MADONNA NAME CHECKS HALF OF 80s DOWNTOWN NYC –(*NOTED ARE MY ASSOCIATIONS)

Danceteria is one of Madonna’s most talked-about songs on Confessions II. We are almost the same age and hit NYC about the same time and traveled in the same Downtown art/gay/club circles. I never knew her well, but a lot of my friends did.

I remember seeing a press screening of Purple Rain in Times Square. There was almost no one in the theater and Madonna showed up with Debi Mazar (“Hey, Debi…) They sat just a few rows in front of us, with no one in between. In 1984, Madonna & Prince were THE hottest things going, so it was fun to watch her watching the film.

As far as Danceteria goes, I went to the first one in the summer of 1980 (I saw Devo, The B-52s, Lounge Lizards) and I was a regular when it moved to 21st Street. I had my 23rd birthday party there and at one point I was a go-go dancer for a few weeks. I often saw bands there and in ‘85 I started doing my Bad Boy parties on Congo Bill, the 4th floor lounge.

Skinny, nerdy me on the first floor dance floor. (Photographer unknown)

A drink ticket very often used on the drink of the era –cheap vodka and cranberry juice.

Everyone seems to be doing their remembrance of the club and those people were name checked, so as not to be outdone, here’s mine.

Martin’s artwork & design for Madonna’s first single, Burnin’ Up/ Physical Attraction (I have a copy)

‘Meet this boy called Martin Burgoyne, he’s my best friend, he’s my Boy Toy…

Madonna’s number one gay, her bestie, her first manager, graphic artist (& cutie), was Martin Burgoyne. I knew Martin a bit, mostly from when I saw him on the street or running into him at the Pyramid. He designed Madonna’s single album sleeve for Burnin’ Up/ Physical Attraction and created the artwork from photo booth pictures he shot of her.

Martin & Berns Fry (Polaroid x Trey Speegle)

Madonna’s career really took off around the time Martin was diagnosed as HIV positive. In September of ‘86 we had a benefit at the Pyramid for him which everyone contributed to. I think that was the only time I sort of halfway met Madonna, was that night. Keith had just come back from her wedding to Sean Penn (he took Andy Warhol as his date) and I remember him showing me his pictures from the party in the dressing room that night. It was front page news worldwide, so we were all aware.

Martin died 2 months later in November. He was just 23. Madonna was devastated. We all were.

Marin & Keith Haring, photo Andy Warhol

‘Cut to the front, there’s Haoui Montaug…’

Haoui Montaug was THE doorman of the day and my boyfriend in the early 80s. (I lived with him at his loft on the Bowery for a while) At every other club, you’d hear people yelling at the velvet rope, “Haoui! Haoui! He hosted a night at Danceteria called No Entiendes, referenced in the song, “I’m not sure you understand this.” Madonna performed for the first time at No Entiendes and Haoui introduced her. In the song, she repeats

“Everybody get up and dance!”

Haoui introducing Madonna doing Everybody at Danceteria

Haoui in the Danceteria office with Ann Magnuson after a performance of Andy & Edie (Polaroid, Trey Speegle)

Everybody loved Haoui. He was smart, funny, charming, very cool. A bit older than most of us, honestly at the time I don’t think I knew his age, but he was 8 years older than me. He was diagnosed as HIV positive after we split up but were still good friends. (He hosted my 21st birthday at Peppermint Lounge which was how I met my new bf) I heard he was going to have a “suicide party” to say goodbye to friends and it was very upsetting. At the time I was mad at him and his friends who attended (Madonna wasn’t in town but supposedly called in). But in all fairness at the time, AIDS was a death sentence. Haoui was 39.

This is Rudolf Piper. He ran Danceteria. He’s not mentioned in the song but without him (and Jim Fouratt and John Argento) there would be no Danceteria.

Debi M & Keith (Polaroid x Maripol)

‘Get on the elevator, I run into Debi Mazar…’

Another person everyone loved and still loves, is Debi Mazar or as she was known then, Debi M. She was younger than all of us, not by much, I think she started going out at 15-16, and wasn’t much older when she was working the elevator at Danceteria.

For all you kids, you might ask, “Why was she running the elevator?” Well, this was a manual elevator which was in many building for YEARS (some still exist in doorman buildings) but one of the reasons, besides being a fortune to install a modern automatic elevator, is that it provided a steady job, and was unionized in NYC. So that modern “ding” you hear in the song was never heard at Danceteria. When you got to your floor Debi would yell in her cute, heavy Brooklyn accent, “THREE!”

With Debi at Artwalk, Coalition for the Homeless in 2019, where my artwork was auctioned & Debi was a guest speaker

Debi was (and is) a fab makeup artist, and an aspiring actress. She did Madonna’s makeup in the early days. After they had been friends for years, Debi auditioned for Martin Scorsese and was cast in Goodfellas, but Madonna had booked her to do her makeup for the Blonde Ambition tour so she told her NO, she was already booked. Debi turned down the part, but as fate would have it, the actress they hired had a scheduling conflict and they offered it to Debi again. She accepted and told Madonna she was taking the part. And it changed her life. If you’ve seen it, she’s fantastic in it.

Since those early Danceteria days, she’s worked consistently and her screen credits have included everything from Malcolm X to the TV series Younger and more. They are still friends and often celebrate birthdays and vacation together.

I honestly credit Debi with being one of the close friends that’s kept Madonna “real” throughout the decades. She takes no shit from anyone. Btw, she’s the only person name-checked in Danceteria who also appears in the video.

A still from the Dancerteria video

“…and Basquiat”

With Jean Michel in ‘83 (Polaroid x Maripol)

Jean Michel Basquiat and Madonna dated in 1982, just before they both broke through in their careers. His continued use of hard drugs was what she said led to the end of their relationship.

“He wouldn’t stop doing heroin. He was an amazing man and deeply talented. I loved him.”

After their split, Jean made her return two paintings that he’d given to her. She heard later that he’d painted over them in black paint.

Jean died of a heroin overdose in ‘88. He was 27.

‘…Keith Haring…’

Keith Haring in a custom Stephen Sprouse tux at his Party of Life in 1984. Dress by Sprouse and urn by Keith. (Polaroid collage, Trey Speegle)

Keith with one of his urns, a sculpture and an early painting circa 1984. (Photo from my scrapbook)

Keith and Madonna were pretty tight from the beginning. I met Keith when he was a busboy at the first Danceteria in the Summer of 1980. He had just painted a mural at the club over the stairs. We had a hookup after a day at the beach that summer.

His meteoric rise sort of mirrored Madonna’s. At his Party of Life in 1984, she sang Like a Virgin from a bed onstage. (I would have pictures of her, but I ran out of Polaroid film!)

Keith died of AIDS in 1990 at the age of 32 and in 2023, was among those friends included in Madonna’s tribute to those lost to AIDS on her Celebration world tour, along with Martin.

Keith’s VF cover, Feb of ‘84. (I was a designer on staff at the magazine & suggested it to the editor)

‘Kenny Scharf… Everyone came from Shafrazi –
Sha-fra-zi, to the beat…’

I met Kenny Scharf when he was sharing a loft with Keith when I first came to town and have known him ever since. Tony Shafrazi showed Kenny’s work as well as Jean Michel & Keith’s. It’s ironic she named-checked Tony because for years, his defacing Picasso’s Guernica was the reason Keith’s work wasn’t in MoMA. The last time I saw him was the Club 57 show at MoMA. In more recent years, Shafrazi’s name is mud in the art world because of his vocal support of Trump. Enough said.

Kenny Scharf & Tony Shafrazzi (with early Scharf’s in the background) at MoMA’s Club 57 exhibit in 2017. (Photo, Trey Speegle)

‘There’s Maripol…’

Me in a mask (the exhibit opened on Halloween) with Maripol at Club 57 opening at MoMA in 2017.

Maripol. She was Madonna’s bestie in the early days and styled her with her own rubber bracelets, wedding dresses, tons of necklaces, hair tied up in lace and ripped jeans. I first met Maripol in 1980 when she was a salesperson at Fiorucci. French, funny, and tough as nails, you don’t fuck with Maripol, unless you want a fight.

She styled Madonna’s first two album covers, the music videos for Burning Up and Like A Virgin, and her first, The Virgin Tour. Since those days she’s continued taking her amazing Polaroids (she has several books and has exhibited through the world) and is just as tough as ever. I need to check in to see if she’s talked with Madonna lately…

Madonna x Maripol

‘…and a guy named Fred’

OK, I’m kinda stumped. The song name-checks Fab 5 Freddy and The B-52s’ frontman is Fred (Schneider), but who the mysterious “guy named Fred”? A fan on Reddit suggested it’s photographer Fred Seidman, who shot Madonna’s for The Village Voice years before she made it big. Who knows? Presumably Madonna.

With Kenny & Fred Schneider at my 50th birthday party

With Kate Pierson & Angel Zimick (& Kenny) at my birthday party in NYC.

‘...the B-52s had money to burn’

Yes, the B-52s were stars before Madonna and so she considered them “established” which is probably why Madonna says they “had money to burn”. I know them both for years and they are known to be quite frugal, but Fred thought it was funny and posted on Instagram with a “Ha Ha Ha…”

‘Lounge Lizards had so much style…’

Dressed in their 40s and 50s suits and ties, they WERE stylin’ those Lounge Lizards.

‘Lower East Side, take a walk on the wild side…’

Not referenced by name, Madonna’s “take a walk on the wild side” is an homage to Lou Reed’s hit where he famously name-checks, Jackie Curtis, Holly Woodlawn, Joe Dallesandro and Candy Darling, all Warhol Superstars.

As a side note, I was once at a loft party on Canal Street and a guy I was chatting with said, “That guy over there looks just like Lou Reed..” I replied, “That IS Lou Reed. Nobody looks like Lou Reed.”

Anyway, Madonna sings at the end, “do do do do do do” section of Take A Walk On The Wild Side and Reed is also credited as a co-writer on Danceteria, for legal purposes –allegedly!

(via Interview, HuffPost UK)