Cherish Alexander

and The Artistry of Change

Interview by Ken Morton - Photos by Jack Lue

Cherish Alexander has experienced a brilliant career in music - working with the likes of Cyndi Lauper and Josie Cotton as well her own past bands and current solo material. You could now add filmmaker to Cherish’s many impressive accomplishments. Created during the pandemic, Cherish’s inspirational new single Change Can Start With Me is garnering the aritst a good deal of acclaim. Finding herself in the director’s chair, Change Can Start With Me logs 32 actors, 64 takes, and 16 hours for a vibrant Face-Morphing Video. Beginning to make the rounds at film festivals, at press time it was announced that Change Can Start With Me is an official selection for the legendary Cannes World Film Festival! Highwire Daze recently did an an interview with Cherish Alexander at the Jesus Wall in Downtown LA, complete with a Jack Lue photo shoot. Read on...

First of all, is there any overall story or concept behind your new song, Change Can Start With Me?

I think, initially, the song was born out of me just asking those deep questions of what the heck is going on. It was kind of the beginning of the pandemic and there was just so much turmoil in our planet, from George Floyd and the climate disasters and all the political tension and the protesta. It just was kind of like we’re all tucked in at home.

For me, I just turned inward and just was asking those questions like how can I help make a change? How can I be the change on this planet? How could I help make this world

a better place? I’ve always been passionate about that, with always having a spiritual sense of like a higher consciousness and higher way of being. And so that song was kind of born out of that, was me asking myself these questions, how can I make a difference.

How inspiring was it to put together an ambitious video like that with all these actors and everything?

The crazy thing is with that video, it was born so quickly and I was completely going a different direction. I was just going to do an animated album cover. And I started sort of moving forward with that and it just did not work at all. I was like now this is not what I want to do - and then I was thinking, how could I get it to making it feel like we’re all in this together on this planet? How can I create that? And then I was thinking -different ages, different ethnicities, different religions, just everyone coming together. I kind of had this idea and it actually came together quickly. It was a lot of work to get to the final product. A lot more work than I thought it was going to be.

Where do you find that many actors in the middle of a pandemic ready to do this?

So I know, exactly. That was like another thing. I’m like how do I make this vision come to life during COVID? So I actually have a friend, whose mom is an acting manager. And so I actually called her first. I was like, where would I even start and put together something like this? And she’s like, you can go on actorsaccess.com and place an ad. And she goes, I don’t know if anybody will respond during COVID, but you just put what you’re looking for and take it from there. So I was like, okay. Well, I’ll just start there, I guess.

I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never really directed a video before. I have been involved in my own videos for years and years and years and years. So I do have like experience with that. So I put the ad out and she was like, I don’t know, you might only get like a few. So I thought I’ll just put it out and see - and I got like over 700 submissions! It was so awesome because it was from like age 5 to age 90 and then I just was so overwhelmed. It took me two and a half months to go through them and start figuring out who I wanted. And I was even at that point going am I even going to do this? This is like crazy. How am I going to go through 700 people? I feel like I picked the right group of people, you know. It just felt like all sort of like meant to be, you know. This process was super smooth. It was like the people came easily and every single person I booked showed up which is crazy for COVID. And I shot it in my garage. It turned my studio into a film studio.

How did the pandemic affect you as an artist overall?

Honestly, as an artist, I really dove into my artistry. And my creativity is pretty much what saved me. It just was a crazy time and just I mean, honestly, songwriting and just being an artist. I mean, I think my creativity comes in so many different ways, not just songwriting. I do graphics and stuff like that and everything turns into an art project in my world if you know what I mean. And that just kind of saved me. I always tell people that are struggling - find something that you’re passionate about, create something to get your mind off that.

What was your show back from lockdown and what was going through your mind that you’re going back on stage for the first time in possibly 16 months?

So my first show back, actually, was with Josie Cotton at the Greek Theater. And oh, my gosh. It was like the Greek Theater! I’ve never played there before. As a musician, that’s like a dream come true. They were very strict that everyone had to be vaccinated. In fact, they said last-minute they lost a lot of tickets because they changed the policy for people having to show vaccination. And like a lot of people canceled because they didn’t want to show vaccination which is crazy. But being backstage with all of those legends, the energy of people that have played that stage, it was like a dream come true. And thanks to Josie for that. She’s made a lot of dreams come true in my music life, actually. I love playing with her.

You’ve played with Cyndi Lauper. What’s that experience like playing with a legend? I mean, she was a legend then, too. She’s a legend now.

Yes. Oh, my gosh. It was absolutely incredible. She really was everything that she’s cracked up to be. And the cool

thing is if she was directing the music video and she just is a powerhouse. She walked in the room and you felt her presence like she just is larger-than-life. Also, it was amazing, too because I do have a few experiences with her like we got our makeup done together.

And I remember spending a whole hour just in the makeup room, me and her, for a full hour. She’s asking me about my career and I was in a band called The Painkillers at the time and she just was a kind, kind of person. But she also was like a no-nonsense person - she had her way of getting things done on the set because we’re running out of time and things need to be done. And so she was making it happen, but I do have a funny story about that.

So on the second video, because I was in two videos with her, and on the second video, I had forgotten to bring an undergarment for my shirt. And so it was kind of like a last minute thing, and I was in the video and they were like “You need to have an undergarment and she goes “Just use one of mine.” And so she gave me one of her bras..And I still have it to this day.

And what’s crazy, too, is at the end of that shoot, her manager came up to me, and they had asked me to go on tour with her playing rhythm guitar. And I was like my band at the time was like poised to like take off, and I was like, oh, I wish I could. I’m focusing on my own stuff right now. Sometimes I wonder what my life would look like if I would have, I don’t know. Probably not that much different.

You never know. But I would love to run into her again. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. I’d love to see her. I’m sure she would remember me.

Oh, another thing is, in the video, sorry, I had given her one of my crowns that I used to wear. I was in beauty pageants when I was younger and I went through this stage where I’d like wear them sort of like a Courtney Love vibe. I was wearing it in one of the shoots, and at the end of it, I gave it to her. And she was like, “Oh, my God. Thank you so much.” And then like, 2 or 3 months later, I saw her wearing it in a promo thing. I wonder if she still has that actually.

What’s up next for you in the future and in 2022?

I think what’s up for me next is - my video is getting a lot of recognition in the film festivals and stuff like that. So I’ve already been accepted in the Venice Short Film Festival. And I just found out last night I was accepted at the San Francisco Short Film Festival. So I’m kind of wondering where that’s going to lead. I’m praying for a Sundance acceptance. It’s not really where I thought my life would lead. So I really just wanted to like focus on that and songwriting.

https://cherishalexander.com/

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