November 16, 1988 - Opening Night of Hurlyburly

Sean Penn and Madonna on opening night of David Rabe's Hurlyburly @ Westwood Playhouse.

Peter Cetera & Madonna - Scheherazade

In 1988, under the name Lulu Smith, Madonna did the background vocals for Peter Cetera's Scheherazade from his One More Story album produced by Pat Leonard. It's whatever - but her fabulous voice shines out and makes the entire thing.

Scheherazaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade~

Novelist Harry Crews on Madonna's Seductive Beauty

Hortense Hathaway and Lovey Lou sing I Surrender Dear

Can never get too much of Hortense Hathaway! I Surrender Dear from Bloodhounds of Broadway. Madonna and Jennifer Grey are fantastic here.

From Penny Marshall's "Big". Virgin Tour Pics.

A screen cap from Penny Marshall's 1988 film, Big. I bet Penny wanted to take a byte out of Madonna's crime years before A League of Their Own.

The Baltimore Sun - Madonna and Sean Penn 1988

Actor Sean Penn and his wife, singer Madonna, are quizzed by a pair of New York City police officers on the city's West Side Sunday following a confrontation with a news photographer who said Penn kicked at the side of his car denying it. The incident took place after Penn spotted New York Post photographer Paul Adao photographing the couple through his car window.

Speed The Plow Rehearsals

1988

Wearing Gaultier for Harpers Bazaar '88

Picking Up Sean Penn From Hurlyburly

Looking fab picking up Sean in Westwood, California during his run of David Rabe's Hurlyburly in 1988.

88 - Madonna and Sean Penn

Madonna and Jennifer Grey - I Surrender, Dear

Cr@zy4Madonna made this great I Surrender, Dear montage from Bloodhounds of Broadway. They always play this standard on a radio station I listen to. I love all the renditions. However, this one always remains my favorite.

Hortense Hathaway take it away!

Oh, Hortense

Love me some Hortense. Those eyes are insane!

"They thought they would wake up one day and I'd go away. But I'm not going to go away." - Madonna 1988

Imp.

Sport Aid 1988 - The Race Against Time

1988 TV Report. Interview with Martin Ciccone and Madonna

Great interview with brother Martin, interspersed with Madonna interview footage.

How could I dream all of this?

Hortense

Hortense Hathaway

When the planet Eucharis passes between Venus and Jupiter, it stills the winds of adversity within me and I become a veritable sea of tranquility.

"I felt like I had been possessed by some magic and luckily for me, I have been miraculously and continuously possessed by some kind of magic." Madonna 2008

What the years 1988 and 1989 possibly mean for Our Lady.

"Just Like a Dream, You Are Not What You Seem" - Like a Prayer

In the midst of her Saturn Return, we discover that underneath The Artiste, in all her glorious artifice, is the natural woman showcased in Lee Friedlander's 1979 photographs. Perhaps, what we also have is a ritualistic pagan who called upon September's Muse to guide her. We hear, more often than not, that Madonna is The Muse, and yes she is for many - but who guides her?

With Like a Prayer, we get that once in a lifetime gift from a Goddess. Truth. If we do take the Saturn Return into consideration, then with Like a Prayer, lyrically we have Madonna shedding or purging her past but at the same time gaining the vision of where she will be going. According to astrologers, with Saturn Return, the 30th birthday indicates a major rite of passage because it marks the true beginning of adulthood, self-evaluation, independence, ambition, and self actualization. Madonna's 30 year mark on planet Earth was 1988 when the album was written, although released to mortals in 1989.

Woven throughout the Like a Prayer album, we have tremendous lyrical associations with mythology, history, sacred symbols and objects. Everything from the muse, the midnight hour, magic lanterns, luck, elephants, candles, tears, leprechauns, flying, mermaids, death, marriage, divorce, resurrection, angels, cupid, fairies, wishes, dreams, power, feet, hair, transformation, and even on the song that didn't make the final cut, we have Supernatural - all about the incubus.

It was my impression upon the release of Like a Prayer, and even more so 21 years later, that Madonna was at her most dynamic female - a universal woman - Eve. Some call it Wiccan, Pagan, or witch but really Catholicism plucked all its rituals from the Pagans. So, who's zoomin' who? From our perspective, with what she has chosen to share, it's all completely organic and really the Kabbalah seems perfectly natural in her personal evolution.

Madonna has alluded to magic throughout her career, beginning with her sacrilegious habit of adorning herself in crucifixes, amulets, stars, clovers, hearts and other voodoo. In the La Isla Bonita video kneeling at her altar while lighting incense and clutching a rosary, she transforms herself from a high up blue recluse into a fire red flamenco dancer that descends among the plebeians, casts her spell and then dances off into unknown territory. In the Like a Prayer video she makes the Saint Martin statue come to life. In Secret, we see a Santería baptismal ceremony with more altars, candles and a sunflower submerged in water - long believed to deliver true love.

Since her career began it has been drenched with Pagan rituals, and Madonna has been the inspirational seductress, with millions under her spell. For me, there has always been something very bruja about Madonna. My first thought at 13 years old when I saw the 7" 45 of Borderline in 1984 was, "ooh - she looks like a sexy witch". I always imagined there was a cauldron underneath her hands in this photo:

Let's not forget the original pressing of the Like a Prayer album was scented with patchouli, a long time traditional ingredient in love potions.

I melt your heart as I melt this wax...

June 06, 1988 Tony Awards - I'm Being Punished For Not Coming To Rehearsal Today

Madonna's Dress and Flower Fur Bolero by Designer Rachel London. Everyone followed suit after this appearance with the floral brocade. Goldie Hawn, Demi Moore and Sandra Bernhard, to name a few.

Madonna Picking Sean Up from David Rabe's Hurlyburly in Westwood, California.