all about Madonna

The 1983 hit was chosen ahead of John Lennon's Imagine and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.
Music channel VH1 polled more than 25,000 people for their ultimate number one.
Oasis came fourth in the poll with Don't Look Back In Anger, just ahead of Vogue by Madonna.
Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, which topped the charts for a record-breaking 16 weeks in 1991, was sixth.
Will Young was a surprise entry at number seven with his recent hit Leave Right Now.
Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out Of My Head and Madonna's Like A Prayer were at number eight and nine.
And Mariah Carey sneaked into the Top 10 with the gushy ballad Without You.
Records making the top 20 included Every Breath You Take by the Police, Careless Whisper by George Michael and True by Spandau Ballet.
Britney Spears appears twice in the top 20 - but VH1 viewers voted her last hit Toxic ahead of Baby One More Time.
A VH1 spokeswoman said: "The poll has thrown up some surprising results - who would have thought Britney would lose out to Mariah Carey or Will Young's Leave Right Now would beat George Michael's Careless Whisper.
"Michael Jackson won by a landslide, which just goes to show people still love his music despite what's going on in his life."
Top 20:
1 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
2 John Lennon - Imagine
3 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
4 Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
5 Madonna - Vogue
6 Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
7 Will Young - Leave Right Now
8 Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
9 Madonna - Like A Prayer
10 Mariah Carey - Without You
11 Britney Spears - Toxic
12 Westlife - Flying Without Wings
13 Police - Every Breath You Take
14 No Doubt - Don't Speak
15 Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
16 George Michael - Careless Whisper
17 Celine Dion - Think Twice
18 Puff Daddy and Faith Evans - I'll Be Missing You
19 Spandau Ballet - True
20 Spice Girls - Wannabe
source : itv.com

The Material Girl rematerialized, reinvented and reinvigorated, Wednesday night at the Office Depot Center in Sunrise.
Madonna wowed the sell-out crowd of close to 20,000 with a dynamic two-hour set sampling a couple dozen songs from throughout her 20-year career.
Although the concert started 45 minutes late "with some kind of mystical and barely decipherable incantation" Madonna quickly roused the arena with a vintage take on the dance classic "Vogue."
Throughout the concert, large video screens shifted around the stage, offering glimpses of artfully composed and edited video that complemented the music. Whether it was a montage of combat scenes to introduce "American Life," a romantic embrace between two men during "Frozen" or just fresh film of the Boy Toy herself, the video added depth and freshness to tunes well ingrained in the public consciousness. Two massive screens also flanked the stage with live video images of the star, so even $100 ticketholders in the nose-bleed seats got their money's worth.
Still clad in Army fatigues from the combat rock section that began with the violently choreographed "American Life," Madonna turned the '80s anthem "Express Yourself" into a new, searing indictment of war. "What you need is a big, strong hand to lift you to a higher ground," she sang, raising a rifle in one hand.
There was message in the music all night long.
Spirituality took center stage " not surprising considering Madonna's well-documented devotion to the mystical branch of Judaism known as Kabbalah. "Papa, Don't Preach" had her sporting a "Kabbalists do it better" T-shirt.
That's not to say the show wasn't a nonstop parade of entertainment performed by a cast of dozens.
At times, the staging took on a Cirque du Soleil feel, with aerialists soaring above the stage on swings, fire dancers twirling flames, skateboarders half-piping, a bagpipe-and-drum corps marching and on and on. Madonna's corps of male and female dancers ran through every style of movement from tap to jazz to break dance.
For more intimate moments, Madonna performed with a few musicians and her backup singers. She was in fine voice throughout the evening, offering clear, confident renditions of power ballads such as "Crazy for You" as well as a rocking "Like a Prayer."
"Reinvent yourself" was the final message of the night, displayed in elegant script on the video screens as the crowd screamed futilely for an encore. Madonna certainly has reinvented herself this time as a mature, articulate entertainer.
source : news-press.com

Record numbers of foreign couples are marrying in Scotland, following the trend set four years ago by Madonna's Highland wedding. Nearly 31,000 couples were married last year north of the border, and neither the bride nor groom was a Scot in 8,900 ceremonies.
Duncan Macniven, the Registrar General for Scotland, said the "Madonna effect" had been good for the country. "Celebrity weddings have raised the profile of Scotland," he added.
Madonna and the film director Guy Ritchie were married at Skibo Castle in December 2000. The increase in the total number of weddings, to a 10-year high, was recorded in the Registrar General's annual review.
source : telegraph.co.uk

Orthodox Jewish leaders have reportedly raised a hue and cry over Kaballah, the religion currently being espoused by stars like Madonna, Demi Moore and Britney Spears.
They claim that the religion has become more of a marketable venture rather than a spiritual cult.
According to The New York Post, the fashion accessories store Target in NY is making money by selling red Kabbalah strings, which are imitations of the ones Madonna, Demi Moore and Britney Spears wear.
Many orthodox Jewish leaders say that the Kabbalah Center's money minting ventures are like selling the strings and "Kabbalah water."
Listed as a "hot buy" on Target's Web site, the string is "believed to protect against the evil eye." Each is said to have "traveled to Israel, to the ancient tomb of Rachel the Matriarch, and returned imbued with the essence of protection."
source : ANI

mBlox, the premier provider of mobile messaging infrastructure, and wireless marketing leader YellowPepper Wireless, launched a series of in-stadium wireless promotions earlier this month at the Madonna and Eric Clapton concerts.
Fans inside the Philips Arena won instant seat upgrades by participating in wireless promotions. The audience was invited to call a free telephone number or send a text message to a dedicated shortcode. Just before the concert, lucky winners were informed via mobile phone and given their seat upgrades.
"These groundbreaking campaigns demonstrate that entertainment venues can use the power of mobile and premium solutions to reach and engage their audiences in new and exciting ways," said Michael Erickson, Chief Information Officer of YellowPepper Wireless. "High response rates indicate the popularity of this medium."
This technology allows the Philips Arena to conduct one-to-one interactions with their visitors and will enable it to create affinity programs in the near future. Supported by mBlox and YellowPepper Wireless, arenas are entertaining plans to launch wireless ticketing services and wireless loyalty programs for season ticket holders.
"We are pleased to power the launch of these highly innovative wireless promotions," said Jay Emmet, President of the Americas at mBlox. "This campaign clearly demonstrates how text messaging allows audiences to interact in more rich and compelling ways with the event, the artist and the arena."
source : businesswire.com

Madonna has spent the past 20 years looking at herself for a living. That she still likes what she sees, professionally speaking, is remarkable, since few among us don't occasionally tire of the face staring back in the mirror. Narcissism has been very good to Madonna, and she to it.
The "Re-Invention Tour" that brought her to a sold-out Office Depot Center on Wednesday night offered clues as to how Madonna stays fascinated and in the process keeps the rest of us entranced.
The trick appears to be to keep everything changing, everything in constant motion. The Re-Invention stage production did exactly that, balancing and juggling numerous visual and acoustical elements, as Madonna rolled out a battery of selves.
"I've had so many lives," she sang on the dance-floor track Nobody Knows Me, her voice a filtered, robotic ripple. She would spend the 90-minute, 24-song set revisiting several of those lives. With a band and multiple dancers, Madonna posed and juxtaposed her way through history -- hers.
After a fully re-mixed version of her old stand-by, Vogue, and a less-altered take on the graceful ballad Frozen, she expanded on the anti-war chic of her recent single and video, American Life. Pvt. Madonna stepped out in Army fatigues with a chorus of dancers dressed as troops, a sheik, a nun, an Afghan woman in a racy mini-burka. Footage of wartime death and wounding flashed across the screen in a way that made the line between principled opposition and showbiz exploitation hard to divine.
That number handed off to the more durable single, Express Yourself, which became one of the show's most witty and entertaining collisions of multiple Madonnas. She stayed in the fatigues, doing rifle drills, while the band gave the song a compressed, techno workout, and the war footage turned to military cartoon graphics. It could almost have passed for a U.S.O. routine, except for not-so-veiled dig at war as self-expression.
Vocally, Madonna was in fine, flexible form, able to summon the excitement in Burning Up, the vampy humor of Hanky Panky -- a Bette Midler moment if ever Madonna had one -- and the pleading affection of Like a Prayer. Her interaction with the production was never anything less than confident and assured -- although the Moulin-Rouge-dressing-room getup in which she opened the show looked a bit scruffy against a sharp, sleek video tableau.
The choreography, both of dancers and of projected visuals, was energizing and erotic in a playfully grown-up way that would never occur to Britney Spears.
If Madonna, reinvented, has also evolved, it would be from a champion of sex to an advocate for love. Songs from the newer albums Ray of Light, Music and American Life speak often of love's saving power, and to the extent they deal in sex it's as an expression of love.
As if to herald this progress, Madonna covered John Lennon's Imagine near the end of the evening. No doubt she is already imagining the next version of herself.
source : sun-sentinel.com

American singer Madonna will make a "private" visit to Israel and spend the High Holidays in Tel Aviv at a Kabbalah spiritual retreat, Yediot Aharonot reported today. Officials at the Los Angeles Kabbalah Centre said Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie would participate in a delegation of some 3,000 Kabbalah students and teachers led by Rabbi Philip Berg, the paper said.
Madonna, 45, had originally been scheduled to perform twice at Tel Aviv's Bloomfield Stadium in September as part of her Reinvention World Tour. Those concerts were canceled after Palestinian terrorists reportedly threatened to kill the singer and her two young children. According to a report in The Sun, Madonna was said to be terrified when she received threatening letters from an unnamed Palestinian group which mentioned details about her children, Lourdes, 7, and three-year-old Rocco.
"Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie will come to Israel for a private visit on Rosh Hashanah, after Madonna completes a concert tour in Europe," Eitan Yardeni from the Kabbalah Centre told Yediot Aharonot.
According to reports in Yediot Aharonot and Haaretz, the Kabbalah retreat organizers have already fully booked Tel Aviv's Intercontinental and Dan Panorama hotels.
"As of now, we're talking about a large group of people involved in Kabbalah who are supposed to come to Israel," tourism officials told Yediot Aharonot. "We are very happy if celebrities will also come. There is no doubt that this is excellent public relations encouraging tourism to Israel," the officials said.
According to the Yediot Aharonot report, actress Demi Moore, 42, who is also involved in Kabbalah studies, may accompany Madonna on the upcoming trip to Israel. The newspaper speculated that Moore's boyfriend, actor Ashton Kutcher, 26, may also visit. The latest rumors, the paper said, suggest that Moore and Kutcher may tie the knot during their Israel visit.
MSNBC reported two weeks ago that Madonna, her husband and 4,000 other followers of Kabbalah would make a three-day pilgrimage to Israel in mid-September. "The faithful will be staying at three hotels. Madonna has booked one hotel where she and her friends and family will stay," an insider said, according to the report.
In recent media interviews, Madonna said critics have no right to poke fun at her interest in Kabbalah.
"I'm a little bit irritated that people think that it's like some celebrity bandwagon that I've jumped on, or that, say, somebody like Demi [Moore] has jumped on," Madonna told ABC-TV's 20-20 program. "We don't take it lightly."
During the interview, Madonna wore the red string around her wrist that is a symbol of Jewish mysticism, though she wore it beneath her watch. Madonna is writing children's books based on Kabbalah and has reportedly stopped performing on Friday nights, the start of the Jewish Sabbath.
Last month Madonna announced that she's changed her name to Esther, saying she identifies with the biblical queen and wants the "energy of a new name"
"I was named after my mother. My mother died when she was very young, of cancer, and I wanted to attach myself to another name. This is in no way a negation of who my mother is. I wanted to attach myself to the energy of a different name," Madonna told ABC.
Madonna has never publicly mentioned any desire to convert to Judaism, media reports stated.
source : israelinsider.com

In August 19th issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, 'Like A Prayer' has been chosen as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Dear Friends,
I hope most of you already had a chance to enjoy one (or more) of Madonna's U.S shows! The new issue of Icon (#41) is about to be sent out to subscribers... Vogue Paris Magazine has devoted it's pages to the Re-Invention tour as Madonna graces the cover of the August edition. The spread includes exclusive studio and live shots taken by Steven Klein as well as an article written by Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg. If you haven't gotten a copy of it yet, we have a great deal for you. Icon #42 will be entirely devoted to Madonna's new tour and will include fan reviews and pictures from around the world. Just write your own review of the tour and e-mail it to us before August 11. The best reviews and pictures will be published in Icon and their authors will receive a free copy of Vogue Paris right in their mailbox! Your review can be short or long, based on what you've seen during the show or whatcame to your mind right after it, etc., You decide ! Be sure to e-mail your review and pictures to the following address: icontest@moov-u.com before August 11. Please note that you don't have to be an Icon member to submit your review, but you must be Madonna fan! Fan photographers, pictures will only be accepted if they are Jpegs at least 1.000 pixels "tall" and no more than 1Mb per image. One entry per person, thanks!
Good luck and see you on the road!
xo
Johann
source ; madonna.com

Pop superstar Madonna will hold her first-ever concert in Portugal after a row with a local evangelical church which had forced its cancellation was resolved, concert promoters said yesterday.
The top-selling singer of Into the Groove , Like a Prayer and Take A Bow was originally scheduled to bring her ReInvention concert tour to the Atlantic Pavilion in Lisbon on September 12, according to concert promoters Tournee who had booked the space for September 9-13.
But after the concert had been announced, the Lisbon-based Mana Christian Church said it had already booked the grounds for September 8-11 to hold a "Convention of Faith."
The church said it had reserved the grounds in February and it refused to change the booking or the location of its event despite pleas from fans and an offer of a 25,000 euro ($A42,900) donation from Tournee.
Jorge Tadeu, a self-proclaimed apostle and founder of the church, told daily tabloid Correio da Manha last month he was "revolted" by those who "want to exchange Jesus for Madonna".
"In our understanding God is moving the Christian church to defeat Goliath," he added.
"We feel the pressure from Madonna is not restricted to the Mana church, but is part of a wider battle between the devil and Christ."
Portuguese media reported earlier this month that after weeks of wrangling between the two sides the concert was called off.
But today a different concert promoter, Musica no Coracao, said it had arranged for the concert to take place at the same venue on September 13.
Tickets will go on sale across the country on Thursday, it said.
The new date for the concert has been added to the singer's official website.
Madonna kicked off her latest world tour, her first in three years, in May in Los Angeles.
Her return to the concert stage has received mixed reviews, with some suggesting the 45-year-old mother of two had erred by trading in her trademark sexuality for a new-found spirituality.
source : theage.com.au

"Nobody knows me," Madonna sings on her latest CD, the second song she'll perform during her four-night stop in South Florida on her successful Re-Invention Tour.
Nobody Knows Me. And she's puzzled by this? It's amazing even Madonna can keep track of all the personas she has inhabited.
Eighties Material Girl in thrift-shop couture. A lipstick lesbian named Dita. Evita. Mama Madonna. Faux English aristocrat. Suburban Jewish mother named . . . Esther.
It's not an official she's-got-it-on-her-driver's-license name, naturally. But, as an outspoken follower of the Jewish mystical teachings known as Kabbalah, Madonna reportedly identifies with Esther, the biblical woman who saved the Jews from annihilation.
Madonna may be Esther to her fellow Kabbalists, but she's not foolish enough to risk career annihilation by changing the brand name you'll see at tonight and Thursday's two-hour career retrospective concerts at Sunrise's Office Depot Center, or the two AmericanAirlines Arena shows Sunday and Monday nights in Miami.
The stub reads ''Madonna,'' and the show celebrates what that iconic name has meant for 20 years by dusting off many of Madonna's greatest hits.
Since Madonna is in the mood to look back, we can't resist doing the same. Spoiler alert: We're going to reveal which hits from each period Madonna plans to perform this week.
The Material Girl. Teased dirty blond hair, Boy Toy belt buckle, midriff-baring top revealing a soft-bellied, pre-yoga Madonna, exposed bra straps. The image that cemented her arrival was that white wedding dress she wore while writhing on the stage and chirping Like a Virgin on MTV's inaugural Video Music Awards program in 1984.
Songs you'll hear: Burning Up, Holiday, Material Girl, Crazy for You, Into the Groove.
Platinum blond. Madonna as Marilyn Monroe. When she ditched husband Sean Penn, she even took up with John F. Kennedy Jr. for a brief fling.
Song: Papa Don't Preach.
The brunet artiste. For 1989's Like a Prayer, a dark-haired Madonna went deeper, focusing on family, her failed marriage, social issues and the loss of her mother.
Songs: Like a Prayer, Express Yourself.
The provacateur. Remember the Sex coffee-table book filled with naked pictures of Madonna cavorting as Dita, a lusty ambisexual on the prowl?
Songs: Vogue, Hanky Panky, Deeper and Deeper.
Saint Evita. Following Sex, Madonna finally landed the movie role she was born to play: Evita Peron. She was hiding a secret, however. Madonna was pregnant with her first child during filming. The birth would have Madonna in mommy mode, claiming she was more spiritual and less selfish. So how does this explain those $300 concert tickets?
Songs: Lament (from Evita), Frozen.
Country girl. The cover of her 2000 technopop CD, Music, featured Madonna in a designer cowboy hat. On the Drowned World Tour, she rode a mechanical bull. When not in cowgirl clothes, she was donning geisha outfits.
Songs: Music, Don't Tell Me.
Military Girl. Madonna as an antiwar, anti-Bush activist in army fatigues.
Songs: Die Another Day, American Life, Hollywood, Nobody Knows Me, John Lennon's Imagine.

Pop diva Madonna leaned heavily on astrology to help her select members of her troupe for her Reinvention tour.
According to The Mirror, the "Material Girl" was studying star signs rather than CVs before she hired people.
"She wanted to know our birth signs. She wanted to know which of us were compatible with her sign. After all, we were going to spend many months with her touring the world," Reshma Gajjar, a member of the cast, was quoted as saying.
source : ANI

Madonna's seven-year-old daughter, Lourdes, made her first charity appearance at a children's hospital in France.
According to The Sun, Lourdes visited the hospital and read aloud from her mother's best selling book "The English Roses". Children were later handed out free copies of the book.
"She was great. She's a fabulous reader. There were a lot of people there but not a huge entourage for Lourdes. We gave her a present - a bravery bead necklace that we give to children undergoing treatment. She loved it and put it right on," an onlooker was quoted as saying.
source : ANI

Madonna is credited as producer/executive producer of five new movies :

- 30 Days Until I'm Famous [2004, TV],

- Chasing Fate [2005],

- Hello Sucker! [2005, she's also acting in this one],

- She Rocks [2005] and

- This Is America [2005]

source : imdb

The on sale dates for the show in Lisbon on September 13th at Pavhilao Atlantico have changed. The public on sale is now Thursday, July 29th, 10am (local) and the Fan Club Pre-sale is now Tuesday, July 27th, 5pm local (noon EST) through Wednesday, July 28th, 5pm local (noon EST)
source : drownedmadonna

Madonna could sing at the closing ceremonies of Athens 2004 Summer Games as she will be in Greece for the Olympics at the time, for some vacation time in between her tour.
We remind you that this is only a rumour and that there's no real evidence as of today that Madonna could be actually in Greece at the end of her US Tour, and on 29 of August, last day for the Olympic games Madonna will be at Slane Castle!!!!
source : madtv

Kabbalah devotee Madonna is busy reviewing potential Hebrew names for husband Guy Ritchie.
The Like a Virgin singer recently changed her name to Esther as part of her conversion to the mystical offshoot of Judaism, and wants Ritchie to follow her lead.
An insider says, "Madonna wants Guy to convert religiously as much as she has. It doesn't make sense if she's fully involved and her family isn't."
source : contactmusic

Neil Sean of Sky News is reporting that Madonna is secretly planning to make a follow-up to her hit '84 movie 'Desperately Seeking Susan', which she'll produce and make a small cameo in. Look for the Material Girl to write a soundtrack for the flick, which should begin shooting next year, as well.

source : drownedmadonna

Hundreds of Slane residents will have to apply for police passes to get around the village when music superstar Madonna comes to visit next month.
The Garda have announced there will be checkpoints all around the quiet Co Meath village on the day before the huge concert on Sunday, August 29, and only those residents with passes will be allowed through.
Garda chief Michael Flanagan also warned Madonna fans that there is no need or reason to travel early as all the local accommodation has been fully booked, there are no camping facilities available and "there will be nothing for them to do in Slane and we would ask them not to come near it".
The massive gig at Slane Castle is the first to be held on a Sunday for over 20 years and while many residents of the villages signed a petition objecting to it, Meath County Council has given MCD Promotions a licence for it, albeit with some stringent conditions.
Although it is thought that the first act will not appear until late in the afternoon, the controversial queen of pop has to be off stage by no later than 10.30pm, with the 80,000 revellers out of the venue by midnight.
The council has also demanded that the promoters lodge an Event Management Plan no later than two weeks before the concert, a plan that must take account of the extra traffic, necessary toilet facilities and the impact on the local environment.
Another aspect which must be finalised with the Garda is the totally free movement of people who are attending Mass or other religious services on the Sunday morning.
source : belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Pop diva Madonna was seen enjoying a day out at the beach, with her family, in Miami. The 46 year old mum of two who still has an enviable figure to flaunt looked ravishing in a bikini, with her husband Guy Ritchie, daughter Lourdes and son Rocco, besides her.
"Madonna was looking really pale but she was having a great time," a source was quoted by The Sun as saying.
"Guy got them all laughing. He was brilliant with the kids," he added.
source : ANI

It turns out pop music queen Madonna may have some Acadian roots.
While the Material Girl probably isn't singing French lullabies from Atlantic Canada to her children, it seems she can trace part of her ancestry back to Acadia, according to a New Brunswick genealogist.
"[Madonna] descends from the Fortin family, which is a Quebec family. Her mother was a Fortin," said Stephen White, a genealogist with the University of Moncton's Centre of Acadian Studies in New Brunswick.
From there, White can trace back six generations until he comes across a name that is familiar to the Acadian researcher.
"There was an article published in a Quebec periodical ... where there was a mention of one of her Fortin ancestors having married an Orillon," he said.
"The Orillon family is an Acadian family."
Acadian heritage has been front and centre in the Maritimes this summer, as those with Acadian ancestry gather from around the world for the Acadian World Congress, a series of events celebrating the 400th anniversary of French settlement in the New World.
While White normally traces the history of everyday individuals, he said he understands people's fascination with tracing the backgrounds of more famous folk.
"People are interested in knowing if they're related to someone who's known in one way or another," he said.
source : globeandmail.com

The price of Madonna's Beverly Hills, Calif., estate has been cut for a second time, to $9.75 million from an original $10.9 million, set slightly more than a year ago. The markdown brings the singer's 1926 Spanish-style home more comfortably below the $10 million threshold that Realtors say has proven to be a sticking point for Beverly Hills buyers in recent months, amid an otherwise strong local real-estate market.
At 7,000 square feet, and with a pedigree from Wallace Neff (the master architect of Hollywood art deco), agents say the singer's house shouldn't be a hard sell, but they say there's been a buildup of inventory in the $10-million-plus range.
Madonna bought the house from actress Diane Keaton in 2000 for about $6.5 million, then renovated it for an additional $2 million. Madonna, who spends much of her time in her other homes in New York and Britain, put the house up for sale not long after the renovations were completed.
Meanwhile, the house next door, owned by Woody Stuart, a scion of the family that founded the Carnation food company, is in contract. His 1920s Spanish-style home, on a slightly larger lot than Madonna's, was listed this spring at $14 million, then reduced to $10.5 million. After three months, it sold slightly below that level, local brokers say. Stuart, who declined to comment through a spokeswoman, paid about $4.75 million for the property in 1999.
source : naplesnews.com

Pop diva Madonna was spotted at New York's posh Kosher restaurant Solo, disguised under a wig and heavy makeup. The singer was reportedly dining with her husband Guy Ritchie and their Kabbalah friends.
However sources from 'Star People' magazine saw right through her disguise of an auburn wig, fake teeth, heavy makeup and a long black skirt.
Even when a woman recognised her and asked her for an autograph the star simply refused to reveal her identity.
source : ANI

Madonna's 1994 hit I'll Remember is featured on Reflections CD
100% of profits from the sale of Reflections will be donated directly to The Memory Foundation and The Alzheimer's Foundation of America.
Compilation features : Madonna, Celine Dion, Enya, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Sarah McLachlan, Leann Rimes, Rod Stewart etc.



source : drownedmadonna

As Madonna's agent and friend, I take care of everything that concerns her. Very often I act as a buffer between the Material Girl and the press even if it means having to get squashed against a glass wall while she walks up the steps at the Cannes festival followed by a mob of paparazzi. That was 15 years ago for the screening of In Bed With Madonna.
Madonna never reads any critics, which I think is an excellent idea. I, however, can't keep from doing so. First it's my job and it's a way to know if after all these years we're in tune with the press. Some people remain skeptical. But what artists, besides Elvis and the Beatles have had as many hits as what constitutes the soundtrack of our lives.
I remember it as if it were yesterday. In the middle of the summer a ball of fire stumbled into my office full with fabulous accessories. I haven't forgotten anything-the hair 'they look best when I haven't washed them for 8 days.' The black rubberband bracelets and the torn pantyhose - 'what's the problem, everyone wears them downtown.' The crucifix (pl.) she was wearing or carried in a pillow case, 'Jesus is sexy', the attitude 'nobody can tell me what to wear', a still unknown Madonnna shouted during her 1st photo shoot with the famous Francesco Scavullo.
'I love her style, let her wear whatever she wants', he ordered the stylists who wanted to cover her in diamonds.
I see myself later, making her sit in my office to show her the Playboy issue with the nude photos she did for art students when she first arrived in NYC. We were all worried on the effect these photos would have on her emerging career. 'Well, first of all, I'm not sorry about anything' she said while reading the magazine 'and I'd laugh about it if I just didn't find myself so unattractive'. Recently asked about nudity in her career, Madonna simply laughed 'most of the time it was pure exhibitionism. Who doesn't show themselves naked these days?'
A few years ago I accompanied Madonna while she visited a hospital. She pushed a door open and in the room a very sick boy looked at her from head to foot from his bed and said 'You know, I don't like you'. Madonna laughed and answered, 'Well, sometimes I don't like myself either. But what matters is that I like you.' I left them alone for a while. Later as I met the little boy's mother she said 'it's the first time my boy is smiling in 3 weeks.' Madonna told me never to talk about this incident or else she'd kill me.
What makes Madonna happpiest these days? 'Oh probably my daughter's voice when she reads me a poem in French.' Is there something she still dreams about? 'Many things. First of all, no more wars. And what if everyone went to see Michael Moore's movie? And if my kids put their dirty plates in the sink?'
There's no doubt that her happiness shines on the stage of the RIT. 'Since everyone was looking back at my career, I decided to revisit myself with a new twist both musically and visually. I thought about all this with Caresse Henry, my manager and best friend. Then Jamie King showed us a model of the stage the way he imagined it. I wanted to introduce elements of the Kaballah, war in general, and George Bush in particular.
I wanted this show to be a visual assault. I wanted to perform in Israel in front of Jews and Palestinians. Unfortunately, Caresse didn't allow me due to security reasons. One of my goals was that each person in the audience go home convinced that they can help change the world.' Madonna said after drinking her 3rd cup of coffee of the morning.
What's the most important lesson in life? I asked Madonna before one of her shows. 'My Kabballah instructor taught me this: each time you doubt yourself, act like God. How would he act? With Love and altruism. I try to do both. That's what I'd like to teach the world.' Amen.
source : madonnaNATION

Pop legend Madonna may perform to some empty seats when she tours Britain because fans are refusing to pay extortionate prices to see her live.
The star is charging the equivalent of $288 for tickets to her Reinvention Tour in London and Manchester.
But some fans have snubbed the gigs and the singer has hundreds of unsold tickets.
A source tells Britain's Daily Star newspaper, "The high price has put off a lot of her casual fans.
"The average concert ticket costs around GBP20 to GBP30 but the cheapest Madonna tickets are GBP75."
source : southflorida.com

For 20 years, Madonna has lived on the hype that she could effortlessly shape-shift into the latest and greatest pop-culture trendsetter. After all, she made crucifixes a hot fashion item, turned underground house music into the beat of a thousand high school proms and helped refashion the obscure tenets of the kabbala into a fetish as fashionable as Scientology.
"She's at the forefront of every new cultural psyche," says Marian Salzman, chief strategy officer for marketers Euro RSCG. "First she was talking about sex, then she was talking about respect. She reemerged in 2000 with yoga and by 2003, she was into electronica and hip-hop."
But as Madonna launched a six-night run at Madison Square Garden, there's something about her latest incarnation that's not quite in sync.
The writhing musical dominatrix in fishnets is selling children's books. She now expresses herself as a wife, mother, political activist, moral spokesmodel and yoga fanatic.
She has dubbed her new tour "Re-Invention" and packed it full of images that reflect her newfound identity. For Madonna's 2004 model, it could easily be the "Mixed-Message" tour. Many of her recent public moves have fallen as flat as her high notes.
Think about her highly touted tonsil hockey with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at last year's MTV Video Music Awards.
It was meant to be outrageous and link the aging icon to the pop tarts of a new generation. But to many, it was one of the most cloying moves she ever made.
"It looked a little desperate," says Rachel Weingarten, president of youth-oriented GTK Marketing. "If she's trying to create the image of a comfortable, complacent mom, it sent another message to kiss a girl. It said, wait, you're not interesting enough anymore if you still have to create that kind of controversy."
What's shakiest about Madonna's current tour, however, is the fundamental lack of something she's always had " a hit.
The title track of "American Life" was the album's only big single, and that barely cracked Billboard's Top 40, peaking at No. 37.
The album itself is the singer's least successful to date, reaching platinum status in three months but stalling soon after. Even 2000's "Music" went double-platinum and sold nearly three times as many copies worldwide.
That's largely because young people are the most avid record buyers and, Weingarten says, they see her as a "doyenne" who is "far from the epitome of hip."
The singer has tried to stay connected, but it's been something of an awkward fit. Can anybody really imagine Madonna heading to the mall to try on a pair of jeans?
"She wanted to stay relevant," says Morris Reid, managing director of the marketing agency Blue Fusion. "So she appeared in a GAP ad with Missy Elliott."
Perhaps that's why "Re-Invention," unlike previous tours, features so many of Madonna's classic hits, giving older fans what they've long clamored for. Except that they'll have to swallow the nostalgia with hefty doses of politics and religion.
"Madonna's dogmatic kabbala babble, political propaganda and "Riverdance"moves are an utter bore to her hard-core fans," says Mary Spio, pop culture editor of One2One magazine.
"Going to a Madonna concert riddled with cryptic Hebrew texts and images of war is like going to a strip joint only to find the strippers reading from the Book of Psalms," she adds.
The $305 price of the top tour tickets is another sign that spirituality hasn't altered Madonna's penchant for profit.
These days when she sings "I am a material girl," she likes to deflect her old image by saying "not anymore."
But the concert merchandise tables are filled with kabbala trinkets and her Web site hawks discounted copies of the kids' book 'Mr. Peabody's Apples." Her new identity conveniently comes complete with a fully accessorized product line.
"She's always at the center of things changing," Salzman says. "And then she will make a business of it."
source : thestate.com

Madonna is back on the cover of a magazine, and this time she does it at her best.
The French edition of Vogue features a full page cover with a stunning outtake from the Steven Klein photo session as well as an exclusive article:
"Madonna dans les yeux" (Madonna in the eyes).
The last time Madonna was on the cover of Vogue Paris was in October 1993 with previously unreleased portfolio by Photographer Ellen von Unwerth.



source : madonnatribe

After writing a book, attending all night meetings and changing her name to 'Esther', pop icon Madonna has finally taken to singing in Yiddish in order to pay tribute to her newly adopted Jewish religion, Kabblah.
According to The Sun , the 46-year old singer recently sang two songs in Yiddish at a party thrown by Kabbalah guru Phillip Berg, which was attended by about 50 other kabalaists.
Following her performance, rumors are rife that the Material Girl singer is also planning to release an album in Yiddish.
source : ANI

Pop diva Madonna's dancers are paid less than a 1000 dollars per show as compared to the two million dollars that the singer earns per show. At bigger arenas, a single concert can rake in as much as 12 million dollars.
"I know they're not getting paid that much, considering how much they're working," a friend of one of the dancers was quoted as saying.
According to The New York Daily News, the dancers trained for 12 hours a day, six days a week for two months to prepare for the current "Re-invention" tour.
The 12 dancers are not unionised and were forced to perform at a venue without air conditioning to preserve the 'Material Girl's' voice.
"Sometimes it's insanely hot. It's very hard to breathe, and they have oxygen in our dressing rooms." a dancer was quoted as saying.
However, the dancers are still thrilled to be on tour with the pop icon.
"She treats us like royalty. She even had us to her house for a cookout," Seth Stewart, one of the dancers, was quoted as saying.
"The dancers seem very happy. I haven't heard otherwise," Madonna spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg was quoted as saying.
source : ANI

According to TRL US, the performance involving Madonna, Christina, Britney and Missy at last year MTV VMAs, could be included on new Britney Spears' DVD due for release in November 2004.

source : drownedmadonna

The tickets for the Lisbon date on Sept. 13 at Pavhilao Atlantico will be going on sale Friday, July 30th - 10 am local (5am EST/2am PST) .
The fan club pre-sale will be Tues. July 27 - 3pm local (10am EST) through Thursday, July 29th 5pm local (noon EST).
source : madonna.com

Guess who's signed back to Sire Records? That's right ladies and gents, it's Madonna. After Sire broke ties in 1994, with Madonna and her distributor Warner Bros. to pursue the London music scene with London Records, they are back! Of course with Madonna and Mandy Moore under their belt. I guess London underground music wasn't as profitable as they'd hope.
Under the new contract with Sire Records, Madonna must record 2 new albums and release a compilation CD. Expect word on the new contract, reportedly worth over 25 million, to be released on Billboard next month. Only in New York kids, Only in New York!
source : nypost.com

Toronto radio station Mix 99.9 has reported that yesterday July 20, Madonna spent the majority of the day at Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital reading and visiting with the children and their families.
Mix 99.9 also reported that she had read her three released childrens books 'The English Roses', 'Mr. Peabody's Apples' and her latest book 'Yakov and The Seven Thieves'.
source : madonnalicious.com

As the world will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's publication of the theory of relativity next year, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to which the genius bequeathed his intellectual property rights, expects to net a whopping royalty worth millions of dollars.
The university has already netted some $10m over the last eight years, since it started to exercise its rights, from royalties charged for the commercial use of Albert Einstein's name and image. However, it has not been driven by purely profit motives and has been very selective in allowing the use of the genius' name and.
Singing sensation Madonna was refused to use Einstein's image in a concert performance, as the university thought it was not in keeping with the preservation of his legacy, despite the potential royalties of thousands of dollars.
However, a request by director Steven Spielberg to use Einstein's image for a few seconds in AI: Artificial Intelligence was permitted for $600,000 in royalties.
In another case, Pepsi was allowed to use the most famous Jew's image in its commercials, but a liquor company that wished to launch a vodka named "Einstein"? was refused permission to use the name.
Last month, the university signed a 10-year royalty deal with a toy company of the Disney Group for a series of children's toys under the name "˜Baby Einstein'. Hebrew University VP and director-general Moshe Vigdor said that the annual royalties have ranged from $1-1.5m, but are expected to make substantial gains in '05. Germany, Einstein's native country, will be issuing commemorative stamps and coins, and talks are on to determine the royalties.
Before his death in 1955, Einstein, realised the commercial potential of his name and image, and decided to leave the commercial rights to the university behind which he was a driving force.
source : reuters.com

THE MOTHER of Re-Invention has re-invented herself yet again. And this time, Madonna's finally admitting it. When The Material Girl, Madge, Esther -- take your pick -- brings her aptly titled Re-Invention Tour to the Air Canada Centre tonight (for the first of three sold-out shows), concert-goers will be getting a decidedly less raunchy, more preachy evening of music than they're used to.
Can you say less sex, more politics and religion?
Given it's been 11 years since Madonna played in T.O.with her much more lascivious Girlie Show Tour at SkyDome, clearly a lot has happened over the past decade to lead to such a dramatic, more mature transformation.
Especially since the 45-year-old singer-dancer has succeeded in shocking us over the past twenty years with her various naughty and rebellious looks, actions, videos and books like Sex, etc.
In a sentence, she's grown up. Or seems to have.
Two children (seven-year-old daughter Lourdes, a.k.a. Lola, and three-year-old son Rocco), a happy second marriage to British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, who's ten years her junior (who would have thunk it?) and her study of the Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah will do that to you.
She's most recently stated that she chose the Hebrew name Esther for herself as a follower of the religion, prompting huge laughs amongst her critics.
"I'm a little bit irritated that people think that it's like some celebrity bandwagon that I've jumped on, or say somebody like Demi (Moore) has jumped on," Madge told 20/20's Cynthia McFadden in the only interview she's granted thus far while on tour.
"We take it very seriously."
But when McFadden asked her if there was a reigning philosophy in her household, Madonna replied: "Clean up your s--t."
A great answer but didn't we all expect a little bit more in the way of sage wisdom from this female powerhouse?
Especially one that's rumoured to be visiting fertility clinics in L.A. in an effort to have a third child?
"She's a pop force to be reckoned with, or certainly was," Canadian singer K.D. Lang told the Toronto Sun. "And has tremendously placed the bar way above where it was for women in music before (her). She's been an immense help to women in music."
That may be so, but there's been some serious career mis-steps in the past couple of years including Madonna's obvious manoeuvres to re-capture the youth market.
She hooked up with the far inferior Britney Spears for her Me Against The Music video having earlier famously kissed her at the MTV Awards, appeared in a Gap ad alongside Missy Elliott who remixed Get Into The Groove, and became the author of children's books that have received mixed reviews. (She just released the third installment in a five-book series.)
And what about those seriously bad movies -- 2002s' Swept Away, directed by Ritchie, and 2000's The Next Best Thing, -- and two of her less-than-stellar albums -- 2003's American Life and 2000's Music?
Still, to come this year, is production on a Martin Scorsese-produced musical called Hello Sucker!, which doesn't exactly sound like a winner.
Does great art come from personal suffering? In Madonna's case, it would appear so.
At the L.A. launch of her Re-Invention trek back on May 24, I kind of missed the gender-bending, provocative artist of old.
Even her 2001 Drowned World Tour, while having fewer chestnuts from the Madonna catalogue, was a way more visually stunning show.
And despite those breathless British tabloid reports of simulated lesbian sex and getting electrocuted on stage during the Re-Invention production -- neither materialized. (The supposed electrocution saw Madonna strapped into an electric chair but that was about as exciting as it got.)
Not that she entirely disappointed. On the contrary.
If Madonna really excels at one thing in this world, it's her live performances. Why else would her three dates in Toronto -- she also plays tomorrow night and Wednesday night -- sell-out in a record-setting 80 minutes?
She's an incredible dancer, if not an incredible singer, and she does possess clarity of vision, designer style and a healthy sense of humour.
For example at the Los Angeles tour opener, the reworking of Get Into The Groove, was a hilarious bit of staging which featured Madonna in a kilt -- in a shout-out to her husband's ancestry -- accompanied by bagpipers and drummers.
And all those years of serious yoga practice seemed to have really paid off as she emerged from beneath the stage on a platform for the show opener Vogue and immediately went into a stand where she placed her entire body weight on her forearms.
Still, Madonna was hurting for all her physical efforts with a nude bandage on her right forearm and a black tensor bandage around her left knee visible on opening night.
Hey, if the healthy specimen that is Madge is vulnerable, what hope is there for the rest of us?
While Lang, an L.A. resident for the past couple of years, didn't attend any of Madonna's shows on the West Coast -- "I wouldn't really be that engaged in Madonna's tour at this point. I've seen here like three times already!" she commented -- another prominent, if younger Canadian female artist had plans to catch Madonna in Toronto.
Napanee, Ont., pop-rock teen sensation Avril Lavigne, said she's more of a fan of the pop icon than the musical artist.
"I have a lot of respect for her because she has longevity and she's been around for so long and she's always changed her style and been evolving and I think she's a really strong woman and she's always surprising people," Lavigne told the Sun.
"And I think she's smart, a very smart business woman. I really like her. I'm not saying I'm a fan. I'm saying her, Madonna, what she has done, what she has accomplished, I look at that and I have a lot of respect for her. I'm curious to see what her show's like."
So what can fans expect tonight, tomorrow night and Wednesday night?
An hour-and-50-minute show that's big on production and costume changes and heavy on the hits -- with such '80s gems as Papa Don't Preach, Crazy For You and Holiday featured prominently -- and plenty of Bush-bashing during the title track from American Life.
Yes, after wimping out earlier and pulling the original video for American Life from music video channels -- apparently out of sensitivity to the troops in Iraq -- she's finally showing those controversial visuals in concert as Bush and Saddam Hussein share a cigar.
Madonna is also being followed by a documentary crew, a la Truth Or Dare, and they were highly visible on launch night as they filmed a proud Ritchie beaming near the front of the stage.
Next up for The Material Girl is a planned tour of Israel's holy places in October with a group of more than 100 students studying Kabbalah.
Apparently, she'll be staying in an out-of-the-way guest house, avoiding fans and TV cameras. (Now that better make it into the documentary.)
Otherwise, she most recently got bought out of her share of Maverick Records by parent company Warner Music Group and won the right to exclude hikers from her $23-million English country estate saying they would have destroyed her right to a private family life.
Maybe Madonna will concentrate on being a gardener next. Pregnant, barefoot and in her English garden.
Seems like a good place for Esther.
source : toronto sun

Pop star Madonna's maternal skills have failed to impress America's female population - she's last on a list of celebrity parents mothers would most like to babysit their children.
The Like A Prayer singer landed just five per cent of votes in a poll by a US magazine, reports Britain's Daily Sport newspaper.
American TV host Kelly Ripa was crowned the most sought-after babysitter, ahead of actress Reese Witherspoon, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sex and the City star Sarah Jessika Parker.
Madonna has been criticised in the past for dressing her seven-year-old daughter Lourders in raunchy clothing.
source : contactmusic

Is it the high ticket prices? Or the rocky personal lives of music superstars?
Whatever the reason, this year's blockbuster summer concert season is turning out to be a bust.
Major acts like Britney Spears, Marc Anthony and Christina Aguilera have all pulled the plug on their big tours before they even started.
Large-scale festivals like Lollapalooza have also been canceled.
In some cases, personal problems are to blame, like Britney Spears' knee injury.
But many industry insiders point to the increasingly "crazy" ticket prices -- and how fans just won't pay the price. One analysis shows the average ticket price has nearly doubled since 1995 -- to about 50 dollars a ticket.
But not all tours are doing poorly. Madonna -- asking a top ticket price of 300 dollars -- is selling out nearly every show.
source : associated press

The Lisbon concert at the Atlantico Pavilion originally scheduled on September 12th has been moved to September 13th. On sale date to be announced soon.

source : madonna.com

The historic 1985 Live Aid concert will finally be released on DVD in the fall. Earlier this year, the Band Aid Trust agreed to auction the global rights for the concerts for the first time, after pirated copies were found for sale on the Internet.Warner Vision International won the bidding and has set a Nov. 10 release date for a four-disc DVD package. The iconic Live Aid, held at London's Wembley and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, raised more than $70 million for famine relief in Africa.
Among the acts that performed were a reunited Led Zeppelin, U2, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and Queen. The DVDs will feature a documentary, "Food, Trucks & Rock'n'Roll," plus performances from related Live Aid events around the world.
"Twenty years ago they not only played 'real good for free,' they took an issue that was nowhere on the agenda of the political world and placed it at the very top," says concert organizer Bob Geldof. "By buying the Live Aid DVD, that day continues far off into some distant but hopefully better future for all those people in whose name those great artists played."
source : billboard.com

AOL(R) Television, the premier online destination for TV fans, today revealed the nominees for the 2004 TV's Top 5 Viewer Awards at a press conference held at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, judges in FOX's hit series "American Idol," presided.
The TV's Top 5 Viewer Awards honor the best television moments of the past year in entertaining and unusual categories such as Best Farewell Moment, Most Memorable TV Moment, Most Teary Eyed Moment, Best Talk Show Moment, Revlon's Sexiest Kiss, and more. The nominated selections have all been featured on TV's Top 5, AOL Television's daily recap of the best five moments of the previous day based on feedback from AOL members, overnight data from TiVo and input from AOL Television's editors. Members can view these moments and then rate them on a scale of one to five.
Beginning today, AOL(R) and AOL(R) for Broadband members across the country can cast their votes at AOL Keyword: TV Awards for their favorites in each category. Voting ends on September 10 and the winners will be announced on September 15, just days before the Primetime Emmy Awards on September 19.
This is the third year that AOL Television has celebrated the fans' favorites with a special awards presentation.
. . . .
The nominees for REVLON'S SEXIEST KISS are:
= Britney and Madonna on the MTV Video Music Awards
= Ross and Rachel on NBC's "Friends"
= Seth and Summer on FOX's "The O.C."
= Garry Shandling and Brad Garrett on the "Primetime Emmy Awards" on FOX
= Simon and Paula on FOX's "American Idol
source : drownedmadonna

Our reader Protectme attended the second Chicago show on July 12th, and wanted to say that the correct lyrics that Madonna sang during " Mother and Father " were:
" My father had to go to work
He didn't have the heart to hurt "
"Just wanted to clear up any confusion. I'm from Michigan, and have had the privlege of seeing all 6 of Madonna's tours, beginning with the Virgin Tour in Detroit when I was only 12. And to my surprise last night, once again Madonna 's father was in the audience with me. She has made a special point on each tour to recognize him and thank him in some way, as you can see on the Virgin Tour video, the Truth Or Dare film, and the Drowned World Tour video. What an amazing experience it was to have been at all of those shows, and to know that Mr. Ciccone has been in the same audience with me on every tour!
source : madonnatribe

So it's come to this: Madonna, who once writhed her way to R-rated MTV stardom, singing earnest protest anthems.
What next? Madonna writing children's books?
Oh, wait a minute, she's already done that.
The singer's latest career transformation was accompanied by an occasionally dazzling, frequently puzzling, and sometimes ponderous multimedia extravaganza Sunday in the first of four concerts at the United Center.
Even though her latest movie ("Swept Away") and album ("American Life") were commercial and critical flops, and even though she's been challenged by a new crop of tarted-up pop divas, Madonna remains a formidable concert draw.
But the current Reinvention Tour, spread over 21 songs and 105 minutes, is a mess, a hodgepodge of ideas that never quite establishes its tenuous theme: personal reinvention as the key to world peace. There were Cirque du Soleil-like acrobatics from her dancers, moody visuals on a handful of movable screens that suggested the Goth-rock influence of Nine Inch Nails or Depeche Mode, and a bevy of set changes that evoked everything from Louis XIV decadence to Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." For longtime Madonna watchers, it simply meant a less-than-satisfying makeover, long on simplistic political themes and short on the old sexed-up dance numbers.
Madonna was never a particularly personable performer; she always kept the audience on a short leash with her dominatrix demeanor. But the singer more than compensated with a subversive sense of humor that, when conspiring with the best of her melodic dance-pop, put a wicked twist on the notion of a "guilty pleasure." Once she was a female role model of the best sort, a self-possessed hurricane of ambition out to entertain at all costs. Now she's come down with a bad case of Significance, complete with self-help tips, a cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" and images of war-torn Third World countries.
It didn't help that the singer was touring behind her weakest album, "American Life," which signaled that the Madonna party was definitely over. On this electro-folk sidestep, the erstwhile narcissist had been replaced by a kinder, humbler, more enlightened superstar. Her current tour weaves the gray "American Life" tunes into the fabric of more colorful musical moments from earlier eras.
Madonna is concentrating more than ever on singing. Though her voice was occasionally enhanced by backing vocals, she sounded poised and in tune, her tone warmer, her range broader. Her dance moves have become more stylized and deliberate, less overtly sexual and frantic, presumably to allow her enough room to catch her breath and belt out a forgotten "Evita" ballad such as "Lament." There were some inspired moments: a splashy entrance for "Vogue"; a new-wave makeover for "Burning Up," with Madonna strumming rudimentary rhythm guitar; an eerie techno-pop ballad, "Frozen."
But there were early signs the show was in trouble. The muddled title song of "American Life" was performed in military fatigues, its most memorable moment a closing video image of Saddam Hussein and President Bush look-alikes embracing. An acoustic set, in which Madonna continued her unpromising transformation from dance queen into coffeehouse singer-songwriter, limped along until collapsing with "Mother and Father," in which the singer tried to rap.
Almost out of desperation, she brought out a high-stepping Scottish bagpiper, right after a Missy Elliot video cameo on "Get into the Groove." What this had to do with anything was beyond me, but it sure was fun to watch. But just as the concert was starting to regain its balance, it was over in a shower of confetti and one-world bromides during "Holiday."
"Come together in every nation," Madonna chirped.
"Reinvent Yourself," the video screen commanded.
Enough already.
source : chicagotribune.com

Over the course of her two-decade career, Madonna has accomplished many things: She has been a champion button-pusher, a fashion trendsetter and a provocative performance artist.
The 45-year-old singer has also recorded some extraordinary music (along with a fair amount of pop fluff). But judging from her spectacle-laden performance at the United Center on Sunday, that's the accomplishment she cares about least.
The dance diva's skimpy 105-minute show -- the first of four in Chicago -- certainly gave her fans a lot of high-tech, whiz-bang gimmickry for their hard-earned dollars. (The top ticket price: $317.50.) But the music was essentially an afterthought.
Judged against the standards of, say, the Cirque du Soleil, a modern Broadway production or the videos-come-to-life concerts by Madonna offspring such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, it was a heck of a show. But call me old-fashioned: I went for the music. And in this department, the Reinvention Tour needed serious reanimating.
After starting 40 minutes late and turning off the arena's air-conditioning in order to preserve her platinum pipes, Madonna played a mere 24 songs -- that's counting the ponderous "I am a prophet" faux-Biblical introduction -- and she wasn't even onstage for three of those.
Yes, the set list spanned her career, and she overcame her longstanding reluctance to play her older hits. But several of these were delivered in arrangements that were so bizarre that they played like parodies. That is, unless you agree that bagpipes and martial drummers were always lacking in 1984's "Into the Groove."
(What was with the Scottish kilts and the odd choice of sonic filigree? Maddy and British director Guy Ritchie were married in a Scottish castle and like to vacation in the highlands -- that's the only fact that I could find to explain this strange detour, one of several in the show that made no sense to anyone besides the singer's self-indulgent choreographers, set designers and wardrobe artists.)
"Vogue" was reimagined as a soundtrack for the court of Marie Antoinette; 1983's "Burning Up" got some incongruous, generic heavy-metal guitar and "Lament" from the musical "Evita" served only to underscore that Madonna was poorly suited to perform in musicals like "Evita." (And no, the set piece that found her strapped into an electric chair wasn't enough to distract from her melodramatic crooning.)
The singer also played six songs from last year's abysmal techno-folkie flop, "American Life." Contrary to what some critics have said, the material fared no better in concert than it does on the flat and uninspired recording. Madonna continued to overuse the electronic vocoder effect on her voice (perhaps to mask the insipid lyrics), the sultry come-ons of her "Erotica" era were still sorely missed and the show came to a screeching halt with the dumb and stilted rap in the middle of the maudlin "Mother and Father."
Musically, however, the nadir was an anemic, histrionic and soulless electronic reading of John Lennon's "Imagine" set to a barrage of video images of children from around the globe plagued by the ravages of hunger and war. (War and hunger = bad! Imagine no possessions = good! That is, after you've gone into hock buying concert tickets.)
As a political commentator, Madonna made Bart Simpson seem as sophisticated as Noam Chomsky. And her attempts to enlighten us about her arcane spiritual belief system didn't fare much better --though she mysteriously traded in her "Kabalists Do It Better" T-shirt for one that read, "Italians Do It Better."
Imagine no facile preaching from Madonna. It's easy if you try. Or have you really forgotten the Material Girl who fellated a water bottle in "Truth or Dare" and acted out pretty much every risque fantasy imaginable in her dirty-picture book Sex ?
In the end, if you removed all of the spectacle -- the half-pipe skateboard ramp, the bagpipers, the fake explosions, the dancers' military drills, the descending catwalk and the multiple video screens -- you had an aging singer with an impressive catalog and a voice that (at least on the dance numbers) is arguably stronger than it's ever been.
Sadly, Madonna lacked enough faith in these assets to rely on them being enough to entertain us. Instead, she beat us over the heads with yet another dizzying and superfluous MTV-style visual assault.
The most radical reinvention that Madonna could have chosen at this point in her career was to simply emphasize the music. (You know, that stuff that "makes the people come together/Music makes the bourgeoisie and the rebels/ Think of yesterday.")
Believe it or not, Maddy, it's your music that will endure when all the rest is gone, after the last bagpiper has hung up his kilt and the skateboarder no longer has enough hair to grow a Mohawk.
source : suntimes.com

The Michigan home where Madonna was raised is up for sale for only $300,000 dollars. The house was once priced in the millions on Ebay, thanks to some pranksters but realtors put a stop to that. The four-bedroom home is located in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit .
source : wabc

The irony of Madonna calling her current jaunt the "Re-invention Tour" is rich -- the singer has spent her entire career reinventing herself.
Pop's wiliest female chameleon followed in the footsteps of Andy Warhol and David Bowie as a deft appropriator of underground ideas who has always excelled at taking those notions into the mainstream. For 20 years, she has changed with each new album and tour, expertly staying one step ahead of the times and the trends.
Now, at age 45, Madonna is at a difficult crossroads: How does she remain relevant and seem fresh and exciting when her primary role as a sexy dance diva and sultry provocateur has long since been usurped by a new generation of younger, chirpier and even more risque sirens?
Chicago fans will have the opportunity to witness her latest transmogrification when she performs at the United Center tonight and tomorrow and again on Wednesday and Thursday -- that is, if they can afford the steep ticket price, which is $317.50 with Ticketmaster "convenience fees" for much of the arena. (Scattered seats remain; call 312-559-1212 or visit www.ticketmaster.com.)
Maddy has been laying the groundwork for a shift in perceptions about her public persona for some time now. Over the last decade, she successfully emerged as a brilliant businesswoman, serving as the nominal head of Maverick Records (the label that gave us Alanis Morissette, the Deftones and the Prodigy, among others), though the company was recently bought out by the Warner Music Group.
Her film career has been more of a mixed bag. (Anybody remember "Swept Away"? How about "Shanghai Surprise"? Didn't think so.) But on the personal front, she at long last settled down with her director husband, Guy Ritchie, embracing the role of mother and branching out as an author of children's books. And she has made a big deal out of her spiritual reawakening via her study of Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism.
Madonna hasn't fared nearly as well when it comes to reinventing her music. Her last concert jaunt, the 2001 Drowned World Tour, found her awkwardly avoiding the hits from the first two-thirds of her career, leaving some fans grumbling and drawing criticism for seeming "distant and removed" onstage (as if she was ever a particularly engaging and personable performer -- she has always seemed to be acting out scenes from her videos rather than living in the moment on stage).
The singer's last new album, 2003's "American Life" -- her 14th studio effort overall -- was a soggy commercial and critical disappointment. She turned away from the playful techno sounds that powered 1998's "Ray of Light" and 2000's "Music" in favor of more static electronic backings, way too much acoustic guitar and some very stilted rapping. And for once she seemed oddly out of touch with the pop zeitgeist.
"I don't know who I am -- I don't know who I'm supposed to be," she crooned in "X-Static Process," and that statement seemed to sum up her general artistic confusion.
The former Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone of Bay City, Mich., tries to resuscitate "American Life" by performing six songs from that disc on the Re-invention Tour, and reviewers have claimed that the material holds up better in concert than it did on album. But even more surprising is what's missing from the show: Namely, the sex.
Like Prince, another controversial, enigmatic and genre-crossing superstar who first made his mark in the '80s, Madonna has excised most of the R-rated material from her current stage show. There are no conical bras, no acted-out S/M routines and no lascivious voguing (just a lot of tamer posing and some fake yoga moves).
Publicly, Maddy is crediting the change in tone to her spiritual reawakening, just as Prince has cited his conversion as a Jehovah's Witness. But shrewd performer that she is, she also knows that despite those killer abs, she no longer has the pinup-girl appeal of a Britney Spears or a Christina Aguilera. Tawdry striptease shenanigans would not only appear a bit unseemly now, but maybe even a little ridiculous.
Not that the Re-invention Tour is ultra-serious -- far from it.
Among the gaudy spectacles that Madonna offers this time around are a mohawked skateboarder riding a half-pipe ramp set up in the middle of the stage; a V-shaped catwalk that descends from the ceiling of the arena; 10 dancers; five costume changes; three trapeze artists who swing, sway and contort high above the crowd; one tap dancer in white tails and top hat; a troupe of kilt-wearing bagpipers and an apparently striking vignette in which the star is strapped into an electric chair. (Alas, it isn't really plugged in, and no one pulls the switch.)
What does any of this have to do with anything? Nada, nothing, not a darn thing! But it sure is fun to look at -- gosh, golly, gee-whiz!
"Madonna has created a new performance hybrid, one that lifts and blends elements of Broadway, Cirque du Soleil, Rock the Vote rallies, art installations, extreme sporting events, church sermons, disco dances and gun-spinning military drills," reviewer David Segal wrote in The Washington Post.
That sounds like some kind of an accomplishment. But is it really worth $317.50? And what about the music -- isn't that supposed to be why we care?
Well, yes and no. Madonna's fans have always attended her concerts as much for her fashion trend-setting, her excessive, "just like the videos" eye candy and her hot-topic button-pushing as for her always-just-passable singing.
Madonna has returned to performing many of her older tunes, and she remakes them with new, relatively stripped-down backings from a lean and mean six-piece band (plus two backing singers) and the huskier vocals that have long since replaced the helium warble of her early years. These MTV staples are interesting primarily because we haven't heard them for so long, as well as for the fact that she's added some incongruous touches like the bagpipes and martial drums that now color "Into the Groove."
Less promising is a mid-evening acoustic set, which consists of "Don't Tell Me," "Like a Prayer," a dreadful rap during "Mother Father" and a misguided cover of John Lennon's "Imagine," which is set to a barrage of images of war-ravaged children flashed on the four giant video screens. Which brings us to the button-pushing.
When "American Life" was released last year, Madonna was forced to pull the video for the title track and first single from circulation only days before it was set to premiere on MTV and VH1. Shot by director Jonas Akerlund (who had worked with the Smashing Pumpkins and the Prodigy) before the start of the war in Iraq, it found the star tromping along a fashion runway with dancers dressed in military fatigues.
These scenes were intercut with images of war, and one of several alternate endings found the diva tossing a hand grenade at a look-alike for President Bush. The video was attacked by the press, and Madonna withdrew the clip after the networks implied they wouldn't air it. It was a rare example of controversy working against the artist rather than for her, as it did with her run-in with the Catholic Church over the clip for "Like a Prayer."
Nowadays, though, Bush-bashing and anti-war sentiments are all the rage -- witness the success of "Fahrenheit 9/11" by director Michael Moore, who sat front and center during one of Madonna's recent shows at New York's Madison Square Garden -- and the Re-invention Tour is full of video montages of bombed-out villages, not to mention an image of a Dubya look-alike buddying up to a stand-in for Saddam Hussein.
Madonna's politicking isn't particularly sophisticated -- it's accompanied by a dance number in which the troupe is clad in camouflage gear and carrying fake rifles -- and the most direct commentary that she makes on the subject is the simplistic statement, "Stop all wars!"
As a dictate from the Queen of Pop goes, this isn't nearly as much fun as "Express yourself" or "Give it up, do as I say" (from "Erotica"). But this is the new, serious and spiritual Madonna. And if you don't really like this year's model, you probably shouldn't fret.
She'll be back to reinvent herself yet again in another year or two.
Just what the heck is Kabbalah?
Throughout the Re-invention Tour, the video screens frequently flash Hebrew letters that are never translated. Madonna wears a symbolic red string around her wrist; she sings the last few songs wearing a T-shirt that reads "Kabbalists Do It Better," and she'd like us to call her "Esther," please.
What the heck is she going on about now?
Welcome to the world of Kabbalah -- which Madonna, who was raised as a Roman-Catholic, calls her new "punk-rock, anti-establishment" religion.
Kabbalah -- which is alternately spelled Cabala, Caballa, Kabala, Kaballa, and Qaballah, thanks to the vagaries of translating Hebrew -- is generally interpreted to mean "to receive" or "to accept," but it is often used synonymously with "tradition." It refers to a collection of mystical Jewish writings involving symbolical interpretations of Hebrew Scriptures.
Believers hold that these teachings -- which involve the nature of divinity, the creation, the origin and fate of the soul and the role of human beings on earth -- have been passed on as oral tradition from the mouths of the prophets since the creation of man. But most religious scholars hold that the bulk of them date from the medieval era.
Kabbalah has been trendy among Hollywood types since the mid-'90s. Roseanne has called it "the last hope for the world," and other adherents have included Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand and actress Sandra Bernhard (even though women were discouraged from studying the religion until the last century).
"I'm a little bit irritated that people think that it's like some celebrity bandwagon that I've jumped on, or that, say, somebody like Demi [Moore] has jumped on," Madonna recently said in an interview with ABC-TV's "20/20." "We don't take it lightly.
"Paris Hilton did come to the Kabbalah Centre once, because her parents brought her," she continued. "They wanted to help her and they were desperate and they brought her there and she had a meeting and she left, and suddenly, Paris Hilton studies Kabbalah. I mean, that's what happens, and people ... they don't know the whole story."
In the no-longer-Material Girl's case, the whole story includes the fact that she was inspired by the religion to change her name in order to draw on a "new source of energy." Hence the new moniker Esther, from the Biblical tale of a woman of limited means who went on to become queen of Persia and save the Jewish from annihilation.
Oddly enough, there is no mention in the Scriptures of Queen Esther ever having worn a T-shirt proclaiming, "Persians Do It Better."
source : suntimes.com

When Madonna takes the stage this week in Chicago for her Re-Invention tour, it's a safe bet that most of the fans in the audience will recognize the greatest hits she performs, know the words and sing along to them.
Then there are her uberfans.
A group apart, these fans are united in their love of all things Madonna. They're the ones who pay big bucks for up-close concert seats, dress up like her and scream their hearts out the moment she comes out for the start of the show. Not only do they know the words to every song, but they also can pinpoint exactly what they were doing in their lives when that particular song was released.
From the teased hair and "Boy Toy" jewelry to the red Kabbalah string bracelet and motherhood, these superfans have stayed true blue to their Material Girl through her 20-year career. It doesn't matter if her latest album sells 10 million or 2 million copies, or if her movies bomb. To them, Madonna can do no wrong.
"Each time, she's more fabulous," said Michelle Flores, 29, at Berlin nightclub in Boystown for a monthly Madonna theme night. "I've followed her since the beginning, and the trends she sets are just incredible."
Flores plans to imitate one of Madonna's looks - her cone-shaped bustier - when she goes to the Chicago show. Unable to afford couture, Flores and her mother have fashioned a look-alike top out of chicken wire and fabric.



source : redeyechicago.com

The engine of Madonna's 21-year career is reinvention. Look back and her lineage of videos and concert tours is lined with shifting selves -- from disco boy-toy all the way up to children's book author.
By naming her current tour "Re-Invention," the 45-year-old is not so much trying anything new as she is, for the first time, collecting all her former selves and seeing if they can co-exist together.
Some call it nostalgia, but Madonna has never been that obvious. At the United Center Sunday, the first of four sold-ou