A rather difficult skateboarding trick. It is usually performed on vert, without much rotation. The madonna was invented by some guy named Tony Hawk, when he was in the business of inventing some 90 or so tricks. He wanted to give it a name that was new and trendy, so he looked at what was up and coming. Guess who was getting her start at the time? (Hint, look at the writeup above this one, genius)

What a madonna consists of is, after ollieing, you reach down with your trailing hand, and grab the tail of the board, like a tailgrab. Now, take your trailing leg off of the board, and lift the board up with your hand, and your leading leg at the same time. The board should now be held by your hand and your leading leg, and would be rotated about 90 degrees to how it was previously. Thrust your free leg as far away from your shoulders (down) as possible, and you just tweaked it.

If you want to see a demonstration, you can either go to a vert ramp and ask somebody to do one, or else just play some Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

As Webster says, Madonna is a picture of the Virgin Mary, when she is not depicted as participating in the events of the Bible. Thus, a nativity scene is not a madonna picture, although they are often mistakenly referred as such.

First madonna portraits were painted on the walls of the Roman catacombs during the first century AD. These portrayed a praying Virgin, with her hands raised and palms facing upwards. It was not until 100 years later that pictures of the Virgin with the babe Jesus on her arms started to emerge.

In the year 431 AD St. Mary was finally declared the real mother of Jesus - before that, it was debated whether Jesus had any human ancestry at all, a view which in effect reduced Mary to the status of a mere container for the godly embryo. After the decision, pictures of the Virgin became increasingly popular, even on secular buildings.

During the following centuries, Byzantine artists developed several types of Madonna pictures, which spread into the west through the Russian icon art. Each Byzantine madonna had her own characteristic: there was the gently kissing madonna, madonna suckling Jesus, the pathfinder madonna and several others. Often, Mary was portrayed as sitting on a throne, clothed in blue robes, with the child on her knee. During the Middle Ages, this seated madonna became the model of feminine beauty, an epitome of heavenly virtues.

After the strict formality of the Middle Ages, gothic art brought forth a change in the way the Virgin was depicted. Instead of majestic, strictly formal figures, painters and sculptors started to prefer images of soft gentleness. Madonna started to smile, even stand up. She became much more accessible to mere humans - instead of a queen of heavens, she was now a caring, even a grieving mother.

During the baroque period, madonna was again shrouded in mysticism. Painters often placed her among angels or groups of grim-looking saints. A new type of apocalyptic madonna was created: Saint Mary standing on top of the moon, clothed by the sun. As a matter of fact, this was the last new type of madonna to be created - even today, pictures of the Virgin follow the thousand-year-old Byzantine patterns.

Madonna Louise Ciccone
Profession: Entertainer
Born: August 16, 1958
Stage Name: Madonna

Spinning vinyl at WRPS in upstate New York during the doldrums of 1983, I had access to music that wasn't really out yet for public consumption. One day, one of the other deejays, DiscoSucks, brought over a new album of the self-titled Madonna. "See if this shit is worth playing," he said.

Oh, yes, it was.

Even if you don't like Madonna's music, you have to give her credit for maintaining her popularity and her amazing ability to re-invent herself over and over. Just when people started getting tired of listening to the same-old, same-old, she went ahead and released a different style of music, coupled with a complete makeover. Album to album, if you went to the follow-up concerts, it was like watching the performance for a debut musician.

Never one to shy away from controversy, her hit single, Like a Virgin, made tongues wag and parents shield their daughter's eyes, which was funny, since she wasn't trying to sing about getting laid right now. Switching to religion, her Like a Prayer single had her constantly in the news as churches railed against her songs. She earned two Grammy awards, and was one of the performers that people tuned in to see what she would do next.

Madonna is fifty-five years old as of the date I posted this node, but she's still looking sexy and still releasing music that keeps her in the top of the charts. She is consistently ranked within the top ten of influential rock artists, and holds multiple Guinness World Records for album sales, including the rank as the number one female rock performers of all time.

Madonna dabbled in acting for a while beyond her music videos. Her first real part earned her acclaim in Desperately Seeking Susan, and she picked up a Golden Globe award for her title role in Evita.

Discography

  • Madonna (1983)
  • Like a Virgin (1984)
  • True Blue (1986)
  • Like a Prayer (1989)
  • Erotica (1992)
  • Bedtime Stories (1994)
  • Ray of Light (1998)
  • Music (2000)
  • American Life (2003)
  • Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005)
  • Hard Candy (2008)
  • MDNA (2012)

More info: Wikipedia Entry]

Ma*don"na (?), n. [It. madonna my lady. See Dame, Donna, and cf. Madame, Monkey.]

1.

My lady; -- a term of address in Italian formerly used as the equivalent of Madame, but for which Signora is now substituted. Sometimes introduced into English.

Shak.

2. [pl. Madonnas (n&adot;z).]

A picture of the Virgin Mary (usually with the babe).

The Italian painters are noted for drawing the Madonnas by their own wives or mistresses. Rymer.

 

© Webster 1913.

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