European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Selling sex High profile material girl gets Low profile treatment in bookstores by Keith Graham Cox news service whether you re gadabout Madonna or just mad at her for squandering her Talent on exhibitionism the sultry Singer who pioneered wearing her underwear As outerwear and simulating masturbation on stage will be in your face for the next few weeks. The Gold toothed provocateur s new album erotica Sas Hayed into stateside record stores this week. And one thing you can make Book on Madonna will flaunt it. Once you be heard the album you can read the Book or at least look at photographer Steven Meisel s heavy Metal nude Art pictures of Madonna acting out Kinky fantasies of sex and bondage. Complete with a Wallet ripping stateside Price tag of $49.95, a Blond ambitious 835,000 copies of sex were plopped into bookstores worldwide a week ago with a second printing of 140,000 following soon after. Carefully managed sleaze tease has been filtering out about the 128 Page Book s explicit nature for months including spreads in vanity fair and the French edition of Elle and a new York Magazine cover Story on photographer Meisel. Pictures shot in Miami and Manhattan include Madonna hitchhiking naked wearing Only High Heel engaging in a swimming Pool scene suggestive of a menage a trois with Naomi Campbell and rapper big daddy Kane and in lesbian kissing scenes. Yet almost no one even the buyers who ordered it for their stores were allowed to see More than a few pages in Advance. As one writer put it a Case could be made for comparing Madonna s marketing to that of a woman opening her Blouse Button by Button. The Arkansas based Wal Mart discount Chain has flatly ruled out carrying the Book. Other shops have opted to carry sex sometimes after thorny internal discussions about How to Market it most responsibly. Some bookstores Are anticipating backlash and i think there will be some says Chris Wooster publicity coordinator for Borders Book shop a Small Chain based in Ann Arbor Mich. Borders considered having a Madonna look alike on hand for the launch but subsequently decided to try to make its display As unobtrusive to people who Don t want to see it As Oxford Book store in Atlanta posted signs advising customers to see our customer service manager if you d like to Purchase the Book. And both Barnes & Noble including b Dalton bookseller Doubleday Scribner s and boo Star bookshop stores and Walden books have established guidelines requiring that the books be displayed on or behind checkout counters and that no copies be sold to anyone younger than 18. Store managers Are expected to require identification for anyone who looks under age. Copies of the Book Are sold in sealed mylar bags and most stores sex1 to hit military outlets soon by Randy Pruitt staff writer to listen to the Media hype it s the next Best thing to Madonna in the May be True. It s a Good bet that buying a copy of sex Madonna s latest Book is As close As readers will come to getting Between the covers with the singing sex Symbol. Call it sleaze Call it tease but her 128-Page fantasy Book goes on Sale this week at stars and stripes bookstores amid a cloak of secrecy and Security that would be the envy of a War room general. The contents Are purportedly As hot As the dyed Blond Bombshell. There s even a compact disc inside the Book All sealed in heavy shrink wrap. Baby faced buyers beware you May be asked to show your id. There will be no sales to anyone under 18," said Chris Ryan manager sex comes wrapped in a mylar Seal right that prevents browsing. Have Only a single copy if any that will be open for inspection prior to Purchase. Books that have been opened will not be accepted As returns. Oxfords initial order of 700 copies of sex lags Well behind the 1,500 it ordered for Vampire novelist Anne Rice s latest Book the tale of the body thief. But Lillian Yeilding publicist for Oxford says the sex order far exceeds the 25 to 30 copies for an average Book and is huge for a Book with such a hefty Price tag. Borders likewise expects the Book to be a Success despite the store s cautious attitude in marketing it. We re fairly confident of its Best seller Caliper Wooster says. Barring the possibility that sex is the marketing mad material girl s new Coke what s next pop culture critic Greil Marcus said last year we might even see the Star having sex at some Point i think it s in the rhythm of her work he said. It s gotta where to buy it the stars and stripes bookstores that will receive copies Germany Augsburg Berlin Darmstadt Frankfurt Fulda Furth Heidelberg Mannheim Pir Masens Ramstein Rhein main Span Dahlem Stuttgart Robinson Barracks Wiesbaden Wurzburg Vogel Weh Italy Naples Vicenza United kingdom Lakenheath upper Heyford Page 14 the stars and stripes of Bookstore operations. It s erotic adult Type literature and it has to be Ryan said it will be Bookstore policy not to publicly display the Book due to the sensitive nature of the a sealed copy will be kept near the cashier s counter. Customers must buy the Book before they can open it. Conditions of sales require that the Book not be opened said John Kominicki a spokesman for stars and stripes. What s unusual is that no Advance copies Are circulating. Not even top Bookstore officials have seen a copy. And Only 1,075 copies will be available at Bookstore locations in Germany Italy and the United kingdom. Two thousand five Hundred were ordered. They the publishers had one copy at the Frankfurt Book fair but they kept it in a Safe and showed it Only to select individuals said Ryan. The Prospect of reprints beyond what have been planned Are unlikely Kominicki said. Limited editions if nearly a million copies can be considered limited May be bad news for some Madonna fans who Haven t Goj on but the Good news is that stars and stripes customers will get a Price break. The Book priced at $49.95 in the states will Cost $42.50 at the overseas military outlets. The difference results from the fact that the publisher s european Price is based on the United kingdom Price of 50 pounds per copy. A total of 750 books Are coming from the United states while 325 Are being shipped from England. We think it will sell quite Well Ryan said. New York Tim the erotica video is just that. Review Madonna s erotica lusts after love not sex fall you know about Madonna s current efforts is what you be read in the gossip columns Odds Are that you re expecting her new album to be the racist thing to hit record stores since 2 live Crew a sort of nastier than any Wanna be. It s no wonder you d get that idea either what with All these stories about Madonna s shocking this and scandalous that. Given her background can the new album really Shock us probably so but not for the reason you d expect. Because at Root what seems most surprising about the songs on erotica Maverick sire is that they find Madonna lusting for love not panting after sex. The sound Madonna offers on erotica takes most of its cues from the Bottom heavy Boom of contemporary dance music. The result is gloriously physical so rhythmically insistent that even the slow songs seem hot wired to the listener s hips. By striking a balance Between sensual satisfaction and emotional turmoil erotica ends up giving a far truer sense of what love entails. And in that sense the album proves that the Singer is More than just a world class tease. Because a flirt Only promises Madonna delivers. The Baltimore Sun wednesday october 28,1992 the stars and stripes a Page 15
