Monday
Madonna message to her fans : Start saving your pennies!
THE DAILY BEAST: Madonna on Lady Gaga, 'W.E.,' Her New Album
Who else but Madonna can identify with scorned royalty? Trying her hand as director of a lush period piece, she is candid about everything from Lady Gaga to her wayward marriage.
Madonna would rather not waste time with the pleasantries and nonsense of another junket interview. She is sitting on a sofa in a posh midtown Manhattan hotel, wearing a blue silk dress and fingerless black leather gloves, and she has just been asked, perhaps for the 50th time today, how she began making her upcoming movie.
"Not that question," she says, putting her head in her hands. "Anything but that question. Ask me what you really want to know."
It's not exactly what you expect someone will say to you two minutes into a conversation, but there's also something refreshing about her bluntness, her impatience, what Liz Smith calls her "lack of concern with being loved by people." One of the interesting things about Madonna is that although she has been offending people throughout her entire career, she seems incapable of being offended by anything—except stuff that bores her.
In February she is releasing W.E., the second movie she has written and directed. The film centers on a modern-day woman named Wally Winthrop, who's stuck in a preternaturally unhappy marriage and finds escape in the story of Wallis Simpson, the diva-licious divorcée from Baltimore who stole the heart of King Edward VIII, leading him to abdicate the throne so he could marry her. "How could any man love a woman so much he'd do that?" Winthrop wonders, only to realize over the course of the film that the great love story may not have been so great after all. Wallis and her ex-king were forced out of England. They regret everything. Simpson finds, much to her surprise, that being an appendage isn't exactly a privilege.
It is the first major piece of work Her Madgesty has released since her 2008 divorce from filmmaker Guy Ritchie. She doesn't wince or get oversensitive when asked whether this was on her mind when she made the film.
"I'd been married 10 years when I started writing it," Madonna, 53, says. "And I was certainly asking a kind of existential question that I think people ask when they've been married that long: what is the perfect love? Because when you start off, everything's great and lovely, and the person you've married is flawless, and you're flawless. Then time goes by, and you share a life, you have children, and there are cracks in the veneer. It's not as romantic as it used to be. You think, 'This isn't what I thought it was going to be,' and 'How much am I willing to sacrifice?'"
At the same time, she says, "when you get to the end of the movie, I think it's very clear they really loved each other, and that I am a romantic and that I do believe in true love."
So here we are on the cusp of Madonna's latest reinvention, but the truth is that it's not really a reinvention at all. W.E. is just another opportunity to explore the kinds of questions that have consumed her for the last decade and a half, an era in which she's transformed into a Kabbalah-devotee mom of four who is more likely to spend her day off at a Maurizio Cattelan retrospective than at an afterhours club. Madonna is still obsessed with sex, power, and fame, only now she's approaching those topics from a slightly different vantage point.
For one thing, she makes it very clear that she relates to Simpson, a woman she believes was "misunderstood on a global scale." (Insert irony here.) Also, the film is about a question near and dear to her celebrity heart: is love ever worth more than power? Moreover, the duchess appeals to Madonna's inner drag queen—her fascination with a particular subset of iconic women, from Marilyn Monroe to Marlene Dietrich to Eva Perón, whose eternal celebrity personas inhabit all manner of sexual territory.
"When I was making my Sex book," she says, "I wasn't thinking about my kids or the reaction they would have. Now I have children, so I have to think about how things like that would impact them."
Madonna being Madonna, of course, she sometimes forgets this. In December, while she was getting ready for a screening of her movie, her 15-year-old daughter, Lourdes, walked into the room and vetoed her mom's proposed outfit: a corset with fishnets and no pants. Madonna has since said that her daughter was right, but adds that she isn't about to enter a nunnery at this late date either: "I'm not going to let [being a parent] completely censor me. I say to my kids all the time, I'm an artist, this is what I do, this is what I've always done. And they need to learn to separate it."
Over the next few months, they may not have a choice. Two days after the movie comes out, Madonna will headline the Super Bowl halftime show, reportedly flanked by Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. Soon after, her new album, M.D.N.A., hits. (Since the title seems to be a pun on the abbreviation of ecstasy, her definition of self-censorship is perhaps a loose one.) Shortly afterward, she'll hit the road with a troupe of hundreds. Touring has become the bulk of Madonna's business (the last tour grossed $408 million, the most ever for a solo artist) since the music industry went belly up and consumers stopped buying records.
She's not ready to talk about specific plans for this go-round, but it's safe to assume that her ticket prices will continue to be astronomically expensive, Great Recession be damned. "So start saving your pennies now," she says, sounding annoyed that any-one would suggest these prices are prohibitive. "People spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags. So work all year, scrape the money together, and come to my show. I'm worth it."
Of course, Madonna is aware that people are having a rough time. A few years ago she got filleted for saying the Big Apple had been more fun back in the day, before it was all taken over by hedge-fund types. "It kinda was," she says, unapologetic as ever. Consequently, she was "excited" by the Occupy Wall Street movement, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that Sean Lennon and Rufus Wainwright did a rendition of "Material Girl" at one of the early rallies. "I thought that was cool," she says, bringing the discussion back to her favorite subject: herself.
Gossip columnist Liz Smith, who's not afraid to be a rare unabashed supporter of Madonna in the press, says the entertainer's supreme self-absorption is part of her charm. She remembers once, around the time of Desperately Seeking Susan, Rosanna Arquette relaying something Madonna had allegedly said to her: "Wouldn't you give anything to be me for just 10 minutes?"
"It was the greatest self-realized ego-centric quote I've ever gotten," Smith says. "Her talent is running herself, it's not a God-given, singing-dancing talent. At that, she's not at the top of my list, but she's the greatest star. She goes her way the way Elizabeth Taylor did."
No wonder Madonna seems so un-ruffled when asked about Lady Gaga and "Born This Way," the No. 1 song that came out last year and that many critics thought resembled Madonna's 1989 smash "Express Yourself." "Of course I heard it," she says toward the end of our interview. "How could I not? I think it was on the radio a few times. I thought, 'This is a wonderful way to redo my song.' I recognized the chord changes, I thought it was ... interesting." And at this, she gives a little smile.
Thanks!
Jeannie
email: Madonnasworld@gmail.com
Website: www.madonnasworld.com
New inside info on Madonnas performance
This has been posted on a Bruce Springsteen forum by someone who is apparently working the Halftime show doing the lighting:
"Saw Madonna's set list. Open's with "Vogue" and closes with "Like a Prayer" with a huge choir. Worked at Lucas Oil Field today
finishing the lighting there. Toured the Colts/Patriots locker room and the Giants room." and later added this "Been working till 3
am the past few... days. Much to catch up on but will do most of it later. Madonna has already changed a few things. Her
entrance is now the exit during "Like a Prayer." She will be brought in on a cart covered with huge feathers I believed carried by
some of her gladiators, then make her grand appearance. The exit upstage is being changed again today because it has a small
step she her her ankle and hamstring on last week at her personal rehearsals. It will now be completely flat when the lift brings
her down to disappear. We hooked up many more lights on the cart and her ego riser midstage."
thank to kimmadonna on icon
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Thanks!
Jeannie
email: Madonnasworld@gmail.com
Website: www.madonnasworld.com
Thanks!
Jeannie
email: Madonnasworld@gmail.com
Website: www.madonnasworld.com
Sunday
M.I.A. on Madonna
@MIAuniverseM.I.A
i asked madonna if she was gonna show her tits , she said naaa everyones seen em
Thanks!
Jeannie
email: Madonnasworld@gmail.com
Website: www.madonnasworld.com
Partial set list for Super Bowl confirmed
| We know at least three of the songs Madonna will play at the Super Bowl. |
However, for our Sunday afternoon flight to Indy, we picked up a copy of the new NFL Magazine and three songs are confirmed by the league in a blurb about the Material Girl: "Give me All Your Luvin," "Ray of Light," and "Vogue."
"Though Madonna's set list was not officially announced at press time, fans might expect her to give all her luvvin', provide a ray of light and be in vogue with her music," the magazine reads. "The Super Bowl is almost a national holiday, after all."
Though we wholeheartedly agree about the holiday aspect of things, we're kind of unsure exactly what that has to do with Madonna playing a new single.
Whatever, we appreciate the NFL dropping some nuggets in the magazine, which was a pretty enjoyable read. Also, for those that hadn't noticed yet, Madonna's going to have the people from Circque du Soleil with her. That alone's worth the price of admission.
Oh yeah, and if you can still get odds on what song Madonna's playing first, you might want to hustle up on that.
Source :CBS sports
Madonna reinvents herself as a megabrand
There's nothing quite like the experience of Madonna whispering in your ear.
So says Dari Marder, a Glen Cove resident and chief marketing officer of Iconix Brand Group. Marder is no stranger to celebrity -- she's worked with stars, from Britney Spears to Beyoncé to Sharon Stone. But in recent years, when Iconix developed the Material Girl line with Madonna and her daughter Lola, Marder found it took some effort to suppress a certain . . . giddiness.
"At a photo shoot, say, I have to be professional and process what she's saying, but I can't help but think, 'Madonna's whispering in my ear, ohmygodohmygodohmygod,' " Marder says.
Inevitably, Marder adds, Madonna's comments -- about the lighting, perhaps, or a model's body position -- are right on target. "It's often something nobody noticed, and makes all the difference," she says. "It's like she sees things through a different filter."
That Madonna has business savvy is hardly news, but what may surprise some is the fact that her marketing potential, as an international brand, seems stronger than ever. And her appearance in this Sunday's Super Bowl half-time show is just the start of a very big year.
Madonna's other ventures include a new film ("W./E.," about the love affair of Wallis Simpson and King Edward VIII, which she directed and expands into theaters across the country this month), a new record (dropping later this year) and tour, plus her first fragrance (Truth or Dare by Madonna, created by Coty, to be sold exclusively at Macy's starting in April).
"Madonna is one of those celebrities people either love or don't," says industry analyst Marshal Cohen of NPD Group, a market-research firm based in Port Washington. "But even those who don't love her still love to hear what she's up to."
The new scent is the first product in a new Truth or Dare lifestyle brand, which will roll out footwear, accessories and intimates in September, hoping to capitalize on the success of Material Girl, the fast-fashion juniors label sold at Macy's.
"I have always been obsessed by fragrance," Madonna told Women's Wear Daily, and "wanted to create something personal that was an expression of me but that other people could relate to as well."
She decided to create a fragrance with notes of gardenia and tuberose, reminiscent of a scent worn by her mother. "My oldest memory of my mother is her perfume," Madonna explained. "I carry it with me everywhere."
If Madonna's new venture succeeds, she'll have reinvented herself. Again. This time, as a business titan.
"She's able to keep her finger on the pulse because she's very collaborative, working with people in different fields who impart a freshness to her work," says Marder. "I think that says a lot about her as a person."
"One of the ways Madonna has separated herself from other celebrities is her ability to keep in the forefront of trends that go beyond her specific talent," says Cohen. "She's best known as a singer, but she's gained recognition with acting, philanthropic endeavors . . . even adopting kids."
Truth or Dare, which will be more sophisticated than Material Girl, will target women in their 30s and 40s. It's supposed to resemble a glimpse in her closet.
"She's very, very, very involved," Marder insists. "She goes through racks of samples, very concerned about fit, especially in the intimates line."
Of course, that launch is still months away. Right now, Madonna has a half-time show to plan.
"Timing is everything in this business," Cohen notes. And with her new line launching soon after theSuper Bowl, he says, "her timing almost couldn't be any better."
Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity says it plans to build 10 schools, partners with buildOn - The Washington Post
"I have learned a great deal over the last few years and feel so much more confident that we can reach out goals to educate children in Malawi, especially young girls, in a much more efficient and practical way," she said. Madonna has adopted two children from Malawi.
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