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I'm not sure I buy that a Madonna fragrance is really on the top of many people's lists as a good Mother's Day gift. But okay!
PHOTOS © MATTHEW RETTENMUND (EXCEPT AS NOTED). PLEASE DON'T REPOST WITHOUT PERMISSION. ALL VIDEOS HERE.
After having posted about my Madonna meeting and pic-with, I thought I'd put some distance between that and this post—my wrap-up of the entire Truth or Dare fragrance event—to spare those Boy Culture readers who aren't Madonnaphiles.
I arrived around 5:45PM armed with my wristband but knowing I may not have to use it—I'd been cleared for the press line, and all media would be checking in at the same time as the party guests.
Attendees (including many friends, like Anthony, Angel, Jeannie and more) were lined up facing east at the side of Macy's and press and photographers were clotted around the entrance to the tent area right out front. Photographers are a motley crew (not the band).
"Who's gonna be here?"
Some girls...the mostly helpful PR brigade
I had one skanky woman turn and say, "Are you press? Yes? Oh, if you weren't I was going to say to back up." Then, a minute later, she turned to say, "No, seriously—back up." (We were all jammed together and I was in no way on top of her.)
Courtesy of Kevin Mazur
As I state below, tomorrow I'll have a full report on the outside and inside of Madonna's Truth or Dare fragrance launch at Macy's. But first things first—here is THE picture! I could not be happier with it.
I have asked Madonna's publicist—the wonderful Liz Rosenberg—for a photo op on a few occasions. She's known about me since Encyclopedia Madonnica, has kindly referred MTV and others to me when they were in need of a "Madonna expert" and has been an all-around doll. But it's never been the right moment. Feeling this could be my last chance for a long time (rehearsals, touring), I tried again and she "promised to try" (and it didn't "feel like a lie"). All I had to do was hang out on the carpet.
I love this shot—Liz looks like my guardian angel
When it came time, Madonna approached and I shook her hand and said it was nice to see her again. The photographer was directing her to stand on my left. Remember that I was behind the barricade up to my waist with bright lights behind me. Madonna didn't skip a beat, saying, "Not in that light." My heart sank—I thought she might be about to nix the whole thing, which would have been crushing since I could see how happy she'd been during all her previous carpet interviews. The photographer tried to say it was good light (he could flash it out) but she said playfully (but seriously), "I'm not stupid."
Then she said the words any Madonna fan longs to hear: "No, you come to me."
Madonna is a big-tent popstar
Today was the day when fans could spend $164.40 on a Truth or Dare fragrance at Macy's Herald Square and, presuming they were among the first 200 to do so, earn access to an exclusive Q&A event with Madonna tomorrow evening at the same location.
It'll be like camping, except in the middle of the street!
The last Macy's event had taught me a few things. First, it taught me not to take for granted that every employee would know exactly what was going on. More reassuringly, it taught me that events like this—with little more than some print ads to announce it—do not draw fans by the thousands. (Last time, the event was for the first 350 people to spend $75 on Material Girl items and I had no problem strolling into the store an hour after it opened and securing my position.)
Still, if you care, you worry. So I wondered if people might camp out.
Nicki Minaj is someone I...really don't get. I want to get her, but I don't. I will say that my impression of her has a Lady Gaga clone (clown?) is only based on her fashion sense as none of her songs has sounded much like Gaga (right?), least of all "Beez in the Trap." With an impressive 6.5 million views in a few days, the video ballsily starts out with, "Bitches say shit and they ain't say nothin'" before...well...she says shit and says nothing:
But I wouldn't go this far—this is the top comment on the video at the moment:
Lovely. Nicki's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded is out now and looks like it will be #1 on Billboard next week with over 220,000 or so sold. I wonder how many copies are due to the presence of this little number all over NYC:
Madonna at the absolute peak of her Madonnadom—performing "Holiday" (above) and "Express Yourself" (below) during Blond Ambition—has been unleashed in small doses on YouTube to promote the Blu-ray debut of Truth or Dare, out today.
Win your copy by clicking here and entering.
Enjoy these clips, and enjoy the BA clips in Truth or Dare—22 years later, we're still no closer to getting the full concert on DVD, Blu-ray or whatever's next...
Head over to Drowned Madonna for Madonna's Truth or Dare fragrance commercial— it is gorgeous. She looks fantastic! The flashed-out (and, one assumes, digitally enhanced as well) clip is high art among ads, reminding me of a far less campy (no dialogue) version of Elizabeth Taylor's notoriously fabulous White Diamonds spot.
Allegedly, Blond Ambition is coming to DVD in '11—20 years after it should have been released on VHS and Betamax!
It's arguably Madonna's best tour, and inarguably an amalgamation of all that made her an icon up to that point. I had eighth-row seats in Chicago that I stood in line for basically overnight in frigid weather, only to have to fly to Michigan to see her from the rafters when she canceled due to laryngitis (as famously documented in Truth or Dare).
