On May 25 1990, Madonna had to cancel a third scheduled Blond Ambition concert at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois, due to laryngitis.
Author Archives: Jay
Today in Madonna History: May 23, 1985
On May 23 1985, Madonna performed her Virgin Tour concert in front of a sold-out crowd of 16,000 fans at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. The show generated $238,264 in ticket sales.
Here’s a great photo of the Beastie Boys hanging outside Maple Leaf Gardens before the show (on Church Street just north of Carlton):
Maple Leaf Gardens was primarily a hockey and concert venue from 1931 until 2001. The building sat dormant until November 2011, when it reopened as a Loblaws grocery store. To celebrate the history of the building, Loblaws kept centre ice, created art out of some of the seats and commemorated important dates on some of the supporting columns. Here is one of those columns:
Jay’s note: I’d like to say that I made a special trip to Loblaws just to take this photo, but it’s the long-weekend here in Canada — and I really wanted one of their amazing chocolate dip donuts!
Today in Madonna History: May 22, 2001
On May 22 2001, VH1 published their list of 100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock ‘N Roll. Madonna appeared on the list twice:
#87 – Madonna scandalizes with her Like A Prayer video (1989)
- #11 – Madonna bares all in her racy SEX book (1992)
Today in Madonna History: May 20, 2012
On May 20 2012, Madonna was asked what she would do if she were the President of the United States for one day, and she replied:
“You can’t really change much in one day. I think I would like to be president for a longer time. I wouldn’t spend as much money for weapons of mass destruction but instead for education and art.”
She was also asked if it is more difficult to become famous or maintain fame:
“It’s harder to stay famous than become famous. I don’t think there’s a rule for staying successful. You have to really love what you’re doing. You have to feed your soul with ideas and you’re not allowed to stop growing as a human. That’s what helps to create art. When it comes to my work I don’t take anything for granted.”
Today in Madonna History: May 18, 1987
On May 18 1987, Madonna was honored for Best Songwriting for Live To Tell at the 4th annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA; the award was accepted on her behalf by brother-in-law Christopher Penn.
Today in Madonna History: May 17, 1991
On May 17 1991, Madonna: Truth Or Dare was released in 538 US movie theatres.
Madonna: Truth or Dare (renamed “In Bed with Madonna” outside of North America) chronicled the life of Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. The film was well received by critics and was successful at the box office, at that point becoming the highest-grossing documentary of all time with a worldwide gross of $29,012,935.
Today in Madonna History: May 15, 1997
On May 15 1997, Madonna’s Like A Prayer is named one of “200 Best Albums Ever Made” by Rolling Stone magazine.
Today In Madonna History 