Cher in concert in Nashville - part 1

First I would like to thank all my blogging friends who visited my last post on my 5th year anniversary of blogging.  I appreciate your comments - I do not answer each comment on my blog because I rather spend the time going to your blogs and read your posts.  I know that "virtual" friendship is not the same as traditional friendship and that it takes commitment and time to stay connected so I am very appreciative of your visit.  This is an eclectic blog - it is easy with a virtual friendship, when one reads a remark not to our liking, to click to the next blog, so I am pleased that many of you have kept reading my blog and I am grateful.  The 5th year anniversary of my blog coincides with my birthday.  It was for my birthday in 2009 that we visited our eldest daughter in California where she helped me create this blog.  This year, for my birthday which is March 26, our youngest daughter bought, as a birthday present, tickets for the March 31st Cher Concert  "Dressed to Kill Tour 2014" in Nashville.  Below is the poster for the Concert.

So we drove to Nashville, Tennessee, and first we enjoyed the birthday cake ...

Then on Monday March 31, 2014, my daughter, husband and I drove to the Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.  On the way there, while she was driving down Broadway, I took photos from the car window.  We passed the historic Union Station, opened in 1900 and now a hotel.  Then we passed by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts which is housed in the historic US Post Office, opened in 1930 to serve as Nashville main post office.  Finally we drove by a massive building - the historic Customs House and old post office built in 1898.  (Click on collage twice to enlarge.)

As my daughter was driving it was difficult to take the whole buildings, I was only able to take snippets of them.  Below are vintage postcards of the same buildings.

It was a lovely evening, warm with a beautiful sky.  You can see the roof of the arena below.

There is a large indoor trade show area around the arena.  My daughter (below in the white dress) waited to buy some water and we stopped to look at the Cher souvenir booth.

I remember watching the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour on television in the early 1970s - Cher already wore outrageous costumes.  I found out then that, just like me, Cher is half Armenian - her father, Garabed Sarkisian, was the son of Armenian immigrants.  She was born Cherilyn Sarkisian on May 20, 1946.  Actually my Armenian childhood friend in Paris looks a lot like her but not so tall.  The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, a variety show, was broadcasted from 1971 until they divorced in 1974.

In an interview, an Armenian reporter from Massachusetts said to Cher "Eench bes es?" which means "how are you?" (one of the few Armenian expressions I know.)  He was totally amazed when she answered in fluid Armenian.  Her large Armenian father family in Fresno, California, taught her the language and the cuisine.  She likes Armenian food and can cook specialties like "kufta" and "sarma."  Below, as a blonde, Cher is interviewed by Lusine Shahbazyan for US-Armenia TV. (Photo courtesy US-Armenia TV.)

Cher did travel to Armenia on a humanitarian mission - she was surprised to find that many women looked a bit like her - I think she was her natural brunette then.  My father had cousins named Sarkisian, but then many Armenians say that they are all "cousins" as they believe they are related through ethnicity.  The country of Armenia has less than 3 million inhabitants, which is less than Metro Atlanta, Georgia, with over 5 millions.  Below is the map of Armenia - I made a circle around it, below Georgia and adjacent to Turkey.

Cher has been a red head, platinum blonde and uses many wigs.  I like her in the 2014 photo below, on the right.  It is hard to believe that on May 20, 2014 she will be 68 years old - she seems ageless.

In addition to philanthropy in Armenia she has been involved in anti-poverty initiatives, veteran rights and charities, and Habitat for Humanity.  She actively support children with craniofacial conditions and is the National Spokesperson for the association CCA.  She supports the Peace Village School in Kenya and many other charitable programs.  Cher has been in the public eye since the late 1960s.  She has been successful on television, on Broadway (with Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) in the movies, with an Oscar for Moonstruck and as an exercise video guru.  She also sold her line of perfume and skin-care products and diet guides.  Between 2002 and 2005 she performed a record-breaking 325 concerts for her "Farewell Tour" - which was not a farewell tour after all.  She is the only recording artist to have a No. 1 hit in every one of the past six decades.  She has sold more than 100 million records and her latest 25th studio album "Closer to the Truth" was sent to each person upon the purchase of a ticket to attend her 2014 Dressed to Kill Tour - here is mine below.

My daughter had purchased good seats, on the side, not too far from the stage.  It looked like the Nashville Bridgestone arena was full - as a stage concert hall it can seat about 20,000 people.  All the cities on the Tour so far have been sold out.  The Dressed to Kill Tour or "The D2K Tour" (named after a song in her latest CD) started in March in Phoenix, Arizona, and is stopping in 50 cities across the US and Canada.  The show opened with Pat Benatar and her husband, guitarist and pianist Neil Giraldo.  It is their 35th anniversary tour and celebration of their 32nd wedding anniversary.

Benatar and Giraldo went through some of their 1980s classic rocks with a high-energy sound.  The crowd loved the two performers - Giraldo, playing his guitar in the Jimi Hendrix style, went well with the four-time Grammy Award winner Pat Benatar's strong and crisp voice.

After this first hour of hard-driving rock we waited for Cher.  It was fun looking around at the audience which was a diverse group of all ages.  Some were wearing Cher-type outfits - sequined, feathered, etc.  There was a large gay audience as well.  I was surprised to see teenagers next to seniors older than me.  When Cher show started many on the ground floor stood up, and stayed standing up - I was happy we were seating on the side with a perfect view of the stage.

This post is becoming too long, so I'll finish it next time.  More to come ...