a division of the Chersonian Institute

Category: Television (Page 12 of 23)

More Cher-a-palooza 2013

ChiefsThe great Cher train rolls on! Cher maintained her top ten status for week two (#8) with her album and then fell to #11 last week. My Billboard-watching friend thinks she can get back into the top ten next week. He says there was a barrage of new albums debuting last week she had to compete with.

Last weekend I went to the Chiefs game in Kansas City with Mr. Cher Scholar. He is a huge Chiefs fan and recently commented on the fact that both of our obsessions begin with "Ch." This is why I love him. Anyway, as he is so supportive of my freakish Cher obsession, I am committed to supporting him with his Chiefs obsession. Although I know nothing of football, I take it the game went very well by all the hollering and the Chiefs, now 6-0, did something I was told was extraordinary by pushing back the Oakland Raiders to a 3 and 48 which (don't laugh too hard if I get this wrong) means that it was their 3rd down and they had 48 yards to go.

Anyway, of note to Cher fans, the Chiefs cheerleaders did a cheer set to a large chunk of Cher's "Woman's World" and it was a pleasure to see fat, drunk men in the row ahead of us doing some girly dance moves.

I also
Bewitchedheard Cher in the supermarket yesterday and I almost couldn't place the song! This was because it was her "Bewitched" duet with Rod Stewart which I have never listened to fully because I am allergic to Rod Stewart.

Cher's special video, Dear Mom, Love Cher, also came out last week. There is 20 minutes of extra footage being Cher's original birthday video for Georgia. Much is clarified in this extra footage, Georgia's experience in Oklahoma bars, her father's struggles with her in Los Angeles. There are many, many more family photos here. I really enjoyed them, especially the Cher and Georgia beach photo marked "Cher was afraid of the ocean."

Cher also talks about her favorite tracks from Georgia's album and listening to their duet I finally hear a younger Cher voice circa late 1970s/early 1980s. Cher is amazed she can't remember cutting the duet in light of the fact that she remembers everything, like falling off the stage. When did this happen?

I also enjoyed Cher talking about country music with her mom. When they hug, Cher does Cher-tapping. Cher also does this when she hugs contestants on The Voice. In Cher Zine 1, I talk extensively about Cher tapping.

The Perth Now interview was good. Cher talks about listening to old albums and songs, twitter haters, her love of Pink's "Dear Mr. President," her support of still using auto-tune, and her appreciation of Cher impersonator Charlie Hides.

In the iTunes fan interview  Cher talks about why she sequenced the album the way she did. She doesn't like albums where the slow and fast songs are intermixed. And although I do prefer that, I appreciate Cher's intentions for the sequencing. She talks more about her plane crash but not when it was.

I tracked down the Gianni Morandi video on Cher's forum and it wasn't that great. However, the German appearances were:

I love, love, love that Cher prop on the Wetten Dass performance, the whole set was gorgeous. Listening to a translated interview was too hard and early on I dismissed the old guy sitting next to her as some grumpy German. This turned out to be Harrison Ford.

MolinaMy friend Julie sent me this interesting Q&A from Mail Online. Cher talks about something very mean Sonny said to her when they split. Sonny was so complicated, it's frustrating to either like him or dislike him. She talks about getting lost in the woods as a child, her love of Alfred Molina (I'm so there), her longtime fear of being poor and ending up in a sad LA apartment, and her feelings about Downton Abbey.

If you haven't seen this video, go there right now: Australia’s Sunday Night interview with Rahni Sadler. It's a great, long interview in the vein of Barbara Walters.

I finally read the Readdit interview. It was mostly annoying navigating her answers around all the inane chatter. She talks more about saving someone from a mugger with Meryl Streep, her feelings about Madonna, about Sonny as a ghost, about loving her Richard Avedon and Normal Seeff photos and her Estudio Machado and Cicala Morassut photos (see beow), why Elvis was an inspiration, about motherhood and what isn't "all about me" in Chaz's transformation, among many other fly-by topics.

Lastly, Cher was on two segments of The Voice last week. I was on the road Monday and missed that episode. But you can always catch them on Hulu, along with this extra clip. You can also see Cher's mentoring interview here.

Cherblake

First of all, Cher looked great. I thought she was edited a bit school-marmishly cross, especially in the teasers.

Rolling Stone accused her of chewing out contestants and scolding them:

"Cher is not messing around when it comes to being an advisor to Blake Shelton's team on The Voice. After meeting bluesy Monika Leigh and single dad Ray Boudreaux, the iconic singer dug into them during rehearsal for the second night of the battle rounds.

When Ray's voice cracked on a high note and he said he "hoped" he could hit it on the day of the big performance, Cher sternly replied: "You shouldn't have to worry about, on that day can you do it? You should be able to know that you can do it."

And the tough love didn't stop there. When Monika sang the pairing's battle song, "Some Kind of Wonderful" by Grand Funk Railroad, differently than rehearsed, Cher called her out on it: "If you're gonna riff, make sure you know where you're gonna end up." When Monika asked for an example, Cher snapped, "Well you sing it different every time. I don't mean to play it safe, but you've got this one chance – be secure before you go there."

Cherstare2I think this editing led to the brouhaha about a tiff between Cher and Blake as seen in the supermarket rags this week. Cher is intimidating. She gives you that crazy Cher stare. I wonder if she picked this up from the crazy Sonny stare. And I admit to never wanting to be on the scolding end of it. I got scared when she used that stare in the tennis scene from Witches of Eastwick! Watch the full scene.

But Cher and Blake have professed their mutual love to each other in various interviews. And Blake gives it back plenty. My favorite was when he asked her to list her favorite Adam Levine songs. I want to talk more about her advice later on, after more episodes air. She gives good tough-love and contestants really seem to take her words to heart.

Would I ever sing in front of Cher? Hell to the no.

More Cher news I have yet to consume:

from Cher News:

from Cher World:

Enjoy chickadees!

New Estudio Machado photos:

Normal_photo2010vanity_14

New Cicala Morassut:

494390-a9f5b1f8-2713-11e3-abe3-b1f1d77b1129

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More TV Appearances (VCR Alerts)


Cher-blondeThe Voice

Stay tuned for Cher appearances next week. If you been watching the show, you've seen the previews which have provided some saucy Cher moments. You can see her deliver such tips and barbs to Blake Shelton as "I've been busy working…I haven't been sitting on my ass pushing a button!" and telling a contestant if you do a bad note, do something big to make them forget you did a bad note. And if you are trying to sing a high note, think high. I can't wait for more of this.

 

 

Kelly & Michael
Kelly1

Kathie Lee and Regis have now morphed into Kelly and ex-Giants player Michael Strahan. I actually like this combination. You can see Cher's appearance in three clips:

This has been a season (forget that, a half a year!) of great Cher interviews, maybe the best Cher interviews ever. But the Live! with Kelly and Michael appearance went beyond the pale. 

First of all Kelly Ripa is a bona fide Cher fan, and a thoughtful Cher fan as well, meaning she tries to deconstruct her fan-ness.
Which is something the literary-trained Cher Scholar was raised to do. I'm sure my college professors expected me to do more service to the high literary arts but…what can I say?. I love this about Kelly Ripa but it seems pretty intense for Cher. 

In the backstage interview, Cher looks almost palpably overwhelmed by the onslaught of Kelly's insistent affections. And what normal, non-narcissistic, person wouldn't be. Cher's response is understandable and all the more amazing that she doesn't "eat it all up." That's some character there.

CherpicWhen Cher walks out to the official interview, she steps to personally shake hands with people in the crowd and
the response is overwhelming. It's like she's attained a Queen status. Forget about some kind of Goddess of Pop. I feel we've left that station months ago. Goddess implies a kind of free-floating greatness which is admired from afar. But that's not what we're seeing here. We're seeing people feeling an intense Elvis-like emotional connection and treating her like…well like royalty. I wonder how unsettling that might be for Cher to be the underdog for so long and to finally break out like this…again and larger than ever.

But speaking as a fan of almost 40 years, (which is nothing: I have Cher friends who've been fans for 50 years), the adulation is long past its overdue date. In any case, the responses from the hosts who interview her and the audiences has all been way beyond
Believe-era responses.

In the interview, Cher talks about a childhood friend named Della and sharing a hair brush
(love those childhood stories!). They play a game called Would You Share (what's with all these Cher games this year?? Not that I hate them or anything). While Mr. Cher Scholar was working late in our office, Michael made a very funny joke about sharing a bathtub and I heard Mr. Cher Scholar bust out laughing in the other room.

In the backstage interview, Cher talks about being mentored by Sonny. She also talks on stage about her experience mentoring singers on The Voice for two days and how unexpectedly attached she became to the contestants, and how surprised she was how much she knew about performing and had such good advice to give. I hope she liked it well enough to keep doing it. From hearing Barry Manilow talk about mentoring on American Idol, it seems so fulfilling and positive.

Billboard

If you haven't heard already, Cher's album hit a debut spot of number three, the highest debut of her solo career. So impressive. My friend sent my this interview link from Billboard. I haven't watched it yet. I haven't even finished the fan chat interview yet either or all the links below!I've had a cold and am talking this crazy-intensive University of Pennsylvania online poetry class that sucks up like 4-5 hours of my evenings. But I will catch up!

I did buy the vinyl copy
of the album this week and the Japanese version is available as well.

I also bought my tickets this week to see Cher in Phoenix. I've never seen an opening night before, but this was the closest city I could reasonable get to, considering I am living in the middle of a desert.

More Cher News

from EuropeCher World:

Cher News:

Pics from Cher's album party:

   

Cher Appearances for Closer to the (VCR Alert)

CherlaceOMG…last week was a killer Cher
week and I was soooo freakin busy. I felt like I was on a treadmill running from job to class to The Voice to taking Mr. Cher Scholar to the airport, and all these Cher appearances and juicy album listening parties-for-one.

This month feels like a turning point in a very awful, insane year for me. To review the last five months, in the spring I developed a debilitating three-month allergic reaction to New Mexico, I was out of work for three months in a bad job market, my husband couldn't find a job either and finishing up with his anthropology degree was a massive struggle of scheduling issues. Our hot water heater broke down and we had no heat or hot water for a week, we lost a full tank of expensive propane in a gas leak, a pipe broke and our kitchen flooded, our truck died and no one in Santa Fe could figure out why so we had to buy another car, some animal died behind our office wall, then some other animal died behind our master bathroom wall, then our landlord told us he needed to move into his house and we had a month to move and we ended up moving cities. Then our dog ate rat poison (he's fine now). And that has been my 2013 so far.

On the bright side, this year brought a Cher TV special and a new album. Mr. Cher Scholar finally got his diploma last week and found out the show he is helping out with as Historical Consultant, Quick Draw, got picked up for another season and was the most successful new show on Hulu this year. He spent time back in Los Angeles last week doing historical interviews with the show's star, his friend, John Lehr. Those should air in January.

So fingers crossed. But it is with this frazzled state of mind that I approach this crop of Cher appearances and a new album.

Wow…what a whirlwind of great Cher stuff out last week, too. I love all her appearances this season. She's happy-seeming, she's being asked interesting questions befitting her stature. FINALLY!!!!

VCR Alert: Cher Scholar Dishy notified me today that Cher will be on with Kelly Ripa's show October 1.


TodayThe Today Show Appearances

Cher looked lovely on her first morning concert appearance.

You can see the sound check video taken by a fan. The comments of the female fan aggravated with the super-fan were funny to me.

Read the article about Cher's arrival on a hog motorcycle: http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_24157697/celeb-pix-cher-gets-hog-ride-today-show

Cher singing "Believe." 

Cher singing "Woman's World" and "I Hope You Find It."

During "I Hope You Find It" you could see Cher
getting  frustrated with the song. This seems to happen more often since Cher has been singing with a net (with voice lessons) versus when she used to sing without a net (on the S&C Show).

I left my TV on after the concert and caught Cher with Kathie Lee
Giffard and Hoda Gotb afterward. Cher stood in the wings breaking into the show to talk about lipstick and thongs. Cher said 45-dollar lip-sh*t better kiss your lips. Kathie Lee and Hoda also ran a "favorite Cher song" poll and "Turn Back Time" won, which Kathie Lee joked should be the theme song of AARP. Kathie Lee talked about seeing Cher in Vegas years and years ago (I'm guessing in the early 1980s/late 1970s) and stating that as a performer, Cher "delivers." Hoda and Kathie Lee are giddy about Cher appearing in concert there, exclaiming "and she's still here!!" Watch the official interview.

Cher admits her new single is a Miley Cyrus cover. She talks about feeling compelled to answer interview questions. She's very self-deprecating (saying she had gotten too happy with the sound of her own voice) and talks about her laryngitis from all the press interviews. She talks about a perfect Cher day and wishing she could ride her motorcycle. I loved the big Cher pics hanging in the background.

Access Hollywood

A visit to Cher's house and she talks about the Russian Olympics. Part 1 and 2.

The David Letterman Show


Lettermanbanner

This was an outstanding interview. First the entrance was divine to the song "Let Freedom Ring." Thank god she was belted in! He eyelashes look great and I love the short, wavy black wig. Her almost-70-year-old gams look amazing! David asked her questions about her history as a major 1960s artist. They talked about the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Definitely one of my favorite Letterman appearances. She makes a hoverround joke. She tells the story about forgetting to do the album (which no fan I've yet spoken to believes is plausible) and about how her record label wasn't hounding her for one. But her manager was. They talk about Janis Joplin and tattoos, Jimi Hendrix, dying for your career, the wrecking crew members, Darlene Love and working for Phil Spector, Sonny getting his nose broken, Paul McCartney still kicking ass, Brian Wilson and twerking. She clarifies that she wasn't apologizing about her Miley comments but shouldn't say everything she thinks. She likes the Milley song and video.

She also sings, "I Hope You Find It" live. I've decided Cher has the pretties eyelids in show business.

This might be a good time to visit her first Letterman appearance back in the early 1980s to notice how far this love-affair has traveled through show-biz time. 

New Video

The lyric video for "I Hope You Find It" was also released last week. I love it! Beautiful.

Print Stuff

I finally read the extended interview for the CBS morning show. Wow, they left out so much good stuff for TV! Much of this was about Sonny, understanding why bands wreck hotel rooms, her outfits and Mackie and more elaboration on what clothes mean, ("…clothes don't do anything. Clothes are nothing. Clothes are pretty. They're just to keep you warm, to keep you cool, or to be attractive…"), and why style became important to her during The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. She elaborates on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the early style of Sonny & Cher. She talks about Colleen and Bridget. She also talks about the temperments of Sonny's children. That was interesting. She talks about paparazzi and the paddle-boarding photo from Hawaii a few years back, working with Bernadette Peters' vocal teacher, about being so honest in interviews (and Meryl Streep being worried about that), working with George Miller, why she didn't think Midnight Run would have worked with her and whether or not she's consciously ever tried image making.

Really good interview. 

Hollywood Life has a nice blurb of a story: http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/09/23/cher-today-show-womans-world-new-tour-video/

Macleans

I found an 'old' interview in Macleans from September 8: Cher talks about meeting Eartha Kitt at age 14 and taking mental notes, her famous cover shoot for Time Magazine, media training and the awful Peter Bogdanovich interview. Macleans mistakenly labels that interview being from the Time Magazine of 1975 but it was really the Saturday Evening Post of 1966 (Cher Scholar in action!). She talks about abortion laws, feminism, "The Greatest Thing," loving Pink's song "Dear Mr. President," being ahead of her time with drag queens in her shows, wanting to write her autobiography (hell, yeah), and helping with the upcoming Broadway piece, modern fashion being too subdued, and her alternative comments about fashion and clothes, "Superficial things can be so powerful. They can lift your spirits. I've definitely found a place for them."

USA Magazine

The Cher list of Yahoo posted this amazing thing, 25 Things You Don't Know About Me. I really laughed at this one: "The day I moved out of my home in Holmby Hills, I found a room I never knew existed." I was thrilled to read she had an elephant collection. I have one too that I'm going to sell in a garage sale this spring (along with an eraser collection–I have way too much stuff) and considered for a moment sending Cher the best of my elephants but then, in a reality check moment, I realized she's probably going to be sent a million elephants right about now after admitting that she has a collection of them.

She once crashed in a small plane???? WTF! What the hell happened?? We came that close, Cherfreaks, to the death of Cher??

Balinese!! That's how you spell that.

I love that Deacon Jones taught her the finer points of football. I was working at The Prostate Cancer Foundation when Mike Milken talked Cher into performing for one of his benefits (I wasn't invited, dammit, but I do have a video of it) and my awful boss there hosted a disastrous event with the Fearsome Foursome. I was in charge of wrangling Lumar Lundy, who was a sweetheart although when we first tried to contact him, he kept hanging up on me, thinking I was a zealous football fan…I had no idea who he was. Rosey Grier (who worked with Mike Milken and was very kind to me when I worked there with that lousy boss, and whom I would discuss voting for Fantasia that year on American Idol) had to step in and tell Lamar to take my calls. Anyway, this is just a long digression to say I have a Fearsome Foursome poster signed by all four players and that Deacon Jones hit on my friend Julie at the disastrous event down at Tony Ps in Marina del Rey. I have a picture of all of us there somewhere. That's my memory of Deacon Jones.

My friend Julie as something else in common with Cher. She too cried when she lost a $100 poker chip in Las Vegas.

Twitter Chat

Cher also did a fan chat on Twitter and Reddit has the transcript (I haven't "read it" yet). Thank you to Dishy for sending it to me: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1nc4sk/i_am_cher_ask_me_anything/

ChertourpsoterThe Tour Announced!

Last but not leased, tour dates were released!

Visit Ticketmaster or Cher's tour page.

The closest place for me to see the tour is in Phoenix which will be opening night.

The competition to get Cher concert tickets always makes me nervous. I've never enjoyed the day tickets go on sale.

What if I can't get good tickets? What if it sells out? What if I oversleep that day or my Internet goes down?

When I was a kid, I used to go down to the department store to get concert tickets, wait in line at 5 am for tickets to go on sale at 10 am. Those were the days of standing in the cold and worrying about line butt-inskies. We always got good seats that way, though. Now you're fighting with the pushy cyber-masses.

 

Cher Appearances for Closer to the (VCR Alert)

The Voice

ThevI don't know if Cher will end up working as a mentor/coach on the singing show The Voice, but I've started watching the first few episodes anyway and where have you been all my life, you lovely singing show???

I've been three years drying out from that negative bitch-fest American Idol and The Voice is so much more heart-warming and fun! The talent is so much better, too, and more diverse!

I was listening to commentary last week about why the show is doing so well (and why X Factor was tanking) and the commentators chalked it up to "blind judging still being novel to audiences." But I think it's the warmth and humor of the show, I really do. These are some of the things I loved:

  • Being spared really bad auditions and judges writhing in pain over them,
  • I love those red chairs and how they dramatically swivel around!
  • The variety of people and singing styles,
  • The good feeling I feel when judges love on people who don't make it,
  • The good feeling I feel when judges put the singers in the power-seat by begging for them to come onto their teams,
  • The camaraderie and mock-competition of the star judges,
  • And Cee Lo Green, who I'm a long-time fan of. He makes the closest thing to a perfect record as I've ever heard.

 

Cher Interviews for New Cher Album

CbsI have to say, except for that time I threw a hissy-fit when I was about 15 years old and my Dad couldn't hook up my VCR to Cher's Mask-era interview on Phil Donahue fast enough, (after which my Dad refused to try anymore and I missed the interview entirely until I saw it later in my late 20s), this has been a very frustrating Cher press junket season for me. First of all, I gave up cable months ago. I'm still not sure I'm going back to it. Then I broke my TV antennae moving it last month. Then I find out I can't receive CBS in Albuquerque. Is this an issue with the broken antennae, I do not know.

Well, at least I'll be able to watch The Today Show concert tomorrow. Not so fast, Cher freak! I need to take my husband to the airport exactly during air time tomorrow morning. What the!! So I'm totally dependent, like a Cher fan on a deserted island (with wireless, however), to watching these interviews and promotions online.I spent all day today (on and off) stalking the Internet for a clip of this morning's CBS interview.

The This Morning CBS Interview

This clip has sound issues but it covers the interview. This is the interview that caused Cher so much Miley Cirus grief this week. This preview in particular. First Cher is asked about her secret to being provocative. The host surmises it's her sense of humor but I think it's her genuine commitment to being herself, in other words–her authenticity in the act. "I just do what I want," she says. She never made a cynical play for attention. Also, she understands the art of the tease. If you show it all, game over.

As each generation tries to "up the ante" on provocation, the area for the tease shrinks and the game becomes harder to play. "I just do what I want," Cher said. But then they go on to critique Miley Cirus' Video Music Awards performance.

The press (and some of my friends) loved Cher's candor about it. Cher News tracked the story well:

I always enjoy Cher's candor but I can see why she expressed regrett for her statement, being almost led into a bitch fight by CBS. Maybe innocently enough, but it's all so unproductive. It's just one appearance by Miley Cirus and she didn't commit a felony, as Cher said. Except maybe a fashion felony. But those laws are so subjective.

On the bright side, the CBS interview gave Cher plenty of respect, saying she's earned every honor show biz has to offer. They showed the Cher Show skit with Cher, Bette Midler, Elton John and Flip Wilson in an entertainer's old folks home and later Elton telling Cher she'll be going strong in 50 years. Cher again talks about hating the aging process. How can the world stop worshipping youth, if Cher won't stop worshiping youth? CBS agrees that even the word icon doesn't cover Cher anymore. They quote a line stating she's the "Sherman tank of divas." When asked if she wants to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame she says she doesn't need a hall to rock. In truth, Cher has defined fame and has broken many records in service of the industry of rock music. But a clique's a clique. Rock stars are so hypocritically insiders just posing as outsiders.

Cher jokes that she uses witchcraft to stay young. We get to see a young picture of Sonny shirtless. After watching so many episodes of The Sonny & Cher Show, I have developed a taste for seeing Sonny shirtless. Cher talks about how she came to fashion, how women would tune into the TV show to see what she was wearing. She started to care about it then, too, and it got "interwoven" (no pun intended) into her personality. I love how she talks about clothes being neither an aid nor barricade (in the theory of ex-boyfriend Josh Donen) to her true self. "Clothes are nothing" she says. 

I'm also so glad she's telling interviewers to piss off about her love life. That's so right. The last line of the interview is funny…Cher asking about herself, "Isn't she over?"

Note: the online posted Extended Transcript seems to go on much longer than the 13 minute interview. I haven't read it yet but it printed out to 18 pages!!

Cher at Grauman's Chinese Theater to see The Wizard of Oz
Cheroz2

This week, Cher made an appearance in Los Angeles. You can see clips of Cher at Grauman's in the CBS interview. Cher News also has photos.

Recap of interview in Gay & Night

Last week I linked to the interview in the Netherlands magazine Gay & Night. She talks about her record label, about the themes of this album and not intending it to be about women's empowerment, about how painful leaked songs can be and why "The Greatest Thing" came not to be. She says "Dressed to Kill" is "a drag queen dream come true. She talks about hesitations over touring again, about the only outfit she regrets having worn. (Think Take Me Home era roller skating party). She admits she's had "a couple" of loves of her life: "I've had three."

Oh boy, another Cher fan guessing game. I vote for either Robert, Gregg & Sonny or Robert, Gregg & Current Mystery Bf.

She talks about why she dated younger men and about what her tattoos mean to her now, how passe they have become (Miss Kansas at Miss America last week was half-tattooed). She also says she hasn't yet purchased a plot at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris but that she still hopes to eternally rest there.

She talks about Chaz and her gay fans and she talks about her mother's circle of friends and her mother's lack of prejudice. Cher says her first best friend was Jewish. I would LOVE to hear more Cher-as-a-kid stories.

Cher talks about the structure of the possible Broadway show based on her life (which is very interesting and I hope that comes to be).

Recap of Interview in Canoe

Last week, I also linked to the interview in Canoe. She talks about paving the way for Katy Perry, Madonna, Lady Gaga and how rough it was for early Sonny & Cher with their then-unusual outfits. They talk about Cher's ability to hit high notes, the quality of her voice (Cher says she was pretty bad in the beginning), being able to watch her movies or look at photos of herself and how she loves Tony Bennett and Betty White.


ChershadesCher Interview in USA Today

Cher also appeared in USA Today. They called her a "stage warhorse" and "fashion daredevil." They talk about her voice, touring, Tina Turner touring. She "sips Dr. Pepper" during the interview and her cat, Mr. Big, attends. The article jokes about her age and "crossing the Medicare threshold."They talk about her album cover and how she was trying to to be camp, like a Playboy cover. Which just proves how much you can't do camp on purpose. She says people took it so seriously. She talks about being a fan of Bruno Mars and the civic duty of the stars to "give back." She talks about Buddhism and the 1980s being so fun. She says the low point for her being after her divorce from Sonny and all the financial trouble she was in. She says something interesting as she's talking about being in that financial hole in the mid-1970s, "A lot of people were gigantic, and then they were gone."

This is what constantly amazes me watching the Sonny & Cher shows…all those celebrities who were on top, more on top than Cher was, celebrities who Sonny & Cher had to pay deference to as guests on their variety show: Chad Everett, Lorne Greene, Sandy Duncan, Bobby Sherman (just the stars I watched last night alone) and they're all gone. Think of this, Sonny & Cher were equals with Peter Noone and Herman's Hermit's in the 1960s. Less than 10 years later, they had Peter Noone on one of their "Years" specials as a nostalgia act. All the hot 1970s stars then disappeared by the 1980s. The 1980s stars were gone by the 1990s, and so forth. There's a 1950s skit in the first "Years" episode of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour where Cher sings an satirical 1950s-style song called "Superstar" in a space outfit and then goes on a tirade telling everybody how "big" she's gonna get, bigger than all the guests on the episode, Frankie Valli, Dick Clark. The whole skit is eerie.

In USA Today, Cher talks about how much she didn't like her early voice, "My voice was so strange and different." She talks about Pink and writing "Lovers Forever" for Interview with a Vampire with her friend Shirley Eikhard and how her songwriting tends to be dark and personal.

My favorite quote: "Even Cher underestimates the power of Cher."

The Guardian Interview

Last week, Cher also appeared in The Guardian. She talks about where she learned all her British swear words, about Sonny and Mark Taylor being her favorite producers. Really? Sonny? After having to do all those takes?

She talks about how odd Phil Spector was and working on background vocals for a John Lennon album with Phil and Harry Nilsson. Which song(s) was this for???

She talks about song leaks and Hillary Clinton and showing her navel on TV.

The Sunday Morning Herald Interview

Cher was in Australia's Sunday Morning Herald this week as well. She talks about how "women should hang together" and stop "bitch fighting" which is why I think she regretted her Miley comments. The interviewer calls Cher, "two parts rock chick, one part opinionated lady, with side orders of mother and superstar…She's detailed like a prestige car."

She talks about not remembering how many albums she's made and forgetting she recorded certain songs, how for her Sonny was "total hero worship." The magazine claims Cher says their marriage was a happy one. Earlier this year, Cher described it as Russian Roulette. But she says they never discussed politics. She talked about how she struggled to get into movies and how Francis Ford Coppola made her cry (after telling her she should be in movies) and how brave Robert Altman and Mike Nichols were to finally cast her. She talked about making the documentary about her mom and the title of her new album….

…which I hope to get soon. I've been holding off listening to it until I get the physical thing in my hot little hands.

 

Sunday VCR Alert

Thismorning90s8 more days to a new Cher record! Whoo hoo!

I realized today that the last Cher record came out when I was living in Pennsylvania. I've lived in three cities since the last Cher album.

Cher scholar Tyler commented on the last post that Cher will be interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning this next Sunday.

Here is a link to Cher on This Morning years ago promoting her Love Hurts album from the early 1990s. The interviewer calls her the Grande Dame of the pop scene back then! She wasn't even 45 years old yet!

She talks about being the modern day girl in Rumpelstiltskin who wants to spin tears into platinum.

 

Cher Album Preview, Interviews, VCR Alerts

The album is coming out in two weeks. Hook up your seat belts. This is exciting time! It’s like a long, long wait is over. Wait a minute. A long, long wait is actually over.

You can now preview Cher’s album on iTunes. Go listen!

Remember these save-the-dates:

– Cher will be on David Letterman on September 24.
The Voice season premieres September 23.
– Cher will be on the Today Show concert series September 23.
Vmag

You can pre-order Cher’s most recent TV special, Dear Mom, Love Cher on DVD. This comes out September 24.

Cher’s interview in V Magazine is out. There’s a full spread Richard Avedon out-take from the 1971 Cher album (the Gypsys, Tramps & Theives album) and Cher talks about her duet with Jake Shears, being nervous on stage, how she likes to handle performances on live shows, acting vs. singing, her own idols, twitter, her mom, her family bonds and tattoos.


SweatOther news

Cher sweats for vets again this year. Read about it on Cher News and Cher World.

Canoe.ca has a new Cher interview. I haven’t read it yet.

Cher News reports news that Lady Gaga said on Watch What Happens Live that she pulled “The Greatest Thing” because she didn’t think it was good enough for Cher. Well young lady, you should have thought of that before you offered up the song and got the ball rolling. The song has actually grown on me. I didn’t think it was interesting enough for Cher at first either. But look at me?

Cher News also has posted an interview with Cher from Gay & Night.

A new Cher album! I feel dizzy.

 

Cher Concert Duet Idea

UnitedSo in Cher's most recent concert, her Caesars Palace show in Las Vegas, she performed a fantasy duet many Sonny & Cher fans had been harboring: she performed "The Beat Goes On" with an old Sonny Bono recording ala Natalie Cole doing "Unforgettable" with her father Nat King Cole. It was sublime. But how can she top it?

I would suggest a the following scene, which is a fantasy I developed just last weekend watching Sonny & Cher perform "United We Stand" on their 1970s television show.

I love their rendition of "United We Stand." It's one of my favorite Sonny & Cher songs because they sang it with legitimate sincerity on the record and in live performances, where they sang to each other with more than typical
United2conviction. I feel this record really meant something to them, having often felt their backs were against the wall. You still feel their connection in these performances from The Sonny & Cher Show in 1976 and later on The Mike Douglas Show in 1979. (In both peformances, they were already divorced, no less.)

And is there such a thing as a good Sonny impersonator? Isn't it time Cher sang with one? It's not all about Cher impersonators, is it? I would love to see Cher duet with a faux-Sonny (maybe doing "United We Stand").

If impersonation is an act of tribute, doesn't Sonny deserve some mimicking flattery?

 

The New Cher Video!

It's finally here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjPWL-23w-w, the first new official Cher video in I Found Some Blog history.

And in honor of the new Cher video, I gathered back together the
group of people who attended my Armenian Dinner and Cher Video party for Cher Zine 3. The group includes one Cherfreak (me), a Cher appreciator (C. Crumpet Swank), Julie (a
friend from Sarah Lawrence College who likes 80s Cher primarily), Julie’s
boyfriend Dave, Mr. Cher Scholar, and Natalie (not a Cher fan and too young to
remember anything before “Turn Back Time”). We can't find the woman named Jewel from the party.

Anyway, Swank started things off with some elaborate comments and pictures he emailed me after watching the video.

Swank

I actually like this video! Props to her for including such a wide range
of women in the video, not just a bunch of attractive 20-somethings. I love the inclusion of the older/old women,
the thin/the fat, the tall/the short, the Down's Syndrome girl, the toothy
Ruthie, all the different nationalities. Mixing up the bodies in sections also
works for me, connecting all the characters despite their external differences.
It's a good device that nods to the unity which serves as the premise of the
song (even if the lyrics are trite).

It must be said, the opening wig is FANTASTIC!  Very,
very cool. It looks best, however, up close when you can see the detail of the
newsprint–the colors, typography, etc. When they pull too far away the
fact that it is newspaper is lost and she ends up resembling an Armenian
komondor:

Closeup
PERFECT VIEW

Longview
NOT SO PERFECT VIEW [freeze video at the ten second mark for
an even better comparison shot]

Dog
IT'S A WOMAN'S WORLD

I also kind of wish she had headed over to Cyndi Lauper's
house and borrowed the True Colors skirt for this video, but I know that Cher doesn't like to look, as Joan Rivers would say,
"too matchy-matchy."  A boy can dream though… 

Lauper

I also like the frizzy orange wig Cher
wears–very nice/unexpected/different, and a great match to the Sanctuary style
dress. She looks like a gorgeous medieval wench/queen.

Other moments I appreciate:  

  • @57/58 seconds and 1:04 she looks so happy and relaxed!
  • @1:47…some actual physical oomph!
  • @2:40-42…"Every–boooooodddddy in the club"…love
    the vocal stretch of the word as she skedaddles through it and the music
    spirals up and up, synched to the visual of her arms making fists [the
    boobs nicely flex here too] and then throwing her arms up into the air, like
    she just don't care…
  • @2:46-48…the knowing use of the signature "teeth
    & lip lick" punctuated with a droll nod perfectly timed to a climactic
    moment of silence in the song. Very meta. Very witty.
  • @2:55…freeze it for the most extreme cheekbones I have
    ever seen in my life. Who is that woman? She's beautiful and scary all at once.

And my favorite two moments: 1:34/5, the old lady with
no rhythm on the right looks like she's having the time of her life, and she
looks beautiful and stylish in her cowl neck sweater and black knee high boots;
and at 2:19 she reappears with the older sexy bald black lady who looks so
fantastic and fierce and rocks her iconic Jody Watley earrings–remember those?

Lastly,  any idea how
they make Cher's skin look so flawless in the
close-ups?  It seems impossible that she could have such perfect skin at
67.  Is there a "live" version of Photoshop? 

Julie

I enjoyed
the video. It is nice to see so many types of women dancing and being
empowered. The sliding body panels reminded me of our childhood toy Fashion
Plates. I used to mix my fashion plates with my monster plates to make very
bizarre creations. 

The point of the video is somewhat blown just by the fact
that Cher refuses to age. I agree – she looks
great – but if she really thinks all types of women are awesome, then why not
allow herself to age? This is kinda like Mary Kay empowering women to be their
own boss and go out and unempower other women by convincing them they need a
lot of makeup.

I love all her wigs especially the newspaper one, although
it’s a bit drag queeny. The song isn't catchy to me and it doesn't have anthemic
power. 

Mr. Cher Scholar

Okay, I'm
definitely getting a Godley and Creme "Cry" mixed with Michael
Jackson's "Black or White" video vibe off of this. Which is okay because
I always felt that Michael Jackson's video was a rip off of Godley and Creme.

Loving the paper wig. I would go out with anybody that wore
shredded newspaper on their head. But no smoking and forget about blowing out
the candles on your birthday cake.

This is why newspapers are better than electronic media. I'd
love to be the paper boy on this route, that lucky sonofabitch.

Just imagining what it'd be like in bed after a night
of drinking. Kind of like making love in a hamster cage. Love it.

Is that Chelsea Clinton?

Also love the straight red wig. It's like something you'd
find in the potpourri section at Michael's. Cut the broomstick off, stick it on
your head, and let's shoot this thing.

I think I just saw my mom.

Honestly, I really love this video. I mean I know Cher never saw any of these people and probably
green-screened her part in her living room, but it really feels inclusive of
ordinary women and people (unlike someone else's video that recently came out).

I also feel like this video and song are primed and ready to
become huge hits overseas. It made me want to be a woman so I could be Cher's waist on top of an old lady's legs. Or maybe
I could have my face on Cher's chest with
Chelsea Clinton's legs.

I noticed there are no Inuit women in this video. Maybe just
an oversight, but even still, Cher may have
some explaining to do on twitter.

Trying to pick out who from this video will go on to other
things…

I don't know what's more discomforting: the people who
aren't really into it or the people who are WAY into it.

Think I just saw my mom again. She seemed like she was WAY
into it.

Dave

I think behind the scenes it's interesting how she can
change her outfits so many times again, just like in her concerts, except this
time it's other people's bodies.  I thought it was fresh, unique, simple,
and I enjoyed it very much.

I also really like her 'print' hair.  kinda feels like
her 'in the news'.

And she has a marvelous plastic surgeon.  She doesn't
AT ALL look plastic, just REALLY REALLY good.

Natalie

Wow she's "green". Her hair is made of recycled
paper.

OMG she looks like a Barbie. Goth
Barbie with that eye makeup. Eco-Friendly Empowered Goth Barbie… watch out
world…

This is a woman's world? Bouncing boobies? Dancing and trying to look sexy?
Seriously?

What animals, plants and minerals were harmed in the making of all those
wigs?? Scratch eco-friendly. 

Cher Scholar

I have to
say I really like this video. At first I did worry that it was too plain but
then I saw Lady Gaga’s video and I’m like, yes…plain is the new interesting. I
love most the Cher close-ups. I love the
makeup, the eyeliner, the wig. Don’t love the newspaper hair outfit (why is
everyone wearing those pants? Are we selling them?), but love the other two
ensembles. Cher can do no wrong while wearing
big hoop earrings. I love all three wigs, the black and white one, the red one
(that can’t help but make me think it’s a tribute to Kathy Griffin).

Cher’s still putting the back of her hand to her face dramatically
like a young ingénue. It’s the bent wrist and teeth lick for the 2000s. In the
end Cher gets more passionate about the song
and that’s when she makes a real connection, (since she’s not doing a Mick
Jagger-gymnastic performance anymore). I loved the plethora of female types. I realize
there’s only so much room in a video but I would have loved more international faces and
cultural outfits (like the Indian woman), and more yoga moves (which kick ass).

 

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