S&S Backstage Footage:

Preview of the added tribute to Michael Jackson during a S&S dress rehearsal:



madonna.com

Sneak peak at the new costume for the S&S opening number:

S&S DVD Preview

Madonna, by Miseil HQ PIC
Louis Vuiton,
2009



   

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!

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 :

madonna.com

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.

wwd

Madonna by Meisel
Louis Vuitton 2009

 

Video :
Madonna, Virgin Tour
Billie Jean

Madonna & Mercy
London
 27-06-2009

 

Madonna & children attend Kabbalah services in London, Friday, June 26.

Madonna was making plans to take to the stage for a one-time performance with Michael Jackson at his 50-date London residency.

Despite a reportedly frosty relationship, following a planned duet that never materialized, Madonna was desperate to join the late King of Pop onstage at the 02 Arena in London.

Dates were due to start in July and Madonna was all set to be a special guest, according to her manager Guy Oseary.

In a post on his Twitter blog, Oseary says, "A month ago Madonna told me she wanted to do a surprise performance at one of Michael Jackson's UK shows."

Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center on Thursday after suffering a fatal heart attack.

The Material Girl singer, who is the same age as 50-year-old Jackson, became the female equivalent of the Thriller superstar as they were propelled to phenomenal levels of fame in the 1980s.

The pair accompanied each other to the 1991 Oscars, with Madonna dressed in full Marilyn Monroe mode, famously leading a less-confident Jackson down the red carpet.

Rumors even suggested the pop supercouple was an item, but Madonna killed that story by romancing Warren Beatty.

"I can't stop crying over the sad news," Madonna says. "I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever! My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless."

People

Our thoughts and prayers to his family especially his children.

Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted "King of Pop" who emerged from childhood superstardom to become the entertainment world's most influential singer and dancer before his life and career deteriorated in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. He was 50.

Madonna is said to be demanding cool shades for the European phase of her Sticky & Sweet tour this summer. Word has it the headstrong popster has already raided Louis Vuitton’s entire collection of runway visors to wear during her concerts. The singer is said to be taken by the makeup effect the visors’ colored lenses are meant to create over the eyes.

WWD

Madonna: ‘Iconography’ album due in September
June 24, 2009

This column has been told that Madonna is getting ready to release her greatest hits album, Iconography, in September – possibly September 22. It will be her final album with Warner Brothers and it will contain three new songs.

The timing of the album’s release may be bad. Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey are going to be releasing albums around the same time. Whitney Houston’s Undefeated is due on September 1, one week after Mariah Carey’s Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel.

Then again, having three divas release albums at the same time may be good for the record industry and the economy. But if Madonna and Whitney Houston go the Mariah route and release new material that is as uncreative and boring as Mariah’s new single Obsessed, the record industry may suffer even more.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-15033-Memphis-Ce...ue-in-September


I THINK ICON
By Matthew Rettenmund

A little bird told me (actually, told a friend who told me) that Madonna’s upcoming, career-spanning Warner Bros. retrospective will be entitled Iconography. I also hear the original set date of September 15 might switch to September 22. Can’t verify this, just passing along the (good!) news.

Source: http://boyculture.typepad.com/boy_culture/...n.html#comments


Courtesy of Chatty Kathy

The Year's Top-Earning Musicians

Thanks to her tour and endorsements, Madonna made more than anyone else in music over the last 12 months.

1. Madonna
$110 million

Thanks to her "Sticky & Sweet Tour," the top-grossing international and domestic tour of 2008 according to Pollstar, Madonna out earned the rest of her peers. She also released her 11th studio album, Hard Candy, which debuted at No.1 in over 30 countries. In the U.S., the album sold 100,000 copies on the first day of release. The Material Girl also endorses Louis Vuitton

It's time to stop lamenting the dearth of digital and physical album sales. Even in today's economy, musicians--at least top acts--are making more money than ever.

Consider Madonna. According to Forbes earnings estimates, the incomparable Material Girl, who tops our list, has hovered between $40 million and $50 million dollars in annual earnings since 2002. In the last year, a sold-out worldwide tour, impressive international sales of her latest album, Hard Candy, and lucrative endorsement deals put her earnings at $110 million.

Forbes

After a whirlwind week for Madonna and Mercy, the material mom is officially adding one more to her brood.

Chifundo "Mercy" James, the pop icon's newly adopted daughter, was reportedly flown out of her native Malawi by private jet on Friday and was expected to meet Madonna in London on Saturday morning. The 4-year old Mercy is said to have been accompanied by a nanny, baby nurse and another children's aide.

A source tells People that the child left South Africa yesterday evening and was on a 10:30 p.m. flight from Johannesburg to London.

Last Friday, Malawi High Court approved an appeal by the songstress to adopt Mercy after a lower court had denied her request. Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo cited Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, which helps provide orphans with food, education and medical care, as part of the reason her petition was granted.

In a recent statement Madge couldn't hide her excitement about bringing home her new daughter: "I am ecstatic...My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her."

Mercy is the second child Madonna has rescued from Malawi, after adopting 3-year-old David Banda from the South African country last year. The adopted pair join older siblings Lourdes, 12, and Rocco, 8, both from previous relationships.

E!