Brother Dearest

I just finished watching Madonna's fantabulous performance at the Super Bowl Half-Time show and thought about "Life With My Sister Madonna," By Christopher Ciccone, which I had just finished reading. I am a big Madonna fan, and think she has given a huge contribution to the music industry. There have been a zillion things written about her, and she has used the media to her advantage, so I don't think there were any big "surprises" to be gained from the book. So yeah, Madonna is cold and controlling - haven't we heard that about every successful woman out there - Barbra, Martha Stewart, Oprah. What is the big deal? If she was male, she would be a great manager, for that management style some say brings out the best in people, and for sure she has the success to show for it. In the beginning, I kind of felt a little bit of sympathy for Christopher, but as I read on, it becomes evident that he doesn't aspire to be anything but Madonna's bother. He feels like he has been used, he feels like he was responsible for her success, but he keeps on coming back to her over and over again. Can someone please give this guy some dignity and self-respect. Well, as it turns out, he admits to drug addiction among other things, and buy the end of the book, Madonna has almost cut him out of his life, and is not even close to any of her children. Can you blame her? I wouldn't want a leechy WeHo queen druggy influencing anything on my children either. I felt dirty after finishing the book, like I was contributing to his hot mess of a life. The greatest information I got from this book is the fact that during the Girlie Show tour, Madonna doused herself with her then-signature scent, Annick Goutal Gardenia Passion, which of course was very new around that time. All other accounts I have read say that she wears Fracas, so it seems that she loves white heady florals, and well, that just makes her more of my kind of girl!

BC-10