Holiday

I haven't posted much of anything in a long while . . . mostly b/c I don't have time and partly b/c I'm waiting for inspirado.

But in celebration of one of the few gay holidays out there, I must write.

Madonna's new album dropped today.  Sure, most of the faithful have heard it all already . . . know the words by heart . . . know the beats by, well, thrust.  The point is, the saint has given us something new to consume.  And by consume, I mean this album has a better chance of reviving the economy than any $600 check from the IRS.

As an NYC newspaper put it, "this is Madonna's best album since Ray of Light."  Those are big words wrapped in few syllables.  Ray of Light is still the pinnacle of Madonnanecesity in my humble, yet 100% correct, opinion.

Since then, I have never been disappointed by an album.  "Music" pushed the envelope in many ways, but only a few songs resonated with everyone.  "Music" had three huge singles, but the bar for Madonna is set so high, that is just not enough.  "American Life" was so full of preachy message, it was tough to see past it.  I loved that album . . . "Hollywood", "Stupid", and "Mother & Father" are modern Madonna classics.  Even that hetero-testosterone staple "GQ" saw past it when it published a short column almost 6 months after "American Life" hit the shelves, encouraging its readers to draw the blinds and pump the album.  "Confessions on a Dance Floor" was advertised as a non-stop dance album . . . and it lived up to much of the expectations, except it still contained a diluted version of the preachiness that turned people off to "American Life".  Ultimately, "Confessions" dished out what was, arguably, the best Madonna tour ever.

However, "Confessions" is, to put it mildly, 100% music for gays.  That's all fine and good, believe me, it's fabulous!  But Madonna is not Cher; Madonna has plenty of decades ahead of her.  Cher's last two albums were 100% music for gays because she doesn't have any audience left to sell albums to.  Madonna is not there yet.

And now, with Hard Candy, Madonna has proven she has more than the gays in her corner.  Why the best since "Ray of Light"?  Perhaps because it has the beats everyone wants to hear.  Perhaps because it will appeal to the broadest spectrum of people since "Ray of Light".  Perhaps the best because she has actually achieved the high bar set for her by the press and by herself since "Ray of Light".

Or perhaps it's the best because it is, simply, dancetastic.  The only message here is get up, get down, and get what you want.  Pretty damn simple.  Pretty damn sweet.

If you've ever seen the movie "Boogie Nights", think about the first half of that movie, when everyone was hot, and fucking, and just grooving through the good life they had.  THAT is Hard Candy;  THAT is this album.  "Do it, do it, while the night is young, let the music pull you through it till the lights turn on."

"Just Dance."

This is preaching everyone can get on board with.