LOS ANGELES (AP) — Madonna is paying tribute to Michael Jackson in the same arena where he was to stage his great comeback.
The superstar is preparing a special part of her concert Saturday at O2 arena. Madonna publicist Liz Rosenberg says she is going to unveil a special song, along with a choreographed dance in honor of Jackson.
Michael Jackson was to perform his comeback concerts at O2 starting July 13. He died last week at 50. He had been rehearsing for those shows in his final days.
V hits news stands July 7th with cover star Cameron Diaz.
She will be gracing the cover of the latest issue of V magazine, paying homage to Madonna, and she will be showing more Madonna inspired images inside!
She’s no stranger to being in the public eye, and yesterday (July 1) Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon was spotted showing off a new kind of smile.
The almost-teenager (she’ll be 13 in October) flashed her pearly whites to reveal that she recently had braces put on.
Lourdes and a gal pal seemed undeterred by the paparazzi as they palled around London chatting and laughing as they went.
Meanwhile, Lourdes’ mother Madonna has been settling into her latest phase of motherhood thanks to the successful adoption of Malawian orphan Mercy James last month.
It May Have Been Just a One-Night Stand, but When Pop’s Billion Dollar Boy and the Queen of Steam Strutted Their Stuff at the Oscars, They Were, for One Brief Moment, the Brightest Star Couple of All
Madonna & Michael
By Steve Dougherty
As anyone burdened with stardom knows, finding a date for the Oscars can be an enormo pain. After all, really famous folk simply can’t be seen with some sweet nobody who waves “Hi Mom” at the camera and spends the evening worrying about credit-card approval at Spago.
And so it was, when Madonna and Michael Jackson, Earth’s top pop stars, faced the who-is-famous-enough-to-be-seen-with-me quandary, they hit on the perfect solution. Since they were already planning a duet for Michael’s upcoming album, Dangerous, and since they both happened to be on all Hollywood’s collagen-enhanced lips anyway—he for his ballyhooed “billion-dollar” contract with Sony, she for her upcoming, already controversial self-ploitation film, Truth or Dare-why not date…each other?
Big dates can also become big disasters, however. So a week before the Oscars, the couple met at L.A.’s Ivy restaurant to plan and, perhaps, trade makeup tips. By Oscar night, all was ready. Michael looked positively legendary in gold-tipped cowboy boots, a blinding diamond brooch and—in a dramatic sartorial departure—two gloves. Madonna, awash in peroxide and pluck, diverted at least some of the attention from her low-cut, pearl-encrusted Bob Mackie gown with $20 million in diamonds, on loan from jeweler Harry Winston. They entered L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium and promptly collected their well-deserved Best Seat honors—front row, two on the aisle.
All seemed fine at first. Michael applauded as Madonna out-Marilyned Marilyn in a vampy rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s Oscar winning “Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man).” And it seemed everyone agreed that the ermined minx stole the show.
Afterward, things got a little dicey, for Michael at least, when the couple arrived at Spago for Swifty Lazar’s annual Oscar bash. After whispering and giggling in Michael’s ear, the Material Girl abandoned her one-night Boy Toy and hopped over to Warren Beatty’s table, where heavy breathing and light petting ensued. “He fondled her all over,” says a dedicated observer.
But all turned out fine. Michael, tit-for-tat, dandled Diana Ross on his lap before Madonna returned and joined him for a grand exit. Strobes flashed and the partyers cheered—even though everyone seemed to understand that Michael and Madonna’s big night out was about as romantically valid as taking your cousin to the prom. So just what were they up to?
What else? When the Shy Man of showbiz and the Princess of Publicity concoct a date together, it can only mean one thing—they both have something to promote.
Madonna's new clothing collection is for "seven-year-olds to 77-year-olds".
The 50-year-old popstar is teaming up with French fashion designer Christian Audigier - who has an eponymous label and is also behind the Von Dutch and Ed Hardy labels - on a new range, and is determined to make it suitable for all age groups.
Christian told BANG Showbiz: “Madonna and I are working on a new project called The Material Girl Project and I’m going to be a partner with her on it.
“It’s going to come out, in September, when it’s back to school time. So we are working on different designs and samples right now, so we’re going to have most of that done at the end of the summer.
It’s going to be for everyone, all ages. We’re going for everyone, from seven-year-olds to 77-year-olds. We’re not excluding anybody.”
Christian - who is currently in London to launch his new range of champagne and wines - has been thrilled with the way the ‘4 Minutes’ singer has thrown herself into the collaboration, claiming she is full of ideas and has a clear vision for the line.
He explained: “Madonna is a good choice because she comes into it a total pro. If I need to listen to music, then I go and see Madonna because she is the best, so this is the same thing.
“Does she have loads of ideas? Oh, of course. I had a meeting a month ago with her and she is really all about the detail. She knows exactly what she likes and is always proposing ideas to us. After that she decides whether she wants to add shoes or other things. She’s like me, when it’s a, ‘Yes,’ it’s a big, ‘Yes.’ When it’s a, ‘No,’ it’s a definite, ‘No!’ I like people like that, a lot of people are really critical but never give a solution. She is not like that.”
*SPOILER ALERT* **stop here if you are spoiler free**
Marilyn Minter in her studio
Madonna fans heading to the latest leg of her Sticky & Sweet tour, which kicks back off in London on Saturday, are in for a surprise. The opening song, “Candyshop,” will be performed under a pair of giant luscious, pink lips licking and sucking on sparkly gold, orange, silver and green goo. The nine-minute video, titled “Green Pink Caviar,” is a new addition to the tour courtesy of artist Marilyn Minter, whose photographic work is in Madonna’s personal collection. “When I heard Madonna might be interested [in the video], I said, ‘Wow, how much does she want me to pay her?’” laughs Minter, who was initially told it was too late to insert anything into the tour. Apparently it was too good to resist and became part of the show.
“Then [Madonna] actually paid me a bunch of money and sent tickets,” said Minter, who is on her way to the U.K. for her first-ever Madonna concert to see her video in action.
Minter-watchers will recognize the short as a movie “trailer” that played at the Sunshine Cinemas and on a Times Square screen earlier this year. It will also feature on two large screens in Los Angeles when Minter’s next show opens at Regen Projects on Oct. 24.
Madonna’s official website www.madonna.com are now starting to build up anticipation for the debut of the Sticky & Sweet Tour Part 2 - they published this today:
We’re now just 3 days away from the opening night of Madonna’s 2009 Sticky & Sweet Tour! The Material Girl and her whole band are busy rehearsing for the show, which will be played 29 times in 25 different cities all over Europe from July 4th to August 2nd. The 2009 leg of the tour is to feature some changes, including a couple of songs that were not performed last year, so get ready for what promises to be another amazing experience! If you’re still looking for tickets, please visit the Tours page now.
While we all can’t wait for the tour to begin, we are happy to share 2 photos taken during the rehearsals in New York City. Enjoy and see you at the show!
Madonna behind the scenes at Louis Vuitton photo shoot
RAY OF LIGHT: Marc Jacobs was so pleased with this spring’s Louis Vuitton campaign featuring Madonna that he was eager to do an encore. “But very quickly Marc said, ‘I want something completely different,’” related Antoine Arnault, Vuitton’s communication director. The new ingredients included a dash of Tamara de Lempicka and a soupçon of Man Ray for color-drenched images by Steven Meisel with a surreal edge, thanks to generous use of solarization, a technique of overexposure first perfected by Ray. “It gives something very graphic, more edgy” than the first Madonna campaign, also by Meisel, which depicted her as a French coquette in a Parisian bistro setting, Arnault said. The new spots, which break in a range of August titles, feature a variety of runway looks and leather goods, many in the house’s signature monogram.
Asked about the impact of the first Madonna campaign, Arnault said, snapping his fingers for emphasis, “Everything she was wearing in the first campaign was sold within a few months. People came into the store saying, ‘I want the Madonna bag, the Madonna shoes.”
Arnault declined to specify budgets for the fall ads, but said investments would be “flattish” versus last year. “We’re one of the rare brands to have not reduced investments,” he said.
Also slated for the second half is a new campaign devoted to the Tambour watch.
