a division of the Chersonian Institute
Cher’s new single, “The Greatest Thing” has turned into a duet with Lady Gaga. And the world is agaga waiting for it. It’s being tweaked even as we speak. The new album is set for Christmastime but that sounds like a hard deadline to meet when they might still be recording tracks.
The movie Zookeeper came out on DVD and Blu-ray yesterday.
And Cher-scholar Rob sent me a great copy of Cher and Gregg Allman singing “Love Me” — see screen shot above.
One of my favorite Cher covers of all time is her 1975 Cher Show cover of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy."
Sad news was reported in the September 2nd issue of Entertainment Weekly. Glen Campbell is embarking on a true farewell tour (and final album). He's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Campbell had a rennaisance in 2008 with his album Meet Glen Campbell. His last album, Ghost on the Canvas, was just released this year to good reviews.
As you recall, Glen Campbell was a member of The Wrecking Crew, the studio musicians in LA who recorded with everyone involved in the Southern California sound, including Sonny & Cher (I wish that documentary on those guys would come out on DVD already), and Cher performed with Glen on both The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in 1969 and on The Sonny & Cher shows of the 1970s.
Although now polar opposites in political speak, those crazy kids once had real duet chemistry!
One of their best from 1977 (stick to the end for the duet).
"And offers comin over the phone"
Glen: I got three offers today.
Cher: Just three, huh?
Glen: That's all.
Thank you Cher scholar Robrt for reminding me of this most unfortunate compilation in your comment to last week's post.
It reminds me of a story. When I was a preteen, I found a list of Cher's ouvre in a record guide sitting in the entertainment section at our tiny B. Dalton bookstore at the mall. I secretly wrote the list out on an envelope found in my purse. Back then, you couldn't just peruse books with a cup of coffee like you can do at Borders (well before Borders went kaput). If you were caught reading something, you might hear: "Are you gonna buy that?"
With that stolen list, I was on a mission. My mother made my brother drive me from the burbs into the city of St. Louis to search the two local used record stores. It wasn't the bonding moment it would have been had I had a flamboyantly gay brother.
Soon, I found a list of more used record stores in the back ads of Rolling Stone magazine. Bingo! I hand-wrote letters to stores all over the country. I wish I had a copy of one of these dorky letters by my 10-year old self. Let me tell you, in the early 80s nobody was looking for Sonny & Cher records. Long story short, I was very excited to find someone in Indiana or some such place had a copy of Cher Sings the Hits. I was picturing an album of 60s covers. Okay so that pretty much describes any Cher or Sonny & Cher album of the 60s (give or take a few Sonny songs)…but I was imagining different covers, new covers. More hit-y covers. What I did not expect was another Cher compilation album of somewhat questionable hits like:
Ok, so some of those had been hits by other people. But clearly not all of them. And I took umbrage with the usage of the work the in the title, as if this indicated surely that these would be the definitive hits of the day.
Add to that the travesty that the album didn't even include a picture on the cover! Why did it exist?? It was my first moment of compilation dismay, heralding in a lifetime of more to follow. Do James Joyce scholars go through this? I don't think so.
It's true I have an irrational fascination with the Cher-Compilation-Industrial-Complex. Secretly, I believe Oompa Loompas are in some factory putting these things out. This is an old rare one I've been hunting for many years…basically for the cover art….a painterly representation of Sonny & Cher. Now that I have it, I'm highly disturbed by it.
Hilariously, this MCA compilation, Sonny in Cher Once Again, was produced for Spencer Gifts in 1976. Any mall rat from the 1970s remembers the cheap gifts, sex games and back-of-the-store poster racks of their favorite mall store Spencers. The electronic puppy running into the wall at the front of the store? Where else could you get a pet rock? By the time I was frequenting their shelves, Sonny & Cher merchandise was long gone.
But back to this unusual cover art. The artist is not credited for some reason and the faces of Sonny & Cher are a bit off. Cher's lips and nose especially. Sonny looks more like Magnum PI, Cher like Lindsay Lohan. Secondly, their heads are taken from two completely different pictures…and you can kinda tell by the awkward positioning. Cher is from the back cover of the 1972 All I EVer Need is You album, the best S&C picture ever taken in my humble opinion.
I have no idea where Sonny's image was extracted from. That blue button down is totally unrecognizable to me. Especially without fancy embroidery on it. Does anybody know? The background is I guess some kind of a door opening into a large fern forest.
Once Again is a good name for a compilation from them. Other good compilation titles would be: Yet Again, More Random Selections from Sonny & Cher, You Haven't Seen The Last of a Sonny & Cher and/or Cher Compilation.
This is also a double album. It's got a mix of songs from their Live and Kapp/MCA albums…so you get "Train of Thought" bumping up on "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" and "Half Bread" inbetween "The Beat Goes On" and "Song for You." It ends on "United We Stand."
I love their version of that song. I really do.
Geez…it's been since June 6!! Uhh….I took the summer off. 🙂
Well, here's what really happened (very little of it keeping up with Cher): I was mired in some day-job woes, culminating in not having a work computer for a week. My husband and I been searching for a larger place to shack-up in here in Santa Fe. Now we're packing to move into the new place we found just down the street. I had my birthday weekend at the water park in Albuquerque. Been working with some friends on sample illustrations for a book of poems and I took a new ceramics class at Santa Fe Community College. OH…and my uterus has lost its mind. Many gynecology appointments and a (normal) biopsy later, I am finding a moment to write this blog.
But the good news is….during this time Cher zine 3 has gone through its layout and we’re in the final stage of checking and soon printing. Lots of great stuff in there!
But in the last two months, lots of current Cher news has passed me by. So to recap…
There was a special screening of Come Back to the 5 and Dine, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in New
York City at the Walter Reade Theater on July 15 that was followed by a Q&A with the production designer David Gropman, production executive Peter Newman and the distributor Ira Deutchman. The screening was presented by UCLA Film & Television Archive's preservation project at their Biennial Festival of Preservation. The Film Society of Lincoln Center hosted.
A review of the screening: http://altscreen.com/07/14/2011/friday-editors-pick-come-back-to-the-five-and-dime-jimmy-dean-jimmy-dean-1982-2/
Zookeeper came out! (Cher at premiere above and below) I really enjoyed Zookeeper. Critics have been harsh but then critics always hate the feel-good love story. It’s been done so many times, you know. But they actually do the trick of making one feel good. So, there you go. Cher was way underrepresented in animal dialogue (but it was her character Janet’s idea for Kevin James to go on a date with his co-worker…which was a crucial plot point). To hear her sing Boston’s "More Than a Feeling" during the end credits with the other animal cast members more than made up for the price of the ticket. I was in Cher-singing-random-songs Heaven. My trip to the movie was not without drama though. I went alone and arrived early. A huge Caucasian family (grandma in tow) completely surrounded me, passing their popcorn and drinks over me without so much as an excuse us. And then kept giving me annoyed glances as if I were the rude one. Note to parents, if you’re going to a movie with 12 family members who insist on sitting together, get there on the early side. Don't expect everyone there to accommodate you.
The movie had lots of zoo jokes. Everyone enjoyed it. Kevin James’ brother Dave in the movie looks like ICANN's CEO Rod Beckstrom. I liked the crazy Asian character–geat break from stereotype. I enjoyed the sweet wedding scene the best…the leads had chemistry. The Bromance with Gorilla Nick Nolte was also fun. Ironically, the animal scenes could have been funnier.
News came out in Entertainment Weekly this summer that Jane Lynch took the Nun role in the Three Stooges movie. I can’t say I’m devastated by this news. Although it must be fun to make comedies, Cher’s true acting gift is doing dramatic roles and I wish we’d see more of those. The best parts of Burlesque were when Cher was in a bit of drama. Cher cries and we cry.
Becoming Chaz’s has earned an emmy nomination.
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/07/chaz-bono-becoming-emmy-nominee
Speaking of World of Wonder productions, Drag U season 2 has been keeping me GOING the past month with its feel-good female empowerment messages. I even bought RuPaul's book "Workin It." This season they've had some butch lesbians in want of some dragging, which further reinforces the idea that clothes serve more as a uniform than representation of un-evolving identity. All the women seem to get a confidence boost from a few days as a Drag Queen. There's power to mine in big hair and sequins, there really is. And pink is just a a color, not an identity statement.
Cher turned up on the Bullseye page of Entertainment Weekly this summer and not in the good part of the page…she was in the far-off-center part: “Cher plans on touring long into her retirement. See? Another Mermaid in a wheelchair” (referring to Bette Midler as the other mermaid in a wheelchair).
She won't escape crap for a fake-retirement tour.
A clip of Cher and her mother Georgia singing together has surfaced. I love, love, love this. Hope this clip is a hint of more country to come from a new Cher release. You gotta do these things while you can.
My cousin has tipped me off to Cher Sidewalk (part of the Heavy Metal Parkinglot series) although it turns out Cher fans are not as hilariously dopey as 1986 Judas Priest fans.
In the wayback files, Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour costume designer Ret Turner(all the costumes Bob Mackie didn't do) is interviewed.
That's all for now….I hear I have a lot of Cher tweets to catch up on.
Last week I found some sweet videos online:
Sonny & Cher sing "The Beat Goes On" on a French show. The Frenchman are all dressed alike! Great Cher smile (and early dancing). Sonny loses his jacket. The cameraman is all up in her grill.
Sonny & Cher sing "I Got You Babe" in 1965 with Cher in her Union Jacks pantsuit. What an innocent young girl!
Sonny & Cher sing "The Beat Goes On" in the early 1970s. So much more confidence!
Sonny & Cher sing "All I Ever Need is You." Was this the inspiration for The Police video "Wrapped Around My Finger?"
Interview and Cher singing "You'd Better Sit Down Kids". What is sonny wearing?
Sonny & Cher singing "Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear." What? Is this the inspiration for the Prisoner album cover?
Sonny & Cher singing "All Shook Up." Some early Cher hand hanging.
Sonny & Cher singing "Treat Me Nice." Are they wearing tshirts?
Other stuff:
In two videos, Sonny sings “talk about it.” You'll remember this command well from the Sonny & Cher Live album. Two videos also include some early Cher hand hanging. This was not completely a 70s phenomenon.
I've been working on my 3rd zine lately and doing a survey of artists who have covered Cher songs. Some great artists have been covering Cher, by the way. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have. Click the photos to enlarge.
This is truly awesome. Not quite a cover but a sampling of "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" by a French rap group called IAM. Une Autre Brique Dans Le Mur
In 2010 Charlotte Church covered "Bang Bang." It's haunting like the Nancy Sinatra version we all know and love but she totally takes it up a notch. Excellent cover.
Speaking of "Bang Bang," years ago Paul Weller did an amazing cover as well. An artist of his caliber…wow. It's a joy to hear.
I was at the movies to see the Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (couldn't make sense of it but it was very beautiful) and I saw a preview for the French Canadian film Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires) which had the Italian Dalida version of "Bang Bang" featured prominently. All her Sonny & Cher covers from the 60s are lovely ("Mama" and "Petit Homme").
And finally, a band who did something f-ing awesome with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves." The Scud Mountain Boys really treat it well.
Meanwhile, Cher scholars Rob, Robrt, and NYCDishy have been forwarding some good Cher video:
Sonny miming & Cher singing "All I Really Want to Do." This one is cute because at the end Sonny walks off and Cher looks like she's having a shy moment. She buries her head in his shoulder at the end.
Sonny & Cher singing "What Now My Love." Also, stick to the end to hear S&C duet with Bing Crosby about New Year's resolutions.
Sonny & Cher singing "Baby Don't Go" live in early hair and outfits.
All the old S&C footage then makes this clip all the more bittersweet: Cher singing "Didn't We," her swan song to her relationship with Sonny, performed at the end of their run on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour back in 1974. At this point in the song, Cher really belts out the words about their rise to fame and "that long, hard climb."
Misty water colored memories….of the way we were.
This Russian bloke has just purchased Cher's music label: http://www.fastcompany.com/1751965/len-blavatnik-warner-music-group
Is that Cher tweet pic with a bull? That looks perilous! If she gets gored at least she'll go to the hospital looking awesome in a cowboy hat!
There have also been some great pics fans have done superimposing Cher's face onto great paintings, my favorite being the Frida Kahlo one. I'm hesitant to repost them here without knowing the mashup-artist's name.
The Kathy Griffin exchanges are interesting…you know real girl fights wouldn’t show up on Twitter.
who is Kathleen? Red haired comedienne who used 2 b 1 of my Closest dearest most beloved friends ? (April 7)
Worried about Cher's back pains! Especially lower back pains!
Cher's tweet pic: a herd of ugg boots.
And we all know she loves Audrey & Katharine Hepburn but one fan asks about favorite leading men and she agrees with a list of Cary Grant, Gregory Peck and Jimmy Stewart (April 5)
I particularly love Cher's advice tweets:
And she's still trying to help the little kid with ecxema. Poor fella.
Nite lovelies am really tired ! Need find tweet little boy with ex-ema sp) Xxx me (April 5)
And she goes introspective….
have you ever had to do something that you didn't want to but had to do to survive? Ahh Yes ! (April 5)
what has been 1 of the most difficult time in your lifetime!' not now ! Write it in book ! Must Tell MY Story MY WAY (Apr 5)
oohh…so she's thinking about telling her story!
you doing autobiography? Not yet ! gotta b little older ( as if that's poss.) & a few people gotta get senile (April 5)
Oh yeah. I hear that.
I don't listen 2 my music! As a matter of fact I'm always alittle embarrassed when I'm out & it comes on ! Hide my face & giggle (April 8)
Incredible.
Cher tweet pic with Peter Gallagher. What's off-kilter here is seeing Cher in an office!
What a beige environment for her!! I just seems so wrong! Like someone will ask her to type something or take dictation.
Ron_Zimmerman: Legendary Director Passes Away and richard benjiman seems to b immortal. so unfair. Bad z (April 9)
Well…no intention to bash Richard because I actually like him as a character actor (that scavenger hunt movie, that movie where he played the cuckolded husband to George Hamilton's Dracula). He's got his own charm. But as a director? I do not feel he saved Mermaids from quasi-drama-quasi-comedy purgatory. I'm just sayin.
Cher scholar Dishy sent me this clip of The Standells singing "The Boy Next Door" arranged and produced by Sonny Bono. I like it. Can you hear Sonny & Cher singing background?
Here's another clip from Sonny & Cher on The Beat Club signing what looks like lots and lots of autographs.
The kids love em!
Check out that old 60s studio camera.
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