The exhaustion with COVID is no joke. I’ve been able to avoid it since I had it in January 2023–and I’ve been exposed a few times. When I knew I would be around someone who had tested positive, we both masked.
It’s making the rounds around here. I’ve known several people who’ve had it recently.
Other than that, the quarter is winding down. It’s warm enough I can open all the windows (which makes me happy), and I’m getting a new tattoo on Saturday.
I’m going to see Hamilton tomorrow night. Something I’ve wanted to do for years. Going up the West End and a seat in the stalls. I’ve seen clips on tv, but finally get to see the real thing.
re: Covid
Last year I got long Covid. It impacted my breathing to the extent I can’t do my dance classes any more. I can’t even get through the warm up. The doctor says the damage to my lungs is probably permanent. FML.
I’m sorry to hear about your Covid experience. You will love Hamilton though 
I saw Hamilton twice in three weeks in Chicago. Worth every penny.
Hamilton is outrageously great. Lin Manuel Miranda is a genius. I defo would see it again, if I can get reasonably priced tickets. Fabulous. I’ve seen The Book Of Mormon 3 times, and wouldn’t say no to another.
Wish you all safe & happy Easter weekend. 
I hope that everyone is doing well. I am enjoying pleasant spring, getting my running mojo back, and going to a few shows with friends.
The main noteworthy thing lately is that I saw Madonna in concert for the first time here in Atlanta a few days ago.
Madonna is 65 and she’s had a lot of plastic surgery, but she’s still my girl. There was no way that this 1980s kid was going to pass up a chance to see her live on what might possibly be her last big tour.
I bought my ticket a year and a half ago, $160 on fourth row of nosebleed. I bought it right when the presale started. Five minutes later, I checked Ticketmaster again and saw that the seats behind mine were going for $500. I am glad that I went in before the resellers swooped down.
Contrary to expectations, Madonna is in amazing shape and still sounds incredible on this tour. Her voice was sputtering a time or two, since the tour is almost over, but the performance was 99% marvelous. (The occasional vocal mishap only enhanced the show in my eyes, because I could tell that she was giving her all and not lip-synching or phoning it in.) This concert had the perhaps the best production and visuals of any show that I have ever seen, with a hugely theatrical vibe of dancers, costume changes, shifting stages, elevated stages, lasers, etc.
Madonna has been starting her shows late. She took stage at 10:10 p.m. here in Atlanta and ended the show just after 12:20 in the morning. (I am glad that I teleworked the next day.) There was also no air conditioning in the venue, since Madonna likes the warm air for her vocal cords. Come 10:10, I was a bit irritated by the lateness and the warm temperature, but I forgot all about those things as soon as the show started.
Most people in the nosebleed were seated. When Madonna played my favorite song of hers, “Into the Groove”, early on, I stood up and danced, because…well, there was no way I was going to sit down through that one. The rest of the time, I fell in line and stayed seated.
(Although I am 52 years old, I prefer to stand up all through concerts. It does not feel right to sit down during a show except in circumstances like this.)
I did not fool with any phone photos or any of that. Anyone who is curious can look up the videos of her current tour on YouTube.
"Live to Tell’ was particularly poignant, because Madonna’s stage backdrops paid tribute to AIDS victims. “Like a Prayer” was exceptional, because of the rotating stage with Madonna performing inside glass cages with her dancers. “Ray of Light” was visually incredible.
When it comes to my own music collection, Madonna’s 1983 self-titled debut album is my favorite by a huge margin. It is on a way higher level than anything else that she ever did during the rest of her career. That early dance stuff produced by Jellybean is the best. I also love Like a Virgin and True Blue, but I mostly stopped buying her stuff after that. There was plenty of early material, thankfully… “Everybody”, “Into the Groove”, “Burning Up”, “Open Your Heart”, “Holiday”, “Crazy for You”, “Live to Tell”, “La Isla Bonita.”
Even the later stuff (“Hung Up”, etc.) was spectacular, though.
Madonna talked to the crowd quite a lot, going into detail about her early days, her recent battle with an infection, etc. The show was also divided into different acts, with stages of her life and career covered throughout, since it is the Celebration Tour celebrating 40 years of Madonna. There was a melancholic undercurrent to the whole thing, as though this is probably going to be her last tour, but the atmosphere was mostly joyful.
The show was heavily LGBTIQA+ oriented, with the dancers, the visuals, etc. The vast majority of the audience also seemed to be LGBTIQA+. I loved the vibe of the whole night.
Setlist:
Act I:
Nothing Really Matters
Everybody
Into the Groove
Burning Up
Open Your Heart
Holiday
Act II
Live to Tell
Like a Prayer
Act III
Erotica
Justify My Love
Fever (Eddie Cooley cover)
Hung Up
Act IV
Bad Girl
Vogue
Human Nature
Crazy for You
Act V
Die Another Day
Don’t Tell Me
Mother and Father
La Isla Bonita
Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (Andrew Lloyd Webber cover)
Act VI
Bedtime Story
Ray of Light
Take a Bow
ACT VII
Billie Jean / Like a Virgin
Bitch I’m Madonna
Celebration
"Holiday"is my fav Madonna song. I love the video for it too.
One of my favorite used vinyl purchases was a 1982 12-inch vinyl pressing of Madonna’s debut single, “Everybody.”
It is funny, looking back at it now, that the cover art does not feature the artist herself, because Sire Records seemed to want to conceal Madonna’s ethnicity at first since the song was popular in R&B clubs and such.
I love a few of her songs, I don’t have any of her records though. My sister Rosanna is a huge Madonna fan, always on her playlist when we go to visit and she has seen her live twice. This weekend she is going to an '80’s Revival party and dressing up as Madonna. She told me last week she went hunting in second hand stores and found a chain necklace with a big crucifux to add to her costume.
My daughter joined a band at her music school where she takes piano lessons. The band lineup is vocals-guitar-keyboard-drums. I said, “oh, like the Doors.”
“The gypsies had no homes, the Doors had no bass!”
(I showed her a picture of Ray Manzarek playing bass Rhodes piano with his left hand and combo organ with his right hand and told her she might have to learn how to do that.)
I got some really shit news over the weekend. Went to visit my daughter and the kiddos in Vienna, when my husband informed me that the concert tix we were going to great lengths to get to Manchester for now are useless to us. Steely Dan was sharing the bill with The Eagles and that’s the only reason we booked non refundable train tix, non refundable hotel, ditto concert tix are now useless and we’re down a bunch of cash on ALL OF IT with no SD joy at the end. Just to twist the knife, reviews have been coming in from unhappy fans who noticed the mighty Eagles are now miming. So we’re not going to bloody Manc where the venue isn’t even open yet. They had to put their debut act, Peter Kay’s comedy night “off for awhile while they work the bugs out”. Assholes. I may not get a chance to ever see Steely Dan. They cancelled due to illness, and that has to be Donald Fagen, because now W Becker has passed only DF is Steely Dan. This is the second year in a row they cancelled playing U.K. because Donald wasn’t well enough to tour.
It was great seeing my daughter and lovely grandkids though. I love Vienna, but the weather was shit all week. Rant nearly over. Buggery and Fuckeration. Rant now done. I hope Don Fagen recovers soon. Get well, Donald! I have to see you live at least once before one of us kicks the bucket. I just have to.
It was ANZAC day here is Australia, to remember and honour those who fought for our freedom. Lest we forget. 
Denise! Great to see you! WB. What’ve you been up to these days?
I think today is 20 years since my last day of college classes.
UPDATE— CO-OP Manchester Arena
Remember the sad post about Steely Dan pulling out of the brand new (still unfinished ) Co-op arena tour with the Eagles? And there were reports even then that the venue’s much anticipated debut was cancelled, and the owners of the huge behemoth which is still under construction are frantically trying to get it up and running. It all went wrong. Me and my hubby were booked to take an expensive non refundable train ride up to Manc June 5.We got a non refundable hotel room for the night. The main act was The Eagles, but Steely Dan were sharing the bill. I was crushed when SD pulled out, claiming health problems. Donald Fagen cancelled last summer’s European tour for the same reason. The whole venue is crashing and burning as it was scheduled to debut a long awaited comedy appearance by Peter Kay. Didn’t happen. Nobody has performed there to an audience yet. I think a female singer was doing a soundcheck when an air conditioner fell out of the ceiling. Gigs cancelled. Then came the announcement that Steely Dan were being replaced by The Doobie Brothers. I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Coincidentally, The Eagles have had terrible reviews for their US gigs because the band was miming. What a clusterfuck. I don’t want the venue to fail, but we’re already losing money on hotel and train fare. I hope that gig get cancelled. If The Eagles are miming, they’re ripping off their audience and we could at least get our tickets refunded. Such a shame. All of it. So many people had booked out hotels and even flights to see shows that ain’t happening. Oh, and we had local elections Weds. The candidates were a giant douche and a turd sandwich. I voted for the douche, because it’s French for shower which is better than turd sandwich in every way.
ETA- Here’s an article from Sky News about the whole fiasco, if you’re interested…
Shared from Sky News: What’s going on at Manchester’s Co-op Live? The arena plagued with problems and postponements What's going on at Manchester's Co-op Live? The arena plagued with problems and postponements | Ents & Arts News | Sky News
I love, love, love The Kids In The Hall. Here’s my favourite sketch from them
Hi. I’d like to tell you about the Daves I know.
Good morning, Kevin. I see all the Daves and I raise you this…
I do like the idea of more dipping areas.
