Concert Delays
I almost made a renegade trip to Lubbock, Texas, last weekend to see Cher's concert there. But then I found out it has been cancelled anyway, along with a slew of other November dates due to Cher's recent viral illness.
This has been the most dates postponed on a Cher concert tour that I can think of, a fact that is alarming some fans. Then Daily Mail broke a story about Cher having to wear a heart-monitor and it all sounds pretty scary so I asked Mr. Cher Scholar (who rates claims for Veterans Affairs and has a head full of medical knowledge) to tell me how alarmed we all should be and he said there's a danger of virus infections spreading to the heart. Cher-camp says it's all a normal part of recovery.
I first read about the postponed tour from an Allentown paper that called her tour "ill-fated." Besides the delay to the second leg, what the hell is so ill-fated about it?
Memoirs
But it all gets you thinking about mortality. So does the fact that Angelica Houston's two-volumes of memoirs are now out. Yes, Angelica Houston has unveiled her saga already.
I came across two blurbs about celebrity biographies that seem pertinent to Cher's possible look-back at her life. Young actress Lena Dunham of the HBO show Girls has a memoir already called Not That Kind of Girl. Referencing it in The Atlantic, James Parker says:
"So there's the id, the ego, the superego, and then there's the part of the psyche that writes the memoir. The latter function, in most humans, is inadequately developed until late middle age, which is why memoirs by young people are usually terrible. It's a syndrome, rather embarrassing: premature autobiography."
In an Entertainment Weekly interview, Angelica Huston also weighs in on memoir. Keith Staskiewicz says,
Many celebrity memoris are like bags of potato chips–mostly air and a little bit of salty stuff–but Huston wanted to avoid the anodyne politesse or, worse, self-delusion that can make for boring reading. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a confessional, but it does require a certain amount of looking inward," she says. "If you're gonna write a memoir, you have to talk about yourself. You have to talk about your feelings and you have to talk about who you are. Otherwise don't do it; it's a waste of paper. The trees could have lived."
NPR on Believe
On the bright side, last week I did find something I've been looking for for years. When the song "Believe" started to hit in the United States, I was living and working in Yonkers, New York. I'd hear the song on the radio when I drove home. It was both exciting and unusual to hear Cher's song with the other hits of the day, like Madonna's "Ray of Light," Whitney Houton's "It's Not Right, But It's Okay;" at least those hits were by somewhat older women, too. But then you had Monica, Britney Spears, and TLC. (See a review of 1999 number one hits). One day I was driving home and NPR was talking about the Cher/Believe phenomenon! Like in that breathy-really-serious-NPR way. I missed half of the conversation and for years I've been waiting for it to show up online in NPR archives. Here it is. It's worth a listen.
Halloween Q & A
Cher did a fan Q&A on Facebook on Halloween. There were almost 5,000 comments made and so many pages of questions I couldn't read them all. Cher answered maybe the first 30 of them. Highlights include the following:
Mary Pat Blockel O'Donnell: Hi beautiful Cher:-) Happy Halloween! Love u tons&what is your favorite memory of Chaz&Elijah as babies/and or little children at Halloween?or even teenagers?
Cher: My favorite – I have a couple of favorites. My first was Chaz's first Halloween and I sewed a cat suit, a little kitten suit and painted whiskers and it was so hard making the tail. And the other was when we all went out and Elijah wasn't old enough to walk and we had him in a devil costume and Chaz was the Fonz and we walked around the neighborhood. It was really fun. Halloween is for kids and it's fun when you have kids.
Kaylee Rudnik: Do you think there is any place that you can go without being recognized anymore???
Cher: Hell, and I'm not so sure about that. I'm pretty positive I will be recognized.
John Nicholas Ward: What is the secret behind ur eternal youth??
Cher: Makeup and childishness
Amanda Darby: If you could change one thing forever what would you choose and why?
Cher: I would change how people get along. I would make people get along.
Dean Menc: What is the best thing about being Cher?
Cher: I don't know. You don't have to wait in line.
Goran Srdija: Why u love Gaga and what's ur favourite Gaga's song? Xoxo
Cher:I appreciate her whimsy. And re-creativity.
Doug Wemple: Didn't David Bowie crash one of your house parties? Did hilarity ensue?
Cher: I don't think so. Andy Warhol did, crashed Chaz's birthday party with Keith Haring and hilarity ensued. I loved him, he was so much fun.
Leonardo Esteban Lizama Órdenes: Did you ever met Frank Sinatra? And if so, What was your fist impression?
Cher: I did meet him. I actually saw him on stage. I was following him into Caesars. I thought "HMM, he's old but he can really sing. It's amazing." He was cool.
Mike Scott Uetrecht: How has Rolling Stone never put you on their cover? Not even a review for CTTT. Disrespectful.
Cher: Well, you know, obviously I'm not their cup of tea. Never thought I was cool enough, certainly missed the boat on that.
Christopher Fox Tyler: Whats the fastest way for a man to win your heart/affection?
Cher: Oh – I guess being funny and cute doesn't hurt
Sara Oldani: Hi Cher have you ever thought of doing a concert in Italy? What's your favourite song inyour discography (either original or cover, whatever ) LOVE from Italy!!!!!!
Cher: I guess Song for the Lonely, if I had to be buried with something that would be it
Chad Eric: Happy Halloween Cher! What was your favorite memory of Halloween as a child & adult?
Cher: My favorite memory when I was a kid was when I was 9 and it was the first time I wore makeup. I was totally decked. My mom dressed me in this peasant skirt and she tied the belt so it didn't fall off, and she put on lipstick and curled my hair. That was the BEGINNING of the BEGINNING. I didn't want it to be over, I wanted to go to school the next day in my Halloween costume.
Bob Radmore: What is it like to be famous?
Cher: It's hard for me to say it. I've been famous since I was 18, so I don't know what it's like not to be.
Brooke Bryant: What is your biggest pet peeve?
Cher: iPhones
Nick LeBlanc: Hi Cher, what is your favorite city/place that you've been at in the world whether on tour or vacation?
Cher: Bora Bora
Guillermo Issac Trevino: Do you have a favorite Stevie Nicks song?
Cher: Landslide
Mark Carder: Hey @Cher What is your favorite HORROR FILM
Cher: I'm such a gigantic chicken. I was watching Hell House last night and I was afraid to look at it. I don't do well with horror films they make me terrified. One of my closest friends made a blockbuster movie and it was the Exorcist.
(It was mildly exciting to think Mr. Cher Scholar and I were watching The Legend of Hell House on TCM at the same time Cher was. I even decided to use some of the character names for a novel I'm working on. Mr. Cher Scholar and I also watched The Excorcist again — Cher is referencing director William Friedkin there who, as we know, also directed Good Times – and Mr. Cher Scholar and I decided we were kind of burned out on the gory parts — although the special effects still hold up — but we really got into the quieter, character development of the movie this year. In fact, I don't think the movie would be quite as frightening without the quiet, ominous soundtrack.)
Annette Eland: Do you meditate?
Cher: Yes
Raymond Donahue: Is it true that you & Sonny were neighbors with Farrah Fawcett ?
Cher: I don't think so
Michele McLey: A couple of question's first what to you like to do when your not touring? And will you do a tour DVD? Oh and please say you are doing another movie, soon!
Cher: Be grubby and go to the movies. Swimming and hang out with my friends. Just nothing, the same thing everyone else likes to do. It's hard to be grubby nowadays though, it's hard to be yourself.
Jennifer Fontana: Hi Cher! What is your favorite moment from your legendary career?
Cher: Ppppssshhhh. I guess winning the Oscar was pretty hard to beat.
Jason Andrew: Dear Cher, Once you are canonized as a saint, what will you be the patron of?
Cher: Lost causes
Sam Durbin: If you could be any item in a walmart, what would you be and why?
Cher: I would be in Target
Sam Durbin: What CD is in your car right now?
Cher: MY CD. Because I'm singing tracks to the show, I rehearse. The CD that is in my car is boring.
Christopher Eklund: What is your favorite memory of filming Burlesque?
Cher: HMm. The song, Welcome to Burlesque. I was kind of nervous. No, it's not really my favorite. One scene I had with Stanley, and the makeup scene with Christina. I don't have any favorite ones. Maybe You Haven't Seen the Last of Me.
Lorenzo Morrison: Hi Cher. No Lady Gaga. No Madonna. I would like to know what do you you think about Annie Lennox! Is there a song by her you particularly appreciate?
Cher: She's a genius. Everyday we play "Take me to the River" and do our ab exercises to it.
Amanda Jean Bedwell: Is there anything you haven't done yet but you would love to do next
Cher: A million things I want to do. So many things. I can't believe I got this OLD and there are still so many things I want to do.
Dawn Decker: Will you ever do a meet n greet? The only thing on my bucket list is to meet you!!!
Cher: Oh gosh. Elvis, James Dean. There weren't many women icons when I was young with my mom watching old movies – there was Katherine Hepburn. But I identified more with Elvis and James Dean and I identified more with that. The women were more cute and I couldn't identify with them at all
Caricatures
Finally, when we were talking about caricatures a few weeks ago, I forgot about a very famous Cher caricature done by Al Hirschfeld in 1974!
Okay, I think the height thing is a little exaggerated there.
Lip-lickin' delight! Cher has been out and about in New York City. Lots of lovely pics as a result.
I just saw the Muscle Shoals documentary last week. Cher has a few photos in the movie, outtakes of the headband shots also seen in the Rhino collectors CD of her 1969 album Jackson Highway. Nothing particularly noteworthy about her in the movie except for the fact that they say she was the first customer at the Jackson Highway studio in 1969 after the four "Swampers" decided to leave the FAME Studios to create their own rival studio.
After the gala, Cher went strolling around in NYC (Cher World).
Peripherals
A blogger writes about what the movie Mask means to her all these 20 years later (Huffington Post).
