Madonna's daughter, Lourdes Leon aka "Lolahol", released her debut single and video this week. As you'll see, she shot much of the video for Lock&Key in and around Machpelah cemetery and on the grave of its most famous resident. Think I'm too old to pass judgment on the song or her abilities, but I did love her mama back in the day. Enjoy.
While Madonna never used Houdini in her art, the Houdini Historical Center used Madonna in theirs! This poster was released by the museum gift shop in 1994.
Thanks to Bret Marnell for the tip.
I am not surprised by the disrespect of certain individuals misusing a gravesite for their own financial gain or to create or enhance publicity for themselves. This is not the "1st" occurrence of this happening at the Houdini gravesite or at the Excedra. I have personally witnessed these disrespectful events occuring and in recent times, have spoken out about it. Thankfully, some individuals had serious plans to use the gravesite soil of Houdini earning money from it but they took my strong advice on both counts; it was against the Jewish faith and would be considered highly disrespectful to Houdini and morally too(do we still have a conscious?)Although, I attended with "Larry Weeks" and his dog "Spanky" for the "live" filming of "HOUDINI" whereas, "Spanky" on cue from Larry escaping from the original "Bobby handcuffs" which was created by Houdini for his dog, we purposely told the film recorder "to film it BEHIND the shed(which is gone now) out of having the proper respect for Houdini, the other gravesites of many people buried there. Indeed, Larry paid homage to Houdini by providing some factual information about these small dog handcuffs which I gleefully watched Spanky escape shaking those cuffs off of his paws and we were NOT by any Graves. Benjilini🎩🐰
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Benjilini. I don't think Houdini's grave, or anyone's grave, should be used for this sort of thing.
DeleteYears ago Madonna dipped into the Kabbala to study Jewish mysticism. I wonder if she actually opened the texts to study it, or if it was all publicity to create an aura of being a mystical entertainer.
ReplyDeleteI feel like Houdini and Madonna are very similar in that everything they do is an integration of passion and publicity seeking. It's like people saying Houdini exposed mediums just for the publicity. No. He had a passion for it and believed what he was doing was right. But he was also fueled by the publicity it generated. One feeds the other in a way that's more organic than calculated.
DeleteFilms are shot in real cemeteries like in the burial scene for Don Vito in the Godfather, or the L.A. burial scene in Predator 2. Money was earned in those kinds of shots, but at least they were more respectful.
DeleteWell you know Silverman pointed out in his Houdini bio that HH got a bit out of control at the Washington DC hearings to ban fortune telling. As he mentioned in the book: What could you expect from a crackerjack showman? Like Madonna it's a cocktail mix of real passion mixed with hunger for publicity.
DeleteI hated teh editing of that video. I'm not prone to nauesea, but that left me dizzy. I was not pleased about the filming at the grave site, but I guess I'll have to get over it.
ReplyDeleteThis does not sit well with me. I saw many teens laughing just being mischievous around his grave, the last time I visited. They were waiting for me to leave, so I took my time til they gave up and left. I walked there from train, wasn't about to leave anytime soon. Also saw bess that day via friend giving me ride to her. Sad what might become of his grave when no one is left to protect it.
ReplyDeleteFuture generations will continue discovering Houdini. He's timeless, and transcends societal currents. His grave will continue to be watched, and cared for, unfortunately, the vandals won't be far away either.
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