A Journey Through Liza Minnelli’s Black Music Crossovers

[00:00:16] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Cube Points podcast. I'm DJ Sir Daniel.

[00:00:21] - [Jay Ray]
And my name is Jay Ray with a j, sometimes known by my government as Johnny Ray Cornegie the third. I just gave you all a little preview to what this show is gonna give.

[00:00:31] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Alright, kiddos. You listen close. And this is for all the people in the back seats and the nosebleeds. I'm a say it loud enough. Liza Minnelli, born Liza Minnelli, is an iconic representation of nepotism done the right way.

[00:00:50] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Would you agree with that, J Ray?

[00:00:52] - [Jay Ray]
I would agree with that sentiment. I think that when we look back on iconic stars that kinda got it honest, Liza is absolutely one of those folks that you know what she got? She got it honest. You know, she is a star from the time she was a child through and obvious sir Daniel, think about it for us as generation X's young Gen X's because we're on the younger side of Gen X. Liza has been present in our lives, our entire life.

[00:01:28] - [Jay Ray]
And even as little black boys, we knew who Liza Minnelli was because we had to.

[00:01:35] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
We absolutely had to. So so as we all know, Liza Minnelli was born into stardom Yeah. Through her mother who is an icon in her own right, Judy Garland. Yes. And her father was a player was a director.

[00:01:50] - [Jay Ray]
Was a director. Yep. Was it Vincent Minelli?

[00:01:52] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Vincent Minelli. Right. So she like you said, she got it honest. She was born right into Hollywood.

[00:01:59] - [Jay Ray]
Mhmm.

[00:02:00] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
When I Jerry, I remember, I think my first recollection of Liza Minelli, to your point, was her appearance on the Muppet Show. And she was doing a a lounge performance of, guess what, Barry Manilow's Lola from Bacopa.

[00:02:19] - [Jay Ray]
So that was the thing. She

[00:02:23] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
wore yellow feathers in her hair. Notice how we both started swaying.

[00:02:27] - [Jay Ray]
Yeah. There's a sway that you do with these things.

[00:02:30] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And you know why? Because we had to know these things. These are this this is part of culture, popular culture, and it was ingrained in us. Now I don't know if we have proclivities to these sort of things. I ain't probably.

[00:02:42] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
But but as people who were destined to be keepers of the culture and purveyors of black music culture, we had

[00:02:53] - [Jay Ray]
to know these things. We know these things. So to that point, sir Daniel, I think people are probably listening like, we are watching Eliza Manelli show on cue points like why? So here's the thing. I think we in this kind of modern moment we forget about this.

[00:03:13] - [Jay Ray]
There were absolutely all these times when stars of stage and screen like Eliza Manelli Mhmm. Would have to dip their toe in to whatever was popular at the time. And there have been many amazing times throughout Liza Minnelli's career where she has dipped into the black the eye the the the the canon of black music legendary hit songs and had to do a Liza version

[00:03:49] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
of those songs. That's right. So, yes, you are still drop we are still dropping the needle on black music history with Liza Minnelli because Liza Minnelli dropped herself in black music history in numerous ways. Like we were saying, Liza Minnelli is a tried and true star of stage. And stage is very important.

[00:04:13] - [Jay Ray]
It

[00:04:13] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
is. Because it's gonna show up in the way she shows up on these in this black music canon because it's very obvious in the way that she performs songs, but it's because of her training, her stage training. And there was a diction training that a lot of people that were in show business had to go through in order to in order to appeal to the mass audience, to the masses. They had to know what you were saying. They had to and if you had a heavy a heavy accent that was frowned upon, they actually had classes where people would teach you how to speak with a nondescript diction.

[00:04:54] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
I think they called it Midwestern something if you wanted to be a movie star. Mhmm. And so all of this training is why when you hear Liza Minnelli performing on some of the songs that we're gonna name in just a few seconds, you're like, well, why is she why does she sound like that? Is it just because she's white? Mhmm.

[00:05:13] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
No. I mean, that's that's part Right. Of But she is a seasoned and trained actress, and that's the world that they came from. If you notice a lot of the the black movie stars of that same era did the same thing. Your Lena Horns, your Diane Carrolls, they all had your Lola Falana.

[00:05:32] - [Jay Ray]
Lola Falana. How do

[00:05:33] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
you think Lola Falana was able to have her own variety show Yep. On national television if she was not going to be able to appeal to the masses? So I said all of that to say, Liza

[00:05:49] - [Jay Ray]
With a z, by the way.

[00:05:50] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
With a z. That's very important that we say Liza with a z because it's gonna come up. But before we get into that, J Ray, I just wanna touch on a couple on something very important. Liza Minelli had her whole career. She's linked with some very she's the muse for some very important people.

[00:06:09] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Absolutely. She's linked to a lot of different people. First and foremost, like her her husband, her first husband, Peter Allen Mhmm. Was a a singer and so was a composer, songwriter, and helped act and actually wrote music that she performed in her very first movie. Then she was linked with Michael Feinstein, the jazz pianist and singer.

[00:06:31] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And famously, Marvin Hamlisch, who is a Broadway icon. She's linked to him. And then we see that in the in the seventies, which is where a lot of, I think, Liza where Liza really pops and becomes that girl. Liza is Halston's muse. Oh.

[00:06:51] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
She's running around in Studio 54 draped Yes. Ripped out as the kids would say. And then, of course, she's paired herself with Bob Fossey, who is a dynamite choreographer, who also shows up in two instances in the music that we're about to list off. So let's start off with, I think, is your favorite of Liza Minnelli's covers. And a matter of fact, I want you to tell the party people exactly what this song is because many of them may not even have known that Liza covered this song.

[00:07:27] - [Jay Ray]
So DJ Sir Daniel, I think listing off those folks that Liza was connected to was really important because as we talk about these songs, you kind of also see some of that through line. So, of course, Liza performed a lot with Sammy Davis Junior, learned a ton from Sammy Davis Junior.

[00:07:45] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Went on tour with him.

[00:07:46] - [Jay Ray]
Went on tour with him. Interestingly enough, he didn't teach her how to tap, apparently taught her a couple of things, but Liza Minnelli famously could not tap dance. And she had this connection to just a lot of black musicians in the Motown canon, famously Michael Jackson, which we will get into later. Yes. But she performed this song by Stevie Wonder, which is one of Stevie Wonder's absolute classics.

[00:08:13] - [Jay Ray]
You are the sunshine of my life. Now, I love this cover for a couple of reasons. So this is 1973.

[00:08:22] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Mhmm.

[00:08:22] - [Jay Ray]
I love the cover because Liza's in great voice in '73. So she's at the height of her superpowers by the way at

[00:08:29] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
this point. Yes. Yes.

[00:08:31] - [Jay Ray]
And it's just soulful enough. It's just enough. It's not like, you know, Barbara Streisand goes a step further where Barbara kinda like dips that goes further out into the soul bag. Still on the Barbara side of it, but further, Liza's further back than that, but it's just enough to be a Liza Minnelli version of a Stevie Wonder song with a fan of Stevie Wonder being of Stevie Wonder being like, oh, I like this. This is good.

[00:09:03] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
This is yeah. It's it was a capable performance. Yeah.

[00:09:08] - [Jay Ray]
I like it. I got it. It in a set. Like, I like it.

[00:09:13] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Oh, you put it in

[00:09:14] - [Jay Ray]
I I would literally drop it. I would literally put it in a if I was playing, like, a Stevie Wonder tribute sort of thing, I would totally drop the Liza Minnelli version of You Are The Sunshine of My Life in it.

[00:09:27] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Do you sidebar, do you remember how the how this song famously became synonymous with Minute Maid orange juice?

[00:09:34] - [Jay Ray]
I do not remember that. This happened in the eighties, I'm not sure.

[00:09:37] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Of course. Of course. You know, there was another song of his that became famous with another beverage, but I can't I can't I'll have to that's another show for another time, guys. So, J Ray, you mentioned Liza cozying up with one Michael Jackson

[00:09:55] - [Jay Ray]
Yes.

[00:09:56] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
As a youth. And I I love you can see those old photographs of them hanging out at Studio Studio 54 because you could both see, like, they're both on the verge of superstardom. Yes. You know? He's about to give us, he's about to be in the Wiz.

[00:10:14] - [Jay Ray]
Give us off the wall. Off

[00:10:16] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
the wall. I mean, his trajectory is about to just be out of there. So decades later, we get to the Michael Jackson, thirtieth anniversary celebration, which was strangely enough or just oddly enough, J Ray, which was recorded at Madison Square Garden

[00:10:38] - [Jay Ray]
Mhmm.

[00:10:38] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
In New York City. Guys, you remember this? It was recorded on September 7 and 09/10/2001.

[00:10:50] - [Jay Ray]
Yep. Two sold out shows.

[00:10:51] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
All know what happened the very next day on September 11. And the because of the events, the the events that rocked the world on September 11, the network CBS did not air this until November Yep. Of that year. So they waited a stern sixty days before they put they actually put it out because, you know, the nation needed cheering up.

[00:11:18] - [Jay Ray]
Mhmm.

[00:11:19] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And it was, you know, it was one of those shows that is infamous for all the wrong reasons.

[00:11:26] - [Jay Ray]
There's a

[00:11:28] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
lot of lot going on there. There was a lot of spaciness

[00:11:32] - [Jay Ray]
Yes.

[00:11:33] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
In the, you know, in the honoree and a lot of oh, we that that first glimpse of Whitney Houston was jarring, and then just a, you know, good for Destiny's Child. They came out and did their thing. It was a lot.

[00:11:48] - [Jay Ray]
It was a lot

[00:11:49] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
going on. So much so that Liza Minnelli, longtime friend of Michael Jackson, came out That's and did cover of the he who shall not be named, penned, hit, you are not alone. J Ray, how would you describe you if somebody if you if an alien came to Earth tomorrow, which according to my watch and and calendar should be anytime soon. But Van Alien came to Earth tomorrow and wanted to know about what happened during this performance. How would you describe Liza Minnelli's performance of Michael Jackson's you were not alone?

[00:12:35] - [Jay Ray]
Okay. So if Ailey Hate be like, how would you just so Liza Minnelli at Michael Jackson 2001. Liza was definitely on the other side of her career vocally.

[00:12:52] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
So Good. You know what?

[00:12:56] - [Jay Ray]
Because you see how that was the first time.

[00:12:58] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
That was good, J Ray. That was good.

[00:13:00] - [Jay Ray]
She was on the other side of her career vocally.

[00:13:03] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
That was good. Going to have to incorporate that into but go ahead. Go ahead.

[00:13:08] - [Jay Ray]
I'm lot raspier, but still quintessential Liza. So the way Liza performances tend to happen, because this is Broadway. There's a piano.

[00:13:24] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
You are not alone.

[00:13:29] - [Jay Ray]
Know, Dixon It's

[00:13:30] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
performance. It's performance.

[00:13:31] - [Jay Ray]
There's a lots of, you know, you have to emote you so there's emoting, there is piano, there is Liza very clearly singing the words that he who shall not be named wrote and it ends with a quarry sort of thing because that's what You you

[00:13:57] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
gotta be in the black choir for Black Ops.

[00:13:59] - [Jay Ray]
Why not? And of course, sir Daniel, and we talk about this, Liza's famous for the big finish. So you get a big Liza finish with this.

[00:14:10] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Symbols crashing, you know, hands toward heaven. Yes. Absolutely.

[00:14:17] - [Jay Ray]
Yes.

[00:14:17] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And so Liza is what I call when what I've how I describe a lot of singers, performers. I would call them song stylists.

[00:14:27] - [Jay Ray]
Yes. That is a great she is a song stylist.

[00:14:29] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Vocalist. You have your Whitney's and Moriah's. We call those are vocalists, and then you have song stylists. Liza Minnelli is a song stylist. Before before we get to go back to 1972, I almost forgot to mention this television performance that you and I caught just on the humbug of her singing I'm so excited by the Poynter sisters.

[00:14:57] - [Jay Ray]
And it's Which is glittery. It's red.

[00:15:01] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
It's glittery. It's everything you want it to be if because you know it's Liza. And if you, you know, you like you like a little Vegas in your in your pop r and b, oh, you're gonna love it. It's not on YouTube. Just go ahead and check it out.

[00:15:16] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
But it's everything J Ray said about diction and popping and I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it. It's it's it's everything. And, again, the Poynes sisters is a a group that is sternly r and b Yeah. Funk, jazz, just very steeped in in blackness. Uh-huh.

[00:15:41] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
But we have to admit that songs like that whole album Breakout, all of these songs were pop I mean, pop pop pop records

[00:15:51] - [Jay Ray]
Yeah.

[00:15:51] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
In the in the best possible way. And somebody a song stylist like Eliza Manelli can can do can can gracefully do a cover of I'm so excited capable capable capably in the best possible way ever. And so shout out to I almost forgot about Liz. I'm so excited. But let's go to 1972 when, you know, Liza is You

[00:16:18] - [Jay Ray]
put me on to this one because I never watched I never watched Liza with a z. Now I wanna go back and watch like the whole thing.

[00:16:28] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Oh, I'm gonna watch the whole thing too.

[00:16:29] - [Jay Ray]
Oh, yeah. We should watch this together. Here's the thing that I realized is the the girls just don't give it like this anymore. Baby, this is a production. You got gays dancing, you got sets.

[00:16:44] - [Jay Ray]
It's a production.

[00:16:46] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
The kids don't do variety shows anymore. We've said this.

[00:16:49] - [Jay Ray]
Yes.

[00:16:50] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
They don't give they don't everything is just relegated to Patreon and and, you know, your to your cell phones or streaming versus we don't get a a put together show like this

[00:17:05] - [Jay Ray]
Yes.

[00:17:06] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Anymore. So fresh off of her well, I don't know if this is if this is before or after. But 1972, Liza Minnelli appears in the blockbuster Cabaret.

[00:17:19] - [Jay Ray]
Absolutely.

[00:17:20] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Okay? For her performance as Sally Bowles

[00:17:22] - [Jay Ray]
Mhmm.

[00:17:22] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Which she ultimately wins the best actress Yep. Award from the Academy for her performance in that movie. And so Bob Fosse, who famously choreographed Cabaret choreographed Liza with a z. Mhmm. And when you see it, you can see why.

[00:17:43] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
You can tell it's Bob Fosse. Bob Fosse for the Bob Fosse and and the pelvis are synonymous with each other.

[00:17:51] - [Jay Ray]
Not the pelvis.

[00:17:53] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
The pelvis the pelvic thrust is was like Bob Fosse's yeah. It was Bob Fosse's moneymaker. So it's like, you you have to go back and watch those performances. And Bob Fosse is actually linked to a Beyonce song that lies the covers that we'll discuss we'll talk about a little bit

[00:18:16] - [Jay Ray]
gonna y'all are gonna be like, so pause because y'all are going to want to stick around for that.

[00:18:21] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
You absolutely must. So anyway, so the they're doing the Liza with the z variety show, and Liza does a performance of Joe Tex. I gotcha.

[00:18:37] - [Jay Ray]
She sure does.

[00:18:38] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
If you if you all are not familiar with Joe Tex

[00:18:41] - [Jay Ray]
That's a whole conversation.

[00:18:42] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Let me put this in context. Joe Tex and James Brown had beef on wax back in the sixties.

[00:18:53] - [Jay Ray]
I didn't know that Sardanian was like, you know Joe Tex said James Brown was beefing on record.

[00:18:59] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
They were beefing on record. They were beefing on wax over a woman. Of course. You can can hear these these songs are actually out, and they actually name each other in in the records. It's it's a whole thing.

[00:19:10] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
But Joe Tex is I mean, you talk about chitlin' circuit. Black Soul. Black civil rights, you know, post Jim Crow singing.

[00:19:26] - [Jay Ray]
Yes. Yes. Yes.

[00:19:26] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And, you know, this is the sixties just po just singing singing for the people in the back. Mhmm. You don't this is like, if you come out to the club, you might get lynched. This is how much soul people are putting into their performances. And this particular song, J Ray, I became familiar with I Gotcha from Salt N Pepa.

[00:19:48] - [Jay Ray]
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:49] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And they're covered on a salt with a deli pepper of I Gotcha. And but this is a this is a staunchly rock and soul performance. And the lyrics, if you listen to I Gotcha, it sounds a little, you know, a little essay ish, a little

[00:20:06] - [Jay Ray]
grapey. Joe text.

[00:20:08] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
You know, it's a little and, you know, and so and so I I bring that up to say say, when you see Liza Minnelli performing it with her Broadway diction and her, you know, go go girl effervescence

[00:20:23] - [Jay Ray]
Right.

[00:20:23] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
It's like, is this the same song? Is this the same song? What did you think of it when you saw the performance, J Ray?

[00:20:31] - [Jay Ray]
I tickle it it it tickled me.

[00:20:34] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
It tickles you. Right?

[00:20:35] - [Jay Ray]
Yeah. It tickled well in in the way that you know, I didn't think of this until now. There are people who will tend to or want to mimic the artist that they're covering. Liza didn't do that. Liza did the Liza version of those things.

[00:21:01] - [Jay Ray]
And so when I saw

[00:21:02] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
it because she's a what?

[00:21:05] - [Jay Ray]
A what?

[00:21:06] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
A song stylist.

[00:21:08] - [Jay Ray]
She's a song Yes. That was a quiz and I failed. You see how I failed? But no no no. What I love about that that idea is she could always be Liza.

[00:21:22] - [Jay Ray]
You know what I mean? And so even us so that's why now I think I understand. That's why I can identify with Liza Minnelli as an artist. It's like, oh, because she's not trying to be anybody else but herself. Nope.

[00:21:37] - [Jay Ray]
You either with that foolishness that's happening right there or you not into it and there was a lot of people that weren't into it and that's okay. I love a good carrying on and this performance of I Gotcha from Liza with a z is carrying on. The dancers are on stage, they are crawling. Liza's in a red little number and doing the thing. And you know what, sir Daniel, you talk about this a lot.

[00:22:05] - [Jay Ray]
There's an element of camp to the whole thing.

[00:22:09] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Abso freaking lutely. Yes. Mhmm. And, you know, look, Scout Sondra, you know I love camp.

[00:22:17] - [Jay Ray]
Liza is giving you a little bit of camp, but just singing, doing her Liza thing.

[00:22:23] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Mhmm. Just keep singing it. And so we have Bob Fosse to you know, she partnered with Bob Fosse for that. But like I so I mentioned this next song a lot when the video so this is the early days of viral videos. Right, J Ray?

[00:22:39] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Mhmm. Before we started you when we started using the term viral to describe a a music video. And this is Beyonce's in the height of her Sasha fierceness Yep. Era and the single ladies video drops.

[00:22:54] - [Jay Ray]
Big deal. As Kanye said, Beyonce had the the best video of all time or What do you say?

[00:23:02] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And it was it was not it was a it was a step away from what we were used to with des with Beyonce and Destiny's Child. This was a black and white video. It's a very sterile background, and it's just her and two other dancers.

[00:23:19] - [Jay Ray]
Yep. Not a whole army of dancers that we

[00:23:22] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
No. Mhmm. But still very effective.

[00:23:26] - [Jay Ray]
Oh, great video. All day. To

[00:23:28] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
I mean, effective to the point, j Ray, there was a when that single lady's dance craze hit, there were dance floors that were actually cleared out so people could battle each other on who could do the routine the tightest. It was so Beyonce was definitely the queen of viral moments, and that I think was one of the one

[00:23:53] - [Jay Ray]
in

[00:23:53] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
her arsenal of viral moments. Right? And so when that video went viral, of course, Beyonce was also people were being very skeptical of Beyonce Mhmm. And her influences. So at this time, you know, because she's so viral, all the Beyonce critics are looking for anything that they can make an example of or magnify to take away from her talents.

[00:24:18] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And one of the things that they pinpointed was the fact that the the some of the choreography and the staging of the single ladies video was very reminiscent of Bob Fosse's 1969 dance routine, the Mexican And, yes, there are, you know, there are a lot of similarities. It's an homage. It's an homage. And so so we see we see a link to Beyonce and Liza Minnelli. But, Jerry, please tell them how that link went even further.

[00:24:52] - [Jay Ray]
So now, wait a minute. So what movie was this from?

[00:24:56] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Sex and

[00:24:56] - [Jay Ray]
the City Sex and the City two. Which is a which is a lot because that movie had there's a lot going on there.

[00:25:04] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
A lot to panned so terribly, but guess what?

[00:25:07] - [Jay Ray]
Jesus. So in the midst of that film, there is a routine from one Liza Minnelli, who I don't know how old Liza is when this was even done. I'm not even clear that it's Liza. I think there's some doubling happening because Liza

[00:25:26] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Jray thinks that there Jray thinks it was a AI double. Yeah.

[00:25:30] - [Jay Ray]
I'm like, Liza, you're not doing all of this. But Liza ends up doing a cover of of Beyonce's single ladies with the dance routine, including the number one, they they they shake the butt in the back and do Liza does all of it with herself, two dancers, an amazing audience. Now, I will say once again, what I love. It's very Liza. Liza is that diction is very clear.

[00:26:03] - [Jay Ray]
You know what Liza is singing because she is going to say it to you clearly, and she's having a good time. It was just a fun sequence.

[00:26:14] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
That's so that's the point I want to drive before we get to this last song is that as the Brits would say, Liza takes the piss out of it takes the piss out of it. She doesn't she's not taking herself seriously, and I think that's what we pick up on. That there is a a joie de vivre, you know, of when Liza does these things, when she makes these covers, when she does these cameos, when she shows up on on the Muppet movie. You know, there there's a there's a a wink to everything that she does. And so I think we, as the audience, if you pick up on those things because if you're the type I think we're the audience, J Ray, where we look for the wink Yeah.

[00:27:03] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
In life. We look for the wink in life because life for us has been too damn serious. And so we and so we are predisposed to liking things and looking for humor in the in these in these life happenings. And so when an artist is able to interpret art Mhmm. Music, singing, dancing, whenever they're able to interpret these things with that wink, we automatically pick up on it.

[00:27:36] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And that's why we're accepting of it. We're like, you know what? I like that. You you're you're funny. You're funny.

[00:27:43] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Beyonce, you did that. But have you seen

[00:27:46] - [Jay Ray]
Liza doing version? It's a It was

[00:27:49] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
a hoot.

[00:27:49] - [Jay Ray]
Be because I I think I think we see this we've we've seen this, not as much now because, you know, Liza's much older and doesn't perform anymore. Especially in those eighties, nineties, and even into the early two thousands performances where stuff like Single Ladies resides, Liza had been through stuff. You know what I mean?

[00:28:12] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Lots of stuff.

[00:28:13] - [Jay Ray]
So all of so I think part of this too is a she's celebrating? Baby

[00:28:20] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
100%.

[00:28:20] - [Jay Ray]
Liza had Liza overcame. Like, she is she lived well beyond the years of her mother. You know what I mean? Mhmm. Well beyond those years.

[00:28:31] - [Jay Ray]
And I'm sure that there were times in her life when she could not have fathomed that she would still be here. She's outlived Michael. She's outlived all of these people. Halston, all of these people that were inspired by her and that that she was inspired by too.

[00:28:51] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:28:53] - [Jay Ray]
So we're getting the celebration. I think we also we get that. Like, girl, yeah. Liza, have a good time, boo.

[00:29:01] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Liza, enjoy yourself in this dancery.

[00:29:05] - [Jay Ray]
Yeah. Can we please now this is some foolishness. This

[00:29:08] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
is why we we saved the best for last. I think we saved the best for last. Go ahead.

[00:29:13] - [Jay Ray]
So I don't 2,001. So Liza Minnelli ends up doing it's not even a cover as much. It's a cover, but she like changes lyrics. And she's, like, doing Mary J. Blige's Family Affair, which in all fairness is not one of my favorite Mary J.

[00:29:38] - [Jay Ray]
Blige songs. It's so Really? Okay. No. And that's so crazy that it's, like, Mary's biggest hit.

[00:29:43] - [Jay Ray]
And I'm like, that song though, of all the songs. I get why it's a hit though. It was such a big hit that that Liza covered it on stage and her background singers are, you know, doing all the things and Liza comes in and does Mary j said I could do the song or something. Whatever Liza said.

[00:30:04] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
So here's the thing. From what I what I understand, this performance was a surprise, and that's why there's no video footage of it. I have scoured when I tell you I've scoured the earth looking for video footage Yeah.

[00:30:19] - [Jay Ray]
Because there's just audio.

[00:30:20] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
There's just audio. So this was actually done at a tribute to her mother. Really?

[00:30:27] - [Jay Ray]
And so Liza comes up, and it's like, this is

[00:30:30] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
for while. Nobody knew that Liza was actually gonna be in the show, but it was a tribute to her to her mother and her mother's musical partners. And so as a surprise, Liza, you know, was like, how you how you gonna have a celebration of my mother and not and not see me? I'm the Osiris of this joint. Shout out to ODB.

[00:30:52] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
But yeah. So she comes through, and she, like, Jay Ray says, she does this abridged version of family affair. And the back the background singers are so sweet. I'm certain they were black.

[00:31:06] - [Jay Ray]
They are. They were Carrie. They were

[00:31:08] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
They gave her a a go, Liza. A get busy moment. They gave her a go, Liza. Go, Liza. It was very Ricky Lake in the nineteen nineties, you know, where they go, white girl.

[00:31:20] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
You go, girl. It was very that much that kind of moment. But, again, it's something when when it resurfaced, J Ray, I think, of course, everybody got a good laugh. They got a hearty chuckle out of it, but nobody was mad at it. No.

[00:31:38] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
At least not on ours not in in my purview, I don't Listen.

[00:31:42] - [Jay Ray]
Listen. Liza Minnelli at this point can do it's it's it's Liza. Like, she is a she has proven herself as a performer. I've never heard any weirdness because Liza has performed so many songs. So I've never heard any weirdness.

[00:32:02] - [Jay Ray]
I think we are all at the point now and have been, where she's like, shout out to Liza Minnelli. Of course, she would cover Mary. Who wouldn't wanna cover Mary J. Blige?

[00:32:12] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Who would not wanna cover Mary J. Blige? We're gonna have a game of life. We're gonna have a great old time.

[00:32:20] - [Jay Ray]
I was listening for her to say dancer y. She was not saying that.

[00:32:26] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
She never got to

[00:32:27] - [Jay Ray]
the She was like dance hall. Like, I think they did a hall.

[00:32:31] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
A hall for me.

[00:32:32] - [Jay Ray]
Right. But I'm like, no. No. No. No.

[00:32:34] - [Jay Ray]
No. You guys, it's dancer y.

[00:32:38] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
She was probably there with the arrangers like, now what is this lyric saying? You know, she has her readers on and she's

[00:32:44] - [Jay Ray]
like, now

[00:32:45] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
it's it says here dancer y, that can't be what she's

[00:32:48] - [Jay Ray]
saying.

[00:32:48] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Do you

[00:32:49] - [Jay Ray]
think that's what she's saying? How did you do that?

[00:32:51] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
You know what? Let's just she probably meant Dance Hall re.

[00:32:54] - [Jay Ray]
Dance Hall re. Dance Hall E.

[00:32:57] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Dance It took place the the party took place in Dance Hall E. Not to be confused with Dance Hall F.

[00:33:03] - [Jay Ray]
Or Dance Hall D.

[00:33:04] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
The family affairs taking place in Dance Hall E. Guys Wait.

[00:33:14] - [Jay Ray]
I want that to be the thing. And I want Barry to see this and be like, that's exactly what I meant.

[00:33:21] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Yeah. I don't know where they got dancery from. It's Dance Hall E.

[00:33:26] - [Jay Ray]
Thank you, Liza. You got it right.

[00:33:29] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
Thank you. But seriously, thank you, Liza.

[00:33:33] - [Jay Ray]
Seriously, thank you, Liza. We won the show as fun. I want all the Liza Minnelli fans. Like Liza stans, hit us up. Let us know what covers of Liza Minnelli that are from the black music canon that we may have missed.

[00:33:49] - [Jay Ray]
I wanna watch all of them. There was a what was this sometime last year? I know that when I was on that when I was on X, I put up I don't know how I ended up in this Liza Minnelli moment tonight, but I was watching everything Liza because I just needed that kind of performance. And it is a particular kind of legendary performance that Liza Minnelli always delivered.

[00:34:16] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
That's it. Shout out to you, Liza May Manelli. We appreciate you.

[00:34:22] - [Jay Ray]
We do.

[00:34:23] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
We see you.

[00:34:23] - [Jay Ray]
We do. Y'all, thank y'all so much for hanging out with us. If you can see our faces or hear our voices, subscribe wherever you are. Tell folks about the show. If you like the show, chances are they will love the show too, so let them know.

[00:34:37] - [Jay Ray]
You can visit our website at queuepoints.com. From there, you could do all the things. You can support the show with our tip jar. You can shop our store. You could do you can become a member.

[00:34:46] - [Jay Ray]
You could do all the things. You can see all the archive episodes of cue points, and there are a ton of them, so go and watch it. You can also hang out with us on Substack where we have other content over there too. We appreciate y'all. We love y'all.

[00:34:59] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And as I always say, in this life you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play. I'm sir Daniel.

[00:35:06] - [Jay Ray]
I am Jray with a j.

[00:35:09] - [DJ Sir Daniel]
And if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. It's up to you. Cube points, cube points.

[00:35:27] - [Jay Ray]
Peace, y'all.