Madonna Makes Another 'Comeback'

By now you've likely heard that Madonna took the stage at Coachella over the weekend to tease her sequel to "Confessions on a Dancefloor," which she debuted in the desert some 20 years ago. That era helped put my blog on the map, after Queerty and Towleroad linked to my post noting her resemblance to one Valerie Cherish ... and would you believe Madge up and did it again? 

After her surprise performance with Sabrina Carpenter, the Queen of Pop was seen getting into the groove with her boyfriend, Akeem Morris, while watching Anyma’s main stage set -- but you'd be forgiven for thinking she'd popped by the Viper Room to see Juna Millken's band rock the night away circa 2005.

I can almost hear her "Room & Bored" costar shout out from the stage: "Madonna Ciccone, looking hot!"

UPDATE: How cute is this "A League of Their Own" reunion? 

My Furry Valentine

 

Feeling extra loved today. Not sure how I would get through these horrific times without my sweet guy by side, always there to take care of me. xo

Dinner at Nice Matin in anticipation of our trip to Nice!

Wind in Her Sales

 

I'm not sure how accurate this bar chart of Madonna's album sales is. (I've always heard that "True Blue" was her best-seller.) But whatever the case may be, it's awfully fun to look at -- and to see how they compare with my list of FAVORITE ALBUMS by the Material Girl.

Good Going, Stranger

Just now seeing this incredible photo of Madonna in front of Manic Panic -- the first punk boutique in the U.S. -- on St. Marks Place in the East Village, while filming "Desperately Seeking Susan" in 1984. Photo by Andy Schwartz.

Read an interview with Tish and Snooky -- onetime Blondie (and the Bonzai Babies) backup singers and Manic Panic proprietors -- HERE.

Madonna's 40 Biggest Singles

This fun Billboard list of Madonna's 40 biggest Hot 100 hits popped up on social media the other day and I'm obsessing over it like I'm 15. I'm not entirely sure how it works -- I'd always heard "Take a Bow" was her "biggest" single -- but the column saying "adjusted points" explains what makes this list slightly different. 

Of note: "Take a Bow" was on the Hot 100 the longest (a whopping 30 weeks) while "Rescue Me" was her shortest (just eight weeks). If you had asked me to rattle off what I thought were her 10 biggest hits, this list sounds about right. (As much as I adore "Live to Tell," I love that even after all these years, "Crazy for You" is still such a popular ballad, because it takes me back to high school.)

"Papa Don't Preach" is still my least favorite of her biggies, although I've come to appreciate it a bit over the years, especially when Roger did a gender-flipped cover on "American Dad."

Also a tad disappointing to not see "Beautiful Stranger" on the list -- apparently it wasn't officially released in the U.S., only charting because of airplay -- which is far and away better than several of these, most notably "Hanky Panky," "Oh Father" and the dreaded "La Isla Bonita." (Not even sure why that one sticks in my craw the way it does, along with another fan favorite: "Human Nature"!) The advent of the "airplay only" chart and death of the single were the beginning of the end of Billboard charts for me, and "Beautiful Stranger" might have been the canary in the coal mine … all of which is to say it should have been No. 1 and is a million times better than all 150 of Drake’s No. 1 “hits.”

Knowing how Madonna allegedly feels about "Causing a Commotion" makes its placement at No. 14 sort of amusing. And since I'm just riffing, I'll add that if it were up to me, "Borderline" would be Top 10. (That it was my brother Bill's favorite Madonna song only adds to my love of it.) And "Angel," "Ray of Light," "Cherish" and its fraternal twin, "True Blue," would also all have been even more popular than they were.

Please share your picks and pans in the comments!

See my ranking of Madonna's albums HERE.

UPDATE: I was just pointed to Billboard's "Chart History" feature, which puts "Borderline" at the top. (Is my brother Bill editing from that newsroom in the sky?) The rankings seem to use total number of weeks on the Hot 100 as the only criteria, which technically would make it a tie with "Take a Bow" ... but I can take yes for an answer! 

Madonna Announces Greatest Hits Tour

This promo for Madonna's upcoming "Celebration" tour brings back a lot of great memories, seeing her in three of my former hometowns. I happened to be on a ticket stub kick lately -- scanning and photographing as many as I can find -- so the timing couldn't be more perfect. 

My virgin Madonna experience was at the ASU Activity Center with my brother Bill, having seen “Desperately Seeking Susan” on his recommendation a couple weeks before. (I slung popcorn where the film later showed, so got to see it a dozen-plus times on the big screen.) 

I was just a senior in high school, and I always got so intimidated whenever I set foot on the campus of Arizona State University, which of course seems hilarious now.

 

(I'd seen Cyndi Lauper for nine bucks at the same venue the September before.) 

The second time was when I was in Detroit for the summer. I went with my friends Mark, Nina, JR and Brad, moments after seeing “Who’s That Girl” at the movie theater where Brad worked. (I hope we got a discount!) 

That was the summer I went to my first gay bars (Hippodrome in London; Backstreet in Detroit; Connection in Phoenix), saw “Parting Glances” for the first time (Mark rented it for us, having seen it in an arthouse cinema the previous winter with his first flame) and watched my first gay porn. (You can thank John Davenport in "Powertool" for my curly-blond fetish!) 

Sadly the once architecturally esteemed venue, the Pontiac Silverdome in Madonna’s true hometown, was torn to the ground in 2017, after many years of disrepair and abandonment.

These prices are hilarious -- $14, $21.50 and $30 -- far less than Ticketmaster/Live Nation charges in "convenience" fees these days.

 The third and fourth time I saw Madonna was on back-to-back nights in May 1990, a week after I had moved to SoCal. Mark, Brad and I famously stuck our tickets in a cardboard beer bottle caddy as we were slamming brewskies in the parking lot of the L.A. Sports Arena before the second show when a homeless guy pushing a shopping cart looking for recyclables walked by. 

We cheerfully handed him our empties, not remembering that our tickets were still in the holder. (You've never heard three grown men shriek so loudly as we did in our panic!) Fortunately, Brad spotted the man in the distance and we were able to fulfill our blond ambition for a second night in a row. 😎

That fall I lucked into my biggest "Madonna moment" when my pal Matt Redman invited me to APLA's Commitment to Life benefit, where the Material Girl was honored for her tireless advocacy during the HIV/AIDS crisis.

A year later Mark, his new boyfriend and later husband (Joel, RIP) and I returned to the "Blond Ambition" venue to participate in the 3rd Annual AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Dance-a-Thon ... and guess who was also there? 💃

To be clear, there was no way to get particularly close to the Material Girl. (She brought her own dance partners!) 

But just knowing she was there in support of us, as the gay community watched so many of our friends and lovers fade away way too soon, made me feel for just a moment that everything might eventually be all right.

With photographer Herb Ritts, who had been long living with HIV when he died in 2002 at just 50

You can dance ... or watch(!) 

Caption Me

 

Did someone say something about mermaids of color? 

I've long been a fan.

Song of the Day: 'Queen' by Madonna

 

Queen Elizabeth II is dead at 96. She'll never rule again. In the end, we all get slayed by Father Time. 🙏🙏🙏

P.S. I know it's "too soon," but I rarely think of royals unless they're being shoved down my throat, so hear me out. Am I the only person who thinks the idea of a person walking around wearing a crown in 2022 calling him or herself a king or queen is utterly ridiculous, not to mention embarrassing? The referendums never work to oust them -- where are all the "colonialism" social-justice warriors when you need them?🤨🤨🤨

Song of the Day: 'The Power of Good-Bye' by Madonna

 

I'm kicking off Week 3 of my series of Songs That Peaked at No. 11 with Madonna's one and only just-missed Top 10 single. "The Power of Good-Bye" was the third U.S. release from her Grammy-winning "Ray of Light" album -- and the third in a row to get short-shrift from the record-buying public. First came "Frozen," a haunting release that was freezed out at No. 2. Then the title track -- a kaleidoscopic masterpiece -- peaked at No. 5. (I'd have retired at that point if I recorded a song that good and it didn't top the charts.) And then came today's pick, The song attained success around the world, reaching the Top 10 in more than 10 countries, yet narrowly missed it in her (original) homeland. Worth noting that she's had three No. 10 singles -- "Borderline," "Hanky Panky," "Give Me All Your All Your Luvin'" -- and that the latter two were far inferior to today's Song of the Day. (Note to self: It could be worse. "Rain" peaked at No. 14 -- talk about utter bullshit!) 

Beautiful video directed by Matthew Rolston.

Song of the Day: 'Crimes of Passion' by Madonna

Although I think it's safe to say this 1980-81 era Madonna demo morphed into the superior "Physical Attraction," I must confess I've long had a soft spot for it -- and not just because of the perfectly Madonna lyrics "Show you what it's like to have your cake and eat it too / I think you'll like what I'm gonna do, oh," which sadly got left on the recording-studio floor.

Update:

Out of curiosity I just checked the "Encyclopedia Madonicca," which turns out to have a decidedly different take on the song. Hear "It's Passion" by the System HERE.

Update 2:

At least I see I'm not alone. Maybe this just speaks to the limitations of a Casio keyboard!

Song of the Day: 'Live to Tell' by Madonna

Today's pick was inspired by my pal Jeremy Kinser, who fondly writes:

"I know where beauty lives." 

[This week] marks 35 years since the release of Madonna's greatest ballad "Live to Tell." I know what you're wondering. How does a guy in his late 29s know so much about a recording released before he was born? I'm a lifelong Madonna stan and have researched every bit of minutiae about her and should be hired as a fact checker for her biopic if it really comes to fruition. 

Anyhoo, "Live to Tell" is among her top five greatest singles, if you ask me. I have full recall of the first time I heard it, as I was blown away by her vocals and the lyrics. I've had two young friends die during the past week so the lyrics have taken on special meaning to me. I hope I live to tell all someday.

I feel the exact same way. I never saw "At Close Range," the film starring her then-husband, Sean Penn, for which it was written. But the song -- and the simple video -- felt like a new, grown-up version of the virginial material girl we had been loving the past few years had been born. And it was the first in a string of sublime ballads to come, that would prove to be some of her finest songwriting ever. 

 

Song of the Day: 'Causing a Commotion' by Madonna

 "Causing a Commotion" -- one of six Madonna singles to peak at No. 2 -- never had an official video. 

But if it had, I would have liked it to have looked just like THIS!

Song of the Day: 'Holiday' by Madonna

If only Joel Avery and I had been able to see this back in P.E. at Dobson High School in the fall of '83 -- we could have settled that fight about whether Madonna has a gay brother is black or not on the spot!

Or this:

Watch HERE.

If I've seen either of these before I do not remember.

Page 1 Roundup (07/01)

The Daily News: Democrats say classified briefing debunked Trump’s claim that Russian bounty plot was a ‘hoax’

Woman choked, thrown to ground, robbed on Manhattan street, video shows

Greg in Hollywood: Beard and brawn

The Randy Report: LGBTQ Entertainment Critics announce nominees for 2020 TV honors

Towleroad: Football player who doesn't get cared if he gets fired for his antigay rant gets fired

Back2Stonewall: Hairy-chested doctor fighting coronavirus in Spain becomes Mr. Gay World

Yahoo: Now even Serbia's prime minister is willing to take the fall for Novak Djokovic

Omnisport: Kyrgios hits back at Becker's 'rat' accusations over Zverev blast

Miami Herald: Professional tennis returns to Miami with eight-player backyard tournament

Associated Press: Hundreds of fans allowed at Berlin tennis exhibitions

The Guardian: How Chris Evert helped shape modern tennis

Twitter: Ronan (ne Satchel) Farrow has 'evil' dad Woody Allen to thank for this fabulously gay moment, captured on the set of 'Shadows and Fog' (1991)

Architectural Digest: I can't think of anything more fun than watching 'House Hunters' Mystery Science Theater 3000-style with some of the funniest people around, including Natasha Leggero and Whitney Cummings

The WoW Report: Atlanta gay club closes after spread of coronavirus at packed maskless dance party

Raw Story: Oklahoma man with Hitler mustache shoots partygoer who dared to snatch his Nazi flag

Gr8er Days: You're gonna want to celebrate Brian Bloom in his birthday suit

New York Post: City Council passes $88.1 billion budget with $1 billion in cuts to NYPD

Dlisted: Is Lena Dunham finally going to apologize to us for 'Girls'?

The Washington Post: Republican leaders now say everyone should wear a mask -- even as Trump refuses and has mocked some who do

Biden campaign assails Facebook for 'haggling’ with Trump over his online posts

Politico: Fascinating chart about how the virus first disproportionately afflicted blue states and is now ravaging red states

The New York Times: Suspicions of Russian bounties were bolstered by data on financial transfers

Amy McGrath will face McConnell in Kentucky, and Hickenlooper wins in Colorado

Where to stream Carl Reiner's best work

The Wall Street Journal: Mississippi governor signs bill to take Confederate emblem off flag

China’s security law tightens vise on Hong Kong

Baseball stadiums are closed to fans -- but this guy’s balcony is open for business

Marsha P. Johnson’s legacy spurs Google gift for transgender rights

Facebook bans large segment of white extremists boogaloo movement

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