So Cal Story - Like a Virgin

I know, I know, the mere thought that I would ever feel even remotely like a virgin again after all that I have been through is a complete joke. Like the words to the great Madonna classic, “I've been beat, felt incomplete, I've been had, I've been sad and blue, yet somehow I can still at times feel shiny and new”. Such was the case Wednesday night when I saw Madonna "live" for the first time ever. Yes, it's true - I've been to Niece and the Isle of Greece while I've sipped champagne on a yacht, I've moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed 'em what I've got. I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a gay man (or anyone really) ain't supposed to see, I've been to paradise, but I've never been to Madge.

Over the years I have seen many of my favorite performers live. The very first concert I ever went to was Quarterflash at the Civic Auditorium in Redding, CA. At the time "Harden My Heart" (or as we used to sing it at the time "Pardon my Fart") was all the rage and I was so excited to be at a live event. The Greg Kihn Band followed that concert, which was actually pretty good. I can't remember if this was before the horrid "Jeopardy" video or after, but it was fun none-the-less. My first "BIG" concert was A Day on the Green in Oakland. Dean & I were 16 and somehow (and I am still not entirely sure he did it) he had managed to convince his VERY religious parents to let us take their car from Redding to the Bay area to go to a rock concert. The line-up was Bryan Adams, Night Ranger, Edie Money, Triumph and the headliners were Journey. I was a huge Journey fan and I while I had no clue who Triumph was (and still don't to this day), I was excited to see the rest of the bands too. We loaded up on Coke-a-cola (yes, the drink, not the drug) and cartons of cigarettes and off we went. We ended up meeting some really cool people during the day and the concert was awesome. All I really remember clearly was eating watermelon that had been drenched in alcohol, chain-smoking like 3 packs of cigarettes and L-O-V-I-N-G Journey. As the years have passed I have seen all of my favorites (Prince, Janet Jackson, Wham!, Tori Amos, Pink, Whitney Houston before she became a crack-head), been introduced to some artists that I didn't know much about (Smashing Pumpkins, Fiona Apple, Garbage, Bush), and became fans of some groups that I hadn't really thought much of prior to seeing them live (Van Halen w/Sammy Hagar to this day ranks as one of my all-time favorite concerts and I had desire none to go - I was basically being used as a tool by one of my sisters to make her boyfriend jealous - long story I'll tell some other time, and also Aerosmith (see Van Halen).

Madonna and Depeche Mode were the two 80's artists that I never got a chance to see. I've watched the Madonna HBO specials and have always thought that if ever I had the chance I would go. The last tour she did was basically a "greatest hits" type deal and I wanted to go SO BAD, but at this point in my life I am usually completely unaware of who is touring where and when and I never know when tickets are going on sale, so I missed her "Reinvention" tour. Her latest cd is one of my favorites from last year and probably one of my all-time favorites of hers as well. I had heard that she was touring for the cd and thought it would be a lot of fun to see it, but as per usual the tickets went on sale and the shows sold out without me even knowing they were going on sale. One day Allan mentioned that she was adding a show and that it was going on sale the next day. I had to work and we have the firewall from Hell on my work computer so I knew there wasn't a chance of getting tickets and just kind of forgot about it. But thankfully Allan didn't. My sweetie-pie guy went online the next day and got us tickets!!! Apparently he had never seen her either and like me loved her last cd. They were $120 a piece, but as far I was concerned it was worth it - it would be a make-up for all of the Madonna shows missed. I gave Allan my money and then completely forgot all about it.

A couple of weeks prior to the show I was looking for something in a stack of papers on my dresser and came across the tickets and I was actually kind of surprised. I had REALLY forgotten all about it. Anyhow, the day comes. We leave a little late, but had still given ourselves about an hour and a half to get there. All I can say is that I will NEVER go to a concert on a weeknight at the Forum in Los Angeles - I don't care who it is or how bad I want to see them. Going about 2 blocks to get into the parking lot took over a half hour - add that to the regular traffic nightmare that is Los Angeles and we ended up getting there about 20 minutes after the show was supposed to start. Thankfully for us Madonna knows her gay fans run late so she didn't start until about 8:45. She opened the show by coming out of a huge disco ball that dropped from the ceiling and it was completely fantastic. She had three video screens on the stage behind her that were showing some amazing images and the audience (including Allan & I) was going absolutely nuts.

Having watched a lot of Madonna's concerts on TV I always got the impression that Madonna had a lot of fun performing live. She always seems to have a great time with her dancers and back-up singers and she usually has a lot of interaction with the crowd. I loved this show - the music was AWESOME, her voice was great, the way she mixed it was awesome, and I really loved all of the songs she chose to sing. However, the one thing that I had an issue with (to say that it bothered me would be an over-statement) is that she didn't seem to be having much fun during this show. Maybe it was because we were in the nosebleed section and I couldn’t get a feeling of her from so high, I don't know. I just felt like the show was choreographed to the second, there was no room for spontaneity, and even though she was performing some amazing dance music it just didn’t really feel like a party. Having said that, I feel as if I got my $120 worth and I am beyond happy that I finally got to see her.

So that is it for now. I have a busy few weeks coming up here – I am going to a show to watch my friend “Princess” dance is a burlesque show, will hopefully be visiting with my dad soon, Andrew is graduating from the 8th grade soon (if he can pull his head out of his ass and pass (of all things) PE, and then football season starts and my life becomes a chaotic mess again. The one good thing about the upcoming season is that Justin passed his driving test a few weeks ago and is now a licensed driver in the State of California, so now he can drive himself to the places he needs to go. In some ways it makes me feel old (which considering I am turning 40 soon I guess is true) and in other ways it makes me feel excited for him to be gaining some independence. Either way it means that I will only have to worry about getting Andrew where he needs to go and Justin can worry about himself. I did go to Lake Tahoe recently – one of my sisters got married – and I will write about that (and post a few photos) soon.