Cyndi Lauper makes an unexpected Vegas detour

Cyndi Lauper is taking her “Detour” through Las Vegas, a winding route lined with an imitation Elvis and a genuine family connection.

“I had a difficult time warming up to Vegas, for a long time. I am not a Vegas-type person,” Lauper said during a recent interview promoting her Saturday show at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. “But I have warmed up to the city over the years, and I know now that everybody plays Vegas. So, I should be there.”

Lauper’s tour follows her latest release, “Detour.” The album is infused with a rock-country sound, with Lauper in duet with Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss. For those who know Lauper from her hit-making heyday in the 1980s, it might seem a long way from “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” “Money Changes Everything” and “She Bop.”

“‘Detour’ was inspired by Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson, Brenda Lee, Big Mama Thornton and I basically studied a lot of singers who recorded at Sun Records,” Lauper said. “It’s very much in keeping with a rockabilly sound, with a lot of twang, and I could not get to ‘Girls Just Just Want to Have Fun’ without going to Hank Williams, the early stuff that really inspired me. Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson – they sang rock. It just wasn’t called rock then.”

Lauper pinpointed a night in May 1997 as the moment she warmed to Vegas. She was to appear at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on tour with Tina Turner on Turner’s “Wildest Dreams” tour, and made it to the Dome, the hotel’s open lounge where Centrifuge bar now stands. A tribute band fronted by Lauper’s cousin, Johnny Edwards, was onstage. Over the years Edwards has impersonated several entertainment legends, including Elvis. He also appeared alternately as Frank and Dean in touring versions of “The Rat Pack is Back.”

Up until the tour with Turner, Lauper says, “Las Vegas was just air conditioning, air conditioning, very dry for the voice and I wasn’t feeling it. But I was hanging out with my cousin and getting a very hip flow.” Lauper wound up recording the video for “Drove All Night” in Vegas, singing while scrambling up the Strip in bare feet.

In recalling that night in ‘97, Lauper was actually pregnant with her son Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper, known simply as “Dex.”

In this very Vegas twist of fate, Dex is an 18-year-old rapper who is opening for his mother’s show at the Joint.

“How weird is that?” Lauper asked, laughing. “We’ll just have a lot of fun.” Boys included.

CATS! STILL ON HIATUS

We have received a news release from the folks at PETA regarding the status of Dirk Arthur’s exotic-cats stage show “Wild Illusions.” The magic show featuring nine big cats was performed at Westgate’s International Theater from September 2015 through last March. The animal rights group activists, who have dogged the use of big cats in production shows for years, are sufficiently pleased that Arthur’s show has closed and not reopened.

Through a spokeswoman, Arthur said he’s hoping for some good news about his future “in the next week or so.” When he closed, Arthur’s show was the last and only production in Las Vegas to use tigers and exotic animals.

OF WATCHES AND RINGS

The lawsuit involving two long-standing local institutions — Floyd Mayweather and the Jewelers of Las Vegas — that surfaced over the weekend reminds of a lavish jewelry set procured for the boxer last year. The unbeaten (and currently retired) champion boxer has been known to turn up for shopping sprees at the Jewelers’ showroom, typically the day before or after a big fight, and spend millions on dazzling accessories.

One of the more lavish pieces was a $16 million watch designed and held specifically for Mayweather by Leor Yerushalmi, son of Jewelers founder Mordechai and Vicki Yerushalmi, and an executive in the family business. The watch was part of a set that included a diamond cross and matching necklace.

No word, as yet, on whether Mayweather made that purchase or if the piece is still waiting for him.

John Katsilometes’ column runs Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.