"How you doin'?" asked the Queens, New York born and raised singer, as she addressed the crowd for the start of her "Memphis Blues" tour stop at the Pines Theater in Florence, MA.

It took everything in me to hold back, and not shout out in a similar accent, "How YOU doin'?"

The crowd had been getting a little impatient for the '80s MTV icon to take the stage (after an opening act had done a set entirely made up of Blues music.) When you think of Blues? The first name that comes to mind is probably not Cyndi Lauper, and I was admittedly a little skeptical at first. I certainly admire her talent as an entertainer, and her personality was every bit as colorful as her strawberry blonde explosion of hair on this night. But I felt that going from such '80s Pop standards as "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and "Time After Time", to a record entirely made up of Memphis Blues covers was a mighty big stretch. She indeed might be able to sing it... but how would the audience react to it?

The audience, which was largely made up of Gay and Lesbian couples, didn't seem to mind at all... they were probably more interested to see what she was wearing. To Cyndi's credit, she seems to have turned back time (to quote Cher's comeback song from the '80s) and looked positively stunning in her sheer, semi-see thru black outfit (far younger than her 56 years would otherwise indicate.) When a female fan yelled out "You're Beautiful!" she replied, "Thanks. I don't just roll off the bus looking like this, you know? It takes a lot of work." Her sense of humor was razer sharp... and the audience ate it up! 

Benefitting with the help of a solid backing band (including harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite) Cyndi performed a long set of standards popularized by Louis Jordan, B.B. King and Muddy Waters. Her singing style is not exactly steeped in the blues... but her pitch was good, her delivery powerful and her conviction was focused - all the marks of a seasoned professional. It was clear she meant business. Covers of "How Blue Can You Get", "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "Crossroads" were slightly over-obvious choices (although not quite as retreaded as "Mustang Sally") and some of the endings to her live renditions seemed a little off-timed and abrupt (something that otherwise comes naturally, when seasoned veterans play the Blues, as her opening act displayed with ease.) But certainly, one of the high points for me was an obscure cover which featured the line, "I'm not sad because I lost you, I'm just mad that I haven't found another man to take your place." It became one of the few cover songs in the show that she seemed to make her own... instead of just proving that she could sing a genre not normally associated with her style... I was finally convinced that Cyndi Lauper could embody the Blues with some genuine authority.

And Just when you feared the crowd was going to grow very frustrated after not hearing any of her own songs... after enduring TWO HOURS of the Blues... They were finally treated to a long encore set, entirely consisting of classics from the '80s. (As if to say, "Thanks for putting up with this, and now, what you have all been waiting for!") "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Change Of Heart", "Time After Time" and "True Colors." (The last two with her playing Dulcimer, bringing the audience to a hush, before bursting out in enthusiastic chorus with her.) Venturing out into the crowd during her career-defining hit, the audience erupted in mass celebration... like she had not done a single thing out of character the entire night!

Cyndi has been promoting the "Memphis Blues" record with much media support, and plenty of effort has been made to let people know that this was not going to merely be an '80s revival. Omitted, were such standards as "She Bop", "All Through The Night", "Money Changes Everything" and other songs from her smash debut record She's So Unusual. With contemporary artists (such as her friend Lady Gaga) pushing the unusual envelope, you could almost describe Cyndi as "She's So Oddly Conventional."

But what's more unusual than Cyndi Lauper re-inventing herself as a Blues singer?