She delivered a hear-felt speech on the victims of southern Taiwan earthquake this morning and how she was a bit scared staying in her presidential suite on 17th floor at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Taipei, but were glad that her teams and fans were fine celebrating REBELHEART!
The singer’s decision to drape a flag around her shoulders divided fans as relations between the state and China deteriorate.
Madonna has become embroiled in a war of words over Taiwanese identity after draping herself in the island’s flag during a concert in Taipei.
Taiwanese newspapers published photos of the Queen of Pop with the flag around her shoulders as she sang an encore.
The move was greeted enthusiastically by many on Taiwanese internet forums, who saw it as a boost to their quest to protect the island’s sovereignty in the face of increased influence from Beijing.
“Madonna supports Taiwan with her acts. Taiwan loves Madonna too,” read one message on the Apple Daily newspaper’s website.
But posts on China’s Twitter-equivalent Weibo responded angrily.
“Is Taiwan a country? I am laughing to death… you are just a region,” said one.
“Madonna draped the flag and you think you are going to be recognised by the UN? So funny,” said another, referring to Taiwan’s lack of international status.
Taiwan has been self-ruling since splitting from China in 1949 following a civil war, but Beijing still views it as part of its territory awaiting reunification.
As Beijing’s influence has grown globally, Taiwan has lost many allies, losing its place at the UN to Beijing and is now only recognised by 22 countries.
China supporters also voiced their anger on Madonna’s Instagram account, responding to a picture which showed her face superimposed on a blue sun motif similar to the white sun on Taiwan’s flag, attracting 2,000 messages.
“Shut up, people of Taiwan province of China,” one message read.
“Madonna was just creating a talking point and some Taiwanese people thought she was speaking up for Taiwan independence? So funny,” said another.
The Asian leg of the Rebel Heart Tour includes dates in Hong Kong and Macau, but not mainland China.
There was no immediate comment from local promoters or Madonna’s representatives following Thursday’s concert.
Last year, US singer-songwriter Katy Perry caused a stir in both Taiwan and China when she appeared on stage in Taipei draped in a Taiwan flag, while donning a gold dress adorned with sunflowers – a symbol of anti-China student protests in Taiwan in 2014.
Read more at SKY News
FAME in Amsterdam offers a chance for fans to order the brand new Japanese re-issue cd’s through their store. The brand new re-issues feature Madonna’s first album, Like a Virgin, True Blue, You Can Dance, Like a Prayer & The Immaculate Collection. They are all issued as they were as the original Japanese LP’s making them true collectibles.
FAME (now located in the Media Markt near the Central Sation in Amsterdam) can order them for you, however they cannot guarantee delivery as these are limited editions. Estimated delivery time is 4-6 weeks and the price per CD is EUR 30.
If you decide to order them through FAME, they ask you to do so in the store with a down payment as they cannot return these to the supplier when you decide not to pick them up after ordering.
Thanks to: FAME
Super Bowl 50 and its golden anniversary theme has apparently put some advertisers in a nostalgic mood. Ads released already include references to Marilyn Monroe and “The Jeffersons,” while classic tracks from Van Halen and David Bowie provide the soundtracks for other spots.
Now you can add Pepsi to the list of marketers going retro. The cola brand, which is again sponsoring this year’s halftime show, will lead into the show with an ad that begins with “Do You Love Me,” by the Contours. Then comes a Madonna 1980s classic, “Express Yourself.” Contemporary pop star Janelle Monáe walks through each time period in the spot before ending the ad with her remake of the old “Joy of Pepsi” jingle, which Pepsi recently resurrected.
The ad, which was released today, is meant to play off the theme of this year’s halftime show, which the NFL told Pepsi would be a “past, present and future celebration of music,” said Chad Stubbs, VP of marketing for the Pepsi trademark. So far, artists slated to perform in the show are Coldplay and Beyonce, according to published reports, and that list seems likely to grow. Billboard has speculated that Bruno Mars might show up.
Ms. Monáe, who has previously appeared in global Pepsi ads, recorded a 10-second introduction to the spot that will air right before the ad begins. She will appear in a portion of the Levi’s Stadium known as the Pepsi Fan Deck. (She is not in the actual halftime show, Pepsi confirmed.) The 10 seconds became available to Pepsi because it is the period in which the TV feed is switched from CBS to the NFL, which oversees the halftime production, Pepsi executives said.
That 10 seconds carries a media value of $1.5 million to Pepsi, estimated Justin Toman, Pepsi’s director of sports marketing. “On the Super Bowl broadcast every second really does count,” he said. Ad Age’s Datacenterestimates that one second of ad time in Super Bowl 50 is costing advertisers $160,000, compared to just $1,333 in 1967.
Pepsi is in the final year of a four-year halftime sponsorship contract. Asked if the brand will return as the sponsor next year, Mr. Toman said, “we would love to if the cards play out that way.”
In previous years, Pepsi has produced 30-second lead-in ads that were localized to the Super Bowl site. Last year’s spot, for instance, was called “Halftime Touches Down,” and showed the stadium landing like a spaceship from the Arizona sky. This year’s ad, which is by The Marketing Arm, was created to have more lasting value.
“Those other ads were truly made just for a one time airing the night of the Super Bowl,” Mr. Stubbs said. But this year’s spot can be used the rest of the year, he added.
The Contours song was chosen because it was popular during the period when the Super Bowl began 50 years ago, Mr. Stubbs said. Madonna’s association with Pepsi includes a 1989 commercial that was pulled due to controversy over her “Like a Prayer” video. While “Express Yourself” was never in a Pepsi ad, “it was within that album and era that we had worked with Madonna before,” Mr. Stubbs said.
Read more at AdAge
“Taipei, are you with me?” the American singer-songwriter greeted her electrified fans at the Taipei Arena.
“Hello Taiwan, are you ready?” Madonna again greeted her thousands of fans when performing “Burning Up” with an electric guitar.
She also said “Hello. Thank you,” and yelled “I love you” in Mandarin to the roaring crowd.
The pop diva, known for her catchy tunes and creative and daring shows, also performed songs including “Bitch I’m Madonna,” “Holy Water,” “Body Shop” and “Living For Love.”
She also sang “Take a Bow” for her Taiwan fans, the first time she performed the song on the “Rebel Heart” concert tour.
At the end of the concert, Madonna draped herself in the Republic of China (Taiwan) flag while performing the encore song “Holiday.” At every stop on the tour, she performs “Holiday” with the national flag of the country she is in.
The 140-minute show, the first of two by the singer in Taiwan, did not begin until 10:15 p.m. Thursday. That set a new record at the Taipei Arena, as no concert has ever begun later than 10:15 p.m. at the venue.
Organizers of the concert are expected to pay a large sum of money for overtime – estimated at around NT$3.5 million (US$ 105,901) or above.
Madonna’s second concert will be held Saturday, also at the Taipei Arena.
Forty-two year-old office worker Sam Lin (林聖賢), who has been a fan of Madonna for three decades, said the singer has had a great impact on him.
“Madonna is true to herself and is not afraid to show herself,” said Lin, who wore a bright pink dress and top modeled after a costume Madonna wore during her first concert tour in the 1980s.
August Chen (陳嘉銘), a 43-year-old Indonesian Chinese who has lived in Taiwan for 18 years, was clad in a red bullfighter costume to echo the matador theme of Madonna’s concerts on this tour.
It was his fourth time attending a Madonna concert, Chen told CNA prior to the concert.
(By Sabine Cheng and Christie Chen)
ENDITEM/BL
read more at FocusTaiwan
Madonna just started her first show in Taipei, Taiwan.
She also just set the record for live show with the latest start time ever, starting at 10.20pm
Check out more pictures at Appledaily
Tonight on Dutch television:
In 2014, we Chered The Love, in 2015 we were Ready 4 Freddie, and now in 2016 it’s time to get Hung Up, Vogue like a superstar (Yes, that’s what you are), Express Yourself Baby! and live the ultimate dream come true, as Mardi Gras and Darling Harbour present the ultimate tribute to the ultimate ICON… Madonna
Queen Of Pop: LIVING FOR LOVE will evoke the magic and positive message of Madonna’s music in a unique larger-than-life Valentine’s Day video tribute to the Queen Of Pop, celebrating Rebel Hearts all over the world.
The video production and Live Performance event will feature a huge cast of dancing performers, fierce fans of ALL ages and lots of surprises that will leave the audience literallyLIVING for LOVE!
The performance and video will be set to an exclusive mix of Madonna songs focusing on her musical journey including Material Girl, Express Yourself, Hung Up, Vogue, Like A Prayer and Living for Love.
As a performer, Madonna’s music and visual image has shaped and defined a generation during an era of huge global and social change, and diversity has ALWAYS been core to her message of self-expression and love.
Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority have commissioned our creative team for the third year in a row to create this unique tribute, which will include both a show-stopping live event and a video clip, which will be released on the Mardi Gras official Facebook Channel as a message of Love to our Queen Of Pop ahead of her arrival in Australia with the Rebel Heart tour later in March.
We are looking for volunteer dancers who love to Express themselves! We are shooting on Valentine’s Day between mid-day and 5pm.
Let’s make this a huge celebration and send a message of Love from the heart to the Queen of Pop so fabulous that she can’t resist to reply to!
Click HERE to register (it’s free)
REHEARSALS:
Arq Nightclub, 16 Flinders St, Darlinghurst
Saturday Feb 6, 3:00pm-5:00pm
Saturday Feb 13, 3:00pm-5:00pm
PERFORMANCE:
Darling Harbour near the IMAX theatre, Sydney
Sunday Feb 14, 12:00pm-5:00pm
Looking forward to seeing you next month!
From the Megadonna Video Team.
xx
Creative Director: Lewis Oswald
Choreographer: Aaron Farley
Director: Dan Murphy
Thanks to: DJ Dan Murphy
SINGAPORE: Madame Tussauds Singapore will be showcasing Madonna’s wax figure at three different locations around the island this month, the wax museum announced in a media release on Thursday (Feb 4).
This is ahead of the international pop star’s performance in Singapore on Feb 28.
According to the release, Madonna’s wax figure will first be displayed at Madame Tussauds Singapore in Sentosa from Feb 3 to 14. It will then be moved to ION Orchard from Feb 15 to 21, and then Kallang Wave Mall from Feb 22 and 28, Madame Tussauds said.
– CNA/dl
Queen Of Pop Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s custody hearing over their son Rocco has been delayed for a month.
The former couple were due in court this week as they continue their battle over their 15-year-old son Rocco’s living arrangements, but the hearing has been postponed until March 2, according to TMZ.
No reason has been given for the delay but it is believed that Madonna, 57, and Guy are in negotiations.
It was previously claimed that Rocco – and his 47-year-old father – feel he has a more “stable and loving” home life in the UK with Guy, his wife Jacqui Ainsley and their three children, Rafael, four, Rivka, three, and Levi, 19 months.
The teenager thinks his “Like a Virgin” singer mother is “too controlling” and doesn’t pay him any real attention.
And Guy thinks Madonna’s “stern” parenting is “counterproductive” for their son’s confidence.
Rocco left Madonna’s “Rebel Heart” tour in December to be with his father and stepmother in London, and defied a court order to spend Christmas in New York with his mother.
Read more at Business Standard
What’s Madonna’s biggest ‘scandal’ to date? I trust that if I asked this question to the average Joe on the street, the answers you would get may include her Sex book, the album Erotica, or her now (in)famous rolling about on the floor during her performance of ‘Like a Virgin’ at the MTV Awards in 1984. Few may even remember that the video of ‘Like a Prayer’ was a much bigger scandal than any of these, for presenting a Black Jesus and a Black character wrongly arrested for the crimes of a White one. Few, however – and maybe only die-hard Madonna fans – would get the answer right.
Wind back to 2003, and you’ll find that US radios suddenly stopped playing Madonna when she dared to state the unspeakable: in the video of ‘American Life,’ Madonna showed George W. Bush in cahoots with the very world leaders he was so hell-bent on destroying. Of course, her Reinvention Toursaw her in no mood of giving up denouncing the former President. Ever since, she has been under attack, especially by right wing gossip papers and websites. This yearRadar Online (4th October 2015) stooped so low as to report that Madonna’s dancers were allegedly caught with drugs on the border with Canada. Pity that on the night, they were nowhere near the border, in fact, they were on stage in front of cameras and thousands of fans in Atlantic City!
Yet, her biggest ‘sin’ is that she has not shut her mouth; in a decade when, if you want to be on the radio, you have the choice between heartbreak songs or breakup songs, Madonna has stuck to her principles, and the right wing press just cannot forgive her. Her MDNA Tour was politically charged, as is her latest album, Rebel Heart. When talking about her ‘Revolution of Love,’ Madonna makes it clear, as she did on stage in Stockholm with her impassioned speech: she is not giving in to fear. In a world where you’re told by the radio, by the press, and by the media in general to feel sorry for yourself and bargain your freedom for protection through the currency of fear, Madonna, once again, is bucking the trend and offering us an alternative. Maybe it sounds old-fashioned to believe that music can change the world; in the 70’s and 80’s, we all believed in it, now, only a few remember the real power of music, and the media are out to get them and hell-bent on making us forget it.
Read more at BlastingNews
Taipei, Feb. 3 (CNA) American pop diva Madonna is getting ready for two concerts to be staged at Taipei Arena on Thursday and Saturday as part of her 10th worldwide concert tour “Rebel Heart,” sources said Wednesday.
The 57-year-old Madonna arrived in Taiwan on Monday evening in a private jet and checked into the Mandarin Oriental hotel.
She is set to rehearse Wednesday with the dancers who will join her at Taipei Arena in her first ever concert in the country.
After her arrival in Taiwan, Madonna greeted her fans in the country Tuesday through a post on instagram.
“We are coming to get you TAI-PEI!!,” Madonna posted.
The Queen of Pop, as she is often called, is set to stay in Taiwan seven days. She spent all day at her hotel on Tuesday, while her dancers toured Taipei, including the Ningxia Night Market and Longshan Temple.
Tickets for Madonna’s Taipei concerts are still available at 7-Eleven ibon kiosks and online at https://ticket.ibon.com.tw/
read more at FocusTaiwan
Madonna’s portrayal of Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy was impressive, she looked stunning and created one of her most iconic looks to date. It was refreshing that once again Madonna starred in a movie that was mostly praised by critics instead of put down.
Breathless Mahoney and Dick Tracy inspired Madonna to release a new studio album titled ‘I’m Breathless’, even though completely out of place the worldwide smash hit ‘Vogue’ was added to its tracklisting.
We have gathered quite a few magazine articles, promo ads, memorabilia from our own collection for you so you can revisit all that is Breathless Mahoney and Dick Tracy
Enjoy Dick Tracy in our Filmography now! Madonna’s portrayal of herself in ‘Truth Or Dare’ is the next one on our list
