Re: Truth or Dare?

[larry@csccat.cs.com (Larry Spence)]

In article <9106281645.AA09408@tzone.mpd.tandem.com> dwelch@devnull.mpd.tandem.COM (Dan Welch) writes:
>I think you're missing the point here.  Madonna is, IMHO, a fascinating
>performer, because she is one of the few (perhaps the only one) who has
>openly and unashamedly cast aside the "ars gratia artis" theme which in
>today's world has become pretty much a thing of the past.  She is not
>pretending to be a great artist, like so many do.  Madonna has made an
>art form out of advertising; it's a new thing, and something that is
>much more real than a lot of the crap being touted as "true art".

You've swallowed the hook, line, and sinker.  It's a pose, no better and
maybe no worse than the "we're so sincere and anti-commercial" pose of
some artists.  But certainly not worth the amount of attention that the
media gives her, IMHO.  As far as your statement about "one of the few
(perhaps the only one)," etc., have you ever heard of Warhol, Lichtenstein,
any of those people?  This is _nothing_ new... Warhol even had others 
execute some of his canvases, just as Madonna has others sing some of her 
vocals.  Please, I'm _not_ saying that Ms. Ciccione is as good at her art 
as Andy was at his!

>MOST of the people who went to her shows couldn't probably
>care less about sound quality, or dramatic sets, etc.  She could get up
>and do virtually nothing for 90 minutes, and have people pay $20 to see
>it.

I have to disagree.  Put her up there with nothing more than a microphone
and a two hour backing tape, and see how the crowd reacts.  Kate could do
it, Madonna couldn't.  Just MHO.

>All this makes me sound like a Madonna fan, which I'm not.  But I respect
>her a lot, because I am never quite able to pin her down, as a person
>or an artist, and that, to me, is the mark of someone who is very
>talented at what he/she is doing.

Yeah, well, no one's ever really figured out Charlie Manson, does that make
him worthy of respect?  %)  Madonna uses, as one starting point, the illusion
that fans have of "understanding" or "pinning down" artists.  Unless you
know an artist personally for a long time as a friend, it's a delusion to
even begin to think that you have them figured out or "pinned down."  It's
just that Madonna's various facets, real and manufactured, are trotted out
and displayed at 100X life-size for all the world to see and post news
about. %)  I don't think that she as a person and artist necessarily has
any more or less depth or complexity than anyone else.

I hate to recommend reading Rolling Stone to anyone, but check out the
issue with Madonna on the cover.  Carrie Fisher interviewed her, and ripped
right through a lot of Madonna's glib patter.  But of course, that played
right into the current Truth or Dare scenario of Madonna as vulnerable and
all-revealing... She knows how to work the media, I'll grant her that.

-- 
Larry Spence
larry@csccat.cs.com
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