Skip to main content

BAY CITY NATIVE MADONNA TO BE HONORED WITH NEW SIGNS

BAY CITY, MI (WNEM) – Good news for Madonna fans: The Queen of Pop will be commemorated in her birthplace of Bay City. New signs will be placed at city entrances saying, “Welcome to Bay City: Birthplace of Madonna.” 

 

 The idea came with much enthusiasm at a meeting Monday night. Bay City Commissioner Chris Girard, 6th Ward hopes honoring the diva will bring some tourism to the town.

“People see something like that,” said Girard, “They may have interest in exploring our town a little more. I think it’s something we’ve missed the boat on for many years, and so let’s take advantage of that fact.”
The Material Girl was born in Bay City, and frequently visited her grandparents during her childhood. Their home on the west side of the city still attracts some tourists.
A simple sign or two can do a lot to re-brand the city.
“When I go in the community and people ask me where I’m from, I say, I’m right here!,” explained Girard holding up his hand, “Bay City, Michigan! I also talk about Madonna’s birth town, and I think a lot of other people I’ve talked to kinda do the same thing.”
For years, the city has had a love/hate relationship with the Queen of Pop. After she publicly called her birthplace a “smelly little town in Northern Michigan.” This was not out of distaste for the town, but in reference to the smell from a petroleum plant close by that is now closed.
But now, city commissioners think it’s time to change that image.
“Just having that name on there,” said city resident Rody Dodd, “I think a lot of people will see that when they come in to town. I think that’ll be great.”
Other cities honor their famous residents, so Bay City wonders: why not them?
“I grew up in New Jersey,” said George Herron in Bay City, “and Martha Stewart grew up there and they honor her. I think we outta do the same idea to Madonna here.”
The new signs will be funded privately and visible to citizens not too long in the future.
by Alana Holland, TV5 Reporter

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

September 24 1992, Madonna baring her breasts and blowing kisses, At The Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion show.

September 24 1992,   Madonna baring her breasts and blowing kisses, Billy Idol in double leather... we explore the fashion show that raised $700,000 for AIDS research Jean Paul Gaultier  is renowned for many things – his exceptional tailoring, his conical bras, his impassioned approach to sociopolitcal causes in fashion – and, on September 2, 1992, all of these elements united for a show that definitely mattered. In honour of  amFAR  (The American Foundation for AIDS Research), Gaultier held a fashion benefit whose runway included everything from lip-synching to Dr Ruth dressed in rubber to raise money for a cause that devastated (and continues to devastate) communities around the world. "Tonight will be about protection... wear rubber and protect yourself!" – Jean Paul Gaultier "Tonight will be about protection... wear rubber and protect yourself!" explained Gaultier before the show. "I think fashion can make people thin...

The Making of Madonna’s First Album Cover

Carin Goldberg — the art director behind Madonna’s debut album cover — spoke to  the Cut  about her first experience with the then-unknown pop star. It’s the first question that anybody asks me, even today: What was it like to work with Madonna? People think that maybe something dramatic or interesting or kind of wild might have happened, based on, you know, Madonna’s persona. But I would say that Madonna was probably the easiest job I ever had — the most cooperation from a recording artist I think I ever had. She was a true professional, even at that young age. It was ’83, and at that point I had my own small design firm. Warner Bros. called and asked me to do her cover as a freelance designer. When I got the call, I rolled my eyes, because it was another [musician with a] one-word name. At that time it had become cliché to have a one-word name, because of Cher, so I remember thinking, God, it’s going to be one of those. So I really went into it with very little expec...

On July 10 1985, The Playboy magazine issue of nude Madonna photos was released !!

Playboy  publishes nude photos of  Madonna  taken before she was famous. The singer did a number of nude photo shoots from 1977-1980, starting when she was an 18-year-old student at the University of Michigan looking for some extra cash and trying to form a band. Now a huge star,  Playboy  publishes some of the shots taken in 1979 and 1980 in a revealing spread. A year earlier, the magazine turned down nude photos of Miss America winner  Vanessa Williams , which their rival  Penthouse  published. "We think Vanessa genuinely didn't know what she was doing, didn't know her photos might be published," the article states. "Madonna, on the other hand, posed repeatedly for two noted photographers who routinely publish what they shoot." One of the photographers, Lee Friedlander, says of the shoot: "She seemed very confident, a street-wise girl." Madonna has little to say on the matter, but doesn't shy away. "I'm not ashamed,...