Memphis Friday, August 14, I received a field report from my friend Christopher who loves to peruse online videos:

Mary–
 
Okay, so people make fun of this "Walking in Memphis" remake [mostly, our other friend Coolia makes fun of it], but it one of the best remakes of all time.  And this video, as you know, is such great fun.
 
And she looks GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   So natural and alluring.  PERFECT hair–the hair that any woman would be covetous of.  And her legs look phenomenal.  And all this at 50!  
 
My favorite moments are at 2:13-2:16 and 3:41-3:43.  What a beauty!  
 
If we agree that the rightful top of the pantheon is composed of Cher, Bette Midler, Vanessa Williams and Barbra Streisand–all of whom have had sustained, massive and well-respected successes as both singers and actresses, only Cher and Vanessa also got blessed with beauty, and Cher alone has exoticism. 

And have you seen the mash-up that was always meant to be?      
 
3:03 = M'am/Man I am tonight!!!
 
ENJOY!!!
 
Christopher

Well, you know I love Cher’s old lips but she is really beautiful in this video as both herself and Elvis Presley. I love this video for four reasons:

  1. She looks so lovely.
  2. She emotes. You can feel real emotion watching it; she relents on the tough-chick persona (which is nice but…) and it feels honest, human and refreshing.
  3. She sublimates her gargantuan persona into another gargantuan persona (amazing enough) and she does it with honest love and fun admiration even though it makes her look smaller somehow in the process, smaller as a legend (however, I truly believe she will rival Elvis in her legendary status someday), and in a particularly physical sense. As Elvis, she looks much more diminutive and you realize how much her costumery serves to make her seem very tall.
  4. For all of these reasons above, this one of the few artistic pieces she's ever done. Therefore, it is a treasure among treasures.

I flipped out watching the mashup video. Totally awesome editing…both musically (artfully swaying between two entirely different records) and visually (lovely overlaying of Marc Cohn and Cher). I LOVE THIS FAN ART!! Pinch me!

No, don’t pinch me.