Category: Peripherals (Page 7 of 21)

Cher Endorses Heidi Shink

April 28, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

So Heidi Shink, Chaz Bono’s former girlfriend, is running for city council in West Hollywood. This is her page: http://www.heidishink.com/.

For the record, I kind of like Heidi Shink. She seems to have spunk. And like Lou Grant, I like spunk. She also came across well in the book Becoming Chaz when Chaz describes the hullabaloo their band endured at the hands of their producer Mark Hudson. (Remember Husdson was Cher’s friend going back to the late 1970s, appearing with her and the Hudson brothers on Merv Griffin’s daytime show and co-writing her tribute to her failed relationship to Gregg Allman, "My Song."

Forget about harassment, team Shink had me when Mark Hudson started painting his beard.

But wasn’t Cher’s song “Disaster Cake” about Heidi Shink? Am I mixing Chaz girlfriends here? Do I have my lazy scholarship down right?

"Disaster Cake" doesn’t sound too much like an endorsement. It's true, maybe Heidi was young and silly then. Maybe she’s more endorse-able now. In any case, I think we need a new song. I propose “Best-for-West-Hollywood Cake.”

Stories about the endorsement:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cher-endorses-west-hollywood-city-788706

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cher-backing-son-chaz-bonos-791357

http://www.people.com/article/cher-chaz-bono-bandmate-city-council

Story about the hysteria caused by the endorsement:

http://www.wehoville.com/2015/04/20/opinion-cher-endorsing-shink-sparks-silly-hysteria/

Honored in Brazil, Nick Vanoff, InStyle Mag, Kenneth Goldsmith

April 13, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Been tied up doing the National Poetry Writing Month challenge this month (I have to write a poem a day) and obsessively watching episodes of Schitt's Creek, the new Canadian sitcom on Pop TV staring SCTV's Catharine O'Hara and Eugene Levy. Thankfully it's Canadian and may not get cancelled just because it's on Pop TV and no one knows where that is. It's very funny.

Cher Stuff

A few weeks ago I received a few missives from the Cher store that items were 50% off if you spent over $30. As it turned out only three items were 50% (of which I only wanted one) and to get over the $30 hurdle without buying a $75 sweatshirt you didn't want, you had to buy one of the other sucky three items. So I went over to ebay and bought a Mark Twain magazine to abate my shopping frustration.

Peripheral Stories

Nick Vanoff’s house for sale: ‘Sonny and Cher’ Producer’s Beverly Hills Estate Listing for $25 Million

(Wall Street Journal) (Realty Today)

I love it when poetry and Cher collide. This month is full of that sort of thing. Remember David Essex on Cher's solo show? He now has a book of poems!

Take a look at him now and then watch him with Cher singing "The Long and Winding Road."

Honors & Awards

AIDS Activism

Cher was recently honored at the ‘Inspiration Gala’ in Brazil.

Articles announcing the award:

Articles about Cher's visit to an art gallery before the ceremony:

Artnet
Page Six

Cher's tweet Saturday: "Brazil is lovely. Went to art show last nite & fell in love with MAGIC GOLDEN Art piece by 85 year old woman…IT WAS SOLD. HAD FUN ANYWAY."

Coverage of the event:

amfAR CEO Kevin Frost spoke passionately about amfAR’s Countdown to a Cure for AIDS initiative, with the goal of developing the scientific basis of a cure by 2020. Announcing a $100 million cure research investment strategy, Frost stressed that “amfAR has the will, the commitment, and the know-how to get this done, and to truly make AIDS history.” Frost then presented the amfAR Award of Inspiration to Cher. Speaking of her willingness and ability to use her fame for the greater good, Frost described her as one of the great champions in the fight against AIDS. Cher received a standing ovation and encouraged the audience to “help bring an end to this terrible disease” before bringing fellow honoree Jean Paul Gaultier on stage for a kiss.

Cher World has great coverage with lots of pics: http://www.cherworld.com/cher-news/cher-honoured-at-amfar-2015-brazil/ (Cher World covering the art gallery event: http://www.cherworld.com/cher-news/cher-visits-brazil-for-charity-event/)

My favorite pics (click to enlarge):

Fashon

InStyle Magazine is inspired by Cher's timeless jeans.

Recognized for blunt tweeting

Must-follow-Monday: Cher

Cher Research

Good resource for research on Cher singles and international album covers.

The Perils of Fame

The National Enquirer on stands now claims that Cher is dying. Cher refutes this.

My co-worker sent me this amazing story about a guy whose iPhone was stolen and he became suddenly famous in China. Lots of good commentary on the perils of fame and why the famous need "teams."

A follow up on the Edith Hill and Eddie Harrison story:
http://entertainment.inquirer.net/167192/cher-paves-way-for-elderly-womans-homecoming-after-a-court-dispute

Arts and Literature

Review of the Scottish S&C Musical (The Guardian)

The April month of Poetry was dedicated to hip hop poetry and it was interesting to see so many kudos thrown to The Wu-Tang Clan. Kenneth Goldsmith is a conceptual poet who's conceptual manifesto is published in the same issue. Since Cher is often accused of being artificial (by rock and roll standards), I have long been collecting commentary about artifice in art. Goldsmith had three things to say about this:

"Authenticity is another form of artifice."

"At this point in time, it's hard to verify authenticity, singularity, or proper sources for anything. Instead, in our digital world all forms of culture have assumed the characteristics of dance music and versioning, where so many hands have touched and refined these products that we no longer know, nor care, who the author is — or was."

"Auto-tune your next book of poems."

Movie Alert, Toto Bro RIP, Cherity and Cher Impersonators

March 22, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Toto

Another Toto member and Porcaro brother has died. Toto's bassist, Mike Porcaro, died last week at age 59. David Hungate was their original bassist. Mike's brother, drummer Jeff Porcaro, died in 1992 at the age 39. David and Jeff were members of Sonny & Cher's band during the early 1970s, later becoming founding members of Toto with David Paich (also of Sonny & Cher's band and of "David's Song") and Steve Lukather. Many Toto members have worked with Cher over the years as studio musicians and as inspiration. Read Mike's New York Times obit or more about the history of Toto.

The Wrecking Crew Movie

Great news! The Wrecking Crew documentary is coming to an art house near you! I saw an LA screening of this movie back in 2008 and did an expensive blog post about it. Cher in not only interviewed but you learn a lot more about the musicians Sonny & Cher were working with in the 1960s. There is some good old S&C footage here and as the press for the movie states, these musicians were “the unsung heroes of the West Coast Sound."

About the movie: http://www.wreckingcrew.tv/
Screening dates near you: http://www.wreckingcrew.tv/screenings.php

Go see this movie!

Cher Offers to Help 96-Year Old Edith Harrison

In other big news this week, Cher offered to help 96-year old Edith Harrison return home in Virginia.

The Washington Post story:Cher, yes that Cher, fights to help 96-year-old keep her Virginia home
The Today Show story: Cher pledges to help 96-year-old woman with dementia return home
The Huffington Poststory: Cher Promises To Help 96-Year-Old Woman With Dementia Return Home

Cher offered to help pay for needed upgrades to Hill's family home in Alexandria and some medical expensive because Cher was inspired by the love story between Edith and her husband Eddie Harrison who died after they were forcibly separated in December. The story was picked up in at least 145 outlets as of last week.

Cher Impersonators

Stef and Johnny, Peter and Lily, and Sonny and Cher

There are a plethora of Cher impersonators. In my humble opinion, (thffffffft), the best ones don't try to sing. Maybe they can perfect the Cher twang or vibrator or her smokey contralto, but they just can't get the deadpan, cool distance of her persona, which is why our most famous Cher impersonator doesn't sing.

It's rare to find some Sonny & Cher impersonators (even harder to pull off), but there's a new Scottish pair doing a tribute play called "And the Beat Goes On." The Sonny might just be on to something with his stern Sonny stare. But the clothes need a little workup and what's with the teddy bear?

Kathy Griffin Opens Up About Her 'Fashion Police' Exit

Griffin does a very funny Cher impersonation in her act and her friend Cher expressed support last week when Griffin quit Fashion Police…and I do, too. I love how Griffin and Kelly Osbourne have stood up to bullying, especially calling it out among the LA fashionauts.

New Twitter Fight, Wu-Tang Clan, Cher Musical, Movie Premiere

March 14, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Twittery Punches

Cher's Latest Twitter SmackUp Participant: Piers Morgan.

These things are starting to feel like setups, like you know when the Porter Waggoner show got really bad in the 1980s and you would have bet money the no-talent guests were paying Porter to be on the show? I wonder if somewhere there are auditions to have cat-fights with Cher on Twitter. I’m not criticizing…just saying it’s getting vaudevillian.

Stories:

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6487640/piers-morgan-cher-fishnet-stockings-twitter

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/cher-smacks-down-piers-morgan-for-tweeting-she-s-too-old-to-wear-fishnets-1.2980404

Music

Apparently, Wu-Tang Clan previewed their Once Upon a Time in Shaolin album recently at MoMA PS1 in New York City. Previously they auctioned the album online and the album wont' be made commercially available for 88 years. In this article from Art News the interviewer presses the artists about working with Cher, who replaced Ol’ Dirty Bastard on part of the project. We find out that not only is Cher singing in a small part of one song, but that clip ends the album AND that Cher appears earlier in the album in a skit!

Dammit. Will we ever hear this skit? Excerpts from the Art News interview:

Frere-Jones asked about a sample of a voice he heard at the end of the last track.

“That’s actually,” Cilvaringz said, rubbing his jaw. “Cher? That’s Cher.”

Frere-Jones followed-up about Cher, who apparently acts in a skit on the record and sings, and why she appears on the record.

“I wanna ask you a question,” RZA said. “Did you ever have a crush on Cher?”

“Yeah, of course,” Frere-Jones said.

“Well, okay then,” RZA said.

“Not to get on Cher too much,” he said a few moments later, but she truly was “the kind of woman where they only made one of her. Like who made that?” he asked, waving his hand vertically. Sade, he said, is another woman like that.

Though he didn’t draw the comparison himself, RZA said he wanted the album to be something like that and made reference to another one-of-a-kind woman, this one more related to Staten Island.

“It’s like the Statue of Liberty,” he said. It exists in only one place but belongs to everyone who experiences it.

A Springfield, Illinois, man has created a musical featuring 23 Cher songs called Dark Lady. "I discovered a story line in her songs," creator Mike Sheedy says.

I have a friend who wrote a play based solely on the lyrics of Paula Abdul. These kinds of projects fascinate me. This, however, is more like Mamma Mia! or Movin’ Out (featuring the songs of Billy Joel). I think they call these jukebox musicals. As Sheedy has found out, he can't mount his show without securing the rights to all the songs. No small boulder to roll up a hill. In the meantime, he's created a show poster with his daughter in the staring role.

Movies

Cher World is reporting that Cher attended the premiere of the film Dignity with Chaz who appears in the movie as Jerry the Hoarder. I made the mistake of reading the comments on this post. I never do that. I don’t know why I did it this time. Some fans have critiques of Cher’s look and latest concert that confound me. They want her to be something she’s not, like Katy Perry. Why do I read comments??!!

The pic at the top is from the same premiere only showing Cher's full outfit and a very stern look in her eyes that reminds me of when I met her at a bookstore all those years ago.

Chaz's IMDB page has a great pic.

Press

The Boston Herald declares Cher still in a league all her own. So don’t compare her look or her work to things kids like Katy Perry are doing! Sheesh people.

Cher Teases with Tweets: A New Perfume in 2015?

March 1, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

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.

Cher’s Greatest Twitter Hits

January 19, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Page Six is reporting that Cher used Twitter to help son Elijah find his lost puppy Morris. The web article says Morris was eventually located and that Elijah and Cher are slowly mending their relationship.

Speaking of Twitter, here's a website that has collected Cher's greatest tweets from 2014.

"When perusing the Turn Back Time singer's social media outlet, it is very much like walking into a Hall of Mirrors with the eight members of the band Stereo Kicks: Confusing. Enlightening. Saddening Sometimes spiritual. But always a joy from month to month. It took us a long time to scroll down Cher's timeline, so please god, please appreciate this."

Perez Hilton also recently posted a Best Of Tweets List.

I caught up with Cher's latest and greatest tweets today and I see that she is promising not to drink a drop of Dr. Pepper until her first resumed tour rehearsal, whenever that shall be. If this sacrifice works anything like sacrificing picante salsa works for me, it's a worthwhile incentive of deprivation.

Cher also promises that when she gets better she will write a book:

Walked 1hr & Worked Out [arm muscle emoticon] Felt GOOD.Its a Long Road,but I feel myself getting a little Stronger everyday [ghost emoticon] When this is over im WRITING A BOOK‼️

I will remember this promise.

Cher Scholar Interviews June Millington from the Band Fanny

January 18, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

OMG! I just interviewed June Millington from the band Fanny! This is the band who unforgettably performed on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour in August of 1971.

Pinch me!

Read the interview on CherScholar.com.

Cher Bits Catchup

December 29, 2014 / Cher Scholar / 1 Comment

Cher History

A pretty funny recent article about how Richard Pryor once freaked out on the set of the Flip Wilson Show and fisticuffs ensued and Cher allegedly went and locked herself in her dressing room. It's an excerpt of a new biography about him. It's interesting that Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor both have new biographies out and how they were pitted against each other in the 1980s: clean comedy versus dirty comedy. And how history changes everything. As Camile O'Sullivan sings: "time's the revelator."

Cher Tweet Explosions

Cher takes the Robber Barons to task. My grandfather would love that Cher is invoking the Robber Barsons. Too bad she hadn’t done this by 1978 when I was eight and he asked me soberly over the kitchen table what her politics were:

http://twitchy.com/2014/12/12/cher-citibank-robber-barons-need-to-be-chopped-up-and-women-can-do-it/

http://www.businessinsider.com/cher-comes-out-against-the-swaps-pushout-rule-2014-12

In December Cher also tried to raise awareness for abused Pigs:

http://chernews.blogspot.com/2014/12/cher-left-shaking-with-horror-over.html

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2014/12/02/cher-tweet-iowa-farmers-pigs/19810913/

A few weeks ago I linked to a Sonny & Cher video taken in a record store and Cher scholar Robrt recognized the album cover in the video. I also remembered Cher plays this video in her latest show.

Robrt believes this is their second album released in Italy with the Italian-language singles added.

Hall of Fame

I think from time to time about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s ridiculous prejudice in denying Cher an induction. I figure she deserves to be in for at least these things:

1. Her style influence in the 1960s and 70s

2. The collected impact of these songs alone:

“Bang Bang” – figuring the amount of covers this song has had.
“I Got You Babe” – and the phenomenal fad of this song.
“The Beat Goes On” – and how a pop song title has insinuated itself so fully in our cultural conversations. I hear this phrase over and over again on TV and in publications; and how impossibly uncoverable the song remains to this day.

We've all seen the most well-known picture of Cher and Angelica Houtson:

But there’s also a Cher picture in Angelica's new book, Watch Me.

Andy Cohen, Kids Books, Cher Impersonator for Safety

December 3, 2014 / Cher Scholar / 1 Comment

The December 5 issue of Entertainment Weekly does some name-dropping with Andy Cohen. They break out a face chart for all the famous people he name drops in his new book The Andy Cohen Diaries. Here is the list:

Sarah Jessica Parker – 26 mentions
Kelly Ripa – 22
Anderson Cooper – 18
Jimmy Fallon – 12
Diane Von Furstenberg – 11
Ellen Barkin – 10
Martha Stewart – 9
Matthew Broderick – 9
Cher – 8
John Mayer – 8
Allison Williams – 7
Jim Edmonds – 7
Lady Gaga – 7
Madonna – 7
Raph Fiennes – 7
Seth Meyers – 7

The same issue lists 50 books every kid should read. The list had some of my favorites: Where the Wild Things Are, Charlotte’s Web, The Ramona series, The Borrowers, Island of the Blue Dolphins, James and the Giant Peach, Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Outsiders, Bridge to Terabithia, Harry Potter.

However the list also included some of the books I was most disappointed in, the Series of Unfortunate Events. EW says this series resists providing easy answers to its messy mysteries. I say phooey on that. If you're interested, here's my longer essay on the dismal end of that series.

The list also left out many of my favorites: Nancy Drew books, Little House books, The Rats of Nimh books. I have to admit, I've never read A Wrinkle in Time. Should I go back and read it?

I have a reputation among my friends for liking movies the rest of my friends hate, including Dutch and The Kid with Bruce Willis. Another movie in the list was The Ref with Denis Leary. This week's Entertainment Weekly just listed The Ref as an “criminally underrated Christmas movie.” Thank you. I have to send this information to my friends.

Healthy Living Alliance in Springfield, Missouri, has hired a Cher impersonator to make a funny public service announcement about bike safety: http://www.ky3.com/news/local/cher-the-road-funny-ad-drives-home-serious-safety-message/21048998_29807412

Mike Nichols, Dead at 83

December 3, 2014 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Cher with Mike Nichols at his AFI Life Achievement tribute in 2010.

Mike Nichols died suddently of cardiac arrest in Manhattan on November 19 at the age of 83. The Dec 5, 2014 issue of Entertainment Weekly memorialized him with a short essay and a list of his essential films, which included Silkwood, released in 1983.

Entertainment Weekly's commentary on the movie:

“Astoundingly lived-in performances from Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher anchor Nichols’ drama about blue-collar workers in an Oklahoma nuclear-parts factory.”

People often comment on the difference between Cher and Madonna in film. I believe it is just this "lived-in" quality (not affected, not actor-ly) that many critics find so appealing about her performances.

Watch Cher's tribute to Mike Nichols. where she calls him Dad and talks about how he deserves the credit for her Oscar nomination (for her performance as Dolly Pelliker) and how she always called him whenever she was in a bind.