Category: Peripherals (Page 19 of 22)

Sonny Stuff (Festivals and Stamps)

January 9, 2009 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Sonny Palms Springs Film Festival Vision:
Here's an excellent essay from mydesert.com from Bruce Fessier on The Palm Springs Film Festival highlights through the years, the celebrity drama, the very immediate impact Sonny's death had on the 1998 festival, and the big successes in showcasing some awesome movies.

I actually forwarded this article to two of my film-buff friends because the more I read the piece the more I realized it was an awesome Netflix list of great foreign and independent films of the last 20 years.

Also, it illustrates how important the festival momentum depended on fiscal management, donors, and gala events with red carpet attendance.

And how many films launched there went on to win Oscars:

"It illustrated how the festival circuit begins at Sundance and ends at Palm Springs just before the Oscar nomination announcements."[Fessier]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090104/EVENTS01/901020330/-1/lifestylesfront

The Sonny Stamp

I had a late-Christmas party last night with some friends (we were all too busy over the actual holiday to meet). We met at West Coast Subs in the Palms area of LA for boba and dinner and this is where my friend Christopher informed me that Cher and Mary Bono Mack were joining forces to petition for a Sonny Bono memorial stamp.

Awesome.

Shorenuff, Liz Smith confirms:

Cher, the one and only, tells us that she is lobbying the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate her late ex, Sonny Bono, with his own stamp.

Cher says she would join forces with Congresswoman Mary Bono-Mack, who was married to Sonny at the time of his death, to make this honor a reality. And the U.S. Postal Service is keen to the idea. One high-up said, “A Sonny Bono stamp would be a lot of fun, especially if Cher would attend the dedication for it.

First of all: the one and only? – that phrase is dated, pointless and dorkey. By now there are actually many other Chers in the world. I know this because their blog entries clog up my RSS feeds.

Oooh…I’m envisioning sending oodles of mail with Sonny stamps. Do you think it will be 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s Sonny?

Stamps above from the site Stamp Magnets: http://stampmagnets.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?type=search&search=minor&minor=Entertainers+-+Music&shop=stamp-search&amount=10&num=20

The Week That Was Supercalifragalistic

November 7, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

So it was an emotionally busy and exhausting week in the United States in general and in California in particular. My office was off in Cairo Egypt working on tweaking-the-Internet-meetings and our web team did a record amount of work on the website. That left me with little free time or energy. Between that and Election Day, which not only included the incredibly awesome election of Barak Obama for U.S. President (and I must say I supported Obama as a potential president back when I saw him speak at the DNC back in 2004. Not to brag but…) but the surprising passage of proposition 2 in California which ensures larger cages for farm animals and the heartbreaking constitutional challenge to gay unions.

The ironic combination of those three election results has not been lost on us here in California with the bitter commentary that we expanded the rights of chickens while stomping on the rights of our gay community. In defense of the chickens, I must say I know of no animal rights activist who did not support gay marriage. The problems for proposition 8 were, to my mind, as such:

Misleading proposition language on the ballot: many folk believed a Yes vote meant they supported gay marriage, not that they supported a ban on gay marriage. This confusing language is usually intentional on the part of the proposition’s proponents. They try to trick you into voting for stuff: get educated before you vote, people.
Allegedly large amounts of money spent from the Mormon Church in support of the ban on gay unions. If this is true, it's a bit ironic considering other Christian challengers to gay marriage always claim a slippery slope which would lead to a Mormon-style bigamy. Gay haters (or Gayters as I like to call them) make strange bedfellows.
Other homophobia in various communities.

And although this sucks royally, we have to keep supporting our community with each next step. This is no time to give up. This morning on the Stephanie Miller Show, the commentary-duo Frangela was on the air discussing the alleged lack of support in this proposition from the African-American community, calling on African-American civil rights leaders such as Al Sharpton to speak out against the proposition. Angela V. Shelton (one half of Franglea) has long been an advocate for gay rights and stated unequivocally that “No one is free until we’re all free.”

In other news this week:

Cher went on Access Hollywood…

Tony Curtis: American Prince?

October 30, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

While I was waiting for someone at the bookstore to come out and help me find a book on the city of Redondo Beach, I picked up a copy of the new Tony Curtis autobiography American Prince. I leafed through the index to find Cher references.

I never really liked Tony Curtis, ever since I saw him on The Tonight Show years ago when he stated he thought his current hot, young girlfriend was even prettier than his daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis.

On many levels — a dipwad, I thought.

But anyway, Curtis talks about Sonny & Cher on one page of his new opus. He talks about Sonny wanting to buy his house (but which one? Didn’t they end up buying two of his houses? One on St. Cloud and one on Carrolwood — see pic above, both in Bel Air?). Curtis also talked about being a guest on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour when S&C were in the process of splitting up (remember his “Detective Fat”?). Curtis casually sympathizes with Sonny and says the breakup was basically over Cher’s ambition and her not wanting be part of the act anymore, 'cos it was holding her back. And if I remember correctly, this was Sonny’s version of events as well. But not the version many Cher biographers put forth.

Curtis taking this side is not surprising since I recall him appearing occasionally in Sonny’s post-Cher social circle lists. And it’s somewhat disappointing that Curtis plays that down in this book, like he was some disinterested bystander an all.

And dude, you title your book American Prince? Could the book be that credible? Okay, I admit my tastes veer more toward Tony Manero than Tony Curtis. But in any case, this all reminds me of that old James Taylor/J.D. Souther song, “Her Town Too”:

She gets the house and the garden
He gets the boys in the band
Some of them his friends
Some of them her friends
Some of them understand
Lord knows that this is just a small town city
Yes, and everyone can see you fall
It's got nothing to do with pity
I just wanted to give you a call
It used to be your town
It used to be my town, too

No More Worst-dressed Lists?

October 23, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Mr. Blackwell, the celebrity with no first name, has died. OMG, how will we know how to judge what celebrities are wearing now?!

He was a bit schizophrenic with Cher. At first she was one of his best dressed in the early 70s; but then by the 1984 she topped his worst list and then was on it again in 1999.

See a compilation of the yearly worsts:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3KVqscVrccxibkegEYLw94QNTdwD93U1VF80
No one seems to care about compiling the best.

One writer takes apart the Mr. Blackwell phenomenon

Now I'm getting wise to what it takes to attract Mr. Blackwell's attention.

The Spice Girls made the worst-dressed list in 1998. Today, they're old news.

Cher topped the same list last year. The reason? She made a major comeback from obscurity. She was news again.

What was interesting, at least to me, was that just four years ago, Blackwell dismissed any mention of Cher. He said then, "She hasn't been around for a long time, and she buried herself completely when she did that navel bit. She's no longer on my list."

What a difference a few years make.

"You've got to talk about people that you can see," he once told an interviewer.

We are seeing Cher again. We're also seeing her navel, and everybody else's.

Blackwell is an interesting guy.

Rags, Stars, 80s Videos, Rosetta Stone, Black Rose, Les Dudek, Elton John, Kathy Griffin and Whatever Else I Can Throw Into One Blog Post

September 4, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 2 Comments

80s Videos

I’m not even gonna go near The Enquirerthis week or this year for that matter (between all the John Edwards, Sarah Palin and Cher stories I’ll lose my mind).

I started a new ceramics class last Saturday and then came home and threw a small dinner party that evening. On Sunday I was so exhausted I crashed and spent 12 straight hours watching “80 Hours of 80s” on VH1-Classic. It was like a flashback to my teen years where I spent the days and night watching 80s videos. All day Sunday I kept saying I should at least read my mail during the commercials and videos I hated (like U2s "With or Without You" or anything by The Romantics) but I found myself just as mesmerized as I was 20 years ago through every single ridiculous yet charming video.

It makes no sense. I feel like I have severe attention deficit watching modern videos with all their jump cuts and poses. But 80s videos, were nothing but mindless shenanigans in front of a camera happen, those suckers hypnotize me for hours. I wasted the entire day laying on the couch. I didn’t even eat much. I even saw a few video’s I’d never seen before and decided to seriously re-evaluate Sinead OConnor (due to "I Want Your Hands on Me") and reconfirmed my yen for P.I.L. (with "Rise"). Then one video practically got me to giddy as I hit the record button on my Crap-o (my Comcast DVR) – it was like 1986 and I was hitting Play on my prehistoric VCR that would groan for two seconds before actually recording anything so that now I have tapes and tapes of videos with the beginnings missing. But this song I saw only once or twice in the 80s but loved it, LOVED IT (and could never find on 45, CD or even now on iTunes!) The Producers singing “What’s He Got That I Aint Got” – perfect 80s-ness.

Blog Questions

To answer a few recent questions posted on the blog:

How is Rosetta Stone going? I love it so far and am still trying to find time to work on it more often. It's designed to teach you how to learn a language as you first did as a toddler. I got 98% on my first lesson; and I am so not a left-brained/memorize-it sort person. So that’s a good sign.
Do I think the unavailability of Starshas contributed to its current cult status among fans? Most probably so, but I still think that fact is more of a detriment to Cher’s long-term respect as a talented musical artist than it is a kewl underground gem we can all bond over. Why? Because it’s not like Neil Young who maybe has a rare great album that’s become a cult find but he also has plenty of other critically acclaimed albums to rest his laurels on. Cher has lots of pop albums that are easy to find and a few awesome ones that are hard to find. It’s only a cool thing among fans. The rest of the world is still in the dark about it. I will concede that I’m not sure Cher’s respect among critics will even yet treat Stars fairly, but I think she’s definitely getting there, each year more and more respect.

Kathy Griffin Meets Cher
Kathy Griffin’s implored Rosie O'Donnell to introduce her to Cher in exchange for getting Rosie into some braniac conference. This all happened on a recent episode of Griffin’s reality show. Here’s a story about her meeting with Cher.

Black Rose
I was doing research on the spelling of Les Dudek’s name for a Cher Glossary I’m putting together for the revamp of CherScholar.com and I came across this interesting Wikipedia entry that claims there are enough spare tracks for a Black Rose (see kewl pic above) album #2 and that "Don’t Trust that Woman" was written by Les Dudek and Cher. But I thought the co-writer was Elton John (as Lady Choc Ice) and that the song ended up on John’s album Leather Jackets (see the lyrics and credits here on an Elton John discography site) and as explained by Elton John and Cher on The Joan Rivers Show.

However, lesdudek.com list the same song same lyrics for his Gypsy Ride album and claims it was written by Cher and himself: http://www.lesdudek.com/disco/gypsy.htm. Here's the sound clip: http://www.lesdudek.com/disco/byte/gr/gypsy09.mp3.

Yahoo Music clears it up and says it was written by all three of them.

Three things I conclude from this lesson:

Cher can co-write some catchy sh*t.
This song can be contorted into vastly different pop and rock genres.
I like Les Dudek’s voice. I really do.

Do you think there was a jam session with all three of them on this little piece? Nah.

Wrecking Crew Documentary is Awesome

August 25, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 3 Comments

If you live in LA, go see the documentary The Wrecking Crew at the Arclight in Hollywood this week only. The movie not only has good commentary from Cher, it has a semi-lengthy clip of Sonny & Cher in sessions for their Wondrous World album and interviews and conversations about the many musicians and producers who worked with them in the 60s and 70s. You get a great sense of what recordings were all about during that time of that frenetic westcoast sound S&C were part of. You also get:

Extensive interviews and discussions about drummer Hal Blaine, who played on many a Cher and Sonny & Cher album.
Interviews with Snuff Garrett – including a clip where he talks about “Gypsys Tramps and Thieves” a fact that made me rethink the musicians used for the All I Ever Need is You album. If the Wrecking Crew played for Snuff on the solo Kapp album Cher in 1971, they most likely played on the duet album as well instead of S&C’s live band at the time who played on their first live album.
Jimmy Webb was also interviewed extensively but not about anything related to Cher.
This tightly knit group of studio musicians were more often than not excluded from album credits even though they were the real musicians behind so many iconic albums, even for heavy-hitters like The Beach Boys and The Byrds. Conventional wisdom was that it would have been embarrassing to credit them. Buy at least producers like Phil Spector and Snuff Garret made sure they got paid well. It’s also interesting to note that Sonny Bono did credit them on Sonny & Cher’s debut album Look at Us: Earl Palmer, Hal Blaine, Don Randi, Mike Rubini, Don Peake, Julius Wechter.
Cher commented that she didn’t know how great these musicians were when she recorded with them; she was very shy and new to recording and she was basically just trying not to get in anyone’s way. Years later other musicians would ask her about working with these musicians with awe and respect.
The Wrecking Girl had one chick, Carol Kaye, and she was awesome! Worth seeing the movie for her contributions alone. She explained first hearing and working on “The Beat Goes On” and coming up with that great bass hook. She sang how the song sounded as written (kind of adult contemporary, not very groovy) and how she thought ‘we gotta light this thing up!’ Very funny. She said Sonny loved it and they used it. Her story was indicative of how these studio musicians contributed in substantial ways to songs from Herb Albert to The Beach Boys.
More interesting tid-bits about what contributed to the wall of sound: the ceramic walls of Gold Star Studios, the bleeding between playing instruments and making musicians do so many takes, they became exhausted (less showboating).
If you see the movie at the Arclight in Hollywood, you are in a one-mile radius of where all these great songs were recorded. Amazing insight into 60s California sound.

I also learned a lot about Plas Johnson and Tommy Tedesco who was doing guitar on just about every iconic piece of music from the 60s or 70s, including many TV themes like Bonanza and MASH.

At the end of the movie there was a Q&A with Don Randi (who played piano on Look at Us) with the film’s director. The film is doing very well in festivals and showcases but is looking for a distributor. They do plan a DVD and soundtrack at some point. There are 125 songs in the movie, so that will be an interesting soundtrack. Check Wreckingcrewfilm.com for more information. Or read my post from last week.

Sonny & Cher Musicians and Cher in a Movie Alert

August 21, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Here’s a link to a story on a new documentary about The Wrecking Crew, a gang of studio musicians who for Sinatra, Streisand, S&C and many others and included both a young Glen Campbell and a young Leon Russell.

Coincidentally, I just made Mp3s of three songs from my only Leon Russell album:

Tightrope" – which is why I picked up the album in a used record store in St. Louis back in the 80s.
"I’m up in the spotlight
Oh does it feel right
Whoa, the altitude seems to get to me"
"Stranger in a Strange Land" – which I can actually hear Elijah covering nicely in my head. Or Cher too for that matter.
And the oft recorded "Song For You" – Russell wrote this song so I feel this should be the definitive version, not The Carpenters’ or Ray Charles'. However, I do think Cher’s version is great, far better than The Carpenters version because she sounds more experienced to Karen Carpenter’s voice of innocence. I feel the inverse applies to their dual recordings of “Superstar” – the innocence in Karen Carpenters voice here serves the song better. As for versions of “Song For You” I also really like the R&B/rap group City High’s version (I love their song “What Would You Do.” I really do). Actually, I think I take umbrage with the words 'definitive version'. What does that mean anyhow? The version that quintessentially defines the song? What the hell? Is that even possible?

But I digress. There’s this documentary out on The Wrecking Crew:

“The stars, he said, were accommodating, including Cher, Dick Clark and Campbell,” said producer Denny Tedesco, 47-year-old son of Wrecking Crew guitarist Tommy Tedesco. “As big as Cher is, she was very giving. It brought her back to that period when she was 16 years old. It was a wonderful time for her. And it was a lot of fond memories for Glen. He said he missed not having to be 'the guy.' Tedesco, a Woodland Hills resident, grew to admire his father even more after all the research and filming.”

Visit http://www.wreckingcrew.tv/upcoming.html to find a screening in your town.

Here's another Wrecking Crew interview that includes another S&C musician, Hal Blaine: http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004300.html

As, you may know many S&C band members from the early 70s went on to form the band Toto and as I was starting to convert my vinyl to MP3s recently with my new turn-table, I came across these Chicago liner notes from Chicago 16(yes I bought it for “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” in 1983 when I was 13, I’m not ashamed of it!). I found many familiar names in the liner notes: Steve Lukather guitars; David Paich synthesizer, Steve Porcaro synthesizer programming. And I can’t shake this feeling that I’ve seen Chicago’s own Bill Champlin on a Cher album credit somewhere. Am I crazy? Please don’t answer that. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Jimmy Dean also alerted me last week of Jerry Wexler’s passing. Wexler was a famous Muscle Shoals producer for many landmark albums of Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield among many others. The awesome Dusty in Memphis was recorded the same year as Cher's unheralded 1969 album 3614 Jackson Highway which Wexler was one of the producers on. Jimmy Dean also mentioned that no news reported his brief association with Cher. I searched google in vain to find such a reference myself. However, I did find this exert of a bio of David Geffen (scroll down and click the link "The Operator") that claimed Wexler was Geffen’s long-time nemesis. The excerpt covers details of the night Cher met Geffen and the general gist of his involvement and substantial aid to Cher in her time of mid-70s legal crisis, which is quite important in considering where she is today. You could almost say there would be no Sonny & Cher without Sonny and there would be no Cher solo without David Geffen. And possibly no Cher into the 21st century without Cher herself. She’s been svengali-less for decades now!

Estelle Getty Dies

July 25, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Estelle Getty died this week, the first Golden Girl we are to lose thus far. But Getty also played Barry Manilow’s mum in the TV musical Copacabana and Cher’s mum in Mask.

My favorite line from Getty in Mask was when she walked into the dark living room after returning her grandson Rocky from a baseball game and saw Cher (as Rusty) on a bummer (as Sonny would say).

She shook her head, rolled her eyes and said “Florence.” The she turned around and walked out.

Cher Medvetz?

July 25, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

This week Liz Smith confirmed the new Cheromance.

His name is Tim Medvetz and he’s known on the Internets as a motorcycle customizer and a controversial reality-show Mount Everest climber. A quick google search provides his basic dets:

http://www.womenridersnow.com/PublicFiles/printerarticle.asp?ArticleID=445&DepartmentID=8

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/everestbeyond/bios/bios-2007.html

http://twinsbullpen.blogspot.com/2008/04/boof-and-tim-medvetz.html

Stars Guitarist

June 26, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Fred Tackett was profiled recently online. He is still a member of Little Feet and he played in the band on Sonny & Cher shows:

“I played in bands for variety shows, like ‘Sonny & Cher,’ then the Cher show, Tony Orlando’s show, and Donny & Marie Osmond. You could do three of those shows and retire – they’d even pay you three-quarters of your pay for the summer reruns. It was a magical time.”

He was also credited on two of the best of Cher albums Two the Hard Way and Stars.

Learn more about Fred at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Tackett

Category: Peripherals (Page 19 of 22)

Sonny Stuff (Festivals and Stamps)

The Week That Was Supercalifragalistic

Tony Curtis: American Prince?

No More Worst-dressed Lists?

Rags, Stars, 80s Videos, Rosetta Stone, Black Rose, Les Dudek, Elton John, Kathy Griffin and Whatever Else I Can Throw Into One Blog Post

Wrecking Crew Documentary is Awesome

Sonny & Cher Musicians and Cher in a Movie Alert

Estelle Getty Dies

Cher Medvetz?

Stars Guitarist

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