Camacho
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Posts posted by Camacho
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the video??????????
you can watch it here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DeRZL12SFJk
it's discussed in this recent thread:
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I'm glad that they do include album digital sales now for the certs! Digital album sales are just a nugget of all album sales now but they have been growing and its proportion in the market will continue to grow significantly over the next decade.
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I doubt that The CD/DVD-A thing is a factor for fans buying less Madonna CDs. That unofficial fansite info hasn't been officially announced in a press release and reported anywhere in the media and it hardly got much chatter/excitement in Madonna forums. CD sales across the board from everybody are massively down (20%!) from the prior year.
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im just goin to sit back and gag at all of u delusional fags when the numbers come in...............LMFAO
even holidayguy is laughin at u fags for talkin such non sense
delusional asses
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Those lambs on Pulse make me want to scream
They keep barking that 8 million WW for COADF is a MYTH. They try to make it sound like it sold only a few million WW 
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UK acts dominate album sales list
British acts have so far dominated the European album market in 2006, according to industry figures.
Artists such as The Kooks, Sugababes and Katie Melua have scooped 19 of the year's 36 IFPI Platinum Awards for selling one million copies or more.
The top performer was Robbie Williams who took three awards, including one for his latest album, Rudebox, which sold two million copies in one week.
The US had 12 acts on the list, including UK-signed Scissor Sisters.
The British Phonographic Institute (BPI) said the results underlined the current boom in new British music. Six of the 19 UK Platinum Award winners are 2006 releases.
BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson said: "These latest figures confirm that we are going through a golden age for new British music, even by our own high standards.
"The success UK music is enjoying today bodes well for future years because, as ever in music, it's the hits of today which pay for the hits of tomorrow."
He also said the UK's haul of Platinum Awards for 2006 is likely to go even higher when releases by Arctic Monkeys, Snow Patrol, Corinne Bailey Rae, Keane and Razorlight are finally calculated.
A Platinum Award is given for any album which exceeds one million sales, or a multiple thereof, within the given period.
Euro Top Sellers
1. Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits - 5m
2. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam - 5m
3. Robbie Williams - Intensive Care - 5m
4. Coldplay - X&Y - 4m
5. Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor - 4m
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madonnalicious
Jump jumps to #1 in Hong Kong!
Posted: 29 October 2006 - Thanks to dd cc
Madonna's new single Jump rocketed to #1 with only airplay in Hong Kong Radio (Hong Kong official chart) last week www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/radio2/intlpopchart
Jump is the third #1 single in Hong Kong from Confessions On A Dance Floor.
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Drownedmadonna
Radio Airplay in Spain.
"Jump" is the highest debut this week in "Los 40 principales" (Top 40 radio airplay) debuting at number 29 of the chart. This is the most important Pop Top 40 Chart from Spain and is a reference for many Latin American Radio Stations, so definately they will start airing "Jump" very soon in all Latin America radio stations.
Click here to see the whole chart.
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ericmg: "I have a client who's a lawyer for GE (which owns NBC) and according to internal talk Live to Tell WILL BE SHOWN. Only 60,000 people have signed the petition not to show it and NBC is not concerned about a boycott from the right. The Sorry montage is being cut however. Hope nothing changes in the next few weeks."
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The 2008 tour will haul in at least $250million
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http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=709947
Beggaring Madonna
The Moscow concert of U.S. pop star Madonna that had been held in September at Luzhniki Sports Center triggered another scandal. Nowdays, not only the Russian fans of the star but also her American and European lovers may acquire a pirate DVD of the Russian concert via Internet, paying just $20 for it.
The fans can buy the pirate "Madonna Moscow Live" DVD at exclusivemusicstore.com just for $20. The site says there were no plans for official recording of the concert and promises to deliver the DVD to any place worldwide but for India, Indonesia and the African states. The film is based on shooting one of the Luzhniki displays and some portion of onstage performance of Madonna.
Of interest is that exclusivemusicstore.com was incorporated in the U.S. Arizona in March 2006 via the registering sites, so neither the name nor the whereabouts of owners could be determined.
In Russia’s office of Warner/Chapell Music that protects Madonna’s interests, they knew that the pirate DVD had appeared. “It’s difficult to evaluate what material damage has been caused to Madonna by releasing the disk, but the damage is great,” said Dmitry Maiko, deputy GD of the office. “We are checking the information for the time being and will certainly go to enforcement bodies,” the official emphasized.
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http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewnews.pl?NewsID=7286
Madonna Confesses To A Million
Updated 04:44 PDT Sun, Sep 24 2006
More than 1 million people paid to see Madonna's Confessions tour, which closed at Tokyo Dome September 21.
Arthur Fogel from promoter Live Nation's The Next Adventure, which promotes the seemingly ageless diva worldwide, told Pollstar 1,165,000 punters paid US$193.7 million to see the 60-date run.
John Giddings from London-based Solo, who arranges and coordinates the European legs of Madonna tours, said the 22-date, sold-out run she started at Cardiff Millennium Stadium July 31 drew more than 500,000 people.
The European leg wrapped at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium September 12 - the biggest show ever staged in Russia - and pulled 50,000 people.
Like any Madonna tour, and almost anything else she does, the European dates were shadowed by controversy as various church leaders threw up their arms in protest over the mock "crucifixion" scene that's part of her live show.
But complaints from The Vatican, German Lutherans and the Russian Orthodox Church, whose leaders tore up and set fire to Madonna posters in the street, had zero impact outside the media. In fact, her fans reportedly saved a particularly warm response for that part of her performance.
In Moscow particularly, Tim Dowdall from Live Nation's Budapest office had problems with the press.
What he described as "a litany of rumours and accusations" were fueled by the national and local papers - which spread as far as the U.K.'s The Sun - and included a report that said the show wouldn't happen because a clairvoyant told Madonna she'd die if it did.
Even some journalists who said it would happen still had a down on the event, saying she'd mime, the production would be a disaster or - even more dramatically - Russian police would beat up the audience.
Some of the scare stories were a result of the show having to be switched from Vorobyovy Gory, an open-air site overlooking Moscow State University, because the local authorities feared 250,000 people would turn up.
Not only did the show happen, but Dowdall said the production ran as smoothly as any he's worked on. He was quick to praise the cooperation from local police and the "immense help" from Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov.
Fogel was also happy the final European show had gone "really well," and described the whole tour as "a tremendous success on all levels."
John Gammon / Pollstar
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http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609230315
On Thursday, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the cross scene will make it, but WJR-AM (760) morning man Paul W. Smith reported that Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of NBC parent General Electric, was approached at his Detroit Economic Club speech Wednesday by someone concerned over the scene and Immelt reportedly indicated he won't allow it.
Hey, there are still two months or so to stir things up and reap the publicity. And you can bet Madonna will get paid, even if the TV show is scrapped.
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Separately, NBC has drawn criticism from Christian family groups after the network announced that it would air a Madonna concert in which she hangs in a mock crucifixion on a cross while wearing a crown of thorns. NBC is in discussions with the singer's representatives about editing the scene.
On Friday, the Mississippi-based American Family Assn. said 350,000 e-mails had been sent by its members to the network. The group accused NBC of having a double standard for refusing to air cartoons that Muslims found offensive while disregarding what Christians found objectionable.
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Conservatives Want More Religion in One NBC Show, and Less in Another
By EDWARD WYATT
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 22 — NBC has drawn protests this week from religious conservatives over the content of two television shows, but for different reasons — in one instance for excluding references to God and in the other for possibly including religious imagery.
The disputes, over the network’s proposed broadcast of a Madonna concert that includes a crucifixion scene and over its cutting religious references from the animated children’s show “VeggieTales,” have some critics charging that NBC maintains a double standard toward Christianity.
Alan Wurtzel, an NBC executive who oversees broadcast standards, said in an interview on Friday that there was no double standard. Rather, he said, the network was evaluating each show individually.
In the case of “VeggieTales,” which its creators have said “isn’t a show about values, it’s a show about God,” Mr. Wurtzel said he felt the network was being unfairly punished.
“We frequently get criticized for putting on programming that does not deal with traditional values or religious themes,” he said. “Here is a show that clearly does that, and the criticism is that we didn’t go far enough.”
“VeggieTales,” which NBC added to its Saturday morning line-up this month, was originally created for home video, and episodes of the video series routinely contain religious themes, Bible verses and statements about God’s love and purpose.
NBC secured the rights to the show as part of a children’s programming partnership called Qubo, which it formed earlier this year with Classic Media, the owner of the VeggieTales franchise; Scholastic, the children’s publisher; Ion Media Networks; and Corus Entertainment. When the deal was announced in August, the partners said the “VeggieTales” episodes would be edited to NBC programming guidelines.
Since the show went on the air, however, Phil Vischer, the co-creator of “VeggieTales,” has complained on his Internet site (www.philvischer.com) that NBC has ordered most if not all of the references to God and the Bible to be excised from the episodes prepared for NBC.
“I’m not at all happy with the edits,” Mr. Vischer wrote. “I didn’t know I’d need to make them when I agreed to produce the show, and I considered dropping out when I found out just how much would need to be removed.”
Mr. Vischer added that he had decided not to withdraw from the project “as a favor” to Classic Media.
A spokesman for the show’s parent, however, said the company would rather have an edited version on the air than nothing. Bob Smith, a spokesman for Big Idea, the unit of Classic Media that produces VeggieTales, said that despite the edits, “the thread and values we’re trying to get across is unmistakable.”
“If it weren’t,” he added, “we never would have agreed to it.”
Mr. Wurtzel said NBC did not believe it had deleted the show’s religious message; he said the network had bought the rights to “Veggie Tales” because of its positive religious themes but that it did ask for changes to comply with its standards.
“We are not a religious broadcaster,” he said. “There are universally accepted religious values that we do think are appropriate,” but the promotion of “any particular religion or a particular denomination” is not allowed.
“Clearly the show has religious themes,” Mr. Wurtzel said. “It puts forth some very specific religious values. We had to make a decision about where it went further than we considered appropriate.”
Fans of “VeggieTales” have objected that the edited versions make the message unrecognizable, and L. Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, wrote letters to NBC executives complaining about both the “VeggieTales” decision and another issue, a Madonna concert scheduled to be broadcast in November.
Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment, announced this summer that the network would broadcast a taped concert by Madonna during the November ratings sweeps period. At the time, he said the concert would be edited to exclude offensive material. But Mr. Reilly was also quoted in August as saying that the network had no problem with a part of the performance in which Madonna sings while mounted on a cross, in imitation of the Crucifixion of Jesus.
That part of Madonna’s current concert tour has drawn protests around the world from people who believe it is blasphemous or offensive to Christians. This week, after receiving letters of protest about the concert and its intentions, NBC said it had not yet decided whether to include the crucifixion scene.
A spokeswoman for Madonna, however, said Friday that the singer considered the scene crucial to the performance and could withdraw the right for NBC to televise the concert if the scene were cut.
Liz Rosenberg, a publicist at Warner Brothers Records who serves as a spokeswoman for Madonna, said in an e-mail message: “Madonna would not want this number to be censored. It is an important aspect of the show.” She said she could not immediately reach Madonna to ask if she would pull out of the concert if NBC cut the song, “but my educated guess is that she will not back down.”
Madonna also issued a statement on Thursday saying that the performance was “neither anti-Christian, sacrilegious or blasphemous.”
“Rather,” it went on to say, “it is my plea to the audience to encourage mankind to help one another and see the world as a unified whole. I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive today, he would be doing the same thing.”
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This Mormon-owned local TV station in Utah won't air it if LTT is included in the broadcast
Madonna may be crossed off local TV schedule
Crucifixion segment fires protests
By Vince Horiuchi
Madonna's controversial depiction of a crucifixion during her worldwide concert tour won't be KSL's cross to bear if it airs on television in November.
The Mormon-owned TV station (Channel 5) has decided not to air an NBC broadcast of the pop singer's "Confessions Tour" concert if it includes a segment in which the Material Girl hangs on a mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns.
"We make every effort to operate within the community standards," said KSL station manager Greg James. "This is clearly something that if the event occurs in that show it would - in my opinion - not be keeping within the [holiday] season and within community standards. And we would be compelled not to air the program."
Madonna's performance of the song "Live to Tell" has created a stir among Roman Catholics and Russian Orthodox, prompting protests, death threats and talk of criminal charges against her in Germany. She already has toured the U.S. and is now in Japan.
Bountiful resident Bruce Brand learned from the conservative, religion-based media watchdog group American Family Association that the performance could end up on TV.
So he fired off e-mails to KSL and its parent network NBC asking they not air the special.
"If you took the most sacred events of Judaism, Passover for instance . . . that would be very offensive to the Jewish people," said Brand, who is Mormon. "If you took the events of Mohammed in Islamic history and you made fun of him . . . it would be very offensive to the Muslim world."
"These are things that are sacred," he added. "To try and depict them in any other way than a sacred way is inappropriate."
An NBC spokeswoman who declined to be identified said Wednesday that no decision has been made on which part of Madonna's concert will make it to air.
"We're awaiting delivery [of the show]," she said. "Once we view it in its entirety, we'll make a decision."
Earlier this year, NBC President Kevin Reilly told television critics at their annual press tour in Pasadena that the network and the singer's camp have "discussed exactly what content will be in and what is out. And we've come to, I think, a healthy place that represents her show but is appropriate for television," he said.
He said the special, taped last month during a performance in London, will include whole numbers and not "piecemeal edits."
This wouldn't be the first time Utah television stations have pre-empted or re-scheduled programs due to racy content.
KSL has refused to air "Saturday Night Live" for its graphic content (instead, it airs on KUCW Channel 30), and an episode of "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno because two of the guests were performers in the stage show "Puppetry of the Penis."
The station also refused to air the NBC sitcom "Coupling" because of its sexual content and an animated series about a man who talks to God called "God, the Devil and Bob."
The most recent pre-emption was last December when CBS affiliate KUTV Channel 2, which is owned by the network, delayed the airing of "The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" to midnight because of its titillating nature.
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^Thanks for posting. I can't log into that damn forum the past week
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http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52096
HOLLYWOOD VS. AMERICA
NBC will blink over Madonna stunt
Family group sees cancellation of crucifixion performance
Posted: September 22, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
NBC is going to blink in its standoff with Christians over its decision to broadcast a "Confessions Tour" crucifixion stunt performed by Madonna, according to an organization that has been campaigning against the program.
"NBC does not want a fight with AFA and the Christian community," American Family Association chairman Donald E. Wildmon said yesterday. "NBC may wiggle and wobble, but in the final analysis, they will not show that scene.
"We expect a public announcement from NBC canceling the scene within two weeks," he said.
A report in the New York Daily News said that a disagreement was developing between the performer and the network over the issue.
"The material girl may have a falling out with the Peacock network," the report said. "It seems that creative differences over a controversial crucifixion scene in Madonna's current tour could spell the end for NBC's long-planned special on her concert."
That special, which was filmed earlier this year in Wembley, England, was to have been aired in the U.S. on NBC in November, officials said earlier.
The scene features Madonna hanging on a cross wearing a fake crown of thorns, and the performer has said she considers it the highlight of her current tour. NBC Entertainment executive Kevin Reilly earlier confirmed the network reviewed it and "didn't see it as being inappropriate."
"However, his opinion changed quickly after NBC came under tremendous pressure from American Family Association and its supporters to cancel broadcasting of Madonna's blasphemous actions," AFA, a pro-family advocacy group with more than two million supporters, said.
The network told the Daily News that it was awaiting the special, and when it arrives, a "final decision" will be made.
Randy Sharp, who heads special projects for AFA, told WND the group is confident of the outcome of the dispute.
"Here's what we think is going to happen. NBC is going to say, 'We can't show it.'" Then, he said, Madonna with withdraw.
As WND reported earlier, Christians in Africa, the United Kingdom, Europe, Russia and Australia already have been offended by that part of her world-wide tour.
Just a few days ago, Wildmon had written NBC Chairman Robert Wright asking him to cancel the scheduled airing.
He noted Madonna in 1989 had a video that also mocked the crucifixion, for a song "Like A Prayer." That featured burning crosses, "statues crying blood and Madonna – representing Jesus – freeing a saint from his sexual repression by seducing him," Wildmon wrote.
The National Clergy Council also asked NBC not to broadcast what President Rev. Rob Schenck called an "obnoxious spectacle."
The group represents church leaders of Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions.
"By sponsoring Madonna’s mockery of Christ, NBC will insult the majority of Americans and millions more around the globe," he said. "I must wonder if NBC would approve of Madonna’s mocking a major event in the life of Mohammed?”
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Madge & NBC star-crossed?
The material girl may have a falling out with the Peacock network.
It seems that creative differences over a controversial crucifixion scene in Madonna's current tour could spell the end for NBC's long-planned special on her concert.
NBC programming officials are expected to ask Madonna's camp to cut the scene in which she's hung on a cross wearing a crown of thorns while singing "Live to Tell."
Madonna's camp is expected to reject the change and then pull the show from NBC completely.
A spokeswoman for Madonna said yesterday she would issue a statement, perhaps as early as today, about the special and the cross scene.
A network spokeswoman said yesterday, "NBC is awaiting delivery of the special. Once we see it in its entirety, we'll make a final decision."
Since Madonna's "Confessions" tour began, she has been slammed by church officials around the world for the scene, which has been labeled hostile to the Catholic Church. Madonna's representatives have said it's not disrespectful at all.
Word is the contract for the special, scheduled to air in November, has provisions so both sides can walk away from the deal if they fail to agree on what would or would not be broadcast.
Richard Huff
Originally published on September 21, 2006
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NBC TV undecided about Madonna mock crucifixion
Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:40 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The NBC television network is still making up its mind about whether it will allow pop star Madonna to stage a mock crucifixion on its airwaves as part of her upcoming prime-time concert special.
The 48-year-old entertainer has made the crucifixion stunt, in which she performs while suspended on a giant cross wearing a crown of thorns, a centerpiece of her global "Confessions" tour.
Her stage act drew storms of protest from the Roman Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church during recent performances in Rome and Moscow, with church leaders condemning the mock crucifixion as blasphemy.
But executives at NBC, owned by the General Electric Co. will wait for makers of her concert special to submit the production for review before deciding whether to allow the mock crucifixion to air.
"We're awaiting the delivery of it, and once we've seen it in its entirety, we'll make a decision," an NBC spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday. The program is slated to air in November, but no specific date has been set.
Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, had no comment on the issue, according to an assistant in his office.
In July, when the network first unveiled plans for the Madonna concert special, NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly gave mixed signals about how much artistic freedom Madonna would be given. The mock crucifixion was known then to be a central part of her stage act.
"She's not revising her act," he told a gathering of TV critics at the time. "We've discussed what content will be in and what is out, and we've come to a healthy place that represents her show but is appropriate for television."
He later added: "She's going to do her show, and we'll decide which numbers are in the special and which are not. And that's whole numbers. We're not going to make piece-meal edits."
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http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=705517
Madonna Scared Away from Red Square
Last week, as part of her "Confessions" tour, Madonna gave a concert at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow that will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the loudest fashionable events of the year. The only annoying thing about it is that Moscow "high society" didn't get to see nearly enough of Madonna, and Madonna didn't get to see nearly enough of Red Square.
Long before Madonna's Moscow concert, the heroes of the society chronicles were already measuring not only the high price of the VIP spots (they came in both "gold" and "platinum" varieties), but also the difference between the nominal and real price of the tickets. It was considered especially chic to buy for $5,000 a ticket for the show that had originally cost 25,000 rubles (about $1,000). There were also many who doubted the reality of the pop diva's visit right up until the moment it happened. Only when a landing party of Madonna's technical and dance troops had checked into the Ararat Park Hyatt hotel did the society pages finally believe: "She's coming!"
Madonna flew to Moscow in her private jet. From the airport, the singer headed immediately to the Ararat Park Hyatt, where she was staying under the pseudonym Louise Gordon. At the same time, the nearby Gary Tatintsian gallery unveiled an exhibit of Steven Klein's photographs entitled MADONNA.X-STaTIC PRO=Cess. Mr. Klein's exhibit has been touring the world for several years, but Madonna has never before permitted an open exhibit to be held. The exhibit attracted not only the photographers Vladimir Glynin and Vladimir Fridkes and the gallery owners Boris Pavlov and Yemelyan Zakharov but also the head of Access Industries, Leonard Blavatnik, and his brother Aleksey; Rossport head Vyacheslav Fetisov; "Wimpelcom" general director Alexander Izosimov; top model Natalya Vodyanova and her husband, the English baronet Justin Portman; the restaurateur Arkady Novikov and his wife; and the collector Victor Bondarenko. Disappointment showed on the faces of all of the guests as they arrived at the gallery, as if they had expected Madonna to be there to greet them personally. Instead of Madonna, they were met at the door by the beaming head of the promotional agency marka:face:fashion, Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich: "Her people got in touch with us half an hour ago," he said, smiling broadly. "She'll be here!" As part of the necessary security measures, the guests were herded into the inner courtyard. At just after nine, a long black limousine pulled up to the gallery, and out stepped a small woman dressed entirely in black. Heading straight for Mr. Pavlov-Andreevich, she confidently delivered her lines: "Hello. Where is Mr. Klein?" Presumably to preserve her cover, she spoke in Russian. Remarking on her level of preparation, Mr. Pavlov-Andreevich took her to Mr. Klein.
As they looked over the exhibit, those in the courtyard started a discussion about the legendary woman herself. "She's such a tidy little woman, getting a little up there in years," said an unknown young man, choosing his words slowly. A buzz of whispers followed his words, and after that only the most delighted exclamations were heard: "She's out of this world, she's unreal!"
Meanwhile, in front of the installation "Bud," Madonna ran into the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Singapore to Russia, Michael Tay, who should not have been there. Madonna acted as though she had not noticed him, while Mr. Tay, who was absorbed by the work he was looking at, at first really didn't notice her. When the ambassador finally became aware that the idol of millions standing before him, he was so taken aback that it was clear he posed no threat to the singer. Giving him a glance, Madonna said simply, "Bye." Then, together with Mr. Klein, she drove away from the gallery intending to go for a walk on Red Square. However, no sooner had the door to the limousine swung open then the flashbulbs of the lurking paparazzi exploded with such furor that the door immediately closed again. The car headed for the hotel. Upon arriving at the Ararat, Madonna wrote in her blog that she felt fantastic and that she was very pleased by the care taken by her hosts about the weather on the day of her concert. "I have been told that Russian weather experts are going to spray the sky above the stadium so it doesn’t rain on my show!" she bragged. "The system was originally developed to keep Red Square rallies dry in Soviet times, and was used for the G8 summit. I have to hand it to Russia. You really know how to treat a Queen! I mean I've been adored in many ways, but you are the first country to move heaven and earth for me!" Meanwhile, fans who already had no hope of meeting Madonna descended on Club CabareTT for the "Evropa+Madonna party," which featured an exclusive performance by Madonna's opening act, D.J. Paul Oakenfold.
Before the concert the next day, Madonna, like any other tourist, went souvenir shopping. She came away with a set of five pink matryoshka dolls for her daughter. The singer, who is well-known for her spiritual quests, particularly liked their name: "the praying angels." Then, leaving the matryoshkas in the hotel, Madonna set off for Luzhniki.
The holders of the VIP seats arrived at Luzhniki significantly later. They were distinguishable from the ticket holders for the ordinary grandstand seats only by the official "BeeLine" or "Evropa+" bags containing a t-shirt and a baseball cap emblazoned with the tour's emblem that they received at the entrance. The VIPs discovered an unexpected use for these items when the usherette who was supposed to show them to their seats gave them a valuable bit of guidance: "Make sure to lay out the t-shirt before you sit down, since the seats are dirty." At this, the "platinum" audience members indignantly exclaimed en masse that at the price they were paying, they were fully within their rights to expect that their seats would be free of dirt and rainwater.
Their dissatisfaction might not have been so vocal if the stage hadn't been so far away: between the VIP seats and the stage lay an entire football field and a 20-meter-wide athletic track, and the view of the stage was decidedly sidelong. "It's bad, of course, but from the presidential boxes, where [Moscow Mayor Yury] Luzhkov, [inteko company head Elena] Baturina, and [Duma Vice-Speaker Artur] Chilingarov are sitting, you can't see anything," they consoled each other. Luzhkov, who attended the concert with his wife and daughters, had little to complain about, however. When else would he be able to hear the most famous woman in the world scream into the microphone, "Thank you, Mayor Luzhkov!", without even butchering his last name too badly? Others noticed in the presidential box that evening included the mayor's press secretary, Sergey Tsoi, and his wide Anita; the president of the National Football Fund, Alimjan Tokhtakhunov; the co-owner of Fleming Family & Partners, Mark Garber; and the management of the stadium with their entire households in tow. Rumor even had it that the president's chief of staff, Vladimir Kozin, came into the box, glanced around, and left.
In the "platinum" zones were Gazprom head Aleksey Miller; "Troika Dialogue" president Pavel Teplukhin; Ukrainian presidential advisor Boris Nemtsov; television personality Ksenia Sobchak in the company of Polina Deripaska, the wife of the head of the company "Basic Element"; MTS vice president Tatiana Yevtushenkova; and Shakhra Amirkhanova, the editor of Harper's Bazaar. Around nine in the evening, Mr. Blavatnik and Mr. Izosimov appeared with fairly melancholy expressions on their faces. The buffet in the "platinum" boxes left something to be desired, while there was no buffet at all for the "golden" VIPs, prompting Mr. Garber to pass a bottle of wine hidden in one of the official sponsor's bags to a friend on the other side of the fence. The head of Bosco di Ciliegi, Mikhail Kusnirovich, managed to get his hands on a pair of open-faced sandwiches topped with dry-smoked sausage. Having torn off their cellophane wrapping, he gave one to the actress Ingeborg Dapkunight. For all of that, though, the view of the stage was slightly better from the "gold" boxes.
The start of the concert was delayed. Finally, a blimp with no clear purpose appeared in the sky over the stadium. Noticing it, Mr. Miller wondered aloud, with hope in his voice, whether this "might be a concert by Led Zeppelin?" After what seemed like a few more hours, however, it was Madonna who took the stage. For the VIP spectators, she was approximately the size of a half of someone's little finger, and many of them left their seats and crowded into the aisles. Their dissatisfaction was further stoked by the fact that even the plasma screens weren't sufficiently large for such an enormous venue. The situation ripened to criticism flung at the stage by the disgruntled VIPs. "In my opinion, she can't sing at all," grumbled one woman. "It seems to me like her breasts are too small," added her companion. "And seeing how everyone in the fan zone is going crazy is especially annoying," said the fashionable promoter Andrey Fomin. Only the singer's most devoted fans in the VIP zone managed to hang in there until the end of the show.
After the concert Madonna went to rest, and the next day she visited residential school #80 for children with developmental delays. As a gift, she brought the children 15 cakes and several warm coats. When the children began to call her "mama," the pop diva, on the verge of tears, made a swift exit.
Yevgeniya Milova
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^ Those are so cute Pera!
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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/7days/story...1874564,00.html
Sunday September 17, 2006
The Observer
A good week for ...
Madonna
How much mileage can one poppet gain from toying with religious sensibilities? After she performed in Russia last week, she took some heat from the Orthodox Church. When are the clerics going to learn not to take the bait?
MADONNA U.S. Airplay Reports (Per Mediabase)
in ARCHIVE - Madonna
Posted
Good to see Borderline constantly rank in the top 5!