Music

The Dallas stop on the True Colors tour falls the day after Cyndi Lauper's birthday, and she intends to celebrate Saturday night at the Smirnoff Music Centre. Expect a lot of laughter, singing and dancing, as well as plenty of feather boas.

"Artificial, of course," Ms. Lauper says, with a laugh. "Because, you know, the chickens."

Courtesy

Cyndi Lauper

"I'm excited to go to Texas," she says recently by phone from Los Angeles, though she says she's disappointed that she will have missed bluebonnet season. She loves seeing the wildflowers Lady Bird Johnson cared so much about.

"It inspires me," she says of the flower."Looks like she's still saying to us to notice the little things."

During her last Texas visit, Ms. Lauper says, she was fortunate to have slept in the same bed that Bonnie Raitt once had. "I hoped Raitt's musical prowess might seep through the sheets and I'd play dulcimer better and guitar," she jokes.

She's also looking forward to returning to Dallas because she sees the city as experiencing a time of positive change in regard to cultural arts and acceptance of differences. "It's turning around. People are waking up, and it's a different vibe."

Joining Ms. Lauper on the tour are Erasure, Debbie Harry, and the Dresden Dolls, with Margaret Cho serving as host. The Las Vegas show on June 8 kicked off the 15-city tour and Gay & Lesbian Pride Month. The traveling festival will include five hours of music and special guests, including Rosie O'Donnell on the Dallas stop.

AP

The True Colors Tour kicked off June 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The event benefits three groups: the Human Rights Campaign; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which works toward fostering understanding, compassion and acceptance.

"I had always wanted to do a festival tour and then my agent called and said, 'How about a True Colors Tour?' " Ms. Lauper says. Once the idea of making it a benefit for the Human Rights Campaign came up, she was sold.

"They could use our help right now," she says. "They helped to change laws," including the hate crime bill.

"The hate crime bill has to apply to everyone. What are you saying when it extends to some people and not to others? It's a little insane." Ms. Lauper says the tour is an opportunity to bring people together and to empower them.

"People don't think their voice counts. It definitely counts."

Here's what other artists had to say about the tour:

"Their camp invited our camp, and we just ran around screaming. We are out of our minds with ecstasy," says Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the self-described "Brechtian punk cabaret" duo Dresden Dolls. But Ms. Palmer says she is "stressing out" about one thing. "What do you get Cyndi Lauper as a thank-you gift?" It's no wonder Ms. Palmer's thrilled: Ms. Lauper "was the soundtrack to my life for at least a couple of years. And my main musical role model from ages 9 to 13." Ms. Palmer says she saw Ms. Lauper perform in the '80s. "It's very surreal going from being a kid in the bleachers to this."

Steve Double

Dance-pop duo Erasure

Debbie Harry, of Blondie fame, is playing all new material on the tour, some of which will be on her upcoming solo album to be released later this summer. It's music Ms. Harry calls "real good rock music." Ms. Harry has done things for various charities over the years and was happy to be part of a tour raising funds for an important cause.

"We're keen to play to a wider audience," Vince Clarke, keyboardist for the English pop duo Erasure, says. And, thus far, he says those audiences seem to be having a good time." He's intrigued by what may come as a result of working with other artists whose work he admires. "It would be good if some working relationships were formed," Mr. Clarke says. But for now, he's just happy to be part of it. There's a "whole variety of music going on," he says.