all about Madonna

Superstar Madonna arrived in America yesterday (29 Oct) with her son David as she prepares to further defend her controversial adoption of the tot.
Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie were granted an interim adoption of the 13-month-old boy earlier this month, which has sparked anger amongst groups in his native Malawi, who claim the singer broke the country’s adoption laws.
The Material Girl appeared on US TV show Oprah last week, declaring her love for the little boy and praised her biological children Lourdes and Rocco for being so welcoming to the little boy.
On Sunday, Madonna and her three children flew out of London’s Heathrow Airport to New York City, where she is expected to appear on NBC News, The Today Show and Dateline to defend her adoption.
source : pr-inside

NBC Today: 2006/11/01
Madonna is interviewed. Tim Allen discusses the new film “The Santa Claus 3: The Escape Clause.” Kellie Pickler performs live in the studio. Mireille Guiliano talks about the book “French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasures.” The best bras for your body.

Live with Regis and Kelly: 2006/11/01
From the holiday film “Santa Clause 3,” Tim Allen is here. And, Madonna is in town with a word on her new children’s book.

Dateline NBC: 2006/11/01
At 48, Madonna is still making music, headlines, and controversy. In an upcoming interview to air on NBC, hear about her recent adoption, the crucifix and much more when one of the world’s favorite pop icons sits down with NBC News’ Meredith Vieira. The interview will also air on “Today” on Nov.1 and Nov. 2.

Best International Album :
Christina Aguilera – Back To Basics
Evanescence – The Open Door
Justin Timberlake – Future Sex / Love Song
Madonna – Confessions On A Dance Floor
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium

Best International Female :
Beyonce
Christina Aguilera
Madonna
Pink
Shakira

The father of the 13-month-old Malawian boy Madonna is trying to adopt insisted Friday that he supports her plan, and criticized human rights activists here who want the courts to review the process.
“I am surprised what these guys are up to,” Yohane Banda told journalists outside the courtroom where a hearing on the human rights group’s challenge was held Friday. “Me and my family agreed with the adoption. I just want these people to leave my son alone.”
The Human Rights Consultative Committee, a coalition of 67 rights groups, has petitioned the court to make sure no Malawian laws were broken in the adoption process, and to make the committee a party to the adoption so it can help assess Madonna’s fitness as a mother.
Judge Andrew Nyirenda held a closed, 90-minute hearing on Friday. He then set another hearing for Nov. 13 to allow lawyers for the committee to submit additional arguments on why the adoption process should be reviewed and why the committee should be a party.
Alan Chinula, the lawyer for Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, said he told the judge Friday that no laws had been broken.
“We followed the adoption procedures to the letter,” said Chinula.
Justin Dzonzi, the chairman of the human rights committee, said it was not trying to block the adoption but wanted to be a party to the process to make sure Malawian laws were respected.
“We want to be part of the assessment of Madonna to ascertain that she is a suitable mother,” he said.
Typically, prospective parents are required to stay in Malawi during an 18-month evaluation period. But the judge who granted an interim custody order to the Ritchies on Oct. 12 said the issue of residence is not specified in the laws. David Banda was taken to London, where Madonna has a home and where a social worker will check on him for the next 18 months.
Child advocates stress that while they do not question Madonna’s motives and ability to care for an adopted child, rules and regulations adopted to protect children should be respected. Otherwise, child traffickers or pedophiles might take advantage of loopholes.
Madonna, appearing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” said Wednesday that she had done nothing wrong, had not used her celebrity to influence Malawian officials and wanted to give David a better life.
The boy’s father is a subsistence farmer whose wife died shortly after childbirth — a relatively frequent occurrence in this impoverished African nation, which suffers from high rates of maternal and infant mortality. Yohane Banda, who left his son with the Malawian orphanage where Madonna found him, lost two other children to malaria in infancy.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Banda said authorities had not made it clear to him that he was giving up his son “for good” when he signed adoption papers earlier this month. But Thursday, he shifted the blame to human rights groups.
“I was telling these rights groups that I wasn’t selling my son. I said I wouldn’t … sell my son for anything but I had agreed with Madonna before a judge so my comments were taken out of context and I hope Madonna is not angry,” he said.
Madonna’s adoption plan has sparked international debate about how best to help the millions of African children orphaned because of AIDS and other causes.
source : ap

Top Electronic Albums :
07 (08) Madonna – Confessions On A Dance Floor

Hot 100 Singles Sales :
22 (18) Madonna – Get Together
38 (41) Madonna – Hung Up
39 (30) Madonna – Sorry

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
23 (25) Madonna – Jump

Hot Dance Music/Club Play
03 (10) Madonna – Jump

Dance Radio Airplay :
02 (06) Madonna – Jump

Hot Dance Singles Sales :
05 (03) Madonna – Get Together
09 (11) Madonna – Hung Up
10 (09) Madonna – Sorry

Madonna’s family, photographed by Shavawn Rissman

Pictures Courtesy of Madonna

Madonna said the 13-month-old boy she plans to adopt from the African country of Malawi is healthy and thriving in her London home, in an interview that aired Wednesday on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
The child, David Banda, was taken to London last week after Malawi’s High Court granted Madonna and her husband, director Guy Ritchie, an interim adoption order.
Madonna said David was healthy, despite having overcome malaria and tuberculosis. The interview was taped Tuesday via satellite from London.
“David is amazing,” the 48-year-old pop star said. “What really surprises me is how great my children are with him and how he’s transitioned so easily from living in Africa in an orphanage to living in our house.”
David’s father, Yohane Banda, has said he didn’t understand the adoption meant he would give up custody of his son “for good.” But in an interview posted Tuesday on Time magazine’s Web site, Banda said he will not contest the adoption.
“I don’t want my child, who is already gone, to come back,” he said. “I will be killing his future if I accept that.”
Banda has said he is too poor to raise David.
Madonna said she met Banda, who thanked her for giving his son a new life. “I sat in that room; I looked into that man’s eyes,” she said.
The 30-minute interview with Winfrey was the first time Madonna had spoken on TV about the adoption, which has been challenged by human rights groups that allege the singer used her fame and fortune to flout Malawai’s adoption laws.
“If only my wealth and my position could have made things go faster,” she said. “I assure you it doesn’t matter who you are and how much money you have, nothing goes fast in Africa.”
Typically, prospective parents are required to stay in the country during the 18-month evaluation period, but the judge who granted the interim custody order Oct. 12 said the issue of residence is not specified in the laws. A social worker in London will check on David for the next 18 months.
Madonna said she initially was urged to consider adopting a child in Ethiopia or Kenya because of Malawi’s vague adoption laws.
source : ap

From provocative videos to headline-making risquA

Ricky Martin on Wednesday defended Madonna’s adoption of a 1-year-old Malawian boy, calling her an “exemplary” mother, and said he, too, would like to adopt. “I know Madonna as a mother, and she’s exemplary,” the Puerto Rican star told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Miami.
“The love she gives her kids is a dream, and I know that her heart is big enough to adopt not just one child but to adopt 20.”
Martin, who in recent years has defended the rights of children through his foundation and as an ambassador for UNICEF, said he was not aware of the challenges to the adoption by human rights groups that allege the pop diva flouted the African country’s adoption laws.
Madonna, in an interview aired Wednesday on Oprah, blamed the media for the controversy the adoption has sparked.
“I feel the media is doing a great disservice to all the orphans of Africa, period, not just the orphans of Malawi,” she said.
Madonna and her husband, director Guy Ritchie, were awarded temporary custody of the boy, David Banda, earlier this month.
Martin, when asked if he would like to adopt a child someday, said, “Totally. I don’t know when, but right now I am sponsoring three children in India and we have a very beautiful connection.”
source : ap

Madonna told Oprah Winfrey yesterday she was surprised by the firestorm surrounding her efforts to adopt a 13-month-old boy from the African country of Malawi — and she blamed the media for it.
Madonna taped the interview via satellite from London, for airing today. It was the first time she’d spoken publicly in depth about the adoption.
Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper quoted audience members as saying the Material Girl told Winfrey: “I did nothing wrong.”
According to a member of the Oprah audience, Madonna said she was startled by press reports about the toddler’s father, Yohane Banda, who was quoted last week as saying he didn’t realize he was signing away custody of his son, David, “for good.”
“She said she met with the father, she looked him in the eye,” audience member Sheryl Lewis recounted.
Madonna, she added, said she acted according to the law and had both “oral and written approval … and now the press have gotten to him,” Lewis said.
In an interview posted yesterday on Time magazine’s website, Banda said he will not contest the adoption.
“I don’t want my child, who is already gone, to come back,” he said. “I will be killing his future if I accept that.”
Madonna told the Oprah audience that she and her husband, Guy Ritchie, had been thinking about adoption for more than two years, said Lewis, of Deerfield, Ill.
Another Oprah audience member, Amanda Bannon of Crawfordsville, Ind., told ABC News that “the biggest thing was that Madonna wants to get the point across that she doesn’t want this to be a discouragement to other families to not adopt.”
Many in the audience appeared to support the star.
“Madonna is an intelligent woman and she made a lot of sense. I am not always the greatest fan of her, but it was a good thing that she did,” Sue Waldman told the Daily Mail.
Madonna, 48, travelled to Malawi on Oct. 4 with Ritchie. They spent eight days visiting orphanages she is funding through her charity.
David was taken to London last week after Malawi’s High Court granted Madonna and Ritchie an interim adoption order.
source : ap

from InStyle : As Her Madgesty has said, “Music makes the people come together.” The pop icon and her producer, Stuart Price, compiled their ultimate party playlist for us. Our only quibble? Modesty kept Madonna from adding any of her own songs to the mix, and nothing gets a party started like a little “Madgic.”

Madonna’s Playlist
1. West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys
2. Supernature by Cerrone
3. Dance by ESG
4. All This Love That I’m Giving by Gwen McRae
5. Don’t Stop The Music by Yarborough & Peoples
6. Give Me The Night by George Benson
7. Move On Up by Destination
8. The Smurf by Tyrone Brunson
9. Do What You Wanna Do by T-Connection
10. Evolution by Giorgio Moroder

The biological father of 13-month-old Malawian boy David says he did not know that American pop star Madonna would be taking his son “for good” when she came to adopt him earlier this month (a claim government officials dispute). But Yohane Banda tells TIME that his son is now better off and he would be “killing” David’s future to insist his son returns.
Banda, 32, lives in a small mud hut in the village of Lipunga, which sits close to the Zambian border about 112 miles west of Malawi’s capital Lilongwe. Poor and uneducated, Banda tends a patch of maize and a vegetable garden and every now and again gets a job reworking scrap metal. When his wife Malita Lungu, a Zambian who gave birth to David across the border in her native country, died just a week after David was born, Banda struggled to raise his son with the help of relatives and friends. But a month later he sent David to the orphanage where Madonna would later find him. TIME reporter Peter Kumwenda interviewed Banda in his modest home this week

TIME: Your son David is now in the UK where he has joined his new parents. After all that has happened how do you feel?
Banda: I am OK.

It is been suggested by some sections of the media that you are unhappy about how things went, specifically that you did not understand that adoption means your son now becomes somebody’s else’s child, isn’t that right?

It is true that I was not told properly that my child will be taken for good. You know, I am not educated so the way I was told, I thought it would be the same as keeping him at the orphanage, the only difference being that he will be kept by a rich, respectable lady and in America which is far away. I never understood it as my child being taken for good.

Have you now been told adoption means David is now Madonna’s child not yours’ anymore?

Yes, some people are saying that.

But you have not been told officially by the orphanage or by government officials?

No, I have not been told.

So do you believe that your child has been taken away from you for good, to become Madonna’s child, or do you still think he will come back to you after some time?

What I know and I what I was told is that good Samaritans want to help raise my son by sending him to school and looking after him. When he finishes school he will come back home to stay with us.

If you find that it is true, your son is now another family’s child and you may never see him again, what will you do?

Nothing. What can I do?

You won’t try and demand your child back?

No no no.

Some human rights activists have taken up the case in court. They say because you did not understand what adoption means, your son’s adoption must be nullified. Do you agree with them?

No.

Explain.

I don’t want my child, who is already gone to come back. I will be killing his future if I accept that.

So you won’t go to court to strengthen their case?

No.

How about other members of your family uncles, brother and so on. Will any them be going to court together with human rights groups to try and stop the adoption?

No, no one will do that.

Do you think your wife would have tried to stop the adoption from going ahead?

No, I don’t think so.

Tell me what exactly she would have done about all this?

Well, I don’t know. I think she would have wanted our child to go so he can be supported with education so that in future our child can support us.

Finally, I want to ask you about Madonna. You saw Madonna, what do you think about her?

Well, I am just grateful to her for helping my child.

source : time magazine

Madonna is to ask gay actor pal Rupert Everett to be her African baby’s godfather, The Sun can reveal.
The 48-year-old has told friends she wants him to play a big part in little David Banda’s life.
Madonna picked Rupert, 47, because of his experience of working in Africa with Aids victims. The move is a sign that Madonna and hubby Guy Ritchie are confident the adoption will be approved.
A close source said: “Madonna and Rupert have been pals for years and he is one of her closest friends. But more than that her trip to Africa was partly inspired by Rupert’s work out there.
“She knows he spends a lot of time in the country through his work with Aids charities and that he knows the country well. She feels he knows the culture well and would be a great help to David as he grows up.”?
Madonna and Everett have been pals since the 1980s and starred in a film together, The Next Best Thing. The adoption has been surrounded by controversy and yesterday David’s father Yohane, 31, claimed he has not given approval for a permanent adoption.
He said he hoped David would return to him in Malawi after finishing schooling. African officials yesterday insisted the adoption HAD been handled correctly.
source : thesun.co.uk

Madonna will speak to talk show host Oprah Winfrey about her decision to adopt a 13-month-old Malawian boy – the first television interview for the pop star since her adoption became an international controversy.
The interview is scheduled to tape Tuesday and air Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Harpo Productions Inc. said Monday.
Madonna traveled to the African country of Malawi on Oct. 4 with her husband, Guy Ritchie. Together, they spent eight days visiting orphanages she is funding through her charity.
The boy, named David Banda, was taken to London last week after Malawi’s High Court granted Madonna and her husband an interim adoption order.
The 48-year-old singer has said she acted according to the law, but the toddler’s father said Sunday he did not realize he was signing away custody of the boy “for good.”
Madonna, who rose to pop culture icon status in the 1980s, has two children – daughter Lourdes, 9, and son Rocco, 6.
source : ap

Hard for me to understand exactly what it is Madonna has done person ally to all who are so violently critical of her recent plunge into Third World child-caring, money-giving and adoption. The press continues to turn her into a monster.

Here’s my take. Madonna is sincere in her efforts, but she just doesn’t give a damn about how it all looks. Media relations are not her priority, and listening to astute p.r. advisers is not her long suit. She didn’t care that people would say she was up to some contrived, copycat-Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt kind of thing. Given her disdain for newspapers, she might not even be aware of how her actions are often perceived. She doesn’t do the things she does for “publicity” – that all just happens whenever she makes a move.

Madonna has a lot of power. And we have said over and over in this space that the ill-wishers who constantly pronounce her as “all washed up” are just wrong. Her last tour broke worldwide records and put her into a new cash category of top-grossing acts. This makes her more of a formidable target for those who want to tear down all success stories. (Somebody said to me, after the 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour, “She won’t be doing this in 10 years.” Well, it’s 2006, and she’s still going strong.)

Now, personally, I think Madonna would have been better off attempting to adopt a parentless child, not a 1-year-old with a living (and probably soon to be demanding) father. And she’d have been far better off never bringing up the word “kabbalah” in connection with any of her announced good works for children left without families because of AIDS. I’m not much for charity with any proselytizing religion mixed in on top of it.

A better p.r. question for a positive outcome regarding giving away money and adopting children in the Third World might be to ask: Where did Angelina Jolie go right, and where did Madonna go wrong? I think both of these phenomenal women are warm-hearted and eager to do good deeds in a naughty world. Perhaps the answer is to take a leaf from the book of the amazing Bono before one jets off to Malawi or wherever. He knows how to do good deeds, make friends and influence people! The Bible says never let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, so perhaps it doesn’t really matter so long as these big stars have sincere intentions. How much money are you giving away to help children?

P.S. And lest we forget, the “trend” for adopting Third World babies seems to have begun with the remarkable Mia Farrow, who took nine or 10 children, some with disabilities. No big fuss was made over Mia’s adoption techniques. But then again, Mia is . . . small bosomed. She has never worn a vial of blood around her neck, broken Jennifer Aniston’s heart, written a sex book, hung herself on a cross, or, well – you get the picture. Mia had plenty of controversy in her time, but her soft, wistful manner always made it seem the scandal was being thrust upon her.

source : nypost