AND WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Cyndi Lauper is...

AND WAIT, THERE’S MORE: Cyndi Lauper is back--you’ve probably already heard her new single, “True Colors,” which is the title track from her upcoming album, due out Sept. 18. But she also has a gang of pals on the record, which also features a remake of the Marvin Gaye classic “What’s Going On.” As for the pals, they include the Bangles, who croon on “Change of Heart” and Billy Joel (our favorite Ray Charles impersonator), who’s on an old Blue Angel song called “Maybe He’ll Know.” But our favorite special guest is Pee-wee Herman, who sings along on a new track called “911.” . . . Elvis Costello, who’ll be at the Beverly Theatre for five nights at the beginning of October, will also have a new album out by then. Produced by Nick Lowe, it’s called “Blood and Chocolate,” and will feature such songs as the seven-minute “Tokyo Storm Warning” (which he wrote with fiancee Cait O’Riordan of the Pogues), “Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head,” “Poor Napoleon,” “Battered Old Bird” and our favorite song title of the year (so far), “Honey Are You Straight or Are You Blind.” His shows will feature a night devoted to his new album; a night with his old band, the Attractions; a night with a group called the Confederates and a night featuring the Spectacular Spinning Songbook, where audience members will get to make requests by spinning a wheel equipped with 40 Costello songs.