4.04.2006

material...material...material...girl.



picture this: an 8 year old, whose parents emigrated from india only four short years earlier, is dancing around on the hardwood floor in her living room to the tune of "material girl." this is the song written on a piece of folded, white paper that she picked out of a hat and is now acting out. yes, that third grader was me and material girl was one of the first songs i knew all the lyrics to. i think it was all the pink in the video that got to me - that, and i couldn't quite figure out how madonna got her voice to catch or yelp or whatever it is she does in between some of the phrases in the song.

anyway, fast forward... 22 years (wow!) and madge is back on tour. and i have to say, im not sure how i feel about it. i like to work out to some of her tracks - particularly helpful for getting past stomach cramps while running is the crazy "ray of light" collection, interspersed with some old school janet jackson (clearly, i'm stuck in the 80s) - however, at what point is it enough? im not talking about the touring, or writing, or recording, but the extensive and expansive quality of the shows that she and other performers continue to put on. the lights, lasers, costume changes, extras... it adds up! ticket prices for "bad" seats in the $60-70 range? i clearly didn't choose the most lucrative profession... yet, even as i write this, i suppose the series of events that make up the tour are akin to the running of a play or musical that some people are willing to shell out big bucks for.

i guess my real question is: why is everything so damn expensive?
(says the 8 year old inside me itching to dance around to some madonna, live. maybe i'll go do just that...)

1 comment:

lalitha said...

yeah, i feel like i grew up with her, too. but is there a point of being grown out of her and sting, who i also grew up with and associate so strongly with particular points of life. i wonder if this has anything - probably not - to do with what people talk about when they describe the evocative properties of smell/scent...
glad you visited. let me know if you ever decide to blog on the blogosphere!