Category: History (Page 4 of 14)

Movies, Music, TV – It’s All Happening

January 11, 2017 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

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!

Cher’s Cover of Walk on Guilded Splinters

January 11, 2017 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Huh…so those are the lyrics.

I recently came across the differing versions of lyrics to "Walk on Guilded Splinters." One of my favorite Cher songs and one that was most likely the closest single to my birth date in 1969.

Cher's lyrics on Google Play

Dr. John's lyrics on Google Play

They're very different. Huh. Cher is singing: Kon killy, killy kon kon. Who knew?

Here is a good video essay of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNd40VOQmPY

Je suie le grand zombie!

Where We Are Now (with Great Cher News)

November 17, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 5 Comments

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!

Cher in Tiger Beat, 1966

September 22, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

A few months ago, Cher scholar Robert Pela sent me a picture of this fabulous 1966 Cher spread in Tiger Beat magazine. Click on the graphic to get a better view of this awe-inspiring artifact of public relations. Cher lists all the reasons why she loves Sonny and Sonny does the same.

I want to believe this was ghost written by some plucky intern at Tiger Beat, but some of the bits sound eerily familiar. But then some sound equally ridiculous. It's full of irony and groovy!

What items popped out for me:

Why Cher Loves Sonny

He’s smarter than I am.

He never puts himself first; it’s always me.

He’s hard working and knows what he’s doing.
(This reminds me of the big scene in Good Times where Sonny tells Cher she knows nothing, NOTHING, about business and then storms out leaving her to sing "Just a Name" running from their Encino house to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.)

He remembers what I was wearing when we met.

He never forgets to pay attention to me, even if I am his wife. (Oyvay)

I feel safe with Sonny. He always seems to know what to do.

He’s honest about everything. (except a lot)

I think he’s handsome.

Why Sonny Loves Cher:

She’s very feminine. (timely claim considering she was being accused of being so androgynous at the time)

She always backs me up in whatever I want to do.

She smells wonderful all the time. (Uninhibited?)

When she cooks, it’s good.

She’s beautiful.

She’s quiet most of the time, and I need this so I can do my work.

When she gets mad, she’s prettier. (You're killing me with these, Sonny.)

She’s neat and orderly about things? (orderly??)

She’s just as sweet and unspoiled as the day I met her.

When she’s happy, she hums around the house.

She’s got a good memory and helps me keep appointments.

There's a lot to chew on there. Some of it's sweet and some of it's icky.

Chaz Bono on American Horror Story and The Sonny & Cher House

September 22, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Chaz as Scary Redneck

Chaz Bono is on American Horror Story this season as a recurring character. I know, I know. Two episodes have already aired! But isn't everyone just waiting to binge-watch the show on Netflix anyway? Besides, it was a big secret and nobody knew until after the first episode and then my carpel tunnel flared up and I wasn't blogging so you'll just have to deal with the reruns and the recaps if you haven't been DVRing the show already. Life is heartbreaking that way.

Read about the surprise or read through the recaps.

Did you know there's a "Cher for American Horror Story" Facebook page? Neither did I. I can't really picture this happening.

Owlwood

In other news, the most famous Sonny & Cher house, Owlwood, just resold again. Is that thing haunted?

Here are the stories. The fact that Sonny & Cher once lived in it seems like the lead point, because they're such hasbeens and all. Notice the buried mentions of Tony Curtis and other owners.

Onetime Sonny & Cher Mansion Sells for $90 Million (The Wall Street Journal)
Owlwood estate, once home to Sonny and Cher, fetches $90 million (Los Angeles Times)
Owlwood Estate sells for $90M in year’s second-priciest sale (The Real Deal) – OK they're not in the title but check out that hilarious Photoshop.
Former Sonny and Cher home sells for $90 million (Biz Journals) – Check out the drone video!

I freaking love this house! Take the drone tour. Can't you just see Sonny chasing Chastity around the pool? Another thing you might notice about this house, it has such a personality of its own, it looks pretty similar now to how it did when Sonny & Cher were in there and decorating it with Ron Wilson. Notice the bedroom mouldings, the print curtains. See for yourself in this nostalgic tour of Cher's past homes.

Remember 9: The Last Resort?

September 6, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 2 Comments

I took a class in electronic literature this spring and we did play-throughs, those videos that show another player going through games so you don’t have to, for particularly literary video games. I loved the play-throughs. They're so much easier.

So this inspired me to look for play-through video for 9: The Last Resort, the Tribeca Interactive game Cher did voice-over work for in back in 1996. I never finished the game but now I sorta did!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROons3_GCU8 (20 mins)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh9euOt4Wcw (22 mins)
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPbPft4UEPw (20 mins)
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So3T4EJ7GPY (17 mins)
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldx2o0YEtCg (18 mins)

Iconoclast187 is the player’s name and oddly he lists the celebrities voice-overs for the game, including ones that aren’t listed in the credits and don’t sound like who he says they are (Ellen Degeneres and Anne Heche). But at no point does he ever mentions Cher as doing the voice for Isadora, the mechanical gypsy fortune teller. Sound familiar? Is this legally typecasting?

It was kind of mesmerizing watching the play-through actually, although the Iconoclast187 is very snarky about the shortcomings of the game (about which I tended to agree…so much so that I stopped playing it 30 minutes in). He says things like, “That was certainly a collection of words” when he is aggrieved by the lack of clues in a long, Isadora speech. He seems to hate it when the game gets too easy or too hard.

This is the type of old computer game where you can only carry one thing at a time and you must complete tasks in a certain order, (and order completely unknown to you). God bless Iconoclast187 for sticking with it.

A lot of the story deals with themes on music with puzzles involving notes. There’s a very weird song at the end that thankfully Cher doesn’t sing.

Produced by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, the cast includes Cher, James Belushi, Christopher Reeve, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. It also includes the artwork of Mark Ryden of the infamous meat dress painting.

Wikipedia states “The gameplay, coupled with the extremely high hardware requirements and the high cost of the game led to very few sales, and the game was remaindered… The name "9" refers to the nine muses which inhabit the resort (from Greek mythology). The muses are represented by various characters in the game."

Sounds fun.

Sonny Bono Genius Search

June 15, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Some friends of ours sent Mr. Cher Scholar some clips of Sonny as Deacon Dark on The Love Boat, completely unawares that I was in the process of searching for Sonny's Aaron Spelling episodes and also forgetting that I was Cher Scholar in the flesh. We asked our friend how he came upon the clips and he said he watched an interview with Terry Reid who mentioned Sonny as a genius. So I dutifully went online to search "Sonny Bono genius" and did not find the interview…but have you seen these?

Open Vault does a four part, almost hour long, interview with Sonny from 1993 about his music history. He talks about the first use of "Pinz-a" in the song "Needles and Pins" (which Cher thankfully dropped in her version). He talks about Sonny & Cher in The Blossoms, their part of the 60s revolution in style (specifically their clothes), his real feelings about Rolling Stone magazine (and maybe a hint into Cher's true feelings about them), his work for Phil Spector, (often described as a go-fer but he also was a record promoter for Spector and was working a student of production). Most interestingly he talks about he conceived of the song "I Got You Babe" as a mashup of the Spector Wall of Sound, Dylan-style folk and bubblebum pop. He also places the origins of Rock and Role solely in the black church.

Mr. Cher Scholar believes there's a natural antipathy between Rolling Stone and Sonny & Cher, not just because the magazine treated them as unhip (which they did in their 1973 long, harsh, but beautifully written, expose) but for the reason they treated them that way, because Rolling Stone has always been trying so hard to sell to the drug scene. That was their entire identity.

Anyway, then I found this! The 1969 promotion record for the movie Chastity. Is Sonny smoking helium for this?

Chastity: "it had to be said," Sonny says. Who knew? Okay, so this interview isn't as flattering as the one above, especially in terms of how Sonny maintains that homosexuality and "free sex" creates psychic scars (one of his movie's themes) but I do believe/hope Sonny would have evolved on issues of feminism and gay rights as many fiscal conservatives have. That said, this is a juicy piece of Sonny & Cher history.

Today is the Celebration of Cher at 70 (With Over 40 Tributes)!

May 20, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 3 Comments

There’s lots of love spilling over on the web-o-shere. It’s literally a virtual Internet Party! Just look at all the hip (and some unusual) sites and magazines celebrating Cherness today!

This is a saying I learned from the McCray family: Cher, I’m glad you were born! You are 70 years of fabulousness today! I feel like the ball on Times Square should drop or something.

Here’s the massive list of love (and one snipe) as of 2 p.m. MST. I’ve broken it down into scholarship categories. Fun with essays, accolades and photo reels!

Straight-out Birthday Wishes

Cher prepares to celebrate her 70th birthday (Reuters)

Happy Birthday from Money Magazine

Singer Cher turns 70, fans pay tribute (Townhall.com)

Love for Defying Age

Cher just turned HOW old? (Mercury News)

Cher Can’t Turn Back Time: She Turns 70 Today (WBT—Conservative Talk Radio) — Remember, these are the folks who said Cher is some has-been no one remembers!

Maybe she can turn back time: Cher at 70 (Deutsche Welle) – SNAP!

Cher Turns 70, Still Knows How to Turn Back Time (Inquisitr)

Can you tell if these celebs are older or younger than Cher (Metro UK)

Turning 70, Cher still a 'hot artist' after 50 years (Inforum)

Love for the Music

10 Reasons Why Cher's “Believe” Is the Biggest Club Record Ever (Thump)

Cher's Official Top 20 biggest selling downloads revealed (Official Charts.com)

Mashable Cher in the studio (Mashable)

Love for the Television

Happy 70th birthday Cher! Relive the time she played every single part in this West Side Story medley (Digital Spy)

Cher turns 70 Today – watch her take a massive tumble in this rare vintage clip (Daily Star UK)

Love for the Film

Happy birthday Cher! Celebrate with her 5 greatest film roles (Arizona Central) – good to see Jimmy Dean love in there but you know how I feel about Mermaids!

70 Things we love about Cher (Gay Star News) — 70 things! That's impressive!

A look back at her outstanding singing and acting career (DW.com)

Inside the glamorous life of Cher (Marie Claire)

10 amazing facts about the pop superstar (Digital Spy)

The living legend’s most iconic moments (Attitude UK)

Celebrate Cher's 70th birthday with five memorable moments (Lancaster Online)

Cher then and now (WTAE-Pittsburgh)

Cher’s Career in numbers (International Business Times)

CNN’s Cher Fast Facts (CNN)

Fast-Forward Through 5 Decades of Cher (Yahoo! News)

RIP Stars Re-Release

May 16, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 3 Comments

So the Cher tweet says it all. Cher did not, in fact, know WTF about the Stars re-release, despite some articulate licensing bravado from Binge! Music.

Cher tweeted on Saturday. My full refund floated back across the bank-o-sphere on Sunday lacking any customer service reason. That felt weird and cagey. By Sunday, Binge! Music's website was also down, along with their Facebook and Twitter pages.

I would like to imagine Cher's henchmen making clandestine phone calls with threats of concrete shoes. It helps ease the pain of not having a legitimized, sanctioned, and scholarly-considered re-packaging of a historically important Cher album working itself through the CD-presses as we speak.

On a Cher Scholarship note: I've never heretofore seen such fan excitement to a piece of Cher news. I think this is yet again another piece of evidence that suggests Stars is Cher's most beloved album. And that this is the life of the Cher fan. Highs. Lows. Longings. Old-age dispairings.

Cher Toon and Milken Conference

May 11, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Someone on the Yahoo! Cher group posted this Blank on Blank cartoon today from an interview Cher gave in 1999. It's very cute, creative and actually a great, candid interview.

Most interestingly she says, "Gay men understand not being part of the whole" and that's why they relate to her. I think this idea of mass popularity or fitting in as being "the whole" is very interesting conceptually.

Anyway, what I love about this cartoon is that it reminds me of the 2010 Serge Gainsbourg movie, Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life which I love and was based on a graphic novel by its director, Joann Sfar. This is the kind of creative movie biography I hope Cher gets someday, artful, surreal and letting the animation provide some emotional punch.

Cher spoke at the Milken Institute Global Conference last week. Of course her hobo hat stole the show and not what she had to say.

Well, that's not entirely true. Billboard Magazine did focus on some of her anti-government comments and other comments around the Flint water crisis in Michigan.

I guess there were some issues at the conference around the lack of respect for female business founders. If you have LinkedIn, you can read this Pulse story about some prominent female business founders who were treated with less than full respect.

From the story: “Nearly 90% of venture capitalists are male. If Wilkis Wilson’s statement is true, and a vast majority of VCs refuse to see the market potential of markets focused on diverse audiences, female founders targeting female customers are doomed.”