Liza Minnelli

I bought tickets to Liza the other day. Four of them. I think it set me back 700 bucks, but I didn't care, it was Liza Minnelli. If it were Cher, I would have done the same thing but would already have purchased a suit. But why?

There is a certain something about these aging diva images (not yet tossing Madonna in there, of course). Is it the (lack of) grace?-- the ups and downs, the divorces, the rehab, more divorces, more rehab, the tell all biography's, the separations and more divorces, more stints at rehab, then, when things start to settle down a bit, around age 65, the complete facial reconstruction. Is this what makes us turn our necks? I think it is more than that.

I was on the Charo website the other day and got a little choked up after discovering that she and I share the same birth date. Ashamed that I had not already known this, I immediately sent a donation along with a pic of me and my "just-like-Charo guitar". No, not really.

Shall we take a look at Dolly Parton? Ok, maybe we shouldn't. But what the heck really happened here? I haven't caught Dolly's Dixie Stampede show down in Branson yet. But I'll be there over Thanksgiving, so says my mother in law. I hope to see her live and in person. With any luck, I will get a picture taken with her and the family. I can't really say too much about Dolly, other than WTF?

So lets face it, looks are no longer what these gals bring to the table. They are iconic in their ability to keep going and going and going. Their "slice of American Pie", the reflection of our culture, no matter what they look like now, is what keeps them adored by the masses; the tour bus masses from senior communities abound. It is their purpose and duty to spread their goodness, regardless of how numb and swollen their upper lips appear or how wide their smile.

I was reminded of this sort of thing when Janie, (who is prohibited from any "work", ever) told me of an older neighbor who recently competed in the Mrs. Senior Missouri Pageant. We actually plopped ourselves down in front of the TV that night and watched the singing, dancing and congeniality competitions, all of them over the age of 60. My reaction?--it was totally red hat overload. I saw a performance once of the Senior Dancing Reindeer at a PEO function that kept me in therapy for a month. I found myself rocking in the bottom of our basement closet at sunrise, ifyouknowhatimtalkinbout.

So this is the divas purpose I reckon. To give hope to the Mrs. Senior Pageant wannabees. It is fodder for the continued emergence of Red Hat Societies, cult like pop ups, all over America. The Divas are the guiding hope, the "golden calf of solemnity" for those aging women of our time. Bravo Divas, keep up the good work! Our senior women need role models!