The music universe explodes (implodes?) as Madonna and Prince team up in the studio at last … to create this experimental, slightly bizarre pop oddity.  Topics include Minneapolis and Paisley Park, Batdance and Sign O’ The Times, Daisy Miller, Kenny’s favorite Prince duet, gender, and the long-lost Royal Tour.  The first true “duet” in the Madonna canon begs the question … are there any lost Madonna/Prince tracks?

And the hits keep coming!  Kenny and Mark dive deep into the anthemic, brash, and second track (and single) from Like a Prayer.  Topics include DAVID FINCHER (welcome to MadonnaUniverse, David!), Metropolis, the return of Stephen Bray, the intriguing beauty of Cameron Alborzian, and the polarizing Shep Pettibone remixes of (yet another) classic Madonna song.

Mark kicks off the conversation about Madonna’s masterpiece fourth album with a testimony to Kenny about the personal power and passion of Like a Prayer.  Topics include Prince, Mary Lambert, Sean Penn, Pepsi-Cola, Niki Harris, the Andre Crouch Choir, and the narrative hiccups in the ground-breaking video of this classic Madonna song.

Waiting is the hardest part … Finally … At LONG Last … Season Two (1988-1993) kicks off! Kenny and Mark drops back into New York, circa 1988 - a year when Madonna starred on Broadway, sashayed with Sandra, laid into Letterman, and got photographed … a LOT! She also wrote and recorded what would become considered her first masterpiece album Like a Prayer and faced the truth about her future as Mrs. Sean Penn. There are many special surprises and treats in store for you this season so stay safe and keep listening! We missed you so much.

It’s August 16th and we all know what that means - time to stop what you’re doing, get on the appropriately socially distant dance-floor and celebrate the birth of M. Mark and Kenny check in about everything from M’s guest spot on Dua Lipa’s “Levitating”, her instagram hits and misses, a new record deal and how each are coping in month five of the pandemic. There’s a lot in M’s orbit as she begins her 63rd trip around the Sun.

A little bonus for the hardcore. On September 30, 2019 Mark and Kenny sat down to debrief about the Madame X Tour which was in residence at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Here’s the entire unedited conversation. At over an hour this is our longest episode - for better and for worse. Enjoy!!

Have a great rest of the summer! We’ll back in September to kick off Season Two - 1988-1993.

Until then.

Mark and Kenny dive into all the Dub Versions, homemade singing bootlegs, and the glorious second side of Madonna’s first compilation album, 1987’s magnificent You Can Dance.  Shep Pettibone arrives on the scene to re-mix Madonna’s greatest dance songs – and helps her remind her who SHE really is.

Get out your parachute pants and fasten your cordless mic pack - this is about to get wild!  Kenny and Mark return to the summer of 1987 for Madonna’s first stadium (and international) tour - the Who’s That Girl Tour!  Topics include the distance of a stadium stage, Madonna’s (already) stressful relationship with her hits, the cordless microphone hand-off, which song on the setlist Kenny always fast-forwards through, and the career highs of the legendary Shabba-Doo. Ciao Italia, indeed!!

Mark and Kenny bust out prison and unpack the comedic misfire 1987 film Who’s That Girl? as well as the four Madonna songs on what remains a spotty soundtrack. This conversation includes the acting grace of Griffin Dunne, the (unrequited?) passions of director James Foley, the ever-present children in the eponymous song video, Stephen Bray’s musical scoring, and celebrating a true “lost” Madonna classic. Will Kenny and Mark ever dance together in a club to a Shep Pettibone remix? Did Madonna ever vanquish her reputation as a “movie killer”? Questions to answer this summer.

Kenny and Mark wrap up the True Blue album with a discussion of death and mortality, imagery as an artistic (and promotional) tool, Herb Ritts (and Kenny’s aborted career as a model), Cyndi Lauper, and the end of the sweet innocence of youth.