Madonna

[floridagrl]

A crime this wasn’t released as a proper single in Usa…. It was SO huge: her look, the song, the movie, it really was the coolest thing on the earth during that time…… a wasted #1 opportunity

OMG, Don't I know it. After the movie was over, people flocked to the record stores to buy the single only to find out there wasn't one. I remember cussing at the guy. He said, lady, there is no single.

After everyone complained, they made a 12--inch single of Angel and slapped Into The Groove on the flip side. How could they not know this would be a giant hit?

Such a tragic mistake on Warner's part.

[floridagrl]

They look like they're having a ball!

[Forreal]

A crime this wasn’t released as a proper single in Usa…. It was SO huge: her look, the song, the movie, it really was the coolest thing on the earth during that time…… a wasted #1 opportunity

[Forreal]

alleged tracklist coming this week:

1. Nothing Really Matters
2. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Radio Mix)
3. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Vocal Club Mix)
4. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Future Mix)
5. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Phunk Mix)
6. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Speed Mix)
7. Nothing Really Matters (Kruder & Dorfmeister Mix)
8. Nothing Really Matters (Vikram Remix)
9. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Future Dub)

NRM remixes are fab

Let’ s streams stream and stream …..

[AndiIversen]

alleged tracklist coming this week:

1. Nothing Really Matters
2. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Radio Mix)
3. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Vocal Club Mix)
4. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Future Mix)
5. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Phunk Mix)
6. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Speed Mix)
7. Nothing Really Matters (Kruder & Dorfmeister Mix)
8. Nothing Really Matters (Vikram Remix)
9. Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Future Dub)

[AndiIversen]

M working with Prince… RS Magazine March 1989

RS: You wrote and performed “Love Song” with Prince on your album. How did the collaboration come about?

M: Well, we’ve been friends for years and admirers of each other’s work. So we’d always talked about getting together to write. And, in fact, there was a moment last year when we were possibly going to write a musical together. I went to his studio in Minesota and worked on some stuff, just to get the feel of what it would be like to collaborare. Because it’s a very intimate thing to write a song together. I can’t write with everybody. I’ve tried with a lot of people, and it doesn’t always work.
Prince and I didn’t really finish anything, though. We started a bunch of stuff, then we would go on to the next thing. We just tried to start as many things as we could. We worked for a few days; then I had to leave to do some other things. I decided that I didn’t want to do a musical with him at that time. Meanwhile, I went and did Speed-the-Plow on Broadway. He came to see the play and brought me a rough mix of one of the songs we’d worked on. I thought it was just fabulous. I’d sort of forgotten about it. So I called him up and said I loved it and that, after I was finished with the play, I wanted to get together with him and work on it for my album. As it turned out, we did it in a very funny way. We sent tapes to each other back and forth between L.A. and Minnesota. Then we would talk on the phone, and he would play stuff for me over the line. I loved working that way.

so there might be some rough demos around for a bunch of songs from an unfinished musical by them, sounds interesting

[spiritboy]

Exactly! She's definitely a member here...I think she's spiritboy lol

Madonna wouldn't drag herself the way i drag her

[MDNHAY]

Can anyone hear the songs? I can translate nor can I see the performance in Aus atm

https://www.news-of-madonna.com/A-ec...ubCJ767KYBi994

[Forreal]

M working with Prince… RS Magazine March 1989

RS: You wrote and performed “Love Song” with Prince on your album. How did the collaboration come about?

M: Well, we’ve been friends for years and admirers of each other’s work. So we’d always talked about getting together to write. And, in fact, there was a moment last year when we were possibly going to write a musical together. I went to his studio in Minesota and worked on some stuff, just to get the feel of what it would be like to collaborare. Because it’s a very intimate thing to write a song together. I can’t write with everybody. I’ve tried with a lot of people, and it doesn’t always work.
Prince and I didn’t really finish anything, though. We started a bunch of stuff, then we would go on to the next thing. We just tried to start as many things as we could. We worked for a few days; then I had to leave to do some other things. I decided that I didn’t want to do a musical with him at that time. Meanwhile, I went and did Speed-the-Plow on Broadway. He came to see the play and brought me a rough mix of one of the songs we’d worked on. I thought it was just fabulous. I’d sort of forgotten about it. So I called him up and said I loved it and that, after I was finished with the play, I wanted to get together with him and work on it for my album. As it turned out, we did it in a very funny way. We sent tapes to each other back and forth between L.A. and Minnesota. Then we would talk on the phone, and he would play stuff for me over the line. I loved working that way.

[floridagrl]

[floridagrl]

Exactly! She's definitely a member here...I think she's spiritboy lol

She could be, but I was thinking on her twitter page.

[madgikman]

What if we ask her. She might do it.

Exactly! She's definitely a member here...I think she's spiritboy lol

[floridagrl]

Would be cool if the Emmy recordings would be released.

What if we ask her. She might do it.

[JeremySpears]

This looks bjuuutiful

[madgikman]

Would be cool if the Emmy recordings would be released.

[floridagrl]

Holy sh*t! Finding treasures today! So groovy! Little did she know back in1980. She became the most famous woman!

[floridagrl]

Wow, too cool. I knew she played the drums back then, but didn't know she played the guitar until recently. She's talented!

[floridagrl]

Thanks for sharing, Rhino. See, they get along.

[AlphaMale]

Bill’s Blogs- Projects

Madonna Part4

LIVE AID 1985

“Live Aid” took place on July 13th, 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof to raise funds for relief of the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was actually two concerts- one in Wembley Stadium in London, & later at JFK stadium in Philadelphia. London is 4 hours ahead of Philly timewise, so that day a number of acts who performed at Wembley hopped on a Concord flight to the States & managed to also perform at JFK later that day. It was an amazing experience… I’ll try to chronicle a number of stories I experienced that day…

Madonna & the band arrived the day before & we all stayed at a hotel that was reserved for the acts performing the next day. It seemed like everything was picked up & charged to the organizers. I heard later that the BBC did an investigation & found that only 5% of the 127 million dollars raised ever found its way to the Ethiopians.

I saw amazing things that day… & great live performances… ie.-

Elton John playing live to his images from London

sadly- David Crosby being led handcuffed to the stage coming to the event from jail to perform with Crosby, Stills, & Nash

The reunion of Led Zeppelin

Tina Turner performing with Mic Jagger

It was very hot that day, & we were assigned one of the trailers for Madonna, the band & her friends. Sean was there with some of the cast of the upcoming movie “Taps”, along with Jack Nicholson. A giant joint was being passed around, so the trailer had a cloud of smoke above us. Suddenly someone pointed out that the Mayor Goode of Philadelphia was approaching our trailer… Earlier, the Mayor had tried to evict black members of a radical group named MOVE from their apartments. When they barricaded themselves, the police dropped a bomb that started a fire that killed 11 people. It was obvious that he wanted a photo moment with Madonna. He knocked on the door & I saw- a cloud of smoke go out, a camera man behind him, & police standing behind them. He closed the door, welcomed Madonna to his town & asked if there was anything he could do for her. She stepped forward (knowing his situation) & said “take a hit” with the joint in her hand. He recoiled, said goodbye, & pushed everyone back to where they came from while everyone in the trailer had a good laugh.

Later, we went onstage to do our 3-tune set. I was amazed at the size of the crowd. The entire football field was filled with humanity (along with all seats in the stadium). She was confident, & on her game- vocally & with the crowd. I got to solo on the last song “Holiday” (see video), & we exited to thunderous applause.

After that, I went behind the stage (which kept getting cleared out by security) & watched other acts on TV (I believe) with my friend Rusty- our tour accountant. Someone sat down next to me & said “Hi Mate”. It was Phil Collins… we talked for a few minutes & he handed me a joint. Now my friends all know I have next to no drug experience (but it was Phil) so I took a hit. Shortly after, he got up & said “Got to go mates-we’re up next”. Next thing I know, I was high… Led Zeppelin were performing with Phil on drums. Suddenly, I started laughing out loud & my friend asked “what’s up?” I said “Think about this… we’re listening to the TV & hearing the kick drum from it. It’s being recorded, sent up into space to a satellite that sends the signal all the way back to a station that becomes the sound on that TV set. My friend said “So What” … I said “Listen! The sound of the echo of the kick drum live is coming back to us seconds AFTER the kick we hear on TV!!!” We both started laughing hysterically.

Throughout the event, we saw MTV personalities scurrying around chasing interviews with artists. Toward the end of the day, I saw Mic Jagger, Keith Richards, & Bob Dylan together walking into their trailer.

One of the more obnoxious VJs couldn’t catch up with them & kept complaining to other people that they were in his way. Suddenly they all 3 came out again, & he rushed up & tried to jam a mic into their faces. Jagger & Richards kept walking, while he cornered Dylan. With his mic hot he asked Bob “Can you share with us your thoughts about this momentous occasion today?” Dylan looked right past him & shouted to the Stones “hold up a minute. I gotta take a shit”, & walked back into his trailer. We all laughed as the VJ kept swinging his hand over his mic & shouting to the MTV station “Cut! Cut! We can’t use this!



It was an incredible day- something I will never forget.



More to come...

[AlphaMale]

Bill’s Blogs-Projects
Madonna Part 3
Road Madness

We started the Virgin Tour in a 2800-seat theatre on April 10th, 1985, & ended it on June 11th at Madison Square Garden (the last of 5 sold-out performances there with seating for 25,000 each night). Before that in New York, we also played at the Radio City Music Hall.

Once on the road, everything took off like a rocket. I remember multiple nights with knocks on my hotel room door at 3AM, only to look out my peephole & see kids fleeing while being chased by security. Madonna had multiple death threats, & I was amazed at how well she held up through it all.

She & her wonderful assistant Annie kept a strict workout regimen (running 5 miles every day & intense workouts). She Invited me to join a 1-hour workout with her & I accepted. I was in good shape then- I played tennis (I had won some local championships as a teenager & had a coach) & full court basketball, so I thought I could hang with her on this. I was dragging a bit after the hour, but Madonna told me that at least I made it through it (apparently others hadn’t). It made me realize the total commitment she made to all aspects of her stardom.

While touring, the hype continued to grow around her. Both TIME & Newsweek did full articles on her breakout success in the same week.
One day I was reading in Time magazine about the genius of Madonna & her management for having concurrent hit singles- “Angel", from the "Like a Virgin" album & also “Crazy for You” in the movie “Vision Quest”.

I had a former connection to “Crazy for You”. I used to compose & hang out with my dear friend Jon Lind, who sadly passed away last year. We co-wrote the second single “Let Me Wait” on Jennifer Holliday’s debut album “Feel My Soul”. Jon also wrote with me on one of my albums & for other artists. He called me up a year before the tour & asked me to arrange & play on a demo for “Crazy for You”- which I did.

Now, while sitting in the airport & reading in Time magazine about her business savvy, I heard Madonna sitting near me on a call with her manager yelling & furious that “Crazy” had been released. Since the "Like a Virgin” album was out, she didn’t want any competition of it's singles from other sources, & was demanding that he get an injunction to stop its release. They weren’t successful (especially going up against producer Jon Peters). In spite of their efforts, the single went to number one on the charts-
go figure…

Toward the end of the tour, someone produced nude photos of Madonna taken when she was 18. Both Playboy & Penthouse bought them & did layouts of her, which caused quite a stir. Right after the tour ended, Madonna & the band were invited to participate in the LIVE AID concert at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium (on July 13th, 1985). We started the 3-tune set on stage in front of 200,00+ attendees. It was hot that day, & Madonna was wearing a silver jacket. Someone in the crowd yelled out to her “take off your coat”, & Madonna didn’t miss a beat. She told him on mic “No Way! I ain’t taking shit off today”!

[AlphaMale]

Bill’s Blogs- Projects
Madonna Part2
“The Virgin Tour”

1985 was an incredible year for me. I recorded the first side of my “Images” album direct-to-disc, then toured with Madonna (& also performed at Live Aid). I finished the year up by scoring & co-producing material on the soundtrack with Maurice White for the John Candy movie “Armed & Dangerous”.

We moved to a soundstage with the show sets & sound system. Rehearsals started around 11am. & ended around 7pm. When guitarist David Williams was fired, I recommended my friend James Harrah, who was hired & became a perfect fit. We had our share of amusing moments..

Once we nailed the sound programming & our parts to the songs, it became easy to perform. One morning, I overslept & barely made it on time. I ran to the concessions, & bought some pretzels, and a coke, & set them up on the right & left sides of my keyboard. We were rehearsing “Like a Virgin”, & all I had to do was play the main piano part that I hit two times each measure (blink, blink- repeated over & over). Just a month before I’d practiced difficult passages for hours daily & recorded for 23 straight minutes on “Images”- where every mistake would be exposed. As we practiced “Virgin”, I was playing the part with my left hand while grabbing pretzels, then switching to my right while drinking some soda. Madonna suddenly looked back at me, saw what I was doing, & shouted “At least look like you’re interested asshole!”

Her two male dancers Michael & Lyndon were terrific, & easy to hang with. We called Lyndon LBJ... We were on set one day & the dancers came down in their new show clothes- bright green paisley outfits with black laced gloves & upside-down cross earrings. The band made some cat calls & whistles out to LBJ (which pissed him off), while I started playing the “Stripper “. Madonna went nuts! She came over to me & shouted “are you the ring leader?”. I said no.. but asked “why the lace gloves? Didn’t you play with a Barbie doll as a kid?” She laughed & said “No! I played with Ken dolls”. (I had her now) so I said “did you dress Ken up in Barbie’s clothes?” We all broke up...

Pat did a great job- not only putting the right folks in place, but also with the programming of our synths. We both used a synth called an Emulator that could record audio, & put it onto keys to be triggered. Madonna’s background parts were sung by myself & two other musicians but were also played with emulators. This was tricky- in a song like “Dress You Up” the background audio for the chorus started on the word “Gonna Dress you up” which was on the 2nd eighth note of 4th beat before the next measure. The audience would hear it out of time if not played exactly.

“The Virgin Tour” kicked off in Seattle on April 10th, 1985. It held about 2800 seats- a nice mid-size venue. Suddenly drama boiled up. Apparently, the chief of police in Seattle made a comment that if Madonna did anything lewd or swore during the concert, the police would shut the show down. Madonna has an amazing way to draw in & relate to her audiences, but this was the last thing she needed; while starting out in the largest venue she had ever played at.

Just before the show, I stopped by her dressing room to wish her well. She was worried, & asked me “do you think they will really shut me down tonight?” I said I doubted it, but then I got an idea. I said “What if you come out at the start of the show & yell out “Hey Seattle! How the **** are ya!” & NEVER swear again? From then on, you’re a perfect citizen. They couldn’t stop the show for one word". She loved the idea & thanked me. In the meantime, as I walked into the band's dressing room, they were all speculating whether Madonna would be tame or not. Bets were discussed, so I jumped in & said “I think she’ll at least swear once or twice”. I immediately got $20 bets from 4 of the guys…

We started up the intro & groove to “Dress You Up”, and the roar was deafening as Madonna came on stage. She waved at the crowd & shouted “HI SEATTLE! How the **** are ya?” They went crazy, & Madonna was tame for the rest of the performance. Pat looked at me immediately & said “Hey wait a minute!” I just shrugged & later took everyone’s money.

[AlphaMale]

Bill’s Blogs- Projects
Madonna Part1
“The Beginning/Rehearsals”

Pat Leonard has been a good friend of mine, going back to our days in Chicago. Pat had success touring with the Jacksons, & in 1985 was offered the musical director position for Madonna’s Virgin Tour. He called me (& I accepted) the 2nd keyboard chair in the band.

Headlining a major tour was a huge step for Madonna- after doing smaller venues with a boom box & a couple of dancers. During our first rehearsal, I could see that she was nervous. I was a vet already (having already toured with Gino Vannelli, Lou Rawls, & Boz Scaggs ). She would sing a part of a song softly, & then walk around a bit. I called her over & told her to relax… she was amongst friends & could trust us. She thanked me. After rehearsal, she came over & said she found out I was an arranger. She asked if I could help her make charts for songs she was working on with her vocal coach. I agreed...

I lived in an amazing new home at that time with a great view at the top of Bronson Canyon with my friends Richard Burkhart (who worked at BNB Management) & Pasquale Pace (who I met working with Gino). Madonna came there & I think she was impressed by all the Gold Records- although half of them were Richard’s . We sat together at the piano and worked out the material & the keys. As she got up to leave she said to me “You know, you’re the only man in the band. The others are just boys. If you ask me out, I won’t say no”. Well, I’ve been a class clown for years & have paid the price for the laughs- i.e. when I was sent down to the principal’s office after my teacher asked me what Arabia’s biggest export was. I knew it was oil, but took my time like I was searching for an answer, & finally replied “sand”.

I looked at Madonna, shook my head yes but said “well, I kinda like to lead when I dance”. I watched her explode with “Well don’t ******* wait too long” & run out of my house. I caught up to her on the stairs & calmed her down saying “I was just kidding with you. Let’s hang out after a rehearsal sometime”.

Rehearsals picked up with intensity. They usually started around 6PM. One of our guitarists David Williams (who played on “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” for Michael Jackson) kept showing up 30-45 minutes late every night. Pat was a great musical director (well organized), & we had zero problems dividing up our parts. We worked late one night going past midnight, so Madonna shouted “Where’s my errand boy? Make a list & go on a snack run to 7/11”. The guy who stepped up was short, balding, with a beard & looked like an accountant. After I gave him my order, I found out his role on the tour was our road manager. He returned a half hour later, & as we grabbed our snacks, I pulled out a bottle of buttermilk & asked “who ordered this?” He replied “I did. It’s for my ulcer”- (not good). Madonna went nuts because she wanted cheese popcorn & only got regular- so he was sent out again. That was the last night I saw him.

A couple of days later, Madonna had a rough night. Her choreographer quit his job with her to go work with Wham. David Williams showed up late again for the 4th time & Madonna promptly fired him. She went into a corner & was very distraught. I came over to her & said “I’m sorry about what’s happened. Can I take you out for a cup of coffee later? She wiped her eyes, looked up, & said “I hate ******* coffee”, so I replied “then drink some ******* tea”. I just thought you could use some companionship.” She thanked me & said we would do it sometime soon. She met Sean Penn the next week.



#BillsBlogs #madonna #billmeyersmusic #Rehearsals

[floridagrl]

As much as I dislike Ritchie…. I loved his creative input….

Yeah, not sure what happened between them, but Guy is a talented director.

[Forreal]

As much as I dislike Ritchie…. I loved his creative input….

[Forreal]

Just in case some of you weren’t aware @Madonna has been fighting on my community’s side for a long, long time. Say what you will but she’s stood up when she didn’t have to. She also stood up when she was told it was a career killer.!!

-Pandora Box-

Stating FACTS !!!