The Voice
Stay tuned for Cher appearances next week. If you been watching the show, you've seen the previews which have provided some saucy Cher moments. You can see her deliver such tips and barbs to Blake Shelton as "I've been busy working…I haven't been sitting on my ass pushing a button!" and telling a contestant if you do a bad note, do something big to make them forget you did a bad note. And if you are trying to sing a high note, think high. I can't wait for more of this.
Kelly & Michael
Kathie Lee and Regis have now morphed into Kelly and ex-Giants player Michael Strahan. I actually like this combination. You can see Cher's appearance in three clips:
This has been a season (forget that, a half a year!) of great Cher interviews, maybe the best Cher interviews ever. But the Live! with Kelly and Michael appearance went beyond the pale.
First of all Kelly Ripa is a bona fide Cher fan, and a thoughtful Cher fan as well, meaning she tries to deconstruct her fan-ness.
Which is something the literary-trained Cher Scholar was raised to do. I'm sure my college professors expected me to do more service to the high literary arts but…what can I say?. I love this about Kelly Ripa but it seems pretty intense for Cher.
In the backstage interview, Cher looks almost palpably overwhelmed by the onslaught of Kelly's insistent affections. And what normal, non-narcissistic, person wouldn't be. Cher's response is understandable and all the more amazing that she doesn't "eat it all up." That's some character there.
When Cher walks out to the official interview, she steps to personally shake hands with people in the crowd and
the response is overwhelming. It's like she's attained a Queen status. Forget about some kind of Goddess of Pop. I feel we've left that station months ago. Goddess implies a kind of free-floating greatness which is admired from afar. But that's not what we're seeing here. We're seeing people feeling an intense Elvis-like emotional connection and treating her like…well like royalty. I wonder how unsettling that might be for Cher to be the underdog for so long and to finally break out like this…again and larger than ever.
But speaking as a fan of almost 40 years, (which is nothing: I have Cher friends who've been fans for 50 years), the adulation is long past its overdue date. In any case, the responses from the hosts who interview her and the audiences has all been way beyond
Believe-era responses.
In the interview, Cher talks about a childhood friend named Della and sharing a hair brush
(love those childhood stories!). They play a game called Would You Share (what's with all these Cher games this year?? Not that I hate them or anything). While Mr. Cher Scholar was working late in our office, Michael made a very funny joke about sharing a bathtub and I heard Mr. Cher Scholar bust out laughing in the other room.
In the backstage interview, Cher talks about being mentored by Sonny. She also talks on stage about her experience mentoring singers on The Voice for two days and how unexpectedly attached she became to the contestants, and how surprised she was how much she knew about performing and had such good advice to give. I hope she liked it well enough to keep doing it. From hearing Barry Manilow talk about mentoring on American Idol, it seems so fulfilling and positive.
Billboard
If you haven't heard already, Cher's album hit a debut spot of number three, the highest debut of her solo career. So impressive. My friend sent my this interview link from Billboard. I haven't watched it yet. I haven't even finished the fan chat interview yet either or all the links below!I've had a cold and am talking this crazy-intensive University of Pennsylvania online poetry class that sucks up like 4-5 hours of my evenings. But I will catch up!
I did buy the vinyl copy
of the album this week and the Japanese version is available as well.
I also bought my tickets this week to see Cher in Phoenix. I've never seen an opening night before, but this was the closest city I could reasonable get to, considering I am living in the middle of a desert.
More Cher News
from 
Cher World:
- Australia’s Sunday Night Rahni Sadler (Video)
- Pics from Europe
- Perth Now interview (print)
- BILD interview from Germany (video)
- Performance on Wetten Dass (video)
Cher News:
- Cher joined Italian pop singer Gianni Morandi onstage at Verona Arena in Italy (video)
- iTunes fan interview (print)
- Cher comments in UK's Notebook (print)
- Discussion about a wardrobe malfunction before The Today Show (pics)
- Cher News is reporting Cher will be on X-Factor UK Sunday 13 October
Pics from Cher's album party:
There is so much Cher excitement right now and Mary I love love love this post! You are magic.
YOU GO GIRL!!! GREAT STUFF!