Nightclub and G-A-Y owner Jeremy Joseph has opened up about why he couldn’t enjoy Madonna’s performance at G-A-Y because he wanted it to be perfect for the Queen of Pop.
CREDIT: Denis Makarenko / Bigstock
Jeremy Joseph has spilled the beans about what goes on behind the scenes during one of his nights when a big celeb is due to perform on his stage. He revealed that he couldn’t enjoy Madonna‘s performance at G-A-Y because of his stress levels.
The owner of the legendary brand G-A-Y said that he only began to enjoy the achievement 3 days after the show – when friends told him how amazing it had been.
Madonna played at the Astoria in 2005 before G-A-Y moved to its new home at Heaven.
He said,
“When Madonna did G-A-Y, the whole night I was just so stressed out. I wanted everything to be perfect.
“I didn’t really enjoy Madonna until three days later…
“Then suddenly I start grinning and I kind of enjoyed… oh my God. Madonna was amazing.”
Jeremy Joseph is currently gearing up for the London Marathon where he is raising money for the Elton John AIDs Foundation. He’s raised nearly £400,000 for the charity – but hopes to raise much more – in fact he wants to raise £1 million.
Speaking about why he chose EJAF he said,
“The reason why the Elton John AIDS Foundation is important, is because I decided several years ago that I wanted G-A-Y to focus on one charity.
“I chose the Elton John AIDS Foundation because they distribute money, rather than finance one thing.
“It means by raising money through Elton John Aids Foundation, you’re raising money for lots and lots of charities.
To sponsor Jeremy Joseph and his efforts to raise money for the EJAF during the London Marathon visit his Virgin Money page.
“That show was about freedom—freedom as an artist, freedom as a human being, freedom to fucking speak the truth.” —Jose Gutierrez Xtravaganza, dancer
In 1991, the smash documentary Truth or Dare brought audiences behind the scenes of Madonna’s groundbreaking Blond Ambition tour, which courted controversy with the Vatican for its sex-positive theatrics at the height of the AIDS crisis. But for gay fans, the heart of the film belonged to her proudly flamboyant dancers: Salim, the chiseled Belgian; Jose and Luis, who Madonna recruited from the underground drag ball scene to help choreograph the video for “Vogue”; Oliver, the only straight guy among the bunch. Backstage footage shows the dancers engaging in racy “pillow talk” with Madonna, who becomes a sort of mother figure to the wild young men.
A quarter-century after being thrust into the spotlight, Strike a Pose reunites the dancers to find out where they are now. A few of them settled a legal claim against Madonna for outing them without their permission. Some have struggled with drugs and alcohol. Some are still coming to terms with an HIV diagnosis. One of them has died of AIDS.
It’s a touching story of talented artists who have matured into complex, introspective adults—and who are finally receiving credit for opening hearts and minds through their visible role in Truth or Dare. As one dancer puts it: “The daring, progressive message in this movie was that you can be gay and happy and successful. You didn’t have to be hiding in the back alley of some sleazy bar. You could be yourself.”
—Jimmy Radosta
Strike a Pose: Dirs Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan 2016 Netherlands/Belgium 83 min Sponsored by: Les Lewis & Rick Watkins
Community Partners:
Cascade AIDS Project
Northwest Film Center
White Bird
This past weekend was the U.S. premiere of Strike A Pose, the moving new documentary about Madonna’s backup dancers from her “Blonde Ambition” tour, and their lives since.
Getty
All of the dancers from the film-except Gabriel Trupin who died of complications from AIDS in 1995-were in attendance at the premiere, along with directors Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan.
Now you can watch a trailer for the Dutch cinema release of the documentary on May 26. No release date has been announced for the U.S., but there’s still a chance to catch its last screening at the the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24.
For the cinephile navigating the dizzying lineup at the annual Tribeca Film Festival, it helps to narrow the scope—say, road movies (Detour and Folk Hero & Funny Guy); female directors (Mother and AWOL); or, in this case, thoughtful documentaries that touch on matters of health. The six standout picks below include a portrait of the magnetic backup dancers on Madonna’s Blond Ambition tour (which invariably was touched by the AIDS crisis), an emotionally charged investigation into the struggles surrounding in vitro fertility treatments, one man’s question for happiness, and more.
Strike a Pose
The seven male dancers on Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour shaped a generation with their onstage bravura and on-camera candor in Truth or Dare, the behind-the-scenes concert doc that brought a then-rare glimpse of gay life (and one very steamy kiss) to the big screen. But as this new documentary reveals, the music’s “Express Yourself” message wasn’t so simple in that turbulent era. Salim Gauwloos, diagnosed with HIV in 1987, reveals his long-kept secret to his tour mates during an emotional reunion dinner captured in Strike a Pose; Gabriel Trupin (who died from complications of AIDS in 1995), struggled with being “outed” in the Madonna doc. If the film is a reminder of the ongoing fight for acceptance (one thinks of the controversial laws governing transgender behavior), it’s also a pure celebration of dance, with iconic vogueing interwoven with recent solos and classroom shots (you’ll find Gauwloos, who goes by the name Slam, in the studios at Broadway Dance Center and Alvin Ailey).
In Hear This, TheA.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week, in honor of those pesky April showers, we’re looking at songs with “rain” in the title.
Madonna, “Rain” (1992)
For as much as early ’90s Madonna was all about the sex, she was perhaps even more about the sensuality. Sure, 1992’s Erotica had its moments, in particular “Bye Bye Baby” and the title track. But the record more acutely explored things such as the physical ecstasy of letting loose on a dance floor (the disco-riffic “Deeper And Deeper,” a slinky take on “Fever”) or the irresistible seduction of bad habits and vices (“Bad Girl”).
Perhaps the apex of Madonna’s sensual period was Erotica’s fifth single, “Rain,” which ended up peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. Co-written and co-produced with Shep Pettibone, the song compares rain to the idea of falling in love: Both are cleansing elements that “wash away” past heartache and pain. Appropriately, the tune’s instrumentation and arrangements mimic this purifying effect, in a New Agey sort of way. The song’s rhythmic pattern conjures the steady hum of raindrops on a roof, while the sleek, keyboard-heavy production is indebted to the downtempo electronica and tranquil trip-hop seeping out of the U.K. at the time.
Yet in Madonna’s world, even turbulent elements associated with rain (e.g., thunder) eventually clear and produce clarity and happiness. “Rain” captures this as well, notably with orchestral stabs that invokes crisp lightning bolts, and a surging bridge segue driven by what sounds like electric guitar snarls. After this brief hint of strife, the song clears up again: Madonna trills “Here comes the sun” several times, a signal that the clouds have parted, the storms are gone, and what’s left is a glorious sense of renewal.
In the 1991 movie Madonna: Truth or Dare, the titular superstar plays the role of her lifetime: herself. Filmed during her 1990 Blond Ambition tour when the then-31-year-old pop star was at her commercial peak, the Alek Keshishian-directed concert film/backstage documentary finds Madonna reveling in the cult of her personality. “She doesn’t want to live off-camera, much less talk,” her then-boyfriend Warren Beatty remarks in one scene, delivering a perfect capsule review. Seemingly baring all, at least in terms of her personality’s facets, she is unafraid to come off as a demanding asshole, just as often as she promotes the idea that she’s the nurturing mother in the “family” of employees that support her.
My worship of Madonna was why, at age 12, I bought a ticket to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and attempted to sneak into the theater playing Truth or Dare. Management found me and forced me to sit through Kevin Costner’s other bland performance of 1991 (he briefly appears in Truth or Dare to declare the Blond Ambition Tour “neat”). Madonna’s the hook that got me into the movie, but when I finally saw the movie after it came out on video, the depiction of her dancers left a richer impression on my young mind. Truth or Dare was my first exposure to a group of openly gay men merely existing. They hang out backstage, they bond, they gossip, they laugh, and at one point, during a climactic game of “truth or dare,” two of them make out on a dare.
Now when those same guys play “truth or dare,” they almost always choose truth. Or at least, that’s how it goes during the climax of Strike a Pose, a documentary currently playing the Tribeca Film Festival that turns cameras back on the surviving members of the troupe over 25 years after Madonna and Keshishian did.
Strike a Pose is far less a daring documentary than Truth or Dare was, thanks in part to social progress: It’s easier, in 2016, to access stories of gay men (as five out of six of them are) than it was in 1991. Gay identity alone rarely has the power to shock the masses that it once did. So whereas Madonna was “pushing buttons,” as dancer Kevin Stea puts it, with matter-of-fact depictions of gay men in the early ‘90s, European filmmakers Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan are providing a platform in their affirming Strike a Pose. Separately, the men and the mother of Gabriel Trupin (who died of AIDS in 1995), discuss their lives after Madonna, including their continued commitment to dance as well as hardships they’ve faced like addiction, homelessness, and HIV.
Gould and Zwaan’s pledged gentler approach helped sway initially resistant members of the troupe, like Luis Camacho, to get back in front of the camera. That said, it’s somewhat surprising to see Stea and Oliver Crumes (the lone straight guy) show up. They along with Trupin, sued Madonna in 1992 for invasion of privacy, among things, and eventually settled out of court. Trupin specifically accused charged Madonna in the suit with “exposing his sexual orientation,” before he was openly gay. Assured by Gould and Zwaan’s “humanist” angle, Stea said he had no such concerns this time around. He points his lawsuit boiled down to a contractual dispute. He was, after all, hired as a dancer first, not a documentary subject.
Unfortunately we cannot embed this hilarious video, so we’ll have to share it like this. We all know Madonna and Molly Meldrum have great chemistry and it just goes to show in this rare video with outtakes during an interview in 1985.
Madonna is trying to perfection her ‘Merry Christmas’ wish, but not all goes to plan. Check it out HERE
Back in 1992 ‘A League Of Their Own’ hit movie theaters, starring none other than Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O’Donnell and yes…Madonna! The movie about an all women baseball team was a huge success and yes even Madonna was praised for her part as ‘All the way Mae’.
A League Of Their Own has now been added to our Filmography!
We have gathered the following for you to enjoy from our own collection:
Facts
Press – tons of scanned articles from newspapers and magazines
Memorabilia – used props, display, VHS and DVD covers and more
Many people queued up overnight to be one of the first to buy a copy of the incredibly gorgeous pink vinyl re-issue of Madonna’s Like A Virgin & Other Big Hits EP. While in the UK true die-hards started queuing from eight o’ clock the day before, here in Amsterdam it depended on the store you planned to visit. Some stores had a lot of visitors while at others there was no queue at all.
The Like A Virgin re-issue was very popular and sold out quickly, the one copy per person rule was completely ignored at most stores with a lot of fans walking away with more than one copy.
While doing some questioning around, we found out that Like A Virgin was one of the more popular items at Record Store Day, most had received 4-10 copies per shop. Record Palace in Amsterdam had only one copy left when the clock hit 09.30. Remember that only 750 copies of this record have been distributed to the Benelux!
For the serious collectors among us, there is a European (Made in EU) and USA edition (no ‘made in’ on the back and different barcode).
The following is an interview with Andy LeCompte, a celebrity hairstylist who has worked with Madonna, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Richie, and more celebrities, as told to Taylor Bryant.
On The Job
Starting out, I was mainly cutting and styling; now, I’m a jack-of-all-trades. My weeks are crazy! I jump from magazine shoots, to styling celebrities for music videos, to behind the chair at the salon. I was on tour with Madonna since July 2015 — I just returned this past month. Touring is the most stable part of my job because, normally, my life is a roller coaster.
I’ve met a lot of interesting and exciting creative people. Tina Turner’s life story inspired me. Madonna inspired me to believe in myself. I remember watching Truth or Dare before I met her. Her message helped me be fearless and go after my dreams, and know that I could achieve anything. So it’s not a surprise that I later became her hairstylist.
It’s All About Timing…
The craziest situations are when I have to book jobs back-to-back with no breathing room and little time to prep — something always seems to go wrong. One time, I was shooting a music video for Fergie in L.A. and had to go straight to the airport to go shoot V magazine for Madonna in New York. There was no room for error, but my flight was cancelled. As a repercussion, I had no time to prep for a Steven Klein production that required a ton of wig options. My hotel room turned into a hair studio, with myself and my assistants working all day and all night. No sleep and crazy hours.
