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mostlysignssomeportents · 5 months

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It all started with a mouse

For the public domain, time stopped in 1998, when the Sonny Bono Copyright Act froze copyright expirations for 20 years. In 2019, time started again, with a massive crop of works from 1923 returning to the public domain, free for all to use and adapt:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2019/

No one is better at conveying the power of the public domain than Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, who run the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain. For years leading up to 2019, the pair published an annual roundup of what we would have gotten from the public domain in a universe where the 1998 Act never passed. Since 2019, they've switched to celebrating what we're actually getting each year. Last year's was a banger:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/20/free-for-2023/#oy-canada

But while there's been moderate excitement at the publicdomainification of "Yes, We Have No Bananas," AA Milne's "Now We Are Six," and Sherlock Holmes, the main event that everyone's anticipated arrives on January 1, 2024, when Mickey Mouse enters the public domain.

The first appearance of Mickey Mouse was in 1928's Steamboat Willie. Disney was critical to the lobbying efforts that extended copyright in 1976 and again in 1998, so much so that the 1998 Act is sometimes called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Disney and its allies were so effective at securing these regulatory gifts that many people doubted that this day would ever come. Surely Disney would secure another retrospective copyright term extension before Jan 1, 2024. I had long arguments with comrades about this – people like Project Gutenberg founder Michael S Hart (RIP) were fatalistically certain the public domain would never come back.

But they were wrong. The public outrage over copyright term extensions came too late to stave off the slow-motion arson of the 1976 and 1998 Acts, but it was sufficient to keep a third extension away from the USA. Canada wasn't so lucky: Justin Trudeau let Trump bully him into taking 20 years' worth of works out of Canada's public domain in the revised NAFTA agreement, making swathes of works by living Canadian authors illegal at the stroke of a pen, in a gift to the distant descendants of long-dead foreign authors.

Now, with Mickey's liberation bare days away, there's a mounting sense of excitement and unease. Will Mickey actually be free? The answer is a resounding YES! (albeit with a few caveats). In a prelude to this year's public domain roundup, Jennifer Jenkins has published a full and delightful guide to The Mouse and IP from Jan 1 on:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/

Disney loves the public domain. Its best-loved works, from The Sorcerer's Apprentice to Sleeping Beauty, Pinnocchio to The Little Mermaid, are gorgeous, thoughtful, and lively reworkings of material from the public domain. Disney loves the public domain – we just wish it would share.

Disney loves copyright's other flexibilities, too, like fair use. Walt told the papers that he took his inspiration for Steamboat Willie from Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, making fair use of their performances to imbue Mickey with his mischief and derring do. Disney loves fair use – we just wish it would share.

Disney loves copyright's limitations. Steamboat Willie was inspired by Buster Keaton's silent film Steamboat Bill (titles aren't copyrightable). Disney loves copyright's limitations – we just wish it would share.

As Jenkins writes, Disney's relationship to copyright is wildly contradictory. It's the poster child for the public domain's power as a source of inspiration for worthy (and profitable) new works. It's also the chief villain in the impoverishment and near-extinction of the public domain. Truly, every pirate wants to be an admiral.

Disney's reliance on – and sabotage of – the public domain is ironic. Jenkins compares it to "an oil company relying on solar power to run its rigs." Come January 1, Disney will have to share.

Now, if you've heard anything about this, you've probably been told that Mickey isn't really entering the public domain. Between trademark claims and later copyrightable elements of Mickey's design, Mickey's status will be too complex to understand. That's totally wrong.

Jenkins illustrates the relationship between these three elements in (what else) a Mickey-shaped Venn diagram. Topline: you can use all the elements of Mickey that are present in Steamboat Willie, along with some elements that were added later, provided that you make it clear that your work isn't affiliated with Disney.

Let's unpack that. The copyrightable status of a character used to be vague and complex, but several high-profile cases have brought clarity to the question. The big one is Les Klinger's case against the Arthur Conan Doyle estate over Sherlock Holmes. That case established that when a character appears in both public domain and copyrighted works, the character is in the public domain, and you are "free to copy story elements from the public domain works":

https://freesherlock.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/klinger-order-on-motion-for-summary-judgment-c.pdf

This case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, who declined to hear it. It's settled law.

So, which parts of Mickey aren't going into the public domain? Elements that came later: white gloves, color. But that doesn't mean you can't add different gloves, or different colorways. The idea of a eyes with pupils is not copyrightable – only the specific eyes that Disney added.

Other later elements that don't qualify for copyright: a squeaky mouse voice, being adorable, doing jaunty dances, etc. These are all generic characteristics of cartoon mice, and they're free for you to use. Jenkins is more cautious on whether you can give your Mickey red shorts. She judges that "a single, bright, primary color for an article of clothing does not meet the copyrightability threshold" but without settled law, you might wanna change the colors.

But what about trademark? For years, Disney has included a clip from Steamboat Willie at the start of each of its films. Many observers characterized this as a bid to create a de facto perpetual copyright, by making Steamboat Willie inescapably associated with products from Disney, weaving an impassable web of trademark tripwires around it.

But trademark doesn't prevent you from using Steamboat Willie. It only prevents you from misleading consumers "into thinking your work is produced or sponsored by Disney." Trademarks don't expire so long as they're in use, but uses that don't create confusion are fair game under trademark.

Copyrights and trademarks can overlap. Mickey Mouse is a copyrighted character, but he's also an indicator that a product or service is associated with Disney. While Mickey's copyright expires in a couple weeks, his trademark doesn't. What happens to an out-of-copyright work that is still a trademark?

Luckily for us, this is also a thoroughly settled case. As in, this question was resolved in a unanimous 2000 Supreme Court ruling, Dastar v. Twentieth Century Fox. A live trademark does not extend an expired copyright. As the Supremes said:

[This would] create a species of mutant copyright law that limits the public’s federal right to copy and to use expired copyrights.

This elaborates on the Ninth Circuit's 1996 Maljack Prods v Goodtimes Home Video Corp:

[Trademark][ cannot be used to circumvent copyright law. If material covered by copyright law has passed into the public domain, it cannot then be protected by the Lanham Act without rendering the Copyright Act a nullity.

Despite what you might have heard, there is no ambiguity here. Copyrights can't be extended through trademark. Period. Unanimous Supreme Court Decision. Boom. End of story. Done.

But even so, there are trademark considerations in how you use Steamboat Willie after Jan 1, but these considerations are about protecting the public, not Disney shareholders. Your uses can't be misleading. People who buy or view your Steamboat Willie media or products have to be totally clear that your work comes from you, not Disney.

Avoiding confusion will be very hard for some uses, like plush toys, or short idents at the beginning of feature films. For most uses, though, a prominent disclaimer will suffice. The copyright page for my 2003 debut novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom contains this disclaimer:

This novel is a work of fiction, set in an imagined future. All the characters and events portrayed in this book, including the imagined future of the Magic Kingdom, are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. The Walt Disney Company has not authorized or endorsed this novel.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250196385/downandoutinthemagickingdom

Here's the Ninth Circuit again:

When a public domain work is copied, along with its title, there is little likelihood of confusion when even the most minimal steps are taken to distinguish the publisher of the original from that of the copy. The public is receiving just what it believes it is receiving—the work with which the title has become associated. The public is not only unharmed, it is unconfused.

Trademark has many exceptions. The First Amendment protects your right to use trademarks in expressive ways, for example, to recreate famous paintings with Barbie dolls:

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/mattel-walkingmountain-9thcir2003.pdf

And then there's "nominative use": it's not a trademark violation to use a trademark to accurately describe a trademarked thing. "We fix iPhones" is not a trademark violation. Neither is 'Works with HP printers.' This goes double for "expressive" uses of trademarks in new works of art:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_v._Grimaldi

What about "dilution"? Trademark protects a small number of superbrands from uses that "impair the distinctiveness or harm the reputation of the famous mark, even when there is no consumer confusion." Jenkins says that the Mickey silhouette and the current Mickey character designs might be entitled to protection from dilution, but Steamboat Willie doesn't make the cut.

Jenkins closes with a celebration of the public domain's ability to inspire new works, like Disney's Three Musketeers, Disney's Christmas Carol, Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Disney's Around the World in 80 Days, Disney's Alice in Wonderland, Disney's Snow White, Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Disney's Sleeping Beauty, Disney's Cinderella, Disney's Little Mermaid, Disney's Pinocchio, Disney's Huck Finn, Disney's Robin Hood, and Disney's Aladdin. These are some of the best-loved films of the past century, and made Disney a leading example of what talented, creative people can do with the public domain.

As of January 1, Disney will start to be an example of what talented, creative people give back to the public domain, joining Dickens, Dumas, Carroll, Verne, de Villeneuve, the Brothers Grimm, Twain, Hugo, Perrault and Collodi.

Public domain day is 17 days away. Creators of all kinds: start your engines!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/#free-mickey

Image: Doo Lee (modified) https://web.law.duke.edu/sites/default/files/images/centers/cspd/pdd2024/mickey/Steamboat-WIllie-Enters-Public-Domain.jpeg

CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #copyfight #scotus #mickey mouse #public domain #ip #contract #trademark #tm #jennifer jenkins #copyright #disney #nominative use

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sondheims-hat · 9 months

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A selection of Pseudolus Zero Mostel (1962), Jerry Lester (1962), Frankie Howerd (1963), Dick Shawn (1964), Sterling Holloway (1965), Jose Ferrer (1965), Dom DeLuis (1965), Phil Silvers (1972), Milton Berle (1975), Sonny Bono (1976), Ray Rayner (1978), Christopher Hewett (1978), Arte Johnson (1976), Mickey Rooney (1987), Jason Alexander (Jerome Robbins' Broadway, 1989), Nipsey Russell (1990), Mickey Dolenz (199?), Eddie Mekka (1995), Nathan Lane (1996), Whoopi Goldberg (1997), David Alan Grier (1997), Rip Taylor (1998), Richard Kind (2008), Lee Wilkof (2010), Christopher Fitzgerald (2010), Geoffrey Rush (2012), Peter Scolari (2013), Frank Ferrante (2017).

#Sondheim #A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

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dnddeadnotdead · 5 years

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Dead: Sonny Bono // Not Dead: Yoko Ono

#RIP #comedy #entertainment #music #politics #art #Cher #John Lennon #The Beatles #Public Enemy #Bring The Noise #Sonny Bono #Yoko Ono

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eclecticminded · 5 years

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Separated

anonymous asked: I just love everything you write! ❤️ Can you do something where the reader is married but things are doing really bad with her husband and after one more huge fight, she ends in a bar and meets Rafael/Sonny/Peter (your choice, I’m fine with any of them :p) and he becomes her boyfriend? Just pretty damn good sex at first but he becomes jealous and wants her all by himself :) is that okay to you? Looooove!!!

Thank you so much! For this story I picked Peter, I hope you enjoy!

During your separation you meet Peter Stone.

Warnings: Sex, alcohol, and food mention. Cursing.

Tags: @southsiderepresent @glimmerglittergirl @madpanda75 @southern-magnolia @katmstanton @esparza-army @sweetsummertime99 @obfuscateyummy @lifeisbetterwithbarba @lyssa1385 @hux-me-up @bowieisawizard @sleepylunarwolf @mrsrafaelbarba anyone else ask!

Also I have a Kofi (link in blog description) if anyone wants to donate!

In the process of separating from your husband, you had agreed to split time at the house. One week he’d get the house and one week you did until other arrangements could be made. You tried to make things work, you really did, but he made it so damn hard. It was one fight after another, him putting you down even as you tried to reconcile. During your third week with the house, he decided to be his usual asshole self, and brought his one night stand back. He claimed he “forgot” it was your week but you knew better; he just wanted to hurt you. And it had.

So maybe that’s why you were at a bar you’d never heard of in lower Manhattan. You wanted to forget about this awful night before you had to find somewhere to sleep. Wanted to strategize filing for divorce. That was definitely why when a good looking stranger slid up next to you, you let him order you another drink. You wanted to feel something again. Be appreciated for once.

“Hi, I’m Peter and you look like you need another,” he had a megawatt smile that made your stomach fill with butterflies. You hadn’t felt that in a long time, your plan was already working.

“Y/n. I thought I was doing a good job hiding it,” you tucked your hair behind you ear, “Thank you.”

“Wanna talk about it,” Peter seemed so sincere you wanted to pour your heart out to him, “A pretty lady shouldn’t be drinking alone on a Friday night.

“You don’t want to hear about my divorce,” you nervously laughed and sipped at your drink, your soon to be ex hadn’t called you pretty in years.

“I do if it will make you feel better,” Peter motioned for you to follow him. Without hesitating you followed him to a secluded corner where he gathered together some folders.

“Working,” you teased and sat next to him.

“Always,” he sighed, “But let’s talk about you.” Peter listened while you lamented over your failed marriage. Listened to how you married your high school sweetheart and you wished more than anything you hadn’t done it. All the marriage brought you was heartache. Your husband became disenchanted after the honeymoon and soon after you fell out of love with him. You wanted kids, he didn’t. He wanted you to stay home and wait on his every whim, but if you didn’t work no bills go paid. You were miserable for years, finally putting your foot down when he cheated with his secretary.

“His secretary? Are you kidding me,” Peter rolled his eyes, “That’s so cliché.”

“I know! Found them in our bed,” you finished your third drink and relaxed into the chair.

“That’s not right,” he leaned back too, your knees touched, “Why haven’t you filed for divorce?”

“I’m scared honestly,” you shrugged, “He has a temper. He’s never hit me…but ...”

“And he’s at your house tonight,” Peter raised an eyebrow, becoming more concerned by the minute.

“Yup,” you popped the p and leaned your head on his shoulder. This random stranger you’d know for an hour made you feel more comfortable and safe than your husband ever had. Showed more concern for you than he had since before you got married.

“Do you want to go back to my place? I can sleep on the sofa,” he was such a gentlemen, and it made your heart soar.

“I will go back to your place on two conditions,” you sat up and nodded matter-of-factly.

“And those are…” he trailed off, both confused and intrigued.

“If you are so willing,” you rested your hand on his knee, “I would like you to hold me.”

“And your second condition,” Peter took your hand in his and kissed it.

“Kiss me good night,” you smiled sheepishly, “I haven’t been kissed goodnight or held in years. And you listening to me, truly hearing me, it reminded me how much I missed connecting with someone on that level.”

“I agree to both of those conditions,” Peter waived the waitress over and paid the tab, “Let’s go.” In the back of the Lyft to his place, your hands intertwined like they’d done it a million times before. When he kissed you sweet and slow time stopped and stood still. You’d forgotten what this felt like, being close to someone that desired you as much as you desired them.

“You played for the Cubs,” you marveled at the memorabilia that covered the hallway walls leading to Peter’s bedroom.

“I did,” he chuckled, “You a fan?”

“Not big into sports, I’m a baseball and football widow, “you rolled your eyes, “but I understand them enough.”

“Fair enough,” Peter handed you a shirt and sweats, “the bathroom is through there,” he pointed to a door back in the hall and you went to change. By the time you’d haphazardly brushed your teeth with a finger and toothpaste, Peter was changed. You put your clothes in a pile at the end of the bed and hesitated by the bed while he brushed his teeth.

“Ready for bed,” he kissed the top of your head.

“Mhmm,” you didn’t move, “Peter?”

“Yes beautiful,” his pet name made your stomach swell with butterflies again.

“I don’t want to have sex tonight,” your eyes widened and you started to back pedal, “I mean I want to have sex with you. Just not tonight. Fuck, why did I say anything.” You hung your head.

“Hey hey,” Peter lifted your chin, “I didn’t expect anything. Cuddles and goodnight kiss remember?”

“You are too good to be true Peter Stone,” you rose to tip toes and kissed his cheek.

“Come on, let’s go to bed,” he half carried you to bed and plopped you down while you giggled.

“I surrender,” you threw your hands up and he laid down facing you after turning the light off.

“Shit I have to put my phone on the charger,” you started to get back up.

“Already did it,” Peter pulled you back down.

“You’re amazing,” you settled back in.

“Goodnight beautiful,” he kissed you again, sweetly but with hints of passion.

“Goodnight handsome,” you rolled over and he pulled you tight against his chest.

Two months later you were out to dinner with Peter. Your love affair started out innocently enough, cuddles and kisses. But the sex, dear gods above the sex. You’d only ever had sex with one person and he was awful at it. Peter did things to you you never knew possible. You experienced orgasms so intense and brought each other such immense pleasure in and out of the bedroom; it was like you were making up for lost time. Neither of you could keep your hands to yourself, and Peter couldn’t believe how good you were at blowjobs.

Peter was laughing at something you’d said when your ex barged into the restaurant. You saw him shove past a waitress and you tensed up, Peter followed your eyesight and stiffened. He’d seen your ex before but they hadn’t formally met, now was a good a time as any it seemed.

“What the hell bitch,” he growled at you.

“Did you follow us here,” you tried to get him to quiet down and sit. He’d followed you before and you’d neglected to tell Peter as to not upset him.

“I tracked your phone,” he shoved your hand away when you offered him a seat, “What the hell is your problem?”

“Hey, just calm down,” Peter tried to defuse the situation, “let’s sit down and talk about this. I’ll order you a drink.”

“Stay the hell out of this,” he growled, “this is between my wife and me,” he snatched your wrist and Peter saw red. Peter ripped your ex’s hand away and gathered his shirt in a fist in one fluid motion. The spot where you were seated was secluded enough no one really saw. The waitress he had shoved did, but she thought it was karma.

“I’m an assistant district attorney, you really want to do that in front of me,” Peter’s voice was low and calm, he didn’t raise his it once. What a nice change of pace from your ex-husbands constant screaming and belittling.

“Sorry man,” he jerked away and fixed his shirt.

“Tell her you’re sorry, not me,” Peter pointed to you.

“Not happening,” he barged off, “We’ll talk later.”

“Peter,” your face was set in stone and unemotional, you were shutting down, “can we please go to your place?”

“Yes, let me pay the bill,” he rushed off and was back by the time your jacket was on. The ride to his place you laid on his shoulder in silence. Neither of you spoke until you were in pajamas and sitting on the sofa.

“I don’t want to share you with anyone,” Peter was first to go, “Least of all him.”

“You don’t have to anymore, not that I’ve been seeing him or anything” you fiddled with the edge of the cushion, “I filed today. That’s why he’s mad.”

“You did,” Peter kissed you excitedly and all your anxiety melted away at his touch. It was a nice change of pace from the flinching you did when your ex would touch you.

“Yeah I did,” you giggled, “Should have a court date soon.”

“I can expedite the process,” Peter started thinking, “Did you call the lawyer I told you about?”

“Yes, she says you’re even now, whatever that means,” you shrugged.

“Before I was an ADA I handled her son’s case pro bono. That’s why you don’t have to pay,” he squeezed your hand.

“Thank you,” you kissed his knuckles, “always taking care of me.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” he smiled.

“I don’t have anywhere to stay,” reality started to settle in, “He’s mad I filed before him, and he’s bound to be angry and lock me out of the house.”

“You could always live with me,” Peter rubbed his head, “You’re here most of the time anyway.”

“Could I really,” you excitedly launched into his arms.

“Yes beautiful,” he kissed your forehead, “on two conditions.”

“Go on,” you giggled, that was your running gag now.

“First condition, I’m getting you a restraining order first thing in the morning. And I’ll have some friends of mine come with us to serve it and get your stuff,” he leaned back so he could see your face.

“That would be amazing thank you, second condition,” you held up two fingers.

“Be my girlfriend. Officially,” Peter turned a light shade of crimson.

“I thought you’d never ask,” you kissed him, letting the last bits of stress between your bodies melt away.

“Didn’t want to risk scaring you off,” he chuckled.

“Not possible. You are so good to me, what did I do to deserve you,” you snuggled into his embrace.

“It’s simple, you were born,” Peter tucked a blanket around your bodies and clicked the TV on. So this is what a healthy relationship felt like. You could get used to this.

#peter stone #peter stone x reader #peter stone imagine #peter stone fanfic #law and order svu #law and order svu fanfic #law and order svu imagine #law and order special victims unit #law and order special victims unit fanfic #law and order special victims unit imagine #mine #my writing

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musicrunsthroughmysoul · 3 years

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It’s funny that “Needles and Pins” is described as being written by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono but I literally only associate that song with Jackie DeShannon, who apparently ‘just didn’t get formal credit’ for writing it. Which probably means...she wrote it. 😂 I LOVE sexism in the music industry, man, what are ANY of you talking about. It’s HILARIOUS. 😂😒

But actually the main reason I wanted to bring this up is because I hear the chords to “Needles and Pins” EVERYWHERE, in some of the most RANDOM songs, and I’m always like ‘?????????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ whenever I hear it because I always immediately think ‘HEY MOTHERFUCKERS THAT’S JACKIE DESHANNON’S SONG THAT YOU’RE BLATANTLY RIPPING OFF, WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUCK’ and yet no one EVER mentions that it sounds exactly like “Needles and Pins”?! It’s the most bizarre thing, but maybe it’s especially bizarre to me because I’m not a musician and I don’t understand chords or even how songs and copyright/plagiarism works (though yes, I do know the famous “He’s So Fine”/”My Sweet Lord” case, and others Led Zeppelin all over the place, as well. Doesn’t mean I understand the justification of plagiarism in music in the first place).

Also, I wonder if I associate that song so strongly and plainly with Jackie DeShannon because I read an interview with her about touring with The Beatles and one time George Harrison asked her what the chords to “Needles and Pins” were and she momentarily forgot [because it was George Harrison who was good-looking as HELL] but eventually she remembered and played it for him... So I don’t know for sure if that’s where my bias came from, or if you could even say for sure that it’s a bias, because Jackie truly was involved with writing it? So maybe it’s not her song alone like I’m suggesting, but...TO ME it feels like her song. Maybe because of that instance. LOL I’m not sure, but it could be a/the reason.

#don't reb/og lmao #I just wanted to preface how I only associate it with Jackie so when I said #'THAT'S JACKIE DESHANNON'S SONG YOU'RE BLATANTLY RIPPING OFF' I wanted that to make sense. LOL #because that's literally always what I think. every time. knee jerk response honestly #and I'm sure if I said that out loud to someone while listening to a song that was NOT Needles and Pins but had those same chords #they would probably look at me like '...???????????????' because yeah I'm probably one of the only people #to specifically associate it with Jackie and like...her alone. LOL like okay yeah other dudes were there who wrote it too but. okay #it's still Jackie's song. the end 😂 as far as I'm concerned #*also I think when I'm saying chords I think I actually mean it's THE Needles and Pins HOOK. don't know how that works either tbh #thank the universe I'm not really a music writer. because then I would HAVE to understand this shit and...I'm lazy. no thanks

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simonamelville · 3 years

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Cher

Cher’s career first took off in 1965 after she released her first single with Sonny Bono ‘I Got You Babe’. She has always been known for her Avant-Garde sense of style, always surprising the audience with different looks that push the boundaries, she wants to captivate her audience and not let them take their eyes off her.

In the 70s Cher was highly influenced by the soft edges, and bright colours, she was very much dressing in the bohemian style, whilst reflecting her hippy side, as she would most often wear flared jeans or trousers with looser tops, her long and straight dark hair also added a lot to the look as she embraced her natural beauty. In the 70s her career really started to take off, due to the help of her husband Sonny Bono, who was 11 years older then her, and who she married in the bathroom of her apartment, with souvenir rings, for wedding bands. Bono would help Cher by getting her gigs as a background singer for bands such as the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers. When Cher started to gain a lot of fame in the 70s, a toy company called Mego started to produce Cher and Sonny fashion dolls, which at one point were even more popular than the Barbie doll.

In the 80s Cher was more influenced by the Punk scene, she would be seen wearing cropped, black leather jackets with a leotard that consisted of barley any fabric and reflected the ripped up look. She also was a fan of big, dark, curly hair at that time, which went quite well with her dark coloured punky outfits.

Cher has always worked very closely with Bob Mackie, who has helped her create and design most of her famous looks that we know her for to this day. Fro one of the Oscars nominations Cher wanted to dress up, so Bob Mackie and Cher came up wit the idea to copy one of the outfits from the Cher Show, recreating the outfit all the way to the smallest of details. However, the most famous outfit that Cher has worn was to the Academy Award show, as she wore the two piece co-ord, which was covered with black sequins, she covered her shoulders with an oversized black, silk kimono, and had her hair spiked up into a Mohawk, she has said that this was her favourite outfit, “it made me feel like a queen.”

Designers like Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, have also been inspired by this infamous outfit, as similar Mohawk as well as the models wearing the colour black have appeared on the catwalk in the more recent years.

Cher has really left a huge imprint on the world of fashion, as not only the general public but fashion designers and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian keep on taking inspiration from her, and her outfits. Not only does Cher hold the title of being the only number 1 ranked artist a Billboard chart for 6 consecutive decades but she also has left a huge footprint in the world of Avant-Grade fashion.

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boboruns · 6 years

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#THEPHOTOis :

#onebyone

by #boboruns aka #ICH[je]ΕΓΩ posted on 20Jun #2018AD

#THESONGis :

“CELLPHONE’S DEAD” by Beck v The Information album - #2006AD

youtube

“BANG BANG-MY BABY SHOT ME DOWN” by Nancy Sinatra -v How Does That Grab You Album #1966AD

youtube

#THELYRICS

“Strange ways coming today

I put a dollar in my pocket

And I threw it away

Been a long time

Since a federal dime

Made a jukebox sound

Like a mirror in my mind

To comb my worries

Fix my thoughts

Throw my hopes

Like a juggernaut walks

Now let-down souls

Can't feel no rhythm

Sorry entertainers

Like aerobics victims

Hybrid people

Light a wooded matchstick

Toxic fumes from the

Burning plastic

Beats are broken

Bones are spastic

Robots talkin'

With a southern accent

Voodoo curses

Bible tongues

Voices comin'

From the mangled lungs

Give me some grit

Some get-down shit

Don't need a good reason

To let anything rip

Radio's cold

Soul is infected

One by one

I'll knock you out

God is alone

Hardware defective

One by one

I'll knock you out

Mr. Microphone making

All the damage felt

Like a laser manifesto

Make a mannequin melt

There's people phonin' in

Like it's unlimited minutes

Going through the motions

Just to say that they did it

Treadmill's running

Underneath their feet

So they feel like they're going somewhere

But they're not

So let's put boots

On the warehouse floor

Comin' to you

Like a rope on a chain store

Throwing equipment

From a moving van

Grab a microphone

Like a utility man

Now fix the beat

Now break the rest

Make a kick drum sound

Like an S.O.S.

Get a tow-truck

Cause it's after dark

And the dance floor's full

But everybody's double-parked!

Cell phone's dead

Lost in the desert

One by one

I'll knock you out

Eye of the sun

Is out of its socket

One by one

I'll knock you out

One by one

This jam is real, that's right

Eye of the sun

Ah.”

#THESONGWRITERs

Beck Hansen

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck ]

for “BANG BANG-MY BABY SHOT ME DOWN”

Sonny Bono

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Bono ] -

Cher’s husband

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher ]

#THERIGHTS

Kobalt Music Publishing

[ https://www.kobaltmusic.com ]

Interscope Records

[ https://www.interscope.com ]

#THEPRODUCERS

Nigel Godrich (producer, Engineer)

Darrell Thorp (Engineer) ,

#OTHERFACTS :

To hear the inspiration to Beck’s ‘Cell Phone’s Dead’ song, listen to ‘CHAMELEON’ by Herbie Hancock v Head Hunters album - #1973AD

youtube

& I, BOBORUNS!

Feeling the effects of the G-forces brought forth by the centripetal force of the current whip around the sun o’ dearest #boboruns ?

#4shuaa or more like, pressed up against the rim hoping I don’t fly off on a tangent into the cold of isolation of space as I patiently await outcome of multiple processes.

#thesummersolstice ; #solstice2018 ; #solstice

#PrepareThyselfBo ; #CreationisaBlessing ;

UHUH. ‘cause #bobomatters, why? ‘ cause he does.

#streetfolio ; #beachfolio #santorini ; #greece

:..

#BECK ; #theinformationalbum ; #2006AD ;

#NANCYSINATRA ; #bangbangmybabyshotmedown ; #1966AD ;

#DAVIDGUETTA ; #Skylergrey ; #2014AD

#ADDITIONALMUSIC

‘SHOT ME DOWN’ by David Guetta ft. Skyler Grey - #2014AD

youtube

#THEEND

#boboruns #4shuaa #bobomatters #streetfolio #beachfolio #santorini #greece #Beck #2006AD #NancySinatra #1966AD #Davidguetta #2014AD #europe #aegeansea

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blockheadbrands · 4 years

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I Lived It: I Went To My First Day of Work Stoned

Connor Douglas of High Times Reports:

Did Connor make a lasting impression on his new coworkers by showing up for his first day blazed out of his skull?

I’ve always been an awkward person. Like a lot of people, I’ve never felt that I belonged to any particular social circle. I love prog rock, horror films, video games—my interests have thriving communities and usually are fairly inclusive. Yet in spite of this, I always feel like a sore thumb. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fortunate enough to have some amazing close friends, with whom I’ve had many adventures and good times. But in nearly every job I’ve had, I’ve never been able to fit in with the rest of the staff. Maybe it’s because I hate working, and never really want to be at the place that employs me.

Or maybe it’s my crippling anxiety disorder, something that has caused me a great deal of distress and dismay in my life.

I have to suspect it’s a combination of those two elements. It’s not for lack of trying; each and every time I start a new job I attempt to be part of the gang. At this stage in my life, I’ve accepted that I’m an awkward guy, who will never feel quite comfortable in social situations. Living in a city as social as Los Angeles, this can be a challenge. I’ve struggled to hold down a full time job since moving here, and I’ve come to suspect this is largely due to my awkwardness, and general inability to settle into a clique.

And so it was one fine spring day in LA that I was offered a producing position at a prestigious marketing agency. I only got the job through a close friend who knew people at the company (hooray for nepotism!), and I only accepted because I was desperate. I needed money to pay the bills, which were piling up significantly, and even though I was sure there were far more qualified candidates out there for the position, I needed to survive. Classic LA, am I right? So anyway, I reluctantly agreed to the position, and after telling many-a-lie in a rigorous interview process, I landed the gig. I largely bullshitted my way there—which is how I imagine most producers in Los Angeles get their jobs—and I prepared myself for my first day as a producer at a fancy-schmancy marketing agency.

Almost immediately, my nervousness began to rear its ugly head. What if they saw through the façade? What if I had to go back on unemployment? What if I couldn’t handle the job’s simplest responsibilities? Worst of all, what if they don’t like me? I was panicking, even beginning to regret accepting the job. I knew I’d have to make a great first impression for my first day, and I have a track record of horrible first impressions.

I picked out a professional, but slightly casual outfit, and I was careful to shave my face and brush my teeth a couple of times. I wanted to be taken seriously, and after a series of disappointing jobs, I wanted to do my best to make this one stick. But even as I prepared myself for success, my stomach knotted with fear, and my heart raced. No matter what I did, I could not get myself to calm down. I knew that when I was this nervous, I was also at my most awkward. I needed a quick solution, and as I scrambled to think about what I could do, I remembered I had just made a trip to the dispensary. I had picked up some flower of a strain I had never tried before— Strawberry Banana. A buddy of mine, Johnny, had recommended I try it out for my anxiety.

Spending The First Day of Work Stoned and Cosplaying Sonny Crockett

It was in that moment I hatched a genius plan: I would take a hit or two from my pipe, three at most, and then I’d call a Lyft to work. It was the perfect plan! I’d get just buzzed enough to calm my nerves, and no one at the new gig would be able to tell. Mind you, I had only just started smoking weed, and was very ignorant to the many factors that come into play when you’re getting ripped. For example, I hadn’t eaten breakfast, and although a couple of hits normally wouldn’t do too much, the two tokes of this strong strain on an empty stomach hit me like a sledgehammer.

It was too late. The damage had been done and I needed to leave the apartment immediately or I’d be late. I called a Lyft and wolfed down some food, hoping it would sober me up a bit. It didn’t. I arrived at the office, my eyes blazing like hellfire. I was also starting this new job on the same day the company held a full staff meeting in the main plaza of the building. To make matters worse, the weed had the opposite effect in that it made me panic more as I was paranoid that all of my new coworkers would be able to tell I was baked out of my mind.

I quickly conjured up yet another brilliant solution—I wouldn’t take my sunglasses off the whole day. Bono does it, and he’s very successful and talented. So I kept my Ray-Bans on and didn’t take them off as I entered the staff meeting on my first day looking like Sonny Crockett. Other than the paranoia, I felt like a million bucks. My muscles and body were light as a feather, and for the most part I was in a good headspace. Everything, and I mean everything was hilarious. I kept thinking how weird it was that we all gathered like herded cattle for company meetings. How stupid it was that we all corralled around our overpaid leaders and listened to nonsense about making ads, something that truly could not matter less. At the same time, I giggled at the guy’s bowl cut in front of me, and smiled at the people staring at me for wearing my Wayfarers indoors.

After the meeting I was whisked away along with some other fresh meat to a guided tour of the office space. I was blitzed out of my mind for this entire tour, and remarked that each and every room I was shown was “dope.” I occasionally received an odd glance or two from my fellow new recruits, who probably thought I was insane, or were well aware that I was blasted with the sweet leaf. I felt like I was floating on clouds as I meandered around the office, letting out a “woah” or “nice!” with each new room. Finally I arrived at my desk, and had to begin my training. The woman I’d be replacing stared blankly at me.

“You can take those off if you’d like,” she said, motioning to my sunglasses.

I immediately panicked. I hadn’t planned for someone confronting me about my glasses—what would I say? I have photophobia? That seemed like an awfully big commitment, and one I’d have to keep up for the indefinite future. I have bad allergies! This one was actually true, I do have horrible seasonal allergies which sometimes cause itchy and red eyes. Mind you, while this was running through my head I was sitting there in silence, staring back at this poor woman through my cool sunglasses. It must’ve been a pause for her that lasted an eternity. Finally a wide smile cracked across my face. I was so high, I was wearing my “a-ha!” revelation on my face like a grinning doofus. This only enhanced how weird I appeared.

“I have really bad allergies, and it causes my eyes to get really red and itchy,” I said.

“Oh, I totally get that, I do too,” she responded.

She bought it—or at least, I assumed she did. And so, I removed the glasses, revealing my blood-red eyes. The woman seemed a little taken aback.

“Woah, you weren’t kidding,” she remarked.

Getting Through The Day In A Haze

And so I continued to stumble through my first day, eventually getting through the training (none of which I actually retained), and assisted by many trips to the kitchen to down glasses of water and snacks in my struggle to sober up. The worst was not yet over however, and I was told that I would be taken around to the offices of the executives so I could meet them all. The paranoia hit me the worst at this moment, as my stoned ass was paraded around the office and as I awkwardly shook hands with each executive. My eyes were half-open with a lazy, shit-eating grin on my face. I also kept darting my eyes back and forth to avoid eye contact, which only could have made things ten times worse.

Finally, by lunchtime, I had begun to sober up. I attempted to undo the chaotic first impression I had undoubtedly left, and much to my surprise the people I had encountered hadn’t actually noticed much of anything. Or if they did, they simply didn’t care. The job ended up royally sucking, and before long, I had decided that I wasn’t a good fit for it and parted ways from the company. On the day I quit, I went home, took several massive bong rips, and fired up a video game. Is there a better feeling than that? Needless to say, this is perhaps my most triumphant first impression, and one I will not soon forget.

TO READ MORE OF THIS ARTICLE ON HIGH TIMES, CLICK HERE.

https://hightimes.com/news/chronically-il-man-fired-using-marijuana/

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

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#1yrago Happy Public Domain day: for real, for the first time in 20 years!

Every year, Jennifer Jenkins and Jamie Boyle from the Duke Center for the Public Domain compile a "Public Domain Day" list (previously) that highlights the works that are not entering the public domain in America, thanks to the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which hit the pause button on Americans' ability to freely use their artistic treasures for two decades -- a list that also included the notable works entering the public domain in more sensible countries of the Anglophere, like Canada and the UK, where copyright "only" lasted for 50 years after the author's death.

But this year, it's different.

This is the year that America unpauses its public domain; it's also the year that Canadian PM Justin Trudeau capitulated to Donald Trump and retroactively extended copyright on works in Canada for an extra 20 years, ripping works out of Canada's public domain, making new works based on them into illegal art (more proof that good hair and good pecs don't qualify you to be a good leader -- see also: V. Putin -- not even when paired with high-flying, cheap rhetoric).

Even as Canada's public domain has radically contracted, America's has, for the first, time, opened.

So this year's American Public Domain Day List is, for the first time in 20 years, not a work melancholy alternate history, but rather a celebration of works that Americans are newly given access to without restriction or payment, for free re-use and adaptation, in the spirit of such classics as Snow White, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, All You Need is Love, and more (More than 1,000 in all, summarized in this handy spreadsheet -- thanks Gary!).

Films * Safety Last!, directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, featuring Harold Lloyd * The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille * The Pilgrim, directed by Charlie Chaplin * Our Hospitality, directed by Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone * The Covered Wagon, directed by James Cruze * Scaramouche, directed by Rex Ingram

Books * Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan and the Golden Lion * Agatha Christie, The Murder on the Links * Winston S. Churchill, The World Crisis * e.e. cummings, Tulips and Chimneys * Robert Frost, New Hampshire * Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet * Aldous Huxley, Antic Hay * D.H. Lawrence, Kangaroo * Bertrand and Dora Russell, The Prospects of Industrial Civilization * Carl Sandberg, Rootabaga Pigeons * Edith Wharton, A Son at the Front * P.G. Wodehouse, works including The Inimitable Jeeves and Leave it to Psmith * Viginia Woolf, Jacob's Room

Music * Yes! We Have No Bananas, w.&m. Frank Silver & Irving Cohn * Charleston, w.&m. Cecil Mack & James P. Johnson * London Calling! (musical), by Noel Coward * Who’s Sorry Now, w. Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, m. Ted Snyder * Songs by “Jelly Roll” Morton including Grandpa’s Spells, The Pearls, and Wolverine Blues (w. Benjamin F. Spikes & John C. Spikes; m. Ferd “Jelly Roll” Morton) * Works by Bela Bartok including the Violin Sonata No. 1 and the Violin Sonata No. 2 * Tin Roof Blues, m. Leon Roppolo, Paul Mares, George Brunies, Mel Stitzel, & Benny Pollack (There were also compositions from 1923 by other well-known artists including Louis Armstrong, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, WC Handy, Oscar Hammerstein, Gustav Holst, Al Jolson, Jerome Kern, and John Phillip Sousa; though their most famous works were from other years.)

And as great as that list is, it's hardly a patch on the amazing works we'd be inheriting if the Sonny Bono law hadn't been passed and the 1978 law was still on the books -- works whose authors fully expected them to be in the public domain as of tomorrow:

Books * Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time * Rachel Carson, Silent Spring * Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August * Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools * James Baldwin, Another Country * Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle * Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions * Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire * Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange * Michael Harrington, The Other America * Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom * J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World * Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes * Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest * Edward Albee, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? * Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich * Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook * Helen Gurley Brown, Sex and the Single Girl * Ingri d’Aulaire and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

Movies * Lawrence of Arabia * The Longest Day * The Manchurian Candidate * Dr. No * Jules and Jim * Sanjuro * Birdman of Alcatraz * Mutiny on the Bounty * Days of Wine and Roses * How the West Was Won

Music * Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream), by Cindy Walker, performed by Roy Orbison * Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan * Watermelon Man, Herbie Hancock (from his first album, Takin’ Off) * Twistin’ the Night Away, Sam Cooke * You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover and You Shook Me, Willie Dixon * Surfin’ Safari, The Beach Boys * Songs from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Stephen Sondheim * Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream), Cindy Walker * Big Girls Don’t Cry, Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio * Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield * Little Boxes, Malvina Reynolds * The Loco-Motion, Gerry Goffin and Carole King * Soldier Boy, Luther Dixon and Florence Greenberg

And, as Jenkins and Boyle point out, the largely hidden casualty of copyright term extension is the scholarship and research published in academic journals, who paid nothing for these works, and who have locked them up for decades to come:

https://boingboing.net/2018/12/31/thanks-justin.html

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yournerdside · 5 years

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FONSECA GOSSIP 12/04/18 @fonsecashow #fonseca

The NY Post claims Jarrod Spector, who plays Sonny Bono in the Broadway musical “The Cher Show”, ripped Kanye West last night because he was staring at his phone during a performance of the play.

Jared posted; “Hey @kanyewest so cool that you’re here at @TheCherShow! If you look up from your cell phone you’ll see we’re doing a show up here. It’s opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so…

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#aaron fonseca #Fonseca Fm #FONSECA SHOW #Your Nerd Side

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marilynngmesalo · 5 years

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Kanye West slammed for using cellphone at Cher Broadway show

Kanye West slammed for using cellphone at Cher Broadway show Kanye West slammed for using cellphone at Cher Broadway show https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Kanye West was slammed for his rude behavior during The Cher Show Broadway play by one of the stars – in the middle of the performance!

He and his wife Kim Kardashian walked the red carpet for the show about Cher’s incredible life together but the actor who played Sonny Bono in the musical ripped into West for his obnoxious behavior.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "EaX4Uh6PLPk", "pn_video_510035", "", "", {"controls":1,"autoplay":0,"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]>

West actually apologized after the show.

“Hey @kanyewest so cool that you’re here at @TheCherShow! If you look up from your cell phone you’ll see we’re doing a show up here. It’s opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much,” Jarrod Spector Tweeted on Monday night.

Hey @kanyewest so cool that you’re here at @TheCherShow! If you look up from your cell phone you’ll see we’re doing a show up here. It’s opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much.

— Jarrod Spector (@jarrodspector) December 4, 2018

the dynamics of Cher and Sonny’s relationship made Kim and I grab each other’s hand and sing “I got you babe” please pardon my lack of etiquette. We have so much appreciation for the energy you guys put into making this master piece.

— ye (@kanyewest) December 4, 2018

West, who so rudely interrupted Taylor Swift when she was getting an MTV award years ago, was slammed for his own disrespectful behavior.

“Narcissists have no ability to pay attention to others. He was seeking adulation through his device. It’s true: he shudda given up his seat to someone who actually wanted to see the show,” another commenter noted.

“Better he does not pay attention, he may walk on stage and tell the cast Beyonce should have done the show instead. #TaylorSwiftRedux,” another commenter wrote.

//<![CDATA[ ( function() { pnLoadVideo( "videos", "3nWRWB7_FUg", "pn_video_348513", "", "", {"controls":1,"autoplay":0,"is_mobile":""} ); } )(); //]]> Click for update news Bangla news https://ift.tt/2BPCzDD world news

#metronews24 bangla #Latest Online Breaking Bangla News #Breaking Bangla News #prothom alo #bangla news #b

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maybachmediacollection · 5 years

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"The Cher Show" Actor Slams Kanye West Over Staring At His Phone During Their Performance

“The Cher Show” Actor Slams Kanye West Over Staring At His Phone During Their Performance

An actor in “The Cher Show” ripped Kanye West on Monday night, chiding the rapper for staring at his cellphone during a performance.

Jarrod Spector — who plays Cher‘s former husband and musical companion Sonny Bono in the Broadway musical — tweeted at the “Yeezus” star after the show’s debut.

“Hey @kanyewest so cool that you’re here at @TheCherShow!” Spector wrote.

“If you look up from your cell…

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#"The Cher Show"#Actor Slams Kanye West #At His Phone #During Their #Over Staring #Performance

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papermagworld-blog · 5 years

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Kanye West Ripped For Rude Cellphone Use At Cher Broadway Show

[ad_1]

So rude!

Kanye West was slammed for his rude behavior during The Cher Show Broadway play by one of the stars – in the middle of the performance!

West actually apologized after the show.

T…

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demitgibbs · 6 years

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Love and Understanding: A Conversation with Cher

Cher is so low-key about being Cher that calling her is like calling your mom. “Hi,” she purrs with signature simplicity when I phone her presidential suite. We are speaking matter-of-factly about gay things, political things, Twitter things (“I’m finished with the emojis that we have”). About going to Walgreens and trying to remember why she went to Walgreens. This seems so very … normal?

Certainly, Cher is the most multi of multi-hyphenates – fiery human rights activist, Auto-Tune pioneer, a unicorn, the Phoenix – but no, not at all normal. Not from down here, where we’ve basked in the long-reigning diva’s treasure trove of film and music and bedazzled Bob Mackie costumes, and admired her ability to get down, do a five-minute plank (seriously), and somehow get back up again. That motion is the time-tested motion of Cher’s enduring six-decade career. It’s where grit meets guts meets glitter.

Our Oz, our Wonderland; a safe, shimmering space providing escapist refuge since the 1960s, a span which has seen Sonny (Bono, her late ex-husband) and Cher, anthemic rock and gay dance, inventions and reinventions – Cher’s mere existence brought us closer to those within our own community, and closer to ourselves.

She has three Golden Globes, a Best Actress Oscar (for Moonstruck), a Grammy (for “Believe”) and an Emmy (for Cher: The Farewell Tour), and in December, she’ll be the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor for her indelible contributions to culture. But Cher’s superheroine, Hollywood-royalty sheen isn’t without genuine normal-person realness. Unlike “Believe,” there is nothing artificially manufactured about Cher’s no-nonsense, everywoman, Walgreens-shopper persona. Because even when her sequins glisten like a galaxy of stars on a lit Vegas stage, when she’s floating high above you in majestic-goddess fashion, and when she’s still wearing a variation of her “If I Could Turn Back Time” music video one-piece at her current age of 72, Cher does the least pop icon thing a pop icon can do: remind you she’s still living in your world.

In July, she did her gay-icon due diligence by helicoptering onto the set of Mamma Mia 2! Here We Go Again to play the role she’d been playing in front of the world, most discernibly to generations of baby-gays and grown-up gays: maternal pillar. When I met Cher in 2016 on Halloween at a fundraiser stop for Hillary Clinton in the suburbs of Michigan, I was struck by her Cher-ness, the glitzy legend momentarily eclipsed by her warm, inviting humanness.

Armed with a cannon of glittery ABBA bops, Cher has come to our rescue once again with an ode to the Swedish disco-pop supergroup titled – what else? – Dancing Queen, her 26th album and first since 2013’s Closer to the Truth. In December, The Cher Show, the musical about her life, which she is co-producing, officially opens on Broadway. And next year, because she just can’t help herself, she will embark on a tour appropriately titled Here We Go Again.

The night we spoke, Cher was laid-back, reflective and full of hearty chuckles as she talked about that Walgreens detour, kissing Silkwood co-star Meryl Streep, the wedding dress she’d wear to Trump’s impeachment party, the “breadcrumbs” of her legacy, Twitter, the devil, jumping out of a window – and not only her long-standing influence on the LGBTQ community, but our influence on her.

Cher, I have a story you probably haven’t thought about in some time: its 2016, you’re at a Walgreens in Flint, Michigan, on Halloween. You were there campaigning for Hillary and some Walgreens shopper told you they loved your Cher costume.

Yes! Oh my god! Wasn’t that, like, the weirdest experience at the Walgreens?!

You tell me. I wasn’t there!

Haha! I needed to go into the Walgreens for something. Or: I had a moment to breathe … I don’t know. I went into Walgreens and I was looking for something, and then the girls who were helping me realized it was me, and then there was a whole kind of hubbub thing and all these little trick-or-treaters came in as I was leaving. So they were all outside and I piled them into the limousine and we were hanging out in there. I mean, I was supposed to be going to a whole bunch of fundraisers – I ended up making them, of course – and I was busy playing with the kids.

Are you frequently mistaken for a Cher impersonator? Because, I mean, how often would the real Cher be at a Walgreens?

Right? And in Flint! Well, probably not often. Ha! But you know, the minute I start talking, they pretty much know it’s me.

You’re hard on yourself when it comes to your music. Are you happy with Dancing Queen?

I think I did a good job. Now whether people are gonna like it…

Less studio drama than that time you stormed out on producer Mark Taylor after recording “Believe”?

Well… yes. Haha! But I have to tell you something: These songs are not easy. You’d think, “Oh, they’re pop-y and Björn (Ulvaeus) and Benny (Andersson) and the girls start to get into them,” and they’re not. No more Mr. Nice Guy! They’re rough songs. And they’re much more intricate than I thought, but I had a great time. Some of them are easier, and some of them have some rough spots.

You could’ve easily found enough inspiration in the world’s current plight for another album like your 2000 indie album Not Commercial, which was dark.

But we don’t need that right now! We need ABBA right now! If anything, we need to not be brought down because everything is so terrible. I was just talking to this one boy who came in and he was asking me what did I really think and I said, “Babe, I think the picture’s bleak. I think everyone’s gotta vote.”

Thankfully, Dancing Queen is a slice of gay heaven in hell.

Well, look, I wasn’t doing it for that, but I’m happy if it can make people happier than they were before they heard it.

youtube

When were you first aware that the LGBTQ community identified you as a gay icon?

I don’t think I was when I was with Sonny. I think it happened on The Sonny and Cher Show (which ran from 1976-1977), somehow. I don’t know – I don’t know how that happens. I mean, how does it happen? I have no idea! It’s just like, we made a pact and we’re a group and that’s it.

But you were seeing more of the LGBTQ community come out at some point? There was a switch?

Yeah, there was a change, there was definitely a change. And I think it was when I was not with Sonny anymore, and then somehow it all started to click. But I always had gay friends. I actually almost got arrested at a party with my best friend at school. He was gay but he couldn’t let anybody know, and he wanted me to go with him to a party and the party got raided. And we jumped out the bathroom window! It was high. We had to go over the bathtub into the window and jump out.

And you got away?

Yep.

Do you recall the moment that galvanized you to stand up as an ally for the LGBTQ community?

I’m not sure there was a moment; I’m not sure what it was. I just feel that, probably, there was a moment where guys thought I was just one of you. It’s like, there’s a moment where you’re either part of the group and you’re absorbed into the group and people love you as part of the group, or they don’t even know you’re alive, you know? Gay men are very loyal.

Look, I have a friend (makeup artist) Kevyn Aucoin – he’s dead now – but he told me when he was young, he was growing up in some place in Louisiana and said how horrible it was to have to hide and be frightened, and he said he loved listening to Cher records. I think that’s a dead giveaway! Haha! If you want to hide being gay, do not buy Cher records!

And I had another friend who had a Cher poster on his wall. I don’t remember where he came from – some small town too – and his dad ripped it off the wall and he bought another one, put it inside his closet and said it was a way to really be who he was in spite of who his dad wanted him to be.

When in your life have you felt like the LGBTQ community was on your side when the rest of the world maybe was not?

Always. I remember when I was doing (the play) Come Back to the Five and Dime (in 1976) and we had standing room only before we got reviewed, and after we got reviewed nobody came except the community – the community, and little grey-haired old women who came to matinees. We managed to stay open until we could build back up the following. Also, the gay community, they just don’t leave you, they stay with you; that’s one thing that always keeps you going.

What does that loyalty mean to you?

There’s been sometimes where I was just, you know, heartbroken about things, but it always gives you hope when there are people who think that you’re cute and worthwhile and an artist. It’s a great thing to have in your back pocket.

Your mother once told you when you were a child: “You won’t be the prettiest, you won’t be the most talented, you won’t be the smartest, but you are special.” What kind of mark did that leave on you?

It just left some sort of indelible, interior tattoo. Because I have gone through so much shit in my life. I can’t tell you how many times people have written, “She’ll be gone by next year.” I remember I got really pissed off at somebody and I went, “I’ll be here and you’ll be gone.” I don’t think I believed it at the time, but I was just angry.

So what you’re saying is what I’ve longed to hear: You’re immortal.

Well, no, I’m not saying that. Ha! I’m just saying I can be really pissy.

At the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again premiere in July, you and Meryl Streep kissed on the lips. Was that meant to be the Silkwood reunion the internet wanted it to be?

Haha! No! We were just thinking it was stupid! It was so dumb! Meryl came behind me and I didn’t know it, and then we turned to each other, she looked up at me and she said, “You weren’t this tall yesterday!” And we laughed. And we just kissed! I had on my 10-inch heels, and you can see how tall I am next to her and we just thought it was funny. I said, “Kiss me!” And we just kissed!

I have to tell you something: She is funny. She is wicked funny! And I don’t know that she gets to show that side all that often, but she’s wicked funny and she just will do anything for a lark. She’s got a really great serious side, but she’s got this really hysterical side too.

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How do you hope your role as the mother of a trans son, Chaz Bono, has influenced other parents of LGBTQ kids?

This is what I think, and this is what I would hope: I would hope that, look, I didn’t go through it that easily. Both times. When I found out Chaz was gay, I didn’t go through it that easily; when I found out Chaz was (transitioning) … except we talked about it a lot, actually. But then Chaz didn’t mention it anymore, so I kind of forgot. And what I think is, there’s such a fear of losing the child you love, and what will replace that child.

I think it’s about the fear, mostly. I felt, who will this new person be? Because I know who the person is now, but who will the new person be and how will it work and will I have lost somebody? And then I thought of something else: I thought, my god, if I woke up tomorrow and I was a man, I would be gouging my eyes out. And so I know that if that’s what you feel then that must be so painful that it doesn’t make any difference what anyone else feels or what anyone else thinks. Chaz is so happy now and we get along better than ever.

You’re known to speak your mind. When’s the last time your mouth got you into trouble?

I think it was my fingers that got me into trouble last time. I had to delete a couple of things that I tweeted, which now what I do is: If I’m gonna just go off on a rant, I do it first, I look at it, I delete it, but I take a picture of it first and then I have it. Then I decide if I really wanna put it on my Twitter or if I really wanna tweet it – or if I got it out of my system. I said something that I thought was really funny but obviously the people on Trump’s side didn’t feel it was funny and I got so much shit that I didn’t expect.

There seems to be a fair amount of homophobes who you end up calling out.

Yeah. I mean, I don’t know what they are. There’s just so much phobia of everybody. You’ve gotta be the same color, you’ve gotta like the same things, you’ve gotta be the same religion. It’s like if you’re not one of them, you’re an enemy.

You’re known for your emojis – do you have a go-to?

Well, I have a few of them. I have cake when I’m really happy, I have a ghost when I’m really happy, and when I’m really, really happy I put them together. I wish I had something that was more than the guy who’s got the blue head that is screaming. I wish I had somebody with a scream and his head was coming off the top of his body. I really wish there were better emojis. I’m finished with the emojis that we have.

Am I hearing right: You’re done with emojis?

Yeah, stick a fork in ’em! I just want there to be more. I like the emoji that’s the red-faced one with all the little signs over his mouth, which I always imagine is “fuck.” That’s what I put instead of the letters because they just get so angry. But also, I use the guy with the zipper across his mouth because I can’t say that. I have little fans, so I have to stop using that.

You could send out the shit emoji and you know what, Cher, the gays would go wild.

Oh, I’ve done that before! I put a bull and that together for when I think, “Oh, this is such bullshit.”

What will you be wearing to Trump’s impeachment party?

Well, I think that we’re all a little bit too premature for that, because I don’t think that’s gonna happen. But in my dreams I will be wearing something – oh, I think I’ll wear a wedding dress! Haha! I think I’ll just wear a white wedding dress. And a veil.

To symbolize?

Just purity and excitement and something new. A new phase!

And we’ll all go on a honeymoon after.

Yes, we’ll go on one big honeymoon forever afterwards. I don’t see that happening because I think that there too many really smart people, in the devilish kind of way. All those people who are advising him, they’re really smart. But they’re really from the dark side. I don’t mean the actual devil in reality – not that I think that there is a devil in reality – but just a real dark side of gutting the entire government and gutting everything that was meant to preserve our safety and the water and the air and the land and schools and healthcare and all of it.

When it comes to our current pop landscape – Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, et cetera – who do you think does or doesn’t have the staying power that you’ve demonstrated throughout your entire career?

Gosh, I don’t know. It’s really hard to know until there’s more time under their belts, do you know what I mean? There’s got to be a little bit more time under their belts to know that. I think they’ve all done a pretty good job so far, but I think you’ve gotta have … like, I’m 54 years into this business, so I think we have to wait a minute.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we interpret an artist’s legacy after Aretha passed, and every time an icon passes on. Do you think about yours and what you hope that will be?

You know, I don’t really think about it. The only provision I’ve made is: I want all my friends and family to go to Paris and have a big party. I’m gonna fly everybody to Paris and have a big party. But no, I don’t think about it too much because it’s like, thinking about it can’t do me any good. It is what it is, and to think about it, what will that get me? Kind of nothing. Also, what’s really great is there’s music left behind and there’s film left behind, you know? I’m gonna leave a trail. I’ll leave breadcrumbs.

Cher’s new CD “Dancing Queen” is available for purchase and her new tour “Here We Go Again Tour” hits 4 Florida cities: Fort Meyers (Jan 17); Fort Lauderdale (Jan 19); Orlando (Jan 21); Jacksonville (Jan 23). To purchase the new CD or tickets to her tour go to: Cher.com.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/10/11/love-and-understanding-a-conversation-with-cher/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.tumblr.com/post/178950420815

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cynthiajayusa · 6 years

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Love and Understanding: A Conversation with Cher

Yes! Oh my god! Wasn’t that, like, the weirdest experience at the Walgreens?!

You tell me. I wasn’t there!

Are you frequently mistaken for a Cher impersonator? Because, I mean, how often would the real Cher be at a Walgreens?

Right? And in Flint! Well, probably not often. Ha! But you know, the minute I start talking, they pretty much know it’s me.

You’re hard on yourself when it comes to your music. Are you happy with Dancing Queen?

I think I did a good job. Now whether people are gonna like it…

Less studio drama than that time you stormed out on producer Mark Taylor after recording “Believe”?

You could’ve easily found enough inspiration in the world’s current plight for another album like your 2000 indie album Not Commercial, which was dark.

Thankfully, Dancing Queen is a slice of gay heaven in hell.

Well, look, I wasn’t doing it for that, but I’m happy if it can make people happier than they were before they heard it.

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When were you first aware that the LGBTQ community identified you as a gay icon?

But you were seeing more of the LGBTQ community come out at some point? There was a switch?

And you got away?

Yep.

Do you recall the moment that galvanized you to stand up as an ally for the LGBTQ community?

When in your life have you felt like the LGBTQ community was on your side when the rest of the world maybe was not?

What does that loyalty mean to you?

So what you’re saying is what I’ve longed to hear: You’re immortal.

Well, no, I’m not saying that. Ha! I’m just saying I can be really pissy.

At the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again premiere in July, you and Meryl Streep kissed on the lips. Was that meant to be the Silkwood reunion the internet wanted it to be?

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How do you hope your role as the mother of a trans son, Chaz Bono, has influenced other parents of LGBTQ kids?

You’re known to speak your mind. When’s the last time your mouth got you into trouble?

There seems to be a fair amount of homophobes who you end up calling out.

You’re known for your emojis – do you have a go-to?

Am I hearing right: You’re done with emojis?

You could send out the shit emoji and you know what, Cher, the gays would go wild.

Oh, I’ve done that before! I put a bull and that together for when I think, “Oh, this is such bullshit.”

What will you be wearing to Trump’s impeachment party?

To symbolize?

Just purity and excitement and something new. A new phase!

And we’ll all go on a honeymoon after.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we interpret an artist’s legacy after Aretha passed, and every time an icon passes on. Do you think about yours and what you hope that will be?

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/10/11/love-and-understanding-a-conversation-with-cher/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2018/10/love-and-understanding-conversation.html

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