This is cute, I wish M could see these pics.
The Oregonian/OregonLive is looking for people who were at Madonna's first Portland shows in 1985. Do you recognize some of these teens from 30 years ago?
Vintage Oregon: Desperately seeking Madonna fans from 1985 Portland show
In April 1985, Madonna played a pair of sold-out shows at Portland's Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Were you there?
As the "Rebel Heart" tour's Oct. 17 stop at the Moda Center approaches, we're desperately seeking Portland area residents who were at Madonna's first Portland shows 30 years ago.
We'd especially love to talk to Danette Dollar, Bart Allen, Kimberly Meade, Michele Uanno, Liz Ephren, Linda George and April Simmons. The Oregonian's coverage of the concerts included photos of those seven MTV generation teens dressed in "Catholic a go-go," like their "favorite video performer," as the newspaper described it.
Look at the photos above. Do you recognize yourself from 1985? Are you out there? I'd love to talk to you?
Are you still Madonna fans? Do you call her Madge or the Material Girl? What do you remember about the shows? Do you still have the outfits you wore? What was she like before the Kabbalah yarn, the chest cones, the foray into children's books and the fake British accent?
I have so many questions.
Of course, based on the breathless-yet-stuffy coverage by The Oregonian, you would have thought the pope was coming to town.
From stories about teens upset about how tickets were sold to the concerts' aftermath, the newspaper dedicated 13 stories with photos to the event in less than a month.
Of course, much of the coverage was awash in skepticism, with reporters trying to figure out why children of the 1980s were so obsessed with the Material Girl.
"Hordes of Portland-area fans of rock singer Madonna, the latest overnight superstar in that volatile calling, are miffed in the extreme," wrote reporter John Painter Jr. "They came to that state when tickets to the steamy, overtly sexual singer's two Portland concerts set for April 15-16 in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall were quietly put on sale last Friday and quickly sold out."
Were you at those shows? I'd like to write about your first encounter with "M" in Portland. Here's my contact info:
— Joseph Rose
503-221-8029
[email protected]
In this photo, Michele Uanno, Liz Ephren and Linda George, dressed like their "favorite rock video performer," await the start
of one of the Portland concerts.
In full Madonna regalia, Danette Dollar outside the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in 1985.
Madonna performing at the Schnitz in Portland in April 1985. "She is part of pop music's new boom cycle," The Oregonian reported.
April Simmons, 14, winner of a KKRZ Madonna look-alike contest in Portland in 1985.
In this Sept. 14, 1984 file photo, Madonna poses at the MTV Video Music Awards where she was nominated "Best New Artist" in video, at Radio City Music Hall, in New York. Before there was Miley, there was Madonna. iShe'd like to say she put the 'M' in MTV,i VanToffler, executive producer of the MTV Video Music Awards noted, with a sly smile, adding that in her first telecast in 1984 - hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler - Madonna set the show's standard. The Oregonian reported.
