My Madonna: My Intimate Friendship with the Blue Eyed Girl on her Arrival in New York

by norris w. burroughs

“Burroughs was ideally placed to bring to life a pivotal era in music history.” —Craig Kallman, Chairman and CEO of Atlantic Record MY MY INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP WITH THE BLUE EYED GIRL ON HER ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK, is an intimate memoir by Norris W. Burroughs. The memoir centers on the Material Girl herself. Mr. Burroughs had the distinct pleasure of dating the superstar just before her dizzying rise to fame. She was a bright-eyed nineteen-year-old dancer, a recent arrival to New York City, hungry for stardom but unsure of how she would get there. He was an aspiring rocker, spending his nights performing at CBGB,s and his days making t-shirts in the Garment District. There was something different about her, a yearning, a sense of forward propulsion. He knew he would not be able to hold on to her for long. It was Norris who initiated Madonna into his world of rock & roll, Norris who introduced her to her future band mates. In MY MADONNA, Norris attempts to reconcile the young woman he knew and loved with the pop icon she has become. The book is a meditation on the slippery nature of fame, set against the backdrop of the grungy 80s music scene. Many books have been written on Madonna, but few have such an intimate, personal perspective and focus on this crucial time in her artistic development.

Genres: Music

124 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2012

Reviews

[Iris · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was never a Madonna fan, I read this book because the author was a high school friend and I wanted to be supportive of his endeavor to write this story. He describes a time in NYC during the 70’s with great accuracy. His encounter with the artist as a newcomer to the city and before she hit it big is very revealing. Madonna fans will love this.

[Steven Brower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: 1) I have been friends with Norris since we attended elementary school in the Bronx. 2) I have next to no interest in Madonna. I raise both those points because neither has any effect on my review of this book. For what Burroughs has written stands completely on its own merits. It is at once a charming, contemplative, yet surprisingly, in what might seem like a contradiction, a non-nostalgic look back at a specific time and place. It is a love tome not only to the star to be but also to New York City in the late 70s, early 80s. It is a time most consider to be a low point in New York’s history, a time of urban blight, decay and crime infestation. Yet Burroughs’ experience was one of artistic renewal, a hotbed of the burgeoning scene of punk, hip-hop and graffiti. The main subject here reminds me of both of the novel and the movie “A Portrait of Jennie,” which takes place in an earlier era of New York. For Madonna, like Jennie, seems to appear and disappear from and to changing environments, falling in and out of focus, reemerging strangely different and more mature (and determined) each time she reappears, present yet elusive. Both serve as a muse to the protagonists, instilling in them unexpected emotions, desires and artistic growth. It is Burroughs’ talent as a wordsmith that brings this world to life.