boy culture

You'll Need More Than 4 Minutes

From MadonnaOnline.com.br comes this spectacular Madonna-through-the-ages megamix video. It's really creative in many instances; I love "Fever" blending into "Get Together." Reminds you of why you love her:

My Name Is Dita, I'll Be Your Ticketmistress Tonight

Getting Madonna tickets this a.m. as part of the Madonna fan club (Icon) "legacy" member pre-sale was not as stressful as I'd imagined, nor were the tickets astonishingly great...but they're all really good floor seats, so that is a plus. I think the front-row seats I had last time MIGHT have come when a fellow fan wrote me to say MSG had just released a new batch of tickets, and that I got them by being near my computer and hitting Ticketmaster fast and furious. No matter, I'm for sure going to see multiple nights.

Ironically, the images above and below were two of the codes I had to type in on Ticketmaster—note Madonna is "Esther" and I think, with tix topping out just under $400 after all the extras, "shattered wealth" is self-explanatory!

P.S. I'm pretty sure to have extra tickets for NJ and NYC when all is said and done, and am not a scalper, in case anyone wants to put out feelers to me.

Madonna's Tour: Sticky & Sweet

This legit image from here.

FURTHER UPDATE: Finally—it's a done deal.

UPDATE: She may hit Chicago October 26...

All credit to Dave for the following scoops! It looks like Madonna's tour will be called the Sticky & Sweet Tour. Here's the rest of the low-down:

"www.stickyandsweettour.com was registered to "Ultrastar Entertainment ATTN: STICKYANDSWEETTOUR.COM c/o Network Solutions P.O. Box 447 Herndon, VA. 20172-0447 "the same people who run iconmadonna.com and madonna.com "And a few days prior to that the following was posted: "THE STICKY & SWEET TOUR.

"On Sale: Mid May

"*The tour will be announced towards the end of this week.

"*The tour logo at least at this point is the same font as the hard candy album font, with a rainbow effect to it, meaning its a bunch of different colors across the text.

"This is what I know about the US/Canadian Leg: I cant give exact cities, but this is the gist....

"*She will start in the north east beginning in Oct and then work her way west across canada (3 canadian cities/shows)

"*Then move down the west coast of the US, then hit 2 cities she doesnt normally do while making her way back to the east coast to hit the rest of the east coast dates, ending in Miami at the end of November.

"Most shows will be Stadiums.

"Presales for some initial shows (North East) will start towards the end of this month."

I Wanna French-Kiss You In Paris

Madonna kicked derriere in Paris at her Hard Candy promo (which is working—even in the slumping album market, she hit #1 in over 25 countries), where she sizzled through "Give It 2 Me" in those darn '80s specs daughter Lourdes recently sported...perhaps they'll be a part of the long-rumored, massive Madonna costume exhibit that might come out of the closet in late '08?

P.S. Anyone notice the "Give It 2 Me" choreography resembling this:

Once You Have It All...

Hard magic.

The Chopard necklace Madonna wore at her Roseland gig was "a white gold necklace...set with 315 diamonds (1.5 carats)." It featured "the jeweller’s signature design: a Happy Diamond, moving freely in the letter 'd'."

I wonder how many M-Dollas that cost? Maybe nearly as much as Justin Timberlake's appearance fee?

Don't be fooled by the rocks that she got.

The Royal Tour

One of Madonna's most engaging TV interviews in a long time:

Prince, are you listening? (Actually, if he is, he's probably ready to issue a smack-down to her inspired touring concept.)

Stage Sight

I love Madonna in this Z100 video interview from Dylan's Candy Bar! She looks beautiful and is so relaxed, as she has been in recent radio phoners.

Also, Stephanie was kind enough to share these so-close-you-can-smell-'er Roseland videos. Great stuff:

Don't Pretend You're Not Hungry: Madonna At Roseland

Satisfying sweet tooths for 26 years.

***NOTE: Tons of pictures and videos after the jump...all photos & videos by me.***

After stressing for a ticket and then lucking into getting one the old-fashioned way, last night was Madonna’s hotly-anticipated Hard Candy promo show at Roseland. There’s no way any promo show could top her 1998 Roxy appearance for me, because that came after a five-year dry spell and had not been done before—such a huge star contained within such a tiny club!—and Madonna’s emergence, unfurling from within her “Frozen” garb, felt like a spine-tingling, spooky spiritual visitation.

No dark arts this time, but if the Roxy in 1998 was black magic, Roseland in 2008 was a dazzling dose of white magic, a bit like Glinda beneficently mingling with her munchkin subjects.

I went with three pals. We arrived at 5:30 to stand in line ahead of the 6:00 p.m. suggested arrival time, ahead of the 8:00 p.m. doors and way ahead of Madonna’s 10:04 p.m. kick-off. It was cold, but the mood was fraternal, even when Jason got separated from us in a different, sectioned-off part of the line. It didn’t last forever and he joined us with some nice, chatty guys who at various times led mini-sing-alongs, reminisced about previous gigs and/or showed off their bulges. (We were near pornstar Spike, who is a sweet pocket Madonna acolyte, not as intimidating as his oversized digit.)

Jason—"Miles Away!"

As time went by, so slowly, the line started to snake forward, and stories of fake wristbands trickled back to us...thousands of dollars wasted. They were using blacklight to inspect them and were not suffering fools. A transgendered fan who’d flown in from Israel was set aside and seemed in danger of not going in because her wristband had been on her left, not her right, wrist. This was the only evidence of unfairness from the Roseland security crew, who kept things calm and were intent on rooting out any deemed impure of heart.

We were finally let in a bit after 8, snaking past hysterical VIPs who were having difficulties maneuvering will call out front. I had two shots at tickets that way, but I’m glad I went with the wristband, which got me in faster and got us way closer to the stage

A Rolling Stones throw from the stage. Courtesy of Jason.

We spotted Fran Drescher, Rosie O'Donnel and Zac Posen—Madonna attended an afterparty at The Box with Posen and other fans-masquerading-as-VIPs.

All the world's Madonna's stage.

Roseland is a bit of a dump, but has its charms when you’re 20 feet from Madonna’s stage. We packed ourselves in and I counted the minutes, flashing back to my panicked response to the claustrophobic atmosphere at the Roxy in 2005, a miserable promo show that was nothing more than Madonna dancing gamely with a couple of (cute) amateur pornstars as representative figure of the rest of the suffocating pack.

But Roseland was not so bad, nor was it without its thorns: One guy muscled in last-minute and barked at the woman he displaced, “Don’t like it? There’s the door.” (He is pictured at left, looking smug. Here's hoping he breaks a leg soon.) Some French guy behind us kept looking for ways to get around us, and his taller friend had to be told by one of my party not to even think about it, merci bien. Two Russian girls next to me pressed continuously against me as if moving sideways would help (it would be, literally, a lateral move), until one grabbed the other and was in the process of forcing her forward, which tipped me back and threatened to leave me crowd-surfing. Off balance, I grabbed her and tossed her a foot over. “Don’t do that,” I said calmly, regaining my footing. The same idiotic bitch was wearing a backpack into which she or her friend could easily have fit. Then there was the supertall, seemingly nice guy in front of us who felt the need to put his giant arm up in the air, and drape it over his head Beyoncé-style as Madonna performed. I wanted to tell him what the acid-tongued GF of one of my cousins once told me when I was sitting in front of the TV as a kid: “You make a better door than a window.” She made a better door than she did a girlfriend, because that was my only memory of her.

After a lengthy DJ set (Miami Sound Machine, Human League, Journey, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Paul Simon...???), the show began just after 10 (such a relief...no 2 a.m. appearances!) with two matching Hard Candy panels “melting” and the middle panel swiveling out to reveal Madonna in a mighty throne.

Madonna's sugar is still the stickiest, sweetest and rawest.

Roger Friedman is a fucking payola pussy for saying Mariah is the new queen of pop...she’s the reigning queen of radio is what she is, and Madonna can outsell her in concert and in single sales any day of the week. Anyway, Mariah's impact on the world is obvious without having to "dethrone" other legendary acts—why is it so important for her and her surrogates to displace accomplishments by Elvis, The Beatles and Madonna? Queens are not voted on, nor are they chosen by members of the illegitimate (FOX) press. And once their reign is established, it’s for life or until abdication. Madonna showed no signs of quitting, strutting through a hot rendition of “Candy Shop” that got things off to an ooey-gooey good start.

Salon Salute

You don't have to be rich and famous...to be a fan.

Every major and most of the minor reviews I can think of have been positive or better for Madonna's Hard Candy, making it probably her best-reviewed since Ray Of Light...though I do recall Music being quite well-received, and Confessions On A Dance Floor was also considered a critical success.

This Salon piece here by James Hannaham is beautifully written, understands Madonna and truly takes the time to contextualize what she's up to:

"The underappreciated but ultimately more influential Madonna has always been the multifaceted feminist of 'Deeper and Deeper,' 'Papa Don't Preach' and especially 'Like a Prayer,' who can't control her own desires, doesn't need to control yours, and blames her parents for any faults she cares to admit ('Oh Father').

"Vulnerability makes that version of Madonna sympathetic but not weak. She exists in harmony with the one who encourages fans to verbalize their feelings and get down, sometimes simultaneously ("Express Yourself," "Into the Groove"). It's hard not to side with her when she embarrasses herself by trying to go confessional or political, gets too artsy, or reveals too much flesh ('American Life,' 'Bedtime Story,' 'Justify My Love,' 'Sex'), and it's always delightful to see her recover from gaffes that would obliterate someone else's career. Madonna's at her most compelling when even her blunders expand our view of what's possible for women."

True, and I think part of what makes a star of her magnitude, what makes any serious artist, is the willingness to do things that might be called stupid by others; you can't be great if you hesitate.

It Makes No Difference If You're...

Easy ride...last in line, still got a wristband. And I look like a scalper!

So I spent all week calling contacts to try to get into Madonna's Roseland show tonight. I started with a friend whose artist is signed to Timbaland, put feelers out to others in the record biz and eventually asked my parent company, all to no avail. Liz Rosenberg had been kind enough to get me into Madonna's 2000 Roseland gig, a far more important event—it's now all but forgotten, but at the time, she hadn't toured in seven years—and did try to get me in this time, but was unable to help. Finally, a friend of a dear friend had me on a mysterious list that guaranteed entry, a privilege for which I was willing to pay through the nose (one nostril only—the scalpers were charging the two-nostril rates), but she was only "95% sure" I was in as of last night. (She also claimed Danity Kane was "opening" for Madonna...?)

And I was too congested to risk standing in the bitter cold all night.

Flaunting their rubber bracelets—I mean, wristbands.

I woke up around 7:15 as usual to two texts and calls from two of my Madonna pals, who'd braved the line for 10 and four hours respectively, saying the line was moving well and there were no more than 700 people in it. I cabbed over and hopped in at the end of the line and got my free wristband without incident. Well, almost.