I’ve only been blogging for a week and I’m already behind. There just so much to talk about: auction wrap-up, Cher-kid activity, my favorite Cher sites, goings on in forum chat, the Convention, Cher outfit watch. Today I planned to talk about some Cherities as I’d been razing Cher’s massive redecorating efforts and wanted to take a moment to discuss her more noble causes. But it’s week two and I’m already feeling overwhelmed and wishing Cher would take a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous moment to San Tropez so I can catch my breath.
This past weekend I took some time to answer initial feedback and response to the I Found Some Blog and it reminded me I should take a moment to discuss the unheralded but steadfast Cher fan community the auction had recently put me back in touch with.
At the auction preview, I spoke with impersonator Chad Michaels and fans Erika DeCiutiis (contributor to the first Cher Zine) and Javier Ozuna (who ran this year’s museum at the convention and spoke on the seminar panel). I also connected with fans on the yahoo group Cher—about Halloween costumes and controversy regarding the auction. See? I don’t even have time to talk about that! In a nutshell, many fans were defending Cher’s choice to auction off her discards; but a few claimed she was making a fool of her fans and “laughing all the way to bank.” My note to fans who are still upset about not snagging an overpriced Cher shawl: Go visit Starwares. Maybe due to all this bickering, no one seemed to be posting on their auction winnings. Maybe they were embarrassed, having spend too much on a pair of Raybans. I came out and brazenly asked, did anyone I know clinch anything?
A few did. One fan picked up a costume for 8k, another bought the child-sized Cher show jacket for a little over 1k. Eileen Bovee picked up a book with some Cher scrawl in it and the Pascal Morabito reversible watch (lot #426) for 3k. Another fan got a French gilt-metal picture frame (lot #742) for a steal at $650.
I also leaned that LA-based, kitschy slide-show archivist Charles Phoenix was at the auction doing a story for NPR. He mentioned the Hearst Castle connection as noted by Ape Culture during the preview. He also interviewed Bob Mackie himself and a representative from Comisar, a large archivist of TV memorabilia, who was willing to outbid fans for Bob Mackie dresses which Comisar called touchstones of the 70s, worth many thousands of dollars.
By last Friday I felt like I had been to a business conference and had passed out business cards like Willy Loman to familiar cohorts I run into once every few years. Through casual emails you do come to know more about fellow fans than just Cher stuff. It’s nice to find out what else is going on in other lives. How’s your husband? How’s work going? Thanks for including me in that mass mailing of dogs in Halloween outfits.
I’m just feeling my way through this blogging stuff but I think I’m learning what sets the medium apart from diary posts on a website. For some reason, blogging is a more seamless way of connecting with people. It’s like a website has this invisible wall separating the creator from the readers. Blogging is not just the sum of its cold facts and flat opinions…and it certainly has the power to rise above extensively self-absorbed diatribery. I’m surprised to find there’s something more social about it, possibly even something more human.
