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Category: Concerts (Page 11 of 11)

The Cher Show is Coming…The Cher Show is Coming!

Cheret Excitement is brewing for the new Cher show in Las Vegas (premiering in just 6 days). I’m very excited, speaking for myself. Although I must say gas prices have inhibited my ability to afford a plane ticket to Vegas for the weekend I’m going to see it. They’re off the charts. And I even have a $100 voucher. Big sigh. I may end up driving, which I enjoy anyway. I just want to use the damn voucher before it expires in two months. But I digress…

Also, this week Oprah filmed Tina Turner and Cher in her Las Vegas episode which is set to air on May 8. Set thee Tivos. Here’s a link to some of the gossip about the episode which was posted on Cher World.

Other links this week

Chershow1_2In light of that, there was a funny blog post last week from The Cher Show, the episode with Tina Turner and Kate Smith and it reminds us how charismatic Tina and Cher are together. The blog post is funny, too.

Moveme And two good links were posted this week on the Cher list from Tyler. There’s a new mashup!!! I love these! Cher with Snoop Dog! Here’s the MP3.

And Gregg and Cher singing "Move Me" in concert.

   

While I Was Out – Cher Links Occurred

Cherphotocher6228347 Exactly how many Cher songs can one play at a wedding? Is there a Miss Etiquette rule on that? Hmmm. Anyway, thank you for your well wishes. I have lots of planning to do and would be grateful for any tips. Plus, I still have Paris-trip wrap-up to do. Hopefully next week. In the meantime, behold some new Cher links:

There was a great Entertainment Weekly blog post on Cher’s performance of West Side Story in her 1978 TV special and why this means Cher should perform every role in everything from now on.

Another blogger talks about the value on the dollar of a Cher Vegas show vs a Celine Dion Vegas show. She rambles a bit but I think I get her point: Cher is more than the sum of her parts. Is that the point?

And here’s news! Yahoo Music’s list of the 10 most annoying singers of all time and Cher’s not on it!! What a relief. Unfortunately, Celine Dion is.

Apropos of nothing, I found that crazy picture of Cher while searching "Cher Store." I was hoping to find a sneak peak of the Caesars boutique soon to open. This photo, taken during for her many gym ads of the 80s post-Mask with her skunk-do, is crazy-odd. Is it the angle that’s so freakified?

   

More Bootleg Reviews

I want to take a moment to finish up reviewing bootlegs Cher peeps have sent me. Regarding the 60s set I got for purchasing two posters off eBay, I have three clips left. I also just received a new and fabulous DVD from Jimmy (aka gypsy90028) that I’ll start discussing, as well.

Back to the Late 60s…Alfiedress_2

The Smothers Brothers
Most of us have seen Cher singing “Alfie” on this show. I never ceased to be amazed by Cher in that short baby-doll dress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lDSf0A9RTk

The Jerry Lewis Show
Now this show had some cool effects with background projections and whatnot and Cher arrives with BIG mascara. Things have clearly gotten out of hand in that regard. S&C sing “What Now My Love” and you can see Cher is definitely more confident these days. Lots of finger snapping goin down. And doesn’t Cher have skinny legs though?Kids2

Are they lip synching again? Cher gets ready to sing “You’d Better Sit Down Kids” introducing it proudly as a song “my husband wrote for himself.” I was reminded watching this clip how unusual the song is being about broken homes and change and all, that painful moment when a parent has to explain divorce to their kids. Have you ever heard anything like it…before or since?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJlubAgs7uM

Glen Campbell
We’ve already seen the super-fine duet of Cher singing “All I Really Want to Do” with Glen on his variety show. If not, get his latest DVD. It’s fabulous.

On that episode, Cher also sings “The First Time” in a set looking like a bedroom after a cheap one night stand. Cher’s eyelashes have improved. And she’s growing out her bangs….they look like little orphans, uncut and running away.  She gives Glen a big smile and he asks if Sonny produced that song. She again proudly says that he wrote that song and doesn’t someone in there say “and he can cook too.”

Then things really gets crazy with Neil Diamond. He’s just become successful (and it now occurs to you 40 years later how rarely you see him on TV). Cher is in an Indian top and they all three do a medley of Diamond hits up to that time, which include “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" (full with emotive ‘Oh Yeahs’), “Kentucky Woman,” “Brother Loves Traveling Salvation Show” and “Sweet Caroline” which we only recently found out is about Caroline Kennedy. Come on, Neil! That ruins it! I thought it was another song about booze all this time!

Now skip to the early 80s…

Blackrose Black Rose on Midnight Special
I had never seen Black Rose in action. And I loved it. I was amazed by it. This is honestly a side of Cher no-one gets to see. It never appears in biographical footage and it’s a phase of her career mostly ignored. And even though I would accept the critique that Black Rose was no great shakes when you stack them against Hall of Famers, they was fairly a good enough new band that could’ve stood up against other new bands out there.

Because it was Cher’s third or fourth or fifth (according to your timeline) incarnation, she brought all her former incarnations’ baggages, infamy and expectations to the act which was unfortunate. Had Cher started her career entirely with this band, they may have evolved and succeeded and we’d probably see Cher as a respected rock singer today alongside our other stellar rock chicks.

And this is one of the many instances where Cher had to pay her dues (not with drugs or alcohol or poverty, but with no respect); and it also exemplifies ironically in reverse why she should be a hall of famer because she took such risky risks musically in almost every musical genre and survived some huge failures but prevailed to bigger and better successes down the line.

Her rock moves here are fully and faithfully performed in “Never Should’ve Started.” Physically she dances with hard rock enthusiasm no one had seen before and would never see from her again. She rebelliously sings the word ‘bitch’ in the song “Julie” and tries to sing eye to eye with Les Dudek in “You Know It.” However, he’s no Sonny. Like Gregg Allman before him and Richie Sambora after him, no "real rocker dude" seems to have the balls to sing while looking Cher dead in the eye so intently as Sonny did. But she kept trying.

For Cher, loving you must mean singing live with you.

Something bothered me throughout the three songs on Midnight Special: who the hell is that guy on the left, the backup singer. He plays air guitar as if he’s the main act. And yet, with that tight shirt, he seems more like a dancing bodyguard than an actual band mate.

And I know she’s trying to dress down now but is that a hole fit she’s wearing under that sweat shirt?? I think I see a sequin.

In any case, out of love for rock music, Cher wanted to be in a band against her career’s common wisdom. And she had enough conviction to try to sublimate her image and name to try to make it work. However, as we all have come to now know: such a thing is ludicrously impossible. And that’s probably the idea at which most of the ridicule started. Therefore, no one give the act a fair, pure looksee.

See? Even Wikipedia considers it "a Cher album"

MontecontrastThe Monte Carlo Show
This DVD also included the Monte Carlo show in its entirety, something I’d never seen before either. I’d been surviving ravenously from clips online. I was so entranced when I watched it I didn’t even take any notes. Now looking back, I must say honestly it felt a little rough compared to Celebration at Caesars a year or so later. Caesars was so smooth and slick and it had that big awesome shoe. I feel the Monte Carlo show stumbles starting directly with Laverne. We expect the big Cher entrance, not a fake out. The fake out with the drag Cher is much better played after the intermission, as Cher did it during her Heart of Stone tour.

However, I love, love, love the outfits in this show. And the dancing makes me nostalgic for the late 70s and early 80s. That encore crotch shot was scandalous! I played it for my bf when he got home!

What really fascinates me is the stupifying contrast between Black Rose and Vegas Cher in 1980. Consider with these:

Merv Griffin clips of Black Rose
(Merv Griffin? No wonder they had a hard time getting steet cred!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omdLRZE5Zh4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB4aSGF66Qs

Then Monte Carlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMc668T8xo
   

Cher Week in Review

Cherbette I’ll be brief this week as I am in the midst of some dark nights of the soul this week over my writing non-career. However, in the midst of all this, one thing made me laugh out loud this week: a site simply dedicated to the absurd photos people post online of their cats with stuff on them (toys, boxes, you name it). Ridiculous but surprisingly funny. The site is called Stuff on my Cat. This weeks Cher reference was unusual and hilarious. Not what people normally pick on Cher for:
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=7900

My credit card bill came this week with $500 dolares of Cher tickets on it. This did not lighten my mood any.

Chastity’s birthday just came and went. Like me, her 40s are looming nearby. It seems mum may be buying her a stylin’ lounge chair or  barcalounger as a gift. I’m trying to talk my bf into one of those. He wants to get rid of his couch for a mission-style recliner chair which looks lovely but very uncomfortable. This is a guy who likes to nap and I envision him abandoning the lovely mission-style chair and hijacking my couch every night to nap on while I’m stuck on a very lovely but uncomfortable mission chair, unable to nap myself. Thus I’m lobbying hard for the recliner. But alas, he feels too refined to recline.

Anywho, TMZ was apparently on the scene of the Cher and Cher-daughter shopping event, taking video through the store window no less.  Creepy. And yet we watch.

Cher’s competition and supposed rival, Bette Midler, opened her Caesars show this week. I’m interested to see how they will compare:

And here’s more on the story that the Cher catalog was part of the song titles of Universal sold to a Dutch civil service workers pension fund. I’m sorry this wont be turning up as a 401(k) choice for us.

   

Interviews, Videos and Games

Glasses This photo is here in honor of the new sun-glasses I bought this week. The rest is miscellaneous knits and gnats:

Tyler on Chergroups posted this interview last week – more preview info on the show plus a sneak peak at the outside of the Cher store! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KNbEv-0DX8

Speaking of Tyler, he did a great video tribute to Cher singing "Nature Boy" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PkQJRLTJ5M with some rare photos. I’m envious of Cherinbevhills_3 his rare photos.

And there’s a new fun online game: Cher or Drag Cher: http://cityrag.blogs.com /main/2008/02/cher-or-drag-ch.html. I missed one!!!

And here’s a photo of Cher in Beverly Hills recently. I love her bun!
   

A Week in Cher-time

The Latest News Clips
(as posted on Cher groups)

Honestly, a good source for the latest Cher clips is always Cherworld.com. It’s an amazing Cher site that fishes out the late-breaking Cher news so you don’t have to. Cherworld’s on it!

Chermoths_3 Items covered in latest interviews

• Farah Fawcett’s cancer treatments with embalization and cyber knives
• Dangerous pug-faced paparazzi
• Cher’s good genes
• Cher’s good ex-boyfriend Gene
• Sonny ghost
• Cher’s Elvis teen crush (and she still didn’t go to Vegas with him?? Imagine if your teen crush invited you to Vegas for the weekend. Tell me, who is it? Would you go? I just got over my teen crush…last month. So no, I guess I wouldn’t go now.)
• Cher’s good health habits with the succinct quote: “I never saw drugs do anything good for anyone.”
• Her other tips for longevity including love well…and often.

So, it irks me that latest press reports state Cher is set to record her 27th album (one source even said 25th). Not to be a Cher nerd (too late), but It’s only 25 when you only count studio solo albums. But why leave out Sonny & Cher, Allman and Woman, Black Rose and the live albums? It’s so much more impressive to say she’s starting to record her 36th album (which includes the three major live albums and the Good Times soundtrack album –with all its original material– but not Chastity because it was mostly instrumental.)

It’s all about me

And this Cher nerd is feeling a little wiped-out and overwhelmed at the moment. Basically too much going on right now and I need to simply simplify. Helping my parents with their reunion/50th Anniversary party this summer, planning for my trip to Paris with the bf (which includes brushing up on my French, planning our itinerary and buying suitable non-American looking clothes so I wont be ostracized as a tourist), working on a somewhat large poetry project, and studying Spanish, Information Architecture (and now Project Management) for work.

I’ve had to put off my second class in ceramics for the time being. Which smarts.

At least Valentines Day is a hurdle that has passed. My bf and I have really sorry luck on romantic holidays including anniversaries. This year traffic made my bf late and our restaurant had some crisis and couldn’t seat anybody. After hearing angry comments from other couple’s left waiting in the lobby for 40 minutes, we left and went to a Mexican dive (my favorite, Rosa’s, on PCH). But overall, better than some fiascoes of years past. This year I got my bf a slew of chocolates and a singing Johnny Cash card. I also bought a singing Sonny & Cher card for myself. They were $4.99 each. The S&C card said:

“You got the honey,
I got the bees.
You got the mac,
And I got the cheese.
You got the hand,
I got the glove.
But the best part of all is…

Inside: we got the love.”

And then the card played:

“I got you to kiss goodnight
I got you to hold me tight
I got you and I wont let go
I got you to love me so
I got….you babe.”

Really loud. Honestly, it was lame. I guess it’s important to have it for historical purposes. To document the crap our Hallmark society puts out. I hope the estate of Sonny Bono received a good chuck of that $4.99.

Grammys: What are you wearing?

For more information on Cher’s outfit last week at the Grammys, visit Julia Gerard who designed Cher’s fitted skirt. J. Gerard holds shop on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. My obsession with the show Project Runway makes me wonder if Cher would like Jeffrey Sebelia from last year.

The new show

In the Feb 10 edition of the La Times there was a full-page ad that said:

Cher
opening may 2008
The Coliseum
Caesars Palace
Las Vegas

Barry1 I almost got excited until I noticed it was in the same Cher font as used for the Farewell tour and Living Proof. This goth font has been used for so many years it’s becoming like that Barry Manilow font he on all his albums from the first one in 1972 to the Even Now album in 1978. It was a butt-ugly font, too. Cher’s font is not butt-ugly but it does make me worry that the Vegas show will recycle things. I saw the Farewell show about…um….5 times. Which seems like a lot but in Willie Wonka terms is like that scene when Charlie was in class and asked by his teacher how many Wonka bars he had Barry2_2 Barry2_3 bought hoping for a golden ticket and all the other kids were like “you only bought two? How insane is that?” and Charlie felt like a dolt. Well, that equates to how I feel when I tell other Cher fans I only saw 5 or so farewell tour shows. But believe me, five was enough. Nothing changed except an incredibly shrinking set list.

All I am saying is that I yearn for new font assets. It’s not that I hate these goth assets. They’re strong and ballsy and look like they’ve been around for centuries. What’s not to like?Barry3_2

This all may sound crabby but I’m really looking forward to this year’s show. I hope to see lots of stupidly large headdresses. Headdresses like in Celebration at Caesars – so big Cher could only make it down a few steps before cute male dancers are forced to come to her aid.

And is Cher at the Coliseum really the official title of the show? Not quite the pizazz of The Showgirl Barry4 Must Go On or the simple artistry of The Red Piano.

 

Behold the New Wigs: Cher Announces a Celebration at Caesars, Part II

Darkwig I’m very very psyched about the fact that Cher is returning to Vegas. It’s always been one of my regrets that I never somehow cohersed my parents into taking me to see one of her shows at Caesars Palace all those moons and decades ago, before her phoenix-like rise to Oscardom.

The new Cher news appeared on two ABC news programs yesterday, Good Morning America and Nightline (basically the same short interview, give or take a shot of her Malibu patio) and longer pieces in USA Today. (Part 1 and Part 2)

I have to say, I dearly love the new wigs. I never liked the straight-style hair Cher sported in the 90s after the fabulous chaos of curls she wore in the 80s. Those Believe wigs always looked desperate to me. No amount of glitter and spackle on them could convince me otherwise. The new wigs are wonderful because they simultaneously give Cher maturity and yet make her look younger, too. Sounds tricky but it works.

And one thing I’ve started to love about Cher articles in the last ten years: the fabulous new "adjective of accolade" they invent to describe her career. Nightline used the word Indomitable.

Press facts at a glance

  • Cher’s up to a 44-year career
  • Caesars Coliseum contains 4,100 seats
  • Cher will perform four shows a week (Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday) in dates set to run in May and then August through October of this year.
  • Ticket prices are $227 for orchestra, $159 for rear-orchestra and $127 and $86 for the balcony seats.
  • She has a three year contract with AEG (three years!!)
  • Rumor has it she will make $60 million for these shows
  • To put that into perspective, the Farewell tour earned about $192 million and was the 9th highest grossing tour in history according to Billboard Boxscore, who also said “Cher was a remarkable endurance test.”
  • Cher told the I-bought-two-frying-pans-in-1965-because-I-thought-I’d-always-return-to-poverty-someday” story again
  • Her estimated worth is $600 million

Other Points of Note

Cher also said it must be hard to be her manager cos she doesn’t know her address or where she is half the time but does still go to grocery store, mostly for Mallomars. Why is the ability to grocery shop always the litmus test of the common man?

Cher talked more openly about depression and how work is a good counterbalance. She said with a smile, “I could make something of my life if I didn’t have depression” and I wasn’t sure if that was tongue-in-cheek or sincerely bittersweet. It was news that she’d had another debilitating bout with Epstein-Barr last year which meant a trip to see those German doctors. This might esplain those cancer rumors.

Cher also scooped up some love dish. Cher talked about Sonny being a scientologist and how she just didn’t get it. She confirmed the Tom Cruise date story. (Where are the pictures, goddammit?) And admitted she was propositioned by both Elvis and Marlon Brando (I can totally see them both being so in to her), but admitted she was too scared to act on a weekend away with Elvis (who knows why she didn’t hook up with Brando, aside from the crazy thing) and said she has regretted it ever since.

Her I’m-still-looking-for-love speech sounded like a bad eHarmony ad, hoever – I must say. My bf would tell her, “stop asking for what you want and start advertising what you could offer to someone else?" (aside from 600 million dollars worth of bling bling.) The ubiquitous “make me laugh” requirement should go out the window for all women universally. Should someone have to make you laugh or should you just laugh. I swear, we just had this very conversation while giving advice to a friend looking for love on Chemistry.com. But Cher’s comment “you just stub your toe over guys” was very funny and astute.

To get into shape for the Caesars shows, Cher plans to start yoga and loves her Power Plate fitness machine. She’s not impressed with American Idol and like Jack Nicholson is supporting Hillary Clinton for president. She said “the guys have had it.” True enough although I would advise keeping that sentiment out of her dating profile for now.

Promises, Promises

  1. “Cher insists her Vegas splash wont recycle Farewell motifs.” This is important. I just had a friend who refused to buy a ticket with us because he said he had no confidence Cher would re-invent the wheel. But Cher maintains she’s revamping the songs and taking the visual aspects one step further with surround effects and complex staging (a different stage for each song), things she couldn’t due on a traveling show with limited technology.
  2. Cher promises elaborate choreography and 4 aerialists. I initially hoped the choreography would be more Caesars 1980 than Farewell 2000 but the Robin Leach blog story claims Doriana Sanchez will be the choreograper once again so I’m expecting more of the unsynchronized same. Professional dancers feel free to educate me on this issue if that seems uneducated.
  3. According to the Leach-blog “An album— her 27th—will be produced from the show!” Well, first of all, Cher already has 30 albums. And would this be a live album or a new studio album? It would be great if Cher could arrange duets with visiting Vegas showmen, like Tom Jones.

This show marks Cher stage reunion of a sorts with Elton John and Bette Midler, who both guest-starred on the premier episode of her Cher solo television series in 1975.  Leach-blog called them "a triumph-irate," a sassy run on the words triumphant triumvirate.

My own thoughts

It fully hit me yesterday that I have an unbelievably exciting year ahead – seriously. I hope I don’t get hit by a bus. I have my first trip out of the country, something I’ve been trying to accomplish my whole adult lifetime, to Paris for 10 days with my bf (who speaks fluent French) and a family reunion in Albuquerque and Santa Fe New Mexico (I’m looking forward to showing my bf that absolutely enchanted state). I’ve got very-good-but-moderately-priced tickets to see Cher at Caesars (a dream come true – now if only she’d only start a television show again so I could sit in the viewing audience I could check off that last dream from 1975). Plus the Los Angeles Times Book Festival. Oh heaven!

And adventures with the new house and the new dog, Franz Alonzo, who just started his own Dogbook profile today – what a social networker!

I got very giddy about it all yesterday and suddenly realized in little over a year I’ll be 40! And my poor parents really hoped I’d be over this celebrity obsession thing by age 10!

To be honest, I actually DO feel somewhat smarter and more at peace as an older person. Although I’ve never quite felt “smart.” I surely don’t fall for all the crap I used to fall for as a young turk. I’ve also overcome a slew of fears. But I understand what Cher is saying to this degree: it is a drag when your bodily functions stop running smoothly. What smarts could alleviate that?

Finally, Leach-blog also stated the best-est bit of Cher news of all: “Cher will also be given her own Cher Store at the casino—taking over the former Celine Dion retail space.” I might just pass out! A cute little Cher store! Can I get a job there? Commute from LA?

Last December I was in the Elton John store with my bf and his mom. We stayed at the Paris –  because I just love their public bathrooms. At Caesars’ Elton store, he had scented potpourri pepples for sale. My bf and I showed them to his mom and she exclaimed, “I don’t want to smell Elton John’s rocks!”

I can’t tell you how excited I’m getting. Like when I got the Sonny & Cher stage for my eight birthday and got dizzy. Imagine, a whole store of ridiculous non-sequester Cher merchandise like scented rocks! I remember going crazy in the Barry Manilow store a few years ago: Barry wine. A Barry purse. This is so fucking great! Ahhhhhhhhh!

My mother just put me in my room for some quite time.

Btw, Cher will be a presenter this Sunday on the Grammys. Welcome to follwing Cher in the Tivo century!

 

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