Today in Madonna History: January 7, 1998

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On January 7 1998, Madonna traveled to the Indian Wells Valley of the Mojave Desert in California to film the Frozen music video.  Shooting lasted from January 7 to January 10, directed by Chris Cunningham.

Madonna thought of filming the video in Iceland (or somewhere with snow), but decided against the idea.  She thought:

“You know what, I’m going to be freezing. I’m going to be miserable, I’ll be complaining all day, I’ll be sorry that I ever chose a cold place. So I said, ‘Let’s do it in the desert, it’ll be warm,’ and it would be sort of the opposite, because even though you think of deserts as being hot, they’re still sort of frozen in terms of there’s no vegetation and they’re very desolate. I thought that that would still work as a visual, but then we got there and it was like 20 degrees below zero, it was bitterly cold, and I was barefoot. I was barefoot for the entire video, and then it started pouring rain and everyone got really sick, and it just actually turned out to be a really miserable experience.”

Today In Madonna History: November 15, 1998

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On November 15 1998, Madonna performed The Power Of Good-Bye and was interviewed by Luuk TV in Stockholm, Sweden.

Though the song was mimed, Madonna still had plenty to showcase in a performance that was both distinctly European – and distinctly Madonna!    

Today in Madonna History: November 14, 1998

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On November 14 1998, Madonna was the subject of a press conference at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden – her first visit to Sweden in 8 years.

Today in Madonna History: October 23, 1998

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On October 23 1998, Madonna performed The Power Of Good-Bye at the 4th annual VH1 Fashion Awards at the Theatre in Madison Square Garden, New York. She was honoured with the Gianni Versace Tribute Award and also took home the trophy for Most Fashionable Artist.

Today in Madonna History: September 28, 1998

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On September 28 1998, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Emperor’s New Clothes was released as a book with audio CD by the Starbright Foundation, to benefit seriously ill children.

Each snippet of the story is performed on an audio CD by one of 23 celebrities, including: Jay Leno, Liam Neeson, Angela Lansbury, Madonna, Carrie Fisher, Jeff Goldblum, Dan Ackroyd, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, Steven Spielberg, General Norman Schwarzkopf, John Lithgow, and others. Contributing illustrators include Maurice Sendak, Mark Teague, Chris Van Allsburg, Berkeley Breathed, Steven Kellogg, Tomie de Paola, Graeme Base and others.

On the CD Madonna tells the story from the perspective of the Emperor’s Wife (illustrated as Marie Antoinette by Daniel Adel).

Today in Madonna History: September 17, 1998

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On September 17 1998, Madonna released a statement against the World Vaisnava Association’s criticism of her Ray of Light/Shanti MTV performance: “The essence of purity and divinity is non-judgement… they should practice what they preach… if they’re so pure, why are they watching MTV?”

Madonna’s skin and makeup are so beautiful in the last photo.  I love her hair like this, it reminds me of Courteney Cox’s hair towards the end of Friends.  Beautiful!  I often wonder if we will ever see Madonna with dark hair again (and I don’t mean a wig).

Today in Madonna History: September 10, 1998

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On September 10 1998, Madonna performed Shanti/Ashtangi and Ray Of Light at the 15th annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.  Ray Of Light won Best Video, Best Female Video, Best Direction (Jonas Åkerlund), Best Choreography, Best Editing and Frozen won Best Special Effects.