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Category: Cher News (Page 17 of 17)

Rusty Dennis, the FCC and Africa

People79 Whoa, Nelly! It’s 15 days since my last post! I feel terrible. I feel rusty already. No pun intended. Rusty Dennis, the woman Cher portrayed in Mask, died last week. We should all watch Mask in her honor. Rusty was one of Cher’s best performances. You can read my review is on Cher Scholar. I need to update it for the newest DVD release from last year. Interesting differences between the studio version and Peter Bogdanovich’s Director’s Cut. The new version has director’s commentary (a must for the truly obsessed), phenomenal background/deleted scenes (Cher singing even!) and Cher’s plug for the CCA. As a humble Cher scholar, I feel the need to have both versions on my shelf. The differences between the two raise pertinent questions for film-theory discussion, including “How does background music affect the tone of the film.” This issue spelled controversy when the film was released and is a valid study on soundtracking and attention to detail. I saw Peter Bogdanovich give a talk last year on the film. He spoke in his affected way about prefering natural background music. He said a lot of other things which will be included in an article for the next Cher zine. But hey, this paragraph should be about Rusty! She was a hard-living character and the story of her life is sad. Besides Rockey (Roy) Dennis, who died in his teens, she had another son who died too young. To her credit, her death was big news on the AP this week which means people remember her character and care about the movie. Read the AP news story.

Hard news to follow; but the reason I’ve been so remiss in posting is–I moved last week. I now live near the beach in Venice, California. I moved all of 15 or so blocks. Still, there’s been a lot of drama surrounding this move. For one, I moved in with my boyfriend. Last month, my parents asked me pointed questions about this like “will their be a bed in the spare bedroom?” Apparently, they weren’t thrilled about my living in sin (Trivia alert: Cher sang backup for Gene Simmons’ song "Living in Sin" in the late 70s). I heard about my parents’ feelings officially through their next door neighbor who emailed me. I told my mother I was 37 and too old to be pure.

Cher is too, apparently. Recently, the FCC said they would like to take Cher and Nicole Richie and wash their mouths out with soap. Okay…maybe that was my mother who said that. Turns out, way back during the Believe era when Cher was on The Billboard Music Awards in 2002 getting a lifetime achievement award, she said “F*#k ‘em!” The FCC has reversed an earlier ruling and decided the F-word is not an approved word for television, whether it’s used as an exclamation, noun or adjective. I don’t remember the F-word incident at all and I watched the show live from my apartment in Yonkers, New York, a dump of a place right off the Hudson river. But it doesn’t surprise me that Cher would pick her first primetime lifetime achievement award to swear like a sailor. She’s got a f*#king potty mouth, that one! I remember when I was nine years old and sick with the flu. My parents brought that People Magazine with the Vegas outfit on the cover to cheer me up. It was riddled with “swear-outs.” I was so disillusioned. I had probably just had my own mouth washed out with soap days earlier, but it didn’t matter. Cher wasn’t like me; she wouldn’t swear! She was a glamorous lady, above such gutter talk. It took me a few months to get over it; but then I decided, if those words were good enough for me and my mother (who said sh*t every time something broke), they were good enough for Cher.

Here are some excerpts from the article on the FCC ruling:

“Broadcasters have alleged that the FCC inconsistencies, combined with its more aggressive enforcement and Congress’ tenfold hike in maximum indecency fines, to $325,000 per violation, have chilled the industry…In 2003, the FCC’s staff concluded that the "F-word" was allowed as an adjective, rejecting complaints about U2 singer Bono’s use of the word in that way during the 2003 Golden Globes Awards telecast.”

Bono gets away with murder!

“But in March 2004 — amid public outcry after Janet Jackson’s breast was briefly exposed during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime telecast — the FCC reversed itself, ruling any variation of the "F-word" referred to sexual activity and was almost always indecent."

Damn it, but it all comes down to Janet Jackson’s boob! Read the entire article.

I’ve said sh*t and f*#k alot this week. For some reason my most recent move has come with its share of breakdowns. I’m not talking about my breakdowns of which there have been at least three. I’m talking about technology and apartment malfunctions. I broke my boyfriends shower head and his favorite ceramic soup ladle. All my remotes have inexplicably stopped working. For instance, to play a DVD, one must now turn on the stereo receiver first and set it to CD. Hang on because it never makes any more sense than this. Then, you have to turn on the VCR and put in a video cassette so the VCR will switch itself to VCR mode. Then you must turn the VCR channel to AUX and press play on the DVD player. It took me three days to figure it all out.

All that plus tons of job interviews, not to mention this is the busy social season. We’re also hosting a small Thanksgiving dinner this year for four. I’m swamped, I tell you, and I can’t catch my breath! I’ve had absolutely no time for Cher thoughts. And yet…they have accumulated in my head like uninvited little vagabonds.

It was just reported on BBC news that Cher plans to take an African trip to help Robert and Eleanor Wood buy land and build a school for some little Kenyans who have no food or pencils. It’s really great that Cher has been focusing so much time on charity work lately. The US holiday Veterans Day a week or so ago reminds us about her contribution to The Fallen Heroes Fund. The BBC article claims Cher told Robert Wood, “…when I start a project, I finish it.” She couldn’t have said that, I feel. Surely not. Or I’d have a Mame DVD directly in front of my two Mask DVDs on the shelf above my inexplicably complex DVD/stereo system at my new apartment.

   

Signature Cher

AutobasicgI’m feeling sleepy tonight so I’ll keep this sucker short. Some news: CherWorld reports Cher is busy working on a new album and Diane Warren is rumored to be penning some of the material. If you’ve read my album reviews on Cher Scholar, you know I’m not a big fan of this 80s songstress. The hooks sound really simplistic to me and the lyrics really wack you over the head. “Turn back time. Find a way.” No nuance. No depth. Certainly no “My eyes saw red but the cards still stayed black” or “I play games now but it’s not fun” or “you’re as cool as Colorado, Orpheus on fire.” But hey, that’s just me. Warren is a true blue hit-maker. I’m sure a song by her would chart a new wing on the Cher compound.

There’s also continued rumbling today on the big Yahoo group about the fact that Cher has still not signed the hardback catalogs fans purchased over a month ago before the auction. Someone posted a Sotheby’s response email pleading like John Malkovic in Dangerous Liaisons: “It’s beyond my control.” Fans supporting Cher’s procrastinations of signature duty are claiming she was kind enough to sell you her stuff for thousands of dollars, give the diva some space to redecorate her yurt. I’m thinking, as a fan and as an auction house, you probably shouldn’t commit to sales of Cher-signed stuff until you have boxes of them in your hot little hands. I’m reminded of an old 80s Naked Eyes song called "Promises, Promises." ("You made me….promises, promises. Why did I believe???") That’s probably what Sotheby’s and some Cher fans without hardback catalogs are feeling right now. I’m beginning to feel for them, myself. Here’s an idea: print off the Cher signature in this post, white-out the date and Elmer-glue it to your paperback catalog. Write yourself something nice like “You are my number one fan and I’ll be over Sunday for tacos.” In thirty years when you open up your Cher box in the nursing home, you won’t remember the difference. 

Also posted on Chergroups, this link to an Oprah After Show in 2004. Here Cher was put in a very awkward position when asked if she would attend the 2004 Cher Convention coming up in Las Vegas. She adeptly skirts the issue and scuttles on by it without giving even an opinion of the convention fundraiser. It’s certainly an odd thing about the convention: Cher never mentions it in any positive way and sort of exudes a vague sense of discomfort concerning it. I often wonder if Cher fans and Cher don’t mix at the end of the day. Interpersonally, she’s just too cool for her hard cores. Because they’re the sort of people who might get beat up at school or in the smoking lounge at work. By Cher.

And my mood is not helped any by seeing that awfully unfunny Chevy Sumo-Wrestler ad playing all the time with that very stilted version of "I Got You Babe." 

All in all, it was a very hard day to be a Cher fan. 

   

Cher Leaves Elton John Auction in Roll of Dust

Armidillo_lamp Recently Elton John emptied out his closets for $1.67 million. My KISS-loving friend, Ape Culture co-editor, Julie Wiskirchen, challenged Cher to meet the KISS auction total of $1.6 million a few years ago. Cher’s total hit $3.5 million. Once again, Cher kicked some serious buttage. Her Bentley was reported to be the highest sale. One fan bought three TV show dresses: the cream Titanic dress she wore to the Academy Awards, the Dark Lady dress and the Laverne fit. For them all, he spent over $40,000. Julie and I continued our IM conversation during Wednesday’s auction. Instead of summarizing it, I’ll give you the highlights below. A word regarding our IM handles: they both pertain to ridiculous scandals involving our respective celebrity obsessions.

OzzyBat: yo rib

RemovedCherRib: yo bat

OzzyBat: how is day 2 of the auction

RemovedCherRib: some fans think the big costume bidders are Hard Rock Cafe

OzzyBat: they bought a lot of kiss stuff

RemovedCherRib: a sketch just sold for 7k… the exact amount that the actual costume sold for

OzzyBat: Cher’s dictionary is coming up…i bet its never been opened….Now this is cool… lot 681….taxidermied armadillo lamp…given to cher by gene simmons!! That’s so funny – i thought it way cool before i even saw that…i might spend spend for that conversation piece

RemovedCherRib: the pugin stuff is going now…not outrageously

OzzyBat: what do you think that lamp will go for? it’s ugly – i cant imagine anyone other than me wanting it

RemovedCherRib: i don’t know but that’s the lamp i took a picture of Christopher cocking his head over wondering what it was…Gothic Ornaments is up…Gothic dog costumes must be next

OzzyBat: the wigs are coming up…the hummer is the final item…who will have 80k left by then for it? Imagine cher’s reaction to the armadillo lamp:  "genie, you’re crazy – shannon, you can have him"

RemovedCherRib: Georgeanne…can you put this somewhere?

OzzyBat: Elijah: "that’s wicked!

OzzyBat: i wish there was a booby doll from witches…especially the giant one

RemovedCherRib: 81 is up next…the dictionary

OzzyBat: i’m watching

OzzyBat: sure you dont want if for xmas?

RemovedCherRib: no… i’d rather have cher dolls for my tree

OzzyBat: geez nevermind anyway – $375!…$2,000 for a gothic furniture book? Geez. i guess i dont have a prayer for the lamp…the kids-size cher show jacket is coming up. $425? – do they know its a kids jacket? Sold for $1,050 – a tiny jacket o’ nylon

RemovedCherRib: these sketeches kill me, they aren’t even memorable dresses some of them…the carol burnette and charo ones are coming up…i’m curious to see what will happen

OzzyBat: $3,750 for the disco dress  – that was a cool one. This reminds me of the old SNL sketch with jon lovitz as Picasso. He kept scribbling on napkins and things and declaring "i’m picasso!" Like every scribble he made was worth millions….this purse up now may be the ugliest one ive ever seen in my life

RemovedCherRib: laverne is up to 9k

OzzyBat: could you write behind that desk? i would be too depressed…lot 550 – another depressingly dark gothic furniture item

OzzyBat: floor bidder slits wrist

OzzyBat: internet bidder hangs self

OzzyBat: internet bidder throws self down stairs

RemovedCherRib: internet bidder bangs head against keyboard and accidentally bids 3 thousand dollars

OzzyBat: floor bidder vincent libretti cashes in 401k to buy laverne fit

OzzyBat: floor bidder says "it gets me off"

RemovedCherRib: pugins bed is up now…the one andrew lloyd weber wanted

OzzyBat: i’m watching

RemovedCherRib: i wonder if anyone was allowed to sleep in such an expensive bed

OzzyBat: the bed is approaching the value of my dads condo….sold to lloyd webber!….cuz who else could spend 70k on a bed?

OzzyBat: has anything gone for less than 500 today?

RemovedCherRib: one of the purses went for 450….some shoes

RemovedCherRib: the last sketch I liked is going out of range…i like it cos it has cher scribbled by Mackie but is a short hair version of her the Take it To the Limit outfit i really liked from Celebration at Caesars….it’s like a hole fit but it’s a white hole shirt….Sold for $3,750…sigh…

RemovedCherRib: According to a Yahoo news report only 200 people were there bidding on the floor yesterday [there were up to 4,500 approved bidders overall.]…According to Yahoo: "[people] chuckled as the auctioneer [Hugh Hildesley] offered his own observations of taste, describing a yellow [it was really orange] plastic portable record player, circa 1976 as a ‘thing of beauty.’ It sold for $1400."

RemovedCherRib: Penelope and the suitors painting went for $60,000

RemovedCherRib: the second hole fit went for $50,000! Gosh! The fit christopher called the sausage arm one

OzzyBat: these bids dont seem to be getting lower…i guess i dont have a prayer of getting the lamp…it’s an important piece of KISStory

RemovedCherRib: it’s coming up

RemovedCherRib: it’s up

OzzyBat: sadness…i was the two internet bidders way back before 400

RemovedCherRib: $3500!

RemovedCherRib: ridikilous

OzzyBat: insanity

RemovedCherRib: the worlds gone mad

OzzyBat: i’m devastated…all day i was thinking how cool that would look in the living room…"oh you’re admiring my armadillo lamp? let me tell you the story…"

RemovedCherRib: seriously though, it would frighten people

OzzyBat: it would, but i liked that about it…it’s the only thing in the auction that was really me…besides the bentley of course….cuz thats how i roll

Sconce Watch

Leroyneiman_1Cher is headline news today (Yahoo!) after one day of auctioning is over. It was quite a hoot to be able to watch the auction online via ebay all day while I was working. A few items hit the estimated range, some never hit the estimated value (oak altar elements went for $1,600 instead of the estimated $2,000) but the majority of the items went far above the estimated values set by Juliens Auctions. Three cross wall sconces went for $1,000 and were estimated at only $500 max. Her first "hole fit" (a piece of Cher show history no doubt as so many more were to follow) went for $7,500. It was an extra $1,900 for the sagging lifeless 369_3 blue and pink boa. Bob Mackie sketches went over $2,000 almost every time, up to $4,750 for the Half Breed sketch. The LeRoy Neiman pictured top went for $40,000, Sonny boots for $1,100, her high school yearbook for $2,200 and the Bentley $170,000. I chatted with friend a Ape Culture co-editor, Julie, over instant messenger while part of the auction was occurring. She sent me to the LeRoy Neiman website where many hyperbolic sentences were found about his fine reputation in America as well as many other celebrity and sports portraits to be chuckled over. Julie was interested in lot #369, a gothic revival style mahogany bed but then she decided she didn’t want to sleep in anything Elijah might have tied Heather Graham to.

   

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