I Found Some Blog

a division of the Chersonian Institute

Author: Cher Scholar (Page 92 of 102)

Fan Clubbing

October 18, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Dumbo4 As part of my day job, I’ve been reading books on website usability, learning about how web surfers typically behave on websites and what they hate most. Some things used to big usability problems, but aren’t so much anymore: for instance putting on a background of wallpaper that takes five minutes to download or putting up an “under construction” sign. As it turns out, people hate that with at passion. But its not a modern usability issue anymore because rarely do designers still do it.

Well, turns out one site is still doing it: The Official Cher Fan Club. Mr. Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group, “the world’s leading expert on web usability” (according to his book jacket), says there’s no “coming soon” about it.

You either have it or you don’t.

And the official fans have had that silly message posted for over a year now…which means:

  1. Fanclub_2 They don’t know the definition of soon.
  2. They’re probably waiting for Cher to do something which would be very frustrating if they’ve been waiting like that for over a year.
  3. They’re officially dead to me, and
  4. I completely missed my blog’s one year anniversary! Happy Birthday, My Blog! I can’t believe I’ve been bullshitting about Cher for over a year. Time flies when you’re blogging about celebrity obsession. 

Sometimes I feel there should be Cher usability studies for all the “coming soon” rumors in her oeuvre. Mame, Vegas, the next CD or movie rumors.

It’s been a few days of weird gossip, actually: Sonny’s son Chesare’s rumored affair with Lindsey Lohan while in rehab (and strangely, it’s not the Lohan angle of that story that bothers me most), no CD, no Vegas show. I think we’re all just feeling restless for Cher product. Constant delays to current projects have prompted recent chattering on the Cher list that Cher might be seriously ill. Someone brought up the idea that she counseled Farrah Fawcett on cancer treatments in Germany because she had personal experience with said treatments. This is just a rumor, of course; but we’re feeling preemptively sad about that kind of possibility. Like Sonny was Cher’s Dumbo’s Feather, for many fans, Cher is their Dumbo’s Feather. 🙁

    

Danish Talk Show Circa Believe

October 12, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Danishinterview_2 CherWorld.com posted this Cher interview from a Danish TV show circa Believe or rather at the last turn of the century. There were very interesting tidbits throughout this unique show. She talked about her interest in fashion and childish things. It was interesting when she said she didn’t care about not knowing things she didn’t know and that she would describe herself in a few words as “on the brink.” Very interesting.

I was surprised to see her play along with the show’s little reindeer games and so good naturedly, too. Although she did seem a little stiff, as I would expect a star of her stature to be, a star of her longevity and old-Hollywood temperament. I was surprised she hadn’t met Bill Clinton or been to China. I keep assuming, despite her claims otherwise, that she’s met everybody and been everywhere. She said it’s a sin to have it and not use it and that she doesn’t like oysters. I love this show for digging up pointless facts like this, I really do. 

And then she lip synced "Believe."

There was one point in the show where the interviewer asked Cher about Cherilyn Sarkisian. That person is non-existent; haven’t seen her in a coon’s age, she said. (This is actually generational Americana speak I cannot translate). I thought how sad that sounds. Cher likes childish things but not her past child. I did a little tsk tsk.

Maybe I was being a dolt or maybe I was just re-enacting my own innocence-to-experience drama, akin to a Sonny Bono song about cowboy games.  I truly thought for a minute that I loved my former child self. That kid was adorable and so able to entertain herself herself for long periods of time.

Babymary 

   

    

 

 

   

   

 

Then I went to my high school reunion. It was no disaster by any means but it was just okay, mostly depressing ‘cos nobody showed up I was looking forward to seeing. But that wasn’t the worst of it. Later on after the reunion in our hotel room (the fabulously kitschy Cheshire Lodge), after John had fallen asleep, I read my "Senior Destination," my prediction for my life 20 years down the line. I got mildly excited thinking I would see a heart-rendering clue into the fabulous person I became, a hint of the impending launch into an adventurous 20 years.

Alas…no.

It was all about poppin’ out babies and being June Cleaver. I was crestfallen. Who was that person?? It was alarming to me that I didn’t even recognize myself. I guess only my pre-teen self was so adorable. That teenager, she was a blank slate. It’s not that I judge a life of homemaking. It’s just that I so completely changed, I forgot who I was. And then I mourned the loss of both my old friends who didn’t turn up and the girl-in-me who couldn’t yet see her true nature.

Read more about my reunion and see photos from our trip to St. Louis on Ape Culture.
   

   

Master of YouTube

October 12, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Glen Cher fan Tyler is the master of YouTube. Over the last few weeks he has posted some fabulous links to the Cher Yahoo! Group. Speaking for myself, I am like a kid in a candy shop on YouTube. When I start surfing Cher videos, I soon get hyper and start foaming at the mouth as if overdosing on SweetTarts. Soon I’m on Ritalin with no TV privileges.

Glen Campbell’s Good Time Hour 
I loved this clip so much I went out and bought the whole DVD. This is an early 70s Cher appearance on Glen Campbell’s variety show (yes, everyone who was anyone had one). And it’s an amazing thing. They sing Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do” and punch life into the dern thing. Never before have I dug this song so much, has it seemed so buoyant. I love the horns! It also shows Cher in pre-TV-show innocence, slacky hair, not much confidence with the camera, and all that innocent clapping. Also of note is the easy and casual relationship between Cher and Glen. It’s lovely to watch. And his set! Is that a bed they’re sitting on? That would be scandalous! Is this some swinging bachelor pad he’s lured Cher into? All I really want to do indeed. I don’t buy it for a minute. I’ve seen his Surreal Life lair!

Live in Monte Carlo
I haven’t seen this whole show from start to finish, I’m very sorry to say, only clips and chunks. Maybe someday the Monte Carlo Gods will smile upon me and I will snag a bootleg copy. In the meantime,  Montecarlodinne Tyler posted a clip of “Easy to Be Hard.” I’ve heard versions of Cher singing this song on both a bootleg of this Monte Carlo show and on out takes from the Jackson Highway album. And I have to say I just can’t get comfortable with Cher singing it for some reason. There is something too pedestrian about those lyrics (I love this song, by the way – have the Broadway and Movie soundtracks to Hair…but I love the movie version the best). Cher seems too exotic to pull it off…no matter how down to earth she may be behind closed doors. It just feels funny. I like all the copious amounts of audience shots in this live special, however. What are they eating do you think?

We also have “Take it To the Limit” from the same show. Is that Cher sweating?? Cher sweats??? I don’t believe it. See for yourself.

Celebration at Caesars
Then there’s the Celebration at Caesars version of “Take it To the Limit” which we’ve all come to know and love.

Tonightshow The Tonight Show
But here is the gem: The Tonight Show version of “Take it to the Limit” circa 1983 (not sure on that date). This is the most yummy version ever in the whole world-wide tarnation of Cher versions of this song. The outfit so perfect for the Vegas show, so brazen for The Tonight Show. Her phrasing and singing on this version are almost perfect. And that pink 80s makeup is so…well 80s!

Cher sings another Eagles song on The Tonight Show, “Those Shoes.” I can’t believe they got that big shoe moved all the way over to the Burbank studios. Kudos! I love how the dancers come out of the wall. It doesn’t have the sexy lighting of the Vegas version but its fun.

These clips give me hope for the next incarnation of Cher in Vegas, if it ever arrives next year. Maybe she’ll have a big bolo tie this time or a big loafer or (dare I dream?) synchronized dancing!!

Here a video I found myself, one of my favorite things in this world. “I may not win…but I can’t be thrown!”  No one can sing that like Cher.
   

Trophy Hunters Catch Picture

October 12, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Tmz TMZ Staff posted their vague Los Angeles Cher sighting news: “Hallelujah! Cher Has Risen!” on October 8 2007 at 11:20AM.

She was somewhere in the vast metropolitan area of LA supposedly waiting for her Bentley convertible to be brought around.

TMZ is snarky. I like snark.

“Most of Cher is 61 years old. Last year’s auction of some of her chatchkas netted $3.5 million, with a huge chunk going to charity. Some reports have Cher’s net worth at half a billion. Believe!”

My comments and questions:

  1. 1. Is a Cher sighting all that rare these days? It’s good that TMZ is excited enough about this one to hurl out a Hallelujah.
    2. How much will fans pay for those sunglasses in 2056?
    3. How large of a chunk did go to charity exactly and what charity what that again? Do they have a website?
    4. Half a billion? No shit?
    5. Sell a Bentley; buy a Bentley.

   

My Pots Have Arrived!

October 4, 2007 / / 0 Comments

Skip de doo, Irv! My first ceramics class pots are done! Who-hoo!

I started my first art class, a pottery class, at Santa Monica college with my friend Christopher. I felt it would be a fun working-meditation activity. Plus I love clay! But it took our first pinch pots (mine below) forever to be fired, glazed and re-fired. It’s week five or six basically and we have finally finished our first pots.

Blueside

   

   

I call this pot Wobbly Blue because it wobbles like a weeble but it doesn’t tip over…and its blue.

Blueinside_3

      

   

Wobbly Blue – inside

Blackside

   

   

This is called Thin Walls with Spot because the teacher wanted a bowl with thinner walls and a mysterious spot appeared in my glaze.

Blackinside

 

Thin Walls with Spot – inside

I’m going to name my pots for their imperfections (I know…it will be hard to choose which one) as the great beauty of this exercise is letting go of the idea of perfection and loving the modest, flawed thing you made.

   

Danny Boy and the Thirteenth High School Confession

October 4, 2007 / / 2 Comments

Nyro I’m back from my bittersweet high school reunion. The trip was great. Gave my bf a big hometown tour of me. Don’t worry, he didn’t suffer. There were plenty of river boats, historical re-enactors and pre-historic mounds to keep him happy. Story and pics coming soon.

In the meantime, Cherworld has posted an amazingly unusual Cher interview (it’s European, of course). Give it a looksee. Something about it will relate to my high school reunion story.

For my bf’s birthday last year I gave him two Laura Nyro CDs. He had expressed interest in my Nyro/LaBelle CD which I bought because I love Patty LaBelle. Still, he didn’t like Laura Nyro at all (although since yesterday, I discovered he secretly has been listening to one of them at work) and these two CDs have been on my list of things to listen to for about a year. Two days ago I finally put on Eli and the Thirteenth Confession, her breakout album on the Columbia label with then-manager David Geffen.

First of all, I had placed Nyro in the mid 70s, not late 60s. Knowing this tid-bit unlocked a door for me. I can say I finally get it: her fluid genre-melds are pretty amazing for the time and her lyrics are poeticly playful. I’m still not very fond of her soprano voice. It’s too shrill for me most of the time. But I love “Sweet Blindness” and “Stoned Soul Picnic” and “Poverty Train” has really grown on me. And best of all, I finally see from where came Nelly McKay!

I’m a bit overwhelmed with catching up on Cher news this week but I did join my first Facebook Cher group: If You Don’t Love Cher, You Are A Dirty Dirty Communist. Good questions are not really brewing there yet but I did see a good question on the Yahoo!Chergroups list posted by daniel martinez:

What Cher song has the most meaning to you and why?

This is a particularly difficult question for me. I’m not very sentimental about Cher songs. I’m much more academic and cerebral about my love of Cher music. Her albums do notate the timeline of my life but mostly as a background soundtrack. For instance, we used to yell the chorus of “Laugh at Me” before doing belly bombs into our neighborhood pool. I also remember re-enacting the storyline of “Send the Man Over” from Cherished. However, I was only 8 years old and the major sexual innuendos in the song went over my innocent five-foot head. I guess the two songs that tug on my heart-sleeves would be "Somebody" and "Danny Boy."

"Somebody" reminds me of being five or six years old in the mid-70s, listening to Sonny & Cher on my parents phonograph in our front living room – lots of New Mexico sunlight, the jump rope as my microphone. Groovy times. I love Cher’s vocal on that song. And "Danny Boy" always makes me vaclempt. The sadness in her voice. Speaking from beyond the grave. It’s all there. You can read more about my top 10 favorite Cher songs on Cherscholar.

      

Olivia Newton John, Les Dudek and the Marijuana Video

September 24, 2007 / / 3 Comments

Thruglass I was remiss in posting last week due to being at a work retreat for three days. As a result, the other two days I was a complete zombie. The retreat was exhausting but amazing and at a fabulous venue, the posh Fess Parker’s Inn in Los Olivos. I spent my very few spare minutes ogling the funky, overpriced art at one of the many galleries nearby.

This week I head off early to my 20th high school reunion in St. Louis (hopefully I’ll have wacky photos coming soon…or photos of myself in tears like Romy and Michele ). Sadly, I did not lose many pounds these last few months but I did gain quite a few muscles in all my Tamilee workouts. Come on…I just can’t work out to Cher with that hole fit on! Besides, Tamilee is so friendly and encouraging. She reminds me of Olivia Newton John.

And I read an interesting article about ONJ by Wendy McClure in the Aug/Sept issue of Bust Magazine. Titled “Reviving Olivia,” it dealt with Wendy’s late 70s, early 80s childhood obsession with ONJ and hearkened back to a more innocent time of celebrity obsession. “They don’t make pop stars like ONJ anymore,” Wendy says as she describes her fantasies “where I got to be her best friend.” She describes ONJ as both exotic and friendly…wholesome and hot.

“The celebrity world has changed for the worse: it’s become too fast, too fickle, too irreversibly fucked-up to give us another like her…[back then it was a time] when female teen stars were still more likely to be seen as artistic ambassadors from the next generation than fresh meat with a legal-age countdown.”

So true. Which brings us to the next topic. I finally watched the Sonny Bono marijuana film again to try and find Cher’s cameo in it. Cher looks so young in her bit, I can’t help but be reminded of Paris Hilton when I see it. In fact, you can also read the film as The Lindsey Lohan Story. Cher appears early on (approx. 7:44) during discussions of alcohol abuse. She’s briefly seen careening over her boozeSlumpoverphone  and finally slumping over a phone. Her mascara’d eyes through the glass, those long fingers and cascading black hair are unmistakable. The closing credits don’t show on YouTube as they do in my cassette version, but a freeze-frame of her eyeball through the booze glass makes a reprise there. In the film someone asks, “What’s so bad about feeling good?” Sonny answers very creepily, “Nothing, baby, nothing.” Ick. Sonny says “the young people” a lot and calls everybody “Bud” (including Cher if I remember Good Times correctly). Every time I watch this thing, I see new disturbing things. The most upsetting image this time was the monkey in the lab with surgically implanted wires coming out of his skull cap. Criminal.

The video can be seen here on YouTube. YouTube poster "blackpimp4u” has interesting footage posted there…and the related file is where I found Sonny & Cher singing more anti-drug messaging in their video for “Circus.”

On an unrelated topic: last Friday night Les Dudek played a show at the Malibu Inn on Pacific Coast Highway. My most celebrity obsessed friend was pressuring me to go to the show but I chose to not be celebrity obsessed last Friday and saw 3:10 to Yuma instead. And I’m not sorry I did because that was the best western I’ve seen since…well, forever. So far I can’t find reviews of Les’s show; but here’s his MySpace page.

   

Hallelujah

September 14, 2007 / / 3 Comments

Cohen I’m feeling under the weather this week so I’ll just leave you with just one question. I used to avoid Leonard Cohen songs because I thought he was so Chelsea Hotel. Then I fell in love with Jeff Buckley’s version of "Hallelujah." What was I thinking?

No, that’s not the question. The question is "Hallelujah." Could Cher pull it off? The soaring bird of its melody and its exciting silences. Snuff Garret once said Cher’s voice could cut through a cement orchestra.

Could it stand up to one lone piano?

 

« Older posts Newer posts »

Cher Scholar reserves the right to modify or delete any comments deemed inappropriate at our discretion.

Email Cher Scholar

© 2026 I Found Some Blog

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑