Island Hopping

I've written lots of things about Madonna, who is on track to make nearly twice the amount she made on her Re-Invention Tour with her upcoming Confessions Tour. That's, like, a whole lot. About $200 million. But as she gears up to get her fans to both confess and tithe, I thought Boy Culture should look back to nearly the beginning of Madonna's career when her future wasn't so bright—to the story behind her first magazine cover.

Madonna's first experience as a covergirl was with the October 1983 issue of Island, a short-lived Manhattan party/lifestyle/fashion/art publication based in the East Village that was published by Arnold Barkus and Steve Neumann. Ironically, for her first experience "on the cover of a magazine," Madonna beautifully aped a famous 1928 photograph of Greta Garbo (who would get a shout-out in "Vogue" seven years later) by American photographer Edward Steichen. The Madonna photograph was taken by Curtis Knapp, who now sells limited prints from that session, but whose work was so admired by Madonna's fans that a 1984 die-cut Like A Virgin-themed calendar featuring more of his rare Madonna images became the stuff of legend among collectors. Island itself, the print run of which must surely have been minuscule, is the Holy Grail for Madonnamaniacs—it regularly fetches $1,500 to $2,500 on eBay. (I found mine after 10 years of fruitless searching by placing an ad for it in the New York magazine Loot. I only paid $50 for it, but considering the obscene amounts I've overspent on virtually every other item I've ever purchased, I guess I can't brag.)

A friend and former co-worker of mine, Matthew Licht, used to be a contributing editor (not credited in the masthead) for Island, writing art reviews. "I was there for two issues—the Madonna cover, where I didn't do much but clean up the copy best I could, and the third issue, which I think was the last, with Steven Meisel and Teri Toye on the cover." When I discovered he was an Island boy, I was in shock. Even though I'd moved to New York—the scene of the crime, as it were—it hadn't really occurred to me that Island had been, y'know, real. When I told him of its legendary status (not to mention its pricetag), he was incredulous as to why anyone would care. "I never thought it would be good enough for anything except wiping your ass with, including the stuff I wrote. Maybe especially the stuff I wrote." (Matthew has a way with projectile self-deprecation.) But then, that was his reaction to Madonna herself when he encountered her during her Island period.

First, some Island talk.

Matthew first heard of Island "from my friend Raffaello Siniscalco, who worked at RAI—Italian radio-television. We were doing a program about American culture together," Matthew says. "He met Arnold Barkus somewhere and introduced us. I think Island got written up in an Italian mag called Alter Alter—maybe that was the connection." Matthew's experience at Island was that the publishers were "very friendly and nice. Arnold was kind of shy and short. He had a French girlfriend who was a model at Zoli—big deal back then—and she was hot! Steve was quiet, seemed like a college man from an ad." According to Matthew, Madonna came into the picture, literally, thanks in part to a relationship with the publisher, Steve Neumann.

"She wasn't around at the editorial office, which I seem to remember was Steve's apartment, much. I remembered her from Ann Arbor (Michigan), where I went to college for a year. She used to hang out at this soda fountain where all the cool punk kids hung out," he (barely) remembers. "Maybe she was a waitress there. You noticed Madonna ’cuz of the bod and the name. She didn't seem too pleased that I remembered her from there."

It may seem hard to believe (but then, it was the late ’70s and the concept of "too much marijuana" was a couple of decades off), but Madonna was neither compelling nor repelling to Matthew. "Aside from the looks and the old memories, she didn't make much of an impression—or not on me. I was surprised to hear she wanted to be some kind of singer."

It "wasn't a big surprise" when Madonna scored the cover of Island, considering she was dating one of its publishers. "But it was a pretty striking cover," Matthew admits. "But I think everyone thought, 'Who's Madonna?' I guess that was the big idea."

Madonna's fans think of Island as having come out before she'd had any success at all, but this was not strictly true; Madonna had made waves with several singles, including "Everybody/Physical Attraction," "Burning Up," "Lucky Star" and "Holiday." Her self-titled CD had been released three months earlier and was selling well. In short, she was not yet Madonna, but she was getting there. Oddly, the magazine's profile of Madonna was entitled "Virgin Pop," prefiguring her most important early musical theme by over a year.

Matthew isn't sure how long Madonna dated Steve Neumann. "I think she broke up with him as soon as things took off for her, but the mag was history by then. We didn't talk about her much, or the relationship. We were always in kind of a hurry there, but there was some camaraderie."

This bonding afforded Matthew the opportunity (he might argue whether this is the right word) to see an early performance by a legend-in-the-making. "We all went to her first big show at The Underground," he recalls. "The sound was shit. Madonna wore a costume made of feathers. I think she made it herself. Actually, I'm pretty sure she did. She whipped her arms around energetically." The energy was wasted on Island's art critic, who both knew a lot about art and a lot about what he liked. "I didn't even stay till the end of the show—that's how awful it was. I remember thinking, 'Poor Madonna. She worked really hard, but she can't do anything.' She really, really sucked. Shows how much pop sense I've got."

Matthew first realized his lack of foresight regarding all things Madonna "six months after the suckalicious Underground show," when "she was the most famous thing in the world. Surprised the hell out of me. I thought, 'I really don't understand shit about the culture or people or anything.' Didn't want to kill myself over it, though. I still thought she sucked. I heard she's only able to sing because of some invention called a harmonizer. I just think she's amazing for going so far on not much talent. Maybe talent is overrated."

I, of course, disagree with Matthew's assessment of Madonna's merits as an artist, but his story is history. And I thought his "huh?" reaction to Madonna was similar to the reaction people have to modern art or expensive collectibles (like Madonna's first magazine cover) or an obsession with soccer or born-again Christianity. I guess there is always something out there to drive people wild the scope of whose magnetic qualities drives just as many if not more people wild with confounding curiosity.

Why do I care so much about a 22-and-a-half-year-old magazine just because it has a cool cover of a cool artist? I guess it has that power because I assigned it that power a long time ago—even before I'd seen it in person—and maybe seeing it in person from the beginning, like Matthew Licht had, would have made it, for me, as recyclable as a classic Greta Garbo pose.

(The fur-clad image of Madonna is found at George-Dubose.com—he sells fine-arts prints of his early, early Madonna images. This one was not taken at The Underground, but dates to that period—the photographer shot Madonna at "a blues club outside New York." Please check out Crimeways, edited by Rita McBride and Matthew Licht—it's a brilliant collection of stories that give the private dick genre a surreal nipple-twist.)

Comments

[Mr. Slave]

http://www.velvetrope.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=774172&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=2&fpart=1

Link to that. It appears that "the lambs" are posting fake news stories about Madonna's "flop" tour all over the internet.

[Matthew Rettenmund]

It's down already. I don't really understand the mentality of the lambs. I'm not sure I was ever that bonkers for Madonna. I mean, they're both grown women with more cash than I'll ever have—fuck ’em both and let them get their own (real) news stories, I say!