Brad Walsh

Arranging My Desktop Icons

Time Warner Cable once again cut out on me at the beginning of one of the very few television programs that I actually planned to watch, the Michael Jackson memorial, which aired today. Everyone else has already complained enough about how horrible TWC’s service and customer service are, so I won’t do that again at length now. The point is, because my cable went out, I had to watch the memorial streaming online at CNN.com. While I was at my computer and thinking and hearing about how Michael Jackson was the greatest entertainer the world has ever known, I went through a bunch of old photos from concerts, parties, and events that I had been to, and I got to thinking about all the incredible people I’ve been lucky enough to come into contact with. The most iconic of them has to have been Madonna.

I took this photo when she came to the Misshapes party four years ago, when it was still small and exciting and before it moved to a larger venue. It was us, a handful of club kids, and Madonna. It wasn’t the first or last time I’d see her in person, but it was the most up close and personal. She arrived to much excitement on the sidewalk outside, made her way in and upstairs to the DJ booth, and got on the mic and told us she wanted to play us a few of her new songs. Songs that were, at the time, unheard by any of us, because they were on her yet-to-be-released Confessions on a Dance Floor.

It was Geordon’s birthday, and I was there with Kathy, our friend Beckie, and Sarah. While Madonna began to play some of the new tracks, I left the group and went downstairs to the bar and listened with excitement. She stayed up there for about half an hour, and then all of a sudden I turned around in the near-deserted ground level and there was Madonna in my face with three or four body guards. As the people upstairs began to follow her downstairs, I looked right at her and said “I love you!” like a startled idiot. She said “thanks, I like your hair!” I took a picture and then she was swept away by security like she was Madonna or something.

My friends found me a few minutes later and Beckie said she was sorry I didn’t get to see the whole thing upstairs. I took out my camera and showed her the photo above. Four years later and I think Beckie’s jaw may still be on the floor.