all about Madonna

Madonna has been inducted into the first UK Music Hall Of Fame – and received a hilarious message from close pals Stella McCartney and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Hollywood actress Gwyneth and designer Stella put together a video tribute to the Material Girl by wearing some of her outlandish outfits.
Madge gasped as they appeared on a big screen at London’s Hackney Empire – Stella dressing in a ‘Material Girl’ dress and Gwyneth donning a conical bra and basque.
Robbie Williams, Michael Jackson and the Rolling Stones were also among those inducted into the hall of fame at a star-studded ceremony.
The public has chosen one act to represent each decade since the Fifties as part of a new Channel 4 show.
Robbie represents the 1990s, Jacko the ’80s, Queen the ’70s, the Rolling Stones the ’60s and Sir Cliff Richard the ’50s.
As well as Madonna, other honorary members included Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, U2 and the Beatles.
Madonna, 46, received her honorary award from artists Tracey Emin and Radio One DJ Jo Whiley.
Wearing a Remembrance Day poppy, Madge gushed: “If someone had told me while I was a little girl growing up in mid-west America that one day I’d be married to a Brit, living in England and inducted into the UK Hall Of Fame, I would have said: ‘b******s to that’.”
source : sky

If nothing else, Madonna is never at a loss for opinions, many of which she shared in an exclusive interview with Pat O’Brien of The Insider. He filled in viewers of The Early Show.
Among the topics they discussed: Iraq, her supposed feud with Elton John, Elton’s charges she’s lip-synched, and the Cameron Diaz flap with photographers.
Madonna has recently embraced her spirituality, authored a successful collection of children’s books, and moved her family to London.
She told O’Brien one advantage to celebrity life in Great Britain is a polite paparazzi. O’Brien joked that she may want to pass that information on to Cameron Diaz, who recently had a flap with photographers in the United States.
“All that training in ‘Charlie’s Angels’ finally paid off,” Madonna said with a chuckle.
One of the shutterbugs claims Diaz hit him twice, something her lawyer denies.
Would Madonna ever do such a thing? “No. No way. No. As if it’s gonna change anything. They’re just going to demonize her now.”
As for her supposed battle with Elton John: “That was a fictional feud.”
What about his charges that she regularly lip-synchs during live shows? Is she angry about them? “Not at all. Please, if I start getting mad at people who criticize or poke at me, I’d be permanently mad.”
Madonna told O’Brien there’s another subject she does take very seriously, and that’s the war in Iraq.
“My point of view is that this war is not founded in anything truthful. (But) we’re in it so deep. How do we pull out now? How do we go backwards and right the wrongs? And, you know – I think it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
“I voted for Kerry, and I think everybody assumed that. And I’m sad that he lost, but I’m not paralyzed by it. In a way, it’s a blessing in disguise. We need to come together, to unite. It’s a call to action.”
Madonna says she’s philosophical about Iraq and President Bush – something she relates to life in general in her latest children’s book, “The Adventures of Abdi.”
She notes, “This is my way of trying to effect change in the world, by giving children some kind of tools to deal with adversity in their life in a peaceful way, and they grow up one day and become adults and, hopefully, they’ve held onto those tools.”
O’Brien says Madonna is “a very smart woman, and more of a mother now than an entertainer. These children’s books, she loves writing them.”
source : cbsnews

Hundreds of Madonna fans lined up for 24 hours outside a central London bookstore where the pop singer signed copies of her new children’s book Thursday.
But only the first 250 hopefuls were allowed into Selfridges on Oxford St. to watch Madonna read from “The Adventures of Abdi” before signing copies.
Crowds who gathered on the shopping street for a glimpse of the singer were disappointed when she was smuggled into the store through an underground car park.
Madonna later gave a 10-minute reading to a group of 30 schoolchildren, aged eight to 10, from St. Winifred’s Catholic Junior School in south London.
“The Adventures of Abdi,” is the fourth book in a five-book children’s series Madonna has penned for Callaway Editions. Callaway has already published “The English Roses,” “Mr. Peabody’s Apples” and “Yakov and the Seven Thieves.”
Madonna’s fifth book, “Lotsa de Casha,” is due for release next summer.
source : portervillerecorder.com

Pop star Madonna spent a day reading to schoolchildren and fans as she launched her fourth book The Adventures of Abdi.
The 46-year-old entertained 250 people who queued for tickets for the reading at the Selfridges department store in Oxford Street, London.
She also read a 10-minute extract to 30 pupils from St Winifred’s Catholic Junior School in Lee, south London.
The book is based on the Kabbalah faith which Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie have embraced in recent years.
The latest illustrated story, part of a series of five tales, centres on Italian greyhound Lotsa de Casha, a wealthy dog who is still unhappy.
Madonna has said she wanted her books to have a message as well as inspire young people.
source : bbcnews

Gwyneth Paltrow and Stella McCartney will team up tonight to take the mickey out of their mutual friend Madonna. Both best friends of the singer, the pair are set to dress up as her and perform a parody of one of her performances during tonight’s launch of the UK Hall Of Fame In Hackney, East London. “Gwyneth and Stella wear outrageous Madonna costumes,” a source told The Daily Mirror. “It’s a scream.” The show is also set to feature a performance by Robbie Williams who will pick up an award for Artist of the Nineties.
source : vogue

The moral of Madonna’s new children’s book is simple and positive: “Everything that happens is for the best.” Now the singer who is constantly embroiled in controversy is trying to practice what she preaches to kids.
In an interview with ABC Radio, Madonna said she’s doing her best to get over her disappointment at the outcome of the presidential election and focusing on her new book, “The Adventures of Abdi,” the story of a little boy who must deliver the world’s most precious necklace to the queen.
“In terms of the elections, I don’t agree with so many things and the decisions that George Bush has made and I’m not happy with the situation in Iraq,” she told ABC Radio’s Andrea Dresdale. “I do believe that the American public has been manipulated to a great degree.”
Nevertheless, Madonna – who had urged fans at her concerts to see Michael Moore’s controversial, anti-Bush documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11″ – says she’s not going to sit around “moaning and groaning.”
“In the end, we have to say, ‘OK, we didn’t win, but there’s other ways to fix the problems, so now what else can I do to help?’ “

Still Friends With Elton John
Madonna also says there’s no need to bury the hatchet with Elton John, who recently accused her of charging concertgoers outrageous prices to see her lip-synch, an allegation she’s denied. Madonna says there was never a rift between the two performers.
“There was never a hatchet for me in the first place,” she said. “I always thought of him as a friend. I think he was just having a bad day when he said those things and I never really took it personally.”
She said the media blew the whole thing out of proportion.
“The press made a bigger deal out of it than I did,” she said. “I don’t really care. I don’t read the press.”
Madonna, who’s married to British director Guy Ritchie and lives in England these days, says she invited John to induct her into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame on Thursday, but he had a previous commitment.
“I thought, that would be cool if Elton John gave me the award and then we could kiss and make up in front of everybody because everybody seems attached to the idea we’re having this feud in the first place,” she said.
Now the 46-year-old performer is focusing on her latest book, “The Adventures of Abdi,” the story of a little boy who must deliver the world’s most precious necklace to the queen.
In the story, Abdi is robbed in the desert, thrown in a dungeon, and has a surprising encounter with a snake. The book, aimed at readers ages 6 and older, aims to teach kids about the power of positive energy, Madonna says.
Her first children’s book, “The English Roses,” was an international best seller and made publishing history with a simultaneous release in 30 languages, becoming the fastest-selling book ever by a first-time children’s author.
It was followed by “Mr. Peabody’s Apples,” and Madonna says she plans to write a sequel to “Roses.”
The singer, famous for reinventing her look and sound so many times, is thrilled by the latest turn in her career. The children’s books are bringing her new fans – and even winning over some people who weren’t too crazy about her music.
“Oh, I got tons of letters like, ‘I never liked her records but I like her books.’ I’m like, ‘Thanks a lot,” she said, laughing.
Her two children – Lourdes, 8, and Rocco, 4 – give her a lot of feedback on her writing, Madonna says. Lourdes is especially involved.
“She comes in when I’m writing and says, ‘That’s a good idea, that’s a stupid idea, that’s boring, Mom, Oh, I like that. I want more of that.’ And my son likes ‘Yakov and the Seven Thieves’ because he likes bad guys.”
Lourdes has written a short story for a Christmas book that is being published for charity in Britain.
“I’m incredibly proud,” Madonna said. “She has an active imagination and she always writes in her journal.”
source : abc

Madonna’s next children’s book will be called Lotsa de Casha, and its moral will be how wealth is overrated.
The pop star and multi-millionaire is to release the new illustrated novel next summer. In the style of Aesop’s Fables, it will centre on Lotsa de Casha, the richest creature in the world.
The singer’s publisher, Nicholas Callaway, said: “All the characters in the book will be animals and Lotsa de Casha is an Italian greyhound who has all the money in the world but no happiness. He thinks only of himself.”
Madonna is currently engaged in a publicity drive for her current children’s book – her fourth – called The Adventures of Abdi.
source : thisislondon.com

Madonna and her long time manager Caresse Henry have mutually agreed to go their separate ways, it was announced today by Liz Rosenberg, spokesperson for Madonna.
After 13 extraordinary years culminating in this summer’s mega-successful ‘Reinvention Tour,’ they have decided to part ways.
Henry declined comment as did Madonna who is currently out of the country promoting the release of her new children’s book “The Adventures of Abdi.”
source : marketwire.com

Madonna was @ Radio BBC 2 today…
She was talking about “Adventures Of Abdi”, Kabbalah, politics etc.
She also sad that there will be 3 more children’s books released in 2005.
Last one will be the sequel of the English Roses.

Madonna today called on the US to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
The former Material Girl is known for her anti-war views – her recent tour
featured images of children orphaned by war.
Today she told Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show: “I just don’t want American troops to be in Iraq, period.
“My feelings are ‘can we just all get out?”‘
The 46-year-old pop star said: “Global terror is everywhere. Global terror is down the street, around the block.
“Global terror is in California. There’s global terror everywhere and it’s absurd to think you can get it by going to one country and dropping tons of bombs on innocent people.”
Some critics have attacked the singer, who lives in London with director husband Guy Ritchie, for not speaking out in the run-up to the conflict.
The Kabbalah devotee famously pulled the controversial anti-war video for her American Life single following the outbreak of war.
Today she said: “In the end it’s great when anybody gets involved with what is going on in the world, whether it’s Republican or Democrat.
“It’s just really boring that everybody sits back and lets somebody else take charge.
“You don’t have any right to complain when that happens and it’s nice to see that people in the entertainment world care about what is happening outside of their careers.”
She said American society was “becoming very divided”.
“People are becoming very polarised,” she said. “We have people who don’t want to think, and who just want to guard what is theirs, and they’re selfish and limited in their thinking and they’re very fearful in their choices.”
She also said the idea that Americans voted for George Bush in the presidential election over moral issues was “spin”.
source : thisislondon.co.uk