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May 2008

Possible Sticky & Sweet Tour dates in Brazil?

Although Live Nation have yet to officially announce tour dates in Brazil, the official site of the Rio de Janeiro Maracanã Stadium is stating that there are two dates booked for an 'International Show' on Saturday 13 December and Sunday 14 December.
Fans can see online at www.suderj.rj.gov.br/cultural (at the bottom of the page on 'Dezembro')- however fans should remember this is just speculation at this moment and nothing is official until announced by Madonna.com/Live Nation.

Thanks to Marcelo


Attend boot-camp with Madonna's trainer!

What: Reebok Sports Club/NY invites you to train like Madonna and experience THE METHOD with creator, Tracy Anderson.
When: June 16th – 27th Monday – Friday 6:30 – 9:30pm (two week boot camp)
Details: To look like Madonna you have to train like a Madonna! Exclusive to Reebok Sports Club/NY, Tracy Anderson, personal trainer to Madonna and Gwyneth and creator of The Method, will lead this intense and specialized two-week boot camp.
We invite you to shed the pounds and tone the body with this intimate class! A full commitment to Tracy’s nutritional strategies and her 3-hour per night, two week workout series is key to seeing results. Space is limited for this 30-hour workshop – a one-time offering only at Reebok Sports Club/NY.
Cost: Members: $2,500; non-members: $3,000
Register: Please contact Diane Gausepohl, Group Exercise Manager, at [email protected] or 212.501.1429 to register.

Pictured below is Madonna and their trainer Tracy in London.


Madonna continues to shine on Billboard

4 Minutes drops 1 place to #8 on this weeks Billboard Hot 100 - however Madonna is still performing well on other Billboard charts:

#1 - Billboard Canadian Hot 100
#1 - Billboard European Hot 100
#1 - Billboard Hot Dance Airplay
#1 - Billboard Hot Dance Single Sales
#4 - Billboard Single Sales
#5 - Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play
#5 - Top Internet Album 'Hard Candy'
#6 - Billboard Pop 100 Airplay
#7 - Billboard Pop 100
#8 - Billboard Hot Digital Songs
#8 - Billboard Hot Digital Tracks
#9 - Billboard Comprehensive Albums 'Hard Candy'
#12 - Billboard Hot 100 Airplay

Thanks to Micheal


Sticky & Sweet: Lisbon and Canada Pre/Post-Sales

Here is the latest news about pre and post sales from Madonna's official fanclub:

A show at Lisbon's Parque Bela Vista on September 14 was just added to the 'Sticky & Sweet' Tour itinerary. The Icon presale for this show will begin Thursday, May 29. Tickets will go on sale to Legacy Platinum Icon members only at 10 AM LOCAL TIME. Platinum Icon members will be able to access the presale at Noon LOCAL TIME.
Also, a second Montreal (October 23, 2008) date and a Toronto (October 19, 2008) date were added to the tour itinerary yesterday. Icon has secured a small amount tickets for those shows, which will be available through a devoted Icon post sale starting May 29 at 10 AM LOCAL TIME for legacy members and at Noon LOCAL TIME for Platinum members.
100 tickets for each show will be made available to Icon members and we expect them to sell out quickly.
The Icon postsale will start on Thursday, May 29 at 10 AM LOCAL TIME for Legacy Platinum members and at Noon LOCAL TIME for Platinum members.
Visit the Madonna.com tickets page to buy tickets!


Lisbon tour stop officially confirmed

Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour will stop in Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday 14 September Madonna.com confirmed today.

The concert will take place in the Parque Da Bela Vista and the 75,000 tickets are expected to go on sale this Saturday 31 May for 60 Euros.

The news was also published in today's edition of Portugese newspaper, DESTAK.

Thanks to Marco


Madonna's adoption case approved

A court has approved pop star Madonna's application to adopt a three-year-old Malawian boy, her lawyer has said.
'We are very happy with what the judge has ruled,' Alan Chinula told reporters outside the courthouse in Malawi's capital Lilongwe.
The 49-year-old singer began adoption proceedings for David Banda back in October 2006.
She was granted a temporary custody order after choosing David from an orphanage when he was 13 months old.
'It is a positive and beautiful judgment that will have an impact on Malawi's adoption laws,' Chinula said.
'Finally the court has granted Madonna full adoption rights of the boy - it's a long judgement but I am quite happy with it.'
Madonna was not in court for the ruling.
David was put in the orphanage by his father, Yohane, after his mother died of an Aids-related illness when he was a month old.
His father said he believed he could not care for him alone, and that placing him in an orphanage was the best way to ensure his survival.
The adoption has been controversial, with critics accusing the government of skirting laws that ban non-residents from adopting children in Malawi, which has been badly hit by an Aids epidemic that has left more than 1 million orphans.
Chinula said he hoped the 'well-researched judgement' would help bring clarity in similar cases in the future.

From BBC News


Live Nation press release mentions 'special stage'

Ticket sales for Madonna's highly anticipated Sticky & Sweet Tour continued to explode throughout Europe and North America, it was confirmed by the tour's producer, Live Nation.
The demand for tickets in Paris for Madonna's scheduled September 20th performance was so staggering that a second and final performance has just been announced for September 21st.
The Sticky & Sweet Zurich show at the Military Airfield Dubendorf scheduled for August 30th has just glided past the 70,000 mark as Madonna fans buy tickets in record breaking numbers for that show as well as in Vancouver, where Madonna's October 30th performance sold 50,000 tickets in a record breaking 29 minutes.
In addition, due to instant sellouts in Toronto at Air Canada Centre on October 18th and Montreal at the Bell Centre on October 22nd, second shows in both markets have been added - October 19th in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre and October 23 at Montreal’s Bell Centre.
These new sellout performances add to a list of sellouts that already include three sold out Madison Square Garden shows in New York City on October 6, 7 and 11 and sellouts in Boston and Chicago where a second show October 27th at the United Center will go on sale on June 2nd.
Additional Madonna shows on sale this weekend include: Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Atlantic City.
The Sticky & Sweet Tour, where Madonna once again joins creative forces with director Jamie King, is expected to surpass her previous sold out Confessions Tour in terms of production, visual enhancement, technology, dancing, singing, costumes and nonstop entertainment. A special stage is being created to showcase Madonna, her band, and a stunning troop of dancers, all of which will give fans a breathtaking never before seen or heard once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The Sticky & Sweet Tour is being produced by Live Nation. For complete tour information, news, contests, and more, visit: www.madonna.com or www.livenation.com

Thanks to David


Events: Dial 'M' for Madonna

DIAL `M' FOR MADONNA is a witty, dazzling tribute to the button-pushing diva, with art as controversial and timely as the material girl herself.
The exhibition features over 40 artists' imagery of the songstress throughout her decades-long career, as well as some cheeky jabs at the Queen of Pop's scandalous reign. As Madge's legacy continues into the 21st century, the art show provides a platform for showcasing Madonna-inspired paintings, photography, sculptures and videos.

World of Wonder Storefront Gallery is located at 6650 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California 90028.

madonnalicious reader Jerry attended the opening gala on Friday 23 May and sent these pictures in from event. Included are pictures of copies of Madonna's costumes made entirely of candy!


Madonna 'to be given Malawi citzenship in thanks'

She has homes in the US and Britain and now it seems the Queen of Pop has a new land. Malawi is said to be making Madonna an honourary citizen in recognition of her work there.
As well as adopting her son David from the African country, the Four Minutes singer funds several orphanages in the land, feeding and educating thousands of youngsters. Caring Madonna is also setting up a girls' school near the capital to help the underprivileged.
'We are proud as a country to be associated with such a megastar,' Billy Kaunda, Malawi's deputy tourism and culture minister, was reported as saying.
'She will have freedom of all cities here. She won't be bothered with issues like visas and other limitations.'
Earlier this week, Madonna's documentary on Malawi, I Am Because We Are, premiered in Cannes to great acclaim.

From hellomagazine.com


Toronto sells out too!

Ticket sales in Canada have gone very well this weekend. The Toronto date on Saturday 18 October sold out in 9 minutes and a second date on Sunday 19 October was added and both shows were sold out in 34 minutes.

Thanks to Dave


Vancouver follows Montreal with a sell-out

It didn't take long for Madonna fans, and a few scalpers, to get online to Ticketmaster and gobble up the 60,000 tickets for the Material Girl's stadium show at BC Place, October 30th.
Tickets went on sale at 10 on Saturday, and twenty minutes later, only single seats were available.
A pair of floor seats was going for a thousand dollars through Craigslist.

From News1130.com


Madonna breaks records in Montreal

News is coming in that Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour date in Montreal on Wednesday 22 October sold out in 7 minutes this morning. Another show was added straight away for Thursday 23 October and both shows were considered 'sold out' in 27 minutes.

This beats the record of a 32 minutes sell out for Madonna's two Confessions Tour dates in Montreal back in 2006.

Thanks to Noel


Hard Candy song fest in Ugly Betty

The Thursday night season finale of Ugly Betty featured four songs from Hard Candy as the background music of certain scenes.
They played Spanish Lesson in a scene with Hilda and her new man (Eddie Cibrian). Next was Miles Away in a scene where Gio asks Betty to go to Rome with him.
Then at the baseball game scene, they played She's Not Me and had Naomi Campbell catwalking up to the plate at the game to Candy Shop.
Last song of the night was Jump (from Confessions On A Dance Floor) which also happens to be the title of the episode.

Thanks to Tim


Madonna maintains her domination of Billboard

4 Minutes holds at #7 on this week's Billboard Hot 100 - and here is how Madonna is doing on other Billboard charts:

#1 - Billboard European Hot 100
#1 - Billboard Canadian Hot 100
#1 - Billboard Hot Dance Single Sales
#1 - Billboard Single Sales
#2 - Billboard Hot/Club Play
#5 - Billboard Hot Digital Songs
#5 - Billobard Hot Digital Tracks
#6 - Billboard Pop 100
#6 - Billboard Pop 100 Airplay
#6 - Top Digital Albums "Hard Candy'
#6 - Top Internet Albums "Hard Candy'
#7 - Billboard Japan Hot 100 'Miles Away'
#8 - Billboard Comprehensive Albums 'Hard Candy'
#12 - Billboard Hot 100 Airplay

Thanks to Micheal


Madonna to show film at Michael Moore's festival

Madonna's new film on the impoverished nation of Malawi has wowed another maker of documentaries: Michael Moore.
Moore announced Thursday that Madonna, like himself a Michigan native, will appear for a screening of 'I Am Because We Are' during the Traverse City Film Festival on Aug. 2.
'She's sort of entered my realm,' Moore said. 'When I saw it, I thought, 'Wow, it's like she's been making these films for years.''
Madonna produced and narrated the documentary after traveling to Malawi, where she met the toddler David Banda. She and husband Guy Ritchie are adopting the child.
'I Am Because We Are' illustrates the poverty that children of the southern African country face, how the AIDS crisis is claiming lives, and the conditions that cause disease and other misery there. But the film urges people to volunteer and tries to offer hope.
'She takes the viewer through a very personal journey and tries to connect us, living here in the U.S., giving us a window into the way it is for other people in the world,' Moore said. 'You're extremely moved when you watch it. You understand very clearly why she's devoted so much of her life to the people of Malawi.'
Moore said he was 'outraged' by the criticism Madonna received for her efforts to adopt David. Some children's rights groups said it would be better to provide more resources so children could remain in their native countries. Others accused her of using her celebrity status to circumvent Malawian adoption laws, which she denied.
'As one who has seen what the yellow press can and does do, all of that was just one more reminder to me of just how dishonest so much of the media is in this country,' Moore said.
Moore, who won the Academy Award in 2002 for 'Bowling for Columbine,' said he saw an early version of Madonna's film in London while shooting scenes for his latest documentary, 'Sicko.'
After watching the finished product about a month ago, he asked Madonna for permission to screen it during the festival in Traverse City, his adopted hometown about 250 miles northwest of Detroit. Moore established the festival in 2005 with local author Doug Stanton and photographer John Robert Williams.
'She said she'd be thrilled to come here and be part of the film festival,' Moore said. 'We were pleasantly surprised.'
Madonna, born in Bay City and raised to the south near Detroit, recently released a new album, 'Hard Candy,' and is preparing for a worldwide tour that begins in August. She'll take a one-day break from rehearsals to visit Traverse City.
The film will be shown in a downtown theater that seats 540. After the film is shown, Madonna will take questions from the audience, Moore said.

From AP Via Yahoo! News


Madonna auctions off the contents of her handbag

The Material Girl parted with a few personal possessions - a custom-made white guitar and the contents of her handbag - at a benefit to raise money for AIDS research.
Madonna emptied her purse and came up with a magnifying mirror, hair clips, skin blotting tissues and lip gloss. She put it on the block along with a one-of-a-kind diamond-encrusted alligator bag donated by Chanel. The lot sold for $472,000.
The 49-year-old singer asked the crowd not to insult her with low bids: 'This lip gloss touched my lips.'
The benefit on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival late Thursday raised more than $10 million for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR), a record for the annual event.
Stone tried to get the crowd to bid for a kiss with Madonna, reminding everyone that George Clooney sold two kisses last year for a total of $700,000.
'That's cheap!' Madonna quipped. 'Everyone's kissed George Clooney.'
Madonna said she wouldn't give away a kiss for less than $1 million. Instead, she offered to serenade two fans backstage during her next concert tour in the city of their choice.
As bidding took off, Madonna prodded the crowd along, saying 'Don't humiliate me!' and 'People have offered me millions to play at their bar mitzvahs.' The package sold $550,000.
Madonna's white Gibson acoustic guitar, which she used on her 'Confessions' tour, sold separately for $472,000.

From the Charlotte Observer


Bust-up with Pharrell made Madonna cry

Madonna wept with rage after an angry studio bust-up with producer Pharrell Williams.
The pair clashed while collaborating on Madonna's new album Hard Candy - and the Material Girl was shocked Williams was brave enough to stand up to her.
She reveals, 'Pharrell made me cry. You know when you get angry with someone and you're spitting snot.'
'I was in a sensitive mood in the studio and I didn't understand the rhythm he wanted me to sing in, and he was giving me a hard time. I was taken back by how he was talking to me.'
Rather than walk away, the pair decided to clear the air, and patch things up - and they are now firm friends.
She adds, 'We went upstairs and I said, 'You can't talk to me like that,' and burst into tears. And he said, 'Oh my God, Madonna has a heart.'
'We had it out and now I love him and we make great music together.'

From contactmusic.com


'I'm getting more attractive with age'

Pop superstar Madonna is embracing the ageing process, insisting she is only just reaching the peak of her attractiveness at 49.
The singer feels fitter, more toned and more attractive than she has ever been as she approaches her 50th birthday in August.
She explains, 'I like the way I look better now. My thighs aren't as chubby. I'm not kidding. I'm being perfectly honest.'
But Madonna insists she has never thought of herself as a natural beauty: 'I see myself as practical and handsome, and useful. I don't think of myself as a great beauty. But I think of myself as stylish.'
The Material Girl also reveals she never gets nostalgic and feels the need to look back at images of her past: 'I don't look at old pictures of myself. I don't look at pictures of myself from last week. Once I've approved of them, they're gone.'

From contactmusic.com


Adopting Malawi boy as hard as childbirth

Madonna said Thursday her efforts to adopt a child in Malawi and the ridicule she faced in the press had been as difficult as childbirth, but she was confident of soon winning permanent custody.
The 49-year-old pop star, who was in Cannes with a documentary she produced and wrote about AIDS orphans in the southeast African nation, said she had been bewildered by the criticism and suspicion she faced.
'It was painful and it was a big struggle and I didn't understand it but in the end, I rationalised that, when a woman has a child and goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount,' she told reporters.
'So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains with dealing with the press on my front doorstep accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it. I had to go through some kind of process and in the end it made me stronger so I can't complain.'
A court in Malawi is expected to rule this week on whether Madonna and her British filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie can permanently adopt three-year-old David after an interim custody order was granted 18 months ago.
David was placed in an orphanage after his mother died during childbirth.
Madonna said Thursday that the woman had died of AIDS and that David's biological father, who is still alive, had dropped his initial objections and formally approved of the adoption so his son could avoid a life of poverty.
More than half of Malawi's population lives on less than a dollar a day and the country is one of the world's worst affected by AIDS with about 14 percent of its 12 million people infected with HIV, the virus that causes the disease.
Madonna meanwhile is the world's highest paid female singer. Having given birth to a daughter, Lourdes, and a son, Rocco, she was won over by tiny David on a visit to an AIDS orphanage in October 2006.
But critics have accused her of using her vast wealth to fast-track the adoption process, a charge she has vigorously denied.
And although widely praised for her charity work in Malawi, the adoption case also triggered a storm of protest there.
Madonna said the absence of laws in Malawi allowing for international adoptions meant hers became a test case.
'I'm happy to be the guinea pig,' she said.
Madonna's film, 'I Am Because We Are' tells the wrenching story of a generation of children left to fend for themselves after AIDS robs them of their parents.
It includes interviews with high-profile activists including former US president Bill Clinton and South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, spliced between images of grinding poverty, ailing AIDS patients and the terror experienced by children suddenly left alone.
Its optimistic ending focuses on charity groups working to ensure medical care, education and guidance for the children and ways viewers can help.
The picture was directed by Nathan Rissman, an amateur filmmaker who had previously worked for Madonna and Ritchie as a gardener and babysitter.
Despite Rissman's lack of experience, the film has won critical praise for its searing images and tightly edited interviews and has been sold in several territories.
'I'm hoping the whole world sees it,' said Madonna, who premiered her first feature film, a comedy set in London, to mixed reviews in Berlin in February.
Madonna said the death of her own mother when she was only six had been a factor in leading her to tell the story of the more than one million AIDS orphans in Malawi.
The film's title comes from an African adage about individuals' connection to their communities and the world.
It is showing on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival, which wraps up Sunday.

From AFP Via Yahoo! News


Madonna in Cannes for film premiere

Madonna has been on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival for the European premiere of her Aids film.
The documentary, I Am Because We Are, highlights the plight of Malawi's estimated one million Aids orphans.
The 49-year-old will be joined later by a host of A-list stars including actors Sharon Stone and Sean Penn for a fund raising event.
The singer is currently in the middle of court proceedings to adopt a three-year-old Malawian boy.
Madonna wrote, produced and directed the film, which shows a stark picture of desperate poverty in Malawi. It also highlights how education can help the situation.
The singer received a round of applause as she entered the cinema.
'To say that this film is a labour of love is true, but that's kind of trivial because really what it is, is a journey of a lifetime,' she said.
Director Nathan Rissman told the audience that it was amazing to have someone like Madonna believe in him.
'I'm so excited to be here,' he said.
Madonna will join Sharon Stone later on Thursday to raise money for Aids research charity Amfar.

From BBC News Online