Gleeking out on Madonna

So tonight the baby gay boy in me will be in full effect. I will be watching "The Power of Madonna" episode of Glee with an ice cream sandwich with the other gay boy in my life. Memories of my childhood will come flooding back. We will be holding hands, giggling, hopefully crying at some point, and singing along.

Madonna's played a significant role in my life. I remember the first time I heard "Holiday." I was in my Mom's red subaru station wagon. We just sat there and listened. I know it didn't go further than..."gosh, I really like this BLACK singer." But it changed something for me. It meant that I would have a life long obsession with R&B music and anything that made me shake my booty.

Then I was at summer camp and someone was singing along to "Borderline." I thought: "Wow, there's that Madonna again." And then I watched the video: "Who's the cute guy in her video and where's that rooftop?" So I guess I could say that she started my obsession with cute guys and NYC. Well, that might be stretching it. I probably was obsessed with both MUCH earlier. Like birth.

Then I kind of ignored Madonna. I had the "Like a Virgin" and "Dress You Up/Angel" singles that I got at the swap meet. Yes, I am half-Mexican and went to the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet as a child. I won't front. So I listened to Madonna, but it wasn't that big a deal. I was much more into Stacey Q and Debbie Gibson.

I thought the True Blue album cover was kind of cool. And I think the lady who drove me and my brother to school in the morning listened to the cassette tape. There were some great songs on that album and the Herb Ritts cover was amazing in retrospect, but I wasn't all that into it. I liked her transformation and my friend Alanna lent me her VHS copy of the Live in Italia concert. But I was just kind of ho-hum about Madonkey (that's what we call her).

And then came Like A Prayer.

Well, the rumor was that they filmed the Pepsi commercial in my CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL. And then I saw the video. And I was like: "Oh the irony!" And that started my obsession with irony. And black Jesuses. And choirs. Then I learned who Donna Delory and Niki Harris were (her back up singers - really the Florence Ballard and the Mary Wilson to her Diana Ross) and become obsessed with them.

Then Jennifer Richard got me the cassette tape and I was like..."holy hell, I'm a homo!" Hee hee. No, it wasn't that immediate. But I was officially drinking the Kool Aid. I got the remixes of "Express Yourself." I knew the entire dance that she did at the MTV Music Video Awards that year. I thought it was brave that she was showing her roots and I was excited that she went from dark hair in the "Like A Prayer" video to blond again. I thought it was an important social statement. Then something significant happened.

I might have expressed this in a previous post about my high school crush, but the "Express Yourself" video was the back drop for one of the most uncomfortable conversations on my life. I had to tell someone I wasn't obsessed with them. A boy. For FOUR HOURS. Why he let me talk to him for FOUR HOURS was odd and strange. And the fact that I had FOUR HOURS worth of denial in me was impressive. So I officially then became obsessed with boys. Actually, Irish boys. And look at me now...with a hot Irishman. Seriously. It's funny how Madonna has been there for so much of my life. And that I was listening to them replay a video for a song called "Express Yourself" every hour during this four hour conversation...when I was expressing myself...wow.

But Madonna taught me a lot of things too. I reflected on my own Catholicism and the hypocrisy within the Church (and became obsessed with THAT), learned who Fritz Lang was and what "Metropolis" was (the inspiration for the "Express Yourself" video), was introduced to the music of "Sly and the Family Stone" (according to Madonna, "Express Yourself" was her nod to Sly and the Family Stone. I got introduced to the work of David Fincher, who directed that video.

And then I was hooked: from "Cherish" and the mermen of the video to "Oh Father" to "Promise to Try." And then the Blond Ambition Tour which I didn't go to but heard about and listened to on the radio and watched on HBO and taped and watched obsessively. And even watched the rehearsal special on MTV and saw the performance version of "Vogue." And felt butterflies in my stomach when I watched the "Vogue" video and memorized those dances. I was so hooked.

I even gave lectures on Madonna to upper level religious studies classes as a Freshman in college to Juniors and Seniors. At my Catholic university!

She encouraged my artistry and my ambitions to work within a popular idiom. My plays all deal with identity and have an awareness of pop culture in style, in language and just as a part of the world they live in. Sometimes that influence is right up there at the forefront. Sometimes it's less so.

I've Gleeked out enough for one post. But I'll probably do so again. She's amazing and I love her. I'm glad I got to grow up in the era of Madonna. Doesn't that make me sound so old? But it's true. It's had such a major influence over me in so many ways.

Just paying homage.