Author: Cher Scholar (Page 85 of 102)

I have to say I loved the program so much I bought two. Recently I’ve heard gossip that the price of the tour book would go up from $35 to $40 and that Cher’s peeps wanted $50 for it but Caesars balked at that. I don’t know if any of this is true. In hard times, $50 seems mighty greedy; on the other hand I’ve bought many a lesser-Cher program for $35. So $35 does seem like a steal. I thought Cher was being generous.

Anyway, this “Vol 1” of a program is mostly a photo retrospective of Cher. Cherworld has some great photos (see left). Apparently, shots of the show have not been taken and published from the show yet. However, the Laverne pics are there. At first glance, I thought they were old TV-show shots and then I noticed it was Cher now. This is a new Laverne and the pics are great; Cher looks enthused.

New pics

• I’m not crazy about the cover or the ad assets for this show in general. A boring logo on satin. Eh. Bette’s assets, program etc. are more colorful and playful.
• But the pics inside the program are great. The “Goth on Couch” set show Cher both happy and wistful. She is showing emotion. It’s a good thing. Is that her old, 80s chainmail under that new moth-fit?
• I love the wigs. I have mentioned that yet?
• The new blonde pics must be my fav blonde pics of Cher (and that's not my favorite look). In these, she looks fresh but mature, her eyes stand out, and I love the outfit: rough lace and smooth skirt. The crazy, short-haired one is wonderfully whimsical, Cyndi-Lauper-esque, love the sweater. Cher in a sweater!
• Red wig pic – love it!
• The hat ones – eh. Love expressions but they are redundant.
• Elvira pics – way cool – her lips dark and shapely.
• In some new pics, the set is goofy-looking. Is Cher allowed to see the light of day anymore?

Old pics

This program includes a few 60s Vogue shots, new 60s candids (one in the backseat of car in some orange monstrosity-fit – not that that’s a bad thing), Cher holding Chastity during a birthday party – Cher with long red nails, Sonny is a crazy lady-face shirt, more of S&C in front of their awesome Carrolwood Holmby Hills home, Cher all hair in a yellow kitchen (is that kitchen in the Holmby Hills house?), a good current pic of Chas laughing, Sonny & Chas in the pool, S&C in a dressing room, Sonny with a cigarette dangling (love those Sonny cigarette pics – so Hollywood!).

I love, love, love the torch Cher in purple – it’s similar to Dynamite poster – or is it the same one?

Love the backshot of the S&C Show entrance. Chokes me up, it does. Also, love the hole-fit pic. Awesome.

Love the skit shots from the TV shows: Orphan Annie, Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVII (especially since I'm reading about them now in the book Abudnance.

Other stars: Geraldine, Bette (interesting choice, hmmm?), a BeeGee, Tina, Stevie, Gregg, Diana Ross and Elton John.

Question: who is the African-American celebrity in the lower left corner of the TV show friends page?

And here's a quiz:
1. On the movies  page – one previously shunned movie is now included; can you name it and name the still-missing movie?

On the albums page – (I always love the record album collage)
2. Can you name the two missing Cher solo albums?
3. What’s the single album cover that has been included?
4. How many compilations albums are listed? (including any re-release)
5. For some reason the Moonstruck soundtrack is included. Which movie soundtracks were released but not included?

The program also includes the lovely Bob Mackie sketches and some backstage photos, mostly of dancers not rehearsing with Cher.

The notes in book are well written by Josiah Howard, more so than other tour books. S&C’s program seemed to be full of fictions (I’d love to review that with anyone, for fun) and as I recall the Believe book had typos. Howard is a biographer of Donna Summer and author of a book on Blacksploitation Cinema. This is interesting as J. Randy Taborelli, who authored one of Cher’s biographies, also primarily concerned himself with black artists such as Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. This leads me to believe that lovers of R&B/Soul artists also dig Cher, which is very kewl.

Interesting accolades in the book
Cher defies classification, she belongs to an exclusive pantheon, she’s outdistanced her contemporaries.
A current list of her dominions includes music, TV, nightclubs, movies, and tours…a.k.a. she is a personality, singer, actress, attraction, and business woman. Did someone forget Superhero?

Interesting facts in the book

• “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling” – Cher was the only female of five male backup vocalists.
• Todd Everett (compilation producer and music historian) is quoted talking about "I Got You Babe": he mentions its “vaulting bridge and false ending” – yeah, would love to ruminate on this – the pause before the end restarts.
• Again pointing out S&C had 5 songs on the top 20 – which apparently only The Beatles and Elvis achieved.
• The Believe Tour had 121 dates; the Farewell Tour had 325 dates and lasted from June 2002 to April 2005 (by the way, her Vegas Run is now set to last 200 shows over 3 years).
• Patti was on every tour since 1988.
• Doriana Sanchez helped conceive the show and is listed as director and choreographer.
• Paul Mirkovich is back as Musical Director, Mark Schulman on drums (only interesting to me because I felt he did very well), David Barry is back on guitars. He always cracks me up with his guitar-hero moves.
• Popular with Cher fans, Bubba Carr is listed for choreography and as dance captain. My high school friend Nellie is a Vegas dancer and was once dance captain for a Harrah’s show she headlined. Do you think Bubba makes the dancers do weigh-ins?
• Dan-o-Rama is back for clip remixes; they always do a great job.
• Renate Leuschner is back for wigs again…she is a master at her trade. Never lets us down. Don’t forget she taught Teri Garr how to speak faux German for Young Frankenstein.
• Liz Rosenberg is listed as publicist via Warner Bros. Is Cher still with WB? Liz, can you help us getting the lost albums re-released?
• Surprisingly, sound is still run by Clair Bros in Lititz, PA, which is my parents very tiny hometown on the outskirts of Lancaster, PA, or Amish Country. Isn’t that funny a major technology company is nestled in Amish Country?
• The Puppet Studio is in North Hollywood. I loved that Village People puppet. Have I mentioned that yet?

I did not spend my life’s savings in this store. It was a good store but not filled with the same wacky, fun items as the Barry Manilow store so I was able to keep some of my cash for a wedding dress.

However, the Cher Boutiques does sell the same cheap t-shirts that only last for one washing. The t-shirts sold in the theater lobby are actually a better quality. By the way, the items in the lobby are different than the boutique. So check them both out.

So, as you may have heard, Cher shares a store with Bette Midler. Is this fair? Elton gets his own store? Can Bette and Cher co-exist this way? My bf remarked that Bette’s items are more cabaret and Cher is more rock-chick. I know that idea probably is what Cher is going for but I honestly wish Cher would be more cabaret. Cher-fans circa the 1970s so loved her TV show cabaret, we can’t ever get over it?

The store was surprisingly neat and pristine. This is no” messy icon” store. Lots of expensive candles and jewelry that is not my thing. No potpourri rocks so we couldn’t exclaim as my bf’s mom once did: “I don’t want to smell Cher’s rocks!” You’d think that wouldn’t make sense but it kinda would.

My bf preferred the cool rock-chick Cher merchandise to Bette’s but agreed that Bette has better ads. Overall, the Barry Manilow store is more fun, more warm and fan-friendly. And he sells hilarious stuff like wine. Can we get some Cher booze? Manilow also sells purses made out of his old record albums. Bette did offer the Bette playing cards. I wish Cher had some of those.

I asked the elderly Cher store clerk who rang me up how sales had been going. He said they sell out every night. Mostly because 44k fans cram in before and after every show and they're looking for a keepsake. He called it crazy and insane. So busy “we wouldn’t be having this conversation” he said. I asked him if the Cher or Bette items sold better. Ever the politician, he said fans didn’t care, they all just wanted something. But that the CD and program outsell everything. He said they overstock every morning and restock the entire store every night. There were about 15-20 peeps in there when I was milling around. This was a Friday night when there was no show. I asked my Vegas-dancer friend Nellie why there was no show on a Friday night and she said Vegas casinos had all sorts of statistics about what night to go dark due to probable lack of sales; and common wisdom suggested Fridays were mostly traveling days for tourists still moseying into town.

This is what I bought (if I can remember – it’s all already been tagged, filed and boxed in the Cher Scholar vaults).

• 2 tour books
• The compilation CD – which is a complete rehash of The Very Best of Cher but with a new Vegas-ad outer shell. This is not quite scandelous fan-scam shenanigans however. The cover is very forthright about its rehashitude. The CD was not made for fans but Vegas tourists
• A candle (total impulvise last minute grab)
• 3 magnets: Chelvis, Half Breed and one of the springy ones
• A keychain with the 60s logo
• Three poor-quality but cool looking t-shirts
• 2 glasses with leopard print bottoms that I can’t wait to serve my parents their beers in
• And a water bottle – do Cher fans camp?