even joining Prince during a late-night club gig at Studio 54.

Typically, Lauper descends into the crowd during at least one of her numbers. That's not likely to happen tonight, however.

"They say the water's the deepest in front of the stage, so I can't really jump off," she said. "I have to stay on the stage, so that will be a new experience for me."

Lauper has debuted new material on her summer tour, but rest easy, she won't leave town without singing the song that made her famous, 1984's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

"Why wouldn't I play that song?" Lauper said. "That song is very empowering. And each time I do it it's different, so it's always a new song to me.

"The words are not naive, and they're not dated words that would only apply to 1980-whatever. They have a longevity to them and they can mean the same thing as they did then a hundred years from now. I will always sing that song."

Lauper's latest studio release, last year's "At Last," also featured timeless material. Among the covers project's tracks: Etta James' "At Last," the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" and Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold on Me."

"These songs were songs that my parents and the people around me when I was growing up were listening to," Lauper said. "They were kind of the songs that you couldn't get away from."

Lauper said it was important to her to bring a personal touch to the familiar music.

"I don't want to sound like an imitation of somebody that came before me," she said. "I want to take what they did and really put it through me -- my instrument -- and process it.

"I always gauge what I'm going on how people react to it. I'm lucky that I have an audience that comes to hear real music and they know it's live and they know it's not polished. I hate polished music."

Quick hits

A look at a few of the shows scheduled to hit Southern Nevada in the next week:

Their plans to headline "Lollapalooza 2004" may have fallen through with that tour's demise, but that's not keeping the String Cheese Incident off the road.

The jam-band stalwarts return to Las Vegas for two shows at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. At press time, tickets -- priced at $37 -- remained available for both nights.

Train brings the lighter side of mainstream rock to Rain at the Palms at 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets to the 21-and-over show are $35-$75.

The San Francisco band has reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with its latest two albums, including last year's "My Private Nation," which spawned the FM hits "Calling All Angels" and "When I Look to the Sky."

Texas country collective the Flatlanders -- featuring Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock -- have canceled their scheduled Wednesday show at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, likely due to slow ticket sales. Refunds are available at points of purchase.

On sale

The Pixies play UNLV's Cox Pavilion on Sept. 28. Tickets are $39.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, at UNLVTickets outlets, by phone at 739-3267 or at www.unlvtickets.com.

Bela Fleck & the Flecktones perform at the House of Blues on Nov. 7. Tickets are $20-$35 and were to go on sale at 10 a.m. today at the House of Blues box office, at TicketMaster outlets, by phone at 474-4000 and at www.ticketmaster.com.

Tickets are on sale now for Authority Zero's Aug. 27 show at the House of Blues with opening acts the Higher, New Blood Revival and ASG. Tickets are $10.75 and are available through the House of Blues box office and TicketMaster.