Madonna wasn’t alone in celebrating her 50th birthday last Saturday. She’s locked in sweet astrological harmony with two of her most starry peers - Prince and Michael Jackson, each of whom summits that same peak in ‘08. The former did so on June 7; the latter will two weeks from tomorrow.
In other words, the entire top troika of ’80s pop stardom is cracking the half-century mark at roughly the same time, not only marking a milestone for them but tipping off a telling transition in the culture itself. By comparing their history to that of today’s hitmakers, you can see a marked shift in the duration, depth and essential concept of stardom that’s worth noting, if not necessarily toasting.
The achievements of Madonna and her equals feel particularly poignant and meaningful at a time when it looks doubtful that the current crop of music stars will make it to 30 alive, let alone to 50 and thriving.
Can you see Amy Winehouse wheezing on this Earth much longer? And if Britney does survive, do you see her having a vibrant career five years on?
Hosting on a weight-loss reality show doesn’t count.
True, Jackson may endure solely because of his achievements from the distant past, but both Prince and Madonna seem as vital today as they did back when Reagan ruled the White House and “Dynasty” dominated the airwaves. Prince continues to sell out arenas around the world and has even figured a way to make a profit from his CDs when he gives them away, which he has done on several occasions and on more than one continent.
Madonna recently issued her most energetic, engaged and creative album in 25 years, “Hard Candy.” And while it’s sales haven’t been stellar - only around 600,000 so far - that figure will certainly balloon to 1 million as her tour unfolds. The live extravaganza kicks off Aug. 23 in Cardiff, Wales, and hits the U.S. Oct. 4, at the Meadowlands. From there it tackles the Garden Oct. 6, 7, 11 and 12. Good luck getting tickets. All 70,000-plus local seats have been snapped up for a show that promises to feature the star’s most punishing dance workouts since she was like a virgin.
The continued energy of Madonna and Prince is mirrored in their still-smashing looks. The two appear especially spry when compared to their predecessors, the pop gods of the ’60s and ’70s, who date from the drug culture and therefore have, in some cases, aged to an especially alarming degree. (Here Keith Richards comes chillingly to mind.) By contrast, Maddy and Prince stand as virtual paragons of good health and clean living. Even if they didn’t seem so robust, the audience’s evolving views of older pop stars - inspired by the sheer number of them still touring and recording - would have helped these guys age more gracefully. That, plus the aging of the population in general, will continue to buoy them, even once the sags surgery can’t hide come into play.
The ’80s line of icons can also thank the ’60s and ’70s music stars for prepping the masses to accept pop careers that seem to last forever - so long as they have the stamina, the songs and the will.
Right now, which pop stars of the ’90s or beyond look to have that kind of fortitude, zeal or depth of hits?
Some from the realm of rock may have it. See: Pearl Jam and Dave Matthews, given their rich touring histories. A few rappers might, too. Strongest candidate: Jay-Z. But even if textbook mainstream pop stars of this era do manage to keep it up - with Beyonce looking the most likely - they’ll assuredly be the very last to do so.
The culprit behind this is the same force that determines everything good and evil in the world today: the Internet. The gargantuan range of musical information and access the Web provides has fractured attention spans and interrupted any attempt at a mass pop conversation. Listeners now have such vast choice, it’s virtually impossible to corral everyone’s attention around just a few icons, as in ye olden days.
What was once a focused conversation, controlled by a limited range of media, has turned into a Tower of Babble, open to everyone. Only the most garish gossip magnets, like Lindsay and Paris, can command the old brand of wall-to-wall attention - and that’s a fleeting and shallow version of it, inviting derision or giggles, not loyalty or identification. The result leaves grandfathered-in pop stars like Madonna and Prince - even Jackson - as the equivalent of stars in the old Hollywood Studio system. They’re antique in one sense, enduring in another.
That’s a sad turn for anyone who treasures the connections forged by having everyone fantasize about the same pop icons. But it couldn’t be better news for Madonna’s ego on her birthday. What a present - to know that you’re the absolute last of an always-rare breed.
Source: Drownedmadonna
Related posts:
Photographs of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s newborn twins are expected to fetch 10 million.
The Hollywood couple - whose son Knox Leon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline were born in a hospital in Nice, France, on Saturday - are said to be in negotiations with various celebrity magazines for the sale of the exclusive first pictures of the babies.
Despite one magazine reportedly offering 5.5million for the shots, publicist Max Clifford thinks they could be worth even more, adding: “I think the pictures could fetch 10million, which would make it the biggest baby deal ever.” Angelina’s father Jon Voight - who recently reconciled with the actress after years of estrangement - has spoken of his joy following the birth of his new grandchildren.
He said: “I am deeply happy. I’m over the moon - it’s magnificent. In this world, all we can hope for is that mommy and the kids are healthy. I’m very excited. If I were called today, I’d be there.” Meanwhile, it has been revealed the babies’ names were inspired by Angelina and Brad’s heritage.
Knox was named after Brad’s grandfather Hal Knox Hillhouse, and also shares the same last letter as the couple’s adopted sons Maddox, six, and four-year-old Pax.
Vivienne’s middle name is in honour of Angelina’s late mother Marcheline Bertrand - who died last year. Linda Rosenkrantz, co-author of ‘The Baby Name Bible: The Ultimate Guide By America’s Baby-Naming Experts’, explained: “Vivienne, the French form of Vivian, reflects her place of birth - something her parents like to do - and its meaning, ‘life, alive’ resonates in the uplifting way that her brother Pax’s name projects an image of peace.”
Related posts:
Her tour has not yet started, but when Madonna concludes her forthcoming Sticky & Sweet Tour, which kicks off August 23 in Cardiff, Wales, the tour could gross an estimated $250 million for the 55 shows, according to the tour’s promoter Live Nation. This tops her 2006 Confessions tour gross of $195 million for 60 concerts. Madonna will then not only again possess the record for a female touring artist, breaking her own record, but will join the higher echelon of all touring acts.
Only the Rolling Stones, U2 and The Police have grossed more on a single tour. The Rolling Stones grossed $558 million for the 2005-07 Bigger Bang tour with 144 shows performed; U2 generated a gross of $389 million for the 2005-06 Vertigo tour with 133 concerts; and The Police will likely gross more than $350 million for the 151 concerts on their 2007-08 reunion tour. In fact, the Rolling Stones have grossed more than $300 million on two other tours; $320 million for its 1994-95 The Voodoo Lounge Tour for 128 shows, and $312 million for their 2003-04 Licks tour for which they played more than 120 shows.
Madonna is approaching those numbers with only 55 shows.
“Most shows already sold out and likely all will be virtually sold out when all is said and done,” Live Nation Artists CEO Global Touring and Chairman Global Music Arthur Fogel told TicketNews. “We’re already at 90 percent of all total tour capacity sold.”
According to Live Nation, Madonna has already sold more than 1 million tickets for the tour with just 42 shows on sale. She opens with 17 shows in Europe, followed by 28 in North America, two in Mexico City and eight in South America. have not gone on sale yet: Thirteen shows three in Europe, two in the U.S. and all eight in South America (four in Brazil, two in Argentina and two in Chile), which will take place from December 3-21. Athens, Greece went on sale last week and immediately sold out.
Tickets have been selling like hot cakes in most markets: Paris (110,000 tickets); Mexico City (100,000); Lisbon (75,000); Zurich (70,000); Athens (67,000); New York (64,500); London (64,000); Rome (51,000); Vancouver (50,000); and Amsterdam (47,000). Despite the numbers, the tour has received some criticism over a perception of slow ticket sales.
“Ticket sales are everything I could hope for and once again those that doubt Madonna are proven wrong,” Fogel said.
“The doubters might want to spend time worrying about their own business because mine is as good as it gets”
There are some tickets still available for the four of the five stadium shows in North America; Vancouver sold out 48,000 tickets in 50 minutes for a gross of $5.7 million; San Diego has sold 30,200 out of 35,000 seats and has grossed $4.2 million so far; Miami has sold 35,600 out of 42,000 for $4.1 million; Los Angeles 29,300 out of 43,000 for $3.9 million; and Houston 41,000 out of 45,000 for $4.8 million. It should be noted that three arena shows are generally equivalent to one stadium concert, attendance-wise, thus Madonna is outselling double nights in these arenas. “We’re selling a few hundred tickets every few days,” advised Fogel.
In addition, there are still some seats in the venues where second shows were added: Oakland, Denver, Chicago and Las Vegas, and there are also a few singles seats in arenas in Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Atlanta.
Source: Ticket News
Related posts:
Brad Pitt was at Angelina Jolie’s side as she gave birth to a son and daughter Saturday at the Fondation Lenval hospital in Nice, France, PEOPLE has confirmed.
“The babies are doing well. The operation went just perfectly,” Dr. Michael Sussmann told PEOPLE Sunday. “Angelina is in very good spirits. Brad Pitt was at her side. He was there and all was well.”
Sussmann confirmed the Nice Matin newspaper report that Jolie gave birth to a boy, Knox Leon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline, by Cesarean section on Saturday night. Knox weighed 5.03 lbs, and Vivienne 5 lbs.
The twins are the fifth and sixth children for Jolie, 33, and partner Brad Pitt, 44, who are already parents to Maddox, 6; Pax, 4; Zahara, 3; and Shiloh, 2.
“The mother and father are very, very happy,” Sussmann told PEOPLE.
The doctor told the Associated Press that the Cesarean was moved forward “for medical reasons” so that the babies could be born “in the best conditions.” He also said Jolie is expected to stay in the hospital for a few days.
On July 1, Jolie checked in to the Fondation Lenval hospital to await the births. The family has been living in the south of France since this spring.
Jolie recently told Entertainment Weekly that she was surprised – but not daunted – when she learned she was having twins. “It did shock us, and we jumped to six [children] quickly,” she said. “But we like a challenge.”
www.people.com
Related posts:
Here’s a look at the seating plan for the Sticky & Sweet show in Athens, Sep. 27. Prices range from 250 Euros in the Vip Area to 80 Euros standing in Pitch B.
PLI (VIP) - 250 € (seated in VIP area)
PL2 - 110 € (seated)
PL3 -100 € (seated)
PL4 - 85 € (seated)
PITCH A - 90 € (standing)
PITCH B - 80 € (standing)
More Info at www.didimusic.gr
Related posts:
Fashion and Hollywood superstars turned the red carpet at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art into a galaxy of glamour for the Costume Institute’s gala opening of the 2008 exhibition, “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy.”
The $7,500-a-head gala extravaganza is the Big Apple’s party of the year, easily rivaling even the Oscars for style and A-list celebrity.
This year’s honorary chairman, the Italian designer, Giorgio Armani (a Flash Gordon fan) greeted guests with his co-chairs, the actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and American Vogue’s, editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, the “wonder woman” behind the event.
Clooney joked that he had wanted to dress as Batman, but the costume was already in the exhibition, so he settled for a midnight blue Giorgio Armani tuxedo.
Anna Wintour, shimmering in silver cyber-couture, by Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, declared: “I am Storm, (the Marvel Comics mutant who can control the weather), that’s why we’ve had sunshine all day. I stopped the rain.”
advertisementHundreds of paparazzi and television crews screamed the names of every celebrity as they braved the onslaught of cameras and microphones.
The arrival of the power couples Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, David and Victoria Beckham, and Jennifer Lopez with her husband Mark Anthony, caused wild scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where the exhibition is being staged.
The tennis star Venus Williams and American Vogue’s editor-at-large, André Leon Talley, shared a red satin, super-cape for two that was custom-made by Chanel. The actress Scarlett Johansson wore a Dolce & Gabbana gown with a large diamond solitaire which announced her engagement to the actor, Ryan Reynolds.
The designer Marc Jacobs confessed to wearing Superman underwear beneath his tuxedo.
Gisele Bundchen, rated by Forbes magazine as the highest-paid model in the world with a salary last year of £17.7 million, wore a revealing, backless and nearly frontless Versace creation.
Kate Moss arrived with the designer Stella McCartney and the recently retired couturier Valentino escorted Claudia Schiffer.
Inside the museum, guests were dwarfed by 30ft statues of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, contemporary versions of the ancient superheroes sculpted in marble in the museum’s Graeco-Roman gallery.
The “Superheroes” exhibition opens with a mirrored illusion of Clark Kent morphing into Superman and features radical catwalk creations by some of the world’s top designers and comic book costumes from Hollywood blockbusters such as Spiderman and Batman.
Pride of place is given to the heavy-metal suit-of-armour worn by Robert Downey Jr in “Iron Man”, the new movie which took more than £50 million at the box office on its opening weekend. Dinner was served in the Met’s 15 B.C. Egyptian Temple of Dendur, with tables arranged amidst massive sculptures of ‘Kryptonite’.
Following the gala, Armani, this year’s honorary chairman of the institute, hosted a “surprise” 47th birthday party for Clooney at the ultra-hip hangout, Bungalow 8.
Co-chairs: Actor George Clooney, actress Julia Roberts, and designer Giorgio Armani
Source www.telegraph.co.uk
Related posts:
A choked up Madonna premiered her documentary, I Am Because We Are, about orphans in Malawi, on Wednesday 210508 at the Cannes Film Festival.
“This is a film I want the world to see,” she said.
Dressed in Chanel haute couture and heels so high she twice grabbed the edge of a seat to steady herself, the Material Girl, 49, sounded near tears as she stood before the audience (including Sharon Stone) at the special screening.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for me to be able to show this film in Cannes,” she said, noting that she “held my breath” when she sent it to Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux. “I think I turned purple,” she joked.
“To say that this film is a labor of love is trivial,” she said. “It’s also the journey of a lifetime. I hope you all are as inspired watching it as I was making it.” (The singer’s adoption of a Malawian boy, David Banda, is nearly complete.)
One light moment: Fremaux teased her about introducing the film in French “because I know she speaks it.”
Laughed Madonna: “Not so good.”
Source : www.People.com
Photos: www.JustJared.com Sharon Stone with Madonna, both looking fabulous !
Related posts:
Related posts:
Madonna’s upcoming tour will begin Aug.23 in Cardiff, Wales, and will include between 50-60 shows total, Billboard.com has learned.
Details of the tour, produced globally by Live Nation, will be announced later today (May 8).
Billed as the Sticky and Sweet tour, Madonna’s trek in support of her current chart-topping Warner Bros. release “Hard Candy” — which debuted atop the Billboard 200 yesterday — will play stadiums in the U.K. and Europe until the end of September, arenas and a “handful” of stadiums in 16 markets in North America in October and November, and then stadiums in Mexico and South America late November-December.
“I’m thrilled to be involved in another worldwide Madonna extravaganza,” Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live Nation, tells Billboard. com.
Fogel has helmed Madonna’s last three world tours, which grossed almost $400 million combined. Her 2006 Confessions tour is, at $194 million, the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist.
The upcoming tour is the first major manifestation of the multi-faceted
10-year deal between Madonna and Live Nation, valued in published reports at $120 million.
“The reality is she’s delivered her last album to Warner Bros., and it’s a smash, which is great for everybody,” Fogel says. “We now have a tremendous opportunity with a tremendous artist to do all kinds of new and innovative things on many different levels, and this tour will be the start of that rollout.”
The tour follows a familiar Madonna touring blueprint in that it visits a limited number of markets in a four-month time frame, with multi-night stands in major cities. Ticket on-sale details will be announced today, along with a presale through Live Nation’s corporate sponsorship partner Citi. Fogel says ticket prices will be “basically the same as they’ve been the past two tours,” which means primarily in the $55-$350 range.
Source: www.Billboard.com
Related posts:
A cafe in London, last Tuesday. Two women sip coffee.
“I think,” says the blonde to the brunette, “It’s time I started looking for a husband.” Bread, milk, wedding band. If only shopping for a spouse was that easy.
“I just don’t meet men who are looking for relationships,” says the blonde, 49. “They seem to have baggage from previous encounters, are heavy substance abusers, pretty happy single, keeping their options open or waiting for Miss Perfect themselves.”
Actually, says American author Lori Gottlieb, it’s not the men who are the problem.
“My advice is this,” she writes in an article that has just won her a book deal and countless international press interviews. “Settle!” Marry Mr Good Enough in your 30s, says Gottlieb, and you won’t be alone and childless in your 40s.
“The statistics show that women are having a lot of problems finding what they consider to be a suitable mate,” Gottlieb told the Sunday Star-Times. “Is the problem really the lack of suitable males, or is it something about our definition of what Mr Right is?”
Los Angeles-based Gottlieb is 40 and single. In 2005, she broke up with a long-term boyfriend (they lacked a “core connection”) and conceived a baby with donor sperm. “I thought, `I’ll have my baby now, and find my soulmate later.’ Well, it doesn’t quite work out that way.”
Gottlieb uses maths to make her point. Let’s say you’re a 32-year-old woman, who has met a guy you’d rate 8 out of 10. You’re holding out for the perfect 10 (incidentally, you probably think you’re a 10 you’re not, you’re an 8). Suddenly you’re 42. Your own stocks have slipped. You’re a 5. And so are the men you’re attracting.
“You should have taken the 8 when you could have had it. You’ll never be able to get that 8 again… if someone is 80% of what you want in another human being, that’s pretty good.”
Gottlieb says there are dealbreakers. If your potential partner has a jail sentence, or is a substance abuser, “Run. Run fast.” But, she says, don’t discount him because of bad breath or poor dress sense.
“I’m not saying pick somebody you don’t connect with. But don’t expect it to be this divine spark, the lightning bolt, the music and the butterflies in the belly. It’s great if you have that, but if you don’t, it doesn’t mean this guy is not the one.”
She says what makes for a great courtship doesn’t necessarily make for a great marriage. “I think, for a lot of people, if they actually went with (Jane Austen’s) Mr Darcy, they might not be that happy. What is he like dealing with diapers and paying the bills?”
Gottlieb’s message is aimed more at women than men, who she says don’t look at their partners as a “one-stop shop” for their every need.
“Women have this idea that this guy is going to fulfil us in all these important ways. He’s going to like the same books, movies and do all the things we like. That’s just not realistic.”
Surely women can be happy without a relationship? Gottlieb is unconvinced. “Many women in their early 30s say I’d love to find someone, but if that doesn’t happen, I’ll be OK. But I talk to all these women in their 40s and 50s, and they say they would be happier if they’d ended up with someone.”
Gottlieb says her theory based on her personal experiences and years of talking to girlfriends is “sort of like stating the obvious”.
“But it’s a very politically incorrect thing to say, because we consider ourselves feminists… I’m telling you this like an older sister if I was giving advice to somebody in their early 30s, then I’d tell them maybe I would have done it differently”.
Related posts:
|
|
|
