Okay, she's my girl!.. You either love her or
hate her, but chances are you have some
strong opinion of Madonna. If you've read
my other chartopper columns
it comes as
no surprise that, for the past 20 years, I've
adored her! And she continues to inspire me
with each new album. For the next few
months, in celebration of the twentieth
anniversary of the release of her very first
record, I'll be looking back at Madonna's
amazing career and talking about each
release! We'll have some fun trivia with
great prizes so stay tuned and please keep
reading Chartoppers: Madonna! Email me
at chris@fredflare.com.
I'd
love to hear your stories
about Madonna! Xxoo, Chris Click
here
for Chartoppers:
the 80’s!
When we asked “If you had two free tickets to see Madonna in NYC, who would
you take and why?” we never expected the #1 person on everyone’s
list would be Mom. How awesome is that?!? The weekend before the Mo show in NYC,
Keith and I actually flew out to Michigan to celebrate his Mom’s 60th birthday.
Anne, Keith’s mother and my adopted one, had the funnest b-day party I’d
been to in a long time! She had requested no gifts so, instead, everyone brought
a favorite quote to be compiled in a keepsake album. Oh, I totally love this
kind of stuff! As each person read their quote aloud and shared his or her personal
stories about Anne, I felt this great outpouring of love from people of all different
ages.
This was such a touching example for
me of a new kind of loving family. My mother always said a family is a married
Mom and Dad with 2.5 kids. Somehow, in her eyes, my “gayness” challenges all that… Well, things
are different at Anne’s house. She lives with her boyfriend of almost
ten years and they have no intention of ever getting married! One of his kids
is married to a great guy who has a son and a daughter from a previous marriage.
The son and daughter each married awesome spouses this past year and, the cutest
thing, the spouses refer to Anne as their “Grandma”. It’s
this crazy cuckoo combo of people, family reinvented! When I got up to speak
about Anne, I looked over at her and could see by the look in her eyes that
I, too, was part of this amazingly offbeat family. I couldn’t be happier!
When we got back to NYC, it was finally time to see
Madonna with our lil’ family,
our friends Lora and Gillian and the amazing contest winners Mari, Margaret,
David and Lauralynne. We love you guys!!!!! (To read more about our contest
winners, please click here.)
The concert rocked so hard!!!! We enjoyed a night
of 100% high energy fun as Madge pulled out her biggest hits and reinvented
each one anew, from an amped-up version of “Material Girl” with Madonna herself on electric
guitar to a rendition of “Express Yourself” that resembled a USO
number from a 50’s musical. We screamed, vogued, sang, danced and even
cried as she dedicated a most beautiful rendition of “Crazy for You” to
her fans of the past twenty years.
The song “Mother and Father” really got to me. I was dancing around
maybe a bit too excitedly and accidentally clobbered the guy in front of me.
Sorry! I just got kinda emotional as the show swelled with images of love and
hate, war and peace, family and enemy united. As the beats of “Music” pounded
and Mo sang “Music brings the people together,” I felt that same
outpouring of love from people of all different ages, only this time it was
a screaming crowd of thousands in Madison Square Garden!
The Sunday after the concert was Father’s Day. Keith and I were wandering
about town and you’ll never believe what happened. We’re walking
on some random street near Grand Central when we spied a crowd of people on
one street corner and then a crowd of cameras on the other. We edged closer
and saw a cute little girl dancing around, playing with her lil’ brother.
Her mom, a blonde-haired cutie in a black tracksuit and dark sunglasses, was
chatting with Dad in a newsboy cap. It was Madonna and her entire family! Guy
was filming a Corvette commercial and they were spending some quality time
together between takes.
After all my bellyaching about how I’ve never gotten to meet her, there
she was right in front of me with her entire familia. I couldn’t believe
it! My eyes nearly popped out of my head! I wanted to run to her and give her
a big hug but instead did what any normal person would do. I hid behind the
paparazzi dude and gaped… After a few minutes, Madonna kissed her Guy
goodbye and headed for a big black SUV with kids, security detail and film
crew in tow. Keith and I ran after and, as they all piled in the truck, I stood
there waving at them like a total freak.