I'll be updating my concert pages on Cher Scholar with the new stuff as I find it:
Concert overview (spoiler alert with set list),
Category: Concerts (Page 4 of 11)
Current Events
Wow. So much is happening right now. It's overwhelming.
Here's the lowdown:
– Cher's involved in a TV movie about the Flint, Michigan, water crisis.
– The documentary In This Climate should be coming out soon.
– Cher talking to the Washington Post.
– Cher's new song "Prayers for this World" will come out in the documentary Cries From Syria directed by Evgeny Afineevsky. HBO will air it.
– Cher is being sued over the typeface art of Closer to the Truth. (The rags TMZ and Daily Mail reporting this.)
– Jack in the Box tacos have been in the news.
– The Broadway Cher show continues to percolate. The New York Times article an all the diva Broadway shows and Playbill's article on the January reading.
– Cher tweets about the heartbreaking passing of all the celebrities over Christmas:
"This is tragic. I loved Debbie, she was tough, funny, told the best old 40's-50's showbiz stories and lived through Hollywood bullsh*t. A huge testament to her".
"This is beyond heartbreaking. Debbie was an idol… I have seen Singing In The Rain a million times. Loved all her films… Words are inadequate."
So sad about Carrie and George, I have no words. I keep forgetting and then suddenly remember. Such great artists dying, and many are too young. Am heartsick."
"Talked to her on the phone: ironic, sarcastic and hysterical at the same time. Went to a few wacky Penny [Marshall]/Carrie Birthday parties".
"One time I was talking to George at a disco. I got up, danced six songs, came back, leaned over him, and didn't realize that I was sweating drops all over his shirt. We laughed."
– More media love for Cher tweets: "Cher’s Twitter is the only pure thing left in this world" and "Find a Tiny Bit of Solace in This Cher-ified Chick Emoji."
Cher News is Back
And I'm happy to report that Cher News is back! Actually, it's been up since last March! So much I missed. Go here for all your up-to-date Cher news.
Daniel Wheway, the site's mastermind, has some eBooks out now too:
Cher Bible Vol. 1 and Cher Bible Vol 2. I've downloaded them but haven't read them yet.
Speaking of eBooks, I've also downloaded the eBook Cher Toons by Scott Clarke which was very fun and also just purchased Scott's physical coloring book version.
But over the past year almost, Cher News is packed with awesome stuff (if you haven't checked it out already). There's info about the Syrian documentary, and Cher's song on it, "I Got You Babe" made it into the Grammy Hall of Fame and you can watch clips of Cher on ET (October 6) and Extra.
Daniel also did plenty of scholarship last year, posting Cher rankings for Billboard's Roundups including 100 Greatest Acts of All Time (Cher ranks #43 and Daniel notes she is the 16th highest female solo singer), Vogue's list of 22 Fashion Icons from the Music World (Daniel's recap), Marie Claire's reporting on plastic surgery requests and Cher's jawline (truly odd but interesting), Daniel also recaps a few Oscar Roundups from Vanity Fair, The Independent and The New York Times, and About.com ranks Cher songs (Daniel's recap).
He also reports that Get TV only purchased 30 Cher shows. Has anyone else heard about this?
And two big bombshells:
1. I missed the AXS Cher Biography from last year. Does anybody have a copy of this?? Looks like it has some good talking head Cher scholarship! Watch the trailer.
2. Cher posted a video of makeup tips! How awesome!
So don't miss your Cher News!!
Old Stuff
Recently I came across Paul Mauriat's musak version of "Mama." And we watched the Johnny Cash Christmas special on GetTV over the holidays. I learned that "Someday" is a Gene Autrey song! The Johnny Cash Christmas special was amazing. Watch the Sun City Studios reunion of artists, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison sing "This Train." (Wow…that’s some great TV right there). And the whole cast does an amazing "Children, Go Where I Send Thee."
Whew! And that's just the first two weeks of January!
Before we start, I'd like to share this zen parable I learned many years ago. This story has helped me in both good times and in bad:
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “Maybe,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. Now he would not be able to help on the farm. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “Maybe,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “Maybe,” said the farmer.
Where I Am Now
So…I haven't been posting for the past three or so weeks. First it was the week before the U.S. election and work was very busy at CNM. Then the week of the election happened and many of us, (I would argue the majority of us) , were feeling stomach cramps and living the U.S. Electoral nightmare. And I have to tell you, something in me changed on November 9. It was as if the election showed me what my special purpose was, to quote Navin R. Johnson. I've been spending the last few weeks organizing and setting up some new messaging initiatives against what I see as the encroachment of Fascism and racism in my country and around the world.
Elections have consequences, as President Obama has often said. For our purposes here at I Found Some Blog, I no longer will have the time to post long, academic Cher tracts beyond the latest news. Something's gotta give after all. I'm working on a novel and two other writing projects. I can't take on the new commitments of activism without giving something up. So no more play-by-plays of the television shows and long reviews of albums. I actually had three of the last four Sonny & Cher show wrap-ups ready to go. But there's no time to finish them now. My gift of gab is now "going to the cause" and that means getting active in my community, motivating Democrats to vote, and wearing my safety pin as a reminder to fight racism and hatred every single day.
If these are values you share, please come by my new Facebook page "BTW New Mexico is a U.S. State," LIKE the page, and SHARE some of the posts with your friends. I would sure appreciate it.
Television
But even Dark Ages had good times. There has been some great Cher news over the last three weeks and we're thankful for tender mercies, we are.
Cher scholar Bruce Barton notified us recently that on Monday December 5 GetTV will be airing the rarely seen 1975 Cher Christmas show. He also linked us to a clip of the festive intro. Can't wait!
And according to the GetTV schedule, there are other goodies in store.
This Monday, November 21, we can binge on three episodes we've already seen: (1) Jean Stapelton and Mike Connors, (2) Jimmy Durante and (3) Andy Griffith.
November 28: The 1973 Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour Christmas Special
December 5: The 1975 Christmas Special with Redd Foxx, The Hudson Brothers and The Lennon Sisters. It looks like it's the full hour show.
Concerts
You may have heard that Cher is doing some limited shows in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. next spring. Miraculously I was able to get tickets to one of the Vegas shows. Check out Cher's site for details.
Cher as also on James Cordin's late night show around the time the tickets went on sale. Watch Cher and James singing "I Got You Babe" and Cher talking about "I Got You Babe".
She was also on The Today Show.
Broadway
So the Broadway show is also actually coming together. From Playbill:
There will be a two-week staged reading in New York City January 2-14. Pitch Perfect’s Jason Moore will direct. It's being called The Cher Show. Flody Suarez and Hamilton’s Jeffrey Seller are producing. And some details were revealed. The characters of Cher are Babe (teenager), Lady (solo) and Star (which sounds like her evolution to icon). Other characters include Sonny, Georgia, Bob Mackie, David Geffen, Gregg Allman, Robert Altman, Rob Camilletti, and Sigmund Freud. Different era Chers may also talk to each other. The book was written by Tony Award-winning Rick Elice (of Jersey Boys, Peter and the Starcatcher). Cher songs in the show may include “I Got You Babe,” “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves,” “Take Me Home,” “Believe,” and “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Tony winner Daryl Waters is musical supervisor.
Our Beautiful Friends
Cher scholar and one of the contributors to Cher Zine 3 has published a memoir called Farm Story! I'm very excited to read this as soon as I can finagle a copy.
Cher was also interviewed for the Fast Company Innovation Festival, "Cher on Creativity and the Power of Authenticity." I was disappointed with the piece but the "big show" comments were interesting and her ideas around emojis, which are now considered fine art!
New Cher shows!
I’ve been swamped with life stuff, out-of-town visitors, Cher and poetry news, job stuff (went the Edward Tufte conference this week), I threw out my back this week. And now this!
In a surprise announcement, Cher released dates for new live shows at two venues: http://cher.com/#/. If you join the mailing list on her website, you get emails about these things. Las Vegas Weekly also did a story.
Public sale: Sunday, Oct. 23 at 10am. Check out Cher.com for pre-sales.
Park Theater at Monte Carlo – Las Vegas Dates
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
Saturday, February 25, 2017
National Harbor – Washington, D.C. Dates
Friday, March 17, 2017
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Monday, March 20, 2017
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Park Theater at Monte Carlo – Las Vegas
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Friday, May 5, 2017
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Friday, May 12, 2017
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Friday, May 19, 2017
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Cher on TV!
She's also been making a flurry of TV appearances of which I have missed 100 percent. Thanks for the heads up, Obama! Why hasn't she been tweeting about this stuff? (There may be a security reason I guess).
Cher Scholar Michael says Cher will will be on The Insider tonight on CBS.
Cher was also on The Today Show this week, interviewed by Maria Shriver.
Was on The Late Late Show Thursday night with James Cordon. I haven’t seen a full clip yet but here are partials:
James and Cher singing IGUB. Isn't that a Dressed to Kill Tour-fit?
Everyone is talking about this duet today:
Cher talking about the IBUB origin story.
Cher scholar Michael also sent me this episode of The Late Late Show from April that is full of Cher Impersonators from various Cheras.
My friend Coolia also sent me a video this morning of Hillary’s remarks last night from the Al Smith dinner where Cher is mentioned at the minute mark 10:50.
I'm back from vacation. Back from a New Mexico family reunion (where there were 93 of us). Back from catching up on CNM projects. And there's so very much to catch up on. So much time has passed. Have we all changed?
Donald Trump has been busy making a mockery of a fiasco. Bobby Kristina is no longer with us. Oft-mentioned friend of Sonny Bono, Dick Van Patten, has passed on. There’s so much to cover, I’ll have to do take it in chunks. Today's chunk is a roundup of links regarding Cher appearances and music news.
Articles & Appearances
The rags have been busy proclaiming Cher's impending demise and her heavenly return to Sonny. That this tactic is even still in use tells us how much Sonny & Cher still maintain a hold on the national fantastical imagination.
Cher's cover of Love Magazine is out but it's hard to find. Cher 
scholar Dishy in New York City tells me her cover is even hard to find on newsstands in the city! I guess the problem is she shares the cover with other talents. And surprise, surprise! Her face is on the cover! (Click the photo to enlarge.)
Cher made a few trips recently and one magazine had all the dets!
Daily Mail said, "Can you Believe she's 69? Cher turns heads in skintight bodysuit and eclectic jacket as she departs from LAX." (Click the link for pics.)
Daily Mail also said in another piece that Cher could turn back time in hippy bell bottoms. (Click the link for pics.)
Then the Daily Mail posted pics of Cher walking barefoot in St. Tropez. And then even more pics of barefoot walking! (Click the links for pics.)
Then they posted more pics of Cher in see-through pants. (Click the link for pics.)
It's like they were stalking her or something.
If you'd like to see a roundup of all the people involved in the new Marc Jacobs fashion campaign, this site has it.
And here is another website that has taken on the task of reviewing Cher's most outrageous outfits! It's so subjective.
In Music News
Musician and arranger Harold Battiste has passed away in New Orleans. He received an obit in The New York Times. The article uses a photo of Battiste with Sonny & Cher (as their long-time arranger and musical director) to lead the story.
Giorgio Moroder Dishes On Producing Cher & Janet, Talks Gay-Bait Bathhouse Oblivion (Pride Source)
Someone has started a Facebook page to get Cher into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Cher World reports that Cher performed a private shew in Monaco. Some say this is proof she's starting back up to tour again. Here is some fan video to get you excited about this news.
In one odd story from Mediate, Mike Huckabee is shown dressed up like Cher to sing "I Got You Babe." I don't know what to say about this. I'm speechless.
Over my vacation, I was reading an email argument between some friends regarding the recent rape allegations against Runaway's producer Kim Fowley. One friend posted this NPR story about "the cruel truth about rock and roll" and how sexually predatory it is regarding young performers. It's truly sobering and something every fan of rock music should read. It makes you wonder what awful experiences Cher might have had as an almost-underage performer working in the 1960s.
I've been felled for two weeks by a cold virus! I literally came home every day from work and downed night-time cold juice and then slept for ten hours until I had to do it all over again the next day. I'm barely over it but we have some Cher news to cover.
My friends have been in a donnybrook over Morrissey's continued disses of Madonna, including of her then-upcoming performance on the Brit Awards. Although Morrissey does have a point to make about award shows being more about promotion flim-flam than about talent awarding, he complicates his argument by continually being a bitter butter ball.
In any case, Morrissey was probably gleeful to see Madonna take a nasty fall during her Brit Awards performance last week. Listening to The Stephanie Miller Show, I found out that Cher and Liza Minnelli had given public support to Madonna after her fall. Someone on the show joked that falling on stage was like a Tuesday for Liza. Funny. But Cher's tweet reminds us how stressful dance performances can be, especially considering Madonna's wardrobe malfunction.
"Heard Madonna Fell On Stage This is Something WE ALL DREAD…MADGE, I GIVE U PROPS, U R a CHAMP 4 FINISHING YOUR SONG…I HOPE U R UNHURT"
Cher World is reporting on some other Cher tweets involving 2015 projects. She's planning to launch a new perfume. More Cher crap to buy! Awesome! I truly hope she poses with another giant jug of the new stuff (see pic above). Cher World also posts some of her latest pics and says that she's still working to restart her tour.
I saw the laconic Don Williams perform last night at our "big" showroom at the Isleta Indian casino. He was awesome although much older than I expected. They had to prop him up on a bar stool to play for an hour and 10 minutes. He barely moved but then he barely moved back in the 1970s. But with that voice, who needs dancers and wardrobe malfunctions? I've been watching old country acts on Pop Goes the Country and itching to see some of them. Unfortunately, most of them have died or retired.
I still keep hoping Cher will come near Albuquerque but looking up our biggest venue, the sadly small Tingley Coliseum at 11,571 seats. Which I guess is why all the somewhat decent acts prefer the Indian casinos.
The Music Times has done a review of Cher's non-variety-show TV work, including her appearance on Scooby Doo. This reminds me, I met a huge Scooby Doo fan at work a few weeks ago. We deconstructed the shows together. I lamented not being able to find Scooby Doo bandaids and she told me when to expect their return to the market. I asked her about her feelings on Scooby Dum and Scrappy Doo (not favorable as expected) and I said I was a purest for the original creepy series. I especially didn't like the celebrity series because it was too light (visually), to silly and not scary enough. She agreed, she said, with the exception of the Sonny & Cher episode!
Christina Aguilera does a Cher impersonation on The Tonight Show. This remind me, do you notice how many times Bravo plays B?. How far Bravo has fallen. I'm taking to making a list of everything that annoys me about that movie. It feels like a scholarly project. Mr. Cher Scholar is helping. I keep suggesting we watch Silkwood as an antidote.
Cher criticizes the Arkansas governor over not vetoing his state's anti-LGBT bill.
One of my friends has sent me subscriptions to three celeb rags: Us Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, and the Star. Having the Star (or any tabloid) home delivered feels surreal. The February 16 issue has Val Kilmer dying for his religion, which apparently is Christian Science. Another piece praises Chaz for getting buff, losing 65 pounds down from his high of 250 pounds. They claim he wants to try out for Mr. Universe and is on a low carb, no sugar, no dairy diet. Fellow tabloids TMZ and The Daily Mail also reported the story. In any case, Chaz is now celebrity fit.
The Star also shows a full page of Kim Kardashian wearing various outfits involving furs. Boo! She's now my least-favorite Armenian celebrity, which means there's a pretty wide gap between the two Armenian celebrities I know.
The New Year brings new apologies for the lag in blog postings. I've been on the new job for just about a month. No, I'm not teaching at my local community college. I'm continuing my day-job of web content specializin'. And I've been a bit more swamped with family reunion duties that I predicted. My novel-writing and blogging schedule has slipped all to hell!
But…I'm working in a communications department full of really interesting and creative people, our studio department has an animator and an award-winning director, our web team has two visual artists, two photographers, a competitive dancer and a soap maker. Similar to my experiences at ICANN, I've arrived just in time for a sweet web re-branding launch. It's been fun so far.
But anyway, time to move on to…
Cher's Angry Tweets
Cher made some tweets about Hitler and the cloud last month that hit many news outlets. My guess is the tweets were meant to be a joke but I didn't read into them too closely. These people made the attempts to sort it out:
Mediaite
"It may not matter in 5 yrs, but Hitler Tweets are forever."- Tech Times
"Our best guess is that Cher was expressing frustration with Apple's iCloud service. Or maybe she was commenting on the recent scandal involving nude photos of celebrities leaking from iCloud thanks to hackers."
Twitchy.com covers Cher's tweets about U.S. Congress. Cher Scholar's old friend Doug Wemple, who wrote a wonderful heart-felt story in Cher Zine 1 about coming out and his long, frustrating journey to try to see Cher in concert, gets caught up in the tweet sweep too.
Which all reminds me of the trailer I saw last weekend for a movie coming to my local independent movie house, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry. This movie reminds me so much of the situation surrounding Cher's tweets. The trailer chronicles the expression of anger from feminists in second and third wave actions and protests and how uncomfortable this made (and continues to make) some folks. People who disagree with Cher's politics consistently try to characterize her as a nut. It's not a new tactic as this film shows. Looking forward to seeing it.
Giddy Gossip
Lot's of gossipy stuff in the news:
Seventies Glamour
Just finished the affordably-priced coffee-table book Seventies Glamour by David Willis. It covers all the icons of 70s style, including Margaux Hemmingway, who's photo at Studio 54 (not in the book) has forever fascinated me. She seems so "over it" and strangely comfortable in her pose.
The zeitgeist of the 70s with its "tarnished luster" and the "complex broken mirror ball glamour" is covered. Cher is listed as one of "the beautiful people," a new version of the 1960s "jet set." She's listed in an uberclass alongside Liza Minnelli, Halston, Truman Capote, Divine, Hugh Hefner, Calvin Klein, Liz Taylor and Jackie O. Not too shabby. Although Cher is not cited as an influence or contributor to it, glitter and glam rock are discussed. Cher has one page dedicated to her with a picture of her Stars album cover of 1975 and the joyous color poster for Cher…Special in 1978. I found some groovy out-takes of that session online (above and below).
Seventies Ratings
When I was working on my eBook about Writing in the Age of Narcissism, I came across an article by Lev Grossman called "The Beast with a Billion Eyes," Time Magazine, 2012. He said "for every minute that passes in real time, 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube." And this was in 2012! He talks about how YouTube, like cable TV before it, has challenged network ratings, chronicling the tumbling numbers, decade to decade, from the 80s The Cosby Show to the 90s Seinfeld show to 2008's American Idol. He says, "Obviously No. 1 isn't what it used to be."
I often don't know what these ratings numbers mean. Are they talking about audience share, Nielsen rank or actual audience views. When people talk about ratings, they never use the same measurements.
For instance, allegedly, Carol Burnett averaged $30 million people a week in her heyday. But in 2004, Nick and Jessica Simpson won their slot with 11.4 million. But it's complicated by the fact that fewer people were watching TVs in the 1970s. There were fewer devices at least. I decided I need to make a list of Nielsen rankings for Cher's TV shows that covers all three dimensions: total audience, audience percentage share and Nielsen rank. So far I've only found this source that lists each year's top 30 shows: http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/
The Sonny & Cher Comdy Hour 1971: http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1971.htm
Rank #27, viewers: 12,544,200
The Sonny & Cher Comdy Hour 1973: http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1973.htm
Rank #8, Viewers 15,424,600
In 1972 and 1974, they weren't in the top 30. Cher's solo show also didn't crack the top 30 in total. Nor did The Sonny & Cher Show of 1976-7.
A Topless 1979 Show?
When speaking to my cousin and Aunt a few weeks ago, they divulged to me that they saw Cher in Las Vegas during the 1979 "Take Me Home" tour. My aunt said she'll never forget it (in a negative sense) because the show featured scandalous topless dancers.
I started to say, "But I saw the show on TV and it didn't have…." and then I thought, well, of course it wouldn't.
Can anyone help me out there? Did Cher's 1979 Vegas show feature topless dancers?
Happy New Year! I started my new job this week at Central New Mexico Community College. So far so good. Everyone is smart, interesting and involved in cool extra-curricular projects.
Over my two week break between jobs I started to go through my back log of emails. I found plenty of Cher links to keep us busy until Cher is back to selling us stuff.
It's the new year and you may be in need of some fan-made Cher Calendars. Here are some places to get some:
Links
My friend Julie sent me this link, a vacation rental in Palm Springs billing itself as Sonny & Cher's love nest. Does anyone recognize this house?
The Cher Look Book – a 101 picture slide show of Cher in New York Magazine.
A short little interview in the Times Union.
Cher doesn't just like running with a younger crowd — she likes outrunning them: a long interview in The Wisconsin Gazette
Video
Cher's Caesar's Palace monologue.
Factoids
Cher scholar Jefrey noted that in the March 23rd 2012 issue of Entertainment Weekly, (I know! I can't believe that was sitting in my email still), Drew Barrymore co-hosted Turner Classic Movies with Robert Osborne for a special called "The Essentials." They played classics movies like Gilda and Diabolique. Barrymore was asked who her favorite screen sirens of all time were.
She chose Julie Christie, Faye Dunaway, Jane Fonda, Annette Bening and Cher. Wow. Awesome company there. Barrymore said about Cher, "She's strong and comedic and
incredibly brave, but shows vulnerability. I think she's the epitome of rock & roll." (Can Barrymore talk some sense into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?) She cited Silkwood, Moonstruck, Mask, and The 
Witches of Eastwick as some of her favorite Cher performances.
My friend Christopher also notified me that in December of last year Jennifer Lawrence became the highest-charting Oscar-winning actress on the Hot 100 since Cher took "Believe" to #1 in 1999. Lawrence hit at #12 with a song from the latest Hunger Games movie, "The Hanging Tree."
Two Cher scholars have asked me why there was no Cher Christmas tree post this year. Well, the tree stayed in the box out in the garage. There was no Christmas tree this year. No Christmas lights or Christmas cards.
A lot of things conspired at the end of the year to make this so:
– I didn't add a new outfit for the tree this year. That usually inspires me to put up the tree.
– I was bummed out about what a sucky year 2014 was, health wise for everybody.
- ICANN laid me off right before Christmas and hired people in India to do our jobs. In the turmoil of cleaning up ICANN tasks and preparing to start my new job at Central New Mexico College, I was swamped and pooped.
– Mailing Xmas gifts took all my energy this year so there was little left for holiday cheer. Our house was depressingly dark this year compared to our neighbors but I didn’t have the energy to do anything about it and Mr. Cher Scholar is not the festive type. Although he did try to get me interested in Christmas with his sudden, new-found interest in Christmas yard inflatables. Now if there was a Cher Christmas inflatable…
– I’m in the thick of three new writing projects: my New Mexico novel (post scene-layout, starting the first draft), my Buddhist-cowboy poems (finished the final draft, preparing to submit), and a new eBook (finished final draft; getting ready to publish in early 2015), and a long list of end of the year to-dos regarding my writing and websites. I also reformatted my first poetry book (get it on Amazon or Smashwords at a new price of $2.99).
Cher Christmas
Luckily Cher was more festive than me and launched a whole line of Christmas products. I bought the ugly-sweater sweatshirt (and wore it on Christmas to visit my three Aunts) and the White Hat Girls Tee.
- http://www.idolator.com/7574624/cher-camp-christmas-merchandise-10-gifts
- http://www.cherofficialshop.com/collections/holidays
My friend Julie wrote to tell me Cher was on the cover of a new magazine called Closer and she saw it at Target. I was a day late and missed it. Here's the article about Cher's cancelled tour.
An ironic image for Cher's D2K tour: trapped by a virus.
Last week was a very sad week for me. Indulge me, but I’m thinking to make a list will be a cathartic process.
1. As of Sunday when I stopped in Albertson's to sit at one of those blood pressure machines, I've had to accept that this, my 45th year, I’ve developed high blood pressure. Three out of 5 recent tests over the last 6 months have been too high. Heart issues have felled everyone on my father's side of the family. So this is not happy news.
2. The Bill Cosby story is wearing me down. Not only have 16 women accused him of various sexual crimes, but he’s latest TV appearances (The Colbert Report appearance before the story even broke) and interviews have been eerily self-important and left an unsatisfactory taste in my mouth. It reminds me of the Woody Allen incest saga. I grew up on their work and my esteem has been felled by their tabloid scandals which are both hard to prove or disprove (at this point). But that really doesn’t matter because no outcome escapes a tragedy. In Woody Allen’s case, either he did commit incest with his daughter or Mia Farrow is crazy and has contaminated her daughter’s life. Both scenarios are awful. Likewise, Bill Cosby is a rapist or 16 women are conspiring to ruin his career. Problem is, they have little to gain after the statute of limitations. And if you think it’s impossible to keep such crimes a secret for 40 years within an entertainment organization, let me remind you of Penn State and Jerry Sandusky. There’s no pretty truth here. Just yuckiness. And it reminds me that as a society we place a heartbreaking amount of misspent worship on celebrities (no offence to Cher). From what I've seen, baring a few exceptions, Hollywood does not attract balanced, heroical personalities and heroes don't grow from the seeds of maladaptive narcissists. In any case, as Mr. Cher Scholar says, this story pretty much bankrupts Fat Albert, The Cosby Show, the jello commercials, I Spy, all the standup routines….
3. I found out Thursday my friend has brain cancer. She's been having seizures.This is the fifth calamity to befall her in so many years.
4. That same night the Chiefs lost to the Raiders. This was more depressing to Mr. Cher Scholar than it was to me but it did rub off.
5. Hours later I was online via email helping to talk down another friend from an emotional life-crisis.
6. I started the next day looking at my emails and was assaulted by a Facebook status message made by one of my poetry colleagues. The post, not directed at me, was a rotten spew of hatred regarding last week's political events. It was dumbfoundingly angry, hardly reality-based, and left me disturbed for the rest of the day.
7. The Ferguson story has also depressed me. The grand jury just came out tonight: no indictment on the police officer who fatally shot a black teenager. I grew up in St. Louis where Ferguson is a suburb. I can say many positive things about growing up in St. Louis. I can also say that I know first hand St. Louis has more than its share of racists. I know because many of them used to confide in me their racists thoughts. They did so from high school through my many post-college jobs. I do have friends in St. Louis who are not racists, God bless 'em. But let’s just say I knew more racists there than honest, God-loving people. Stories appeared last week about guns selling out, the governor declaring a state of emergency and bringing in the National Gard. The KKK is asserting itself with great irony and evil. Interestingly, my St. Louis friends used to chide me about living in Los Angeles, with all its gun violence and rioting. There were zero riots or highway shootings the 8 years I lived in Los Angeles. And as it turns out you don’t have to leave St. Louis for those things. I’m so disappointed that city hasn’t evolved in the last 20 years since I left.
8. My depression and anger over these political events led my cousin, who is a psychologist, to diagnose me Friday night as having "Work from Home Syndrome" – a condition that allows you to stew in your own anger until you become irritable all the time. He suggested I stop listening to the news for a while until my brain resets.
9. Cher has cancelled the remaining dates of her tour. And although she says she hopes she can “finish what she started” and resume the tour next year, this does prove the tour has been sadly ill-fated. It’s also a somewhat drastic and alarming gesture that makes you worry about Cher's health. Upsetting for Cher, her fans, and even Pat Benetar fans. It also means we are coming to the close of an era: invincible Cher.
I was working on a new Cher Scholar site page when I found out, an addendum concert page that lists all her concert dates and available online reviews of each show as I find them. It’s a work in progress but if you want to read old reviews, here they are.
