Cher's Drawers

Last week Cher scholar Robrt sent me the link to the page Kathy Griffin posted about her girls-night-in with Cher.

http://kathycher.tumblr.com/

Cher rummaging through her eyelash drawer to the left

 

 Amazing things to see here:

1. Cher giving us the finger (never tiresome is it?)
2. Cher attempting to organize the un-organizable eyelash drawer.
3. Cher's glitter drawer. It is comforting to see how the rich and glamorous have the same troubles containing glitter in their glitter jars as the likes me. Glitter escapes all over the bottom of the drawer whether your're famous or not.
4. Kathy Griffin posing in one of the Sonny & Cher bobcat fur vests. History is calling on the princess phone!
5. I really find it adorable how Kathy gives Cher a hard time in the video.

Music & Art That Inspires Us

This week Cher expressed praise for the material Pink submitted for Cher's new album:

"Had meeting 2nite w/Record Co. They Love (the) Song I've done! Got 2 New (songs)! Pink Wrote them! Co(mpany)  wants it out end (of) yr. pic'd single... Alecia (Pink) wrote 2 Great Songs!... Pink is Definitely My Girl! She's Talent! Luv it."

Read more

Since I am broke, I am waiting like a pauper for my birthday to get the new Paloma Faith album, which is available as an import only now. I love her song "Agony" and the song and video for "Picking Up the Pieces."  

Hopefully I'll be in the flush with cash again soon. I just started a new job at the Institute for American Indian Arts. I'm pinching myself to be in this creative space. Check out their museum, ground zero for contemporary Native American and Alaskan art: http://www.iaia.edu/museum/.

Meanwhile, Cher Scholar Dishy has been turning me on to some awesome stuff. Through him I watched the Siouxie and the Banshees video collection. Although I only really loved "Kiss Them for Me" as a song, all the videos blew my mind; the special effects still hold up. I also watched his copy of the videos for The Eurythmics' album Savage which I can't recommend highly enough. Now I finally get the "I Need A Man" video. You get to see this amazing characterization of the blonde chick as she evolves through the videos. I see elements of Kiki DuRane in the whole trajectory. Interesting to me that Annie Lennox was working on similar feminist characterizations as Madonna but not getting the credit for it, because hers was more to the jugular and it made everyone uncomfortable.

Watch the sequence:

• Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)...This video introduces us to housewife versus the little brat the unruly woman is created from. After watching it, Mr. Cher Scholar told me about how they used to discourage women from listen to Beethoven because his music excited them.
• I Need a Man - Unruly woman gets unhooked!
• Heaven - Unruly woman does LA.
• Wide Eyed Girl - If you wait to the end of this very-80s video, you see what might be the unruly blonde as worn-out mother.
• Savage - Unruly woman runs out of steam...beautifully.
• You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart - Unruly woman and house-frau battle for Annie Lennox's soul.

Dishy also alerted me to the new album by Americana-lyricist Lana del Rey, Born to Die. Have yet to spend real quality time with it but I love the atmosphere and the smart lyrics so far.

If you love pop-culture references, you might like the videos too:

• National Anthem (Is that Marilyn Monroe meets President Obama a.k.a. A$AP Rocky? That's awesome enough but it gets better!)
• Video Games
• Born to Die
• Blue Jeans (Because everybody has to do a black and white video...this one has great water shots, like the video for "Just a Dream," the masterpiece from my STL-homie Nelly.)

 

Twitter, Tours and Taking Pics

I'm late with Cher posts again. Okay, this is for two reasons: I've been out camping this summer around the Southwest (Mesa Verde, Bryce Canyon, Conchas Lake) and I've been moonlighting with another blog. I'm putting out a book this year and I've been ramping up my personal and poetry sites. Check out Big Bang Poetry at http://www.bigbangpoetry.com, reinventing the life of the poet in the modern world.

But it's not that I haven't been having any Cher thoughts. I'm excited-ly awaiting the new Cher biography out next Friday, the one that was supposed to come out last May, then June.

Cher fans have also been discussing new album and tour news. Cher tweeted that the first single would come out in September, an album would be released for Christmas, and a tour, if she tours, will be postponed until spring of 2013 due to surgery she needs on her ailing tootsies.

Although I would pay to see Cher tour again, I'm hoping her toes talk some sense into her. Coming back after such a dramatic farewell and all...could cause more tweetwars.

Cher has also been continuing to fight the tweet-skanks on Twitter. I hope she finds this somewhat energizing and not depleating. This time MDNA fans have been up in her grill. Read all about it here. Then a Britney Spears fan misinterpreted her anti-Romney tweet.

Cher said:

Like to keep my insults Straight asshole!".

I don't think LOL expresses how funny that is. I love how the twitterazzi is hanging on Cher-tweets like she's the guru of shade.

On the lighter side, she's also been posting some candid photos on twitter, the ones seen above taken by Kathy Griffin after a girls-night-in.

The candid ones below are older but some of my favorites of the recent strike-a-pose shots.

 

New Cher Music on YouTube

Cher has posted a new song on YouTube, a cover of Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJhdDq8biA

The song is somewhat of a duet between Jesse Jo Stark, Cher's God daughter and Cher and was created for Jesse Jo's father Richard Stark (of Chrome Hearts) for his birthday.

The youtube video also has a good photo-feed of candid Cher shots mixed with shots of Jesse Jo Stark.

The song, about airplanes taking lovers away, is melancholy and sweet and a believable lament for Cher's traveling songbird persona:

Silver wings
Shining in the sunlight
Roaring engines
Headed somewhere in flight
They're taking you away
And leaving me lonely
Silver wings
Slowly fading out of sight

Can we have a Cher country album pleeeeessse?????

A live Merle Haggard version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w99UIu9N44w

Cher Starting Fires and Helping Fire Victims

Maybe it's me, but I am loving seeing Cher with big hair again. And maybe big hair spray ignites big fires.

Cher has been busy lately setting fires and helping to put them back out again.

The latest raging inferno, Cher gets some Mormon groups in a snit over a tweet using the phrase 'magic underwear' to refer to celestial garments.

The offending tweet:

"I Feel if he (Obama) doesn't get all his DUCKS IN A ROW we'll b forced 2 listen 2Uncaring Richy Rich! The whitest man in MAGIC UNDERWEAR in the WH (White House)."

This Brisbane press article also takes the time to remind people that Australians were also offended by Cher recently over the sale of the key to Adelaide.

The girl is giving Courtney Love a run for her money this year. You go!

To be fair to Mormons, they are starting to take back their religion. This week 300 pro-gay Mormons joined Salt Lake City's Gay Price Parade in a gesture of support.  A very inspiring story.

To be fair to Cher, she is helping to raise money and offer sympathy for Colorado's latest fire victims. Cher tweeted:

"I will donate $. It's beautiful place, warm people! I've played there many times! SAD! Nephew went 2 Air Force Acad (Academy there). Ryan Southall, he's getting married...

"I'm sad about ppl w/ nowhere to go! Houses lost! I don't think I would (be) strong enough to start over w/ nothing."

http://www.kimt.com/entertainment/story/Cher-to-help-out-fire-victims/Q28vnGFZuE-v48qE7bY-2g.cspx

 

Nora Ephron Dies

Nora Ephron, screenwriter for the movie Silkwood, has died of Leukemia.

From the Wall Street Journal:

As a screenwriter, Ephron was nominated three times for Academy Awards, for "Silkwood," ''When Harry Met Sally ..." and "Sleepless in Seattle," and was the rare woman to write, direct and produce Hollywood movies.

Ephron was once married to Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, one of the two reporters to break the Watergate story and she wrote about their marriage in the movie Heartburn.

Many celebrities tweeted about Ephron's passing, including Cher who said:

"Im Extremely Sad ! We had Wonderful times on Silkwood ! She told HILARIOUS STORIES"