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08/10/08 05:20 PM #359     Lisa Coppola Liz, Gotta love Elmer's mind. If I ever go on Millionairre, I'm gonna use Elmer for all three lifelines! OKAY Elmer? xoxo Lisa

08/10/08 07:36 PM #360     Kevin Barone Elmer- WOW!!! Lisa- How dare you disgrace the queen!!!! Just kidding!!! I have loved Madonna since I heard the song "Everybody" on NY DISCO radio station WKTU (around 1982?).Remember the DJ Paco? The funny thing was that I was wearing "Disco Sucks" t-shirts at the time,loving Led Zepplin,Heart,Patti Smith,Fleetwood Mac,etc.,but there was something about that song....anywho,yeah ever since then. I had no idea what "Madonna" was.I thought a black girl group.When I eventually saw her,I just fell in love w/ her unique style,her music,her attitude...all those rubber bracelets & crosses (I was rebelling against my Catholic upbringing at the time). You know what's funny...I actually give credit to Madonna for unleashing sexual phobias.She had the attitude of a man and exploited her own sexuality because she wanted to.Even after she had made millions of dollars,she still kept pushing the envelope...The "Sex" book and that whole era. Elmer,your take on that... So I have been a fan from the very begining... I have seen every one of her tours.Which,BTW,she also deserves credit for turning concerts into highly produced extravagandas(not necessarily a good thing but really fabulous!).She is so much less controversial now & her shows are not skanky but they all carry a message or theme(world unity,helping our brothers and sisters,etc).And talk about trying to look your best at 50.... Music today is so transparent and annoying for the most part,heavy Rap and Miley Cyrus crap...they're so vapid and here today, gone tomorrow.Another one of my faves is Mary J. Blige...what a voice.Amy Winehouse is awsome but,yes,quite the mess and not too pretty in some of the pics I've seen.Hopefully she'll straighten herself out like Britney.LOL Pop culture is studied more than any other subject in this country...not a good thing. Kathy Griffin,on the other hand is "dirty".....I Love Her!!! I am also one of HER gays!!! I've seen her four times and watch her shows on Bravo. Sometimes I can't believe the things that come out of her mouth but I love that most of Hollywood is afraid to go near her,scared that they will be the next subject of her scrutiny!!! It's raining here in Fort Lauderdale & I think I'm going to head out for a drink (or five)...$10 for buckets of 5 domestic beers!What a bargain! It's no wonder this place is called Fort Liquordale...you are actually encouraged to drink. At least I live and work on the same street so I don't have to drive...just stumble....home. Later....KGB

08/11/08 12:14 AM #361     Glenda Fidler (Gallagher) How about that American relay team???? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

08/11/08 08:40 AM #362     Deborah Kozak (Martin) Glenda- You got to love Michael Phelps! He goes for his third gold medal tonight - GO PHELPS!

08/11/08 04:56 PM #363     Kevin Barone hey- Did you read how pissed off Mark Spitz is about not being invited to the Olympics this year. Seems he honors Phelps and wants to be there when he,hopefully,breaks Mark's old record of 7 golds...KGB

08/11/08 09:04 PM #364     Glenda Fidler (Gallagher) Did you see how cute and little those Chinese gymnast girls are? I guess the age requirements don't apply. Not sure if I heard that correctly on the news.

08/11/08 10:34 PM #365     Marianne Scerbo (Longchamp) Glenda - I remember how much you liked Nadia Comineac(sp?)when we were in school. and...how many girls out there had "the" Mark Spitz poster? Be honest now. He was in a stars and stripes teeny tiny speedo with his medals draped sround his neck and his hands on his hips. Wow!

08/11/08 10:57 PM #366     Deborah Kozak (Martin) There is no way those Chinese girls meet the age requirements! Even my 14 year old noticed!

08/11/08 10:59 PM #367     Kevin Barone Glenda- I do love the gymnastics,one of my faves... Marianne- Have you seen what he looks like now? Trust me,no one would want a poster now...he didn't age very well which is unusual for a star athlete. I did see Nadia recently and she looks pretty good though. Chow for now,Peace/KGB

08/12/08 09:15 AM #368     Glenda Fidler (Gallagher) Hi Scerb and Debbie - Yes, I did think Nadia was the greatest! You have a good memory, Scerb. I did watch Bela Karoly on the news yesterday talking about how the Chinese have decided not to acknowledge the age requirements for their gymnasts. I did think Mark Spitz was cute; however, Donny Osmond was my favorite. Public school starts today, my children go back on the 21st. I much prefer the northern schedule of the "Monday after Labor Day" start. I wonder why they start school so early down here? Anyone know the reasoning behind that? Maybe it's just the way it is. Time for my second cup of coffee. See you all soon!

08/12/08 09:19 AM #369     Glenda Fidler (Gallagher) Kevin - I think it would have been an honor for Phelps to have Mark Spitz there. Right? Too bad he wasn't invited. Did you watch the gymnastics last night? I CANNOT believe that the Japanese took the silver. I guess without the Hamm (sp?) brothers we were lucky to get a bronze.

08/12/08 12:08 PM #370     Carol Vallone Kevin..... He's 2 yrs shy of 60!! I don't think he looks bad at all!! Are you sure you're not confusing him with that other famous olympian, Bruce Jenner??? He scares me!! :o) Glenda.... That really sucks!! Shortens your summer by about 3 wks!! When do they get out of school??

08/12/08 12:27 PM #371     Deborah Kozak (Martin) Glenda- When you figure out why the south starts school so early, let me know! My girls started yesterday and they were actually ready to go back. They are done the last Friday in May. The only thing I can figure out is the rednecks (who have been here long before we were and seem to set the school calendar) don't seem to see the average temperature in August is higher than the average temp the first two weeks in June. So the schools have to spend a mint air conditioning the buildings so the kids don't pass out from the blasted humidity. Who can figure! I read your blog about the Chinese disregarding the age limit, I didn't know they could do that! And I thought the American guys should have taken silver in gymnastics. I dozed off during parts of it but was amazed at some of their acrobatic stunts, especially on the high bars.

08/12/08 04:21 PM #372     Lisa Coppola Hi All, Carol...once again you have said what I was thinking.Great minds think alike, yes? Bruce Jenner has really ruined his appearance.He looks like an ugly woman. What the heck happened to him? I actually think Mark Spitz looks better now than when he was younger. My personal heart throb Olympian was Eric Heiden Do you all remember him? His event was speedskating. By the way, what time are you all getting your Olympics.? Here everything exciting ,like the relay the other night, is coming on at ten or ten thirty and by then I'm already sawing wood...if you catch my drift! I keep missing everything. I did see some synchronized diving ... a little weird but enjoyable. Stay well. xoxo Lisa

08/12/08 04:53 PM #373     Kevin Barone Glenda- I did see the gymnastics last night.So impressive...I think the Americans deffinately deserved better. Debie I get Olympic coverage almost all day on various channels.Last night ,the gymnastics were on at about 10 or 11.MSNBC is offering a lot of coverage down here. Carol- Sorry,but I don't think Mark Spitz looks so great...I didn't realize that he was 60 though. Bruce Jenner has had too much work done. He does look alienlike or something!! Got to get back to work.....See Ya/KGB

08/12/08 08:21 PM #374     Maureen Bezold (Como) Hey Lisa, I totally have to agree with you, my personal favorite was Eric Heiden; and Bruce Jenner - he looks like the skin on his face has been pulled clear to the back of his head - UGH!!! I gotta run for now - I'm multi-tasking here - trying to watch the Olympics, get some wash done, and clean the windows in my car so I can see where I'm driving when we leave for the Outer Banks on Saturday - vacation at last!!!! Enjoy the Olympics and I'll check in later. Love to all, Maureen

08/13/08 07:25 PM #375     Elmer Dante Lisa, I love a good ghost story. I can't wait to hear. Kevin, Madonna is undoubtedly a cultural phenomenon. Whether someone likes her or dislikes her, she provokes some sort of response. And anyone who doesn’t like her would have to admit that she is a marketing genius. On a more serious note, now that popular culture is considered a respectable subject for academic inquiry, there are colleges and universities that offer courses on her and her music as a post-modern cultural phenomenon. Although Madonna is no longer a practicing Catholic, she is obviously fascinated by Catholic imagery. I remember watching one of her music videos (I can’t remember the song) that was filled with Catholic imagery—almost to the point of being mystical. It included crosses and a man who had received the stigmata. The interesting part was that although the image was traditional, the man was African-American. I thought that this was, to give her the credit she is due, a stroke of genius that raised a ‘rock video’ to the level of art. As a culture, we associate the image of the suffering Christ with a white male (God knows, some people probably visualize him as a blond with blue eyes). When confronted with this image, I believe that I remember reading that some group or another felt that this particular video was anti-Christian (probably some Evangelical group). When I read this, I wondered if they would have had a similar reaction if the character had been Caucasian. It worries me when symbols become inextricably linked with race. (As much as it worries me when the term ‘Father’ is no longer understood to be a metaphor to describe what God is like and that the introduction of the term ‘Mother’ as an equally sufficient metaphor is regarded by some as heresy.) I would agree with you that her work raises similar questions regarding gender. In a post modern culture can we answer the question: What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to be a man? What do those terms describe? What are we conditioned to accept some behaviors when associated with men but to condemn the same behaviors when associated with women? Take for example media articles that report sexual activity between students and teachers. If the teacher is a male and the student is a female, the teacher is described as a ‘predator.’ Additionally, the writer will describe the male teacher as having had sex with the female student (if the choice of verbs isn’t rape). If the teacher is a female and the student is a male, the event is most often described as a male student having sex with a female teacher (as if the male student is the active agent and the female teacher is a passive non-entity). Now, if the same event occurred between a male teacher and a male student, articles describing the even usually demonstrate a strong homophobic bias. My point in describing these three, hypothetical events is that in all three cases, an adult has clearly taken advantage of a child; however, depending upon the gender of the child and the gender of the teacher, the same event is perceived and described differently. In her activities, Madonna questions our cultural biases and conventions: Why is a sexually promiscuous male a ‘stud’ and a sexually promiscuous female a ‘slut’? The fortunate thing for her is that in the act of posing the question, she also made herself quite rich. I think that Madonna is a spiritual person and that she recognizes Christian symbols as keys to forces within our psyches (as well forces that shape our psyches) despite the fact that she may not have found what she needed in the Church. The sad thing is that most often, suburban Christianity is a pale reflection of what academics (of comparative religion) describe as the most complex and, indeed, challenging religion in the world. As you probably know, Madonna is a student of Kabala and a practitioner of yoga. Kabala is a challenging form of Jewish mysticism that works, internally, through visualizations of symbols—in particular the ten sephiroth that form the tree of life. Who knows, she may return to Christianity. In its Christian form, Kabala became the basis for the Western mystical tradition. At any rate, that’s my take on Madonna. Hope your puppy is doing well. My best to all, Elmer

08/14/08 01:37 AM #376     Kevin Barone Elmer, You never cease to amaze me!!! My little question to you was simply "What's your take on this"...reguarding Madonna changing cultural mores & her influence on modern culture! The video that you referred to w/ the "Black Jesus" figure is from her third album,"like a prayer".The song to the video is eponimous.That's quite a long time ago,like 1986 ish. Now, 23 years later,and at the cusp of turning 50 on August 16th is she still relevent to pop culture at this moment.Of course, I say yes,because I am a fan.You have touched on her studies of Kabalah & her Catholic heritage. One of the reasons that I like Madonna is her music,of course,her live performances,her photographs & videos...well just about everything. The other thing that I relate to is her journey threw spirituality.It seems that,from the beginning,she always seemed to bring up topics that were relevent to me at the time that she was exposing her "stuff". Spiritually,I have also been running at about the same pace as her.In 1998,she released a CD called 'Ray of Light".In Kabalah,Light is synonomus with "God","Allah","Buddah",etc.. This was a new area for her to explore in front of the world, a lot of her music is autobiographical and this album was released after a 3 year hiatus when she had,apparently, exreirienced a lot of growth. During that time,she became a mother,started Yoga & started studying Kabalah. There is quit a lot of self expression in that CD with her reflecting on fame,motherhood,Kabalah's teachings and certainly a more mature and less sexual Madonna is heard and seen. I realize that there are courses that are related to her effect on pop culture,etc. In the last 10 years since " Ray of light",She has released 4 other CDs,The latest one being "Hard Candy". Though she hasn't delt as heavily with spirituality or life lessons in those 4 CDs,there is still a glimpse of self revalation in all of them. Most have just been very dance oriented and carry more of a theme in her look-her clothing,hair,videos,etc. In any case,I love the Woman!!! I am even having Madonna's 50th Birthday party this Saturday night from 6-9pm in both of my stores and I'm giving 50% off all stock merchandise for 3 hours! There will be several sheet cakes with her images on them and I'll be serving Champagne and "Sticky & Sweet" candies that she mentions in the song (Turkish Delight,Chocolate kisses,lolipops,raw sugar,etc) at both locations.Frivolous...yes,but like her,I'm using it as a marketing tool. As far as how much influence she has had ( though it is undeniable that she has had some)depends on whom you ask! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!!!!!

08/14/08 08:18 AM #377     Margaret C. Shade (Hogan) Elmer, Where do you find the time? I can barely get Laundry Done. I have to admit it always has bothered me that an assertive male is a stud and an aggressive woman would be referred to as a slut. How Strange. Kevin, If you were closer I'd go to one of your shops. I wish you much success. Went down to Sandy Hook yesterday what a great day for the beach. I've always enjoyed watching the olympics. Just saw Brazil and Russia mens volleyball. The judges just made an enormous mistake on a call. Clearly the Ball was in court and they called it out. Truly a bad call against the Brazil team. Margaret

08/14/08 09:10 AM #378     Richard Kagan Elmer you are deep, it must have to do with working with Sarbanes all the time, that would drive me to another plane of exsistance too.

08/14/08 10:21 AM #379     Lisa Coppola Kevin, I think I love Madonna now too!... Enjoy your parties...wish I could drop by! Lisa

08/14/08 10:49 AM #380     Deborah Kozak (Martin) Sounds like a blast! Sure wish I lived closer. Can you put the party on a webcam Kevin? :} Madonna and my sister are one day apart and I cannot believe my sister is turning 50..., she looks 35!

08/14/08 11:55 AM #381     William Casey I, too, have always been a fan of Madonna. She may not have been the best singer or prettiest, but her drive for success and ability to morph herself into a look that would sell always impressed me.

08/14/08 06:06 PM #382     JoAnn Chegwidden (Rosica) Hey Debbie and everyone....my husband Rocky will hate to admit it, but his bday is on Saturday, long live the queen as Kevin says!! But then again, a big joke in our house is long live Elvis!! His sisters always put it on the bday cake or have a card with Elvis on it. He puts up with it every year... Hey, maybe I should get him a Madonna card this year....thanks for the ideas Kevin!! Hope all goes well this weekend in your shops!!

08/14/08 11:34 PM #383     Kevin Barone Debbie- If I can't update my profile,girl,how the hell do you think I'll manage a web cam????? There is going to be a D.J. now though. I absolutely PROMISE to post some pics soon you guys and thanks for all of your positive feed back & good wishes!! Peace/KGB

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