Madonna at Wembley

So Madonna performed at Wembley on September 11th and The London Paper had a sensational review of it. My favorite quote was this:

"After seeing Kylie Minogue recently, all I can say is that maybe it is time Madonna gave it up. Kylie charges half the price for a ticket, actually signs live, looks better and cares about the audience."

It was hilarious to read that since last month I had written the following, but just hadn’t posted it.

I laugh whenever I think of an IM chat that K and I had months ago. I have never followed Kylie Minogue’s career and I was surprised to learn after I moved to the UK that her sister Dannii has also had a pop career. One day I IM’d her and said that I knew what I would say may be controversial to some people but I didn’t understand why the world needed two Minogues. Her response was, “Lay off the Minogues Woman!” hahahahaha

Today I was flipping channels and ran across Kylie’s recent concert at the O2 Arena in London and I stopped and watched for a few songs. Is Kylie the poor man’s Madonna? I ask this because there was a lot of choreography, costume changes, and even a Geisha theme as Madonna has done in the past.

Madonna, one of your target audiences may be questioning you. --J

Madonna Turns 50

I used to love her back in the day. Now, although occasionally I still like one of her tunes, her public image annoys me. They ran this clip on one of the UK music video show countdowns as an example of a "stunning debut". It made me laugh out loud, not because of Madonna but because this had to be the beginning of the end for Solid Gold. The dancer's disco costumes just look so out of date compared to Madonna's. You think it can't get any cheesier until host Marilyn McCoo comes on.

Here's where mainstream exposure began for Madonna in America. Enjoy! --J

Madonna- 4 Minutes

I finally saw Madonna's new video for 4 Minutes. I love the chemistry between Justin and Madonna in this fast-paced dance video. The song is pretty amazing, too. -K

Check out the video here.

Duran Duran

I was at a cocktail party this week and met someone who plays in a gypsy band. I started asking him what the music was like and in the course of my questions I mentioned having seen Gogol Bordello perform on a music show recently. He latched onto this statement and started going on about how great they were live. I admitted I had quickly dismissed them when I saw them perform with Madonna since she is a vampire, latching on to whatever new trend she can find to try and make herself relevant. My work colleague standing near overheard this, laughed and said, “Hold on, she’s my age”. And my response back was, “Yes, but you’re not trying to be a pop star”. What does this have to do with Duran Duran? Probably less than just demonstrating my pessimistic mood these days, but I was going to circle it back around to Duran Duran working with Timbaland and Justin Timberlake for their new album, Red Carpet Massacre.

When I was thirteen I was desperate to go and see Duran Duran in concert. Their non-threatening, sexually ambiguous good looks had won my adolescent heart even with probably the silliest lyrics in history. This probably is why I now take issue with keyboards. One too many a night I watched Friday Night Videos just to get a glimpse of Nick Rhodes pouting like a supermodel behind stacks of them. God help me. When my best friend and I began plotting that my oldest brother would take us to Chicago to see them, his answer was simple, “J-, I wouldn’t take you to see them if they were playing across the street.” In the end, three days before the concert, prompted by his new girlfriend, he took us.

Because of this past infatuation, I am always interested in hearing what they are up to. I was disappointed to hear that they were trying to be trendy. I watched their latest video and was not into it at all. I grabbed a newspaper on my flight back to London this week and there was a review in The Daily Telegraph of a recent Duran Duran concert. Helen Brown states, “While the Spice Girls whip through the campy costume changes and Take That offer up punishing dance routines with a twinkle of self-deprecation, Duran Duran fans must be satisfied with a couple of videos of a naked woman swimming underwater and a 49-year old Le Bon punching the air like a dad winning a pub quiz”. Not good. While memories of their makeup’d faces will always have a special place in my heart, I wish they could remain a bit of 80’s nostalgia. --J

7-7-07

I feel like I shouldn't be making negative comments on the performances of Live Earth because it wasn't about the performer at all. It was really about spreading awareness. I have already started making notes as to what I can do locally to help out, but after HOURS of tv watching I couldn't help but get annoyed, get entertained, and often totally enjoy the hell out of watching a thousand and one broadcasts of performances! So here are some thoughts…

Firstly, the most hilarious performance was Snoop Dogg in Hamburg only because I have never seen so many white people arm pumping at one time.

Having to sit through performances by snoozers like John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae, Metallica was a most welcome performance. Let's face it, Metallica was made to to be big and loud and Wembley provided them with the perfect playground. When I heard the opening of Nothing Else Matters I stopped everything I was doing and sat glued to the television. Metallica blew Wembley's collective face off and the men in the crowd responded by head banging and wearing a "thank you god" look on their faces. James Hetfield told the crowd, "make some noize if you give a shit" They did.

Roger Waters performed a few songs from Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall while an inflatable pig hovered over the crowd in Giants Stadium with Save our Sausage graffiti'ed on its side. David Gilmour was not there.

Kasabian was underwhelming, but as usual looked as though they were quite proud of themselves.

Next to Metallica, I think Foo Fighters were the most energetic.

Leave it to Billy Corrigan to use the opportunity to promote his new album during his performance. OK, we all saw ya. You can sit down now.

RHCP were good, but I wish that Anthony Kiedis would figure out what he's doing with that hair.

Black Eyed Peas were just as annoying as they usually are.

Alicia Keys looked and sounded stunning. She was the only thing that made Keith Urban's Give Me Shelter stand out.

Bon Jovi has just become a performing machine, haven't they? It really bugs me because I can remember seeing them in Giants Stadium back in 1989 and they were on the verge of burning out, but hadn't just yet. Now it's like it's their civil duty to keep the band going and perform.

Katie Melua. Who is she? I love her song Nine Million Bicycles. Beautiful.

Did anyone catch the Antarctic explorers performing on top of the mountains? It was a great song but I can't for the life of me remember their name or the name of the song.

Anyway, it was an amazing broadcast and I took from it a lot of ideas for changing my own wasteful lifestyle because of it. -K

Hello, I'm Irrelevant

I could seriously go on and on about this performance but I'll keep it short. I wish I could have found a picture of Madonna from her Live Earth set playing guitar. It looks as natural as say, God I can't even think of a witty comparison. Let's just say it's retarded. I wonder if there were two sound guys in the back debating if they should risk losing their jobs by not plugging her in. --J

M by Madge

When I went to H&M today, which was staffed by employees wearing black t's with "M by Madonna" on them to mark the opening of her new clothing campaign, I noticed that there were a number of dresses left hanging on the racks. That kind of surprised me because I had spied some of the dresses online and though not as fashion forward as the 2005 Stella McCartney campaign, I definitely aimed to buy at least one M dress today. For some reason, though, once I saw that the prices were almost twice the amount of a typical H&M price I talked myself out of a purchase. It's not that I couldn't afford the prices, but there's a reason I cheered when this city got an H&M. Since I was a teenager living in Germany, this store was the one place I knew I could get the hippest clothes at an insane level of affordability. Today, as I watched St. Louisans scope the dresses, then one by one turn away to browse the rest of the racks I wondered if they all thought as I did. The dresses may have Madonna's branding and come in cuts that are very "now", but the styles are extremely mainstream and just not that different from what you would already find in the store. As I placed the last dress back on the rack I said under my breath and in my best faux-Brit accent, "notbloodylikely, Madge." -K

Unnecessary on Thanksgiving Eve

After some Thanksgiving meal prep, I mostly fast-forwarded through Madonna's Confessions Tour Live special that aired on NBC last night. It was like watching Madonna's revisionist history of disco. We can all rent Saturday Night Fever when nostalgia strikes, so there's really no need for this. It was preachy at times but mostly just irrelevant. And watching her play guitar, it is just painful. Won't someone in her entourage clue her in on that?

To counteract the acidity of this post, a very happy Thanksgiving to all. I feel very blessed in so many ways. --J