Roland Barthes Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I think it's disgusting how the media is pursuing him like this and have him make things like this....but he has a great voice The interview Anthony Ciccone didn’t take his shoes off once last summer. It was the first lesson he learned in the school of the streets: When you’re homeless, the closest thing to a weapon you have is your shoes. “If you try me, you’ll find out that I have strong and accurate kicks,” he said. Ciccone, 57, who has lived on the street or in shelters for the past four years, doesn’t attract much attention in Traverse City, one of the wealthiest cities in Michigan and a base to hundreds of homeless people who wander the riverside. Ciccone has a deep radio voice and is an occasional gimmick host on a local rock station, WKLT. His sister is Madonna, an affiliation that follows him 24/7, tighter than his shoes, heavier than the plastic bag in which he carries his belongings. While the biggest pop star in the world has a net worth of several hundred million dollars, her older brother is barely able to beg a few quarters to enable him to get some tobacco in his rolling papers. “The homeless here chase me because I’m too intelligent,” he explained. “The police chase me because they have no real crimes to handle. The media chase me because you want to hear the shit about my sister. This is why I need good shoes; there is always something to run away from.” In March 2013, a local female police officer attempted to arrest Ciccone on an outstanding warrant for trespassing. Ciccone resisted. His mugshot made the rounds of the tabloids. He was sent to Grand Traverse County Correctional Facility for 30 days, after which he disappeared. “I have no idea what happened to him since he got out,” said Ciccone’s Traverse City lawyer who we called from New York to ask for help in finding Ciccone. “I don’t even know if he’s in Traverse City or not. I suggest that you save your time. It’ll be like searching for a needle in a haystack.” It’s hard to overstate what Madonna symbolizes for the people of Israel. She is still arguably the most popular American singer in the land, an image that is bolstered by her fascination with Kabbalah, and her public support of the Jewish state. Like many Israelis, we had listened to Madonna’s music all our lives and felt a predictable mix of feelings about her brother’s story. How could such wealth permit such povertry? How was it possible that a brother and sister could have grown up in the same house and ended up so far apart? When Anthony popped up in the news again—and once the lawyer told us the man couldn’t be found—we decided that we didn’t have a choice. We hit the road to Michigan. The homeless we ran into in Traverse City confirmed Ciccone’s lawyer’s concerns. “Anthony moves from place to place by foot and by bike,” they said. “He doesn’t sleep in the same place more than one night because once he settles in the police kick him out.” But a man who called himself Polish Dave, and identified himself as a senior member of Traverse City’s homeless community, didn’t hesitate: “Get me some vodka, and I’ll find him for you.” His credibility seemed shaky, but we had nothing to lose. Polish Dave took us to one of the local churches. He went in and then came back out with both good news and bad news. The good news was that Madonna’s brother was in the church. The bad news was that he was unwilling to speak with us. We offered Dave a pack of cigarettes, and he went back in to convince Ciccone. A few minutes later, three people snuck out of the church’s back entrance: Polish Dave, Ciccone, and another homeless man named Michael—Ciccone is as experienced in losing the media as his sister is. Like papparrazzi, we gave chase. When we finally reached him, he stopped and started screaming that we should give him $10,000 or leave him alone. I said, “We came here from Israel just to talk with you.” Something in his expression changed. Three and a half hours later—after talking with him at the church, in a park, and under a nearby bridge—while sipping a beer we had bought for him, he explained why Israel mattered to him. And then he announced: “Until my mother passed away, we celebrated Passover every year.” Passover? “Right. I know it’s strange, but my mom insisted on it,” he said. “She felt comfortable with Judaism, so we learned about the Ten Commandments and all the Jewish customs. Our Passover wasn’t kosher but it impressed me very much. I have no doubt that Madonna was affected by it and that it related to her Kabbalah studies. Both of us have a lot of respect for your country; you fight against endless enemies that want to crush you, and you don’t give up because you’ve got balls and a heart. I hope that one day I can visit the vineyards in Israel. The women, too.” *** Twelve miles away from the soup kitchen where Ciccone often finds a hot meal is Tony Ciccone’s thriving family vineyard. Tony is Anthony and Madonna’s father. The vineyard was the last stop for Anthony, in his former life. It still symbolized what he said was his biggest wound—his tense relationship with his father—a wound that goes back to 1963, when his biological mother, Madonna Louise, died of breast cancer. That death was a turning point in the Ciccone children’s lives; Madonna refers to her father in many of her songs, particularly on the album Like a Prayer. The difference between Madonna and her older brother is that, while she used this open wound to create what Rolling Stone magazine called “the greatest album a pop artist can create,” Ciccone may be digging deeper and deeper into that wound on the Traverse City streets. “The problems with my dad started after our mom passed away,” Ciccone said. “We had a lot of nannies, and they all tried somehow to take advantage of him. The last one, he ended up marrying, and he is still married to her to this day. The only problem was my siblings and I hated her guts. She was only 12 years older than me; it was like your older sister becomes your mother. This was the main reason Madonna left home. She got a full scholarship from the University of Michigan, and she left for New York to be a starving artist. She did that in part to fulfill her dream, but in part because she couldn’t live at home anymore. My dad almost got a heart attack when he heard she was dropping out of college, but it turned out to be the right move.” Until the 1990s, Ciccone’s life was pretty normal. In 1993, while he was living in L.A., his only son was born. “I really liked being a family man,” he said. “I waited for it my entire life. My wife and I were together for seven years. She was the love of my life. After the birth of our son she got depressed. I worked in Hollywood, a tough physical job, long hours. I came back after an entire day and found her still in bed after she did nothing all day long. Then we started to fight; one day she just took our kid and took off. She got a restraining order against me. I got depressed, lost my job, started drinking, and my family, my brothers, and my father stopped talking to me because they accused me of all of that. I had no support, even though I was the one who tried to make it work again. Today she is married to some new guy, and I haven’t seen my kid since 1999. I went from being a full-time family man with a car, a house, and a wife to being homeless on the streets of L.A. I lost a part of myself there, with all the things I witnessed. I saw people get murdered, women get raped, horrible things. I guess you can call it education, but I don’t wish anybody to get that kind of education.” After a long period of estrangement, Ciccone and his father’s relationship improved, he said, and Tony decided to let Anthony join the family vineyard. “For a long time, I worked there. I learned how to make wine, how to treat the vines, the whole deal. There was a time when things went pretty well; my father took me on a tour and told me, ‘Son, someday all this will be yours.’ So I asked him, ‘You mean all of that is going to be Mario’s, right?’ Mario is my stepbrother, who for some reason my dad preferred, but he told me, ‘No, it will be yours.’ Well, who’s running the vineyard today? Mario. And where am I? On the streets.” His father’s choice wasn’t just professional, Ciccone said. Anthony was deep into his alcoholism, and one day, Tony found him passed out with an empty bottle of wine in his hand. “I remember my father’s voice. He looked at me and said, ‘Well, I think that Anthony is done for today.’ Since that day, he has not allowed me to work in the vineyard again. He wanted me to go to rehab, and I said no. He’s hard on me. I’m hard on him. We don’t get along; we can’t agree on anything. After I left the vineyard, I couldn’t find another job. I didn’t have any money to pay my rent, and I couldn’t stay at my parents’ place, so I moved to the street.” Tony Ciccone declined to be interviewed for this article. (Madonna’s publicist, Liz Rosenberg, did not reply to repeated requests for comment, while a rep from her agency said, “Liz does not comment on anything regarding Madonna’s brother.”) But someone who is identified as a close family friend and neighbor, Kathy Meteyer, working in the wine-tasting room, told the Daily Mail that Tony is heartbroken about his son’s situation: “He did work here, they found things for him to do in the cellar, there’s all kind of work on a daily basis, in the summer there’s all kinds of pruning and picking to do. But he would sneak into the cellars and he would lay on the floor, open up one of the big tanks and drink the wine, with a glass. He just can’t come back until he stops drinking, because they think it will kill him; it already kind of has.” *** The oldest of eight siblings (one died in infancy), Anthony is two years older than Madonna. He keeps a close relationship with his sister Paula (“she’s my buddy,” he said), but he and Madonna are not close. “I have a lot of respect for my sister’s success. She started from nothing and made her way to the top. I never asked her for anything, and I never will,” he said, when we asked him about why he never sought help from his wealthy sibling. “It’s her money; she earned it. Why should she give it to a stranger?” In the 1980s, he said, he did have a relationship with his younger, cooler sister. “I remember that I went to visit her when she lived in a loft in SoHo before it became fashionable,” he recalled. “I show up at her doorstep and I’m looking like Joe Dork. And I was supposed to eat in a restaurant with her. She looked at my clothes, she looked at me, she goes: ‘Maybe we’ll go on the roof and order Chinese.’ And we did. And it was great.” He last saw Madonna, he said, two years ago, at the Super Bowl in Indianapolis where she performed. (He was sent there by WKLT on a promotional stunt.) He didn’t have enough money for a ticket, he said, so he sat in the parking lot with a friend and drank beer. When he looked up, he could see his sister on the Jumbotron. While Ciccone’s not particularly a fan of his sister’s music, or of pop music in general, he does have a favorite Madonna song. “There is one song that got condemned in the ’80s by the Vatican. I like that song. ‘Like a Prayer.’ You know that song?” he asked. Ciccone started to sing spontaneously, in a voice that sounded like a combination of Madonna and Johnny Cash. “ ‘When you call my name it’s like a little prayer. I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there.’ I like that song,” he continued. “Because it means something to me.” His dream was to go back to work at his father’s vineyard, but he said his stepbrother clearly didn’t want him around. Otherwise, he said, “I hesitate to dream because when you dream you get your hopes up. And then you get your heart broke. And so when this happens so many times you hesitate to dream.” He would like to get married again and have a family, but he said he knew that the odds were against him, given his situation. “I pray for one more chance, but the truth is that there is a good chance I’ll never live to witness that day,” he told us. “No one will be surprised if I’ll die before my 60th birthday. Neither will I.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluejean Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Why can't they just leave the guy alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Can someone please tell me who this guy is? Or is it the same guy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Barthes Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 I did not know a radio station paid him to go to the Superbowl in the parking lot as a publicity stunt. The man is sick would they have done the same with somebody who has cancer or any other disease ? People don't take alcoholism seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROCKERITO_MX Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Really Sad but the fam did their part trying to help him out as much as they could. The Superbowl stunt is disgusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightshade Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 He has that deep Ciccone voice, like Chris. It's too bad what happened to him. It's always hard to see family take an unexpected (or even expected) path into self-destruction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad_On_Her Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 poor guy. I feel really sorry for him. These stories should stop though. The media are totally taking advantage of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregVsMatt Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I was disgusted by that too - leave the guy alone I say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Loo Eli Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2513485/Madonna-buys-teeth-brother-Martin-Ciccone-year-sobriety.html The last I heard he had been clean a year and a half, with a shiny new mouth gear to show for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nimos Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2513485/Madonna-buys-teeth-brother-Martin-Ciccone-year-sobriety.html The last I heard he had been clean a year and a half, with a shiny new mouth gear to show for it. That's Martin, who appears in Truth or Dare. The homeless one is Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 He actually seems quiet sensible, and it would have been so easy to slag off Madonna, but he chose not too. This is just my opinion, but I still can't comprehend how Madonna ( or anyone in that position) could not just give him money, despite his problems, i know i know. If that was my brother / sister and I had a billion dollars I would so give them millions, who cares if they drank themselves silly, at least they would have some shelter, security and food. I hate that whole self- righteous family shit " go to re-hab", " I will pay for your treatment" " i will give you a job if you stay clean" etc. Keep it together! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtzlplk Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 That's Martin, who appears in Truth or Dare. The homeless one is Anthony. no wonder he doesn't look homeless to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkspur Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 The best thing you can do for an adult is to give them their freedom to make it on their own. Speaking as a survivor in life which is all I am there is nothing worse than not making it on your own. If you don't mind living off someone else's money than you have no self respect. When people do too much for you especially if you have a problem than you will do less and less for yourself. Madonna is not going to support his addiction to alcohol. In what Anthony says in the article he completely dismisses his problem and seems like he resents people not helping him and supporting his problem. Typical. You would think all the things he saw on the streets would be motivation to get up and do something about his situation. He talks about his wife leaving and taking his son as if just one day she randomly decided to leave him and get a restraining order just on a whim? He never explains why. He avoids taking responsibility in every scenario. Anthony is on the streets because he wants to be. "I would never ask her for help" Well there you go. It really angers me that this guy can get help whenever he decides to get it. It's there. So many people truly have no one to pay for their rehab. I'm sorry but I don't find you cannot drink alcohol when you clearly have a problem as controlling someone's life if you are helping them. Anthony definitely has unaddressed problems but the help is there. Take it. I have learned in life that some just never want to let go of complaining rights and reasons to stick it to someone. If he was sensible he would find a way to not be on the streets. I mean really, he rather be on the streets than to be in rehab, he needs to talk to a psychologist. He doesn't want to give up his alcohol or the "I will never ask her for help." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 He actually seems quiet sensible, and it would have been so easy to slag off Madonna, but he chose not too. This is just my opinion, but I still can't comprehend how Madonna ( or anyone in that position) could not just give him money, despite his problems, i know i know. If that was my brother / sister and I had a billion dollars I would so give them millions, who cares if they drank themselves silly, at least they would have some shelter, security and food. I hate that whole self- righteous family shit " go to re-hab", " I will pay for your treatment" " i will give you a job if you stay clean" etc. Keep it together! If you buy an alcoholic a house they'd sell it to buy alcohol. Money isn't everything. The best thing you can do for an adult is to give them their freedom to make it on their own. Yep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bluejean Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 He actually seems quiet sensible, and it would have been so easy to slag off Madonna, but he chose not too. This is just my opinion, but I still can't comprehend how Madonna ( or anyone in that position) could not just give him money, despite his problems, i know i know. If that was my brother / sister and I had a billion dollars I would so give them millions, who cares if they drank themselves silly, at least they would have some shelter, security and food. I hate that whole self- righteous family shit " go to re-hab", " I will pay for your treatment" " i will give you a job if you stay clean" etc. Keep it together! It's because she knows it won't help him. What both her and her father are doing is the right thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikki Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 He actually seems quiet sensible, and it would have been so easy to slag off Madonna, but he chose not too. This is just my opinion, but I still can't comprehend how Madonna ( or anyone in that position) could not just give him money, despite his problems, i know i know. If that was my brother / sister and I had a billion dollars I would so give them millions, who cares if they drank themselves silly, at least they would have some shelter, security and food. I hate that whole self- righteous family shit " go to re-hab", " I will pay for your treatment" " i will give you a job if you stay clean" etc. Keep it together! she has given him a lot of help already and so did the family. he just keeps getting drunk and won't go to rehab. he says so himself. his own close family (his wife and kid) left him. anthony has a good life and money as well. he doesn't seem to help. at least M and her parents have given him chances and opportunities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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