 | |
Madonna news - Nov. 2006
← Oct. 2006 | Dec. 2006 →
Confessions Tour DVD release date confirmed
30 November 2006The rumoured DVD release date of the Confessions Tour has now been confirmed by ICON: "The DVD will be released on January 22, 2007 internationally, January 23, 2007 in the US. Keep checking the ICON site for more exclusive news about the Confessions DVD." They alsopremiered the DVD cover, made by Giovanni Bianco.
Fansite DrownedMadonna adds the following interesting information:
The DVD will include the whole show.
It will be released in two formats:
1) CD+DVD on digipack (CD format) : 15,19 €
2) DVD (DVD format) : 16,50 €
According to latest information, the CD will feature 8 tracks recorded live.
Stalled Jump
29 November 2006Keith Caulfield from Ask Billboard discusses the unfortunate fate of Jump in America:
Dear Keith,
Madonna's latest single Jump seems to be skipping the American top 40. I remember an article in Billboard stating how the single was aiming at the AC/Adult Contemporary radio format, however hasn't it stalled at No. 23.
Though, I know the release of the single to iTunes and retail stores prompted its No. 5 peak on the Hot 100 Bubbling Under chart. Is it still possible for it to enter The Billboard Hot 100?
Thank you,
Nathan Gil
Tampa, Fla.
Hi Nathan,
Of course it is still possible for Jump to reach The Billboard Hot 100. Is it likely? Not really. But hey, anything can happen.
Jump was an AC/Adult Contemporary hit. Of course, our definitions of "hit" might differ. It went to No. 23 on the AC chart (this week it's No. 24) and almost reached the Hot AC chart. Warner Bros, Madonna's record label, specifically promoted the single to AC and Hot AC stations.
They wanted to establish the song as a hit at those formats before they attempted to bring it to top 40 radio. With the song having faded somewhat, I'd venture to guess that any promotion of the single to top 40 is quite unlikely.
Meanwhile, over on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, Jump recently became Confessions On A Dance Floor's fourth top 10 single.
So far, Confessions has sold 1.6 million in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan. The song Jump, in all of its assorted remixes and versions, has sold 31,000 digital downloads and another 8,000 singles.
NBC special fails to score ratings
Source: TeenMusic - 29 November 2006The controversial broadcast of Madonna's Confessions tour special on US TV failed to lure viewers and ended up finishing fourth in its time slot.
US network NBC made headlines when it censored the concert and refused to broadcast controversial footage of the pop star hanging from a crucifix during one of her songs.
The special Madonna: Confessions Tour was broadcast on Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, and failed to find an audience.
Among those shows beating Madonna were CBS drama Jericho, ABC's Show Me The Money and Fox broadcasting of the movie Cheaper By The Dozen.
Madonna adoption dispute denied
Source: ContactMusic - 29 November 2006An African baby girl at the centre of an alleged adoption dispute involving Madonna has settled into her new home with an Australian couple. John and Angela Wilmot made world headlines last week (ends26NOV06) after it was reported that the pop star and her husband Guy Ritchie wanted to adopt the same little girl they had hoped to add to their family.
The Australian missionaries collected baby JESSICA from the Kondanani orphanage in Malawi on Saturday (25NOV06).
According to Australia's Sunday Telegraph, the couple won permission on Friday (24NOV06) to foster Jessica, pending a full adoption. John says, "She's with us now, and that's where she's staying. We're her foster parents... we're just waiting for the adoption paperwork to go through."
The couple say they were saddened their first days at home with their new baby had been overshadowed by the media storm created by false reports of Madonna's involvement. John adds, "Madonna did visit the orphanage where Jessica was, but there was no 'tug-of-love'. She never had any intention of adopting her."
Media reports last week (ends26NOV06) claimed Madonna was keen to adopt Jessica after also adopting 13-month-old David Banda from Malawi in September (06).
Madonna at Diana memorial concert?
Source: Spin - 27 November 2006The British royal sons plan to honor Diana with an all-star charity concert, potentially featuring Madonna, the Killers, and others.
Britain's princes William and Harry have planned an ambitious concert bash to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. The concert, to be held July 1, will be a charity event supporting the many causes Diana was devoted to before her untimely death as a result of a car crash in 1997.
It will be among the first concerts to be held in the new 1.5 billion dollar Wembley Stadium, which is still being built, and will host nearly 90,000 fans. Though no acts have been confirmed, word has it that Madonna, Beyonce, Pharrell, and the Killers are being courted to perform, as well as shoe-ins Elton John and George Michael.
All the artists will be chosen by William and Harry, with regard to their mother's taste, of course. An official announcement is expected next month.
Thompson praises Madonna adoption
Source: WENN - 27 November 2006Actress Emma Thompson has praised Madonna for adopting Malawian baby David Banda last month.
The Sense And Sensibility star has seen the plight of Malawi's children orphaned by AIDS first hand after becoming involved in charity work in the African country.
Shocked by the suffering she saw, in 2003 Thompson also welcomed an African orphan - 16-year-old Tindy - into her home after meeting the Rwandan refugee in London.
And the 47-year-old is convinced Madonna has made the right decision, despite taking David away from his native country and culture.
She says, "Malawi is a very difficult country, with tremendous problems with AIDS.
"While I understand the arguments about taking people away from their culture, there is a culture of deprivation and poverty that is not fun to be part of.
"She found a child in desperate need. Some people want to bring up a child personally, others want to act in a more general way, but both ways are surely to be welcomed."
UK fans get uncensored tale told on cross
26 November 2006The UK Broadcast of Confessions Tour is already better than the one on NBC earlier this week: Madonna was shown on the cross during the Live To Tell performance in all her glory without the second verse being cut! It seems they are getting less commercial breaks, the middle finger during Sorry was shown and I Love New York wasn't bleeped out.
Update: Unfortunately the missing songs (Drowned World, Paradise, Lucky Star) didn't make this version either...
Confessions DVD now set for January
25 November 2006French website FNAC now lists the Confessions Tour DVD with a release date set to January 22nd, 2007. This seems to be possible because the tour special is still broadcast worldwide all through December up to New Year's Eve. It is also said that the concert on the DVD will be unedited, unlike the version shown on tv.
The story of Madonna's guilty horse
Source: icWales - 25 November 2006The horse bought for Madonna's birthday by her husband Guy Ritchie grew up on a Welsh farm, it has been revealed.
Madonna's grey gelding Tom, real name Ystrad Dewi Briton, was a 47th birthday present.
He was one of half-a-dozen horses that Ritchie brought to their 1,200-acre Wiltshire she shares with him and her children Rocco and Lourdes for a birthday treat.
She chose the horse that was born and reared on Lloyd Jones's Ceredigion farm.
"She has inquired indirectly about where he was born and where he grazed during the first period of his life," said Lloyd, who writes a fortnightly Welsh language column in the Western Mail's Tuesday Country & Farming supplement.
"If she turned up, I'd invite her in for a cup of tea and give her a special welcome in the hopes that she would buy another - I'm a Cardi after all.
"And if they heard about it I think the people of Tregaron and Llanddewi Brefi would all be down here as well.
"They'd make good use of her for photos and autographs."
Ritchie gathered together a large number of horses with the idea that Madonna could choose the one she liked best - and at first she got it wrong.
The singer leapt straight onto the back of a polo pony, which promptly took off at speed and unseated her. She suffered a broken collarbone, broken hand and three broken ribs.
She said at the time, "It was a wake-up call to appreciate my life, to be more grateful for what I have. It reaffirms my continued aspirations to learn and do as much as I can while on this earth."
Later she decided that Tom was the horse for her and she has since taken riding lessons with British Olympic silver medallist William Fox-Pitt and has built a jumping course at her Wiltshire estate. Horses, horse-riding and riding accidents also featured prominently in Madonna's extravagant show at Wembley Arena in August.
It's all a different world to the small farm where Tom took his first unsteady steps in 1998 as the latest in a long and noble lineage of Wales's native horse breed.
His mother, Ystrad Dewi Victoria, has won many top prizes at the Royal Welsh Show, and is still with Lloyd Jones - and in foal again - at his home near Llanddewi Brefi.
Now a gelding, Tom is a grandson of the renowned Ebbw Victor, four times Royal Welsh male champion between 1983 and 1997, who won the coveted Prince of Wales cup before retiring in 1998.
Lloyd sold Tom as a foal shortly after he was born, but declined to reveal the price.
He emerged again in May, 2005, at the annual Brightwells Spring Sale at Builth Wells when he was bought by veteran pony dealer Tom Bowdler of Stafford for £1,250.
"He was a lovely cob and I bought him as a family horse," said Mr Bowdler, 80.
"Our eldest grand-daughter Kelly Lloyd loved riding him and I did not want to sell him, but things happen."
What happened was a conversation with a friend, trick rider Gerard Naprous, whose Devil's Horsemen stunt team provides popular entertainment at country shows, and who frequently works in the film industry.
"I was taking Tom - who was already called that when we bought him - to Oswestry Show and Gerard was there and said he had a client who was looking for a nice horse," said Mr Bowdler.
Soon afterwards an agent turned up at the Bowdler home - the aptly-named Cob Cottage in Norbury, Stafford.
"After a bit of talking he said the client was Madonna's husband looking for a 47th birthday present and they wanted to take him down to her estate for a few days for a trial. Then a great big lorry turned up and took him off and they had him for about two weeks before deciding to buy him."
Mr Bowdler said he and his wife Ann were horrified when they heard that Madonna had been thrown by a new horse on her 47th birthday.
They breathed again when they heard that it was a bay mare polo pony, one of half-a-dozen that the singer was being asked to choose from.
"It was all very exciting for us. We're a bit like country bumpkins really and I've been dealing in horses all my life. We've had Welsh cobs for years, often buying youngsters and bringing them on before selling them at Builth, but I've never known anything like this."
Mr Bowdler refused to say how much Madonna paid for the horse, but he said, "We were satisfied."
Mr Bowdler said Tom was a wonderful example of a Welsh cob. "They have a bit of bone on them and will carry an adult or a child," he said.
"He has made a very nice cob and I think he has a home for life now," he said.Now Mr Jones is half expecting to open his front door one day and find Madonna on the doorstep.
A tribute to Madonna's current and former selves
Source: The New York Times - 23 November 2006Will Madonna ever get old? She may acquire more gravitas, continue to mature emotionally, find greater meaning in her work with Kaballah, but will she ever look arthritic, puffy, menopausal? This increasingly seems doubtful. Madonna no longer re-invents, she maintains.
It is the sheer spectacularity of her physical form, the near menacing force of it, and that alone largely, that sustains your attention in Confessions Tour, the two-hour film of a concert she gave at the Wembley arena in London this past summer, which was broadcast on NBC Wednesday night and will be re-shown on Bravo.
With each tour Madonna has embarked on in recent years, her deltoids seem to grow more regally expansive and robust, and her arms more wing-like. Toward the end of the Wembley show, part of a worldwide tour pegged to her album Confessions On A Dance Floor, Madonna sings one of its hits, Hung Up, about a woman who migrates between boredom and agony as she waits for a man to call.
But who could this man possibly be? Unless Madonna is expecting a call from Wladimir Klitschko, about meeting him in the boxing ring, the sight of her affecting weakness leaves you feeling as you would if you were forced to watch Ethel Mermen impersonate Chet Baker.
Confessions Tour pays tribute to Madonna’s current and former selves with dizzying jump cuts and all the spectacle — the acrobatics, playground sets, 600 costume changes — that have become the hallmark of her concerts.
Today, Madonna, 47, is a concerned citizen of the world. She has made African AIDS orphans one of her causes and recently adopted a baby from Malawi, causing some controversy. At one point in the concert she sings Live To Tell against the backdrop of various images of children in Africa and a speeding tally of the number who have been left parentless.
But here again, her perfect musculature produces a kind of dissonance. Madonna doesn’t have an altruist’s body, she has a denier’s. What you’re tallying in your head when you watch her dance with the strength and agility of a 19-year old, are the number of hours she is spending each day practicing ashtanga, running hills, bench-pressing the weight of a Regency table. You are counting all the calories Madonna is not eating.
In addition to keeping up her legendary physical regimen, Madonna now also rides horses on her country estate in England. Some have seen this as another aspect of her Anglo-philic pretensions, but really what is surprising is that it took her so long to cotton on to a sport so steeped in the dynamic of submission and control.
Madonna the equestrian seems the most inevitable Madonna of all. Perhaps realizing that on some level, she opened her Wembley show looking as if she were about to ride in some re-imagining of Ascot. Madonna dances around, directing men on all fours before she rides an apparatus meant to look like an electric horse.
In Confessions Tour, Madonna travels back to the beginning of her career, before she was encumbered with the need to do good. The documentary I’m Going To Tell You A Secret, which follows her on her 2004 world tour, reveals a Madonna who wants to learn all the time, who hugs her assistant and dancers, who wishes she had been nicer to people when she was young.
Perhaps she knows that many in her audience miss the Madonna of so many Madonnas ago, the one who refused refinement and probably thought Oxford was just an insurance company.
Confessions Tour gets deeper and deeper into her early disco years as it progresses with Madonna getting in and out of a Saturday Night Fever tuxedo and Jane Fonda-aerobics gear before it’s all over, as if to tell us that sometimes, yes, she misses her, too.
Madonna rocks NBC but with an edited show
23 November 2006The long awaited NBC broadcast of the Confessions Tour finally happened last night. We at Mad-Eyes haven't seen the full broadcast yet but we've been reading fan reports and they are generally very positive.
Unfortunately the show has been interrupted by commercials several times and not everything was shown. During Live To Tell, the screens are shown until Madonna comes off the cross and the whole second verse was cut out unfortunately!
No surprise in Sorry remix video being cut, but also Drowned World, Paradise & Lucky Star were left out only to make room for commercials. Gone are all the speeches of Madonna too and the swearing in I Love New York is bleeped out.
But apart from all this, the special seems to be amazing, the screens are blended into the actual performance footages perfectly, notable highlights being the dazzling opener Future Lovers, Music Inferno (its intro is absent though) and the closer Hung Up. We can't wait for the European broadcast! (thanx to Drownedmadonna for the screencap)
Madonna brings The English Roses to tv shopping
Source: Elites TV - 21 November 2006Just in time for the holidays, Madonna will make her TV shopping debut on HSN to promote an exclusive set of books from The English Roses, her successful children's book series.
Madonna recently sat down with HSN's Callie Northagen to share candid details about the inspiration behind her newest book, The English Roses: Too Good To Be True, which will air on the shopping network and www.HSN.com November 24, 25 and 26. HSN, an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ:IACI), will donate a portion of the proceeds of the books to Raising Malawi (www.raisingmalawi.org), an orphan-care initiative benefiting the children of Malawi in Africa. Madonna will donate all of her proceeds to the organization as well.
"Launching The English Roses book series and my new title, The English Roses: Too Good To Be True, through this broadcast is a great chance to reach millions of homes," Madonna said.
"HSN is thrilled to be partnering with Madonna to support 'Raising Malawi' through the offering of her latest children's book The English Roses: Too Good To Be True," said Bill Brand, Senior Vice President of Programming at HSN.
"These books are terrific holiday gifts that give back by supporting a worthwhile cause. Madonna's appearance on HSN will provide our viewers with interesting details about her beautiful books and allow them to discover a completely different side of this extremely talented artist."
HSN will offer the English Roses gift set (HSN item # 214-019) for $29.95, which includes: the original The English Roses and its sequel The English Roses: Too Good to Be True; Madonna Reads, an audio CD of Madonna reading the first five of her popular children's books; and an exclusive, collectible 8 X 10 illustration. HSN show times are available online at www.HSN.com.
Too Good to Be True continues the story of five young girls -- the best of friends -- and their adventures in planning their first school dance. Their friendship is tested by the arrival of new student Dominic de la Guardia, whose dashing looks and charming manners have them vying for his attention. The colorful 64-page jacketed hardcover is stylishly illustrated by Stacy Peterson.
Madonna made publishing history with the global release of The English Roses published simultaneously in 30 languages in more than 100 countries in 2003. It became the fastest-selling book written by a first-time children's author and stayed on the New York Times' Children's Bestseller List for 18 weeks.
The English Roses is now available in 40 languages worldwide. Her following four books -- Mr. Peabody's Apples, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, The Adventures of Abdi, and Lotsa de Casha -- are also worldwide bestsellers and will be available on HSN and www.HSN.com.
In the United States, Madonna's books are published by Callaway Arts & Entertainment and distributed by Penguin Young Readers Group. Foreign rights are licensed by The Wylie Agency, New York and London.
Madonna on Access Hollywood tonight
21 November 2006A newsletter from Madonna.com reminds us of the Confessions Tour broadcast tomorrow, but they also report about an interview at Access Hollywood, aired tonight, where Madonna is expected to share her thoughts of the tv broadcast and her tour memories. Check your local listings for interview times!
~ Regarding the broadcast, there are some unconfirmed rumours about some songs being cut, making the show more focused at Madonna's biggest hits and her latest Confessions On A Dance Floor...
Confessions DVD to include unedited Live To Tell
Source: New York Post - 20 November 2006When Madonna brought her Confessions tour to London’s Wembley Arena last August, more than one British critic compared the spectacle to a circus.
"Madonna's Confessions tour... is an all-round extravaganza of singing, dancing, dressing up, gymnastics, innovative design and creative use of video. It's not so much a pop concert as a 21st Century circus," wrote Tim De Lisle in The Sunday Mail.
“[Is it] the greatest show on earth?" asked Kitty Empire in The Observer. "Not quite. There are moments of exquisiteness... and bits where your buttocks clench involuntarily. Madonna's use of visuals is usually to blame for the latter."
Like them or not, the visual aspects of Madonna’s concert - which traveled the world in support of her Confessions On A Dance Floor CD - will be front and center this week on NBC as Madonna brings one of her concerts to network TV for the first time.
Actually, make that two concerts; this two-hour special is derived from two of the eight shows she performed at the 12,750-seat arena last summer. And make that most - not all - of the shows’ visual elements.
Most famously, a scene in which Madonna is suspended crucifixion-style from a giant cross has been excised from the special reportedly under pressure from network executives.
One of the special's executive producers insists the discussions over the crucifixion scenes were not acrimonious, as some reports indicated.
"In the end, it was her decision [to cut the scene]," says the producer, Guy Oseary, who is also one of Madonna's two managers. "She came up with [the solution]. She was told the information. She just sat on it and said, 'Here's what I want to do.'"
Her decision was likely made easier by the fact that a Confessions DVD, due to be released soon, will contain the crucifixion scene.
And, since the tightly choreographed shows on this particular tour were each one hour and 50 minutes, not much had to be cut to produce "Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live."
In this tour’s concerts, Madonna was first seen emerging from a giant disco ball dressed in a Jean-Paul Gaultier costume inspired by riding gear.
Indeed, the Wembley concerts' first themed segment - of four - is titled "Equestrian," followed by "Bedouin," "Never Mind the Bollocks" and "Disco."
Through it all, four massive video screens show images that are in constant motion.
The Confessions tour was the highest-grossing concert tour ever mounted by a female artist. The album has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.
With Madonna's popularity soaring, she and her people felt the time was right to put her on network TV. "We felt like reaching the masses," Oseary says.
"And with this album, at this time, it felt right."
Sneak peek of tour broadcast
17 November 2006The broadcast of the Confessions Tour is just a few days away on NBC (Wednesday, November 22nd 8 pm EST), so they made a website dedicated to Madonna. You can watch an amazing commercial with Music Inferno being played during additional footage of Like It Or Not, Get Together & Hung Up.
There's also a gallery with 44 gorgeous pictures of almost all the performed songs. We don't know if this is an indication of which songs are left out, but there are no shots of Isaac, Sorry & Drowned World. The infamous cross performance of Live To Tell is included, but Madonna will be shown only when she comes down from the cross and sings the bridge.
Madonna rubbishes new adoption reports
Source: ContactMusic - 17 November 2006Pop star Madonna has slammed reports she plans to adopt a baby girl from Malawi. The singer and her husband Guy Ritchie made headlines when they adopted one-year-old David Banda from the African country last month (OCT06). She was this week claimed to reveal, "I'm going to adopt another Malawian child very quickly.
A baby girl this time, in order to redress the balance. "But first I would like to give Rocco and Lourdes a little time to get used to David." Madonna's representative, Liz Rosenberg, tells American publication Life + Style the reports are false and the quotes are fabricated.
She says, "Madonna has stated that she wishes she could adopt all the children of Malawi, and in a way I guess she is, building her orphan care centre through the Raising Malawi Organisation. "But there are no plans to actually adopt another child."
Celebrating Confessions On A Dance Floor
17 November 2006Now that we're anticipating the broadcast of the tour, let's not forget that Madonna's latest album turned a year old. Although the exact anniversary date happened earlier this week, but still it's an important landmark to remember. Confessions On A Dance Floor, Madonna's eleventh album was heralded as a return to form, to dance music.
Produced by Stuart Price, Mirwais Ahmadzaï and Bloodshy & Avant, Madonna paid homage to the music of the 70s and 80s, including Abba, Giorgio Moroder, Donna Summer, Kraftwerk & The Pet Shop Boys, but with a new twist, making the record to sound current, not dated.
Four singles were released from the project, Hung Up, Sorry, Get Together & Jump, earning 4 top 10 hits in the UK, including two #1s.
Unfortunately Madonna is not welcomed on the US charts anymore, but she still managed to score a top 10 hit with Hung Up. The Abba-sampling track was a huge worldwide hit, becoming one of Madonna's greatest ever hits (joining the likes of La Isla Bonita, Like A Prayer, Vogue and Music).
With the help of a promo tour and a world tour, the album sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, an amazing feat for an artist after more than 20 years in the music business. We're looking forward to Madonna's next effort and we hope it will be just as irresistible and catchy as Confessions On A Dance Floor!
Like A Prayer among all-time top 100 albums
16 November 2006Time Magazine posted a list of their all-time top 100 albums, with Madonna having one entry with 1989's Like A Prayer:
This is the moment Madonna peaked as a pop star and mass media manipulator. First, the manipulation. In the title's track's video, Madonna kisses a saint, shows off some self-induced stigmata and dances in a field of burning crosses.
Caving in to protests from religious groups, Pepsi pulled out of a Madonna sponsorship deal (she held on to a $5 million payday) and the whole episode generated enough publicity to ensure the album's debut at No. 1. Brilliant.
As it happens, so was the record. Like A Prayer was a genuinely soulful first single and Express Yourself merged Madonna's dance sensibility with her strongest feminist message.
Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard and Prince (yes, that Prince) rescued the few middling tracks with production that elevated Madonna's voice out of its early bubble gum phase and into something resembling a real instrument.
Jump Bubbles Under
16 November 2006After Get Together, Jump also misses the Billboard Hot 100 but enters the Bubbling Under chart at #5 (#105 if we add it to the Hot 100).
It is Madonna's 3rd single to reach only the Bubbling Under, after Everybody & Get Together. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely that it will go higher.
Madonna gets a World Music Award
Source: Launch - 16 November 2006Last night, the World Music Awards were held in Earls Court, London. The ceremony also saw Madonna, 48, cement her position as the Queen of Pop following criticism over her adoption of Malawian baby David Banda.
She was named the World's Best Pop Artist, beating nominees Robbie Williams and Justin Timberlake at the show, hosted by actress and party animal Lindsay Lohan, 20.
Madonna and Abba unite?
Source: WENN - 13 November 2006Madonna is set to go into the studio with Abba stars Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid 'Frida' Lyngstad after holding talks with the Swedish pop legends.
The Dancing Queens agreed to record material with Madonna after being impressed with her sampling of Gimme Gimme Gimme on her Hung Up single.
A source tells The Sun newspaper, "Madonna has been in contact with Agnetha and Frida for a few months.
"Madonna was the driving force behind the idea because she was so happy with her sample of Gimme Gimme Gimme on Hung Up.
"Agnetha and Frida loved it, they really warmed to Madonna for rejuvenating one of their most famous tracks."
Abba songwriters Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson will not be involved.
Bono attacks Madonna adoption critics
Source: ContactMusic - 13 November 2006Rocker Bono has applauded Madonna for adopting Malawian baby David Banda, and attacked those who criticised her for "giving him a better chance in life". The U2 frontman is baffled by the negative publicity surrounding the singer and husband Guy Ritchie's rescue mission for the one-year-old.
Speaking in Australia - where U2 are currently on tour - Bono says, "Madonna should be applauded for helping to take a child out of the worst poverty imaginable and giving him a better chance in life.
"Baby David is lucky to have been adopted by someone who can give him a chance of survival in this world and I don't think it's fair that people are criticising her." He also dismisses criticism of the couple's decision to adopt a child with living family - baby David has a father and grandmother - insisting it doesn't make him any less needy.
The 46-year-old adds, "About 20 years ago when my wife Ali and I went to Africa, shortly after Live Aid, a man who quite clearly loved his child came up to us and begged us to take him.
"It's totally heartbreaking but he asked us to take his child home with us because he couldn't feed him. This happens all the time in parts of Africa where unthinkable poverty means people simply can't feed their children."
Madonna inspires father for new wine
Source: ContactMusic - 13 November 2006Pop superstar Madonna is the inspiration behind a new batch of wine created by her father. Tony Ciccone hopes to secure US nationwide distribution for his limited-edition 'Madonna Wine' , which comes all the way from Ciccone Vineyard in Michigan.
The hand-numbered bottles are signed by the singer, her dad, and feature images from her recent Confessions tour - and will cost $39.99 (GBP22) a bottle. Family friend John Russo says, "It's the best wine Tony ever made." Ciccone senior has been running the vineyard with his wife, Madonna's stepmother, JOAN since 1995, reports the New York Post.
Jump enters UK Top 10
12 November 2006Tuesday we'll celebrate the first anniversary of Madonna's latest succesful album Confessions On A Dance Floor. What better way to celebrate than with a high chart position for the fourth single? After a debut at #59 in the UK singles chart, it jumped none less than 50 places to #9! This makes Jump Madonna's 59th UK Top 10 hit. Congratulations M.!!
In other chart news: in Flanders (Belgium) Jump debuted at #41. It hasn't yet entered the Ultratop singles chart in Wallonia.
Tour DVD on december 11?
12 November 2006After we reported that Warner Music Belgium announced the release of the CD/DVD release by the end of the year, we see now that Fnac France is listing a DVD and a CD/DVD package for the Confessions Tour with a tentative release date of December 11th, 2006.
Meanwhile, the Confessions Tour TV special will be broadcast by several TV channels, including:
22 Nov.: NBC
26 Nov.: Channel 4 (UK)
30 Nov. & 1 Dec.: Bravo
7 Dec.: HBO Latin America
--: Music Box Italy
--: Danish TV
--: Vara (Holland)
Kylie strikes a pose
12 November 2006After being out for over a year for breast cancer treatment, Kylie Minogue resumed her Showgirl Tour (renamed to the Homecoming Tour) with a first show in Sydney, Australia yesterday evening. The Princess of Pop made a tribute to the Queen of Pop by intertwining her song Burning Up with Madonna's Vogue. Check YouTube for videos of the performance.
Madonna gets 2 Billboard Touring Awards
Source: Billboard - 10 November 2006Another multiple winner was Madonna, a finalist in four categories. She won the top boxscore award for her $22 million, eight-sellout stand at London's Wembley Arena on her Confessions tour, while Madonna's team of Guy Oseary and Angela Becker won the top manager award.
Bump for Jump in Chart Beat
9 November 2006Billboard's Fred Bronson dedicated a part of his weekly column, Chart Beat to Madonna's latest Club #1:
"Jump" is a popular song title that has adorned hits by Van Halen, Kris Kross and the Pointer Sisters (with the added parenthetical title "For My Love" for that last act).
Now, Jump is the title of Madonna's latest single -- which moves up one rung from its last week position of No. 2 to become the material girl's 37th No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Madonna set the record for the most No. 1s on this chart a long time ago and has been widening her lead for years. The artist with the second highest total of chart-topping Club Play hits is Janet Jackson, with 16.
Jump is the fourth No. 1 hit on this survey from Madonna's Confessions On A Dance Floor (Warner Bros.) album. The four No. 1s have hit consecutively and follow two runs of three No. 1 hits in a row.
This current run of four started with Hung Up exactly one year ago this week and continued with Sorry in March and Get Together in June. It's the longest streak of No. 1 Club Play hits for Madonna since she had seven in a row, from March 1999 to November 2001.
Those seven chart-topping songs were: Nothing Really Matters, Beautiful Stranger, American Pie, Music, Don't Tell Me, What It Feels Like For A Girl and Impressive Instant. That last song advanced to No. 1 exactly five years ago this week.
Malawian officials praise Madonna
Source: AP - 9 November 2006Two senior Malawian officials have praised Madonna for adopting a child from their country - and rebuked those who have criticized the pop star.
Madonna's efforts to adopt a motherless 13-month-old boy, David Banda, from the African country have set off a media storm. The 48-year-old singer and her husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, who have a home in London, were granted an interim adoption order by Malawi's High Court last month.
Some critics have said it would have been better for the child if Madonna had helped his impoverished father, Yohane Banda, to care for him in Malawi. Madonna has said Banda refused her offer of financial assistance to help him keep his son.
"What Madonna has done is great," said Education Minister Anna Kachikho during a visit Thursday to a school in the Scottish capital. "Here is Madonna who has picked a son from a Malawian father who has lost a wife and nobody takes care of, and she says, 'I would like to educate and bring home that child.'
I'm against whatever people are saying against Madonna, if there is credit to give we should credit Madonna because she is saving the life of this young David. Why condemn Madonna? ... We should thank Madonna," she said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Joyce Banda - no relation to the boy - said Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, had helped several thousand children in the southeast African nation.
"On top of all that she has opened up her home to this one child. So it's not just about David, it's about her reaching out to Africa, to a country called Malawi, to empower 4,000 children which not many people have done," Banda said. "So the Malawi government is grateful."
The ministers were attending the launch of two Scottish-led training programs aimed at helping teachers from Malawi.
Brad Pitt praises Madonna
Source: AZ Central - 9 November 2006Brad Pitt has spoken out in support of Madonna's decision to adopt a Malawian baby.
The 'Ocean's Thirteen' actor - who is joint guardian of Angelina Jolie's two adopted children, five-year-old Cambodian Maddox and Ethiopian girl Zahara, who is 22-months-old - commended the singer and her husband Guy Ritchie for their adoption of 13-month-old David.
Brad told US TV show 'Access Hollywood': "The most important thing is that their intentions are right. They are trying to give a home, an education and good health care to a kid who probably wouldn't get that. Their hearts are in the right place and they will know what to do."
Alicia Keys supports Madonna adoption
Source: ContactMusic - 9 November 2006Alicia Keys has voiced her support for Madonna's attempt to adopt Malawian David Banda - and believes celebrities have a important part to play in the fight against poverty.
The Fallin' star, who hosts her annual Black Ball charity gig in New York on Thursday (09NOV06), was disappointed by the backlash Madonna received following her decision to adopt the 13-month-old last month (OCT06).
She says, "I think (it's) horrible, and I think (it) really degrades and tries to discourage people who do have a voice, who do have power, who do have money, who do have the ability to reach out to people and get involved in situations.
"I do think that it has become more on people's radars, whereas before it kind of came across as, 'Oh, it's so far away.' It's really positive to know that it is a global community. "That's why when I speak and I use my voice, I like to emphasize the way that everyday people like you and me can really be a huge hero."
The Black Ball, which raises money for HIV and AIDS sufferers, will feature performances by Keys, David Bowie and Damian Marley.
Madonna bruised by paparazzi
Source: Access Hollywood - 9 November 2006Madonna is sporting a bruise on her cheek after getting jostled by the paparazzi at Heathrow airport over the weekend – while she was holding her adoptive son, David, a source close to the singer tells PEOPLE.
"She had the baby in her arms when it happened," says the source. "When she landed in London, there was a lot of pushing and shoving. She was jostled around. She got hit in the paparazzi's commotion."
David, the 1-year-old she is in the process of adopting from Malawi, was not hurt in the scuffle. "Thank God the baby is OK," says the source.
Over the weekend Madonna returned to London from New York, where she'd spent the week promoting her newest children's book, Too Good to Be True, and her upcoming NBC TV special "Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live from London," as well making several media appearances to respond the controversy surrounding David's adoption.
Newsweek interview on Belgian TV EEN
7 November 2006Madonna's interview given last week to BBC's Newsweek is shown on Belgian channel EEN tonight at 9.40 pm CET. Madonna talked about her recent adoption with saying she wouldn't rule out another one. Click here for more info.
Madge dash to let dad see Dave
Source: The Sun - 7 November 2006Madonna is taking baby David on a sad visit to see her dad - who is being treated for cancer.
The terrible family illness comes at a time when Madonna has been getting a lot of flak over her adoption of tot David Banda from a Malawian orphanage.
Privately, the family must be going through absolute hell.
The singer is preparing to take her three children on a harrowing trip to see their grandad Tony Ciccone in hospital in America.
Madonna's father has been getting chemotherapy after surgery for colon cancer.
The three kids - David, Rocco and Lourdes - will accompany Madonna to see Tony on a one-day private visit at the Leelanau County Hospitalin Michigan near his home.
A family source tells me that Tony is not in immediate trouble and his treatment is going well.
But, clearly, this is a serious illness and Madonna is keen for her kids to meet Tony while he is in relatively good form.
Tony featured a lot in Madonna's documentary I'm Going To Tell You A Secret which followed her 2004 Re-Invention Tour.
In the film Madonna visited her Italian Catholic dad at his vineyard in Michigan and then he was filmed going to one of her shows.
The family pal said: “Madonna is keen to introduce David to his grandad — although the circumstances are less than ideal.
"He has been diagnosed with colon cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy."
"But at the moment the prognosis from the doctors is as good as can be expected."
"It is just a shame that the family are going through this secret sadness when it should be a joyful time with the new baby."
"And Madonna has been getting a lot of criticism for the baby adoption."
For many years Madonna, who had a strict upbringing, rebelled against her father.
But during the Re-Invention Tour they became the closest they had been for years. She now credits him with being a major force in her tough personality.
A pastor's perspective on Live To Tell performance
Source: North Denver News - 7 November 2006Recently, I received a forwarded email, which had been circulated by the American Family Association with the subject line reading "NBC, Madonna Set To Mock The Crucifixion of Christ."
I generally delete forwarded email, but this one was sent from someone I knew and I was curious about what AFA was saying. The advice, within the email, was in big bold red letters encouraging the reader to "Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire email list of family and friends."
The email claimed that Madonna was mocking the crucifixion of Jesus by performing while on a mirrored cross, and that Rosie O'Donnell, ABC and NBC were bashing Christians. The claims were so outrageous I decided to see for myself.
It was easy enough to find a video clip of her performance and the lyrics online. After viewing the Madonna's concert video clip on YouTube.com, I was livid. Her performance, which is drawing so much attention, is anything but a mockery of Christianity.
The reality is she is expressing the quintessence of Jesus' teachings through her performance. She sings Live To Tell from the cross, then at one point, the curtains close slightly, Madonna is lowered to the floor with the cross in the background.
Behind her, the cross is flanked by video images of African children, a written message stating, "12 million children are orphaned by AIDS.” Followed by "For I was hungry, you gave me food" "I was naked, and you gave me clothing." "Whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers,” "you did it to me." "Matthew 25"
This powerful and very reverent performance calls the world to take notice that there are 12 million children who are currently orphaned due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. 12 million! Madonna is trying to wake us up to the fact that we are called to care for those who are most often forgotten, in this case, the growing number of children who are now alone because of their parents have died of AIDS.
She is reminding each one of us, especially Christians, of the central message of Jesus. Jesus has called each of us to not only to identify with the suffering, but more importantly, to follow his example of providing active care, support and healing to those who suffer and then to do all that we can to end their suffering. Madonna's very poignant and dramatic performance is a powerful call to action.
I invite you not to just take my word for it, go and view the scene online for yourself. Read the words of the song.
I can't begin to express just how furious I get when a so-called Christian organization makes such outrageous accusations, in this case misrepresenting Madonna's performance in such a perverse manner, in order to promote their agenda.
American Family Association, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, among others, have a very clear political agenda, which is predicated on rewriting the Gospel so as to fit it into their goals of a fundamentalist Christian theocracy. This is the very religiosity that Jesus was condemning for he was very clear about legalistic and rigid religious expression.
My hunch is this is the latest ploy to add to the AFA mailing list and money-raising machine for the extreme wrong wing of the Republican party. My hope is that Madonna's Confessions Tour is educating millions of concert-goers to the AIDS crisis in Africa which will create an active humanitarian response, which would make Jesus proud! May we live to tell it!Madonna: Abba is so fabba
Source: Victoria Newton @ The Sun - 7 November 2006Madonna has helped write the sleeve notes for the Abba Greatest Hits album, out yesterday [out on the 20th in the rest of the world].
She says of the Swedish supergroup: "Abba's timeless music continues to inspire me. It's joyous. Standing still when you hear Abba is impossible. When I started recording my Confessions On A Dance Floor album, Stuart Price (her producer) and I played their music constantly. Hung Up is my homage to their contribution to music."
My own confession is a guilty love for Abba - who have to be the best pop act of all time. But I'm in good company. They are also Noel Gallagher's favourite group.
~ Madonna also paid homage to Abba on the Confessions Tour where she had an outfit inspired by what the girls wore on their last world tour and wore a cape with 'Dancing Queen' written on it during Lucky Star.
BBC reviews Jump
Source: BBC Newsround - 7 November 2006Release date
6 November
The introduction
When Madonna isn't making the news headlines by adopting children from Africa she is also known for making great pop songs. Jump is the fourth single to be taken from her chart-topping album, Confessions On A Dance Floor.
The sound
It is another piece of electronic pop which plods along at a steady pace without actually going anywhere.
The lyrics
The queen of pop is singing about being brave and going for your dreams." There's only so much you can learn in one place," breathes Madonna as the song begins. "The more that I wait, the more time that I waste."
Will you still be humming it next week?
It's not as good other singles, Hung Up and Sorry, but Madonna hasn't lost her magic touch when it comes to making a fab song.
Will it make the charts?
Easily. Every Madonna song from the last 22 years has made the Top 20 and Jump will leap up the charts like all her other hits.
Rating
4/5
~ In other UK news, Jump is currently at #5 in the midweeks of the singles chart, hopefully it can hold in the top 10 by the end of the week.
The Empress strikes back
5 November 2006On Oct. 12, Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie, were granted temporary custody of a 13-month-old Malawian orphan named David Banda.
This sparked a storm of accusations, ranging from the criminal—that Madonna used her fame to bypass adoption procedures—to the scathing—that Madonna is a dilettante, treating an African child as this season's must-have accessory.
The legal issue has been laid to rest—no laws were violated—but Madonna still had plenty to get off her chest in a rare print interview with TIME's Josh Tyrangiel.
TIME: Why do you think people are so upset by the fact that you adopted a Malawian child?
Madonna: People or the media? Because I don't think people really give a shit. But when you throw in things like, I'm a celebrity and I somehow got special treatment, or make the implication of kidnapping, it gets mixed into a stew and it sells lots of papers. But care? People don't care and the media certainly doesn't care.
What they should care about is that there are over a million orphans in Malawi, and following me around is just a gross misappropriation of attention and money. But I do think there's a certain amount of nationalism and racism thrown in there.
I mean, there's a lot of Brits—reporters on the street—who've said, "Why don't you adopt a kid from Britain?" Or, "Why did you adopt a black child?" So a lot of people's hangups and 'isms' are sort of mixed into this, too. It's just kind of a cocktail for disaster in terms of media perception.
Madonna: Adoption criticism a blessing
Source: MSNBC - 4 November 2006Despite her provocative reputation, Madonna says she wasn't prepared for the media storm that followed her adoption of a 1-year-old African boy from Malawi.
In an interview broadcast Wednesday on NBC's Today and Dateline NBC, the 48-year-old pop star told NBC News' Meredith Vieira that the criticism from both the public and civil-rights groups took her by surprise.
"When I had my daughter, people accused me that I did it as a publicity stunt. I expected that. I didn't expect to be accused of kidnapping, or of doing something illegal. I didn't expect to be demonized."
Critics have accused Madonna of using her star status and wealth to circumvent Malawi's adoption laws in order to get David.
The public flaying was depressing, Madonna told Vieira, and also a waste of news space. "With all the chaos, pain and suffering in the world, the fact that my adoption of a child who was living in an orphanage was the number one story for a week in the world. To me, that says more about our inability to focus on the real problems."
The pop star went to Africa as part of a documentary on the Malawi orphans. It was at one of the orphanages that a baby named David caught her eye. The boy Madonna now describes as flirtatious, hysterically funny and possessing a terrible temper lost his mother to AIDs, and three of his siblings also died. He also had a 104-degree temperature and pneumonia.
If Madonna had not received permission to take David to a hospital, she says he would not have survived. She said she also met with David's father, and offered to help his family financially if David returned to his village. According to Madonna, David's father said "No."
Vieira says that NBC spoke with David's father, who confirmed Madonna's story. For her part, Madonna agreed that she would take David back to Malawi at least every three to four years.
Three weeks have passed since David came to London to live with Madonna, her children Lourdes, 9 and Rocco, 6, and husband film director Guy Ritchie. According to his adoptive mother, he's acting like a typical child his age. "He's developed attachments. Now he throws tantrums. Now he doesn't want food, or he wants food."
But the criticism hasn't stopped. "I have people say to me on the streets - 'Why did you adopt a black child?' " Madonna says she doesn't dignify them with an answer.
In her career, her music and her life, Madonna said that she will continue to provoke. However, she's learned that being provocative just to provoke is a waste, and that she now has messages she wants to share.
In keeping with this philosophy, Madonna says all the attention to David's adoption is actually a blessing. "Now people know about Malawi. Now people know about the orphans there. And now David's home."
NBC will broadcast a two-hour concert special of Madonna - minus a controversial crucifix scene - on Nov. 22. "Madonna: The Confessions Tour, Live From London" was taped this summer at Wembley Stadium in London.
Madonna vaules motherhood
Source: OhmyNews - 4 November 2006Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Tirdad Derakhshani wants the British press to know that "just" is a very important word.
In an interview with U.S. TV show "Dateline," Madonna admitted that her children complain that she's away from home too much. When the interviewer pointed out that she is rich enough not to work, Madonna replied:
"Just staying home and looking after my children and being a mother and a wife is not what I want. I want more."
It wasn't long before the British press had jumped on the story. On Nov. 3 The Daily Mail, well known for its defense of traditional family values, quoted Madonna in an article headlined "Being a mother and wife isn't what I want." It begins with the words: "Madonna said yesterday that she does not want to be a wife and a mother."
Derakhshani quips: "Do her older kids, Lourdes, 10, and Rocco, 6, know? It's The Mother Of All Scandals! Well, no...Guess the Brit journos didn't register the just, which, changes the meaning or something. It's a righteous word, just. A just word."
Wanting to be more than "just" a wife and mother is very different to not wishing to be married or have children at all!
Madonna expressed a desire that many modern mothers will recognize. They love and cherish their children, but like fathers they also want to have a life and identity outside the home.
It may be that Madonna was wrong to use the word "just" because it downplays the important (but unpaid) work carried out by stay-at-home mothers.
Phrases like "just a housewife," and "just a mom" trip off the tongue very easily in today's materialistic West. Just is not simply a righteous word, but one that is thrown about far too often.
In fact it is a mistake to say that Madonna herself undervalues motherhood. The singer lost her mom to cancer when she was little girl. She told "Dateline:" "I hope to be the mother that I didn't have, to David [her newly adopted son], and as I have hoped to be the mother to my other children."
Bono praises mother Madonna
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald - 4 November 2006Rock superstar Bono has backed Madonna's controversial adoption of a needy African child, saying "I think it's really great".
The U2 singer, who is also perhaps the best-known anti-poverty campaigner in the world, has praised Madonna and her husband Guy Richie for the adoption of David Banda, a child from Malawi.
"I'm very happy that Madonna should offer succour and more than that to a young boy," Bono said. "He's got a great opportunity now."
Bono, who is in Australia for U2's Vertigo tour, revealed he and his wife were once offered an African child by a father desperate for his son to have a better life, but they were unable to take him home. Bono said the child, whose face haunts him to this day, is the reason he began campaigning for African poverty relief.
"One of the most profound moments I've had, one of the reasons I think I'm doing what I'm doing, was because in the 1980s I was working with my wife Ali in an orphanage in northern Ethiopia," he said.
"On the last day, a man came to me with me with his son and offered his son to me, by saying 'if you don't take my son, he will surely die. If you take him, you can give him a great life'.
"I could tell this man loved his son, he was a very noble-looking man, and it was ripping his heart to say this. And I didn't, I did not take that [boy].
"It was not the rules of engagement in the camp we were working in, we couldn't do that. It's strange, because I can't remember the boy's name, but I think about him all the time.
"Oddly enough, when people ask me 'why are you doing that' [the activism, the campaigning], his face comes back."
Bono said he and Ali had an emotional moment in their Dublin kitchen a few weeks ago, when prints from their first-ever African trip (which were being used for a new book) revealed a photo of the boy.
"I didn't know I even had a photograph of him," said Bono, who was openly emotional about the discovery of the picture.
"So I'm very happy that Madonna should offer succour and more than that to a young boy. He's got a great opportunity now.
"There's so many children in the world - there's really enough to go around."
Madonna has come under fire for taking the Malawi boy back to Britain. But the singer said she had been astounded by the criticism.
The support from Bono, who has an in-depth knowledge of African health and social issues, is a much-needed endorsement for the singer's actions.
Bono, who is due to perform at U2's opening Australian concert in Brisbane on Tuesday night, also revealed the band was planning a new album. "I think a U2 album will not be that far away, I hope," he said. "We've hit the vein, I think."
The band will release a collection of singles, which includes two new tracks, on November 18.
Like many Australians - and horse enthusiasts across the world - the Irishman will be watching the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.
"I don't think I can get to the Cup, because it's a show day, which is really, really annoying," said Bono, with a laugh.
"But I will be watching it - this is the best horse race in the world. I'll have the various horse whisperers on the phone from back home telling me how I can lose my money."
Madonna scores 37th Hot Dance #1!
4 November 2006As expected, Jump rises to the top spot on next week's Billboard Hot Dance / Club Play chart, making it to be Madonna's 37th #1 on that chart! It's also her 4th chart topper from Confessions On A Dance Floor. She previously scored four number ones from Music and five from American Life. Naturally, she's holding the record with the most #1s on this chart.
Let's look at the staggering list of number ones:
Holiday / Lucky Star (1983)
Like A Virgin (1984)
Material Girl (1985)
Angel / Into The Groove (1985)
Open Your Heart (1987)
Causing A Commotion (1987)
You Can Dance (LP Cuts) (1987)
Like A Prayer (1989)
Express Yourself (1989)
Keep It Together (1990)
Vogue (1990)
Justify My Love (1990)
Erotica (1992)
Deeper And Deeper (1992)
Fever (1993)
Secret (1994)
Bedtime Story (1995)
Don't Cry For Me Argentina (1997)
Frozen (1998)
Ray Of Light (1998)
Nothing Really Matters (1999)
Beautiful Stranger (1999)
American Pie (2000)
Music (2000)
Don't Tell Me (2000)
What It Feels Like For A Girl (2001)
Impressive Instant (2001)
Die Another Day (2002)
American Life (2003
Hollywood (2003)
Me Against The Music (2003)
Nothing Fails (2003)
Love Profusion (2004)
Hung Up (2005)
Sorry (2006)
Get Together (2006)
Jump (2006
Jump single out in Europe today
3 November 2006Finally, one of the highlights of Confessions On A Dance Floor got its single release today in selected European countries (including Belgium, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands). The UK release will follow on Monday and the American Maxi-Single will be out on Tuesday. The 3-track single and the maxi contains a previously unreleased track History, written and produced by Madonna and Stuart Price, that didn't make the album.
Jump is available in the following formats:
EU 2-track CD Single
1. Jump (Album Version)
2. Jump (Extended Album Version)
EU 3-track CD Maxi-Single
1. Jump (Radio Edit)
2. Jump (Junior Sanchez's Misshapes Mix)
3. History (Unreleased B Side)
US 6-track CD Maxi-Single
1. Jump (Radio Edit)
2. Jump (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)
3. Jump (Axwell Remix)
4. Jump (Junior Sanchez's Misshapes Mix)
5. Jump (Extended Album Version)
6. History
Madonna unrewarded & bashed at MTV EMA
2 November 2006After a hugely successful year in Europe and stealing the show in 2005's MTV EMA, one would have expected that Madonna could at least get some recognition in the European industry. But just like at the VMAs earlier this year, Madonna didn't get any awards (lost to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justin Timberlake & Christina Aguilera). But it seems nowadays there can't be any show without any Madonna references.
First Borat/Ali G joked about selling his newborn baby to Madonna, then around halfway through the show British comedian Avid Merrion appeared in a pink leotard and an ugly mask with dancers dressed as babies. At first he imitated Madonna's video but then started talking and made fun of Madonna's adoption which, at this point is quite boring and tasteless. Is this how MTV had to thank Madonna for defining MTV for almost 25 years? Maybe they thought keeping the disco balls from last year would be enough...
Chili Peppers take on Madonna at MTV show
Source: Reuters - 2 November 2006The Red Hot Chili Peppers take on queen of pop Madonna on Thursday at the MTV Europe Awards, one of the industry's biggest nights outside the United States.
The U.S. rockers head a star-studded field with four nominations, including in the best group, best song and best album categories.
Madonna, who stole the show at last year's ceremony in Lisbon with her performance in eye-catching purple leather boots and matching leotard, is one of a host of acts with three nominations each.
She is in competing for best female, best pop act and best album with Confessions On A Dance Floor.
She is joined by Colombian-born Shakira, Christina Aguilera and rapper Kanye West of the United States and Canadian hip hop star Nelly Furtado.
~ Unfortunately Madonna is not expected to appear on the show that airs live on MTV @ 9 pm CET.
Madonna's name has new meaning in Malawi
Source: AP - 2 November 2006Words that might describe Madonna: diva, maverick, humanitarian. But in a language spoken widely in the African country of Malawi, her name takes on a new - and unintentionally funny - meaning.
"People started to say my name and they had never heard of Madonna," the 48-year-old singer, talking about her recent visit to Malawi, told AP Television in an interview Tuesday.
"And, in Chichewa, the word 'madonna' means 'distinguished white lady,' so I think they got very confused."
Madonna's efforts to adopt a 13-month boy, David Banda, have set off a media storm. She and her husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, were granted an interim adoption order by Malawi's High Court last month.
The boy has joined her two children - daughter Lourdes, 9, and son Rocco, 6 - in England. What is it like to have a little one again?
"It's nice," she said. "It's lovely. It's so great to hold him, you know, and he's just starting to walk. And just to see that - the whole world being new again - and to see the world through his eyes is wonderful."
Madonna has written a new children's book, "Too Good to Be True," and said she wants to direct a movie and has a project in mind. She also has an NBC concert special set to air Nov. 22.
When asked if she would retire to focus on her children full time, a smiling Madonna replied, "No. I love my job."
Jump misses the Billboard Hot 100
2 November 2006Although the remix-edits EP of Jump reached the top 20 of iTunes and the single gained 5 million audience impressions on radio, unfortunately it still doesn't give enough points to make it debut on the Billboard Hot 100 or even the Bubbling Under. While the maxi-single (with the previously unreleased History) is being released next Tuesday, airplay seems to have peaked so probably the physical single sales won't be enough for a debut either.
Jump is Madonna's 7th single that misses the Hot 100 (2 of them entered the Bubbling Under). On a brighter side, Jump reached #1 on Hot Dance Airplay and is currently at the runner-up spot on the Hot Dance / Club Play chart, where Madonna already got three #1 from Confessions On A Dance Floor. The album, by the way, nowadays sells around 2,000 copies in the US with its total being at 1,562,049 units. (thanx to HolidayGuy at MadonnaNation for the sales number
NBC.com promoting Confessions Tour broadcast
2 November 2006An advert promoting Madonna's upcoming tv special to be aired on November 22nd appeared on NBC.com:
One of the greatest pop superstars of all time brings her Confessions Tour to NBC, marking Madonna's first time ever network television broadcast! Featuring songs from Madonna's recent multi-platinum release, Confessions On A Dance Floor, this astonishing stage spectacle also includes greatest hits from her legendary career that's spanned music, TV, film, books, videos, and an astonishing 35 #1 hits on Billboard's dance charts.
~ Fansite Drownedmadonna got some captures of a tv commercial promoting the broadcast which features footage of Madonna performing Sorry, Like It Or Not & Hung Up.
Madonna doesn't rule out second adoption
Source: Reuters - 2 November 2006Madonna said she would not rule out adopting another child but first wanted to spend time with her new baby, David Banda from Malawi in Africa.
The U.S. pop sensation also said she wanted the adoption laws in the impoverished continent to be changed to help millions of other children escape a life of suffering.
Speaking to the BBC television in an interview broadcast on Wednesday night, Madonna said she was stunned that her decision to adopt 1-year-old David caused such a worldwide uproar.
"It was quite shocking and there's no way I could have prepared myself for it," the singer told Newsnight, the BBC's nightly current affairs program.
Asked whether she would like to adopt another child, Madonna, 48, said: "I wouldn't rule it out. I would like it to not be as complicated in the future, but I would just like to experience David for a while and see how that works out first."
David shot to worldwide fame after he was plucked from an orphanage, where he had been left by his father, and flown to Madonna's London mansion to live with her, her British film director husband Guy Ritchie and her two children -- daughter Lourdes, 10, and son Rocco, 6.
The chart topper said she and Ritchie, had talked about adopting for two years.
She became interested in Malawi, a southern African country hit hard by AIDS, and decided to fund a documentary about the plight of children there.
Earlier this year, while watching footage for the film, Madonna said she first spotted David and many other youngsters at the orphanage and felt an instant connection.
The pop star insisted, however, that she did not use her celebrity status to speed up the adoption process for the boy.
"I can assure you that I was not given any special treatment," she said, stressing that for now she had only been granted an interim adoption so was technically a foster parent.
Malawian child rights groups, accusing the government of breaking the law in granting the interim order to a non-resident, are challenging the process in court. Final approval for the adoption order is expected in 18 months.
Madonna said she would like to see better adoption regulations in Africa to help orphans find new homes.
"I would like to get the adoption laws changed because I consider what is going on in Africa a state of emergency," she said. "When you have an entire adult population wiped out and no one to look after these children, you've got to address the laws and make adoption easier for people."
In the interview, Madonna also said she offered to support David and leave him in Malawi, but his father turned her down.
Warner announces CD/DVD release
1 November 2006All Belgian record stores received a release notice from Warner Music, which contains the following info:
"Madonna TV Special - With more than 80000 units sold in Belgium, Confessions On A Dance Floor was definitely the number 1 album of the past year. A brand new CD/DVD containing a tv special is scheduled for the end of the year. More details to follow."
It didn't specify which TV special is meant, but most probably they're talking about the recording of the Confessions Tour. As soon as there's more info, you'll read it here on Mad-Eyes. (thx to Dimi for the info
Madonna calls uproar over adoption 'racist'
Source: MTV.com - 1 November 2006Madonna isn't done doing damage control over the uproar caused by her adoption of an African boy.
After sitting down with Oprah last week via satellite, the singer will appear on "Today" on Wednesday (November 1) and Thursday. Her "Dateline NBC" interview will air on Wednesday, and in it she talks about the controversy, calls the reaction "racist" and reveals that the boy's father turned down her offer of financial help.
In an interview with NBC News' Meredith Vieira, Madonna said people have made "uneducated decisions" and jumped to conclusions by criticizing her decision to adopt David, a 13-month-old boy from Malawi. "With all the chaos, pain and suffering in the world, the fact that my adoption of a child ... was the number one story for a week in the world ... says more about ... our inability to focus on the real problems," Madonna said.
While Madonna would like to attribute most of the attention the adoption has caused to "our desire to have distractions and be consumed with people's personal lives and gossip," she fears that something darker is at work as well.
"I think [racism] is underneath a lot of people's prejudice about me adopting David," Madonna said. "I think a lot of people have a problem with the fact that I've adopted an African child, a child who has a different color skin than I do. ... I think it's still considered taboo.
You know, I have people say to me on the streets, 'Why did you adopt a black child?' I don't say anything. I don't dignify their question with a reply. But there is a lot of racism in the world."
Regardless, Madonna's not worried because she plans to raise David as she does her other children, 6-year-old Rocco and 10-year-old Lourdes. "I don't live in a white world," Madonna said. "I live in the world. And my children are exposed to all cultures and all races and many belief systems."
Which means that David will be raised not as a Christian or a Jew but with a mixture from many belief systems, even though Madonna plans to make sure that Kabbalah is one of them.
"Studying Kabbalah doesn't mean you can't be a Christian or a Buddhist or a Muslim or a Jew or whatever or agnostic," Madonna said. "It's not a dogmatic religion. It's kind of a philosophy. And if David decides he wants to be a Christian, then so be it."
Madonna also revealed that David's father, Yohane Banda, rejected her offer of financial help when they met in court for him to give his consent to the adoption. "He didn't want that," Madonna said. "I said I would be happy to facilitate with you, you know, to bring him back to your village and help you financially raise him. And he said no."
Because of translation problems, Madonna said she didn't fully understand Banda's decision, but she accepted it nonetheless.
"I don't want to judge him," she said. "I don't know his life. I believe he remarried and had moved on to another village and was kind of getting on with his life. And I think he truly felt in his heart of hearts that ... [David] would have a better life with me. So when he said no, that was my sign that it was my responsibility to look after him."
Now adjusting to life in London, David has a "terrible temper" and is "very flirtatious" and "hysterically funny," the singer said. "Obviously he's going to come with his own baggage, and you know, his own DNA, and I look forward to being surprised by what he's going to offer the world and how he's going to turn out."
Madonna's interview airs on "Today" on Wednesday and Thursday at 7 a.m. ET. The "Dateline NBC" interview airs Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET.
↑ Back to top of page