Cher Bits Catchup

Cher History

A pretty funny recent article about how Richard Pryor once freaked out on the set of the Flip Wilson Show and fisticuffs ensued and Cher allegedly went and locked herself in her dressing room. It's an excerpt of a new biography about him. It's interesting that Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor both have new biographies out and how they were pitted against each other in the 1980s: clean comedy versus dirty comedy. And how history changes everything. As Camile O'Sullivan sings: "time's the revelator."

Cher Tweet Explosions

Cher takes the Robber Barons to task. My grandfather would love that Cher is invoking the Robber Barsons. Too bad she hadn’t done this by 1978 when I was eight and he asked me soberly over the kitchen table what her politics were:

• http://twitchy.com/2014/12/12/cher-citibank-robber-barons-need-to-be-chopped-up-and-women-can-do-it/

• http://www.businessinsider.com/cher-comes-out-against-the-swaps-pushout-rule-2014-12

In December Cher also tried to raise awareness for abused Pigs:

• http://chernews.blogspot.com/2014/12/cher-left-shaking-with-horror-over.html

• http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2014/12/02/cher-tweet-iowa-farmers-pigs/19810913/

A few weeks ago I linked to a Sonny & Cher video taken in a record store and Cher scholar Robrt recognized the album cover in the video. I also remembered Cher plays this video in her latest show.

Robrt believes this is their second album released in Italy with the Italian-language singles added.

Hall of Fame

I think from time to time about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s ridiculous prejudice in denying Cher an induction. I figure she deserves to be in for at least these things:

1. Her style influence in the 1960s and 70s

2. The collected impact of these songs alone:

• “Bang Bang” – figuring the amount of covers this song has had.
• “I Got You Babe” – and the phenomenal fad of this song.
• “The Beat Goes On” – and how a pop song title has insinuated itself so fully in our cultural conversations. I hear this phrase over and over again on TV and in publications; and how impossibly uncoverable the song remains to this day.

We've all seen the most well-known picture of Cher and Angelica Houtson:

But there’s also a Cher picture in Angelica's new book, Watch Me.