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Category Archives: Madonna

Cracked by the Light

There was something raw and tender about the winter of 1998. Living in Boston at the time, and following the bloody trail of my bruised but not yet broken heart, I longed for love as I got lost in the muck of desire and decadent depravity. It wasn’t a sexual awakening I was seeking, or even a blooming of the soul, it was the acceptance of not knowing where I was meant to be, and greater than that an acceptance of realizing I might never know. It was the journey of almost every early-twenty-something – both lost and found, both elated and despondent – and I embraced it as much as I pushed it away. 

That March, Madonna released her best album to date, ‘Ray of Light’, the album that changed her career, solidified her status as an artistic force (when she so desired), and gave her lifelong fans cause for celebration and reflection at once. The music was especially moving for me – one of those moments of youth where music collides with the magical time of the early twenties – and in each song I found something in which to marvel, to ponder, to wonder. 

The witching hour of the midnight release at Tower Records on Newbury Street arrived and the new Madonna music poured forth from the sound system. After rushing back with album in hand, I hastily put it on the stereo and laid down on the cold wooden floor. My silly retail job – the very first job I procured on my own, and one that I loved so dearly because I was so good at it – would begin in just a few hours. It didn’t matter. Madonna’s voice – the one that guided me throughout my childhood, the one that had shaped me into the young man I was – sounded throughout the empty rooms. Born out of night and darkness, born out of the depths of winter which echoed with frozen memories, it was music to soothe the soul. Looking back, I realize it was music of meditation, even if I was decades from meditating. 

Today marks the 24th anniversary of the American release of ‘Ray of Light’, and with the day comes the remembrance of the night I flew through Copley Square and the front yard of Trinity Church on roller blades, my black coat fluttering wildly behind me as I screamed loudly into the night air. It recalls the fall I said hello to a new love and the following winter in which I said goodbye. It brings back the loss of innocence, torn from the firmament of my youth like a little falling star. More than that, it shines a sliver of light on a past that feels both dimmer and brighter than it probably ever really was, cracking open the heart like a frozen drop of water cracks open a rock. 

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The Madonna Timeline: Song #167 – ‘Something To Remember’ ~ Summer 1990

{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}

Seems I’ve played the game for much too long
I let people buy my love and I
Never got to sing my songs for you
I had all my bets laid all on you
Set your stakes too high, you’re bound to lose
In the game of love you pay your dues
Say that happiness cannot be measured
And a little pain can bring you all life’s little pleasures
What a joke

Summer in upstate New York is a sticky and uncomfortable affair much of the time. Nights, especially, drone on longer than necessary when the heat and humidity combine to make for difficult sleeping and restless nights. The summer of 1990 – which was the summer of Madonna’s Blond Ambition reign – found me hurtling from Amsterdam, New York to Washington, DC and Russia – then back again. It was, indeed, ‘Something to Remember’, and I do… I still very much do.

When last we left the ‘I’m Breathless’ entries of the Madonna Timeline, the question was ‘What Can You Lose?’ With ‘Something to Remember’, we return to that magical summer – a summer that could quite feasibly be one of my favorite summers of all time, as they don’t seem to be getting any better. There’s something profoundly sad in that, and yet inevitable, so I embrace the one from 1990 all the more warmly. 

That was the summer we went to the Soviet Union – my first plane ride anywhere – initiation by Aeroflot fire. That was the summer we returned to the corn already high again. That was the summer we almost grew up. One day I’ll try to more fully capture the trip to the then-Soviet-Union that we made then – for now there are only these hints of it.

I was not your woman, I was not your friend
But you gave me something to remember
No other man said love yourself
Nobody else can
We weren’t meant to be
At least not in this lifetime
But you gave me something to remember
I hear you still say, love yourself

At the not-so-ripe age of fourteen, I was just starting to awaken to the madness of adolescence and all the confusing thrills that were just around the corner. There were stirrings of attraction, but at that point I couldn’t tell friendship from romance, and honestly I was always looking for someone – anyone – to stave off the loneliness. 

Madonna was there with her blonde-tressed ambition in full-effect, but on the ‘I’m Breathless’ album there was this jazzy slow-burn song of lost love, and somehow I already felt I understand her pain in my own longing. Visions of a dimly-lit bar, smoke adrift in the air back when it could be, the way it was everywhere in Russia, crossed my mind when I listened to this, rushing toward adulthood as much as it struck a little bit of terror in me. 

I had all my bets laid all on you
Set your stakes too high, you’re bound to lose
In the game of love I’ve paid my dues
Guess I’m waiting for my place in your sun
Wish I had the chance to know you when it wasn’t stormy weather
What a shame, who’s to blame?

The song would haunt me when we returned home, when we went back to being stuck in a small town, back to when we were alone again. I would wake to the bright sun of summer and feel pangs of emptiness, having been on an exciting adventure and tasting what life could be, then suddenly plunged back into the summer before another year of high school, and another year of being trapped. And hunted. 

At night – those awful, restless, unending summer nights that somehow seemed darker than any night in winter – I would play this song, and dream of a glamorous existence which consisted mostly of whispered images, a sparkling tableaux parading fantastically across my mind, based in bits of movies, passages of novels, stories of decadence. It was my fledgling crafting of the life I would one day eventually lead, only when the time came I would not realize it. Only looking back can I see and almost feel its frisson. And mostly I’m glad for that – glad that I had that, and glad that I’m no longer in it. 

I was not your woman, I was not your friend
But you gave me something to remember
No other man said love yourself
Nobody else can
We weren’t meant to be
At least not in this lifetime
But you gave me something to remember
I hear you still say, love yourself

As the summer of 1990 came to its inevitable close, we returned to school. Things felt different again, the way they would for the next few years. Adolescence would shift the world in such irrevocable ways. We hung on as best as we could, but there were stumbles and falls. Madonna finished her Dick Tracy chapter, bid adieu to Breathless Mahoney, and by the end of the year she was onto ‘Justify My Love‘. It was a darkly beautiful road of more adult concerns, a daring and edgy period that wouldn’t let up until the turn of ‘Bedtime Stories’.

‘Something to Remember’ was also the name of Madonna’s first and thus far only collection of ballads, released in the fall of 1995 and primed to set the stage for her first glorious comeback in ‘Evita’. Much happened in the ensuing years since its release on ‘I’m Breathless’, and by the fall of 1995, summer – in all its forms and incantations – felt very far away. 

Song #167 – ‘Something To Remember’ ~ Summer 1990

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Murmurs of Madonna

Tomorrow the Madonna Timeline returns with something billed as something to remember, but it’s not one of the strongest entries. Some Madonna songs can be no more than filler, and fodder for memories. In this preparatory post, we see some of her latest online shenanigans. What I would give for her lighting and filters… 

The latest murmurs of Madonna have her working on a collection of her 50 #1 Dance hits for this fall (late summer?) as well as casting her movie biopic. I wish I could get more excited over both of these projects, but Madonna’s strength has never resided in re-hashing. Re-inventing, yes. Revolutionizing, absolutely. Re-treading… not so much, even if a Madonna re-tread is still often more spectacular than most pop stars’ virgin tracks. 

Speaking of virgins, I see that her classic ‘Like A Virgin’ song is used now in a Virgin cruise ship commercial. Once upon a time, that song was controversy and untouchable for commercial purposes. Clearly, times have changed. A cruise ship commercial. Dear God. 

Tomorrow, we return to the glory days. May there be a few more in the future… 

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Madonna Reminder

Returning to Warner Brothers, Madonna seems to be making a dance retrospective her first project if we are to piece together her otherwise nonsensical Instagram and social media posts of late. She’s been hinting at a non-stop mix of her 50 #1 Dance Hits, which sounds more like a throwaway promo track for some greatest hits album. Ho-hum, but I’ll take it as we haven’t had any music from her since 2019’s ‘Madame X’ opus. In the meantime, let’s look back at some classic Madonna moments to remind us of the power and say she once held. 

Like A Prayer‘ – the majesty and might… she took us there. 

Vogue‘ – strike a pose, there’s nothing to it.

Express Yourself’ – come on girls, do you believe in love?

Live to Tell’ – will I ever have the chance again?

Deeper and Deeper’ – think with your heart not with your head.

Ray of Light‘  – someone else will be there through the endless years.

Music‘ – do you like to boogie woogie?

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Justifying My Madonna Love

In the age of social media where tweens run amok and everyone hides behind a fake name and filtered image, even the most durable and classic of pop stars have a hard time escaping the awfulness that comes from giving anonymous losers any sort of platform. That goes for this blog as well, so I’m not above admitting I’m occasionally part of the problem. The difference is that I don’t hide who I am – you got my name and face and body, and if you want any sort of respect you should reciprocate the honor. 

With that said, it seems a good moment to address all the Madonna-bashing that goes on when she does just about anything these days, and to remind myself, and anyone reading this, of how lucky we are to have such an icon still living her life and causing a commotion. Do I always agree with her? No. I never have. But I can do so in a thoughtful and respectful way. I find her Instagram-heavy focus of late cringe-worthy not because she’s too old to pose in such pictures, but rather because they seem to be detracting from her legacy of music and drama. Besides, anyone can be Insta-famous these days – Madonna was a star long before social media was even born, and remains so even in this age of social media madness. Madonna’s presence on Instagram, while mandatory these days, is almost a foot-note in her pop culture accomplishments. Still, it gets her points across, and currently that’s celebrating her body – a Madonna tradition that goes back to when she first bared her belly-button and writhed across the MTV Music Awards stage while crooning ‘Like A Virgin’

She did a stunning spread for V Magazine in which she and Steven Klein paid more homage to Marilyn Monroe, as seen in the accompanying photos. Yes, they’re airbrushed and edited to the point of caricature, but that’s partly been the point of Madonna since the beginning – she makes us wonder how much is real, how much is fluff, and how much really matters. She registers in an increasingly-chaotic and random universe where information and images are thrust so quickly and voluminously at us that it’s a wonder anything registers at all. To get anyone talking about you these days is a major accomplishment when you consider the trending topics on Twitter any given morning.

Madonna remains a master at this, and positing her body and image as exhibit A for four continuous decades, and not letting up anytime soon, is pretty damn impressive. Making some bold and courageous artistic statements along the way (and usually far ahead of their time) is what has cemented her status as artistic icon. Wrapping it all up with some indelible music has left us with a musical legacy and timeline filled with memories and history (and anyone having a rough day should simply consider one of her multiple greatest hits packages to immediately lift the mood). 

Your opinions of Madonna prove that she still matters – stop hating and start celebrating. 

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25 Years Ago: Madonna as ‘Evita’

It was twenty-five years ago today when the soundtrack to Madonna’s turn in ‘Evita’ was released, setting off the season of Madonna as Eva Peron, fully resurrecting her marquee dreams, and her most high-profile project since the ‘Sex/Erotica’ period. Rather than get into any deep analysis of that emotionally-fraught time, here’s a simple list of Madonna Timeline links for the selections that have been featured here already. 

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Dazzler of the Day: Madonna

She recently said that the most controversial thing she has ever done has been to simply stick around, and when you read any commentary on her from the past five years you’d be hard-pressed to argue against that. The vitriol and hate from an ageist stance is ridiculously plain to see. It’s rather infuriating as well, considering all that Madonna has accomplished. Why we are not celebrating this woman who is still an icon among the living is a complete mystery to me. And so we have this rather trite and cliched homage to her, as if being named Dazzler of the Day could ever capture what she has meant in my life, and in the lives of so many others. Still, let’s make it official, let’s make it formal, and let’s christen her as the Dazzler she’s been for four decades strong – and let’s do it by revisiting the seminal thing she does: making and mastering the perfect pop song. If you’ve ever enjoyed one of her masterpieces, you know the ultimate joy there is to be found in her music. See the following: Like A Prayer, Vogue, Express Yourself, Crazy For You, Deeper and Deeper, Live to Tell, Music, Rebel Heart, Like A Virgin, The Power of Goodbye, Papa Don’t Preach, Sooner or Later, Don’t Tell Me, Hung Up4 Minutes, Dress You Up, Rain, La Isla Bonita, Nothing Fails, Crave, Give it 2 Me, Ray of Light, Spotlight, You Must Love Me, Into the Groove, Open Your Heart, Frozen, You’ll See, True Blue, Secret, Material Girl, Cherish, Justify My Love, I Want You, I’ll Remember, Celebration, Masterpiece, Ghosttown, Dark Ballet, Lucky Star, Where’s the Party, Secret Garden, Survival, Take A Bow, Impressive Instant, Drowned World: Substitute for Love, Who’s That Girl… and the list goes on…

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An Erotic Anniversary

While yesterday was all about my husband Andy, it also marked the anniversary of Madonna’s ‘Erotica’ album – as much an influence on my youth as anything else, and so it merits this post, which will mostly be a linky look back at that heady time in my life. Shaded with the drama that typically accompanies October, and the drama that goes with simply being a senior in high school, the ‘Erotica’ album was about so much more than sex – even if sex was also a big part of it. 

Leading off with the title track, Madonna whispered huskily to us that Dita would be our mistress, and we fell in line to serve with gleeful and submissive abandon. There was so much more at work at the time, and this is one of those albums that likely means more to me than most because of how it accompanied a time period fraught with the danger of self-annihilation, depression, redemption, and growing into a version of myself no longer commandeered by parents or adults or peers. 

Madonna ushered in the most controversial period of her artistic life and gave me the inspiration to do likewise, unafraid and undeterred by a society that felt increasingly against the very person I was struggling to become. No one else was doing that in my life, and in many ways she was the lifeline that got me through that wilderness. As for the ‘Erotica’ album, let’s revisit the track list – much of which has already been chronicled in the Madonna Timeline, and worth a look back at today:

  1. Erotica
  2. Fever
  3. Bye Bye Baby
  4. Deeper and Deeper
  5. Where Life Begins
  6. Bad Girl
  7. Waiting
  8. Thief of Hearts
  9. Words
  10. Rain
  11. Why’s It So Hard
  12. In This Life
  13. Did You Do It?
  14. Secret Garden

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The Madonna Timeline: Song #166 – ‘Bitch I’m Loca’ ~ Summer 2019

{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}

Bitch, I’m loca (Y yo loco, loco)
Bésame la boca (¿Y tú qué me das?)
Bitch, me gusta (Y yo te provoco)
Mucho que me asusta (Por eso no te vas)

One of the weaker tracks from Madonna’s ‘Madame X’ opus, ‘Bitch I’m Loca’ is another duet with Maluma, who shone to far better effect on ‘Medellín. This one has a grittier edge to it, closer to the work they did for his own album at the time. I enjoy the rawness of it, I only wish it came with a slightly better melody, and a more creative title. (Didn’t she get all the bitches out of her system with the ‘Rebel Heart’ album?)

As for my own memories of this song, they aren’t strong and they aren’t many. Mostly because I skipped is every time it came on. The summer of ‘Madame X’ had more joys and enchantments to bother with than this filler track.

So nice to meet you, Mr. Safe
So nice to meet you, Mrs. Crazy
Where do you want me to put this?
Um, you can put it inside
Song #166 – ‘Bitch I’m Loca’ ~ Summer 2019

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Madonna: That Ass, That Attitude

Madonna is no stranger to ageist vitriol – she’s been on the receiving end of ageism, largely a by-product of sexism, since she turned 40, which was back in 1998. She’s 63 years young now, and still acting with the defiance and cheeky naughtiness of her 20’s – and why the fuck not? Who, if not Madonna, has earned the right to flounce in the face of silly social constructs and foolish antiquated mores? She forged that path herself, and looks to be continuing on her journey unabated, and undeterred by wimps and wannabes who can’t fathom a mature woman still exercising her sexuality, still wielding her power, still being unabashedly herself. 

The response to her recent almost-butt-baring opening salvo of the MTV Video Music Awards (at which she first flashed her ass in 1984) has once again put her in the spotlight, garnering hate and adoration in equal doses, which she’s done for most of the past four decades. It is a living testimony to how much she matters, even when she does little more than pose and walk off stage. Is that the effect someone of no significance has? Hardly. It’s a big deal because Madonna is still big deal. Her mere existence and relevance in our youth-obsessed culture says infinitely more than anything the powerless naysayers could speak about, and they can’t stand it. 

And so I offer another photo of her daring derriere, posed brilliantly before a men’s urinal, proving that nobody does it better than Madonna, and nobody ever will. Her reign continues… 

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She’s Still Madonna

With her penchant for questionable social media output over the last couple of years, and the unfortunate ‘Madame X‘ touring experience (no real fault of her own), the sparkle and shine of Madonna, once unassailable, seemed like they might be losing some of their luster. And then she opened last night’s Video Music Awards with a surprise appearance, reminding us all that for forty years she’s been hand in hand with MTV (more or less) and giving us what we wanted and needed and desired – and that little spark that she had when she first arrived on the scene was once again in full-effect. 

She filmed the Times Square intro a week or so ago, and there was electricity in the air – and as she walked out in her Madame X trench-coat, the magic was back. In fact, I don’t think it ever left – some of us have always been just a little slower to realize the genius and the power. She removed the coat in one swift move, and turned to show off her ample assets

This was the Madonna we met four decades ago – just as fun, just as cheeky, just as challenging – and it’s the Madonna I’ve always loved. With everything we have ever known, or thought we knew, in full fucked-up flux, she’s still Madonna – and thank God for that.

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The Anniversary of Madonna’s Arrival

It’s been more than a hot minute since we’ve celebrated Madonna on this site, mostly because she’s reportedly been in editing mode for the long-awaited ‘Madame X Tour’ and however the hell it’s going to be presented, and her biopic, the status and form of which I’ve lost track. I’ll always be a Madonna fan, but the stand days may be done, and that’s cool. These days, I’m anxiously awaiting her next musical move, because it’s time. Her last album came out two years ago, and this is a long stretch without any musical motion on her part. Perhaps she’ll pull some amazing double-album surprise drop, but that feels like too much to wish for. In the meantime, and in honor of her birthday today, here are a few links to some online moments that celebrate the woman who’s been my main muse for the last three decades. 

Before a proper day of celebration, a good night’s sleep is important. Enjoy this ‘Bedtime Story’ to send you to dreamland.

When all else fails, and you long to be something better than you are today, I know a place where you can get away… 

I have no choice, I hear your voice.

I can dress like a boy, I can dress like a girl. Keep your beautiful words

What do I remind you of? Your past, your dreams, or some part of yourself that you just can’t love

I took a trip, it set me free – forgave myself for being me.

Sex, love, and erotica.

The face of you, my substitute for love.

Happy Birthday, Madonna ~ thanks for being there for all these years. 

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The Madonna Timeline: Song #165 – ‘What Can You Lose?’ ~ Summer 1990

{Note: The Madonna Timeline is an ongoing feature, where I put the iPod on shuffle and write a little anecdote on whatever was going on in my life when that Madonna song was released and/or came to prominence in my mind.}

When last we featured a Madonna Timeline entry the focus was on the titular track of ‘Bedtime Stories’ from 1994. Today we go back even further – to that magical summer of 1990 – a summer that may go down as one of my favorite summers thus far in my mid-life. The hollyhocks were higher than we’d ever seen them, the sun was brighter and warmer than it ever felt before, and the first tinges of love and possibility were in the atmosphere. Helmed by an epic trip to the then-Soviet Union – our very first trip away from home for such a distance and such a duration – somehow we held onto the tenderness of youth while boldly bounding toward the first attempts at adulthood. That Madonna and Stephen Sondheim should write the soundtrack to such a time is brilliantly fitting. 

Having just been entranced by the magic that was ‘Into the Woods’ and its themes of childhood, growing up, and letting go, while also cresting into the white-hot pinnacle of my burgeoning fandom of Madonna, the soundtrack to ‘Dick Tracy’ was one of those moments where material, Madonna, and my own personal journey intersected for a touching musical moment. This song brings me movingly back to that time, and while it tells the pensive and tentative tale of a romance that never quite happens, for me it was more about an impending loss of innocence, something I sensed was happening, and something that I took with equal parts anticipation, dread, and resignation. 

The adventures I sought in the forests of Minsk, the laughter with girls at midnight – always safely platonic, always more lasting and resonant because of that – the stolen minutes in sun-lit hotel rooms before boarding the bus again – a summer in Russia held a romantic allure before any of us even understand the slightest about romance. From the bulbous towers of St. Basil’s Cathedral to the wild-flower-festooned meadows surrounding castles in Pskov, we traversed the country, in a whirlwind tour of cultural exchanges and adolescent drama. We learned and experienced as much about this country half-way around the world as we did about ourselves and each other. Our gang of friends solidified – a little group from New York meshing with a little group from California – bringing two sides of our country together while bridging our two countries, and in the exuberant innocence and wonder of that, we somehow made the world a little better simply by expanding our own limited views and experiences. Travel, and at such a young age, brought an early sense of humility and wisdom that has enriched and informed my ever-expanding journey ever since. 

What can you lose?
Only the blues
Why keep concealing everything you’re feeling?
Say it to her, what can you lose?
Maybe it shows
She’s had clues, which she chose to ignore
Maybe though she knows
And just wants to go on as before
As a friend, nothing more
So she closes the door

This duet between Mandy Patinkin and Madonna was a poignant cornerstone of the ‘I’m Breathless’ soundtrack and the ‘Dick Tracy’ movie – lending a grounded and human element to the over-the-top and cartoonish technicolor grandeur of that time period. So much of what Madonna did at that moment was glamorous and haughty, and as much as I loved that side of her, as much as I needed that side of her to push me to simply walk into a room of my peers when my social anxiety was pulling me back, I also wanted to see her vulnerability, to feel her own pain and loss and doubt. It selfishly made me feel a little better about mine. 

As our American troop returned from Russia to our homeland, I remember riding the bus back into Amsterdam, into our tiny hometown surrounded by fields of corn, and feeling different, like we had crossed the threshold into young adulthood, and understanding that we would not be going back. The evening sun was setting – the same sun that had illuminated Russian skies deep into the night – and the darkness was already coming on earlier than it had from when we had departed just a few weeks before. Can a boy grow into a young man on a single trip around the world? In some ways – in so many ways – I think he can. 

Well, if she does
Those are the dues
Once the words are spoken
Something may be broken
Still, you love her
What can you lose?
But what if she goes?
At least now, you have part of her
What if she had to choose?

As the Madonna Timeline is entering the winter of its run, and as we close in on the final songs still left unexamined in my collection, it seems a ripe moment to look over the other songs from the ‘I’m Breathless’ section of Madonna’s career. A unique album in a career of unique albums, this would be the closest Madonna would come to producing her own Broadway musical (‘Evita’ had already been written by someone else). 

The album encapsulated the summer of 1990 – and as our People-to-People exchange group re-convened at my home a week after our return, already we felt the change and the oncoming chill in the air. I mourned the early summer sense of possibility that now felt behind us, growing ever-distant in the rear-view mirror, and the magical time in Russia with friends old and new, now once again separate and removed from the mundane moments that were once so special. Maybe I just missed my friends, and the day-to-day connections we shared only when in such close proximity. Maybe I missed the freedom of being more or less on our own at a time in our lives when we needed that first dose of independence. Maybe I missed my childhood, and the way it felt like Sondheim’s ‘No More’… 

It was one of those ‘Stand By Me’ summers, the kind that pass before we truly realize their magnitude and meaning. By the time fall crept into the nights, and the hollyhocks shriveled and browned, dropping some of next year’s crop of seeds onto the garden floor, holding up others high in the sky, I stood alone in the backyard, back where the summer began, and everything felt changed. Would I ever realize the magnificence of the moment during the actual moment? And did it even matter? Perhaps it was better to not understand the import of what was happening as it happened. Perhaps that would cripple us, stop us in our tracks. 

Leave it alone
Hold it all in
Better a bone
Don’t even begin
With so much to win
There’s too much to lose

Madonna put a fitting exclamation point on that summer with her performance of ‘Vogue’ in Marie Antoinette garb – all glamour and arrogance and nary a bit of vulnerability. Girding my loins for the school season to come, I channeled that and let go of the subtle loss of ‘What Can You Lose?’ It was an act of survival when the safety of summer slipped away, and somewhere in the secret recesses of my heart, I pulled the sacredness of those days tightly within that inner fortress. It has remained there, and I’ve only shared a bit of it with you because it’s still that important to me. Most of us retain some of our childhood in such secret fashion, keeping the most magical moments only for ourselves, and the ones who originally shared it with us. I’m not ready to lose that. 

Song #165 – ‘What Can You Lose?’ ~ Summer 1990
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More Madonna ~ For Inspiration

It’s pretty amazing that at this point in her storied career, Madonna can still turn heads and get people talking with just a few Polaroids, a couple of wigs, some satin gloves, and a quick Pride Month extravaganza. Her new look once again defies her age, and by now that’s just the way she’s going to roll. I’ve always enjoyed her absolute lack of apparent concern for what people are going to say, and when you strap yourself into a corset when you’re 62 years old, then you can comment. 

This is a whimsical set of looks for her – not quite entirely brand new (though I don’t believe we’ve seen such a blue hue in her hair), and in their totality they feel fresh and enervating. It definitely has me thinking about satin gloves again, maybe when fall chills things out a bit. 

It also has me thinking about Madonna, and what’s to come. No one comes close to inspiring such mystique and thirst for what she might be up to next. She’s reportedly still working on a release of the Madame X Tour, and her screen treatment of her now biopic. Neither of those excites me as much as the idea that new material must at some point be on the horizon. 

 

 

 

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Me Versus Madonna

The differences between me and Madonna are staggering and plentiful. We won’t get into the many of them because it actually gets quite depressing. Instead, I’m simply going to offer a visual juxtaposition of what she was doing at 3 AM on the Saturday of Pride Weekend in New York City and what I was doing at roughly the same time in upstate New York. 

Keep in mind, Madonna is almost 20 years older than me, and still rocking it on the top of a bar, while I lounge in bed well before the stroke of midnight on a Saturday. Some might use that as inspiration to be a little more active. I’m just going back to bed. Let’s get unconscious, honey. 

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