CELEBRITY FRIDAY: With Lauren Bacall's Death, Every Star In Madonna's Vogue Is Dead

Madonna's 1990 hit song Vogue is well-known for its name-checking bridge, where the Material Girl gives shout outs to some of Hollywood's greatest classic stars. With the death of Lauren Bacall on Tuesday at the age of 89, everyone mentioned in the song is now dead. It's also one of my favorite songs of all time!

Matthew Rettenmund at Boy Culture recounts the 16 celebrities who were mentioned in Madonna's song:

#8 Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905—April 15, 1990)
#3 Marilyn Monroe (June 1, 1926—August 5, 1962)
#9 Marlene Dietrich (December 27, 1901—May 6, 1992)
#13 Joe DiMaggio (November 25, 1914—March 8, 1999)
#14 Marlon Brando (April 3, 1924—July 1, 2004)
#2 James Dean (February 8, 1931—September 30, 1955)
#4 Grace Kelly (November 12, 1929—September 14, 1982)
#1 Jean Harlow (March 3, 1911—June 7, 1937)
#12 Gene Kelly (August 23, 1912—February 2, 1996)
#6 Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899—June 22, 1987)
#10 Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911—April 25, 1995)
#5 Rita Hayworth (October 17, 1918—May 14, 1987)
#16 Lauren Bacall (September 16, 1924—August 12, 2014)
#14 Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907—June 29, 2003)
#11 Lana Turner (February 8, 1921—June 29, 1995)
#7 Bette Davis (April 5, 1908—October 6, 1989)

The stars are listed in the order that they were mentioned in the song (which if you click on the image at the top of the post has the text of the bridge).

Hat/tip to Kenneth in the 212 

2014 GRAMMYS: My Predictions For The Top 4 Categories

Here are my pics for the winners in the Top 4 categories of the Grammy awards, which are being handed out at 8pm EST (5pm PST) in Los Angeles. Not only is prominent straight ally Macklemore & Lewis nominated in 3 of the top 4 categories for their marriage equality anthem "Same Love," they are going to be conducting a group marriage ceremony on stage while they perform the song, with Queen Latifah presiding and Madonna herself appearing as well. Macklemore & Lewis are an independent hip-hop act who had the #1 song of 2013 according to Billboard, the infectious "Thrift Shop."

RECORD OF THE YEAR
"Get Lucky" - Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams
"Royals" - Lorde
"Locked Out Of Heaven" - Bruno Mars
"Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell 

SHOULD WIN: "Get Lucky"
WILL WIN: Blurred Lines"

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
"The Blessed Unrest" - Sara Bareilles
"Random Access Memories" - Daft Punk
"Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" - Kendrick Lamar
"The Heist" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
"Red" - Taylor Swift  

SHOULD WIN: "The Heist"
WILL WIN: "The Heist"

SONG OF THE YEAR
"Just Give Me A Reason" - Jeff Bhasker, Pink & Nate Ruess, songwriters
(Pink Featuring Nate Ruess)
"Locked Out Of Heaven" - Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine & Bruno Mars,
songwriters (Bruno Mars)
"Roar" - Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee, Katy Perry & Henry
Walter, songwriters (Katy Perry)
"Royals" - Joel Little & Ella Yelich O'Connor, songwriters (Lorde)
"Same Love" - Ben Haggerty, Mary Lambert & Ryan Lewis, songwriters
(Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Mary Lambert)  

SHOULD WIN: "Same Love"
WILL WIN: "Royals"

BEST NEW ARTIST
James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran 

SHOULD WIN: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
WILL WIN: Kendrick Lamar

I don't know too much what "the kids are listening to these days" but I do know what I like and that Macklemore & Lewis album has numerous killer tracks on it.

Celebrity Friday (bonus): Madonna Turns 55 Today!

Today is Madonna's 55th birthday!

30 Years Ago Today: Madonna's Madonna Released

Do you remember the first time you heard a Madonna track? Believe it or not, today is the 30th anniversary of the official release of Madonna's first album, eponymously titled Madonna.

The first time I heard a Madonna song it was Lucky Star. I heard it in summer 1984 while visiting my cousin Kim in London, England. In fact, I heard it while I saw the original music video for the song, which featured Madonna dancing with two back-up dancers in front of a stark-white screen wearing her soon-to-be signature attire of too-many bracelets, mismatched earrings, hoop belts, lace gloves and mesh tops. I think I went into puberty right at that moment!

Remember this?


Watch it again for the millionth time! Madonna went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide and featured the classic singles Borderline, Physical Attraction, Lucky Star, Everybody and, of course, Holiday. Which is your favorite?

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Today Is Madonna's 54th Birthday!

In honor of Madonna's 54th birthday today, I want to include one of my favorite songs of hers, the little-noticed "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" from her Something to Remember album of slow jams.

Apparently Madonna has sold over 300 million albums in her nearly three-decade-long (gulp, I remember clearly her first release!) career, making her the best-selling female artist of all time.

Happy 53rd Birthday, Madonna!

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone Penn Ritchie was born August 16, 1958

Today is Madonna's birthday. Love her or hate her, she was/is/will always be the biggest gay icon for gay boys of my generation. Happy Birthday, Madonna!

Celebrity Friday (Bonus): Beyoncé and Madonna

25 years ago (on June 30, 1986) Madonna released her masterpiece, her 3rd studio album True Blue, which contained 5 Top 5 singles including 3 #1 singles (Papa Don't Preach, Open Your Heart  and Live To Tell) and the op 10s La Isla Bonita and True Blue. The album eventually sold over 24 million copies worldwide and 7 million in the United States alone

On Tuesday July 5th, 2011 Beyoncé released her 4th studio album, titled 4. It immediately debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album chart and includes the monster single "Run The World (Girls)."

Do you think 25 years from now people will remember Beyoncé's 4 album in 2036 like we remember Madonna's True Blue today? Somehow, I think not.

GLEE: The Power of Madonna

Thanks to f******* American Idol going long I missed the last three minutes of Glee last night on my DVR since I was watching Lost live. It figures that is the part of the show that has the amazing rendition of Like a Prayer. Watch it now!

By my count the Madonna songs in the episode were Express Yourself, Like A Virgin, Ray of Light, Burning Up, Open Your Heart, Vogue, Borderline, What It feels Like For A Girl and (the execrable) 4 Minutes.

Lots of websites are claiming that Crazy For You was in the episode, but I don't remember hearing it at all.

The soundtrack to last night's episode,Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna, has been released an is available at Amazon.com.

WATCH: Glee + Madonna!

Fox's Glee returns with new episodes on Tuesday April 13th and this promo featuring what will surely be a killer version of Madonna's Like A Prayer is steaming up the nets.

It features the great line from Curt: "She's Black, I'm Gay, we make culture!"

Madonna Turns 50

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was born August 16, 1958.

Madonna Inducted into Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Monday night at a ceremony held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

When I was in college I used to be a part of a faux anti-nuclear organization called The Association to Protect Madonna from Nuclear War which was devoted to maintaining a 10 mile nuclear-free zone around Madonna at all times. Since that would be impossible it would mean all nuclear weapons would need to be de-commissioned.

I still remember the first Madonna song I heard, which was "Lucky Star." I was in London, England and it was March or April in 1984. I was with my cousin and she had this video of this new singer from America named Madonna who had this new brilliant video. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

What was the first time you heard a song by Madonna?