The View's Pathetic Chat with Greg Allman

I looked forward to seeing Greg Allman as a guest of  "The View." This is what I already knew about Greg Allman without doing research: He's a great musician and singer who sounds black, but he is very white (blond). He has made great music with the Allman Brothers Band, and as a solo artist with his own band.

For a short time Allman was married to Cher. They have a son together, Elijah Blue. Allman has also had a drug problem that probably hurt his marriage to Cher.

The beginning of Greg Allman's greatness might have begun with the Allman Brothers Band before Greg's brother Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident. (Duane was one of the dueling guitars featured in the song "Layla" with Eric Clapton in Derek and the Dominoes.) In my opinion, Greg and Duane were both musical geniuses whose careers were hampered---in one way or another---by drug abuse.

Oh goody, I thought. I was about to find out what Allman has been doing since the last time I saw him in concert, or that is what I thought. What a disappointment!

The co-hosts knew little about Allman; they had few interesting questions to ask. They obviously had done no homework. Even the facts that the show's staff dug up were incorrect:.

Barbara asked Allman about his marriage to Cher. He has been married six times and about to take the plunge for the seventh time with a woman who is 24 (40 years younger than Allman's 64). Here is a man with a long history of making beautiful music and surviving years on the road, and Barbara wasted her interview time by getting hung up on this age difference.

Although Whoopi claimed to have read Allman's book My Cross to Bear, and she used the colloquial word "man," as she tried to make this musical legend and genius somewhat comfortable ("this is a great book, man"), she didn't know much about his life or his book.

After the show I Googled "Greg Allman." The first paragraph of Wikipedia says the following:

Gregory LeNoir Allman (born December 8, 1947 in Nashville, Tennessee, known as Gregg Allman), is a rock and blues singer, keyboardest, guitarist and songwriter, and a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2006. His distinctive voice ranked him 70th in the Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time." 

Wouldn't this short paragraph help sell Greg Allman's book? The co-hosts didn't mention any of these facts. They also didn't know that Allman had battled Hepatitis C. I noticed that Greg had aged. Haven't we all? As I watched him, I wondered if his appearance had been affected by his drug use. I'd had no idea that he'd also had a liver transplant.

In regard to his marriage to Cher and their son Elijah Blue, Allman has four other children with four different women. Two of these unions were outside of marriage. These statistics certainly reveal something about the man and his life on the road. His pending nuptials would indicate that he is still looking for love.

Ladies of "The View": Was Greg Allman a last minute guest? Couldn't one of you have Googled before the show? Did anyone care to read Allman's book, My Cross to Bear?

The Ladies of The View Got Lazy

I'm back. . . .

I started this blog on "The View" last year after I found myself shouting at the co-hosts over various issues. To sum up my frustrations very quickly: Joy tends to be liberal without thinking things through. She gets herself into trouble by speaking before she thinks. Whoopi is complacent. She puts such little effort into her appearance that I wonder if she gets out of her pajamas when she has no show to do. Sherri made some big blunders in the beginning by making stupid comments, but she is a fast learner.

I think that Barbara and Elisabeth are the most creative thinkers of the group. Barbara's political correctness annoys me sometimes, but the older she gets, the more creative and tolerant she has become. Elisabeth's politics are more conservative than mine. I actually have few negative comments about Elisabeth. I wish she'd quit saying, "Um," right before she asks an important question. In general, Barbara and Elisabeth frustrate me less than the others---in general.

The co-hosts' strong opinions and incomplete information upset me. Since "The View" gets good ratings, a large number of people are receiving the messages imparted by this panel. Since the show needs a watchdog, I have volunteered to bring mistakes to the public's attention.

Once I began this blog last year, I found myself generally happy with most of the shows. I don't want to conjure something up or exaggerate a point in order to write this blog. There are qualities I love about Whoopi, and I respect her accomplishments. Joy is one sassy, funny lady, and a brilliant comic. These ladies are much like their audience members. Imperfect and fallible. In some ways the concept for the show does not work for me because these ladies--even though they represent various age groups and races--they must be held to a higher standard than ladies in an office who may discuss relevant topics by the water cooler or in the break room

Unfortunately, I found today's show frustrating and plain wrong. I felt like kicking my TV. Greg Allman was a guest, promoting his life story called Greg Allman: My Cross to Bear. I squirmed on my sofa while I watched an interview that went terribly wrong. So wrong that I must divide this blog into two entries. The following entry is specifically about the interview with Greg Allman.