Cher says she’s living ‘like a nun’ in Vegas

Cher says her new CD has got a Southern feeling to it. — AP pic

NEW YORK, Feb 18 — Cher’s concert stand in Las Vegas may be the ultimate representation of Sin City: it’s decadent, glitzy, oversized, over-the-top and a thrill-a-minute experience.

But when she leaves the Colosseum at Caesars Palace at the end of her performance, the 62-year-old singer leads a lifestyle quite opposite from the kind that Las Vegas has come to represent: She stays out of the casinos, refrains from drinking, doesn’t smoke and stays away from the all-night party scene.

“I like to go out, do my work and then come home,” says Cher, who likens her time away from the stage to living like “a nun.”

Unlikely words from a woman who has represented quite the opposite over her nearly five-decade career (as the barely there outfits she dons in her show reflect). But while she puts on an eye-popping extravaganza in Vegas, Cher likes to keep her home life decidedly more low-key.

In a recent interview, Cher — who kicks off the second phase of her concerts at Caesars Palace this month — talked about her show, life in Vegas and why she finds herself in Target stores.

AP: What was the first season of shows like in Vegas?

Cher: The schedule is a dream schedule. The only thing that I kind of didn’t anticipate for some reason, I don’t know where my brain is, but I didn’t anticipate the dryness getting to my throat the way it did. ... So when I’m there, I have to kind of live like a nun and not talk during the day, but that’s the only unusual thing.

AP: How do you not talk during the day? Is it hard?

Cher: Yeah. ... It’s so hard for me, I just really have to think about it and just not speak, but I have to remind myself about 100 times a days, because I’m not the kind of person that doesn’t want to talk.

AP: Do you text people?

Cher: (Laughs) Oh yes, I do text people — I text, I e-mail, which is kind of the only saving grace.

AP: What’s the best part of getting back to Vegas?

Cher: Look, performers love to perform — that’s the thing that we do. I think one of the best things was being able to imagine anything that I wanted, anything that I came up with we could do, because this theatre is unbelievable. I come home twice a week, so I’m kind of at home. ... I’m not there that much, but it takes me 40 minutes to get home (in the Los Angeles area), it’s like doing a show from my bedroom.

AP: What’s your upcoming movie with Johnny Knoxville about?

Cher: I can’t really talk about it yet. I just can’t.

AP: What kind of sound will your new CD have?

Cher: It’s hard to put a label sometimes on songs, but it’s a little bit more guitar-oriented, a little bit more like “I Found Someone” feeling, and there’s some stuff that’s still sort of guitar-oriented, but it’s got a Southern feeling to it. You know, I just find songs that I like and then I do them and hopefully they make something cohesive.

AP: Have you considered doing one of those exclusive marketing deals?

Cher: I think it’s a good way to market things. ... I happen to actually think Target’s pretty fabulous. On the road, when you’re in some teeny little town, I must tell you, I’ve been to a lot of Targets. I know there are a lot of Targets and a lot of stores called Michaels in the United States. We had a thing where we do painting and we would have these big Teamsters painting a little teapot for their mom. ... I would be running to Michaels and getting paintbrushes and stuff like that.

AP: What do you do when you’re not working on your music?

Cher: I have a school in Africa. I just got back from Kathmandu (Nepal) and I’m working with some Tibet children there, and I just got back from (the Los Angeles) city hall ... to try and save the life of this elephant Billy in the LA zoo. I just don’t want this elephant to die ... he has so much anxiety. He’s been alone there forever. ... Elephants should not be in zoos. Elephants don’t live in zoos, they die in zoos. — AP

Suge’ Knight posts bail after Las Vegas arrest

Rap music mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight was arrested. — AP pic

LAS VEGAS, Aug 28 — Marion "Suge" Knight was jailed yesterday on assault and drug charges after he was accused of beating his girlfriend while brandishing a knife near the Las Vegas Strip, police said.

Knight, 43, posted US$19,000 bail and was scheduled to be released late yesterday with a promise to appear on Sept 26 in Las Vegas Justice Court, a court spokeswoman said.

Police said the founder of bankrupt Death Row Records was arrested about 6.40am after officers arrived at the scene of a minor traffic accident and found Knight hitting a woman in a parking lot off a busy thoroughfare.

"A citizen sees the beating in a parking lot, police get there fast, they see him beating her. It's a good solid case," said Las Vegas police Lt Chris Carroll.

The woman was not stabbed but she was treated at a hospital for injuries that Carroll said were not life-threatening.

Police did not release the woman's name or age, but said she identified herself as Knight's girlfriend of three years.

"This is a very large man," Carroll said, estimating his weight at more than twice the woman's. "He was on top of her, actually in the act of violently beating her when the officers arrived, with the knife in his hand."

At least one officer drew a Taser stun gun as they approached Knight, said Officer Jacinto Rivera, a police spokesman. He said he did not know if the officers drew their handguns.

Knight dropped the folding knife and was taken into custody without incident, Carroll said.

He was booked into the Clark County jail on felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a controlled substance, and misdemeanour charges of possession of dangerous drugs without a prescription and domestic violence.

Knight had the drugs Ecstasy and hydrocodone when he was arrested, Carroll said, but it was not clear if he or the woman had used drugs or alcohol before the arrest.

Lawyers David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, who are representing Knight, said they wanted to gather information about the arrest and talk with Knight before commenting.

Rivera said Knight and the woman left a Las Vegas strip club, Spearmint Rhino, shortly before the arrest. They were alone in a champagne-coloured Cadillac Escalade.

Police said Knight and the woman argued in the vehicle while Knight was driving before he allegedly punched her in the head.

"The victim purposely grabbed the steering wheel and caused the vehicle to hit the curb," police said in a statement. Police said the woman tried to run away, but Knight caught her.

Knight has a history of legal problems and was with Tupac Shakur when the rapper was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996.

Knight was convicted of assault in 1992 and placed on probation, then jailed for five years in 1996 for violating that probation.

He was returned to jail in 2003 for again violating parole for punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub. He was released the next year.

Knight was wounded during a shooting at a party in a Miami nightclub in August 2005.

His former record company was auctioned in June for US$24 million to New York-based Global Music Group Inc.

Daniel McCarthy, a lawyer handling a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing for Knight and the record company, said yesterday that the sale is pending.

Death Row Records was known for releasing seminal gangster rap albums by Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and sold tens of millions of albums in the heyday of early 1990s rap.

In 2006, a federal judge ordered a bankruptcy trustee takeover of Death Row Records, saying the label had undergone gross mismanagement. Knight's decision to file for bankruptcy protection staved off a move by the court to appoint someone to take control of the record label and his assets. — AP