Dax Diameter

Been busy, so did this happen or was it BS in the end? I can’t find a YouTube link.

I hope once they reconvene after she has gone through the tour/ reissue program/ next studio album cycle, that they (re)consider Paris Jackson for the lead role.

It’s embarrassing for all concerned, after two scripts by two separate writers (Diablo Cody and Erin Cressida Wilson) Followed by a week long all singing/ dancing boot camp attended not only by winner Julia Garner but also Florence Pugh, Alexa Demie, Odessa Young and Bebe Rexha. However, rumours of almost her entire life (prior to landing in New York), being glossed over in both scripts sounded disappointing to me. Perhaps all concerned simply need the time and space to find a different production company. With rumours of both scripts running to three hours apiece, I think a story of such density would be better served in the hands of a director like Martin Scorsese (whilst he’s still around) or even Baz Luhrmann, certainly not someone with much less comparative experience (Madonna), who has never been celebrated in that arena herself. Down the line (once she re-groups her wagons), other directors I think she should consider are Peter Jackson, Bryan Singer or Dexter Fletcher.

The concept is interesting but I think it needs a few years to develop before it gets good.

You are no doubt familiar with the early “Terminator” films? During that point in Lisa Marie’s life, Her Mother’s boyfriend was the actor who later went on to play the original John Connor (a pivotal character from that film franchise). It appears he allegedly attempted to groom Lisa Marie and may (or may not) have also supplied her with Class A drugs from the age of 10. If not supplied by him, it would appear Lisa Marie sourced them to alleviate the pain and trauma of escaping his attempted abuse. I don’t know at what point her Mother became aware of what was happening to Lisa Marie but she dumped him when Lisa Marie was 16 (presumably as soon as she found out). Bizarrely, I can’t find reference to him receiving criminal charges though he apparently wrote a book (which Lisa Marie later responded to in a 2003 interview). When Lisa Marie was around 15, her Mother (a devout Scientologist for 40 years up until 2017), got offered a role in the then popular American soap “Dallas” and became busy with that. Most people are aware of how messed up Drew Barrymore’s childhood was, but even that is a far more diluted tale of childhood trauma than Lisa Marie’s.

She was also notably married to Nicholas Cage amongst others and (publicly admitted) to a cocaine addiction between the ages of 13 to 17, at least five stints in rehab and later on experienced opioid addiction, some of which is summarised here. https://www.nickiswift.com/1166427/inside-lisa-marie-presleys-history-with-addiction/ https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1652954/lisa-marie-presley-health-elvis-opioid-addiction-symptoms-treatment/amp Her life in pictures: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2023/01/13/style/lisa-marie-presley-photos.amp.html .. Also, one of her best songs (about her father), touching on where she too will now be buried, from her own successful Sheryl Crow inflected solo music career:

I don’t believe she ever got over her son’s suicide and that (combined to the resurgence of interest in her fathers death and the obligation to endlessly confront that in the name of movie promotion) caused her to want to numb the pain, which I suspect led to her relapsing and ultimately placing too much pressure on her already broken heart. I still vaguely remember asking my mother why she was crying as she reacted to the announcement of Elvis’s death over a transistor radio, whilst I was too young to have any concept of what he and his music meant to her generation and in some small way the death of Lisa Marie (being announced years later by Alexa), feels like a kind of Deja-vu. I hope Lisa Marie is now at peace, finally reunited with her father and son.

it is an honour and a privilege to be voted winner of Favourite Newcomer. Sincere thanks to those who voted for me in the positive categories. The turn of events that took place in the Sugababes thread a few weeks back were embarrassing and I apologize for my part.

Do you have any background on the “Love Is Religion” session? I always felt it popped off a little too much to be given such low status.

The impossible has finally happened by Madonna’s own personal request: Should be international.

It’s a difficult one.. On the one hand a person who contributed to the entertainment industry over many years has died.. On the other hand, as the years passed by it became increasingly obvious that she held some rather problematic right wing opinions.. However, most people have that older uncle (or whoever) that is likely to come out with the batshit crazy (aided by a glass of wine), around the Christmas table and very often we (the enlightened) have to remain stoic in the light of that.. The world changes so much, as does society, sometimes it can be worth remembering the little people at the bottom are merely conditioned by whatever changing values wider society and culture dictated to them were timeless and correct in their youth. Meanwhile (though very slowly) the world really does move on..

Finally, someone not making excuses for him and who also possesses zero lust for his cock!

Total idiot. Madonna fans are ‘leak literate’, know how to work a pc and are still interested in her work. How dare you pigeon hole her fans into some box.

Utter rubbish, they weren’t all produced by him either. He’s dead, Madonna lives on, and so do her “adult” fans.

Note to self: I imagined every leak of Madonna’s career, in-particular every Avicii produced track for “Rebel Heart” and the internet’s reaction to them.

My relationship with Madonna is always going to be love/ hate (but ultimately love), because to take her message seriously is to be forced to analyse parts of yourself that wider society (at one time or another) has considered taboo and attempted to cast shame over. We can’t all insulate ourselves in an enlightened utopia surrounded by cosmopolitan creatives and simply switch the unenlightened ‘off’ whenever we want (like Madonna can). To live in the real world is to be forced to interact with other peoples prejudicial views, sanctimony and messed up social conditioning (out with the construct of sit down media interactions and social media). Madonna has achieved many things in her life and has pushed the narrative forward and used her platform in many positive ways that today benefits many marginalised societal groups in ways thought of as unforeseen only a generation ago. I don’t know if the fortuitous (yet accidental) discovery by her A&R of an already written track, (not created with her in mind), “Like a Virgin” in conjunction to the enforced 1985 “Playboy” exposure of that former, naked, brunette, dance student from 1978 (a year after LAV Hit) - ultimately led to the taboo expressions of sadomasochism inherent in the “Erotica” era (though I suspect it did). Is it selfish of me to NOT want to see Madonna basically re-inact the “Erotica” era, 30 years after she did it the first time? I think it’s fantastic that she clicks her fingers and still has instant access to 20 something dick as a result of her visual manifestation of an outwardly sexual image - decades after society saying she should not be doing that. Screw the patriarchy, screw gammons and screw mysogynist’s. I’m merely saying I have a right to NOT pretend I’m watching her pull the same moves for the first time. By volition of her being Madonna, I expect her to come up with something new (not recycle the same old ‘go to’ tropes of the past). Each generation needs that defining risqué artist who pushes the envelope forward and reflects the lifestyle values of a generation. In a modern setting (for example), Is Taylor Swift really that person for now? She appears to represent an entire generation but she also appears constricted, she can’t truly do anything with a “Wow” factor for fear of losing the right wing redneck portion of her fanbase in the U.S. southern states, where the genre of Music (“Country”), that brought her to fame, actually originates from. Madonna brought many things to the table, she is a true innovator and culturally, western society is definitely in a more enlightened place than it otherwise would have been if she had not existed but in terms of being a “blue print” (within the framework of pop culture), I’m not convinced. Since she entered the industry, she has always spoke of how influential Debbie Harry and Marilyn Monroe were on her psyche (and without taking anything away from Madonna), I put forth the case she was (through hard work and determination) in many ways destined to continue that evolutionary lineage of the blonde, pop cultural, archetype (in the same way that Lady Gaga) also now follows in line, which in itself is quite an achievement as many in the history of the entertainment industry would like to attain that position (yet between the actual dawn of pop culture and the present) so very few actually have.

I don’t think she’s gone mad but I do think she has always had a terminal need for attention that was previously tempered by the work demands on her schedule. It appears that because she is older (and with no radio play) she has much less outside work demands and is trying to overcompensate via other means, unlike in days gone by where media companies would come to her for content/ interviews/ exclusives etc, nowadays she’s simply no longer a hot brand and no-one is buying. if she wasn’t generating her own content on her socials she wouldn’t have any coverage at all. I think she is trying to embrace a punk ethos and value but to be honest, as a long term fan, every action she takes now looks superficial/ clout chasing and I’m over it. I look at her approved images on her IG and none of them even look real. I trace her questionable choices right back to the “Hard Candy” album, where for the first time her sonic direction (and association with Timbaland) felt like something that had already came into (and already gone out of) fashion. Totally separately to this, Lady Gaga launched around that same time and speaking as someone who has followed Madonna from the beginning and watched so many other female singers try (and fail) to take her position in pop culture, it became undeniable to me (even as a long term Madonna Stan) that Lady Gaga was finally the one who had that same flavour of charisma and was fated to take her crown. Madonna was successfully able to read the zeitgeist and stay on top of it for a considerable period of time longer than almost all her contemporaries in popular culture but ultimately with the dawn of the “Hard Candy” era, it became apparent her reign was over and she had been usurped. However, if only she had a back to basics approach and made it her life’s mission (in the present) to identify her core brand and make a really good (most likely) pop/ dance album she could maybe win me back over and remind me of why she took pop culture to a whole other level in the first place.

As a long term fan of pop girls and someone who (over the years) has had many transcendent experiences where a remix has transformed my experience of a song (to the point where the remix becomes essential & the radio mix becomes a never played alternative/ the version for everyone else) - I just want to express support and am heartened to recognize a few of my own ‘go to’/ reliable remixers from the past on your playlist, (enough to make me curious about checking out the others).

My favourite song from the album is the first track “Closest Thing to Heaven” and whilst the verse melody of “Not my Lover” is stronger than the chorus, I think Michelle looks absolutely stunning in the video and really pulls off cavorting as a vamp. The “Hopeless Romantic” album means a lot to me and I’m not ashamed to admit I love her consistent middle of the road sound. Likewise, I know the new Weyes Blood track is not the strongest either, but it’s growing on me too. https://youtu.be/3g7BSnavHH8

https://youtu.be/cHInBqWCwS4 https://youtu.be/wQcfv9zxLXI