MadonnaTribe just posted this new information about the US Maxi CD for Madonna's latest single, 'Give it 2 Me.'

By J RANDY TARABORRELLI



Last weekend two friends of Madonna visited her at one of her New York apartments and, during a chat over tea, the subject of her marriage was raised.


'So, how are things going with Guy?' one of the women asked. 'Fine,' Madonna answered, tersely. 'But there have been so many news reports . . .' the friend continued.


Madonna's faced darkened. 'If you think I'm going to discuss this with you now, you're very wrong.'

Not dissuaded, the friend continued to push: 'Well, what they're saying is . . .'


Madonna raised both hands, palms out. 'Stop right there,' she warned. 'This subject is off limits. I'm serious.'


With that, the conversation uneasily shifted to the more acceptable topic of Madonna's latest CD, Hard Candy, and her upcoming Sticky And Sweet Tour.


The trouble is, while Madonna may be unwilling to discuss her private life, others have been busy doing it for her.

Stories about the disintegration of her seven-year marriage to filmmaker Guy Ritchie have been circulating for more than a year.


Certainly their recent, very strained, appearance at the Cannes Film Festival did little to convince anyone that they were happy.


But the rumour mill went into overdrive this week, when it was reported that Madonna had been consulting Fiona Shackleton, one of Britain's top divorce lawyers, who famously represented Sir Paul McCartney in his prolonged and bitter separation from Heather Mills.


Guy, meanwhile, is said to have been in discussion with another prestigious law firm, Forsters.

The couple are now said to be 'living as brother and sister rather than husband and wife'.


A formal announcement of their separation, it's rumoured, has only been delayed until Madonna's upcoming tour is completed in Mexico on November 29.


After all the months of speculation, it would seem that the curtain is finally coming down on one of the most high-profile marriages in showbusiness. So what has brought their relationship to crisis point?


As Madonna's biographer, I have spent the past weeks talking to some of her and Guy's closest friends and associates about the reasons for all this fevered speculation.


In doing so, I learned that not only is there real trouble in paradise, but that Madonna is handling the situation in very much the same way she handles everything else - with ruthless professionalism.


'The possibility that they might divorce has been the elephant in the room between Madonna and Guy for at least the last two years,' a friend of the couple's now reveals.

'Neither of them is shocked about it. They both knew it was coming. Now, for Madonna at least, it's about efficiency. For her, it's just something else on the agenda, a matter to be handled quickly and reasonably.


'Only recently, she told Guy: "You know it's over and I know it's over. So, let's just do it in as civilised a way as we can."


'I think she believed that if there was an understanding between them before the tour began, he wouldn't have as much right to complain about his and the children's lives being turned upside down, as he has done in the past.'


Indeed, Madonna once said that she and Guy 'have been having the same fight for many years'. No doubt, she was referring to the stress her work puts on her family life.


Since the day they married in December, 2000, it's been a difficult tightrope walk as this oh-so driven woman has fervently pursued her career while, at the same time, trying to give her all to her husband and children: Lourdes, 11, Rocco, seven, and newly-adopted David, two, from Malawi.


'Every couple of years, it's the same story,' adds the source. 'She makes a record. She tours to promote it. It causes chaos in their lives. He complains. They fight - a lot. The tour ends. She promises "never again". Two years go by, and then she plans another record and another tour.'


Certainly Madonna is determined to make this latest tour her greatest yet, but she's also trying to formulate a way to keep the family together, at least until it's over.


'It's important to her that the children live as normal a life as possible when they are on the road with her this summer,' another source explains.


'She fears that a big announcement will put them under even more scrutiny. If nothing is said before the tour, she and Guy can then share possession of the children without the Press viewing it as a custody battle.


'Also, Guy can visit her and the kids on the road if he wants to, and it won't cause an avalanche of speculation about a possible reconciliation.'


So what happened? How did things between them get to this point? Of course, as in most troubled relationships, there are two sides to the story. Guy's position, as put by one of his close friends, is that his wife is an extremely difficult spouse.


'He has taken to describing her with two words, "absolutely impossible", ' says one of Ritchie's friends. 'The world might see her as driven and talented but, as he sees it, she's just never happy with her life, his life, or anyone else's.


'Or, as he once put it to me: "That one's never satisfied and I'm afraid it's going to catch up with her one day.'' '


He has a point. From the moment she started her career more than 20 years ago, Madonna has felt the need to keep exceeding her previous successes.


She must have a record that is bigger than the last one or she'll not be satisfied. She must also have a tour that will sell more tickets than the last one, or she'll feel like a failure.


That's always been the case, and everyone in her life knows it. She's driven. She's ambitious. No surprise there. She is Madonna, after all. But for Guy, it has become intolerable.


'Guy's life became all about managing the day-to-day whirlwind that is his wife's career,' says the source. 'It's always chaos, very distracting and all encompassing.'


Another friend of Guy's painted an even bleaker picture. 'If you were to really look back on his relationship with Madonna, it's been one emasculation after another.


'For instance, he is constantly thought of in the media as 'Mr Madonna' - which upsets him. He knows he's been viewed as little more than her bag holder for a long time. But when Madonna started directing short films a couple of years ago, he felt she had crossed a line.




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Madonna.com

With nearly 1 million tickets sold to date along with sold out performances in Paris, Lisbon & Zurich; New York, Boston, Chicago; Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and 2 Mexican stadium shows on Monday, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour is once again poised to be the tour of the year!

The demand for tickets in Paris for Madonna's September 20th performance was so staggering that a second and final performance was added on September 21st. The Sticky & Sweet Zurich show at the Military Airfield Dubendorf August 30th is sold out at 70,000 and her show date in Lisbon 14-September is also sold out with over 75,000 tickets. In Vancouver, Madonna's October 30th performance sold 50,000 tickets in a record breaking 29 minutes. This past Monday, Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour sold out two Foro Sol stadiums in less than 3 hours adding to a list of sellouts that include four sold out Madison Square Garden shows in New York City; 2 sold out performances in Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Denver; and additional sell-outs in E. Rutherford, Boston, Oakland, Las Vegas, and Houston.

And now, London fans who missed out on tickets will have a new opportunity to see Madonna with newly announced special guest Paul Oakenfold on 11-September at Wembley Stadium. With the completion of the production for Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour, promoters Live Nation announced today that the sight-lines are better than previously anticipated and as such a limited number of tickets in all price levels are now available from www.livenation.co.uk or 24 hr box office 0844 576 5483 (all tickets subject to booking fee). Tickets will be limited to 6 tickets per person.

Paul Oakenfold has long been one of the most important--if not the most important--name in modern club culture. He was one of the first DJ's to have a residency on the Island of Ibiza, leading to both a new sound and a yearly festival. He started regular "Balearic" club nights in London, attracting a crossover audience and remixed legendary bands such as The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays, Along with production partner Steve Osborne, he's remixed tracks by legendary bands New Order, The Cure and Massive Attack. In 1991, he first worked with U2 remixing "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and "Mysterious Ways" from their Achtung Baby album. It was the start of a long partnership with that band which included his spot as DJ on their historic ZOO TV tour and the remixed versions of the band's "Beautiful Day," a number one hit for U2 on the U.S. and U.K. dance charts. Over the years, he's remixed tracks for everyone from Madonna to Elvis Presley to Justin Timberlake to Muse to Snoop Dog. He's the first electronic artist ever to be in the Guinness Book of World Records--for being the biggest DJ in the world. He's the only DJ to have a display case in the Hard Rock Cafe's Rock & Roll Museum. He has worked on the music for major Hollywood films including Swordfish, Collateral, Planet Of The Apes & Matrix Reloaded".

Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour begins 23-August at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium with stops in Nice, Berlin, Zurich, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Rome, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Paris, Vienna and Athens in addition to the 11-September Wembley date.

Attention everyone!! Madonna is back in NY!!
And wedding ring-less

TV Guide

The on-again, off-again Madonna divorce rumor mill appears to be on again.

The Times of London reports Madge "is understood to be seeking legal advice" from U.K.-based celeb divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton to handle the termination of her seven-year marriage to film director Guy Ritchie.

Madonna's reps have denied divorce rumors since they first surfaced several months ago, and told London's Daily Paper that the divorce talk is "completely untrue" when rumors stirred up once again earlier this month. They did not comment on the Times report.

The Times estimates Madonna, 49, has assets totaling roughly $600 million. She and Ritchie, 39, have a son, 7-year-old Rocco, and Madonna has a daughter, 11-year-old Lourdes. They are also supporting a Malawian boy they plan to adopt.

Shackleton, by the way, is, in divorce lawyer circles, a queen of cha-ching. She orchestrated Paul McCartney's retention of nearly all of his $1.6 billion fortune in his recent divorce from Heather Mills. — J.R. Whalen

From the Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1993:

Madonna Redone: The chameleon takes on yet another persona with her latest video, "Rain," from the "Erotica" album. Because the song is a gentle, sad-sweet tune, there was no room for loud platinum blondes, martyrs, silver-screen sex goddesses or '70s disco queens.



"Madonna was at a loss on this one because it was very romantic," says Mark Romanek, the video's director. "I came up with the basic idea of setting it in Tokyo and showing the film crew. It was very Zen, very stripped away. She was this accessible, vulnerable creature surrounded by the high-tech and the global."

Madonna's look in this one is striking. A wig provides a waif-like cap of short black hair with spiky bangs. Special film makes her blue eyes appear a startling azure and her makeup is porcelain-doll perfect in velvety peaches and pinks. The delicate colors of makeup are so important that the director resorted to advance screen tests to make sure everything worked.

One other change: "I wanted her to have eyebrows back," Romanek says. They've been virtually invisible in her recent videos.

Inspirations for Madonna's total look included Paris in the '40s, cabaret singer Edith Piaf and ingenues in general. London stylist David Bradshaw, brought in minimalist black clothes by Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, which enhanced the video's Zen mood, and the finale's ethereal white Vivienne Westwood dress that any jeune fille would love.

Romanek, who is with L.A.'s hip Propaganda Films, has done some of the most enduring videos in the short history of the medium, like En Vogue's "Free Your Mind," Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" and k.d. lang's "Constant Craving."

LiveNation

Neither wind, nor rain, gas prices, nor the economy can slow down the momentum of Madonna fans who are turning out in record numbers all over the globe to scoop up tickets for the upcoming "Sticky & Sweet" Tour. Today, Live Nation confirmed that Mexico City's Foro Sol Stadium shows scheduled for November 29th and 30th sold more than 100,000 tickets in just three hours, resulting in back to back sellouts at the famed stadium.
Mexico City joins the growing list of sold out Madonna shows in Paris, Lisbon, New York, Zurich, Boston, Chicago, Denver, East Rutherford, NJ, Oakland, Las Vegas, Houston, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver all of which sold out within hours of going on sale.

To date Madonna has sold out 90% of the tickets available for her 42-date global tour, which kicks off in Cardiff, Wales on August 23rd.

With more than 70,000 tickets sold for the Sticky & Sweet Zurich Show at the Military Airfield Dubendorf on August 30th, Lisbon's 75,000 tickets sold and 50,000 tickets sold for her Vancouver dates and four Madison Square Garden shows sold out in New York City in addition to the nearby Izod Center in East Rutherford for a total of 65,000 New York area tickets sold, Madonna has sold more than 1 Million tickets thus far on her global tour.

Madonna, whose most recent CD 'HARD CANDY' debuted at Number One in over 30 countries, has made it her personal mission to challenge herself to top her previous tours. With rehearsals well under way for 'Sticky & Sweet,' Madonna and famed director and long-time collaborator Jamie King are creating an extraordinary never-before seen stage set, groundbreaking audio and eye popping visual effects. Madonna will be joined onstage with a new band and 18 dancers that reaffirm that this is a singular event that Madonna fans can not miss.

"With 'Sticky & Sweet,' Madonna is on track to break her own record as the top grossing female artist of all time," said Arthur Fogel, Live Nation's of Chairman of Global Music and CEO of Global Touring. "Her sales are extraordinary in every market she's playing and illustrate what an unparalleled live draw Madonna is for music fans all over the world."

La Jornada

At 11:05, just five minutes after it opened the sale were sold 6 thousand 500 tickets, in 20 minutes 18 thousand 570, in 30 minutes 28 thousand 642. At 11:43, Baz reported that only 2% of the tickets were remaining.

At 11:45, the same source said that had been sold around 48 thousand tickets and that they opened a second date, a new concert, whose ticket sales begin at 12:15. This process ended at 13: 42, and the other 48 thousand tickets were sold in 87 minutes.

"The percentages are as follows (for the second function): 61 per cent over the Internet; 32, at Ticketmaster centers, and 2 in box office," said Baz, who said that feel more satisfied and happy about what happened.


Nearly 5 thousand simultaneous transactions

Yesterday, the Centre Ticketmaster had a capacity to accommodate 4,740 simultaneous transactions. The prices of tickets were among the 280 MXN [28 USD] (orange tier area) at 3,980 MXN [390 USD] (platinum, severed and numbered). The sale was maximum of six tickets per call and the price we have to add a charge.

original article in spanish:
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/06/24/index.php?section=espectaculos&article=a11n2esp