Danceteria

Danceteria was a well-known four-floor nightclub located in New York City which operated from 1980 until 1986. Throughout its history, the club had three different locations, the second, most famously at 30 West 21st Street, Manhattan, which served as the location for the disco scene in the film Desperately Seeking Susan.

The first Danceteria was opened on West 37th Street by German expatriate Rudolf Pieper and talent booker & club impresario Jim Fouratt. It catered to a diverse after-hours crowd coming from gay discos and the downtown rock clubs Mudd Club, Trax, TR3, and CBGB. The club's DJs were Bill Bahlman, Mark Kamins and Sean Cassette. Bill Bahlman played the first floor Thursdays & Saturdays and the second floor every Friday. Kamins played the second floor Saturday nights. This was the schedule for the first 2½ years of the 21st Street Danceteria. According to Kamins, Danceteria "was an illegal Mafia club with no liquor license, but we sold drink tickets". The third and last location was at 29 East 29th St. (between Madison and Park). DJ Johnny Dynell was also a Danceteria DJ for a while, and Howie Montaug ran and MCed at the alternative 'No Entiendes' evenings upstairs.

Kamins credits the first Danceteria with being the first club to play videos and have two separate DJ's play 12 straight hours. It was reputed to be one of the centers of new wave music in New York and was frequented by musicians and other artists who later became famous, such as Madonna, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Sade, Wham!, The Smiths, Cyndi Lauper, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Run-DMC, Butthole Surfers, the Beastie Boys, and LL Cool J.

For a time, there was also a satellite version of the club operated in the Hamptons on Long Island, NY.
The 21st Street location was sold to be converted to luxury condominiums, slated to open in 2009

From an interview with Mark Kamins... "Madonna was a regular at Danceteria. She had great style and had to be the center of attraction. She always hung out in the booth, one day she gave me a demo to play {I'll play anything} it worked. At that time I was working with the Talking Heads so I knew the people at Sire Records. I played them the demo and they gave me a single deal. I produced "Everybody" and it went to #1 in the dance charts. The rest is history."

New York was so musically creative then," Kamins says. "The late 1970s was a very bad time. The Bronx was burning. There was no work. We were political, but there was nothing to motivate us other than music. There were no rules. Musically everybody experimented and wanted to try something new. The Danceteria was a very special place, like Warhol's Factory." Sade worked behind the bar, Keith Haring and the Beastie Boys were bus-boys, LL Cool J was the lift operator.-Mark Kamins

"First of all, I think Danceteria was a magical space like Andy Warhol’s Factory or Max’s Kansas City or CBGBs. Jim Fouratt and Rudolph had this amazing finesse to hire people that they believed in. Why were the Beastie Boys the sweepers at Danceteria? Why was Madonna one of the dancers? Why Sade was the bartender at Danceteria? That’s crazy shit man. So you’re talking about a magical moment, a magical space, and a magical time where it was the beginning of something. Even Karen Finley was the bartender, and LL Cool J was a busboy. Rick Rubin, who is now one of the greatest producers in the music business, his first gig was playing with the Beastie Boys on the second floor of Danceteria because I had to go to a gig in Europe. I have a Polaroid picture of that night." -Mark Kamins

It was one of those places where we lived. When the club closed, Keith went to the subway and painted his little figures until we opened the club at noon and started cleaning. He lived at the Danceteria, we all lived there. It was more than a club. Everybody there was doin' something."-Mark Kamins

Madonna used to sit on the steps of the new-wave dreamland Danceteria—where she was a hat-check girl, Keith Haring was a busboy and the Cramps played next to the Buzzcocks or Birthday Party—and tell nightlife kings like Steve Rubell she was going to be a very big star. In 1982, when the club reopened at 30 West 21st Street, she got a DJ to play her demo there.-New York Observer

"She seemed like this girl from out-of-state who wasn't totally in the know yet," said artist Futura 500, while another Danceteria regular claimed: " She'd do outrageously stupid things. Like there was a girl who worked at the Danceteria who had a really striking style and wore her hair a certain way. One day Madonna came in with her hair cut and dyed the exact same way. We'd say, 'Is she nuts?'

"I met her at Danceteria when she was sitting on [a friend's] lap. She was really, really foxy. She was really glamorous," says Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth

She was also apparently such a fixture of the club that the resident DJ, Mark Kamins, even dated the singer. (That's getting your foot in the door.) Says Kamins: "Madonna was a regular at Danceteria. She had great style and had to be the center of attraction. She always hung out in the booth, one day she gave me a demo to play." That demo, for the song 'Everybody', eventually got her signed to a major label

When Madge was just a slutty shaggin, chasing, pain in the arse, regular club NYC Danceteria one. Best was when Audrey beat her up on the stairs with madge's red stilletto
Chardonna1 (48 months ago)

Yes....I loved tnat story on the old DTNYC site ! Audrey took care of old MAdge for us all back then. She was such a bitchy thing. I'm pissed Amy didn't use my ON THE STREET photo. MAybe if she does Volume !!. LOL
vinceconnare (48 months ago)

Remember the Swedish bouncer guy, white hair, and he told us how Madge use to want to shag him and wouldn't leave him alone. Then one night she went to their place and he made her sleep in the kitchen!!! He seemed very mad when he talked about her.

And I remember how mad Simone was about how Madge treated Ken and how Simone got him back, atleast Ken got to drive that car in her video though!
Debbie C.B.'s (35 months ago)

yea she had alot of balls of which I admire
I'm not a MADONNA fan but I do admire her longevity and her ambition
what I didnt admire was one night her dancing in frount of me to dance with my "boy friend" who wasnt my boy friend but my good friend who was gay..
and she kept whipping me with her hair and smirking at me till I Pushed her away saying what the fucks with you
but I will say she was very pretty VERY
I was not a danciteria fan I always had to get DRAGGED there
as for her being an oppertunist bitch and all that
thats seems to work if you want to make it
she had alot of ambition and she pushed her self
I know this club booker that would hire her bands to play and she would be very worried about her perfomance and did he they like her set should she change anything.., he remeberes her as being very sweet sincer and yes ambitious but not a bitch at all
Im talking about the booker from MAX"S Peter Crowley
as for my incident with her so what she was drinking who cares
vinceconnare (47 months ago)

My first memory of knowing Madonna was when they were playing 'Everybody' video on the first floor stage screen and Audrey said 'I hate that bitch' and I said 'who?' she said 'That bitch up there you know she is always hanging around down here'.

Then I thought oh I haven't seen here her hanging out here much anymore. She use to wear a military hat for awhile and stand at the bar I think on the left side and really stood out for the norm. Then I didn't see her much after that. So I guess it was her.
Chardonna1 (21 months ago)

I tried to talk to her the night I took the photo however she was having none of it! I tried to tell her she was great....and she look right past me and started wailing at someoen somewhere that the lighting was all wrong. I couldn't believe how crazy she was....didn't give a crap about me at all...just her lighting.

Actually if u look at the photo it was pretty dark...the lighting. I did not notice. But Madge did...

Debi Mazar

Deborah "Debi" Mazar born August 13, 1964 is an American actress, perhaps best known for her trademark Jersey Girl-type appearances, and as edgy, sharp-tongued women in independent films and her recurring role on the HBO series Entourage as Shauna Roberts.

Mazar began her career as a hip hop b-girl in New York City. Her first television appearance was on the pilot for a hip hop television dance show, Graffiti Rock in 1984. She appeared in five of Madonna's music videos - "Papa Don't Preach", "True Blue" (both 1986), "Justify My Love" (1990), "Deeper and Deeper" (1992) and "Music" (2000). Mazar has played a number of minor-yet-colorful supporting roles in a variety of movies, including: as Sandy, Henry Hill's girl on the side in GoodFellas (1990); The Doors (1991); Bullets Over Broadway (1994); and as Spice (of Sugar and Spice, with Drew Barrymore as Sugar) in Batman Forever (1995). She gained her first real following from playing a character on Civil Wars in the early 90s. When that show was cancelled her character was brought over as a recurring role in the 1993 - 1994 season of the TV drama L.A. Law.

She played the villain Regina, a modern-day Cruella de Vil in the popular family film Beethoven's 2nd (1993). She has appeared in independent films like Inside Monkey Zetterland and Nowhere but has also dabbled in mainstream attempts like Batman Forever, and her short-lived sitcom, Temporarily Yours. (The sitcom was about a woman who, in an attempt to get a good apartment in New York City, lies about being employed with a temp agency and then shows up at the agency begging for work.) She also appeared as the genie in the Space Monkeys' video, "Sugarcane".

Mazar appeared on a Friends episode in its eighth season ("The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part One"). Mazar played "Doreen, the Evil Bitch," a crazed pregnant woman who shares a hospital room with Rachel. From 2000–2002 she played "Jackie" on the television drama That's Life.

Currently, she is in a supporting actress role on Entourage, an original comedy series on HBO. She also had a recurring role on the sitcom Living with Fran, playing Fran Drescher's character's cousin, Merrill. She also did a stint on the television series Ugly Betty, where she plays Leah Stillman, a scam artist who claims to be a lawyer in a number of episodes.

Mazar was a contestant on the ninth season of Dancing With the Stars. She was partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy and finished in 12th place. She was eliminated in the 3rd week (October 6, 2009). Mazar guest stars in some episodes of the Disney Channel's original series called Jonas L.A.

At the very beginning

MadonnaTribe meet Maripol

MadonnaTribe had the chance to meet the one and only Maripol, the famous art director, stylist, designer and photographer who was an instrumental presence and influence in the raising years of Madonna. With her unique sense of style and classy yet innovative creations she contributed in the making of the cultural myth Madonna is considered today. Her original rubber bangles, cross related jewelery, fashion tops, were responsable of the wannabe phenomenon that catapulted Madonna into the eye of the world. Today's fashion is still inspired by many of her ideas and fashion statements.

But Maripol is also a great photographer who has captured with her polaroids featuring the likes of Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Fab Five Freddy, Debbie Harry and Jean-Michel Basquiat, that unique New York's downtown scene of the Eighties.

We are proud to say that since 2005 we have become friends with this incredible and unstoppable woman who has finally agreed to let MadonnaTribe readers into her world of memories.

MadonnaTribe: Hi Maripol, welcome to MadonnaTribe.
Madonna fans know the story of Madonna arriving to the Big Apple with only 35 dollars in her pocket to find fame and fortune.  It was almost the same for you, isn't it?

Maripol: (laughing) yes it was. It happens when you're young. When I came to New York I was 19 and I came with my boyfriend, photographer Edo Bertoglio. We were in love and I came here for three months, I was still in art school (Beaux Arts). We had an apartment already set up because my boyfriend came six month before and we set up already everything. My parents would have not let me go otherwise. Madonna crossed a few states and I had to cross the Atlantic. My parents wanted to know who was the man I was going to live with, what I was doing...

MadonnaTribe: Edo Bertoglio did shoot those pictures for the cover of the first album that were never used...

Maripol: Yes, I styled them and Debi Mazar did the make up but they were rejected.

MadonnaTribe: Then your career in America really started when you became the art director at the Fiorucci fashion store on 59th street. I think it was in 1976 right?

Maripol: It was 1977 actually, I was doing stuff with them not only as an art director but I was travelling around the world doing collections for them. And that's also when I started my first rubber jewellery collection in 1978. That was the first accesory & jewellery line for Fiorucci.

MadonnaTribe: What did inspire you to do this kind of job?

Maripol: It was just that I never never found anything I liked in styling photography so I decided to make them. And also I was a young girl and I was attracted by objects and I liked to use them by taking away their original meaning. I would see something I liked and I'd say: "that would be great as an earring".

MadonnaTribe: And you happened to be in the New York scene when it was so alive...

Maripol: Exactly.

MadonnaTribe: You were surrounded by so many talents such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat who are not among us anymore. How was living first hand that era and what are the most beloved memories you have of that time in New York?

Maripol: We lived uptown for three years, from 1976 to 1979. We had an Harley Davidson and people always called us the punk of downtown. We decided then to move downtown because we needed a big space and we found a really rundown loft and that was the beginning.  So we got the space and that was the best thing. We started to have parties, happenings and also photography and my designs.

MadonnaTribe: How did you meet Madonna for the first time? I think it was through your common friend Martin Burgoyne, right?

Maripol: Yes, Martin. I remember she came to my loft because she wanted me to work on a new look for her but actually I met her before that day, at the Roxy, as she said in a television interview in Philadelphia. She said "I met Maripol at the Roxy and as I was wearing a nice bra she asked if I wanted to go on stage" and I thought she was absolutely out of her mind.

MadonnaTribe: So that was your first impression of her?

Maripol: My first impression... Five Fab Freddy wanted me to get some girls on stage with him, he was rapping and I saw her standing out so naturally cute!

MadonnaTribe: Let's talk about Madonna's Virgin look - how was it created?

Maripol: She came to me and I just styled a bunch of things on her. I was already making the rubber jewelery and I was already making the crosses because of my love for the punks. So it was perfect for her. And talking about the clothes, Erika Bell used to make a lot of her clothes, I would give her clothes from Fiorucci and it was a mix of everything. And for "Like A Virgin" I was really hired as her stylist, to be with Steven Meisel and work on the look of the album cover.

MadonnaTribe: What memories do you have of that Like A Virgin cover shoot with Steven Meisel? I think it was done at the Saint Regis Hotel.

Maripol: Yes it was uptown, at the Saint Regis. And I remember everything. I remember the blue satin sheet she used to cover herself with [the photo later used on the european cover of the Material Girl single]. We did a bathroom shoot and there are a lot of photos that we never used.

MadonnaTribe: Was there any funny thing that happened during that photoshoot?

Maripol: Yes, at the beginning there was an art director, she wanted everything to be Madonna in black, a heavy rock "Black Sabbath Madonna". And I didn't think that it fitted very well. I said why don't we bring out the aura of the "Like A Virgin" song, we can play with that. And it was rebellious since who was going to believe she was still a virgin!! She agreed and we got along very well.

MadonnaTribe: Did you design the "wedding dress" for the "Like A Virgin" video?

Maripol: No, the veil was designed by my friend Katsuko and the dress was one we bought. I was in Japan doing a collection for Fiorucci and I missed the whole shoot but she stayed "street Madonna" and used some of my jewellery in the parts of the video on the bridges of Venice.

MadonnaTribe: And then came the MTV Awards performance...

Maripol: The idea of that performance came from an kind of a vision I had. We used the exact dress she is wearing on the album cover. We were right there. It was incredible because nobody expected it to be so raunchy. Cindy Lauper was there and was going to be star of the night and then Madonna came out. During the performance the camera shooting live, went right under her skirt and I remember Freddy De Mann saying: "Never again will I let her being shot live". But that "did it". I remember all the photographers running to the press conference right after she went off!!!

MadonnaTribe: Did you have the chance to see how that performance was re-created on MTV with Britney and Christina twenty years later?

Maripol: Yes, she also had Lourdes on stage with her wearing the same look.

MadonnaTribe: How did you came up with idea of using rosaries and crosses as jewellery. I understand you did that before "giving" it to Madonna.

Maripol: Yes, well for Madonna it was meant to be something very spiritual. I was also raised catholic and Madonna and I both rebelled to that. My mother didn't like it. It was a way to say "why if I wear it on the ear it makes me a lesser good catholic girl??".

MadonnaTribe: You already founded your company Maripolitan Popular Object LTD that was also in charge of the merchandise for the Virgin Tour. Did you work on any of the tour outfits as well?

Maripol: No that was Marlene Steward. I went to Los Angeles and Madonna was showing me the concepts and the whole feel was very "Prince". Because of "Purple Rain" just released I said to her "are you Prince or are you Madonna?"

MadonnaTribe: And what about the "wannabe" phenomenon?

Maripol:
We had a look-a-like contest at Macy's. Andy Warhol and I were the judges. So much fun with hundreds of kids, some of them pushed in by their mothers. At the end we made sure that the girl that was more similar to Madonna was the winner. But it was really fun. I have many letters from the kids from back then. "To Madonna's jewelry designer".

MadonnaTribe: Do you remember what was Andy Warhol thinking of Madonna?

Maripol: We went to the wedding of Madonna to Sean Penn together. He saw Madonna as a phenomenon and he loved her.

MadonnaTribe: And what about that "Boy Toy" belt? Did you design that?

Maripol: No, everybody had those, but I did the one for the cover of the Like A Virgin album.

MadonnaTribe: It usually happens that Madonna takes something that already exists but she has the power to make it become mainstream. In a way it also happened with the bangles, you were already producing them for other artists such as Grace Jones, but they are still associated to that early image of Madonna...

Maripol: Well yes and when Madonna did Desperately Seeking Susan it was very good that she kept all the jewellery and bangles for the part.

MadonnaTribe: Oh right, I was wondering if you worked on that movie as well and wanted to ask about that...

Maripol: No, but I remember she used to wear all those antique stuff and I kept saying to her: "Just be yourself".

MadonnaTribe: And what about her look in Vision Quest?

Maripol: I didn't work on that film either but she was already decked with all my stuff for that. It's a beautiful scene, I love the song (Crazy For You).

MadonnaTribe: And she just went on with what you created for her...

Maripol: Yes. Perfect, sexy, and modern.

MadonnaTribe: Do you have a favourite piece of jewellery among the ones you created for Madonna through the years?

Maripol: Actually I did her wedding present and I made one earing, it can be seen in some pictures at the time. It's a little star that I made with gold Chain and pearls. That was very special because I only made one piece, it was only for her and I never made it for anyone else.

MadonnaTribe: Many stars loved your jewellery and still keep with care the pieces they have...

Maripol: Yes, I used to make mesh jewellery, and Cher came to my loft. She saw things on Madonna that she liked and she bought some of my stuff. Then years later I was the stylist on of her video" walking in memphis" and she took me to her closet, she opened it and there it was. She still was keeping them there.

MadonnaTribe: Then in 1986 with True Blue, Madonna decided to change her image. It was a complete change...

Maripol: Well I guess it was because she was married to Sean and maybe he wanted her to be "Mrs Penn".

MadonnaTribe: What happened then?

Maripol: Oh, I bankrupted in 1987. I went out of business because of everybody copying me from everywhere in the planet. How can you survive when millions of people start making their most horrible supposedly rubber jewellery which was actually made out of plastic?. Mine was made of genuine rubber. I had a factory in Hong Kong, I had this dream to help the rubber industry in places like Malaysia and helping poor people giving them work. Nobody else had that dream. Pure greed!!. Now I know how it must feel to be Prada or others and see your knock off everywhere!

MadonnaTribe: Let's talk about your more recent book, which is a collection of Polaroids...

Maripol: I wanted to call the Book Maripolaroids but there were problems so I called it Maripolarama. Published by Powerhouse books, it's a nice little memory book without pretention, it's very fashion. It will really show you that the style of then hasn't really changed and it's very similar to the style of today.

MadonnaTribe: Are there some pictures in your new book that you cherish more than others?

Maripol: Actually I love them all.

MadonnaTribe: What is that make a Polaroid photo so special to you?

Maripol: They do have something special, it's just that they capture the instant. That's it. You do it, you see it. You don't have to go to the lab to have it developed. It was digital before the digital. And now its over I am reclycling!!

MadonnaTribe: So you think digital is something like the new Polaroid now?

Maripol: Yes, unfortunately that is why Polaroid is going out of business, digital world is invading.

MadonnaTribe: But you're still doing Polaroids...

Maripol: Yes I do large ones now 20 x 24". I want people to know that I don't only dwell with the past, I have a life in the present. I produce films, documentaries short and I do photographies, and travel with them all around the world

MadonnaTribe: Speaking about documentaries you worked for more that 20 years on the "Downtown 81" project...

Maripol: Edo Bertoglio directed it, Glenn O'brien wrote it and I produced it in 1979 and it was shot in 1980.

MadonnaTribe: Then 20 years passed before you could show it to audiences...

Maripol: Well that's because people who should give us the money to complete it went bankrupt and everything went dead. Before he died Jean Michel Basquiat wanted to give me the money to finish it. He really wanted the movie to be finished!

MadonnaTribe: Edo has also completed two new documentary films...

Maripol: Yes one is "Face Addict" and it was selected by the Locarno film festival and touring now in Europe. We went there and it was very well received by the press. There were a lot of articles in the press about it. The other one is about a famous old Bike racer as Edo's love for motorcycle never stops!

MadonnaTribe: Well yes the Locarno film festival is a very nice one indeed and the audience is great. Speaking about the present are you still in touch with Madonna? Did you meet her through the years?

Maripol: Yes, we saw each other through the years. She filmed me for Truth of Dare but then it was cut but the cameraman said it was one of the most truthful moments filmed. She always invites me to her shows.
I saw one in Summer 2004 and the one last Sumer in Paris: incredible. But since she now lives in England we are not that close. I do miss her!

MadonnaTribe: Well she still loves New York, she had a song on her Confessions On A Dance Floor album called I Love New York...

Maripol: Well she's entitled to still love New York.

MadonnaTribe: What are you working on right now? Would you style Madonna again today?

Maripol: Well Madonna went a long way, look at all the fashion statements she did. And I don't do styling anymore today. Sometimes. I am a producer now. I produced Edo's film "Face Addict" and "Downtown 81" took a lot of my time. I'm now writing some features and fictions. I'm always busy. I also do a lot of photo shows. We organized a great show in Paris called "FOB DOWNTOWN 81" at the Agnes B gallery, at rue Quincampoix 44. And it went to London, Tokio, LA now and Hong Kong.

MadonnaTribe: Do you have a feeling of when did you love for photography start?

Maripol: Well it must run in the family. I just discovered that my grandfather, who was in the army during the first world war, was a photographer on the war. I saw the pictures he took. My uncle was a doctor in the second world war same he took genuine pictures of soldiers , they were so sexy ! And my father always took film of us, and photos. He had the Super8 camera and had always the latest gadgets. My brother is a documentary producer.

MadonnaTribe: You spent a lot of time with Madonna, do you have a fondest memory you would like to share with our readers?

Maripol: I remember I invited Madonna to Paris in 1983 for a party we did and she was very lonely from Jellybean back then. Madonna was always truthful to me about the sadness of the loss of her mom in her life and the difficulties of wanting to be an actress and a singer at the same time. And the horror of seeing all our friends getting destroyed with drugs. And I told her if she wanted to be great she had to be "straight". I said that because I was involved with so many people using drugs all the times. But she was always "straight", I never saw her doing drugs. That's what makes people very successful, when they have strenght of their own.
MadonnaTribe: Looking at the past and then looking at the present in what way or aspect Maripol is still the same?

Maripol: I am completely the same. I haven't changed, more bitchy haha, learned from the toughest city in the world I'm still living in that same loft of 1979. The only difference is that I have a teenage boy Lino. Now I see myself through my son. He is 17 years old and I have the difficulty of raising him alone in New York, with all the problems of the big city, and I can only show him the danger because I lived the danger and because so many friends of ours died. So I want to spend some times in good old Europe!!

MadonnaTribe: What does you son say about your past and present career?

Maripol: He doesn't understand why I'm not richer (laughs). He sees everybody I worked with on the top of the world and I'm still me. And he goes: "I can't believe it mummy". And I say: "Don't worry honey, you're the one who's gonna make it big". Well I believe that the value in life is not only about money. My kid was raised religious . He goes to a French School, so he knows the good of being French as well as American. He is an international kid and he speaks three languages. He wants to be an actor or a director He is the most incredible thing I have achieved so I don't care about anything else. There is a picture of Madonna and my kid in the book and that makes me so happy. She was there for me and she was there for him a lot. He still has the bicycle she gave him when he was 7 years old.

MadonnaTribe: Maripol thanks a lot for sharing your past memories and you present project with us. It was really a honour to have you here on MadonnaTribe.

Maripol: Thank you.

Maripol

Maripol was brought up in France before moving to New York, USA in 1976. She is an artist, film producer, fashion designer and stylist who has had an influence on the looks of many influential artists, including Grace Jones, Deborah Harry, and Madonna. Maripol is also a Polaroid artist photographer who has exhibited her photos in art galleries all over the world. Her photographic work is being collected by museums. In 2006, Maripol had a new book of her life's photography published.
Maripol is best known for designing for and styling pop singer Madonna during the Madonna and Like a Virgin albums in the mid-1980s. Maripol's trademark black rubber bracelets, jewellery and crucifixes became as iconic as Madonna herself in these early years.

In the early 1980s, Maripol was the art director for hip Italian boutique Fiorucci. By the mid-80s, Maripol had achieved some success with her own shop, Maripolitan, in the NoHo area of New York. She also made a line of official Madonna jewellery and accessories for the Like a Virgin tour.

At the same time she directed documentary films, such as "Crack is whack" on 1980s artist Keith Haring.

She has also worked as a film producer, most notably on Downtown 81, a film starring artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and featuring Blondie lead singer Deborah Harry, and musical interludes my many New York No Wave bands. The movie, directed by then partner Edo and written by Glenn O'Brien, was filmed in 1980-81 as New York Beat. However, it was not until 1998 that the film was rediscovered, cleaned up, edited and released (as Downtown 81) after being selected at the director's fortnight of the Cannes film festival in the year 2000.

She has been the art director on music videos for Cher, D’Angelo, Elton John, and Luther Vandross.

In February 2010, Maripol had a collection of jewelry and tee shirts in the Marc by Marc Jacobs stores, inspired by the jewelry she created in the 80s

WC

Jean Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist and the first artist of African descent to become an international art star. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting. Basquiat died due to a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27

While a high school student, Basquiat and Al Diaz started spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan, working under the pseudonym SAMO. The designs inscribed messages such as "Plush safe he think.. SAMO" and "SAMO as an escape clause". In December 1978, the Village Voice published an article on the graffiti. The SAMO project ended with the epitaph "SAMO IS DEAD," inscribed on the walls of SoHo buildings.

In 1979, Basquiat had appeared on Glenn O'Brien's live public-access cable show TV Party. In the late 1970s, Basquiat formed the punk rock band Gray with Vincent Gallo, Shannon Dawson, Michael Holman, Nick Taylor and Wayne Clifford. Gray performed at nightclubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB, Hurrah, and the Mudd Club. Basquiat starred in an underground film Downtown 81 which featured some of Gray's recordings on its soundtrack. He also appeared in the Blondie music video "Rapture" as a nightclub disc jockey.

In June 1980, Basquiat participated in The Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition, sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated (Colab) and Fashion Moda. In 1981, Rene Ricard published "The Radiant Child" in Artforum magazine, which brought Basquiat to the attention of the wider art world.

In late 1981, he joined the Annina Nosei gallery in the SoHo district of Manhattan. By 1982, Basquiat was showing regularly, and alongside Julian Schnabel, David Salle, Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi, was involved with the Neo-expressionist movement. He was represented in Los Angeles by the Larry Gagosian gallery, and throughout Europe by Bruno Bischofberger. He briefly dated then-aspiring performer Madonna in September 1982. That same year, Basquiat met Andy Warhol, with whom he collaborated from 1984 to 1986. He was also briefly involved with artist David Bowie. Basquiat worked on his paintings in Armani suits, and often appeared in public in the same paint-splattered $1,000 suits.

By the mid 1980s, he had left the Annina Nosei gallery, and was showing in the famous Mary Boone gallery in SoHo. On February 10, 1985, Basquiat appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled "New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist". He was a successful artist in this period, however increasing drug addiction began to interfere with his personal relationships.
After Warhol died on February 22, 1987, Basquiat became increasingly isolated, and his drug addiction and depression increased.

After an attempt at sobriety during a trip to Honolulu, Hawaii, Basquiat died due to a heroin overdose in his SoHo studio on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27.

In the fall of 1982, Basquiat met Madonna, and before long the singer was living with him at his Crosby Street apartment, and after a brief affair, she left, citing his increasing drug problem as her reason for leaving

I had just introduced Madonna, who was not famous yet, to Jean-Michel at New York University’s Bowling Alley, in the Village. The bowling alley was a popular hang out on Monday nights and had a “retro rockabilly” feel to it. Our posse had more of a thrift shop Armani-style, a crossover Mudd Club punk genre with a Studio 54 arrogance. We flirted with danger by often visiting the Teddy-Boy crowd and their clubs. Some of the Teddy-Boys were actually very tough street fighters, which resulted in nightly brawls outside the bowling alley. We all knew most of them were just “posers” trying to hit on the cute women in their retro-bowling attire.

As the evening wore on, Madonna grabbed my hand and led me to a far corner just outside the men's room. She looked straight into my eyes and said how much she liked me and her lips headed towards mine. I was quite shocked by the way she kissed me with such passion. After about two minutes of gratuitous kissing and groping each other, I saw the men's room door open to reveal Kenny Compton, who had been Madonna's steady boyfriend for quite a while, frozen in astonishment at our actions. Kenny and I were always good friends and remain so to this day, but I will never forget the look on his face—probably exactly what Madonna had planned. She was quite the scene maker in those days, always pushing those around her to emotional extremes.

Beginning 1983

Madonna photo shot by Moshe Brakha in the 80's.

Mark Kamins

Mark Kamins was a New York club DJ

He is best known for helping launch the career of one-time girlfriend Madonna by presenting a demo to Seymour Stein of Sire Records. He also produced her first single "Everybody" in 1982. Kamins had bugged Stein about becoming a producer, but Stein said he had to find his own artists first; when he heard the demo of "Everybody", Stein had Madonna brought to the hospital where he was admitted to sign her.

Kamins worked closely with controversial performance artist Karen Finley on her obscenity-laden disco tracks, two of which - "Tales of Taboo" and "Lick It" - became underground dance hits. Subsequent work included projects for Tommy Page, David Byrne of the Talking Heads, Ofra Haza, the Beastie Boys, Sinéad O'Connor and UB40.

More recent work includes production work for the trance/opera dance fusion artist Sasha Lazard, who performed for 8,000 people in Ibiza, Spain in 1999 to choreography by former Madonna Blonde Ambition Tour dancer "Slam".

Mark Kamins. DJ at Danceteria, met her in those days: "Madonna was special – young and a little bit naive. She had her own style -always with the little bellybutton showing, the net top, and the stockings. But she always knew what she wanted to do. She had a tremendous desire to perform for people. When she’d start dancing, there’d be twenty people getting up and dancing with her."

It was Mark Kamins – yes, he was a boyfriend too – who gave her her first big break. She persuaded him to play her demo cassette at Danceteria one Saturday night. The song was "Everybody". Mark loved it and so did the club regulars. He took it round to the record companies. Sire immediately signed her to make three 12-inch dance-orientated singles. Once again it was as much her personality as her music ability that got her the record deal

Ken Compton

One man who succeeded in turning the tables on Madonna was artist-musician Ken Compton. Blond, blue-eyed and angular, Compton did not appear to be Madonna's type physically. "Madonna usually goes for Latin or light-skinned black men," Barbone said. "Kenny was very Aryan-looking, and very much in control of his feelings. He did the kind of number on Madonna that she did on everybody else - not returning phone calls, being late, cheating with other girls. She'd be on the phone to him screaming, crying. Ken drove her crazy."

march 1983

A video is also commissioned for "Burning Up" (although it doesn't debut on MTV until the following October) when interest for Madonna starts to build in the mainstream. Sire brings in designer Maripol to be the stylist for Madonna, while Madonna's close friend Debi Mazar does the make-up. One of Madonna's many on-again-off-again boyfriends, Ken Compton was cast as the love interest in the video. Steve Barron (who had just come off of directing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video) was hired as the director.

I had just introduced Madonna, who was not famous yet, to Jean-Michel at New York University’s Bowling Alley, in the Village. The bowling alley was a popular hang out on Monday nights and had a “retro rockabilly” feel to it. Our posse had more of a thrift shop Armani-style, a crossover Mudd Club punk genre with a Studio 54 arrogance. We flirted with danger by often visiting the Teddy-Boy crowd and their clubs. Some of the Teddy-Boys were actually very tough street fighters, which resulted in nightly brawls outside the bowling alley. We all knew most of them were just “posers” trying to hit on the cute women in their retro-bowling attire.

As the evening wore on, Madonna grabbed my hand and led me to a far corner just outside the men's room. She looked straight into my eyes and said how much she liked me and her lips headed towards mine. I was quite shocked by the way she kissed me with such passion. After about two minutes of gratuitous kissing and groping each other, I saw the men's room door open to reveal Kenny Compton, who had been Madonna's steady boyfriend for quite a while, frozen in astonishment at our actions. Kenny and I were always good friends and remain so to this day, but I will never forget the look on his face—probably exactly what Madonna had planned. She was quite the scene maker in those days, always pushing those around her to emotional extremes.

Gotham Records

FunHouse

The Funhouse was a popular 1980s club on Manhattan's West side that became a way of life for many in NYC and the surrounding boros. DJ John "Jellybean" Benitez made this his home with his unique style.

The Fun House Owner:
Joe Monk

Resident DJs at the FunHouse:
Jim Burgess
Ted Currier
John Jellybean Benitez
Jonathan Fearing
Randy Murray
Tony Smith

MadonnaTribe with Curtis Knapp

MadonnaTribe had the chance to talk to Curtis Knapp, the award-winning portrait and fashion photographer who has portraied some of the most influential musicians, actors, writers, artists and celebrities of our times, including Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Brian Eno, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed, and REM, and signing the photoshoot for Madonna's first magazine cover ever.
Back in new York City after spending two decades in Japan, Curtis has recently been featured in two exhibitions about Andy Warhol in Washington and New York City, showing the portraits of Warhol he shot in 1983 that are among the last images of the artist in his last Factory.

MadonnaTribe: Hello Mr. Knapp and welcome to MadonnaTribe. Madonna fans are most familiar with your work for the amazing "early years" photo portraits of Madonna. You happen to be the photographer of the first magazine cover Madonna ever had back at the beginning of her road to stardom.
But you started your career as a graphic designer and you went on painting and doing illustrations in the '70s. When did you discover that being a photographer was going to be the job of your life?

Curtis Knapp: There was a transition somewhere in the later '70s. I had been living in Athens GA. My friends, The B52s needed photographs for some gigs. We took some photos as I dabbled in it at the time. Later in NYC, I photographed many Athens bands - Pylon, OH-OK, Love Tractor and REM’s cover for CHRONIC TOWN.


MadonnaTribe: As mentioned earlier, you are the photographer of Madonna's first magazine cover ever, hundreds covers came after that for her. But what does it feel to be the photographer of that first cover, "Island" is a part of music history now.

Curtis Knapp: I do not think just on Madonna. Perhaps someday (I have been told) my archives will be or help in some small way some sort of history on many of the people or subjects in my files.

MadonnaTribe: That number of Island is very rare now and collectors from around the world are always looking for a copy.
For those who have never had the chance to see a copy, what kind of magazine was Island and how did they get in touch with you to do the Madonna photo shoot?

Curtis Knapp: Arnold and the staff planned it. And they where very excited about it. And they did plan it around the time of her First record (remember records?) release. They had parties etc... She lived on the next block. She came over to the ‘Apartment’ to pick from my contact sheets. My Daughter Rei-re just asked when she could use the living room and watch TV. Ah kids.

MadonnaTribe: What do you recall of that young and fresh Madonna on the set? did you feel she would have achieved so much in the music business and become such an iconic figure?

Curtis Knapp: Honestly, she was very focused on her idea of HER. But at that time, that day, we just had fun and worked on taking good pics.

MadonnaTribe: How many photos did you take that day? Just a few were published and there must be many outtakes...

Curtis Knapp: Yes and fans can contact me direct for gallery prints, which I sell on my site. But between moving here and there many negatives had gone by the wayside and lost.

MadonnaTribe: Recently a slightly different pose of that photo appeared on the cover of a special number of Black & White Magazine for an interesting article. It was a great treat for fans and magazine collector who don't own the original Island cover. Did you personally choose that outtake for that cover?

Curtis Knapp: "Hands" are placed a bit different and the balance is better. I also used on the book Goddess (Italian version). It is my personal choice.

MadonnaTribe: Did you shoot the Madonna session in Black and White? From what we know it
requires a whole different lighting right?

Curtis Knapp: I work mostly in B&W. I did shoot some color.

MadonnaTribe: What do you think is the quality you have that makes your photos unique?

Curtis Knapp: Simple is best. Focus on the face / person. Not the cloths or the background. But that is different thinking when I shoot for advertising or products. Simple was my main thing when I taught at the Smithsonian Institute in DC a few years back.

MadonnaTribe: In your years shooting for magazines such as Interview and Esquire you went on photographing other rock and pop stars and actors. Which was the most easy person to work with and the most difficult?

Curtis Knapp: To answer that, who would I end up offending someone? I usually shoot (for my personal shootings) only two or four rolls of film. If one does not get it in the first rolls, they are looking for that exposure called in Japan "Lucky Hit". That's not photography.
In dealing with sitters, I always would rush over to them and try and befriend them... can I get you tea, have seat etc...
Irving Penn told me, "stop that. Let the assistant or editor do that. Stay aloof and make a space between you and the sitter. It leads to a better connection later on the set". It took a few years for me to see what he meant. It is like, 40 can’t tell 20 what 40 is like till 20 becomes 40?!
Never been set off. One day Jim Carroll (for whom I did a record cover and had photographed three or four times), brought Lou Reed to the studio. I was nervous. And why? I don't know why.

MadonnaTribe: When we have a chance to meet photographers that have worked with Madonna in the early stage of her career we like to ask them how would they photograph her today. So what setting, what ideas would you like to try in a ipotetich new Madonna shoot?

Curtis Knapp: I think one of these day she and I might re-create that image again. It would not be the same with another photographer. But note MY black turtle neck has been on a lot of people before and since.

MadonnaTribe: In 1984 you moved from New York to Japan. Why did you take this decision? There are huge differences among the two cultures...

Curtis Knapp: That is a huge Q. And the answer could fill a book. It was time for my Daughter Rei-re to start First grade in Tokyo.

MadonnaTribe: Working in Japan you also focused on local artist. What's the difference between working with American artists and Japanese ones?

Curtis Knapp: In America / NYC, people just come over to my studio. [I can remember Madonna shoot ending late and all of us walking down the back dark stairway to exit the building]. Where as Japan is a rental studio system and the sitter (talent) shows up with managers, make-up etc... It's just their style and it works there. Here I like it when I can say 75% of my portraits are private for my art.
In Japan they use the word "Talent-to" to discribe an actor or musician etc... Which does not mean they are talented in many cases. And that is not to say many people really do have talent. Such as Ryu Murakami, Yoko-o Tadanori, Toshiro Mifune (the real 7th Samurai). I have many stories about Japan. Some good some bad some funny. My world there was a Japanese one and not very Foreigner connected at all. In a word "I love it there". Toki-doki sami-shi, for Japan

MadonnaTribe: You recently went back living in the USA, did you find the country changed since you left for Japan?

Curtis Knapp: WOW! Of course. I was frozen in time (I feel like). Used to be I could go up town, walk in, go to a friends office. Now days you get searched at the front door, cameras in the elevators, reception desk on that floor you get out on... Everyone is excepting this paranoia. Along with moving so fast in the electronic world... Humanism is completely gone. It's very sad. But people are wonderful and I love photographing them.

Sombrero