Author: Cher Scholar (Page 24 of 102)

Cher Scholar’s friend Christopher came across some Cher references online over the holiday.

This first piece is about the fact that a love of Cher in the 1970s might constitute a clue that young man might be gay.

Christopher also sent me his ode to the video "We All Sleep Alone."  He reminded me that it’s the 30th anniversary of Cher’s 80s comeback. Wah?? I’m so damn old! Christopher calls this era the "Jovi/Desmond Child" period. I would call it the "Jovi/Child/Diane Warren" period although the Warren is lingering. How shall we celebrate it, he asks me knowing full well that this is not my favorite era of Cher and I am not inclined to celebrate it.

He also wants to commemorate Cher’s big 80s hair of that same period (okay, something I CAN get behind).  Of the “gargantuan” wig she wears in “We All Sleep Alone” he says, “It is truly stupendous, particularly as she is wearing it without irony–it is like the greatest, grandest expression of 'Big 80s Hair' I can think of.  The Wilson sisters probably had the biggest real hair, but Cher beats them handily if wigs are factored in.”

Christopher also had some good things to say about the video itself and why it’s his favorite video of Cher’s:

• "The apocalyptic feel of the set:  very Mad-Max-boudoir, with the scaffolding, the tattered, torn grey sheets."
• The aforementioned hair.
• It's one of his favorite Cher songs of all time. He loves its "atmospheric, dramatic, truthful qualities and the way the song is a strange blend of the quiet and the bombastic.  Bonus points for all the heavy bleating."
• "The canoodling with Rob (full-on mullet, natch)."
• "That she had the balls to base a whole video around the concept of her writhing around in a negligee on a satin-sheeted bed (I know the song is about "sleeping," but still…).  Bonus points for the tastefully glittery effect on the negligee and that the sheets are black satin (so Goth!)."
• "Her astonishing body, which might be seen as being in its most impressive incarnation during this period; i.e., it's one thing to be in your 20s and have the astounding body she had on her TV shows in the 1970s, but another thing altogether to be 40 and still look like this.  It defies reason."
• "That the song proved prophetic in terms of her own journey.  Unlike Babs, she really does sleep alone at this point in time." [We guess, but we don’t really know because Cher has been private about it for years. CS doubts this is the case.]

Today is a sad day for rock and roll fans. David Bowie was a 1970s and 80s icon to diverse groups of people.

From The New York Times today:

"David Bowie, his generation’s standard-bearer for rock music as theater, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday. He had cancer. He released his 25th album, “Blackstar,” on Friday and has a show, “Lazarus,” running Off Broadway. He’ll be honored at Carnegie Hall with a concert on March 31." Watch Cher and David Bowie in 1975.

Cher tweeted: “DEVASTATED…A LEGEND IS GONE”

Singer Natalie Cole and television star Wayne Rogers also both died on December 31.

Most remember Wayne Rogers from the show M*A*S*H although I was also a fan of his show with Lynn Redgrave, House Calls. Cher fans will remember him from multiple appearances on the Cher show. See him to the right with Raquel Welch, Cher and Tatum O'Neal.

Cher tweeted about Natalie Cole:

"NATALIE COLE …..A VOICE FROM HEAVEN HAS BEEN CALLED HOME."

And I know they say these celebrity passings come in threes, but we actually had four over the holiday. Pat Harrington, Jr. (who played Schneider on the show One Day at a Time) also died January 6.

We are losing a lot of 70s icons!

As you may know, one particular supermarket rag was once again hastening Cher's demise on its cover last week. It's the third alarming "Cher is dying" report since the illness that cancelled her tour in 2014.  It is just a tabloid story but still…it can't help but make you feel nervous. David Bowie, at 69, is just a little over a year younger than Cher.