PREPARATION:
The van was all loaded up (to the hilt!) and ready to go. At the very last minute, I got VERY nervous when I heard about the huge blackout that happened just before Manny and I were to leave for New York. Over 50 million people were without power for days. For a while there, I thought the show would be canceled. But the power came back on in New York City JUST in time for the show.
THE BIG DAY:
After only 3-1/2 hours of sleep, we were up bright and early at 7:30am. It was off to the Northlight Studio, to load in. It took four guys about three hours to bring a packed van full of stuff up to the 13th floor, and set it all up. Manny and Joey did an amazing job of putting the entire wall display together in record time. At 11:00am, the doors were opened to the fans. Several vendors had tables of memorabilia for sale, including Nick Mendoros and Julio Perez from the ALL ACCESS fan club.
THE MADONNA CATALOG had three huge tables and a massive wall display, covered with hundreds of rare items for sale, from all around the world. Items ranged from a 50-cent postcard, to a huge framed "printer's proof" litho print of the entire Gary Heery "First Album" photo shoot. Hundreds of fans and collectors from several parts of the country came by to spend the day. I got to meet a lot of my customers for the first time, and I had a lot of fun (Mark from Canada; if you're reading this, it was great to meet you again!). Also on display were dozens of ultra-rare and never-before seen photos of Madonna from her pre-stardom days. It was non-stop fun all day, as fans kept pouring in right up until 8:00pm, when it was time to take everything down, and pack what was left back into the van.
Throughout the day, fans enjoyed rare video footage that was projected onto the wall. A live performer (didn't catch his name) did an acoustic guitar rendition of "Papa Don't Preach."
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The day would NEVER have been possible if it weren't for the kind, generous help from some of my best friends....
Thanks to Pat Righter from Kingdom Fine Arts for lending me the van (it worked out great). Ms. Righter is one of my closest friends - she's the one who hosted my Boston Madonna Weekend Convention back in March.
Thanks to Manny Ferreira for never leaving my side the entire weekend - you were a GREAT help, and you deserved that portable DVD player I bought you for helping out so much.....Thanks to Chris (a.k.a. MADIVA) for the $15.00 worth of Diet Coke "Shots" at LIPS - I had a great time, but those cokes were more expensive than a movie theater! Thanks to Lisa DiClemente and Steve Barrett from WE FRAME IT for the use of the dry mount press, easels, and various other equipment that helped make the show a success. And of course, a HUGE thank you to Joey Angeli for being such a great help. You never even thought twice about helping us lift all those HEAVY bins and boxes, and you were always there for me.
And last but not least, thanks to Nick & Julio from the ALL ACCESS fan club, for running the show. This was The Madonna Catalog's third MaddyFest event, and hopefully there will be another one soon. Stay tuned for details about a possible MaddyFest convention some time in the future!
PHOTO GALLERY:
The entire day was SO busy and hectic, I unfortunately didn't get to take many pictures at all. Manny managed to get a few photos, then I took a few more later on. I wish we had more, but there just wasn't enough time to take photos, because we were constantly busy helping customers. To see 26 photos taken throughout the day, CLICK HERE.