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News
and professional editorials |
|
by
Anthony Barnes and James Rose |
August
15, 2004
When
Madonna kicked off her last UK tour at the peak of her powers, her
fans were offering four-figure sums for a pair of seats.
Three
years on, as the singer began her latest round of shows at Manchester's
MEN Arena last night, she seemed to have lost some of her sparkle.
Tickets were failing to meet even their face value as sellers cut
their losses to take what they could as they traded on the online
auction site eBay.
One
pair of seats for her London shows on the Reinvention Tour later this
month, which had originally cost more than £300, raised just
£140 at the close of bidding, and a number of tickets for last
night's show failed to attract a single bid. Some sellers had posted
messages on the website to say they were resigned to making a loss
on someone who was once of the world's biggest box-office draws.
Tickets
were also still available at the box office for some of her shows.
However, a spokeswoman for the singer said that was due to extra capacity
becoming available as the venues finalised their staging requirements.
Sales
for the pop queen's shows got off to a good start, although it is
thought many buyers simply may have been snapping up tickets for re-sale
following the clamour to see her Drowned World tour in 2001 for which
tickets were changing hands for £600 each.
Those
shows - like all Madonna performances, more of a visual spectacular
than a gig - were her first major dates for eight years and followed
two acclaimed albums, Ray of Light and Music, which once again made
her one of the coolest stars on the planet.
But
her latest dates are on the back of a flop, the critically panned
American Life album.
Touts
outside the shows in Manchester and London's Earl's Court and Wembley
Arena venues were expected to get far less than the actual cost of
£75 to £160 for seats.
BBC
Radio 2 presenter Paul Gambaccini believed the poor reception for
last year's album was the root cause of the lack of interest.
He said:
"In popular music no one is as dead as someone who is recently
dead, and Madonna has just had her first stiff album. It might have
had a high chart entry but it disappeared quickly. There will come
a time when she will sell out quickly again but that is because people
will be viewing her in the context of her historic career achievements.
They are currently viewing her in the light of the album's failure.
"I'm
not bothering to see her. I saw her on the Vogue tour. I know I've
seen her at her peak so why see her flogging a dead horse?"
|
| |
August
16, 2004
Pop superstar
MADONNA appears to have calmed down her obsession with the Kabbalah
as her RE-INVENTION tour moves across the Atlantic from America to
Britain.
The singer,
who kicked off her UK dates in Manchester, northern England on Saturday
(14AUG04), was criticised during the US leg for pushing the mystical
branch of Judaism on castmembers and fans.
According
to reports she encouraged backing dancers to pray with her before
performances and has been handing out free t-shirts with the words
"Kabbalahists Do It Better" to fans in the front row at
the end of gigs.
But it
seems Madonna has toned down in time for British audiences. The free
shirts - which are tossed into the audience at the climax of her hit
HOLIDAY - now read "Brits Do It Better".
|
| • |
|
The
Immaterial Girl: Is Madonna Still In Vogue? |
from
British publication "TNT" |
August
18, 2004
The last
two (with pink backgrounds) consist of the negative article; the first
2 pages from this article seem to have mostly been photographic showcases
/ pictorial, though the second one does ask "Is the holiday over?"
-- i.e., 'is Madonna finally washed up?'
|
|
 |
| click
images to view larger versions |
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|
| |
August
19, 2004
As with
most things in Hollywood, a new fashion statement has made its way
down to the masses. Those red-string kabbalah bracelets you've seen
Madonna and Demi Moore wearing are now sold at Target for $25.99.
From
Target's online description: "This red string is believed to
protect against the evil eye, a negative energy source. What makes
this particular piece of string so special is, in part, the fact that
it has traveled to Israel, to the ancient tomb of Rachel the Matriarch,
and returned, imbued with the essence of protection."
Madonna
says she's now a devout practitioner of kabbalah (the interpretation
of Judaism in terms of the workings of the 10 powers of God through
which God created and interacts with our world). But those who study
it say calling them kabbalah bracelets is misleading.
"They
have nothing to do with kabbalah; that's the trick of the marketing,"
says Eliezer L. Segal, a professor of religious studies at the University
of Calgary. "The public that's being catered to doesn't know
any better."
These
days they're available in gold, too -- the red string is weaved into
a gold chain. For those who have been to the Old City of Jerusalem,
the fact that they're going for $25.99 is laughable: Visitors can
buy them in Israel for about 22 cents.
|
| •
Madonna
Suspicious of Chefs |
August
20, 2004
Pop
queen MADONNA refuses to eat in restaurants, because she doesn't
trust chefs.
The
MATERIAL GIRL follows a strict macrobiotic diet and won't eat food
prepared by strangers in case they put something unpleasant in it.
The
46-year-old explains, "I don't eat food in restaurants. You
can never trust what's in it, can you?"
|
|
from
The Mirror (UK) |
August
21, 2004
She may
be in the middle of a Re-Invention - but Madonna's ticket sales could
do with a bit of divine intervention.
There
are still loads of tickets available for the 46-year-old's Wembley
dates next week - and seats are being flogged for half their orginal
£150 price tag on eBay.
A source
says: "People are put off by the inflated prices and they just
see it as a Kabbalah recruitment ground."
|
| •
Egypt Bans
Madonna
September
2004 |
»
Egypt
bans Madonna after Israel visit
from
World Net Daily
Egypt
has issued an order barring pop star Madonna from entering the country
because she visited Israel.
Members
of Egypt's parliament have demanded Madonna, who has not requested
entry into Egypt or announced any plans to visit the country, be barred
from entering Egyptian soil. The parliament directed Egyptian embassies
abroad to deny any visa requests from Madonna.
The demand
comes after Madonna, aka Esther, visited the Jewish state last week
making daily headline news with midnight trips to a Jewish cemetery,
a quick drive by past the Wailing Wall, and even the arrest of her
security detail.
The Material
Girl praised Israel during her trip and urged people to visit the
country.
Madonna
said she was hesitant at first to tour the Holy Land, but upon her
arrival, she said she realized "that it is no more dangerous
to be here than it is to be in New York, and I would like to emphasize
the fact that I feel very safe and very welcome. ... I'd like to say
how happy I am to be back in Israel. I promise not to stay away for
another ten years." The singer was last in Israel for a 1993
concert.
»
See
also:
»
Egypt
Bans Madonna After Her Israel Visit
(quotes
from the World Net Daily article)
»
MTVe.COM
| Madonna Barred From Egypt
»
MSNBC
- Madonna may be banned from Egypt
|
|
|
September
19, 2004
Emphasis
added by me:
JERUSALEM
(AP) — Pop diva Madonna made a midnight pilgrimage to a Jerusalem
cemetery early today, holding a mystical candlelit ceremony at the
grave of a Jewish sage.
The singer
is in Israel on a five-day spiritual quest along with 2,000 other
students of Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.
Following
her graveside visit, Madonna went to the Western Wall, a part of Judaism's
holiest site where the biblical temples once stood.
The arrival
of Israel's biggest celebrity visitor in years has created a frenzy
among her fans and the news media. Others have been critical of the
star's interest in the esoteric Jewish mysticism.
Madonna
was raised a Roman Catholic but she has become an avid devotee of
Jewish mysticism in recent years. She has adopted the Hebrew name
Esther, wears a red thread on her wrist to ward off the evil eye and
is reported refusing to perform on the Jewish Sabbath.
No screaming
fans were waiting for Madonna on Sunday as she arrived with her husband,
Guy Ritchie, at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery, flanked by black-clad police
escorts, assault rifles slung over their shoulders.
The blue
and red revolving lights of the patrol cars cast an eerie glow over
the terraced, hillside graveyard as the couple walked past the tombstones
to the grave of the Kabbalist sage Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag.
Polish-born
Ashlag is the renowned author of the Sulam, the Ladder, a commentary
on the core Kabbalistic text, the Zohar. He died in 1954.
Madonna,
wearing jeans, a black and grey checkered sweater with a matching
cap and a large diamond-encrusted letter E on a chain to symbolize
her new name, spent more than an hour inside the stone mausoleum,
placing candles on the tomb, praying and chanting.
Led by
a rabbi, Madonna and her small entourage recited blessings over food
and wine, drank from small plastic cups and circled the raised stone
grave. Toward the end of the ceremony, a visibly moved Madonna wiped
tears from her eyes.
Adherents
of Jewish mysticism believe praying at the graves of sages can help
achieve one's wishes. Millions make pilgrimages every year to more
than 100 of these burial sites across Israel, praying for health,
children or to find a mate.
Madonna
was to have travelled to northern Israel where most of the holy sites
are situated but sources in the police, who were to have provided
security, said she had cancelled that part of her trip.
The singer
has been surrounded by heavy security during her trip and two of her
guards were arrested Friday after they brawled with photographers
trailing the star.
As Madonna
prayed inside, her guards held up black cloths and flashed lights
outside in an attempt to block photographers and cameramen from the
proceedings.
After
leaving the cemetery, Madonna travelled to the Western Wall but remained
inside her vehicle and did not go down to the sacred site.
At
the site, she received a mixed welcome from young worshippers with
some chanting, "She has no right to be here."
Some
have opposed Madonna's visit and involvement in Kabbalah, charging
the raunchy, materialistic values the singer has promoted in the past
are contrary to religious values.
But others
welcomed the diva and said she deprived herself of a spiritual experience
by remaining in her vehicle
"Why
did she not come out of the car, we were waiting for her," said
Hadass Chen, who came to see the singer.
"You
don't feel the vibe if you don't touch the wall."
|
|
by
Marina Benjamin |
September
19, 2004
FOR
the past few days Israel had no less a favoured guest in its midst
than Madonna. At least, she was favoured by the popular press, which
plastered her face all over its feature pages, photographed her hotel
suite and detailed the food she will eat this weekend.
And she
is being fawned over by a tourist industry desperate to shake off
an image of 'beaches and suicide bomber'. Indeed, this weekend tourist
minister Gideon Ezra is expected to present the pop star with an ancient
oil lamp and a Byzantine-era coin.
But
Madonna is not in Israel on any kind of mercy mission. Neither is
she there to perform. Rather, her quest is spiritual: along with some
2,000 fellow believers in Kabbalah - including Donna Karan and Marla
Maples - she's on a pilgrimage to visit a series of ancient shrines
and tombs in the Holy Land. And in case you were wondering, she’s
brought along her own security detail.
Madonna
was introduced to the mystical byways of Kabbalah (by alternative
comedienne Sandra Bernhard, according to some) in the late 1990s,
and since then she has become one of the movement's most prominent
advocates. She's even recruited a raft of other celebrities to the
fold, including Britney Spears, Winona Ryder, Demi Moore and Ashton
Kutcher.
The
depth of her involvement is such that she has now adopted the Hebrew
name Esther and apparently refuses to perform unless the venue has
first been blessed by a Kabbalah leader.
What's
more, she'll only drink blessed water (even in cocktails), and she
won't perform on Fridays so that she can properly observe the Sabbath.
None
of this has dented her humour, however: last spring she was photographed
leaving the Kabbalah centre in Los Angeles wearing a T-shirt emblazoned
with the words "Cult Member".
In public,
Madonna has been coy about exactly what her new faith has brought
her, other than commending its ego-shrinking properties - and what
celebrity wouldn’t benefit from a good dose of
that? But what exactly is Kabbalah?
According
to believers, it is a mystical offshoot of the Jewish faith, elaborated
in an encyclopedic set of medieval tomes called the Zohar. But according
to its detractors, Kabbalah reduces these sacred books to hocus-pocus,
substituting McMysticism for spiritual complexity.
On the
Kabbalah Centre's website, there's a lot of talk about shining the
light of wisdom on your soul and of Kabbalah being the "ultimate
instrument for generating endless miracles".
Kabbalah
also claims to have a totalising grip on the world, promising to reveal
the spiritual and physical laws that govern the cosmos and the human
soul. I guess you could sum up its operating principles in three words:
illumination, transformation and understanding.
Most
importantly, like the best established religions, Kabbalah aims to
be pragmatic: "It answers questions. It provides solutions. It
unravels puzzles. It deciphers codes. It gives you practical tools
to effect change. And it creates order out of chaos." Kabbalah
clearly rocks.
At least
you can see how it would appeal to celebrities who appear in the span
of a few years to have achieved everything (and more) that most of
us strive for in a lifetime, and who then find themselves asking whether
there’s anything more that life has to offer them
- providing, of course, it doesn’t involve real
study.
Perhaps,
too, these are people who are so interviewed out, they’re
groping for something profound to say about themselves. After you’ve
been probed and prodded and photographed to death, it’s
hardly surprising to find yourself interested in an exchange that
goes a little deeper than the usual voyeurism.
In more
cynical vein, I can't help feeling that faddish religions offer celebrities
a handy fig leaf. Richard Gere, for example, has far more to say about
Buddhism these days than about his flagging acting career, and in
championing the exiled Dalai Lama's grievances against Chinese oppression,
he has found a cause that will carry him happily into retirement,
the way ordinary people take up gardening or go on cruises.
Or take
Tom Cruise, who cannily deflects unwanted speculation about his private
life by droning endlessly on about the eye-opening benefits of Scientology.
Perhaps Madonna should take note and make more rather than less noise
about her commitment to Kabbalah.
Which
is precisely what she appears to be planning with her new Reinvention
tour, where she will be setting up Kabbalah stands in each concert
venue to sell copies of The 72 Names of God: Technology for the Soul,
the seminal Kabbalah book written by the movement's founder, Rabbi
Yehuda Berg, as well as the red string bracelets she's taken to wearing
to protect her against the evil eye.
Given
all the mutual back-scratching going on, it's hard to say who is the
greater beneficiary, Madonna or the Kabbalah Centre? I wouldn't be
at all surprised if the whole religious pilgrimage caboodle was an
elaborate PR stunt, cunningly plotted out by a wily consultant who
sensed that Madonna could do no better than to launch her new tour
with a high-profile controversy about her dubious pilferings from
Judaism.
Then
again, Kabbalah leaders must be rubbing their hands together in glee
at the amount of free advertising Madonna has brought their way. How
many more devotees, I wonder, has her sponsorship attracted to the
fold?
And in
more mercenary terms: how many spiritual dilettantes have purchased
red string bracelets from the Kabbalah's online store - a bargain
at $26? Or copies of the Zohar, which costs $415 for the full volume
edition?
When
it comes to out-publicising the competition, Madonna and the Kabbalah
movement deserve each other. Both are glossy, superficial productions,
offering the illusion of depth for the price of a CD - or red yarn
bracelet. They deal not in truths but in icons and shibboleths, and
they thrive on the oxygen of publicity.
In spite
of the trip to Israel, the visits to ancient tombs and the mystical
twaddle that passes for faith, Madonna seems unlikely to persuade
the world of her spiritual credentials - reinvented on not. In my
opinion, she could do a lot worse than go back to her roots and reincarnate
the material girl.
|
|
by
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
|
September
21, 2004
The
cross and the diamond-studded bodice have gone, and she now announces
herself to the world under the Hebrew name Ha-Malkah Esther - Queen
Esther.
But that
did Madonna little good with the men in black hats at Jerusalem's
Wailing Wall on Sunday. As her convoy drew near Judaism's holiest
site, Orthodox men chanted Shabbos, sabbath in Yiddish, while others
shouted at her to go home and accused her of desecrating their religion.
The pop
diva is visiting the Holy Land for a gathering of about 2000 followers
of Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism, and to celebrate the Jewish
new year.
Kabbalah
is fashionable among some wealthy young Israelis, but some Orthodox
rabbis say Madonna has debased Judaism's deepest mystical tradition.
Kabbalah means "received wisdom" in Hebrew, and its study
has traditionally been the preserve of men. . . .
|
| •
Madonna's
Bodyguards in Brawl |
September
22, 2004
|
| above:
a photo of the incident |
|
Madge
goons in cop brawl
I THOUGHT MADONNA’s visit to Israel was about making a show
of peace and friendship.
So I
was surprised to hear two of her security guards were arrested for
punching an Israeli copper during a scuffle with photographers.
Not quite
textbook Kabbalah behaviour, is it?
All hell
broke loose on Saturday during Madge’s four-day pilgrimage to
Tel Aviv with husband GUY RITCHIE.
A group
of photographers and a crowd of fans approached Madge at the Menta
Rey café on Tel Aviv’s waterfront.
But her
minders were far from happy about the “intrusion” on the
public beach and lost their cool with the crowd.
One of
the photographers at the scene, Ouri Sivan, phoned to tell me the
story. He said: “Madonna went to the café near her hotel
with Guy to watch the sunset. After an hour or so she got up to leave
and saw a crowd gathering outside.
“Her
bodyguards asked people to move back but they refused. The guards
began pushing them and it started to get violent. Two guards started
fighting with a photographer.
“They
fell to the floor and the guards started kicking, punching and biting
a guy who was trying to protect him.
“The
police rushed in and a special forces officer got hit in the face
by one of the guards.” The police then arrested the guards while
Madge sneaked back to her hotel by car.
The photographer
was rushed to hospital with injuries to his head, arms, legs and ribs.
A police spokesman said two guards were held but not charged.
Last
night Madonna said the trip was “a huge success” but added:
“There were some problems with paparazzi — who were ferocious.”
Kabbalah
is about respect — maybe Madonna should spread the
word to her minders.
|
| |
September
24, 2004
Spirituality
invariably reveals the true nature of famous people: they're basically
very ordinary people in an extraordinary situation, ie. insane levels
of wealth and fame. Very few of them are smarter than the average
bear, and even seem more prone than us mortals to flirting with weird
religions - probably because
noone dares criticise their latest fluff-for-brains attempt to 'get'
spirituality.
And thus
is it with Madonna and the Kabbalah, a mystical (ie. weirder) branch
of Judaism that features nonsense like wearing a string round your
wrist to ward off the evil eye. How crap is Evil? 'I was going to
be really evil today, but then I saw a piece of string and got scared.'
Evil? Feeble, more likely.
Unfortunately
for Maddy, her latest attempt to be deep got her into trouble this
week when orthodox Jews attacked her flirtation with the Kabbalah,
saying she has debased Judaism's deepest mystical tradition. And it's
hard to disagree with them. Debasing things is very much Madonna's
forte.
There's
a horrible shallowness to Madonna. She's the archetypal not-very-bright
wannabe intellectual, the sort of dim-bulb who thinks that a few Mondrian
postcards on their fridge makes them an art lover. She probably thinks
owning a couple of turgid, unread Henry Miller novels makes her an
intellectual.
For
some reason she's reminiscent of the stoopid Kevin Kline character
in A Fish Called Wanda. Denying that he's got the intellect of a monkey,
he says 'Do monkeys read books?' 'Yes,' replies Jamie Lee Curtis,
'But they don't understand them.'
And thus
it is with the Kabbalah - mystical twaddle that's somehow fashionable
because it's not a mainstream religion. Let's face it, all this mystical/New
Age shite is interchangeable. It's all got essentially the same message:
respect yourself and others, and nature, be good, find inner peace
by keeping a sense
of perspective about what's important and what isn't.
Have
a bit of humility, use meditation or ritual to relax, take time to
work out what's important to you... none of these messages are bad,
but you don't need the mystical wank to understand them.
And most
New Age religions are essentially egocentric: it's me, me, me. Where
do I fit in? How do I find peace and happiness? How can I be fulfilled?
How can I self-actualise? What knowledge can I gain that others can't?
How can I be deeper than all these shallow un-spiritual people around
me?
Which
is a bit rich coming from Madonna, who does almost everything with
an eye firmly on the cash register, not least her endless attempts
to shock.
Satirists
like Chris Morris shock for a purpose, people like John Lydon do it
for the sheer joyous hell of it. Even Roy Chubby Brown seems to shock
because he's got a certain affinity with his audience of tubby imbeciles.
All these people make money by shocking, but not in the totally transparent
way that Madonna
does.
Take
Madonna's supposed run-ins with the Catholic church. Madonna never
really criticised the Catholic church, all she did was get a bit of
cheap publicity by misappropriating Catholic imagery. In any case,
the Catholic church is an easy, if deserving, target.
It's
hard to get into too much trouble by offending a bunch of pompous,
backward-looking old celibates in Rome. You or I could offend the
Catholic church at the drop of hat if we wanted to. The Pope's a baldie
twat. There you go. We've just done it. Cheque please.
Then
there was the Sex book. Madonna thought there was something artistic,
and quite possibly intellectual, about 'exploring sexuality'. However,
Madonna isn't prepared to explore her sexuality in the privacy of
her own bedroom. She prefers to explore it in the medium of a money-raking,
best-selling, porno- lite coffee table jazz publication that makes
Razzle look like a brave and honest artistic endeavour.
But as
with everything Madonna has done, there's a kind of crap insincerity
about it. Take Maddy's fixation with lesbian imagery (as opposed to
lesbianism). Is she really a sexual adventurer, or is she only interested
in sexuality if it translates into $$$s?
Similarly,
Madonna's allegedly 'anti-war' single seemed to owe more to a hunger
for publicity than pacifism, but as soon as she realised her vague,
incoherent platitudes could damage her earning power, she backtracked
rapidly.
Years
earlier, she'd flirted with 80s materialism in Material Girl and unmarried
mum-hood in Papa Don't Preach in exactly the same flighty way. She's
a kind of controversy hyena, picking a few dollars off an issue before
sloping off to feed on something else.
And her
latest meal of rotten scraps is the Kabbalah. If Madonna genuinely
wanted to find spiritual satisfaction, she could save herself a lot
of time by using some of her millions to just help other people. Set
up a free burger van for the homeless. They'd be eternally grateful
and you could feel really good about yourself, Maddy.
But where's
the financial return in that?
|
|
Elton
John Slams Madonna at Music Awards Show Over Lip-synching |
October
2004
»
Elton
John takes swipe at Madonna
Says
singer [Madonna] shouldn’t charge for lip-syncing
from
MSNBC.com
LONDON
- It seems Elton John isn’t a Madonna fan.
advertisement
Taking the stage at a music awards show Monday, John accused the queen
of pop of lip-synching and said he was astonished that she had been
nominated for best live act.
“Since
when has lip-synching been live?” he said. “Anyone who
lip-syncs in public onstage when you pay 75 pounds ($134) to see them
should be shot.”
“That’s
me off her ... Christmas card list,” he added. “But do
I give a toss? No.”
Madonna’s
spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, rejected John’s allegations.
“Madonna
does not lip-sync nor does she spend her time trashing other artists,”
Rosenberg said in a statement. “She sang every note of her Re-Invention
tour live and is not ashamed that she was well paid for her hard work.”
John,
57, was receiving a songwriting award at the Q awards, sponsored by
a British music magazine.
»
Elton
Blasts Madonna
It seems
Elton John is not a Madonna fan.
Taking
the stage at a music awards show overnight, John accused the queen
of pop of lip-synching and said he was astonished she had been nominated
for best live act.
"Since
when has lip-synching been live?" he said. "Anyone who lip-synchs
in public on stage when you pay £75 ($187) to see them should
be shot.
"That's
me off her ... Christmas card list. But do I give a toss? No."
»
See
also:
»
BBC
News - Sir Elton attacks 'mime' Madonna
»
CBS
News - Elton John: Stop Faking, Madonna
»
ExtraTV.com:
Elton John Targets Madonna
|
|
from
femalefirst.co.uk |
October
13, 2004
Queen
rocker Roger Taylor has defended Elton John's verbal attack on Madonna.
The legendary
drummer claims Elton was right to slam the sexy singer for miming
at her concerts, claiming it is pop's "worst-kept secret".
Speaking
at the Australian opening of the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You',
Taylor said:
"It
is about time somebody said it. It was a very brave and correct thing
to say. Maybe she should get an award for dancing, but certainly not
for singing.
"It
is the worst-kept secret in the world and I thing there is too much
bloody dancing in rock 'n' roll and not enough actual singing."
Elton sparked controversy last week when he launched a scathing attack
on Madonna at the prestigious Q Magazine Awards in London.
As he
picked up the Classic Songwriter prize, the pop legend accused Madonna,
who was nominated for Best Live Act, of cheating fans by miming on
stage, scoffing: "Madonna - best f***ing live act? F*** off.
Since when has lip-synching been live?
Queen
rocker Roger Taylor has defended Elton John's verbal attack on Madonna.
The legendary
drummer claims Elton was right to slam the sexy singer for miming
at her concerts, claiming it is pop's "worst-kept secret".
Speaking
at the Australian opening of the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You',
Taylor said: "It is about time somebody said it. It was a very
brave and correct thing to say.
Maybe she should get an award for dancing, but certainly not for singing.
"It
is the worst-kept secret in the world and I thing there is too much
bloody dancing in rock 'n' roll and not enough actual singing."
Elton sparked controversy last week when he launched a scathing attack
on Madonna at the prestigious Q Magazine Awards in London.
As he
picked up the Classic Songwriter prize, the pop legend accused Madonna,
who was nominated for Best Live Act, of cheating fans by miming on
stage, scoffing: "Madonna - best f***ing live act? F*** off.
Since when has lip-synching been live?
"Anyone
who lip-synchs in public on stage when you pay 75GBP to see them should
be shot."
....
Meanwhile, Elton's boyfriend, David Furnish, looked uncomfortable
as he arrived at a party held in Madonna's honour at the weekend.
Onlookers
claim the singer's long-term partner was "quaking in his boots"
as he arrived at the bash, organised by designer Donatella Versace,
at London's Cipriani restaurant.
»
See
also:
»
Queen
Drummer Backs Elton John
»
Queen
Star Backs Elton John's Blast At Madonna
|
|
by
Parija Bhatnagar, from Money CNN |
October
13, 2004
Emphasis
in bold face type mine:
Now
that its turnaround has stalled, the apparel retailer has to figure
out what to do next.
Gap
Inc.'s glitzy MTV-inspired fall ads featuring actress Sarah Jessica
Parker and musician Lenny Kravitz may be hip and fun to watch, but
has the combined star power of Parker and Kravitz successfully lured
shoppers in droves into the Gap?
Not
quite.
Sales
in September at the company's namesake stores open at least a year
-- a key retail measure known as same-store sales -- were down one
percent compared to a much more robust performance a year ago. Overall
same-store sales last month for all three of its retail chains --
Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic -- declined three percent year-over-year.
This
is the second year in a row that a big-name celebrity campaign for
the Gap brand hasn't led to hefty gains at the till.
A similar thing happened last year when the San Francisco-based No.
1 apparel chain enlisted pop diva Madonna and hip-hop artist Missy
Elliott to jazz up back-to-school sales. The ad featured the two improbable
Gap-shopping "friends" pitching the retailer's corduroy
pants and jeans.
At the time, the retailer said consumers hadn't taken to the jeans
as well as it would have hoped.
Analysts
say blaming the fickle consumer for their shortfalls always is a handy
excuse for retailers.
Actress
Sarah Jessica Parker and singer Lenny Kravitz debuted in Gap's fall
ad campaign this year. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker and singer Lenny
Kravitz debuted in Gap's fall ad campaign this year.
"We
thought the Parker-Kravitz ads were catchy but the product lacks depth,"
said Harry Ikenson, analyst with First Albany Corp. Ikenson argued
that Gap's fall collection is nothing more unique than basic jeans,
tops, sweaters and blazers.
"In
the ad, Parker wears a brooch on her sweater to make it look different.
The problem with that is that other retailers in the mall are doing
the same thing," said Ikenson. "That's not really a differentiated
product. We looked at the stores, both at Gap and Old Navy, and found
that there simply isn't enough newness on offer."
Ikenson
recently downgraded his rating on Gap to "neutral" from
"buy," saying that he expects the sluggish sales trend to
continue into next year.
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