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More Bootleg Reviews

March 13, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 2 Comments

I want to take a moment to finish up reviewing bootlegs Cher peeps have sent me. Regarding the 60s set I got for purchasing two posters off eBay, I have three clips left. I also just received a new and fabulous DVD from Jimmy (aka gypsy90028) that I’ll start discussing, as well.

Back to the Late 60s…

The Smothers Brothers
Most of us have seen Cher singing “Alfie” on this show. I never ceased to be amazed by Cher in that short baby-doll dress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lDSf0A9RTk

The Jerry Lewis Show
Now this show had some cool effects with background projections and whatnot and Cher arrives with BIG mascara. Things have clearly gotten out of hand in that regard. S&C sing “What Now My Love” and you can see Cher is definitely more confident these days. Lots of finger snapping goin down. And doesn’t Cher have skinny legs though?

Are they lip synching again? Cher gets ready to sing “You’d Better Sit Down Kids” introducing it proudly as a song “my husband wrote for himself.” I was reminded watching this clip how unusual the song is being about broken homes and change and all, that painful moment when a parent has to explain divorce to their kids. Have you ever heard anything like it…before or since?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJlubAgs7uM

Glen Campbell
We’ve already seen the super-fine duet of Cher singing “All I Really Want to Do” with Glen on his variety show. If not, get his latest DVD. It’s fabulous.

On that episode, Cher also sings “The First Time” in a set looking like a bedroom after a cheap one night stand. Cher’s eyelashes have improved. And she’s growing out her bangs….they look like little orphans, uncut and running away. She gives Glen a big smile and he asks if Sonny produced that song. She again proudly says that he wrote that song and doesn’t someone in there say “and he can cook too.”

Then things really gets crazy with Neil Diamond. He’s just become successful (and it now occurs to you 40 years later how rarely you see him on TV). Cher is in an Indian top and they all three do a medley of Diamond hits up to that time, which include “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" (full with emotive ‘Oh Yeahs’), “Kentucky Woman,” “Brother Loves Traveling Salvation Show” and “Sweet Caroline” which we only recently found out is about Caroline Kennedy. Come on, Neil! That ruins it! I thought it was another song about booze all this time!

Now skip to the early 80s…

Black Rose on Midnight Special
I had never seen Black Rose in action. And I loved it. I was amazed by it. This is honestly a side of Cher no-one gets to see. It never appears in biographical footage and it’s a phase of her career mostly ignored. And even though I would accept the critique that Black Rose was no great shakes when you stack them against Hall of Famers, they was fairly a good enough new band that could’ve stood up against other new bands out there.

Because it was Cher’s third or fourth or fifth (according to your timeline) incarnation, she brought all her former incarnations’ baggages, infamy and expectations to the act which was unfortunate. Had Cher started her career entirely with this band, they may have evolved and succeeded and we’d probably see Cher as a respected rock singer today alongside our other stellar rock chicks.

And this is one of the many instances where Cher had to pay her dues (not with drugs or alcohol or poverty, but with no respect); and it also exemplifies ironically in reverse why she should be a hall of famer because she took such risky risks musically in almost every musical genre and survived some huge failures but prevailed to bigger and better successes down the line.

Her rock moves here are fully and faithfully performed in “Never Should’ve Started.” Physically she dances with hard rock enthusiasm no one had seen before and would never see from her again. She rebelliously sings the word ‘bitch’ in the song “Julie” and tries to sing eye to eye with Les Dudek in “You Know It.” However, he’s no Sonny. Like Gregg Allman before him and Richie Sambora after him, no "real rocker dude" seems to have the balls to sing while looking Cher dead in the eye so intently as Sonny did. But she kept trying.

For Cher, loving you must mean singing live with you.

Something bothered me throughout the three songs on Midnight Special: who the hell is that guy on the left, the backup singer. He plays air guitar as if he’s the main act. And yet, with that tight shirt, he seems more like a dancing bodyguard than an actual band mate.

And I know she’s trying to dress down now but is that a hole fit she’s wearing under that sweat shirt?? I think I see a sequin.

In any case, out of love for rock music, Cher wanted to be in a band against her career’s common wisdom. And she had enough conviction to try to sublimate her image and name to try to make it work. However, as we all have come to now know: such a thing is ludicrously impossible. And that’s probably the idea at which most of the ridicule started. Therefore, no one give the act a fair, pure looksee.

See? Even Wikipedia considers it "a Cher album"

The Monte Carlo Show
This DVD also included the Monte Carlo show in its entirety, something I’d never seen before either. I’d been surviving ravenously from clips online. I was so entranced when I watched it I didn’t even take any notes. Now looking back, I must say honestly it felt a little rough compared to Celebration at Caesars a year or so later. Caesars was so smooth and slick and it had that big awesome shoe. I feel the Monte Carlo show stumbles starting directly with Laverne. We expect the big Cher entrance, not a fake out. The fake out with the drag Cher is much better played after the intermission, as Cher did it during her Heart of Stone tour.

However, I love, love, love the outfits in this show. And the dancing makes me nostalgic for the late 70s and early 80s. That encore crotch shot was scandalous! I played it for my bf when he got home!

What really fascinates me is the stupifying contrast between Black Rose and Vegas Cher in 1980. Consider with these:

Merv Griffin clips of Black Rose
(Merv Griffin? No wonder they had a hard time getting steet cred!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omdLRZE5Zh4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB4aSGF66Qs

Then Monte Carlo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMc668T8xo

Cher Week in Review

March 7, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 3 Comments

I’ll be brief this week as I am in the midst of some dark nights of the soul this week over my writing non-career. However, in the midst of all this, one thing made me laugh out loud this week: a site simply dedicated to the absurd photos people post online of their cats with stuff on them (toys, boxes, you name it). Ridiculous but surprisingly funny. The site is called Stuff on my Cat. This weeks Cher reference was unusual and hilarious. Not what people normally pick on Cher for:
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=7900

My credit card bill came this week with $500 dolares of Cher tickets on it. This did not lighten my mood any.

Chastity’s birthday just came and went. Like me, her 40s are looming nearby. It seems mum may be buying her a stylin’ lounge chair or barcalounger as a gift. I’m trying to talk my bf into one of those. He wants to get rid of his couch for a mission-style recliner chair which looks lovely but very uncomfortable. This is a guy who likes to nap and I envision him abandoning the lovely mission-style chair and hijacking my couch every night to nap on while I’m stuck on a very lovely but uncomfortable mission chair, unable to nap myself. Thus I’m lobbying hard for the recliner. But alas, he feels too refined to recline.

Anywho, TMZ was apparently on the scene of the Cher and Cher-daughter shopping event, taking video through the store window no less. Creepy. And yet we watch.

Cher’s competition and supposed rival, Bette Midler, opened her Caesars show this week. I’m interested to see how they will compare:

And here’s more on the story that the Cher catalog was part of the song titles of Universal sold to a Dutch civil service workers pension fund. I’m sorry this wont be turning up as a 401(k) choice for us.

Interviews, Videos and Games

February 28, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 4 Comments

This photo is here in honor of the new sun-glasses I bought this week. The rest is miscellaneous knits and gnats:

Tyler on Chergroups posted this interview last week – more preview info on the show plus a sneak peak at the outside of the Cher store! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KNbEv-0DX8

Speaking of Tyler, he did a great video tribute to Cher singing "Nature Boy" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PkQJRLTJ5M with some rare photos. I’m envious of his rare photos.

And there’s a new fun online game: Cher or Drag Cher: http://cityrag.blogs.com /main/2008/02/cher-or-drag-ch.html. I missed one!!!

And here’s a photo of Cher in Beverly Hills recently. I love her bun!

Rejected Blog Title #4: And The Blog Goes On

February 28, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 2 Comments

I haven’t done a Cher site review for eons. But my friend Jeffrey sent me this fabulous photo of Cher’s bling-bling nails circa the 1960s. The photo came from an absolutely even more fabulous Russian site called Cher Love: http://www.cherlove.net/

Home page photo of Cher doing a 360 is a tad creepy and the colors are gray and gloomy with an odd spray of pink. It’s almost like a subliminal political statement about a modern cold war.

Sections include:

Film – a flat list with release dates; some personal commentary would be nice to add
Multimedia – a good video collection from 2005-2008 including Cher’s Keep a Child Alive commercial and a C-span appearance.
Biography – nothing for non-fans and nothing for 80s Geffen-era or Believe fans.
Forum – the forum is in Russian so I didn’t bother to join. I will have my Russian-speaking friend dig in to it.
Music – Flat list with release dates. My only quibble with the list is that the line item "1973 The Two of Us" should be in compilations since it was basically a re-release of two S&C early 60s albums.
Links – Small list that’s a good to start doing your Cher surfing. I noticed yesterday that EverythingCher.com is back offline again. Sad face. So I took it off my favorites list. Another sad face.
News – only began two months ago but is up to date. I like that it posts movie alerts when Cher movies appear on cable. Legitimate news that is always overlooked on other sites.
Awards – Way cool awards list. So kewl I printed it out.
However, the best section is the gallery which is absolutely a delicacy: http://www.cherlove.net/gallery/ It’s organized very efficiently – how Russian of them.

Gallery is organized by:

Public events
Various public events, and other appearances.
Television
Captures, press photos, interview, and other images from television series and specials.
Candids
Various paparazzi photos.
Professional
Photoshoots, and modeling.
Films
Captures, press photos, and posters.
Magazines
Covers, and scans.
Live Tours
Live tours, and concerts.
Other Photo
Books, parfume, posters, art works, and other.

My favorite photo on the site so far is this one to the right above. I love that picture – so grunge-glam.

Plus an added benefit: you learn the Russian translations for all your favorite Cher words, like Mask is Маска. Cher Love: Worth it’s weight in rubles! Bravo.

Some Enchanted Evening in Azuza…

February 28, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

So it seems Mask has gone Broadway like Witches of Eastwick and become a musical. Except not on Broadway, at the Pasadena Playhouse. I don’t have high hopes though. I saw a terrible California-ized Shakespearean play there a few years ago.

Tickets range from $48 to $66 and previews start March 12 with the official opening set for March 21 through April 20. For more information call (626) 356-PLAY or visit www.Pasadenaplayhouse.org.

But alas…I could be wrong. The music was written by our friends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They wrote "Holy Smoke," as you remember from my previous blog. And other Cher tunes of the late 70s, as well as the 60s hit "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling" and the 80s hit "Somewhere Out There."

Anna Hamilton Phelan, who as you know did the Mask screenplay, is involved again in this project. Did you know she also did the scripts for Gorillas in the Mist and Girl Interrupted. Tony-Award winner Richard Maltby (creator of Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Fosse, and the co-creator of Miss Saigon) directs.

Playbill On-Line has more info: http://news.yahoo.com/s/playbill/20080222/en_playbill/115299

…including this good quote from Phelan (from the production notes):

"When I was researching the screenplay for ‘Mask,’ I entered the world of The Tribe. After the release of the movie in 1985 I remained friends with them, especially Rusty. As the years passed Rusty became more open about her feelings, especially about being Rocky’s mother. When I told her I was going to tell the story again, but this time as a musical play, she was thrilled. My subsequent visits with her in her trailer in Azusa unearthed a treasure of rich material as she continued to share her memories with me. I also learned that biker clubs as far away as Missouri had ‘adopted’ Rocky as a kind of mascot. Some had his initials painted on their bikes.

"The last time I spoke to Rusty was a few weeks before she died in October 2006 at the age of 70. She was driving her chopped, three-wheeled motorcycle to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. One of the back tires fell off, she was thrown and hit a curb. I’m sure she was saying to herself, ‘What a bitchin’ way to go!’

"I regret she won’t be in the front row at the opening as we had planned, but I know she would have been grateful, as I am, to the Pasadena Playhouse for giving me the opportunity to tell this story a second time”

So maybe there will be more insight now with an expanded story.

Cher Odds and Ends

February 22, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 4 Comments

Some clips that have come across Cher Scholar’s desk this week:

A Cher Investment: songs written by Bon Jovi, Cher, Celine Dion and Justin Timberlake now form part of the investment portfolio of Dutch civil service pension fund ABP.

Dinner Date Night Idea: stay at home, watch Moonstruck and bake a pizza; here’s how.

Good News: the paparazzi are starting to get arrested in LA when their volume and tactics put people in jeopardy. Uh…it’s about time. Read about such an arrest.

And if you recall my gripes last week or so about Cher’s modern dance routines compared to her 80s Vegas ones, here is a story on her choreographer Doriana Sanchez and how they hooked up.

And Cher may not support Obama but he supports Cher: in a joke last week Jay Leno said: "In an interview in People Magazine, Barack Obama said he was more a fan of Sonny and Cher than he was a fan of Donny and Marie. Well, that should answer the question of whether he’s black enough!" That’s actually very kewl. Sonny & Cher got soul…we knew it!

A party of Sonny, Chers, Donny and Maries

A soulful Cher among honkey Osmonds

A Week in Cher-time

February 20, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 3 Comments

The Latest News Clips
(as posted on Cher groups)

Honestly, a good source for the latest Cher clips is always Cherworld.com. It’s an amazing Cher site that fishes out the late-breaking Cher news so you don’t have to. Cherworld’s on it!

Items covered in latest interviews

• Farah Fawcett’s cancer treatments with embalization and cyber knives
• Dangerous pug-faced paparazzi
• Cher’s good genes
• Cher’s good ex-boyfriend Gene
• Sonny ghost
• Cher’s Elvis teen crush (and she still didn’t go to Vegas with him?? Imagine if your teen crush invited you to Vegas for the weekend. Tell me, who is it? Would you go? I just got over my teen crush…last month. So no, I guess I wouldn’t go now.)
• Cher’s good health habits with the succinct quote: “I never saw drugs do anything good for anyone.”
• Her other tips for longevity including love well…and often.

So, it irks me that latest press reports state Cher is set to record her 27th album (one source even said 25th). Not to be a Cher nerd (too late), but It’s only 25 when you only count studio solo albums. But why leave out Sonny & Cher, Allman and Woman, Black Rose and the live albums? It’s so much more impressive to say she’s starting to record her 36th album (which includes the three major live albums and the Good Times soundtrack album –with all its original material– but not Chastity because it was mostly instrumental.)

It’s all about me

And this Cher nerd is feeling a little wiped-out and overwhelmed at the moment. Basically too much going on right now and I need to simply simplify. Helping my parents with their reunion/50th Anniversary party this summer, planning for my trip to Paris with the bf (which includes brushing up on my French, planning our itinerary and buying suitable non-American looking clothes so I wont be ostracized as a tourist), working on a somewhat large poetry project, and studying Spanish, Information Architecture (and now Project Management) for work.

I’ve had to put off my second class in ceramics for the time being. Which smarts.

At least Valentines Day is a hurdle that has passed. My bf and I have really sorry luck on romantic holidays including anniversaries. This year traffic made my bf late and our restaurant had some crisis and couldn’t seat anybody. After hearing angry comments from other couple’s left waiting in the lobby for 40 minutes, we left and went to a Mexican dive (my favorite, Rosa’s, on PCH). But overall, better than some fiascoes of years past. This year I got my bf a slew of chocolates and a singing Johnny Cash card. I also bought a singing Sonny & Cher card for myself. They were $4.99 each. The S&C card said:

“You got the honey,
I got the bees.
You got the mac,
And I got the cheese.
You got the hand,
I got the glove.
But the best part of all is…

Inside: we got the love.”

And then the card played:

“I got you to kiss goodnight
I got you to hold me tight
I got you and I wont let go
I got you to love me so
I got….you babe.”

Really loud. Honestly, it was lame. I guess it’s important to have it for historical purposes. To document the crap our Hallmark society puts out. I hope the estate of Sonny Bono received a good chuck of that $4.99.

Grammys: What are you wearing?

For more information on Cher’s outfit last week at the Grammys, visit Julia Gerard who designed Cher’s fitted skirt. J. Gerard holds shop on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. My obsession with the show Project Runway makes me wonder if Cher would like Jeffrey Sebelia from last year.

The new show

In the Feb 10 edition of the La Times there was a full-page ad that said:

Cher
opening may 2008
The Coliseum
Caesars Palace
Las Vegas

I almost got excited until I noticed it was in the same Cher font as used for the Farewell tour and Living Proof. This goth font has been used for so many years it’s becoming like that Barry Manilow font he on all his albums from the first one in 1972 to the Even Now album in 1978. It was a butt-ugly font, too. Cher’s font is not butt-ugly but it does make me worry that the Vegas show will recycle things. I saw the Farewell show about…um….5 times. Which seems like a lot but in Willie Wonka terms is like that scene when Charlie was in class and asked by his teacher how many Wonka bars he had bought hoping for a golden ticket and all the other kids were like “you only bought two? How insane is that?” and Charlie felt like a dolt. Well, that equates to how I feel when I tell other Cher fans I only saw 5 or so farewell tour shows. But believe me, five was enough. Nothing changed except an incredibly shrinking set list.

All I am saying is that I yearn for new font assets. It’s not that I hate these goth assets. They’re strong and ballsy and look like they’ve been around for centuries. What’s not to like?

This all may sound crabby but I’m really looking forward to this year’s show. I hope to see lots of stupidly large headdresses. Headdresses like in Celebration at Caesars – so big Cher could only make it down a few steps before cute male dancers are forced to come to her aid.

And is Cher at the Coliseum really the official title of the show? Not quite the pizazz of The Showgirl Must Go On or the simple artistry of The Red Piano.

Cher on Grammys

February 11, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 4 Comments

"As many of you know, I first started singing when Lincoln was president." — Cher, 61, as she introduced Beyonce and Tina Turner.

OMG! blog called the dress hideous. What are your thoughts?

There’s a great collage of photos on Cher World.

Btw, Tina Turner was awesome last night.

Holy Smoke! A Political Cher Song

February 11, 2008 / Cher Scholar / 1 Comment

I know it’s difficult to look into our Cher past when Cher future is so gloriously in front of us. But before the Vegas news broke, Cher Scholar JimmyDeanPartee (gypsy90028) contacted me to discuss the song from Cher’s 1979 album Prisoner “Holy Smoke” in order to see if this piece was still relevant to our troubled modern times.

With the political climate being what it is (see the Ben Sargent cartoon above): an unwanted war, soaring gas prices, the mortgage collapse, stock market woes, US religious-unrest – I do believe it is time to re-explicate this work composed by Michele Aller and Bob Esty. Maybe it will reinvigorate your ambitions to join the political process this year. Remember, it’s your right and it’s your duty.

I mean…come on, people died for you (not only in this war but back during the Revolution). Show them some love for your country and vote. I’ve never missed an election, even the stupid silly ones filled with Arnold Schwarzenegger propositions.

Holy Smoke

Where do we draw the line
on what’s going on

(Well…you can vote.)

When do we take a stand
and demand to know the truth

(Uh…about 8 years ago.)

Talk is cheap
Won’t get the problems solved

(Seriously, TV talking heads are not my biggest pet peeve. My real rage comes over those news sources who just print competing lies and fail to investigate the truth of any claims politicians make, giving American yokels the dangerous luxury of continuing to believe whatever cockamamie thing they want to. Case in point was a recent article on Yahoo! News where John McCain accused former Republican candidate Mitt Romney of flip-flopping on issues and Mitt Romney then denying it. No attempt was made to root out a very verifiable truth there: how often Romney did flip flop. Yahoo just presented both statements like a free outlet for them to do a pissing match, lie for lie. Talk is way cheap.)

We’re in too deep
Not to get involved

(If you think gas is expensive now…)

We got the sun for free

(I never knew that’s what that line was. I guess I always thought it was: we get this song for free.)

So explain to me
Why gas is up a dollar

(More like two-and-a-half dollars.)

I gotta holler holy smoke

(Well, you can holler but as we’ve already ascertained: talk is cheap. Hollering is hillbilly.)

Oh, they say atomic power
could never hurt a flower
Holy smoke

(That flower-power rhyme sounds hippie-ish; Rush Limbach might accuse this song of being a left-wing conspiracy.)

Every quick solution
leads to more pollution
Holy smoke

They say they found the answer
breathing causes cancer

(Okay I thought she was singing: the reed that causes cancer…like smoking reeds…I know it’s stupid; but I was nine when this album came out!)

Holy smoke
All I can say is holy smoke

(clearly)

Why do we turn away
from what’s going on

(Because we’re lazy and celebrity obsessed.)

We’ll ever believe again
in those who hide the truth

Talk is cheap
Won’t get the problems solved
We’re in too deep
Not to get involved
Don’t throw it all a way
it’s easy enough to say

When gas is up a dollar
everybody holler holy smoke
They say atomic power
could never hurt a flower
Holy smoke

Fifty-five or faster
could drive us to disaster
Holy smoke

(I think Sammy Hagar would see the sarcasm in that line, too.)

If I say go on and shove it
The media would love it

(I would have said this wasn’t true anymore: young celebutard’s swear so often; but Cher swore on the Billboard Awards years ago and they made a federal case out of it. Cases in fact, case nos. 06-1760-ag (L), 06-2750-ag (CON), and 06-5358-ag (CON). Read the overview: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/11/fcc_profanity_ruling/)

Holy smoke
All I can say is holy smoke
Holy smoke

Where do we draw the line