Madonna’s Biggest Celebration Ever

Tomorrow marks Madonna’s Celebration Tour concert on the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It looks to be a spectacular event, which Madonna is putting on for free for forty years of fandom. She just completed all dates of the Celebration Tour, a feat in itself following her hospitalization last year, and proof that she is one of our most enduring performers, who has stayed at the top of her game for the last four decades

While my wish-list for the Celebration Tour was way off (hey, it was a very personal wish list not what I actually thought she’d end up playing) she did hit all the right spots, as seen in the set-list below, which come with links to any and all Madonna Timeline entries that have been posted.

CELEBRATION TOUR SETLIST:

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Dazzler of the Day: Austin Armacost

Whenever someone is vilified and raked across the coals for simply living their life in their early twenties (and making the foolish choices we all make) I tend to want to champion them. Austin Armacost was widely ridiculed for his stint on ‘The A-List’ but he’s gone to make a career from his reality television roots, and so he earns this Dazzler of the Day for surviving in a business hell-bent on striking survival from its resumes. 

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A Sunny New Perspective

A post to offer a shift in perspective, or maybe just the possibility of such a shift if we can be open to such a thing. I’ve posited such notions prior to this post, and this is the not-quite-annual reminder that even a dandelion is a thing of beauty. From a conspiracy of hardiness, ubiquitousness, and its own slight messiness, the dandelion has never earned a place among the more cultivated garden plants, but if this were rare or less prolific, we’d be paying good money to have it in the garden. 

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#TinyThreads: An Insignificant Series

Murdering puppies is the GOP brand now. Remember that when you think about voting for a Republican. 

#TinyThreads

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Spring Fruition & Summer Plans in CT

The best sort of visit with friends is one in which the company can be thoroughly enjoyed, the moments can unfurl in their own time to make themselves matter, and where there is a spattering of hints and plans to come thrown in for the promise and possibility of future gatherings. All of these happy items were in place for my recent visit to Connecticut.

The entire state seems to be on the same beautiful page when it comes to daffodils, as there were clumps and swaths of them at every driveway entrance and along every charming stone wall. You could spot them in drifts in wooded glades, at the edges of meadows, and in the gardens and lawns of most of the houses I passed. 

Coupled with a sunny entry day, it made for an enchanting return to this magical place. I always have a good time at Missy and Joe’s home, and now that their children are old enough to join in the conversation and dinner talk, it makes for many entertaining exchanges. 

The grounds of their home were filled with blooms – from the glorious cherry tree that stood sentry at the entrance to their driveway, to the littlest purple Pasque flower seen below. Lilacs are on their way too – the quintessential sign of a proper New England spring

It made for a fitting scene, as we had loosely talked of a floral theme for the weekend, punctuated by my first trip to White Flower Farm (post to come). Cameron joined me for an impromptu photo-shoot beneath the weeping cherry. He would also help out with this summer’s theme (another post to come). 

We went out for a Mexican dinner at Sancho to close out the weekend – obligatory toast shot by Missy (because I would never cut Julian out of a photo in such a manner!) We ended things with the promise of a summer get-together with Ann around the pool in July – at which point three dear friends will reunite for the first time since our tenth high school reunion in 2003.

Once every ten years is simply not enough…

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Connecticut in the Pink

A spring-time trip to Connecticut to see Missy and her family provided the perfect weekend away to celebrate the arrival of the season – and nowhere was that more evident in this magnificent weeping cherry tree in front of their home. Fully decked out in its pale pink blooms, it glowed gorgeously as I drove into the driveway. Petals fluttered down in the breeze, and an idyllic weekend was pre-ordained by destiny. 

Andy texted me that our own cherry tree was finally breaking its buds and unfurling its pink blossoms – deeper of color and fuller of form thanks to its hybridized enhancement. That meant I could extend this cherry-popping season a bit longer when I returned home. For now, it was a weekend in Connecticut with an old friend

Does beauty augment and enhance a meeting of dear friends? Of course it does, and the weekend provided this gorgeousness to mirror the joy of a reunion. Along with Missy’s family, we set about to plan out the coming summer months…

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Dazzler of the Day: Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi should need no introduction or explanation as far as earning this Dazzler of the Day, and she does it not only from her historical successes in politics, but her recent swift and simple throw-down of MSNBC ‘reporter’ Katy Tur for continuing to play the both-sides game at a time when that nonsense threatens to kill American democracy as we know it. Go Nancy. 

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Anniversary Month

May also marks the month of our wedding anniversary, which usually brings us back to Boston for a celebration for two. That’s happening again this year, and in order to stoke the excitement, here’s a poem about that beloved city by E.B. White:

BOSTON IS LIKE NO OTHER PLACE
IN THE WORLD ONLY MORE SO
When I am out of funds and sorts
and life is all in snarls,
In Boston, life is smoother far,
Where every boy’s a Harvard man
And every man’s a skier.
There’s something in the Boston scene
So innocent, so tranquil,
It takes and holds my interest
The same as any bank will.
Rather I think that Boston is
A sort of state of grace.
The people’s lives in Boston
On Commonwealth, on Beacon,
They bow and speak and pass.
No lady ever dies;
No youth is ever wicked,
No infant ever cries.
No orthodox Bostonian
Is lonely or dejected,
For everyone in Boston
With everyone’s connected.
So intricate the pattern,
Becomes a jigsaw puzzle
Each Boston girl is swept along
Down the predestined channel
Alert in Brooksian flannel,
Magnificent in fallen socks,
His hair like stubble weeds,
His elbow patch an earnest of
The fellowship of tweeds.
It wakes celestial stings,
And I can sit in Boston
For Boston’s not a capital,
And Boston’s not a place;
Rather I feel that Boston is
The perfect state of grace.
~ E.B. White
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My Favorite Month Arrives

May is my favorite month in the calendar year, which goes against all those ego-pointers, because my birth month is August. May is superior because it holds in it all the hope of a spring and summer about to unfurl in all their splendor. Even if summer turns out to be a somber dud, as some summers do, in May it still holds the possibility of being perfect. May is wonderful that way. Let’s take a moment to look back at a few May starters of the more recent past. 

Last year it seems May 1 was a day for recapping the previous week, which means hints of April made their way into this post after all.

May 1, 2022 found this haunting post going up, which was much too serious and somber for this month. 

May 1, 2021 found me kicking off Asian-Pacific Islander Heritage month in another rather serious post

Well, discovering this third-somber-entry-in-a-row from 2020 seems to indicate I don’t know what I’m even saying regarding this month… though that may be the after-effects of COVID hitting. 

The pre-COVID May 1st post from 2019 found me immersed in a bit of retail therapy, so happiness certainly was present then.

May was all about hope, and it still is. Enjoy this day, and this month

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Another Hint

Lean in closer while I whisper another little hint of our upcoming summer theme.

{Psst… … !… ?… … ….mmm,hmm… oh yes very much… !… very certainly … and you cannot wait…}

It’s the aesthetic – it’s the atmosphere – it’s the setting for all possibility.

Dream a little dream of summer – it’s coming…

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A Hint Through the Haze

Amid the hazy unfocused visage of a weeping cherry tree dangling its pretty pink blooms like ballerinas floating in the sky, I offer this visual hint of our upcoming summer theme. Think pink, think ribbons and bows, and think of an aestheticism that doesn’t go very deep. We need a break from all that is serious and somber, and though I’m aiming for a quiet summer, I’m open to a calm and tranquil bit of joy. This theme accomplishes that, and comes courtesy of my niece Emi, with some active encouragement and planning by Missy’s son Cameron. More – much more – on that in the coming weeks. 

I’ve always believed that the children are our future – the twist is that they are teaching me well and leading the way to show me all the beauty of the world that still exists. 

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Teenagedom

The twins finally joined me for our office’s annual ‘Take Our Children to Work Day’ and we all survived. Getting up at the crack-ass of dawn to make baked French toast is but one of the challenges that faced us, but it was all worth it. They seemed to enjoy their day away from Amsterdam, and it was fun having them join me for the office shenanigans. They also got praise from their group leader (thank you Betsy!) so they did us proud. I cannot say where they are headed in their future careers, as they don’t seem to have any idea on that front, but at least they’re aware of more options. (They may also want to get a job where they can safely retire at age 55 and not work into their 70’s to make ends meet, and if they follow a career with the state of New York and plot it out well, they could have that option too.) 

Fun fact: by the time they will be entering the workforce, I’ll be just about ready to retire. The circle of professional life. 

We finished the day, then Uncle Andy joined us for dinner. Firmly entrenched in the age of 14, they are just about to find us tragically uncool. As long as they know we will always be there for them, it will be ok. And I’ve embraced being uncool since I was their age, so this is a land I have come to adore. 

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Happy Face

When the world spits rain and the night bleeds into the day, one look at my nephew Jaxon makes it all ok again. This post is just to remind you, and myself, of the joy that’s still here in the world, even if it’s sometimes hard to find or feel. 

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Dazzler of the Day: Vanessa Wiliams

Entertainment legend Vanessa Williams has conquered just about every conceivable performing arts avenue, and she continues to astound and enthrall with new music (the upcoming ‘Legs (Keep Dancing)’ album) and a new musical (the London premiere of ‘The Devil Wears Prada‘ musical). Both sound extremely promising, and as someone who’s loved Williams since her tender ballad ‘Saved the Best For Last‘ through her stiletto-clicking turn on ‘Ugly Betty’ and a glorious spell as the Witch in the Broadway revival of ‘Into the Woods’, I cannot wait to see what comes next. She earns her first Dazzler of the Day for a magnificent career of spellbinding performances. 

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